To his friend
Damis at the porch of this very temple, when he escaped from the fangs of
Domitian and when it was believed that, by means of magic art, he had been
able at once to transport himself from the Praetorium at Rome to Puteoli.
As I said before, the bay included by cape Misenus and Puzzuoli is what is
called Baiae. The land is low and marshy from Puzzuoli to a little beyond
the lake Avernus; but from Monte Nuovo it begins to rise and form high
cliffs nearly all way to Cape Misenus. It was on these high cliffs that the
opulent Romans built their villas and they must have been as much crowded
together as the villas at Ramsgate and Broadstairs. We embarked in a boat
at Puzzuoli to cross over to Baiae (i.e., the place where the villas
begin), but we stopped on our way thither at a landing place nearly in the
centre of the bay in order to visit the lake Avernus and the Cave of the
Cumaean Sybil, described by Virgil, as the entrance into the realm of
Pluto. The lake Avernus, in spite of its being invested by the poets with
all that is terrible in the mythology as a river of Hell, looks very like
any other lake, and tho' it is impregnated with sulphur, and emits a most
unpleasant smell, birds do not drop down dead on flying over it as
formerly. The ground about it is marshy and unwholesome. The silence and
melancholy appearance of this lake and its environing groves of wood are
not calculated to inspire exhilarating ideas. Full of classic souvenirs we
went to descend into the Cave of the Sybil, and as we descended I could not
refrain from repeating aloud Virgil's lines:
Di quibus imperium est animarum umbrasque silentes,[98] etc.
This descent really is fitted to give one an idea of the descent to the
shades below, and what added to the illusion was that when we arrived at
the bottom of the descent and just at the entrance of the cave where the
Sybil held her oracles, we discovered four fierce looking fellows with
lighted torches in their hands standing at the entrance. My friend cried
out Voila les Furies, and these proved to be our boatmen who, while we
were contemplating the bolge d'Averno, had run on before to provide
torches to shew us the interior of the grotto of the Sybil. As this grotto
is nearly knee-deep filled with water we got on the backs of the boatmen to
enter it. It is about twenty-five feet long, fifteen broad and the height
about thirteen feet. As we were neither devoured by Cerberus nor hustled by
old Charon into his boat, we returned from the Shades below to the light
of heaven, triumphant like Ulysses or Aeneas, considering ourselves now
among the Pauci quos aequus amavit Jupiter.[99]
Acheron, the dreadful Acheron, is not far from Avernus and is likewise a
lake, tho' call'd a river in the mythology. It is also sulfuric and the
ground about it is woody, low, marshy and consequently aguish.
We next ascended the cliffs of Baiae and we were shown the remains of the
villas of Cicero, Caesar, Sylla and other great names. We then went to the
baths of Nero (so called). Here it is the fashion to descend under ground
in order to feel the effect of the sulfuric heat, which is intense, and my
friend who descended soon returned dripping with perspiration and calling
out: Qui n'a pas vu cela n'a rien vu! but I did not chuse to descend, as
I could feel no pleasure in being half stifled and the grotto del Cane
had already given me a full idea of the force of the vapour of the
Thermes.
We then descended from the cliffs of Baiae on the other side, and visited
the remains of three celebrated temples of antiquity situated on the beach
nearly and very close to each other, viz., the temples of Diana, of Venus
and of Mercury; all striking objects and majestic, tho' in a state of
dilapidation. Each of these temples has cupolas. We then ascended the slope
of ground leading towards cape Misensus, to visit the Cento Camarelle and
Piscina mirabile, both vast edifices under ground, serving as cellars or
appendages to a Palace that stood on this spot. We then visited the lake
called the Mare Morto or Styx; and then went round to the other side of
it, to visit those beautiful coteaux planted in vines and their summits
crowned with groves which have obtained the name of the Elysian fields.
This Styx and these Elysian fields look like any other lake and coteaux
and are entirely indebted to the lyre of Maro for their celebrity.
From thence we went to the extremity of cape Misenus and embarked in our
boat (which we had sent on there to wait for us) to return to Puzzuoli by
crossing the bay at once. In this bay and near cape Misenus a Roman fleet
was usually stationed and Pliny's uncle, I believe, commanded one there at
the time of the first eruption of Vesuvius which cost him his life.
There is a singular phenomenon in this bay of a mountain that in one of the
later eruptions and earthquakes was formed in twenty-four hours near the
seashore and was named Monte Nuovo.
The small salt water lake called Lacus Lucrinus is also on this bay. It
appears to me to be an artificial lake, made probably by the opulent Romans
who resided at Baiae to hold their mullets and other sea fish which they
wished to fatten.
