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 architectural formation of this edifice, the singular effect of re-echoing clearly and distinctly such words as were uttered within a certain distance of its circumference; so that at the funeral of Metella the cries and lamentations of the attendants 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 maxime mirandum est, artificio tam singulari composita est ea moles, ut Echo loquentium voces septies et octies 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 animæ fatum Cæciliæ illius commiserati ex imo terræ 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. 2 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 statue rather disfigured by time appears in a reclining 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 The most wonderful thing is, that the building is constructed 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 Cæcilia, bewailed her from beneath the earth with continued lamentations, and testified their common grief, which they were desirous to combine with the tears of the living.-Boissard. 2 At the lawless period when the Roman nobles defied the feeble authority of the Popes, and the shadowy privileges of the people, and passed their days in perpetual warfare with each other, the family of the Gaietani turned this sepulchre into a fortress, and erected the battlements that still disfigure its summit. 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 aquâ, quo quia se persæpe Numa sine arbitris, velut ad congressum deæ, inferebat, Camœnis eum lucum sacravit ; quod earum ibi consilia cum conjuge sua Egeria essent." A 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 indeed remains, but the marble lining, the pillars, the statues have disappeared and probably lie buried under the mud that covers the pavement of the grotto. The mendicant crowd that frequented 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 Camænis Ovid. Met. XV. 483. On the brow of the hill that borders the Egerian 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 denominated by others, the temple of the Muses, looking down upon the valley 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. 3 In vallem Egeriæ descendimus et speluncas Juv. Lib. I. Sat. ill. 17. Down to Egeria's vale we took our way, 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 Aricinæ densis latet abdita sylvis.-Ovid. Met. xv. 487. His wife the town forsook, And in the woods that clothe Aricia's vale Lies hid. 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. and the groves sacred to these goddesses. As the portico was taken in to enlarge the cella, and adapt it better for the purposes 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 indeed, but wellproportioned and adorned with pilasters and a regular cornice. Antiquarians differ with regard to its appellation. Some suppose it to be sacred to the God Rediculus, who prompted Annibal, when encamped there, to return and withdraw from the city. But as Annibal was encamped, 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 mention of any such temple, this opinión 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 further from the city at the Fossæ Cluiliæ. At all eyents, 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 the Via Appia, re-crosses the river Almo (Lubricus Almo 2) and re-enters by the Porta Capena. I 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 remarkable 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. Constantia (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 elsewhere of the saint, a vast porphyry vase orna mented with various figures, and, observed 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 Lamentana, anciently Pons Nomentanus, a bridge over the Anio; and a little beyond it, he may ascend the Mons Sacer, twice dignified by the retreat, and by the temperate but determined 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 advances 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 honorable 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 Nomentanus is the Pons Salarius (Ponte Salaro) 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 remains 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 his observation he finds himself surrounded 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." This form it probably owes to the occasion:-Vallo, fossaque communitis castris."Having fortified the camp with a rampart and a ditch."-Liv. lib. ii. 32. CHAPTER XIX. 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 Rome, 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. 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, som ewhat 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 may be called a floating island. There As circling years revolve, the day shall come, |