Omaha Daily Bee Newspaper, November 18, 1900, Page 16

Discovery of Rome’s Ancient Altar Stone Fxplorations made this year in the buried rutne of ancient Rome have resulted in the | overy of an o archacological treasure shich will take ity place in the very first ik of Roman antiquitie This 18 the Iar stone of the old Romans. It was brought ta Hght in the course of the ex wations made by Prof. Bonl of the Italian tepartment of antiquitios and the work of deciphering what remains of the inscription has Just been completed and announced by pnor Domenico Comparettl, one of the mest Jearvod antiquarian scholars in Italy Fhe site of the discovery is near the spot v hore vother highly dmportant find had been made hort time before; the column erected over the it where Jultus sar's tomadng were buricd. Near the base of the column Prof Boni uncarthed a pavement of mooth black stone He fmmediately con- cluded that he had come upon the famous Black Stone which according to some of the old Latin writers, marked the grave o Romulu Nobody in this age expected to findd the bones of Romulus under the ston crounywhore else, as the wolf-bred founder of the Eternal City and his twin brother hiave lon ince been relegated to the limbo of myths, but o monument on the spot where the old Romaes believed Romulus to have been burted was of the greatest archaelog teal interest Underneath this pavement however, o discovery was made which rele piated Romulus ssible monument to a place of minor Sto n So . In the midst of debris lay two columns of tufa. One, perfectly preserved, is with out tns ription. The other, broken off short, 5 chivelled on ity four sides with an archale the oldest extant Latin known I'he sculptor who made the inscription was dend and forgotten centuries before the birth of Christ in the last year of tnseription and now RUINS OF THE the nineteenth century the fragmentary words of the broken legend have been brought to light and read. Long and pa tie study by Signor Comparetti brought out enough to show that the stone is a sacred mony 1t of the earliest period of Roman history. 1t is regarded as one of the BRI archaelogical “finds’ of the century AllL that remains of this column s from seventeen to twenty inches high. It is an eighteen-inch cube at the base, sloping gradually toward the top, like an obelisk The corners are broken more or less and the vseription is somewhat worn {8k, when intact, was probably no six feet, 80 it is clear that about h iption is lost As the in iptic ise, there remains only g but t begin ne ng. S0 large are he W 1 have been when and clear cut, legible at a dis o paces. Owing to the frag entary condition of the lines an exact rod wm of their sense is impossible 1 hery gh suggestive words yet ble » plainly the charact o the spot marked by it The ne reads honee” (to | SO0 ‘Sacros esed 1 with the leaAn in owingly all bro and gs On zo8 viovic oxen ar bos ovis) Indication of Date of Monument Kingly functions were united in Rome was the sixth century, B. ., and this, together with the archale character of the letters, would place the date at least as far back as that. An Interesting point In regard tu the lettering 18 the Greek character of the let tors, showlng that even as carly as the sixth century B. C. the literary Influence of the Grecks was felt in Rome Slgnor Comparetti's deciphering of the Inseription proves that this lettered obellsk marked the entrance to an anclent temple, possibly the first of the temples held in reverential awe by the early Romans. This was a place of refuge. The altar became the site of the later rostrum from which a man pleaded for his life before the people as- sembled to Judge him. In later days the rostrum became the center of the political life of the Romans, but in primitive time# It was t religlous center. It {s well known from other discoveries made before in this neighborhood that the rostrum of the Forum was regarded as a sacred spot, and that the sacrificlal idea was connected therewlth Is evident from various references thereto In Roman literature. The Tribune of the People, when seated in the Forum, was in- violable, not subject to arrest for any crime whatever, That the actual history of the site marked by the obellsk was forgotten when It was burfed, and that the myth of the burial of the remains of Romulus, the founder of Rome, beneath the black pavement was treasured up as accounting for the sacred- ness of the spot, s not in the least surpris- ing to the student of the development of myths. The burial of this obelisk is easily accounted for by the burning of the temple there, which took place at least twice dur- fng the first 400 years of Roman rule. The connection of this temple with the old fable ROMAN FORUM of Romulus and Remus having been reared by a wolf mother i8 best proven by the statue of the wolf which was found in the subterranean chambers of the capital, the figures of the boys being evidently a later restoration Excavations are now going on in the vicinity of the spot where the sacred monument was found, and it is expected that other ancient objects of great value and interest will be unearthed. Though many explorations have been made before into the earth where ancient Rome |s buried, Prof. Boni's the first that has been scientifically conducted, and the dis- covery of the altar stone is alone and in {tself a justification for the labor and ex- pense of the project. Mosby of the Boers Christian Dewet Is a man of Moltke- like iturnity. Long since his govern- ased to ask him for dispatches writes a correspondent of the London Mail e-aged, middle-sized, middle broad and iddle-complexioned, Dewet attrac one by the bright restlessness of his Like a bird, he notes everything within a circumscribed horizon He is the highest development of the Boer hunter as Louis Botha is the highest development of the Boer soldier He knows nothing of the maneuvering of trocps, of the marshaling of brigades { the handling of an army He is but a 1 Boer peasant, who knows every of his npative country and can ad- he strengths and weaknesses of a o at a glance. He fights always on ssive offensive,”’ waiting for his make a move and pouncing upon e place and time of his greatest eye, h at weakness He has no orderly idea of his own tac- ¢ Days after a bdattle I have waited and failed utterly to recognize and description of a fight we together To him an opposing is a herd of springdok, with a ca- or infl ng injury This latter oudbles his watchfulmess, bdut er Bis strategy He bhas all Ans seen THE ILU¢ 'RATED BEE. November 18, 1900, NERAL 1. Brigadier General William Randolph, inspector general 4 1 Captain Theodore B, Hacker, chief master v W. Kobbe, aide-de-camp I the qualities of a Robin Hood, learned in the same hard school under a similar master. Curiously enough no account of Dewet I have read has been written by a man who has seen the hero of the Free State When 1 last saw him he wore a beard and I doubt if the exigencies of his later experience have led to his discarding that national trademark 1 never heard him utter a word of English and I know he was never further from Bloemfontein than Pretoria in his life The Christian Dewet at Cambridge is a man, a member of a totally ily, from the colony, who censor in Pretoria and left 4 for the east. To him 1 much thanks for journalistic gone Lo waste, The one man who in any way answers the description of the Dewet pictured by the correspondents is Hoofd Commandant Piet Dewet, the brother of the command- ing general. Plet Dewet is a younger man, speaks English and acts in voncert with his now more famous rela- tive Louis Botha and Lucas Meyer the only Boer generals who can ever be called “polished gentlemen.™ Christian Dewet is the most useful and the most successful type of the Boer leader—a peasant unable to express his own ideas of leadership who took his much younger different fam- acted as press there on June have to render enterprise B. always are who is A Remarkable Case case in Atchison of a man with his wife. Shortly after Ihere is a falling in love their marriage, relates the Atchison Globe, the wife discovered that Home, Sweet Home" did not appeal to her husband and that he preferred the companionsk of his men friends down town, so set to work to win him. She did not try any of the recipes for winning a husband's love found in the women's papers, which are nixtures of pretty dresses, a smile and a ki at the door upon the arrival of the victim; a Kiss as he is about to leave after having eaten his ipper (which is to be dainty, with a bunch of his favorite flowers in the middle of the table) he is also to go to the piano and win h by admired ngs he WILLIAM A A. Koobe, commissary 7 KOBBE WITH STAFF commanding Major J. J. Pershing N. Morrison, judge advocate K Major R. W. Johnson, chief s Famous Feast Captain T homas TAKEN AT ZAMBOANGO, P. 1 ddjutant general 4. Captaun Benjamin H Swi chief quurtermaste . urgeon 8. Charles K. Stanton, chief pay- For British Officers Some of the elders will remember, says a4 writer in the Times-Herald, that it was not until shortly after the close of the civil war that the first twinge of the con troversy between Great Britain and the United States over territory in the north west passed away. When the line at forty- nine degrees was settled upon as the boun dary the question of the ownership of the islands between Washugton Territory and Vancouver was still unsettled. The United States by terwms of the treaty was to have the islands east of the channel. There were two channels and the question as to which was meant was left to the emperor of Ger many to decide. If the western passage were meant there belonged to the United States several islands which would be lost if the treaty were construed in its wording to mean the p the While the matter was in two governments felt it not to prestige to ain garris on the disputed ground The United States wus represented by one company of the old Ninth infautry, while there were two co panies of British regulars and several of- representing the rival powcers. In command of the little American contingen age to ecast abeyance the necessary in order ficers was Second Lieutenant Michael J. Fitz gerald, who had teen through the civil war as a noncommissioned officer and who hat been given his step in the regular service for gailantry. When the young otficer was about to leave San Francisco General M Dowell, then in command of the division of the Pacific, sent for him and impresscd upon him the delicate nature of his mis sion. As a matter of fact, McDowell was afraid fromi Fitzgerald's name that there might be in him enough hereditary feeling against the British soldiers to make 1t very easy for him to find an excuse to precipitate trouble Above all things, Lieutenant itz gerald, said the general observe the rules of internati courtesy “I'll do eral auswered Fitzgerald j There'll be no war growing out treatment of the red The iay he set post his The America next wit tie t {0 and British garrisous wers When Licu ly in full weight wder, tzgeral rtly six 18 hosts At that dinner the American licutenant was entertained royally. There was nothing in the British garrison that was too good for him As he put it after ward to his comrades in the states, “It wias a wet night.” When Fitzgerald had returned to his quarters and three weehs hiad passed away he thought it was about time to prepare to return in some way the hospitality of the Englishmen The supplies at his disposal were a jug of whisky and the ordinary army rations There was nothing gocd barring that which was in the British possession, nearer than San Francisco of expedients. Th» next boat com the Calif Three weeks afterward ind the handful of American and land received Lieutenant Fit giver Upon Fitzgerald was a man carried some ssjons to rnia Brit ofl were metropolis h officers civilian 1ls, both English, that on the each a communication rald was no mere dinner opening the e con six enve taining his communication each recipient found a handsomely engraved invitation surmounted by the arms of the United States. It read as follows The Commanding Officer of Fort San Juan Requests the Presence of Maurice Fitzherbert at a Banquet Glven Thanksgiving Eve, 1566 Respectfully Captalr To Be A week afteeward a round hundred large packages arrived from San Francisco., Fitz- gerald told about twenty of his soldiers that it would not do for an American officer to be outdone in hospitality He forthwith proceeded to instruet the twenty in duties as waiters. He picked out of the command four or five musicians and had them pro- vided with instruments. When the British officers and the civilian contingent arrived and preliminary courtesies were exchanged they were shown into a banquet hall with a table glittering with cut glass and silver. They ate of delicacies and substantials that none of them thought could be found nearer than New York, and they drank of wines that none other than the cellar of a con- noisseur could have contained. There was 4 waiter for every guest and the music lagged not until the speaking began. It was all over, however wut three hours after the host had excused himself tem- porarily to attend reveille roll call Licutenant Michacl J. Fitzgerald looked at the pile of bills rendered In amount they were $1.400. The banguet had cost $75 plate. He looked at his monthly pay ac- count. In three weeks he would have cash hand to the amount of $116 66 Lieuten- Pitzgorald od the night in thought. In the morning there was a look of reliet upon his face. In an hour time there was ready for transmission to headquarters in San o Francisco omoe official envelopes marked in red ink and large letters: “In- ternational Courtesie Inclosed were bills for pate de foie gras, rare old Burgundy and other things With the inclosure went this “Excerpt from Major Geueral Me- Dowell's instractions ‘Above a things, Licutenant Fitzgerald, observe the rules of international courtesy.' " MeDowel he swore 1 fumed, ar but he of the contingent 1 tradition red the hath it that orde bills paid out fund Unbeaten rual: The her a had had boquet of ingenue BOrgeOus was what started the conversation Kir f things handed to artists over observed the leading heavy his port nteau a China like to anybody beat see eartily, for nterwoven with ns of the drama this joke many of Was the