Page:LA2-NSRW-4-0138.jpg





tomb by Augustus. Here also was built the first amphitheater of stone. Later the Campus Martius became crowded with public buildings and private dwellings, and was inclosed within the city boundaries. Near the capitol was the theater of Marcellus, of which a considerable portion yet remains. This was begun by Julius Caesar and finished by Augustus in 11 B. C., who named it after his nephew. The Flavian amphitheater, known as the Colosseum, which was built for gladiatorial exhibitions and the combats of wild beasts, is an ellipse, the longer diameter measuring a little over 600 feet and the shorter a little over 500. It rises 160 feet, and covers five acres. The oldest circus was Circus Maximus in the valley between the Palatine and Aventine hills, which was about three furlongs in length and one in breadth, and is said to have seated 250,000 persons. The arrangements of a Roman circus can best be studied in the well-preserved circus on the Appian Way, which usually bears the name of Emperor Maxentius but is more correctly assigned to Romulus, his son. Of the 12 bridges over the Tiber three are survivals of the eight or nine bridges of ancient times, the oldest being Pons Fabricius, leading from the city to the island in the Tiber.

The population in the time of Vespasian has been estimated at 2,000,000, but it is extremely doubtful if it ever exceeded 1,000,000. The walls, which enclose nearly 4,000 acres, are 14 miles in circumference, with 15 gates, two of which are closed. The largest palaces are the Vatican, the residence of the pope, and the Quirinal, the residence of the king, formerly a papal palace, in which were held the conclaves of cardinals for the election of popes. The chief papal collections are contained in the galleries attached to the Vatican, probably the largest palace in the world. In addition to the private gardens and apartments of the pope, the Vatican comprises large reception-halls, with chapels, libraries, picture-galleries and vast museums of sculptures, ancient inscriptions and other antiquities. The famous Vatican Library, with its priceless manuscripts and collections of early printed books, occupies two immense halls.

The churches, said to number upward of 300, are among the most conspicuous features of modern Rome. St. Peter’s, the largest cathedral in the world, begun in 1506 and completed in 1626, covers five acres and cost $10,000,000. There also are churches of the great religious orders, 28 parish churches and titular churches of the cardinals. Before Rome became the capital of Italy in 1870, the greater part of the Pincian, Quirinal and Esquiline hills was occupied by villas of nobles; but these have mostly been destroyed and their sites covered with modern houses, in many cases with blocks of buildings many stories in height, let out in tenements. The ancient city is assuming the aspect of a modern capital, broad, straight thoroughfares running through many quarters formerly occupied by narrow streets and mean, crowded houses. The seven hills, as such, have almost ceased to exist. One of the greatest of improvements is the embankment of the Tiber and the straightening and deepening of its channel, which ended the disastrous floods to which the lower parts of the city were formerly subject. All the necessaries of life have to be imported from a distance, as Rome is surrounded by the Campagna di Roma, a marshy plain which includes the greater part of ancient Latium and, for the most part, is an untilled and uninhabited waste, about 90 miles in length and from 20 to 40 in width. Corn and wine are brought from Tuscany and from the fertile Terra di Lavoro near Naples. There are practically no manufactures; and the prosperity of the city depends mainly on the courts of the king and the pope and on the foreign visitors who crowd the hotels during the winter. The railways from all parts of Italy converge outside the city, which they enter near Porta Maggiore on the Esquiline, having a common terminus on the summit of the Quirinal. See. See Vernon Lee’s The Spirit of Rome, Hare’s Walks in Rome, Mommsen’s Rome and Crawford’s Ave Roma Immortalis. Population of the city 538,634; of the district 1,298,142.

Rome, N. Y., a city, county-seat of Oneida County on Mohawk River, 100 miles west of Albany, at the junction of the Erie and Black River Canals. It contains mills and manufactories of iron, brass, copper, furniture, machinery, saddlery, wire and other foods. Rome has admirable public schools, St. Peter’s Academy (R. C.), two libraries and several churches. The city has all the improvements of a progressive city and the service of two railroads. Here is Fort Stanwix, which was successfully defended against St. Leger, and six miles to the southeast the battle of Oriskany was fought during the Revolution. Population 20,497.

Ro′meo and Ju′liet, a drama by, written sometime between 1591 and 1596, first published in 1597. The legend upon which it is founded first appeared in Naples in 1476. It appeared in English in 1562 in The Tragicall Historye of Romeo and Juliet by Arthur Brooke, which furnished the main foundation for this drama. The legend has often been chosen for operatic purposes. The best opera based upon it is that by Gounod, which first appeared in 1867.

Rom′ola, one of the best of the novels of, first published in serial form in the Cornhill Magazine, 1862–3, deals 