ROUND THE RUINS.

Shannon News, 14 October 1924, Page 1

ROUND THE RUINS.

STRANGE SIGHTS IN ROME. They are unkind to the Yankee in •Rome, writes a press correspondent. They do not like globe-trotters who rush round with guide-book in hand, sparing just enough time for the pencil to tick off the objects. ,With>>a des- - the-- globe-Wotters sbeg cat v the end of a day to'be shown "ho more ruins." Reluctantly, after two days, I left the Forum. .Many fascinating legends lingsc around the Palatine Hill. Here the mythical , Romulus is .. said>-.to-, have founded the Eternal City. The two Brothers, - Romulusa and- Bernus," exposed as infants, were washed ashore inia basket by the Tiber, and the,'She*> wolf, their foster-mother, who suckled- them, is fabled, to.. have taken .rer fugo 1-erei R'oimv even toitfjiy, honour the wolf. Yf u ill for cctain.iibe taken to see a fine specimen, the successor of the same she-wolf who reared RomuMsandJßemus, and-here also are a *pair of :caged eagles recalling those .of-the Empire. vTherei are many many sights of Rome, as Mark Twain said of another place that "can bet, easily avoided."

Near at hand is the best known- and most spectacular ruin of all —the Colosseum,, which... called" "a "noble* wreck in ruinous perfection," a monster building that covers no less

than, six acres of ground. With the pyramids of Egypt, it is one of the prime wonders of the world. We have referred to the Yankee's busy pencil. One of the type, the other week, who had asked to be shown "no >monet ruins," complained jbitterly^thattwhafe'he hadvteome/all the way to see "was the Baths of Caracalla* and,after three days he had not seen theorc "Yes, you did, to-day," he was told'.«"What, those ruins! Were those baths? Well, I guess I'm sick." : The ruins excellent tion. Here was accommodation for 160(1 bathers' at'one time. The famous baths extended to 1720 feet in length and: 1 375 r >feet in width. Many of the , finest sculptures to be seen in thb museum .; wereu removed:* from 7 thh Baths, magnificently decorated, and fittedcup,". A luxurious and elaborate process was a bath in olden days. Fitst«a little" exercise in the gymnasium; ,thbn a hot air bath with aagentle massage, foIM lowed: by a hot water bathf: finally; a cold plunge in the swimming bath* tQ.be succeeded by a little shampooing and J anointing. Rome had become a great and wealthy metropolis, splenic did in its public buildings and private ■ mostly •. outsider th» £ city vw&Uu In the age of Augustus the population was a million and a half.