THE COLISEUM.
The grandest of all the ruins in Rome, and perhaps, indeed, of all the
ruins in the world, is the Coliseum.
The Coliseum was built as a place for the exhibition of games and
spectacles. It was of an oval form, with seats rising one above another
on all sides, and a large arena in the centre. There was no roof. The
building was so immensely large, that it would have been almost
impossible to have made a roof over it.
The spectacles which were exhibited in such buildings as these were
usually combats, either of men with men, or of men with wild beasts.
These were real combats, in which either the men or the beasts were
actually killed. The thousands of people that sat upon the seats all
around, watched the conflict, while it was going on, with intense
excitement, and shouted with ferocious joy at the end of it, in honor of
the victors.
The men that fought in the arena were generally captives taken in
battle, in distant countries, and the wild beasts were lions, tigers,
and bears, that were sent home from Africa, or from the dark forests in
the north of Europe.
The great generals who went out at the head of the Roman armies to
conquer these distant realms and annex them to the empire, sent home
these captives and wild beasts. They sent them for the express purpose
of amusing the Roman people with them, by making them fight in these
great amphitheatres. There was such an amphitheatre in or near almost
every large town; but the greatest, or at least the most celebrated, of
all these structures, was this Coliseum at Rome.
Mr. George and Rollo went to the Coliseum in a carriage. After passing
through almost the whole length of the Corso, they passed successively
through several crooked and narrow streets, and at length emerged into
the great region of the ruins. On every side were tall columns, broken
and decayed, and immense arches standing meaningless and alone, and
mounds of ancient masonry, with weeds and flowers waving in the air on
the top of them. There were no houses, or scarcely any, in this part of
the city, but only grassy slopes with old walls appearing here and there
among them; and in some places enclosed fields and gardens, with corn,
and beans, and garden vegetables of every kind, growing at the base of
the majestic ruins.
The carriage stopped at one end of the Coliseum, where there was a
passage way leading through stupendous arches into the interior.
They dismissed the carriage, Rollo having first paid the coachman the
fare. They then, after gazing upward a moment at the vast pile of arches
upon arches, towering above them, advanced towards the openings, in
order to go in.
There was a soldier with a musket in his hands, bayonet set, walking to
and fro at the entrance. He, however, said nothing to Mr. George and
Rollo; and so, passing by him, they went in.
They passed in under immense arches of the most massive masonry, and
between the great piers built to sustain the arches, until they reached
the arena. There was a broad gravel walk passing across the arena from
end to end, and another leading around the circumference of it. The rest
of the surface was covered with grass, smooth and green.
The form of the arena was oval, as has already been said, and on every
side there ascended the sloping tiers, rising one above another to a
vast height, on which the seats for the spectators had been placed. Mr.
George and Rollo advanced along the central walk, and looked around
them, surveying the scene,--their minds filled with emotions of wonder
and awe.
"What a monstrous place it was!" said Rollo.
"It was, indeed," said Mr. George.
"Is it here where the men fought with the lions and the tigers?" asked
Rollo, pointing around him over the arena.
"Yes," said Mr. George.
"And up there, all around were the seats of the spectators, I suppose,"
said Rollo.
"Yes," said Mr. George, "on those slopes."
You must know that the scats, and all the inside finish of the Coliseum,
were originally of marble, and people have stripped it all away, and
left nothing but the naked masonry; and even that is all now going to
ruin.
"What did they strip the marble off for?" asked Rollo.
"To build their houses and palaces with," replied Mr. George. "Half of
the modern palaces of Rome are built of stone and marble plundered from
the ancient ruins."
"O, uncle George!" exclaimed Rollo.
"Come out here where we can sit down," said Mr. George, "and I'll tell
you all about it."
[Illustration: LOOKING DOWN FROM THE COLISEUM.]
So saying, Mr. George led the way, and Rollo followed to one side of the
arena, where they could sit down on a large, flat stone, which seemed to
have been an ancient step. They were over-shadowed where they sat by
piers and arches, and by the masses of weeds and shrubbery that were
growing on the mouldering summits of them, and waving in the wind.
In the centre of the arena was a large cross, with a sort of platform
around it, and steps to go up. And all around the arena, on the sides,
at equal distances, there extended a range of little chapels, with
crucifixes and other Catholic symbols.
The arena of the Coliseum was kept in very neat order. For a wonder,
there were no beggars to be seen, but instead of them there were various
parties of well-dressed visitors walking about the paths, or sitting on
the massive stone fragments which lay under the ruined arches.
High up above these arches, the sloping platforms, on which the seats
formerly were placed, were to be seen rising one above another, tier
after tier, to a great height, with the ruins of galleries, corridors,
and vaulted passage ways passing around among them. The upper surfaces
of all these ruins were covered with grass and shrubbery.
"What has become of all the seats, uncle George?" said Rollo.
"Why, the seats, I suppose, were made of marble," replied Mr. George,
"or some other valuable material, and so all the stones have been taken
away."
Presently Rollo saw a party of visitors coming into view far up among
the upper stories of the ruins.
"Look, uncle George! Look!" said he; "there are some people away up
there, as high as the third or fourth story. How do you suppose they got
up there? Couldn't you and I go?"
"I presume so," said Mr. George. "I suppose that, in the way of
climbing, you and I can go as high as most people."
While Mr. George was saying this, Rollo was adjusting his opera glass to
his eyes, in order to take a nearer view of the party among the ruins.
"There are four of them," said he. "I see a gentleman, and two ladies,
and a little girl. They seem to be gathering something."
"Plants, perhaps," said Mr. George, "and flowers."
"Plants!" said Rollo, contemptuously; "I don't believe that any thing
grows out of such old stones and mortar but weeds."
"We call such things weeds," said Mr. George, "when they grow in the
gardens or fields, and are in the way; but when they grow in wild places
where they belong, they are plants and flowers."
"The gentleman is gathering them from high places all around him," said
Rollo, "and is giving them to the ladies, and they are putting them in
between the leaves of a book."
"They are going to carry them away as souvenirs of the Coliseum, I
suppose," said Mr. George.
"The girl has got a white stone in her hand," said Rollo.
"Perhaps it is a piece of marble that she has picked up," said Mr.
George.
"Now she has thrown down her white stone," said Rollo, "and has begun to
gather flowers."
"There is an immense number of plants that grow in and upon the
Coliseum," said Mr. George. "A botanist once made a complete collection
of them. How many species do you think he found?"
"Twenty," said Rollo.
"Guess again," said Mr. George.
"Fifteen," said Rollo.
"O, you must guess more, not less," said Mr. George.
"Thirty," said Rollo.
"More," said Mr. George.
"Forty," said Rollo.
"Add one cipher to it," said Mr. George, "and then you will be pretty
near right."
"What! four hundred?" exclaimed Rollo.
"Yes," said Mr. George. "A botanist made a catalogue of four hundred and
twenty plants, all growing on the ruins of this single building."
"O, uncle George!" said Rollo; "I don't think that can possibly be. I
mean to see."
So saying, Rollo laid the opera glass down upon the seat where he had
been sitting, and began to examine the masses of old ruined masonry near
him, with a view of seeing how many different kinds of plants he could
find.
"Must I count every thing, uncle George?" said Rollo.
"Yes," said Mr. George, "every thing that is a plant. Every different
kind of sprig, or little weed, that you can find--mosses, lichens, and
all."
Rollo began to count. He very soon got up to twenty, and so he came to
the conclusion that the guide book--which was the authority on which Mr.
George had stated the number of plants found upon the ruins--was right.
While Rollo was thus engaged, Mr. George had remained quietly in his
seat, and had occupied himself with studying the guide book.
"Uncle George," said Rollo, when he came back, "I give it up. I have no
doubt that there are hundreds of plants in all, growing on these ruins."
"Yes," said Mr. George; "whatever is stated in this book is very apt to
prove true."
"What else did you read about, uncle George," said Rollo, "while I was
counting the plants?"
"I read," said Mr. George, "that the Coliseum was begun about A. D. 72,
by one of the Roman emperors."
"Then it is almost eighteen hundred years old," said Rollo.
"Yes," said Mr. George; "and when it was first opened after it was
finished, they had a sort of inauguration of it, with great
celebrations, that continued one hundred days."
"That is over three months," said Rollo.
"Yes," said Mr. George; "it was a very long celebration. During this
time about five thousand wild beasts were killed in the combats in the
arena."
"This very arena right before us?" said Rollo.
"Yes," said Mr. George.
On hearing this, Rollo looked upon the arena with renewed interest and
pleasure. He endeavored to picture to himself the lions, and tigers, and
leopards, and other ferocious wild beasts, growling, snarling, and
tumbling over each other there, in the desperate combats which they
waged among themselves, or with the men sent in to fight with them.
"It continued to be used for such fights," added Mr. George, "for four
hundred years; and during this time a great many Christians were sent in
to be devoured by wild beasts, for the entertainment of the populace.
"After a while," continued Mr. George, "the Roman empire became
Christian; and then the government put a stop to all these savage
games."
"And what did they do with the Coliseum then?" asked Rollo.
"They did not know what to do with it for a time," said Mr. George; "but
at last, when wars broke out, and Rome was besieged, they tried to turn
it into a fortress."
"I should think it would make an excellent fortress," said Rollo, "only
there are no port-holes for the cannon."
"Ah! but they had no cannon in those days," said Mr. George. "They had
only bows and arrows, spears, javelins, and such sort of weapons, so
that they did not require any port-holes. The men could shoot their
weapons from the top of the wall."
In further conversation on the subject of the Coliseum, Mr. George
explained to Rollo how, in process of time, Rome was taken by the
barbarians, and a great portion of the Coliseum was destroyed; and then,
afterwards, when peace was restored, how the government, instead of
repairing the building, pulled it to pieces still more, in order to get
marble, and hewn stone, and sculptured columns, to build palaces with;
and how, at a later period, there was a plan formed for converting the
vast structure into a manufactory; and how, in connection with this
plan, immense numbers of shops were fitted up in the arcades and arches
below,--and how the plan finally failed, after having cost the pope who
undertook it ever so many thousand Roman dollars; how, after this, it
remained for many centuries wholly neglected, and the stones, falling in
from above, together with the broken bricks and mortar, formed on the
arena below, and all around the walls outside, immense heaps of rubbish;
and finally, how, about one hundred years ago, people began to take an
interest in the ruins, and to wish to clear away the rubbish, and to
prop up and preserve what remained of the walls and arches.
"It was the French that cleared away the rubbish at last," said Mr.
George, "and put the ruins in order."
"The French!" repeated Rollo; "how came the French here?"
"I don't know," said Mr. George. "The French are every where. And
wherever they go, they always take with their armies a corps of
philosophers, artists, and men of science, who look up every thing that
is curious, and put it in order, and preserve it if they can."
"Then I am glad they came here," said Rollo.
Here Mr. George shut his book, and rose from his seat, saying, as he did
so,--
"The Coliseum is so large that it covers six acres of ground."
"Six acres?" repeated Rollo.
"Yes," said Mr. George. "It is six hundred and twenty feet long. That is
monstrous for such a building; but then the steamship Great Eastern is
about a hundred feet longer."
"Then the Great Eastern is bigger than the Coliseum."
"She is longer," said Mr. George, "but she is not so wide nor so high."
"And which, all things considered, is the greatest work, do you think?"
asked Rollo.
"The Coliseum may have cost the most labor," said Mr. George, "but the
Great Eastern is far above it, in my opinion, in every element of real
greatness. The Coliseum is a most wonderful structure, no doubt; but the
building of an iron ship like the Great Eastern, to be propelled by
steam against all the storms and tempests of the ocean, to the remotest
corners of the earth, with ten thousand tons of merchandise on board, or
ten thousand men, is, in my opinion, much the greatest exploit."
"At any rate," said Rollo, "the Coliseum makes the finest ruin."
"I am not certain of that, even," said Mr. George. "Suppose that the
Great Eastern were to be drawn up upon the shore somewhere near London,
and be abandoned there; and that then the whole world should relapse
into barbarism, and remain so for a thousand years, and afterwards there
should come a revival of science and civilization, and people should
come here to see the ruins of the Coliseum, and go to London to see
those of the great ship, I think they would consider the ship the
greater wonder of the two."
"I think they would," said Rollo, "if they understood it all as well."
"They could not be easily made to believe, I suppose," said Mr. George,
"that such an immense structure, all of iron, could have been made, and
launched, and then navigated all over the world just by the power of the
maze of iron beams and wheels, and machinery, which they would see in
ruins in the hold."
"Uncle George," said Rollo, "what curious bricks the Romans used!"
So saying, Rollo pointed to the bricks in a mass of masonry near where
they were standing. These bricks, like all those that were used in the
construction of the building, were very flat. They were a great deal
longer and a great deal wider than our bricks, and were yet not much
more than half as thick. This gave them a very thin and flat appearance.
Instead of being red, too, they were of a yellow color.
These bricks had not originally been used for outside works, but only
for filling in the solid parts of the walls, and for forming the arches.
But the stones with which the brick masonry had been covered and
concealed having been removed, the bricks were of course in many places
brought to view.
After looking about for some time, Rollo found a brick with two letters
stamped upon it. It was evident that the letters had been stamped upon
the clay in the making of the brick, while it was yet soft. The letters
were P. D.
"Look, uncle George!" said Rollo; "look at those letters! What do you
suppose they mean?"
"That is very curious," said Mr. George; and so saying he proceeded to
examine the letters very closely.
"They were evidently stamped upon the brick," he said, "when it was
soft. Perhaps they are the initials of the maker's name."
"I mean to look and see if all the bricks are stamped so," said Rollo.
So Rollo began to examine the other bricks wherever he could find any
which had a side exposed to view; but though he found some which
contained the letters, there were many others where no letters were to
be seen.
"Perhaps the letters are on the under side," said Rollo. "I mean to get
a stone and knock up some of the bricks, if I can, and see."
"No," said Mr. George; "that won't do."
"Yes, uncle George," said Rollo; "I want to see very much. And besides,
I want to get a piece of a brick with the letters on it, to carry home
as a specimen."
"A specimen of what?" asked Mr. George.
"A specimen of the Coliseum," said Rollo.
"No," said Mr. George; "I don't think that will do. They don't want to
have the Coliseum knocked to pieces, and carried off any more."
"Who don't?" asked Rollo.
"The government," said Mr. George; "the pope."
"But it's very hard," said Rollo, "if the popes, after plundering the
Coliseum themselves for hundreds of years, and carrying off all the
beautiful marbles, and columns, and statues, to build their palaces
with, can't let an American boy like me take away a little bit of a
brick to put into my museum for a specimen."
Mr. George laughed and walked on. Rollo, who never persisted in desiring
to do any thing which his uncle disapproved of, quietly followed him.
"Uncle George," said Rollo, "how do you suppose we can get up into the
upper part, among the tiers of seats?"
"I think there must be a staircase somewhere," said Mr. George. "We will
ramble about, and see if we do not find one."
So they walked on. They went sometimes along the margin of the arena,
and then at other times they turned in under immense openings in
masonry, and walked along the vaulted corridors, which were built in the
thickness of the walls. There were several of these corridors side by
side, each going entirely round the arena. They were surmounted by
stupendous arches, which were built to sustain the upper portions of the
building, which contained the seats for the spectators, and the passages
on the upper floors leading to them.
[Illustration: VIEW OF THE LOWER CORRIDOR.]
After rambling on through and among the corridors for some time, Mr.
George and Rollo, on emerging again into the arena, came to a wooden
gate at the foot of a broad flight of stone steps, which seemed to lead
up into the higher stories of the ruin.
"Ah!" exclaimed Rollo, as soon as he saw this gateway and the flight of
steps beyond it, "this is the gate that leads up to the upper tiers."
"Yes," replied Mr. George, "only it is shut and locked."
Rollo went to the gate and took hold of it, but found, as Mr. George had
said, that it was locked.
"But here comes the custodian," said Mr. George.
Rollo looked, and saw a man coming along the side of the arena with a
key in his hand. When the man came near, he looked at Mr. George and
Rollo, and also at the door, and then asked a question in Italian.
"_Si, signore_," said Mr. George.
So the man advanced and unlocked the door. As soon as he had unlocked
it, and Mr. George and Rollo had passed through, he looked towards them
again, and asked another question.
"_No, signore_," said Mr. George.
Mr. George and Rollo then began to go up the stairs, while the man,
having locked the door after them, went away.