An
expedient suggested itself. I called one of my fellow prisoners, the
laborers, and made him lie down beside me. Whenever one of my limbs
became chilled I approached it to the robust limb of my neighbor, and
borrowed some of his warmth. In this way I was able to obtain a little
sleep.
Day at length dawned, and I was roused from my slumber by the voice of
the chieftain. He desired me to rise and follow him. I obeyed. On
considering his physiognomy attentively, it appeared a little softened.
He even assisted me in scrambling up the steep forest among rocks and
brambles. Habit had made him a vigorous mountaineer; but I found it
excessively toilsome to climb those rugged heights. We arrived at
length at the summit of the mountain.
Here it was that I felt all the enthusiasm of my art suddenly awakened;
and I forgot, in an instant, all perils and fatigues at this
magnificent view of the sunrise in the midst of the mountains of
Abruzzi. It was on these heights that Hannibal first pitched his camp,
and pointed out Rome to his followers. The eye embraces a vast extent
of country. The minor height of Tusculum, with its villas, and its
sacred ruins, lie below; the Sabine hills and the Albanian mountains
stretch on either hand, and beyond Tusculum and Frescati spreads out
the immense Campagna, with its line of tombs, and here and there a
broken aqueduct stretching across it, and the towers and domes of the
eternal city in the midst.
