Rensselaer Union, Volume 7, Number 21, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 February 1875 — Antiquarian Treasures at Rome. [ARTICLE]

Antiquarian Treasures at Rome.

The correspondent of the London JMr Telegraph at Rome, in writing •boot the excavations in that city, says:. Everything that is dog up is brought under the immediate cognisance of the Oommiasionc Aichmologfca. This body has as its President the Marquis ViUlleschi, and among its members such wellknown antiquarians as the Commend atore Rosa, Angusto Castellani and Cavalleire fAneiani. The last-named gentleman is the keeper of the antiquities discovered, which are deposited at the office of the commission, situated at the Q>piU>| There may be seen a collection comprising specimens of nearly everything, either for show or used in the prirate life of the ancient Romans. Take for example the coins# They have been discovered in startling quantities. On the Esquiline so many have been found that they fill chests. Only daring the past week the workmen came upon a asass of some 3,000 lying loose in the Kund. These coins arc principally me, but there is also a large amount of gold and silver money. One thing has a peculiar interest attached to it. It is a small, round, bronze box, which was used to keep medals in. Although the medals were gone, it was at once ascertained by the archeologist that the box had contained them and that they had been stolen, for on the bottom of the box may be seen the impression left In the thick coating of verdigris. There are numbers of inkstands and bronze pens; enough to have supplied the notaries of the modern city. A collection of small Etruscan vases in colored terracotta has been the means of proving the existence and site of an ancient Etruscan cemetery on the Esquiline. From the tomb of a priest has been extracted the gold thread woven into his robes, which has remained long after he and the robes he wore have crumblediftto dust. Among | some hundreds of bone and ivory-han-dled clasp-knives is one which belonged to a jockey in the circus. On the ivory handle was scratched a plan of the circus, the representation of the horse, the owner’s whip, and the palm he won as a prize. These knives all bear a singular resemblance in shape to the rude claspknives in every-day use among the “ contadini,” and above all, some have ahead j 1 the point, which probably then, as rs y, was intended to prevent the too free use of this favorite Roman weapon. It would take up far too much space to enumerate the numberless objects of great interest to-be seen here. They comprise a wide range of materials, such as agate, crystal, amethyst, glass, paste, alabaster, ivory, fresco, stucco, gold and mosaic. They clearly demonstrate, however, the vast quantity of valuable curiosities that are daily being exhumed at tite present time in Rome. There are bushels of terra-cotta lamps, some verybeautiful, besides many larger things in the same ware. Heaps of ivory spills and writing styles show how lasting and common this beautiful substance must have been. The pots and urns in bronze are a magazine in themselves, but there, is a far smaller show of iron implements, probably owing to the more perishable nature of the metal. These things lie deposited in the storerooms of the commission, waiting till means be found for their proper arrangement. Perhaps the most important in the long list of objects lately dug up is the collection of eightytwo statues. A few of the most perfect are placed in the Capitoline Museum of Sculpture. The majority of the others lie on their backs in a vault adjoining the Tabul&rium of the Capitol, awaiting their tarn for restoration and setting us in the gallery.