markable
exterior--Dream-world--West doorways--Internal effect--In the
cloisters--Proud sacristan--Man of taste and learning--Delighted
with our enthusiasm--Great concession--Appealing to the soul--Senor
Ancora--Human or angelic?--In the cloister garden--Sacristan's
domestic troubles--Silent ecclesiastic--Sad history--Church of San
Pablo--Challenge invited--Future genius--Rare picture--Roman
aqueduct--A modern Caesar--Reminiscences--Rich country--Where the
best wines are made--Aqueduct--El puente del diablo--Giddy
heights--Lonely valley--H. C. sentimental--Rosalie and fair
Costello--Romantic situation--Quarrelsome Reus--Masters of the
world--Our driver turns umpire--Battle averted--Men of
Reus--Whatever is, is wrong--Driver's philosophy--Dream of the
centuries.

Only the broad daylight could discover all the charms of Tarragona: the
beauty of its situation, the extent of its ancient remains. The very
perfect walls, fine in tone, bore distinct Roman traces. Below them, on
a level with the shore, were other traces of a Roman amphitheatre. There
were also Cyclopean remains, dating from prehistoric times. Tarragona
was a great Roman station when the brothers Publius and Cneidos Scipio
occupied it. Augustus raised it to the dignity of a capital: and
twenty-six years B.C., after his Cantabrian campaign, he here issued his
decree closing the Temple of Janus--open until then for seven hundred
years.

Tarragona was already a large and flourishing city with over a million
of inhabitants. It was rich and highly favoured, and its chief people
considered themselves lords of the world. Many temples were erected, one
of them to the honour of Augustus, making him a god whilst still living.
There are fragments in the cloister museum said to have belonged to
this temple, which was repaired by Adrian.

On our upward way near the Roman tower we passed the still wonderful
house of Pontius Pilate, who was claimed by the Tarragonese as a
fellow-townsman. It is said to have been also the palace of Augustus,
and the lower portion bears traces of an existence before the Romans.
To-day it is a prison, and as some of its walls are twenty feet thick
the prisoners have small chances of escape. Few spots in Spain are more
interesting, or so completely carry you back to the early centuries. On
its south wall is an entrance to a short passage leading to the
Cyclopean doorway, commun