A MARATHON RUN TO ROME
"All roads lead to Rome!" called Edith, from her seat in the
automobile, to Rafael in the door of the inn. The boy gave her a merry
salute in answer, and climbed to his place by her side.
It was a lovely morning, and every peasant they passed waved a hand in
friendly greeting to the two happy young people, while Mrs. Sprague
leaned back and listened to their merry chatter, which never stopped
through the long hours.
Rafael was constantly calling Edith's attention to this thing or
that,--to the gray oxen, to the flocks of sheep, to the donkey carts
which they passed. At last Edith said, "Rafael, why do you look always
at the road? Why don't you look instead of those distant mountains,
with the castles and monasteries crowning their peaks?"
Rafael looked somewhat bewildered. "These animals are all so
foreign-looking to me," he said gently; "and it is a new thing for me
to see men digging in the fields, and women picking leaves from the
trees."
"Why, of course!" said Edith, remembering that Rafael was used to
canals instead of roads, and the changing waters of a lagoon rather
than green meadows. "It is a new sight to me, as well," she added,
"that of women picking the mulberry leaves to feed to silkworms. We
have few silkworms in our country.
"But neither do we have mountains crowned with castles. When I go
home, I shall have to imagine that the hotel on top of Mt. Washington
is a haunted monastery crowning the summit of a lofty peak."
Although Rafael knew nothing about Mt. Washington and the hotel on its
top, he did know that Edith was a bright, observant girl who liked a
touch of the ideal, so he asked, "Do you know about the Marathon runs
of ancient Greece?"
"Yes, indeed!" she answered. "We have them now once a year at my own
home in the United States, and there is great excitement over the
winning of the twenty-six mile run."
Rafael shook his head in mock discouragement. "There is nothing in
Europe which you have not also in the United States,--except age," he
added.
"And history," said Edith.
"Yes, history," the boy repeated. "I like our history." Then he
laughed and said drolly, "You may have all the history you like from
my mother. She says it is better than salt. My own head is filled to
bursting with all the stories she has told me of the men of olden
times; of their wars and victories, their triumphs and their games.
Why can we not call this ride to Rome a Marathon run?"
"A Marathon run! What fun!" exclaimed the girl. "How far away is
Rome?"
"More than a hundred miles," he said. "Do you suppose we could
possibly reach the site of the Golden Milestone before sunset?"
Edith's eyes sparkled at the thought, and she leaned forward to speak
to the chauffeur. "Is the machine running well?" she asked. "Can we
travel one hundred miles to-day?"
The man shook his head doubtfully. "There are mountains between here
and Rome," he answered, "and it is not well to push the car too hard."
Edith looked at Rafael imploringly. "You are a man; can you not
persuade him?" she asked under her breath.
The boy was pleased to be called a man; but as he was in truth a
gallant Italian lad, he said courteously, "It is for you to persuade."
Then to the chauffeur he said, "Please stop for a moment at the first
olive-garden."
"What are you going to do?" asked Edith curiously.
"Make it easy for you to persuade," he answered; and as the car
stopped he jumped out, sprang to the top of the wall, broke off a
branch of beautiful, silvery-green leaves, and presented it to Edith
with a graceful bow.
"What can you make with the leaves?" he asked with a smile.
Edith looked at the branch thoughtfully for a moment.
"I know," she cried, "the victor's crown of olives!" and she clapped
her hands together with delight. "See," she said to the chauffeur, "if
you will reach the Golden Milestone in Rome by sunset, you shall have
a crown of olive leaves."
She said it hesitatingly. The chauffeur was a quiet, business-like
man, and Edith, with a child's judgment, supposed him to be too old to
feel a single thrill of ambition.
Perhaps he was. Perhaps it was only the desire to give pleasure to the
American girl that moved him to smile faintly and say, "Well! Well! We
will see what our car can do; but it is not at all likely that we
shall see Rome this night."
However, he began at once to increase the speed, carefully to be sure,
but with purpose.
Edith turned to the task of plaiting a wreath of leaves. As her
fingers twisted and arranged them to make the most of their dull green
upper surfaces, she asked Rafael, "What of this Golden Milestone? I
have never heard of it."
"It was a gilded stone set up in the old Roman Forum by the Emperor
Augustus," Rafael replied. "He wished to make of the city a great
trading center; and so he built many roads radiating from the Forum to
all parts of ancient Italy. The distances of all the principal towns,
measured from the city gates, were recorded on the golden stone.
Although it is no longer there, its place is marked."
Edith was disappointed. "I thought I was going to see it," she said,
twisting a leaf to show its gray under-side.
"There are so many other ruins from the days, of ancient Rome, that
you will never miss the milestone," Rafael assured her.
"How do you know?" she asked.
"My mother has told me about them," he answered. "It was only by word
of mouth that much of the earliest history of the world was made
known, and I have learned it in the same way."
"It may not be the most 'up-to-date' fashion," said the girl, "but it
is certainly more interesting. I wish you would try it now, and tell
me something about the Eternal City."
The young Italian boy, who was making his first journey into the heart
of his native land, felt his own heart expand with joy as he looked
across the beautiful valleys to the distant blue mountains for
inspiration.
"It was many hundred years before the birth of Christ that people
first came into Italy," he said. "My mother told me that they wandered
over here from Central Asia in search of good pastures for their
flocks, but it was so many centuries ago that very little is known
about them."
Edith pointed to a roughly thatched hut in a distant field, and asked,
"Do you suppose they lived in huts like that?"
"Not at first," the boy answered. "It was a long time before they
built even such good huts as that one. It was only little by little
that they learned to clear the ground and cultivate it with rude
tools; to make dishes out of clay and cook their food; to spin and
weave the wool from their sheep, and to live under shelter.
"At first each family lived by itself, but after a time they began to
form tribes and choose the strongest and bravest of their number for a
chief. This chief governed them in times of peace and led them in
their wars with other tribes, becoming their leader or king.
"There were many such tribes in Italy, and for centuries they lived
here, waging constant warfare with each other and with other tribes
and nations."
"Were there no civilized people in those days?" asked Edith.
"Yes," replied Rafael, "there were the people of Egypt and Greece; and
some of the Grecians had already wandered over into Italy before the
time of Romulus.
"When he ploughed a trench for the strong wall which was to be built
for a fortification, Romulus ploughed around a great altar to the
Greek god, Hercules."
"Who was Romulus?" interrupted Edith.
"It is said that he was the founder of the city of Rome," Rafael told
her. "He was a son of Mars, the god of war, and he founded the city
753 years before the birth of Christ. There are some parts of his wall
still standing. He lifted his plough over the places where the gates
were to be built."
"Why, Rafael?"
"Because the ground where the walls would stand was made sacred, but
the gateways would be profaned by the passing of many feet."
"How many gates were there?" Edith asked.
"Three; but please don't ask me their names, for I never learned them.
There are many gates in the walls which now surround the city."
[Illustration: GATEWAY OF SAN SEBASTIAN, ROME.
There are many gates in the walls which now surround the city.]
Edith put down her wreath and laughed with glee. "I'm glad there is
something you never learned about Italian history," she said. "But
tell me what it was like, this early city of Rome."
"Romulus chose a hill for the site of his village, and soon men from
the neighboring tribes came to join him, so that the town grew large
and prosperous and covered two hills instead of one.
"Those early Romans lived in rude huts. They made their tools of
flint, bone and bronze, and their dishes of clay. Beside each house
was a garden and sheepfold. Every morning the peasants went to their
work on the farms, and the shepherds drove their little flocks outside
the city walls. Arched gateways were built in the walls, and through
these gates everyone entering or leaving the city was obliged to
pass."
"Think of having sheep and cattle inside the city," exclaimed Edith.
"I suppose they had to be protected from the wild animals."
"Yes," replied Rafael, "and from the hostile tribes who were always
ready to steal them. There are many stories about those tribes, and
about the kings who governed the city after Romulus died. Some of the
kings made wise laws and ruled in peace, but others led armies to
conquer the neighboring tribes, and added small territories to their
kingdom."
"And I suppose each king tried to do something to make his name
famous," said Edith.
"Not for that reason," Rafael replied. "He did it for the good of the
city. Many of the roads and canals and temples which are now famous
ruins, were built by some of those old kings.
"As Rome was on the River Tiber, fifteen miles from the sea, one king
built a seaport at the mouth of the river, and a long straight road
leading down to it, which was laid so solidly that it is still in use
to-day.
"The valleys between the hills of Rome were wet and marshy. A king
named Tarquin drained those marshes by building immense stone sewers.
One of them was so large that several yoke of oxen could pass through
it side by side, and the work was so well done that it is in good
condition now, although it is more than twenty-four hundred years old.
"One marsh which the sewer drained was used as a market-place.
Shop-keepers set their stalls up there; temples and public buildings
were erected, and it became known as the Roman Forum."
"The very Forum where we are going?" asked Edith eagerly.
"Yes," replied Rafael, "the very Forum where Augustus, several hundred
years later, set up the Golden Milestone."
"What else did those old Romans do?" asked Edith.
"They were fond of amusements," said Rafael. "One of the valleys
between two of the hills was a good place for races and other games.
On the sloping hillsides on each side of the valley, seats were built
for thousands of spectators, and the place was called the Circus
Maximus.
"The same king who built the sewers built also a strong fortress on
the top of one of the hills. This fortress was called the Capitol, and
the hill was called the Capitoline Hill. He also ordered that a wall
should be built all around the seven hills to enclose the city, but it
was not finished during his lifetime."
"Let us get out the map and look at it," suggested the girl, who had
finished plaiting the olive wreath.
So the wreath was put away in the hamper, and the two heads were soon
bending over a great map of Rome; and Rafael traced the lines of the
old wall which Romulus built.
Just then Mrs. Sprague looked up at the sun. "It is time for lunch,"
she said, and began unpacking the lunch-basket, while the car rolled
steadily nearer and nearer to the Roman Forum.