much more violent on the south than on the north of Caprea. Jamque adeo scopulos Sirenum advecta subibat Æn. lib. 5. Glides by the Syren's cliffs, a shelfy coast, DRYDEN. I have before said that they often find medals in this island. Many of those they call the Spintriæ, which Aretin has copied, have been dug up here. I know none of the antiquaries that have written on this subject, and find nothing satisfactory of it where I thought it most likely to be met with, in Patin's edition of Suetonius illustrated by medals. Those I have conversed with about it, are of opinion they were made to ridicule the brutality of Tiberius, though I cannot but believe they were stamped by his order. They are unquestionably antique, and no bigger than medals of the third magnitude. They bear on one side some lewd invention of that hellish society which Suetonius calls Monstrosi concubitus repertores, and on the other the number of the medal. I have seen of them as high as to twenty. I cannot think they were made as a jest on the emperor, because raillery on coins is of a modern date. I know but two in the Upper Empire, besides the Spintriæ, that lie under any suspicion of it. The first is one of Marcus Aurelius, where, in compliment to the emperor and empress, they have stamped on the reverse the figure of Venus caressing Mars, and endeavouring to detain him from the wars. -Quoniam belli fera manera Mavors LUCR. lib. 1. The Venus has Faustina's face, her lover is a naked figure with a helmet on his head, and a shield on his arm. Tu scabie frueris mali quod in aggere rodit, Qui tegitur, parmá et galeâ Juv. Sat. 5. This unluckily brings to mind Faustina's fondness for the gladiator, and is therefore interpreted by many as a hidden piece of satire. But besides, that such a thought was inconsistent with the gravity of a senate, how can one imagine that the Fathers would have dared to affront the wife of Aurelius, and the mother of Commodus, or that they could think of giving offence to an empress whom they afterwards deified, and to an emperor that was the darling of the army and people? The other medal is a golden one of Gallienus, preserved in the French king's cabinet; it is inscribed Galliena Augusta, Pax Ubique, and was stamped at a time when the emperor's father was in bondage, and the empire torn in pieces by several pretenders to it, Yet, if one considers the strange stupidity of this emperor, with the senseless security which appears in several of his sayings that are still left on record, one may very well believe this coin was of his own invention. We We may be sure, if raillery had once entered the old Roman coins, we should have been overstocked with medals of this nature; if we consider there were often rival emperors proclaimed at the same time, who endeavoured at the lessening of each other's character, and that most of them were succeeded by such as were enemies to their predecessor. These medals of Tiberius were never current money, but rather of the nature of medalions, which seem to have been made on purpose to perpetuate the discoveries of that infamous society. Suetonius tells us, that their monstrous inventions were registered several ways, and preserved in the emperor's private apartments. Cubicula plurifariam disposita tabellis ac sigillis lascivissimarum picturarum et figurarum adornavit, li-` brisque Elephantidis instruxit: ne cui in Operâ edenda exemplar impetrate Schema deesset. The Elephantis here mentioned is probably the same Martial takes notice of for her book of postures. In Sabellum. Facundos mihi de libidinosis Lib. 12. ep.45.. Ovid mentions the same kind of pictures that found a place even in Augustus's cabinet. Scilicet in domibus vestris, ut prisca virorum Sic quæ concubitus varios Venerisque figuras De Trist. lib. 2. There are several of the sigilla, or seals, Suetonius speaks of, to be met with in collections of ancient intaglios. But, I think, what puts it beyond all doubt, that these coins were rather made by the emperor's order, than as a satire on him, is because they are now found in the very place that was the scene of these his unnatural lusts. -Quem rupes Caprearum tetra latebit Incesto possessa seni? CL. de 4to Cons. Hon. Who has not heard of Caprea's guilty shore, Polluted by the rank old emperor? FROM NAPLES TO ROME, BY SEA. I took a felucca at Naples to carry me to Rome, that I might not be forced to run over the same sights a second time, and might have an opportunity of seeVOL. V. R ing many things in a road which our voyage-writers have not so particularly described. As in my journey from Rome to Naples I had Horace for my guide, so I had the pleasure of seeing my voyage, from Naples to Rome, described by Virgil. It is, indeed, much easier to trace out the way Æneas took, than that of Horace, because Virgil has marked it out by capes, islands, and other parts of nature, which are not so subject to change or decay as are towns, cities, and the works of art. Mount Pausilypo makes a beautiful prospect to those who pass by it: at a small distance from it lies the little island of Nisida, adorned with a great variety of plantations, rising one above another in so beautiful an order, that the whole island looks like a large terrace-garden. It has two little ports, and is not at present troubled with any of those noxious steams that Lucan mentions. Tali spiramine Nesis Emittit Stygium nebulosis aëra saxis. Nesis' high rocks such Stygian air produce, And the blue breathing pestilence diffuse. Lib. 6. From Nisida we rowed to Cape Misena. The extremity of this cape has a long cleft in it, which was enlarged and cut into shape by Agrippa, who made this the great port for the Roman fleet that served in the Mediterranean; as that of Ravenna held the ships designed for the Adriatic and Archipelago. The highest end of this promontory rises in the fashion of a sepulchre, or monument, to those that survey it from the land, which, perhaps, might occasion Virgil's burying Misenus under it. I have seen a grave Italian author, who has written a very large book on the Campania Felice, that, from Virgil's description of this mountain, concludes it was called Aërius before Misenus had given it a new name. At pius Eneas ingenti mole sepulchrum En. lib. 6. There are still to be seen a few ruins of old Misenum, but the most considerable antiquity of the place is a set of galleries that are hewn into the rock, and are much more spacious than the Piscina Mirabilis. Some will have them to have been a reservoir of water, but others more probably suppose them to be Nero's baths. I lay the first night on the Isle of Procita, which is pretty well cultivated, and contains about four thousand inhabitants, who are all vassals to the Marquis De Vasto. The next morning I went to see the Isle of Ischia, that stands farther out into the sea. The ancient poets call it Inarime, and lay Typhæus under it, by reason of its eruptions of fire. There has been no eruption for near these three hundred years. The last was very terrible, and destroyed a whole city. At present there are scarce any marks left of a subterraneous fire, for the earth is cold, and overrun with grass and shrubs, where the rocks will suffer it. There are, indeed, several little cracks in it, through which there issues a constant smoke, but it is probable this arises from the warm springs that feed the many baths with which this island is plentifully stocked. I observed about one of these breathing passages, a spot of myrtles that flourish within the steam of these vapours, and have a continual moisture hanging upon them. On the south of Ischia lies a round lake, of about three quarters of a mile diameter, separate from the sea by a narrow tract of land. It was formerly a Roman port. On the north end of this island stands the town and castle, on an exceeding high rock, divided from the body of the island, and inaccessible to an enemy on all sides. This island is larger, but much more rocky and barren than Procita. Virgil makes them both shake at the fall of part of the Mole of Baja, that stood at a few miles distance from them. Qualis in Euboico Bajarum littore quondam |