with her spirit, could walk with bare feet, uninjured, over burning coals. The goddess was honoured with such valuable offerings of gold and silver, that Hannibal thought it worth while to turn aside hither, to plunder her famous shrine. Her festival in Rome occurred during the Plebeian games, November 13, and her shrine there was probably near the Circus Flaminius (Palazzo Caëtani, &c.). A carriage can ascend the mountain as far as S. Oreste, and here we left it near the gate of the town and followed a foot-path, which turns up to the left by a small chapel. It is about two miles' walk to the summit. Most of the convents are in ruins. S. Lucia is the first which comes in sight, on the crest of the nearest peak, then S. Romana on the eastern slope. Then, by the pilgrims' road, which winds through an avenue of ancient ilexes and elms, we reached the gates of S. Maria della Grazie. The long drive, and the steep walk in the great heat, had somewhat exhausted us; and the monks courteously came out with wine, slices of Salsiccia and bread, to a room at the gate (for ladies are not allowed within the walls), and seldom was refreshment more acceptable. There are only ten monks now, who live an active life of charity, and whose advice and instruction are widely sought by the country people around. Those we saw were a representative group: one, a tall and commanding figure with handsome face and flashing eyes, told us of the peace and blessing he derived from his solitary life here, and of the ever-growing interest of the place and its rich associations; another, of a coarse common expression, spoke in querulous tones, and was sceptical about all his own stories, which he wound up always by È tradizione;' a third was a venerable man of eighty-six, who had passed his entire life in these solitudes, a life so evidently given up to prayer, that his spirit seemed only half to belong to earth. We spoke to him of the change which was coming over the monastic life, but he did not murmur-'È la volontà di Dio;' only when he talked of the great poverty of the people from the taxation, and of their reduced means of helping them, he lamented a little. He said the people came to him every day, and they asked why they had such sufferings to bear, that they had been quite happy before, and had never wished or sought for any change; and that he urged them to patience and prayer, and to the faith that though outward events might change and earthly comforts be swept away, God, who led His children by mysterious teaching which we could not fathom, was Himself always the same, to-day, yesterday, and for ever. The three monks went with us to the summit, where the temple of Apollo Soranus, the 'guardian of holy Soracte,' formerly stood, and where the Sabine Hirpini, as his guild of worshippers were called, came to offer their annual sacrifices, and were, on that account, says Pliny, exempted from military service and other public duties. Servius tells the story that in order to ward off pestilence, these Hirpini dressed and ran about like wolves. This seems to point to the wolf as their Totem, or tribe-token. Pliny says that they ran through crackling flames without burning their feet. 'Summe deûm, sancti custos Soractis Apollo, - Virgil, 'Aen.' x. 785. Tum Soracte satum, praestantem corpore et armis, On the supposed site of the temple, 2270 feet above the level of the sea, perched on the highest points of the crags, stands the monastery of S. Silvestro. It is a sublime position, removed from and above everything else. Hawks and swallows circle around its vast cliffs, the only signs of life. On a lower terrace are the church and hermitage of S. Antonio, ruined and deserted. To these solitudes came (according to a cunningly disseminated legend) Constantine to seek for Sylvester the hermit, whom he found here in a cave and led away to raise to the papal throne, walking before him as he rode upon his mule, as is represented in the crude frescoes of the SS. Quattro Incoronati in Rome. 'Sylvester, who had been elected bishop of Rome, fled from the persecution, and dwelt for some time in a cavern, near the summit of Soracte. While he lay there concealed, the Emperor Constantine was attacked by a horrible leprosy and having called to him the priests of his false gods, they advised that he should bathe himself in a bath of children's blood, and three thousand children were collected for this purpose. And, as he proceeded in his chariot to the place where the bath was to be prepared, the mothers of these children threw themselves in his way with dishevelled hair, weeping, and crying aloud for mercy, Then Constantine was moved to tears, and he commanded that the children should be restored to their mothers with great gifts, in recompense of what they had suffered. On that same night, as he lay asleep, S. Peter and S. Paul appeared at his bedside, and they stretched their hands over him, and said "Because thou hast feared to spill the innocent blood, Jesus Christ has sent us to bring thee good counsel. Send to Sylvester, who lies hidden among the mountains, and he shall show thee the pool, in which having washed three times, thou shalt be clean of thy leprosy; and henceforth thou shalt adore the God of the Christians, and thou shalt cease to persecute and oppress them." Then Constantine, awaking from this vision, sent to search for Sylvester. And he, when he saw the soldiers of the Emperor, supposed it was to lead him to death but when he appeared before the Emperor, Constantine saluted him, and said, "I would know of thee who are those two gods who appeared to me in the vision of the night?" And Sylvester replied, "They were not gods, but the apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ." Then Constantine desired that he would show him the effigies of these two apostles; and Sylvester sent for the pictures of S. Peter and S. Paul, which were in the possession of certain pious Christians. Constantine, having beheld them, saw that they were the same who had appeared to him in his dream. Then Sylvester baptised him and he came out of the font cured of his malady.'-Jameson, Sacred Art.' 'Ahi Costantin! di quanto mal fu matre, -Dante, 'Inf.' xix. 115. The oratory of Sylvester was enclosed in a monastery founded in 746 by Carloman, a son of Charles Martel, and uncle of Charlemagne, and though later buildings have occupied the same spot, and the existing edifice is externally of A.D. 1500, it encloses much of the church of Carloman, and the more ancient hermitage of Sylvester. The walls are covered with mediaeval frescoes, fading, but still beautiful. On the right of the entrance is S. Buonaventura; then follow S. Anne, the Virgin, S. Roch, and S. Sebastian, but all have been much injured by the goatherds who used to shelter their flocks here when the church was utterly deserted. The beautiful high-altar is richly carved in stone taken from the mountain. Behind it are a curious holy water basin, and a priest's chamber. A martyr's stone-‘Pietra di Paragone'—may be seen embedded in the wall. Beneath the lofty tribune is the cell of Sylvester, half cut in the mountain itself. It encloses the sloping mass of rock which formed the bed of his hermitage, with his stone seat. Here also is the altar on which, first Sylvester himself, and afterwards Gregory the Great, chanted mass. On the walls are dim frescoes, faintly lighted by rays stealing in above the altar-Christ, S. Sylvester, S. Gregory, and the Archangel Michael. A long inscription in the upper church tells the story of a later beatified monk of Soracte, Nonnosus, who is said to have performed three miracles here. The first was when a monk broke a valuable lamp-' una lampada orientale' quite into small pieces in this church, and was in despair as to the consequences, when Nonnosus fell on his knees and prayed, and the culprit saw the fragments miraculously joined together again. In the second, the olive-gardens of the convent failed, and the abbot was about to send out to buy up the oil from the paesani, when Nonnosus took the convent oil-il poco che fu' --and it became miraculously multiplied. In the third, he lifted by the force of prayer a large stone, which had fallen, back to its mountain ledge, where it is still pointed to in proof of the power of this saint. Behind the convent is its little garden, where legend relates that S. Sylvester one day sowed his turnips for the meal of the morrow, and they were miraculously brought to perfection during the night. There is an unrivalled view from this point over the wide-spreading country, with the many-winding Tiber, and the central Apennines. The monks also described to us the beautiful effect created, when on the eve of the Ascension each of the countless villages which can be seen from hence, lights its bonfire. The last monks who lived in S. Silvestro were Franciscans, and they left it in 1700, because seven of their number were then killed by lightning in a storm. Our monastic friends accompanied us on our return as far as S. Maria delle Grazie, and as we turned to descend the mountain-path, the ancient monk of eighty-six years, standing at the head of the steps, stretched out his hands and solemnly blessed us- -'May the blessed Saviour keep and guide you, and may His holy angels walk with you in all your ways,' As we slowly descended the mountain, we looked down through the woods to S. Romana at its eastern flank, near which are the deep fissures in the limestone called 'di meri,' whence pestilential vapours are said to arise. Pliny mentions these exhalations from Soracte as fatal to birds, and quotes Varro, who speaks of a fountain on Soracte four feet in width, which flowed at sunrise, and appeared to boil, and of which, when birds drank, they died. By Servius a story is told of some shepherds who were sacrificing to Pluto, when the victims were carried off from the very altar by wolves. The shepherds pursuing them came upon the cave whence the pestilential vapours issued, which destroyed all who came within their reach. A malady ensued, and the oracle declared that the only remedy was to do as the wolves did-to live by plunder.1 Hence they were called Hirpini Sorani-Pluto's wolves, from hirpus, which was Sabine for a wolf, and Soranus,2 another name for Pluto; and, accordingly, robbers there always were on Soracte till the forests which clothed the whole neighbourhood were for the most part cut down in the middle of the nineteenth century. With the robbers the wolves and bears, which abounded on the sides of the mountain, disappeared, many persons being still alive who have had adventurous escapes from them. Cato says that there were also wild goats upon Soracte, of such wonderful activity that they could leap sixty feet at one bound! 3 From S. Oreste (1300 feet) one looks across a wooded country to the village of Rignano, about 3 miles distant. It claims to be the birthplace of Cesare Borgia. Fragments of ancient columns and altars abound there, and in the piazza is preserved a curious primitive cannon, inscribed Magister Franciscus Cueva Fecit. Rignano, which for centuries belonged to the Savelli, gives a title to the eldest son of Duke Massimo. The church of S. Abbondio rests on a line of ancient wall. Seven miles south-east of Rignano is a hill crested by the ruined church of S. Martino, which occupies the site of the important Etruscan Metropolis Capena, the faithful ally of Veii; indeed Cato says that Veii was founded by the Capenates. The citadel was strongly defended by nature, being situated on an insular rock connected with the neighbouring heights by a kind of isthmus, and consequently was almost impregnable. It was never taken by siege, but capitulated to the Romans, after joining with the Falisci in a vain attempt to succour Veii, 'After the fall of Veii, Valerius and Servilius marched to Capena; and, the inhabitants not daring to quit their walls, the Romans destroyed the country, and particularly the fruit-trees, for which it was celebrated.'Livy, v. 24. 1 Aen. xi. 785. 2 Deecke considers that Soranus is the equivalent of Soractnus. (Falisker, p. 93.) 3 Cato ap. Varron. Re Rust. ii. cap. 3., quoted from Dennis, Vol. I. p. 135. There are some small remains of the foundations of walls and towers, and of reticulated work, visible here and there amid the thickets of wild-pear, descendants of the fruit-trees mentioned by Livy, which are covered with blossom in spring. Placed, like Alba and Gabii, upon the rim of a volcano, Capena assumed the form of a crescent; the citadel was on the highest point westward, and communicated by a steep path with the Via Veientana. This road may be traced in the valley below, running towards the Grammiccia and the natural opening of the crater on the east; and it was only here, as the remains testify, that carriages could enter the city. 'On ascending from this quarter, a fine terrace is observed, which is evidently placed on the top of the ancient walls. The squared blocks with which the place is strewed, show that these were parallelograms of volcanic stone. They may yet be traced by their foundations round the summit of the hill. 'Capena has something in it altogether peculiar: the situation, though commanding, seems singularly secluded, the country is once more wholly in a state of nature; nothing of animated life, except here and there flocks of goats or sheep, feeding on some green eminence or in the valleys below, which are spotted with such innumerable patches of underwood, that, were it not for the browsing of these animals, it would soon become a forest. The desolation is complete: Silvanus, instead of Ceres, is in full possession of the soil.'-Gell, Topography of Rome.' "The view from the height of Capena is wildly beautiful. The deep hollow on the south, with its green carpet: the steep hills overhanging it, dark with wood-perhaps the groves celebrated by Virgil: the bare swelling ground to the north, with Soracte towering above: the snow-capped Apennines in the eastern horizon: the deep silence, the seclusion; the absence of human habitations (not even a shepherd's hut) within the sphere of vision, save the distant town of S. Oreste, scarcely distinguishable from the gray rock on which it stands-it is a scene of more singular desolation than belongs to the site of any other Etruscan city in this district of the land.'-Dennis, Cities of Etruria.' The stream of the Gramiccia probably once bore the name of Capenas. 'Itur in agros, Dives ubi ante omnes colitur Feronia luco, The site of Capena is best visited on horseback, and may be reached from Rome by leaving the Via Flaminia on the left at the Monte della Guardia. About three miles from Capena, on the Tiber, is Fiano, with the fifteenth century castle of the Duke of that name. This village is supposed to mark the site of the Flavinium of Virgil: : 'Hi Soractis habent arces, Flaviniaque arva, and the Flavina of Silius : Quique tuos, Flavina, focos, Sabatia quique -Sil. viii. 492. N |