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Rome, as well as other parts of the pope's territories, would be cultivated much better than it is, were there not such an exorbitant tax on corn, which makes them plow up only such spots of ground as turn to the most advantage: whereas, were the money to be raised on lands, with an exception to some of the more barren parts, that might be tax free for a certain term of years, every one would turn his ground to the best account, and, in a little time, perhaps, bring more money into the pope's treasury.

The greatest pleasure I took in my journey from Rome to Naples was in seeing the fields, towns and rivers that have been described by so many classic authors, and have been the scenes of so many great actions; for this whole road is extremely barren of curiosities. It is worth while to have an eye on Horace's voyage to Brundisi, when one passes this way; for, by comparing his several stages, and the road he took, with those that are observed at present, we may have some idea of the changes that have been made in the face of this country since his time. If we may guess at the common travelling of persons of quality, among the ancient Romans, from this poet's description of his voyage, we may conclude they seldom went aboye fourteen miles a day over the Appian way, which was more used by the noble Romans than any other in Italy, as it led to Naples, Baïa, and the most delightful parts of the nation. It is indeed very disagreeable to be carried in haste over this pavement.

Minùs est gravis Appia tardis.

Lucan has described the very road from Anxur to Rome, that Horace took from Rome to Anxur. It is not indeed the ordinary way at present, nor is it marked out by the same places in both poets.

Jamque et præcipites superaverat Anxuris arces,
Et quà Pontinas via dividit uda paludes,
Qua sublime nemus, Scythicæ quà regna Dianæ;
Quaque iter est Latiis ad summam fascibus Album.
Excelsá de rupe procul jam conspicit urbem.

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Lib. 3..

He now had conquer'd Anxur's steep ascent,
And to Pontina's watry marshes went,
A long canal the muddy fen divides,
And with a clear unsully'd current glides;
Diana's woody realms he next invades,
And crossing through the consecrated shades
Ascends high Alba, whence with new delight
He sees the city rising to his sight.

In my way to Naples I crossed the two most considerable rivers of the Campania Felice, that were formerly called the Liris and Vulturnus, and are at present the Garigliano and Vulturno. The first of these rivers has been deservedly celebrated by the Latin poets for the gentleness of its course, as the other for its rapidity and noise.

Rura que Liris quietâ
Mordet aquâ, taciturnus amnis.

Liris

-qui fonte quieto

Dissimulat cursum, et nullo mutabilis imbre
Perstringit tacitas gemmanti gurgite ripas.

-Miscentem flumina Lirim

HOR. lib. 1. od. 30,

Sulfureum, tacitisque vadis ad littora lapsum
Accolit Arpinas-

Where the smooth streams of Liris stray,
And steal insensibly away,

The warlike Arpine borders on the sides
Of the slow Liris, that in silence glides,

SIL. IT. lib. 4.

*Idem, lib. 8.

And in its tainted stream the working sulphur hides.

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The rough Vulturnus, furious in its course,
With rapid streams divides the fruitful grounds,
And from afar in hollow murmurs sounds.

The ruins of Anxur and old Capua mark out the pleasant situation in which those towns formerly stood. The first of them was planted on the mountain, where we now see Terracina, and by reason of the breezes that

came off the sea, and the height of its situation, was one of the summer retirements of the ancient Romans.

O nemus, O fontes! solidumque madentis arenæ

Littus, et æquoreis splendidus Anxur aquis! MART. lib. 10.

Ye warbling fountains, and ye shady trees,
Where Anxur feels the cool refreshing breeze
Blown off the sea, and all the dewy strand
Lies cover'd with a smooth unsinking sand!

Anxuris æquorei placidos frontine recessus
Et propius Baias littoreamque domum,
Et quod inhumana Cancro fervente Cicâda
Non novere, nemus, flumineosque lacus
Dum colui, &c.-

On the cool shore, near Baja's gentle seats,

I lay retir'd in Anxur's soft retreats,

Where silver lakes, with verdant shadows crown'd,
Disperse a grateful chilness all around;

The grasshopper avoids th' untainted air,
Nor in the midst of summer ventures there.

Impositum saxis latè candentibus Anxur.

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HOR. S. 5. 1. 1.

Murranus came from Anxur's show'ry height,

With ragged rocks, and stony quarries white;
Seated on hills-

SIL. IT. 1. 4.

Idem, 1.4.

Idem, 1. 11.

I do not know whether it be worth while to take notice that the figures, which are cut in the rock near Terracina, increase still in a decimal proportion as they come nearer the bottom. If one of our voyagewriters, who passed this way more than once, had observed the situation of these figures, he would not have troubled himself with the dissertation that he has made upon them. Silius Italicus has given us the names of several towns and rivers in the Campania Felice.

Jam verò quos dives opum, quos
dives avorum,
Et toto dabat ad bellum Campania tractu;
Ductorum adventum vicinis sedibus Osci

Servabant; Sinuessa tepens, fluctuque sonorum
Vulturnum, quasque evertere silentia, Amyclæ,
Fundique et regnata Lamo Cajeta, domusque
Antiphata compressa freto, stagnisque palustre
Linternum, et quondam futorum conscia Cuma,
Illic Nuceria, et Gaurus navalibus apta,
Prole Dicharchæâ multo cum milite Graja
Illic Parthenope, et Pæno non pervia Nola.
Alliphe, et Clanio contemtæ semper Acerræ.
Sarrastes etiam populos totasque videres
Sarni mitis opes: illic quos sulphure pingues
Phlegræi legere sinus, Misenus et ardens
Ore gigantao sedes Ithacesia, Buja,
Non Prochite, non ardentem sortita Tiphaa
Inarime, non antiqui saxosa Telonis
Insula, nec parvis aberat Calatia muris,
Surrentum, et pauper sulci Cerealis Avella,

In primis Capua, heu rebus servare secundis

Inconsulta modum, et pravo peritura tumore. SIL. IT. lib. 8.

NAPLES.

My first days at Naples were taken up with the sight of processions, which are always very magnificent in the holy-week. It would be tedious to give an account of the several representations of our Saviour's death and resurrection, of the figures of himself, the Blessed Virgin, and the apostles, which are carried up and down on this occasion with the cruel penances that several inflict on themselves, and the multitude of ceremonies that attend these solemnities. I saw, at the same time, a very splendid procession for the accession of the Duke of Anjou to the crown of Spain, in which the viceroy bore his part at the left hand of Cardinal Cantelmi To grace the parade, they exposed, at the same time, the blood of St. Januarius, which liquified at the approach of the saint's head, though, as they say, it was hard congealed before. I Ι had twice an opportunity of seeing the operation of this pretended miracle, and must confess I think it so far from being a real miracle, that I look upon it as one of the most bungling tricks that I ever saw: yet it

is this that makes as great a noise as any in the Roman church, and that Monsieur Paschal has hinted at among the rest, in his Marks of the true Religion. The modern Neapolitans seem to have copied it out from one, which was shown in a town of the kingdom of Naples, as long ago as in Horace's time.

-Dehinc Gnutia lymphis

Iratis extructa dedit risusque jocosque,

Dum flamma sine thura liquescere limine sacro
Persuadere cupit: credeat Judæus apella,

Nou ego

At Gnatia next arriv'd, we laugh'd to see
The superstitious crowd's simplicity,
That in the sacred temple needs would try
Without a fire th' unheated gums to fry;

Believe who will the solemn sham, not I.

Sat. 5. 1. 1.

One may see at least that the heathen priesthood had the same kind of secret among them, of which the Roman Catholics are now masters.

I must confess, though I had lived above a year in a Roman Catholic country, I was surprised to see many ceremonies and superstitions in Naples, that are not so much as thought of in France. But as it is certain there has been a kind of secret reformation made, though not publicly owned, in the Roman Catholic church, since the spreading of the Protestant religion, so we find the several nations are recovered out of their ignorance, in proportion as they converse more or less with those of the reformed churches. For this reason the French are much more enlightened than the Spaniards or Italians, on occasion of their frequent controversies with the Huguenots; and we find many of the Roman Catholic gentlemen of our own country, who will not stick to laugh at the superstitions they sometimes meet with in other nations.

I shall not be particular in describing the grandeur of the city of Naples, the beauty of its pavement, the regularity of its buildings, the magnificence of its churches and convents, the multitude of its inhabit

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