Coliseum.

Extract from Byron.

still the main walls keep their place, firm and unshaken, in solid majesty, bidding defiance to all the invasions of man, and even to Time himself. And so it will remain unto all coming ages, a mighty witness to the Truth, of which it is itself a fitting emblem,

"While stands the Coliseum Rome shall stand;
When falls the Coliseum Rome shall fall,

And when Rome falls, the world."

A cross now stands in the center of the arena, and from a rude pulpit underneath, a monk preaches every Fridaythe slaughter-house of Christians at length a Christian temple!

The space enclosed within the amphitheatre is about six acres, and would probably contain more than a hundred thousand spectators.

To name the Coliseum is to recall to the reader's mind Byron's description, so comprehensive, suggestive and eloquent that without apology, I insert it, assured of its finding a welcome from all who favor these pages with a perusal.

I do remember me, that in my youth,

When I was wandering,-upon such a night

I stood within the Coliseum's wall,

Midst the chief relics of almighty Rome;
The trees which grew along the broken arches
Waved dark in the blue midnight, and the stars
Shone through the rents of ruin! from afar
The watch-dog bay'd beyond the Tiber; and
More near from out the Cæsar's palace came
The owl's long cry, and interruptedly,

Of distant sentinels the fitful song
Begun and died upon the gentle wind.

Some cypresses beyond the time-worn breach,
Appeared to skirt the horizon, yet they stood

Bath of Caracalla.

Within a bowshot where the Cæsars dwelt,
And dwell the tuneless birds of night, amidst

A grove which springs through level'd battlements,
And twines its roots with the imperial hearths.
Ivy usurps the laurel's place of growth;-
But the gladiator's bloody circus stands,
A noble wreck in ruinous perfection!

While Cæsar's chambers, and the Augustan halls,
Grovel on earth in indistinct decay,-

And thou didst shine, thou rolling moon, upon
All this, and cast a wide and tender light,
Which softened down the hoar austerity
Of rugged desolation, and filled up,
As 'twere anew, the gaps of centuries;
Leaving that beautiful which still was so,
And making that which was not, till the place

Became religion, and the heart ran o'er
With silent worship of the great of old ;-

The dead but scepter'd sovereigns, who still rule
Our spirits from their urns.

The Baths of Caracalla were not passed by in our observation of ruins, nor will they be by the reader, when he makes the like circuit. There they are upon the eastern slope of the Aventine, occupying an area of a mile in circuit, quaintly styled by high modern authority, "a townmeeting of ruins without a moderator." (The reader may attach his own meaning to the phrase.) Luxury held there its ancient banquet-nothing being left for the senses to crave. Little now presents itself but "massive walls, fallen ceiling, patches of mosaic, vaults half-filled with rubbish, enormous blocks of stone and marble," all indicating a structure which might well compare with its contemporaries for extent, grandeur, and architectural eloquence.

Dr. Park, in his valuable "Hand-book for American Travelers in Europe," gives the names of one hundred and eighteen places of interest to be visited, among which are.

Names of Celebrities.

Salutation.

Santa Maria del Popolo, Plazza del Popolo, Corso, Santa Carlo, St. Lorenzo, Column of Antoninus, Temple of Antoninus Pius, Sciarra Palace, St. Marcello, St. Maria in Via Lata, Doria Palace, Palazza Venezia, St. Mareo, Torlonia Palace, Church of the Jesuits, Capitoline Hill, Senatorial Palace, Conservatori, Tarpeian Rock, Mamertine Prison, Arch of Severus, Forum, Arch of Titus, Palace of the Cæsars, Coliseum, Arch of Constantine, St. John Lateran, Scala Santa, Porta Maggiore, St. Pietro in Vinculo, Baths of Titus, Trajan's Forum, Baths of Dioclesian, Pantheon, St. Lorenzo, Arch of Janus, Circus Maximus, Baths of Caracalla, Appian Way, Columbaria, Catacombs, House of Rienzo, St. Peter's, Vatican, with its various appendages. Most of these we visited, our time of remaining being governed by their relative importance. Rome is a city of wonders, and were the writer to bring to the notice of his reader all the celebrities which are to be met within its precincts; or all that he and his companions saw while there, this chapter would be extended greatly beyond its present length. Specimens of classes and not each in detail entered into the plan proposed. Without going to the many remaining decayed walls, fallen arches, broken columns, and grass-covered blocks of marble and stone, we must bid them all a parting salutation. It has been but as a shake of the hand and hope of future and longer acquaintance. From that hour the palaces, churches, and ruins of Rome are not the strangers which they were before our eyes rested upon them. We know where they stood and how they look, and while a longer intimacy might have been agreeable, we are thankful for what we have received of pleasure and instruction.

CHAPTER XXIV.

Modes of disposing of the Dead.-Columbaria.-Catacombs.

So live that when thy summons comes to join

The innumerable caravan, that moves

To that mysterious realm where each shall take
His chamber in the silent halls of death-

Thou go not, like the quarry slave at night,

Scourged to his dungeon; but sustained and soothed

By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave

Like one that draws the drapery of his couch

About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams.-BRYANT.

GREAT diversity has ever prevailed among nations respecting the disposal of the human body when life has departed therefrom. Usages are modified, and in some cases, controlled, by the popular sentiment regarding the condition of the soul after leaving its material abode. The ancient Egyptians, believing that if the physical frame could be kept entire, it would be re-visited by its former inmate, contrived by means of embalming to secure it from decay.

Among many tribes of North American Indians, the custom holds of placing the body in a deep pit standing or in a sitting posture; dress, weapons, and domestic utensils by the side, with a quantity of food near at hand, all which are needful upon the hunting grounds of the land whither the deceased had gone. The theology of Hindooism teaches that the highest felicity beyond the grave is achieved by being buried in the holy Ganges, or devoured by the sacred kite. Hence, while the prevailing usage is to burn, multitudes are disposed of in a manner most conducive to these ends. Burying in the native earth or in mausoleums is

Disposals of the Dead.

Columbaria.

common in Christian and Mohamedan lands, while the process of embalming gave rise to the Catacombs.

From the earliest times, disposing of the corpse by burning has been common in eastern countries, and still is in India and other oriental lands. This custom was habitual in Rome during the reigns of the first Cæsars, and continued to the days of the Antonines, when the habit of burying was revived. During the period, when cremation was in vogue, it was customary with many to gather the ashes, and deposit them in small jars laid away in subterranean rooms. Of these COLUMBARIA (so called from the pigeon-shaped holes within), there are several in the neighborhood of Rome, to one of which I paid an interesting visit in company with my respected associates. Descending a dozen steps, we found a square room, thirty or so feet on each side and eight in height, the center occupied with a square pile, leaving but an aisle for walking. On either side were small niches, called olla, occupied each with a stone urn containing the ashes of those who, centuries ago, had passed from the stage of life. Upon the sepulchral jar, or on the wall above, was the name of the deceased and other mementoes of family and affection. Members of royal familes were placed in a SARCOPHAGUS (a coffin so named, from the species of stone of which it was formed, and which had the property of consuming the flesh of bodies deposited therein.) I met with several of these troughs or bath-shaped looking coffins, measuring usually eight feet long, four broad, and four deep. Others have been found of double their dimensions, the lid being a single block of stone, and bearing the effigies of its royal or noble inmate. Next to the Egyptian Catacombs, the most extensive with which we are ac