tinguish, however: the grandeur has come down to the Popes
from their predecessors,--the filth and ruin are their own.

CHAPTER XXII.

ANCIENT ROME--THE SEVEN HILLS.

Site of Ancient Rome--Calm after the Storm--The Seven Hills--Their
General Topography--The Aventine--The Palatine--The Ruins of the
Palace of Caesar--View of Ruins of Rome from the Palatine--The
Caelian--The Viminale--The Quirinal--Other two Hills, the Janiculum
and the Vatican--The Forum--The Arch of Titus--The Coliseum--The
Mamertine Prison--External Evidence of Christianity--Rome furnishes
overwhelming Proofs of the Historic Truth of the New
Testament--These stated--The Three Witnesses in the Forum--The
Antichrist come--_Coup d'OEil_ of Rome.

But where is the Rome of the Caesars, that great, imperial, and
invincible city, that during thirteen centuries ruled the world? If you
would see her, you must seek for her in the grave. You are standing, I
have supposed, on the tower of the Capitol, with your face towards the
north, gazing down on the flat expanse of red roofs, bristling with
towers, columns, and domes, that covers the plain at your feet. Turn now
to the south. There is the seat of her that once was mistress of the
world. There are the Seven Hills. They are furrowed, tossed, cleft; and
no wonder. The wars, revolutions, and turmoils of two thousand years
have rolled their angry surges over them; but now the strife is at an
end; and the calm that has succeeded is deep as that of the grave.
These hills, all unconscious of the past, form a scene of silent and
mournful beauty, with fragments of temples protruding through their
soil, and humble plants and lowly weeds covering their surface.

The topography of these famous hills it is not difficult to understand.
If you make the Capitoline in which you stand the centre one, the
remaining six are ranged round it in a semi-circle. They are low broad
swellings or mounts, of from one to two miles in circumference. We shall
take them as they come, beginning at the west, and coming round to the
north.

First comes the AVENTINE. It rises steep and rocky, with the Tiber
washing its north-western base. It is covered with the vines and herbs
of neglected gardens, amid which rises a solitary convent and a few
shapeless ruins. At its southern base are the baths of Caracalla, which,
next to the Coliseum, are the greatest ruin in Rome.

Descend its eastern