=Rome.=--The man who lacks knowledge of history is utterly bewildered
and ill at ease in the Capitoline Museum at Rome. All about him are
busts that represent the men who made Roman history, but they have no
meaning for him. Nero and Julius Caesar are mere names to him and, as
such, bear no relation to life. Cicero and Caligula might exchange
places and it would be all one to him. He takes a fleeting glance at the
statue of the Dying Gaul, but it conveys no meaning to him. He has
neither read nor heard of Byron's poem which this statue inspired. He
sees near by the celebrated Marble Faun, but he has not read Hawthorne's
romance and therefore the statue evokes no interest. In short, he is
bored and uncomfortable, and importunes his companions to go elsewhere.
When he looks out upon the Forum he says it looks the same to him as any
other stone quarry, and he roundly berates the shiftlessness of the
Romans in permitting the Coliseum to remain when the stone could be used
for building purposes, for bridges, and for paving. The Tiber impresses
him not at all for, as he says, he has seen much larger rivers and,
certainly, many whose water is more clear. In the Sistine Chapel he
cannot be persuaded to give more than a passing glance at the ceiling
because it makes his neck ache to look up. The Laocooen and Apollo
Belvedere he will not see, giving as a reason that he is more than tired
of looking at silly statuary.
Pages:
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237