I Pay For An Excellent Room About Three Paoli Per Diem And My
Breakfast At A Neighbouring Caffe Costs Me One Paolo.
A paolo is
worth about five pence English.
There are ten paoli to a scudo Romano
and ten bafocchi to a paolo, The bafocco is a copper coin.
ROME, 12th Sept.
A great number of Germans dine at the table d'hote of Franz's hotel.
Among them I distinguished one day a very intelligent Bavarian Jew. I
proposed to him a walk to the Coliseum the following morning, as
independent of the benefit I derived from his conversation I was curious to
see whether it was true or not that the Jews always avoided walking under
the Arch of Titus, which was erected in commemoration of the capture of
Jerusalem by the Romans under Titus, in the reign of Vespasian. On stepping
out of the Hotel Allemand, the first thing that met my eye was the
identical beggar described by Kotzebue in his travels in Italy, and he
gives the very same answer now as then to those who give him nothing, viz.,
Pazienza.
We crossed the Piazza di Spagna, ascended the superb flight of steps of
the Trinita de' Monti, where there is a French church called the Church
of St Louis: near it is the Villa Medici, which is the seat of the French
Academy of the fine arts at Rome. We then filed along the Strada Felice
till we arrived at the church of Santa Maria maggiore, a superb edifice,
the third church in Rome in celebrity, and the second in magnificence. An
immense Egyptian Obelisk stands before it. We then, turning a little to the
right, made the best of our way to the Coliseum where we remained nearly
two hours. I had figured to myself the grandest ideas of this stupendous
building, but the aspect of it far exceeded the sketch even of my
imagination. In Egypt I have seen the Pyramids, but even these vast masses
did not make such an impression on me as the Coliseum has done. I am so
unequal to the task of description that I shall not attempt it; I will give
you however its dimensions which my friend the Jew measured. It is an
ellipse of which the transverse axis is 580 feet in length and its
conjugate diameter 480; but it is not so much the length and breadth as the
solidity of this building that strikes the traveller with astonishment. The
arcaded passage or gallery (on the rez de chaussee between the interior
and the exterior wall), which has a vaulted roof over which the seats are
built, is broad enough to admit three carriages abreast: and the walls on
each side of this gallery are at least twenty feet thick. What a
magnificent spectacle it must have been in the time of the ancient Romans,
when it was ornamented, gilded, and full of spectators, of which it could
contain, it is said, 86,000! The Coliseum has been despoiled by various
Popes and Cardinals to furnish stone and marble to build their palaces;
otherwise, so solid is the building, Time alone would never suffice to
destroy it. At present strict orders are given and sentries are posted to
prevent all further dilapidations, and buttresses have been made to prop up
those parts which had given way. What a pity it is that the Arena has not
been left empty, instead of being fitted up with tawdry niches and images
representing the different stations of the Crucifixion! In the centre is an
immense Cross, which whoever kisses is entitled to one hundred days
indulgence. To what reflections the sight of this vast edifice leads! What
combats of gladiators and wild beasts! What blood has been spilled! Was it
not here that the tyrannical and cowardly Domitian ordered Ulpius Glabrio,
of consular dignity, to descend into the arena and fight with a lion? The
Christian writers mention that many of their sect suffered martyrdom here
by being compelled to fight with wild beasts; but even this was not half so
bad as the conduct of the Christians, when they obtained possession of
political power and dominion, in burning alive poor Jews, Moors and
heretics some centuries afterwards. Indeed the cruelty of the Pagans was
much exaggerated by the above writers and were it even true to its full
extent, their severity was far more excusable than that of the Christians
in later times, for the efforts of the Christian sect in the times of
Paganism were unceasingly directed towards the destruction of the whole
fabric of polytheism, on which was based the entire, social and political
order of the Empire; and they thus brought on themselves perhaps merited
persecution, by their own intolerance; whereas, when they got the upper
hand, they showed no mercy to those of a different religion, and Orthodoxy
has wallowed successively in the blood of Arians, Jews, Moors and
Protestants.
How many a poor Jew or Moor in Spain and Portugal has been burned alive for
no other reason than
Pour n'avoir point quitte la foi de leurs ancetres.
No, no; no sect or religion was ever so persecuting as the Catholic
Christians! The Polytheists of all times, both ancient and modern, were
tolerant to all religions and so far from striving to make proselytes,
often adopted the ceremonies of other worships in addition to their own;
witness the Egyptians, Greeks and Romans of old, and the Hindoos and
Chinese of the present day. The Jews, ferocious and prejudiced as they
were, never persecuted other nations on the ground of religion, and if they
held these nations in abhorrence as idolaters, and considered themselves
alone as the holy people, the people of God (Yahoudi), they never dreamed
of making converts. The Mussulmans tho' they hold it as a sacred precept of
their religion to endeavour to make converts to Islam, do not use violent
means and only compel those of a different faith to pay a higher tribute.
At any rate, they never have or do put people to death merely for the
difference of religious opinions.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 77 of 149
Words from 77825 to 78849
of 151859
