The sun., 1908-05-10


rreeence Of all the imperial ruins, whether
lmpera Rome was not rather ugly than
rtaergisc. The idea Of those world con-
rrcros was first immensity and then
is,uty. an much as could survive consist
entity with getting immensity into a given
srace. The question is most Of all poignant
An the Forum, which let wait full fort
night before moving against 1t In the warm
sun Of an amiable February morning. On
r.. inst visit to Rome could hardly wait
for day to dawn after my arrival before
rlahing to the Cow Field, as 1t was then
called, and seeing the white horned cattle
chew ing the cud among the broken monu-
uarts now so carefully cherished, and as
r we're seduously cultivated. II Is doubt
mI whether all that has since been done,
and which could not but have been done
Dy the eager science as much invountarily
al. voluntarily applied TO the task, has res
suited in a more potent suggestion OF what
rne Forum was in the republican or inn
r,ral day than what that simple old, un-
asauming Cow Field afforded. There were
then as now the beautiful arches there
we're the fragments Of the temple porches
virh their pillars; there was the unknown
column with the buried base; there we're
aIl the elements Of emotion and meditation;
and It is possible that sentiment has only
been numbered with the riches which arohe-
orogy has dug up for 1t by lowering the sur
face 4 the Cow Field fifteen or twenty feet;
hy scrapng clean the buried pavements;
hv Identifying the storied points, by multi
living the fragments Of basal or columnar
marbles and revealing the plans Of tenn
Mes and palaces and courts and tracing the
Sacred Way. by which the magnifcence Of
the past went 10 dusty death. After all
the Imagination ia very ohildlike and pre-
r,rs the elements OF It's pleasures simple
and few; II the materials are very abundant
or complex it can make little out Of them;
they ombarrass 1t, and it turns TO criticism
in self-defence. The grandeur that was
Rome as visioned from the Cow Field be-
comes in the minds eye the kaleidoscope
clutter which the resurrection Of the Forum
Romanum must more and more realize.
It the visitor would have some rash no
uun Of what the ugliness Of the place was
like when it was in -tts glory he may go
book at the plastic reconstruction OF it,
indefinitely reduced. In the modest building
across the way from the oficial entrance
ro the Forum. One cannot say but II is
most intensely interesting, and II has the
consolation, which the humble (but not too
humblel spirit may gather from witness
Of the past that the fashion of this world
and the pride Of the eyes and all ruthless
yaInplory defeated themselves in ancient
Rome as they must everywhere when they
can work their will. II we had thought
that in magnitude and multitude some
entire effect Of beauty was latent We
hsd but to look at that huddle OF war
rng forms. each with beauty in it, but
lcauty lost in the crazy agglomera-
ton Of temples and basilicas and columns
and arches and statues and palaces,
incredibly painted and gilded and huddled
into spaces too little for the least and crowd
ing severally upon one another, without rela-
ton or proportion. Their mass is supremely
tasteless, almost senseless; that mob OF
architectural inoongruities was not only
without collective beauty, but it was with
out that far commoner and cheaper thing
which we call picturesqueness. This has
come to 1t through ruin. and we must give
a new meaning TO the word vandalism II
we would appreciate what the barbarians
did for Rome in tumbling her tawdry splen-
dor into the heaps which are now at least
paintable. Imperial Rome az II stood was not
paintable; | doubt II II would have been
even photographable TO anything but a
picture post card effect.
But as yet wandered in the Forum safe
from the realization Of its ugliness when 1t
was in its glory. Icannot say that even now
it ia beautiful, or hardly picturesque but
it is paintable. and certainly II is pathetic.
S,umps Of columns. high and low. stand
about in the places where they stood In their
unbroken pride, and though 1t seems hard
snip that they should not have been left
wing in the kindly earth or on 1t instead
Of being pulled up and set on end, 1t must
he owned that they are scarcely overworked
in their present postures. More touching
are those inartioulste heaps, cairns Of sculp-
tlred fragments piled here and there to-
eether and waiting the knowledge which is
some time 10 assort them and translate
them into some measure OF coherent mean
ing But il must always be remembered
that when they were coherent they were
only beautiful parts Of a whole that was
brltally unbeautiful. It is not too much
10 say that the modern Rome which the
sentimentslists deplore and abhor is mira
Gle Of grace and form beside the reconstruc-
lion Of ancient Rome, as the modern Roman
with his enlightened conception OF his
social and political rights and duties Is a
better and nobler man In his poorer average
than the ancient Roman in his better. We
have but to use the little common sense
which heaven has vouchsafed some OF us
10 order to realize that Rome. republican
or imperial, was State for which We can
have no genuine reverence, and that mostly
the ruins OF her past can stir in US no finer
emotion than wonder.
But necessarily, for the sake Of knowl-
edge, and Of ascertainlng just what quan-
iity and quality Of human interest the ma
tprial records Of Roman antiquity embody,
archaeology must devote itself with all
possible piety to their recovery. The re-
moyal, handful by handful, Of the earth
from that grave Of the past which the whole
Forum is. tomb upon tomb, Ia as dramatic
a spectacle as anything one can well wit
ness; for that soil is richer than any gold
mine in its potentiaity Of treasure beyond
pearls. and il must be strictly scrutinized,
almost by particles. lest some gem Of art
should be cast aside with the accumulated
r,,,r, r,Lbiab of cantIiries Yet thia drama