When we had passed the defile, we observed on our right a noble ridge of mountains covered with verdure, and broken into various rocks and precipices; and on our left another of a less beautiful but bolder form, lifting its stony surface to the clouds, that rolled in thick mists over its brow, and added to the majesty of its appearance. Naked, craggy, and furrowed by the torrents that roll down his sides, Mount Taburnus, which we are now contemplating, either never possessed, or has long since resigned, the olive forests with which Virgil wished to robe his gigantic mass*. The road thence becomes stony and indifferent, but continues to wind through a country less fertile indeed than Campania, but finely varied with hill and dale, and presenting in every view a pleasing mixture of wildness and cultivation.

We were now once more on the Via Appia, and passed two rivers over two Roman bridges, still in good repair. From the first we had a delightful view of the mountains which we had passed, as the evening sun cast a strong golden glow over the shining verdure of their sides and summits. After having crossed the Sabato, which still retains its ancient name, we entered Beneventum about sun-set. This city is of so ancient a date as to claim Diomedes for its founder; however, though well known

of Sta. Agatha, where a defile, watered by the Faenza, anciently the Isclerus, and closed at both ends, is said to answer the description of Livy, and correspond with the direction of the Consul's march. The town of Airola he supposes to be the ancient Caudium. This defile almost joins the Forche d'Arpaia at one end.

* Neu segnes jaceant terræ: juvat Ismara Baccho Conserere, et magnum oleo vestire Taburnum.

Georg. 11.

and much frequented, it never seems to have acquired any celebrity. It long bore the inauspicious appellation of Maleventum, which it changed when made a Roman colony into Beneventum, a name well suited as a happy omen to the occasion. After the fall of the empire, it was, with the rest of Italy, possessed by the Goths, then upon their expulsion by the Greeks, and afterwards became an independent principality under the Lombards. Thence it rose to a dukedom, and after having been governed by various princes, Lombard, Greek, and Norman, and been the subject of many contests and intrigues, at length passed under the peaceful domination of the Roman Pontiff.

Beneventum stands on a gentle elevation, at the foot of a bold ridge of hills on one side, with an open swelling country on the other. Its northern walls are bathed by the Calore, still proud of its ancient name. A lofty bridge crosses this river, and gives a very pleasing view of its banks, lined with poplars and bordered by meadows and gardens. One of the gates is a triumphal arch of Trajan; it consists of a single arch, is of Parian marble, and entire, with the exception of a part of the cornice. Both its sides are adorned with four Corinthian pillars raised on high pedestals. Its frieze, pannels, and indeed every part, both without and within the arch, are covered with rich sculpture representing some of the achievements of the Emperor in whose honor it was erected. This triumphal arch is by many considered as the most perfect of the kind existing-to me, I own, it did not appear in that light. The decorations though all of the best and purest style, are yet so compressed and crowded together as to leave no vacant space for the eye to rest on, no plane to contrast with the relievo and set it off to advantage; they seem consequently to encumber the edifice, and thus de

prive it of the first of architectural beauties, simplicity. How inferior in this respect is the monument we are now contemplating to that of Ancona.

The cathedral is a large fabric in the Gothic or rather Saracenic manner, but of ancient materials; it is supported within by fifty columns of Parian marble, forming on each side a double aisle. The inward row has only half as many pillars as the outward, a circumstance which with the arches springing from the pillars lessens the effect of a colonnade, in other respects very magnificent. Beneventum has on the whole a good appearance, contains about fifteen thousand inhabitants, and seems to have passed through the vicissitudes of so many turbulent ages without much glory indeed, but with few reverses. The inn is not remarkably good, though superior probably to that which harbored Horace and his friends, if we may guess from the repast prepared for them, the accident that alarmed them, and the haste of the guests to snatch their portions from the flames*.

I need not inform the reader that Beneventum is in Samnium,

* Tendimus hinc recta Beneventum, ubi sedulus hospes

Pene macros, arsit, turdos dum versat in igne.
Nam vaga per veterem dilapso flamma culinam
Vulcano, summum properabat lambere tectum.
Convivas avidos cænam servosque timentes

Tum rapere, atque omnes restinguere velle videres.

There are few inns in modern Italy that cannot afford better fare and better accommodations.

and was considered as one of its principal cities, or that the Samnites were the most warlike people of Italy, the most attached to independence, and the most devoted to the cause of liberty. Their stubborn opposition to the predominant fortune and genius of Rome employed the talents, and called forth all the skill and all the energies of the Fabii and Papirii, and with many intervening reverses furnished the materials of four-andtwenty triumphs. Their resistance, prolonged beyond the bounds of prudence, and the means of success at length assumed the features of a war ad internecionem, and terminated during the dictatorship of Sylla, in the almost total annihilation of the Samnite race. The army perished in the field, or in confinement at Rome; the survivors were driven into exile, and one of the most populous provinces of Italy was almost turned into a desert.

On our return we alighted at the Forche d'Arpaia, and proceeded through the valley on foot; the heat was great, but a strong invigorating wind blowing full in our faces rendered it tolerable. The harvest was going on, and the fields around were crowded. Among other lively scenes, we particularly noticed a set of harvest-men amusing themselves with the notes of a bag-pipe. Mirth and music are the passions of the climate, and of course did not excite our surprize; but we were rather astonished to hear the drone of a bagpipe in a Campanian valley, and almost wondered how an Italian echo could repeat a sound so heavy and inharmonious. The road was lined on each side with groves of cherry-trees, and several women and children were employed in gathering them. Overtaking an old woman who was carrying a large basket full of

cherries on her back, one of the party took a handful, and stepping before her, asked how she sold them. She shook

her head, and smiled; but on the question being repeated, replied, that God had given enough for all, and that we might take as many as we pleased for nothing. She was afterwards with much difficulty prevailed upon to accept a trifle. Shortly after as we were sitting on the wall of one of the orchards, a hearty looking man came up, and observing that the day was sultry, begged us to step in and make free with his fruit, which he assured us was particularly wholesome and refreshing. We returned to Naples very well pleased with Samnium and its inhabitants.

Of all the objects that lie within the compass of an excursion from Naples, Pastum, though the most distant, is perhaps the most curious and most interesting. In scenery, without doubt, it yields, not only to Baie and Puteoli, but to every town in the vicinity of the Crater; but in noble and well preserved monuments of antiquity it surpasses every city in Italy, her immortal capital Rome alone excepted. It is generally supposed, that the ruins of Pæstum were for many ages unknown even in the neighboring country, and at length accidentally discovered, some say, by a shepherd, and others, by a young painter in the course of a morning's ramble from Capaccio. This discovery is said to have been made about the middle of the last century. The fact is, that the attention of travellers was first directed to them about that period, and views and descriptions published then for the first time. But they were perfectly well known at all times, not to the peasantry of the immediate neighborhood only, and to the fishermen of Salerno who passed within view of them almost every day, but to the bishop and canons of Ca