The Mentor, No. 46, Among the Ruins of Rome
AMONG THE RUINS OF ROME
By GEORGE WILLIS BOTSFORD
Professor of History, Columbia University. Author of “TheStory of Rome,” “A History of Rome.”
ONE OF THE CAMPAGNA AQUEDUCTS
THE MENTOR
SERIAL No. 46 Department of Travel
MENTOR GRAVURES
THE CAMPAGNA · THE FORUM TOWARD THE CAPITOL ·THE FORUM FROM THE CAPITOL · THE COLOSSEUM ·THE ARCH OF TITUS · THE TOMB OF HADRIAN
Entered as second-class matter March 10, 1913, at the postoffice at New York, N. Y., under the act of March 3, 1879. Copyright,1913, by The Mentor Association, Inc., New York.
Shortly after sunset the express train, speeding north from Naples,emerges from the mountains and begins winding its way downgrade. The expectant visitor to the Eternal City sees below himthrough the car window a broad expanse of plain, sloping imperceptiblyon the left to the sea, in front to the Tiber River. It is an ocean of green,here quietly level, there billowed in ridges or headed up in round hillocks.
EMPEROR CLAUDIUS
This is the Campagna, the broad flat belt which borders the Tiberon the left. At first sight it reveals to us its solitude. In early Romantimes it had swarmed with peasants who owned the lands they tilled. Asthe city grew wealthy the district fell into the hands of lords, who coveredit with their luxurious villas, peopled by multitudes of slaves. Stilllater, when Rome was declining, these villas fell to ruins, the slaves disappeared,and Malaria stalked lonely and terrible over the beautifulcountry she had made her own. Even now she rules it, scarcely weakenedby modern progress. The dwellings of her few wretched tenantsare miles apart. Herds of sheep and of fierce long-horned cattle pastureon the abundant grass, and along the well-made roads that span theplain an occasional ox-team wearily drags an awkward cart.
THE TEMPLE OF CASTOR AND POLLUX
The ruins of this famous temple stand inthe Forum.
But the Campagna has its attractions. It fascinates imaginativetourists and draws them to its heart. Three or four together, theirknapsacks filled with food and drink, often take long trips through thiswild region, whose eternal quiet speaks peace to the weary mind, whosedelicate, ever-changing tints of sky and field appeal to the taste for naturalbeauty, whose ruined villas and towns awakenhistorical memories of the rise of Rome froma little settlement on the Tiber to a worldwidepower and a fame that cannot die.
THE APPIAN WAY
The most impressive features of theCampagna as we view it from