LANCIANI'S NEW BOOK ON ROME.
[To THE EDITOE OF THE "SPECTATOR."] do not think that, as a rule, the reviewers in the Spectator have " Vandal Popes" on the brain ; but surely the remarks on the above-named work, in the Spectator of May 27th, might supply matter for those who have. How could Anastasius IV. (A.D. 1153) have "turned the body of St. Helena out of the sarcophagus to make room for himself," —when that body was translated to the Abbey of Hautvilliers, near Rheims, in 849 P We have the authority of Mabillon and the Bollandists for this. The body was doubtless retrans- lated to Rome, and is now under the High Altar of the Church of. Ara Cmli, in a "rich shrine of porphyry;" but who put it there ? With regard to Calixtus III., who rifled the tombs of Constantine or his family, and the daughter of Stilicho, for the valuables within them, we learn that he did so in order to raise money for the prosecution of the war with the Turks. He did not only rifle tombs for this purpose, but sold his own plate and jewels, and even the salt-cellars off his table, for the purpose. That purpose saved Europe. The victory at Belgrade was owing to his indefatigable energy,— for no one else helped him, and Hunjadi would have been left without money or food for his troops.
Was that man a "common burglar "P Sorely he was a very uncommon one ! " Antiquarians " may or may not be pro- foundly indifferent as to the Christian or Mahommedan victory, and may "gnash their teeth" over the horror of Stilioho's dead daughter losing her golden combs and embroidery; but why go back five hundred years for the gnashing of teeth P Is it nothing to them that the Elgin Marbles have been torn from the Pantheon, and suffered to be hidden away in a gloomy London corridor, that a few people who neither know nor care where Athens is may occasionally look at them.? Surely here is room for such gnashing of teeth, that when they think of Stilicho's daughter, there would be no teeth to [The statement about Anastasius IV. was made on the authority of S. Lanciani, who is by no means anti-Papal. The removal, whether "translation" or "theft," of the remains of St. Helena seems to rest on no good evidence. As to Callixtus III., he could not have sent the gold and silver to Hunjadi. They were not discovered till 1458, and Hunjadi died in 1456.—ED. Spectator.]
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