"
A traveller was stopped between Rome and Civita Vecchia, and robbed of
all the money he had about him. When he reached Palo, he laid his
complaint before the political functionary who taxes travellers for
the trouble of fumbling with their passports. The observation of this
worthy man was, "What can you expect? the people are so very poor!"
On the eve of the grand fetes, however, all the riffraff are bound to
go to prison, lest the religious ceremonies should be disturbed by
evil-doers. They go of their own accord, as an amicable concession to
a paternal government: and if any professional thief were by chance to
absent himself, he would be politely sent for about midnight. But in
spite even of these vigilant measures, it is seldom that a Holy Week
goes by without a watch or two going astray; and to any complaint the
police would be sure to reply:
"You must not blame us; we have taken every necessary
precaution against such accidents. We have got all the
thieves who are inscribed on our books under lock and key.
For any new comers we are not responsible."
The following incident occurred while I was at Rome; it serves to
illustrate the pleasing fraternal tie which unites the magistrates
with the thieves.
A former secretary to Monsignor Vardi, by name Berti, had a gold
snuff-box, which he prized highly, it having been given him by his
master. One day, crossing the Forum, he took out his snuff-box, just
in front of the temple of Antoninus and Faustina, and solaced himself
with a pinch of the contents.
Pages:
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150