TIBER'S HIDDEN TREASURES.

Timaru Herald, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 11980, 31 January 1903, Page 2 (Supplement)

TIBER'S HIDDEN TREASURES.

FABULOUS WEALTH AND PRICELESS ART. TEE BED OP THE ANCIENT STREAM IS LITTERED "WITH JEWELS, STATUES OP OOLD AND HONEY. Probably no more remarkable scheme for acquiring fabulous wealth ever entered the brain of man than that which has just been conceived by a learned Italian (writes Curtis Brown, in the New Orleans "TimesDemocrat"). Beside it the quest of the searchers for pirates' hoards and for the New El Dorado and those of the old philosophers who hoped to transform the baser metals into gold seem almost commonplace. Briefly, this savant's scheme consists in searching th e bed of the river Tiber, the sluggish stream that flows through ancient Rome, for the vast and priceless treasures which he believes to be buried in it, deep down under the silt of ages. There he expects to find wealth which will make the millions of Monte Cbristo and; the resources of King Solomon's mines seem beggarly—in the shape of riches in money, jewellery and works of art that for centuries on end were thrown' into the river as votive offerings to the god which the Romans believed dwelt in. the historic stream. There he counts on discovering the masses of statues in gold, silver and bronzemany of them the works of Phidias and other ancient masters—that vanished beneath the Tiber's waters in the course of the religious struggles that continually shook the Eternal City. Also the weapons and armour worn by the thousands of soldiers who found graves amid the ooze on the bottom of the old river in the many battles that raged beside its banks and on its many bridges. The most wonderful item of the treasuretrove which this explorer expects to bring to light is, however, the solid gold sacred candlestick declared by the Bible to have been ordered by God on Mount Sinai, which was for years on view in Rome, and which history tells us was sunk in the Tiber. NOT A VISIONARY. Professor Ciro Nispi-Landi, the author of this startling project, is no mere "dreamer." A man of profound learning, he now holds the responsible position of inspector of the national monuments to the Italian Government, and is the author of several thoughtful works on ancient Rome. It was the Professor's historical studies and researches that inspired him with his great idea of searching the Tiber for treasures. They directed his attention first to the length of time during which Romans, rich and poor alike, cast into the slow-flowing river their most cherished possessions, and also to the period, unexampled in history, of thirty-four centuries t in which the Tiber was the centre of momentous events. Professor Nispi-Landi's notions of what golden results might come from a search of the Tiber's bed were strengthened by what he saw while in charge, several years ago, of the work of building the Tiber's .embankment. The Professor noticed, as he tells me, that " whenever and wherever the liber was searched in the course of bridge-building, or of the work on the embankment, ancient and valuable things always came to light," Generally, they were valuable enough'to pay the entile cost of the operations. For instance, one Italian bridge-building firm, in laying the two pillars of the Ponto Palatino, discovered antiquities to the value of several million lire. In adjusting the foundation pillar of the Ponto Garibaldi three beautilul antique bronze statues, one of Bacchus and one of Venus, came to light, and in widening the Ponto Cestio antique jewellery—one piece of which was a wonderful gold and turquoise collar—and other valuable relics were drawu up from the depths where they had lain for years. In the course of the complete work on the embankment enough' ancient works of art and other relics were discovered to stock one ot the richest museums in Rome—that of the Thermae of Dioeletianus.

Professor Nispi-Landi looks upon the discoveries of these things as having merely " tapped," so to speak, the almost inexhaustible riches which he believes lie beneath, the Tiber's waters. t "Most of the treasures," remarked the Professor, in response to one of my questions, "are certainly u> be found in the most central part of the river £ and have remained undiscovered for that very reason." PLAN FOR WORK OUTLINED. Naturally, the Professor is rather diffident about divulging exactly how he means to conduct the explorations. He consented, however, to give a hint of his plans. In parentheses it should be said that Professor Nispi-Landi has, for this purpose divided the Tiber up into "zones," or 'districts. The;y are eleven in number, No. 1 covering most of the Tiber in Rome proper, the others the course of the river outside" the

Eternal City. v 'We shall proceed," said the Professor, "by digging parallel trenches for the first zone, where the ancient source of the river is dried up, with the aid of steam pumps, and where the Tiberiue waters follow their natural course with pneumatic tanks moditied and adapted to the special use of river exploration." Professor Nispi-Landi's enterprise will be financed by the Chevalier William Millar, a wealthy Anglo-Italian of Leghorn, who has implicit confidence in the savant's scheme. Just when the actual work will be begun is not yet decided. The permission of the State was given to the enterprise some time ago, but recently soma " recommendations " have been made by the Museum of Antiques. Compliance with them has delayed matters, and it may be some time before the process of delving for the Tiber's treasures commences in earnest.

One of the points in Professor Landi's theory which most inspire one with confidence in his reasoning is the scholar's demonstration that search in the Tiber always has been richly rewarded. In doing this the Professor goes back as far as the thirteenth century, quoting one of his historians, Falminio Vacca, who described haw, a small boat having sunk near the Ponto Sublicio and several swimmers being engaged to fish it out, arrows, swords, breastplates, arms of every description, " and other beautiful objects," recognised as purely Etruscan, were discovered and brought to the surface. TREASURES CERTAINLY THERE. But, after all, it is necessary only to review one's Roman history a little to convince almost anyone that there should be riches in the Tiber. That they were pub in is certain, and Professor Nispi-Landi states that in all his researches~he has been unable to find any record of any large quantities of them having been taken out. The records of sacrifices to the Tiberine god go back to the beginnings of Roman history. Even Virgil tells how iEneas promised Father Tiber that if he would protect him from peril, " Thou shalt ever be wor-

shipped bv me with homage and with gifts." The example of was followed by the generations that came after him. "Sacrifices were made on the eve of great events, such as battles, during times of national peril, to make sure of having the god on the suppliant's side, during * great, rejoicings, and to commemorate illustrious men who had died. These were the great public sacrifices, of course, but private, individuals, in prosperity and grief, offered personally similar sacrifices—generally the most precious things they owned. Back in the time of the Arcadians, men used to. be hurled into the Tiber, but soon they were replaced bv puppets and graven images, and after this "the offerings of money, jewellery and precious things began. It was not only the Romans who sacrificed to Father Tiber. The superstitions of all the southern races seem to have been pretty much alike at this time, and whatever, force was near the river made votive offerings to it. The Huns, the Goths and the Vandals all hurled a large part of the plunder derived from their sucks of Rome into the ancient stream. "Such offerings were," says 'Professor Nispi-Landi, " the cause which contributed chiefly and for the longest period to enrich the bed of the Tiber with precious relics. Another, cause, however, was the casting into the stream by the Romans of their possessions in order to prevent their being captured hy enemies."

For instance, after the defeat of Maientius Sasa fay Constantine, say the records, "'Not only a great number of dead and wounded men and an immense quantity of arms and valuable objects, but even the treasures of Maxentius and the military chest of his army were thrown into the river to prevent their falling into the hands of the victorious foe." To save them from the Hans, and later on from the French, marbles, bronzes, statues, busts and costly images enriched the Tiber. Add to all this treasure the hundreds of rich Pagan statues and temple ornaments thrown into the river <by the Christians, and the property of all who conspired to bring about the assassination of Cffisar, which had a similar fate, and an idea will begin to form of the vast treasures which Professor Nispi-Landi believes lie among the weeds on the Tiber's bottom.

WHAT HE EXPECTS TO»ITXD. This Italian scholar, whose woiks, "Rome Before Humanity" and 'M. Agrippa and His Temple," are by the way well known in Italy, has not by any means contented himself with the conviction that treasures in the aggregate are 'below Tiber waters. He has drawn up for himself a list of individual relics of which history speaks and has attempted io locate each in one of his "zones," according to the details which 'he has been able to gather as to its sacrifice. For instance, the Professor believes that the Sacred Candlestick of Moses, the object that he would like best of all to recover, will be found in its first zone, or in that part of the Tiber near the famous Castle Angelo, close to the Vatican and St Peter's—probably the part of the river that most Americans have seen. Says the Professor: "It is certain that religions objects were left ■untouched by the superstitious Alaric and Genseric; indeed, in 509 and 529 the Candlestick was still to be seen in Rome. I regard it as certain that the emblem ordered on Mount Sinai, which stood in the Tabernacle of King David, which was carried round the walls of Jericho and was venerated by Cajsar and Pompey, was eventually lowered by the Jews down from the bow of 'Esculapius's ship onTibertine Island in onr first zone. The Jews themselves always have asserted that it is there. Consider that more than 1900 years have passed since then and that the Candlestick was then about 1550 years old, making a total of 3448 years! What importance would its discovery have? "Vvho should have the greatest claim to its possession? How much should be paid to the discoverers? It is not easy to answer these questions. Everything should be as wonderful as the Candlestick itself." Professor Nispi-Landi will be one of the most disappointed men in the world if he does not bring trp from the Tiber's bed thousands of suits of rich armour, of swords and shields, the property of the wounded men who through custom were hurled into the river, and those that fell in the fearful battles on the bridges. Among these he expects will be the armour of brave old Horatius and his men, who kept the Pons Sublicus against the Etruscan army and finally leaped into the Tiber. " There must be," be writes, "in that part of the river arms, coins, ornaments, jewels, such as buckles, collars and rings, all rare and valuable as the only relics of the Romans and Etruscans of those days. He expects to find the famous Minerva statue of Phidias, as well as those of Hercules, Mars and Venus, with the pearl of Cleopatra. He believes he will bring to light the solid gold statue of Claudius H., which once stood in the Capitol, and which was thrown into the Tiber to save it from the Goths. PAST ATTEMPTS TO FES'D TREASURES.

Probably one of the first questions that will come into the mind of anyone who reada this story of Professor Nispi-Landi's great project will he: If the Tiber is so rich in treasures, why has no one tried to get them before, or at least why has no one thought of doing so? Well, for hundreds of years men of an ingenious turn of mind have been pondering upon doing and attempting to do that precise thing. For his scheme of searching the Tiber's bed, Professor Xispi-Landi claims no originality; he claims only to be the first man who has yet set about doing it with the prcper mechanical devices. The list of those who in modern times have attempted! to make the Tiber disgorge is headed by the name of the learned Cardinal de Polignac, who planned to deviate the Tiber from its course for about two miles, and then to dig for the antiquities which he believed were discoverable. Pope Benedict XIV. smiled on the Cardinal's project, but while the necessary capital was being gathered the Pope died and his successor was dissuaded from aiding de Polignac, on the ground that the climate of Rome might be injured. In 1773, Don Alfonso Bruzzi undertook the exploration of the Tiber by means of a cofferdam of his own invention. The device did not come up to expectation, for the water rose and overturned it. "Yet, for the short time it worked, enough was found to pay all costs and leave a profit. The scheme of Joseph Xaro, in 1815, was not so successful. He, too, believed the Tiber to contain treasure, but he tried to get it by means of a kind of mud-scraper, a " grattina," as he called it, which, whenever an encumbrance was met, was planned to strap it and draw it up. Only fragments of statues, marble blocks and "funeral columns were, however, brought up by the Garibaldi dreamed of searching the Tiber, but he, too, wished to deviate the course of the river, and this the Italian Parliament refused to allow. The most recent man of celebrity to consider exploring the Tiber was the late Prince Alexander Torlonia. He, however, wanted to keep so much of what he found that the Government refused to grant him permission to make a- trial. The Prince had felt so certain of success that he offered to deposit as a guarantee for the work the sum of a million and a half lire—£6o.ooo. Professor Xispi-Landi believes that he. at fast, will succeeJ. He says : ■• I have now fulfilled all the formalities required by the Honourable Minister of Public Works", and the Ministerial Decree will enable us with new means and a positive and practical prospectus to see the great river searched at last, and the abundant riches of intrinsic and artistic value of every ancient epoch triumphantly recovered. Let only fortune *n:ile on our enterprise and merit and riches are ours!"