We were conducted into a small chapel, held in high esteem by the Catholics through a tradition that Peter, when imprisoned in Rome, escaped in the night, and upon reaching this point the Savior met him and told him he was going to Rome to be crucified the second time, whereupon Peter, taking the hint, returned to the city and suffered crucifixion. On the floor of this church is a marble slab with a fac-simile of the footmark of the Savior, which is pretended to have been made upon the pavement on which he stood.
Rome possesses many obelisks and monumental columns; one, erected by Bernini, formed of red granite covered with hieroglyphics, stands in the Piazza Navona, in the midst of a fountain, on rock work forty feet high; the height of the obelisk is fifty-one feet. I was amused with an anecdote connected with this monument, related by our guide. Bernini had bitter enemies, who insisted that the foundation was inadequate to the support of the column. With the greatest difficulty, overcoming the immense influence against him, he succeeded in erecting the obelisk. One day his enemies raised a tremendous excitement by reporting that the foundation was giving way. The square was soon filled with an enthusiastic populace, every moment expecting the superstructure to go down. Bernini, on hearing this state of things, proceeded to the square in his carriage; arriving in front of his work, disregarding the hisses and groans of the people, he ordered ladders, connected them together, and ascending to the top of the obelisk, drew from his pocket a ball of twine, unwound until he had four strings, each of sufficient length to reach across the square, and fastened one end of each to the top of the column. He then descended—gathered the opposite ends, walked around the square, fastening each end at opposite points to the buildings, by means of small nails driven into the plaster of the walls. He then coolly stepped into his carriage and drove home. Before he left the square, however, the people, comprehending the joke, honored him with thundering applause, to the great discomfiture of his enemies.
The Forum of Trajan has been partially uncovered, revealing statues, broken columns and many other relics in great numbers. One obelisk, one hundred and twenty-four feet high, still stands in this forum, formerly surmounted by a colossal statue of the Emperor Trajan, now by that of St. Peter. It is covered with upwards of two thousand five hundred human figures, averaging two feet in length. In this forum it is said that Constantine, in the presence of the dignitaries of the empire, and a vast assemblage of the people, renounced Paganism and declared for Christianity; that upon this announcement the Christians present raised a loud and prolonged shout of five minutes' continuation. Some Pagan officers, who were present, looked glum and sullen. The Christians, noticing this, and firing up under the excitement, motioned that every Pagan should be compelled to follow the example of their illustrious emperor.
There has been a slight eruption of Vesuvius in the last twenty-four hours; flames and red-hot stones were projected to a great height all day yesterday, and windows at Castellamare were shaken out by the earth's vibratory motion. There is an unusual volume of smoke issuing from the mouth of the crater, and the instruments at the observatory indicate the presence of strong electrical currents.
Lorenzo Snow.
LETTER VI.
Naples.—Beggars.—Pompeii.—Earthquakes.—Herculanaeum.—Museum.—"Secret Cabinet."—Ascent of Vesuvius.—Pliny the Elder.—From Naples to Brindisi.—Hardworking women.—Corfu.—Religious service in a Greek cathedral.—Take steamer for Alexandria.—Egypt.—Turkish mosques.—Copts.—Mohammedan schools.—Male and Female attire.—Dervish worship.—Suez.—Red Sea.
Alexandria, Egypt, February 6th, 1873.
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