ITALY: Rome's Birthday

Fascist masons toiled furiously, early in the week, to construct an imposing dais between the Arch of Constantine and the Colosseum, with stones taken from the nearby Temple of Venus. As "the 2,680th† anniversary of Rome "dawned," the dais was spread with draperies of imperial red. Upon it were set gilded crowns and other trophies won in the wars of ancient Rome. Soon Premier Mussolini ascended this mighty sustentation, planted himself on an imperial-seeming musnud. Jove-like, he frowned upon the suffocating throngs. Awed, they were silent.

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