MUSSOLINI’S FAILURE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20796, 15 August 1929, Page 8

MUSSOLINI’S FAILURE.

j COLOSSAL TREASURE HUNT ! FIASCO. ’ CALIGULA’S LAST JOKE. I * ■ Writing from Nemi (near Rome) to the London Daily Express, a special cor- ‘ respondent says:—Mussolini has paid the . i highest price on record for a few pieces of , mouldy wood. Caligula, one-time Emperor . . of Rome, has done Italy’s Dictator an ill > turn. Mussolini, in the face of advice ■ j aud ■ opposition from archaeologists, was i persuaded that at the bottom of Lake ■ | Nemi, in the Roman Hills, the galleys of | , the famous and infamous Caligula lay ! j laden with gold, precious stones, and . ' jewels, awaiting the man bold enough and imaginative enough to bring the galleys ' to the surface. LEGEND OF CRUELTY. , " -pet the lake disclose again the glorious vestiges of our imperial greatness.” declared the Dictator. And the lake dis- ;• closed a few pieces of mouldy wood-all ■ that remained of those vestiges of the imj pefiai greatness of Imperial Rome. ■ j For almost 2000 years the galleys had rested there. Caligula, who loved orgies' | j and depraved life, had built them so that 1 j he could retire to them with his guests. j far from the madding crowd and more hi- \ , quisitive persons. There he presided over ' feasts of luxury and vice which lasted j all night and ended at times with cruel | murders and barbarities. Covered with gold, silver, bronze, and conper, ornamented with rich carpets of the East, and with the scented woods and the wonderful silks of Greere, filled with the best works of art which Athens and Rome could pro. , dure, these two galleys were known to the. Romans as the essence of luxury nud wealth. Here Caligula entertained Rome's golden youth of 1900 years ago; here dozens of beautiful slaves danced on beds v °f flowers, and wines were served in cups of exotic preciousness. Then, one night, so goes the legend, Caligula became tired of the galleons, tired of orgies, tired even of life itself, when it belonged to others. The lust for blood which had given him the name of “ The Murderer Emperor ” of the Romans incited in him a desire to - watch a performance as barbarous as it was original. He wished to see the spectacle of thousands of men and beautiful women sinking to the bottom of the lake in the midst of an orgy, tt-o invited hundreds of his best friends, chosen from the flower of the Roman nobility; then, when all was merry and wits were dulled with the fumes of wine and passion, he commanded that the bottoms of the two galleons should be broken through and the ships scuttled. That infamous act accomplished, he rowed to the shore and calmly watched the awful sight, the cries of Lis victims ringing in his ears long after the galleons had disappeared. So goes the legend. DRAINING THE LAKE. Throughout the centuries attempts have been made to raise the galleys. They all ended in failure. Then came Mussolini. He looked, he saw, he failed to conquer! He decided that if the ships could not be brought up to the Romans, then the Romans must go down to the ships. The lake would have to be drained. The Italian papers, enthused by their Dictator’s genius, published the following message;—“ By order of Mussolini, the golden galleys of Caligula will be retrieved. “Since ordinary salvage methods have proved useless,” continued the. message, we shall, try new methods. Fascist methods. We shall nob endeavour to lift the ships up from the lake, but we shall dry the lake itself,” The work was colossal, worthy of Nero or Caligula in the extravagance of its conception. Fortunes were spent in perfecting the engineering methods adopted, and gradually the lake receded. After many months the galleye could be seen. A flag was fastened to the beams, and the news was flashed throughout the world—the galleons had come to life. A JOKE THAT IS TOO GOOD. Disillusionment has followed fast upon the first triumph, however. All that is left of the galleons are a few rotting beams and planks. There is no treasure, no gold, no silver, no stauee, no precious stones or bronzes. The works of art of Greece and Rome are conspicuous by their absence. Caligula has played the most stupendous joke in history, and he has played it upon the world’s Bogey man— Mussolini. The world laughs, appreciative of a good joke. But Mussolini, faced by the expenses of his great and futile project, is not likely to smile. And what is painful is the fact that it is not possible to punish its perpetrator, Caligula. Or wa* it Mussolini?