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 Æneas ingenti mole sepulchrum

Imponit, suaque arma viro remumque tubamque
Monte sub Aerio, qui nunc Misenus ab illo
Dicitur, æternumque tenet per sæcula nomen.

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 have been 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 further 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 'tis 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 the 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 Euböico Bajarum littore quondam
Saxea pila cadit, magnis quam molibus ante
Constructam jaciunt pelago: Sic illa ruinam
Prona trahit, penitusque vadis illisa recumbit ;
Miscent se maria et nigræ attolluntur arenæ :
Tum sonitu Prochita alta tremit, durumque cubile
Inarime, Jovis Imperiis imposta Typhao.

Not with less ruin than the Bajan Mole
(Rais'd on the seas the surges to control)
At once comes tumbling down the rocky wall,
Prone to the deep the stones disjointed fall
Off the vast pile; the scatter'd ocean flies;

ÆN. 9.

Black sands, discolour'd froth, and mingl'd mud arise.
The frighted billows roll, and seek the shores :
Trembles high Prochyta, and Ischia roars :
Typhæus roars beneath, by Jove's command,
Astonish'd at the flaw that shakes the land,
Soon shifts his weary side, and scarce awake,
With wonder feels the weight press lighter on his back.

DRYDEN.

I do not see why Virgil in this noble comparison has given the epithet of alta to Procita, for it is not only no high island in itself, but is much lower than Ischia, and all the points of land that lie within its neighbourhood. I should think alta was joined adverbially with tremit, did Virgil make use of so equivocal a syntax. I cannot forbear inserting in this place, the lame imitation Silius Italicus has made of the foregoing passage.

Haud aliter structo Tyrrhena ad littora saxo,
Pugnatura fretis subter cæcisque procellis
Pila immane sonans, impingitur ardua ponto;
Immugit Nereus, divisaque cærula pulsu
Illisum accipiunt irata sub æquore montem.

So a vast fragment of the Bajan Mole,
That fix'd amid the Tyrrhene waters, braves
The beating tempests and insulting waves,
Thrown from its basis with a dreadful sound,
Dashes the broken billows all around,
And with resistless force the surface cleaves,
That in its angry waves the falling rock receives.

Lib. 4.

The next morning going to Cuma through a very pleasant path, by the Mare Mortuum, and the Elisian Fields, we saw in our way a great many ruins of sepulchres, and other ancient edifices. Cumæ is at present utterly destitute of inhabitants, so much is it changed since Lucan's time, if the poem to Piso be his.

Acidaliâ quæ condidit Alite muros

Euboicam referens fæcunda Neapolis urbem.

Where the fam'd walls of fruitful Naples lie,
That may for multitudes with Cumæ vie.

They show here the remains of Apollo's Temple, which all the writers of the antiquities of this place suppose to have been the same Virgil describes in his sixth Æneid, as built by Dædalus, and that the very story which Virgil there mentions, was actually engraven on the front of it.

Redditus his primum terris tibi Phæbe sacravit
Remigium Alarum, posuitque immania templa.
In foribus lethum Androgeo, tum pendere pænas
Cecropida jussi, miserum! Septena quotannis
Corpora natorum: stat ductis sortibus urna.
Contra elata mari respondet Gnossia tellus, &c.
To the Cumean coast at length he came,
And, here alighting, built his costly frame
Inscrib'd to Phoebus, here he hung on high
The steerage of his wings that cut the sky;
Then o'er the lofty gate his art emboss'd
Androgeo's death, and off'rings to his ghost,
Sev'n youths from Athens yearly sent to meet
The fate appointed by revengeful Crete;
And next to those the dreadful urn was plac'd,
In which the destin'd names by lots were cast.

EN. 6.

DRYDEN.

Among other subterraneous works there is the beginning of a passage, which is stopped up within less than a hundred yards of the entrance, by the earth that is fallen into it. They suppose it to have been the other mouth of the Sibyl's grotto. It lies, indeed, in the same line with the entrance near the Avernus, is faced alike with the opus reticulatum, and has still the marks of chambers that have been cut into the sides of it. Among the many fables and conjectures which have been made

on this grotto, I think it is highly probable, that it was once inhabited by such as, perhaps, thought it a better shelter against the sun than any other kind of building, or at least that it was made with smaller trouble and expense. As for the Mosaic and other works that may be found in it, they may very well have been added in later ages, according as they thought fit to put the place to different uses. The story of the Cimmerians is indeed clogged with improbabilities, as Strabo relates it, but it is very likely there was in it some foundation of truth. Homer's description of the Cimmerians, whom he places in these parts, answers very well to the inhabitants of such a long dark cavern.

The gloomy race, in subterraneous cells,

Among surrounding shades and darkness dwells;
Hid in th' unwholesome covert of the night,
They shun th' approaches of the cheerful light:
The sun ne'er visits their obscure retreats,
Nor when he runs his course, nor when he sets.
Unhappy mortals !-

Tu quoque littoribus nostris, Enëia nutrix,
Eternam moriens famam Cajeta dedisti:
Et nunc servat honos sedem tuus, ossaque nomen
Hesperiâ in magnâ, si qua est ea gloria, signat.
And thou, O matron, of immortal fame,
Here dying, to the shore hast left thy name :
Cajeta still the place is call'd from thee,
The nurse of great Æneas' infancy.
Here rest thy bones in rich Hesperia's plains;
Thy name ('tis all a ghost can have) remains.

ODYSS. lib. 10.

ÆN. 7.

DRYDEN.

I saw at Cajeta the rock of marble, said to be cleft by an earthquake at our Saviour's death. There is written over the chapel door, that leads into the crack, the words of the evangelist, Ecce terra-motus factus est magnus. I believe. I believe every one who sees this vast rent in so high a rock, and observes how exactly the convex parts of one side tally with the concave of the other, must be satisfied that it was the effect of an earthquake, though I question not but it either happened long before the time of the Latin writers, or in the darker ages since, for otherwise I cannot but think they would

have taken notice of its original. The port, town, castle, and antiquities of this place have been often described.

SO.

We touched next at Monte Circeio, which Homer calls Insula Æëa, whether it be that it was formerly an island, or that the Greek sailors of his time thought it It is certain they might easily have been deceived by its appearance, as being a very high mountain joined to the main land by a narrow tract of earth, that is many miles in length, and almost of a level with the surface of the water. The end of this promontory is very rocky, and mightily exposed to the winds and waves, which, perhaps, gave the first rise to the howlings of wolves, and the roarings of lions, that used to be heard thence. This I had a very lively idea of, being forced to lie under it a whole night. Virgil's description of Æneas passing by this coast, can never be enough admired. It is worth while to observe how, to heighten the horror of the description, he has prepared the reader's mind, by the solemnity of Cajeta's funeral, and the dead stillness of the night.

At pius exequiis Eneas rile solutis

Aggere composito tumuli, postquam alta quiêrunt
Equora, tendit iter velis, portumque relinquit.
Adspirant aura in noctem, nec candida cursus
Luna negat: splendet tremulo sub lumine pontus.
Proxima Circea raduntur littora terræ:
Dives inaccessos ubi solis filia lucos
Assiduo resonat cantu, tectisque superbis
Urit odoratam nocturna in lumina cedrum,
Arguto tenues percurrens pectine telas:
Hinc exaudiri gemitus, iræque leonum
Vincla recusantum, et serâ sub nocte rudentum:
Setigerique sues, atque in præsepibus ursi
Sævire, ac formæ magnorum ululare luporum:

Quos hominum ex facie Dea sæva potentibus herbis
Induerat Circe in vultus ac terga ferarum.
Qua ne monstra pii paterentur talia Troes
Delati in portus, neu littora dira subirent
Neptunus ventis implevit vela secundis:
Atque fugam dedit, et præter vada fervida vexit.

Now, when the prince her fun'ral rites had paid,
He plow'd the Tyrrhene seas with sails display'd.

EN. lib. 7.