"Were these Romans Christians?" asked Moodie, who had hitherto looked
on in silence.
"No," she answered, "they worshipped many false gods."
"Then they were just like all the Romans I have known," said he dryly,
and turned his back on the temple.
"Come," said Mrs. Shortridge, "let us take Moodie's hint, and look for
something else worth seeing."
As they continued their walk, L'Isle remarked, "In many a place in the
peninsula we find a Roman aqueduct, a Moorish castle, and a Gothic
cathedral standing close together, yet ages apart. How much of history
is embraced in this? We have just been gazing upon the mouldering
remains of two phases of civilization, which were at their height,
one, while our forefathers were yet heathen and almost savage, the
other, while they were but emerging from a rude barbarism. We should
never forget that this peninsula was the high road which arts and
letters traveled on their progress into Western Europe, and to our own
land."
"We are much indebted to letters and the arts for the unanimity with
which they came on to us; for certainly," said Lady Mabel, looking
round her, "little of either appears to have loitered behind.
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