. Pictures of travel; . textis again brought to life, showing the traveler Roman life inlittle houses, with diminutive rooms, which contrast so singu-larly with those colossal buildings which set forth their publiclife, and those theaters, aqueducts, fountains, highways, andbridges whose ruins still awake our wonder. And this isjust it — the Greeks were great in the idea of Art, theHebrews in the idea of a holiest God, and the Romans inthe idea of their eternal Rome, wherever it was by themfought, written, or built. The greater Rome became themore she extended this idea, the individual was los
. Pictures of travel; . textis again brought to life, showing the traveler Roman life inlittle houses, with diminutive rooms, which contrast so singu-larly with those colossal buildings which set forth their publiclife, and those theaters, aqueducts, fountains, highways, andbridges whose ruins still awake our wonder. And this isjust it — the Greeks were great in the idea of Art, theHebrews in the idea of a holiest God, and the Romans inthe idea of their eternal Rome, wherever it was by themfought, written, or built. The greater Rome became themore she extended this idea, the individual was lost in it,the great who rose above it were still borne along by it, andit makes the littleness of the little still more apparent. Onthis account the Romans were at the same time the greatestheroes and the greatest satirists — heroes while they actedand thought of Rome, satirists if they thought of Rome andjudged of the deeds of their contemporaries. Measured by AMPHITHEA TRE A T VERONA. Photogravure from a MUNICH TO GENOA 243 such an enormous standard as the greatness of Rome, thegreatest personality must have appeared dwarf-like and evenhave attracted mockery. Tacitus is the grimmest of mastersin this satire, because he, more than any other, felt in hissoul the grandeur of Rome and the littleness of men. Heis gloriously in his element whenever he can tell us whatslanderous tongues prattled in the Forum over some deedof imperial infamy; and fiercely delighted when he has anopportunity of detailing some senatorial scandal or someabject flattery which missed its mark. I remained walking for a long time on the upper benchesof the amphitheater, dreaming my way back into the dimpast. As all buildings reveal most clearly in twilight theirinner spirit, so did these walls whisper to me in their frag-mentary lapidary style, the most mysterious things — for theyspoke of the men of old Rome, and it seemed to me that Ibeheld their spirits wandering far below me like white
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Keywords: ., bookauthorheineheinrich17971856, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890
