The daily star-mirror. (Moscow, Idaho) 1911-1939, 1914-01-28
GERLOUGH VISITS
CATO'S BIRTHPLACE
THE ITALIAN SKIES ARE EVEN AS
BEAUTIFUL TODAY AS THEY
WERE OF OLD
Rome's Ancient Grandeur Now Lies in
Ruins.
To the Editor of the Argonaut,

II
To the Editor of the Argonaut,
: Dear Sir:-My Baedeker says tina
the birthplace of Cato and the favorit
, residence of Cicero was Tusculum,
village in the Alban mountains; so yes
terday l started out to see the place
To get there it is well to take thu
electric train to Frascati which is /!
miles southeast of Rome and then wall
up the mountain on which the ancien
town of Tusculum was situated The
walk takes ordinarily an hour and {
half
When l got out of the train it was
raining but since | have only a few
weeks in which to see the wonders in
and around this ancient city | thought
l had better improve the time by walk
ig up the mountain, rain or no rain, sc
| started to climb. AS | climbed l be-
gan to wonder why it is that famous
L
lsion to glance through has taken as his
main theme, it seems to me, that
Dutch painters are clever and skillful
colorists because of the fogs in their
atmosphere and Italians are wonder
full craftsmen because Of the blue and
cloudless Italian sky" That gentle
| ! l1<..1
much in Italy in the winter time for
when | got up a little higher the rain
stopped for little while :tnd the sun
lightly shone between the clouds and,
Mr.. Editor, it was a true Turner pic
ture that | was privileged to gaze upon
! like Mr.. John Ruskin used to harp on
when he was Slade professor of fine
art at Oxford There were mists and
brown and green colorings and classic
ciate, in very small way, the feelings
of that famous artist Turner when
began to paint scenes from Italy about
hundred years ago because | have
stood on the side of that mountain
and gazed out over the Roman Cam
pagna.
All of that fiat plane between the
Alban mountains and the city of Rome
is now a mass of desolate ruins ano
of waste where in classic times it was
covered with teeming population of
busy slaves and small farmers and
was the home of wealthy and infuen-
tial land lords who cared for their
farms and took great sanitary precau-
lions to gaurd against the malaria that
has been one OF the greatest curses
that Italians have had to fight against
since, as some scholars tell us, the
days when the VOLCANOES quit belching
in the Alban range. OF the many causes
of the fall of the Roman government
of classic times the malaria is one that
I believe is now included in the list.
1t broke out with great violence when
the barbarians broke down the aque-
ducts and the early Christians in their
zeal for the faith burned down the
sylvan groves that were sacred to
heather gods.
After ] had climbed little higher I
could look to the south and see the !
town of Marine and Mount Cavo. 1t is
from between those two places on the
shores of the Lake of Albanum that the
old Latins came For there scholars
say, I believe, is the famous Alba
Louga On the other side of the lake
s the city of Albanum and that for
some mischeivous reason leads me to
speak of the old emperor Nero and to
BRING up again the subject of wine
1t seems that old Nero was a rascal
If the first water At least that is the
way his character has been portrayed
n the history books. Perhaps it was
n order to live up to that title that he
bought one day he would pollute
acred pool by swimming across it. He
lid it and caught a terrible cold from
when he almost uleu. AllOlHol eplSouc
S told of how he burned down the
Eternal City after he had secretly pro-
ided for the people a lot of tents and
tationed a lot of cornshipS at differ
mt posts in the Mediterranean with
riders to sail quickly at the set time
0 keep the people from starving to
cath. At other times he used to burn
christians and once he was known to
anne man Icarus, disguise him as an
eroplane and tell him to fly. The poor
elbow did as he was told but hadn't
own very far when he lost his nerve
nd consequently his life, by falling
ito the Roman Forum on the hard
tone pavement of the Sacred Way.
But now l must tell you about the
inc. 1t seems that Nero one day was
red of art or some other things he
known to have been very fond of and
G sent for his chief engineers to ask
lem what they could do for him in the
ay of novelty. They suggested that !