Travels Through France And Italy - Tobias Smollett (diy ebook reader .TXT) 📗

Conveying It A Good Length Of Way In

Open Aqueducts. What Was Used In The Baths Of Cemenelion, They

Probably Brought In Leaden Pipes, Some Of Which Have Been Dug Up

Very Lately By Accident. You Must Know, I Made A Second Excursion

To These Antient Ruins, And Measured The Arena Of The

Amphitheatre With Packthread. It Is An Oval Figure; The Longest

Diameter Extending To About One Hundred And Thirteen Feet, And

The Shortest To Eighty-Eight; But I Will Not Answer For The

Exactness Of The Measurement. In The Center Of It, There Was A

Square Stone, With An Iron Ring, To Which I Suppose The Wild

Beasts Were Tied, To Prevent Their Springing Upon The Spectators.

Some Of The Seats Remain, The Two Opposite Entrances, Consisting

Each Of One Large Gate, And Two Lateral Smaller Doors, Arched:

There Is Also A Considerable Portion Of The External Wall; But No

Columns, Or Other Ornaments Of Architecture. Hard By, In The

Garden Of The Count De Gubernatis, I Saw The Remains Of A Bath,

Fronting The Portal Of The Temple, Which I Have Described In A

Former Letter; And Here Were Some Shafts Of Marble Pillars,

Particularly A Capital Of The Corinthian Order Beautifully Cut,

Of White Alabaster. Here The Count Found A Large Quantity Of Fine

Marble, Which He Has Converted To Various Uses; And Some

Mutilated Statues, Bronze As Well As Marble. The Peasant Shewed

Me Some Brass And Silver Medals, Which He Has Picked Up At

Different Times In Labouring The Ground; Together With Several

Oblong Beads Of Coloured Glass, Which Were Used As Ear-Rings By

The Roman Ladies; And A Small Seal Of Agate, Very Much Defaced.

Two Of The Medals Were Of Maximian And Gallienus; The Rest Were 

Part 7 Letter 16 ( Nice, May 2, 1764..) Pg 158

So Consumed, That I Could Not Read The Legend. You Know, That On

Public Occasions, Such As Games, And Certain Sacrifices, Handfuls

Of Medals Were Thrown Among The People; A Practice, Which

Accounts For The Great Number Which Have Been Already Found In

This District. I Saw Some Subterranean Passages, Which Seemed To

Have Been Common Sewers; And A Great Number Of Old Walls Still

Standing Along The Brink Of A Precipice, Which Overhangs The

Paglion. The Peasants Tell Me, That They Never Dig Above A Yard

In Depth, Without Finding Vaults Or Cavities. All The Vineyards

And Garden-Grounds, For A Considerable Extent, Are Vaulted

Underneath; And All The Ground That Produces Their Grapes, Fruit,

And Garden-Stuff, Is No More Than The Crumpled Lime And Rubbish

Of Old Roman Buildings, Mixed With Manure Brought From Nice. This

Antient Town Commanded A Most Noble Prospect Of The Sea; But Is

Altogether Inaccessible By Any Kind Of Wheel Carriage. If You

Make Shift To Climb To It On Horseback, You Cannot Descend To The

Plain Again, Without Running The Risk Of Breaking Your Neck.

 

 

 

About Seven Or Eight Miles On The Other Side Of Nice, Are The

Remains Of Another Roman Monument Which Has Greatly Suffered From

The Barbarity Of Successive Ages. It Was A Trophy Erected By The

Senate Of Rome, In Honour Of Augustus Caesar, When He Had Totally

Subdued All The Ferocious Nations Of These Maritime Alps; Such As

The Trumpilini Camuni, Vennontes, Isnarci, Breuni, Etc. It Stands

Upon The Top Of A Mountain Which Overlooks The Town Of Monaco,

And Now Exhibits The Appearance Of An Old Ruined Tower. There Is

A Description Of What It Was, In An Italian Manuscript, By Which

It Appears To Have Been A Beautiful Edifice Of Two Stories,

Adorned With Columns And Trophies In Alto-Relievo, With A Statue

Of Augustus Caesar On The Top. On One Of The Sides Was An

Inscription, Some Words Of Which Are Still Legible, Upon The

Fragment Of A Marble Found Close To The Old Building: But The

Whole Is Preserved In Pliny, Who Gives It, In These Words, Lib.

Iii. Cap. 20.

 

 

 

Imperatori Caesari Divi. F. Avg. Pont.

Max. Imp. Xiv. Tribvnic. Potest. Xviii.

S. P. Q. R.

Qvodeivsdvctv, Avspiciisq. Genies Alpinae Omnes,

Qvae A Mari Svpero Ad Infervm Pertinebant, Svb

Imperivm Po. Ro. Sunt Redac. Gentes Alpinae Devictae.

Trvmpilini Camvni, Vennonetes, Isnarci, Brevni,

Navnes, Focvnates, Vindelicorvm Gentes Qvatvor,

Consvanetes, Virvcinates, Licates, Catenates, Abi-

Sontes, Rvgvsci, Svanetes, Calvcones, Brixentes,

Lepontii, Viberi, Nantvates, Sedvni, Veragri,

Salassi, Acitavones Medvlli, Vcini, Catvriges,

Brigiani, Sogivntii, Nemalones, Edenetes,

Esvbiani, Veamini, Gallitae, Trivllati,

Ectini, Vergvnni, Egvitvri. Nementvri,

Part 7 Letter 16 ( Nice, May 2, 1764..) Pg 159

Oratelli, Nervsci, Velavni, Svetri.

 

 

 

This Trophy Is Erected By The Senate And People Of Rome To The

Emperor Caesar Augustus, Son Of The Divine Julius, In The

Fourteenth Year Of His Imperial Dignity, And In The Eighteenth Of

His Tribunician Power, Because Under His Command And Auspices All

The Nations Of The Alps From The Adriatic To The Tuscanian Sea,

Were Reduced Under The Dominion Of Rome. The Alpine Nations

Subdued Were The Trumpelini, Etc.

 

 

 

Pliny, However, Is Mistaken In Placing This Inscription On A

Trophy Near The Augusta Praetoria, Now Called Aosta, In Piedmont:

Where, Indeed, There Is A Triumphal Arch, But No Inscription.

This Noble Monument Of Antiquity Was First Of All Destroyed By

Fire; And Afterwards, In Gothic Times, Converted Into A Kind Of

Fortification. The Marbles Belonging To It Were Either Employed

In Adorning The Church Of The Adjoining Village, Which Is Still

Called Turbia, A Corruption Of Trophaea; [This Was Formerly A

Considerable Town Called Villa Martis, And Pretends To The Honour

Of Having Given Birth To Aulus Helvius, Who Succeeded Commodus As

Emperor Of Rome, By The Name Of Pertinax Which He Acquired From

His Obstinate Refusal Of That Dignity, When It Was Forced Upon

Him By The Senate. You Know This Man, Though Of Very Low Birth,

Possessed Many Excellent Qualities, And Was Basely Murdered By

The Praetorian Guards, At The Instigation Of Didius Tulianus. For

My Part, I Could Never Read Without Emotion, That Celebrated

Eulogium Of The Senate Who Exclaimed After His Death, Pertinace,

Imperante, Securi Viximus Neminem Timuimus, Patre Pio, Patre

Senatus, Patre Omnium, Honorum, We Lived Secure And Were Afraid

Of Nothing Under The Government Of Pertinax, Our Affectionate

Father, Father Of The Senate, Father To All The Children Of

Virtue.] Or Converted Into Tomb-Stones, Or Carried Off To Be

Preserved In One Or Two Churches Of Nice. At Present, The Work

Has The Appearance Of A Ruinous Watch-Tower, With Gothic

Battlements; And As Such Stands Undistinguished By Those Who

Travel By Sea From Hence To Genoa, And Other Ports Of Italy. I

Think I Have Now Described All The Antiquities In The

Neighbourhood Of Nice, Except Some Catacombs Or Caverns, Dug In A

Rock At St. Hospice, Which Busching, In His Geography, Has

Described As A Strong Town And Seaport, Though In Fact, There Is

Not The Least Vestige Either Of Town Or Village. It Is A Point Of

Land Almost Opposite To The Tower Of Turbia, With The Mountains

Of Which It Forms A Bay, Where There Is A Great And Curious

Fishery Of The Tunny Fish, Farmed Of The King Of Sardinia. Upon

This Point There Is A Watch-Tower Still Kept In Repair, To Give

Notice To The People In The Neighbourhood, In Case Any Barbary

Corsairs Should Appear On The Coast. The Catacombs Were In All

Probability Dug, In Former Times, As Places Of Retreat For The

Inhabitants Upon Sudden Descents Of The Saracens, Who Greatly

Infested These Seas For Several Successive Centuries. Many 

Part 7 Letter 16 ( Nice, May 2, 1764..) Pg 160

Curious Persons Have Entered Them And Proceeded A Considerable

Way By Torch-Light, Without Arriving At The Further Extremity;

And The Tradition Of The Country Is, That They Reach As Far As

The Ancient City Of Cemenelion; But This Is An Idle Supposition,

Almost As Ridiculous As That Which Ascribes Them To The Labour

And Ingenuity Of The Fairies: They Consist Of Narrow Subterranean

Passages, Vaulted With Stone And Lined With Cement. Here And

There One Finds Detached Apartments Like Small Chambers, Where I

Suppose The People Remained Concealed Till The Danger Was Over.

Diodorus Siculus Tells Us, That The Antient Inhabitants Of This

Country Usually Lived Under Ground. "Ligures In Terra Cubant Ut

Plurimum; Plures Ad Cava, Saxa Speluncasque Ab Natura Factas Ubi

Tegantur Corpora Divertunt," "The Ligurians Mostly Lie On The

Bare Ground; Many Of Them Lodge In Bare Caves And Caverns Where

They Are Sheltered From The Inclemency Of The Weather." This Was

Likewise The Custom Of The Troglodytae, A People Bordering Upon

Aethiopia Who, According To Aelian, Lived In Subterranean

Caverns; From Whence, Indeed They Took Their Name Trogli,

Signifying A Cavern; And Virgil, In His Georgics, Thus Describes

The Sarmatae,

 

 

 

Ipsi In Defossis Specubus, Secura Sub Alta

Ocia Agunt Terra.--

 

 

 

In Subterranean Caves Secure They Lie

Nor Heed The Transient Seasons As They Fly.

 

 

 

These Are Dry Subjects; But Such As The Country Affords. If We

Have Not White Paper, We Must Snow With Brown. Even That Which I

Am Now Scrawling May Be Useful, If, Not Entertaining: It Is

Therefore The More Confidently Offered By--Dear Sir, Yours

Affectionately.

 

 

 

 

Part 7 Letter 17 ( Nice, July 2, 1764.) Pg 161

 

Dear Sir,--Nice Was Originally A Colony From Marseilles. You Know

The Phocians (If We May Believe Justin And Polybius) Settled In

Gaul, And Built Marseilles, During The Reign Of Tarquinius

Priscus At Rome. This City Flourished To Such A Degree, That Long

Before The Romans Were In A Condition To Extend Their Dominion,