McGuffey's Sixth Eclectic Reader Part 56

CX. A VIEW OF THE COLOSSEUM. (389)

Orville Dewey, 1794-1882, a well known Unitarian clergyman and author, was born in Sheffield, Ma.s.sachusetts, graduated with distinction at Williams College in 1814, and afterward studied theology at Andover. For a while he was a.s.sistant to Dr. W. E. Channing in Boston, and later, was a pastor in New Bedford, New York City, and Boston. He made two or three voyages to Europe, and published accounts of his travels.

"Discourses on Human Life," "Discourses on the Nature of Religion,"

"Discourses on Commerce and Business," are among his published works. His writings are both philosophical and practical; and, as a preacher, he was esteemed original, earnest, and impressive.

On the eighth of November, from the high land, about fourteen miles distant, I first saw Rome; and although there is something very unfavorable to impression in the expectation that you are to be greatly impressed, or that you ought to be, or that such is the fas.h.i.+on; yet Rome is too mighty a name to be withstood by such or any other influences. Let you come upon that hill in what mood you may, the scene will lay hold upon you as with the hand of a giant. I scarcely know how to describe the impression, but it seemed to me as if something strong and stately, like the slow and majestic march of a mighty whirlwind, swept around those eternal towers; the storms of time, that had prostrated the proudest monuments of the world, seemed to have left their vibrations in the still and solemn air; ages of history pa.s.sed before me; the mighty procession of nations, kings, consuls, emperors, empires, and generations had pa.s.sed over that sublime theater. The fire, the storm, the earthquake, had gone by; but there was yet left the still, small voice like that at which the prophet "wrapped his face in his mantle."

I went to see the Colosseum by moonlight. It is the monarch, the majesty of all ruins; there is nothing like it. All the a.s.sociations of the place, too, give it the most impressive character. When you enter within this stupendous circle of ruinous walls and arches, and grand terraces of masonry, rising one above another, you stand upon the arena of the old gladiatorial combats and Christian martyrdom; and as you lift your eyes to the vast amphitheater, you meet, in imagination, the eyes of a hundred thousand Romans, a.s.sembled to witness these b.l.o.o.d.y spectacles. What a mult.i.tude and mighty array of human beings; and how little do we know in modern times of great a.s.semblies! One, two, and three, and, at its last enlargement by Constantine, more than three hundred thousand persons could be seated in the Circus Maximus!

But to return to the Colosseum; we went up under the conduct of a guide upon the walls and terraces, or embankments, which supported the ranges of seats. The seats have long since disappeared; and gra.s.s overgrows the spots where the pride, and power, and wealth, and beauty of Rome sat down to its barbarous entertainments. What thronging life was here then! What voices, what greetings, what hurrying footsteps upon the staircases of the eighty arches of entrance! And now, as we picked our way carefully through the decayed pa.s.sages, or cautiously ascended some moldering flight of steps, or stood by the lonely walls--ourselves silent, and, for a wonder, the guide silent, too--there was no sound here but of the bat, and none came from without but the roll of a distant carriage, or the convent bell from the summit of the neighboring Esquiline.

It is scarcely possible to describe the effect of moonlight upon this ruin. Through a hundred lonely arches and blackened pa.s.sageways it streamed in, pure, bright, soft, lambent, and yet distinct and clear, as if it came there at once to reveal, and cheer, and pity the mighty desolation. But if the Colosseum is a mournful and desolate spectacle as seen from within--without, and especially on the side which is in best preservation, it is glorious. We pa.s.sed around it; and, as we looked upward, the moon s.h.i.+ning through its arches, from the opposite side, it appeared as if it were the coronet of the heavens, so vast was it--or like a glorious crown upon the brow of night.

I feel that I do not and can not describe this mighty ruin. I can only say that I came away paralyzed, and as pa.s.sive as a child. A soldier stretched out his hand for "un dona," as we pa.s.sed the guard; and when my companion said I did wrong to give, I told him that I should have given my cloak, if the man had asked it. Would you break any spell that worldly feeling or selfish sorrow may have spread over your mind, go and see the Colosseum by moonlight.

NOTES.--The Colosseum (pro. Col-os-se'um) was commenced by the Roman emperor Vespasian, and was completed by t.i.tus, his son, 79 A.D. Its construction occupied but three years, notwithstanding its size; a great part of its walls are standing today.

The Circus Maximus was an amphitheater built by Tarquin the Elder about 600 B. C.

Constantine. See note on page 175.

The Esquiline is one of the seven hills upon which Rome is built. Un dona, an Italian phrase meaning a gift or alms.

CXI. THE BRIDGE. (392)

I stood on the bridge at midnight, As the clocks were striking the hour, And the moon rose o'er the city, Behind the dark church tower.

I saw her bright reflection In the waters under me, Like a golden goblet falling And sinking into the sea.

And far in the hazy distance Of that lovely night in June, The blaze of the flaming furnace Gleamed redder than the moon.

Among the long, black rafters The wavering shadows lay, And the current that came from the ocean Seemed to lift and bear them away;

As, sweeping and eddying through them, Rose the belated tide, And, streaming into the moonlight, The seaweed floated wide.

And like those waters rus.h.i.+ng Among the wooden piers, A flood of thoughts came o'er me That filled my eyes with tears

How often, oh, how often, In the days that had gone by, I had stood on that bridge at midnight And gazed on that wave and sky!

How often, oh, how often, I had wished that the ebbing tide Would bear me away on its bosom O'er the ocean wild and wide.

For my heart was hot and restless, And my life was full of care, And the burden laid upon me Seemed greater than I could bear.

But now it has fallen from me, It is buried in the sea; And only the sorrow of others Throws its shadow over me.

Yet, whenever I cross the river On its bridge with wooden piers, Like the odor of brine from the ocean Comes the thought of other years.

And I think how many thousands Of care-enc.u.mbered men, Each bearing his burden of sorrow, Have crossed the bridge since then.

I see the long procession Still pa.s.sing to and fro, The young heart hot and restless, And the old, subdued and slow!

And forever and forever, As long as the river flows, As long as the heart has pa.s.sions, As long as life has woes;

The moon and its broken reflection And its shadows shall appear As the symbol of love in heaven, And its wavering image here.

--Longfellow.

CXII. OBJECTS AND LIMITS OF SCIENCE. (394)

Robert Charles Winthrop, 1809-1894, was a descendant of John Winthrop, the first Governor of the Colony of Ma.s.sachusetts Bay. He was born in Boston, studied at the public Latin School, graduated at Harvard in 1828, and studied law with Daniel Webster. Possessing an ample fortune, he made little effort to practice his profession. In 1834 he was elected to the Legislature of his native state, and was reelected five times; three years he was Speaker of the House of Representatives. In 1840 he was chosen to Congress, and sat as Representative for ten years. In 1847 he was chosen Speaker of the House. He also served a short time in the Senate. His published writings are chiefly in the form of addresses and speeches; they are easy, finished, and scholarly. As a speaker, Mr. Winthrop was ready, full-voiced, and self-possessed.

There are fields enough for the wildest and most extravagant theorizings, within man's own appropriate domain, without overleaping the barriers which separate things human and divine. Indeed, I have often thought that modern science had afforded a most opportune and providential safety valve for the intellectual curiosity and ambition of man, at a moment when the progress of education, invention, and liberty had roused and stimulated him to a pitch of such unprecedented eagerness and ardor. Astronomy, Chemistry, and, more than all, Geology, with their incidental branches of study, have opened an inexhaustible field for investigation and speculation. Here, by the aid of modern instruments and modern modes of a.n.a.lysis, the most ardent and earnest spirits may find ample room and verge enough for their insatiate activity and audacious enterprise, and may pursue their course not only without the slightest danger of doing mischief to others, but with the certainty of promoting the great end of scientific truth.

Let them lift their vast reflectors or refractors to the skies, and detect new planets in their hiding places. Let them waylay the fugitive comets in their flight, and compel them to disclose the precise period of their orbits, and to give bonds for their punctual return. Let them drag out reluctant satellites from "their habitual concealments." Let them resolve the unresolvable nebulae of Orion or Andromeda. They need not fear. The sky will not fall, nor a single star be shaken from its sphere.

Let them perfect and elaborate their marvelous processes of making the light and the lightning their ministers, for putting "a pencil of rays"

into the hand of art, and providing tongues of fire for the communication of intelligence. Let them foretell the path of the whirlwind, and calculate the orbit of the storm. Let them hang out their gigantic pendulums, and make the earth do the work of describing and measuring her own motions.

Let them annihilate human pain, and literally "charm ache with air, and agony with ether." The blessing of G.o.d will attend all their toils, and the grat.i.tude of man will await all their triumphs. Let them dig down into the bowels of the earth. Let them rive asunder the ma.s.sive rocks, and unfold the history of creation as it lies written on the pages of their piled up strata. Let them gather up the fossil fragments of a lost Fauna, reproducing the ancient forms which inhabited the land or the seas, bringing them together, bone to his bone, till Leviathan and Behemoth stand before us in bodily presence and in their full proportions, and we almost tremble lest these dry bones should live again! Let them put nature to the rack, and torture her, in all her forms, to the betrayal of her inmost secrets and confidences. They need not forbear. The foundations of the round world have been laid so strong that they can not be moved.

But let them not think by searching to find out G.o.d. Let them not dream of understanding the Almighty to perfection. Let them not dare to apply their tests and solvents, their modes of a.n.a.lysis or their terms of definition, to the secrets of the spiritual kingdom. Let them spare the foundations of faith. Let them be satisfied with what is revealed of the mysteries of the Divine Nature. Let them not break through the bounds to gaze after the Invisible.

NOTES.--Orion and Andromeda are the names of two constellations.

The Leviathan is described in Job, chap. xli, and the Behemoth in Job, chap. xl. It is not known exactly what beasts are meant by these descriptions.

CXIII. THE DOWNFALL OF POLAND. (396)

O Sacred Truth! thy triumph ceased a while, And Hope, thy sister, ceased with thee to smile, When leagued Oppression poured to northern wars Her whiskered pandours and her fierce hussars, Waved her dread standard to the breeze of morn, Pealed her loud drum, and tw.a.n.ged her trumpet horn; Tumultuous horror brooded o'er her van, Presaging wrath to Poland--and to man!

Warsaw's last champion, from her height surveyed, Wide o'er the fields a waste of ruin laid; "O Heaven!" he cried, "my bleeding country save!

Is there no hand on high to s.h.i.+eld the brave?

Yet, though destruction sweep those lovely plains, Rise, fellow-men! our country yet remains!

By that dread name, we wave the sword on high, And swear for her to live--with her to die!"