Page:Three Years in Europe.djvu/352

310 fertile soil enabled the peoples of India and of Italy to light the lamp of civilization at a time when northern nations were buried in barbarism. But as these nations rose in their turn, that ancient civilization declined. After the tenth century Italy and India were the unfortunate battlefields of foreigners,—India of the Moslem and Italy of the Frenchman, the Spaniard, the Austrian. The sympathy and help of modern Europe has helped Italy, feeble as she is compared to northern powers, to regain her place among nations and administer her own affairs. That sympathy and help will yet spread beyond the limits of Europe.

Verona still contains some monuments of ancient Roman civilization of which the Amphitheatre or arena is the principal one. It was built in the first century of the Christian era,—anterior by a thousand years to the most ancient of the cathedrals and churches which had been the object of my admiration in my recent travels through Germany. It is in the shape of an oval, and its lesser diameter is 404 feet, and that of the arena itself 146 feet. Forty-five ranges of seats rise from the arena to the top of the second story. The whole was built of solid marble, and could, when entire, have seated 22,000 people to witness the cruel sports of the old Roman days. Among other Roman remains are the Porta dei Borsari,—a solid Roman gate, still entire, and the Arco di Leoni another gateway.

The centre of Verona is the Piazza (or square) dei Signori with its fine Palace of Council. It is a handsome