Colosseum…

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1. The colosseum under the moon ! This reminds me of Alexandre Dumas:

   “Scarcely, therefore, had the reflective Franz walked a hundred steps beneath the interior porticos of the ruin, than, abandoning Albert to the guides, who would by no means yield their prescriptive right carrying their victims through the routine of the “Lion’s Den,” “Hall of the Gladiators,” and the “State Box of the Emperor,” he ascended a half-dilapidated staircase, and, leaving them to follow their monotonous round, seated himself at the foot of a column, and immedi ately opposite a large chasm, which permitted him to view the giant of granite in all its majestic dimensions.

   Franz had remained for nearly a quarter of an hour hidden by the column but watching Albert and his guides, who, holding torches in their hands, had emerged from a vomitorium placed at the opposite extremity of the Colosseum, and then again disappeared, like shadows after an ignis fatmts, down the steps conducting to the seats reserved for the Vestal virgins, when all at once his ear caught a sound resem bling that of a stone rolling down the staircase opposite the one by which he had himself ascended. There was nothing remarkable in the circumstance of a morsel of granite giving way and falling heavily below; but it seemed to him that the substance that fell gave way beneath a foot, and that the sound of feet was approaching him, although he that caused it was trying his best to deaden the sound.

   In a few seconds the figure of a man was visible, gradually emerg ing from the staircase opposite, which was lighted by the moon, while the steps going down were plunged in darkness.

   The stranger might be a person who, like Franz, preferred the enjoyment of solitude to the frivolous gabble of the guides, and then his appearance would have nothing extraordinary in it ; but the hesita tion with which he proceeded onward, stopping and listening with anxious attention at every step he took, convinced Franz he expected the arrival of some person.

   By a sort of instinctive impulse, Franz withdrew as much as possi ble behind his pillar.

   About ten feet from the spot where himself and the stranger were placed, the roof had given way, leaving a large round aperture, through which might be seen the sky thickly studded with stars.

   Around this opening, which had, possibly, for ages permitted a free entrance to the moonbeams, grew a quantity of creeping plants, whose delicate green branches stood out in bold relief against the clear azure of the firmament, while large masses of creepers and strong shoots of ivy hung floating to and fro like so many waving strings.

   The person whose mysterious arrival had attracted the attention of Franz stood in a kind of half-light, that rendered it impossible to dis tinguish his features, although his dress was easily made out. He wore a large brown mantle, one fold of which, thrown over his left shoulder, served likewise to mask the lower part of his countenance, while the upper part was completely hidden by his broad-briiuined hat The lower part of his dress was more distinctly visible by the bright rays of the moon, which, entering through the broken ceiling, permitted the observer to see a pair of black pantaloons coquettishly falling over patent-leather boots. The man, if not a member of the aristocracy, belonged to no inferior station of life.

   Some few minutes had elapsed, and the stranger began to show manifest signs of impatience, when a slight noise was heard outside the aperture in the roof. Almost immediately a shadow seemed to obstruct the light, and the figure of a man was clearly seen gazing into the darkness ; then, as his eye caught sight of the man in the mantle, he grasped a floating mass of thickly matted boughs, and glided down by their help to within three or four feet of the ground, and then leaped lightly on his feet. The man wore the costume of a Transteverino…”

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