The Romans
Were So Used To Bathing, That They Could Not Exist Without A
Great Quantity Of Water; And This, I Imagine, Is One Reason That
Induced Them To Spare No Labour And Expence In Bringing It From A
Distance, When They Had Not Plenty Of It At Home.
But, besides
this motive, they had another:
They were so nice and delicate in
their taste of water, that they took great pains to supply
themselves with the purest and lightest from afar, for drinking
and culinary uses, even while they had plenty of an inferior sort
for their bath, and other domestic purposes. There are springs of
good water on the spot where Cemenelion stood: but there is a
hardness in all well-water, which quality is deposited in running
a long course, especially, if exposed to the influence of the sun
and air. The Romans, therefore, had good reason to soften and
meliorate this element, by 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
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,
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.
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