Sayfadaki görseller
PDF
ePub

ERRATA.

Page xv. line 2, dele “as"

17,

[ocr errors]

24,

-

7, for "stinted,” read “stunted"

2 from the bottom, for "conscious of

"Authority," read "conscious Autho-
"rity"

24, for “Pauchaia,” read "Panchaja.”
44, in Table of Contents, for "Bexico," read
"Berico,"

185, line 24, for "Rosca,” read "Rosea."

190, last word, for "Perieget," read "ПEРIHTH-
ΣΙΣ.”

243, line 3, correct the punctuation thus—“ be-
deserted; and Christian

" came
"princes,"

[blocks in formation]
[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

THE Author has to regret that a very serious Weakness in his Eyes prevented
him from paying to the Publication of this Work all the Attention he wished.

DIRECTIONS TO THE BINDER.

The Eight Plates are to be placed in the First Volume.

A CLASSICAL TOUR

THROUGH ITALY.

CHAP. I.

EXCURSION TO BENEVENTUM-----FURCE CAUDINE-----MOUNT TA-
BURNUS----BENEVENTUM, ITS TRIUMPHAL ARCH----EXCURSION
-PÆSTUM-NUCORIA-CAVA-SALERNUM-MOUNT ALBURNUS-
PÆSTUM, ITS HISTORY AND TEMPLES.

OUR next excursion was to Beneventum, an ancient city now
belonging to the Pope, though surrounded by the Neapolitan ter-
ritory. The road passes through Acerra, and about five miles
beyond enters the mountains that border the plains of Cam-
pania. Some beautiful scenery here amuses the eye as it wanders
over the hills. To the right on the summit of a bold eminence
covered with wood stands a Gothic castle; an object which
not only from its appropriate site, but its magnitude, and anti-
quity, might be deemed interesting beyond the Alps; but in
Italy, such an edifice appears misplaced, and incongruous. It
reminds us of the irruption of barbarians, the fall of the arts,

VOL. II.

B

the desolation of the finest region in the world, and the many ages of disaster that have since passed over it. The eye is soon relieved from the frowns of this feudal prison, by a scene better suited to the character and general features of the country. In the middle of a sylvan theatre formed by the bending of a hill, carpeted by deep verdure and shaded by thick foliage, swells an eminence; on that eminence rises a rock, and on the summit of the rock under a spreading olive-tree stands an hermitage, that seems from its situation to be the cell of one of the holy solitaries of times of old.

Ch in aeva magion fa dimoranza.

Tasso.

Shortly after we passed through Arienzo; it forms a long street at the foot of hills branching out from the Monti Tifatini, and contains some good buildings intermingled with groves, orchards, and gardens. This town stands at the entrance of a defile, which contracts as it advances, and almost closes at the village, called Le Forche d'Arpaia. Arpaia is generally considered as the ancient Caudium, and the defile is supposed to be the Furca Caudina. If this supposition be well founded, time and cultivation, aided perhaps by earthquakes and torrents, must have made a considerable alteration in its original appearance. The former have long since levelled the forests that once clothed the sides of the mountains: the latter may have swept away the sand and loose soil from the declivities, and thus lowered the hills; while the ruins of Caudium, and the formation of the Via Appia, in conjunction with the preceding causes, may have filled, raised, and widened the narrow path in the middle. Thus the difficulties of the passage may have been removed, and the gloom that hung over it, dissipated. The bordering mountains are indeed on one side steep and naked; but

on the other they are covered with olive, ilex, and corn fields; the interval between is, in the narrowest part of the defile, at least three hundred feet, and on the whole, it presents nothing to alarm any, and much less a Roman army.

On stopping at Arpaia, we were accosted by the pastor of the place, a venerable old man, who immediately concluding that we wished to examine the defile, took us first to his house to shew us an Italian work on the subject, and thence conducted us to the convent of the Capucins; it stands on an eminence called Giogo (Jugum) de Sta. Maria on the right, where from a threshingfloor we had a very distinct view of the ground, and could compare appearances with the description of Livy. Our worthy guide cited the historian with great volubility, enlarged upon the critical situation of the Romans and the generosity of the Samnites, whom he considered as his countrymen, and called Nostri Sanniti, and inveighed with great vehemence against the ingratitude and cowardice of the former, who, returning with superior numbers, almost exterminated their generous adversaries. It was amusing to see passions so long extinguished revive, and patriotism, which had lost its object for more than two thousand years, and been absorpt in well-grounded attachment to a more glorious and more extensive country, glow with useless ardor in the bosom of a solitary individual. In truth, these In truth, these generous passions that long made Italy so great and so illustrious, and turned every province and almost every city into a theatre of deeds of valor and achievements of heroism; that armed every hand, first against the ambition, and afterwards for the glory of Rome then the capital and pride of their common country; all these passions exist still in Italy, burn with vigor even in the bosoms of the populace, and want only an occasion to call them

into action, and a leader to combine and direct them to their proper object.

Upon an attentive inspection of the valley now before us, it is impossible for the candid traveller, notwithstanding popular tradition* strengthened by some great authorities, to consider it as the defile described by Livy, or consequently admit it to be the Furca Caudina. "Saltus duo," says the historian, “alti, angusti, sylvosique sunt, montibus circa perpetuis inter se juncti, jacet inter eos satis patens clausus in medio campus herbidus aquosusque per quem medium iter est. Sed antequam venias ad eum intrandæ primæ angustiæ sunt, aut eadem qua te insinuaveris via repetenda; aut si ire pergas, per alium saltum arctiorem, impeditioremque evadendumt. In this picture we may observe, that the valley of Caudium is closed at both ends, and watered by a stream. The valley of Arpaia is open at one extremity, and has no stream. Besides, the vale of Arpaia lay out of the way, which the Consul, whose object was dispatch, could not be supposed to wish to lengthen. These reasons given by Cluverius, and confirmed, as we thought, beyond contradiction by the inspection of the ground, obliged us to resign, though reluctantly, the pleasure of believing ourselves on a spot described by such an historian, and ennobled by such an event.

* Popular tradition, when very ancient and very constant, may be considered as almost decisive on such subjects; it then becomes uninterrupted remembrance. In the present case, it is neither ancient nor constant.

+ L. IX. 2.

+ Cluverius places the Furce Caudina a little higher up, and near the town

« ÖncekiDevam »