It Is A Large Place, Situated In A Fruitful Plain, Surrounded By
High Walls Built Of Hewn Stone, Which On The West Side Are Washed
By The Rhone.
Here was a noble bridge over the river, but it is
now in ruins.
On the other side, a branch of the Sorgue runs
through part of the city. This is the river anciently called
Sulga, formed by the famous fountain of Vaucluse in this
neighbourhood, where the poet Petrarch resided. It is a charming
transparent stream, abounding with excellent trout and craw-fish.
We passed over it on a stone bridge, in our way to Orange, the
Arausio Cavarum of the Romans, still distinguished by some noble
monuments of antiquity. These consist of a circus, an aqueduct, a
temple, and a triumphal arch, which last was erected in honour of
Caius Marius, and Luctatius Catulus, after the great victory they
obtained in this country over the Cimbri and Teutones. It is a
very magnificent edifice, adorned on all sides with trophies and
battles in basso relievo. The ornaments of the architecture, and
the sculpture, are wonderfully elegant for the time in which it
was erected; and the whole is surprisingly well preserved,
considering its great antiquity. It seems to me to be as entire
and perfect as the arch of Septimius Severus at Rome. Next day we
passed two very impetuous streams, the Drome and the Isere. The
first, which very much resembles the Var, we forded: but the
Isere we crossed in a boat, which as well as that upon the
Durance, is managed by the traille, a moveable or running pulley,
on a rope stretched between two wooden machines erected on the
opposite sides of the river. The contrivance is simple and
effectual, and the passage equally safe and expeditious. The
boatman has nothing to do, but by means of a long massy rudder,
to keep the head obliquely to the stream, the force of which
pushes the boat along, the block to which it is fixed sliding
upon the rope from one side to the other. All these rivers take
their rise from the mountains, which are continued through
Provence and Dauphine, and fall into the Rhone: and all of them,
when swelled by sudden rains, overflow the flat country. Although
Dauphine affords little or no oil, it produces excellent wines,
particularly those of Hermitage and Cote-roti. The first of these
is sold on the spot for three livres the bottle, and the other
for two. The country likewise yields a considerable quantity of
corn, and a good deal of grass. It is well watered with streams,
and agreeably shaded with wood. The weather was pleasant, and we
had a continued song of nightingales from Aix to Fontainebleau.
I cannot pretend to specify the antiquities of Vienne, antiently
called Vienna Allobrogum. It was a Roman colony, and a
considerable city, which the antients spared no pains and expence
to embellish. It is still a large town, standing among several
hills on the banks of the Rhone, though all its former splendor
is eclipsed, its commerce decayed, and most of its antiquities
are buried in ruins.
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