The Art of Man: Rome

As we shuffled through the Roman Forum in our tour group of fifty or so people, I heard a father grant advice to his son, who was skillfully avoiding walking in the center of the cobblestone walkway, opting for the semi-grassy root along the sides.

"Walk in the middle...Caesar would have," the father told his son.

And that was when it hit me: the art of Rome is a history of human power and grace. It is ancient; it is artifactual. It is majestic. It is all of these things at once.

Destroyed ruins have found their resting-place near newer buildings with marble columns and golden fixtures.

And whether the building is new, or newly refurbished, the famous cats of Rome sneak into the nooks and crannies, creating a sight for tourists.

Indeed, Roman Emperor Julius Caesar would never have walked around the sidewalk, or behind the building. He would have walked straight down the middle...and that is where I decided to take the rest of my trip. Not around the action, not around the history - but right through it!

The Roman Forum

The Roman Forum is the place to which we're referring when we say, "All roads lead to Rome." It is self-containing in its telling of the history of man.

The Forum was once the center of cultural life. It was place of government buildings and courts. The Senate House (aka, the Curia) that stands today is actually a reconstruction of the original.

Spiritually, the Forum was also important to the ancients. The Romans erected temples to various gods in the Forum, especially Castor and Pollux and the Vestal Virgins.

But beside this place of political and spiritual renaissance stood reminders of a history more attuned to the daily Roman life. Food stalls and brothels added to the bustling, chaotic nature of the place to which all roads led.

Present day visitors to the Forum don't walk around these artifacts and buildings; instead, we walk right through them. You can touch marble columns, fallen to the side during the years of the Roman Empire's decline. You can walk the route that Caesar walked.

Why the Destruction?

Marble and stones are heavy.

Perhaps the greatest mystery to me is how so much of what once stood as symbolic of a great society has crumbled.

There was a dark time for the Roman Empire in the latter part of the first millennium. The people destroyed much of the physical buildings that had made Rome great.

After the fall of the Roman Empire, the Catholic Church had many temples destroyed. They converted the ones they kept into churches.

Until forty years ago, transient people were still living in and around the Forum.

How could people physically topple such massive columns? But more importantly, how could people destroy what one can only dream of was once upon a time the most beautiful city the world had ever seen?

These questions echoed through my mind as we walked on broken pathways and sat on fallen columns, horizontal with the ground.

Mankind had built something great here - a model for many Capitol buildings, including the one in Washington, DC.

Yet, standing here at the footsteps of buildings missing roofs and walls, I could only think in cliched memories of what might have been.

Reflection

But within the Forum, a chance for reflection: walking through the Forum, we came to a wall of aged blocks with a plaque of Latin wording. Behind the decaying wall, a mound of dirt, bright red and yellow flowers seemingly thrown atop the pile.

It was Caesar's grave.

The parents would shush their kids into being quiet, to be respectful, as if they had known Caesar...as if he had just passed. Seeing a grave that has been preserved through glory and ruin causes a simple quietness.

The quiet drifts away as the children start asking questions to their parents, the tourguide continues lecturing and a new group enters near Caesar.

And while the reflection is for but a moment, I am reminded of the great part of this journey, as we walk the streets that Caesar once walked...the streets that the men and women of our past walked.