doubt whether it be possible to ascertain the spot on which it took place, may, I think, enable us to guess at it with some probability. According to Livy, both armies were encamped on or near the Sena, about four miles westward of Senogaglia, or to use Livy's words, "Ad Senam castra consulis erant, et quingentos inde passus Asdrubal aberat." Asdrubal began his retreat, "primâ vigiliâ," that is, about an hour after sunset; and after having wandered in the dark for some time, reached the Metaurus, about eight miles from the Sena, and there halted till break of day, when following the banks from the sea towards the mountain, in order to discover some place fordable, he was overtaken and attacked by the Romans. The battle commenced at an early hour, for, after various manoeuvres and a most bloody contest, it was only mid-day when victory decided in favour of the Romans. "Et jam diei medium erat, sitisque et calor hiantes, cædendos capiundosque (hostes) affatim præbebat."* Now when we consider these circumstances united, that is, that the nights were short, as it was summer, that after having marched eight miles, the Carthaginian army bewildered themselves in the windings of the banks," per tortuosi amnis sinus flexusque errorem volvens," that they halted and were overtaken early in the morning, we shall conclude, that they had not marched more than eighteen miles from Sena, or, in other words, that they had not reached the mountains, and of course that the battle took place in the plain, but nearer the mountains than the sea. Moreover, the left wing of the Carthaginian army, formed chiefly of Gauls, was covered by a hill. Round this hill, when the Consul Claudius had attacked the enemy in * T. Liv. Lib. xxvII. 48. the rear, was the principal slaughter, and it is highly probable that the fall of the Carthaginian general ennobled this spot, and dignified it with the appellation of Monte Asdrubale. We may therefore, I think, conclude, without much danger of wandering widely from the truth, that the round hill which still bears that name, and rises south of the Metaurus, about three miles from Fossombrone on the road to Forli, was the scene of this memorable action. It is about eighteen miles, by the Via Flaminia, from Fano, and about fourteen from the Sena, on which both armies were encamped the day before. In fine, a battle, in which, as on this occasion, a hundred thousand combatants are engaged, covers a great extent of country, and spreads over all the neighbouring region; so that the banks of the river, for many a mile, witnessed the rout of the Carthaginians, and the poetical prediction was fully accomplished, Multa quoque Asdrubalis fulgebit strage Metaurus. Two hours brought us to the river Negola (Misus), Quo Sena relictum Gallorum a populis traxit per sæcula nomen! for on its banks stands Senegaglia, which took its name from the Galli Senones, though colonized by the Romans after the destruction of that race. Senegaglia is a very well built, airy, and apparently flourishing town. The cathedral, of the Corinthian order, was lately rebuilt, and its high altar adorned with a most beautiful tabernacle, by the present bishop, Cardinal Onorati, who has the reputation of a man of taste and public spirit. Unfortunately for the town, his means of indulging the useful propensities, which naturally follow two such endowments, have been completely annihilated by the rapacity of the French, and all improvements, since the fatal period of their arrival, totally suspended. The distance from this town to Ancona is twentyfour computed, twenty real miles. A little beyond Casa Frascata, at the Bocca de Fiumecino, we passed the Esino, the Roman Aesis, entered Picenum, and arrived late at Ancona. Ancona retains its ancient name, supposed to be derived from its reclining posture, and no small share of its ancient prosperity, as, Venice excepted, it is still the most populous and the most trading town on the shores of the Adriatic. Most of the towns we have hitherto mentioned were founded by various Gallic tribes. Ancona boasts a nobler origin. It was built by a band of Syracusan patriots, who, to avoid the insolence and lawless sway of Dionysius the tyrant, abandoned their country and settled on this coast, about four hundred years before Christ. It was anciently remarkable for a celebrated temple of Venus, and, like Paphos and Cythera, was supposed to be one of the favorite resorts of the Goddess of Love and Beauty. In reality, it would be difficult to find a situation more conformable to the temper of the "Queen of smiles and sports," or better adapted to health and enjoyment than Ancona. Seated on the side of a hill, forming a semicircular bay, sheltered by its summit from the exhalations of the south, covered by a bold promontory from the blasts of the north, and open only to the breezes of the west, and the gales that wanton on the unruffled bosom of the waters, which bathe its feet, surrounded by fields of inexhaustible fertility, Ancona seems formed for the abode of mirth and luxury. Hence it has been remarked by travellers, that * Ante domum Veneris quam Dorica sustinet Ancon.-Juv. Iv. 39. the inhabitants of Ancona, and its territory, are of a more beautiful form and fairer color than their countrymen in general; and though several invidious reasons have been given to account for this flattering distinction, I must add, that their morals are acknowledged to be pure, and the conduct of the females unimpeachable. The Romans, aware of the advantages of this port, made it their principal naval station in the Adriatic; built a magnificent mole to cover the harbour, and adorned it with a triumphal arch. This useful and splendid work was undertaken and finished by Trajan, and to him the triumphal arch is dedicated. It is still entire, though stripped of its supernumerary ornaments; the order is Corinthian; the materials, Parian marble; the form light, and the whole is considered as the best, though not the most splendid, nor the most massive, model, that remains of similar edifices. It was ornamented with statues, busts, and probably, inferior decorations of bronze; but of these, as I hinted above, it has been long since stripped, by the avarice of barbarian invaders, or perhaps of ignorant and degenerate Italians. In fact, from the first taking of Rome by Alaric, that is, from the total fall of the arts, to their restoration, it was certain ruin to an ancient edifice to retain, or to be supposed to retain, any ornament, or even any stay of metal. the internal decorations only were torn off, but the very nails pulled out, and not unfrequently stones displaced, and columns overturned, to seek for bronze or iron. Of this species of sacrilegious plunder we find numberless instances, not only in the edifice now under our consideration, but in various remains of antiquity, and particularly in the Pantheon and Coliseum. Nor will this conduct appear wonderful in men, either by birth Not or by habits, and grovelling passions, barbarians; when in our own times, and almost before our own eyes, persons of rank and education have not hesitated to disfigure the most ancient, and the most venerable monuments of Grecian architecture, to tear the works of Phidias and Praxiteles from their original position, and demolish fabrics, which time, war, and barbarism had respected during twenty centuries. The French, whose rapacity the voice of Europe has so loudly and so justly censured, did not incur the guilt of dismantling ancient edifices; they spared the walls, and contented themselves with statues and paintings, and even these they have collected and arranged in halls and galleries, for the inspection of travellers of all nations; while, if report does not deceive us, our plunderers have ransacked the temples of Greece, to sell their booty to the highest bidder, or at best, to piece the walls of some obscure old mansion, with fragments of Parian marble, and Attic sculpture. To return to the arch, it has only one gateway, is ornamented with four half columns on each front, one at each side of the gateway, and one at each angle. The marble, particularly in the front, towards the sea, retains its shining white; the capitals of the pillars have suffered much, and lost the prominent parts of the acanthus; however, on the whole, this arch may be considered in high preservation. The greatest part of the mole still remains, a solid, compact wall, formed of huge stones bound together by iron, and rising to a considerable height above the level of the sea. Close to it, but much lower, is the modern mole, adorned in like manner with a triumphal arch of the Tuscan order, in itself not beautiful, and when compared with the Corinthian arch that stands almost immediately over it, extremely cumber |