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e Rome Thursday 11th 1859
August, evening –
Another evening at Rome.
My dearest Fanny,
At four o'clock yesterday I drove out
and left cards and letters for the few persons whom
I am entitled to know in this interesting city. I dined
at six, had a visit from the American Consul the
only official representative of our country here just now
and learned from him that except artists residing per-
manently here, my companion and myself are the only
Americans here. At half past 8 we drove
to the Coliseum. A French Sentinel was posted at
each entrance and denied us admission without a
permit from The Roman Keeper of the place. We sat
down on the a broken block of the marble base of the
now lost monumental ^colossal^ coliseum of Nero The driver just
outside the walls of the Coliseum and satisfied our-
selves with seeing the moon ^rising^ through the various open
spaces in the four tiers or terraces of that huge palace
of savage pleasures. On the terrace upon the base
of the temple of Venus and Roma and just in front of
its two remaining vaulted arches – which stand back
to back, and on a level with the first story of the
Coliseum ^and^ separated from it only by the square in front
of it a solitar French soldier was blowing ^on^ his trumpet the
tattoo to beat his comrades to their quarters. The
sentinel produced a magnificent concert, each note

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being distinctly repeated as it reached the yet
perfect arch of Constantine, and afterwards reverbera-
ted through every vault of the massive Coliseum
Two thousand years I said to myself work
strange changes. Time was when a Gaul stationed
on that place and sounding a call to scattered
comrades would have been suddenly brought to a
very different kind of entertainment within the walls
which now cheerfully reechoed his martial strain.
By and by the Keeper came, lighted torches and
opening doors at the foot of various stair cases some
yet perfect and others restored conducted us by
a winding ascent marking the entire circuit of six
acres within the outer and inner walls of the
Coliseum until I stood in the floor of the
upper terrace and looked down 180 feet upon
the arena which so often had with the
promiscuous blood of savage beasts from Africa of
prisoners of war trained to be gladiators and of
Christian martyrs. My first estimate of magnitude
had been entirely illusory. The various terraces of seats
were built on Arches or vaults, the space betwe
included withinby these vaults and their enemy
was an hundred feet high, and a ^two^ chariots with and
horses could be driven abreast under the vaulted
arch which supported the terrace. You will best

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apprehend the magnitude of the whole structure if I
tell you that it covers a space equal to the
whole area between the Park at the end of our
garden and the building of the Hotel beyond us on
the North. We descended reluctantly from our
circuit, when the trumpet tones had ceased to
tremble through the walls and returned to
our lodgings where at ten oclock I close this
record and prefer to sleep with my windows
open in defiance of the sanitary instructions I receive
in all quarters here.