Rome, Italy, January 21st, 1873.
Editor Deseret News:
We arrived here on the fifteenth inst. This city is built on both sides of the Tiber, about fifteen miles from where it empties into the Mediterranean. In 1867 it contained two hundred and fifteen thousand inhabitants, of whom six thousand were clergymen, five thousand nuns, four thousand five hundred Jews, four hundred and fifty Protestants, seven thousand three hundred soldiers, and, in the winter season, about twenty-five thousand visitors. In the day of its greatest prosperity, Rome exceeded two millions; in the middle of the fourteenth century, it had been reduced by disease, poverty and war to less than twenty thousand people. What is now understood as modern Rome is surrounded by a wall twelve miles in length, about fifty feet high, and built of brick.
The famous "seven hills," on which Rome was principally erected, are now measurably uninhabited. A few churches, monasteries, nunneries, old farm-houses, gardens and vineyards occupy these hills which formerly astonished the world with marble edifices, palaces and magnificent temples; much of this glory and grandeur now lie from ten to twenty feet beneath the surface of the ground. Napoleon III purchased extensive grounds on which a portion of ancient Rome was built, and expended large sums in excavations to aid him in his "History of the Caesars." He made many important discoveries, several of which we saw while exploring the ruins—portions of streets, temples, beautiful edifices, numerous statues, marble and granite columns, which were found buried twenty feet underground. The Italian government is now prosecuting the work commenced by Napoleon, constantly bringing to light Roman history and its antiquities. We saw sufficient of the remains of the ancient Roman forum, the place of popular assemblies, where the orators addressed the people, to satisfy us of its former grandeur and magnificence. We stood where Antony, in his artful speech over the murdered body of Julius Caesar, aroused the indignation of the populace against the conspirators; and where Virginius procured his knife and killed his daughter to preserve her from slavery. We also walked over the ground where the Sabine women rushed frantically between their husbands and fathers to prevent the impending battle.
In the Piazza di St. Pietro, we saw a famous obelisk, which was brought to Rome by the Emperor Caligula and placed in the Vatican Circus. It was removed in 1585 and erected on its present site under the superintendency of Dominica Fontana. This huge monument weighs nearly one million of pounds. It is said that Fontana, in constructing his machines, had neglected to make allowance for the tension of the ropes, produced by the immense weight, and that at the critical moment, though the spectators had been prohibited, under penalty of death, from speaking or shouting, one of the eight hundred workmen cried out, "Aqua alle funi!" i. e., "Water on the ropes," thus solving the difficulty. His descendants were granted important privileges for this hazardous interference. Another obelisk we noticed, called the "Obelisk of the Lateran," of red granite, covered with hieroglyphics, which was brought from Alexandria to the mouth of the Tiber in a vessel of three hundred oars. It is supposed to have been standing in Egypt anterior to the exodus of the Israelites, and probably is four thousand years old. It is one hundred and forty-one feet high, and weighs nearly four hundred and fifty-five tons.
Some portions of the celebrated Temple of Venus and Rome still remain. It was built by the Emperor Hadrian, after his own design. When it was finished, he asked Appolodoros what he thought of it. The architect replied that it was very good for an emperor, whereupon Hadrian ordered him to be beheaded.
We went to the "Tarpeian Rock," the precipice from which criminals were thrown down; there is considerable rubbish beneath, but it is still sufficiently lofty to insure unpleasant results of a fall from its summit.
There are very few monuments that exhibit more effectually the splendor of ancient Rome than the remains of the celebrated Colosseum. It was commenced by Vespasian and completed by Titus, after his conquest of the Jews. It is said that sixty thousand Jews were engaged ten years in this gigantic antique structure. After it had fallen into decay, it was used as a quarry from which were built churches and palaces until, by its consecration as holy ground, on account of the number of martyrs supposed to have suffered within its walls, this vandalism was discontinued. It seated eighty-seven thousand people, with standing room for twenty thousand. Its inauguration, Anno Domini 81, continued one hundred days, during which five thousand wild beasts and ten thousand captives were slain. Its circumference is one thousand six hundred and forty-one feet, the height of the outer wall one hundred and fifty-seven, the length of the arena two hundred and seventy-eight, and its width one hundred and seventy-seven feet, the whole superficial area, six acres. In the museum of the Capitol, we saw a striking representation of the character of the former scenes enacted in the arena of this amphitheatre. A marble statue of a dying gladiator—a wonderful specimen of the perfection to which the art of sculpture had attained. The figure is in a reclining posture, a deep cut in the side, the blood trickling down, a broken sword lying beside it, the muscles gradually relaxing and strength failing, the lineaments of the face expressing intense anguish, yet determined resolution to conceal pain, as the poet says:
"I see before me the gladiator lie;
He leans upon his hand—his manly brow
Consents to death, but conquers agony
And his drooped head sinks gradually low,
And through his side, the last drops, ebbing slow,
From the red gash fall heavy one by one,
Like the first of a thunder shower; and now
The arena swims around him; he is gone
Ere ceased the inhuman shout which hailed
The wretch who won."
We visited several celebrated Roman cathedrals, St. Peter's first and foremost. The area of this church is two hundred and twelve thousand three hundred and twenty-one square feet, its exterior six hundred and fifty-one feet in length, its height from the pavement to the cross on the summit is four hundred and forty-eight feet. It contains two hundred and ninety windows, three hundred and ninety statues, forty-six altars and seven hundred and forty-eight columns. The dome rises three hundred and eighteen feet above the roof, and has a circumference of six hundred and fifty-two feet. In the seventeenth century the dome showed signs of giving way, and was strengthened by means of huge iron hoops.