CALIGULA’S GALLEY.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXX, Issue 5467, 28 August 1929, Page 4

CALIGULA’S GALLEY.

TREASURE HUNT FIASCO. HOPES UNFULFILLED. Writing from Nemi (near Rome) to the London Daily Express, a special correspondent says • — “Mussolini has paid the highest price on record for a few pieces of muddy wood. Caligula, one-time Emperor of Rome, has done Italy’s Dictator an ill turn. Mussolini, in the face of advice and opposition from archaeologists, was persuaded that at the bottom of Lake Nemi, in the Roman Hills, the galleys of the famous and infamous Caligula lay laden with gold, precious stones, and jewels, awaiting the man bold enough and imaginative enough to bring the galleys to the surface. Legend of Cruelty. “Let the lake disclose again the glorious vestiges of our imperial greatness,” declared the Dictator. And the lake disclosed a few pieces of mouldy wood—all that remained of those vestiges of the imperial greatness of imperial Rome. For almost 2000 years the galleys had rested there, Caligula, who loved orgies and depraved life, had built them so that he could retire to them ■with his guests, for from the madding crowd and more inquisitive persons. There he presided over feasts of luxury and vice which lasted all night and ended at times with cruel murders and barbarities. Covered with gold, silver, bronze, and copper,, ornamented with rich carpets of the East, and with the scented woods and the wonderful silks of Greece, filled with the best works of art which Athens and Rome could produce, these two galleys were known to the Romans as the essence of luxury and wealth.

Here Caligula entertained Rome’s golden youth of 1900 years ago ; here dozens of beautiful slaves danced on beds of flowers, and wines were served in golden cups of exotic preciousness. Then one night, so goes the legend, Caligula became tired of the galleons, tired of orgies, tired even of life itself, when it belonged to others. The lust for blood which had given him the name of “The Murderer Emperor” of the Romans incited in him a desire to watch' a performance as barbarous as it was original. He wished to see the spectacle of thousands of men and beautiful women sinking to the bottom of the lake in the midst of an orgy ,

He invited hundreds of his best friends, chosen from the flower of the Roman nobility ; then, when all was merry and wits were dulled with the fumes of wine and passion, he commanded that the bottoms of the two galleons should be broken through and the ships scuttled. That infamous act accomplished- he rowed to the shore and calmly watched the awful sight, the cries of his victims ringing m his ears long after the galleons had disappeared So goes the legend. Draining the Lake.

Throughout the centuries attempts have been made to raise the, galleys. They all ended in failure. Then came Mussolini. He looked, he saw, he failed to conquer !

He decided that if the ships could not be brought up to the Romans, then the Romans must go down to the ships. The lake would have to be drained.

The Italian papers, enthused by their Dictator’s genuis, published the following message : “By order of Mussolini, the golden galleys of Caligula will be retrieved.” “Since' ordinary salvage methods have proved useless,” continued the message, “we shall try new methods —Fascist methods. We shall not endeavour to lift the ships up from the lake, but we shall dry the lake itself!'’ The work was colossal, yzorthy of Nero or Caligula in the extravagance of its conception. Fortunes were spent in perfecting the engineering methods adopted., and gradually the lake receded.

After many months the galleys could be seen. A flag was fastened to the beams, and the news was flashed throughout the world—the galleons had come to life. A Joke that is Too Good.

Disillusionment has followed fast upon the first triumph, however. All that it left of the galleons are a few rotting beams and planks. There" is no treasure, no gold, no silver, no statues, no precious stones or bronzes. The works of art of Greece and Rome are conspicuous by their absence. Caligula has played, and he has played it upon the. world’s bdgeny man — Mussolini.

The world laughs, appreciative of a good joke. But Mussolini, faced by the expenses of his great and futile project, is not likely to smile. And what is painful is the fact that it is not possible to punish its perpetrator, Caligula. Or was it Mussolini ?