The Marbles Belonging To It Were Either Employed
In Adorning The Church Of The Adjoining Village, Which Is Still
Called
Turbia, a corruption of Trophaea; [This was formerly a
considerable town called Villa Martis, and pretends to the honour
of
Having given birth to Aulus Helvius, who succeeded Commodus as
emperor of Rome, by the name of Pertinax which he acquired from
his obstinate refusal of that dignity, when it was forced upon
him by the senate. You know this man, though of very low birth,
possessed many excellent qualities, and was basely murdered by
the praetorian guards, at the instigation of Didius Tulianus. For
my part, I could never read without emotion, that celebrated
eulogium of the senate who exclaimed after his death, Pertinace,
imperante, securi viximus neminem timuimus, patre pio, patre
senatus, patre omnium, honorum, We lived secure and were afraid
of nothing under the Government of Pertinax, our affectionate
Father, Father of the Senate, Father to all the children of
Virtue.] or converted into tomb-stones, or carried off to be
preserved in one or two churches of Nice. At present, the work
has the appearance of a ruinous watch-tower, with Gothic
battlements; and as such stands undistinguished by those who
travel by sea from hence to Genoa, and other ports of Italy. I
think I have now described all the antiquities in the
neighbourhood of Nice, except some catacombs or caverns, dug in a
rock at St. Hospice, which Busching, in his geography, has
described as a strong town and seaport, though in fact, there is
not the least vestige either of town or village. It is a point of
land almost opposite to the tower of Turbia, with the mountains
of which it forms a bay, where there is a great and curious
fishery of the tunny fish, farmed of the king of Sardinia. Upon
this point there is a watch-tower still kept in repair, to give
notice to the people in the neighbourhood, in case any Barbary
corsairs should appear on the coast. The catacombs were in all
probability dug, in former times, as places of retreat for the
inhabitants upon sudden descents of the Saracens, who greatly
infested these seas for several successive centuries. Many
curious persons have entered them and proceeded a considerable
way by torch-light, without arriving at the further extremity;
and the tradition of the country is, that they reach as far as
the ancient city of Cemenelion; but this is an idle supposition,
almost as ridiculous as that which ascribes them to the labour
and ingenuity of the fairies: they consist of narrow subterranean
passages, vaulted with stone and lined with cement. Here and
there one finds detached apartments like small chambers, where I
suppose the people remained concealed till the danger was over.
Diodorus Siculus tells us, that the antient inhabitants of this
country usually lived under ground. "Ligures in terra cubant ut
plurimum; plures ad cava, saxa speluncasque ab natura factas ubi
tegantur corpora divertunt," "The Ligurians mostly lie on the
bare ground; many of them lodge in bare Caves and Caverns where
they are sheltered from the inclemency of the weather." This was
likewise the custom of the Troglodytae, a people bordering upon
Aethiopia who, according to Aelian, lived in subterranean
caverns; from whence, indeed they took their name trogli,
signifying a cavern; and Virgil, in his Georgics, thus describes
the Sarmatae,
Ipsi in defossis specubus, secura sub alta
Ocia agunt terra. -
In Subterranean Caves secure they lie
Nor heed the transient seasons as they fly.
These are dry subjects; but such as the country affords. If we
have not white paper, we must snow with brown. Even that which I
am now scrawling may be useful, if, not entertaining: it is
therefore the more confidently offered by - Dear Sir, Yours
affectionately.
LETTER XVII
NICE, July 2, 1764.
DEAR SIR, - Nice was originally a colony from Marseilles. You know
the Phocians (if we may believe Justin and Polybius) settled in
Gaul, and built Marseilles, during the reign of Tarquinius
Priscus at Rome. This city flourished to such a degree, that long
before the Romans were in a condition to extend their dominion,
it sent forth colonies, and established them along the coast of
Liguria. Of these, Nice, or Nicaea, was one of the most
remarkable; so called, in all probability, from the Greek word
Nike, signifying Victoria, in consequence of some important
victory obtained over the Salii and Ligures, who were the antient
inhabitants of this country. Nice, with its mother city, being in
the sequel subdued by the Romans, fell afterwards successively
under the dominion of the Goths, Burgundians, and Franks, the
kings of Arles, and the kings of Naples, as counts of Provence.
In the year one thousand three hundred and eighty-eight, the city
and county of Nice being but ill protected by the family of
Durazzo, voluntarily surrendered themselves to Amadaeus, surnamed
the Red, duke of Savoy; and since that period, they have
continued as part of that potentate's dominions, except at such
times as they have been over-run and possessed by the power of
France, which hath always been a troublesome neighbour to this
country. The castle was begun by the Arragonian counts of
Provence, and afterwards enlarged by several successive dukes of
Savoy, so as to be deemed impregnable, until the modern method of
besieging began to take place. A fruitless attempt was made upon
it in the year one thousand five hundred and forty-three, by the
French and Turks in conjunction: but it was reduced several times
after that period, and is now in ruins. The celebrated engineer
Vauban, being commanded by Louis XIV to give in a plan for
fortifying Nice, proposed, that the river Paglion should be
turned into a new channel, so as to surround the town to the
north, and fall into the harbour; that where the Paglion now runs
to the westward of the city walls, there should be a deep ditch
to be filled with sea-water; and that a fortress should be built
to the westward of this fosse.
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