File:Italy from the Alps to Mount Etna (1877) (14773425661).jpg

Identifier: italyfromalpstom00stie (find matches)
Title: Italy from the Alps to Mount Etna
Year: 1877 (1870s)
Authors: Stieler, Karl, 1842-1885 Cavagna Sangiuliani di Gualdana, Antonio, conte, 1843-1913, former owner. IU-R Paulus, Eduard, 1837-1907 Kaden, Woldemar, 1838-1907 Trollope, Frances Eleanor, d. 1913 Trollope, Thomas Adolphus, 1810-1892
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Publisher: London : Chapman and Hall
Contributing Library: University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Digitizing Sponsor: University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

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to this day; and no stone has yet beendiscovered bearing any elucidation of the mystery. It is a mere supposition that thebuilding dates from the reign of Trajan. It is constructed, for the most part, of thereddish marble found in the quarries of the Veronese and brought down on the Adige:so that no other amphitheatre can be compared with this for costliness of material.Mafifei, the renowned historian of the city, dedicates a copious examination to the arena,and leads us with an experienced hand amid all the changes which the wondrous work VERONA. 4i has passed through in the course of ages. From its inexhaustible masses were taken thestones for the building of the city walls, when Verona was threatened by the barbarians ;during civil conflicts it became the fortress in which rival parties entrenched themselves ;ordeals and executions took place here, and women of notoriously bad character lodged atone time in the deserted walls. But during all, there was something dark and mysterious
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THE AMPHITHEATRE. in the immense space, with its cages for wild beasts and slaves. People felt themselves tobe in a Labyrinth, as the arena was called in the days of King Pepin; until finallythe idea began to dawn that this was a wondrous work of antiquity that ought to be pre-served. Thereupon it was forbidden, as early as the sixteenth century, to remove anystones from the arena, the inhabitants who had taken up their abode in the archedcorridors were strictly watched, and at length there was even a public tax imposed topay for the repair of dilapidations. In this way alone has it been possible to preservethe famous monument—at all events as a whole—although but few of the marblebenches are the original ones, and although the external wall has been broken away,all but four mighty arches. The lead and iron which formerly bound the huge blocks 42 ITALY. of stone together, continued still to be pilfered by thievish hands, and were changedunder the hammer into weapons with which new

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