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between Ostia and the Lake Avernus, by a navigable canal which might afford all the pleasures, without any of the inconveniences of a voyage in the usual manner. This work was begun but never finished, and it is probable that the Lago Fundano or Amyclano, which was to have formed part of the projected canal, was lengthened and extended across the little plain to the very foot of Mount Cacubus; thus depriving the flats of a considerable part of that moisture which perhaps caused their fertility. The Cæcuban wine so much celebrated was produced, according to Pliny, in the poplar groves that rose in the marshes on the bay of Amycle. That same author gives a long list of Italian wines, all good though of very different degrees of excellence, and I have no doubt that modern Italy, if the cultivation of the vine had the same encouragement now as anciently, would furnish a catalogue equal to it both in excellence and variety. As it is not intended to expand a few cursory remarks into a dissertation, it may finally be observed that several of the wines celebrated in ancient times still retain, at least, some share of their ancient reputation. Thus a wine produced in the very extremity of the Adriatic Gulph, on the banks of the Timavus*, and in the vicinity of Aquileia, is still in as great request at Trieste as it was formerly in Rome; as also is the Rhetian wine so much extolled by Virgil at Venice and Verona. The wines of Luna and Florence are even now much esteemed all over the north of Italy, as are those of the Alban Mount, including Frescati and Gensano, in Rome. The vines that flourish on the sides and around the base of Vesuvius still continue to furnish a rich and

* This wine was called Pucinum. The place now bears the name of Castel Duino, and corresponds with the description given of it by Pliny, saxeo colle, maritimo afflatu.—Lib. xiv.

delicious wine, well known to all travellers, and to most readers under the appellation of Lacryma Christi. To conclude, Horace has comprised with his usual neatness the four principal wines of Italy, all the produce of the coast which we have just traversed, in the following stanza:

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Before we arrived at Capua night had set in, but it was night in all its charms; bright, serene, and odoriferous. The only object that could then strike our eyes or excite our curiosity was the luciola, a bright insect, many of which were flying about in every direction like sparks of fire, casting a vivid light around them, and seeming to threaten the waving corn over which they flitted with a conflagration.

We entered Naples at a late hour, and drove to the Gran Bretagna, an excellent inn on the sea shore, and close to the royal garden. Few scenes surpass in beauty that which burst full upon me when I awoke next morning. In front and under my windows, the bay of Naples spread its azure surface smooth as glass, while a thousand boats glided in different directions over its shining bosom: on the right, the town extended along the semicircular shore, and Posilipo rose close behind it, with churches and villas, vineyards and pines scattered in confusion along its sides and on its ridge, till, sloping as it advanced the bold hill terminated in a craggy promontory. On the left at the end of a walk that forms the quay and skirts the sea, the Castel del Uovo standing on an insulated rock caught the eye for

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a moment; while beyond it over a vast expanse of water a rugged line of mountains stretched forward, and softening its features as it projected, presented towns, villages, and convents, lodged amidst its forests and precipices, and at length terminated in the cape of Minerva now of Surrentum. Opposite and full in front rose the island of Caprea with its white cliffs and ridgy summit, placed as a barrier to check the tempest and protect the interior of the bay from its fury. This scene illuminated by a sun that never shines so bright on the less favored regions beyond the Alps is justly considered, as the most splendid and beautiful exhibition which nature perhaps presents to the human eye, and cannot but excite in the spectator, when beheld for the first time, emotions of delight and admiration, that border on enthusiasm.* Nor are the charms of recollection that are capable of improving even the loveliest features of nature here wanting to complete the enchantment. Naples and its coasts have never been, it is true, the theatre of heroic achievements, or the stage of grand and unusual incidents; but they have been the residence of the great and the wise; they have aided the meditations of the sage and awakened the raptures of the poet; and as long as the Latin muses continue to instruct mankind, so long will travellers visit with delight the academy of Cicero, the tomb of Virgil, and the birth-place of Tasso.

* The bay of Leucadia, bounded by the bold coasts of that island on one side, and of Acarnania on the other, and interspersed with the Teleboides Insulæ rising in every shape imaginable around, is, I think, more beautiful; but it is now a desert, peopled only by recollections!

CHAP. XXI.

NAPLES-----ITS

HISTORY-----PUBLIC BUILDINGS-----CHURCHES

HOSPITALS----STATE OF LITERATURE AT NAPLES.

NAPLES occupies the site of both Palapolis and Neapolis in ancient times, though it inherits the name of the latter. It is of Grecian origin, and is first mentioned by Livy as having in conjunction with Palapolis joined the Samnites in a confederacy against the Romans*. Palapolis was taken two years after and Naples must have shared its fate. The latter seems indeed to have been of little consideration at that time, though it continued to increase rapidly, and in the course of not many years eclipsed the splendor, usurped the territory and gradually obliterated the very name of the former. It seems to have attached itself closely to the Roman interest in little more than a century from the abovementioned period, and to have acquired under the protection of the Roman republic no small degree of prosperity and importance. It remained faithful to its allies even after the carnage of Canna and the revolt of the Campanians, and such was the strength of its ramparts that Hannibal himself shrunk

* An. U. C. 427.

from the difficulties of an attack*. The generous offer which they had previously made to the Roman senate must naturally inspire a very favorable idea of the opulence, and which is infinitely more honorable, of the magnanimity of this city +. This attachment to the Roman cause excited the resentment of the Carthagenian, who ravaged the Neapolitan territory with more than his usual ferocity.

From this period little or no mention is made of Naples for a long series of years, during which it seems to have enjoyed in undisturbed tranquillity its original laws and language, and all the advantages of its fertile soil, and unrivalled situation. Its coasts during this interval became the winter retreat of the luxurious Romans, and there were few among the illustrious characters which distinguished the fall of the republic and the birth of the monarchy, who had not a villa on its shores or amid the romantic recesses of its mountains. The presence of Horace, Virgil, and his imitator Silius Italicus, and their fond attachment to its delightful scenery were lasting and honorable distinctions; while the foul indulgencies of Tiberius, and the wild and cruel freaks of Caligula were its scandal and its scourge. The first recorded eruption of Vesuvius interrupted its enjoyments and wasted its coasts, and the civil wars and barbaric incursions that succeeded each other so rapidly during the ensuing centuries, involved it in the general calamities of Italy and the empire. However it seems to have suffered less than most other cities during this disastrous era, as it retained longer its legitimate sovereign, the Emperor of Constantinople,

* Liv. XXIII. 1.

+ XXII. 32.

A. D. 79.

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