Part of the walls is standing, and the terraces
are converted into garden-ground. In viewing these ruins, I
remembered Virgil's pathetic description of Marcellus, who was
here intombed.
Quantos ille virum, magnum mavortis ad urbem.
Campus aget gemitus, vel que Tyberine, videbis
Funera, cum tumulum, preter labere recentem.
Along his Banks what Groans shall Tyber hear,
When the fresh tomb and funeral pomp appear!
The beautiful poem of Ovid de Consolatione ad Liviam, written
after the ashes of Augustus and his nephew Marcellus, of
Germanicus, Agrippa, and Drusus, were deposited in this
mausoleum, concludes with these lines, which are extremely
tender:
Claudite jam Parcae nimium reserata sepulchra;
Claudite, plus justo, jam domus ista patet!
Ah! shut these yawning Tombs, ye sister Fates!
Too long unclos'd have stood those dreary Gates!
What the author said of the monument, you will be tempted to say
of this letter, which I shall therefore close in the old stile,
assuring you that I ever am, - Yours most affectionately.
LETTER XXXI
NICE, March 5, 1765
DEAR SIR, - In my last I gave you my opinion freely of the modern
palaces of Italy. I shall now hazard my thoughts upon the gardens
of this country, which the inhabitants extol with all the
hyperboles of admiration and applause.
