lieved that a real wolf was for a while their tender nurse. There was, therefore, that bronze wolf, which was meant to symbolize the incident, and which dates at least from the beginning of the fifth century before our era, and which is claimed to be the identical work still to be seen on the Capitoline Hill in the Palace of the Conservatori, though the Romulus and Remus figures are acknowledged to be later reconstructions. The classic tale is still cherished, and hence visitors to the Capitol are permitted to look upon not only the bronze wolf but also upon a live wolf, which is sacredly kept there year after year. They likewise are reminded that Christianity has wrought a revolution of sentiment, making impossible the ancient practice of exposing to the elements and wild beasts little children who rather are nurtured for the kingdom of heaven.

Descending from the Capitoline Hill, at its base we come to the Mamertine prisons, a higher and a lower, excavated from the solid rock. Here Paul may have been incarcerated during his second imprisonment. Here Jugurtha was starved to death. Here the Cataline conspirators were strangled, while Cicero announced the fact by the single Latin word, Vixerunt -they have lived, that is, they have ceased to live, they are dead. In the bottom of the lower prison is a spring, which, some maintain, sprang up miraculously for the imprisoned Peter, that he might have the wherewithal to baptize his jailors who were converted. Unfortunately for this contention, Plutarch speaks of the spring at the time of the imprisonment of Jugurtha 104 B. C. When by the way this historic enemy to Rome was plunged into the dungeon, Plutarch says he exclaimed, "O Hercules, how cold your bath is." We appreciate the truth of this when with lighted taper, and with overcoats on, we descend into the vault-like place, almost

equalling in its gloom the Catacombs. The darkness is so dense that it can be felt, and there is an unmistakable chill. We can understand why Paul in his second epistle to Timothy, the last letter he ever wrote, said so pathetically that only Luke was with him, and why he besought Timothy to come to him quickly, and why he asked him to come before winter, and not to forget to bring the apostle's cloak, which inadvertently had been left behind at Troas. It was like Tyndale, the English translator of the Bible, in his imprisonment begging for a warmer cap. From some such dungeon, if not from the Mamertine itself, Paul was finally led outside the city walls. He was conducted through the gate, called St. Paul's to-day, past the Pyramid of Caius Cestius, perpetuating the name of a man who died 30 B. C. He accordingly must have seen this, which still survives the ravages of time. Right by this pyramidal tomb, which is 114 feet high and still in an almost perfect state of preservation,-close by this identical pile, he was led, according to tradition, to his execution at a place where now rises a splendid basilica bearing his name and known as St. Paul's Without the Walls, and where a memorial church of some kind for the apostle has stood ever since the time of Constantine the Great. Most imposing is this cathedral, whose eighty polished columns, rising from a mirror-like floor and supporting the lofty roof, were the gifts of European Catholic rulers.

Returning into the city, we go on till we pass Trajan's Column, which speaks of a Roman Emperor who died 117 A. D. Before that, Pliny the Younger as governor of Bithynia in the vicinity of the Black Sea wrote him a letter regarding the Christians. He described them as meeting and singing a "hymn to Christ as God," and he complained that the con

tagion was spreading everywhere, and that the temples of the gods were being deserted. He wanted imperial instructions for checking the movement. So absolutely historical is Christianity, since at this early period the staying of its rapid progress was sought by the whole power of the government. Trajan would turn in his grave, and perhaps upset his column, ́if he knew that surmounting its height of 127 feet is at present a statue of St. Peter. Marcus Aurelius, too, another persecutor, would be dismayed, if he should learn that his stately column of 123 feet was made still higher by a statue of St. Paul.

Coming to the Roman Forum, we have the very pavements trodden by the Caesars, excavations having removed refuse to the depth of 25 feet. Here Mark Antony made his stirring oration over the dead body of Julius Caesar, whose 23 gaping wounds were so many "ruby lips" to enforce what the living speaker said. We cannot take time even to enumerate the remnants of ancient temples clustering round this spot, though they are more important than the small circular temple of Vesta near the Tiber. They are of more importance, though there may remain of them only broken arches, or a few columns standing here and there in solitary grandeur.

Rising from the Forum is the Palatine Hill, around whose base the plow of Romulus was run to determine the limits of the new city. His twin brother Remus, who defiantly leaped over the wall that rose in the furrow, was ruthlessly slain with fratricidal hand. On the Palatine also are the vast and impressive ruins of the palaces of the Caesars. We stand in an audience room, where Paul may have appeared before Nero as a result of his address of defense before Festus, closing with the dramatic, "I appeal unto Caesar." In these palatial