YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY Gift of
Wolcott G. Lane
Yale 1888-1934.

CLASSICAL TOUR

ITALY.

CLASSICAL TOUR

THROUGH

ITALY An. MDCCCII.

Haec est Italia diis sacra, hae gentes ejus, hsec oppida populoruin.
Plin. Nat. Hilt. ill. 20.

BT THE
REV. JOHN CHETWODE EUSTACE.
SIXTH EDITION:
With an
ADDITIONAL PREFACE, AND TRANSLATIONS OF THE VARIOUS
QUOTATIONS FROM ANCIENT ANDMODERN AUTHORS.
ILLUSTRATED WITH
A MAP OF ITALY, PLANS OF CHURCHES, AN INDEX, &c.

JN FOUR VOLUMES.
VOL. II.

LONDON:
PRINTED FOE J. MAWMAN, 39, LUDGATE STREET.
1821.

London ; Printed by T. Miller,
Noble Street, Cheapside.

A CLASSICAL TOUR

THROUGH

ITALY.

CHAP. I.

MODERN ROME.
Its Population — Streets — Squares — Fountains —
Tombs — Palaces.
The modern city, as the reader must have already
observed, possesses many features of ancient Rome.
The same roads lead to her gates from the ex
tremities of Italy — the same aqueducts pour the
same streams into her fountains — the same great
churches that received the masters of the world
under the Flavian and Theodosian lines, are still
open to their descendants — and the same vener
able walls that enclosed so many temples and
palaces in the reign of Aurelian, still lift their
VOL. II. B

2 CLASSICAL TOUR Ch. 1.
antique towers around the same circumference.
Within this circumference, " Modern Rome" lies
extended principally on the plain, and scattered
thinly over the hills, bordered by villas, gardens,
and vineyards. Its population amounted to one
hundred and eighty, or perhaps two hundred thou
sand souls previous to the French invasion, which
by empoverishing the country, and severing from
the capital one of its richest provinces, is said to
have diminished the number of inhabitants by
twenty, or even thirty thousand. The streets
are well built and well paved, narrower in gene
ral than those in London, and wider than those
in Paris ; but (as the houses are not too high)
tbey are light and airy, often very long and
straight, and not unfrequently terminated by an
obelisk, a fountain, or a church. Such are the
three streets which diverge from the Porta, or
rather Piazza del Popolo ; the Corso, anciently the
Via Lata terminating at the foot of the Capitol ;
the Strada del Babuino, ending in the Piazza de
Espagna, and the Strada de Ripetta, anciently the
Via Populi, leading to the Tiber ; not to speak of
the Strada Giulia, Strada della Longara, and many
others. The houses are of stone but plastered as at
Vienna, Berlin, and other transalpine cities ; the
plaster, or stucco, is extremely hard, and in a
climate so dry may equal stone in solidity and

Ch. I. THROUGH ITALY. S
duration. Hence its general use iu Italy, and its
reputation even among the ancients, who em
ployed it not only in ordinary buildings, but even
sometimes in porticos and temples ; as we find in
the temple of Fortuna Virilis at Rome supposed
by many to be a remnant of the Republican era,
though more probably erected, or rather rebuilt,
in the Augustan age. To us, stucco, however
excellent in its kind, seems only a bad imitation
of stone, and conveys an idea of poverty incom
patible with grandeur or beauty. Before I enter
into details, I shall premise, in order to give the
reader a general idea of Modern Rome, that it
contains forty-six squares, five monumental pillars,
ten obelisks, thirteen fountains, twenty-two mauso
leums, one hundred and fifty palaces, and three
hundred and forty-six churches ! Of these ob
jects most have some peculiar feature, some
appropriate beauty, to attract the attention of the
traveller. SQUARES.
Of the squares, the most remarkable for its
extent is the Piazza Navona, whieh gradually rose
on the ruins of the Circus Agonalis. It is adorned
by the handsome church of S. Agnes and re
freshed by three fountains decorated with statues.
One of these fountains (that in the middle of the

4 CLASSICAL TOUR Ch. I.
square) is much admired: it was designed and
erected by Bernini. Four figures representing
four rivers, recline on a craggy rock : on its top
stands an Egyptian obelisk ; from its hollow sides
rushes a perpetual stream. These three fountains
are so managed during the heats of August, as to
inundate the whole square on - Saturdays and
Sundays, and afford a new and refreshing exhibi
tion to the Roman gentry, who parade along in
their carriages, and to the common people, who
collect around in crowds, to behold the brilliant
and enlivening scene.
The Piazza d'Espagna, so called from the
palace of the Spanish embassy, is large, supplied
by a fountain, and adorned with several handsome
buildings, but particularly by the noble flight of
marble steps that ascends from it to the obelisk,
church, and square, Delia Trinita di' Monti. From
the balustrade that terminates this staircase above
and borders the latter square, and indeed from the
square itself which runs along the brow of the
Pincian hill, there opens a delightful view of
Rome, Monte Mario, and the Janiculum.
Of the Piazza Colonna I have already spoken ;
that of Monte Citorio communicates with it. This
square is extremely beautiful. Its principal orna
ment is the Curia Innocenziana, a palace erected
by Innocent XII. for the accommodation of the
courts of justice and for the officers belonging to

Ch. I. THROUGH ITALY. 6
them. Its magnitude, materials, and architecture,
are equally admired.

OBELISKS.
Opposite the grand entrance of the Curia,
stands an Egyptian obelisk, remarkable for its
antiquity, its workmanship, and its destination.
It is said to have been erected by Sesostris at
Heliopolis ; it is covered where not damaged,
with hieroglyphics executed with uncommon neat
ness, and was employed by Augustus as a gnomon
to an immense dial formed by bis direction, in the
Campus Martius. After having been overturned,
shattered, and buried in the 'ruins, it was dis
covered repeatedly, and as often neglected and
forgotten ; till Benedict XIV. rescued it from
oblivion, and the late Pope, Pius VI. repaired and
placed it in its present situation. It is the third
obelisk which that pontiff had the satisfaction of
re-erecting, to the great ornament and glory of
the city.
These obelisks are peculiar to Rome, and
seem to form ornaments singularly appropriate,
as they connect its present beauty with its ancient
power and magnificence. When we recollect
that their antiquity precedes the origin ?f regular
history, and disappears in the obscurity of the
fabulous ages ; that they are of Egyptian work-

6 CLASSICAL TOUR Ch. I.
manship, the trophies, and perhaps the r.ecords
of her ancient monarchs; we cannot but look
upon them as so many acknowledgments of
homage, so many testimonials of submission to
the mistress of the Universe. When we are in
formed that whatever their elevation or mag
nitude may be, they are of one solid block of
granite, and yet that they have been transported
over many hundred miles of laud and of sea, we
are astonished at the combination of skill and
i
boldness that marks such an undertaking, and
surpasses the powers of modern art, though ap
parently so much improved in mechanical opera
tions. It is then particularly incumbent on the
sovereign to preserve and to recover as many as
possible of these illustrious monuments of Egyp
tian skill and of Roman majesty.
How many obelisks adorned the city in the
ancient times, it would be difficult to determine.
Some confine the number to sixteen ; I should be
inclined to enlarge it. However if there were
only sixteen, more than one-half have been re
stored, as ten now stand in different squares of the
city. Another, which has been too mnch shatter
ed for re-erection, was employed in the reparation
of that which stands in the Piazza del Monte
Citorio. It is probable that others may hereafter
be discovered in the neighborhood of an Imperial
sepulchre, or amidst the ruins of a circus ; in the

CA. I. THROUGH ITALY. 7
decoration of which edifices they seem to have
been principally employed.
The most remarkable of the obelisks are, that
in the Piazza del Popolo, that in the centre of
the colonnade of S. Peter's, and that which stands
in the square of St. John. The one before
S. Peter's stood in the circus of Nero, that is a
few hundred paces from its present site, and was
removed from the side to the front of the church
by Sixtus Quintus. It is a single piece of granite,
about eighty feet in length, and with its pedestal
aud the cross that tops it, rises to the height of an
an hundred and thirty-six feet. The two others
anciently adorned the Circus Maximus, and were
thence transported by the above-mentioned spirited
pontiff to their present situations. That in the
Piazza del Popolo is ninety feet in height, includ
ing its cross and pedestal. That erected near
St. John Lateran is ,the highest of the obelisks,
and including the ornaments of the fountain on
which it reposes, it has an elevation of at least one
hundred and fifty feet above the level of the
pavement. The monument in London surpasses
the obelisks in elevation ; but its shaft is not a single
piece, nor is it of Egyptian granite, nor is it in
scribed with hieroglyphics.

CLASSICAL TOUR CA. I.

FOUNTAINS.
From the obelisks we pass to the fountains,
because they are generally employed in the decora
tion of the same squares, and sometimes united,
as in the Piazza Navona and at St. John Lateran,
to set each other off to more advantage. Three
only of the ancient aqueducts now remain to sup
ply modern Rome, and yet such is the quantity
they convey, and so pure the sources whence
they derive it, that no city can boast of such a
profusion of clear and salubrious water. Artificial
fountains in general are little better than orna
mented pumps, whiqh sometimes squirt out a
scanty thread of water, and sometimes distil only
a few drops into a muddy basin. Those on a
greater scale now and then throw up a column, or
pour a torrent as occasion may require, on certain
state days, or for the amusement of some distin
guished personage; and then subside till a fresh
supply enables them to renew the exhibition.
Such are in general the fountains and cascades
that adorn public walks and palace gardens ; and
such the so much celebrated water-works of St.
Cloud, Marli, and Versailles; inventions which
can be considered only as pretty play-things cal
culated, like a theatrical decoration, to act an
occasional part and to furnish a momentary

CA. I. THROUGH ITALY. 9
amusement ; but too insignificant to be introduced
into the resorts of the public, or into the walks of
princes, where we have reason to expect solid
magnificence founded on nature and reality.
How far the ancient Romans carried this specie9
of magnificence we may easily judge, when we
consider that they had undoubtedly both the taste
and the materials requisite for it. Their aque
ducts which supplied them with water even to
prodigality, still remain striding across vallies, pe
netrating mountains, and sweeping over immense
plains, till they meet in the heart of the city. The
edifice where they united, and whence they sepa
rated to water their destined quarters, was called
Castellum, and if we may judge by that which
remains (the Porta Maggiore) was generally a
fabric of great solidity and magnificence, and, as
appears from the ruins of one discovered near the
church of St. Ignatius, sometimes cased with
-marble and adorned with marble pillars. The
number of these towers anciently, as well as of
the fountains springing from them, must have
been prodigious, as Agrippa alone if we may
believe Pliny,* erected one hundred and thirty of
the former, and opened one hundred and five of
the latter, and adorned them with three hundred
brass or marble statues. Strabo says that such a
* Lib. xxxvi. 15.

10 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. I.
quantity of water was introduced into the city
that whole riv.ers seemed to flow through the
streets and down the sewers, so that every house
had its pipes and cisterns sufficient to furnish a
copious and perpetual supply. The modern Ro
mans though inferior in numbers and opulence to
their ancestors, have shewn equal taste and spirit
in this respect, and deserve a just eulogium, not
only for having procured an abundance of water,
but for the splendid and truly imperial style in
which it is poured forth for public use in the dif
ferent quarters of the city. Almost every square
bas its fountains, and almost every fountain has
some particularity in its size, form, or situation, to
attract attention. The three principal however
will suffice to give the reader an idea of the variety
and of the beauty of such edifices, especially as I
have already described one or two, and may here
after call his attention to others which are too
intimately connected with the objects around them
to be taken as detached pieces.
The Fontana Felice, in the Piazza dei Termini
on the Viminal Mount, deserves to be mentioned
first, because first erected. It is supplied by the
Aqua Claudia drawn from the Alban or rather
Tusculan hills, and conveyed to Rome by channels
under, and aqueducts above ground ; some of
which are ancient, some modern. It discharges
itself through a rock under an Ionic arcade built

CA. I. THROUGH ITALY. 11
of white stone, and faced with marble. It is
adorned by several gigantic statues, the principal
of which represents Moses striking the rock
whence the water issues. On the one side, Aaron
conducts the Israelites ; on the other, Gideon leads
his chosen soldiers to the brink of the torrent:
below, four lions, two of marble and two of basaltes
ornamented with hieroglyphics, hang over the
vast basin as if in haste to slake their thirst. The
restoration of this noble fountain and the orna
ments which grace it, are owing to the spirit of
Sixtus Quintus, and it bears the name [of Aqua
Felice (Happy water), and is supposed to be now
as anciently peculiarly wholesome.
Nearly opposite, but beyond the Tiber and on
the brow of the Janiculum, rises an arcade sup
ported by six pillars of granite. Three torrents
rushing from the summit of the hill tumble
through the three principal arches of this arcade,
and fill an immense marble basin with the purest
water. They then roll down the side of the
mountain, turn several mills as they descend, and
supply numberless reservoirs in the plain along
the sides of the river, and even beyond it in the
Campus Martius. The lofty situation of this
fountain renders it a conspicuous object to all the
opposite hills. The trees that line its sides and
wave to the eye through its arches, shed an un
usual beauty around it; and the immense basin

12

CLASSICAL TOUR' CA. I.

which it replenishes gives it the appearance, not
of the contrivance of human ingenuity, but almost
the creation of enchantment.
In the Piazza di Trevi (in Triviis) on a rough
and broken rock, rises a palace adorned with
Corinthian pilasters, and supported in the centre
by Corinthian pillars. It is ornamented with
statues representing the salubrity and fertilizing
powers of the waters ; the beneficent Naid herself
holds a conspicuous place among them, and seems
to behold with complacency the profusion of ber
springs. In the middle of the edifice between the
columns, under a rich arch stands Neptune on his
car, in a majestic attitude as if commanding the
rocks to open before and the waters to swell around
him. Two sea-horses conducted by two Tritons
drag the chariot of the god, and emerging from
the caverns of the rock, shake the brine from their
manes ; while the obedient waves burst forth in
torrents on all vsides, roar down the clefts of the
crag, and form a sea around its base. In the
heats of summer they overflow their usual limits,
fill the whole marble concavity round the fountain,
and rise to a level with the square, where after
sunset the inhabitants of the neighboring streets
assemble, to enjoy the united freshness of the
waters and of the evening.
Such is the celebrated Fontana di Trevi, the
noblest work of the kind in Rome, and probably

CA. I. THROUGH ITALY. IS
the most magnificent fountain in the world. The
basin itself is of white marble, and the vast en
closure around it, is flagged and lined with marble
of the same color. A flight of steps of white
marble leads down to this basin ; and to prevent
accidents, a 'chain supported by large blocks of
granite encloses the exterior border. I know that
the architectural part of the Fontana di Trevi, and
indeed of the Aqua Paola and Aqua Felice, has
been severely criticized; and in candor I must
acknowledge that the criticism is in many respects
well founded; for instance, it must be allowed
that the elegance and lightness of the Corinthian
or Ionic is ill adapted to the simplicity of a foun
tain where Doric would be more appropriate,
because plainer and more solid. It will be ad
mitted also that these edifices are broken and
subdivided into too many little parts ; a process
in architecture, as in painting and in poetry,
diametrically opposite to greatness and to sub
limity. In fine, it cannot be denied, that the
superstructure is in all three too massive for the
order, and too much encumbered with coats of
arms and other supernumerary decorations. Yet
notwithstanding these faults, and they are not in
considerable, while the spectator sits on the marble
border of the basin, and contemplates the elevation
of the columns, the magnitude of the edifices, the
richness of tlie materials, the workmanship of the

14 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. I.
statues, and above all, the deluge of waters poured
round him, the defects are lost in the beauties and
criticism subsides in admiration.
TOMBS.
In ancient times the bodies of the deceased
were deposited without the walls, generally along
the most frequented roads, where their tombs
arose at intervals and under various forms, shaded
by cypresses and other funereal plants, and ex
hibited on both sides a long and melancholy border
of sorrow and mortality. Few persons were
allowed the honor of being buried in the city or
in the Campus Martius, and of the few tombs
raised within its space during the republic, one
only remains in a narrow street, the Macello di
Corvi (the Crows' Shambles), near the Capitoline
hill. It is of a solid but simple form, and inscrib
ed with the name of Caius Publicius Bibulus ; and
as the only one of that name mentioned in history
is distinguished by no brilliant achievement, but
only represented as a popular tribune, it is difficult
to discover the reason of the honorable exception.
Under the Emperors, certain illustrious persons
were allowed tombs in the Campus Martius, or in
its neighborhood ; and these monumental edifices
at length swelled into superb mausoleums, and
became some of the most majestic ornaments of

CA. I. THROUGH ITALY. 15
the city. Of these the two principal were the se
pulchres of Augustus and of Adrian, and although
both belong to the rnins of ancient Rome and
have already been alluded to, yet as tbey still
form even though shattered and disfigured, two
very conspicuous features in the modern city, the
reader may expect a more detailed description of
them. The best and indeed the only ancient account
of the former monument denominated by way of
eminence the Mausoleum, is given by Strabo, who
represents it as a pendent garden raised on lofty
arches of white stone, planted with evergreen
shrubs, and terminating in a point crowned with
the statue of Augustus. In the vault beneath lay
the remains of the Emperor and of his family ; at
the entrance stood two Egyptian obelisks ; round,
arose an extensive grove cut into walks and
alleys. Of this monument, the two inner walls
which supported the whole mass, and the spacious
vaults under which reposed the imperial ashes,
still remain ; a work of great solidity and eleva
tion. Hence it is seen at a considerable distance
and continues still a grand and striking object.
The platform on the top was for a considerable
time employed as a garden, and covered as origin<-
ally with shrubs and flowers. It is now converted
into a sort of amphitheatre and surrounded with
seats and benches, where the spectators may

16

CLASSICAL TOUR CA. I.

enjoy in safety the favorite amusement of bull-
baiting. We attended at this exhibition, in which
not dogs only but men act as assailants, and we
thought it although conducted with as much
precaution, and even humanity as it is susceptible
of, too dangerous to amuse persons not accustomed
to contemplate hair-breadth escapes. This edifice
owes its preservation to its solidity. It has been
stripped of its marble, of its pilasters, and of its
internal and external decorations ; it has belonged
' successively to numberless individuals, and is still
I believe private property. Such a monument,
after having escaped so many chances of ruin,
ought not to be neglected. Government should
purchase it, should disengage it from the petty
buildings that crowd around it and conceal its
form and magnitude; should case it anew with
Tiburtine stone and devote it under some form or
other to public utility. Thus some portion of its
former splendor might be restored, and its future
existence secured as far as human foresight can
extend its influence.
The Emperor Hadrian who delighted in archi
tecture and magnificence, determined to" rival, or
more probably to surpass, the splendor of Augus
tus's tomb, and erected a mausoleum which from
its size and solidity was called Moles Hadriani
(Hadrian's Mole). As the Campus Martius was
already crowned with tombs, temples, and theatres,

CA. I. THROUGH ITALY. 17
he selected for its site a spot on the opposite bank
of the river, at the foot of the Vatican Mount ;
where on a vast quadrangular platform of solid
stone he raised a lofty circular edifice surrounded
by a Corinthian portico, supported by twenty-four
pillars of a beautiful kind of white marble tinged
with purple. The tholus or continuation of the
inner wall formed a second story adorned with
Ionic pilasters ; a dome surmounted by a cone of
brass crowned the whole fabric and gave to it the
appearance of a most majestic temple. To in
crease its splendor, four statues occupied the four
corners of the platform, twenty-four adorned the
portico and occupied the intervals between the
columns ; an equal number rose above the entabla
ture; and a proportional series occupied the niches
of the second story between the pilasters. It is
superfluous to observe that the whole fabric was
cased with marble, or that the statues were the
works of the best masters ; and it is almost unne
cessary to add that this monnment was considered
as the noblest sepulchral edifice ever erected, and
one of the proudest ornaments of Rome, even
when she shone in all her imperial magnificence.
Yet the glory of this mausoleum was transi
tory; its matchless beauty claimed in vain the
attention of absent Emperors ; the genius of Ha
drian, the manes »f the virtuous Antonini, names
so dear to the Roman world, pleaded in vain for
VOL. ii. c

IS CLASSICAL TOUR Ch. I.
its preservation. The hand of time daily defaced
its ornaments, the zeal of Honorius stripped it of
its pillars, and the military skill of Belisarius turned
it into a temporary fortress. The necessity of such a
protection became from this period daily more vi
sible. Threatened first by the Lombards, then by
the German Emperors, and in the progress of time
by its own lawless nobles, the government saw the
necessity of securing a permanent post, and found
none more defensible by situation and by structure
than the Moles Hadriani, which commands the
river, and from its internal solidity might defy all
the. ancient means of assault. The parts therefore
that remain, are such as were adapted to this pur
pose; that is part of its basement or platform and
almost the whole of the central circular building,
though stripped of its marbles, its pillars, its sta
tues, and its cone. The marbles disappeared at an
early era, having been employed in other buildings,
or converted into lime and used as mortar. The
pillars were transported to St. Paul's fuori delle
mura (without the walls) and still adorn its nave;
the statues despised in a barbarous age were turn-'
bled to the ground, wedged into the wall, or hurled
as missile weapons against the assailants. Some
few have been discovered rn the neighborhood;
the greater part may possibly "still lie buried amidst
the ruins. The brazen cone or ^.jne-apple stands
in a garden enclosed in one of the squares of the

CA. I. THROUGH ITALY. 19
Vatican palace; and the sarcophagus, in which
the ashes of Hadrian were deposited, is said
to be one of the two now placed in the Corsini
chapel of St. John Lateran. In the course of
time various bastions, ramparts, and outworks
have been added to the original building; several
houses for soldiers, provisions, magazines, &c. are
raised around ; and some very considerable edifices
containing spacious apartments, have been erected
on the solid mass of the sepulchre itself. It takes
its present name Castel St. Angelo from its desti
nation (it is the citadel of Rome) and from a bronze
statue of an angel standing with extended wings
on its summit.
While speaking of these monuments of an
cient magnificence, it is impossible not to mention,
the Septizonium of Severus, and not to regret its
destruction; as it had survived the disasters of
Rome, and suffered less during the barbarous ages
than most other public edifices. It stood at the
foot of the Palatine Mount near the Clivus Scauri,
that is opposite Mount Celius, and the spot where
now stands the convent of St. Gregory. It was
built in the form of a pyramid, and consisted of
seven porticos or temples supported by pillars of
the finest marbles rising above one another and
towering to a prodigious elevation. Three stories
remained entire at so late a period as the reign of
Sixtus Quintus, who ordered the pillars to be con-

20 CLASSICAL TOUR dh. I.
veyed to St. Peter's, which he was then building,
and the remaining part of the structure to be de
molished. It would be unjust and ungrateful to
accuse a Pope, to whom the world owes the dome
of St. Peter's, of want of taste; or to suspect a
sovereign, to whom modern Rome is indebted for
half her beauty, of indifference to her antiquities ;
yet we cannot but lament the loss of the Septi
zonium, which had resisted the agency of so many
destructive causes, and which whether entire or
in ruins must have presented a most astonishing
display of architectural grandeur.
But, alas! all the monuments of Roman mag
nificence, all the remains of Grecian taste, so dear
to the artists, to the historian, to the antiquary,
all depend on the will of an arbitrary sovereign,
and that will is influenced too often by interest or
vanity, by a nephew, or a sycophant. Is a new
palace to be erected for the reception of an up
start family? The Coliseum is stripped to furnish
materials. Does a foreign minister wish to adorn
the bleak walls of a northern castle with antiques?
The temples of Theseus or Minerva must be dis
mantled, and the works of Phidias or of Praxiteles
torn from the shattered frieze. That a decrepit
uncle absorpt in the religious duties of his age and
station, should listen to the suggestions of an inte
rested nephew is natural, and that an oriental de
spot should undervalue the master-pieces of Gre-

CA. I. THROUGH ITALY. 21
cian art is to be expected; though in both cases
the consequences of such weakness are much to be
lamented ; but that the minister of a nation famed
for its knowledge of the language and its vene
ration for the monuments of ancient Greece, should
have been the prompter and the instructor is al
most incredible. Such rapacity is a crime against
all ages and all generations; it deprives the past
of the trophies of their genius and the title deeds
of their fame ; the present of the strongest induce
ments to exertion, the noblest exhibitions that
cariosity can contemplate : arid the future of the
master-pieces of art, the models of imitation. To
guard against the repetition of such depredations is
the wish of every man of genius, the duty of every
man in power, and the common interest of every
civilized nation*.
Of the tomb of Cestius I have already spoken,
and of some without the walls I may speak here
after. At present we shall pass from the tombs

* How much more honorable would it have been to the
English nation, if its minister at Constantinople had em
ployed the influence which he then enjoyed in protecting the
Athenian remains against the ignorance and the avarice of
the Turkish troops in the citadel, by procuring an order to
enclose and preserve these admired monuments : an order
which might have been procured with as much facility, and
enforced with as little expence as the permission to deface
them.

22 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. I.
of the ancient heroes of Rome to the palaces qf
her modern nobles, which now rise thick around
them on all sides, and almost eclipse their faded
splendor. PALACES.
In the first place the reader must observe, that
the appellation of palace in Rome, and indeed in
all the towns in Italy, is taken in a much more
extensive sense than that in which we are accus
tomed to employ it, and is applied not only to the
residence of the sovereign but to the mansions of
the rich and the noble pf every description. It
follows that many edifices bear this name, which
in the eyes of an Englishman would scarcely seem
to deserve it, and of course we may infer that
many among these palaces of Rome do not per
haps merit the trouble of a visit, and much less
the honour of a description. I will venture to add
that the far greatest part of these mansions are less
remarkable for their external architecture, than for
their size and interior decorations; a remark
which I think applicable in particular to the pon
tifical palaces of the Quirinal (Monte Cavallo) and
the Vatican. The external walls of these palaces
are plastered, while the window and doorcases
with the angles and cornices only appear to be of
stone. Even the ornaments of the most splendid,

CA. I. THROUGH ITALY. 23
such as the Barberini Odescalchi and Earnest, are
confined to pilasters or half pillars; a mode of de
coration rich indeed and pleasing to the eye, but
inferior in grandeur to the detached column and
the pillared portico. Ornament it is true must be
subservient to utility, and in streets where space is
wanting, the open gallery and spacious colonnade
must be resigned, and their place supplied by deco
rations more compact although less stately. How
ever the extent and elevation of the principal pa
laces, may perhaps be considered a compensation
for the absence of grand architectural ornaments,
as they undoubtedly give them a most princely and
magnificent appearance. At all events the spacious
courts and porticos within, the vast halls and lofty
apartments with the pillars, the marbles, the sta
tues, and the paintings that furnish and adorn them
in such profusion, place many of the Roman pa
laces on a level or rather raise them far above the
royal residences of the most powerful princes be
yond the Alps.
Some of our English travellers complain of a
want of neatness and general cleanliness in these
palaces. This complaint may probably be well
founded, but it is applicable to most of the palaces
on the continent, as well as to those in Italy; and
we may range far and wide I believe, before we
discover that minute and perpetual attention to
cleanliness in every apartment, and in every article

24 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. I.
of furniture, which prevails in every mansion in
England, from the palace to the cottage, and
forms such a distinguishing feature of the national
character. In this respect, however, the Romans
are not inferior to the inhabitants of Paris or of
Vienna ; nor can a traveller without fastidious de
licacy find any very just cause of complaint.
It has been again objected to Roman palaces,
that their magnificence is confined to the state
apartments, while the remaining rooms, even
those iphabited by the family itself, remain un
furnished, neglected, and comfortless. To this it
may be answered that the words furniture and
comfort convey a very different meaning in
northern and southern climates; in the former
the object is to retain heat; in the latter to ex
clude it: the precautions taken for the one are
diametrically contrary to those employed for the
other; and the carpeted floor, the soft sofa, the
well closed door, and the blazing fire, all so essen
tial to the comfort of an Englishman, excite ideas
of heat and oppression in the mind of an Italian,
who delights in brick or marble floors, in cold
seats, in windows and doors that admit a circula
tion of air, and in chimnies formed rather to ven
tilate than warm the apartment. Damask tapestry
hangings, paintings, and statues are, it is true,
confined in Italy, as in most other countries, to
the state rooms ; but the other parts of their

CA. I. THROUGH ITALY. <25
houses did not appear to me neglected; and I
think I have seen in the tliird or fourth stories of
the Braschi and Borghese palaces, apartments fitted
up in a manner which even an Englishman would
call neat and almost elegant. Moreover, several
palaces are inhabited by families once opulent,
but now reduced, and consequently unequal to
the expence of keeping such vast edifices in repair,
and of supporting the magnificence of many
princely apartments. The French invasion has
considerably increased the number of such dis
tressed families; and occasioned the degradation
of many a noble mansion. The neglected and
ruinous appearances occasioned by such causes we
may lament but cannot censure.
To the cause of dilapidation just mentioned,
we may add another, perhaps more effectual, and
that is the absence and total indifference of the
proprietors. It is a misfortune that some of the
most noble palaces and villas in Rome belong to
families now raised to sovereign power. Thus
the Palazzo Farnese is the property of the King
of Naples, that of Medici of the Grand Duke of
Tuscany. Both these edifices, after having been
stripped of all their valuable ornaments, their
marbles, their statues, their paintings, were aban
doned to the care of a few half-starved servants,
and are now scarcely preserved from falling into
ruin. The furniture of the Medicean palace or

26 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. I.
villa was conveyed tp Florence, that of the Far-
nesian to Naples; and they form in both places
the principal ornaments of the respective collec
tions. From the latter were taken the Hercules
and the celebrated groupe called the Toro Farnese;
from the former the Venus of Medicis — I need
mention no more. It is not my intention, nor is
it conformable to my general plan, to describe in
detail the beauties of every palace. To point out
the principal features of a few of the most
celebrated edifices of this kind will be fully
sufficient. The Doria palace in the Corso presents three
vast fronts; contains a spacious court adorned
with a public portico all around. The staircase is
supported by eight pillars of oriental granite, and
conducts to a magnificent gallery that occupies the
four sides of the court, and with several adjoining
apartments is filled with pictures of the highest
estimation. The Palazzo Ruspoli is remarkable for its
staircase, supposed to be the noblest in Rome. —
It consists of four flights of thirty steps each;
each step consists of a single piece of marble near
ten feet long, and more than two broad : it is
adorned with antique statues; and the walls of
two noble galleries, to which it conducts, are co
vered with pictures.
The Orsini palace owes the, elevation which

CA. I. THROUGH ITALY. 37
renders it remarkable to the theatre of Marcellus,
on whose foundations, vaults, and collected ruins,
it rises on a lofty eminence.
The Palazzo Giustiniani stands on Nero's
baths, and is adorned with a profusion of statues
and columns extracted from their ruins. This
collection, once reported to contain above fifteen
hundred antique figures, has, I fear, been much
diminished since the commencement of the revo
lutionary war.
The Palazzo Altieri is a detached edifice form
ing a square, and representing four fronts, all set
off with architectural decorations. Two courts, a
handsome portico, and several noble apartments,
glowing with the rich tints of Claude Lorrain,
embellish the interior.
The fantastic architecture of the palace of Ci-
ciaporci, in which Julio Romano seems to have
allowed his talent to amuse itself in singularity,
may deserve a transient visit.
The residence of Christina Queen of Sweden
has given an additional lustre to the Corsini palace
remarkable in itself for its magnitude, furniture,
gardens, and superb library. The library, with
the collection of prints annexed to it, is said to
have once contained near four hundred thousand
volumes. The garden runs along, and almost
reaches the summit of the Janiculum. Both the
library and the garden are open to the public, who

2S CLASSICAL TOUR Ch. I.
may range through the apartments of the one ;
and as they wander over the other may enjoy a
complete view of Rome extended over the oppo
site hills ; a view as classical as it is beautiful, be
cause remarked and celebrated in classic times.
Juli jugera pauca Martialis ,
Hortis Hesperidum beatiora,
Longo Janiculi jugo recumbunt.
Lati collibus imminent recessus ;
Et planus modico tumore vertex
, Coelo perfruitur sereriiore :
Et, curvas nebula tegente valles,
Solus luce nitet peculiari :
Puris Ieniter admoventur astris
Celsae culmina delicata villae.
Hinc septem dominos videre montes,
Et totam licet aestimare 'Romain*. Martial, lib. iv. ep. Ixiv.

My Martial's small, but lovely lands,
On the green slope, that wide expands,
Of fair Janiculum recline ;
Th' Hesperian gardens less divine.
There many a cool retreat is found
Far rais'd o'er all the hills around ;
The level summit, mounting high,
Enjoys an ever tranquil sky ;
With suns their own those regions glow,
Though clouds may hide the vales below.
Thy beauteous villas tow'rd the skies
With gentle elevation rise ;
Hence the sev'ri hills, and hence is seen
Whate'er great Rome can boast, the world's triumphant
queen.*

CA. I. THROUGH ITALY. 29
Opposite is one of the Farncsian palaces which,
though in the middle of the Strada Lungara, is
sometimes called Villa Farnesiana. It has in
reality something of the appearance of a villa, as
its gardens are extensive, and border the banks of
the Tiber. The interior, though unfurnished and
neglected (it belongs to the King of Naples) yet
still interests and will continue to attract the
curious traveller, till the splendid scenes which
the genius of Raffdello has shed on the walls and
ceilings shall vanish, and the Loves and Graces
that now smile and sport on all sides, shall melt
away, and lose their airy forms in the damp vapors
that too often brood around them.
From the villa we naturally pass to the Palazzo
Farnese. This edifice occupies one side of a
handsome square adorned with two fountains. It
was planned and its construction directed by the
best architects, and principally by Michael An
gelo: its apartments were painted by the first
artists, and chiefly by Domenichino and Annibal
Caracci. It is of immense size and elevation,
and on the whole is considered as the noblest pa
lace in Rome. Twelve massive pillars of Egyp
tian granite support the vestibule; three ranges
of arcades rise one above the other round a spa
cious court, and suites of noble apartments open
at every door, and follow each other in endless
succession. The traveller contemplates so much

SO CLASSICAL TOUR Ch. I.
magnificence with surprise and delight, but he
learns with regret that it is founded upon wanton
depredation : the Farnesian palace shines with the
plundered fragments of the Coliseum.
The Palazzo Costaguti indifferent in every
other respect, has the walls of its apartments
adorned by the hands of the first masters ; Albano,
Domenichino, Guercino, &c. have all displayed
their matchless powers in its decorations, and thus
given it a reputation to which its size and archi
tecture could never have raised it. Some share in
a similar advantage added to great magnitude, dis
tinguishes the Palazzo Mattei.
The Palazzo Borghese is a superb edifice, re
markable for its extent, its porticos, its granite
columns, its long suite of apartments, its paint
ings and antiques ; and still more distinguished
by a certain well supported magnificence that
pervades every part, and gives the whole mansion
from the ground floor to the attic, an appearance
of neatness, order, and opulence. It may be added
with justice, that the illustrious family to which
the palace belongs, has been long and deservedly
celebrated for taste, and for magnificence directed
by order and regularity. — " Maneant ea fata
Nepotes*!"

May the same fate attend their posterity.

CA. I. THROUGH ITALY. 31
In an antichamber of the Palazzo Spada, stands
the celebrated statue of Pompey; at the foot of
which Caesar is supposed to have fallen. The
history of this statue deserves to be inserted. It
was first placed during Pompey's life, in the senate
house which he had erected ; and when that
edifice was shut up, it was raised by order of
Augustus on a double arch or gateway of marble,
opposite the grand entrance of Pompey's theatre.
It was thrown down, or fell, during the convul
sion of the Gothic wars, and for many ages it
lay buried in the ruins. It was at length dis
covered, I believe about the beginning of the
seventeenth century, in a partition wall between
two houses. After some altercation, the proprie
tors of the two houses agreed to cut the statue
asunder, and to divide the marble; when fortu
nately the Cardinal de Spada heard the circumstance,
and by a timely purchase prevented the accom
plishment of the barbarous agreement, and the
destruction of one of the most interesting remnants
of Roman antiquity.
Another danger awaited Pompey's -statue at a
much later period, and from an unexpected quarter.
While the French occupied Rome in the years
1798-99, &c. they erected in the centre of the
Coliseum a temporary theatre, where they acted
various republican pieces for the amusement of
the army, and for the improvement of such Ro-

S2 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. I.
mans as might be disposed to fraternize with them,
and adopt their principles. Voltaire's Brutus was
a favorite tragedy, as may easily be imagined ;
and in order to give it more effect, it was resolved
to transport the very statue of Pompey, at the
feet of which the dictator had fallen, to the
Coliseum, and to erect it on the stage. The
colossal size of the statue, and its extended arm,
rendered it difficult to displace it; the arm was
therefore sawed off for the conveyance, and put on
again at the Coliseum ; and on the second removal
of the statue, it was again taken off, arid again
replaced at the Palazzo de Spada. So friendly to
Pompey was the republican enthusiasm of the
French ! So favorable to the arts and antiquities
of Rome is their Love of Liberty !
The Palazzo Barberini, besides its paintings,
its statues, and its vast extent, possesses a noble
library, which, on certain days in every week,
is open to the public ; a species of patriotic mag
nificence which compensates whatsoever architec
tural defects critics may discover in the exterior of
this palace.
I shall conclude this enumeration of palaces
with the Palazzo Colonna, the residence of one of
the most ancient and most distinguished families
in Rome, ennobled by its heroic achievements, and
immortalized by the friendship and the verses of
Petrarca.

Ch. I. THROUGH ITALY. S3
Gloriosa Colonna, in cui s'appoggia
Nostra speranza, e'l gran nome Latino,
Ch' ancor non torte dal vero camino
L' ira di Giove per ventosa pioggia*. Sonetto x.

The exterior of this mansion is indifferent ;
but its extent, its vast court, its gardens, and its
furniture, are worthy the rank and dignity of its
proprietor. Its library is spacious and well filled;
its staircase is lined with statues ; and its apart
ments are filled with paintings by the first masters ;
but its principal and characteristic feature is its
hall, or rather gallery, a most magnificent apart
ment, of more than two hundred and twenty feet
in length, and forty in breadth, supported by

* Glorious Colonna, pillar of the state,
The prop, on which our hope, our name relies,
Which, standing Arm, majestic, and elate,
Braves all the angry fury of the skies.
The present Prince Colonna merits the title, and supports
the character of an old Roman Senator. He raised and
maintained a regiment against the invaders of his country ;
and when obliged to yield, he submitted with dignity, with
out descending to any mean compliance. Though almost
ruined by the exactions of the French, and by the subsequent
injustice of the Neapolitan Government, and obliged to sell
not only his pictures, but even the utensils of his kitchen, he
yet had the public spirit to present the Pope with a state-
coach and six horses, to enable him to enter Rome with
becoming dignity.
VOL. II. D

34 CLASSICAL TOUR Ch. I.
Corinthian pillars, and pilasters of beautiful yellow
marble (giallo antico, antique yellow), and adorned
on the sides, and vaulted ceiling with paintings and
gildings intermingled ; so that it presents, on the
whole, a scene of splendor and beauty seldom
equalled eyen in Italy*.

* Of the Roman palaces, many of which have been
erected by the nephews or relations of different Popes, Gib
bon speaks with admiration, but with severe censure.
" They are," says he, (ch. 71), " the most costly monuments
of elegance and servitude; the perfect arts of architecture,
painting, and sculpture, have been prostituted in their service,
and their galleries and gardens are decorated with the most
precious Works of antiquity which taste or vanity has
prompted them to collect." The judgment of the historian
seems, on this occasion, as indeed on a few others, to be
biassed by the prejudices of the philosophist. To raise and
enrich favorites, whatever may be the recommendation to the
notice of the sovereign, at the expence of the country is cri
minal, but unfortunately too common in all governments ; in
ours, free and republican as it is, as well as in others con
ducted on more arbitrary and selfish principles. Whether
these favorites be the bastards of kings, or the nephews of
popes, is a matter of little consequence to the public; for
though in the latter the scandal be less, yet the inconvenience
and the expence are the same ; in point of dignity, the former
have no superiority to claim, and as for talents, the nephews
of different pontiffs may, I believe, enter the lists against
most royal favorites, without having any reason to blush at
the comparison.

CA. II. THROUGH ITALY. *5

CHAP. II.

Pontifical Palaces : the Lateran — the Quirinal —
the Vatican.
We now proceed to the three pontifical palaces.
The Lateran st-ands close to the patriarchal church
of that name, q&d was appointed for the residence
of the Bishops of Rome, at the same time as the
adjoining Basilica was converted into a church by
Constantine.* It had fallen into ruin, and was
rebuilt by Sixtus Quintus. A part only is now
reserved for the accommodation of the Pontiff,
when he comes to perform service at St. John's.
The main body of the building was turned ipto an
hospital for the reception of two hundred ,and
fifty orphans, by Innocent %l. It presents three
fronts, of great extent and simplicity, and strikes
the eye by its magnitude aud elevation.

* Juvenal mentions egregias Lateranorum cedes (the mag-
,iiificent temples ojf t}ie Lateran), as surrounded by the bloody
cohorts of Nero, who put the proprietor to death, confiscated
his estates, and seized his palace. It continued at the dis
posal of the Emperors till the reign of Constantine.

36 CLASSICAL TOUR , CA. II.
The Quirinal palace (Monte Cavallo) is be
come, from the loftiness and salubrity of its
situation, the ordinary, or at least, the summer
residence of the Roman pontiff. Its exterior
presents two long fronts, plain and unadorned;
the court within is about three hundred and fifty
feet long, and near two hundred wide. A broad
and lofty portico runs along it" on every side, and
terminates in a grand staircase, conducting to the
papal apartments, to the gallery, and the chapel,
all on a grand scale, and adorned with fine paint
ings. In the furniture and other decorations,
the style is simple and uniform, and such as seems
to become the grave unostentatious character of
a christian prelate. The adjoining gardens are
spacious, refreshed by several fountains, and
shaded by groves of laurel, pine, ilex, and poplar.
In the recesses, arbors, and alleys, are statues,
urns, and other antique ornaments, placed with
much judgment, and producing a very picturesque
effect. In other respects, the gardens are in the
same style as the edifice, and exhibit magnificence
only in their extent.
The square before this palace is remarkable
for an Egyptian obelisk erected in it by the late
Pope. Two statues, representing each a horse
held by a young man, stand, one on each side of
the obelisk, and gave the hill the appellation of
Monte Cavallo. They are of colossal size and

C*. II. THROUGH ITALY. 37
exquisite beauty ; are supposed to represent Castor
and Pollux, although the inscription says, Alex
ander and Bucephalus, and are acknowledged to
be the works of some great Grecian master.
They were transported by Constantine from Alex
andria, and erected in his baths which stood in the
neighborhood ; and from thence they were con
veyed, by order of Sixtus Quintus, to their present
situation. The erection of the obelisk between
these groupes bas been censured by some, as
taking from their effect, and oppressing them by
its mass: but, as it is admitted that they were
made not to stand insulated, but probably to adorn
the side or angle of some edifice, perhaps a mau
soleum, and even, as appears from the roughness
of their back parts, to touch the wall, and seem
as if springing from it, their connexion with the
obelisk must be considered as an improvement
and an approximation to their original attitudes
and accompaniments.
The Vatican hill retains its ancient appella
tion, and gives it to the palace and church which
adorn its summit and declivity. Whether this
appellation took its origin from the influence of
some local divinity, which was supposed to ma
nifest itself in omens and predictions, more fre
quently on this spot than elsewhere, as Aulus
Gellius imagines ; or whether, as Varro asserts,
the god himself takes bis title from the first efforts

38 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. II.
Pf the infant voice at articulation, over which it
seems he presided, is a matter of little importance;
from which We pass to tlie recollection of the
pleasing imagery of Horace, so well known to our
early years :

Ut paterni

FluminisTipae, simul et jocosa
Redderet laudeS tibi Vaticani
Montis imago*.

Od. xx. lib. 1.

But I know not whether these sportive ideas have
riot, iri the minds of most of my readers, given
way to impressions less pleasing ; and whether
the accents of the echo have not been drowned in
the thunders of the Vatican, that have rolled
through so many ages, and resounded so long and
so tremendously in every English- ear. But be
that as it may, the Vatican has long ceased to be
the forge of spiritual lightnings, the grand arsenal
of ecclesiastical weapons,
" Armamentaria ceeli f,"

* When in applausive shouts thy name
Spread from the theatre around,
Floating on thy own Tyber's stream,
And Echo, playful nymph, feturn'd the sound. Francis.
t All the magazine of wrath above. btyden.

CA. II. THROUGH ITALY. 39
and ages have now elapsed since the roar of its
thunders has disturbed the repose of the universe,
or with fear qf change perplexed monarchs.
The Vatican is now the peaceful theatre of
some of the most majestic ceremonies of the pon
tifical court ; it is the repository of the records of
ancient science, and the temple of the arts of
Greece and Rome. Under these three heads it
commands the attention of every traveller of
curiosity, taste, and information. The exterior,
as I have already hinted when speaking of palaces
in general, does not present any grand display of
architectural magnificence, nor even of uniformity
and symmetrical arrangement ; a circumstance
easily accounted for, when we consider that the
Vatican was erected by* different architects at
different aeras, and for very different purposes;
and that it is rather an assemblage of palaces than
one regular palace. It was begun about the end
of the fifth, or the beginning of the sixth century,
and rebuilt, increased, repaired, and altered by
various pontiffs, from that period down to the
latter years of the reign of the late Pope, when
the French invasion put an end, for some time at
least, to all improvements.
All the great architects whom Rome has pro
duced were in their days employed, in some part
or other of this edifice, and Bramante, Raffaello,
Fontana, Maderno, and Bernini, successively dis-

40

CLASSICAL TOUR Ch. II.

played their talents in its augmentation or im
provement. Its extent is immense, and covers a
space of twelve hundred feet in length and a
thousand in breadth. Its elevation is propor
tionate, and the number of apartments it contains
almost incredible. Galleries and porticos sweep
around and through it in all directions, and open
an easy access to every quarter. Its halls and
saloons are all on a great scale, and by their
multitude and loftiness alone give an idea of
magnificence truly Roman. The walls are neither
wainscotted nor hung with tapestry; they are
adorned or rather animated by the genius of
Raffaello and Michael Angelo. The furniture
is plain and ought to be so: finery would be
misplaced in the Vatican, and would sink into
insignificance in the midst of the great, the vast,
the sublime, which are the predominating features
or rather the very genii of the place. The grand
entrance is from the portico of St. Peter's by the
Scala Regia (the royal staircase), the most superb
staircase perhaps in the world, consisting of four
flights of marble steps adorned with a double row
of marble Ionic pillars. This staircase springs
from the equestrian statue of Constantine which
terminates the portico on one side ; and whether
seen thence, or viewed from the gallery leading
on the same side to the colonnade, forms a per
spective of singular beauty and grandeur.

Ch. II. THROUGH ITALY. 41
The Scala Regia conducts to the Sala Regia
or Regal Hall, a room of great length and eleva
tion which communicates by six large folding
doors with as many other apartments. The space
over and the intervals between the doors are oc
cupied by pictures in fresco representing various
events, considered as honorable or advantageous
to the Roman See. Though all these pieces are
the works of great masters, yet one only is pe
culiarly beautiful ; and that is the triumphal en
trance of Gregory XI. into Rome, after the long
absence of the pontiffs from the capital during
their residence at Avignon. This composition is
by Vasari, and is perhaps his master-piece. The
battle of Lepanto, in which the united fleet of the
Italian powers under the command of Don John
of Austria and under the auspices of Pius V. de
feated the Turks, and utterly broke their naval
power till then so terrible to Europe, is justly
ranked amongst the most glorious achievements
of the Roman pontiffs, and forms a most appro
priate ornament to the Sala Regia. Unfortunately
the skill of the artist was not equal to the subject,
and the grandeur and life of the action is lost in
undistinguishable confusion below, and above in
wild allegorical representations. The massacre of
St. Bartholomew, if the memory of such an atro
cious and horrible event must be preserved, would
be better placed at Paris, where it was perpetrated,

42 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. II.
than at Rome ; and in the palace of the Louvre,
where it was planned, than in the Vatican.
Occidat ilia dies aevo, nee postera credant
Saecula : nos certe taceamus, et obruta multi
Nocte tegi nostras patiamur crimina gentis. — Statius.
This was the patriotic and benevolent wish of a
worthy French magistrate (the chancellor L'Ho-
pital) and in this wish every humane heart will
readily join. The humiliation of the Emperors
Henry IV. and Frederic Barbarosa, ought not to
be ranked among the trophies of the Holy See.
It reflects more disgrace on the insolent and do
mineering pontiffs, who exacted such marks of
submission, than on the degraded sovereigns who
found themselves obliged to give them. At all
events, it does not become the common father of
christians to rejoice in the humiliation of his sons,
or to blazon the walls of his palace with the
monuments of their weakness or condescension.
At one end of the Sala Regia is the Cappella
Paolina (the Pauline Chapel), so called because

Be that foul day, polluted by our crime,
Eras'd for ever from the book of Time ;
That deed let future ages disbelieve ;
Let us at least in contrite silence grieve,
And pray that deep and endless night may hide
The horrors of th' accursed homicide.

Ch. II. THROUGH ITALY. 49
rebuilt by Paul III. The altar is supported by
porphyry pillars and bears a tabernacle of rock
crystal : the walls are adorned with various paint
ings filling the spaces between the Corinthian pilas
ters. The whole however though rich and mag
nificent, looks dark and cumbersome.
Towards the Pther end of the hall, on the left,
a dodr opens into the Cappella Sistina built by Six
tus IV. and celebrated for its paintings in fresco
by Michael Angelo and his scholars. These paint
ings, which cover the walls and vaulted ceilings,
are its only ornaments. The famous " Last Judg
ment" of Michael Angelo occupies one end en
tirely. Its beauties and defects are well known
and may be comprised in one short observation ;
that its merit consists more in the separate figures
than itt the afrarigemeflt or effect of the whole. The
Upper part glows with brightness, angels and
glory : on the right ascend the elect ; on the left,
the wicked blasted with lightning tumble in con
fused groups into the flaming abyss. The Judge
stands in the upper part supported on the clouds
arid arrayed in the splendor of heaven : he is in
the act of uttering the dreadful sentence, Go, ye
cutsed into everlasting fife ; his arms are uplifted,
his countenance burns with indignation, and his
eyes flash lightning. Such is the Messiah in Mil-
tori, when he puts forth his terrors and hurls his
Bolts against the rebel angels ; and so is he descri-

44 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. II.
bed by an eloquent French orator, when he exer
cises his judgments on sinners at the last tremen
dous day.
Similar representations either in prose or verse,
in language or in painting are sublime and affect
ing ; but I know not whether they be suitable to
the calm, the tranquil, the majestic character of
the awful person who is to judge the world in truth
and injustice. Nothing indeed is so difficult as to
pourtray the features, the attitudes and the gestures
of the Word incarnate. He was not without feel
ing, but he was above passion. Joy and sorrow,
pain and pleasure, could reach bis soul, for he was
a man ; but they could not cloud its serenity, for
he was God. Benevolence brought him from
heaven ; it was therefore his prevailing sentiment,
and may be supposed to influence his countenance,
and to shed over his features a perpetual expres
sion of benignity. To obey or to suspend the
laws of nature was to him equally easy ; a miracle
cost him no effort and excited in him no surprise.
To submit or to command, to suffer or to triumph,
to live or to die, were alike welcome in their turns
as the result of reason and obedience. To do the
will of his Father was the object of his mission,
and every step that led to its accomplishment,
whether easy or arduous, was to him the same.
What poet shall dare to describe such a character ?
What painter presume to trace its divine semblance?

Cfc. II. THROUGH ITALY. 45
No wonder then that the greatest masters should
have failed in the bold attempt; and that even
Michael Angelo by transferring, like Homer, the
passions of the man to the divinity, should have
degraded the awful object, and presented to the
spectator the form, not of a God, but of an irritated
and vindictive monarch ! If Michael Angelo has
failed we can scarcely hope that other painters can
succeed ; and we find few, very few representations
of the Saviour, on which the eye or the imagination
can rest with satisfaction. The divine infants of
Carlo Dolce are, it must be acknowledged, beings
of a superior nature that seem. to breathe the airs
and to enjoy at once the innocence and the bloom
of paradise ; and his Saviour of the World in the
act of consecrating the bread and wine is a most
divine figure, every feature of whose seraphic face
speaks compassion and mercy :
Love without end, and without measure, grace.
Milton, m. 142.
But love and mercy are not the only attributes of
this sacred Personage ; justice and holiness accom
pany bis steps, and cast an awful majesty as a veil
around him, and these grand accompaniments of
the Godhead are sought for in vain in the mild,
the soft, I had almost said the effeminate figures
of Carlo Dolce. Four, I think, I have seen of a
happier touch and more elevated description. One

46 CLASSICAL TOUR Ch. IL
is iri the King of Prussia's gallery in Sans Souci and
represents Christ in the act of raisiflg Lazarus ;
and three were in the Palazzo Justiniam at Rome.
J« one Christ restores life to the son pf the widow
at Nairn ; in another be multiplies the loaves j©
the desert; in the thind he gives sight to a blind
roan. The three l,ast, I think, by Annibal Carracci.
In all these noble paintings, benevolence, compas
sion and powesr unconscious of exertion, mark the
features and attitudes of the incarnate God, arid
give at least a .distant and feeble glimpse of his
majestic demeanor.
Opposite the Cappella Sktim folding doors open
into the Sals Ducale remarkable only for. its size
and simplicity. Hence we pass to tlie Loggie di
Raffaello, a series of open galleries in three stories,
lining the three -sides of the cpurt of St. Damasus.
These are called the galleries of Raffaello, because
painted by that great master, or by his scholars.
The first gallery in the middle story is the only
one executed by Raffaello himself, or to speak
more correctly, partly by him, and partly, by, his
scholars under his inspection, and not unfrequently
retouched and corrected by his hand. In the thir
teen arcades that compose this wing of the gallery
is represented the History of the Old and part of
the New Testament ; beginning with the Creatipn
and concluding with the Last Supper. Thespian,
the arrangement, the ornaments of these celebrated

CA. II. THROUGH ITALY. 47
pieces, are in general great and beautiful ; the fancy
and expression oftentimes rise to the grand and
even to the sublime. Some critics have ventured
to find fault with the execution in detail, and the
coloring hats been censured frequently.
The first compartment represents the Eternal
Father with arms and feet expanded darting into
chaos, and reducing its distracted elements into
order merely by his motion. This representation
is much admired, particularly by French connois
seurs, and if we may credit tradition, astonished
Michael Angelo himself, who is said to have
accused Raffaello of having borrowed the figure
of the Eternal from the Sistine chapel; from
this chapel the latter artist was then excluded
by the express direction of the former, who it
seems feared either his criticism or genius. The
figure of the Eternal thus represented may be
poetical and sublime, even as the Jupiter of
Homer, but (si verbo audacia detur*) it excites
no admiration and deserves little praise. If it be
difficult to represent the son of God, who " became
man" and "dwelt amongst us," without impairing
the dignity of his sacred person, and degrading his
majestic form, what means can the painter employ,
what art can he call into play, to pourtray with
becoming magnificence the Eternal himself, the
* If I may be bold enough so to speak.

43 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. II.
model of beauty, the grand archetype of perfection
" who dwelleth in light inaccessible, whom no
mortal hath seen or can see?"
It is true that the prophet Daniel has intro
duced the Almighty in a visible form, and under
the emphatical appellation of the "Ancient of days"
ventured, with the guidance of the heavenly spirit
to trace a mysterious and obscure sketch of the
Eternal. " While I beheld," says the prophet,
" thrones were placed : then the Ancient of days
took his seat : his garment was shining as snow :
the hair of his head as the purest wool. His
throne was raging flames : his wheels consuming
fire. A torrent blazing and impetuous rolled be
fore him : thousands of thousands ministered unto
him, and ten thousand times ten thousand waited
in his presence. He sat as judge and the books
were opened." In this description one only circum
stance connected with the person of the divinity is
mentioned. The prophet seems to refrain with
reverential awe from such a subject, and expatiat
ing on the garments, the throne, the ministering
spirits, he leaves the indescribable form to the ima
gination, or rather to the religious terror of the
reader. Painters and poets would do well to imi
tate this holy discretion, and to refrain from all
attempts to embody the Eternal mind, which by
confining the energies of pure spirit within a hu
man form, degrade omnipotence; and disfigure the

Ch. II. THROUGH ITALY. 49
original of all that is lovely in the heavens and on
the earth, by marking it with the perishable fea
tures of human decrepitude. Besides, in the pic
ture now before us, it is not the Word of the Creator
that composes the disorder of chaos. No; his
hands and feet are employed to separate the war
ring elements and confine them within their respec
tive boundaries. This is an idea bordering upon
the burlesque and perfectly unworthy the lofty
conceptions of Raffaello. How different the sen
timent conveyed in the sublime language of the
Scripture. No effort, no action even, was requi
site. Chaos stood ready to obey his will and na
ture arose at his word. " He said, let Light Be,
and Light Was! — He spake and they were made:
he commanded and they were created."
To the encomiums passed in general on the
decorations of these galleries, I need not add that
the intermediate ornaments, such as the basso re
lievos which are supposed to be antiques taken
from the halls of the different thermae, and the
arabesques which separate and grace the different
compartments, are much and justly admired. From
one of the galleries a door opens into the Camere
de Raffaelb. The Camere de Raffaello are a range of hall*
totally unfurnished and uninhabited. As the walls
from the floor are covered with figures, furniture
could only conceal their beauties; and the busy
VOL. II. is

50 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. II.
hands of inhabitants, it is feared, might damage
the delicate tints or nicer features of some of these
invaluable compositions. They are therefore acces
sible only to the visits of the traveller and to the
labors of the artist, and are thus consecrated as a
temple to the genius of painting, and to the spirit
of Raffaello. They have not however passed over
three centuries without losing some portion of
their original lustre, and paying tribute to the su
preme decree that dooms man and his works to
decay and to death. But their degradation is not
to be attributed to their innate frailty, or to the
unavoidable depredations of time ; but to folly and
perversity, or rather to ignorance and stupidity.
When the army of the Emperor Charles V. took
and plundered Rome, a guard was established in
these very halls, and fires were lighted in the middle
of each room for their accommodation. The con
sequences of this deedj so characteristic of the bar
barian horde of the German Emperor, are suffici
ent to account for the faded tints and obscure
shades of many of these celebrated pieces, without
the influence of dampness, which cannot be sup
posed to exist on a site so elevated, and in so dry
a climate; or to the guilt of negligence, so incom
patible with that love of the arts, and that princely
encouragement of genius which has so long been
the predominant spirit of the Roman government.
Two antichambers large and painted by great

CA. II. THROUGH ITALY. 51
masters, lead to the first hall called the Sala di Co-
stantino, because adorned with the grand achieve
ments of that christian hero; and thence to the
second Camera, where the story of Heliodorus from
the Maccabees, the interview of Pope Leo and At
tila, the miracle of Bolsena and above all, the deli
verance of St. Peter from prison, attract and charm
the eye. Then follow the third Camera with the
School of the Philosophers, the Debate on the
Holy Sacrament, the Judgment of Solomon, and
Parnassus with its groves of bays, Apollo, the
Muses, and the poets whom they inspired : and
the fourth with the Incendio del Borgo, the victory
of Pope Leo over the Saracens at Ostia, and the
coronation of Charlemagne. All these are the
works of Raffaello; all master-pieces in their re
spective kinds ; standards of good taste and grand
execution, and considered as the models of perfec
tion. They present all the different species of
painting, all the varied combinations of light and
shade, all the singularities of attitude, all the se
crets of anatomy ; in short all the difficulties and
all the triumphs of the art. Hence these apart
ments are considered as the great school of painters,
who flock from all parts to contemplate and to
imitate the wonders of the pencil of Raffaello, and
to catch, if possible, in this sanctuary of his genius,
some spark of his creative soul, some portion of
his magic talent.

52 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. II.
It may perhaps be asked, to which of these
celebrated performances the preference is given.
The answer is difficult : for although these paint
ings have been so long the subject of considera
tion, and their merits so fully and so accurately
understood and defined, yet the masters of the art
have not been able to fix their relative excellence,
or pronounce on their respective superiority.
Each in fact has some peculiar beauty, some cha
racteristic charm which gives it a partial advantage
but cannot entitle it to a general preference. Be
sides, each nation has its propensities and every
profession its bias, which imperceptibly influence
the taste, even in the arts, and decide the opinion
perhaps in painting itself.
Those who love to contemplate a crowd of
figures, all animated by strong emotions and en
gaged in the tumult without being lost in the
confusion of some grand event; and those who
delight in forms strained by some unexpected
exertion and features distorted by some sudden
and imperious passion, will dwell with compla
cency, like the German, on the victory of Con
stantine, or like the Frenchman, on the confla
gration of the Borgo.
The Englishman who delights in the calmer
expression, and the tranquil scenes of still life,
stands in silence before the school of Athens ;
enjoys the easy and dignified attitudes and the

CA. II. THROUGH ITALY. 53
expressive but serene countenances of the different
philosophers. The Italian, accustomed to the
wonders of art, and habituated from his infancy to
early discrimination, admires the two aerial youths
that pursue Heliodorus and glide over the pave
ment without seeming to touch its surface; dwells
with rapture on the angelic form that watches St.
Peter and sheds a celestial light, a beam of para
dise, over the gloom of the dungeon — but like the
Englishman he rests finally on the architectural
perspective, the varied but orderly groups, the
majestic figures, and all the combined excellencies
of the matchless School.
Yet notwithstanding the acknowledged superi
ority of this piece, the theologian will turn with
reverence to the awful assemblage of divine and
human beings ; the union of holiness and learning
in the saints of the Old and in the doctors of the
New Testament ; in short, of glory above and dig
nity below that fill the picture opposite, and give
a just representation of the sublime objects of his
profession. The poet, on the other hand, led by
classical instinct, fixes his looks on the haunts of
his fancy, feeds his eyes with the beauties of Par
nassus, contemplates the immortal bloom of Apollo
and the Muses, and " holds high converse with
the illustrious dead." " Phcebo digna focuti*."

*  Poets worthy their inspiring God. Dryden.

54^ CLASSICAL TOUR CA. II.-
The traveller, while occupied in examining the
transcendent beauties of the grand compositions of
which I have been speaking, is apt to pass over
unnoticed the minor ornaments that cover the
vaults and fill up the intervals between the greater
pieces and the floor or arch. Yet many of these,
and particularly the basso relievos and medallions
of the three first apartments by Caravaggio, repre
senting rural scenes and historical subjects, a^e of
exquisite beauty, and claim alike the attention of
the artist and of the spectator. To conclude my
remarks, the Camere di Raffaello, like all works of
superior excellence, display their beauties gradu
ally, and improve on examination, in proportion to
the frequency of visits and the minuteness of in
spection. After having traversed the court of St. Dama
sus and its adjoining halls and chapels, which may
be considered as the state apartments of the Vati
can, the traveller .passes to that part of the palace
which is called the Belvidere from its elevation and
prospect, and proceeding along an immeasurable
gallery comes to an iron door on the left that opens
into the library of the Vatican. A large apartment
for the two keepers, the secretaries, or rather the
interpreters seven in number, who. can speak the
principal languages of Europe, and who attend for
the convenience of learned foreigners ; a double
gallery of two hundred and twenty feet long open
ing into another of eight hundred, with various

CA. II. THROUGH ITALY. 65
rooms, cabinets, and apartments annexed, form the
receptacle of this noble collection. These galleries
and apartments are all vaulted and all painted with
different effect, by painters of different eras and
talents. The paintings have all some reference to
literature sacred or prophane, and take in a vast
scope of history and of mythology. The books
are kept in cases ; and in the Vatican the traveller
seeks in vain for that pompous display of volumes,
which he may have seen and admired in other
libraries. Their number has never been accurately
stated, some confine it to two hundred thousand,
others raise it to four hundred thousand, and many
swell it to a million. The mean is probably the
most accurate.
\But the superiority of this library arises not
from the quantity of printed books, but the multi
tude of its manuscripts which are said to amount
to more than fifty thousand. Some of these ma
nuscripts of the highest antiquity, such as that of
Virgil of the fifth century, a Greek Bible of the
sixth, a Terence of the same date, &c. &lc. were
taken by the French and sent to Paris. The
origin of this library is attributed by some to Pope
Hilarius in the fifth century ; but although it is
probable, that long before that period, the Roman
church must have possessed a considerable stock
of books for the use of its clergy, yet the Popes
may be supposed to have been too much occupied

56 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. II.
with the dangers and the difficulties of the times,
to have had leisure or means necessary for the for
mation of the libraries. However, that several vo
lumes had been collected at an early period seems
certain ; as it is equally so that Pope Zacharias
augmented their number very considerably about
the middle of the eighth century. Nicholas V.
established the library in the Vatican and enlarged
the collection ; while Calixtus III. is said to have
enriched it with many volumes saved from the li
braries of Constantinople at the taking of that city.
From this period it continued in a regular pro
gression, receiving almost every year vast addi
tions, sometimes even of whole libraries (as those
of the Elector Palatine, of the Dukes of Urbino, of
Queen Christina) owing not only to the favor of
the pontifFand various princes, but to the well di
rected zeal of its librarians ; many of whom have
been men both of eminent talents and of high rank
and extensive influence. The French invasion '
which brought with it so many evils, and like a
blast from hell checked the prosperity of Italy in
every branch and in every province, not only put
a stop to the increase of the Vatican library, but
by plundering it of some of its most valuable ma
nuscripts, lowered its reputation, and undid at once
the labor and exertion of ages.
The galleries of the library open into various
apartments filled with antiques, medals, cameos, &c.

CA.II. THROUGH ITALY. 67
One in particular is consecrated to the monu
ments of christian antiquity, and contains a singu
lar and unparalleled collection of instruments of
torture employed in the first persecutions ; as also
the dyptics or registers of communion of the great
churches, monumental inscriptions, &c. a collec
tion highly interesting to the ecclesiastical histo
rian and the enlightened christian.
The grand gallery which leads to the library
terminates in the Museum Pio-Clementinum.
Clement XVI. has the merit of having first con
ceived the idea of this museum and began to put
it in execution. The late Pope Pius VI. conti
nued it on a much larger scale, and gave it its
present extent and magnificence. It consists of
several apartments, galleries, halls, and temples,
some lined with marble, others paved with ancient
mosaics, and all filled with statues, vases, cande-
lebra, tombs, and altars. The size and propor
tion of these apartments, their rich materials and
furniture, the well managed light poured in upon
them, and the multiplicity of admirable articles
collected in them and disposed in the most judi
cious and striking arrangement, fill the mind of
the spectator with astonishment and delight, and
form the most magnificent and grand combina
tion that perhaps has been ever beheld or can al
most be imagined. Never were the divinities of
Greece and Rome honored with nobler temples;

5S CLASSICAL TOUR Ch. II.
never did they stand on richer pedestals ; never
were more glorious domes spread over their heads ;
or brighter pavements extended at their feet.
Seated each in a shrine of bronze or marble, they
seemed to look down on a crowd of votaries and
once more to challenge the homage of mankind ;
while kings and emperors, heroes and philosophers,
drawn up in ranks before or around them, increas
ed their state and formed a majestic and becoming
retinue. To augment their number, excavations
were daily made and generally attended with suc
cess ; and many a statue buried for ages under
heaps of ruins, or lost in the obscurity of some
unfrequented desert, was rescued from the gloom
of oblivion and restored to the curiosity and
admiration of the public.
But the joy of discovery was short, and the
triumph of taste transitory ! The French who in
every invasion have been the scourge of Italy and
have rivalled or rather surpassed the rapacity of
the Goths and Vandals, laid their sacrilegious
hands on the unparalleled collection of the Vati
can, tore its master-pieces from their pedestals,
and dragging them from their temples of marble,
transported them to Paris, and consigned them
to the dull sullen halls, or rather stables, of the
Louvre. But on this subject I may perhaps en
large hereafter. At present I shall proceed to
point out some of the most remarkable among the

Ch. II. THROUGH ITALY. 69
various apartments that constitute the Museum
Pio-Clementinum. Three anti-chambers called, from their forms
or from the statues that occupy them, // Vestibolo
Quadrat o (the Square Vestibule), // Vestibob Ro
tondo (the Round Vestibule), and La Camera di
Baccho. (the Chamber of Bacchus), conduct the
traveller to a court of more than a hundred feet
square, with a portico supported by granite pillars
and decorated by numberless pieces of antiquity.
Need I observe that the principal among these
were once the Apollo of Belvidere, the Laocoon,
and the Antinous; or that the celebrated Torso
once adorned one of the anti-chambers ? They are
now at Paris, and their absence is not so much
supplied as rendered remarkable by the casts that
now occupy their places.
Next to this court is the Sala degli Animali
(the Hall of Animals), a noble gallery so called
because furnished with ancient statues of various
animals. This hall opens at one end into the
Galleria delle Statue (the Gallery of Statues), lined
on both sides with exquisite statues both of Greek
and Roman sculpture, and terminated by three
apartments called the Stanze delle Buste (the
Apartments of Busts). The busts are placed on
tables or stands of ancient workmanship, and ge
nerally of the most beautiful and curious marble.
Towards the opposite end of the gallery is an

60 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. II.
apartment called // Gabinetto, adorned with all
the charms that the united arts of painting,
sculpture, and architecture could bestow upon it.
Eight pillars of alabaster support its roof; its
floor is formed of an ancient mosaic of the
brightest colors, representing theatrical exhibitions
and rural scenery; its ceiling is painted and dis
plays alternately historical events and mytholo
gical fables. _ The spaces between the columns
are filled each with a statue, and the walls are
incrusted with ancient basso relievos formed into
pannels and placed in symmetrical arrangement.
Different antique seats, some of which are formed
of blocks of porphyry and supported by feet of
gilt brass, are ranged along the sides.
An open gallery forms a communication be
tween this cabinet and the Stanze delle Buste on
one side, while on the other a small anti-chamber
opens into the Sala degli Animali. Hence through
a noble pillared vestibule you enter the hall, or
rather the Temple of the Muses ; an octagon sup
ported by sixteen pillars of Carrara marble with
ancient capitals, paved with ancient mosaics, re
presenting in various compartments actors and
theatrical exhibitions separated and bordered by
mosaic. The vault above and the great divisions
of the sides, are adorned with paintings of Apollo,
the Muses, Homer, and various Poets ; of Mi
nerva, Genii, and other figures adapted to the

CA. II. THROUGH ITALY. 61
general destination of the place. In the circum
ference below rose Apollo, Mnemosyne, and the
Muses in the most conspicuous stations, and on
elevated and highly wrought ancient pedestals.
The most celebrated sages, poets, and orators of
Greece stood in order around, as waiting on the
divinities which had inspired their immortal
strains : — a noble assembly that might have ho
nored the laurelled pinnacles of Parnassus and not
disgraced even the cloud capt summits of Olympus.
But this assembly is now dispersed. The Muses
have been dragged from the light and splendor of
the Vatican, and are now immured in a sepulchral
hall, where a single window sheds through a
massive wall a few scanty beams on their gloomy
niches. Next to the Stanze delle Muse is the Sala Ro
tonda, a lofty dome supported by ten columns of
Carrara marble, lighted from above, and paved
with the largest piece of ancient mosaic yet dis
covered. In the middle is a vase of porphyry of
more than fifty feet in circumference : around are
colossal statues, and busts resting on half pillars of
porphyry of great magnitude. This hall indeed is
appropriated to colossal statues ; all its forms and
ornaments partake in some degree of their gigantic
proportions. From this Rotonda, which is considered as the
noblest hall in the museum, a rich portal con-

62 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. II.
ducts into the Sala a Croce Greca (Hall of the
Greek Cross,) supported by columns paved with
ancient mosaic, furnished with statues and lined
with basso relievos. One object here naturally
attracts attention. It is a vast sarcophagus formed
with its lid of one block of red porphyry, beauti
fully ornamented in basso relievo with little infant
Cupids employed in the vintage, and bordered
with tendrils and arabesques. It once contained
the ashes of Constantia the daughter of Constan
tine the Great, and stood for ages in her mauso
leum near the church of St. Agnes without the
Porta Pia Nomentana. At length Alexander IV.
converted the mausoleum into a church, and
ordered the body of the Princess to be deposited,
as that of a saint, under the altar ; a motive which
removes all imputation of guilt from the deed,
though it would have been more prudent, as well
as more respectful, to allow the body to remain
undisturbed in the tomb to which it had been
consigned by the bands of a father. The sar
cophagus long remained an useless ornament, and
was lately transported to the Museum. •
The Sala a Croce Greca opens on a double
staircase, raised on twenty-two pillars of red and
white granite : its steps are marble, its balustrade
bronze. The middle flight conducts down to the
Vatican library : the two other lead to the Galleria
di Candelabri, a long gallery divided into six com-

CA. II. THROUGH ITALY. 63
partments, separated from each other by columns
of rich marbles. The furniture of this gallery
consists in Candelabra of different kinds, all of
exquisite workmanship and of the finest marbles,
so numerous as to have given to the place its pe
culiar denomination. With these are intermingled
vases, columns, Egyptian figures, tablets, tombs,
tripods, and statues, which may have been dis
covered since the other apartments were filled, or
could not perhaps be placed to advantage in any
of the other classes.
At the end of this long suite of apartments a
door opens into the Galleria de' Quadri (Gallery of
Pictures), containing a collection of pictures by
the principal masters of the different Italian schools.
Though several of these pieces have a considerable
degree of merit, yet they are inferior to a thousand
others in Rome, and can excite little or no interest
in the mind of a spectator who has just passed
through such a series of temples, and has been
feasting his eyes with the most perfect specimens
of ancient sculpture. To this disadvantage another
may be added, arising from the immediate neigh
borhood of the unequalled performances of Raf
faello, before which most other compositions,
however great their merit or extensive their fame,
lose their splendor and sink into obscurity. How
ever a gallery of pictures, though certainly not
necessary in the Vatican, may yet produce a good

64 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. II.
effect; as under the patronage and active encou
ragement of government, it may gradually unite
on one spot the fine specimens now dispersed over
Italy, and by bringing the rival powers of the two
sister arts of painting and sculpture into contact,
it may concentrate their influence, and eventually
promote their perfection.
As the traveller returns from these galleries he
finds on the left, before he descends the above-
mentioned staircase, a circular temple of marble
supported by Corinthian pillars and covered with
a dome. In the centre, on a large pedestal,
stands an antique chariot with two horses in
bronze. This temple though on a smaller scale
yet from its materials, form and proportions,
appeared to me one of the most beautiful apart
ments of the Museum and cannot fail to excite
admiration. Such is in part the celebrated Museum Pio-
Clementinum, which in the extent, multiplicity,
and beautiful disposition of its apartments, far
surpasses every edifice of the kind, eclipses the
splendor of the gallery of Florence once its rival,
and scorns a comparison with the Parisian Museum
whose gloomy recesses have been decorated with
its plunder. The design of this Museum was
first formed (as I have already observed, and the
court, portico, and gallery allotted to it) and fitted
up in part by Clement XIV. (Ganganelli) ; but

CA. II. THROUGH ITALY. 65
the plan was enlarged and all the other halls and
apartments were erected and furnished by Pius VI.
the late pontiff. It would therefore be unbecom
ing, and indeed ungrateful, to turn from the
Vatican without paying a just tribute of praise to
the memory of these princes, who in the times of
of distress, when their income was gradually di
minishing, found means to erect such a magnificent
temple to taste, to the genius of antiquity, and to
the loveliest and most engaging of the arts. They
deserve to have their statues erected at the grand
entrance of the Museum, and the lovers of the
Arts would readily agree in the propriety of in
scribing on the pedestal,
" Quique sui memores, alios fecere merendo*."
In this account of the Vatican I have pur
posely avoided details, and confined my obser
vations to a few of the principal and most pro
minent features, as my intention is not to give a
full description of this celebrated palace, which
would form a separate volume; but merely to
awaken the curiosity and attention of the traveller.
Of the pictures and statues I may perhaps speak
hereafter. At present I shall content myself

* They who made their memories immortal by their
merits. VOL. II. P

66 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. II.
with referring to the well-known work of the
Abate Winkelman, who speaks on the subject
of statues with the learning of an antiquary,
the penetration of an artist, and the rapture of a
poet.

¦V-i

CA. III. THROUGH ITALY. 67

CHAP. III.

Churches — General Observations — St. Clement's —
St. Peter in Vinculis — St. Martin and St. Sylves
ter — St. Laurence — St. John Lateran — St. Paul
and other Patriarchal Churches.
From the palaces we naturally pass to the churches
which form the peculiar glory of Modern Rome,
as the temples seem to have been the principal
ornaments of the ancient city. On this subject,
as on the preceding article, I think it best to begin
by a few general observations, the more necessary
as the topic is of great extent and much interest ;
for while the palaces of Venice and Genoa have
been compared, and the latter not unfrequently
preferred, to those of Rome, the superior splen
dor and magnificence of her churches stand unri
valled and undisputed; and in this respect, it is
acknowledged that still,
Haec tantum alias inter caput extulit urbes,
Quantum lenta solent inter viburna cupressi*. Virg. Eel. i.

¦ other towns, compar'd with her, appear

Like shrubs, when lofty cypresses are near. Dryden.

68 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. III.
Addison observes, " that the christian anti
quities are so embroiled in fable and legend, that
one receives but little satisfaction from searching
into them." The portion of satisfaction to be
derived from such researches, depends upon the
taste and views of the person who makes them ;
for as to fable and legend, I fancy there is a suffi
cient stock in heathen as well as in christian anti
quity, to puzzle and embroil an ordinary inquirer.
However, notwithstanding the obscurity which
ages and revolutions, ignorance or folly, may
have thrown over both these species of antiquity*
the traveller as he wanders over the venerable
regions of this wonderful city so long the seat of
Empire and Religion, will find a sufficient number
of monuments, both sacred and profane, to edify
as well as to delight an unprejudiced mind.
Among the former the churches without doubt
occupy the first rank) as some few of them were
erected in the aera of Constantine, and many may
ascribe their origin to the zeal of that Emperor
himself, or to that of his sons and their immediate
successors. In these edifices the constituent and essential
parts remain the same as they were at the period
of erection, and even the more solid and per
manent ornaments still stand unaltered in their
respective places. From them therefore we may
learn with some certainty, the form of Christian
churches in the early ages, the position of the

CA. III. THROUGH ITALY. 69
altar, of the episcopal chair, and of the seats of
the clergy, together with the arrangement and
furniture of the chancel and the choir. More
over some of these churches had been temples,
and many were basilicas or courts destined to
public meetings, and may therefore contribute not
a little to give us clearer ideas of the size and pro
portions of such buildings, particularly of the
latter, and of the order observed in the assemblies
held in them. We may perhaps from them be
able to make some conjectures relative to the
forms early established in Christian churches, and
to judge how far the ancients may have thought
proper to transfer the rules observed in civil as
semblies to religious congregations.
In the next place, in the churches principally
we may trace the decline and restoration of archi
tecture, and discover thence which branches of
that art were neglected, and which cultivated during
the barbarous ages. These edifices were almost the
only objects attended to and respected during that
long period, and as most of the new were erected
on the plans of the old, they became the vehicles,
if I may be allowed the expression, by which
some of the best principles of Roman architecture
were transmitted to us. It has been justly ob
served, that while the symmetry, the proportion,
the very constituent forms of the Greek and
Roman orders were abandoned and apparently

70 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. HI.
forgotten, the solidity, the magnitude, and what,
is more remarkable, the greatness of manner so
much admired in the interior of ancient buildings,
were retained and still appear in many churches
erected in the darkest intervals of the middle
ages. From such fabrics we may therefore infer,
that magnificence and grandeur long survived the
fall of taste, and that some features of the Roman
character still continued to manifest; themselves in
the works of their descendants, in spite of the
prevalency of foreign ignorance and of transalpine
barbarism. This observation relative to internal magni
ficence leads to another which must have struck
every traveller; that in many churches the out
ward form and embellishments are far inferior
to the inward appearances. Whether the ancients
themselves did not always pay equal attention to
the outside ; or whether like the modern Italians,
they sometimes deferred the execution of the
whole plan for want of money or materials ; or
whether the hand of time or the more destructive
hand of war has torn away the marble that
covered these edifices ; but it must be owned that
the outside of the Pantheon and of Diocletian's
baths by no means corresponds with their internal
magnificence. In succeeding ages the dispropor
tion became more striking, and nothing can be
more contemptible than the external show of

CA. III. THROUGH ITALY. 71
some of the noblest basilicae : as that of St. Paul's
for instance, of St. Laurence, and also that of
St. Sebastian, which exhibits more the appearance
of a neglected barn than of a patriarchal church.
The same remark might have been applied to
Santa Maria Maggiore till the reign of Benedict
XIV. who cased it with Tiburtine stone, adorned
it with a portico or a colonnade in front, and
gave it an exterior of some dignity, though not
perfect nor altogether worthy of its grand and
splendid interior.
Moreover, while the traveller expects, and not
without reason, to find some specimens of the best
taste and purest style of architecture among the
Roman churches, he must not be surprised if he
should frequently meet with instances of the very
reverse in both respects, and have reason too
often to lament that the finest materials have been
thrown away in the construction of shapeless and
deformed edifices. To explain this singular com
bination of good and bad taste, the reader has
only to recollect, that in Rome, as in other great
cities, different fashions have prevailed at different
periods, and that architects, even when above the
ignorance or the prejudices of their age, have yet
been obliged to submit to them, and conform to
the caprice of their employers. Besides, architects
in modern times have been too prone to indulge
the fond hope of excelling the ancients, by deviat-

72 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. III.
ing from their footsteps, and of discovering some
new proportion, some form of beauty unknown to
them, by varying the outlines, and by trying the
effects of endless combinations.
Now in no city have architects been more
encouraged and employed than in Rome, and
in no city have they indulged their fondness for
originality with more freedom and more effect, to
the great depravation of taste, and perversion of
the sound principles of ancient architecture. Few
have been entirely exempt from this weakness,
but none have abandoned themselves to its in
fluence more entirely than Borromini, who, although
a man of genius, talent, and information, has yet
filled Rome with some of the most deformed
buildings that ever disgraced the streets of a
capital. Such deviations from the principles of
the ancients must appear extraordinary every
where, and particularly at Rome, where so many
superb monuments remain to attract the attention
of the artist, and form his taste, while they excite
his admiration. In truth, while the portico of the
Pantheon stands preserved, it would seem by the
genius of architecture, as a model for the imita
tion of future generations ; while it meets the
architect in every morning walk, and challenges
his homage as he passes, it must appear extraor
dinary indeed that he should abandon its simple
yet majestic style, to substitute in its stead a con-

CA. III. THROUGH ITALY. 73
fused and heavy mass of rich materials, which may
astonish but can never please even the rudest
observer. Surely the double or triple range of
columns, the uninterrupted entablature, the regular
pediment unbroken and unencumbered, delight the
eye more by their uniform grandeur, than pillars
crowded into groups, cornices sharpened into
angles, aud pediments twisted into curves and
flourishes, which break one grand into many petty
objects, and can neither fix the sight, nor arrest
the attention. Yet, while the former, exemplified
in the Pantheon, is coldly admired and neglected,
the latter is become the prevailing style in eccle
siastical architecture at Rome, and of consequence
over all Italy.
Again, churches, like most places of public re
sort, have their day of favor and of fashion when
they are much frequented, and of course repaired
and decorated with care and magnificence. Not
unfrequently some cardinal or rich prelate, or
perhaps the reigning pontiff himself, may con
ceive a particular attachment to some church or
other, and in that case we may conclude, that all
the powers of art will be employed in repairing,
adorning, and furnishing the favored edifice. But
this sunshine of popularity may pass away, and
many a noble pile has been abandoned for ages to
the care of an impoverished chapter, of a needy
incumbent, or of a parish thinned by emigration.

74 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. III.
In such circumstances, only so much attention is
paid to the edifice as is necessary to protect it
against the inclemency of the weather or the in
juries of time, and this care is generally confined
to the exterior, while the* interior is abandoned to
solitude, dampness, and decay. — Unfortunately
some of the most ancient and venerable churches
in Rome are in this latter situation; whether it
be that tbey stand in quarters once populous but
now deserted, or that churches erected in modern
times, or dedicated to modern saints, engross a
greater share of public attention, I know not;
but those of St. Paul, St. Laurence, St. Stephen,
St. Agnes, and even. the Pantheon itself, the»glory
of Rome, and the boast of architecture, owe little
or nothing to modern munificence.
But notwithstanding these disadvantages and
defects, there are few, very few churches in
Rome, which do not present, either in their size
or their proportions, in their architecture or their
materials, in their external or internal decoration,
something that deserves the attention of the tra
veller and excites his just admiration. He there
fore who delights in halls of an immense size and
exact proportion, in lengthening colonnades and
vast pillars of pne solid block of porphyry, of gra
nite, of Parian or Egyptian marble; in pave
ments that glow with all the tints of the rainbow,
and roofs that blaze with brass or gold ; in canvas

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Ch. III. THROUGH ITALY. 75
warm as life itself, and statues ready to descend
from the tombs on which they recline; will range
round the churches of Rome, and find in them an
inexhaustible source of instructive and rational
amusement, such as no modern capital can furnish,
and such as might be equalled or surpassed by the
glories of ancient Rome alone.
I shall now proceed to some particular churches,
and without pretending to enter into very minute
details, mention only such circumstances as seem
calculated to excite peculiar interest.
The church of St. Clement, in the great street
that leads to St. John Lateran, is the most an
cient church in Rome. It was built on the site,
and was probably at first one of the great apart
ments of the house of the holy bishop whose name
it bears. It is mentioned as ancient by authors
of the fourth century (St. Jerome, Pope Zozi-
mus, &c.) and is justly considered as one of the
best models that now exist of the original form
of Christian churches. It has frequently been
repaired and decorated, but always with a reli
gious respect for its primitive shape and fashion.
In front of it is a court with galleries, supported
by eighteen granite pillars and paved with pieces
of shattered marbles, among which I observed
several fragments of beautiful Verde antico. The
portico of the church is formed of four columns
of the same materials as the pillars of the gallery,

76 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. III.
arid its interior is divided into a nave and aisles
by twenty pillars of various marbles. The choir
commences about the centre of the nave, and ex
tends to the steps of the sanctuary ; there are two
pulpits, called anciently Ambones, one on each
side of the choir. A flight of steps leads to the
sanctuary or chancel, which is terminated by a
semicircle, in the middle of which stands the epis
copal chair, and on each side of it two marble
ranges of seats border the walls for the accom
modation of the priests ; the inferior clergy with
the singers occupied the choir. In front of the
episcopal throne, and between it and the choir,
just above the steps of the sanctuary, rises the al
tar unencumbered by screens and conspicuous on
all sides. The aisles terminated in two semicircles,
now used as chapels called anciently Exedrae or
Cellae, and appropriated to private devotion in
prayer or meditation. Such is the form of St.
Clement's, which though not originally a basilica,
is evidently modelled upon such buildings; as may
be seen not only by the description given of them
by Vitruvius, but also by several other churches
in Rome, which having actually been basilica?,
still retain their original form with slight modifi
cations. The same form has been retained or
imitated in all the great Roman churches, and
indeed in almost all the cathedral and abbey
churches in Italy ; a form without doubt far bet-

Ck.HI. THROUGH ITALY. 77
ter calculated both for the beauty of perspective
and for the convenience of public worship than
the arrangement of Gothic fabrics, divided by
screens, insulated by partitions, and terminating in
gloomy chapels*.
S. Pietro in Vincoli, so called from the chains
with which St. Peter was bound both in Rome
and at Jerusalem, now preserved, as is believed,
under the altar, was erected about the year 420,
and after frequent reparations presents now to the
eye a noble hall, supported by twenty Doric pillars
of Parian marble, open on all sides, adorned with
some beautiful tombs, and terminating in a semi
circle behind the altar. It is pity that the taste of
the age in which this edifice was erected should
have been perpetuated through so many successive
reparations, and the arches carried from pillar to
pillar still suffered to appear ; while an entablature,
like that of St. Maria Maggiore, would have con
cealed the defect and rendered the order perfect,

* I recommend to my readers the account of ancient
churches and their ornaments given by the judicious and
learned Fleury. The work which contains it, with many cu
rious details and interesting observations, is entitled Les
Mceurs des Chretiens. The perusal of it will give the traveller
a very accurate notion of the subject at large, and en
able him not only to comprehend what he finds written
upon it, but also to pronounce with some precision on the
form and ornaments of such churches as he may hereafter
visit. (See chapters 35. et seq.)

78 CLASSICAL TOUR Ch. III.
The pillars are too thin for Doric proportions, and
too far from each other; very different in this
respect from the Doric models still remaining at
Athens. But the proportions applied by the an
cient Romans to this order, rendered it in fact a dis
tinct order, and made it almost an invention of
their own. Among the monuments the traveller
will not fail to observe a sarcophagus of black
marble and of exquisite form, on the left hand ;
and on the right, the tomb of Julius II. indifferent
in itself, but ennobled by the celebrated figure of
Moses, supposed to be the master-piece of Michael
Angelo, and one of the most beautiful statues in
the world*.
Not far from S. Pietro in Vincoli is the church
of S. Martino and S. Silvestro, formed out of a part
of the ruins of the neighboring baths of Titus,
and, as far as regards the Crypta or subterraneous
church, as ancient as the times of St; Sylvester and
Constantine the Great. It has, as will easily be
imagined, undergone various repairs, and is at pre
sent one of the most beautiful edifices in Rome.
It is supportedby Coririthiaft columns of the finest
marbles, bearing not arches but an entablature

* The ode or sonnet of Zappi inspired by the contempla
tion of this wonderful statue, is well known, and may be
found in Roscoe's late excellent work, the Life qf Leo the
Tenth, with a very accurate translation.

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CA. III. THROUGH ITALY. 79
irregular indeed as to ornament, but of great and
pleasing effect. The walls of the aisles are adorned
with paintings by the two Poussins and much ad
mired by connoisseurs. The tribuna or sanctuary
is raised several steps above the body of the church;
the high altar which stands immediately above the
steps is of the most beautiful form and of the
richest materials. The paintings on the walls and
the roof are colored in the brightest yet softest
tints imaginable, and seem to shed over the whole
church a celestial lustre. Under the altar a door
opens upon a marble staircase leading to a sub
terraneous chapel lined with stucco, nearly resem
bling marble, and adorned with numerous pillars
in a very pleasing style of architecture. Thence
you pass into the ancient church, which, from the
increase of the ruins around, is now become almost
subterranean : it is a large vaulted hall, once paved
with mosaic, and seems from the remains, to have
been well furnished with marble and paintings ; it
is now the receptacle of damp unwholesome va
pors, that tinge the walls, and hover round the
solitary tombs. A few purple hats with their rich
tassels, the insignia of the dignity of Cardinal, sus
pended from the vaults, and tarnished with time
and humidity, cast a feeble unavailing ray of splen
dor on the monuments of their departed posses
sors. The spectator, cautioned by the chilness of

80 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. III.
the place not to prolong his stay, contents himself
with casting a transient glance on the sullen sce
nery, and returns to the splendid exhibition of the
temple above.
The church of St. Andrea in Monte Cavallo, by
Bernini, though so small as to deserve the name
of chapel only, is so highly finished and so richly
decorated that I should recommend it to the atten
tion of the traveller as peculiarly beautiful. It was
formerly, with the annexed convent, the property.
of , the Jesuits, who seldom wanted either the
means or the inclination to impart splendor and
magnificence to their establishments. Unfortu
nately they have often displayed more riches than
taste, and given their churches the decorations and
glare of a theatre, instead of adhering to the golden
rule in religious architecture, that of disposing the
best materials in the simplest order. The neglect
of this maxim renders the great church of the
Jesuits (the Giesu) though confessedly one of the
richest, yet in my opinion one of the ugliest, be
cause one of the most gaudy in Rome.
St. Cecilia in Trastevere has great antiquity and
much magnificence to recommend it. It is sup
posed to have been the house of that virgin mar
tyr, and they show a bath annexed to it in which
they pretend that she was beheaded. Over the
tomb is a fine statue, exactly representing the atti-

CA. III. THROUGH ITALY. 81
tude and the drapery of the body as it was disco
vered in the tomb in the year 82 1 ; such at least
is the purport of the inscription. The saint is re
presented as reclining on her side, her garments
spread in easy folds around her, and her neck and
head covered with a veil of so delicate a texture,
as to allow the spectator almost to discover the
outlines of the countenance. The posture and dra
pery are natural as well as graceful , and the whole
form wrought with such exquisite art, that we seem
to behold the martyred virgin, not locked in the
slumbers of death, but in the repose of innocence,
awaiting the call of the morning. A court and
portico, according to the ancient custom, lead to
this church, and pillars of fine marble divide and
adorn it; but it labors under the defect alluded to
above, and, like many other churches, is encum
bered with its own magnificence.
S. Pietro in Montorio, or Monte Aureo, a very
ancient church, was once remarkable for its sculp
ture and paintings, furnished by the first masters in
these two branches ; but many of the former have
been broken or displaced, and some of the latter
carried off by the French during the late predatory
invasion. Among these is the famous Transfigu
ration, generally supposed to be the first painting
in the world. It was said to have been in a bad
light in its original situation ; but it must be recol
lected, that Raffaello designed it for that very light;
VOL. II. G

S2 CLASSICAL TOUR ch. III.
besides, I do not believe that the French are likely
to place it in a better*.
In the middle of the little square, formed by
the cloister of the convent belonging to the church
of St. Pietro in Montorio, is a chapel in the form
of an ancient temple ; round, supported by sixteen
pillars, and crowned with a dome. It is the work
of Bramante, and much admired. It would, me-
thinks, have been more beautiful if the architect
had copied the Greek models, or adopted the pro
portions of the temple of Tivoli of a similar form.
Besides the lantern that crowns the dome, or ra
ther terminates the cella, is by much too large for
the edifice, and seems to crush it by its weight.
Yet the colonnade, such is the effect of pillars,
gives this little temple, with all its defects, an an
tique and noble appearance f.
Santa Maria in Trastevere, or Basilica Calixti,
is a very ancient church, supposed to have been

* When I was at Paris in the year 1802, it had been
withdrawn from the gallery, and was intended for the cha
pel of one of the first consul's palaces. If in that of Ver
sailles the light be not too strong, the Transfiguration may
appear to advantage, as the architecture and decorations of
the chapel, the best I have seen beyond the Alps, are not
perhaps altogether unworthy of contributing to display the
beauties of such a materpiece.
t This edifice is introduced into the Cartoon that repre
sents St. Paul preaching at Athens, and is given with consi
derable accuracy.

Ch. III. THROUGH ITALY. 83
originally built by Pope Calixtus, about the year
220. It was rebuilt by Julius I. in the year 340,
and has since undergone various repairs, and re
ceived of course many improvements. Its bold
portico and its nave are supported by ancient pil
lars, some of red, some of black granite, all of dif
ferent orders and different dimensions ; the entabla
ture also is composed of the shattered remains of
various ancient cornices; and indeed the whole
edifice seems an extraordinary assemblage of or
ders, proportions, and materials. However, it ex
hibits a certain greatness of manner in the xchole,
that never fails to cover defects in the detail, and
its general appearance is bold and majestic. Its
vault and chapels are adorned with several beauti
ful paintings by Dominichino, and other great mas
ters. The square before this church is watered by
a handsome fountain, perhaps the most ancient in
Rome, as it was opened by Adrian I. about the
year 790, and restored and ornamented by Cle
ment XII.
S. Grisogono, a very ancient church, ascribed
originally to Constantine, is remarkable for the
numerous columns of granite, porphyry, and ala
baster, that support its nave and choir.
S. Giovanni e Paob is equally ancient, and still
more splendidly furnished with pillars and antique
ornaments. S. Gregorio Magna is remarkable because erec-

84 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. III.
ted by the celebrated pontiff, whose name it bears,
on the very site of his own house, the residence of
the Anician family. The church, with the convent
adjoining, was by its founder dedicated under the
title of St. Andrew, a title which was gradually
lost, and replaced by that of St. Gregory. This
fabric has undergone several changes, and though
rich in materials, has, from the bad taste with
which those changes have been conducted, but little
claim to our admiration. There are three chapels
within the precincts of the convent, or rather an
nexed to the church, one of which is ennobled by
the rival exertions of Guido and Dominichino, who
have here brought their productions into contact,
and left the delighted connoisseur to admire, and
if he dare, to decide the point of pre-erriinence. As
these paintings are on the walls of the chapel, they
remain; but every article that could possibly be
removed from the church and its dependent cha
pels, were carried off by the Polish legion, which,
during the French invasion, was stationed in the
convent. So far indeed did this regular banditti
carry their love of plunder, as to tear away the
iron bars inserted in the walls of the church and
cloisters, in order to strengthen them and to coun
teract the action of the vaults; so that it was con
sidered as dangerous to walk in them, as their fall
was expected every hour.
The classical reader would not pardon a tra-

CA. III. THROUGH ITALY. 85
veller who should pass over in silence the church
where the ashes of Tasso repose. This poet, the
next in rank and in fame to Virgil, died in the con-'
vent of St. Onofrio, was buried without pomp,. and
lay for many years among the vulgar dead, without
a monument or even an inscription over his remains.
Few poets have received monumental honors im
mediately on their demise. Their fame has seldom
taken its full range, or surmounted the difficulties
which envy throws in its way during their lifetime ;
to pay due homage to their genius, and give to
their memory all that man can give to the illustri
ous dead, sepulchral distinction, is generally the
task of an impartial and grateful posterity. Upon
this occasion however it was neither envy nor in
difference, but friendship alone that deprived the
Italian poet of the honors due to his merit. Im
mediately after his death, the fathers of the con
vent of St. Onofrio, and many persons of distinc
tion, particularly the celebrated Manso, the friend
and panegyrist of Milton, pressed forward with ge
nerous emulation to execute the honourable work;
but the Cardinal Cinthio Medici, the patron of the
poet in his latter days, considered the erection of
a becoming monument as a duty and an honor pe
culiarly appropriated to himself, and though he
found himself obliged to defer the discharge of the
friendly office year after year, yet he could never
be induced to allow any other person to fulfil it in

86 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. III.
his stead. Death however deprived him of the
honor of erecting a tomb to Tasso; and to the
Cardinal Bevilacqua alone, is the public indebted
for the present monument rather decent than mag
nificent, with a short inscription.* Every English
traveller who fells the sublimity of Milton, and
knows how much the British bard owes to the
Tuscan poet, wHbhasten to the church of St. Ono
frio, arid at the tomb of Torquato Tasso, hail the
muse that inspired their rival strains.
Che di caduchi allori P
Non circonda la fronte in Helicona ;
Ma su ne Cielo infra i beati chori
Ha di stelle immortali aurea corona ! *
& Sebastiano, a church erected by Constantine
in memory of the celebrated martyr whose name
it bears, has a handsome portico and contains
some good pictures and paintings. It is however
more remarkable for being the principal entrance
into the catacombs which lie in its neighbor
hood.

-not thou whose brows are crown'd

With laurels pluck'd on Heliconian ground,
But thou who dwell'st the heavenly tribes among,
Prompting to angel choirs seraphic song,
While brightest stars their golden radiance shed
In unextinguish'd glories, round thy head.
Hunt's Translation.

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CA. III. THROUGH ITALY. 87
The catacombs are subterranean streets or gal
leries from four to eight feet in height, from two
to five in breadth, extending to an immense and
almost unknown length, and branching out into
various walks. The confusion occasioned by the
intersection of these galleries resembles that of a
labyrinth, and renders it difficult, and without great
precaution, dangerous to penetrate far into their
recesses. The catacombs were originally excavated
in order to findihat earth or sand called at present
puzzolana, and supposed to form the best and most
lasting cement. They followed the direction of the
vein of sand, and were abandoned when that was
exhausted, and oftentimes totally forgotten. Such
lone, unfrequented caverns afforded a most com
modious retreat to the christians, during the perse
cutions of the three first centuries. In thetn there
fore they held their assemblies, celebrated the holy
mysteries, and deposited the remains of their mar
tyred brethren. For the latter purpose they em
ployed niches in the sides of the wall, placed there
the body with a vial filled with the blood of the
martyr, or perhaps some of the instruments of his
execution, and closed up the mouth of the niche
with thin bricks or tiles. Sometimes the name
was inscribed with a word or two importing the
belief and hopes of the deceased ; at other times a
cross or the initials of the titles of our Saviour in
terwoven, were the only marks employed to certify

88 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. III.
that the body enclosed belonged to a christian.
Several bodies have been found without any in
scription, mark, or indication of name or profes
sion. Such may have belonged to Pagans, as it is
highly probable that these cavities were used as
burial places* before as well as during the age of
persecutions. It is impossible to range over these
vast repositories of the dead, these walks of horror
and desolation, without sentiments of awe, vene
ration, and almost of terror: We seemed on enter
ing to descend into the regions of the departed,
wrapped up in the impenetrable gloom of the
grave.  Marcentes intus tenebrae, pallensque sub antris,
Longa nocte situs  quo
Non metuunt emittere manes f.
Independent of these imaginary terrors, the damp
air and fetid exhalations warn the curious traveller

* A Jewish cemetery was discovered on the Via Portuen-
sis ; it was ornamented with various paintings, in one of which
was seen the golden candlestick exactly in the same form
as that in the Arch of Titus. An inscription containing the
wordcTNArnr . . . (SYNAGOG . . .) seems to show
that it had been employed as a place of worship.
f  Within is dampness foul,

And darkness, by the day-beam undispell'd-
The cheerless dead's abode.

CA. III. THROUGH ITALY. fiy
to abridge his stay and hasten to the precincts of
day*.

* The arenarice extra Portam Esquilinam (Sand-pits with
out the Esquiline Gate) are mentioned by Cicero (Pro
Cluentio 13) as the scene of a horrible murder, the circum
stances of which he relates ; and Nero it seems was advised
to conceal himself for a time in one of the arenarice, but
refused to go under ground while alive. (Suetonius : Nero 48)
Eusebius represents the Emperor Constantine as alluding to
them, and frequent mention is made of them in the writers of
the fourth and fifth century. Prudentius describes them
with great accuracy and minuteness.
Haud procul extremo culta ad pomeria vallo
Mersa latebrosis crypta patet foveis
Hujus in occultum gradibus via prona reflexis
Ire per anfractus luce latente docet ;
Primas namque fores summo tenus intrat hiatu ;
Illustratque dies limina vestibuli.
Inde ubi progressu facili nigrescere visa est
Nox obscura loci per specus ambiguum,
Occurrunt celsis immensa foramina tectis,
Quae jaciunt claros antra super radios.
Quamlibet ancipites texant hinc inde recessus,
Arcta sub umbrosis atria porticibus :
Attamen excisi subter cava viscera montis
Crebra terebrato fornice lux penetrat;
Sic datur absentis per subterranea solis
Cernere fulgorem luminibusque frui.
Peri Steph : De Sancto Hippolito.
In the fair suburbs, far beneath the ground,
Hard by the walls, a spacious vault their lies,
To whose deep womb a passage steep, supplied
With winding steps, the darkling visitor

90 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. III.
The church of Madonna del Sole is the ancient
temple of Vesta, stripped of its whole entablature,

Through doubtful ways conducts ; for at the door
Day finds admission, and the entrance cheers ;
But when at length the faint and fading light
In the dim cave absorb'd, to night gives way,
The lofty roof huge apertures displays
Which cast amid the gloom a scanty beam.
Although beneath the high and arching vaults
In mazes blind the dark recesses wind,
Yet far within the hollow mountain's womb,
Through the pierc'd roof the penetrating light
Finds ample way : thus, in earth's entrails deep,
Although the solar orb be far remov'd,
His influence still is felt, his light enjoy'd.
The lively account which St. Jerom gives of these ce
meteries is not less minute. Dum essem Roma: puer et
liberalibus studiis erudirer, solebam cum caeteris ejusdem
aetatis et propositi, diebus dominicis sepulcra apostolorum
et martyrum circumire, crebroque cryptas ingredi, quae in
terrarum profundo defossae, ex utraque parte ingredientium
per parietes habent corpora sepultorum ; et ita obscura sunt
omnia ut propemodum illud propheticum compleatur: de
scendant in infernum viventes: et raro desuper lumen ad-
missum horrorem temperet tenebrarum, ut non tam fenestram
quam foramen demissi luminis putes ; riirsumque pedetentim
acceditur, et cava nocte circumdatis illud Virgilianum pro-
ponitur Horror ubique animos simul ipsa silentia terrent.
S. Hieron. in Ezech.
" While I was pursuing my studies at Rome as a youth, I
was accustomed frequently on Sundays, in company with

CA. ni. THROUGH ITALY. 91
curtailed of its full height by the raising of the
ground which covers the lower part of the pillars,
others of the same age and disposition, to traverse the tombs
of the apostles and martyrs, and frequently entered the vaults
which are dug deep in the earth, and have the bodies of the
buried ranged along the walls on either hand as you enter :
every thing is there so dark, that the saying of the prophet is
almost fulfilled; 'The living go down into Hell:' and a
scanty light admitted from above, so moderates the gloomy
horror, that you would think it admitted by a hole rather than
a window : and as you again advance step by step, and are in
volved in darkness, you are reminded of the words of Virgil,
All things were full of horror and affright,
And dreadful ev'n the silence of the night." Dryden.
The number of the cemeteries or catacombs is very great,
as there are more than thirty known and distinguished by
particular appellations, such Cemeterium Calixti — Lucinae
— Felicis et Adaucti, &c. (the cemetery of Calixtus, of Lucina,
of Felix and Adauctus, &c.) — In several, the halls or opener
spaces are painted. Daniel in the Lion's Den — Jonas
emerging from the Jaws of the Whale — and the Good Shep
herd bearing a Lamb on his shoulders, seem to have been
the favorite subjects. The latter recurs oftener than any
other, and generally occupies the most conspicuous place.
Some of these decorations are interesting and give a pleasing
picture of the manners of the times, while others occasionally
exhibit an affecting representation of the sufferings of the
Christians. Of the former kind is a painting on a vaulted
ceiling in the cemetery of Poiitianus ; in a circle in the
centre appears the Good Shepherd — in the corners four
figures of Angels — on the sides the four Seasons. Winter is
represented by a youth holding some sticks in his right hand
and extending it towards a vase with a Hame rising from it :
in his left he bears a lighted torch: a withered tree stands in
the back ground. Spring is signified by a boy on one knee,

92 CLASSICAL TOUR Oi. III.
and disfigured by a most preposterous roof. The
cell and pillars of white marble remain, but the

as if he had just taken up a lamb which he supports with
one hand ; in the other he holds a lily : the scene is a garden
laid out in regular walks : near the border of one of these
walks stands a tree in. full foliage. Summer appears as a
man in a tunic, with a round hat on his head in the act of
reaping; the sickle is of the same form as that used in Eng
land. Autumn is depicted as a youth applying a ladder to a
tree, round which twines a luxuriant vine. All these com
partments are divided by garlands and arabesques. Of the
latter species of representation, we have an instance in a
painting which [presents a human figure immersed up to the
middle in a boiling caldron, with his hands joined before his
breast, and his eyes raised to heaven as if in ardent supplica
tion. The three children in the flames occur frequently, and
probably allude to the same subject. An inscription placed
over one of these scenes of martyrdom is affecting. O
tempora infausta, quibus inter sacra et vota ne in cavernis
quidem salvari possumus . . . Quid miserius vita . . . quid
morte  cum ab amicis et parentibus sepeliri ne-
queant*. — Several words are obliterated. Besides these
representations there are many detached figures, all alluding
to religious and Christian feelings, such as anchors, palms,
vases exhaling incense, ships, and portraits of different
apostles. The dresses are often curious, and border upon
some ornaments still in use in Italy, such as the cap of the
Doge of Venice ; the tunica and trowsers so common in the
south, &c. &c. The language of the inscriptions is probably
the colloquial Latin of the times, at least in many instances,
and sometimes approaches very near to modern Italian.
* O unhappy times, when we cannot worship with safety,
even in caverns . . . What can be more wretched than
life  what than death . . . when men cannot be
buried by their friends and their parents.

CA. III. THROUGH ITALY. $$
latter are almost lost in a wall drawn from column
to column, and filling up the whole intermediate
space. It is much to be lamented that when this
edifice was fitted up for a church, it was not re
stored to its original form and beauty; which
might have been done with less expence and diffi
culty, than were necessary to erect the wall and
raise the roof which I have just censured. It is
indeed highly probable that the materials requisite
for such a restoration, that is the fragments of the
frieze, architrave, and cornice, might be found
round the bases of the pillars, as they may form
part of the mass of ruins which has raised the
present so much above the level of the ancient
pavement. But this singular want of taste ap
pears, if possible, more conspicuous in two other
instances. The temple of Fortuna Virilis* (the Fortune
of Men), now the church of Santa Maria Egiziaca
(St. Mary of Egypt), is one of the few monuments
that still remain of the aera of the Roman Repub
lic. It is of the Ionic order, and its proportions
and form are justly admired. Its portico was
originally supported by four pillars, and its sides
adorned with twice as many half columns. It was
converted into a church in the ninth century, and

*' There are doubts as to the real appellation of this
temple, but all agree in its antiquity.

94 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. III.
long retained a considerable share of its primitive
beauty. When it was reduced to its present de
graded state I cannot precisely determine, but I
believe about the middle of the seventeenth cen
tury. It is said to have been, when repaired, in a
ruinous state: though that were the case, it was
less difficult to preserve than to alter its principal
features. The latter however has been done. The
wall that separated the Cella from the Vestibule
was removed, and rebuilt between the pillars of
the portico, and windows were opened between
the half columns on one of the sides. By these
means a small space was added and more light
was given to the interior, but the proportions and
beauty were not a little impaired.
S. Lorenzo in Miranda. The name of this
church, placed as it is in the Forum, and situated
amidst a most wonderful display of Roman gran
deur, is alone a sufficient recommendation to the
attention of the traveller; but this recommenda
tion acquires double weight when we learn that it
stands on the ruins of the temple of Antoninus and
Faustina. The portico of the temple, excepting
the pediment and part of the walls, remains. The
order is Corinthian ; and the whole might have
been restored without difficulty to its original
form. But instead of following this process which
the state of the ruin almost forced upon the archi
tect, he has erected a frontispiece behind the pillars,

CA. III. THROUGH ITALY. 96
of proportions, size, and order totally different;
of two stories so contrived, that the cornice of the
first does not reach even the capitals of the pillars
before it, while the second rises far above them,
and exhibits on high, as if in triumph over good
taste, its barbarous twisted pediment.
Such instances of ignorance or stupidity, such
preposterous and misshapen edifices, would sur
prize us even at Constantinople where almost
every monument of ancient magnificence has long
since perished, and every recollection of ancient
taste is obliterated ; but in Rome, where so many
superb models still present themselves to our con
sideration, where all the arts and particularly ar
chitecture are honored and cultivated with so
much success, we behold them with astonishment
and almost with horror. But neither censure, nor
experience, nor disappointment can deter vain and
inconsiderate architects from fruitless attempts to
improve upon the works of the ancients, or cure
them of their partiality to capricious combinations
that have hitherto invariably terminated in de
formity. Torriani, for he I believe was the mason
who built the modern part of the church of St.
Lorenzo in Miranda, probably imagined that his
new frontispiece, with its two contracted stories,
its petty pilasters, and its grotesque entablature,
would fix the attention of the public at once, and
totally eclipse the simple majesty of the colonnade

96 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. III.
before it. Vain hopes! The stately portico of
Antoninus still attracts every eye and challenges
universal admiration; while the modern addition
is condemned as often as noticed and ranked
among the monuments of a tasteless and semi-
barbarous age.
It is not my intention at present to describe the
churches beyond the walls : and ,of several within,
which bear the names or are supposed to be
formed of the ruins of ancient temples, I shall
say but little, as they do not exhibit the least ves
tige of antiquity. Such is Ara Cceli, on the
Capitoline hill supposed by many authors to oc
cupy the site of the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus :
such also is Santa Maria sopra Minerva, reported
to have been formerly the temple of that goddess;
neither of which have a particular claim, unless
their titles be considered as such, to our attention *.
We shall now therefore proceed to the greater
churches, under which appellation I include the
Pantheon and the Seven • Patriarchal Basilica;, so
* The traveller should visit the churches that belong to
particular nations and orders, and are considered as their
respective mother churches ; because not only French,
Spaniards, Germans, but Greeks, Armenians, Cophts or
Egyptians, and even East Indians and Chinese have their
colleges and churches. The same may be said of all the re
ligious orders. Several interesting particularities that in
dicate the character of these nations and bodies, may be
observed in their respective establishments.

CA. III. THROUGH ITALY. 97
called because they are the cathedrals of the sove- j
reign pontiff who officiates in them on certain 7
festivals, and reserves the high altar entirely to \
himself. These seven churches are, St. Laurence
{fuori delle mura, without the walls) St. Sebastian,
Santa Croce, Santa Maria Maggiore or the Basilica
Liber'iana, St. Paul (fuori delle mura) St. John
Lateran or the Basilica Lateranensis, St. Peter or
the Basilica Vaticana. These temples are all of
great antiquity, and if we except St. Sebastian, of
great magnificence. But to begin with the
Pantheon. The square of the Pantheon, or Piazza della
Rotonda, is adorned with a fountain and an obelisk,
and terminated by the portico of Agrippa. This
noble colonnade consists of a double range of Co
rinthian pillars of red granite. Between the middle
columns, which are a little farther removed from
each other than the others, a passage opens to the
brazen portals which, as they unfold, expose to
view a circular hall of immense extent, crowned
with a lofty dome, and lighted solely from above.
It is paved and lined with marble. Its cornice of
white marble is supported by sixteen columns and
as many pilasters of Gialb antico (antique yellow);
in the circumference there are eight niches, and
between these niches are eight altars adorned each
with two pillars of less size but of the same ma
terials. The niches were anciently occupied by
VOL. 11. H

98 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. III.
statues of the great deities ; the intermediate altars
served as pedestals for the Inferior powers. The
proportions of this temple are admirable for the
effect intended to be produced ; its height being
equal to its diameter, and its dome not an oval
but an exact hemisphere.
Such is the Pantheon, the most noble and
perfect specimen of Roman art and magnificence
that time has spared, or the ancients could have
wished to transmit to posterity. It has served
in fact as a lesson and a model to succeeding ge
nerations ; and to it Constantinople is indebted
for Santa Sophia, and to it Rome or rather the
World owes the unrivalled dome of the Vatican.
I need not inform my reader that the body of the
Pantheon is supposed by many antiquaries to be
of republican architecture, and of course more
ancient <han the portico which, as its inscription
imports, was erected by Agrippa about thirty
years before the Christian aera. But whether the
temple was built at the same time, or perhaps one
hundred years before its portico, is a mattor of
little consequence, as it is on the whole the most
ancient edifice that now remains in a state of full
and almost perfect preservation. It has, it is true,
undergone various changes from pillage and re
parations ; but these changes have been confined
entirely to the decorations. It was first altered
by Domitian and afterwards repaired by Severus.

CA. III. THROUGH ITALY. g9
The pillars, pilasters, and marble lining remain
nearly as they were placed by the latter. It was
plundered of part of its bronze ornaments, among
which some authors rank its brazen doors, by
Genseric the Vandal monarch of Africa, and af
terwards more completely stripped of all its metal
decorations by Constantine, the grandson of
Heraclius, in the seventh century. This semi-
barbarian Emperor is represented by indignant
antiquaries as the greatest scourge that ever
visited Rome, and is said to have committed
more excesses, and done more mischief to the city
during a short stay of seven days, than the Goths
or Vandals during their repeated hostile ap
proaches or long established dominion.
The Pantheon was converted into a church by
Pope Boniface IV. about the year 609, and has
since that period attracted the attention and en
joyed the patronage of various pontiffs. But
though much has been done for the support and
embellishment of this edifice, yet much is still
wanting in order to restore to it all its glory.
The pavement should be repaired, the marble
lining of the attic replaced, and above all, the
pannels of the dome gilt or edged with bronze.
The want of some such decoration gives it a white,
naked appearance, very opposite to the mellow
tints of the various marbles that cast so rich a
glow over the lower part. Yet let not the traveller

100 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. III.
complain, if even in this magnificent monument
he shall find that his expectations surpass the
reality, and that his fancy has thrown around the
Pantheon an imaginary splendor. He must not
expect to find in it the freshness of youth. Years
pass not in vain over man or his works; they may
sometimes spare proportion and symmetry, but
beauty and grace, whether in the marble portico
or in the human form, soon yield to their touch
and vanish. Twenty ages have now rolled over
the Pantheon, and if they have not crushed its
dome in their passage, they have at least imprinted
their traces in sullen grandeur on its walls ; they
have left to it all its primeval proportions, but
they have gradually stript it of its ornaments, its
leaves of acanthus and its glossy colors. Perhaps
these marks of antiquity and this venerable tint
which time alone can shed over edifices, rather
increase than diminish its majesty by adding to its
justly admired form, that which no architect can
bestow, the charms of recollection, and the united
interest of age and disaster.
Though the Pantheon probably owes its pre
servation to the circumstance of its having been
converted into a church, yet I know not whether
it be altogether well calculated for that purpose.
A circular hall, if consecrated to the offices of
religion, requires, that the altar should be in the
centre, a position which it cannot occupy in the

CA.IIT. THROUGH ITALY. 101
Pantheon, owing to the aperture perpendicularly
over it. A round temple is not, even when ar
ranged to the best advantage, nearly so suitable
or commodious for a christian assembly as the
Basilica, with its corresponding aisles, elevated
chancel, and semi-circular termination. Leaving
therefore to the Pantheon its principal character
of a temple, I would set it apart as a mausoleum
sacred to the memory and remains of persons
eminently distinguished by great talents and
splendid public virtues ; of that class of worthies
whom Virgil places in Elysium and ranks among
demigods and heroes. In the centre might arise,
on a lofty pedestal of steps, an altar of black
marble destined solely for the service of the dead
supporting a cross of alabaster half veiled in
brazen drapery. At the corners of the altar four
antique candelabra might pour a stream of solemn
light on the funereal scene around. The monu
ments might occupy the niches, line the wall, and
when numerous, rise in circles round the centre.
However as the number of personages who de
serve the honor of a public funeral is small, a
length of time would elapse, perhaps many cen
turies, before the niches would be filled, or the
pavement encumbered with sarcophagi. The
arrangement here described is only an extension
of that which has actually taken place, as the
Pantheon contains at present the tombs or rather

102 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. III.
the busts of several distinguished characters, among
which are the celebrated antiquary Winckelman,
Metastasio, Mengs, Poussin, Hannibal Carracci, and
Raffaelb himself. Two musicians also, Corelli
arid Sacchinif have been admitted to the honors of
the Pantheon*.
On the Via Tiburtina, at a small distance from
the gate once of the same name, now more fre
quently called Porta^ & $'• Lohpzo, stands the
Basilica of that martyr, erected jpver his tomb by
Constantine: Though frequently repaired and
•altered, yet its original form and most pf its ori
ginal decorations still remain. A pqrtico, as is
usual in all the ancient Basilicas, leads to its
entrance ; it is supported and divided by four-and-
twenty pillars of granite; the choir occupies the
upper part of the nave in the ancient manner, as
in St. Clement's. The ambones ; or two pulpits
stand on either side of the entrance to the choir,
close to the; pillars; they are very large and all
inlaid with marble. From the choir a flight of
steps leads to the sanctuary paved with mosaic
and adorned; by a double story, each of twelve
pillars of rich marble and of Corinthian form.
Of the lower range of pillars part only appears

* The dedication of this church on the first of Novem
ber, in the year 830, gave occasion to the institution of the
festival of All Saints.

f'rt.'J./Ufi-

".ba^vi.u'a ion' ^T i,.\w uv.r iM'1,

XM Th* taint J.uttw* nuirk tfie initO'tionx of hiOr tim,.

References
JLBisfii/pjt Tlmme
BB Seats of the l*resbyterjt
C Alow -over lite Tomb of 'STZawrence
YiThr Choir

G

H

References
YiS.Ainhone/f or Pulpii.t
F The Nave
'S.Jlie Vestibule

Condon : J'ublu-ht'l by J,Mawmou, March 1 131$ .

CA. III. THROUGH ITALY. 103
above, as it descends through an open space left
for that purpose far below the pavement. Four
other columns adorn the wall that runs some
feet behind the sanctuary as four more of porphyry
support the canopy over the altar. The seats' of
the sanctuary are of marble, as is the chair of the
pontiff, a very ancient episcopal throne. Under
the altar is the Confession or tomb of St. Lau
rence where his body reposes, as is related, with
that of St. Stephen the first martyr ; it is beau
tifully inlaid and incrusted with the most precious
marble. This church though unfrequented on account
of its situation, is yet rendered highly interesting
by its antiquity, its form, and its materials, and
by a certain lonely majesty which seems to brood
over it, and fills the mind with awe and reverence.
Prudentius bas described the martyrdom of St.
Laurence in a long hymn, in which among many
negligencies there are several beauties ; and the
celebrated Vida has treated the same subject with
the devotion of a bishop and with the enthusiasm
of a poet. Several of his images, sentiments and
allusions as well as his language throughout, are
truly classical ; and while I recommend the two
hymns of this author to the perusal of the reader,
I cannot refuse myself the pleasure of inserting
one passage from the first, not only on account of
its exquisite beauty, but on account of its con-

104 CLASSICAL TOUR Ch. 111.
nexion with the scenery of Rome, and with the
ground which we are now treading. In it the
saint, when sensible or rather certain of his ap
proaching fate, is represented as hanging oc
casionally over the Tiber, and turning with melan
choly recollection towards bis native land and the
haunts of his youth.
Si quando tamen in ripa subsistit amaeni
Tybridis, aspectans auras, ccelique profunda,
Solis ad occasum versus, Non te amplius, inquit,
Aspiciam, dives regnis*, Hispania opimis,
Nee vos, O patriae fluvii, carique parentes,
Qui spem forte mei reditus agitatis inanem.
Tuque, O Tybri ! vale ! colles salvete Latini !
Quos colui heroum tumuli, sacrataque busta*!
In another passage the last sensations and feelings
of the martyr are described in a style highly ani-

* St. Laurence was a native of Spain.
f Then stopping on fair Tyber's banks, his eyes
He rais'd, and gazing on the Western skies,
Exclaim'd : No more, my dear and native Spain,
Must these sad eyes behold thy shores again,
Nor you, ye well-known streams, and parents lov'd,
Who now perchance, by nature's yearnings mov'd,
Hope soon again your much-lov'd child to view :
Tyber, farewell ! ye Latin hills, adieu !
Ye tombs, where many a hero's ashes lie,
And many a sainted tenant of the sky,
Where oft my vows were paid !

Basilica ilmsemawa,
©1" S*A MATRIA MA&GM1E.

KB. Xlu rimitXmes nuiri die iuhtituns of later timzs.

References
A-Ilirhops 77nv7ie
B Swts ot' the dertjj-
C TlwJllal-
I> The Kave

L.'it./.-i. j'nl.tt..-/..,/ I-, J. 2fniv/lni/l \l.wi< / ):-.*..

CA. III. THROUGH ITALY. 105
mated and affecting. The concluding verses of the
same hymn express at once the piety and the
patriotism of its author*.
From the Porta Tiburtina a long and straight
street, or rather road, leads almost in a direct line
to the Basilica Liberiana\, or church of Santa
Maria Maggiore, which derives its former appel
lation from Pope Liberius, in whose time it was
erected, its latter, from its size and magnificence,
as being the first that bears the appellation of
the Blessed Virgin. It is said to have been
founded about the year 350, and has undergone
many repairs and alterations since that period.
It is one of the noblest churches in the world and
well deserves an epithet of distinction. It stands
by itself on the highest swell of the Esquiline
hill, in the midst of two great squares which
terminate two streets of near two miles in length.
To these squares the Basilica presents two fronts
of modern architecture and of different decorations.
The principal front consists of a double colonnade,
one over the other, the lower Ionic, the upper

* V. 245.
f In the portico of this church there is a large antique
sarcophagus, on which is sculptured an ancient marriage ; on
another which stands behind the sanctuary is a vintage.
They are both admired for the beauty of the workmanship.
The fields around St. Lorenzo were called anciently the
Campus Veranus.

106 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. III.
Corinthian*; before it on a lofty pedestal rises a
Corinthian pillar supporting a brazeri image of
the Blessed Virgin. On the other side, a bold
semicircular front adorned -with pilasters and
crowned with two domes, fills the eye and raises
the expectation. Before it, on a pedestal of more
than twenty feet in height, stands an Egyptian
obelisk of a single piece of granite of sixty, termi
nating in a cross of bronze. These accompani
ments on each side, give the Basilica an air of un
usual grandeur, and it must be allowed that the
interior is by no means unworthy of this external
magnificence. The principal entrance is, as usual in all the
ancient churches, through a portico ; this portico is
supported by eight pillars of granite, and adorned
with corresponding marble pilasters. The tra
veller on his entrance is instantly struck with the
two magnificent colonnades that line the nave and
separate it from the aisles. They are supported
each by more than twenty pillars, of which eighteen
on each side are of white marble. The order is
Ionic with its regular entablature, the elevation of
the pillars is thirty-eight feet, the length of the
colonnade about two hundred and fifty. The sanc
tuary forms a semicircle behind the altar. The

* This front, notwithstanding the noble pillars of granite
that support it, is justly censured for want of simplicity.

CA. HI. THROUGH ITALY. 107
altar is a large slab of marble covering an ancient
sarcophagus of porphyry, in which the body of the
founder formerly reposed. It is overshadowed by
a canopy of bronze, supported by four lofty Corin
thian pillars of porphyry. This canopy, though
perhaps of too great a magnitude for its situation
as it nearly touches the roof, is the most beautiful
and best proportioned ornament of the kind which
I ever beheld. The side walls supported by the
pillars are divided by pilasters, between which are
alternately windows and mosaics ; the pavement is
variegated, and the ceiling divided into square pan-
nels> double gilt and rich in the extreme. There
is no transept, but instead of it two noble chapels
open on either side. The one on the right as you
advance from the great entrance towards the altar,
was built by Sixtus Quintus, and contains his tomb:
it would be considered as rich and beautiful, were
it not infinitely surpassed in both these respects
by the opposite chapel belonging to the Borghese
family, erected by Paul V. Both these chapels are
adorned with domes and decorated with nearly the
same architectural ornaments. But in the. latter,
the spectator is astonished at the profusion with
which not bronze and marble only, but lapis lazuli,
jasper, and the more precious stones are employed
on all sides, so that the walls seem to blaze around,
and almost dazzle the eyes with their lustre. He
may perhaps feel himself inclined to wish that
those splendid materials had been employed with

106 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. III.
more economy, and conceive that a judicious
arrangement might have produced a better effect
with less prodigality. These two chapels, what
ever their magnificence or peculiar beauty may be,
have prejudiced the internal appearance of the
church, and occasioned the only material deformity
which even the eye of a critic can discover: I
mean the break occasioned by the arcades formed
onjboth sides, to serve as entrances to these ora
tories. The colonnade so beautiful even in its pre
sent state, would have been matchless Were it not
interrupted by these misplaced arches, which after
all do not produce the effect intended by giving a
grand entrance into these chapels, as the view is ob
structed by the arch of the aisles, and by the inter
vention of the brazen portals. But be the defects
what they may, I know not whether any architec
tural exhibition surpasses or even equals the Basi
lica Liberiana. The simplicity of the plan, the cor
rectness of the execution, the richness of the mate
rials and the decorations of the parts, the length
of the colonnades and the elevation of the canopy,
form altogether one of the noblest and most pleas
ing exhibitions that the eye can behold. As we
advance along the ample nave, we are rather pleas
ed than astonishe with the scenery around us ;
we easily familiarize ourselves with the calm gran
deur of the place, and at the end retire with an
impression, not of awe, but of delight and tran
quillity.

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Ltmtton: Published bv J.Jfamiuni Mil-eh ^J8J3.

Ch. III. THROUGH ITALY. 109
From the Basilica Liberiana a long and wide
street leads to the Basilica Lateranensis. This
church is the regular cathedral of the bishop of
Rome, and as such assumes the priority of all
others, and the pompous title of the Parent and
Mother of all Churches, " Eccksiarum Urbis et
Orbis Mater et Caput*" It was founded by Con
stantine, but it has been burnt, ruined, rebuilt, and
frequently repaired since that period. Its magni
tude corresponds with its rank and antiquity, and
the richness of its decorations are equal to both.
The Basilica, .like that of Santa Maria Maggiore,
has two porticos. That which presents itself to
the traveller coming from the latter church, con
sists of a double gallery one above the other,
adorned with pilasters ; the lower range Doric,
the higher Corinthian. On the square before this
portico rises a noble obelisk, the most pleyated of
its kind. From its pedestal bursts an abundant
stream that supplies all the neighboring streets
with water. The principal portico faces the south ;
it consists of four lofty columns and six pilasters.
The order is Composite; theatric is adorned with
a balustrade, and that balustrade with statues. A
double order is introduced in the intervals and be
hind this frontispiece, to support the gallery desti
ned to receive the pontiff when he gives his solemn
* The Mother and Head of the Churches of the City and
of the World.

110 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. III.
benediction ; though it is formed of very beautiful
pillars, yet it breaks the symmetry and weakens
the effect of the whole. Other defects have been
observed in this front, and the height of the pede
stals, the heavy attic with its balustrade, and the
colossal statues that encumber it, have been fre
quently and justly criticised. Yet with all these
defects it presents a very noble and majestic ap
pearance. The vestibulum is a long and lofty gallery. It
is paved and adorned with various marbles. Five
doors open from it into the church, the body of
which is divided into a nave, and two aisles on
each side. The nave is intersected by a transept,
and terminated as is usual by a semicircular sanc
tuary. There are no rails nor partitions; all is
open, and a few steps form the only division be
tween the clergy and the people : thus the size and
proportions of this noble hall appear to the best
advantage. Its decorations are rich in the ex
treme, and scattered with profusion, but unfortu
nately with little taste. The nave was renewed or
repaired by Borromini, and is disfigured by endless
breaks and curves, as well as overloaded with cum
bersome masses.
The church was anciently supported by more
than three hundred antique pillars, and had the
same plan of decoration been adopted in its repa
ration as was afterwards employed at Santa Maria

CA. III. THROUGH ITALY. Ill
Maggiore, it would probably have exhibited the
graudest display of pillared scenery now in exist
ence. But the architect it seems had an antipathy
to pillars ; he walled them up in the buttresses,
and adorned the butresses with groups of pi
lasters: he raised the windows, and in order
to crown them with pediments, broke the archi
trave and frieze, and even removed the cornice:
he made niches for statues and topped them
with crowns and pediments of every contorted
form ; in short he has broken every straight line
in the edifice, and filled it with semicircles, spi
rals and triangles. The roof formed of wood,
though adorned with gilding in profusion, yet from
too many and dissimilar compartments appears
heavy and confused. The altar is small and co
vered with a Gothic sort of tower, said to be very
rich, and certainly very ugly. The statues of the
twelve apostles, that occupy the niches on each
side of the nave with their graceful pillars of Verde
antico (antique green), are much admired. There
are several columns also that merit particular at
tention ; among these we may rank the antique
bronze fluted pillars that support the canopy over
the altar in the chapel of the Santissimo Sacramento.
Some suppose that these pillars belonged to the
temple of Jupiter Capitolinus ; others fancy that
they were brought from the temple of Jerusalem :
be these conjectures as they may the columns are
extremely beautiful.

112 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. III.
The various chapels of this church deserve at
tention, either for their form or for their embel
lishments ; but the Corsini chapel is entitled to
particular consideration, and may be regarded as
one of the most perfect buildings of the kind ex
isting. Inferior perhaps in size, and more so in
splendor to the Borghese chapel, it has more sim
plicity in its form and more purity in its deco
ration. This chapel is in the form of a Greek
Cross. The entrance occupies the lower, the altar
the upper part ; a superb mausoleum terminates
each end of the transept ; the rail that separates
the chapel from the aisle of the church is gilt
brass ; the pavement is the finest marble ; the walls
are incrusted with alabaster and jasper, and adorned
with basso relievos ; six pillars adorn the recesses,
the two on each side of the altar are Verde antico;
the four others are porphyry, their bases and capi
tals are burnished bronze. The picture over the
altar is a mosaic, the original by Guido. The
tombs with their statues are much admired, par
ticularly that of Clement XII. the Corsini pontiff,
whose body reposes in a large and finely propor
tioned antique sarcophagus of porphyry*. Four

* This sarcophagus was taken from the portico of the
Pantheon, and is supposed by some antiquaries to have con
tained the ashes of Agrippa.

CA. HI. THROUGH ITALY. 113
corresponding niches are occupied by as many sta
tues, representing the Cardinal virtues, and over
each niche is an appropriate basso relievo. The
dome that canopies this chapel, in itself airy and
well lighted, receives an additional lustre from its
golden pannels, and sheds a soft but rich glow on
the marble scenery beneath it. On the whole,
though the Corsini chapel has not escaped criti
cism, yet it struck me as the most beautiful edifice
of the kind; splendid without gaudiness ; the valu
able materials that form its pavement, line its walls
and adorn its vaults, are so disposed as to mix
together their varied hues into soft and deUcate
tints ; while the size and symmetry of its form
enable the eye to contain it with ease, and con
template its unity, its proportions, and its orna
ments without effort*.
The Baptistery of St. John Lateran, which
according to the custom of the early ages still
observed in almost all the cathedrals of Italv,
though near is yet detached from the church, is
called S. Giovanni in Fonte, and is the most an
cient of the kind in the Christian world. It was

* This edifice might be recommended as an excellent
model for a domestic or college chapel, or a mausoleum.
.Some critics have ventured to censure its architecture as
too tame, and deficient in boldness and relievo. Its size is
not, I believe, susceptible of more ; the defect, if it exist,
is scarcely perceptible.
VOL. II. I

114 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. III.
erected by Constantine, and is at the; same time a
monument of the magnificence of that Emperor
and the bad taste of the age. A small portico
leads into an octagonal edifice, in, the centre of
which there is a large basin about three feet
deep, lined and paved with marble. This basin is
of the same form as the building itself; at its
corners stand eight beautiful pillars, which sup
port eight others of white marble, and these latter
hear an attic crowned with a dome. These pillars,
with their entablature, were probably taken from
various buildings as they differ in order, size, and
proportion. The attic is painted in fresco, as in
the gallery around the pillars below ; the former
represents several Gospel histories, the latter
some of the principal events of the reign of Con
stantine. The modern font, a large vase of green
basaltes, stands in the centre of the basin raised
on some steps of marble. Anciently the basin
itself was the font into which the Catechumen
descended by the four steps which still remain for
that purpose. There are two chapels, one on
each side of the Baptistery, formerly destined for
the instruction and accommodation of the catechu
mens. In this chapel only, and only upon the
eves of Easter and Pentecost, was public baptism
administered anciently in Rome; many magni
ficent ceremonies which occupied the whole night
accompanied this solemnity, and rendered it more

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CA. III. THROUGH ITALY. 115
delightful to the fervent christians of that period
than the most brilliant exhibitions of the day.
The view from the steps of the principal por
tico of St. John Lateran is extensive and interest
ing. It presents a grov;e before ; on one side the
venerable walls of the city ; the lofty arches of an
aqueduct on the other ; the church of Santa Croce
in front, and beyond it the desolate Qampagna
bounded by the Alban Mount, tinged with blue
and purple, and checkered with woods, towns and
villages. -
A wide and straight road leads through the
solitary grove which, I have just mentioned, to the
Basilica di Santa Croce in Gierusalemme *,' another
patriarchal church erected by Constantine on the.
ruins of a temple of Venus destroyed by his orders.
This church derives its name from some pieces of
the holy cross, and from a quantity of earth taken
from Mount Calvary and deposited in it by St.
Helena, Constantine's mother. It is ; remarkable
only for its antique shape, and for the eight noble
columns of granite that support its nave. Its
front is modern, of rich materials, but, of very in
different architecture. The semicircular vault of
the sanctuary is adorned with paintings in fresco
which, though very defective in the essential parts,
yet charm the eye by the beauty of some of the
* The Church of the Holy Cross at Jerusalem.

116 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. III.
figures and the exquisite freshness of the coloring.
The lonely situation of this antique basilica amidst
groves, gardens and vineyards, and the number
of mouldering monuments and .tottering arches
that surround it, give it a solemn and affecting
appearance. o
. The patriarchal Basilica of St. Paul, called
S. Paolo fuori delle Mura", 'at some distance froih
the Porta Ostiensis, is one of the grandest temples
erected by -fhe first Christigfl EmperpjV -— It was
finished by Theodosius and his son Honorius, and
afterwards, wheri shattered by earthquakes and
time, it was repaired first by Leo III. and again
after a long inter val by Sixtus Quintus. Such was
the respect which the public entertained for this
church, 3 and so great the crowds thstt flocked to
it, that the Emperors above-mentioned thought it
necessary (if we may believe Procopius) to build
a portico from: the gate to the Basilica, a distance
of near a mile. The magnificence of this portico
seems to have equalled the most celebrated works
of the ancient Romans, as it was supported by
marble pillars and covered iwith gilt copper. But
whatsoever may have been its former glory, it has
long "i since yielded to the depredations of age or
barbarism, and sunk into dust without leaving
even"; a trace to ascertain "rits iornaser existence.
The road is now unfrequented, and the church
itself with the adjoining abbey belonging to the

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CA. HI. THROUGH ITALY. 117
Benedictine monks, is almost abandoned during
the summer months on account of the real or
imaginary unwholesomeness of the air.
The exterior of this edifice, like that of the
Pantheon, being of ancient brick looks dismal and
ruinous. The portico is supported by twelve
pillars, and forms a gallery or vestibulum lofty
and spacious. The principal door is of bronze;
the nave and double aisles are supported by four
rows of Corinthian pillars, amounting in all to the
number of eighty. Of these columns, four-and-
twenty of that beautiful marble called pavonazzo
(because white tinged with a delicate purple) and
the most exquisite workmanship and proportions,
were taken from the tomb of Adrian (Castel S.
Angela). The transept or rather the walls and
arches of the sanctuary rest upon ten other
columns, and thirty more are employed in the de
coration of the tomb of the Apostle and of the
altars. These pillars are in general of porphyry,
and the four that support the central arches are
of vast magnitude. Two flights of marble steps
lead from the nave to the sanctuary: the pave
ment of this latter part is of fine marble ; that of
the former of shattered fragments of ancient
tombs marked with inscriptions. The altar stands
under a canopy terminated by an awkward Gothic
pyramid; the circumference of the sanctuary is
adorned with some very ancient mosaics. The

118 CLASSICAL TOUR -CA. III.
walls of the nave and centre rest on arches carried
from pillar to pillar ; those of the nave are high
and covei'ed with faded paintings. The, length of
the church is about three hundred feet, its breadth
about one hundred and fifty, and from its magni
tude, proportions and materials, it undoubtedly
furnishes all the means requisite, if properly
managed, of rendering it one of the most noble,
and perhaps one of the most beautiful churches in
the world. As it is, it presents a very exact copy
of its ancient state, for it seems to have suffered
considerable damage almost as soon as finished,
from the wars, alarms and devastations that com
menced in the reign of Honorius, and continued
during several successive centuries.
Although many popes, and particularly Sixtus
Quintus and Benedict XIV, have repaired or or
namented this venerable fabric, yet it still retains
an unfinished, forlorn and almost ruinous appear
ance. The pavement is, as has been observed
above, made up of broken remnants ; the ancient
pictures that adorned the walls are nearly effaced
by damp vapors ; the beams and rafters of the
roof form the only covering of the body of the
church ; and the whole Basilica, excepting the
sanctuary, presents the aspect of a neglected and
melancholy monument. The Benedictine monks
are, in all countries where the Order exists, but
particularly in Italy, both rich and public spirited,

CA. III. THROUGH ITALY. 119
that it is a subject of surprise, and just reproach,
that while so many superb edifices have been erec
ted by them in different towns and countries, one
of the most ancient and celebrated temples in the
Christian world should even in the capital itself,
and under the eye of the pontiff, be allowed to
moulder away and sink almost unnoticed into
ruin. The expenses requisite for the reparation
and embellishment of such an edifice would be
great without doubt; but to an opulent and religious
society, money when employed for such a pur
pose cannot be an object of consideration, especi
ally as the work might be carried on gradually,
and with all due regard to economy*. The arches
from pillar to pillar introduced by the bad taste
of the age of Diocletian, might be covered as in
Santa Maria Maggiore by a regular entablature;
and as in all the other Basilica?, the floor might be

* This roof is much admired for its mechanism and re
vered for its antiquity ; but however curious or venerable it
maybe in these respects, it forms, as all mere carpentry must
form, a very dull and unappropriate ceiling to a marble
temple. The beams were originally lined with gold, and in
deed the whole edifice was most splendidly decorated as we
are assured by Petronius who visited it in its first glory.
Regia pompa loci est, princeps bonus has sacravit arces
Lusitque magnis ambitum talentis.
Bracteolas trabibus sublevit, ut omnis aurulenta
Lux esset intus, ceu jubar sub ortu. Subdidit

120 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. 111.
flagged and the walls lined with marble. The
paintings might then be restored with perfect se
curity, and the work of reparation finished by
removing the present Gothic obelisk that en
cumbers the tomb of the Apostle, and by employ
ing the beautiful columns that now seem to
groan under its weight in supporting a light and
well-proportioned canopy. I have already said
that S. Paolo might be' made one of the most
beautiful churches in the w6rld, and the changes
here pointed out would I think accomplish that
object, and give it" all the splendor of which it
is susceptible. It already indeed exhibits the
noblest collection of pillars' now existing, and if
these were set off to advantage by an appropri-

Subdidit et Farias fulvis laquearibus columnas,
Distinguit illic quas quaternus ordo :
Turn Camyros hyalo insigni varie cucurrit arcus,
Sic prata vernis floribus renident. Passio Beat. Apost.
Imperial splendor all the dome adorns ;
Those tow'rs a Monarch built to God, and grac'd
With golden pomp the vast circumference.
With gold the beams he cover'd, that within
The light might emulate the beams of morn.
Beneath the glitt'ring ceiling, pillars stood
Of Parian stone, in four-fold ranks dispos'd :
Each curving arch with glass of various dye,
Was deck'd ; so shines with flow'rs the painted mead,
In Spring's prolific day.

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CA.III. THROUGH ITALY. 121
ate cornice and corresponding decorations around,
its colonnades would form a scene inferior in ex
tent indeed, but equal if not superior in regular
architectural beauty even to the magnificent ar
cades of the Vatican.

122 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. IV.

CHAP. IV.

The Basilica Vaticana, or St. Peters.
To the Vatican we shall now turn and close our
account of Roman churches, by a faint and im
perfect description of some of the glories of this
unrivalled fabric, the boast of modern skill and
trophy of the united arts of painting, sculpture,
and architecture. The Basilica of St. Peter was
the first and noblest religious edifice erected by
Constantine. It stood on part of the circus of
Nero, and was supposed to occupy a spot conse
crated by the blood of numberless martyrs ex
posed or slaughtered in that place of public
amusement by order of the tyrant*. But its prin-

* This supposition is far from being groundless, as ap
pears from the words of Tacitus speaking of the persecu
tions of Nero. Ergo abolendo rumori (jussum incendium
Romae) Nero subdidit reos et qusesitissimis paenis adfecit,
quos per flagitia invisos, vulgus Christianos appellabat 
Et pereuntibus addita ludibria) ut ferarum tergis contecti la-
niatu canum interirant aut crucibus afFixi, aut flammandi,
atque ubi defecisset dies, in usum nocturni lumiuis urerentur.

CA. IV. THROUGH ITALY. 133
cipal and exclusive advantage was the possession
of the body of St. Peter ; a circumstance which
raised it in credit and consideration above the
Basilica Lateranensis, dignified its threshold with
the honorable appellation of the Limina Apostolorum
(the Threshold of the Apostles), and secured to it
the first place in the affection and reverence of the
Christian world. Not only monks and bishops
but princes and emperors visited its sanctuary with
devotion, and even kissed as they approached the
marble steps that led to its portal. Nor was this
reverence confined to the orthodox monarchs who
sat on the throne of the founder ; it extended to
barbarians and more than once converted a cruel
invader into a suppliant votary. The vandal Gen-
seric whose heart seldom felt emotions of mercy,

Hot tun suos ei spectaculo Nero obtulerat et circense ludicrum
edebat habitu aurigae permixtus plebi, vel curriculo insis-
tens. Tacitus Ann. xv. 44.
" Therefore in order to do away the report (of the city
having been set fire to by his orders), Nero accused, and
inflicted the most exquisite punishments upon a set of people,
odious on account of their crimes, whom the vulgar called
Christians  Mockery was added to the torments of the
dying, for they were covered with the skins of wild beasts
thafrthey might be torn in pieces by dogs, or were nailed to
crosses, Or set on fire, that when day-light disappeared, they
might serve instead of lamps. Nero lent his gardens for
the spectacle, and gave a show of Circensian games, mixing
with the mob, or standing on his chariot, in the habit of a
charioteer."

124 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. IV.
while he plundered every house and temple with
unrelenting fury, spared the treasures deposited
under the roof of the Vatican Basilica, and even
allowed the plate of the churches to be carried in
solemn pomp to its inviolable altars. Totila, who
in a moment of vengeance had sworn that he
would bury the glory and the memory of Rome
in its ashes, listened to the admonitions of the
pontiff, and resigned his fury at the tomb of the
Apostles. Every age, as it passed over the Vatican,
seemed to add to its holiness and its dignity ;
and the coronation of an Emperor, or the instal
lation of a Pope, the deposition of the remains
of a prince, or the enshrinement of the reliques of
a saint, appeared as so many tributes paid to its
supereminence, and gave it so many new claims
to the veneration of the Christian world. At
length, however, after eleven centuries of glory,
the walls of the ancient Basilica began to give
way, and symptoms of approaching ruin were be
come so visible about the year 1450, that Nicolas V.
conceived the project of taking down the old
church, and erecting in its stead a new and more
extensive structure. However, though the work
was begun, yet it was carried on with feebleness
and uncertainty during more than half a century,
till Julius II. ascended the papal throne, and re
sumed the great undertaking with that spirit and

Ch. IV. THROUGH ITALY. 125
decision which distinguished all the measures of
his active pontificate. Great princes generally
find or create the talents requisite for their pur
poses, and Julius discovered in Bramante, an
architect capable of comprehending and executing
his grandest conceptions. A plan was presented
and approved.' The walls of the ancient Basilica
were taken down, and on the eighteenth of April
1508, the foundation stone of one of the vast
pillars that support the dome, was laid by Julius
with all the pomp and ceremony that became such
an interesting occurrence. From that period the
work, though carried on with ardor and perse
verance, yet continued during the space of one
hundred years, to occupy the attention and absorb
the income of eighteen pontiffs. I might have
augmented this number by the addition of the
names of Urban VIII. Alexander VII. and their
successors down to Benedict XIII. who all con
tributed to the erection, embellishment, and com
pletion, of the superb colonnade that opens before
the church, and adds so much to its majesty.
The popes who have since followed have not been
entirely inactive, but have endeavoured, each ac
cording to bis ability, to acquire a share in the
glory and duration of this edifice by some deco
ration or improvement. In fine, the late Pius VI.
built the sacristy, and by this necessary appendage,
which had till then been wanting, may be con-

126 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. IV.
sidered as having accomplished the grand under
taking, and given the Basilica Vaticana its full
perfection. On the whole, it would not be exaggeration
to assert, that nearly three hundred years elapsed
and five and thirty pontiffs reigned, from the
period of the commencement to that of the ter
mination of this stupendous fabric. The most
celebrated architects of modern times had an op
portunity of displaying their talents and immor
talizing their names in the prosecution of the work,
and Bramante, Raffaello, San Gallo, Michael Angelo,
Vignola, Carlo Maderno, and Bernini, not to speak
of others of less reputation, labored successively
in its promotion or consummation.
To calculate the expense with any great pre
cision would be difficult, but from the best infor
mation, that has been collected on the subject, we
may venture to state, that however enormous
the sum may appear, the expenditure must have
amounted to at least twelve millions sterling; and
when we consider that the marbles, bronze, and
other valuable materials employed in its decoration,
are not only uncommon, but scarcely known out
of Rome, we may add that it would require three
times as much to raise a similar edifice in any
other capital. From the latter observation we
may infer, that if a convulsion of nature, or what
is still more to be dreaded, an explosion of human

CA. IV. THROUGH ITALY. 127
malignity, should shatter or destroy this admirable
fabric, many ages must elapse, and numberless
generations pass away, before means could be col
lected, or talents found to restore it, or to erect
another of equal magnificence.
What then will be the astonishment, or rather
the horror of my i'eader. when I inform him
that this unrivalled temple, the triumph and
master-piece of modern skill, the noblest speci
men of the genius and the powers of man, was,
during the late Freuch invasion, made an object
of rapacious speculation, and doomed to ruin.
Yet such is the fact. When the exhausted in
come of the state, and the plunder of all the
public establishments were found unequal to the
avarice of the generals, and to the increasing
wants of the soldiers, the French committee
turned its attention to St. Peter's, and employed
a company of Jews to estimate and purchase the
gold, silver, and bronze, that adorn the inside of
the edifice, as well as the copper that covers the
vaults and dome on the outside. The interior
ornaments might perhaps have been removed
without any essential or irreparable damage to
the body of the fabric ; but to strip it of its ex
ternal covering was to expose it to the injuries
of the weather, and to devote it to certain de
struction ; especially as the papal government,
when restored, had not the means of repairing

128 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. IV.
the mischief. But Providence interposed, and the
hand of the Omnipotent was extended to protect
his temple. Before the work of sacrilege and
barbarism could be commenced, the French army,
alarmed by the approach of the allies, retired with
precipitation, and St, Peter's stands !
From the bridge and Castel de St. Angelo, a
wide street conducts in a direct line to a square,
and that square presents at once the court or
portico, and paxt of the Basilica*. When the
spectator approaches the entrance of this court,
he views four rows of lofty pillars, sweeping off
to the right and left in a bold semicircle. In
the centre of the area formed by this immense
colonnadef-, an Egyptian obelisk, of one solid
piece of granite, ascends to the height of one
hundred and thirty feet ; two perpetual fountains,

* The late pope had some thoughts of widening this
street, and giving it throughout an expansion equal to the
entrance of the portico, so that the colonnade, fountains,
obelisk, and church, would thus burst at once upon the eye
of the spectator, when he turned from the bridge. Though
the approach to St. Peter's is already sufficiently noble, yet
this alteration would without doubt, have added much to
its magnificence. The invasion of the French, and the con
sequent distressing events, suspended the execution of this
and many similar plans of improvement.
f This colonnade, with its entablature, balustrade, and
statues, is seventy feet in height.

CA;IV. THROUGH ITALY. 129
one on each side, play in the air, and' fall in
sheets round1 the basins of porphyry that receive
them: Before liim4 raised1 on three successive
flights of marble steps, extending, four hundred
feet in length, and towering to the elevation- of
one hundred1 and eighty, he beholds the majestic
front of the Basilica itselfk This- front is sup
ported by a single row of Corinthian pillars and'
pilasters, and adorned with' an attic, a balus:-
trade; and thirteen colossal statues. Far behind1
and above it rises the matchless' Dome, the justly
celebrated wonder of Rome andlofthe worlds The;
colonnade of coupled^ pillars that surround and
strengthen its vast base, the: graceful attic that
surmounts this colonnade, the bold; and expansive
swell of the dome itself; and tlie pyramid seated
on a cluster of columns, and bearing, the ball and
cross to i the skies, alb perfect in their kind, form
the most magnificent and singular exhibition that
the human eye perhaps ever contemplated. Two
less cupolas, one on each side, partake of the
state, and add not a little to the majesty of the
principal dome.
The interior corresponds perfectly with the
grandeur of the exterior, and frilly answers the
expectations, , however great, which such an ap
proach must naturally have- raised*. Five lofty)
* AdBasilicae.Vatioanaevestibulu'msubshtimus; neque,
audemus tam divinae fabricae majestatemrndi calamo vio-
YOh. II. K

180 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. IV.
portals open into the portico or vestibulnm, a
gallery in dimensions and decorations equal to
the most spacious cathedrals. It is four hun
dred feet in length, seventy in height, and fifty in
breadth, paved with variegated marble, covered
with a gilt vault, adorned with pillars, pilasters,
mosaic and basso relievos, and terminated at both
ends by equestrian statues, one of Constantine,
the other of Charlemagne. A fountain at each
extremity supplies a stream sufficient to keep a
reservoir always full, in order to carry off every
unseemly object, and perpetually refresh and purify
the air and the pavement. Opposite the five por
tals of the vestibule are the five doors of the church ;
three are adorned with pillars of the finest marble ;
that in the middle has valves of bronze.
As you enter, you behold the most extensive
hall ever constructed by human art, expanded in
magnificent perspective before you ; advancing up
the nave, you are delighted with the beauty of the

lare. Sunt enim nonnulla, quae nullo melius modo, quam
stupore et silentio laudantur, says the learned Mabillon: Iter
Italicum. " We stopped at the vestibule of- St. Peter's Church ;
nor dare we with unhallowed pen violate the majesty of so
divine a 'structure : For there are some things which are
never more adequately praised, than by amazement and
silence." " I saw St. Peter's," says Gray, " and was struck dumb
with astonishment."

CA. IV. THROUGH ITALY. 1S1
variegated marble under your feet, and with the
splendor of the golden vault over your head. The
lofty Corinthian pilasters with their bold entabla
ture, the intermediate niches with their statues,
the arcades with the graceful figures that recline
on the curves of their arches, charm your eye in
succession as you pass along. But how great your
astonishment when you reach the foot of the altar,
and standing in the centre of the church, contem
plate the four superb vistas that open around you ;
and then raise your eyes to the dome, at the pro
digious elevation of four hundred feet, extended
like a firmament over your head, and presenting,
iu glowing mosaic, the companies of the just, the
choirs of celestial spirits, and the whole hierarchy
of heaven arrayed in the presence of the Eternal,
whose " throne high raised above all height"
crowns the awful scene.
When you have feasted your eye with the gran
deur of this unparalleled exhibition in the whole,
you will turn to the parts, the ornaments, and the
furniture which you will find perfectly correspond
ing with the magnificent form of the temple itself.
Around the dome rise four other cupolas, small in
deed when compared to its stupendous magnitude,
but of great boldness when considered separately :
six more, three on either side, cover the different
divisions of the aisles, and six more of greater dimen
sions canopy as many chapels, or, to speak more

132 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. IX'.
properly, as many churches. All, these inferior
cupolas are like the grand dpme itself), lined with
mosaics, many indeed of the master-pieces, of paint
ing which formerly grace(Ji this edifice, have, been
removed, and replaced, by mosaics which retain all
the tints and beauties of the originals, impressedt
on a more solid and durable substance. The aisles
and altars are adorned, with numberless antique
pillars, tha,ti border the. church all around j and form.
a secondary and subservient order. The variega
ted walls are, in many places, ornamented with
festoons, wreaths, angels, tiaras, crosses, and medal
lions, representing the effigies of different, pontiffs.
These decorations are of the most beautiful and
rarest species of marble, and often of excellent
workmanship. Various monuments rise in diffe
rent parts of the church ; hut, in their size and
accompaniments, so much attention has been paid:
tp general as well as local, effect, that they, appear
rather as part? of the original plan, than, posterior.
additions. Some of these are much admired for
their groups and exquisite sculpture, and form
very conspicuous^ features in the. ornamental part
of this noble temple.
The high altar stands under the dome, and
thus as it is the mpst. important so it becomes the
most striking object. In order to add to its relief
and give it all its majesty, according to the ancient
custom still retained in the patriarchal churches. at

CA. IV. THROUGH ITALY. 133
Rome arid in most of the cathedrals in Italy, a
lofty canopy rises above it, and forms an interme
diate break or repose for the eye between it and
the ifarinjtisity of the- 'dome above. The form,
materials, and magnitude of this decoration are
equally astonishing. Below the steps of the altar
and of bourse Some distance frorii it, at the Corners
on four missive pedestals, rise four twisted pillars
fifty feet iri height, and Support an entablature
which bears the canopy itself topped with a cross.
The whole soars to the elevation of One hundred
arid thirty-two feet frorii the pavement, and except
ing the pedestals is of Corinthian brass! the most
lofty massive work 6f that or of any other metal
now known. But this brazen edifice, for so it may
be called, notwithstanding its magnitude, is so dis
posed as not to obstruct the view by concealing
the charicel and veiling the Cathedral or Chair of
St. Peter. The ornament is also of bronze, arid
consists of a group of four gigantic figures, repre
senting the four principal Doctors of the Greek
and Latin Churches, supporting the1 patriarchal
chair of St. Peter. The chair is a lofty throne ele
vated to the height of seventy feet from the pave
ment; a circular window tinged with yello# throws
from abbve a milder splendor abound it, so that
the whdle not unfitly represents the pre-eminence
of the apostolic See, and is acknowledged to forth
a iribst becoming arid majestic termination tb the
first of Christian temples.

134 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. IV.
When I have added that every part and every
ornament is kept in the most perfect repair ; that
the most exact neatness and cleanliness is ob
servable on all sides ; that the windows are so
managed as to throw over the whole a light, clear
and distinct, yet soft and gentle, I shall leave the
reader to imagine what an impression the contem
plation of an edifice so glorious must make on the
mind of a youthful or enthusiastic traveller.
Under the high altar of St. Peter's is the tomb
of that apostle, formerly called the Confession of
St. Peter, an appellation which it has communi
cated to the altar and its canopy. The descent to
it is before, that is to the west of the altar where
a large open space leaves room for a double flight
of steps, and for an area before two brass folding
doors that admit into a vault, whose grated floor
is directly over the tomb. The rails that surround
this space above are adorned with one hundred and
twelve bronze cprnucopiae, which serve as suppor
ters to as many silver lamps that burn perpetually
in honor of the Apostle. The staircase with its
balustrade, the pavement of the little area, and the
walls around, are all lined with alabaster, lapis la
zuli, verde antico, and other kinds of the most beau
tiful marble. The pavement of the area is upon a
level with the Sacre grotte (Sacred grottos, or
caves), though the regular entrance into those sub
terranean recesses is under one of the great pillars
that support the dome.

CA. IV. THROUGH ITALY. U5
The Sacre grotte are the remains of the ancient
church built by Constantine, the pavement of
which was respected and preserved with all pos
sible care during the demolition of the old and the
construction of the new Basilica. They consist
of several long winding galleries extending in va
rious directions under the present building. They
are venerable for their antiquity and contents ; and
if Addison never visited Westminster Abbey, or
trod its gloomy cloisters without strong impres
sions of religious awe, I may be pardoned when I
acknowledge that I felt myself penetrated with
holy terror, while conducted by a priest in his sur
plice with a lighted torch in his hand, I ranged
through these dormitories of the dead, lined with
the urns of emperors and pontiffs, and almost
paved with the remains of saints and martyrs. The
intrepid Otho, the turbulent Alexander, and the
polished Christina, lie mouldering near the hal
lowed ashes of the apostles Peter and Paul, of the
holy pontiffs Linus, Silvester and Adrian. The
low vault closes over their porphyry 'tombs, and
silence and darkness brood uninterrupted around
t^sm. My awe increased as I approached the monu
ment of the apostles themselves. Others may be
hold the mausoleum of an emperor or of a consul,
of a poet, or of an orator, with enthusiasm;
for my part, I contemplated the sepulchre of these

136 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. IV.
Christian heroes with heart-felt veneration. What,
if a bold achievement, ;an useful invention, a well-
fought battle, or a well-told tale, can entitle a man
to .the admiration of posterity, and shed a blaze of
glory over his remains, surely the courage, the con
stancy, the cruel sufferings, the triumphant death
of these holy champions, must excite our admi
ration and our gratitude, ennoble the spot where
their relics repose, and sanctify the very dust that
imbibed their sacred blood. By sacrificing their
lives to the propagation of truth, and to the refor
mation of mankind, they are become the patriots
of the world at large, the common benefactors of
their species, and in the truest and noblest sense,
heroes and conquerors. How natural then for a
christian not only to cherish their names but to
extend his grateful attention to their ashes and his
veneration even to their tombs.
Superba sordent Caasares cadavera
Queis urbis litabat impii cultus ferax :
Apostolorum gloriatur ossibus
Fixamque adorat collibus suis crucem.
Nunc, O cruore purpurata nobili
Novisque felix Roma conditoribus
Horum tropaeis aucta quanto verius
Bjegina fulges orbe toto civitas ! ! * Brev. Par.

Unnptic'd dust, the Caesars now are laid,
To whom Rome's impious homage once was paid ;

CA. IV. THROUGH ITAl.Y. '1ST
The vestry or sacristy of St. Peter's is a most
magnificent edifice, connected with the church by

But of th' Apostles' tombs she proudly boasts,.
And vaunts the Cross, that tow'rs thro' all her coasts.
Now, Rome, of many a martyr's blood possest,
And in thy second founders donbly blest,
EnriehM, ennobled by such spoils divine,
The sceptre of the world is truly thine.
St. John Chrysostom makes an eloquent allusion to this
tomb, when speaking of the last day he exclaims — Ex«0€i/
aiWayijtreTai nouXoi;, exeifley IleTjMK;. 'EmiVti<rcvrt, xo» Qptfctire, oiov
o^ercu Sea/ia Papj wa {IauXey efow^wj,; ovi?rafce»ov aim TV)? '&jk!)s
ckcivt); ftera Rerps, xai aipo/ievov ei{ tipi auravtijetv t8 Kvpiov.
And again, Eyu run Tip Pwji«)y Sia t8to cpiXu' xat rm ye campi
xai erepaSev exp» etawetr, xcu ama t8 /«ye&8(;, xai airs «;<; apygnSurtifl&fa
xai oast rs x.a/Js8,-, xat am, TUft buracreutf, -Kal auto t3 wX8«J, xai awo
tbv xaro pha/ientev roy ey sroXejttp aXXa sravra raura cupeic,, ha t8to
aunjy fuvxapiC/n, oti (UoaA®>) xai %uv ovtoic, eypatpe, tcai ovrue winHt,
eipfKa, xai xrapuv airroic. 8ieXej{&i), xai roy /3wv exei xoWeXutrt' hit xai
cicioTjft^. jj utoXk; 3T»tw&€v jjjxKK'jv, ij aim ran aXXav aitavrm — 8ia
¦zavza 5av/AaC,u Tip ¦adKiv, e ha Toy yjpvenv toi/ ¦sro/wu, 8 ha t8{ xioyae,
8 8ia Tjjy aXXqy §anaaiou>. — T15 ivtoi io* e&axe ureoijjv&ijyai ™ a-a/nari
Jla.v'1.3, xai -srpoaTiiXaSlijiieu toj -raspy, xai T»jy xoyiy (8eiy t8 lyaivtaT^ exeiy8 ;
— tip xoviv t» 5-ofiaT©.,— 81 su eXaXei eyayrioy ^atrAeav, xai 8x ^tr^u-
yero; — rvpanBe eitecro/ture, — rip six8/*oojj, to; 0EO zrpocniyayt'  Tijy
xmiv rye xaphag, ij 8t« iTrXaTeia jjv ,1:5 xai -sroXeis oXoxXtji*,; tie%eo-?Sai,
xai 8>)i>8i; xai eSlyrj — npi xuphav exeiyijy wvpajuinp xai' exaf oy tow aioX.
Tuipeyay,— r»)y xaivrp 'fygfes.aav "fynp, 8 tavtip ttjv ij/MTepav. 7m yap

138 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. IV.
a long gallery and adorned with numberless pillars,
statues, paintings and mosaics. It is in reality a

8x€Ti eya, ?ij 8e ev e/vioi, <pij(riv, a XPI2T02. — Ej88Xo/«)y Tijy xoyiy i8eiy
Tay yfipuy, Toiy cy aXucrei,— 81 m ravra ra ypapifiara eypacpero'—rijii
xoyiy To>y sroSuy T&iy ¦arep&pajj.ovrati rip 01x8 fnaup, xai //.ij xa/vwoiToy,
Horn: in Epist: ad Rom:
" From this place Paul, from this place Peter shall be
snatched away. Consider and shudder, what a spectacle
Rome will behold, Paul suddenly rising with Peter from that
sepulchre, and carried up into the air to meet the Lord.
" I honor Rome also for this reason ; for though I could
celebrate her praises on many other accounts — for her great
ness, for her beauty, for her power, for her wealth, and for
her exploits in war, — yet passing over all these things, I
glorify her on this account, that Paul in his* life-time wrote to
them, and loved them, and was present with and conversed
with them, and ended his life amongst them. Wherefore the
city is on this account renowned more than on all others — on
this account I admire her, not on account of her gold, her
columns, or her other splendid decorations. — Who has now
empowered me to embrace the body of Paul, and to rivet my
self to his tomb, and to see the dust of his mouth ? the dust
of that mouth, with which he spoke before Kings, and was
not ashamed, with which he silenced tyrants, and made the
whole world approach to God? the dust of his heart, which
was so capacious as to embrace entire cities, and people, and
nations ; that heart which lived a new life, not this which we
live ; ' for I no longer live,' says he, ' but Christ lives in me.'
I wished to see the dust of his hands, of those hands which
were in bonds, and with which he wrote these epistles; the
dust of those feet which traversed the universe, and were not
weary." Homily on the Epistle to the Romans.

CA. IV. THROUGH ITALY. 139
large and spacious church, covered with a dome
in the centre, and surrounded with various chapels*
recesses and apartments adapted to the devotion
and the accommodation of the pontiff, the dean
of St. Peter s, and the members of its chapter. It
was erected by the orders of the late Pope Pius VI.
at an immense expense; and though in many
respects liable to criticism, yet it is on the whole
entitled to admiration.
From the lower part of the Basilica, we pass
to the roof by a well lighted staircase, winding
round with an ascent so gentle that beasts of
burthen go up without inconvenience. When
you reach the platform of the roof you are asto
nished with the number of cupolas and domes
and pinnacles that rise around you ; with the
galleries that spread on all sides, and the many
apartments and staircases that appear in every
quarter. Crowds of workmen are to be seen
passing and repassing in every direction, and the
whole has rather the form of a town than that of
the roof of an edifice.
Here the traveller has an opportunity of exa
mining closely and minutely the wonderful con
struction of the dome, and of discovering the skill
and precision with which every part has been
planned and executed. The vast platform of stone
on which it reposes as on a solid rock ; the lofty

140 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. IV.
colonnade that rises on this platform, and by its
resistance counteracts, as a continued buttress, the
horizontal pressrire of the dome, all of stone of
such prodigious swell and circumference ; the fen-
tern which like a lofty temple 'sits on its towering
summit ; th^e are objects which must excite the
astoriisferiiettt of every spectator, but can be per
fectly understood and properly described by none
but by a skilful architect thoroughly acquainted
with the difficulties and the resources of his art*.
The access to every part, arid the ascent even to the
inside of the ball, is perfectly safe arid commodious.
Those whd wish to reach the cross on the outside,
as Some bold adventurers are said to have done,
are exposed to corisiderable danger without attain
ing any advantage to justify their rashness-f-.

* The dome of St. Paul's is not calculated to give a just
idea of that of Sfc PeteVs. The inner dome of the former
is of brick, and in shape not very unlike the conical form
of a glass house ; the dome to which the edifice owes all its
external grandeur is a mere wooden roof raised over the
other at a considerable distance, and covered with copper
which conceals the poverty of its materials. Both the
domes of the latter are of stone; they run up a considerable
way together, and when they separate, they merely leave
room enough for a narrbw staircase between tliem, so that
the traveller as he ascends touches both the domes with his
elbows; They unite again at the top and conjointly support
the weight of the lantern.
f Some of the midshipmen of the Medusa frigate performed

CA. IV. THROUGH ITALY. 141
After having thus examined tlie upper parts,
the interior andi the subterraneous apartments, of
this edifice, the traveller will, range round: the
outside and take a view of the external walls
and) termination. A large open space surrounds
i% and affords room enough even, for perspective-
The order of the portico, with its attic is carried
in, pilasters round the outside of the church, and
gives it all the greatness, and majesty, that result
from* unbroken, unity. The only defect is the
clusters of half or quarter pilasters, with tbeifl-
imperfect capitals and angular entablature crowded
together in. the corners. There are architects I
know who consider these groups as ornamental.
or at least as necessary, and of course as not h>
curring the appellation of defects. But, without

this feat with their usual , spirit and agility. But this is not
surprising in young tars.
" Prodiga gens ultro lucis animaeque capaces
Mortis ! "
Heroes prodigal of breath,
Atlyrst for glory, and despising death.
Mr. de la Lande talks of a French lady who some years
before scrambled up the inclined ladder, mounted the ball and
leaned , on the cross, and did all this " avec une souplesse et •
une grace inconcevable (with an inconceivable agility and,
grace)." I hope no English lady will ever emulate such
inconceivable grace.

142 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. IV.
discussing the principles of the art, they certainly
offer too many angles, and consequently too many
breaks to the sight, and may justly be termed, if
not defects, at least deformities.
I have thus presented a general picture of this
celebrated edifice, and dwelt with complacency on
its unrivalled beauties. I may now be allowed to
examine it with the eye of a critic and venture to
point out those parts which may be deemed liable
to censure or capable of improvement. To begin
with the colonnade. Every spectator of taste
while he contemplates and admires this most ex
tensive and magnificent scene of pillars, regrets
that Bernini, influenced without doubt by the love
of novelty so fatal to the beauty of edifices and to
the reputation of architects, instead of a simple
and perfect order, should have employed a com
posite of his own invention. Surely the pure
Doric of the Parthenon, the Ionic of the temple of
Fortuna Virilis, and the Corinthian of the Pantheon
might have been adopted with more propriety and
effect, than a fanciful combination of irregular
Doric pillars and an Ionic entablature? To this
defect Bernini has added another, by introducing
too many pilasters, or to speak more properly
massive piles that break the line unnecessarily, and
increase the apparent weight without augmenting
the solidity of the building.
The front of St. Peter's has been censured as

CA. IV. THROUGH ITALY. 143
having more of the appearance of a palace than
of a church ; it is pierced with so many windows,
divided into so many parts, and supported by so
many half pillars and pilasters. This deformity
which is common to all the patriarchal churches
in Rome, is in a great degree owing to the ne
cessity which architects are under of providing a
gallery for the ceremony of papal benediction, and
thus of dividing the intercolumniation into arches
and apartments. What a pity that such an ex
tensive and magnificent front should be sacrificed
to such an insignificant motive ; especially as the
ceremony in question might be performed with
equal if not more effect from the grand entrance
of the church itself. It is indeed much to be
lamented that the original designs of Bramante
and Michael Angelo were not executed, and the
portico of St. Peter's built on the plan of that of
the Pantheon ; a plan that united simplicity with
grandeur and would have given to the Vatican a
beauty and a majesty unblemished and unparalleled.
But it is the fate of great architects to be counter
acted by ignorant employers, and not unfrequently
obliged to sacrifice their sublime conceptions to
the bad taste, to the prejudice or to the obstinacy
of their contemporaries. The architect of St. Paul's
shared the fate of that of St. Peter's, and had the
mortification to see his bold and masterly designs
tamed and disfigured by dulness and parsimony.

144 CLASCAL TOUR Ch. IV.
The- inscription on the frieze ought I think to be'
corrected' as below the dignity and destination of
such a temple erected by the common father of all
christians, in their- name andi at their expense;.
Thus instead' of l( Lnihonorem principis- Apostolomm»
Paulus Borghesius Romanus*," it should read,
" Deo optimo maxim® in honorem principis Apost&-
Urum. Ecclesia Catholica-^"-, an inscription more
worthy a temple which may justly-- be- considered
a*- the common property; of the' christian world.
In traversing the nave one is tempted to wish,
notwithstanding the beauty of the arcades^ that
pillars bad1 been employed in thein stead, a sup
port more graceful as well; as* more majestic!
What* a superb colonnade- would two such long
and' lofty rows of pillars ihave formed! how much
above- all. modern magnificence! and even how;
superior to the proudest monument that remains
of ancient grandeur-!
It has been justly observed ; that no statues
ought to have been admitted into St Peter's- but
such' as represent- the most distinguished' benei-
factors; of the christian church, whose services have
been generally felt; and whose names are held 'in

* Paul Borghese, a Roman, in honor of the Prince of
the Apostles.
f To the Supreme Being, the Catholic Church, in honor
of the Prince of the Apostles.

CA. IV. THROUGH ITALY. 145
universal veneration ; such as the apostles, the
principle martyrs, the doctors of the first ages,
and the most celebrated bishops. The forms of
these ancient worthies, these " our fathers and
masters in the faith" so well entitled to the most
honorable places in every christian temple, might
have occupied the niches of the nave and the
transept with much dignity, and would have been
contemplated by every spectator with interest and
reverence. But though these holy personages
are not excluded, yet many a conspicuous niche is
occupied by a saint of dubious origin or obscure
name, whose existence may be questioned by
many, and is unknown to most, and whose vir
tues at the best bad but a local and temporary,
that is a very confined and very transient, in
fluence. Thus of the four most remarkable niches
in the whole church, of those which are formed
in the piles that support the dome and which of
course face the altar, two are filled by saints
whose very names exist only in a legendary tale,
I mean St. Veronica and St. Longinus ; and a
third is appropriated to St. Helen, the mother of
Constantine the Great, who though a princess of
great virtue and eminent piety, might stand with
more propriety in the porch near the statue of her
son. As for the founders of religious orders, such as
St. Dominic, St. Francis, St. Ignatius, St. Bruno,
VOL. II. L

146 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. IV;
&c. my different readers will entertain very dif
ferent opinions, according as they may approve or
disapprove of such institutions. Some will think
them worthy of every honor even of a statue iri
the Vatican ; others will conceive that they might
be stationed without disrespect in the porch or
colonnade; arid without pretending to derogate
from the merit of these extraordinary personages
I am inclined to favor this opinion. In reality the
statues of men of tried and acknowledged virtue
and learning might guard the approaches and
grace the porticos of the august temple; but
patriarchs, prophets, apostles, and martyrs alone
should be admitted into the interior ; they should
line the sanctuary, and form an awful assembly
round the throne of the victim Lamb. Statues
so placed might edify the catholic, and could not
displease the sensible protestant.
The doves, tiaras, medallions, &c. with which
the sides of the arcades are incrusted, have been
censured by many as ornaments too insignificant
for the magnitude, and too gaudy for the solemnity
of the place. This criticism may be well founded ;
yet they give a variety and richness to the picture,
so that the eye excuses while the judgment points
out the defect.
The pictures may be objected to on the same
ground as the statues, as many of them represent
persons and events totally unconnected with the

CA. IV. THROUGH ITALY. 147
sacred records, and sometimes not to be met with
even in the annals of authentic history. The
candid and judicious Erasmus would have the
subjects of all the pictures exhibited in churches
taken exclusively from the holy scriptures, while
the histories of saints, when authentic, he thinks
might furnish decorations for porticos, halls, and
cloisters. It is a pity that this opinion, so con
formable to good taste and to sound piety, has not
been adopted and followed as a general rule in
the embellishment of churches ; as it would have
banished from the sacred place many useless,
some absurd, and a few profane representations.
I do not pretend to hint that any of the mosaics
above alluded to merit such severe epithets, but
the christian when he enters St. Peter's, the most
magnificent edifice ever devoted to the purposes of
reUgion, may justly expect to find delineated on
its walls the whole history of his faith from the
opening to the closing of the .inspired volumes ;
to see pourtrayed in succession, as he advances,
the mysterious transactions, the figures, the pre
dictions, the allusions of the Old with the corre
sponding events, the realities, the accomplishments
the coincidences of the New Testament ; to dis
cover the threats and promises, the discourses and
parables of his divine master embodied in living
colors before him, and thus as he casts his eyes

148 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. IV.
around to contemplate in this noble temple a
faithful transcript of the Holy Book, speaking to
his eyes in the most brilliant and impressive cha
racters, combining and displaying in one glorious
prospect before him the past and the future, the
dispensations and the designs of Providence ; in
short, all that is grand and terrible, and all that is
mild and engaging in his religion.
These or similar expectations will not certainly
be entirely disappointed ; as the mosaic deco
rations of the numberless cupolas and chapels are
in general selected and applied with wonderful
judgment and felicity : but I regret that such ex
cellent choice and arrangement do not prevail
throughout the whole fabric ; that an intermixture
of representations, if not fabulous at least contro
vertible, should break the succession of scripture
events ; and while they add nothing to the incom
parable beauty of the edifice, should take much
away from the purity and correctness of its deco
rations. Such are the defects, real or imaginary,
which critical observers have discovered in this
wonderful pile ; defects which confined to orna
mental or accessary parts leave the grandeur and
magnificence of the whole undiminished, and only
prove that the proudest works of man are stamped
with his characteristic imperfection.
To conclude — In magnitude, elevation, opu-

CA.IV. THROUGH ITALY. 149
lence, and beauty, the church of St. Peter has no
rival, and bears no comparison : in neatness,
cleanliness, and convenience, so necessary to the
advantageous display of magnificence, if any
where equalled, it can no where be surpassed.
It is cool in summer, and in winter dry and warm :
its portals are ever open, and every visitant
whether attracted by devotion or by curiosity may
range over it at leisure, and without being mo
lested or even noticed, either contemplate its
beauties or pour out his prayers before its altars.
Thus the Basilica Vaticana unites the perfection
of art with the beauty of holiness, and may justly
claim the affection and reverence of the traveller,
both as the temple of taste and the sanctuary of
religion.

OBSERVATIONS.
The only church which has been compared with
St. Peter's is St. Paul's in London. If the latter
be, as in many respects it is, the second church in
the world, yet it is far inferior to the former, and
cannot without absurdity be put upon a parallel
with it, as the impartial traveller who has exa
mined both will readily acknowledge. In fact, the
size, proportions, and materials of the two edifices

150 CLASSICAL TOUR CA.IV.
when put in opposition, shew at one view how ill-
founded such a comparison must be.
ST. PETER'S. ST. PAUL'S. ;
Length  700 feet  500 feet
Transept  500  250
Height  440  340
Breadth of the nave 90  60
Height of the nave 154  120
The Portland stone of which St. Paul's js built
though in itself of a very beautiful color, is yet
inferior in appearance to the Travertino of St.
Peter's : especially as the latter retains its rich
yellow glow uninjured, while the delicate white
of the former is in most parts of the cathedral
turned into a sooty black. The cold dark stone
walls, the naked vaults, the faded paintings of
the dome of St. Paul's chill the spectator, and
almost extinguish all sense of beauty and all
emotions of admiration. The marble linings, the
gilded arches, the splendid mosaics that emblazon
St. Peter's naturally dilate the mind, and awaken
sentiments of wonder and delight.
The fronts of both these churches are dis
figured by too many divisions, which by breaking
one large mass into many small parts destroy all
greatness of manner, and impair in no small de
gree the general grarideur and effect. Which of

CA. IV. THROUGH ITALY, 151
the two fronts is most deficient in this respect it is
difficult to determine ; on the defects of the Vatican
I have expatiated above; those of St. Paul's are
the double gallery, the coupled pillars, and the
composite cornice. The colonnade that surrounds
the dome of St. Paul's, though liable in its form,
proportions, capitals, &c. to much criticism, is
yet the noblest ornament of the edifice, and con
sidered by many as superior in appearance to the
coupled columns that occupy a similar situation
in St. Peter's. It happens however unfortunately,
that the decoration which contributes so much to
the majesty of the exterior should take away from
the beauty of the interior, and by masking the
windows deprive the dome of .the light requisite
to shew off its- concavity to advantage. Yet, be
the defects of St. Paul's even greater and more
numerous than I have stated, it is on the whole a
most extensive and stately edifice: it fixes the
eye of the spectator as he passes by, and challenges
his admiration: and even as next. to the Vatican,
though longa proximum intervallo*, it claims su
periority over all the transalpine churches, and
furnishes a just subject of national pride and ex
ultation. I take this opportunity of expressing
the public indignation at the manner in which

-Though the next, yet far disjoined. Dryfan.

152

CLASSICAL TOUR [CA. IV.

this cathedral is kept, the dirt collected on the
pavement and on the statues, the penurious spirit,
that while it leaves the decoration of the dome to
rot and peel off through damp and negligence,
stations guards at the doors to tax the curiosity
of strangers. The church of St. Genevieve at Paris was ex
pected to surpass St. Paul's and rival St. Peter's,
as the best French architects were employed, and
many years were consumed in forming the plan
and preparing the materials. But the expectations
of the Parisian public had been raised too high,
and were totally disappointed, when this edifice
which was to have eclipsed the most splendid
fabrics of modern times, and put French archi
tecture upon a level with that of Greece and Rome,
was cleared of the scaffolding and exhibited to
public view. Some of the defects attributed to
the two great churches above-mentioned have
been avoided, particularly in the portico which
is built upon the model of that of the Pantheon,
but very different from it in effect, as it wants
boldness, mass and elevation. The inside is in
the shape of a Greek cross • crowned with a dome
in the centre. This figure is by many deemed
the most perfect, because it expands better to the
eye, and enables the spectator to take in its dif
ferent parts at one view. However this advan
tage is wanting in St. Genevieve owing to the

CA. IV. THROUGH ITALY. 153
protrusion of the walls that support the dome,
which protrusion, by detaching the parts from
the centre, bre-aks the unity of the design, and gives
the nave, choir, and transept, the appearance of
so many great halls opening into a common area,
rather than that of the component members of
one great edifice. Besides, there are too many
subdivisions, especially over the cornice, where
apparently to support the great vault numberless
little arches arise in forms so airy and unsubstan
tial as almost to border on arabesque. To these
and other minute defects which we pass over we
must add one of a much more important de
scription, that is want of solidity; a defect so
extensively felt in the year 1802, as to excite
serious apprehensions, and suspend, at least for a
time, the works necessary for completing the
building. When the traveller peruses the inscrip
tion that still remains on the frieze, Aux grands
hommes la Patrie, reconnoissante*, and recollects
that the country here meant was the bloody faction
of the jacobins, and the Great men alluded to were
the writers who prepared, or the assassins who
accomplished the revolution, Voltaire and Rousseau,
Mirabeau and Marat, he will not regret that a
church thus profaned and turned into a Panda?-

To great men, their grateful country.

154 CLASSICAL TOUR Ch. IV.
monium should tumble to the ground, and crush
in its fall the impure carcases that are still allowed
to putrefy in its vaults.
After all, in materials, in boldness of concep
tion and in skill of execution, the cathedral of
Florence is perhaps the edifice that borders nearest
upon St. Peter's. It is also cased with marble, it
is of the same form, and covered with a lofty dome
of solid stone, and of such admirable construction,
as to have furnished, if we may believe some au
thors, the idea and model of that of the Vatican.
It was indeed finished long before the latter was
begun, and was justly considered during the
fifteenth century as the noblest edifice of the kind
in the world. But in beauty, in symmetry, and in
graceful architecture, it is far inferior not to St.
Peter's only but to numberless churches in Italy, t
and particularly in Rome, Venice and Padua.
Santa Sophia of Constantinople may be con
sidered as forming a link between ancient and
modern architecture. It is true that in pure and
correct taste, the boast of the eastern capital has
little in common with either, yet it was erected
by a Roman Emperor, and may be considered as
the last effort of the art exerted under the influ
ence of Roman greatness. Justinian, the founder
of this church is said to have been so proud of his
work, that he thanked God in the exultation of
his heart, for having enabled him to raise a temple

CA. IV. THROUGH ITALY. 155
more magnificent than that of Solomon, and far
transcending in splendor all the fanes of the
Gentile divinities *. This celebrated edifice al
though stripped of its christian ornaments and
degraded into a Turkish Mosque, still retains its
original form and essential architectural features.
The elevation of the dome is one hundred and
eighty feet, the length of the church is two hun
dred and sixty-nine, and its breadth two hundred
and forty-three. These dimensions bear no pro
portion, I will not say to the Vatican, but to se
veral other churches. The materials and orna
ments seem indeed to have been splendid, but the
want of taste in their application and arrange
ment, must have considerably diminished their
effect. Before we leave Constantinople, whither
we have been transported by our subject, we may
be allowed to express a wish and even a hope,
that the present generation may behold the cross
restored to its ancient pre-eminence, the savage
superstition of Mahomet banished from the verge
of Christendom, and Santa Sophia restored to the
pure worship of the Eternal Wisdom to whom it
was originally dedicated.
The temple of Jerusalem as rebuilt by Herod,
was without doubt one of the most noble edifices

* Gibbon xl.

156 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. IV.
which the world has ever beheld. The Romans
themselves, though accustomed to the wonders of
the imperial city, viewed it with astonishment, and
Titus resolved to exempt its statelys fabric from
the general sentence of devastation. But man
cannot save when God devotes to ruin ; and Titus
and Julian were the reluctant instruments em
ployed by Providence, in fulfilling, to the letter,
that dreadful prediction, a stone shall not be left
upon a stone.
Although the account given by Josephus * be
obscure, and evidently influenced by the national
and professional feelings of the writer, yet we may
learn from it a sufficient number of circumstances
to ascertain, not indeed the precise form but the
general grandeur of the edifice. According to this
author, the platform on which it stood was a
square of a stadium, or about six hundred, and
twenty feet in every direction ; this platform was
raised on immense substructions enclosing Mount
Moria on all sides ; the court which surrounded
the temple was adorned with a triple portico,
each portico six hundred and twenty feet long,
thirty feet wide, and fifty high, excepting the mid
dle portico, which with the same length had dou-

* Ant. Jud. lib. xv. cap. 14. — De Bello Judaico, lib. vii.
cap. 10.

CA. IV. THROUGH IT^LY. 157
ble the breadth and elevation of the other two : in
fine, the front of the temple itself resembled a mag
nificent palace. From this statement we may con
clude, that the substruction and colonnades were
the principal and most striking features of this
fabric. The former were of great elevation* as
they rose from the bottom of the valley, and of
prodigious solidity as they were formed of blocks
of stone sixty feet long, nine thick, and ten broad -f\
The latter were supported by one hundred and
sixty-two pillars, forty-five feet in height, between
four and five in diameter, fluted Corinthian, and
each of one single block of white marble. Of the
rich furniture of the temple, of its gates, some of
which were bronze and some covered with plates
of gold, and of its ornaments in general, I make
no mention as its architectural beauty and magni
tude are the only objects of my present observa
tions. Now the whole extent of the platform on
which the temple stood, with all its surrounding
porticos, is scarcely equal to the space covered by

* Four hundred and fifty feet.
f To these astonishing masses allusion seems to be made
in the two first verses of the thirteenth chapter of St. Mark.
" And as he was going out of the temple, one of his disci
ples said unto him, Master, look what stones and what build
ings ! And Jesus answering said; Beholdest thou these great
buildings ; there shall not be left stone upon stone that shall
not be destroyed.''

158 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. IV.
the church of St. Peter itself, and inferior to the
circular part alone of the portico before it, which
is seven hundred and seventy feet in its greatest,
and six hundred in its least diameter. It is sup
ported by two hundred and eighty pillars, forty-
five feet high, and with its entablature and statues
it rises to the elevation of seventy. Thus in ex
tent, height, and number of columns it surpasses
the Jewish portico, which enclosed the temple and
all its edifices. Now if we consider that this co
lonnade is a part only of the portico of St. Peter's,
and if, we add to it the galleries that connect it
with the church, and enclose a space of three hun
dred and thirty feet by three hundred and eighty,
and if to this vast field of architectural grandeur
we superadd the fountains and the pyramids, we
shall find that the appendages to the temple of
Jerusalem must yield in greatness to those of the
Roman Basilica. As to the front of the temple
itself, and its similitude to that of a palace ; in this
respect St. Peter's unfortunately resembles it too
much ; but in extent it far exceeds it, as the former
was scarcely one hundred and sixty feet in length,
while the latter is four hundred *.

* The learned reader will perceive that in the elevation
of the pillars, I have followed not perhaps the very words of
Josephus, which are evidently incorrect, but the regular pro
portion of the Corinthian order, which was a constant and
almost invariable standard, at least in the reign of Herod,
when it was the prevailing and favorite order.

CA.IV. THROUGH ITALY. 15!)
Among pagan temples not one can be put in
competition with the Vatican for grandeur and
magnitude. The two most famous were the tem
ple of Diana at Ephesus, and that of Jupiter Ca
pitolinus. Pliny the Elder has given us the dimen
sions of the former *. According to him it was
four hundred and twenty-five feet in length and
two hundred and twenty in breadth ; it was sup
ported by pne hundred and twenty-seven pillars,
sixty feet high, the elevation of the edifice to the
top of the pediment, was of course eighty feet.
The number of columns, without doubt of the
richest materials, as each was the present of a king,
and also disposed in the best order, must have pro
duced a very noble effect, but this edifice was in
all its dimensions far inferior to the Roman Ba
silica. The temple of Jupiter Capitolinus was nearly
a square of two hundred feet, with a triple row of
pillars in front, that is towards the Forum, and a
double row on the sides. Here again, notwith
standing the splendor of such an assemblage of
columns rising on such a site, the dimensions will
admit of no comparison -|-. In fact, every edifice,

* Nat. Hist. lib. xxxvi. cap. 14.
t The temple of Olympic Jupiter, at Agrigentum, the
ruins of which still remain, was certainly on a gigantic scale

160 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. IV.
whether in existence or on record, of whatsoever
denomination, falls far short, in some respect or
other, of the Basilica Vaticana, the grand temple
of the Christian church ; to render which as
worthy as possible of its high destination, human
ingenuity seems to have strained its powers, and
art to have exhausted its resources.

but inferior in dimensions to the temple of Ephesus, and con
sequently not comparable to the Vatican. (See Swinburne
on this Temple.) — I quote this traveller with pleasure, be
cause my own observations enable me to bear testimony of
his accuracy.

CA.V. THROUGH ITALY. 161

CHAP. V.

Pontifical Service — Papal Benediction— Ceremonies
in the Holy Week — Observations — Original form
of Churches.
After having thus given a general account
of St. Peter's, and endeavoured to sketch out its
extent and beauty, I may be expected to de
scribe the magnificent ceremonies of which it is
the theatre, and picture to the reader the pomp
and circumstance of public worships grand in all
cathedrals, but peculiarly majestic in this first
and noblest of christian temples. In fact, the
same unwearied attention which has regulated
the most minute details of the architecture and
decorations, extends itself to every part of divine
service, and takes in even all the minutise of
ritual observance. The ancient Romans loved
parade and public shews, and introduced pro
cessions, rich habits, and stately ceremonies into
all the branches of public administration, whether
civil, military, or religious. This taste so na
tural and so useful, because calculated, while it
feasts the eye and the imagination, to cover the
VOL. II. m

162 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. V.
nakedness and littleness of man, and to clothe
the individual with the dignity and the grandeur
of the aggregate body, was infused into Christi
anity as soon as Christianity became the religion
of the empire, and with it has been transmitted
unaltered to the moderns. When therefore a
traveller enters a Roman church he must consider
himself as transported back to ancient times, and
expect to hear the language, and see the habits,
and the stately manners of the Romans of the
four first centuries. Some may find fault with
the ceremonies, and others may feel some sur
prize at the dresses ; but not to speak of the
claim which their antiquity has to veneration,
they both possess a grace and dignity that not
unfrequently command the respect and admiration
even of the most indifferent.
The daily service of St. Peter's is performed
in a large and noble chapel, that might without
impropriety, be dignified with the appellation of
a church, by a choir consisting of an arch priest,
thirty-eight prebendaries, fifty minor canons or
chaplains, besides clerks, choristers and beadles.
The grand altar under the dome is reserved for
the use of the pontiff, who on such occasions
is always attended by the college of cardinals
with their chaplains, the prelates attached to the
court, and the papal choir or musicians, who
form what is called the pontiff's chapel, or capella

CA. V. THROUGH ITALY. 163
papale. As there is no regular chancel in St.
Peters, a temporary one is fitted up for such
occasions behind the altar, of a semicircular form
covered with purple and adorned with rich drapery.
In the middle raised on several steps stands the
pontifical chair. The seats of the cardinals and
prelates form a curve on each side.
I must here observe, that the seat of the
bishop in the ancient and patriarchal churches
at Rome is raised very little above those of the
clergy. That the bishops sometimes sat on a
more elevated chair even at a very early period
is clear from a canon of the fourth council of
Carthage*, which expressly orders that bishops
in the church and in the assemblies of the clergy
shonld enjoy that distinction ; but that it was
not a general custom is equally evident from the
practice of St. Martin, and the offence which
the introduction of it into Gaul gave to Sulpicius
Severus. " In ecclesia," says this historian
speaking of St. Martin, " nemo unquam ilium
sedere conspexit; sicut quemdam nuper (testor
Dominum) non sine meo pudore vidi, sublimi
solio quasi regio tribunali, celsa sede residen-
tem-f\" However in spite of the example of St.

* An. 390.
t De Virt. B. Martini Dial. II. — " No one ever saw him

164 CLASSICAL TOUR Ch. V.
Martin and the censure of his disciple, the episco
pal chair still continued to rise till it acquired the
name, the elevation and more than the usual splen
dor of a throne. It does not indeed seem to have
reached its full magnificence till the middle of
the last century, when it appears to have arrived
at its acme, not in Rome, as the reader may na
turally imagine, but in the cathedral of Durham,
where the lord bishop sits enthroned in far more
than papal eminence, and looks down upon the
choir, the congregation, the altar, and the pulpit.
When the pope celebrates divine service, as on
Easter Sunday, Christmas Day, Whit Sunday,
St. Peter, and St. Paul, &c. the great or middle
doors of the church are thrown open at ten, and
the procession formed of all the persons men
tioned above, preceded by a beadle carrying the
papal cross, and two others bearing lighted torches,
enters and advances slowly in two long lines be
tween two ranks of soldiers up the nave. This
majestic procession is closed by the pontiff him
self seated in a chair of state supported by twenty
valets half concealed in the drapery that falls in
loose folds frorii the throne; he is crowned with
his tiara, and bestows his benediction on the

sit in church ; as I lately (I call the Lord to witness) saw,
and was ashamed to see, a certain person sitting aloft on an
exalted throne, like the tribunal of a king."

CA. V. THROUGH ITALY. 165
crowds that kneel on all sides as he is borne along.
When arrived at the foot of the altar he descends,
resigns his tiara, kneels, and assuming the common
mitre seats himself in the episcopal chair on the
right side of the altar, and joins in the psalms
and prayers that precede the solemn service.
Towards the conclusion of these preparatory de
votions his immediate attendants form a circle
around him, clothe him in his pontifical robes,
and place the tiara on his head : after which, ac
companied by two deacons and two sub-deacons,
he advances to the foot of the altar, and bowing
reverently makes the usual confession. He then
proceeds in great pomp through the chancel and
ascends the pontifical throne, while the choir sing
the Introitus or psalm of entrance, the Kyrie
Eleison (Lord, have mercy upon us), and Gloria
in excelsis (Glory in the highest), when the pontiff
lays aside his tiara and after having saluted the
congregation in the usual form, the Lord be with
you, reads the collect in an elevated tone of voice,
with a degree of inflexion just sufficient to distin
guish it from an ordinary lecture. The epistle
is then read, first in Latin then in Greek; and
after it some select verses from the psalms, inter
mingled with Alleluias, are sung to elevate the
mind and prepare it for the gospel.
The pontiff then rises, gives his benediction to
the two deacons that kneel at his feet with the

166 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. V.
book of the gospels, and resigning his tiara,
stands while the gospel is sung in Latin and in
Greek; after which he commences the Nicene
creed which is continued in music by the choir.
When the creed and the psalm that follows it are
over, he descends from his throne, and approach
ing the altar with the same attendants and the
same pomp as in the commencement of the ser
vice, he receives and offers up the usual oblations,
fumes the altar with frankincense from a golden
censer, and then washes his hands ; a ceremony
implying purity of mind and body. He then
turns to the people, and in an bumble and affec
tionate address begs their prayers ; and shortly
after commences that sublime form of adoration
and praise called " the preface," because it is an
introduction to the most solemn part of the liturgy,
and he chaunts it in a tone supposed to be bor
rowed from the ancient tragic declamation and
very noble and impressive. The last words,
" Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of armies," &c.
are uttered in a posture of profound adoration,
and sung by the choir in notes of deep and
solemn intonation. All music then ceases, all
sounds are hushed, and an awful silence reigns
around, while in a low tone the pontiff recites
that most ancient and venerable invocation which
precedes, accompanies and follows the consecra
tion, and concludes with great propriety in the

CA. V. THROUGH ITALY. 167
Lord's prayer chaunted with a few emphatical
inflections. Shortly after the conclusion of this prayer, the
pontiff salutes the people in the ancient form,
" May the peace of the Lord be always with
you," and returns to his throne, while the choir
sing thrice the devout address to the Saviour,
taken from the gospel, " Lamb of God who
takest away the sins of the world, have mercy
upon u&." When he is seated, the two deacons
bring the holy sacrament, which he first reveres
humbly on his knees, and then receives in a sit
ting posture*: the deacons and sub-deacons then
receive the communion under both kinds, the an
them after communion is sung, a collect follows,
and the deacon dismisses the assembly.
The pope then offers up his devotions on his
knees at the foot of the altar, and borne along in
the same state as when he entered, passes down
the nave of the church, and ascends by the Scala
Regia to the grand gallery in the middle of the

* This is the only instance that exists, I believe, in the
whole catholic church of receiving the holy sacrament sit'
ting; it is a remnant of the primitive custom, but as that
custom was suppressed at a very early period, perhaps even
in the apostolic age itself, I see no reason for retaining it in
one solitary occasion. Benedict XIII. could never be pre
vailed upon to conform to it, but always remained standing
at the altar, according to the usual practice.

168 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. V.
front of St. Peter's. His immediate attendants
surround his person, the rest of the procession
draws up on each side. The immense area and
colonnade before the church are lined with troops
and crowded with thousands of spectators. All
eyes are fixed on the gallery ; the chaunt of the
choir is heard at a distance ; the blaze of num
berless torches plays round the columns ; and the
pontiff appears elevated on his chair of state under
the middle arch. Instantly the whole multitude
below fall on their knees; the cannons of St.
Angelo give a general discharge, while rising slowly
from his throne, he lifts his hands to heaven,
stretches forth his arm, and thrice gives his bene
diction to the crowd, to the city, and to all man
kind ; a solemn pause follows, another discharge
is heard, the crowd rises, and the pomp gradually
disappears. The ceremony is without doubt very grand,
and considered by most travellers as a noble and
becoming conclusion to the majestic service that
precedes it. Every thing concurs to render it in
teresting: the venerable character of the pontiff.
himself, the first bishop of the Christian church,
issuing from the sanctuary of the noblest temple
in the world bearing the holiness of the mysteries,
which he has just participated, imprinted on his
countenance, offering up his supplication in behalf
of his flock, his subjects, his brethren, his fellow

CA. V. THROUGH ITALY. 169
creatures, to the Father of all, through the Saviour
and Mediator of all. Surely such a scene is both
edifying and impressive.
The chaunt or music used by the papal choir,
and indeed in most catholic cathedrals and abbey
churches is, excepting in some instances, ancient.
Gregory the Great, though not the author of it,
collected it into a body and gave it the form in
which it now appears. The chaunt of the psalms
is simple and affecting, composed of Lydian,
Phrygian, and other Greek and Roman tunes,
without many notes, but with a sufficient inflexion
to render them soft and plaintive or bold and ani
mating. St. Augustin, who was a good judge of
music, represents himself as melted into tears by
the psalms as then sung in the church of Milan
under the direction of St. Ambrose, and seems to
apprehend that the emotions produced by such
harmonious airs might be too tender for the vi
gorous and manly 'spirit of Christian devotion*.
As the transition from song to ordinary reading
is flat and insipid, it cannot but take off much
of the effect of the lecture; and moreover, as
the common tone of voice is inadequate to the
purposes of divine service in a large church, the
ancients introduced a few modulations into the

* Confess, lib. ix. cap. 6. 7. Lib. x. cap. 33.

170 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. V.
prayers and lectures just sufficient to raise and
support the voice, to extend its reach, and to
soften its cadences. These were taken from the
different species of Roman declamations, and vary
in number and solemnity according to the nature
and the importance of the lecture. In the lessons
and epistles, the interrogations, exclamations, and
periods only are marked by a corresponding rise
or fall : the gospel has its variations more nume
rous and more dignified: the preface is rich in
full melodious and solemn swells borrowed, as
it is supposed, from the stately accents of Roman
tragedy. The psalms, or to use an expression
more appropriate, the anthems that commence
the service, precede the gospel, usher -in the offer
tory and follow the communion, together with
the Gloria in excelsis (Glory in the highest) and
creed, were set to more complicated and more
laboured notes, but yet with all due regard to
the sanctity of the place, the import of the words
and the capacity of the hearers who were accus
tomed to join the song and to accompany the
choir. This ancient music, which has long been
known by the name of the Gregorian chaunt, so
well adapted to the gravity of divine service, has
been much disfigured in process of time by the
bad taste of the middle, and the false refinements
of the latter ages. The first encumbered it with

CA. V. THROUGH ITALY. 171
an endless succession of dull unmeaning notes,
dragging their slow length along, and burthening
the ear with a dead weight of sound ; the other
infected it with the melting airs, the labored exe
cution, the effeminate graces of the orchestra, use
less, to say the least, even in the theatre, but pro
fane and almost sacrilegious in the church. Some
care seems to have been taken to avoid these
defects, in the papal choir. The general style and
spirit of the ancient and primitive music have
been retained, and some modern compositions of
known and acknowledged merit, introduced on
stated days and in certain circumstances. Of
musical instruments, the organ only is admitted
into St. Peter's, or rather into the papal chapel,
and even that not always; voices alone are em
ployed in general, and as those voices are numer
ous, perfect in their kind, and in thorough unison
with each other, and as the singers themselves are
concealed from view, the effect is enchanting, and
brings to mind The celestial voices jn full harmonic
number joined, that sometimes reached the ears
of our first parents in Paradise, and lifted their
thoughts to heaven.
Of all the Roman ceremonies the pontifical
service at St. Peter's is without doubt the most
majestic ; and if we add to it the procession on
Corpus Christi, in which the pope bears the holy
sacrament in solemn pomp along the colonnade

172 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. V,
then hung according to the ancient fashion with
tapestry and graced with garlands, we shall have
mentioned the two most splendid exhibitions per
haps to be seen in the universe. But besides
these there are others, particularly during the last
week of Lent, which cannot fail to excite attention
and interest. The procession with psalms, and
the affecting chaunt of the Passion on Sunday ;
the evening service called Tenebrtt (Darkness) in
the Sixtine Chapel on Wednesday, Thursday, and
Friday; the morning service on the two latter
days, particularly the Mandatum, so called from
the first word of the anthem sung while the pope
washes the feet of thirteen pilgrims, &c. are all
rites which it is difficult to behold without edifica
tion and perhaps emotion.
I must not pass over the well known exhibi
tion that takes place in St. Peter's on the night of
Good Friday, when the hundred lamps that burn
over the tomb of the apostle are extinguished,
and a stupendous cross of light appears suspended
from the dome, between the altar and the nave,
shedding over the whole edifice a soft lustre de
lightful to the eye and highly favorable to pic
turesque representations. This exhibition is sup
posed to have originated in the sublime imagination
of Michael Angelo, and he who beholds it will
acknowledge that it is not unworthy of the in
ventor. The magnitude of the cross hanging as

CA. V. THROUGH ITALY. 173
if self-supported, and like a meteor streaming in
the air; the blaze that it pours forth ; the mixture
of light and shade cast on the pillars, arches,
statues, and altars ; the crowd of spectators placed
in all the different attitudes of curiosity, wonder,
and devotion ; the processions with their banners
and crosses gliding successively in silence along
the nave and kneeling around the altar ; the peni
tents of all nations and dresses collected in groupes
near the confessionals of their respective lan
guages ; a cardinal occasionally advancing through
the crowd, and as he kneels humbly bending his
head to the pavement ; in fine, the pontiff himself,
without pomp or pageantry, prostrate before the
altar, offering up his adorations in silence, form a
scene singularly striking by a happy mixture of
tranquillity and animation, of darkness and light,
of simplicity and majesty.
All these ceremonies of the Roman church are
set off by every concomitant circumstance that
can contribute to their splendor or magnificence.
As indeed no people are better acquainted with
the mode of conducting and managing public ex
hibitions than the Romans, they are performed
with the utmost precision and dignity, with every
attention to the effects of perspective, and to all
the graces of drapery. Every person knows his
place and the part he has to act in the solemnity :
the dresses are adapted to the situation as well as

174 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. V.
to the rank of the wearers, who, whether they be
sitting, standing, or moving, contrive that they
should fall into easy and majestic folds. The
persons themselves are the pope, the cardinals, the
chief magistrates of the city, the principal officers
of state, and various prelates, presidents, and judges
of the principal tribunals, all men either of high
birth or great talents, and venerable for their age,
their virtues, or their dignity. The theatres more
over (if such an expression may be applied to such
an object) in which these sacred pomps are ex
hibited, are either the vast and lofty halls of the
Vatican palace adorned with all the wonders of
painting ; or else the church of St. Peter, whose
immense area, while it affords ample room for the
ceremony itself, can contain countless multitudes
without press or disorder. If therefore, as War-
burton observes, " it be difficult to attend at a
high mass performed by a good choir in any great
church without sentiments of awe, if not of devo
tion;" it is not surprising that the same sacred
service performed by such persons, with such ac
companiments, and amid such scenes of grandeur
and holiness, should impress the same sentiments
with double force and effect.
These pompous offices at the Vatican only
take place on the great festivals of Easter, Whit
suntide, and Christmas, to which we may add
St. Peter's day, and perhaps one or two more oc-

CA. V. THROUGH ITALY. 175
casional solemnities. On the other Sundays, and
during the far greater part of the year, the altar
stands a grand but neglected object, and the dome
rises in silent majesty, unaccustomed to re-echo
with the voice of exultation and with the notes of
praise. The service of the cathedral is performed
in a distant chapel, and private masses, it is true,
are said at the different altars around, but the
great body of the church seems deserted by its
ministers, and like Sion of old, to complain that
none comet h to the solemnity.
It may perhaps be a matter of just surprise to
every thinking observer, that in the three noblest
cathedrals existing, the service of the church should
be performed, not in the regular choir, but in a
side chapel, and that the pope should prefer the
secrecy of his own oratory to the grand and
majestic scenery of such noble temples. The pious
Christian, as he ranges over these glorious fabrics,
longs to see the genuine forms of the primitive
church revived, and the spacious area filled with
a crowded but orderly congregation ; the men on
the right, the women on the left, the youth drawn
up on each side of the altar ; the choir in double
rows before it, with a pulpit for the readers on
each side : behind it, the pontiff surrounded by his
clergy, performing himself every Sunday the so
lemn duties of his station, presiding in person

176 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. V.
over the assembly, instructing his flock, like the
Leos and the Gregorys of ancient times, with his
own voice, and with his own hands administering
to them the bread of life and the cup of salvation.
Such was a Christian congregation during the
early ages, and such the regularity of ancient
times. How grand would such an assembly now
be in a temple like the Vatican ! How awful and
how affecting such a spectacle ! How like an as
sembly of the blessed, and how conformable to
the sublime description of the Revelations !— r-Bar-
barism, ignorance, and indifference have long since
disturbed this admirable order, and in most places
nearly erased its recollection ; but the Roman
pontiff, and he only, possesses influence sufficient
to restore it, and to spread it over the Christian
world. If in reviving this part of primitive disci
pline, he would also exercise the power which the
council of Trent has entrusted to him, and would
admit, as I have hinted above, the laity to the cup
(so solemn and impressive a part of the sacred
rite) and if at the same time he would communi
cate to every nation the comfort of singing the
praises of God in their, own language, he would
render to the church of Christ a most important
and ever memorable service*.
* Cone. Trid. Sess. xxii.

CA. V. THROUGH ITALY. 177
I would not be understood as meaning by this
latter observation to censure the use of ancient
idioms in the liturgy, or to recommend in toto
(entirely) the introduction of modern dialects. The
two great ancient languages which contain not
only the principles and models of science and lite
rature, but what is still more valuable, the very
title-deeds and proofs of divine revelation, owe
their existence to the liturgies of the Greek and
Latin churches, and however widely diffused they
may appear to be at present, it is difficult to say
whether in the course of countless ages perhaps
still to come, they may not again be indebted to
the same means for their continuation. A deadly
blow is now actually aimed at them by the pride
or the policy of the French government ; and ex
tensive as the influence of that government is, it
may succeed in its barbaric attempt, unless coun
teracted by the still more extensive and almost
universal influence of the Catholic church. It is
not my intention to interfere with the contro
versial part of this question. " DU meliora pits*;"
but I own I should be sorry to see the divine dia
lect of Plato and of St. Paul, the full, the majestic
tones of Cicero and of St. Leo entirely banished
from the altars, and replaced by the meaner sounds

* Ye gods ! to better fate good men dispose !
Dryden.
VOL. II. N

178 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. V.
of Romaic or even by the more musical accents of
Italian*. Nothing can be more delightful to the
ear, and if I may judge from my own feelings,
more impressive, than the Latin service when
chanted in a full choir, supported, not by the organ
only, but by the united voices of a crowded con
gregation, raised from every corner and re-echoed
from every vault of an immense cathedral.
But with all the respect due to the prescriptive
pre-eminence of the two sacred dialects, hallowed
by the writings of the Apostles, Fathers, and
primitive martyrs, I may venture to recommend
the use of modern languages at certain parts of
the service, and the introduction of lectures and
hymns adapted to the particular objects of the
liturgy, when the officiating priest is occupied in
silent adoration, and the ordinary chant of the
choir is suspended. Such is the practice ail over
Catholic Germany, and throughout the vast extent
of the Austrian dominions, where if the traveller
enters into any parochial church during service,
he finds it filled with a numerous congregation
all joining in chorus with a zeal and ardor truly
edifying. I was peculiarly struck with the good
effects of this custom in the churches of Bohemia,

* If, as a well known proverb says, Spanish is fromlte
gravity well adapted to prayer, how much better is the
dignity of Xatin calculated for that solemn duty?

CA.V. THROUGH ITALY. 179
where the people are remarkable for a just and
musical ear, and sing with admirable precision;
but still more so in the cathedral of Vienna, where
the voices of some thousands chanting in full
unison the celebrated hymn, " Holy, holy, holy,"
cannot fail to elevate the mind, and inflame the
coldest heart with devotion. This practice, sanc
tioned by the authority of so considerable a
portion of the catholic church; has many good
effects, as it contributes to the comfort and edifica
tion of the people, who always delight in hymns
and spiritual songs; as it amuses the ear with
melody and attaches the hearers to the holy sen
timents and doctrines which it conveys, and as it
may thus act as a preservative from the infidelity
of the times, not only by securing the assent, but
by engaging the affections, on the side of religion.
In fine, it tends to consecrate all languages to the
praise of the Father Almighty, and to the propa
gation of the gospel of his adorable Son. " Nihil
sublimius," says Leo the Great, in an ancient pre
face for Whit-Sunday, " collatum Ecclesiae tuae
exordiis, quam ut evangelii tui praeconia linguis
omnium, credentium ora loquerentur, . . . et vocum
varietas edificationi Ecclesiastical non difficultatein
faceret, sed augeret potius unitatem *."

• Nothing is more sublime, when considered in reference
to the principles of thy Church, than that all the faithful

ISO CLASSICAL TOUR CA. V.
Before J close this chapter, I think it necessary
to make a few additional remarks for the irifor-
mation'of my readers in general, little accustomed
to the scenes described, and perhaps totally unac
quainted with many of the subjects alluded to.
To such the following particulars may not be un
acceptable. The Mass is the communion service,
or consecration and administration of the holy
sacrament. High mass is the same service, ac
companied by all the ceremonies which custom
and authority have annexed to its celebration.
These ceremonies are in general very ancient, and
may be traced as far back as the second or third
century. The language is that which prevailed
at the period of the introduction of Christianity ;
the dresses are nearly of the same era. The sur
plice, called in Latin alba, was probably borrowed
from the linen ephod worn by the Levites in their
functions under the old law. The other vestments
are Roman. The Stola, called originally Orarium
or Sudarium, was a long stripe of linen worn
round the neck by persons of distinction, and
particularly by magistrates or public speakers;
it was intended, as its primitive name imports,

should express with their tongues the promulgation of thy
Gospel, .... and the variety of voices, so far from being an
impediment to ecclesiastical edification, would rather tend
to the advancement of unity.

CA. V. THROUGH ITALY. 181
for the same purposes as a handkerchief. The
Manipulus or Mappula was a handkerchief to
replace the Stola, when the latter in process of
time had become an ornament only. The upper
vestment, called Casibulum or Planeta, was origin
ally a garment of a circular form, with an opening
in the centre for the head, so that, when put on
it hung down to the ground on all sides, and
entirely covered the body. It was raised when
the action of the arms was necessary, and some
times tied up with ribands and tassels ; it is par
ticularly appropriated to the bishop or priest who
officiates at the altar, and is used at mass only.
On other occasions, the bishop or priest who pre
sides wears, the Cope, the ancient Toga, bordered
on each side by the Lat us Clavus. This robe is
the ordinary dress of the Pope in church, and on
occasions of ceremony. The Dalmatica and Tunica
are the distinctive dresses of the deacon and sub-
deacon. These garments, which naturally derive
grace and beauty from their form and drapery, are
ennobled by their antiquity, and sanctified by their
appropriation to the altar. They combine decency
and majesty ; they distinguish the public man
from the individual : and like the robes of kings
and of magistrates they garnish the exercise of
office, and teach the minister to respect himself,
and both the minister and the people to reverence
the sacred charge of public function,

182 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. V.
The use of torches and of incense is supposed
to have been introduced into the church in the
third century ; it originated in the east, but soon
became general : it was founded on figurative
reasons. The former were borne before the
Book of the Gospels, and reminded the faithful
of the light diffused over the universe by the
promulgation of the sacred volume, and qf that
true light that enlighteneth every man that cometh
into this world*. The latter had been expressly
commanded in the Old Law, and was considered
in the New as a fit accompaniment to be offered
with the prayers of the saints upon the golden altar
before the throne-\-.
The most solemn part of the service is recited
in a low tone, audible only to those who surround
the altar: a circumstance which surprises pro-
testants, and has frequently been censured with
severity. However, this custom is almost coeval
with the liturgy itself, and seems to have com
menced almost immediately after the apostolic
age. It was in all probability a measure of pre
caution. One of the most sacred rites of Chris
tianity, that of Baptism, had been exposed to
public ridicule on the stage, and to prevent the
recurrence of a similar profanation, in a more

* St. John, i. f Rev. viii.

CA. V. THROUGH ITALY. 183
awful institution, it was thought prudent to confine
the knowledge of the Eucharistic prayer to the
clerical order. When a custom is once established
reasons are never wanting to justify its continu
ance ; and the secrecy which the fear of profana
tion rendered necessary in times of persecution
was continued from motives of respect in the
days of Christian prosperity. Every person ac
quainted with ecclesiastical antiquity knows with
what extreme delicacy the Fathers of the fourth
century speak of the mysteries, and of course will
not wonder that the Roman church, which glories
in its adherence to antiquity, should continue the
same practice. Besides, it is considered as more
conformable to the nature of the mysterious in
stitution, and more favorable to the indulgence of
devotion, both in the priest and in the congrega
tion, than the most emphatic and solemn recitation.
Impressed with this idea, the Greeks have from
time immemorial drawn curtains," and in later
ages raised a screen before the altar, that conceals
the priest from public view, and environs him as
the High Priest of old when he "entered the
Holy of Holies, with the awful solitude of the
sanctuary *.

* The laity at present lose nothing by this silence, as
they have the form of consecration, and indeed the whole
service translated in their prayer-books.

184 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. V.
The rites which I have described are pure and
holy ; they inspire sentiments of order and decency ;
they detach the mind from the ordinary pursuits of
life, and by raising it above its ordinary level,
they qualify it to appear with due humility and
recollection before the Throne of the Lamb, — the
Mercy Seat of Jehovah !
The Roman Basilica excepting St. Peter's, are
the most ancient now existing, and erected as they
were in the earliest ages of Christianity, give us a
clear and precise idea of the notions of the Chris
tians of that period with regard to the forni and
the arrangement of churches. In the first place,
as not one of these churches bears any resem
blance to a cross, we may conclude that Mr. Gib
bon was mistaken, when he attributed to the first
christians a partiality to that figure in the con
struction of their oratories, and an unwillingness
to convert pagan temples into churches, because
not erected in that form. Many temples from
their narrow limits were, as I have already re
marked, totally incapable of holding a christian
congregation. Several of greater magnitude were
actually converted into churches, and are to this
day used as such ; and if Constantine could in pru
dence, at a time when the Roman senate was still
pagan, have offered the splendid seat of pagan wor
ship to the bishop of Rome, the offer would have
been readily accepted, and the temple of Jupiter

CA. V. THROUGH ITALY. 185
Capitolinus, though not in the form of a cross,
would like the Pantheon have been sanctified by
Christian rites, and might probably still have re
mained a noble monument of ancient magnificence.
It is difficult to determine at what precise period
the figure of the cross was introduced, but it
seems to have been about the end of the fifth
century, as the church of St. Sophia, erected in the
sixth, is in that form ; but, whenever introduced,
its adoption need not be regretted, as it very hap
pily combines variety with unity, and beauty with
convenience. We cannot pass the same encomium upon
those partitions, called screens, which divide the
chancel from the nave, and by concealing the
most ornamented part of the church from the
view, and veiling the principal object, the altar,
break the perspective, deprive the edifice of a pro
per termination, and apparently reduce its dimen
sions to half its real magnitude. When and why
these screens were introduced it may be difficult to
determine, but as they are only found in Saxon
and Gothic churches we may suppose that they
are coeval with those buildings, and were from the
beginning considered as constituent parts of them.
Their utility is not very perceptible. Some sup
pose them necessary in northern climates, in order
to shelter the congregation from the cold winds
that penetrate and chill the open parts of such vast

186 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. V.
edifices as cathedrals ; but this reason, which may
appear satisfactory when confined to countries in
which the congregation is seldom so numerous as
to fill the choir of a cathedral, is totally inapplica
ble to places where service is attended by the
populace, and where the congregations are regu
larly sufficient to crowd every part of the church,
not excepting even the aisles and transepts. I am
therefore inclined to suspect, that the propensity
of the northern nations to mystic allusions, and
perhaps a wish to increase the reverence due to the
altar, by removing it to a greater distance from
the laity, might have suggested the idea of a
screen to the architects of the middle ages.
There is, it must be admitted, something very
impressive in the distant view of a Gothic altar,
seen from the arched entrance of the choir, through
a long and double Hne of clergy in surplice, faintly
lighted by the beams that drop from the painted
windows above, or by the lamps and tapers that
gleam around, encircled by ministering priests, and
half lost in clouds of incense ; there is, I say, some
thing in such solemn scenery that seizes the ima
gination, and excites emotions of aWe and reli
gious melancholy *. But although these disposi-

* How far the altar ought to be ornamented is a question
which has been debated with much warmth since the refor
mation. The Latins, Greeks, and even the Lutherans are

CA.V. THROUGH ITALY. 187
tions are good and suitable to the place and occa
sion, yet the means employed tri produce them,
the dim perspective, and the artificial gloom bor
der upon theatrical illusion, and seem better
adapted to the sullen superstition of the Druids
than to the plain and majestic forms of Christian
worship. How different the effects of arrange
ment in a Roman Basilica, where, in a semicircle
behind the altar, the bishop and his clergy form a
venerable tribunal ; where the people before,

accustomed to adorn it with more or less splendor or gaudi-
ness, according to their taste and opulence. The church of
England, when not overawed by the clamors of the sectaries
that assail her on all sides, is inclined to favor this practice ;
while the Calvinistic school of Geneva, hostile to every thing
that delights the eye or flatters the feelings of a polished
mind, have either cast the table of the Lord out of the church,
or stripped it of all its decent accompaniments, and aban
doned it in a corner to dust and cobwebs. But whatever a
man's opinion may be upon this subject, he must be very
morose indeed if he find much to blame in the Roman altars ;
I mean those of the Basilica ; which unencumbered with ta
bernacles, reliquaries, statues or flower-pots, support a cross
and six candlesticks ; furniture, which is sufficient without
doubt for all the purposes of solemnity, and yet may be en
dured even by a puritan. The other ornaments, or rather
superfluities which are too often observed to load the altars
of catholic churches, owe their introduction to the fond de
votion of nuns or nun-like friars, and may be tolerated in
their conventual oratories, as the toys and playthings of that
harmless race, but ought never to be allowed to disfigure
the simplicity of parochial churches and cathedrals.

188 CLASSICAL TOUR Ch. V.
ranged according to sex and age, exhibit an or
derly multitude ; and the altar itself in the middle
displays in full light the sacred volume and the
emblems of redemption ? An assembly thus com
bining simplicity, order and dignity, naturally ele
vates the soul, and inspires sentiments pot of ter
ror but of admiration, not of fictitiousness but of
real solid devotion. It recalls to mind the glo
rious vision of the Revelations *, and almost brings
before our eyes the elders sitting clothed in white,
the lamps burning before the throne, the lamb stand
ing as if slain, and the multitudes which no man
could number, of all nations and kindreds, and people
and tongues.

' Chap. iv. v. vii.

Ch. VI. THROUGH ITALY. 189

CHAP. VI.

Villas — the Tiber — the Mausoleum of Cecilia Me-
tella — Egerian Grotto and Fountain — Church
of St. Constantia — Mons Sacer.
The various villas that encircle Modern Rome
form one of its characteristic beauties, as well as
one of the principal features of its resemblance to
the ancient city, which seems to have been envi
roned with gardens, and almost studded with
groves and shady retirements. Thus Julius Cae
sar had a spacious garden on the banks of the
Tiber, at the foot of the Janiculum, which he be
queathed to the Roman people: Maecenas en
closed and converted into a pleasure ground, a
considerable part of the Esquiline Hill, which
before had been the common burial place of the
lower classes, and the resort of thieves and vaga
bonds ; an alteration which Horace mentions with
complacency in his eighth satire. To these we
may add the Horti Lucullani and Serviliani *, inci-

' The gardens of Lucullus and those of Servilius.

190 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. VI.
dently mentioned by Tacitus, and particularly the
celebrated retreat of the historian Sallust, adorned
with so much magnificence and luxury that it
became the favorite resort of successive Emperors.
This garden occupied the extremities of the Vi
minal and Pincian Hill, and enclosed 'n its pre
cincts, a palace, a temple and a circus. The palace
was consumed by fire on the fatal night when
Alaric entered the city : the temple of singular
beauty, sacred to Venus (Veneri Felici Sacrum)
was discovered about the middle of the sixteenth
century, and destroyed for the sale of the mate
rials: of the circus little remains but masses of
walls that merely indicate its site, while statues
and marbles found occasionally continue to furnish
proofs of its magnificence.
The gardens of Lucullus are supposed to have
bordered on those of Sallust, and with several
other delicious retreats, which covered the summit
and brow of the Pincian Mount, gave it its an
cient appellation of Collis Hortulorum (the hill
of gardens). To the intermingled graces of town
and country that adorned these fashionable man
sions of the rich and luxurious Romans, Horace
alludes when addressing Fuscus Aristius, he says
Nempe inter varias nutritur sylva columnas * —
* Among your columns, rich with various dyes,
Unnat'ral woods with awkward art arise. Francis.

CA. VI. THROUGH ITALY. 191
as in the verse immediately following
Laudaturque domus longos quae prospicit agros*.
Hor. Ep. i. 10.
he evidently hints at the extensive views which
might be enjoyed from the lofty apartments,
erected expressly for the purpose of commanding
a wide range of country.
The villas of Modern Rome often occupy the
same ground, share some portion of the splendor,
and enjoy all the picturesque advantages of the
gardens of the ancient city. In point of per
spective beauty, Rome has, indeed, at all times
possessed peculiar felicities. It covers a consi
derable extent of country, encloses several hills
within its ramparts, and affords a great variety
of views, sometimes confined to its interior, and
sometimes extending to the surrounding country
and the distant mountains. It is true that the
ancient Roman might contemplate from his
garden, towering in near or distant perspective,
one or more of those stupendous edifices which
then adorned the city, and were deservedly ranked
among the wonders of the world ; but I know
not whether, in the melancholy spectacle of the

' You praise the house, whose situation yields
An open prospect to the distant fields. Francis.

192 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. VI.
same majestic edifices now scattered on the ground
and overgrown with cypresses, the modern villa
does not exhibit a sight more awful and more
affecting. If the traveller wishes to be convinced
of the truth of this remark, let him from the
terrace of the Villa Borghese, fix his eyes on the
dome of St. Peter's, expanded in all its splendor
and all its perfection before him ; and then let
him ascend the Palatine Mount, and from the
cypress groves of the Villa Farnesiana look down
upon the shattered mass of the Coliseum spread
beneath him in broken pomp, half covered with
weeds and brambles.
O champs de l'ltalie, O campagnes de Home,
Ou dans tout son orgueil git le neant de l'homme !
C'est la que des aspects fameux par de grands noms,
Pleins de grands souvenirs, et de hautes lecons,
Vous offrent ces objets, tresors des paysages.
Voyez de toutes parts comment le cours des ages
Dispersant, dechirant de. precieux lambeaux,
Jetant temple sur temple, et tombeaux sur tombeaux
'De Rome etale au loin la ruine immortelle; —
Ces portiques, ces arcs, ou la pierre fidele
Garde du peuple roi les exploits eclatants :
Leur masse indestructible a fatigue le temps.
Des fleuves suspendus ici mugissoit 1' onde ;
Sous ces portes passoient les depouilles du monde ;
Par tout confusement dans la poussiere epars,
Les thermes, les palais, les tombeaux des Caesars *!
Abbe" de Lille, Jardins. Chant, iv.

* O fields of Italy ! O Roman plains !
Where lies man's nothingness in all its pride ! There

CA. VI. THROUGH ITALY. 193
No villa presents a greater number of the
local felicities, immortal ruins, divine remains, big
with grand recollections and awful instruction, so
well described in these verses as the Orti Farnesi.
The gardens cover the greater part of the Pala
tine Mount, and spread over the vast substruc
tions and scattered vestiges of the imperial palace.
They front the Capitol, command the Forum, and
look down upon the neighboring Coliseum ; thus
exhibiting in different points of view, and succes
sively, the noblest remains of Roman magnificence
now existing. They were formerly cultivated with
care, and adorned with a great variety of antique
vases, busts, and statues ; but having unfortunately
fallen by inheritance to the royal family of Naples,

There the rich landscape offers to the view
Scenes made illustrious by great names of old
Big with great recollections, lessons deep.
See how on ev'ry side the lapse of time,
Scattering the rended fragments, glorious still,
Temple on temple hurling, tomb on tomb,
Makes great display of Rome's immortal ruins ; —
These pompous porticos, these arches tale,
Where still the marble, failhful to its trust,
Preserves the sov'reign people's great exploits —
Their mass, that bids defiance to destruction,
Has wearied Time, and mock'd his blunted scythe.
Here roar*d the waters of the pendent flood ;
Beneath these gates the world's rich plunder pass'd ;
Scatter'd confus'dly in the dust around,
Baths, princely domes, and tombs of Emp'rors lie.
VOL. II. O

194 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. VI.
the ancient ornaments have been transported to that
capital, and the place, notwithstanding its exquisite
beauties, has been almost entirely neglected.
The Villa Spada, or Brunati (for these villas
change their names with their proprietors) occu
pies, on a much smaller scale, a part of the Palatine
Hill and of the imperial palace, and enjoys some
of the advantages of the Orti Farnesiani. The
ruins of the palace cover the greater part of it,
and on one side look down on the valley that
separates the Palatine from the Aventine Mount ;
from a gallery in a recess still remaining, the
emperor might behold the games of the Circus
Maximus, which occupied the greater part of that
valley. On the summit of Mount Celius stands the
Villa Matthei, once famous for the beauty and
number of its antiques, and though now like the
Orti Farnesi, forsaken and neglected, it is still in
teresting for its groves, its verdure, its prospects,
and its solitudes.
Villa Negroni, once the favorite retreat of
Sixtus Quintus, encloses an immense space of
ground on the Esquiline and Viminal Hills, co
vered with groves, and opening upon various
beautiful prospects. It contains two handsome
and spacious buildings. Its numerous antiquities
have been removed. The celebrated Agger Tar
quinii, i or rampart, raised by Tarquinius Priscus,

CA. VI. THROUGH ITALY. 196
intersects this garden, and claims the attention
due to its age and origin.
The Villa Aldobrandini is small and ill fur
nished, but celebrated for one remarkable object,
the Nozze Aldobrandine, an ancient painting, which
represents, as every reader knows, the nuptial
ceremony in graceful figures, easy drapery, and
charming groupes.
The Villa Ludovisi is a part only of the gardens
of Sallust, and as it stands on the summit of the
Pincian Hill, it necessarily commands some very
beautiful prospects. Its delicious walks are shaded
with ilex, cypress, and bay, of the noblest growth,
and of the most luxuriant foliage ; and it has the
singular advantage of being enclosed in a great
degree by the venerable walls of the city. The
elevated Casino, or summer-house in the centre,
affords from its battlements an extensive view of
the Campagna, and the mountains that form its
boundaries, particularly of those of Albano and
Sabina. On a ceiling, in this Casino is the Aurora
of Guercino, much admired by all cnonoisseurs,
and by those of the French school preferred to
that of Guido. It certainly has more contrast,
and more bustle; but what can equal the grace,
the freshness, the celestial glory of that matchless
performance, which combines in one splendid
vision all the beautiful features and accompani
ments ascribed to the morning by the poets;

196 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. VI.
Homer and Virgil seem to have presided over the
work, and Ovid and Tasso given the picture its
finishing touches.
The Strada Pinciana separates this villa from
the gardens of the Villa Medici, once the residence
of the cardinal of that family, and from its lofty
situation, superb collection of statues, pillars, and
marbles, as well as from the beauty of its gardens,
well entitled to the attention and favor of those
patrons of the arts. But it has the misfortune to
belong now to a sovereign ; its antiquities have
therefore been transported to his capital, Florence ;
its noblest apartments are neglected, aud its gar
dens alone remain the resort and the delight of
every serious traveller.
The Orti Barberini rises to the south of the
court of St. Peter's, and while it commands from
its terrace a full view of one side of the colonnade,
it presents to the eye of those who are coming
towards the Vatican a beautiful back ground for
the other side, and spreads its pines and cypresses
in such a manner as to form in appearance an
aerial garden suspended over the pillars, and
shading the statues. '
The gardens belonging to the Corsini palace
have acquired some celebrity from the meetings of
the Academy of the Quirini. A similar circum
stance throws a still greater lustre over the Bosco
Parrhasio, a rural theatre where the Arcadians

CA.VI. THROUGH ITALY. 197
meet to hear aud examine the poetical effusions of
their associates. The Arcadian Academy is known
to be one of the principal literary societies in Rome,
instituted towards the end of the seventeenth cen
tury, for the promotion of classical knowledge,
and composed of some of the first scholars in that
capital, and indeed in all Europe *. One of its
principal objects was to correct the bad taste then
prevalent, and to turn the attention of youth from
the glare, conceit, and over refinements of false,
to the ease, and unaffected graces of true wit.
They took their name from a people celebrated
for the simplicity of their manners; and as the
love of rural scenery is inseparable from true
taste, they chose a grove for the place of their
assembly, and gave it the name of Parrhasian.
The Bosco Parrhasio is situated on the side of the
Janiculum. All the gardens and villas hitherto mentioned,
are within the ancient walls of the city, and may
be considered as constituent parts of it, contri
buting much to its beauty, its coolness, and its
magnificence: but besides these, many others lie
in the suburbs and neighborhood, and give the

* The French having degraded this academy by the ab
surd appellation of the arcades, which some English trans
lators have wisely converted into arches.

198 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. VI.
immediate environs of Rome an uncommon share
of amenity and interest.
To begin by the Porta S.Pancrasio, that nearest
the Janiculum, anciently the Porta Aurelia ; pro
ceeding along the Via Aurelia about a mile from
the gate, we arrive at the Villa Pamfili or Belrespiro.
This country seat, which now belongs to the Prince
Doria, is supposed to occupy the same ground as
the gardens of the Emperor Galba, and is remark
able for its edifices, its waters, its woods, its anti
quities of every description, its great extent, and
its general magnificence. It is moreover well sup
ported both with regard to the house, the orna
mental buildings, and the gardens. The disposi
tion and arrangement of the plantations, as well
as the form and destination of the water, are stiff
and formal, according to the obsolete mode of
French gardening*; yet the growth and luxuriancy
of the one, and the extent and profusion of the
other, almost hide the defect and catch and delight
the eye, in spite of unnatural art and misplaced
symmetry. One of the most conspicuous objects in the

* I might with greater propriety 'have said Italian garden
ing, as the French, in this respect as in most others, only
copied the Italians. The latter again imitated their ances
tors.' — See Pliny's well- known Description of his Laurentin and
Tuscan villas. Lib. 1 1. Ep. 17. v. Ep, 6, '

CA. VI. THROUGH ITALY. 199
immediate neighborhood of Rome is the Monte
Mario, anciently Clivus Cinnae, a bold eminence
lying about a mile north-west from the Porta
Angelica, clothed with vineyards and crowned with
groves of cypress and poplar. On its summit
rises the Villa Mellini, remarkable for the noble
view that lies expanded under its terrace. The
Tiber intersecting the city and winding through
rich meadows ; the Praia Quintia and Prata
Mutia, fields still bearing in their names the tro
phies of Roman virtue and Roman heroism : the
PonsMihius with its tower, and the plains conse
crated by the victory of Constantine ; the Vatican
palace with its courts and gardens ; the Basilica
of St. Peter with its portico, its obelisk, and its
fountains ; the Campus Martius covered with the
churches, squares, and palaces of the modern city;
the seven hills strewed with the ruins of the an
cient ; the walls with their towers and galleries ;
the desert Campagna, with Mount Soracte rising
apparently in the centre; and the semi-circular
sweep of mountains tinged with blue or purple,
now bright with the sun, now dark in the shade,
and generally gleaming with snow — such is the
varied and magnificent scene spread before the
traveller, while reposing on the shaded terrace of
the Villa Mellini.
The same prospect may be enjoyed, but with
less advantage, from the Villa Madama, which lies

300 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. VI.
further on the side of the hill towards Ponte Milvio.
In the gardens of this villa is a rural theatre formed
by the natural winding of a little dell, and shaded
by a whole forest of beautiful evergreens. In the
golden days of the Medici (for this villa was
erected and its gardens were laid out by a cardinal
of that family) this sylvan scene was crowded by
the polished Romans of the times, assembled to
listen to the compositions of rival poets, and to
decide the priority of contesting orators. After
this literary exhibition the spectators were regaled
in lofty balls planned by Raffaello and painted by
Giulio Romano, with all the delicacies of the
orchard, and with all the charms of music and
conversation. But these days are now no more ;
the Medicean line is extinct ; and ancient fame and
surviving beauty, and the architecture of Raffaello
and the pencil of Giulio plead in vain in behalf of
this superb villa. It belongs to the king of Naples
and is, as it has long been, entirely neglected.
On the opposite side of the city, a little way
from the Porta Salara stands the Villa Albani, till
lately one of the best supported and best furnished
seats in the neighborhood of Rome, or indeed
in Europe. The palace is magnificent, and was
adorned, as were the gardens, with a considerable
and chosen collection of antiquities, to the number
nearly it is said of eight hundred. To these
may be added two hundred and sixty pillars of

CA.VI. THROUGH ITALY. 801
granite, porphyry, and marble, which supported
and adorned the villa and the galleries ; a species of
grandeur that exists only in Rome and its vicinity.
But the Alban villa has been stript of all its orna
ments. The cardinal Albani, its proprietor, had
the misfortune to incur the displeasure of the
French, by the zeal and activity with which he
opposed the intrigues of their agents previous to
the invasion of the ecclesiastical state, and was
punished on their entrance into the city by the
pillage and devastation of his palaces and gardens.
We shall now proceed to the Villa Borghese,
or Villa Pinciana (so called from the proximity of
the Porta Pinciana* now shut up) which, from
the space it occupies (supposed to be about four
miles in circumference) its noble vistas, frequent
fountains, ornamental buildings, superb palace, and
almost innumerable antiquities, is justly considered
as the first of the Roman villas, and worthy of
being put into competition with the splendid re
treats of Sallust or Lucullus. It stands upon a
continuation of the Pincian Hill, at a little distance
from the walls of the city, about half a mile from
the Porta Flaminia or del Popoh\. It covers the
brow of the hill, and from the terrace has a noble
view of the city, and of the Vatican. The gardens
* The Pincian Gate.
t The Flaminian Gate, or the Gate of the People.

S02 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. VI.
are laid out with some regard both for the new
and for the old system; for though symmetry
prevails in general, and long alleys appear inter
secting each other, lined with statues and refreshed
by cascades, yet here and there a winding path
allures you into a wilderness formed of plants
abandoned to their native luxuriancy, and watered
by streamlets murmuring through their own art
less channels. The ornamental buildings are, as
usually happens to such edifices, deficient in cor
rectness and purity of architecture. The temple
of Diana is encumbered with too many ornaments.
The Ionic temple in the little island is indeed
graceful, but rather too narrow for its elevation, a
defect increased by the statues placed upon the
pediment. One of these ornamental buildings
contains a considerable collection of statues, &c.
found on the site of Gabii (for ruins there are
none) the territory of which now belongs to this
family. The Casino or palace itself is of great extent,
but though erected on the plans and under the
inspection of the principal architects of the age,
and though built of the finest stone, yet it neither
astonishes nor pleases. The reason of this failure
of effect is evident ; the ornaments are so numer
ous and the parts so subdivided as to distract the
eye, and to leave no room for any one predominant
impression. The basso relievos, and statues scat-

CA. VI. THROUGH ITALY. 80S
tered with such prodigality over the exterior of
this Cosmo are sufficient, if disposed with judgment
and effect, to adorn the three largest palaces in
Europe. The interior consists of several large
saloons and apartments, and a gallery; all of which,
particularly the latter, are lined and inlaid with
the richest marbles, and supported by the noblest
pillars, intermingled with bronze and gilding, and
adorned with the best specimens of ancient art in
sculpture and in painting. Such indeed is the
value of this collection, and such the splendor of
the apartments in which it is displayed, that no
sovereign in Europe can boast of so rich a gallery
or of a residence so truly imperial. This villa
with its valuable collection and furniture escaped
undamaged during the French invasion,, owing to
the apparent partiality which one of the princes
of the family is supposed to have manifested to
wards the republican system*.
Its gardens are always open to the public, who,
in a Latin inscription by no means inelegant, are
welcomed or rather invited to the free enjoyment
of all the beauties of the place, and at the same
time intreated to spare the shrubs and flowers, and
to respect the more valuable ornaments, the urns,

* This prince has since married a sister of Bonaparte, and
made over to him his unparalleled collection ; he has in re
turn, obtained his contempt.

204 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. VI.
statues, and marbles. The Romans accordingly
profit by the invitation, and resort in crowds to
the Villa Borghese, particularly on Sundays ; when
the walks present a very lively and varied scene,
composed of persons of all descriptions and ranks,
moving in all directions through the groves and
alleys, or reposing in groupes in the temples or
near the fountains. This liberal mode of indulging
the public in free access to palaces and gardens,
and thus sharing with them, in some degree, the
advantages and pleasures of luxury, a mode so
common in Italy, merits much praise, and may be
recommended as an example that deserves to be
imitated by the proprietors of parks and pleasure
grounds, particularly in the neighborhood of great
towns and cities.
The reader will perceive that, out of the many
villas that adorn Rome and its vicinity, I have
selected a few only, as fully sufficient to give him
a satisfactory idea of the nature and the decorations
of these celebrated suburban retirements. How
soever indeed they may differ in extent and mag
nificence, their principal features are nearly the
same; the same with regard to artificial ornaments
as well as natural graces. Some ancient remains
are to be found in all, and several in most, and
they are all adorned with the same evergreens,
and present upon a greater or less scale the same
Italian and ancient scenery. They are in general,

CA. VI. THROUGH ITALY. 205
it is true, much neglected, but for that reason the
more rural. The plants now abandoned to their
native forms cover the walks with a luxuriant
shade, break the long straight vistas by their fan
tastic branches, and turn the alleys and quincunxes
into devious paths and tangled thickets. They fur
nish a delightful variety of rides and walks ; and
as they are interspersed throughout the ancient
city and round its suburbs, they give the traveller
fatigued with his researches, or oppressed with
the summer heats, a frequent opportunity of re
posing himself on the margin of a fountain under
the classical shade of the ilex, the pine, and the
poplar. Qua pinus ingens, albaque populus
TJmbram hospitalem consociare amant
Ramis, et obliquo laborat
Lympha fugax trepidare rivo*.
Hor. Carm. lib. ii. Od. 3.
From the villas we pass by a very natural tran
sition to the grand or beautiful objects that lie in
the neighborhood of the city, and within the com
pass of a walk from its gates. To specify all these

* Where the pale poplar and the pine
Expel the sun's intemp'rate beam ;
In hospitable shades their branches twine,
And winds with toil, though swift, the trem'lous stream.
Francis.

206 CLASSICAL TOUR Ch. VI.
objects would be an undertaking too extensive
for the bounds of the present work ; I shall there
fore confine myself to a few only, and point out
to the reader such excursions as appear most in
teresting. The banks of the Tiber cannot fail to attract
the frequent steps of the classic traveller; the
Tiber, Deo gratissimus amnis*, a river more distin
guished in the history of mankind than the Nile
or the Thames, the Rhine or the Danube. Hence
some travellers measuring its mass of waters by
its bulk of fame, and finding its appearance in
ferior to their preconceptions, have represented it
as a mere rill, a petty and insignificant streamlet.
However, though far inferior in breadth to all the
great rivers, yet, as it is generally from a few miles
above Rome to the sea about three hundred feet
wide upon an average, it cannot with justice be
considered as a contemptible rill. Above and a
little below the city it runs through groves and
gardens, and waters the villas and retreats of the
richer Romans ; but beyond Ponte Molle it rolls
through a long tract of plains and hills, fertile and
green, but uncultivated and deserted. Yet these
very banks, now all silence and solitude, were
' among the rolling floods

Renown'd on earth, esteem'd among the gods. Dryden.

CA.VI. THROUGH ITALY. 207
once, like those of the Thames, covered with life,
activity and rural beauty, lined with villages, and
not unfrequently decorated with palaces. " Plu
ribus prope solus" says Pliny, " quam ceteri in omni
bus terris amnes, accolitur, aspiciturque villis*." Such
was the glory of the Tiber, not only in the golden
days of Augustus and Trajan, but even in the iron
age of Valentinian and Honorius, after Italy had
long been the seat of civil war, and more than
once the theatre of barbarian fury, and of Gothic
devastation •[•. Below the city, when it has passed
the Villa MaUiana, once the seat of Leo and of
the Latin muses %, it falls again into a wilderness,
and

, through the desert plain

Winds its waste stores, and sullen sweeps along.
Thompson's Liberty. P. 1.

* It is alone adorned by, and serves as a prospect to,
more villas, than almost all the other rivers in the world.
Lib. iii. 5.
f " The Gaul," says Claudian, " may erect new man
sions on the banks of the Rhine."

 et saevum gentibus amnem
Tibr'ulis in morem domibus praevallet amoenis.
De Cons. Stilich. lib. ii. 189.
And savage Rhine, with villas fair adom'd,
Be taught to rival Tiber's classic stream.
J Strada lays at this villa the scene of the beautiful alle
gory in which he designates the character of the different

20S CLASSICAL TOUR CA. VI*
The traveller may commence his next excursion
from the Capitol, arid crossing part of the Forum,
turn towards the Palatine Mount. On his left he
will notice the solid wall of the Rostra ; the tem
ple of Romulus raised on the spot where the twin
brothers were exposed; aud a spring, called by
some antiquaries the fountain of Juturna, bursting
from a deep cleft in the rock. On his right he
will observe the Cloaca Maxima with its solid
arches, a stupendous work of Tarquinius Priscus.
He will next pass under the arch of Janus, cross
a corner of the Forum Boarium, and turning to
the left advance along the Palatine on one side,
and the Circus Maximus on the other. He then
enters the street that leads with a gentle sweep
between the Clivus Scauri and Mount Celius on
the left, and on the right the Thermae Antoni-ii
and Mount Aventine, to the Porta Capena. As
he proceeds on the Via Appia he will pass the
ancient Basilica of St. Sebastian, and shortly after
come to the Circus of'Caracalla.
This circus, about two miles from the gates of
Rome, presents such remnants of its ancient walls
as enable us to form a clear notion of the different
parts and arrangements of a circus. A consider-

Latin poets by their occupation in the -machinery of an ar
tificial mountain. An allegory introduced by Addison into
the Guardian.

CA.VI. THROUGH ITALY. 209
able portion of the exterior, and in many places
the vault that supported the seats, remain. The
foundation of the two obelisks that terminated the
spina (a sort of separation that ran lengthways
through the circus) and formed the goals, still
exists. Near the principal goal on one side,
behind the benches, stands a sort of tower where
the judges sat. One of the extremities supported
a gallery which contained a band of musicians,
and is flanked by two towers, whence the signal
for starting was given. Its length is one thousand
six hundred and two feet, its breadth two hundred
and sixty : the length of the spina is nine hundred
and twenty-two. The distance from the career
or end whence they started to the first meta or
goal was five hundred and fifty feet. There were
seven ranges of seats, which contained about
twenty-seven thousand spectators. As jostling
and every exertion of skill, strength or cunning
were allowed, the chariots were occasionally over
turned, and as the drivers bad the reins tied round
their bodies, several melancholy accidents took
place. To remove the bodies of charioteers bruised
or killed in such exertions, a large gate was open
in the side of the circus near the first meta, where
such accidents were likeliest 'to take place on
account of the narrowness of the space ; and this
precaution was necessary, as the ancients deemed
it a most portentous omen to go through a gate
VOL. II. p

210 CLASSICAL TOUR CA..VL
defiled by the passage of a dead body, On the
end opposite the career was a triumphal arch, or
grand gate, through which the victorious charioteer
drove amidst the shouts and acclamations of the
spectators. There were originally four sets of
drivers, named from the colors which they wore,
Albati (White), Russati (Red), Prasini (Green),
and Veneti (Blue). To these four Domitian
added two more, Aurei (Yellow), and Purpurei
(Purple)*. Each color drove five rounds with
fresh horses. There are stables, therefore, close
to the circus ; and in the centre of these stables a
circular fabric of at least seventy-two feet diameter,
with an open space around enclosed hy a high
wall. This building was probably a riding school,
and is: supposed to have been crowned with a
temple. Indeed^ such is the solidity of the walk
and vanlt that they seem calculated to support a
higher edifice than the mere roof; and such, at
the same time, was the magnificence of the Ro
mans, that they, seldom left a public edifice without
a becoming termination : besides, some very beau
tiful blocks of marble, forming part of a Corin
thian cornice with other fragments found on the
spot, authorize this conjecture, and give it a great
degree of probability.

* Suet. Domit. 7.

CA. VI. THROUGH ITALY. 811
A little beydnd the circus of Caracalla, and in
fall view from it, rises the mausoleum of Cecilia
Metella, a beautiful circular edifice, built by Cras
sus, in honor of that Roman matron his wife, and
daughter to Quintus Metellus Creticns. It is of
considerable height and great thickness: in the
centre is a hollow space reaching from the pave
ment to the top of the building. In this concavity
was deposited the body in a marble sarcophagus,
which in the time of Paul III. was removed to
the court of the Farnesian palace. The solidity
and simplicity of this monument are worthy of
the republican era in which it was erected, and
have enabled it to resist the incidents and survive
the lapse of two thousand years.
A celebrated antiquary attributes to the archi
tectural formation of this edifice, the singular
effect of re-echoing clearly and distinctly such
words as were uttCTed within a certain distance
of its circumference; so that at the funeral of
Metella the cries and lamentations of the attend
ants were repeated so often, and in such soft and
plaintive accents, that the spirits of the dead, and
even the infernal divinities themselves, seemed
to partake the general sorrow, and to murmur
back the sighs and groans of the mourners. As
this fiction is poetical, and does some credit to
the author, it is but fair to present it to the reader
in his own words. " Quodque in eo maxirne mi-

212 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. VI.
randum est, artificio tam singulari composita est
ea moles, ut Echo loquentium voces septies et oc-
ties distincte et articulate referat ; ut in exequiis
et funere quod Crassus uxori solemniter celebrabat,
ejulatus plorantium multiplicaretur in immensum,
non secus ac si Dii Manes et omnes inferorum
animae fatum Caecilise illius commiserati ex imo
terrae continuis plangerent ploratibus, suumque
dolorem testarentur communem, quem lachrymis
viventium conjunctum esse vellent*." — Contiguous
to this mausoleum rise the remains of ramparts,
houses, and churches erected in the middle ages,
and presenting in their actual state a melancholy
scene of utter desolation -f-.

* The most wonderful thing is, that the building is con
structed with such singular artifice, that Echo gives back
seven or eight times, distinctly and articulately the voices
of those who speak ; so that at the funeral solemnities which
Crassus celebrated in honor of his wife, the wailings of the
mourners were infinitely multiplied, just as if the infernal
gods, and all the souls that inhabit the shades below, had,
in commiseration of the fate of the deceased Caecilia, be
wailed her from beneath the earth with continued lamenta
tions, and testified their common grief, which they were
desirous to combine with the tears of the living.— Boissard.
f At the lawless period when the Roman nobles defied
the feeble authority of the Popes, and the shadowy privi
leges of the people, and passed their days in perpetual warfare
with each other, the family of the Gaietani turned this sepul
chre into a fortress, and erected the battlements that still
disfigure its summit.

A. VI. THROUGH ITALY. 213
The traveller on his return may traverse the
circus of Caracalla, now a luxuriant meadow, pass
under its time-worn gate, and crossing the road,
descend into a pleasant dell where he will find a
grotto and a fountain with a few trees scattered
around them. The grotto is covered with a solid
arch and lined with walls. The niches on both
sides were probably occupied in ancient times by
the divinities of the place ; over the fountain a sta
tue rather disfigured by time appears in a reclin
ing posture. Various evergreen shrubs hang over
the fountain, play around the statue, and wind and
flourish through the grotto and over its entrance.
The statue represents the Nymph Egeria ; and the
grotto, the fountain, and the grove that once
shaded it, were consecrated by Numa, to the same
nymph and to the muses. "Lucus erat," says.
Titus Livius, " quem medium ex opaco specu fons
perenni rigabat aqua, quo quia se persaepe Numa
sine arbitris, velut ad congressum deae, inferebat,
Camcenis eum lucum sacravit; quod earum ibi
consilia cum conjuge sua Egeria essent*." A

* There was a grove, through the midst of which flowed
a perennial fountain, issuing from a shady grotto; this grove,
because he often resorted thither without witnesses, as to a
conference with a goddess, Numa consecrated to the muses,
that they might there hold counsel with his wife Egeria. —
1.21.

214 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. VI.
streamlet, pure, limpid and wholesome, flows from
the fountain and waters the little valley. Juvenal
complains of the marble ornaments and artificial
decorations of this fountain, and wishes that it had
been abandoned to its ancient simplicity, to its
grassy margin and to its native rock*. His
wishes are now nearly accomplished ; the vault in
deed remains, but the marble lining, the pillars,
the statues have disappeared and probably lie

* In vallem Egeriae descendimus et speluncas
Dissimiles veris. Quanto prtestantius esset
Numen aquae, viridi si margine clauderet undas
Herba, nee ingenuum -yiolarent marmora tophum?
Juv. lib. i. Sat. iii. 17.
Down to Egeria's vale we took our way, '
Where spoil'd by art her formal grottoes lay,
How much more honor'd had the goddess been,
Were the clear fountain edg'd with living green ;
Through no vain marble did the waters run,
But only murmur o'er a bed of stone. Hodgson's Translation.
The metamorphosis of Egeria into a fountain, so prettily
related by Ovid, took place in the vale of Aricia.
Nam conjux urbe relicta
Vallis Aricinae densis latet abdita sylvis.
Ovid. Met. X\. 487,
His wife the town forsook,
And in the woods that clothe Aricia's vale
Lies hid.

CA. VI. THROUGH ITALY. 316
buried under the mud that covers the pavement
of the grotto. The mendicant crowd that fre
quented the grove in that poet's day are also
vanished, and the solitude of the place is as deep
and undisturbed as when it was the nightly resort
of the Roman legislator.
Conjuge qui felix nympha ducibusque Camaenis
Sacrifices docuit ritus ; gentemque feroci
Assuetam bello, pacis traduxit ad artes *.
Ovid. Met. xv. 483.
On the brow of the hill that borders the Ege-
rian valley on the south stands the little church
of St. Urban, formerly a temple of Bacchus, or,
as it is with more appearance of truth, denomi
nated by others, the temple of the Muses, looking
down upon the valley and the groves sacred to
these goddesses. As the portico was taken in to
enlarge the cella, and adapt it better for the pur
poses of a church, the four marble pillars of fluted
Corinthian are now incased in the walL
A little further on is a brick temple, small in
deed, but well-proportioned and adorned with
pilasters and a regular cornice. Antiquarians dif
fer with regard to its appellation. Some suppose

* Sage Numa, happy in his mystic bride,
The muse his fav'rite, and the muse his guide,
Taught sacred rites, a savage race reclaim'd,
And from war's bloody trade to gentle peace reclaim'd.

216 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. VI.
it to be sacred to the God Rediculus, who prompt
ed Annibal, when encamped there, to return and
withdraw from the city. But as Annibal was en
camped, not on this but on the opposite side of
the city, beyond the Anio and three miles from
the Porta Collina, and as Livius makes no men
tion of any such temple, this opinion seems to be
ill-grounded. Others suppose it to be the temple
erected to Fortuna Muliebris on the retreat of
Coriolanus, Such a, temple was indeed erected
and perhaps on this spot, though Coriolanus was
not encamped here, but three or four miles fur
ther from the city at the Fossae Cluiliae. At all
events, a temple erected by public authority, even
in that age of simplicity, would probably have
been built not of brick, but of stone, so that after
all it may possibly have been one of the many
sepulchres which bordered the Via Latina, and
almost covered the space between it and the Via
Appia *. The traveller then turns again towards

Experiar quid concedatur in illos
Quorum Flaminia tegitur cinis atque Latina.
Juv. Sat. i. 170.
I'll point my satire at the noxious clay,
Beneath the Latin and Flaminian way.
Hodgson's Translation.
Cui per mediam nolis occurrere noctem
Clivosae veheris dum per monumenta Latinae. Sat. v. 54.
Whom

CA. VI. THROUGH ITALY. 217
the Via Appia, re-crosses the river Almo (Lubri-
cus Almo *) and re-enters by the Porta Capena.
Upon another day the traveller may go out by
the Porta Nomentana (now Pia) and proceeding
about a mile, visit the church of St. Agnes re
markable for its antiquity (having been erected
by Constantine) for the double row of marble
pillars one above the other that support its roof,
and for the porphyry and alabaster columns
which adorn its altar and its tabernacle. Its
form is the same as that of other churches of the
same era.
Near this edifice stands the church of St. Con
stantia (the daughter of Constantine) formerly
her mausoleum, and supposed to have been at a
still earlier period, a temple of Bacchus. It is of
a circular form, supported by a row of coupled
columns and crowned with a dome. Behind the
pillars runs a gallery, the vaulted roof of which is
incrusted with ancient mosaics, representing little
genii playing with clusters of grapes amidst the
curling tendrils of the vine. I have spoken else
where of the tomb of the saint, a vast porphyry

Whom should'st thou meet where sleep the silent dead,
On the lone hills with midnight clouds o'erspread,
Cold through thy veins would creep a quiv'ring dread. Ibid.
* The swiftly-gliding Almo.

218 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. VI.
vase ornamented with various figures, and, ob
served that as the body had been deposited many
years ago under the altar, the sarcophagus was
transported to the museum of the Vatican.
About two miles farther the traveller will find
the Ponte Lamentano^ anciently Pons Nomenta-
nus, a bridge over the Anio ; and a little beyond
it, he may ascend the Mons Sacer, twice digni
fied by the retreat, and by the temperate bat de
termined resistance, of an oppressed and generous
people. This hill although of no great elevation
is steep and in the form of a rampart* towards
the river, and it runs along decreasing as it ad
vances towards the Ponte Salaro. It is now a
lonely eminence, covered with luxuriant grass, but
destitute of shade, ornament or memorial. Yet
few places seem better entitled to distinction, as
few incidents are recorded in history more honor
able to the Roman people than the transactions
which took place on the Mons Sacer, where they
displayed in such a conspicuous manner the three
grand virtues that constitute the Roman character
—firmness, moderation and magnanimity.
About two miles northward of the Pons No-
mentanus is the Pons Salarius (Ponte Salaro)

* This form it probably owes to the occasion :— Vallo,
foss&que communitis castris. — " Having fortified the camp
with a rampart and a ditch."— Lit), lib. ii. 32.

CA. VI. THROUGH ITALY. 81P
remarkable for the well known combat between
Manlius Torquatus and the gigantic Gaul ; as
also for the neighboring encampment of Annibal,
when he approached the city, and by threatening
Rome itself hoped to terrify the Consuls and
induce them to raise the siege of Capua. The
traveller may then return by the Via Salaria and
re-enter the city by the gate of the same name.
Besides these walks, as it is not my intention
to specify all, it will be sufficient to observe that
every gate possesses its attractions, presenting on
the roads and paths which it opens to the steps
of the traveller, its views of rural beauty or its re
mains of ancient grandeur ; its Churches sanctified
by the memory of the Good, its fields consecrated
by the struggles of the Brave, and its sepulchres
ennobled by the ashes of the Great. Wheresoever
he directs bis observation be finds himself sur
rounded by the wonders of modern art, and by
the monuments of ancient splendor; so that his
eye is gratified by noble exhibitions, and his mind
elevated by grand and awful recollections. A
certain inexpressible solemnity peculiar to the
place reigns all around : the genius of Rome and
the spirits of the illustrious dead still seem to
hover over the ruins, to guard the walls, and
superintend the destinies of the " Eternal City."

290 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. VII.

CHAP. VII.

Tibur — Horace's Villa.
After having passed five delightful weeks in
a first and rapid survey of the ancient ruins and
of the modern magnificence of Roirie, we turned
our attention to the neighboring country, and
hastened to visit some of the classical retreats of
the Sabine and Alban mountains. Accordingly
on Thursday the thirteenth of May, we made
an excursion to Tivoli, the ancient Tibur, and
proceeding along the Via Tiburtina, again visited
the ancient patriarchal Basilica of St. Laurence,
about one mile from the gate. This is not the
only church that bears the title of St. Laurence,
as there are three others at least in Rome that
enjoy it also ; but it is the most ancient, and at
the same time it has the honor of possessing the
martyr's remains. As I approached his shrine
with reverence I recollected the beautiful lines of
Vida. Adveniet lustris mundo labentibus actas
Quum domus iEneae praestans Romana propago

Ch. VII. THROUGH ITALY. 221
Insonti juveni flammis extrema sequuto
Centum aras, centum magnis penetralia templis
Eriget, et tumulo divinum imponet honorem *.
About two miles further on we passed the
Ponte Mamolo over the Anio or Teverone. This
bridge is said to have been built by Mammea
mother of Alexander Severus. The Campagna,
extending thence to the mountains of Sabina,
is flat but fertile and covered either with rich
grass or promising corn. Woods surrounding
distant villas or farms appeared here and there
covering the summits of little hills.
About eight miles from the above-mentioned
bridge we crossed the little green streamlet, called
from its sulphureous exhalations the Solfatara.
The lake or pool from which it rises is about a
short mile from the road, somewhat less than a
mile in circumference, and near two hundred feet
deep. Its waters are of an iron grey, and its
surface is frequently spotted with a bituminous
matter, which mixing with weeds and vegetable
substances gradually coagulates, and forms what

' As circling years revolve, the day shall come,
When Troy's great progeny, imperial Rome,
To the blest youth, who, fill'd with holy pride,
Tyrants, and flames, and bitter death defied,
Shall build full many an altar, many a shrine,
And grace his sepulchre with rites divine.

322 CLASSICAL TOUR Ch. VII.
may be called a floating island. There were ten
or twelve of these little green masses when we
visited the lake, and being carried by the wind
to the side, they remained united and motionless
till we separated and set some of them afloat.
As they continually increase in number, so tbey
gradually diminish the surface of the lake, and
will probably in time cover it over entirely. It
was formerly much larger than it is at present,
and used occasionally to overflow the neighboring
plains j to prevent this inconvenience the little
canal which intersects the road was cut by the
orders of the Cardinal d? Este, to give an outlet to
the increasing waters and carry them to the Anio.
This lake was in high repute among the ancients,
and much frequented on account of the oracle of
Faunus,, whose temple surrounded by a sacred
grove stood on its bank. Hence Virgil, who
consecrates the usages established in his time by
referring them. to remote antiquity, or by ascribing
their origin to the interference of the gods, repre
sents Latinus as consulting the oracle of Faunus
on this spot, and as receiving during the night a
mysterious answer. The sulphureous exhalations
of the lake, the celebrity of the temple, and the
singular method of consulting the oracle, are all
finely described in these lines.
At rex sollicitus monstris, oracula Fauni
Fatidici genitoris adit, lucosque sub alta

CA. VII. THROUGH ITALY. 22S
Consulit Albunea, nemorum quae maxuma sacro
Fonte sonat seevumque exhalat opaca mephitim.
Hinc Italae gentes, omnisque iEnotria tellus,
In dubiis responsa petunt. Hue dona sacerdos
Quum tulit, et csesarum ovium sub nocte silenti
Pellibus incubuit stratis, somnosque petivit ;
Multa modis simulacra videt volitantia miris,
Et varias audit voces, fruiturque Deorum
Colloquio, atque imis Acheronta adfatur Avernis *.
fEneid, vii. 81.
At present tbe oracle is forgotten ; the sacred
grove whence the voices issued has been long
rooted up ; and the very situation of the temple
itself is a matter of mere conjecture. Bituminous
exhalations indeed still impregnate the air to a
considerable distance, and the lake exists though
its extent is much diminished. The surface of
the surrounding fields is an incrustation gradually
formed over the water, and the hollow sound

* Latinus, frighted with this dire ostent,
For counsel to his father Faunus went,
And sought the shades renown'd for prophecy,
Which near Albunea's sulph'rous fountain lie,
To those the Latian and the Sabine land
Fly when distress'd, and thence relief demand.
The priest on skins of off 'rings takes his ease
And nightly visions in his slumbers sees ;
A swarm of thin, aerial shapes appears,
And fluttering round his temples, deafs his ears :
These he consults, the future fates to know,
From pow'rs above, and from the fiends below. Dryden.

224 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. VII.
which it yields to the tread of horses evidently
betrays the existence of an abyss beneath.
The Ponte Lugano, a bridge over the Anio,
presents itself about a mile and a half farther on.
This bridge is said to have taken its name from
the Lucanians, who were here defeated by the
Romans ; it is remarkable for a tomb of the
Plautian family, a round tower built of large
blocks of Tiburtine stone, resembling the sepul
chre of Cecilia Metella, both in its original form
and its subsequent appropriation. It was employed
as a military station during the middle ages, and
surmounted by a battlement ; a circumstance bar
barous in point of taste, yet not to be regretted in
the. present instance, as it preserved the remains of
these two monuments.
About two miles farther a road turns off to
the villa of Adrian. This imperial residence stood
on a hill, with the extensive vale of Latium on
one side, and a little deep glade called Tempe on
the other. It commanded a delightful view of
the Sabine mountains with Tibur here, and there
a prospect of the Alban hills with their towers
and forests ; behind, the vale lost itself in distant
mountains; in front, appeared Rome itself ex
tended over its seven hills, and reflecting from all
its palaces the beams of an evening sun.. The
sides of the hill are every where rather steep, and
the rock itself aided a little by art forms an ex-

CA. VII. THROUGH ITALY. 225
cellent barrier, enclosing a long narrow space of
at least seven miles in circumference. As we are
assured by an ancient author that Adrian, after
having travelled over the whole empire, deter
mined to collect around him on this spot the
most remarkable edifices that lay dispersed over
the Roman world, the reader will no longer wonder
at the number of buildings constituting this villa,
nor feel any unusual astonishment in perusing a
catalogue embracing the following objects: the
imperial palace ; quarters for the legionary soldiers,
cavalry and infantry, and others for the invalids ;
three theatres; a naumachia; a hyppodrome;
temples of Apollo and the Muses, of Diana, of
Venus, of Serapis ; halls and habitations for the
different sects of philosophers ; a library; a Paecile,
resembling that at Athens ; and porticos almost
without number, together with various edifices,
the names and objects of which are now undis-
coverable. Statues, columns, and marbles of the
rarest kinds, have been, and are continually disco
vered when excavations are made amidst the ruins
of these amazing fabrics ; while briars and brambles
fill the halls and stuccoed apartments, and a mixed
confusion of orchards and gardens, forest and fruit
trees, vineyards and corn waving over them, pre
sent a strange and melancholy contrast.
Returning to the road, we began and continued
for some time to ascend the high hill on which
VOL. II. Q

226 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. VII.
Tivoli stands, passing through groves of olives till
we reached the summit ; when after having exa
mined the noble site of the house of the Jesuits,
and the Villa de Santa Croce, we entered Tivoli.
This town, the Tibur of the ancients, boasts of
high antiquity, and what is much better, still pos
sesses a considerable population, amounting, it is
said, to ten thousand inhabitants. The town itself
is not handsome, though it contains some very
fine houses and stands in a delightful situation,
sheltered on one side by Monte Catiti, and a semi
circular range of Sabine mountains, and command
ing on the other an extensive view over the Cam
pagna bounded by the sea, Rome, Mount Soracte
and the pyramidal hills of Monticelli,' and Monte
Rotondo the ancient Eretum. But the pride and
ornament of Tivoli are still, as anciently, the fall
and the windings of the Anio, now Teverone. This
river having meandered from its source through
the vales of Sabina, glides gently through Tivoli
till coming to the brink of a rock it precipitates
itself in one mass down the steep, and then boiling
for an instant in its narrow channel rushes head
long through a chasm in the rock into the caverns
below. The first fall may be seen from the windows
of the inn or from the temple ; but it appears to
the greatest advantage from the bridge thrown
over the narrow channel a little below it. , From

CA. VII. THROUGH ITALY. 227
this bridge also you may look down into the shat
tered rock, and observe far beneath the writhings
and agitation of the stream struggling through its
rocky prison. To view the second fall, or descent
into the cavern, we went down through a garden
by a winding path into the narrow dell, through
which the river flows after the cascade, and placing
ourselves in front of the cavern beheld the Anio
in two immense sheets tumbling through two dif
ferent apertures, shaking the mountain in its fall,
and filling all the cavities around with spray and
uproar. Though the rock rises to the height of
two hundred feet in a narrow semicircular form,
clothed on one side with shrubs and foliage, yet a
sufficient light breaks upon the cavern to shew
its pendent rocks, agitated waters, and craggy
borders. Such is the residence of the Naiad:
Domus Albunete resonantis ;  pendentia
pumice tecta*.
About an hundred paces from the grotto, a
natural bridge, formed by the water working
through the rock, enables the spectator to pass
the river, and to take another view of the cascade,
less distinct with regard to the cavern, but more

* Pure Albunea's far resounding source. Francis.
The vaulted roofs oipory stone. Dryden.

228 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. VII.
enlarged, as it includes a greater portion of the
superincumbent rock in front, with the shagged
banks on both sides. The rock immediately above
and on the left is perpendicular and crowned with
houses, while from an aperture in its side at a
considerable height gushes a rill, too small to add
either by its sound or size to the magnificence of
the scenery.
The bank on the opposite side is steep and
shaggy, but leaves room for little gardens and
vineyards. On its summit stands the celebrated
temple commonly called of the Sybil, though by
many antiquarians supposed to belong to Vesta.
This beautiful pile is so well known that it is
almost unnecessary to inform the reader that it
is circular (as all the temples of Vesta) of the
Corinthian order, built in the reign of Augustus,
and admired not for its size, but for its propor
tions and situation. It stands in the court of the
inn, exposed to the weather without any roof or
covering ; but its own solidity seems to be a suf
ficient protection. Of its eighteen pillars ten only
remain with their entablature. An English no
bleman, well known in Italy for his numberless
purchases, is reported to have offered a consider
able sum for this ruin, with an intention of trans
porting it to England, and re-erecting it in his
park. The proposal, it is said, was accepted by

CA. VII. THROUGH ITALY. 229
the innkeeper, on whose property it stands ; but
fortunately, before the work of devastation was
begun, a prohibition was issued by government,
grounded upon a declaration that ruins are public
property, and of course not to be defaced or re
moved without express permission, which as it
tended to strip the country of the monuments of
its ancient glory, and consequently of "its most
valuable ornaments, the government could not
and would not give. This attempt to transplant
the temple of Vesta from Italy to England may
perhaps do honour to the late Lord Bristol's pa
triotism or to his magnificence ; but it cannot be
considered as an indication of either taste or
judgment. The temple of Tivoli derives, it is true, much
intrinsic merit from its size and proportions, but
it is not architectural merit alone which gives it its
principal interest. Placed on the verge of a rocky
bank, it is suspended over the praceps Anio*, and
the echoing abode of the Naiads ; it has beheld
Augustus and Maecenas, Virgil and Horace, repose
under its columns; it has survived the empire
and even the language of its founders ; and after
eighteen hundred years of storms and tempests, of
revolutions and barbarism, it still exhibits its fair

* Rapid Anio, headlong in his course. Francis.

230 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. VII.
proportioned form to the eye of the traveller, and
claims at once his applause and bis veneration.
Near the temple of Vesta, stand the remains
of another temple supposed to be that of the Sybil,
consisting of four pillars, and now forming a part
of the wall of the parish church of St. George.
Besides these, scarce any other vestige remains of
ancient Tibur, though considering its antiquity, its
population, and its salubrity, it must have pos
sessed a considerable share of magnificence. But
if its artificial ornaments have perished, and if its
temples and its villas have long since crumbled
into dust, the unalterable graces which nature bas
conferred upon it still remain, and its orchards, its
gardens, and its cool recesses bloom and flourish
in unfading beauty. If Horace, who so often and
so fondly celebrates the charms of Tibur, were to
revive, he would still find the grove, the irriguous
garden, the ever-varying rill, the genial soil; in
short, all the well-known features of his beloved
retreat. To enjoy this delicious scenery to ad
vantage, the traveller must cross the bridge and
follow the road which runs at the foot of the
classic Monte Catillo, and winds along the banks
of the Anio, rolling after its fall through the
valley in a deep dell. As he advances, he will
have on his left the steep banks covered with
trees, shrubs, and gardens ; and on his right, the
bold but varying swells of the hills shaded with

CA. VII. THROUGH ITALY. 231
groves of olives. These sunny declivities were
anciently interspersed with splendid villas, the fa
vorite abodes of the most luxurious and the most
refined Romans. They are now replaced by two
solitary convents, lifting each its white tower above
the dark green mass of olives. Their site, often
conjectural or traditionary, is sometimes marked
by some scanty vestiges of ruin, and now and then
by the more probable resemblance of a name.
Thus several subterraneous apartments and gal
leries near San Antonio are supposed to be the
remains of the seat of Vopiscus, celebrated by
Statius. That of Propertius
Candida qua geminas ostendunt culmina turres
Et cadit in patulos lympha Aniena lacus*
is supposed to have stood on the site of the other
convent St. Angelo ; while the villa of Quintilius
Varus, or rather its foundations still retain the
kindred appellation of Quintilioh. But the house
of Vopiscus, as must appear evident to any reader
who thinks proper to consult the poet alluded to,
must have been in the dell; and have actually
hung over the river, as it occupied both the banks

* Where two white turrets rear their lofty heads.
And Anio in a lake-like surface spreads.

232 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. VII.
and saw its surrounding shades reflected from the
surface of the water *.
The fond attachment of Horace to Tibur,
united to the testimony of Suetonius, has induced
many antiquaries to imagine, that at some period
or other of his life he possessed a little villa in its
neighborhood, and tradition accordingly ennobles
a few scattered fragments of walls and arches with
the interesting appellation of Horace's villa. The
site is indeed worthy the poet, where, defended by
a semicircular range of wooded mountains from
every cold blustering wind, he might look down
on the playful windings of the Anio below, dis
cover numerous rills gleaming through the thickets

Nemora alta citatis

Incubuere vadis, fallax responsat imago
Frondibus, et longas eadem fugit unda per umbras'
Littus utrumque domi : nee te mitissimus amnis
Dividit, alternas servant praetoria ripas,
Non externa sibi, fluviumve obstare queruntur. Statius Syl. r. 3.
O'er the swift tide the nodding groves impend,
And ev'ryleaf is seen reflected there,
As through continuous shade the waters glide ....
To thee each shore belongs ; nor does the stream
(A lovely stream) divide thee from thyself;
On either bank thy well-wrought mansions stand,
And each with each domestic union owns,
Nor of the interposing wave complains.

CA. VII. THROUGH ITALY. 233
as they glided down the opposite bank, enjoy a
full view of the splendid mansion of his friend
Maecenas rising directly before him, and catch a
distant perspective of Aurea Roma (Golden Rome),
of the golden towers of the Capitol soaring ma
jestic on its distant mount. But whatever his
wishes might be, it is not probable that his mo
derate income permitted him to enjoy such a
luxurious residence in a place so much frequented,
and consequently so very expeusive ; and indeed
the very manner in which those wishes are ex
pressed seems to imply but slight hopes of ever
being able to realize them. " Tibur, &;c. sit —
utinam — Unde si — Parcae prohibent iniqua*." If
Horace actually possessed a villa there, the wish
was unnecessary, as the event lay in his own power.
The authority of Suetonius seems indeed positive,
but it is possible that the same place may be al
luded to under the double appellation of his Sabine
or Tiburtine seat-f-. The poet, it is true, often

O that Tibur 
But should the partial fates refuse.

Francis.

f That villas in the vicinity of Tibur sometimes took their
name from the town, and sometimes from the territory, is
evident from Catullus :
O Funde noster, seu Sabine, seu Tiburs,
. Nam te esse Tiburtem autumant quibus non est Cordi

234 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. VII.
represents himself as meditating his compositions
while he wandered along the plains and through
the groves of Tibur :

Circa nemus, uvidique
Tiburis ripas operosa parvus
Carmina fingo *.

But as he was probably a frequent companion of
Maecenas in his excursions to his villa at Tibur t
he may in those lines allude to his solitary rambles
and poetical reveries. Catullus, a Roman knight,
had fortune sufficient to indulge himself in such
an expensive residence, and accordingly speaks
with much complacency of his Tiburtine retreat,
which on account of its proximity to the town, he
calls suburbana. Munatius Plancus also possessed
a villa at Tibur, apparently of great beauty. To

Cordi Catullum Isedere ; at quibus cordi est
Quovis Sabinum pignore esse contendunt.
" O my Farm, whether Sabine, or Tiburtine (for those
who do not wish to annoy Catullus call you Sabine ; but
those who do wish it, insist at all hazards that you are Ti
burtine). * So I, weak bard, round Tibur's lucid spring,
Of humbler strain laborious verses sing. Francis.

CA. VII. THROUGH ITALY. 2.SB
this the poet alludes in that ode* where, in en
larging on the charms of the place, he recommends
indirectly and with much delicacy to his^ friend,
who in a moment of despondency had resolved
upon a voluntary exile, his delightful seat at Tibur
as a retirement far preferable to Rhodes and Mi-
tylene, places in those times much frequented by
disaffected or banished Romans.
But to abandon these aerial charms, spread
indeed like flitting shades over every grove and
every meadow, but perceptible only to the eye
of imagination, let ns turn to the visible beauties
that line our walk and appear in new forms at
every turning. As the traveller, following the
bend of the hill, comes to the side of the road op
posite to the town, he catches first a side glimpse,
and shortly after a full view of the Cascatelli, or
lesser cascades, inferior in mass and grandeur,
but equal in beauty to the great fall in the town.
They are formed by a branch of the Anio turned
off from the main body of the river, before it

Seu te fulgentia signis
Castra tenent, seu densa tenebit
Tiburis umbre tui. Carm. Lib. i. Od. 7.
Whether the camp with banners bright display'd,
Or Tibur hold thee in its thick-wrought shade. Francis.

236 CLASSICAL TOUR Ch. VII.
reaches the precipice, for the uses of the inhabit
ants, and after it has crossed the town bursting
from a wood on the summit of the hill, and. then
tumbling from its brow in one great and several
lesser streams, first down one and then another
declivity, through thickets and brambles, spangled
with dew drops or lighted up with a rainbow.
The elevation and mass of these cascades ; the
colors and broken masses of the rocks down which
they tumble; the shrubs, plants and brambles
that hang over the channel and sometimes bathe
themselves in the current ; the river below fretting
through a narrow pass under a natural arch ; the
olives that shade that arch, and the vines that
wave around it; the bold bendings and easy
sweeps of the surrounding mountains ; and the
towers of the town rising on the top of the hill
beyond the cascade, with the ruins of Maecenas's
villa on its shelving side, form one of the most
delicious pictures for softness and beauty, wildness
and animation, that can be imagined. The tra
veller is usually conducted by his guide to a sort
of natural stage, formed by the rock projecting
boldly over the river, just opposite the cascade.
Here he may seat himself on the grass under the
shade of a tufted olive-tree, enjoy at leisure the
delightful sight, nor wonder that Horace, when
surrounded by such scenery, should feel the full
influence of inspiration.

CA. VII. THROUGH ITALY. 237
 Quas Tibur aqu.u fertile praefluunt
Et spissa; nemorum comic
Fingent JEolio carmine nobilem *. iv. Od. 3.
However, a side view is considered as the best,
because it augments the apparent mass of waters;
and this we enjoyed as we continued our walk
along the road ; while before us the opening valley
exhibited a distant perspective over the Campagna
to the seven hills and the towers of Rome, and
the Mediterranean closing or rather bordering the
picture with a gleam of purple.
We passed Quintiliolo, and the pond once
probably the receptacle of those favorite fish
which as Cicero sarcastically observes, seem to
have occupied so much of the time and thoughts
of their indolent proprietors. At the foot of the
hill in a meadow called Campo Limpido, near the
road, springs a fountain which some travellers
have thought proper to dignify with the appella
tion of Bandusia; but though its source be
abundant, its waters pure, and its appearance
picturesque, yet it is far remote from the classical
fountain of that denomination. After having
passed the bridge, and ascended part of the de-

* But him, the streams which warbling flow
Rich Tibur's fertile vales along,
And shady groves, his haunts, shall know
The master of th' iEolian song. Francis.

238

CLASSICAL TOUR CA. VII.

clivity towards the town, we entered a field, in
order to visit a circular edifice of brick with a
vaulted roof, resembling, though of a smaller
size, the temple of Minerva Medica*, supposed
by some to be the Fanum Tussis-f-, by others a
sepulchre; the situation seems more appropriate
to the latter, the form better calculated for the
former. It has several niches for statues, is of
excellent proportions, and though stripped long
since of all its ornaments, is yet in good preser
vation J.
Maecenas's villa stands at the extremity of the
town on the brow of the hill, and hangs over
several streamlets which fall down the steep. It
commands a noble view of the Anio and its vale
beneath, the hills of Albano and Monticelli, the
Campagna, and Rome itself rising on the borders
of the horizon. It still presents several traces
of its former magnificence, such as a triple row
of arches, seventeen below and fourteen above,
forming a suite of apartments spacious enough
for all the purposes of private luxury. The ac
tive Cardinal Ruffo during, the reign of the late
pontiff, turned it into a foundery, after having
* The Healing Minerva.
f The Temple of the Goddess of Coughing.
% Some antiquaries are of opinion, that it was a bath ;
but its situation on a declivity and at a distance from the
town, seems unfavorable to such a destination.

CA. VII. THROUGH ITALY. 9S9
stripped the walls and the roof of the ivy, and
effaced the venerable marks of ruin which the
hand of time had shed over them. A branch of
the river pours through the arched gallery and
vaulted cellars, and shaking the edifice as it
passes along, rushes in several sheets down the
declivity. The ancient magnificence of this villa
is probably equalled by that of the modern Villa
Estense, erected by a Cardinal of that name in the
sixteenth century, in a lofty situation, surrounded
with terraces, water-falls,groves of cedars, cypresses,
and orange trees, and adorned with statues, vases,
and marbles. The gardens are laid out in the old
style, and not conformable to our ideas of rural
beauty, and the whole is in a most lamentable
state of decay. Very different was its condition
when described by Strada, who lays the scene of
two of his Prolusions in its gardens.
There are in the town or immediate neighbor
hood of Tivoli, other villas of great extent and
some magnificence, enjoying in proportion simi
lar advantages of situation and of prospect, and
perhaps no spot in the universe affords more of
either; but unfortunately the modern Romans,
like the Italians and the continental nations in
general, are not partial to country residence.
They may enjoy "the description, or commend
the representation of rural scenes, and occupa
tions in books and pictures, but they feel not-

240 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. VII.
the beauties of nature, and cannot relish the calm,
the solitary charms of a country life. Hence the
delicious retreats of Tibur, and the rival beauties
of the Alban Mount, scenes that delighted the
philosopher and enchanted the poet in ancient
days, are now beheld with indifference, and per
haps honored once a year, during the Villeggiatura,*
with a short and impatient visit.
Englishmen who are generally educated in the
country, and are attached by all the ties of custom
and of inclination to rural scenery, may appreciate
the beauties of Tibur, and do justice to the de
scription of the poet. While they behold the
hills, the woods, the streams,
Et praeceps Anio, et Tiburni lucus, et uda
Mobilibus pomaria rivis f, Lib. i. Od. 7.
which so often inspired the Roman Lyrist ; they
may conceive, and even share his enthusiasm, and
did not a better sentiment suppress the wish, they
might exclaim with him,

* The season of country diversions.
f And rapid Anio, headlong in his course,
Or Tibur, fenc'd by groves from solar beams,
And fruitful orchards bath'd by ductile streams. Francis.

CA. VII. THROUGH ITALY. 24l
Tibur Argeo positum colono,
Sit mete sedes utinam senectae
Sit modus lasso maris et viarum
M ilitiwque *. Hor. Carm. Lib. ii. Od. 6.
May 15th. We rose about three in the morn
ing, and although the weather appeared rather
lowering, we mounted at four, and forming a
party of nine, proceeded on our road towards
the Sabine mountains, in order to visit Horace's
villa. The Via Valeria .(the Valerian Way), is with
out doubt, the shortest road to Vico Varo, but we
took one which, though very bad and somewhat
longer, gave us an opportunity of seeing more
of the country. As we were winding along the
hills, we saw the river meandering beneath us
through a beautiful dell, and forming a variety of
pleasing scenes, especially near a spot where the
ruins of two aqueducts throw their arches over
the road, and form a sort of frame for the towers
of Tivoli and its neighboring mountains. An

* May Tibur to my latest hours
Afford a kind and calm retreat ;
Tibur, beneath whose lofty tow'rs
The Grecians fix'd their blissful seat ;
There may my labors end, my wand'rings cease,
There all my toils of warfare rest in peace. Francis.
VOL. II. H

242 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. VIL
artist who was in company with us took a sketch
on the spot, and has since made a very fine
drawing of it. The aqueducts frequently re-ap
peared during the course of the day, sometimes
rising like masses of brown rock on the hills, and
sometimes sweeping in a succession of lofty arches
over the plains. The face of the country was here
wooded and there naked, but always bold, and in
general very fertile. Its most striking features
were, a ruined castle on the bank of the river,
distant towns lodged in the high recesses of the
mountains, particularly St. Polo far on the left,
and Castel Madama just opposite. The latter is
said to be extremely healthy on account of its
airy situation ; it affords a fine view of the valley,
of the river, and of the mountains, with their
various hamlets. From the side of the hill we
looked down upon Vico VarO) whose churches and
walls of white stone appeared to much advantage.
This town nearly retains its ancient name, and is
the Variae mentioned by Horace, as the principal
municipality where, it seems, representatives from
the circumjacent villages used to meet.
Quinque bonos solitum Variam demittere patres*.
Lib. i. Epist. 14.

five worthy fathers sent,
One from each house, to Varia's parliament. Francis.

CA. VII. THROUGH ITALY. 243
It stands on a hill close to the Anio, has consi
derable remains of its wall, composed of vast
stones, like those employed in the Coliseum, and
though not large, must have been opulent, if we
may judge from such a magnificent rampart.
From Vico Varo we proceeded along the river
about two miles, to a bridge remarkable for the
remains of a lofty arch, formed to conduct the
Claudian aqueduct over the Anio. Only a small
part of the arch is standing, while the channel
opened through the rock on the opposite side,
near a mill, is still perfect. The banks here are
extremely bold, particularly on the northern side
of the river, where they rise to a great elevation,
and seem to hang over the mill and the stream.
The rock is hollowed out by nature into a variety
of grottos, said to have been for some time the
retreat of St. Benedict, the patriarch of the
western monks. On the top of the rock stands
the Franciscan convent of S. Cosimato, a neat and
convenient building, with a very clean church.
Hither we repaired in order to take shelter from a
very heavy shower, and were received by the good
fathers with cordiality, and treated in a very
hospitable and polite manner. About one o'clock
we sallied forth, and returning back some little
way, took a path leading directly northward. I
must observe, that from the convent, and indeed

944 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. VH.
some little time before you reach it, you discover
towards the north two villages beautifully situated
on the summit of a woody and well cultivated
hill supported by a range of mountains behind ;
one of these villages is called Canta Lubo, the
other Bardela. The latter is Mandela, which, on
account of its high situation, Horace represents as
suffering much from the effects of the cold.
Rugosus frigore pagus *.
Lib. i. Epist. xviii. 105.
As we advanced, we found ourselves in a fine
valley, with beautiful hills rising close on our left,
while on our right, in the midst of fertile meadows
bounded on the opposite side by the hill of
Mandela, and a ridge of successive mountains,
glided the Licenza, anciently the Digentia, the
favorite stream of Horace.
Me quoties reficit gelidus Digentia rivusf. Ep. xviii. 104.
Its bed is wide, stony, and shallow in summer.
We had not proceeded far, when to the left, on
the brow of a craggy steep, we perceived the

* A district contracted with cold.
t As oft as the cool stream of Digentia refreshes' me.

CA.VII. THROUGH ITALY. 245
Fanum Vacunae (Temple of Vacuna)*, whence the
poet dated one of his philosophic epistles ; it was
almost in ruins in his time, and probably sunk
under the pressure of age not long after : a village
bas risen upon its site, and assumed the name of
Rocca Giovane. Near the path which leads up to
this village issues a spring, called by some writers,
the fountain of Bandusia.
The road then ran at the foot of Mount Lu-
cretilis, and a more beautiful mountain has rarely
been discovered by a traveller or celebrated by
a poet, it rises in a gentle but irregular swell,
forming several hills of different shapes as it
ascends, and leading the eye through several easy
gradations to its summit. Rocks and precipices
frequently break its lines, and open various
caverns and grottos in its sides and on its declivi
ties. Its lower regions are divided into corn
fields and vineyards; groves of olives and of
* Hoc tibi dictabam post templum putre Vacunae.
Hor. Lib. i. Epist. x. 49.
These lines behind Vacuna's fane I penn'd. Francis.
Vacuna was the Minerva, or perhaps the Victory of the Sa
bines. The temple here alluded to, or one to Victory on
the same site, was repaired by Vespasian. This goddess
had another temple or at least a grove, near Reate and the
Velinus. Plin. lib. iii. cap. 12.

246 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. VII.
chestnuts interspersed with forest trees thrown
negligently about, sometimes single sometimes in
clumps, and now and then in woods wave round
its middle: its upper parts are heathy pasture,
and in many places covered with brambles, shrubs
and forests. Herds may be seen ranging through
the meadows, and flocks of goats spread over the
wilds and browsing on the precipices. Arcadia
itself could scarcely have exhibited more beautiful
scenes, or opened more delightful recesses; so
that Lucretilis, without being indebted to poetical
exaggeration for the compliment, might easily be
supposed to have attracted the attention of the
rural divinities, and allured them to its delicious
wilderness*. About a mile and a half beyond the road
which leads to Rocca Giovane we turned up a
pathway, and crossing a vineyard found our
selves on the spot where Horace's villa is sup-

* Velox amcenum ssepe Lucretilem
Mutat Lyceo Faunus, et igneam
Defendit aestatem capellis
Usque meis pluviosque ventos.
Hor. Carm. I. i. Od. 17.
Pan from Arcadia's hills descends
To visit oft my Sabine seat,
And here my tender goats defends
From rainy winds, and summer's fiery heat. Francis.

CA. VII. THROUGH ITALY. 24f
posed to have stood. A part of a wall rising in
the middle of brambles and some mosaic pave
ments, are the only traces that now remain of the
poet's mansion. It was probably remarkable
neither for its size nor its decorations*; neatness
and convenience it must have possessed. Mun-
dceque parco sub lore Ccena^-. Its situation is
extremely beautiful. Placed in a little plain or
valley in the windings of Mount Lucretilis, it is
sheltered on the north side by hills rising gra
dually but very boldly ; while towards the south
a long hillock covered with a grove, protects it
from the scorching blasts of that quarter. Being
opened to the east and west it gives a full view of
Rocca Giovane, formerly Fanum Vacunae, on one
side : on the other, two towns the nearest of which
is Digentia the farthest Civitella, perched each on
the pointed summit of a hill present themselves to
view; below, and forming a sort of basis to
these eminences, Ustica speckled with olives and

* Non ebur, neque aureum
Mea renidet in domo lacunar. Ib. lib. ii. 18.
No walls with ivory inlaid,
Adorn my house ; 

Nor rich with gold my cieling flames. Francis.
t And a cleanly supper in an unambitious house.

248 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. VII.
spangled with little shining rocks, stretches its
recumbent form*.
Behind the house is a path leading through a
grove of olives and rows of vines, conducts to an
abundant rill descending from Fonte Bello (per
haps anciently the Bandusia) a fountain in the
higher regions of the mountain. It is collected
in its fall from an artificial cascade into a sort of
basin whence it escapes, pours down the hill and
glides through the valley, under the name of
Digentia, now Licenta. This rill, if I may judge
by its freshness, still possesses the good qualities
Horace ascribed to it and still seems to flow so
cool and so clear.

Ut nee

Frigidior Thracam nee purior ambiat Hebrus f.
Lib. i. Epist. xvi. 13.
I must indeed here observe, that the whole
tract of country which we have just traversed^

* Utcunque dulci, Tyndari, fistula
Valles et Vsticce cubantis
Levia personuere saxa. Lib. i. Od. 17,
Whene'er the vales wide-spreading round,
The sloping hills and polish'd rocks
With his harmonious pipe resound. Francis.
3
t Cooler and purer than a Thracian stream. Ibid.

CA.VH. THROUGH ITALY. 249
corresponds in every particular with the descrip
tion which Horace gave of it two thousand years
ago. Not only the grand and characteristic fea
tures* — the continued chain qf mountains — the
shady valley — the winding dell — the abundant foun
tain — the savage rocks — features which a general
convulsion of nature only can totally efface, not
these alone remain, but the less and more perish
able beauties — the little rills — the moss-lined stones
— the frequent groves — the arbutus half concealed
in the thickets — the occasional pine — the oak and
the ilex suspended over the grotto — these meet the
traveller at every turn, and rise around him as so

* Continui montes nisi dissocientur opaca
Valle  Lib. i. Epist. xvi. 5.
A chain of mountains with a vale divide. Franeis.
Hic in reducta valle caniculse
Vitabis aestus . . .
Carm. Lib. i. Od. xvii. 7.
Beneath a shady mountain's brow . .
Far from the burning Dog-star's rage. Francis.
Fons etiam rivo dare nomen idoneus . . .
 inhospita tesqua . .
Lib. i. Epist. xiv. 19.
A fountain to a rivulet gives its name. Francis.
Inhospitable and uncultivated grounds;

250 CLASSICAL TOUR Ch. VII.
many monuments of the judgment and of the ac
curacy of the poet*.

* Ruris ameeni
Rivos et museo circumlita saxa, nemusque.
Impune tutum per nemus arbutos
Quserunt latentes— ^ Lib. i. Od. xvii. 5.
The rural mead
The brook, the mossy rock, and woody glade. Francis.
In safety, through the woody brake
The latent shrubs and thyme explore. - Ibid.
Quid si. rubicunda benigne
Coma vepres et pruna ferunt, si quercus et ilex
Multa fruge pecus, multa dominum juvat umbra —
Lib. i. Epist. xvi. 8.
How mild the climes, where sloes luxurious grow,
And blushing cornels on the hawthorn glow !
My cattle are with plenteous acorns fed,
Whose various oaks around their master spread. Francis.
Imminens villa5 pinus . . .
Carm. Lib. iii. Od. xxii. 5.
The pine,
That nodding waves my villa round. Francis.
Cavis impositum ilicem
Saxis .... Lib. iii. Od. xiii. 14.
The oak, that spreads thy rocks around. Francis.
Cluverius concludes that Horace had a view of Mount
Soracte from his Sabine villa, because he commences an ode
with the words,

CA.VII. THROUGH ITALY. 251
We were less fortunate in this our poetical
pilgrimage than usual, as a heavy rain began
about twelve o'clock in the day, and accompanied
by strong gusts of wind continued pouring in an
incessant torrent till twelve at night. It soon
penetrated our clothes ; the tardiness of our mules
gave it full time to operate ; so that notwithstand
ing our enthusiasm and a few occasional bursts of
merriment we paced slowly along the Via Valeria

Vides ut alta stet nive candidum
Soracte. Lib. i. Od. ix.
Behold Soracte's airy height,
See how it stands a heap of snow.. Francis.
But this is not the case, as Mount Lucretilis interposes in
that direction and obstructs all view, excepting that of its
own varied ridge. The ode alluded .to was probably com
posed at Rome, as the amusements which Horace recom
mends in the last stanza but one, were peculiar to the city,
nunc et campus et area, Sic *. The learned geographer also
insists upon Ustica's being a valley, on account of the epithet
cubantis, which he maintains could not be ascribed to a
hill. Most of my readers will probably think otherwise,
and conceive that such an epithet is applicable to hills only,
and this opinion is confirmed by the name which a hill in the
neighborhood of Mount Lucretilis stfll bears. Its form is
long and rises gradually, as that of a person leaning on his
elbow: its surface is marked by a number of white smooth
stones ; and it is always pointed out as the Ustica alluded to
by Horace. * The public walks, the public park. Francis.

252 , CLASSICAL TOUR CA. VII.
(the Valerian Way), wet and benighted till we
reached Tivoli about ten o'clock. Thus we learned
by experience, that Horace had some reason to
thank the rural divinities for protecting his flocks
from the inclemencies of the mountains, and from
the rainy winds, whose effects he seems to have
felt and dreaded. The wind continued high and
chill during the whole of the following day (Sun
day). On Monday the weather resumed its usual
serenity, and we returned to Rome.

CA. VIII. THROUGH ITALY. 253

CHAP. VIII.

The Alban Mount and Lake — Tusculum and Ci
cero's Villa — Aricia, and the Grove and Temple
of Diana — The Lake qf Nemi, and Palace of
Trajan — Antium — Forests and Plains of Lau-
rentum — Ostia — Mouth of the Tiber.
The Alban Monnt, which forms such a con
spicuous and majestic feature of Roman land
scape, and presents itself so often to the reader's
notice in Roman history and literature, next at
tracted our attention and furnished an object for
a second excursion. The road to it is the Via
Appia (the Appian Way), which begins at the
Porta Capena (the Capenian Gate), crosses the
Almoin flowing near the walls ; and as it traverses
the Campagna presents aqueducts and sepulchres
that border its sides with ruins.
Quandoquidem data sunt ipsis quoque fata sepulchris *-

For even sepulchres themselves have their fated hour.

254 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. VIII.
The Fossa Cluillia,
Horatiorum qua viret sacer campus * :
Mart. lib. iii. Ep. 47.
the theatre of the combat between the Horatii
and Curiatii lies between five and six miles from
the gate on the right. Several tombs stand on
the side of the hillock that borders these fields,
but no one in particular is pointed ont as belong
ing to the unhappy champions. Their monu
ments however existed in the time of Titus
Livius-j-, and as their forms and materials were
probably very plain and very solid, they must
have remained for many ages after, and may be
some of the many mounds that still stand in
clusters about the very place where they fell.
The multiplicity of the tombs that line the road
is so great, that when entire, and surrounded, as
several of them anciently were, with cypresses
and ornamental enclosures, they must almost
have touched each other, and formed a funereal
street. This circumstance affords a strong argu
ment, that the environs of the city, at least on
this side, could not have been so thickly inha
bited as is usually imagined. Besides Cicero,
* Where lies the sacred field of the Horatii.
t Lib. i. 25.

CA.VIII. THROUGH ITALY. 255
in one of his Epistles, alludes to the danger of
being robbed in broad day on the road to Al
bano*, a circumstance which implies solitude, and
gives the plain extending at the foot of the Alban
Mount, a reputation similar to that attached not
long ago to the predatory districts of Blackheath
or Hounslow. On the side of the hill, on or near the site of
the ancient Bovillae, stands a tavern, the very
same if we may credit tradition into which Clodius
retired when wounded, and from whieh he was
afterwards dragged by Milo's attendants. Near
the gate of Albano on the side of the road rises an
ancient tomb, the sepulchre (as it is called by the
people) of Ascanius ; but in the opinion of anti
quaries that of Clodius himself. It is entirely
stripped of its ornaments and external coating,
and has no other claim to the traveller's attention
than its antiquity.
The town of Albano consists almost totally of
one long street, in general well built and airy;
but its chief advantage is its lofty situation ; and
its ornaments are the beautiful country houses
and walks that surround it on all sides. The
principal villa belongs to a Roman Duke, and
occupies part of the site of Pompey's Albanum,

* Ad. Att. vii. 9.

256 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. VIII.
and its gardens laid out in the best modern style,
wind delighfully amidst the ruins. Its views open
on the sea coast, and command the whole of that
classic ground which Virgil has made the scene of
the last six books of the Eneid ; the seven hills
arid the humble capital of Evander; the mouth
of the Tiber where Eneas landed; Laurentium
with its surrounding forests ; the lake of Turnus ;
the Vada Sacra Nitmki*, and all the Rutilian
territory. A fine road shaded with double rows of ilex
leads from Albano to Castel Gandolfo and the
Alban Lake. This well-known lake is seven
miles in circumference, and surrounded with a
high shelving shore, which is covered with gar
dens and orchards. The immediate borders of
the lake are lined with trees that bathe their
branches in its waters. It is clear as crystal, is
said to be almost unfathomable in some places,
and is supposed to be contained in the crater of
an extinguished volcano. An emissarius or outlet
was formed at so early a period as the year of
Rome 358, to prevent the sudden and mischievous
swells of the lake which had then recently occa
sioned considerable alarm. The immediate occa-

* Where Numicus opes his holy source. Dryden.

CA. VIII. THROUGH ITALY. 257
sion of this undertaking was a command of the
Delphic oracle. The work still remains a singular
instance of the industry and superstition of the
Romans. It is bored through the body of the
mountain or rather through the solid rock, and
runs somewhat more than a mile underground:
going out of the lake it first passes through a
court or apartment formed of huge masses of
Tiburtine stone, shaded above by a large and
spreading ilex : it then enters the narrow channel
which diminishes in height as it advances, but
in all places leaves room for the purposes of
repairing and cleansing*.
On the highest, that is, the southern bank of
the lake, stood Alba Longa, a city known only
in Roman story, for not a vestige of it remains ;
dignified while it stood by its contest with infant
Rome, and when it fell, by the short but elo
quent description which Titus Livius gives of its
destruction -f-. Nothing can be more delightful
than the walks around the lake, sometimes ap
proaching the edge of the steep banks and looking

* Vide Liv. L. v. c. 16. Cic. De Div. Lib. i. 44. Val.
Max. lib. i. cap. vi. 3. This work was finished in less than
a year. The Emperor Claudius began a similar emissarius
to let out the wat^s of the Lacus Fucinus, and employed in
it thirty thousand men for eleven years.
t Lib. i. 20.
VOL. II. S

258 CLASSICAL TOUR Ch. VIII.
down upon the glassy surface extended below,
and at other times traversing the thickets and
woods that rise all around, and refresh the tra
veller as he passes under their vast contiguity of
shade. Another umbrageous alley, partly through
woods, leads to Marino, a very pretty town : the
approach to it with the rocky dell, the fountain
in the midst, the town on the eminence above, the
woods below and on the side of the road, might
furnish an excellent subject for a landscape*.
The same alley continues to Grotta Ferrata,
once the favorite villa of Cicero, and now an
abbey of Greek monks. It stands on one of the
Tumuli or beautiful hills grouped together in the
Alban Mount. It is bounded on the south by a
deep dell, with a streamlet that falls from the
rock, and having turned a mill meanders through
the recess and disappears in its windings : this
stream, now the Marana, was anciently called
Aqua Crabra, and is alluded to by Cicero. East
ward rises a lofty eminence once crowned with
Tusculum ; westward the view descends, and pass
ing over the Campagna, fixes on Rome and the
distant mountains beyond it : on the south, a
gentle swell presents a succession of vineyards

* The fountain is supposed to be the source of the Aqua
Ferentina, and Marino the Caput Aquae Ferentinae, so often
mentioned in Roman history.

CA. VIII. THROUGH ITALY. 259
and orchards, and behind it, towers the summit
of the Alban Mount once crowned with the temple
of Jupiter Latiaris. Thus Cicero, from his por
tico, enjoyed the noblest and most interesting
view that could be imagined to a Roman and a
Consul ; the temple of the tutelary divinity of the
empire, the seat of victory and of triumph, and
the theatre of his glorious labors, the capital of
the world, Rerum pulcherrima Roma ! *
Fir. Georg. ii. 534.
That Cicero's Tusculum was extensive, highly
finished, and richly adorned with columns, mar
bles, and statues, there can be no doubt, as he
had both the desire and the means of fitting it
up according to his own taste and the luxury of
the times. That all his villas were remarkable
for their beauty we may learn from one of his
epistles, where be calls them the brightest orna
ments or rather the very eyes of Italy, and it is
highly probable that Tusculum surpassed them
all in magnificence, as it was his favorite retreat,
owing to its proximity to Rome, which enabled
him to enjoy the leisure and liberty of solitude
without removing to too great a distance from

* Rome, the fairest and the noblest object that the world
can boast.

SCO CLASSICAL TOUR CA. VIII.
the business and engagements of the city. More
over, this villa had belonged to Sylla the Dictator
who was not inclined to spare any expense in its
embellishments, and it had been purchased by
Cicero at an enormous price, and by him en
larged and furnished with additional ornaments.
Among the statues we find, that his library was
adorned with those of the muses, and his academy
with an hermathena ; as he expresses a particular
partiality for pictures we may conclude that such
decorations were not wanting. Annexed to it
were a lyceum, a portico, a gymnasium, a pa
laestra, a library, and an academy for literary
discourses and philosophic declamations during
the winter; the thick groves which surrounded
it, afforded the orator and his learned friends a
cooler and more rural retreat during the heats
of summer. The scenes of several of his phi
losophical dialogues, as for instance, of that De
Divinatione, and of his Tusculan Questions, are
laid, as every reader knows, on this classic spot,
and their recollection connected with the memory
of our early years naturally increases the interest
and reverence with which we tread this sacred
ground*:

* I am well aware that some antiquaries of reputation
maintain that Cicero's villa was seated on the very ridge of
the mountain, and ground their opinion not only on some

CA. VIII. THROUGH ITALY. 261
Rura nemusque sacrum dilectaque jugera musis*.
The reader will probably expect a description
of the ruins of this villa, which Dr. Middleton
and Mr. Melmoth represent as still existing ; but
in opposition to such respectable authorities, I am
sorry to observe, that not even a trace of ruins is
now discoverable. The principal, perhaps, the
whole of the buildings, still stood at the end of
the tenth century, when St. Nilus a Greek monk
from Calabria 6xed himself on the spot, and after

Roman bricks inscribed with his name, found in that site,
but on the positive statement of an old commentator on
Horace. But in the first place, in the plunder of Cicero's
villa, which took place in consequence of his exile, the bricks
and materials might have been carried off as well as the
trees and plants themselves ; and in the second place the
name and age of the commentator, as well as the sources
of his information are all unknown, and consequently his au
thority cannot be very great. The statues which I have
mentioned above, of the muses and the hermathena, were
found at Grotta Ferrata, though the discovery of those
statues, or of any others, can afford but little strength to an
opinion, as such articles seldom remain very long in the same
place, and are so easily transferable. The principal argu
ment in favor of the common opinion is the constant tradi
tion of the country down to the begiuning of the eleventh
century, when as it is related by contemporary writers St.
Nilus erected his monastery on the ruins of Cicero's Tuscu-
lanum. The sacred grove,
The fields and meadows that the Muses love.

262 CLASSICAL TOUR CA, VIII.
having demolished what remained of the villa,
erected on its site, and probably with its materials,
his monastery, which in process of time became a
rich abbey, and as it was first founded, so it is
still inhabited by Greek monks of the order of
St. Basil. At each end of the portico is fixed in
the wall a fragment of basso relievo ; one repre
sents a philosopher sitting with a scroll in his
hand, in a thinking posture ; in the other, are four
figures supporting the feet of a fifth of a colossal
size supposed to represent Ajax. These, with the
beautiful pillars that support the church, are the
only remnants of the decorations and furniture of
the ancient villa. Corijiciant, says an inscription,
qua et quanta fuerint *.
The plane tree, which Cicero in the person of
Scaevola notices with so much complacency in
the introduction to the first book De Oratorej
still seems to love the soil, and blooms and flori-
rishes in peculiar perfection all around-}-. One in

* It may be guessed what they formerly were.
The church contains little remarkable excepting the
chapel of St. Nilus, painted by DominicMno in a masterly
style. The wall is separated into compartments, and in each
compartment is represented one of the principal actions of
the patron saint. The Demoniac boy near the altar, and St.
Nilus praying near the end of the chapel, are supposed to be
the two best.
f Me haec tua platanus admonuit, quae non minus ad

CA. VIII. THROUGH ITALY. 263
particular, bending over an abundant fountain,
spreads such a luxuriancy of foliage, and "forms
a shade so thick and impenetrable as would have
justified Plato's partiality and Scaevola's enco
miums. From Grotta Ferrata we proceeded to the hills
that hang over Frascati, the summit of which was
once crowned with Tusculum, whose elevation
and edifices of white stone made it a beautiful
and striking object in Roman landscape*, and
communicated its name to all the rural retreats

opacandum hunc locum patulis est diffusa ramis, quam ilia
cujus umbram secutus est Socrates, quae mihi videtur nou
tam ipsa aquula, quae describitur quam Platonis oratione
crevisse. — De Orat. i. 7.
" I have been put in mind of these matters by your
plane-tree, which overshadows this spot with its spreading
boughs, in the same manner as that, of whose shade Socrates
was so fond, which seems to me to have been so very flou
rishing rather in consequence of the declamation of Plato,
than of the little brook, of which a description is given."
The scene of these Dialogues is laid in Crassus's Tuscu-
lan villa, the same, if I mistake not, which was afterwards
Sylla's and then Cicero's.
* Superni villa candens Tusculi.
Hor. Ep. lib. iv. Od. i. 29.
The white villa of the elevated Tusculum.
Horace here appropriates to the villa of his friend a qua
lity, which it possessed in common with the town, and all
the great buildings in the same situation.

264 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. VIII.
(and there were many) in its neighborhood. This
town survived the hostilities of the barbarians,
and was doomed to fall in a civil contest by the
hands of the Romans themselves, about the year
1190. Its ruins remain scattered in long lines of
wall, and of shattered arches intermingled with
shrubs and bushes, over the summit and along
the sides of the mountain. The view is extensive
in every direction, but particularly interesting to
wards the north-east, where immediately under
the eye appear Monte Catone (the hill of Cato) and
the Praia Porcia (the Portian meadows) once the
property of Cato, whose family name they still
bear; farther on, the Lake Regillus well known
for the apparition of Castor and Pollux ; a little
towards the south, Mount Algidus, and the whole
Latin vale extended below ; Preneste seated on a
lofty eminence ; and Tibur embosomed in the dis
tant mountains.
The modern town of Frescati stands on the
side of the hill much lower down than the ancient
city, but yet in an elevated and airy situation. It
is surrounded with villas, many of which are of
great beauty and magnificence. Its interior con
tains nothing remarkable.
Tfie next day we bent our course southward.
The first object that struck us out of the gate was
the ancient tomb, called by the people the sepulchre
of the Horatii and Curiatii. This monument is

CA. VIII. THROUGH ITALY. 265
of great magnitude, and of a bold and striking
form. It was originally adorned with five obelisks ;
of which two only remain. A variety of shrubs
grow from its crevices, wave, in garlands round its
shattered pyramids, and hang in long wreaths to
the ground. The melancholy interest which such
an appearance awakens will be increased, when
the traveller learns that the venerable pile before
him may possibly cover the remains of Cneius
Pompeius, nobile nee victum fatis caput*. I say
possibly, and am willing to adopt this opinion,
which is not without authority; yet if it really
were true, as Plutarch relates, that Cornelia had
her husband's ashes conveyed to Italy, and deposited
in his Alban villa (which it is to be recollected had
been seized by Antony) how are we to explain the
indignant complaint of Lucan :
Tu quoque cum saevo dederas jam templa tyranno,
Nondum Pompeii cineres, O Roma, petisti
Exul adhuc jacet umbra ducis !f Lib. viii. 835.

* An hero whom even the fates could not subdue. —
Lucan, vii. 713.
t And thou, O Rome, by whose forgetful hand
Altars and temples, rear'd to tyrants, stand,
Canst thou neglect to call thy hero home,
And leave his ghost in banishment to roam ? Rome.

266 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. VIII.
We may at least infer that no such event had
taken place before Lucan's time, or that it was
then unknown, and of course that no mausoleum
had been raised on the occasion. If therefore this
monument be in honor of that celebrated Roman,
it must have been a mere cenotaph erected at a later
period. About a mile farther on at the end of a finely
shaded avenue stands Aricia, where Horace passed
the first night of his journey to Brnndusium.
Egressum magna me excepit Aricia Roma
Hospitio modico*  Lib. i. Sat. v. 1.
Whatever mode of travelling the poet employed,
whether he walked, rode, or drove, he could not
have fatigued himself with the length of his stages,
as that of the first day was only fourteen miles,
and those of the following days very nearly in the
same proportion. He has reason therefore to use
the word repimus (we crept). But of this classic
tour more perhaps hereafter.
The application of the modern article, and a
consequent mistake in the spelling very common
in the beginning of Italian names, has changed
the ancient appellation of this little town into La

* Leaving imperial Rome, my course I steer
To poor Aricia, and its mod'rate cheer. Francis.

CA.VIII. THROUGH ITALY. 967
Riccia. It is extremely well built and pretty, par
ticularly about the square which is adorned with
a handsome church on one side, and on the other,
with a palace or rather a villa. It stands on the
summit of a bill and is surrounded with groves
and gardens. Of the ancient town situated at the
foot of the same hill in the valley, there remain
only some arches, a circular edifice once perhaps
a temple, and a few scattered substructions. The
immense foundations of the Via Appia formed of
blocks of stone, rising from the old town up the
side of the hill, in general about twenty-four feet
in breadth aud sometimes almost sixty feet in ele
vation, are perhaps one of the most striking mo
numents that now remain of Roman enterprise
and workmanship. This ascent was called Clivus
Virbii* from Hippolytus, who assumed that name
when restored to life by Diana.
At Trivia Hippolitum secretis alma recondit
Sedibus et ny mphae Egeriae, nemorique relegat ;
Solus ubi in sylvis Italis ignobilis aevum
Exigeret, versoque ubi nomine Virbius esset \.
Virgil, Mn. vii. 774.

* This place is alluded to by Juvenal and Persius as
famous for beggtws, full as common and as troublesome in
ancient as in modern Italy. — Pers. Sat. vi. 55.
f But Trivia kept in secret shades alone
Her care, Hippolytus, to fate unknown, And

268 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. VIII.
About a mile farther, on an eminence stands a
church called Madonna di Galloro, a very pic
turesque object at a little distance ; and two miles
thence rises the town of Gensano, beautiful in its
regular streets, in its woody environs, and in the
neighboring lake of Nemi.
This lake derives its modern name from the
Nemus Diana (the grove of Diana), the sacred
groves that shaded its banks : like that of Albano
it occupies a deep hollow in the mountain, but it
is much inferior to it in extent, and fills only a
part of the amphitheatre formed by the crater.
The remaining part with the high banks is covered
with gardens and orchards well fenced and thickly
planted, forming an enchanting scene of fertility
and cultivation. The castle and the town of Nemi
stand on the eastern side, on a high rock hanging
over the water. The upper terrace of the Capucins
gives the best view. Opposite to it lies Gensano
stretched along a wooded bank, shelving gently to
the verge of the lake ; behind rises Monte Giove
{Mons Jovis, the hill of Jupiter) and beyond extend
the plains and woods that border the sea shore :
towards the south-east rises the Monte Artemisio
(the hill of Diana), derived as every reader knows

And call'd him Virbius in th' Egerian grove,
Where there he liv'd obscure, but safe from Jove. Dryden.

CA. VIII. THROUGH ITALY. 2G9
from Diana, whose temple anciently formed a con
spicuous feature in the scenery and the history of
this territory. Diana was a divinity of mixed
character, more inclined however to cruelty than to
tenderness ; and though she delighted principally
in the slaughter of wild beasts, yet she now and
then betrayed a latent partiality for human victims.
Hence, though Roman manners would not allow
the goddess to indulge her taste freely, yet she
contrived by the mode established in the appoint
ment of her priests to catch an occasional repast.
That mode was singular. The priest was always
a fugitive, perhaps an outlaw or a criminal ; he
obtained the honor by attacking and slaying his
predecessor, and kept it by the same tenure, that
is, till another ruffian stronger or more active dis
possessed him in the same manner.
Regna tenent manibus fortes, pedibusque fugaces
Et perit exemplo postmodo quisque suo *.
Ovid. Fast. iii. 271.
This priest enjoyed the title of Rex Nemorensis
and always appeared in public brandishing a drawn
sword, in order to repel a sudden attack. Yet

' The valiant by their courage reign,
The fugitives by swiftness gain
Their honors brief; by turns they die,
Each by the precedent themselves supply.

270 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. VIII.
such a cruel goddess and such a bloody priest seem
ill placed in a scene so soft and so lovely, destined
by nature for the abode of health and pleasure,
for the haunt of Fauns and Dryads, with all the
sportive band of rural divinities.
The fable of the restoration of Hippolytus and
his concealment in this forest is much better
adapted to its scenery :
Vallis Aricinae sylva procinctus opaca
Est lacus antiqua religione sacer,
Hic latet Hippolytus,- furiis direptus equorum*.
Ovid. Fast. iii. 263.
From the base of the rock on which the town
of Nemi stands, gushes the fountain of Egeria ¦jr

* Deep in Aricia's vale, and girt around
With shady woods, a sacred lake is found ;
Here Theseus' son in safe concealment lay,
When hurried by the madd'ning steeds away . . .
t I need not remind the reader of the transformation of
the nymph into this very fountain, and Ovid's pretty account
ofit. Montisque jacens radicibus imis
Liquitur in lacrumas — donee pietate dolentis
Mota soror Phcebi, gelidum de corpore fontem
Fecit et aeternas artus tenuavit in undas. Ovid. Met. xv. 548.
There at the mountain's base, all drown'd in tears
She lay — till chaste Diana on her woe

CA. VIII. THROUGH ITALY. 271
(for this nymph had a fountain and a grove here
as well as at Rome) alluded to by Ovid in the
following verses j
Defluit incerto lapidosus murmure rivus
Saepe sed exiguls haustibus inde bibes :
Egeria est quae praebet aquas, Dea grata Cameenis
Ille Numae conjux, consiliumque fuit*.
Ovid. Fast. iii. 273.
The fountain is abundant and is one of the sources
of the lake. The woods still remain and give
the whole scene an inexpressible freshness and
beauty in the eye of a traveller fainting under the
heat of July, and panting for the coolness of the
forest. The Roman emperors delighted as may na
turally be supposed in tbis delicious spot, and
Trajan in particular, who erected in the centre of
the lake a palace (for it can scarce be called a ship)
of very singular form and construction. This
edifice was more than five hundred feet in length,
about two hundred and seventy in breadth, and

Compassion took ; her alter'd form became
A limpid fount; her beauteous limbs dissolv'd,
And in perennial waters melt away.
* O'er their rough bed hoarse-murmuring waters move ;
A pure, but scanty draught is there supplied ;
Egeria's fount — whom all the Muses love,
Sage Numa's counsellor, his friend, and bride.

S72 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. VIII.
sixty in height, or perhaps more correctly in depth.
It was built of the most solid wood fastened with
brass and iron nails, and covered with plates of
, lead which were double in places exposed to the
action of the water. Within, it was lined and
paved with marble, or a composition resembling
marble ; its ceilings were supported by beams of
brass ; and the whole was adorned arid fitted up
in a style truly imperial. It was supplied by pipes
with abundance of the purest water from the foun
tain of Egeria, not only for the use of the table,
but even for the ornament of the courts and apart
ments. This wonderful vessel was moored in the
centre of the lake, which thus encircled it like a
wide moat round a Gothic, I might almost say, an
enchanted castle ; and to prevent the swelling of
the water an outlet was opened through the moun
tain like that of the Alban Lake, of less magnifi
cence indeed, but of greater length. On the borders
of the lake various walks were traced out, and
alleys opened,- not only as beautiful accompani
ments to the edifice, but as accommodations for
the curious who might flock to see such a singu
larly splendid exhibition.
When this watery palace sunk we know not,
but it is probable that it was neglected, and had
disappeared before the invasion of the barbarians,
as may be conjectured from the quantity of brass
that remained in it according to the account of

CA.VIII. THROUGH ITALY. 273
Marchi, a learned and ingenious Roman, who in
the year 1535 descended in a diving machine, and
made such observations as enabled him to give a
long and satisfactory description, from whence
the particulars stated above have been extracted*.
It is much to be lamented, that some method has
not been taken to raise this singular fabric, as it
would probably contribute from its structure and
furniture to give us a much greater insight into
the state of the arts at that period than any rem
nant of antiquity which has hitherto been dis
covered. The traveller returning may wind through the
delightful woods that flourish between the two
lakes and enter Albano by the abbey of S. Paolo,
or rather by the fine avenue of Castle Gandolfo.
On the following day we ascended the highest
pinnacle of the Alban Mount. The road which
we took (for there are several) leads along the
Alban Lake, and climbs up the declivity to a little
town or rather village called Rocca del Papa (the
Pope's fortress). Above that village extends a
plain called Campo d1 Annibale (the plain of An
nibal), because that general is said, I know not
upon what authority, to have been encamped there
for some days. The hollow sweep formed in the

See Brotier's Tacitus, Supp. App. and Notes on Trajaji.
VOL. II. T

274 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. VIII.
mountain beyond this plain has given it its modern
appellation of Monte Cavo (the hollow mountain).
Above this plain we proceeded through the woods
that clothe the upper region of the mountain,
" Albani tumuli atque luci " (the Alban hills and
groves), and sometimes on the ancient pavement
of the Via Triumphalis (the Triumphal Way) that
led to its summit, From this grove came the
Voice that commanded the continuation of the
Alban rites ; and on this summit stood the temple
of Jupiter Latiaris, where ali the Latin tribes with
the Romans at their head used to assemble once
a year, and offer common sacrifice to the tutelar
deity of the nation. Hither the Roman generals
were wont to repair at the head of their armies
after a triumph ; and here in the midst of military
pomp and splendor they presented their grateful
acknowledgments to the Latin Jupiter. To this
temple Cicero turned his eyes and raised his hand,
when he burst forth in that noble apostrophe,
" Tuque ex tuo edito Monte Latiaris Sancte Jupiter
cujus ille lacus nemora jinesque,n &c* We may
safely conclude that a temple of such repute and
such importance must have been magnificent ; and

* And thou, holy Latian Jupiter, who presidest over the
lake, the grove, and the whole territory, from thy lofty Mil,
&c— Cic. pro. Milon. 31.

CA. VIII. THROUGH ITALY. 275
accordingly we find that Augustus appointed a re
gular corps of troops to guard it and its treasures.
The effect of this superb edifice raised on such a
lofty pedestal, and to\vering above the sacred
groves, must have been unusually grand, not only
in the towns and villages at the foot of the moun
tain, but in Rome itself, and over all the sur
rounding country. The view, as may be supposed,
is extensive and varied, taking in the two lakes
with all the towns around them, and in the various
recesses of the mountain ; the hills and town of
Tusculum, Mount Algidus, and the Alban Vale ;
the Campagna, with Soracte and Rome ; the sea
coast, with Ostia, Antium, Nettuno ; the woods
and plains that border the coast, and the island of
Pontia (the prison of so many illustrious exiles)
rising like a mist out of the waters.
But the most interesting object by far in this
prospect is the truly classic plairt expanded im
mediately below, the theatre of the last six books
of the Eneid, and once adorned with Ardea, La-
vinium, and Laurentam. The forest in which
Virgil laid the scene of the achievements and of
the fall of the two youthful heroes Euryalus and
Nisus ; the Tiber winding through the plain, and
the groves that shade its bariks and delighted the
Trojan hero on his arrival ; all these are displayed
clear and distinct beneath the traveller, who while
seated on the substructions of the temple, may

276 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. VIII.
consider them at leisure and compare them with
the description of the poet. The Alban Mount
is, indeed, in the Eneid what MountJda is in the
Iliad, the commanding station whence the super
intending divinities contemplated the armies, the
city, the camp, and all the motions and vicissitudes
of the war.
At Juno ex summo qui nunc Albanus habetur
(Tunc neque nomen erat neque honos aut gloria monti)
Prospiciens tumulo, campum spectabat et ambas
Laurentum Trotimque acies, urbemque Latini*- /En. xii. 134.
Of the temple nothing remains but parts of the'
foundations, too insignificant to enable the observer
to form any conjecture of the extent or form of
the superstructure. The ground is now occupied
by.a church and a convent, remarkable for nothing
but the situation ; but it is highly probable that
some vestiges of, the temple, some pillars or frag
ments of pillars, of friezes and cornices might with
very little trouble be discovered ; and the capital

* Meantime the Queen of Heav'n beheld the sight
With eyes unpleas'd, from Mount Albano's height :
(Since call'd Albano by succeeding fame,
But then an empty hill, without a name.)
She thence survey'd the field, the Trojan pow'rs,
The Latian squadrons, and Laurentine tow'rs. Dryden.

CA. VIII. THROUGH ITALY. 277
of one pillar would be sufficient to fix the elevation
of the whole structure.
The air on the Alban and Tusculan hills is
always pure and wholesome ; the soil is extremely
fertile, and in some places, remarkable as it was
anciently for excellent wine. The best now bears
the name, as it grows in the neighborhood, of
Gensano, anciently Cynthianum. ANTIUM.
As Albano is not above ten miles distant from
the coast, we took an opportunity of making an
excursion thither and visiting Antium, the capital
of the Volsci, often mentioned in Roman annals.
The road to it runs along the Alban hills, then
over the Campagna, and through a forest border
ing the sea coast for many miles. It contains
some very fine trees, though the far greater part
were cut down and sold to the French some time
before the revolution. The fall of so much wood,
though at the distance of thirty miles from Rome,
is said to have affected the air of that city, by ex
posing it to the winds that blow from the marshes
on the shore, and thus rendered some of the hills
formerly remarkably salubrious, now subject to
agues and fevers. The wood consists of young oak,
ilex, myrtle, and box, and is peculiarly refreshing,
not by its shade only but by. the perfumes that

278 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. VIII.
exhale on all sides frqm its odoriferous shruhs.
This pleasure however is considerably diminished
by the apprehension of robbers ; an apprehension
not altogether ill-grounded, as all the criminals
who escape from Rome and its neighborhood
betake themselves to this forest, and lurk for years
in its recesses. Its extent is great, as with little
interruption it runs along the coast sometimes
five, sometimes ten miles in breadth, from the
mouth of the Tiber to Circe's promontory. The
ground it covers is low and occasionally swampy.
Antium was once a considerable port, im
proved, augmented, and embellished by Nero, and
much resorted to by the higher classes of the
Romans who adorned it with many magnificent
villas; it was however more remarkable for the
Temple of Fortune alluded to by Horace, and
for a long time in high celebrity*. Of this tem
ple, and of the structures raised by Nero, nothing
now remains but subterraneous arches and vast
foundations. The port has been repaired and
fortified by some of the late pontiffs, but though
capable of admitting large vessels it is totally

* O Diva gratum quae regis Antium. Lib. i. Od. xxxv.
Goddess, whom Antium, beauteous town, obeys. Francis.

CA. VIII. THROUGH ITALY. '279
unfrequented*. A few straggling houses alone
remain of the town, though some handsome
villas shew that the beauty and coolness of the
situation deserve more attention and a better fatcf

* The town of Nettuno, near Antium, seems to be the
remains of its ancient port.
t There is no inn at Nettuno, and we sat down to a cold
repast under the shade of a spreading ilex near the sea ; in
the mean time we sent a servant to the town to procure lodg
ings for the night, which was approaching. He returned
very soon, and having fortunately met Mr. Fagan, a gentle
man to whom most English travellers who were at Rome
about the same period have to acknowledge obligations,
brought from him a present of two flaggons of excellent Albano
wine, and at the same time an assurance that lodgings should
be provided for us without delay. After having enjoyed the
coolness of the evening on the beach we proceeded to the
town, and were conducted first to the shop, and then to the
house of an hospitable apothecary. The house was large,
and appeared in some parts totally uninhabited ; but there
were two rooms, one of which was very spacious, fitted up
with tolerable convenience, considering the climate and the
customs of the country. Into these we were introduced. The
supper was served up late : it was abundant, and though
cooked in the Italian style, to which we were not partial,
supplied a very good meal to persons not absurdly fastidious.
The master and mistress of the house now made their ap
pearance, and were prevailed upon with great difficulty to sit
down. Their behaviour was easy, unaffected, I might
almost say, graceful. They were very young, and both of
expressive and animated countenances ; the woman was
beautiful, and united, as the younger part of the sex are sup
posed to do in Antium and its vicinity, the dark eyes and air
of the country with the freshness and the bloom of more

280 CLASSICAL TOUR CA, VIII.
Antium, situated on the point of a little promon
tory, sheltered by woods behind and washed by
the sea before, and commanding an extensive view
of the Roman coast to Ostia and the mouth of
the Tiber on one side, and to Astura and Circe's
promdntory on the other, might attract the eye of
a man of taste and opulence.
Astura is an island and promontory about six
miles by sea from Antium; it once belonged to
Cicero, and seems to have been a favorite retreat ;
he hastened to it from his Tusculan villa with his
brother on receiving intelligence of the proscrip
tion, and sailed from it to his Formian. He
passed a considerable part of his time here while
mourning the death of his daughter Tullia, and

northern regions. One of the party noticed their youth, and
hinted some surprise at an union which appeared almost
premature : upon which the husband gave iis their history ;
spoke of the intimacy of their respective parents ; of their
own early and fond attachment ; of the opposition of their
families on account of their youth ; of their clandestine mar
riage, and of the misery occasioned by the resentment of
their fathers. He added, that the latter had at length re
lented, and had received them a few weeks before with all
the indulgence of tender and affectionate parents ; and that
as God had also blessed their industry, they now hoped to
pass a long and happy life in each other's embraces. This
interesting narrative was given with the utmost frankness, and
at the same time with great feeling ; and was not a little im
proved by the fond and approving smiles which the young
lady cast occasionally at her husband.

CA.VI1I. THROUGH ITALY. 281
seems to have fixed upon it as the site of the
temple which he had resolved to erect to her
memory. " Est hic" says he, " quidem locus
amcemts et in rnari ipso, qui et Antio et Circais aspici
possit*" and expresses a wish to secure that mo
nument of his parental tenderness against the
consequences of a change of proprietors, and the
vicissitudes of all succeeding ages. Fond wishes !
vain precautions ! Wherever the intended tem
ple may have been erected it has long since dis
appeared, without leaving a single vestige behind
to enable even the inquisitive traveller to trace
its existence. Some doubt indeed may be en
tertained about its erection : though as Cicero had
seen and approved a plan, and even authorized
Atticus to enter into an agreement with a Chian
artist for the pillars, it is highly probable that it
was erected ; and if we may judge from the ex
pression above quoted, at Astura, where I have
no doubt some remains might if properly sought
for, be discovered.
The next day we again amused ourselves in
ranging through the groves that overshadow the
ruins of Pompey's villa, and the woods that border

* This is indeed a pleasant spot, in the very midst of the
sea, and can be seen both from Antium and Circaeii. — Ad.
Att. xii. 19.

282 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. VIII.
the lakes, and flourish . in the middle regions of
the mountain.

OSTIA.
A few days after our return to Rome, we deter
mined to visit Ostia, once the port of that capital,
and great mart of the Mediterranean. It is fifteen
miles from it ; the road at first runs through two
ridges of hills, and afterwards over a fertile plain
bounded by the same ridges, and forming a sort
of wide verdant amphitheatre, intersected by the
Tiber. The face of the country the whole way is
fertile and green, and varied by several gentle
swells, but deficient in wood, and consequently
in beauty. The sea coast, however, even at the
distance of four or five miles, is bordered with a
wood of ilex, and various shrubs intermixed with
large trees, and entangled with underwood, forming
a forest which lies, poetically speaking, oear the
spot where the unfortunate Euryalus bewildered
himself; it accurately answers the description of
it given by Virgil.
Sylva fuit late dumis atque ilice nigra
Horrida, quam densi complerant undique sentes ;
Rara per occultos lucebat semita calles.
Euryalum tenebrae ramorum onerosaque praeda
Impediunt, fallitque timor regione viarum :
Nisus abit ; jamque imprudans evaserat hostes

CA. VIII. THROUGH ITALY. 283
Atque lacus qui post Alba: de nomine dicti
Albani; tum rex stabula alta Latinus habebat*. Lib. ix. 381.
I have said poetically speaking, as it will appear
to the most negligent reader that Virgil did not
mean to adhere to the letter in his topographical
descriptions ; otherwise we shall be reduced to
the necessity of supposing, that in the space of a
few minutes, or of an hour at the utmost, Nisus
left his friend not far from the camp on the banks
of the Tiber, reached the Alban hill and lake
fifteen miles off, and returned back again.
In this forest are several large shallow pools,
whose stagnant waters are supposed to infect the
air, and contribute not a little to its unwhole-
someness. The Tiber is rapid and muddy; its
banks are shaded with a variety of shrubs and
flowery plants, and are perhaps beautiful enough
to justify the description of Virgil :

* Black was the forest, thick with beech it stood ;
Horrid with fern, and intricate with thorn ;
Few paths of human feet or tracks of beasts were worn.
The darkness of the shades, bis heavy prey,
And fear, misled the younger from his way.
But Nisus hit the turns with happier haste,
And thoughtless of his friend, the forest pass'd,
And Alban plains, from Alba's name so call'd,
Where King Latinus then his oxen stall'd. Dryden.

284 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. VIII.
Atque hic ./Eneas ingentem ex aequore lucum
Prospicit. Hunc inter fluvio Tiberinus amaeno
' Vorticibus rapidis et multa fiavus arena
In mare prorumpit. Variae circumque supraque
Adsuetae ripis volucres, er fluminis alveo
iEthera mulcebant cantu, lucoque volabant *.
JEn. vii. S3.
The stream, though divided into branches, is yet
considerable. The southern branch into which
^Eneas entered is not navigable.
Laevus inaccessis fluvius vitatur arenis
Hospitis iEnece gloria solamanetf. Rutil.
The largest is called Fiumecino: on its northern
bank stands Porto, the ancient Portus Romanus,
projected by Julius Caesar, begun by Augustus,
finished by Claudius, and repaired by Trajan.

* The Trojan from the main beheld a wood,
Which thick with shades and a brown horror stood :
Betwixt the trees the Tiber took his course,
With whirlpools dimpled ; and with downward force
That drove the sand along, he took his way,
And roll'd his yellow billows to the sea.
About him, and above, and round the wood,
The birds that haunt the borders of his flood,
That bath'd within, or bask'd upon his side,
To tuneful songs their narrow throats applied. Dryden.
t Though sands obstruct the southern stream, its fame
Still lives, ennobled by ^Eneas' name.

CA. Vin. THROUGH ITALY. 285
To form a solid foundation for part of the mole,
Claudius ordered the ship, or raft, constructed
under his predecessor Caligula, in order to convey
the Vatican obelisk from Egypt to Rome, to be
sunk. Such was its vast bulk, that it occupied
nearly one side of the port. Of this port, scarce
a trace remains : the town is insignificant, though
a bishopric. The island formed by the two
branches of the river was called Insula Sacra.
The present town of Ostia is a miserable for
tified village, containing scarcely fifty sickly in
habitants. Such is the badness of the air, real
or supposed, that none but malefactors and ban
ditti will inhabit it. The ancient town lay nearer
the sea, as appears by the inside or brick walls
of some temples, vaults or baths, mosaics, &c.
Excavations have been made, and statues, pillars,
and the most precious marbles found in abun
dance, and many more will probably be discovered
if the excavations be continued. One of the party,
while looking for pieces of marble amidst the
heaps of rubbish found a small Torso of the
Venus of Medicis, about four inches in length.
It was white and fresh, as if just come from the
hands of the artist. This town was anciently of
considerable size and importance. It seems to
have been three or four miles in circumference,
and the residence of opulence and luxury, if we
may judge by the number of temples and aque-

286 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. VIII.
ducts (one of which lines the road from Rome)
and by the rich materials found among its rains.
From the account which I have given of the
country bordering on the coast, it will be foririd
to present nearly the same features as in the time
of Pliny, who thus describes the view along the
road that crossed it in one of his letters ; —
"• Varia hinc et inde fades. Nam modo occurrentihus
sylvis via coarctatur, modo lafissimis pratis diffun-
ditur et patescit : multi greges ovium, multa ibi
equorurfa boumque armenta *." This appearance of
the country extends all along the coast, and even
over the Pomptine marshes.
Laurentum, the superb capital,
 turres et tecta LatiiH.
Ardua f,
stood on the coast, about six miles from Ostia,
on the spot now occupied by a village, or rather
a solitary tower, called Paterno. No vestiges
remain of its former magnificence, excepting an
aqueduct; a circumstance not surprising, as it

* Its appearance is different in different directions. For
sometimes the road is confined by meeting woods, some
times it spreads out into meadows of wide extent : many
flocks of sheep are there met with, many herds of oxen, and
droves of horses.-^Lib. 2. Epist. 17.
t The towers and lofty palaces of Latinus.

CA. VIII. THROUGH ITALY. 287
probably owed all that magnificence to the ima-
gination of the poet. A little higher up, and
nearer the Alban hilU, rises Prattica, the old
Laoinium. Between these towns flows, from the
Lacus Twni (the lake of Turnus), a streamlet
that still bears the hero's name, and is called
Rho di Term. Ardea, the capilsd of the Ruti-
lians, is still farther on, on the banks of the
Numkus. The forest around was called the Lau-
rentia Sylva (the Laurentian wood), as also Lau-
rentia Palus (the Laurentian marsh), from the
many pools interspersed about it, as I have al
ready remarked, and then as now, the resort
of swine, though that breed seems considerably
diminished. Ac veluti ille canum morsu de montibus altis
Actus aper, multos Vesulus quem pinifer annos
Defendit, multosque palus Laurentia sylva
Pastus arundinea *. /En . x.
The whole of this coast, now so lonely and
abandoned, was anciently covered with seats, re
sembling villages, or rather little towns forming
an almost uninterrupted line along the shore,

* And as a boar, upon the mountains bred
Of Vesulus, and fatten'd many a year
In wide Laurentum's reed-envelop'd marsh,
At length driv'n downward from his native hills
By sharp-tooth'd dogs, &c.

288 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. VIII.
and covering it with life, animation, and beauty.
" Littus ornant varietate gratissima, nunc continua,
nunc intermissa tecta villarum qua prastant mul-
tarum urbium faciem*" says Pliny in the letter
already cited. It seems even to have been con
sidered as healthy, for Herodian informs us that
during the plague which ravaged Rome and the
empire under Commodus, the Emperor retired
to Laurentum, as the sea air, perfumed by the
odor of the numerons laurels that flourished
along the coast, was considered as a powerful
antidote against the effects of the pestilential
vapors -f\

* Villas, superior to many cities in appearance, adorn
the shore with a delightful variety, sometimes in a continued,
sometimes in a broken line.

f Herodian, lib. i. cap. 12.

CA. IX. THROUGH ITALY. 289

CHAP. IX.

Journey to Naples — Velletri — Pomptine Marshes-^-
Feronia — Terracina, Anxur — Fondi and its Lake
— Mount Cacubus —Gaieta — Cicero's Villa and
Tomb — Liris — Mount Massicus — Falernus Ager
— Naples.
Shortly after our return from the coast, we pre
pared for our journey to Naples, and set out ac
cordingly on Friday the twenty-seventh of May,
about three o'clock in the afternoon. The clouds
had been gathering the whole morning, and we
had scarcely time to pass the Porta Capena, when
the storm burst over us with tremendous fury ; it
was the first we had experienced in Italy, and
remarkable for the livid glare of the lightning,
and the sudden and rapid peals of thunder, re
sembling the explosion of artillery. The re-echo
from the mountains round, gradually losing itself
in the Apennines, added much to the grand effect.
On the Campagna there was no shelter; our
drivers therefore only hastened their pace, and
whirled us along with amazing rapidity. How
ever, the storm was as short as it was violent ; :
it had diminished when we reached the stage
vol. n. u

290 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. IX.
called the Torre de Mezzavia, anciently Ad Mediam
(Half-way), and after changing horses, we drove
on to, Albano. From Albano the road winds at
present, or at least winded when we passed it,
round the beautiful little valley of Aricia, formed
by some of the lower ramifications of the Alban
Mount, and presented on the left a fine view of
Albano, Aricia, Galaura, Monte Giove, Gensano,
all gilded by the rays of the sun, just then bursting
from the skirts of the storm, and taking his fare
well sweet. These glowing tints were set off to
great advantage by the dark back ground, formed
by the groves and evergreen forests that clothe
the higher regions of the mountain. Night shortly
after closed upon us, and deprived us of several
interesting views which we might have enjoyed
from the lofty situation of the road, that still
continued to run along the side of the hill.
Among other objects, we lost on our left the view
of Lavinia, anciently Lanuvium, so often men
tioned by Cicero as connected with Milo*, and
alluded to by Horace as infested by wolves ^
We arrived about twelve o'clock at Velktri,an
ancient town of the Volsci, that still retains its

* Cic. Pro. Mil.
t  ab agro
Rava decurrens lupa Lanuvino. Lib. iii. Od. 27. 2.
Or wolf from steep Lanuvian rocks. Francis.

CA. IX. THROUGH ITALY. 291
former name and consideration. It became a
Roman colony at a very early period, and was the
seat of the Octavian family and the birth-place of
Augustus. Though it contains some considerable
edifices, particularly palaces, yet it appears ill built
and gloomy. Its situation however is very fine.
Plaeed on the southern extremity of the Alban
hills, it commands on one side,- over a deep valley,
a view of Cora and the Volscian mountains ; and
on the other, of a fertile plain, late the Pomptirie
marshes, bounded by the sea and Circe's promon
tory. The country through the two next stages is
extremely green and fertile, presenting rich mea
dows adorned with forest scenery whose mild beau
ties form a striking contrast with the harsh features
of the bordering mountains. The village of Cis-
terna, probably on the site of the Tres Taberna, is
lively and pleasing. At Torre de tre Ponti, the
ancient Tripuntium, several military stones, columns,
&c. dug up on the Appian road when repaired by
the late Pope, will attract the attention of the tra
veller. Near it stood Forum Appii, built at the time
the road was made, and inhabited by innkeepers
and the boatmen who plied on the canal that
crossed the marshes *.

* Differtum nautis, cauponibus atque malignis.
Hor. Lib. i. Sat. v. 4.
 a place
Stuff 'd with rank boatmen, and with vintners base. Francis.

292 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. IX.
Here commence the famous Pomptine marshes,
and at the same time the excellent road formed
through them on the substructions of the Appian
by the same pontiff. This road runs on an exact
level, and in a straight line for thirty miles. . It is
bordered on both sides by a canal, and shaded by
double rows of elms and poplars. It is crossed
by two rivers, the Ufens and the Amasenus, which
still retain their ancient appellations, and remind
the traveller of some beautiful descriptions, and
particularly of the affecting adventure of Metabus,
so well told by Virgil.
The Pomptina Paludes (Pomptine Marshes),
derive their appellation from Pometium, a con
siderable town of the Volsci. Though this city
was so opulent as to enable Tarquin to build the
Capitol with its plunder, yet it had totally dis
appeared even before the time of Pliny. It is
difficult to discover the precise date of the origin
of these marshes. Homer, and after him Virgil,
represent the abode of Circe as an island, and
Pliny alluding to Homer quotes this opinion, and
confirms it by the testimony of Theophrastus,
who, in the year of Rome 440, gives this island a
circumference of 'eighty stadia or about ten miles.
It is not improbable that this vast plain, even now
so little raised above the level of the sea, may,
like the territory of Ravenna on the eastern coast,
have once been covered by the waves. Whatever

CA. IX. THROUGH ITALY. 29S
may have been its state in fabulous times, the
same Pliny relates, on the authority of a more
ancient Latin writer, that at an early period of the
Roman republic, the tract of country afterwards
included in the marshes contained thirty-three
cities, -all of which gradually disappeared before
the ravages of war, or the still more destructive
influence of the increasing fens. These fens are
occasioned by the quantity of water carried into
the plain by numberless streams that rise at the
foot of the neighboring mountains, and for want
of sufficient declivity creep sluggishly over the
level space, and sometimes stagnate in pools, or
lose themselves in the sands. The principal of
these streams are, the Astura, the Nymfa, the
Teppia, the Aqua Puzza, in the upper ; and the
Amasenus and Ufens in the lower marshes*. The
pools or lakes line the coast, and extend from the
neighborhood of the mouth of the Astura to the
promontory of Circe. The flat and swampy tract
spread from these lakes to the foot of the Volscian
mountains, and covered an extent of eight miles

* Qua Saturae jacet atra palus, gelidusque per imas
Quaerit iter valles, atque in mare conditur Ufens.
Virg. Mn. vii. 801,
Where Ufens glides along the lowly lands,
Or the black water of Pomptina stands. Dryden. ¦

294 CLASSICAL TOUR Ch. IX.
in breadth and thirty in length, with mud and in
fection. The loss of so much fertile land, and
the exhalations arising from such a vast tract of
swamp, carried, not unfrequently to the Capital
itself by southerly winds, must have attracted the
attention of a people so active and industrious as
the ancient Romans.
Appius Claudius about three hundred years
before the Christian era, when employed in carry
ing his celebrated road across these marshes, made
the first attempt to drain them, and his example
was, at long intervals, followed by various consuls,
emperors, and kings, down to the GotbicTheodoric
inclusively. The wars that followed the death of
this prince, the devastation of Italy, and the weak
ness and unsettled state of the Roman government,
withdrew its attention from cultivation and left
the waters of the Paludes (Marshes) to their na
tural operation. The Popes, however, when their
sovereignty was established and their attention
no longer distracted by the piratical visits ofi
distant or the inroads of neighboring barbarians,
turned their thoughts to the amelioration of the
inundated territory ; and we find accordingly that
from Boniface VIII. down to the late pontiff
Pius VI. no less than fifteen Popes have attempted
this grand undertaking. Most of these efforts
were attended with partial, none with full success.
Whether the failure is to be ascribed to the defi-

CA. IX. THROUGH ITALY. 295
ciency of the means employed at the beginning,
or to the neglect of repairs and the want of con
tinual attention afterwards, it is difficult to deter
mine; though considering the skill and opulence
of the Romans, it is more natural to attribute the
defect either to the nature of the evil in itself
irremediable, or to the distracting circumstances
of the intervening times.
Of the methods employed by Appius, and af
terwards by the consul Cethegus, we know little ;
though not the road only, but the traces of certain
channels dug to draw the water from it, and
mounds raised to protect it from sudden swells of
water, are traditionally ascribed to the former.
Julius Caesar is said to have revolved in his mighty
mind a design worthy of himself, of turning the
course of the Tiber from Ostia, and carrying it
through the Pomptine territory and marshes to
the sea at Terracina. This grand project which
existed only in the mind of the dictator perished
with him, and gave way to the more moderate
but more practicable plan of Augustus, who en
deavoured to carry off the superfluous waters by
opening a canal all along the Via Appia from
Forum Appii to the grove of Feronia. It was
customary to embark on this canal at night time,
as Strabo relates and Horace practised * ; because
* Horace embarked in the evening, and arrived at Fero-

296 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. IX.
the vapours that arise from the swamps are less
noxious during the coolness of the night than in
the heat of the day. Many of the inconveniences
of the marshes still continued to be felt, as appears
from Horace's complaints*, and from the epithet
applied by Lucan to the Via Appia.
Et qua Pomptinas Via dividit Uda paludes f.
Lib. iii. 85.
However the canal opened by Augustus still re
mains, and is called the Cavata.
The luxury and the improvident policy of the
immediate successors of Augustus, and the civil
wars that raged under Galba, Otho, Vitellius, and
Vespasian, diverted their attention from works of
peace and improvement ; so that the marshes had
again increased and the waters swelled, so as to

nia about ten o'clock next morning; having travelled about
seven-and-twenty miles in sixteen hours. The muleteer
seems to have been as slow and as sleepy as modern German
drivers. * Aqua . . . teterrima ....
maii culices, ranaeque palustres.
Lib. i. Sat. v. 7—14.
The water here was of so foul a stream ....
The fenny frogs with croakings hoarse and deep,.
And gnats, loud buzzing. Francis.
t Where the wet road the Pomptine marsh divides.

CA. IX. THROUGH ITALY. 297
render the Via Appia nearly impassable*. At
length Nerva resumed the task, and his glorious
successor Trajan carried it on during ten years
and with so much activity that the whole extent
of country from Treponti to Terracina was drained,
and the Via Appia completely restored, in the
third consulate of that emperor. This event is
commemorated in three inscriptions, one of which
may be seen on a marble slab at the village of
Treponti; another more explicit was found near
the forty-second mile stone on the Via Appia ; and
the third exists on a stone in one of the angles of
the wall of the cathedral at Terracina. During the
convulsions of the following centuries the marshes
were again overflowed, and again drained by Ceci-
lius Decius in the reign of Theodoric. The com-

* Silius Italicus, who flourished in this interval, appears
to have given an accurate description of them as they were
in his time, though he is speaking of the age of Annibal :
Et quos pestifera Pomptini uligine campi ;
Qua Saturae nebulosa palus restagnat, et atro
Liventes caeno per squalida turbidus arva
Cogit aquas Ufens atque inficit aequora Iimo.
SU. Ital. lib. viii. 379.
The youth, that till th' unwholesome Pomptine lands,
Where Satura's marsh, with vapours crested, stands,
And through the squalid plains his turbid flood
Black Ufens rolls, and dyes the sea with mud.

298 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. IX.
mencement of this work is announced in an epistle
drawn up in the declamatory style of the times,
and addressed by the Gothic prince to the senate.
Its success is stated in another to Decius, contain
ing a grant of the lands drained by him free from
taxes for ever.
Of the different popes who have revived this
useful enterprise, Boniface II., Martin V., and
Sixtus Quintus carried it on with a vigor adequate
to its importance, and with a magnificence worthy
of the ancient Romans. But the short reigns of
these benevolent and enterprising sovereigns did
not permit them to accomplish their grand designs;
and their successors of less genius or loss activity
contented themselves with issuing briefs and im
posing obligations on the communities and pro
prietors to support and repair the drains. The
glory of finally terminating this grand undertaking,
so often attempted and so often frustrated, was
reserved for the late pontiff Pius VI. who imme
diately on his elevation to the papal throne turned
his attention to the Pomptine marshes. The level
was taken with precision, the depth of the different
canals and outjets sounded, the degree of declivity
in the beds of the rivers ascertained, and at length
the work was begun in the year 1778. It was
carried on with incredible ardor and vast expense
for the space of ten years ; and at length it was
crowned with complete success and closed in the

CA. IX. THROUGH ITALY. 299
year 1788. The impartial reader will readily ac
knowledge, that much praise is due to the pontiff,
who in spite of every difficulty (and many occurred
not only from the nature of the work, but from
the petty interests, intrigues, and manoeuvres of
the parties concerned) had the courage to com
mence, and the perseverance to complete, an un
dertaking of such magnitude. The unproductive
marsh forced to bear the plough and maintain the
neighboring cities ; the river restrained from inun
dations and taught a better course, are considered
by Horace* as the most glorious of Augustus's
achievements, and with reason, if glory be the
result of utility. Yet Augustus had the immense
resources of the Roman empire at his command ;
he had idle legions to employ instead of laborers,
and bis success was partial only and temporary.
In truth the draining of the Pomptine marshes is
one of the most useful as well as most difficult
works ever executed, and reflects more lustre on
the reign of Pius VI. than the dome of the Vatican,
all glorioias as it is, can confer on the memory of
Sixtus Quintus-f\

" Art. Poet. 64—68.
t It is fortunate for the pope, and indeed for catholics
in general, that there is such clear and frequent mention of
the Pomptine marshes in ancient authors ; otherwise these
destructive swamps would undoubtedly have been attributed

300 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. IX.
I have said that the success was complete; this
however must be understood upon the supposition
that the canals of communication be kept open
and the beds of the streams be cleared*. The
difference between the latter and all preceding at
tempts is this : on former occasions the level was
not taken in all parts with sufficient accuracy, and
of course the declivity necessary for the flow of
the waters not every where equally secured. This
essential defect has been carefully guarded against
on the late occasion, and the emissarii or great
drains so conducted as to insure a constant current.
The principal fault at present is said to be in the
distribution of the land drained, the greater part
of which having been purchased by the Camera
Apostolica (the Apostolic Chamber) was given over
to the Duke of Braschi. Roman noblemen have
never been remarkable for their attention to agri
culture, and the duke content probably with the
present profit is not likely to lay out much in
repairs, particularly in times so distressing as the
present. Had the land been divided into lesser

by such travellers as Burnet, Addison, Misson, &c. to the
genius of the papal government, and to the nature of the
catholic religion, to indolence, superstition, ignorance, &c.
* It is reported that since the last French invasion these
necessary precautions have been neglected, and that the
waters begin to stagnate again.

CA. IX. THROUGH ITALY. 301
portions and given to industrious families, it might
have been cultivated better, and the drains cleansed
and preserved with more attention. The govern
ment indeed ought to have charged itself with that
concern ; but in governments where the people
have no influence, public interests are seldom at
tended to with zeal, constancy, and effect.
When we crossed the Pomptine marshes, fine
crops of corn covered the country on our left, and
seemed to wave to the very foot of the mountains ;
while on the right numerous herds of cattle and
horses grazed in extensive and luxuriant pastures.
Nor indeed is the reader to imagine, that when
the marshes were in their worst state they pre
sented in every direction a dreary and forbidding
aspect to the traveller or the sportsman who
ranged over them. On the side towards the sea
they are covered with extensive forests, that en
close and shade the lakes which border the coasts.
These forests extend with little interruption from
Ostia to the promontory of Circe, and consist of
oak, ilex, bay, and numberless flowering shrubs;
To the north rises Monte Albano with all its
tumuli, and all the towns and cities glittering
on their summits. To the south, towers the
promontory of Circe on one side, and the shining
rock of Anxur on the other; while the Vol
scian mountains, sweeping from north to south
in a bold semicircle, close the view to the

302 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. IX.
east. On their sides the traveller beholds Cora;
Sezza, Piperno, like aerial palaces shining in con
trast with tlie brown rugged rock that supports
them. These towns are all ancient, and nearly
retain their ancient names. The wall and two
Doric temples still attest the magnificence of Cora.
Setia is characteristically described in the well
known lines of Martial, which point out at once
both its situation and principal advantage :
Quas paludes deliccata Pomptinas
Ex arce clivi spectat uva Setini*. Mart. lib. x. Ep. 74.
The town is still as anciently little, but it no
longer possesses the delicate and wholesome wines
which it anciently boasted ; for although vineyards
cover the hills around, and spread even over the
plains below, yet the grape is supposed to have
lost much of its flavor. Piperno is the Priverni
antiqua urbs (the ancient city of Privemum) of
Virgil, whence the father of Camilla was expelled.
The road from Rome to Naples passed through
these town before the late restoration of the Via
Appia, and the draining of the marshes.
The post-house called Mesa, was the ancient

* Where the rich vine, the pride of Setia's town,
Looks o'er the Pomptine marshes proudly down.

CA. IX. THROUGH ITALY. 303
Admedias Paludes (the mid-marshes). At the ex
tremity of the marshes we crossed the Amasenus,
now united with the Ufens, and falling with it
into the canal on the right. The bridge is hand
some and graced with an inscription, in a very
classical style, relative to the change made in the
bed of the former river. It runs as follows :
Qua leni resonans prius susurro
Molli flumine sese agebat Oufens
Nunc rapax Amasenus it lubens : et
Vias dedidicisse ait priores
Ut Sexto gereret Pio jubenti
Morem, neu sibi ut ante jure possit
Viator male dicere aut colonus *.
The Amasenus is indeed here a deep and rapid
stream, and was when we passed it clear, though
it carried with it such a mass of water from the
marshes. The scenery around the bridge is wooded,
cool, and was to us particularly refreshing. The
stream was full and rapid as when Metabus reached
its banks :

* Where once, with gentle waves and slow,
Soft-whispering Ufens lov'd to flow,
Now rapid Amasenus runs ;
Ask why his former bed he shuns?
Tis that his waters may obey
The holy Pontiff's honor'd sway,
And that no trav'ller now, nor swain,
May justly rail at him again.

304 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. IX.
Ecce ftigae medio summis Amasenus abundans
Spumabat ripis ; tantis se nubibus imber
Ruperat*- ' Virgil. TEn. xi. 547.
The woods and thickets around seem to present
the same scenery as anciently, and correspond well
with the rest of the history, the solitary education
and the half-savage life of Camilla. We were
now about to emerge from the Paludi, the only
marshes ever dignified by classic celebrity. They
have at length laid aside their horrors, and ap
peared to us clothed with harvest, and likely again
to become what they were in the early ages of the
Roman republic, the granary of Latiuin. Titus
Livius relates that the Romans under the appre
hension of scarcity had recourse to the Pomptine
territory for corn. Now the hilly part of that
territory produced much wine indeed, but little
corn ; the latter must therefore have grown in the
plains which have since become the marshes -j-.
They still retain their forests, the haunt now, as
anciently, of wild boars, of stags, and sometimes
of robbers %\ and their numerous streams, the

* The banks of Amasene at length he gains ;
The raging flood his farther flight restrains,
Rais'd o'er the borders with unusual rains. Dryden.
t Liv. iv. 25. I Juvenal, Sat. iii.

CA. IX. THROUGH ITALY. 305
resort of various kinds of excellent fish ; hence
they are still much frequented by fishermen, and
indeed by sportsmen of all descriptions.
Between two and three miles from Terracina,
a few paces from the road, a little ancient bridge
crosses a streamlet * issuing from the fountain .of
Feronia. Viridi gaudens Feronia luco -f. Virgil, vii. 800.
The grove in which this goddess was supposed to
delight has long since fallen ; one only solitary
ilex hangs over the fountain. The temple has
sunk into the dust, not even a stone remains !
Yet she had a better title to the veneration of the
benevolent than all the other goddesses united.
She delighted in freedom, and took deserving
slaves under her protection. They received their
liberty by being seated on a chair in her temple,

* The streamlet is mentioned by Horace :
Ora manusque tua lavimus Feronia lympha.
Hor. lib. 1. Sat. v. 24.
At ten, Feronia, we thy fountain gain ;
There land and bathe. Francis.
f And where Feronia's grove and temple stands. Dryden.
VOL. II. X

306 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. IX.
inscribed with these words, Bene meriti servi se-
deant : surgdnt liberi *.
The rocky eminence of Anxur now rose full
before us, seemed' to advance towards the sea, and
as we approached presented to our view a variety
of steep cliffs. On the side of one of these craggy
hills stands the old town of Terracina looking to
wards .jthe marshes (prona in paludes) : the new
town descends gradually towards the beach and
lines the shore ; it was considerably augmented by
the late Pope, who built a palace, and resided here
during the spring and autumn, in order to urge
on his favorite undertaking. Oh the ridge of the
mountain stood the ancient Anxur, and on the
summit immediately over the sea, rose the temple
of Jupiter, on a conspicuous and commanding site,
whence he was supposed to preside over all the
circumjacent country -}-, and to regulate the destiny
of its inhabitants. On this pinnacle still remain
two vast squares, consisting each of a number of
arches, and forming probably the substruction of

* Let slaves who have conducted themselves well, sit
down here, and rise up free.— ;See Servius, quoted by Clu
verius, 1014. f Queis Jupiter Anxurus arvis
Presidet ....
The plains over which Anxurian Jupiter presides.

CA.IX. THROUGH ITALY. 307
the temple of Jupiter and that of Apollo. The
colonnades of these two temples, the color of the
rock which supported them, and the lofty walls
and towers of the city which enclosed them and
crowned the cliff, gave Anxur the splendor and
majesty so often alluded to by the poets :
Impositum saxis late candentibus Anxur*.
Hor. lib. i. Sat. v. 26.
Superbus Anxur f. Mart. lib. vi. Epig. 42.
Arcesque superbi Anxuris J. Statius.
The situation of Terracina reclining on the side
of the mountain, and stretched/ along the shore is
very picturesque ; its long lines of white edifices,
and particularly the facade of the Pope's palace,
give it a general appearance of magnificence.
However it possesses few objects of curiosity. The
cathedral is a dark and dismal pile ; it contains
some antique pillars and monuments, and suffered
much from the French. ISome slight traces of the
ancient port repaired by Antoninus, are still visi
ble. This town seems to have been rising rapidly
into consideration by its increasing commerce, till

¦ — —climb the rocky steep
Whence Anxur shines. Francis.
t Haughty Anxur.
t The towers of haughty Anxur.

308 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. IX.
the late invasion of the French checked its growth
and threw it back into insignificance ; and indeed
few places seem better calculated for bathing and
public resort than Terracina; its beach is flat; its
sands are level and solid ; the sea is tranquil ; a
river bathes its walls ; and the scenery around is
rich, bold, and variegated. Hence, in ancient
times, it was a place much frequented during
the summer, and noticed and celebrated by the
poets. O Nemus, O fontes, solidumque madentis arena?
Littus, et aequoreis splendidus Anxur aquis ;
Et non unius spectator lectulus unda;
Qui videt hinc puppes fluminis, inde maris *.
Martial, Lib. x, Epig. 51.
Martial elsewhere alludes to the salubrity of the
place, and its waters ; as when speaking of se
veral delightful retreats along the same coast he
mentions the two points that close on each "side
the bay of Terracina.
Seu placet Eneia nutrix, seu filia solis,
Sive salutiferis candidus Anxur aquis f-
Lib. v. Epig; 1.

Ye groves, ye fountains, and thou, sea-wash'd strand,
And Anxur, glitt'ring in the glassy tide,
Whence the tall barks are view'd on either hand,
Or on the salt sea's wave, or river smooth that glide !
f Whether Caieta's shore,
Or Circe's please,thee more,
Or Anxur white, for healthful streams renown'd.

CA. IX. THROUGH ITALY. 309
If the traveller can spare a day he may hire
a boat, and sail along the coast to the promon
tory of Circe, which forms so conspicuous a figure
in his prospect and appears from Terracina, as
Homer and Virgil poetically describe it, a real
island. As he ranges over its lofty cliffs he will
recollect the splendid fictions of the one, and the
harmouious lines of the other. He may traverse
the unfrequented groves ; but instead of the palace
of Circe he will discover the lonely village of Santa
Felicita, a few solitary towers hanging over the
sea, and perhaps some faint traces of the ancient
Circeia, covered with bushes and overgrown with
shrubs. Nearly opposite Terracina and the pro
montory of Circe, but visible only from the hills,
lie a cluster of islands, the principal of which,
Ponza now, anciently Pontia, was little noticed
under the republic, but ennobled under the Caesars
by the exile and death of several illustrious vic
tims of imperial tyranny.
Five or six miles from Terracina at the foot
of a high hill, in a defile with the rock on one
side and the sea on the other, called Passo di Por-
tella *, stands a tower with a gate, forming the bar
rier between the Roman and Neapolitan territo?-
ries. It is called Torre del Epitajfio\, and is occu-

* The pass of the little gate.
t The tower of the epitaph.

310 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. IX.
pied by a few Neapolitan troops, the commander
of which examines the' passports. We had now
entered the -territory of the Aurunci or Ausonians,
a people who under the latter appellation gave
their name to all Italy. Their territory however
was not extensive, nor was their power ever great.
A little beyond the tower, the mountains seem to
recede, the country opens and gradually expands
into the fertile valley of Fondi. The Via Appia
(Appian Way) intersects it nearly in the middle.
On the right between the road and the sea we be
held a fine expanse of water, the Lacus Fundanus
or Amyclanus*, formed by several streams which,
falling from the mountains, cross the plain and
empty themselves in its bosom. Its borders, to
wards the road, are covered with myrtle, poplars,
luxuriant shrubs and flowers. Such was also its
ancient dress -|-. It is separated from the sea by a
forest; and indeed the whole vale is beautifully
adorned with orange and citron trees, interspersed
with cypress and poplars.
Fondi is a little town, consisting of one street
on the Via Appia which is here in its ancient
form, that is composed of large flags, fitted
together with wonderful art, although in their

* Still Lago di Fondi.
f Plin. Nat. Hist. xiv. 6.

CA.IX. THROUGH ITALY. 811
natural shape, and without cement. With regard
to the appearance of the town * I must observe,
that two circumstances must necessarily give almost
all southern towns a gloomy appearance; in the
first place, the streets are generally narrow ; and
in the second the windows are seldom glazed.
These deformities, for such they are in our eyes,
are the natural consequences of the climate, and
prevailed in ancient as well as in modern Italy
and Greece. In Rome itself, even when embel
lished by Augustus, the streets were narrow, and
remained so till the city was rebuilt by Nero after
the conflagration-}-. The wines of this territory,
and indeed of this coast, were anciently in high
repute, and still enjoy some reputation.
The mountain which the traveller beholds in
front as he is going out of Fondi, or rather a little
to the right, is Mount Cacubus. I must observe
that the exhalations which arise from the lake,
and from the marshes which it occasions when it
overflows, still continue as in ancient times to
render the fertile vale of Fondi unhealthy. At a

* The most remarkable event perhaps in the histoiy of
Fondi is an assault made upon it by a Turkish force, for the
purpose of carrying off its countess, Julia di Gonzaga, the
most beautiful princess of her age. The town was taken by
surprise, and plundered; but the reader will learn with plea
sure that the Lady escaped.
t Tac. Annal. xv. 43.

312 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. IX.
little distance from it we began to ascend the hills
(Formaini Colles, the Formian Hills) the ramifica
tions of Mount Cacubus, and found the country
improve, if possible in beauty, as we advanced
winding up the steep. The castle of Itri is when
seen at a distance picturesque, and a mausoleum
near it remarkable. The town itself is ugly, and
its name unknown to antiquity. When we had
reached the summit of the hills that continue to
rise beyond Itri, we were entertained with the
new and magnificent views, that opened upon us
at every turn, of the town and bay of Gaieta and
its bounding promontories. The ground we trod
is truly poetical. We were descending Mount
Cacubus, one of the Formian hills celebrated by
Horace ; beneath lay Mola di Gaieta, once Formia,
the seat of the Lsestrygons, arid the theatre of one
of the greatest disasters of Ulysses. Before us,
over the bay at a considerable distance, rose
Prochyta, and towering
Inarime, Jovis imperiis imposta Typhaeo *.
En. ix. 716.
On our right stood the mausoleum of Munatius
Plancus, Horace's friend, and beyond it ascended

Inarime, by mighty Jove's command
Laid on Typhoeus.

CA.IX THROUGH ITALY. 313
the bold promontory intrusted with the fame and
the ashes of Caieta.
Et nunc servat honos sedem tuus, ossaque nomen
Hesperia in magna, si qua est ea gloria signat*. En. vii. 4.
We continued to roll over the broad flags of
the Via Appia, and descending a steep from
Castellone entered Mola (Formia^) in the evening.
The town is in itself little and insignificant, but it
derives interest, if not grandeur, from its beautiful
site, poetical scenery and classic recollections. It
consists of one street, formed by the Via Appia
on the sea side, at the foot of a range of broken
picturesque hills and mountains, covered with
corn, vines, and olive-trees, and topped with rocks,
churches and towers. The waters that stream
from these hills unite and gush forth in a fountain
close to the town. This fountain is said to be the
fair flawing Artacia described by Homer ; if so,
we may conclude that the town of the Lastrygons
lay a little higher on the hills, since the daughter
of Antiphates is described as coming down from
itt 
* Here rest thy bones in rich Hesperi.a's plains ;
Thy name ('tis all a ghost can have) remains. Dryden.
t Close to the road on both sides were scattered the
ruins of the Formian villa, and the mausoleum of Cicero.
X Odyss. x. 107.

314 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. IX.
The most conspicuous and striking object from
the town of Mola is the fortress of Gaieta, crown
ing the rocky promontory of the same name with
its white ramparts, and presenting to the eye, one
above the other, its stages of angles and batteries.
The town itself is spread along the shore, and
extends nearly from the centre of the bay to the
point of the promontory. The harbor so well
described by Homer is that of Gaieta, and who
ever ranges over it will find all the features painted
by the poet — the towering rocks, the prominent
shores, the narrow entrance, and the hollow port.
It is about four miles by land and two by water
from Mola. There is some difficulty in procuring
admittance, as it is a fortress, and not aware of
this circumstance we presented ourselves at the
gate without our passports : but after a few ob
servations, we were as Englishmen allowed to enter,
conducted to the governor then at church, received
very politely, and permitted to visit every part of
the fortress without further ceremony.
The cathedral though not large nor highly
decorated, is well proportioned, well lighted, and
by the elevation of the choir admirably calculated
for public worship. The font is a fine antique
vase of white marble, with basso relievos, re
presenting Athamas, Ino with a child in her arms,
and a group of Bacchantes. The sculptor was an.
Athenian ; but such a vase is better calculated for

CA. IX. THROUGH ITALY. 315
a gallery of antiques than for the place where it
now stands. Opposite the great portal of the
cathedral rises an antique column marked with the
names of the Winds in Greek and Latin. The
streets of the town are neatly built and well paved,
its general appearance is lively within and without
and extremely picturesque. I have already said
that the fortress crowns the point or head of the
promontory, or rather peninsula of Gaieta. On
the narrow neck that unites it to the main-land,
but on a bold eminence, stands the tomb of
Munatius Plancus. It is round like that of
Hadrian, like it stripped of its marble casing, and
turned into a battlemented tower, called, one
might suppose from the romantic hero of Ariosto,
Torre d? Orlando.
But neither the mausoleum of Plancus, nor
the towers of Gaieta ; neither the wondrous tales
of Homer, nor the majestic verses of Virgil, shed
so much glory and interest on these coasts as the
Formian villa and the tomb of Cicero. ¦ That
Cicero had a villa here, and that it lay about a
mile from the shore, history informs us; and at
that very distance on the left of the road the at
tentive traveller will observe the remains of
ancient walls scattered over the fields, and half
covered with vines, olives and hedges. These
shapeless heaps tradition points to as the ruins of
Cicero's Formian villa. Again, history assures us

316 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. IX.
that he was overtaken and beheaded in the walks
of a grove that lay between his villa and the sea.
On the opposite side of the road rises, strippedof
its decorations and indeed of its very shape, a sort
of obelisk in two stories, and this disfigured pile
the same tradition reveres as his mausoleum,
raised on the very spot where he was butchered,
and where his faithful attendants immediately in
terred his headless trunk. Lower down and near
the sea, or rather hanging over its waves, are
shewn several vaults and galleries which are sup
posed to have been part of the Villa Inferior (the
Lower Villa), as that which I have described above
was called Villa Superior- (the Upper Villa). It is
a pity that excavations are not made (and with
what success might they not be made all along
this interesting coast) to give curiosity some
chance of acquiring greater evidence.
Of the fate of Cicero's remains we know
nothing, as history is silent with regard to his
obsequies and sepulchre. It does not seem pro
bable that during Antony's life, the most zealous
friend would have dared to erect a monument to
the meiriory of his most active and deadly enemy;
and after that Triumvir's death, Augustus seems
to have concealed his sentiments, if favorable to
Cicero, with so much care and success that his
very nephews did not venture to read that illus
trious Roman's works in his presence. Before the

CA. IX. THROUGH ITALY. 317
death of Augustus the personal and affectionate
interest inspired by affinity or friendship had pro
bably subsided ; few survived that Emperor who
could possibly have enjoyed the happiness of an
intimate and familiar acquaintance with Cicero,
and fewer still could have had any particular and
urgent motive to step forward from the crowd,
and to pay due honors to his long neglected
memory. But notwithstanding these reasons and
the silence of history on the subject, yet as his son
escaped the proscription, and as he was restored
to his country and his rank when the rage of civil
war had given way to the tranquil domination of
Augustus, it is possible that he then might have
raised a monument to the memory of a father so
affectionate to him, and so illustrious in the eyes
of the public. As long therefore as popular
belief, or tradition however uncertain, attaches the
name of Cicero to these ruins ; and as long as
even credulity can believe that the one has been
his residence and the other his tomb ; so long
will every traveller who values liberty and reveres
genius, visit them with interest, and hang over
them, though nearly reduced to a heap of rubbish,
with delight. I cannot turn from this subject
without observing, that many authors have re
lated, but that Plutarch alone has ' painted, the
last tragical scene of Cicero's life.
About twelve o'clock, too late indeed for the

318 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. IX.
distance we had to go, we set yet from Mola.
The road runs over a fine plain, bordered on the
left by distant mountains; and on the right by
the sea. About threri miles from the Liris
(Garigliano) an aqueduct, erected to convey water
to Minturna, passes the road ; it is now in ruins,
but the remaining arches, at least a hundred, lofty
and solid, give a melancholy magnificence to the
plain which they seem to bestride.
On the banks of the Liris and to the right of
the road extend the ruins of Minturna, spread
over a considerable space of ground, exhibiting
substructions, arehes, gateways, and shattered
walls, now utterly forsaken by human inhabitants,
and abandoned to owls, foxes, arid serpents.
Many beautiful shafts, bases and capitals of mar
ble have been found here and on the banks of the
river, and more might possibly be discovered if
the ruins were removed. The delay occasioned
by the ferry affords the traveller time enough to
range over the site and the remains of Minturna.
This city is four miles from the sea ; the space
betweeri was covered by the sacred groves of the
nymph Marica, sometimes called the Latum Venus,
the mother of Latinus ; and. by the well-known
marshes, which, though they infected the air with
noxious exhalations, have acquired some celebrity
from the adventure of Marius. Happy had it
been for Rome and for humanity if the swamp

CA. IX. THROUGH ITALY. 319
had swallowed up for ever the withered carcase
and vengeful heart of that ruthless "chief. These
marshes have lost something of their ancient ma
lignity, and are become a rich cultivated plain. A
tower stands on the bank to defend the passage
over the river; its first story or lower part is
ancient, and built with great solidity and beautiful
proportion. The Liris forms the southern border
of Latium, and separates it from Campania ; as
we glided slowly over its surface we endeavoured
in vain to conjecture the origin of its modern
name*. May it not possibly be from its original
appellation Glanis, joined to its Roman name
Liris, with an Italian termination, thus Glaniliriano,
afterwards altered in the Italian manner for euphony
into Ganiliriano and finally Gariliano ?
Having crossed the river we entered Campa
nia^, and as we drove over the plain beyond, we

* The reader who delights in classical appellations will
learn with pleasure, that this river still bears its ancient
name till it passes the city of Sora. That the Fibrenus (still
so called) falls into it a little below that city, and continues
to encircle the little island in which Cicero lays the scene of
the second dialogue De Legibus, and which he describes
with so much eloquence. I must add, that Arpinum also,
in the vicinity of the Fibrenus, still retains its name, en
nobled by the birth of that most illustrious Roman.
t Hinc felix ilia Campania fst. Ab hoc sinu incipiunt
vitiferi colles, et temulentia nobilis succo per omnes terras

320 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. IX.
had a full view of the Liris, a wide and noble
river winding under the shadow of poplars through
a lovely vale, and then gliding gently towards the
sea. The river still retains its characteristic si
lence and tranquillity, while the regions through
which it flows still enjoy the beauty and fertility
which distinguished them of old. These are, the
Umbrosa Regna Marica*,
Rura quae Liris quieta
Mordet aqua taciturnus amnis +.
Hor. Carm. lib. 1. Od. xxxi. 7.
Some rugged mountains appeared at a distance,
but they only served as a magnificent frame to set
off by contrast the rich scenery that adorned the
hills and the plains that border the stream.
Though the ground rises gradually from the
Liris to the next stage, yet the space between is
called from its comparative flatness the Plain qf

inclyto, atque ut veteres dixere, summum Liberi patris cum
Cerere certamen. — C. Plin. Nat. Hist. iii. 5;
" Henceforward is the happy Campania. From this bay
begin the vine covered hills, and the wine renowned through
out the whole world, the ultimate contest, as the ancients
expressed it, of father Bacchus with Ceres."
* The domains of the shady Marica.
t ... the rich fields that Liris laves,
And eats away with silent waves. Francis.

CA. IX. THROUGH ITALY. 321
Sessa, and few indeed are the plains that can vie
with it in beauty and fertility. In front or a little
to the right rises a bold and lofty mountain,
extending on that side to the sea ; it is Mount
Massicus, once so famous for its wines, and it
still retains its ancient name*. On the left fall
ing a little backwards to the north is Monte
Ofellio, and on the side swells Monte Aurunco,
perpetuating in its original name the memory of
a very ancient people. On its side, covered with
its forests behind, and before open to the beauties
of the valley and to the breezes of the sea, is
seated, Sessa, once Suessa Aurunca. The whole
scene is finely diversified by oaks rising sometimes
single, and sometimes in clumps in the middle of
corn-fields or vineyards ; woods girding the sides
of the hills and waving on their summits ; large
villages with their towers shining in the middle
of orchards and thickets, forming altogether a
view unusually rich and delightful. Beyond St.
Agatha the country becomes more hilly and is
shaded with thicker and larger woods. A ro
mantic dell with a streamlettvtumbling through it,
forms a pretty diversity in the view.
We were now engaged in the defiles of Mount

* Cluverius mistakes when he says, it is called Mondra-
gone, which is the name of a village or fortress at its base
near the sea. •
VOL. II. Y

322 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. IX.
Massicus, which communicate with those of the
Callicula, a mountain covered with forests and
crowned with Calvi, the ancient Cales. From
these defiles we emerged by a road cut through
the rock above Francolisi, and as we looked down
we beheld the plains of Campania spread before
us, bordered by the Apennines, with the craggy
point of Ischia towering to the sky on one side,
and in the centre Vesuvius, calmly lifting his double
summit wreathed with smoke. Evening now far
advanced, shed a purple tint over the sides and
the summits of the mountains, that gave at once
a softness and a richness to the picture, and con
trasted finely with the darkness of the plains
below, and the light colors of a few thin clouds
flitting above.
From Francolisi we traversed the Falernus
Ager (Falernian territory), which is the tract en
closed between the sea, Mount Massicus, Calliculu,
and the river Vulturnus ; a territory so much cele
brated by the ancient poets, and so well known to
the modern reader for its delicious wines. It has
often been asked, why Italy does not now produce
wines so excellent, and in such variety as anciently;
and it has been as often answered, either that the
climate has changed, or that the cultivation of the
grape has been neglected, and the vines allowed
to degenerate for want of skill and attention. As
for the first of these reasons, we find nothing in

CA. IX. THROUGH ITALY. 393
ancient authors that can furnish the least reason
to suppose that any such revolution has happened.
The productions of the soil are the same, and
appear at the same stated periods ; the seasons
correspond exactly with the descriptions of the
poets ; the air is in general genial and serene,
though chilled occasionally (at least in many pro
vinces) with hard wintry frosts, and sometimes
disturbed by sudden unseasonable storms full as
grand and as mischievous as that described by
Virgil*. Neglect and ignorance are reasons more
plausible, but will not perhaps on examination be
found much more satisfactory. Arts essential to
the existence of man, when once known are never
forgotten, and articles so necessary as bread and
wine cannot possibly be entirely neglected. The
science of tillage passes from father to son, and
cannot be obliterated unless the whole population
of a country be at once destroyed, and a link
struck out of the chain of human generation.
Moreover the mode of gathering and pressing
the grape ; of boiling and storing the wine is
nearly the same now as anciently. Beside from
the reasons given above it would follow, that the
culture of the vine was lost all over Italy, Greece,
and Sicily, and that the vine itself had degenerated

* Georg. i. 448—457.

324 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. IX,
in all the countries that lie south of the Alps,
however favored in other respects by nature. Very
few indeed of the numberless wines produced in
these auspicious climates are palatable to an
English or a French traveller, who is apt to find
in them either a lusciousness or a raciness, or an
inexpressible something that disgusts him, and is
not always removed even by familiarity. Nor
ought this circumstance to surprise us. Accus
tomed from our infancy to hear the wines of
Italy and Greece extolled by the ancient poets, we
expect to find them singularly delicious : while
we forget that the goodness of wine depends upon
taste, and that our taste has been formed, I had
nearly said vitiated, by wines of a flavor very dif
ferent from that of the classic grape. If the
Italian wines therefore are not in so much repute
now as they were formerly, it is to be attributed
not so much to the degeneracy of the vine, as to
the change of taste not only in Transalpine coun
tries, but even in Italy itself.
The modern Italians are extremely sober ; they
drink wine as Englishmen drink small beer, not
to flatter the palate but to quench the thirst ; pro
vided it be neither new, flat, nor unwholesome, it
answers their purpose, and they require from it
nothing more. In the cultivation of the vine
very little attention is therefore paid to the quality
or perfection, but merely to the quantity of the

CA. IX. THROUGH ITALY. 325
produce. Not so the ancients : they were fond
of convivial enjoyments : they loved wine, and
considered it not only as a gratification to the pa
late, but as a means of intellectual enjoyment, and
a vehicle of conversation. To heighten its flavor
therefore, to bring it to full maturity by age, in
short, to improve it by every method imaginable,
was with them an object of primary importance ;
nor can it occasion surprise that in circumstances
so favorable, the vine should flourish. Yet with
all this encouragement the two most celebrated
wines in Italy, the Caecuban and the Falernian,
had lost much of their excellency and reputation
in Pliny's time ; the former in consequence of a
canal drawn across the vale of Amyclae by the
Emperor Nero ; and the latter from its very cele
brity, which occasioned so great a demand, that
the cultivators unable to resist the temptation,
turned their attention from the quality to the quan
tity. This cause of decline is indeed considered
as common to both these species of wine ; but in
the former it was only an accessary, in the latter a
principal agent.
The canal alluded to, was one of the extrava
gant whims of Nero, who had resolved to open
an inland communication between Ostia and the
Lake Avernus, by a navigable canal which might
afford all the pleasures without any of the incon
veniences of a voyage in the usual manner. Thk

326 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. IX.
work was begun but never finished ; and it is
probable that the Lago Fundano or Amyclano,
which was to have formed part of the projected
canal, was lengthened and extended across the
little plain to the very foot of Mount Cacubus ;
thus depriving the flats of a considerable part of
that moisture which perhaps caused their fer
tility. The Caecuban wine so much celebrated was
produced, according to Pliny, in the poplar groves
that rose in the marshes on the bay of Amyclae.
The same author gives a long list of Italian
wines, all good though of very different degrees/
of excellence ; and I have no doubt that modern
Italy, if the cultivation of the vine had the same
encouragement now as anciently, would furnish a
catalogue equal to it both in excellence and in
variety. As it is not intended to expand a few
cursory remarks into a dissertation, it may finally
be observed that several of the wines celebrated
in ancient times still retain, at least, some share of
their ancient reputation. Thus a wine produced
in the very extremity of the Adriatic Gulph, on
the banks of the Timavus*, and in the vicinity of

* This wine was called Pucinum. The place now bears
the name of Castel Duino, and corresponds with the descrip
tion given of it by Pliny, saxeo colle, maritimo aMatu. — A

CA. IX. THROUGH ITALY. 327
Aquikia, is still in as great request at Trieste as
it was formerly in Rome; as is the Rhetian wine
so much extolled by Virgil at Venice and Verona.
The wines of Luna and Florence are even now
much esteemed all over the north of Italy, as are
those of the Alban Mount, including Frescati and
Gensano, in Rome. The vines that flourish on
the sides and around the base of Vesuvius still
continue to furnish a rich and delicious wine, well
known to all travellers, and to most readers
under the appellation of Lachryma Christi. To
conclude, Horace has comprised with his usual
neatness the four principal wines of Italy, all the
produce of the coast which we have just traversed,
in the following stanza :
Caecubum et prelo domitam Caleno
Tu bibes uvam, mea nee Falernae
Temperant vites, neque Formiani
Pocula colles*. Carm. lib. i. Od. xx. 10.
Before we arrived at Capua night had set in,

rocky hill, exposed to the sea-breezes. — Nat. Hist. Lib. xiv.
cap. vi. * From the Caecubian vintage prest
For you shall flow the racy wine ;
But ah ! my meagre cup's unblest
With the rich Formian or Falernian vine. Francis.

328 CLASSICAL TOUR Ch. IX.
but it was night in all its charms ; bright, serene,
and odoriferous. The only object that could then
strike our eyes or excite our curiosity were the
luciole, bright insects, many of which were flying
about in every direction like sparks of fire, cast
ing a vivid light around them, and seeming to
threaten the waving corn over which they flittedj
with a conflagration. We entered Naples at a
late hour, and drove to the Gran Bretagna, an
excellent inn on the sea shore, and close to the
royal garden.
Few scenes surpass in beauty that which burst
full upon me when I awoke next morning. In
front and under my windows, the bay of Naples
spread its azure surface smooth as glass, while a
thousand boats glided in different directions over
its shining bosom : on the right the town ex
tended along the semicircular shore, and Posilipo
rose close behind it, with churches and villas,
vineyards and pines scattered in confusion along
its sides and on its ridge, till, sloping as it ad
vanced the bold hill terminated in a craggy pro
montory. On the left at the end of a walk that
forms the quay and skirts the sea, the Castel del
Uovo standing on an insulated rock caught the eye
for a moment ; while beyond it over a vast ex
panse of water, a rugged line of mountains
stretched forward, and softening its features as it
projected, presented towns, villages aud convents,

CA. IX. THROUGH ITALY. 329
lodged amidst its forests and precipices, and at
length terminated in the cape of Minerva now of
Surrentum. Opposite, and full in front rose the
island of Caprea with its white cliffs and ridgy
summit, placed as a barrier to check the tempest
and protect the interior of the bay from its fury.
This scene illuminated by a sun that never shines
so bright on the less favored regions beyond the
Alps, is justly considered, as the most splendid
and beautiful exhibition which nature perhaps
presents to the human eye, and cannot but excite
in the spectator, when beheld for the first time,
emotions of delight and admiration, that border
on enthusiasm*. Nor are. the charms of recollection, that are
capable of improving even the loveliest features of
nature, here wanting to complete the enchant
ment. Naples and its coasts have never been, it
is true, the theatre of heroic achievements, or the
stage of grand and unusual incidents ; but they
have been the residence of the great and of the
wise ; they have aided the meditations of the sage,

* The bay of LeUcadia, bounded by the bold coasts of
that island on one side, and of Acarnania on the other, and
interspersed with the Teleboides Insula (the islands of Tele-
bous) rising in every shape imaginable around, is, I think,
more beautiful ; but it is now a desert, peopled only by re
collections !

330 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. IX.
and have awakened the raptures of the poet ; and
as long as the Latin muses continue to instruct
mankind, so long will travellers visit with delight
the academy of Cicero, the tomb of Virgil, and
the birth-place of Tasso.

CA. X. THROUGH ITALY. 331

CHAP. X.

Naples — Its History — PubUc Buildings — Churches
— Hospitals — State of Literature at Naples.
Naples occupies the site of both Palapolis and
NeapoUs in ancient times, though it inherits the
name of the latter. It is of Grecian origin, and
is first mentioned by Titus Livius as having in
conjunction with Palapolis joined the Samnites in
a confederacy against the Romans*. Palapolis
was taken two years after, and Naples must have
shared its fate. The latter seems indeed to have
been of little consideration at that time, though
it continued to increase rapidly, and in the course
of not many years eclipsed the splendor, usurped
the territory, and gradually obliterated the very
name of the former. It seems to have attached
itself closely to the Roman interest, in little more
than a century from the above-mentioned period,
and to have acquired under the protection of the

* An. U. C. 427.

332 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. X.
Roman republic no small degree of prosperity and
importance. It remained v faithful to its allies
even after the carnage of Canna and the revolt of
the Campanians ; and such was the strength of
its ramparts that Annibal himself shrunk from
the difficulties of an attack*. The generous offer
which they had previously made to the Roman
senate must naturally inspire a very favorable
idea of the opulence, and which is infinitely more
honorable, of the magnanimity of this city-f-.
This attachment to the Roman cause excited the
resentment of the Carthaginian, who ravaged the
Neapolitan territory with more than his usual
ferocity. From this period little or no mention is made
of Naples for a long series of years, during which
it seems to have enjoyed in undisturbed tranquil
lity its original laws and language, and all the
advantages of its fertile soil, and unrivalled situa
tion. Its coasts during this interval became the
winter retreats of the luxurious Romans, and
there were few among the illustrious characters
which distinguished the fall of the republic and
the birth of the monarchy, who had not a villa on
its shores or amid the romantic recesses of its
mountains. The presence of Horace, Virgil, and

* Liv. xxiii. 1. t xxii. 32.

CA. X. THROUGH ITALY. 3S3
his imitator Silius Italicus, and their fond attach
ment to its delightful scenery were lasting and
honorable distinctions ; while the foul indulgences
of Tiberius, and the wild and cruel freaks of Cali
gula were its scandal and its scourge.
The first recorded eruption of Vesuvius* inter
rupted its enjoyments and wasted its coasts, and
the civil wars and barbaric incursions that suc
ceeded each other so rapidly during the ensuing
centuries, involved it in the general calamities of
Italy and of the empire. However it seems to
have suffered less than most other cities during
this disastrous era, as it retained longer its legiti
mate sovereign, the Emperor of Constantinople,
and with him its language and many of its ancient
laws, and by his power or rather by the veneration
still attached to his name, it was not unfrequently
protected from the ravages and insults of con
tending barbarians -j-. When the eastern empire
sunk into a state of irretrievable weakness and
insignificance, Naples was threatened, harassed,
and plundered successively by the Lombards, the

* A. D. 79.
t It was taken by the Goths under Theodoric, but re
taken and restored to the Grecian empire by Belisarius. It
seems to have been attached to its Gothic rulers, and when
assailed by the Roman general made a vigorous but useless
resistance.

334 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. X.
Saracens, and the Normans, who in their turn be
came the prey of the Germans, the French, and
the Spaniards. The latter at length remained its
acknowledged masters, governed it for many years
by viceroys, and at length gave it a king in the
person of the present sovereign Charles IV. Of
all these different tribes many traces may be dis
covered in the language, the manners, and the
appearance of its inhabitants. Greek its original
language, remained the prevailing dialect long
after its submission to the power of Rome ; as ap
pears from various circumstances, but particularly
from that of Greek manuscripts only being dis
covered at Herculaneum. It may indeed be doubted
whether pure Latin ever was the vulgar language
at Naples ; at present there are more Greek words
intermingled with the common dialect than are to
be found in any other part of Italy. French
pronunciation has communicated some share of its
infection, and Saracenic left considerable alloy
behind. No vestiges remain of the ancient beauty or
magnificence of this city. Its temples, its theatres,
its basilicae have been levelled by earthquakes,
or destroyed by barbarians. Its modern edifices,
whether churches or palaces, are less remarkable
for their taste than for their magnitude and riches.
It is however highly probable that Naples is at
present more opulent, more populous, and ira

CA. X. THROUGH ITALY. 335
every respect more flourishing than she has ever
before been even in the most brilliant periods of
her history.
Naples seated in the bosom of a capacious
haven, spreads her greatness and her population
along its shore, and covers its shelving coasts and
bordering mountains with her villas, her gardens,
and her retreats. Containing within her own walls
more than four hundred thousand inhabitants, she
sees one hundred thousand more enliven her
suburbs, that stretch in a magnificent and most ex
tensive sweep from Portici to the promontory of
Misenus, and fill a spacious line of sixteen miles
along the shore with life and activity. In size
and number of inhabitants she ranks as the third
city in Europe, and from her situation and superb
show, she may justly be considered as the Queen
of the Mediterranean*. The internal appearance
of Naples is in general pleasing ; the edifices are
lofty and solid ; the streets as wide as in any con
tinental city ; the Strada Toledo is a mile in length,
and with the quay which is very extensive and

* It is impossible not to smile in perusing Thomson's
description of the loneliness and devastation of this very
coast, once swarming with inhabitants, now, as he repre
sents it, turned into a desert. But some allowance must be
made even for exaggeration, when the subject is so intoxi
cating. — See Liberty, i. 280,

336 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. X.
well-built, forms the grand and distinguishing fea
tures of the city. In fact, the Chiaia, with the
royal garden, Mergyllina and Sta. Lucia, which
spread along the coast for so considerable a space,
and present such an immense line of lofty edifices,
are sufficient to give an appearance of grandeur to
any city.
As for architectural magnificence Naples pos
sesses a very small share ; the prevailing taste if a
series of absurd fashions deserve that appellation,
has always been bad. Moresco, Spanish, and
Roman, corrupted and intermingled together de
stroy all appearance of unity and symmetry, and
form a monstrous jumble of discordance. The
magnificence therefore of the churches and palaces
consists first in their magnitude, and then in paint
ings, marbles, and decorations in general ; which
however are seldom disposed with judgment, and
when best disposed, are scattered around with a
profusion that destroys their effect.
To describe the public edifices of Naples would
be to compose a guide. I shall therefore content
myself with a few observations on some remark
able objects in them, or connected with them.
Several churches are supposed to occupy the sites
of ancient temples, the names and memory of
which have been preserved by this circumstance.
Thus the cathedral is said to stand on the sub
structions of a temple of Apollo ; that of the Santi

CA. X. THROUGH ITALY. 337
Apostoli rises on the ruins of a temple of Mercury.
St. Maria Maggiore was originally a temple of
Diana, &c. Of these churches some are adorned
with the pillars and the marbles of the temples to
which they have succeeded. Thus the cathedral
is supported by more than a hundred columns of
granite, which belonged to the edifice over which
it is erected ; as did the forty or more pillars that
decorated the treasury, or rather the chapel of
St. Januarius. The church itself was built by an
Angevin prince, and when scattered or rather
destroyed by earthquakes, it was rebuilt by a
Spanish sovereign. It is Gothic, but strangely
disfigured by ornaments and reparations in dif
ferent styles. In the subterraneous chapel under
the choir is deposited the body of St. Januarius.
His supposed blood is kept in a vial in the Tesoro
(treasury), and is considered as the most valuable
of its deposits, and indeed as the glory and the
ornament of the cathedral and of the city itself.
Into the truth of the supposition little inquiry is
made; and in this respect the Neapolitans seem
to have adopted the maxim of the ancient Ger
mans, " Sanctius ac reverentius de Diis credere quam
scire*. n The blood of St. Stephen in the church of

* It is more holy and more reverent to believe things
that appertain to the gods, than to know them. — Tac. de Mor.
Germ. 34.
VOL. II. Z

338 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. X.
St. Gaudioso belonging to the Benedictine Nuns, is
said to liquefy in the same manrier ; but only once
a-year on the festival of the martyr*.
The Santi Apostoli is in its origin perhaps the
most ancient church in Naples, and was, if we
may credit tradition, erected by Constantine upon
the ruins of a temple of Mercury ; it has however
been rebuilt partially more than once, and finally
with great magnificence. The church of St. Paul
occupies the site of a temple of Castor and Pollux ;
the front of this temple, consisting of eight Corin
thian pillars, was destroyed by the earthquake of
1688. Two only were restored, and now form
part of the frontispiece of the church. The in
terior is spacious, well proportioned, and finely
incrusted with marble. The chancel is very ex
tensive, and all supported by antique pillars ; it is
supposed to stand over the theatre where Nero
first disgraced himself by appearing as a public
singer : some vestiges of this theatre may still be
traced by an observing antiquary. The church of

* The Author has been accused of a want of candor, in
not having expressed in a more explicit manner his opinion
of the miracle alluded to; few readers, he conceives,. will
be at a loss to discover it; but if a more open declaration
can give any satisfaction, he now declares, that he does not
believe the liquefying substance to be the blood of St. Ja
nuarius.

CA.X. THROUGH ITALY. 330
St. Filippo Neri is remarkable for the number of
ancient pillars that support its triple row of aisles
on both sides of the nave. St. Lorenzo, belonging
to a convent founded by Charles of Anjou, is a
monument of the hatred which that prince bore
to popular representation. It stands on the site
of the Basilica Augusta, a noble and magnificent
hall, which at the period of the first entrance of
the French was the place of public assembly where
the senate and people of Naples met in council,.
Charles suppressed the assemblies, demolished the
hall, and in the year 1266 erected the church
which now occupies its place. The establishment
of a free and just government would have been a
work more agreeable to the will, and more con
formable to the attributes, of the common Father
of all, than the erection of a temple on the ruins
of public property, and in defiance of justice.
Of all the Neapolitan churches, that De Spirito
Santo in the Strada Toledo is the most worthy of
notice in my opinion, because the purest and sim
plest in architecture. The exterior is indifferent,
or rather, it was never finished, or at least deco
rated. The interior is large, well proportioned,
adorned with Corinthian pilasters, and a regular
entablature and cornice. It is well lighted, per
haps indeed too much so, on account of the white
ness of its walls and vault. It is not, however,
entirely exempt from the usual defect, a super-

340 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. X.
abundance of ornaments, and it wants a softer and
mellower color to please the eye.
The ,chapel of St. John the Evangelist was
erected by the celebrated Pontanus, and is remark
able for the Latin sentences, moral and political,
engraved on its front. They are misplaced, and
ostentatious ; though solid, and in language not
inelegant. The epitaph, composed by Pontanus
himself, has the merit of originality ; but his best
and most durable epitaph is the tribute paid to
him by Sannazarius*.
In tbe cloister of the canons regular attached
to the parochial church of St. Agnello, stands the
tomb of the poet Marini, ornamented with a bronze
statue; the whole erected at the request of the
celebrated Manso, the friend of Tasso and of Mil
ton, who left by will a sum of money to defray
the expense.
The sepulchral chapel of the family San Severo
deserves to be mentioned, not so much on account
of its architecture, or even of its decorations, or of
the order with which the monuments are disposed
(though all these are worthy of notice) as on
account of three particular statues, two of which
display the patient skill, the third, the genius of
the sculptor. The first is a representation of

Eleg. i. 9.

CA. X. THROUGH ITALY. 341
Modesty (Pudor) covered from head to foot with
a veil ; but so delicate, so apparently transparent
is the veil, that through its texture the spectator
fancies he can trace not only the general outlines
of the figure, but the very features and expression'
of the countenance. It has been asserted, that the
ancients never veiled the whole countenance of
their statues, and that the art of making the form
appear as it were through the foldings, is a modern
improvement. However, there are antique statues
even to the north of the Alps, in which the same
effect is visible, and every traveller who has visited
the gallery at Dresden, will immediately recollect
some female figures (Vestals, I think) where the
knee, the arm, the breast, appear as if visible
through the beautiful drapery thrown over them.
It must, however, be acknowledged, that in the
art of producing this illusion, the moderns equal
the ancients ; and of their skill in this respect, no
better instances can be produced than the above-
mentioned statue ; a most beautiful one of St. Ce
cilia, in Rome ; and a third in the chapel which I
am now describing. It represents our Saviour
extended in the sepnlchre ; it is covered like the
preceding with a veil, and like it exhibits the form
which it infolds, with all its features majestic and
almost divine even in death. This is, indeed, an
exquisite piece of workmanship; it displays not

342 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. X.
only as much art and patience as that of Modesty,
but the very soul, the genius, the sublime concep
tions of the sculptor. It is generally attributed
to Corradini, as is the latter, and suffices alone to
establish his reputation, and rank him among the
first of artists. But the Neapolitans, who are a
little jealous of the merit of strangers, ascribe it
and the two others to Giuseppe San Martino, their
countryman, whom they represent as the best
sculptor of the times. The attention of strangers'
is generally directed to another statue or groupe
in the same chapel, representing a man entangled
in a net, and endeavoring, with the aid of a genius,
to disengage himself. It is called II Disingatoato
(the Undeceived), and is supposed to represent,
under this allegorical symbol, the conversion of
one of the princes of the family to which the
chapel belongs. The allegory is forced ; and the
execution of the Work shews only the patience
and nicety, with which the sculptor managed the
chisel. To this catalogue one church more must be
added, though it is inferior to most in Naples, in
size, materials, and decorations. But it has a
more powerful claim to our attention than either
marble or architecture can give it; it has the
genius of Sannazarius to recommend it, and its
natne is interwoven with the title of one of the

CA.X. THROUGH ITALY. 343
most beautiful poems* which have appeared in
the Latin language, since the revival of letters.

* The poem opens with the following magnificent proc*
mium: Virginei partus, magnoque aequaeva parenti
Progenies, superas caeli quae missa per auras,
Antiquam generis labem mortalibus aegris
Abluit, obstructique viam patefecit olympi,
Sit mihi, Caelicolae, primus labor : hoc mihi primum
Surgat opus : vos audi tas ab origine causas
Et tanti seriem, si fas, evolvite facti.
The virgin-born, coeval with his sire,
Who left the mansions of celestial bliss,
To wash away from fainting man the stain
Of sin original, and open'd wide
The long-obstructed way to light and Heav'n—
Be he my earliest theme ; with him, my Muse,
Begin. Ye Pow'rs above, if nought forbid
My pious task, unfold the hidden cause
And all the progress of a scheme so great!
In the following verses, the poet describes the situation
and the object of the church which he had erected : they
are inserted not only on account of their connexion with the
subject and their rich poetical coloring, but because with the
preceding passage, they afford a very fdr specimen of the
style and the manner of the author.
Tuque adeo spes fida hominum, spes fida Deorum,
Alma parens, quam mille acies, quaequeaetheris alti
Militia est, totidem curras, tot signa tubacque,
Tot litui comitantur, ovantique agmina gyro
Adglomerant : niveis tibi si solennia templis

344 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. X.
The church is called, from the poem, Del Parto
(of the Parturition) ; it was erected, with the little
convent annexed to it, on the site of his favorite
Villa Mergyllina, and was endowed by the poet.

Serta damus : si mansuras tibi ponimus aras
Exciso in scopulo, fluctus unde aurea canos
Despiciens, celso se culmine Mergyllina
Adtollit, nautisque procul venientibus offert :
Si laudes de more tuas, si sacra, diemque,
Ac ccetus late insignes, ritusque dicamus,
Annua- felicis colimus dum gaudia partus :
Tu vatem ignarumque viae, insuetumque labori,
Diva, mone, & pavidis jam laeta adlabere coeptis.
Celestial queen |
Thou, on whom men below and saints above
Their hopes repose ! on whom the banner'd hosts
Of Heav'n attend — ten thousand squadrons arm'd,
Ten thousand caTs self-mov'd, the clarion shrill,
The trumpet's voice — while round, in martial pomp,
Orb within orb the thronging seraphs wheel ; —
If on thy fane, of snow-white marble rear'd,
I offer yearly garlands ; if I raise
Enduring altars in the hollow'd rock,
Where Mergyllina, lifting her tall head,
Looks down upon the foamy waves beneath,
A sea-mark to the passing sailor's eye ; —
If with due rev'rence to thy name, I pay
The solemn rites ; the sacrificial pomp,
When each returning year we celebrate
The wond'rous myst'ry of the birth divine, —
Do thou assist thy feeble bard, unus'd
To tasks so great, and wand'ring on his way,—
Guide thou my efforts, and inspire my song.

CA. X. THROUGH ITALY. 345
It took its name from the quarter in which it
stood, which is still called Mergyllina, occupying
the brow and side of a hill that slopes gently to
the bay. Its situation is delicious, and the view
from it as extensive, as varied, and as beautiful
as the eye of a poet, in fine phrenzy rolling, can
contemplate. Its value was moreover enhanced
by the dignity of the donor ; and in the eyes of
the poet, without doubt, the smiles of the royal
patron added new lustre to the native beauties of
the scenery. He accordingly frequently alludes to
his beloved retreat of Mergyllina in his different
poems, and devotes one entire ode to its charms*.

' Rupis O sacra?, pelagique custos
Villa nympharum domus, et propinquse
Doridos, regum decus una quondam
Deliciaeque

Tu mihi solos nemorum recessus
Das, et haerentes per opaca laurus
Sax a; tu fontes, Aganippidumque
Antra reclusis !
My villa fair I that seem'st to reign
O'er the tall rocks, the sparkling main !
Where Doris and her sister-nymphs resort,
Where once proud monarchs dwell'd, and held their
joyful court.

There many a cool recess is found,
There laurels shade the sacred ground ; In

346 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. X.
This villa was destroyed by the Prince of Orange,
who commanded the garrison during the cele
brated siege of Naples by the French. Whether
this act of destruction was necessary or not, it is
impossible for us to determine ; but it is not pro
bable that it was, or could be intended as a per
sonal injury. However the indignant poet resented
it as such, and conceived an unrelenting hatred
towards that general. On the ruins of the villa,
the church of which we now speak was erected,
and dedicated Virgini parienti, or De Partu*. It
is neither large, nor remarkable for its architecture
or ornaments. The sole object of curiosity in it
is the tomb of the founder, adorned with statues
and basso relievos, representing the subject of his
poems ; the materials are rieh, and the execution
good ; but figures representing pagan divinities,
satyrs, and nymphs, are ornaments ill adapted to
the tomb of a Christian poet, and strangely mis
placed in a Christian church. It is impossible,
however, not to smile at the awkward attempt of
the good fathers to remedy this incongruity, by
inscribing the name of David under the statue of

In fancy there I drink Castalia's well,
And, to my fancy, there the tuneful Muses dwell.
* To the parturient Virgin, or Of the Parturition.

CA. X. THROUGH ITALY. S47
Apollo, and that of Judith under Minerva. The
epitaph was composed by Bembo :
Da sacro cineri flores. Hic ille Maroni
Sincerus musa proximus ut tumulo *.
In one of the little chapels there is a picture
of St. Michael trampling on Satan. It is observa
ble, that the latter is represented with the face of
a beautiful female, and the reason given is whim
sical enough. The countenance of the devil is the
picture of a very beautiful lady, who unfortunately
fell in love with Diomedes Caraffa, Bishop of
Ariano, who, to shew his abhorrence of her sacri
legious passion, when fitting up this chapel for his
mausoleum, ordered the painter to degrade her
into the infernal spirit, and place her prostrate
under the spear of the archangel. For the satis
faction of the ladies, I must add, that this ungal-
lant prelate has not been canonized. A Last
Supper in another chapel is supposed to be a mas
ter-piece, though the name of the painter is not
known. I must observe, in closing these few cursory
observations on the churches of Naples, that not
withstanding the bad taste which prevails very

Upon the sacred dust be flow'rets spread :
He sung like Maro once ; tie rests try Maro, dead.

348 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. X.
generally in the architecture and the decorations
of these edifices, the traveller will find in most
of them something that merits observation. In
paintings in particular the Neapolitan churches
are very rich, and there are few among them that
cannot boast of one or more exquisite specimens
of this art.
But if the churches do no credit to the taste of
the Neapolitans, the hospitals reflect much honor
on their charity. These establishments are very
numerous, and adapted to every species of distress
to which man is subject in mind or body.' Many
of them are richly endowed, and all clean, well
attended and well regulated. One circumstance
almost peculiar to Italian hospitals and charitable
foundations, contributes essentially to their splen
dor and prosperity ; it is,, that they are not only
attended by persons who devote themselves en
tirely and without any interested views to the
relief of suffering humanity; but that tbey are
governed and inspected not nominally, but really,
by persons of the first rank and education, who
manage the interests of the establishments with
a prudence and assiduity which they seldom per
haps display in their own domestic economy.
Besides, to almost every hospital is attached one
and sometimes more confraternities, or pious asso
ciations, formed for the purpose of relieving some
particular species of distress, or of averting or re-

CA. X. THROUGH ITALY. 349
medying some evil. These confraternities though
founded upon the basis of equality, and of course
open to all ranks, generally contain a very con
siderable proportion of noble persons, who make
it a point to fulfil the duties of the association with
aa exactness as honorable to themselves, as it is
exemplary and beneficial to the public. These
persons visit the respective hospitals almost daily,
inquire into the situation and circumstances of
every patient, and oftentimes attend on them per
sonally, and render them the most humble servi
ces. Tbey perform these duties in disguise, and
generally in the dress or uniform worn by the con
fraternity, for the express purpose of diverting
public attention from the individuals, and fixing it
on the object only of the association. Instead of
description, which would be here misplaced, I shall
insert a few observations.
Of charitable foundations in Naples, the num
ber is above sixty. Of these seven are hospitals
properly so called : thirty at least are conservato
ries or receptacles for helpless orphans, foundlings,
&c : five are banks for the relief of such indus
trious poor as are distressed by the occasional want
of small sums of money ; the others are either
schools or confraternities. The incomes of most
of these establishments, particularly of the hospi
tals, are in general very considerable, but seldom
equal to the expenditure. The annual deficiency,

350 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. X.
how great soever it may be, is abundantly sup
plied by donations, most of which come from un
known benefactors.
The two principal hospitals are that called
Degli Incur •abili (of the Incurable), which notwith
standing its title is open to sick persons of all de
scriptions, and constantly relieves more than eigh
teen hundred ; and that Delia Sma. Annunziata,
which is immensely rich, and destined to receive
foundlings, penitent females, &c. and said some
times to harbor two thousand. To each belong in
the first place a villa, and in the second a cemetery.
The villa of the first is situated at Torre del Greco,
and is destined for the benefit of convalescents,
and such as labor under distempers that require
free air and exercise. A similar rural retreat
ought to belong to every great hospital established
in large cities, where half the distempers to which
the poorer classes are liable, arise from constant
confinement, and the want of pure air. The ce
metery is in a different way, of at least equal ad
vantage to public health. It was apprehended,
and not without reason, that so many bodies as
must be carried out from an hospital, especially in
unhealthy seasons, might if deposited in any church
or church-yard, within the city, infect the air and
produce or propagate contagious diseases. To
prevent such evils, the sum of forty-eight thousand
five hundred ducats, raised by voluntary contribft-

Ch. X. THROUGH ITALY. 351
tion, was laid ont in purchasing and fitting up for
the purpose a field about half a mile from the walls
of the city on a rising ground. A little neat
church is annexed to it, with apartments for the
officiating clergy, and the persons attached to the
service of the cemetery, and the road that winds
np the hill to it is lined with cypresses. The
burial ground is divided into three hundred and
sixty-six large and deep vaults, one of which is
opened every day in the year, and the bodies to
be interred deposited in order. These vaults are
covered with flags of lava that fit exactly, and
completely close every aperture. The bodies are
carried out at night time, by persons appointed for
the purpose, and every precaution taken to pre
vent even the slightest chance of infection. All is
done gratis and the expences requisite supplied by
public charity.
It is to be regretted that this method of burying
the dead has not been adopted in every hospital
and parish in Naples, and indeed in every town
and city not in Italy only but ail over Europe.
It is really lamentable that a practice so disgusting,
not to say so pernicious, as that of heaping up
putrid carcases in churches, where the air is ne
cessarily confined, and in church-yards in cities,
where it cannot have a very free circulation,
should be so long and so obstinately retained. It
would be difficult to discover one single argument

352 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. X.
drawn either from the principles of religion or
from the dictates of reason in its favor ; while its
inconveniencies and mischiefs are visible and almost
tangible. In the early ages of Christianity the honor of
being deposited in the church was reserved to
martyrs ; and the Emperor Constantine only re
quested to be allowed to lie in the porch of the
Basilica of the apostles, which he himself had
erected in Constantinople. Hence the eloquent
Chrysostom when speaking of the triumph of
Christianity, exultingly observes, that the Caesars
subdued by the humble fishermen whom they had
persecuted, now appeared as suppliants before
them, and gloried in occupying the place of
porters at the doors of their sepulchres. Bishops
and priests distinguished by their learning, zeal
and sanctity, were gradually permitted to share
the honors of martyrs, and to repose with them
in the sanctuary itself. A pious wish in some to
be deposited in the neighborhood of such holy
persons, and to rest under the shadow of the
altars ; and in others an absurd love of distinction
even beyond the grave ; to which may be added,
I fear, the avarice of the clergy, who by making
such a distinction expensive, rendered it enviable;
by degrees broke through all the wholesome re
strictions of antiquity, and at length converted
the noblest of public edifices, the Basilicse, the

Ch. X. THROUGH ITALY. - 353
temples of the Eternal, the seats of holirilfes and
parity, into so many dormitories of the dead,
receptacles of putridity, and vast infected charnel
houses. Notwithstanding the decrees of synods and the
representations of the faculty; notwithstanding
the dictates of reason and the interests of health,
this abuse went on increasing and continued for
ages in force and fashion. The first attempt I
believe to check or rather to remove it entirely,
was made by the Emperor Joseph, who pro
hibited by edict the interment of bodies not in
churches only, but even in towns and their
suburbs. This edict still prevails in the Low
Countries, and if I mistake not in the Austrian
territories in general, though certain clauses gave
considerable offence, and suspended for some
time its full effect. The Emperor who in his
zeal for reformation, often forgot that opinion
will not always bend even to power, conceived
it seems that the sooner the carcase is reduced to
dust the better; he therefore proscribed the use
of coffins, as calculated to prolong the state of
putrefaction, and ordered lime to be strewed
over the corps to accelerate its dissolution. This
regulation excited universal disgust, not only be
cause unusual and contrary to the natural feelings,
or which is nearly the same thing, to the uni
versal practice of mankind; but because very
VOL. II. a A

354 CLASSICAL TOUR ' CA. X.
opposite to that tenderness and respect even for
the ruins of the human form, which if not enforced
by the precepts, has at all times been inspired by
the genius of Christianity. Not perhaps without
reason. That divine religion is ever intent on
the grand object of raising, aggrandising and per
fecting our nature ; while it teaches us to consider
ourselves as destined to act in a much higher and
more glorious sphere than our present state, it
naturally prompts us to look with some degree of
veneration even on our bodies*, which though
doomed to death and putrefaction, shall yet one
day shake off the dust of the tomb, and though
corruptible put on incorruption, and though mortal
put on immortality. The offensive clause was
therefore suppressed, and the useful and laudable
provisions of the decree carried very generally into
execution. Some regulation of the same kind was I think
made in France, but it was not so comprehensive.
To bury in churches was prohibited, Tiut vaults
were allowed, provided they did not open into
the church, or into any covered court or building.
This was a partial remedy to the evil, bat still
better than none ; and it cannot but appear sur-

* Honoro in cineribus semina aeternitatis, says St. Am
brose. " I honor in our ashes the seeds of eternity."

CA. X. THROUGH ITALY. 355
prising that the example of two such preponderant
Powers as France and Austria should not have
been more generally imitated. It is still more
astonishing that in a country governed by public
reason and guided by public interest as England
is (excepting in a few instances when the influence
of the court or the spirit of party may accidentally
bias the legislature) no attempts have been made
to put an end to a practice so absurd and pre-
judical ; especially as this practice is more evidently
dangerous in protestant than in catholic countries ;
as in the former, churches in general are only
opened for a few hours on one day in the week ;
while in the latter they are never shut, and have
the additional advantage of being fumigated with
incense and sprinkled with holy water*.
It cannot but appear strange that a people so
dull and unenlightened as the Turks, should in
this respect show more sense and even more taste
than nations in every other respect their superiors.
Their cemeteries are in general out of the precincts
of their cities, most commonly on a rising ground,
and always planted with cedars, cypresses, and
odoriferous shrubs, whose deep verdure and grace-

* As holy water has always a considerable quantity of
salt mixed with it, its effect when sprinkled about a church
or room must be salubrious.

356 CLASSICAL TOUR -CA. X.
ful forms bending to every breeze, give a melan
choly beauty to the place, and inspire sentiments
Very congenial to its destination. I have seen
some christian cemeteries (as at Brussels for in
stance) situate and laid out in the same advan
tageous and picturesque manner, with some ad
ditional precautions in the division, so as to
preclude the possibility of heaping bodies on each
other, or of crowding them indecently together.
But even this arrangement is, open to improve
ments ; and it is to be hoped that such improve
ments will ere long be made by the wisdom of a
British legislature. /
One remark more upon the Neapolitan hos
pitals and I drop the subject. When a patient has
recovered his health and strength, and is about to
return to his usual occupations, he receives from
the establishment a sum of money sufficient to
compensate for the loss of time and labor unavoid
able during his illness ; a most benevolent cnstom
and highly worthy of imitation. A long illness
or dangerous accident deprives a poor laborer or
artisan so long of his ordinary wages, and throws
him so far back in his little economy, that he can
not without great difficulty recover himself and
regain a state of comfort. From this inconvenience
the small sum granted by the charity of the hos
pital relieves him, and restores him to his trade
in health, strength and spirits.

CA. X. THROUGH ITALY. 357
The Conscroatorii are schools opened for poor
children of both sexes, where they are educated,
fed, and taught some handicraft or other. Some
are in the nature of working houses and employ
a prodigious number of indigent persons of both
sexes in separate buildings, while others are de
voted entirely to children educated principally for
music. These latter institutions have produced
some or rather most of the great performers and
masters of the art, who have figured in the churches
or on the stages of the different capitals of Europe
for the last hundred years. Paesielli, Caffarelli
and Pergokse were formed in these seminaries.
And indeed Naples is to Italy, what Italy is to
the world at large, the great school of music,
where that fascinating art is cultivated with the
greatest ardor ; and ardor oftentimes carried to an
extreme and productive of consequences highly
mischievous and degrading to humanity. It is
true that the castration of boys is rigorously pro
hibited by the laws both of church and state ; but
as long as the fashionable classes in London and
Paris think proper to encourage and reward by
enormous wages such performers ; so long venal
parents in Naples will find means to evade the
laws, and still continue to sacrifice their unfor
tunate children to the hopes, or rather the certainty
of profit. But this practice is on the decline even
here ; and in justice to the Neapolitans I must

358 CLASSICAL TOUR " CA. X.
observe, that, if w» may believe them, the opera
tion alluded to, is not permitted, nor indeed ever
practised in their schools ; but such unhappy
children when sent from other places are not
excluded. Of the numberless confraternities I shall only
specify such as have some unusual and very sin
gular object: such as that whose motto is Suc-
currere Miseris*, the members of which make it
their duty to visit condemned criminals, to prepare
them for death, to accompany them to execution,
and to give them a decent burial. They carry
their charitable attentions still farther, and provide
for the widows and children of these* unhappy
wretches. This society was originally composed
of some of the first nobility of the city ; but the
tyrant Philip, influenced it seems by motives of
political suspicion, forbid the nobles to enter into
such associations, and in particular confined the
one we are speaking of to the clergy.
The congregation De S. Ivone consists of
lawyers, who undertake to plead the causes of
the poor gratis, and to furnish all the expenses
necessary to carry their suits through the courts
with effect. To be entitled to the assistance and
support of this association, no recommendation or

* To succor the unfortunate.

CA. X. THROUGH ITALY. 359
introduction is required ; the person applying has
only to disclose his poverty, and to give a full and
fair statement of his case.
Congregazime della Croce*, is composed prin
cipally of nobility, and its object is to relieve the
poor, and imprisoned ; and particularly to bury
the bodies of such distressed and forsaken persons
when dead.
The congregation Della Sta. Trinita dei Pel-
legrini'\- is destined, as its name imports, more
particularly for the relief of strangers, and is
composed of persons of all classes who meet in
its assemblies and fulfil its duties without distinc
tion. It is. governed by five persons, one of whom
presides and is generally a prelate or high officer
of state ; the others are a nobleman, a citizen, a
lawyer, and an artisan. All the members attend
the hospital in rotation, each for a week, during
which they receive strangers, wash tbeir feet,
attend them at table, and serve them with the
humility and with more than the assiduity of
menials. The congregation of Nobles for the relief of
the bashful poor : the object of this association is
to discover and to relieve such industrious per
sons as are reduced to poverty by misfortune and

* The Association of the Cross.
t Of the Holy Trinity of Strangers.

360 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. X.
have too much spirit, or too much modesty to
solicit public assistance. The members of this
association, it is said, discharge its benevolent du
ties with a zeal, a sagacity, and what is still more
necessary for the accomplishment of their object,
with a delicacy and kindness truly admirable.
All these confraternities have halls, churches,
and hospitals, more or less grand and extensive
as their object may require, or their means allow.
I need not enlarge further upon this subject, as
the institutions already mentioned are sufficient
to give the reader an idea of these confraternities,
and to shew at the same time the extent and the
activity of Neapolitan benevolence. Much has
been said and, though exaggerations are not un
common on this subject, much more may be said
against the voluptuousness and debauchery of the
inhabitants of this city ; yet it must at the same
time be confessed, that in the first and most useful
of virtues, the grand characteristic quality of the
Christian, in Charity, she surpasses many and yields
to no city in the world *.

* Even in the very respect in which Naples is supposed
to be most deficient, I mean in regard to chastity, there are
instances of attention to morality not to be equalled in any
transalpine capital. For instance, there are more retreats
open to repentant females, and more means employed to se
cure the innocence of girls exposed to the dangers of seduc
tion by their age, their poverty, or by the loss, the neglect,

CA. X. THROUGH ITALY. 361
Of the royal palaces, and of those of the nobi
lity, the same may be said as of the churches ; that
the style of architecture is not pure, nor of course
majestic ; that they are in general too much en
cumbered with ornaments, though in several the
apartments are on a grand scale, and ornamented
with many fine paintings. In the garden of one,
the Palazzo Berrio, is a groupe representing Venus
and Adonis by Canova of exquisite workmanship
and beauty. The collection of pictures formerly
at the Capo di Monte had been removed on the
approach of the French and not replaced. This
edifice is a royal palace of great extent, and in a
delightful situation, commanding a fine view of
the town, and of the bay with all its islands and
surrounding scenery. It was never finished, and
is not inhabited. Its apartments were employed
as picture galleries, and the collection is numerous
and rich in master-pieces. But as the access to
this palace is inconvenient on account of its eleva
tion, it is the intention of government to transport
the whole to the Studii or University, a very
spacious edifice, where is already a noble collection

or the wickedness of their parents, than are to be found in
London, Paris, Vienna and Petersburgh united. Of this
latter description there are four hundred educated in one
conservatorio, and not only educated, but when fit for mar
riage, portioned out according to their talents.

362 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. X.
of statues. Among these the celebrated Hercules
by Glycon is the most remarkable. All these
statues and monuments once adorned the Farnesian
palace in Rome, and were transported thence by
the king of Naples, who succeeded to the rich
inheritance of the Farnesian family. The library
of the Studii contains more than fifty thousand
volumes and some valuable manuscripts. Neither
this library nor the collection of statues suffered
much from the rapacity of the French during their
late invasion. This establishment is planned on
a vast scale, and intended to contain all the royal
museums and libraries, and to comprise the in
struments and apparatus of all the arts and
sciences. Naples is very well supplied with the means of
instruction as far as depends upon public establish
ments. It has four public libraries, the University
which I have just mentioned, and six colleges,
besides schools and conservatorii beyond number.
The advantages arising from so many literary esta
blishments are accordingly" very perceptible, and
the number of learned men produced by Naples
is equal perhaps to that of any city of the same
population. Some Neapolitan authors carry their
pretensions so far as to place the number and
merit of their writers upon a level with those of
Paris, and from the list of publications which they
produce, an impartial man would find it difficult

CA.X. THROUGH ITALY. 363
to decide against them. Their Parisian rivals ob
ject, that even the names of their authors, not to
say their works, have scarcely passed the Alps,
and are not known even in Italy, beyond the
narrow circle of academicians, while the names of
Voltaire, Marmontel, &c. are celebrated in every
capital of Europe, and their works perused in
every circle. To this observation the Neapolitans
reply, that the superior fame of French authors is
owing to the prevalence of the French language,
and that that prevalence is certainly not to be
ascribed either to its intrinsic merit, or to the
superior excellence of its literature, but to the
preponderance of French power. Thus, say they,
the French dress has been generally adopted at
Courts, and was during a considerable part of the
last century the dress of Europe ; but nobody
snrely can be so absurd as to pretend that it owed
its universality either to its gracefulness or its
convenience. The literature therefore like the
fashions of France, was recommended first by
power and afterwards by custom ; and when we
add to its intrinsic merits, a great deal of intrigue,
of trick, and of noise, we shall discover the real
causes of its ill-acquired superiority.
In truth, Frenchmen of every description are
never wanting in the praises of every thing French,
and whatever their differences in other respects
may be, all agree in asserting their national pre-

364 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. X.
tensions to universal superiority. The Italians
are more modest, because they have more solidity;
they write to please their own taste and that of
those who choose to read them : they employ no
journals to puff off their compositions, send no
emissaries to spread their fame over distant coun
tries, and pay no agents in foreign courts. They
leave their language and their works to their own
native merit, and rest their claim to glory on the
undisputed excellence of their predecessors. As
for the present reputation of French literature, our
Neapolitans consider it as the fashion of the day,
the delirium of the times, and doubt not that it
will ere long subside in contempt and indifference.
Such indeed has been the fate of that absurd fond
ness for French dress which disgraced our ances
tors ; and as we now smile at their want of taste
in giving the preference to garments so stiff,
graceless, and unnatural : so our descendants may
possibly contemplate with equal ridicule and sur
prise, the preposterous partiality which the present
age has shewn to the frippery and the tinsel of
French literature.
In justice to the Neapolitans it must be admit
ted, that the progress of French literature has
been considerably advanced by the spirit and in
trigues of the philosophic party. The French
language was the medium by which they were to
disseminate their opinions ; no expense therefore

CA. X. THROUGH ITALY. 366
was spared, no exertion was wanting to extend its
use and influence. Teachers were hired and sent
to the most distant towns to disseminate its prin
ciples, and to facilitate its acquisition*. Attempts
were made to undermine, at least secretly to lessen
the respect paid to the ancient languages, particu
larly Latin ; and the Gallic idiom with its lumber
of auxiliaries, its nasal dissonance, and truncated
syllables was compared, nay almost preferred to
the simplicity, harmony, and fulness of that divine
dialect. But independent of language, the Nea
politans certainly have the advantage in point of
science and of ancient literature, particularly Greek,
a language much neglected in France, and indeed
in most continental universities*. But whatever

* The writer happened to be present in a large party
when the conversation turned upon modern literature, a dis
cussion arose between two persons about the comparative
merit of Italian and French literature. One, a gentleman of
very general information and a traveller, well acquainted
with the scenery and antiquities of Italy, expressed however
great contempt for its literature, and seemed astonished that
his opponent could even think of putting it in competition
with the master-pieces with which the French language
abounded. This brought on a comparison of poets, his
torians, essayists, &c. &c. in which the Italians must always
- have the advantage, both in numbers and excellence. Some
months after the two disputants happened accidentally to
meet again, when the same subject bemg slightly hinted, it
appeared that the champion for French literature had en
tirely changed his opinion. The truth, it seems was, that he

366 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. X.
may be our opinion of the claims of our Neapolitan
literati to precedence on this occasion, we must
acknowledge, that there exist in this capital a
vast mass of information, a great activity of mind
and a wonderful aptitude, fostered by the serenity
of the climate, to excellence in every branch of
science and composition.
Few cities stand in less need of architectural
magnificence or internal attractions than Naples ;
had it even fewer artificial recommendations, it
would still be a most desirable residence. So
beautiful is its neighborhood! so delicious its
climate ! Before it spreads the sea, with its bays,
promontories, and islands ; behind it rise moun
tains and rocks in every fantastic form, and always
clothed with verdure ; on each side swell hills and
hillocks covered with groves, and gardens, and

had devoted his time and attention to the French language,
and had imbibed among that vain people a contempt for their
more learned and more modest neighbors. He had never
heard the names, nor even suspected the existence of three-
fourths of the Italian writers, and was surprised when he
turned his attention that way to find a mine so rich and in
exhaustible. The situation of this gentleman is perhaps that
of many readers well acquainted with French writers, but
total strangers to the Italian. Yet these latter have been,
as Voltaire very candidly acknowledges, their masters, and
have imparted to them that share of taste, science, and re
finement, in which they glory, and vainly affect to equal their
teachers.

CA. X. THROUGH ITALY. 367
orchards blooming with fruits and flowers. Every
morning, a gale springing from the sea brings
vigor and coolness with it, and tempers the greatest
heats of summer with its freshness. Every even
ing, a breeze blowing from the hills and sweeping
all the perfumes of the country before it, fills the
nightly atmosphere with fragrance.
It is not surprising therefore, that to such a
country and such a climate the appellation of
Felix should have been so often given ; that its
sweets should be supposed to have enervated an
army of barbarians ; that the Romans covered its
coasts with their villas ; and that so many poets
should have made the delicious Parthenope their
theme and their retreat.
Nunc molles urbi ritus atque hospita musis
Otia, et exemptum curis gravioribus aevum.
Sirenum dedit una, suum et memorabile nomen
Parthenope* .... SU. Ital. Lib. xii. 31.

Now learned ease, by every muse adorn'd,
And customs mild, and social manners grace
Her happy walls, and free from gnawing cares,
The tide of life there glides serenely on.
To her Parthenope the Siren lent
Her memorable name.

368 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. XI.

CHAP. XI.

Virgil's Tomb— Grotto of Posilipo — Lagod'Agnano
— Grotto del Cane — Astroni — Nisida — PqzzuoIo
— Cicero's Academia and Cuman Villa.
Under our windows and bordering on the beach
js the royal garden, laid out in parterres, and
walks shaded by rows of orange trees. In the
middle stands the Toro Farnese, the celebrated
Farnesian bull, a group representing Amphion,
and Zethus binding Dirce to the horns of a bull.
It was discovered in the midst of a heap of rubbish
in one of the halls of the baths of Caracalla at
Rome, first deposited in the Farnesian palace, and
thence transported to Naples. The bull is consi
dered as the finest sculptured quadruped in exist
ence ; the other figures are modern. This garden
has not the luxuriance of shade that promises
coolness during the sultry hours of the day ; but
in the evening it affords a delicious retreat to the
traveller who, as he reclines over the waves that

CA. XI. THROUGH ITALY. 36?
bathe the terrace wall, enjoys at once their fresh
ness and their murmurs.
Proceeding westward along the Ckiaia and
keeping towards the beach, we came to the quarter
called Mergyllina. To ascend the hill of Posilipo
over whose sides this quarter spreads, we turned
to the right, and followed a street winding as a
staircase up the steep, and terminating at a garden
gate. Having entered, we pursued a path through
a vineyard, and descending a little we came to a
small square building, flat-rooted, placed on a
sort of platform on the brow of a precipice on
one side, and on the other sheltered by a super
incumbent rock. An aged ilex spreading from
the sides of the rock, and bending over the edifice
covers the roof with its ever verdant foliage.
Numberless shrubs spring around, and interwoven
with ivy clothe the walls, and hang in festoons
over the precipice. The edifice before us was an
ancient tomb — the tomb of Virgil ! We entered ;
a vaulted cell and two modern windows alone
present themselves to view; the poet's name is
the only ornament of the place. No sarcophagus,
no urn, and even no inscription to feed the devo
tion of the classical pilgrim. The epitaph which
though not genuine is yet ancient, was inscribed
by order of the Duke of Pesaolangiano, then pro
prietor of the place, on a marble slab placed in
the side of , the rock opposite the entrance of
VOL. II. B B

sro CLASSICAL TOUR CA. XL
the tomb, where it still remains. 'Every body is
acquainted with it —
Mantua me genuit, Calabri rapuere, tenet nunc
Parthenope, cecini pascua, rura, duces *.
An Italian author, I think Pietro de Steffano,
assures us that he himself had seen about the year
1526, the urn supposed to contain the poet's
ashes, standing in the middle of the sepulchre
supported by nine little marble pillars, with the
inscription just quoted on the frieze. He adds
that Robert of Anjou apprehensive lest such a
precious relic should be carried off or destroyed
during the wars then raging in the kingdom, took
the urn and the pillars from the tomb and depo
sited them in the Castel Nuovo. This , extreme
precaution had an effect very different from that
intended, and occasioned the loss it was meant
to prevent; for notwithstanding the most labo
rious search and the frequent inquiries made by
the orders of Alphonso of Arragon, they were never
more discovered -J-.

* In Mantua born, but in Calabria bred,
Fair Naples owns me now ; the past'ral charge,
And agricult'ral toils, and arms I sung.
f On« Eugenio, an author of 1625, informs us, upon

CA. XI. THROUGH ITALY. 371
The story is related in a different manner by
Alphonsus Heredia, Bishop of Ariano. According
to this author, the urn, the pillars, and some little
statues that adorned the sepulchre were presented
by the Neapolitan government to the cardinal of
Mantua, who proceeding homewards by sea, was
taken ill and died at Genoa. Of the urn and
pillars no further mention is made. Perhaps in
deed they never existed ; their number and their
size seem inconsistent with the plain and simple
style prevalent in the time of Augustus ; besides,
if they had been the original ornaments of the
place they would scarce have survived so many
centuries of war and devastation, or escaped the
rage of so many barbarous invaders, indifferent to
the glory, and frequently unacquainted even with
the very name of Virgil.
But there are authors who go still further, and
venture to assert, that the tomb of which we are
now speaking, is not the sepulchre of Virgil. Of
this number are the classic Addison and the labo
rious and accurate Cluverius. The authority of

what authority I know not, that a stone was found in a
neighboring villa, inscribed with these words :
Siste viator pauca legito,
Hic Maro situs est.
Stop, traveller and read'a few words —
Here lies Maro.

372 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. XI.
two such eminent persons, without doubt, carries
great weight with it, but that weight is upon this
occasion considerably lessened by the weakness of
the arguments on which their opinion is grounded.
These arguments may be found in Cluverius, as
Addison merely expresses his opinion without
entering into any discussion. They are drawn,
from a few verses of Statius, which I cite the
more willingly as they describe the surrounding
scenerv*. En egomet somnum et geniale secutus
Littus, ubi Ausonio se condidit hospita portu
Parthenope, tenues ignavo pollice chordas
Pulso, Maroneique sedens in margine templi
Sumo animum, et magni tumulis adcanto magistrif.

And farther on

Hoc ego Chalcidicis, ad te, Mareelle sonabam
Littoribus, fractas ubi Yesbius egerit iras,
iEmula Trinacriis volvens incendia flammis] .
Stat. SU. lib. iv. 4.

* Syl. iv. Carm. 4.
f Lo ! idly wand'ring on the sea-beat strand
Where the fam'd Syren on Ausonia's land
First moor'd her bark, I strike the sounding string ;
At Virgil's honor'd tomb I sit and sing ;
Warm'd by the hallow'd spot, my Muse takes fire,
And sweeps with bolder hand my humble lyre.
J These strains, Marcellus, on the Chalcian shores
I penn'd, where great Vesuvius smokes and roars,

CA. XI. THROUGH ITALY. 373
According to the geographer, Statius here as
serts, that Virgil's tomb stood on the beach, and
at the foot of Vesuvius. He who follows the
shore, says Cluverius, cannot be supposed to as
cend the hills, and yet by following the shore,
Statins arrives at the temple (or tomb of Maro)
and reclines within its precincts. Again, the
poet, when within the verge itself of the temple of
Maro says that he wrote there, " ubi Vesbius egerit
iras," 8gc. therefore Virgil's tomb must have been
at the foot of Vesuvius. In the first place, the
word secutus is here taken in a figurative sense,
as is evident from the word somnum, and means
following the genius, or in other words yielding
to the influence of the coast. This mode of
reasoning, drawn from the strict sense or rather
the sound of the words, is barely admissible even
in logical and metaphysical discussions ; it is not
certainly conformable to the latitude allowed in
ordinary description, whether in conversation or
writing; much less is it applicable to the boldness
of poetical composition. The expressions alluded
to seem evidently to describe the general features
of the country, and not the particular spot where

And from his crater ruddy flames expires,
With fury scarce surpass'd- by /Etna's fires.

374 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. XI.
stood the tomb of Virgil. Besides the word littus
does not mean the beach only, but extends to the
immediate neighborhood of the sea; now the road
to Virgil's tomb runs actually along the beach,
and though it turns from it in ascending the hills,
yet it is always within sight of it, and in reality
Tiever deviates half a quarter of a mile from it,
even when it terminates in the sepulchre itself.
In following such a road a poet may literally say,
that he traverses the beach, and always remains
on the shore itself. Surely, a sepulchre standing
upon an eminence a quarter of a mile from the
sea, and looking down upon it, may be said to be
upon the coast.
The argument drawn from the neighborhood
of Vesuvius has less foundation than even the ex-.
planation given to the word littus; the conjunction
ubi is very different from the preposition sub,
which the geographer substitutes as synonimous ;
as the latter marks an immediate vicinity and
almost contiguity, while, the former, unless re
stricted by an additional word or circumstance,
merely implies a general neighborhood, as in
the same country or district. Thus Sub tegmine
fagi — Forte sub arguta — Hinc altd sub rape, S$c.
— are instances of the one, while the following
verse sufficiently points out the sense given to the
other.

CA. XI. THROUGH ITALY. 375
Ad terrain Hesperiam venies, ubi Lydius arva
Inter opima virum leni fluit agmine Tybris*. Mneid. ii. 781.
The poet therefore here alludes to the general
and most striking features of the country, and
not to the particular site of Virgil's tomb, as must
appear evident to any reader, who peruses the
passage above cited with a mind unbiassed by
previous opinions ; especially as Statius positively
says, that he was on the hills when at Virgil's
tomb, magni tumulis adcanto magistri.
As for the two epigrams of Martial, quoted by
Cluverius, they only seem to insinuate that Silius
Italicus was proprietor both of the tomb of Virgil
and of the villa of Cicero ; a circumstance very
immaterial to the present discussion, but rather.
favorable than contrary to the common opinion ;
for we know that Cicero's villa lay on the same
side of Naples as Posilipo, and as Virgil's tomb
belonged to tbe same master as the villa, it may
be supposed that they were not very distant from
each other. In fine, in opposition to these argu
ments, or rather conjectures founded upon the
vague expression of a single poet (a poet often

* On Latium's happy shore you shall be cast :
Where gentle Tiber from his bed beholds
The flowery meadows, and the feeding folds. Dryden.

376 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. XI.
censured* for his obscurity) we have the constant
and uninterrupted tradition of the country sup
ported by the authority of a numerous host of
learned and ingenious antiquaries ; and upon such
grounds we may still continue to cherish the
conviction, that we have visited the tomb Of
Virgil, and hailed his sacred shade on the spot
where his ashes long reposed *.
The laurel which (it is said) sprung up at the
base, and covered the roof with its luxuriant
branches, now flourishes only in the verses of
youthful bards, or in the descriptions of early
travellers ; myrtle, ivy and ilex, plants equally
adapted to the genius of the place^ and to the

* The reader will observe, that in this discussion, neither
the testimony of Donatus, nor that of St. Jerom in the Chro
nicle of Eusebius, has been produced ; as the life of Virgil,
bearing the name of that grammarian, is generally rejected
as spurious, and the chronicle is considered at best as sus
picious, and the passage alluding to Virgil supposed to be an
interpolation. The learned German editor of Virgil, Heyne,
accuses the monks of this double imposition, and represents
them as employing all their accustomed machinery of magic
and miracles to raise and emblazon the fame of the Roman
poet. Alas ! the charge is too complimentary. The poor
monks, I fear, employed very little of their time or talents
upon either the works or the reputation of Virgil. They
perhaps transcribed him as they found him; the rest was
probably the invention of the grammarians of the fifth and
sixth centuries, with some additions and improvements by
those of the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth.

CA. XI. THROUGH ITALY. 377
themes of the poet, now supply the absence of
the withered bay, and encircle the tomb with
verdure and perfume.
The sepulchre of Virgil, it may be imagined,
must have long remained an object of interest and
veneration, especially as his works had excited
universal admiration even in his life time, and
were very soon after his death put into the hands
of children, and made with Homer a part of the
rudiments of early education *. Yet Martial de-

* The reason given by Quintilian is honorable to both
these exalted Poets : — Caetera admonitione magna egent; in
primis ut tenerae mentes, tracturaeque altius quicquid rudibus
et omnium ignaris insederit, non modo quae diserta, sed vel
magis quae honesta sunt, discant. Ideoque optime institu-
tum est ut ab Homero atque Virgilio lectio inciperet ; quan-
quam ad intelligences eorum virtutes firmiore judicio opus
esset. Sed huic rei superest tempus ; nee enim semel le-
gentur. Interim et sublimitate heroici carminis animus as-
surgat, et ex magnitudine rerum spiritum ducat, et optimis
imbuatur. — Quintil: Lib. 1. 5.
" In other respects, much advice is necessary ; in the
first place that the tender minds of youth, upon which, as
being unskilful and ignorant, every thing that is ingrafted
will make a deeper impression, should not only learn what
is eloquent, but rather what is virtuous. It has therefore
been wisely instituted that their reading should begin with
Homer and Virgil ; though to understand the virtues incul
cated by those writers, a firmer judgment might be ne
cessary. But for this there is ample time, for they will not
be confined to a single perusal. In the mean time the mind
may both be elevated by the sublimity of heroic poetry, and
from the greatness of the events may derive a nobler spirit,
and become imbued with the most honorable principles.

378 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. XL
clares that it had been neglected in his time, and
that Silius Italicus alone restored its long for
gotten honors.
Jam prope, desertos cineres, et sancta Maronis
Numina qui coleret, pauper et unus erat.
Silius Andino tandem succurrit agello,
Silius et vatem, non minor ipse, colit*. Lib. xi. Epig. 51.
This negligence in an age of so much refine
ment cannot but appear astonishing, even though
we are informed that the same age had been terri
fied by the cruelties of four successive tyrants,
and distracted by two most destructive wars raging
in the very heart of Italy. Our surprise however
may cease when we recollect, that in the present
* To bonor Maro's dust, and sacred shade,
One swain remain'd, deserted, poor, alone,
Till Silius came, his pious toils to aid,
In homage to a name, scarce greater than his own.
This honorable testimony to the judgment and the taste
of Silius is confirmed by Pliny, " Virgilii (imaginem venera-
batur) ante omnes, cujus natalem religiosius quam suam cele-
brabat Neapoli maxime, ubi monumentum ejus adire, ut tem-
plum solebatf. Lib. iii. Ep. 7. — The custom of honoring
Virgil's birth-day does not seem to have been peculiar to
this poet, as Martial alludes to it more than once, if I do not
mistake. t Above all others, he venerated the image of Virgil,
whose birth-day he kept more religiously than his own, for
the most part at Naples, where he used to visit his tomb,
as he would a temple.

CA. XI. THROUGH ITALY. 370
most polished and enlightened century, in less
than sixty years after Pope's death, at a time
when his works were in the hands of every child,
and had been translated into every language, his
house was levelled with the ground, his grotto
defaced, the trees planted by his own hand rooted
up, and his whole retreat, the seat of genius and
of the British muse, ravaged and stript of the very
ornaments which endeared them to the public,
because they were the creation of the poet's fancy,
and still seemed to bear the impression of his
mind. Houses and gardens, grottos and sepul
chres, are, it is true, the most perishable of monu
ments, and the Hero and the Poet must finally
rest their hopes of fame on their virtues and on
their talents, the sole memorial are perennius
(more durable than brass), superior to time and
barbarism. Yet the longer even such frail monu
ments as the former are preserved the better ; the
attention paid to their conversation is a tribute to
genius, and a proof of the influence of the arts,
and of the prevalence of information, honorable
to the country itself *.
* Ah ! si dans vos travaux est toujours respecte
Le lieu par un grand homme autrefois habite,
Combien doit I'etre un sol embelli par lui meme !
Dans ses sites fameux c'est leur maitre qu'on aime ....
Loin done l'audacieux, qui pour le corriger,
Profane un lieu celebre en voulant le changer : Le

380 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. XI.
The reader will learn with regret that Virgil's
tomb, consecrated as it ought to be to genius and

Le grand homme au tombeau se plaint de cet outrage :
Et les ans seuls ont droit d'embellir son ouvrage.
Gardez done d'attenter a ces lieux reveres ;
Leur debris sont divins, leurs defauts sont sacres.
Conservez leurs enclos, leurs jardins, leurs murailles . .
Tel j'ai vu ce Twickenham, dont Pope est createur;
Le gout le defendit d'un art profanateur,
Et ses maitres nouveaux reverant sa memoire,
Dans l'oeuvre de ses mains ont respecte sa gloire
Ciel ! avec quel transport j'ai visite ce lieu
Dont Mendip est le maitre, et dont Pope est le dieu !
Abbe De Lille, Jardins, iii.
If on those roofs respect and honor wait,
Beneath whose shelter liv'd the truly great,
More dear the ground embellish' d by their hands ;
'Tis there the master's self our love commands . . .
Far be th' improving hand, that, bold and vain,
Scenes thus renown'd would alter, and profane.
Such outrage in their tombs the great bemoan :
Their works should be reform'd by Time alone.
Touch not these spots ; revere the hallow'd shrine ;
Sacred their faults, their ruins are divine.
Bach garden, fence, and wall, preserve with care . . .
Such spot is Twick'nam, Pope's admir'd domain ;
Taste there forbade th' attacks of art profane.
Twick'nam's new lords rever'd the poet's name,
Marr'd not his works, but sacred held his fame.
Heav'ns ! with what joy I view'd that fair abode,
Whose master Mendip is, and Pope its God !
This passage will, I suppose, be expunged in the next
edition.

CA. XI. THROUGH ITALY. 381
to meditation, is sometimes converted into the re
treat of assassins, or the lurking place of Sbirri.
Such at least it was the last time we visited it,
when wandering that way about sun-set, we found
it filled with armed men. We were -surprised on
both sides, and on our's not very agreeably at the
unexpected rencounter ; so lonely the place and so
threatening the aspects of these strangers. Their
manners however were courteous : and on inquiry
we were informed that they were Sbirri, lying in
wait for a murderer, who was supposed to make
that spot his nightly asylum. It would be unjust
to accuse the Neapolitans of indifference towards
this or any other monument of antiquity ; but it is
incumbent on the proprietor or the public, to se
cure them against such profanation.
On the whole, few places are in themselves
more picturesque, and from the recollection inse
parably interwoven with it, no spot is more inte
resting than the tomb of Virgil.
Tune sacrum felix aluisti, Terra, Maronem
Tune pio celas ossa beata sinu ?
Anne etiam, ut fama est, Vatis placidissima saepe
Inter odoratum cernitur umbra nemus * ?
Flaminius.

* Say, on thy soil did sacred Maro dwell ?
And dost thou still his honor'd ashes hide ''
And does his peaceful shade, as legends tell,
Oft mid thy perfum'd groves delight to glide?

382 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. XL
In truth, the hill or mountain of Posilipo * on
which the sepulchre stands is beautiful in the ex
treme, and is justly honored with its appellation,
for no scene is better calculated to banish melan
choly and exhilarate the mind.
On the second of June after dinner we made
an excursion to the Lago d'Agnano : the road is
along the Chiaia, and the Strada>Puzzuolana (Via
Puteolana) through the grotto of the some name.
Doubt and obscurity hang over the origin and the
author of this celebrated excavation : some have
ascribed it to Lucullus, who indeed opened a com
munication between his fish-ponds and the sea, but
differing widely both in form and direction from
the grotto. Strabo attributes it to Cocceius, who
is supposed by a learned Italian (Pontanus) to be
the same who was appointed to superintend the
Roman aqueducts, and was in high repute for his
skill in that species of architecture. It is proba
ble, that it was originally opened as a quarry, like
many similar excavations in its immediate neigh
borhood, and under the very same mountain, and
when considerably advanced it might have been
continued and completed by public authority, as

* It took its name from a villa of Vedius Pollio, erected
in the time of Augustus, and called Pausilypum, from the
effect which its beauty was supposed to produce in suspend
ing sorrow and anxiety. v

CA. XI. THROUGH ITALY. 383
a road well calculated to facilitate the communi
cation between Naples and the towns that lay east
ward on one side, and Puteoli, Baiae, and Cumse
on the other. It was at first, and seems long to
have remained, a dark, dusty, and inconvenient
passage. " Nihil," says Seneca, " illo carcere lon-
gius, nihil illis faucibus obscurius, qua? nobis pra>
stant, non ut per tenebras videamus, sed ut ipsas*,"
that is, in the language of Milton, it rendered dark
ness visible. Great allowance must be made for
the turgid style of this declaimer, as Strabo, a
plain unaffected author, prior to Seneca, does not
speak of these inconveniencies. However, we
may fairly suppose it to have been at that time
both gloomy and narrow, as it owes its present
breadth and elevation to modern labor. Alphon
sus I. began, and Charles V. completed its im
provement, and converted it into a wide and con
venient passage. Its length is nearly three quar
ters of a mile, its breadth is about twenty-four
feet, its height is unequal, as the entrance at each
end is extremely lofty to admit the light, while the
vault lowers as it advances towards the middle,
where it is about twenty-five feet from the ground.

* Nothing can be more tedious than this prison-like pas
sage, nothing more gloomy than the entrance, which enables
us to see the darkness, but not to see through it.

384 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. XI.
It is paved with large flags of lava, and in many
places lined, and I helieve, vaulted with stone
work. jDuring tfie day, two . circular apertures
bored through the mountain admit a dim glim
mering light from above; and at night a lamp
burning before an image of the blessed Virgin
placed in a recess in the middle, casts a feeble
gleam over the gloomiest part of the passage.
Such, however, is the obscurity towards evening
that nobody ventures to go through it without a
torch, and even with a torch one feels a sort of joy
on escaping from these subterraneous horrors.
This grotto; is, on the whole, a very singular and
striking object; and the approach to it on both
sides between two walls of solid rock, and its
lofty entrances like the gates into the regions of
the dead, and the shrubs and. tufts pf wild flowers
that wave in loose festoons from the top of the
precipice as if to soften the terrors of. the chasm
beneath, form altogether a picturesque and extra
ordinary combination.
No prospect , can be more truly Elysian than
that which presented itself, when we emerged! from
the grotto and passed the little suburb beyond.it.
The road runs in a straight line to the sea through
a valley formed by two branches of Monte Posilipo.
On both sides rise groves of poplars and mulberry-
trees, united by vines interwoven in thick cluster
ing garlands, suspended over rich harvests of

CA. XI. THROUGH ITALY. 38!i
wheat and maize all waving to the sea breeze*
On the right a road turns off and leads through a
dell to the Logo d'Agnano. A hill on one side,
and a mountain on the other, shaded with poplars,
give freshness and verdure to the Walk.
The lake, though it is a fine expanse of water
of a circular form, about two miles in circum
ference, yet derives its greatest beauty from the
verdure that borders its margin, and from the
noble hills that rise around it and crown its basin.
As there is no mention made of this lake among
the ancients, we may be allowed to suppose that
it is an artificial hollow, and perhaps the celebrated
fish-pond sunk by Lucullus. His villa stood in
the neighborhood or rather close to the lake, and
the communication which he opened between his
ponds and the sea is still discernible. The situa
tion corresponds with the account, and the extent
is by no means too considerable, as Pliny the
Elder assures us, that the ponds were more ex
pensive than the villa itself, and must consequently
have been prodigious sheets of water*. The
silence of the ancients with regard to this lake is
not, it must be acknowledged, a sufficient proof
that it was originally a fish-pond; it may have
been produced since by natural causes, and in a

* ix. 54.
VOL. II. c c

386 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. XL
country so agitated by the working of subterra
neous fires, such changes may be supposed, with
out improbability, to have occurred. But if such
a phenomenon had taken place, it would have been
recorded, like the origin of Monte Nuovo, in the
annals or at least in the traditions of the times.
Now, no mention is made, no memorial occurs, of
any such revolution ; while of the pond of Lucul
lus, so often alluded to by the ancients, not the
least trace is to be found, if we except the vestiges
of its communication with the sea. It is not
therefore unreasonable to conjecture, that the lake
of Agnano may be the pond of Lucullus, as it oc
cupies nearly the same site, and in magnitude cor
responds with the grandeur and the opulence of
that luxurious Roman.
As the traveller advances he finds on his right,
a few paces from the borders of the lake, the
Grotto del Cane (the dog's grotto), a small aper
ture in the side of the mountain, remarkable for a
deadly vapor that rises from its bottom, and for
' the perpetual experiment of its efficacy on dogs.
If we may credit Cluverius, the force of this exha
lation has not been felt by dogs only, but some
times tried with a result more destructive upon
Turkish captives, and condemned criminals. Some
times however it is said to have failed on the
human species. The effects seem to vary perhaps
with the weather and the season, and perhaps,

CA. XI. THROUGH ITALY. 387
with the working of the subterraneous ingredients
from which it rises. It existed in the same neigh
borhood and perhaps in the same place in ancient
times ; it is alluded to by the elder Pliny, and
the spots that emit it are called by him in his
lofty manner Charonea scrobes*, and spiracula
Dkis<\-. Turning to the left the traveller will observe
an edifice intended for the purpose of vapor baths ;
the vapor rises hot from the earth, and when con
fined to a room, very soon throws the person ex
posed to its action into a violent perspiration. It
is supposed to be of peculiar efficacy in rheumatic
and gouty complaints. The air in the vicinity
of this lake is considered as extremely insalubrious
during the heats of summer ; but this dangerous
quality is ascribed not so much to the nature of
the place itself, or to the exhalations that arise
from the soil, as to the stench occasioned by the
quantity of flax put into the water to steep at that
season ; a circumstance that will astonish the rea
der not a little, as it is natural to suppose that the
government would prohibit a practice which even

* Infernal vents. Plin. ii. 93.
f The breathing place of Pluto.
Where Pluto pants for breath from out his cell. Dryden.

388 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. XL
in cold countries is offensive, and which in hot
climates must be pestilential.
From the baths we proceeded between two rows
of trees, for some time along the margin of the
lake, and then up a steep hill to Astroni, once
the crater of a volcano, now a royal chase or
forest. The sides and bottom of this vast orifice
are covered with large trees, and form a scene
very refreshing and beautiful. The circumference
above may be about two miles and a half, and
the descent a quarter of a mile. It is enclosed by
a stone wall, and reserved for royal amusement.
It is said to be well stocked with game of every
kind. These objects furnished entertainment for
a long and delightful afternoon : we returned by
the same road, and entered Naples in the dusk of
the evening.
On the third of June we set out on an excur
sion to Puteoli, Baiae, &c. We took the same
road as in our last excursion, but instead of turn
ing off to Agnano, proceeded to the shore. W hen
we arrived there, another view opened upon us,
varied, rich, and beautiful : on our left, the rocky
promontory of Posilipo, and the little island of
Nisida rising steep from the waves ; on our right
the road ran along steep precipices formed of lava,
and terminated in Pozzublo. Before us appeared
in succession the high coast and the castle of
Baia, the promontory of Misenus, and the peak

CA. XI. THROUGH ITALY. 389
of Inarimne (Ischia). This union of islands, pro
montories, rocks, or castles, forms the enchanting
bay of Pozzuolo. The point of the promontory
of Posilipo is naturally broken, and wrought into
various bays, islands, and caverns, and these again
are hollowed by art into grottos, baths, and re
cesses, forming a scene singular, grotesque, and
resembling the work of enchantment. Hence
the Neapolitans call it the Scuola di Virgilio, and
ascribe it to the magical powers of the poet. We
may with more probability attribute it in part to
Vedius Pollio, whose villa, so famed for its ponds,
stood on the hill behind at a little distance ; and
to Augustus who inherited it after the death of
Pollio. Lucullus may have had his share in the
work, as well as numberless other Romans of
equal opulence, who successively inhabited this
delicious coast.
The island of Nisida, that lies at a little dis
tance from the promontory, was anciently Nesis,
and is represented as enveloped in noxious steams,
and emitting pestilential exhalations.
 Nesis
Emittit stygium nebulosis aera saxis
Antraque lethiferi rabiem Typhonis anhelant '
Lucan. vi. 90.

* From Nesis such, the Stygian vapors rise,
And with contagion taint the purer skies ;

Such

3!)0 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. XL'
Its situation and modern appearance, however,
are such as to give an idea of coolness and salu
brity, and accordingly it enjoys a better repu
tation, and is at present made the seat of the
Lazaretto. Thence proceeding along the coast we entered
Puzzuolo, anciently Puteoli, a town of Greek origin,
and first called Dicaarchia. It was erected by
the inhabitants of Cumse as a sea-port, and is by
some supposed to have derived its original appel
lation from the excellence of its government, au
advantage which few colonies have ever enjoyed.
However, it owes its present name, and indeed its
fame and prosperity to the Romans, who about
two centuries before the Christian era fortified it,
and made it the emporium of the commerce of
the east. Its situation as a sea-port is indeed un
rivalled. It stands on a point that juts out a little
into the sea, nearly in the centre of a fine bay,
called from it Puteolano or Puzzolano. Its pro
minence forms a natural port, if a port can be
wanting in a bay so well covered by the sur
rounding coasts, and divided into so many creeks
and harbors.
It is easy to guess what the animation and

Such do Typhoeus' steamy caves convey,
And breathe blue poisons on the golden day. Rowe.

CA. XI. THROUGH ITALY. 391
splendor of Puteoli must have been at the time
when the riches of the east were poured into ks
bosom, and when its climate, baths, and beauty,
allured the most opulent Romans to its vicinity.
Commerce has long since forsaken it; the at
traction of its climate and its situation still remain
but operate very feebly on the feelings of a people
little given to rural enjoyments. Its population
which formerly spead over the neighboring hills,
and covered them with public and private edifices,
is now confined to the little prominent point which
formed the ancient port : and all the magnificence
of antiquity has either been undermined by time,
demolished by barbarism, or levelled in the dust
by earthquakes. Vestiges however remain, shape
less indeed and deformed, but numerous and vast
enough to give some idea of its former extent and
grandeur. In the square stands a beautiful marble
pedestal with basso relievos on its pannels, repre
senting the fourteen cities of Asia Minor, which
had been destroyed by an earthquake and rebuilt
by Tiberius. It supported a statue of that em
peror, erected by the same cities as a monument
of their gratitude. Each city is represented by
a figure bearing in its hand some characteristic em
blem. The cathedral is supposed to stand on the
ruins of a temple, and is undoubtedly built in a
great degr.se of ancient materials, as appears by

392 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. XL
the blocks of marble which in many places form
its walls. On the hill behind the town are the remains
of an amphitheatres, called after that at Rome the
.Coliseum ; it was of considerable magnitude,, hut
not comparable to that whose name it assumes.
The gates and a large portion of the vaults, and
under apartments remain. One of these apart
ments, or rather dungeons, in which St. Janu
arius, the patron of Naples, is said to have been
confined, is now turned into a damp and gloomy
chapel > the arena is a garden : vines, fig-trees,
and pomegranates have gradually crept up the
circumference, and now cover the steps and wave
over the ruins — a melancholy yet pleasing pic
ture ! Close to the amphitheatre are other vast
fragments, probably of the baths that stood in this
neighborhood. But the most striking monuments of Puteoli
are the remains of the temple of Jupiter Serapis,
and those of the mole that formed the port; the
former stands in the precincts of the town, partly
in a garden and partly in the barracks, but sur
rounded and almost concealed by petty uninterest
ing buildings. The form of this edifice was nearly
square, of about one hundred and thirty feet in
length, and somewhat less in breadth. It was en
closed in a court divided into small apartments,

Ch. XI. THROUGH ITALY. 393
several of which still exist. Of the four columns
of the portico three are standing, the fourth lies
extended on the pavement; they are of marhle,
forty feet high, and Corinthian ; the cell in the
centre was round, and its roof supported by six
teen pillars ; the pedestals remain ; the shafts were
transported to the palace of Caserta, and form, I
beheve, the beautiful colonnade of the chapel.
The marble pavement of the court is nearly entire,
but covered with mud and stagnant water. The
vapors that rise from this infected pool during
the heats of summer are not unfrequently fatal to
the soldiers in the neighboring barracks. Yet a
few laborers could remove the mud in one day,
and a pump might carry off the water! Some
beautiful statues have been found buried in the
earth or under the ruins, and many fine fragments
of capitals, cornices, and sculptured friezes still
remain scattered around in the midst of dirt and
rubbish. The Mole was a work of inferior beauty, but
of far greater difficulty ; several of its piles still
stand unshaken: tbey are sunk in deep water,
and once supported arches, parts of which' remain
suspended in shattered grandeur over the waves.
This method of forming a mole like a bridge of
arches instead of solid wall is much cheaper, and
equally useful, and deserves to be imitated in
similar works. When this vast mass was first

394 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. XI.
erected^ or by whom, it is difficult to determine.
Seneca speaks of a mole under the name of pilae*,
and Strabo mentions walls carried out into the
sea to enable ships of burden to unload with con
venience. But whoever built it, we know from
an inscription at Pozzuolo that Antoninus repaired
it when damaged or thrown down by the fury of
the waves. Its solidity and durability is owing,
in a great degree, to the quality of the cement,
made of Pozzolano sand, which hardens under
water, and acquires the strength and consistency
of marble. These arches bear at present the
name of Caligula, and are supposed by the people
at Pozzuolo to be the remains of the bridge which
that prince, in one of his fits of phrenzy, threw
over the bay from Puteoli to Baia or Baulis.
But the learned reader need not be informed, that
Caligula's bridge was like that of Xerxes, whom
he intended to imitate, a temporary bridge erected
upon boats, formed principally of wood, and car
ried from the extremity of the mole to the op
posite coast. In length, solidity, and decoration,
it probably surpassed its model, as it did also in
extravagance and inutility "f-.

* Ep. 77.
t Suet. Caligula, 19 ; and for a fuller description of the
bridge, and the exhibitions displayed upon it, see Dio. lviii.
and Brotier's Tacitus, Supplement viii. Annal. cum Notis.

CA. XI. THROUGH ITALY. 39b
On the road that leads along the coast from
Pozzuolo to the Lucrine lake stood Cicero's villa,
called by him Puteolanum and Academia. Pliny
relates that it was on the shore, and adorned with
a grove, and a portico, which seems to have been
remarkable for its beauty; he adds, that Cicero
erected here a monument, and that shortly after
his death a fountain of warm water, very whole
some for the eyes, burst forth, and gave occasion
to an epigram, which the philosopher quotes with
applause*. The portico is fallen, the groves are
withered, the fountain dried up, and not a vestige
of the Academic retreat left behind to mark its
situation. The verses remain, and perpetuate at
once the glory of the orator; the fame of the
fountain, the beauty of the villa, and what is more
honorable than all united, the gratitude of the
writer Laurea Tullius, Cicero's freed-man.
It appears from various passages in Cicero's
letters that he had two villas on this coast, the
one which I have just mentioned, on the shore;
the other, on the hills beyond the Lucrine lake,
called the Cumanum, as lying towards that city,
and nearer to it than to Puteoli. Perhaps the latter
was a mere lodge or summer-house, of course on
a much smaller scale. Of these villas one stood

* Plin. Nat. Hist. xxxi. cap. 2.

396 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. XL
on the hills, and commanded the Campi Phlegrai
(the Phlegraean fields), the bay of Puteoli with its
islands Misenus and Baia ; the other on the beach
enjoyed the breezes and murmurs on the sea, so
delightful to a contemplative mind; Cicero knew
not which of the two he preferred, but complained
that the crowd of visitors that interrupted his
leisure in these retreats contributed not a little to
counterbalance their attractions. Cicero's Aca
demics do not however take their name from bis
Academia, but from the subject itself; as the dia
logue which, the first book relates, took place at the
villa of Varro, somewhere in the neighborhood,
and within the distance of a walk. The scene of
the two first books, De Finibus, is laid in the
Cuman villa. The dialogue De Fato took place in
the Academia. The spot, the subject, the speakers
both fated to perish in so short a time during the
contest which they both foresaw, and endeavored
in vain to avert, were circumstances which give a
peculiar interest to this dialogue, and increase our
regret that it has not reached us in a less mutilated
state.

CA. XII. THROUGH ITALY. 397

CHAP. XII.

Portus Julius — Lacus Lucrinus — Avernus, Obser
vations on its original State — Bay and Castle
of Baia — Port of Misenus — Mare Morte—
Elysian Fields — Promontory and Town of Mi
senus — Solfatara — Liternum, Scijnds Retreat —
Cuma — Grotto of the Sybil.
It is usual to take a boat at Pozzuolo, and row
across the bay to the Lucrine lake. Passing'
near the shore our guide shewed us the remains
of a mole, which is still called Lanterna di Porto
Giulio*, and is the only monument of the walls or
substructions erected by Agrippa to form a harbor
in the Lucrine lake, and of the name which it
received when finished. I need not observe, that
both Horace and Virgil have celebrated this mag
nificent undertaking, the one turning it as if
incidentally mentioned into a delicate compliment;
the other describing it in all the splendor of poetry,
as one of the distinguishing features of Italy.

* The light-house of the Julian harbor.

398 CLASSICAL TOUR Ch. XII.
This work, on the one side, opened a communica
tion between , the lakes Avernus and Lucrinus ;
and on the other, seems to have enclosed a certain
space of the bay itself to add to the last-mentioned
lake and form it into a capacious harbor. Before
this undertaking, the Lucrinus was protected by a
mole of such antiquity that it was attributed to
Hercules. It bordered on the beach, and formed
a road as well as a mole. Of the Lucrine lake a
small part only remains, now a muddy pool half
covered with reeds and bull-rushes. The centre,
though remarkable for its depth, was in one short
night changed into a conical mountain*. The
mountain is a vast mass of cinders, black and
barren, and is called Monte Nuovo (the New
mountain). The pool, however diminished in its
size and appearance, still retains the name and
honors of the Lucrine lake.
We landed on its banks, and following a path
that winded through a vineyard came to the
borders of the lake Avernus. This lake is a
circular sheet of water, of about a mile and a half
in circumference, and of immense depth ; sur
rounded with ground on one side low, on the
other high but not steep, cultivated all around,
but not much wooded, a scene on the whole,

An. 1538.

Cfe. XII. THROUGH ITALY. 390
light, airy, and exhilarating. How unlike the
abodes of the Cimmerians, the darkened lake, the
gloomy forests, the blasts exhaled from the infernal
regions, the funereal cypress, the feeble screams, the
flitting ghosts — Does Avernus then owe all its
horrors to poetical fiction ? or is the face of
nature entirely altered since the time of Homer ?
To both these causes much is to be attributed.
The Greeks in Homers time knew but little
of Italy, and what little they knew bordered
greatly on the marvellous. They had heard per
haps of its numerous islands, its rocky coasts, and
above all, of its volcanos possibly at an earlier
period very numerous and destructive in their
eruptions. Some exaggerated account of the
wonders of the Campi Phlegrai had reached their
ears, and while their sulphureous vapors, and
agitated surface seemed to them to announce the
vicinity of hell, their caverns could not but appear
as so many avenues to that region of horror.
Such an opinion, however absurd it may appear
to us, is still very natural. A volcano is the most
tremendous phenomenon presented to the eyes of
mortals. All the agitation of earthquakes, all
the crash of thunder, all the horrors of darkness,
all the blaze of lightning, and all the rage of con
flagration, are united and armed with tenfold
terror in an eruption. Its appearance and effects
seem not to announce the arm of the Almighty

400 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. XIL
extended from heaven to chastise and to correct
at the same time ; but resemble the rage of demons
broke loose from their prison, armed with the flames
of hell to disfigure nature and to ravage the crea
tion. Hence in an age far more refined, and
among a well informed people, there were found
several who, at the first celebrated eruption of
Vesuvius*, imagined that the whole frame of
nature was in the act of dissolution, and that both
gods and men were about to perish in one com
mon ruin-f*. Even in modern times, when en
lightened by the rays of the gospel, and better
acquainted with the destiny of man both here and
hereafter, the common people feel a propensity to
suppose that a volcano is a sort of inlet into hell,
through which demons move to and fro when
commissioned to execute the decrees of divine
justice. No wonder therefore that the Greeks j
ignorant and half barbarous as they then were,
should have believed, or that poets should have
feigned, that a region of which such terrific tales
were told, was the vestibule of hell, atri janua
Ditis (the gate of gloomy Pluto).
To this we may add; that the Avernus, which
probably occupies the crater of an extinguished
volcano, might at that period dnd long after,

* An. 79. f Plin. Jun. lib. vi. Ep. 28.

CA. XII. THROUGH ITALY. 401
merely cover the lower part of the abyss, while
the steep rocky banks towering to a prodigious
elevation above it, were shaded with shrubs, and
its orifice was almost closed with a whole forest
of trees hanging over the precipice and increasing
its gloom. At the same time, in a place so im
pregnated with fire, it is probable that various
sulphureous steams rising from the bottom or
bursting from the sides of the cavern, might fill
the vast hollow, and undisturbed by the action
of the air brood in pestilential clouds over its
surface. Such may have been the original state of the
lake Avernus, corresponding sufficiently with the
description given by the poets, and when accom
panied by the supernumerary horrors which the
superstition of the times threw around it, an
object in a very high degree, awful and terrific.
Afterwards, the water may have increased (and in
the neighborhood of the Lucrine lake, and so near
the s6a it may easily be supposed to increase)
and have approached nearer the margin ; at the.
same time, the woods may have been diminished
by. the growing population of the towns of Cuma,
Puteoli, and Misenus, and of course the Avernus
must have gradually lost much of its horrors and
its malignity. The impression however had been
made, temples had been built, priests established,
and the worship of the infernal deities, religio dira
VOL. II. D D

402 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. XII.
loci*, still continued to attract crowds to the banks
of the Avernus. This fashion was prevalent enough
even in Annibal's time to afford that crafty Car
thaginian an opportunity of reconnoitring the ram
parts of Puteoli, under pretext of offering sacrifice
on the banks of Avernus -f\
At length in the reign of Augustus the forma
tion of the Portus Julius dispelled the few horrors
that continued to brood over the infernal lake;
the sacred groves that still shaded its banks and
hung over its margin were cut down ; the barrier
that separated it from the Lucrinus was removed,
and not only the waters of the latter but the
waves of the neighboring sea were admitted into
the stagnant gulph of Avernus. This enterprise
however was contemplated with some awe and

* The terrific, religion of the place.
t Tit. Liv. xxiv. 12.
Speaking of this vist Silius says,
Tum tristi nemore, atque umbris nigrantibus horrens
Et formidatus volucri, lethale vomebat
Suffuso virus Cffilo, Stygiaque per urbes
Relligione sacer saevum retinebat honorem 
SU. Ital. lib. xii. 124.
t
Bane of the feather'd race, its sulph'rous womb
Shot forth foul-steaming poison ; black with gloom,
And shagg'd with dismal woods, the tribes around
Rever'd it with religious awe profound.

CA.XII. THROUGH ITALY. 403
apprehension : and the agitation of the waters,
occasioned probably by the descent of those of
the former lake into the lower basin of the latter,
was magnified into a tempest, and ascribed to the
anger of the infernal divinities. The statue of
one shewed by a profuse sweat either its fear or
its indignation ; that of another leaped, it was
said, from its pedestal ; and recourse was had as
usual to sacrifices, in order to appease the irritated
Manes. In the mean time, the port was finished ;
the Avernus was stripped of its infernal horrors,
and ever after ranked among ordinary lakes.
Stagna inter celebrem nunc mitia *.
SU. Ital. xii. 121.
On the southern bank stands a large and lofty
octagonal edifice, with niches in the walls, and
with halls adjoining. It is vaulted, and of brick,
and is supposed by some to be the temple of Pro
serpine, by others, that of Avernus itself, whose
statue, as appears from the circumstance men
tioned above, stood in the immediate vicinity of
the lake. This building was probably incrusted
with marble, and decorated with pillars ; it is now
surrounded by a vineyard, and pleases the eye by
its magnitude, site, and proportions. It would not
be difficult to repair it, if the government or pro-
* I may now celebrate thee among pleasant lakes.

404 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. XII.
pritors were disposed so to do. Many antiquaries
imagine it to have been a bath ; but though its
form be well adapted to such an object, we do not
find that the waters of the Avernus were employed
for that purpose.
On the opposite side of the lake, under a steep
overhung with shrubs and brambles, is the open
ing of a subterraneous gallery, called by the
guides, and indeed by the people, the Grotto della
Sibilla. The first gallery runs under the Monte
Grillo, and its direction is towards Baiae, but it
opens into another on the right tending towards
Cuma ; after some progress in this second passage
we came to a piece of water now called the bath
of the Sybil, and were transported over it on the
backs of our guides. On the opposite side the
ground rises rapidly, and all further progress is
precluded by the fallen walls. The situation and
appearance of this cavern correspond exactly with
the description of Virgil, and are sufficient to au
thorize us in supposing it to be the same to which
he alludes, if he had any real object in view, and
not merely a general imitation of Homer ;
Spelunca alta fuit, vastoque immanis hiatu .
Scrupea, tuta lacu nigro, nemorumque tenebris *.
Mn. vi. 237.

*

Deep was the cave, and downward as it went
From the wide mouth, a rocky rough descent; And

CA. XII. THROUGH ITALY. 405
It probably branched out into several other gal
leries, and may have communicated with many
large caverns, as well as with the various vales and
lakes that lie so thick on this peninsula, and once
perhaps formed the whole scenery of the infernal
regions, so beautifully colored by Virgil. In this
case, the stream which we passed might possibly
have represented the Acheron ; and indeed the
black surface of the water ; the feeble glimmering
of the torches, and their red smouldering flames
half lost in their own smoke and in the vapors of
the place ; the craggy vaults closing over us and
losing themselves in darkness ; the squalid forms
of our guides and attendants, appearing and dis
appearing with their torches, as they carried us
over one by one, all seemed well adapted to in
fernal scenery, and were appropriate appendages
of the entrance into the regions of the dead.
Per speluncas, saxis structas asperis, pendentibus,
Maximis; ubi rigida constat crassa caligo infer um*-
Enn. op. Cic. Tusc.
Homer places the Cimmerians in these subter
raneous abodes.

And here th' access a gloomy grove defends,
And here th' unnavigable lake extends. Dryden.
* Through caverns, shagg'd with huge and hanging rocks,
Where thick, cold, Stygian darkness broods around.

406 CLASSICAL TOUR CA.XII.
"Ev9a 8e KiivtivinpiW cniSptSii Qiao's Te iro'/V? re
'Hepi xai vetpfoi) xeKa/\uJ>c/*33'o^• ou&e iror aiJrot/s
'HeXim; QaiBav ciriSeiweTai iaaimimai,
Ou8' «r<rr av are/j^o-i *jii?i; ovpavlv atrrepoevra,
Ov6' orav d^i iiii yaiav am ovpasiiBev icparpaim(Tai'
'AAA' eir» nfof oXm) rer ar at fo/Wo-j fSptrrourt*. Odyss. xi. 14.
This description notwithstanding its poetical splen
dor, may possibly be grounded on reality -j-. We

* There in a lonely land, and gloomy cells,
The dusky nation of Cimmeria dwells ;
The sun ne'er views th' uncomfortable seats,
When radiant he advances, or retreats ;
Unhappy race ! whom endless night invades,
Clouds the dull air, and wraps them round in shades. Pope.
t Pliny places the city of the Cimmerians on the banks
of the Avernus, and Festus represents them as a real people
who inhabited deep and gloomy dells. Cimmerii dicuntur
homines, qui frigoribus occupatas terras incolunt, quales fue-
runt inter Baias et Cumas, in ea regione in qua convallis sa
tis eminenti jugo circumdata est, quae neque matutino neque
vespertino tempore sole contegitur J. Such cold and sun
less vallies are common enough in Wales and Scotland, but
we are rather surprised to find them discovered by this gram
marian in the neighborhood of Naples.
t The Cimmerians are said to be a race of men who in
habit regions subject to perpetual cold, such as used to be
between Bairc and Cumae, in that part of sthe country where
the valley is surrounded by eminences, so high, as to be im
pervious both to the morning and evening sun.

CA. XII. THROUGH ITALY. 407
may easily conceive that in an early and half-
savage state of society, men might have preferred
caverns so large and commodions to such hovels
as they were then capable of erecting ; and there
are many instances on record of human beings in
considerable numbers inhabiting such receptacles.
Not to speak of the barbarous inhabitants of the
north, nor of some of the semi-barbarians of the
south, who have chosen to live under ground ;
even the polished Romans themselves seem some
times to have preferred grottos to 'their palaces *,
as we may collect from an expression of Seneca -j-;
and from the account which Strabo gives of a
place on or near the road from Rome to Naples,
called Spehmca. This place is now by corruption
turned into Sperlonga, and lies at the foot of Mount
Cacubus, on the promontory near the southern ex
tremity of the Lacus Fundanus, about sixteen
miles from Terracina. Of the many caverns here
situate, containing magnificent and sumptnous

* Of these summer grottos some specimens may be seen
on the borders of the lake of Albano.
f The expression of Seneca alluded to, " ex quo depres
ses (BStivot specus foderint \. Cons.ad Helviam, ix.
% In consequence of which they dug their summer grottos
deeper.

408 CLASSICAL TOUR CA..XII.
villas, according to Strabo no trace remains. Ta
citus speaks of an accident which happened,, and
the danger to which Tiberius was exposed while
dining in one of them *.
In Malta near the Citta Vecchia are still shewn
the vestiges of a subterraneous city, for the extent
of the galleries and the regularity of the streets
almost entitle the place to this appellation. The
rock is not only cut into spacious passages, but
hollowed out into separate houses with their dif
ferent apartments, and seems to have been capa
ble of containing a considerable number of families.
Such on abode must without doubt have been
gloomy ; but in a country like Malta, where the
heat is intense, and the reflection from the chalky
soil is painful ; where there is little verdure and
still less shade ; gloom and coolness under ground
are perhaps preferable to glare and heat above.
The Cimmerians seem to have been given to
the worship of the infernal deities, and to have
acted as priests and interpreters of the oracle
established in the centre of their subterraneous
abode. This superstition was probably of a very
lucrative nature, and accordingly survived the fall
of those who first established it, and seems to have

,* Annal. Lib. iv. 69.

CA. XII. THROUGH ITALY. 409
continued, though gradually declining, almost
down to the time of the Caesars. No country is
better adapted to the practice of such a system of
imposition, or more favorable to the illusions by
which it is carried on. Deep caverns, the extent
and outlets of which were known only to the
priests who inhabited them ; subterraneous waters,
sometimes collected in cold stagnant pools, and at
other times boiling up in hot fountains ; hollow
sounds, sulphureous vapors, and sudden flames, the
natural effects of fire always active though not
always visible in this volcanic region, are circum
stances wonderfully calculated to work strongly
upon the imagination, and aid the operations of
necromantic art. However, about the era of Au
gustus, the light of science had penetrated even
these recesses, and banished thence the priests, the
oracle, and all the phantoms they bad conjured up ;
and the grotto of Avernus formerly the haunt of
the dead, was turned to the advantage of the living,
and converted by Cocceius into a subterraneous
communication between Puteoli and Cuma. How
long this passage remained open, or whether ob
structed by time or by volcanic convulsions, it is
not easy to conjecture : to re-open it would be an
operation probably of no great difficulty, though
of considerable expence ; an evil perhaps of too
great a magnitude to be counterbalanced by the

410 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. XII.
gratification which it might afford to public cu
riosity *.
We returned by the path by which we came,
leaving the Lucrinus on our right, and Monte
Nuovo rising on our left, and crossing the mole of
Hercules we re-embarked, and proceeded along the
coast to Baia. The bay of Baia is a semicircular
recess just opposite the harbor of Pozzuolo, and
about three miles distant from it. It is lined with
ruins, the remains of the villas and the baths of
the Romans ; some advance a considerable way
out, and though now .under the waves are easily
distinguishable in fine weather. The taste for
building in the waters and encroaching on the sea,
to which Horace alludes, is exemplified in a very
Striking manner all along this coast -j-. The first
* The lake of Avernus with the neighboring Lucrinus are
like that of Agnano, infected in the hot months by the flax
deposited in them ; an evil which calls loudly for the inter
ference of the government.
t Marisque Baiis obstrepentis urges
Summovere littora,
Parum locuples continente ripa. Carm. ii. 18.
And though the waves indignant roar,
Forward you urge the Baian shore,
While earth's too narrow bounds in vain
Your guilty progress would restrain. Francis.

CA. XII. THROUGH ITALY. 411
object that attracts the attention, and is pointed
out by the guides, are the baths called the Terme
di Nerone (Nero's baths). This emperor had here
a magnificent villa, and had projected or, as Sue
tonius * says, commenced, a reservoir in which he
intended to collect all the hot waters that spring
up at or near Baia. This edifice was to have ex
tended from Misenus to the lake Avernus, a dis
tance of three miles and a half in a direct line,
atid more than four including the windings of the
coast ; it was to have been lined with porticos and
roofed. However, there is no particular reason
(unless we admit the traditionary appellation of
the place to be such) for supposing that the baths
in question belonged to this work, or formed any
part of the villa of Nero. This villa was at or
near Baulis.
The baths we are now contemplating, consist
of several galleries worked through the rock, and
terminating in a fountain of boiling water. The
vapor that arises from this fountain fills the whole
cavern, and is so hot and oppressive as to render
the approach difficult to persons not accustomed
to the effects of steam. The guides however run
to it to fetch some of its water. The galleries are
high, and wide enough to allow two persons to

Suet. Nero, 31.

412 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. XII.
pass without inconvenience. There are also some
apartments cut out of the solid stone for the ac
commodation of bathers. These mineral waters
seem to pervade the whole region ; they ooze
through the rocks, work their way under the
sands, and heat them even to a considerable dis
tance from the shore. They have been known,
and their utility has been experienced for more
than two thousand years : they were never pro
bably more neglected than they are at present ; no
care is taken to collect them ; no buildings have
been erected for the accommodation of visitants.
The Neapolitans behold with indifference all the
beauties and all the treasures of their coasts.
Varia circum oblectamina vitae
Vaporiferas, blandissima littora, Baias *.
Statius. lib. iii. Sylv. v. 95.
From the Therma we advanced to a little pro
jection of the shore, on which stands an edifice
octagonal on the outside, but within circular,
called at present Templo di Venere (the temple of
Venus). Behind this edifice are a range of apart
ments called the Camere di Venere (the chambers
of Venus) ; they are ornamented with basso relievos

' Fair Baise's shores, for tepid springs renown'd,
Where all the gay delights of life are found.

Ch. XII. THROUGH ITALY. 413
in stucco, which are said to have some merit in
point of execution, but are of too obscene a nature
to admit examination. Venus had a temple on
this coast, and it was so placed between the Lu
crine lake and Baiae as to take its name occa
sionally from either, as indeed the bay itself in
which it stood was sometimes called Baianus and
sometimes Lucrinus*. We have no data to enable
us to ascertain the precise spot on which this
edifice stood, but we may confidently aver that
no site could be better adapted to it than that
assigned by popular tradition. Venus presided
over this coast and all its bays, its baths, its
fountains, and its lakes ; she had deserted Paphos
and Cythera, and settled with all her train of
loves and sports, on the delicious shore of Baia.
A sky for ever serene, seas never ruffled, perpe
tual spring and eternal verdure, may be supposed
to have allured the goddess to her new abode ;
but her actual influence appeared in the general
manners and amusements of the place, — in scenes

* I must here observe, that Cluverius upon this as upon
another occasion which I noticed above, seems to take the
expression of poetry in the strict acceptation of geographical
prose. He must have perceived that Baits, Cuma, Lucrinus,
and Avernus extend their appellation far beyond their natural
limits, and sometimes include the whole vicinity. He him
self observes, that the springs of Baia: were once called Aqua
Cumance, and quotes Lucretius to prove it.

414 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. XII.
of revelry, bacchanalian songs, wanton groups
and effeminate music. " Videre ebrios per lit-
tora errantes, et commessationes navigantium et
symphoniarum cantibus perstrepentes lacus et alia,
qua? velut soluta legibus luxuria non tantum
peccat, sed publicat, quid necesse est?"*
No situation is more appropriate to the temple
of this presiding divinity than this little promon
tory, whose jutting point commands the whole
bay, with all its scenery of hills, towns, lakes,
and villas. Litus beatae aureum Veneris !
Baiae superbae blanda dona naturae f-
Martial, lib. xi. Epig. 21.
At a little distance from the temple of Venus
rises another circular edifice, vaulted and lighted
from above like the Pantheon, and still further
on, another nearly similar; this latter is called

* What necessity is there for us to view drunken men
wandering along the shore, and to hear the revellings of
people sailing upon the lake, and musical concerts, and other
symptoms of dissoluteness, which luxury, as if freed from
all restraint, not only indulges in, but studiously makes
public? — Seneca, Epist. Ii.
f Land of Venus ! golden coast !
Nature's fairest gift, and boast,
Happy Baiae !

CA.XII. THROUGH ITALY. 415
the temple of Diana, as the former is termed the
temple of Mercury; the traces of conduits for
conveying water to all their apartments, and
their situation on a coast where baths were pro
bably in more estimation and request than tem
ples, furnish a very plausible pretext to the sup
position of their being Thenna. Their shattered
forms, shaded here and there with shrubs and
flowers, rising on the margin of the sea on a
coast so beautiful, yet so solitary, produce a fine
and uncommon effect.
Advancing southward, we passed under the
castle of Baiae*; a fortress on the brow of a
rocky precipice, rising to a considerable elevation
above the sea, and forming the point of a little
promontory. Its appearance at a distance is
rather splendid and majestic, owing to its size
and the rich color of the stone of which it is
built. Somewhat more than a quarter of a mile
beyond Baia, there rises almost on the beach,
a semicircular building, with a gallery within,

* Baia is said to derive its name from one of the com
panions of Ulysses. Sedes Ithacesia Baii. Silius. Ital. viii. 539.
Baii, the settlement of the Ithacensians.

416 CLASSICAL TOUR Ch. XII.
adorned with basso relievos in stucco; popular
tradition ennobles this edifice with the appellation
of the tomb of Agrippina. The reader may re
collect that this empress, after having escaped the
fate intended for her at sea on her return from
Baia, was conveyed to her own villa on the Lu
crine lake, and shortly after murdered there : she
was burnt privately, and her tomb, which was
erected after the death of Nero, in the neighbor
hood, and on the hill near the road to Misenus,
corresponded rather with her misfortunes than
with her rank*.
Baia, indeed, was not only the seat of volup
tuousness, but sometimes also the theatre of
cruelty ; two vices intimately allied, and not un
frequently most notoriously displayed in places
whence the smiling features of nature might seem
to have banished at least the latter. The murder
of a parent, the barbarous termination of the feast
of Caracalla, and the secret executions of the island
of Caprea, only shew what a monster man be
comes when his power is equal to his malignity.

* Tac. Ann. xiv. 4, 5, 6, and 7. — There is something
awful and terrific in the sound of the trumpet heard on the
neighboring hills ; and in the nightly lamentations, supposed
to. issue from the tomb of Agrippina. (Cap. 10.) Nero fled
— Obversabatur maris illius et litorum gravis aspectus ! —
" The appalling sight of that sea, and of those shores, was
perpetually before his eyes."

CA. XII. THROUGH ITALY. 417
The supposed tomb of Agrippina may possibly
be a part, perhaps the theatre, of the villa of
Baulis, which once belonged to Hortensius, and
was afterwards the favorite resort of some of the
Emperors, and, upon this occasion, the scene of
the last interview between Nero and his mother.
Under the little promontory of Baulis, are the
Cento Camerelle (the hundred little chambers), a
number of grottos, opening in front to the sea,
communicating with each other within, and branch
ing oat into several long galleries, that form a sort
of labyrinth. Their object is not known ; they
may have been reservoirs of fresh water, or per
haps mere substructions supporting some edifice.
Ascending the hill, we came to the Piscina Mira-
bile (the wonderful fish-pond), a subterraneous
edifice, vaulted, and divided by four rows of ar
cades. Its date, author, and destination, are
equally unknown. Some antiquaries suppose it
to have been a fish-pond, as its present appellation
imports, belonging to one of the great villas that
rose on this eminence, perhaps to that of Lucullus,
who is said to have spared no expense in the
erection of such receptacles. Others imagine,
that it was intended as a cistern of fresh water for
the supply of the fleet, while it lay in the port of
Misenus, situated immediately under the hill, on
which the Piscina Mirabile stands. If I might
be allowed to add one conjecture more to the pre-
VOL. II. e e

418 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. XII.
ceding, I should be tempted to ask, whether this
artificial cavern, and many similar works in the
same direction, may not be parts of that vast
reservoir (to which I have already alluded) planned
and commenced by Nero, but never finished. Its
magnitude, proportions, and elevation, are all on
a grand scale, and announce the opulence and
magnificence of its author; while its vaults and
arcades correspond precisely with the account
given of that Emperor's projected edifice—" In-
choabat," says Suetonius, " piscinam a Miseno
ad Avernum lacum, contectam, porticibus, con-
clusam, quo quidquid totis Baiis calidarum esset,
converteretur*." At the foot of the hill on which we stood, the
port of Misenus expands inwards, and protected
by high lands on either side, forms a haven, tran
quil, though not very capacious. It was made,
by Augustus, the principal station of the Roman
fleet in the Mediterranean, and by its central and
commanding situation, is extremely well calculated
for every naval object. It is separated at its ex
tremity by a narrow neck of land from the Mare
morto ; through this neck a canal, over which
there is a bridge, opens a communication between

* He began a reservoir from Misenus to the lake Aver
nus, covered in, and enclosed by piazzas, into which all the
warm springs at Baiae were to be turned. — Nero, 31.

CA. XII. THROUGH ITALY. 419
the two basins, which anciently, may probably
have formed parts of the same port. On the
side opposite this canal to the west, another bed
of sand protects the Mare marte from the incur
sions of the sea ; while the lofty promontory of
Misenus on the south, and the mountains called
Procida and Selvaggi on the north, cover it from
every rougher breeze.
Along its shores, under the shelter of these
hills, lay extended the Elysian fields, Campi Elisil
They are shaded by mulberries and poplars, gar
landed by festoons of vines, fanned by sea breezes
from the south, refreshed by the waves of the
Mare morto (the dead sea), that eat into the shore,
and form numberless creeks and recesses; and
their lonely paths are lined on all sides by tombs
intermingled with cypresses. Such a scene, by
its secluded beauty, its silence, and its tranquillity,
might attract the living; yet it seems to have
been at all times abandoned to the dead, and from
the sepulchres that adorn it, and the undisturbed
repose that seems to reign over it, it resembles a
region secluded from the intrusion of mortals,
and placed above the influence of human vicissi
tude and agitation
Semota a nostris rebus sejunctaque longe *.

* Far removed from human concerns.

420 CLASSICAL TOUR CA, XII.
The solitude of the place, its destination, and the
recollection of Virgil's description, diffuse a certain
melancholy over the mind, and dispose it imper
ceptibly to reflection and musing.
Such are the Elysian fields, a name that
sounds so harmoniously to the ears of the classic
youth, and opens so many enchanting scenes to
his imagination. He will be disappointed in
reading the description, and little less so in con
templating the reality. In the splendor of a
Neapolitan firmament, he will seek in vain for
that purple light so delightful to his boyish fancy ;
and on the sandy beach of the Mare morto, he
will discover no traces of the crystal Eridanus ;
he will look to no purpose for meadows ever
green, rills always full, and banks and hillocks of
downy moss. The truth is, Virgil improves and
embellishes whatever he touches ; kindled by the
contemplation of nature, his genius rises above
her, and gives to her features, charms and beau
ties of his own creation. The hills, the groves,
the paths, he copied from the scenery now before
us ; but he waters them with purer streams ; he
calls up unfading flowers to grace them ; and
he lights them with a new sun, and milder con
stellations. We turned with regret from a spot so cele
brated, and came to the rocky promontory of
Misenus. It is hollowed into vast grots and

CA. XII. THROUGH ITALY. 421
caverns, intended anciently perhaps for baths, and
perhaps for docks for ship-building. The town,
it is supposed, stood on the summit of the pro
montory ; its site is marked by masses of ruins,
and the vestiges of a theatre ; unless, with some
antiquaries, we choose to consider these scattered
heaps as the remains of one or other of the villas
so numerous in the immediate neighborhood of
Misenus. The principal and most extensive of
these seats was that of Lucullus, afterwards occu
pied by Tiberius. Phtedrus informs us that it
was situate on the very pinnacle of the hill, as it
not only commanded the adjacent coasts, but
extended its view to the seas of Sicily*. This
villa, with its gardens and porticos, must have
occupied a considerable space, and left but little
room for the town, which of course must have
been situated lower down and probably on the sea
shore. That such indeed was its real site, we

* Caesar Tiberius, quum petens Neapolim
In Misenensem villain venisset suam
Quae monte summo posita Luculli manu
Prospectat Siculum et prospicit Tuscum mare. ii. Fab. v.
When Tiberius Caesar, on his way to Naples, had arrived
at his Misenian villa, which, built by Lucullus on the summit
of the hill, commands a prospect both of the Sicilian and
Tuscan seas.

422 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. XII.
may infer in opposition to the common opinion,
from Pliny the younger, who says that the house
which he and his mother inhabited, was separated
by a small court from the sea. " Residimus in
area domus, quae mare a tectis modico spatio
dividebat*." The hill that forms the point of
the promontory is steep and lofty. It does not
appear to me to bear, as is frequently repre
sented, any appearance of a mausoleum, nor can
I believe that Virgil had any such imaginary re
semblance in view ; he probably adopted a po
pular tradition, when he placed the tomb of
Misenus on its base-|\
Monte sub aerio qui nunc Misenus ab illo
Dicitur, aeternumque tenet per saecula nomen J. . ,
2En. vi. 234.

* The court of the house in which we resided, sepa
rated the sea from the buildings by a very short space of
ground. — vi. 20*
t Solinus, Mela, and Strabo ascribe this appellation
to the same origin as Virgil; and as they were nearly
contemporaries with that poet, they cannot be supposed
to have adopted one of his poetical fictions as an histo
rical anecdote.T ...... and deathless fame
' Still to the lofty cape consigns his name. Dryden.

CA. XII. THROUGH ITALY. 423
It is not a little remarkable, that most of the
points and promontories represented by the Ro
man poet as monuments of great personages or
illustrious events, still retain their ancient appel
lations, while so many other titles and names, in
many respects more important, have gradually
yielded to modern substitutions and sunk into ob
livion. Is this difference to be ascribed to the
influence of poetry, and have the latter perished
because not recorded in verse ? " Carent quia vate
sacro*." They had no poet, and they died.
As the evening approached we re-embarked,
and crossing the bay landed at Pozzuolo, and
thence proceeded to the Solfatara, which lies
about a mile north-east of the town. This appel
lation is a corruption of Sulphurata, and is given
to an oval plain, extending on an eminence, but
surrounded on all sides by an elevated border re
sembling a rampart. The shattered hills that form
this rampart are impregnated with sulphur, and
heated by a subterranean fire. They are destitute
of all verdure and all appearances of vegetation.
The plain below is a pale yellow surface of sul
phureous marie, thrown like a vault over an abyss
of fire. Its heat almost scorches the feet of those
who pass over it, and the workings of the furnace

* No bard had they to make all time their own. Francis.

424 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. XII.
beneath are heard distinctly through it. A stamp
or the rolling of a stone over it re-bellows in
hollow murmurs, weakening as they descend till
they lose themselves in the vastness of the abyss
below. Sulphureous exhalations rise from the
crevices ; and from an orifice at one of the extre
mities a thick vapor by day, and a pale blue flame
by night, burst forth with a murmuring sound and
great impetuosity. This ever burning plain is
supposed to have been anciently called the Forum
Vulcani (the Forum of Vulcan). It is described
in a poetical but accurate manner by Petronius
Arbiter, and very appropriately made the scene
of a tremendous apparition of Pluto :
Est locus exciso penitus demersus hiatu,
Parthenopen inter magnaeque Dicarchidos arva,
Cocytia perfusus aqua, nam spiritus extra
Qui furit effusus, funesto spargitur aestu.
Non haec autumno tellus viret, aut alit herbas
Cespite laetus ager : non verno persona cantu
Mollia discordi strepitu virgulta loquuntur ;
Sed chaos et nigra squallentia pumice saxa
Gaudent, ferali circumtumulata cupressu.
Has inter sedes, Ditis pater extulit ora
Bustorum flammis et cana sparsa favilla*.

A place there is,
Betwixt Dicarchis and fair Naples' town,
Sunk deep into the gaping ground beneath,
And water'd by the streams of Hell, for thence
The blasts that breathe, with deadly heat are charg'd. Green

CA. XII. THROUGH ITALY. 425
The tombs and the cypresses to which the poet
alludes bordered the road that leads from Puteoli
to Naples, as also that called the Via Campana
(the Campanian Way), now Strada di Campagna
which enclose the Solfatara between them, and
are at no great distance from its southern and
western extremities. Milton seems to have taken
some features of his infernal regions from this
repository of fire and sulphur. The dreary plain-^-
the seat of desolation — the land that burned with
solid, as the lake with liquid, fire — the singed bottom
all involved with stench and smoke — the uneasy steps
over the burning marie — the fiery deluge fed with
ever burning sulphur, compose when united a pic
ture poetical and sublime indeed, but not inaccu
rate, of the Solfatara. The truth is, that all the
great poets, from the days of Virgil down to the
present period, have borrowed some of their
imagery from the scenery which now surrounds
us, and have graced tbeir poems with its beauties,

Green autumn blooms not there ; no verdant turf,
No herbage decks the soil ; nor in the spring
Do the soft shrubs, with discord musical,
Hold murm'ring converse with the gentle breeze,
But chaos there, and hopeless barrenness,
Dark rocks, and fun'ral cypresses are found.
In this drear spot grim Pluto from the ground
Rear'd his dire form, while play'd around his head,
With smould'ring ashes strew'd, sepulchral fires.

426 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. XII.
or raised them with its sublimity. Every reader
knows that Silius Italicus has described most of
them, and particularly the latter, with studied and
blameable minuteness; that Martial alludes to
them with rapture, and that Statius devotes the
most pleasing of his poems to their charms.
Dante has borrowed some of the horrors of his
Inferno from their fires and agitations ; and Tasso
has spread their freshness, their verdure, and
their serenity over the enchanted gardens of his
Armida. Acque stagnanti, mobili cristalli,
Fior vari et varie piante, herbe diverse,
Apriche collinette, ombrose valli,
Selve, e spelunche in una vista offerse*. Canto xvi. 9.
Some days after, we made an excursion to
Cuma. The road leads first to Pozzuolo, and
thence ascending the hills passes by the site of
Cicero's Academic villa, runs at the foot of Mount
Gaurus on the right, then crosses the mountains
that command the Avernus on the left, and tra-

* Still lakes of silver, streams that murm'ring crept,
Hills, on whose sloping brows the sunbeams slept,
Luxuriant trees, that various forms display'd,
And vallies grateful with refreshing shade,
Herbs, flow'rets gay with many a gaudy dye,
And woods and arching grottos met their eye.
Hunt's Translation.

CA.XII. THROUGH ITALY. 487
versing the site of the ancient forest that sur
rounded that lake, terminates at the Arco felice.
This ancient mass is a sort of lofty wall, with a
gateway through it ; supposed by some, to be one
of the gates of Cuma, and by others, the remains
of the temple of Apollo. The view, which to the
south commands all the scenery described in our
last excursion, fixes the attention however on an
object of no great beauty, a white tower to the
north-west, standing on the flat shore, about four
miles and a half distant, near a lake and almost
surrounded with a forest. The tower stands on
the site of the ancient Liternum ; the neighboring
lake is tbe Liternina Palus (the Liternian lake),
and the forest the Gallinaria Pinus (the Gallina-
rian pine-forest).
The situation of Liternum is neither beautiful
nor healthy, but its name is ennobled by the resi
dence of Scipio Africanus, who passed there the
latter years of his life, a voluntary exile, in ob
scurity, rural labor, and philosophical studies.
Whether he was buried at Liternum or not, was
a subject of doubt even in Livius's time ; however,
either a tomb or cenotaph was erected to him there,
and a stone on which the word Patria (country)
is still legible, is supposed to have contained part
of the inscription*, " Ingrata patria" (his un-
T^  ' — ' \ | . u ,  —  -  —  ' > I
* Liv. xxxviii. 53,

428 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. XII.
grateful country), &c. and gives to the modern
tower the appellation of Torre di Patria. His
villa remained in the time of Seneca, and seems
to have been built with great solidity, and sur
rounded like a Gothic castle with a wall and
towers. A rampart was indeed necessary, as it
stood on the confines of the Gallinaria Pinus, a
forest, at one time the abode, and at all times,
the occasional resort of banditti *. Valerius
Maximus relates an anecdote which shews both
the necessity of the rampart, and the veneration
shewn to the person of the great Africanus*|v. The
same author mentions his death as having taken
place at Liternum, and cites his well-known epi
taph. Perhaps his ashes were first interred at his
villa, and afterwards conveyed to the family sepul
chre in Rome, on the Via Capena, where a sar-

* As Seneca's description is curious, it, may not be im
proper to insert the passage. " Vidi villain structam lapide
quadrato; murum circumdatum sylva — turreis quoque in
propugnaculum villae utrimque subrectas ; cisternam aedificiis,
ac viridibus subditam, quae sufficere in usum vel excercitus
posset : balneolum angustum, tenebricosum, ex consuetudine
antiqua," &c. — Sen. Epist. lxxxvi.
" I saw a villa built of square stones ; a wall surrounded
by the wood — towers also erected one very side for the de
fence of the villa; a cistern, excavated under the buildings
and pleasure grounds, which might serve an army ; a bath,
confined and dismal, according to the ancient custom," &c.
t See Val. Max. lib. v. bap. 3.

CA. XII. THROUGH ITALY. 489
cophagus was found a few years ago inscribed
with his name. Pliny the elder speaks of some
olive trees, and of a very flourishing myrtle planted
by Scipio Africanus as still existing at Liternum
in his time*. The Torre di Patria may not
only occupy this site, but possibly be built of the
materials of Scipio's villa.
As we proceeded we were shewn a temple, de
dicated, it is said, to the giants whom Hercules
defeated on -the neighboring Campi Phlegrai.
The size of this temple does not correspond with
its title. Continuing to advance towards the sea,
we came to a high craggy rock near the shore.
On the top of the precipice stands the castle,
erected in the middle ages on the ruins of an
ancient fortress. In the side of this rock are two
great chasms ; in one, there are several steps
leading upwards ; the other tends downwards,
was formerly lined with brick, and seems to have
opened into several galleries. This cavern is now
called the Grotto of the Sybil, and is probably
part of that celebrated cavern. The grotto existed
in all its splendor in the year one hundred and
five of the Christian era, and is described by
Justin the Martyr, an author of that period, and
represented by him as an immense cavity cut out

xvi. 44.

430 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. XIL
of the solid rock, large as a Basilica, highly po
lished, and adorned with a recess or sanctuary in
which the Sybil, seated on a lofty tribunal or
throne, uttered her oracles. It may have been
stript of its. ornaments, disfigured and perhaps
materially damaged in the reign of Constantine,
when the greater temples, and more pecular seats
of Pagan superstition, were demolished as objects
likely to foster the ancient delusions. However,
though despoiled and neglected, the cavern still
remained entire, till the fatal and most destructive
war carried on by Justinian against the Goths ;
when Narses, the imperial general, in order to
undermine the ramparts of the fortress erected
on the summit of the rock, ordered his engineers
to work through the roof of the cavern beneath,
and thus brought down the wall, towers, and
even gates, of the fortress into the cavity, which
in part destroyed, and in part filled it with
rubbish *.
The grotto, as I have already observed, branched
out into various subterranean galleries, alluded to
by Virgil under the appellation of approaches and
portals, which furnished the Sybil with the means
of forming those tremendous sounds, that in the
moment of inspiration issued from the depths of

Vide Agathias Hist. i. apud Cluv.

CA. XII. THROUGH ITALY. 431
the cavern*. Of these communications two only
are now visible ; all the others, with the body and
the recesses or sanctuary of the temple, are filled
with the ruins of the roof, and of the walls.
Excavations might here be made to advantage;
the very materials, where sea carriage is at hand,
are doubtless sufficient to pay the expense, and
the discoveries might be interesting beyond expres
sion* I must again repeat it, if Warburton's con
jecture can be admitted, and if the Elusinian
mysteries contained such scenes as those described
in the sixth book of tbe Eneid, no region can be
better calculated for the exhibition than that which
we are now treading. In a country, where rocks
are hollowed by nature into grottos and caverns ;
where there are several deep dells, and hidden
recesses, as Astroni now, and one perhaps Avernus;
where various lakes lie concealed in the depths of

* Excisum Euboicae latus ingens rupis in antrum
Quo lati ducunt aditus centum, ostia centum
Unde ruunt totidem voces, responsa Sibyllae. Mn. vi. 42. 44.
A spacious cave, within its farmost part,
Was hewM and fashion'd by laborious art,
Through the hill's hollow sides : before the place
An hundred doors an hundred entries grace ;
As many voices issue, and the sound
Of Sibyl's words as many times rebound. Dryden.

432 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. XII.
forests and in the cavities of mountains ; where
fires and waters are ever working, under all their
possible forms : where the land sometimes stretches
out into the sea, and at other times the sea winds
itself into the very bosom of the land ; in such
a country, particularly when thinly inhabited as
in the early ages, how easy would it be to open
secret communications, and to conduct the adept
through successive scenes of wonder, now buried
in darkness, and now gleaming with light: here
infected with sulphureous exhalations, and there
refreshed with gales of perfume ; sometimes ex
hibiting the horrors of Tartarus, and at other times
displaying the delights of Elysium?
Cuma was founded at a very early period by
a colony of Greeks from Chalcis in Eubaa, and
from Cuma in Eolis ; as it was the first Grecian
establishment in Italy in point of time, so it was
considered for many ages as the first also in power,
opulence, and population. Its overflowing pros
perity spread over the neighboring coasts, and
first Puteoli, and afterwards Naples, owed their
origin to the energy and the enterprize of its in
habitants. Its situation was favorable to com
merce and general communication, and its oracle,
its sybil, and its temple, attracted votaries and
visitants. As the Roman power extended, that of
Cuma declined ; till* without contest or warfare
the city gradually adopted the interests of Rome,

CA.XII. THROUGH ITALY. 433
and its inhabitants were honored with the title of
Roman citizens. The principal cause, however,
of the decay of Cuma was the well-founded par
tiality of the Romans to the neighboring coasts of
Baia, Puteoli, and Naples, so superior in beauty
and salubrity to the flat, marshy vicinity of the
former city. Though Juvenal's* expression may
imply only a comparative desertion and empti
ness, yet the decline of Cuma was so rapid, that
in the sixth century it appears to have been re
duced to a mere fortress seated on the rock, which
formed indeed a military position, but could not
be denominated a city. Its name however still
remained, and we find it mentioned in the thir
teenth century as the resort of robbers, rebels, and
banditti, whose depredations at length provoked
the vengeance of the neighboring cities, and occa
sioned its total destruction.
Now the once opulent and populous Cuma is a
solitary wood ; its once busy streets are now silent
alleys ; its only inhabitants are stags and wild
boars. Here and there a range of broad smooth
stones reminds the sportsman of its pavement,
and some mouldering walls overgrown with vines
and myrtles are the only vestiges of its existence.

* Vacuis . . . Cumis. Juvenal, iii. 2.
Deserted Cumae.
VOL. II. F F

434 CLASSICAL TOUR CA. XII.
Tot decora, artificumque manus, tot nota sepulchra
Totque pios cineres una.ruina premit 
Et querimur, cito si nostra; data tempora vitae
DifFugiunt ? urbes mors violenta rapit !
Nee tu semper eris, quae septem amplec teris arces ;
Nee tu quae mediis aemula surgis aquis
Et te (quis putet hoc ?) altrix mea, durus arator
Vertet; et Urbs, dicet, haec quoque clara fuit*.
Sannaz. Eleg. lib. ii. 9.
The forest which covers Cuma is a royal chace,
extends far beyond the limits of that city, and
borders the lake of Fusaro, the ancient Acheru-
sia palus"\; lying to the south towards Misenus.
This lake is a long and shallow sheet of water.
It answers very exactly the description of it given
by Strabo, who calls it a muddy irruption of the sea,

* The graceful works of art, the sculptur'd tomb,
And all the sacred dust that rests beneath,
In one vast ruin lie 
And do we grieve, if our allotted day
i So swiftly flies, when fate's destructive hand
Proud cities sweeps with violence away !
Nor thou, who on thy sev'n famed hills enthron'd,
Sitst like a sceptred Queen, shalt be eternal !
Nor thou, her rival, in the Adrian wave !
And thee, my native city, thee the plough
(Ah ! who could e'er believe ?) shall one day raze,
While the rough swain that guides it, sighing, cries,
" She too has had her day of glory ! "
t The Acherusian Lake.

CA. XII. THROUGH ITALY. 435
and differs as widely from the splendid picture of
Lycophron, who represents it,
Po^Soio-i Kv/naa-oi van oiSivwci-oi; jpKriy .
It b.as a small island with a castle, and terminates
in a pool called L' Acqua Morta (the dead water).
We proceeded along its banks to Baia, ranged
once more over the delicious scenery in its vicinity,
and embarking bent our course to Procida.

* A roaring influx of the boiling waves.

END OF VOL. II.

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