The daily telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1901-1926, 1915-12-31
Where Modern Soldiers March
ing Payne Attention to the
Military Movements.

VlteI = mUueItl oUIulet . mdIVIls
ing Pay No Attention to the
Military Movements.
Correspondence of the Associated Prsss.)
ROME, Dec. There are
Strange and sugs contrasts here
in the Eternal City curing these war
days, with the soldiers Of today
marching and camping along the
monuments and ruins Of the soldiers
of the past. Today regiment Of
Italian infantry came from the APP
plan way. passed the Palatine hill
with the gaunt and cavernous ruins
Of the palaces Of the Caesars, then
swung In q long circle around the
arch Of Constantine, passed the Coli
scum and the Forum, and then moved
on along the Tiber to the crumbling
ruin of that bridge where Horatius
held back the Tarquin army.
These modern soldiers marched
smartly and paid no attention to the
venerable monuments Of military
glory all around them. It was mere
" one Of many detachments moving
from the suburbs to the barrack near
the Janicnlum. They are sturdy young
peasant soldiers. with dark faces and
eyes. Their uniforms were blush
gray loose and ill-ftting, with square
cap and low-falling wiser. They car
ried their guns irregularly at should
er-arms.
Around these old monuments. Of
Rome soldiers may be seen marching
all hours Of the day. and the sculp-
lures and inscriptions seem to show
how the remote past is bound up
with the events Of the day. Around
the Coliseum, for instance, soldiers
have been marching for the last two
thousand years. The arch Of Con-
stantine commemorate Constantine's
great victory over Marentius and the
founding Of Constantinople, to which
Constantine gave his name-Consant-
inople. which was center of warfare
nearly two thousand years ago as It
Is today. Nearby the Arch Of IT.
tus marks the capture of Jerusalem.
One Of the reliefs on the Titus arch
shows a tremendous battle with the
Dacians. The soldiers who keep
passing today seldom glance at these
battles of the past: and, singularly,
the tourists seldom glance at the SOL
diers Of today, but are absorbed in
the monuments Of past military
achievements.
A favorite place Of resort for the
officers and soldiers when off duty is
the piazza Venezia in the heart Of
Rome, with view of the nearby coll
umn Of Trajan. The column looks as
solid today as when erected eighteen
hundred years ago In honor Of Emper-
or Trajan. II the soldiers took the
trouble to examine the sculptured re-
liefs, winding from top to bottom, they
would find almost counterpart Of
the battles going on today in the Bal
kans, as these reliefs represent the
wars with the German tribes along
the Danube-battles on the very
ground where the Germans, Serbs and
Bulgarians have just been fighting.
One relief represents a thirsty army
| getting relief from providential rain
storm.
The chief encampment Of Italian
troops Is in the suburb west of Rome
on the broad plain Of Mont Mario,
named after the great soldier Marius.
There are 1000 to G, 900 soldiers in this
encampment, and they are tramping
over the same ground that Marius and
his legions marched. It was through
Mont Mario. also. that all the great
invasions Of Rome occurred, with the
final capture and sacking of the city
and the fall OF the Roman empire. And
these soldiers of today are maneuver-
ing over the same ground that wit
messed these decisive events Of the
worlds history.
Crossing the Tiber one sees soldiers
on guard along the upper walls Of the
great castle OF st. Angelo. The So
called castle is in fact the tomb Of the
soldier Emperor Hadrian, and COM
memorates his achievements. It was
used as military barracks at one
time. but now new barracks have been
built and only few soldiers are left
as guard Of honor for this monument
of past military glory.
| There Is the same military move
ment going on around all these FAM
GUS monuments Of the past. And the
inscriptions show that about the same
thing has been going on for two thous-
and years-soldiers marching, armies
| fighting along the Danube, the Rhine
and the Alps. and other armies headed
toward neutrality-suspicious. re-
peating itself.