from Chalcis in Eubea, 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 prosperity spread over the neighboring coasts, and first Puteoli, and afterwards Naples, owed their origin to the energy and the enterprise of its inhabitants. Its situation was favorable to commerce and general communication, and its oracle, its sibyl, 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, and its inhabitants were honored with the title of Roman citizens. The principal cause, however, of the decay of Cuma was the well-founded partiality of the Romans to the neighboring coasts of Baiæ, 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 emptiness, yet the decline of Cuma was so rapid, that in the sixth century it appears to have been reduced 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 thirteenth century as the resort of robbers, rebels, and banditti, whose depredations at length provoked the vengeance of the neighboring cities, and occasioned 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. Tot decora, artificumque manus, tot nota sepulchra Totque pios cineres una ruina premit In one vast ruin lie. And do we grieve, if our allotted day So swifty flies, when fate's destructive hand Proud cities sweeps with violence away! Nor thou, who on thy sev'n famed hills enthron'd, Sit'st 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, The forest which covers Cuma is a royal chase, extends far beyond the limits of that city, and borders the lake of Fusaro, the ancient Acherusia 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, and differs as widely from the splendid picture of Lycophron, who represents it, ῥόχθοισι κυμαινουσαν οἴδματος χυσιν. 2 It has 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. The Acherusian Lake. "A roaring influx of the boiling waves. END OF VOL. I. PRINTED BY CAsimir, 12, rue DE LA VIEILLE-MONNAIE. |