George Willis Botsford

“ Through tiers of crowded seats that flanked their line of march, Titus and Vespasian rode in their triumphal procession in 70 A. D. Jerusalem had been conquered, and the Temple burned and destroyed. This celebration was called the “Triumph,” which was given by Rome to all her successful generals on their return from campaigns. It had been a hard task for Titus to conquer rebellious Jerusalem. Oppression and extortion by the Roman rulers had risen to such a height that the Jews were driven at last into desperate resistance to the overwhelming power of Rome. ”

“ The present number of The Mentor is the last of the calendar year—not that of The Mentor year, for that will end in February next. The turn of the calendar year, however, brings with it the inevitable moment of retrospection. This is merely a habit of the human mind, for the New Year is only a human establishment. In a sense it may be said that every day is the beginning of a new year and the ending of an old year. The real new year for a human being, it seems to us, begins with his birthday, for that is the beginning of all things for him. ”

“ We know now to our own great satisfaction that it is not simply a picture-loving public that takes The Mentor. The serious interest in the subjects that we have published, the earnest desire to know what subjects would be forthcoming, the intelligent suggestions that we receive concerning various subjects that might be included in The Mentor plan—all these, and then the numerous evidences in our mail that The Mentor is bringing something new into the home life, convince us that when we shaped our plans on the broad lines of a comprehensive, popular education we builded well. ”

“ Tourist and scholar walk undisturbed through this sepulcher of a mighty empire, their senses awakened to the ancient life only by the rush of waters through the subterranean Cloaca Maxima, and to the life of our day by the roses, geraniums, and wild Italian flowers that grow luxuriantly wherever a bit of soil is left. ”

“ An essential feature of the Roman government was religion, which the senate and magistrates well knew how to operate for practical ends. It is not surprising, therefore, to find about the Forum the ruins of many temples. There is the temple of Saturn, now only a group of columns. It rests on an unusually high foundation. ”

“ However healthy the climate of the Campagna may have been in those times, today it is about the most unhealthy in the world. It is a district containing a great many closed valleys and depressions in the soil, without outlet for the waters that accumulate. Natural watercourses are impeded: Under the top soil are marl and stiff clay, which hold the water after it has filtered through the soil, and let it ooze out to the lower parts of the country, where it is mixed with rotting vegetable matter. Barriers of hills prevent movement of the air. Malaria runs rampant. ”

“ The children are gaunt, hollow cheeked, and sallow in complexion. Men who work there in the fields fear to pass the night in the country because of the fever. They return to Rome every evening. Forsaken towers and buildings, which stand rotting everywhere about the Campagna, tell the same story of a pestilence-stricken district. Now for the most part only foxes, bears, and other wild animals tenant the ragged pastures and wild jungles of the Campagna.
PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION
ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR, VOL. 1, No. ”

“ Personal service to the empire was their chief title to office and the basis on which successive rulers built up their power.
HOW THE FORUM PROBABLY LOOKED
Temple of Julius Cæsar Palace of the Cæsars Basilica Julia
Temple of Vesta Temple of Castor and Pollux
THE FORUM
The city of Rome itself abounds in places and objects of interest more easily reached than the Campagna. It requires at least a teaspoonful of information to appreciate the features of Rome; and to those who are mentally equipped no spot furnishes keener enjoyment than the Forum. ”

“ Nearly everything found has been identified and clothed in the historical imagination with the associations of the time when it had a purpose and a meaning. But the spot, once the abode of intense life, is now still; it seems the burial place of a dead society and government ”

“ Then the great villas, whose ruins now strew the ground everywhere in the neighborhood of Rome, were built. The ancient Roman nobility lived in great numbers in the very places now found so deadly. Their summer homes were placed not only on the sea-shore, but all through the country.
Huge aqueducts supplied Rome with water and irrigated the farms on the Campagna. These are the most conspicuous ruins on the Campagna today. The Gothic army at the siege of Rome in 536 destroyed nearly all the aqueducts, and later on the great country seats were demolished. ”

“ The ruins of many tombs are found on the Campagna. Roman family vaults contained a funeral banquet hall, on a level with the road, and a crypt below, where the ashes were kept in urns, or the bodies laid to rest in sarcophagi.
The sites of the cities of Veii, Fidenæ, and Gabii, once the rivals and equals of Rome, are now almost deserted. In sea-coast towns of Ardea, Laurentum, Lavinium, and Ostia, at one time well populated, are practically empty. The inhabitants are haggard and fever stricken. ”

“ Emperor Vespasian, followed by Titus, each in a separate chariot, rode next in the procession, with Domitian, who was the younger son of Vespasian, and consul, on horseback. After them came the soldiers who had been in the war, crowned with laurel leaves and shouting songs of victory. Thus the triumphal procession went along the Sacred Way.
When they came to the Temple, Simon, the general of the Hebrews, was put to death, according to custom. The leader of the conquered army was always killed at the Triumph of the conquering general. ”

“ The ruins consist of three slender columns, standing on a high foundation and supporting a fragment of the entablature. These remains belong to the reconstruction of the temple under Augustus. The worship of the twin gods, Castor and Pollux, patrons of cavalry, had been introduced from Greece into Rome in the early republic. The front porch of the temple often served as a platform for party leaders while addressing the crowd in the Forum. On such occasions it sometimes became the center of violent political conflicts out of keeping with the beauty of the surroundings. ”

“ The dwellings of her few wretched tenants are miles apart. Herds of sheep and of fierce long-horned cattle pasture on the abundant grass, and along the well-made roads that span the plain an occasional ox-team wearily drags an awkward cart. ”

“ Our wish is that each member of our Association shall say, on laying down a number of The Mentor, that he is richer in the knowledge that cultivates or in the information that is helpful, and that he has at all times been interested and entertained. ”

“ This arch is a memorial of the war waged by Titus against the Jews, in which he besieged and destroyed Jerusalem, their holy city. During the conflict the Jews resisted with superhuman energy; and when everything was lost they killed one another and their wives and children as the lot determined, in order not to be slaves. ”

“ In 590 there was a great plague in Rome. Pope Gregory the Great was leading a procession to Saint Peter’s Cathedral to pray for deliverance from the pestilence, when it is said the Destroying Angel appeared on the summit of the Tomb of Hadrian. ”