Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1914-05-30


once implored to make an offer. If pos
sible 1t will be accepted. The wise course
Is to turn resolutely away. unless the
piece is obviously good and you have an
idea of how much 1t is worth.
Real Bargains-Sometimes.
Sometimes tourists speaking no Italian
have found real NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. -
they are called-in this rag market But
if they understood the language they
evoke in offering low prices and sticking
to them they would leave Rome in
shame. For it is a practice of these
vendors. and / understand of other Ro-
mans at times, to take advantage of the
ignorance of customers to call them lurid
names in the most expressive argot.
Leaving the rag merchants to wrangle
gaining, We pass back into the fruit, flow
er and fish market square. where once
the criminals were executed, and moving
through the maze of booths toward the
southeast We come to the scene of per-
haps the most classic crime of Roman
history, the assassination of julius
Caesar. For here once stood the Theater
of Pompey, the ruins Of which are still
to be traced in the curving walls of mod
ern buildings. And it was in one of the
halls OF the ''porticus," adjoining the
theater on the east, that Caesar received
Church on Part Of Site.
A church now occupies part of the site
of the "theater," and 1t has been declared
by historians that the high altar stands
precisely on the place where once was
placed the statue of Pompey, at the base
of which the senators killed Caesar.
Thus 1t is possible to visit the scene OF
the assassination, just as the guides
will place you in the Forum on the very
spot where Mark Antony delivered the
stirring grafton over the body of the
murdered dictator. Pompey's statue it
self. say some, exists today and may be
seen at any time in the Palazzo Spada,
not far from the scene of the crime But
of the genuineness of this sculpture there
is some doubt, SO it is not regarded as
seer must inevitably include in his Roman
itinerary.
This combination of the lively pulsing,
present life of modern Rome and the his
torical souvenirs of world-stirring event
is the sort of thing that makes Rome so
strong in its grip on the visitor. At al
most every corner one encounters these
associations. Below the mutilated sculp-
ture known as the Pasquino, which orig
inally represented Menelaus with the
body of Patroclus, on which the pas
quinades'' of the sixteenth century were
tiles, now sits vender of newspapers
appropriate use of a place SO long dedi-
Gated to the dissemination of political and
social satires.
Through Gates of Ancient Rome.
From the fountains of medieval con-
the people now fill their water
bottles. and in some of them they per-
form such additions as they permit them
selves. Through the gates of ancient
Rome rolls the traffic of today. a constant
stream of life. with prod-bearing guards
on watch to prevent the smuggling into
the city of contraband goods. Beneath the
carts dangle dust-grayed sheep horns,
charms against the evil eye. The wine
carts, with their gayly decorated shields
for the drivers protection from the sun.
add color to the scene.
Children play games in the columns of
the Colosseum. unthinking of the TRACE
dies enacted centuries ago within its
walls. Within a cage alongside the steps
leading to the Capitoline museum on the
browning height of imperial Rome,
restless wolf PAGES to and fro. emblem
attic of the foster-mother of Romulus.
Inside the railing of a circular flower
bed at a bend of the busy Via Rationale
appears short section of age-browned
masonry, remnant of the wall erected
several centuries before the birth Of
Christ by Servius Tullius, the first ram
part to encircle the expanded Rome aft
er the development beyond the confines
of the Palatine.
Infinitely these relics of a long. long
past touch the busy life of the Rome of
today, and after a fortnight their sig
niflcanc eand the peculiar quality of the
association grip the visitor. Meanwhile
he has been viewing the marvels of ar
chitecture sculpture and painting scat
tered over the city, gaining sweeping
views of interesting country from COM
heights and developing an ac-
with the happy Roman peo-
pie.
Yields the Penny Pledge.
And SO it is not matter of wonder
that the visitor to Rome, on the eve of
departure. goes to the corner of the Via
della Stamperia the Via Lavatore, the
Via Poll and the Via di Nun attic, where
the waters of the ancient Acqua Ver-
CINE pour from the many openings of the
Fontana di Trevi and losses into the
basin the penny pledge to return to the
Eternal city commanded by tradition.
This. the largest and most elaborate Of
Rome's innumerable fountains has in
its century and a half of existence re-
ceiyed many thousands Of coins. eagerly
given by those who have felt the spell
Of Rome. 1t matters not that the PEN
MES are promptly fished out by small
bows. who are expert at their reclama-
ton. There is universal faith in the eff
ficacy of the ceremonial
Last night We flung our pennies into
the fountain. And after tossing them in
we each threw one over
head to make sure the charm will work.