support another. It was the same fear of the sudden termination of prosperi made Amasis king of Egypt warn his friend Polycrates of Samos, that the god those whose lives were chequered with good and evil fortunes. Nemesis wa posed to lie in wait particularly for the prudent; that is, for those whose cautio dered them accessible only to mere accidents: and her first altar was raised banks of the Phrygian sepus by Adrastus, probably the prince of that nam killed the son of Croesus by mistake. Hence the goddess was called Adrastea The Roman Nemesis was sacred and august there was a temple to her Palatine under the name of Rhamnusia:† so great indeed was the propensity ancients to trust to the revolution of events, and to believe in the divinity of F that in the same Palatine there was a temple to the Fortune of the day. This last superstition which retains its hold over the human heart; and, froin concen in one object the credulity so natural to man, has always appeared strongest unembarrassed by other articles of belief. The antiquaries have supposed t dess to be synonymous with Fortune and with Fate; but it was in her vin quality that she was worshipped under the name of Nemesis. Gladiators were of two kinds, compelled and voluntary; and were supplied several conditions:- from slaves sold for that purpose; from culprits; from ar captives either taken in war, and, after being led in triumph, set apart for the g or those seized and condemned as rebels; also from free citizens, some fight hire (auctorati), others from a depraved ambition: at last even knights and se were exhibited, a disgrace of which the first tyrant was naturally the first inve In the end, dwarfs, and even women, fought; an enormity prohibited by Se Of these the most to be pitied undoubtedly were the barbarian captives; and species a Christian writer ¶ justly applies the epithet "innocent," to disti them from the professional gladiators. Aurelian and Claudius supplied great bers of these unfortunate victims; the one after his triumph, and the other o *Dict. de Bayle, article Adrastea. † It is enumerated by the regionary Victor. 1 Fortunæ hujusce diei, Cicero mentions her, de Legib. DEAE NEMESI SIVE FORTUNAE PISTORIVS RVGIANVS V. C. LEGAT. LEG. XIII. G. Sed See Questiones Romanæ, &c. ap. Græv. Antiq. Roman. tom. v. p. 942. Muratori, Nov. Thesaur. Inscrip. Vet. tom. i. p. 88, 89, where there are three and one Greek inscription to Nemesis, and others to Fate. Julius Caesar, who rose by the fall of the aristocracy, brought Furius Lep and A. Calenus upon the arena. Tertullian," certe quidem et innocentes gladiatores in ludum veniunt, e untatis publicæ hostiæ fiant.” Just. Lipe Saturn. Sermon. lib. ii. cap. iii. pretext of a rebellion.* No war, says Lipsius,t was ever so destructive to the hu man race as these sports. In spite of the laws of Constantine and Constans, gladia torial shows survived the old established religion more than seventy years; but they owed their final extinction to the courage of a Christian. In the year 404, on the kalends of January, they were exhibiting the shows in the Flavian amphitheatre before the usual immense concourse of people. Almachius or Telemachus, an eastern monk, who had travelled to Rome intent on his holy purpose, rushed into the midst of the arena, and endeavoured to separate the combatants. The prætor Alypius, a person incredibly attached to these games, gave instant orders to the gladiators to slay him; and Telemachus gained the crown of martyrdom, and the title of saint, which surely has never either before or since been awarded for a more noble exploit. Honorius immediately abolished the shows, which were never afterwards revived. The story is told by Theodoret and Cassiodorus, and seems worthy of credit notwithstanding its place in the Roman martyrology. Besides the torrents of blood which flowed at the funerals, in the amphitheatres, the circus, the forums, and other public places, gladiators were introduced at feasts, and tore each other to pieces amidst the supper tables, to the great delight and applause of the guests. Yet Lipsius permits himself to suppose the loss of courage, and the evident degeneracy of mankind, to be nearly connected with the abolition of these bloody spectacies. XXX. "Here, where the Roman million's blame or praise Stanza cxlii. lines 5 and 6. When one gladiator wounded another, he shouted, "he has it," " hoc habet," or "habet." The wounded combatant dropped his weapon, and advancing to the edge of the arena, supplicated the spectators. If he had fought well, the people saved him; if otherwise, or as they happened to be inclined, they turned down their thumbs, and he was slain. They were occasionally so savage that they were impatient if a combat lasted longer than ordinary without wounds or death. The emperor's presence generally saved the vanquished; and it is recorded as an instance of Caracalla's ferocity, that he sent those who supplicated him for life, in a spectacle, at Nicomedia, to ask the people; in other words, handed them over to be slain. similar ceremony is observed at the Spanish buil-fights. The magistrate presides; and after the horsemen and piccadores have fought the bull, the ma alore steps forward and bows to hin for permission to kill the animal. If the bull has done his duty by killing two or three horses, or a man, which last is rare, the people interfere with shouts, the ladies wave their handkerchiefs, and the animal is saved. The wounds and death of the horses are accompanied with the loudest acclamations, and many gestures of delight, especially from the female portion of the audience, including Vopiscus, in vit. Aurel. and in vit. Claud. ibid. A "Credo imò scio nullum bellum tantam cladem vastitiemque generi humano mtulisse, quain hos ad voluptatem ludos." Just. Lips. ibid. lib. i. cap. xi. 1 Augustinus (lib. vi. confess. cap. viii.) “ Alypium suum gladiatorii spectaculi inhiatu incredibiliter abreptum," scribit. ib. lib. i. cap. xii. § His. Eccles. cap. xxvi. lib. v. Cassiod, Tripartita, l. x. c. xi. Saturn. ib. ib. See ¶ Baronius, ad. ann. et in notis ad Martyrol. Rom. I. Jan. delle memorie sacre e profane dell' Anfi eatro Flavio, p. 25. edit. 1746. - Marangon **Quod? non tu Lipsi momentum aliquod habuisse censes ad virtutem? Magnum. Tempora nostra, nosque ipsos videamus. Oppidum ecce unum alterumve captuin, direptum est; tumultus circa nos, non in nobis: et tamen concidimus et tur bamur. Ubi robur, ubi tot per annos meditata sapientiæ studia? ubi ille animus qui possit licere, si fractus illabutur orbis?" &c. ibid. lib. ii. cap. xxv. The prototype of Mr. Windham's panegyric on bull-baiting. those of the gentlest blood. Every thing depends on habit. The author of Harold, the writer of this note, and one or two other Englishmen, who have ce in other days borne the sight of a pitched battle, were, during the summer of 18 the governor's box at the great amphitheatre of Santa Maria, opposite to The death of one or two horses completely satisfied their curiosity. A gen present, observing them shudder and look pale, noticed that unusual reception delightful a sport to some young ladies, who stared and smiled, and continued applauses as another horse fell bleeding to the ground. One bull killed three off his own horns. He was saved by acclamations, which were redoubled w was known he belonged to a priest. An Englishnan, who can be much pleased with seeing two men beat them to pieces, cannot bear to look at a horse galloping round an arena with his trailing on the ground; and turns from the spectacle and the spectators with and disgust. XXXI. THE ALBAN HILL. The Tiber winds, and the broad ocean laves Stanza clxxiv. lines 2, 3, and The whole declivity of the Alban hill is of unrivalled beauty, and from the c on the highest point, which has succeeded to the temple of the Latian Jupit prospect embraces all the objects alluded to in the cited stanza; the Mediterra the whole scene of the latter half of the Eneid, and the coast from beyon mouth of the Tiber to the headland of Circæum and the Cape of Terracina. The site of Cicero's villa may be supposed either at the Grotta Ferrata, or Tusculum of Prince Lucien Buonaparte. The former was thought some years ago the actual site, as may be seen from dleton's Life of Cicero. At present it has lost something of its credit, except Domenichinos. Nine monks of the Greek order live there, and the adjoining a cardinal's summer-house. The other villa, called Rufinella, is on the sum the hill above Frascati, and many rich remains of Tusculum have been there, besides seventy-two statues of different merit and preservation, and busts. From the same eminence are seen the Sabine hills, embosomed in which li long valley of Rustica. There are several circumstances which tend to establi identity of this valley with the " Ustica" of Horace; and it seems possible th mosaic pavement which the peasants uncover by throwing up the earth of a vir may belong to his villa. Rustica is pronounced short, not according to our upon "Ustica cubantis." It is more rational to think that we are wrong that the inhabitants of this secluded valley have changed their.tone in this word addition of the consonant prefixed nothing yet it is necessary to be awar Rustica may be a modern name which the peasants may have caught from th tiquaries. The villa, or the mosaic, is in a vineyard on a knoll covered with chestnut tre stream runs down the valley, and although it is not true, as said in the guide book this stream is called Licenza, yet there is a village on a rock at the head of the which is so denominated, and which may have taken its name from the Di Licenza contains 700 inhabitants. On a peak a little way beyond is Civitella taining 300. On the banks of the Anio, a little before you turn up into Valle tica, to the left, about an hour from the villa, is a town called Vicovaro, a favourable coincidence with the Varia of the poet. At the end of the valley, to the Anio, there is a bare hill, crowned with a little town called Bardela. foot of this hill the rivulet of Licenza flows, and is almost absorbed in a wide bed before it reaches the Anio. Nothing can be more fortunate for the lines poot, whether in a metaphorical or direct sense :— "Me quotiens reficit gelidus Digentia rivus, Quem Mandela bibit rugosus frigore pagus." The stream is clear high up the valley, but before it reaches the hill of Bardela looks green and yellow like a sulphur rivulet. Rocca Giovane, a ruined village in the hills, half an hour's walk from the vineyard where the pavement is shown, does seem to be the site of the fane of Vacuna, and an inscription found there tells that this temple of the Sabine Victory was re paired by Vespasian.* With these helps, and a position corresponding exactly to every thing which the poet has told us of his retreat, we may feel tolerably secure of our site. The hill which should be Lucretilis is called Campanile, and by following up the rivulet to the pretended Bandusia, you come to the roots of the higher mountain Gennaro. Singularly enough, the only spot of ploughed land in the whole valley in on the knoll where this Bandusia rises. tu frigus amabile Fessis vomere tauris The peasants show another spring near the mosaic pavement which they call "Oradina," and which flows down the hills into a tank, or mill-dam, and thence trickles over into the Digentia. But we must not hope "To trace the Muses upwards to their spring," by exploring the windings of the romantic valley in search of the Bandusian fountain. It seems strange that any one should have thought Bandusia a fountain of the Digentia Horace has not let drop a word of it; and this immortal spring has in fact been discovered in possession of the holders of many good things in Italy, the monks. It was attached to the church of St. Gervais and Prota:s near Venusia, where it was most likely to be found. We shall not be so lucky as a late traveller in finding the occasional pine still pendent on the poetic villa. There is not a pine ir the whole valley, but there are two cypresses, which he evidently took, or mistook, for the tree in the ode. The truth is, that the pine is now, as it was in the days of Virgil, a garden tree, and it was not at all likely to be found in the craggy acclivities of the valley of Rustica. Horace probably had one of them in the orchard close above his farm, immediately overshadowing his villa, not on the rocky heights at some distance from his abode. The tourist may have easily supposed himself to have seen this pine figured in the above cypresses; for the orange and lemon trees which throw such a bloom over his description of the royal gardens at Naples, unless they have been since displaced, were assuredly only acacias and other common garden shrubs.§ XXXII. EUSTACE'S CLASSICAL TOUR. The extreme disappointment experienced by choosing the Classical Tourist as a guide in Italy must be allowed to find vent in a few observations, which, it is asserted † See * IMP. CESAR VESPASIANVS POTEST. CENSOR. EDEM VICTORIE. VETVSTATE ILLAPSAM. SVA. IMPENSA. RESTITVIT. - Historical Illustrations of the Fourth Canto, p. 43 See-Classical Tour, &c. chap. vii. p. 250. vol. ii. "Under our windows, and bordering on the beach, is the royal garden, laid out in parterres, and walks shaded by rows of orange trees." xi. vol. i. oct. 365. 20* Classical Tour, &c. chap. without fear of contradiction, will be confirmed by every or who has selecte same conductor through the same country. This author is in fact one of the inaccurate, unsatisfactory writers that have in our times attained a temporary tation, and is very seldom to be trusted even when he speaks of objects which n presumed to have seen. His errors, from the simple exaggeration to the dow mis-statement, are so frequent as to induce a suspicion that he had either never the spots described, or had trusted to the fidelity of former writers. Indeed the sical Tour has every characteristic of a mere compilation of former notices, together upon a very slender thread of personal observation, and swelled out by decorations which are so easily supplied by a systematic adoption of all the con places of praise, applied to every thing, and therefore signifying nothing. The style which one person thinks cloggy and cumbrous, and unsuitable, m to the taste of others, and such may experience some salutary excitement in pl ing through the periods of the Classical Tour. It must be said, however, that and weight are apt to beget an expectation of value. It is amongst the pains damned to toil up a climax with a huge round stone. The tourist had the choice of his words, but there was no such latitude allow that of his sentiments. The love of virtue and of liberty, which must have guished the character, certainly adorns the pages of Mr. Eustace, and the g manly spirit, so recommendatory either in an author or his productions, is very spicuous throughout the Classical Tour. But these generous qualities are the f of such a performance, and may be spread about it so prominently, and profuse to embarrass those who wish to see and find the fruit at hand. The unction o divine, and the exhortations of the moralist, may have made this work something and better than a book of travels, but they have not made it a book of travels this observation applies more especially to that enticing method of instruction con by the perpetual introduction of the same Gallic Helot to reel and biuster befor rising generation, and terrify it into decency by the display of all the excesses revolution. An animosity against atheists and regicides in general, and Frenc specifically, may be honourable, and may be useful as a record; but that an should either be administered in any work rather than a tour, or, at least, shoul served up apart, and not so mixed with the whole mass of information and reflectio to give a bitterness to every page: for who would choose to have the antipathi any man, however just, for his travelling companions? A tourist, unless he as to the credit of prophecy, is not answerable for the changes which may take pla the country which he describes; but his reader may very fairly esteem all his pol portraits and deductions as so much waste paper, the moment they cease to as and more particularly if they obstruct, his actual survey. Neither encomium nor accusation of any government, or governors, is meant here offered; but it is stated as an incontrovertible fact, that the change opera either by the address of the late imperial system, or by the disappointment of e expectation by those who have succeeded to the Italian thrones, has been so siderable, and is so apparent, as not only to put Mr. Eustace's antigallican philip entirely out of date, but even to throw some suspicion upon the competency and dour of the author himself. A remarkable example may be found in the instan Bologna, over whose papal attachments, and consequent desolation, the tourist p forth such strains of condolence and revenge, made louder by the borrowed trump Mr. Burke. Now Bologna is at this moment, and has been for some years, no ous amongst the states of Italy for its attachment to revolutionary principles, and almost the only city which made any demonstrations in favour of the unfortu Murat. This change may, however, have been made since Mr. Eustace vis this country; but the traveller whom he has thrilled with horror at the proje stripping of the copper from the cupola of St. Peter's, must be much relieved to that sacrilege out of the power of the French, or any other plunderers, the cupola ing covered with lead.* If the conspiring voice of otherwise rival critics had not given considerable curre to the Classical Tour, it would have been unnecessary to warn the reader, that h "What, then, will be the astonishment, or rather the horror, of my reader, whe inform him.. the French Committee turned its attention to Saint Pete and employed a company of Jews to estimate and purchase the gold, silver, and bro that adorn the inside of the edifice, as well as the coppe that covers the vaults dome on the outside." Chap. iv. p. 130. vol. ii. The story about the Jew sp ively denied at Rome. |