picturesque or romantic than this utterly solitary wave-beaten castle; nothing more melancholy than its associations. Hither, in November, B.C. 44, Marcus Cicero fled from his Tusculan villa, upon hearing that his name was upon the proscription-list of the Triumvirate, hoping to join Brutus in Macedonia. His brother Quintus accompanied him. They were carried in litters, and conversed as they went. On the way they remembered that they had not taken sufficient money with them, and Quintus, as being least in danger, returned to Rome to fetch it. He was there taken and put to death with his son. Marcus Cicero embarked at Astura in safety, but sea-sickness induced him to land for the night at Formiae (Mola di Gaeta), where he had another villa, and there, while endeavouring to escape, he was murdered within a mile of his own house. Augustus Caesar is said to have been first attacked at Astura by the illness-a dysentery-of which he died (August, A.D. 14) at Nola. Strange to say, it was also at the fatal Astura that his successor Tiberius was stricken with his last illness. Strangest of all, Caligula also received at Astura the fatal omen of his approaching end, when about to sail thence to his native Antium.

But these ancient associations of Astura are less tragic than those which cling to the octangular mediaeval tower, which was built by the family of the Frangipani upon Roman foundations. Hither (1268), after the lost battle of Tagliacozzo, fled Conradin of Hohenstaufen, with his faithful friends Frederick of Baden, Count Lancia and his sons, and the two Counts of Gherardesca. The people of Astura gave Conradin a vessel in which his party embarked in safety for Pisa, when the Lord of Astura, Giovanni Frangipani, returning to his castle, heard what had happened, and roused by the hope of a reward from Charles of Anjou, pursued them in a larger vessel, captured and brought them back. Conradin implored Frangipani, who had received great benefits and even the honour of knighthood from his father, not to deliver him up to Charles. He even promised to give his hand to the daughter of Frangipani if he would permit him to escape.

But the Lord of Astura, unmoved by the misfortunes of the prince, began at once to propose terms for his surrender to Robert of Lavena, who soon appeared before the walls to demand the prisoners for Charles, and only concealed them in a remote tower that he might make better terms. Conditions were soon after agreed upon with the Cardinal of Terracina, and Conradin and Frederick of Baden, bartered for large estates in the princedom of Benevento, were hurried away through the hills to the castle above Palestrina, and thence to Naples, where they were cruelly executed, Conradin, with his last breath, saying: 'I cite my judge before the highest tribunal; my blood shed on this spot shall cry to Heaven for vengeance.'

The Frangipani did not long enjoy their ill-gotten gains, and the only son of Giovanni perished in the same castle of Astura, where he had betrayed his friend.

En 1286, quatre ans après les Vêpres Siciliennes, un amiral de Jacques d'Arragon emporta Astura, qu'il réduisit en cendres. Les biens des Frangipani furent ravagés; Jacob, le fils de Jean, périt dans le combat. Sa postérité s'éteignit, et, de cette branche, dont le blason était taché du sang royal, il ne reste qu'un souvenir de déshonneur.'-Cherrier, iv. p. 212.

The castle afterwards became a fortress of the Caëtani, then of the Malabranca, the Orsini, and of a Colonna, who restored it and whose arms still appear on its walls. He sold it to Clement VIII. in 1594. It now belongs to the Borghese, and its little garrison of eight spend a life of isolation like that on a desert island, while a single cannon is mounted upon the ramparts.

Near the castle the little Fiume Conca, formerly called the Astura, descending from Velletri, flows into the sea. On its banks the last great battle between the Romans and Latins was fought in B.C. 338, when C. Maenius the consul totally defeated the united forces of Antium, Lanuvium, Aricia, and Velitrae.

Three miles (N.) inland from Astura is a Roman tomb called Il Toraccio. It has been supposed, without foundation, to be the tomb of Tullia, daughter of Cicero, who died at Astura.1 It consists of a square stylobate from which rises a round tower, which, in turn, is crowned by a circular tempietto.

The shore beyond Astura, towards Circeio, is girt by the strip of forest and sand-dunes which divide it from the Pontine Marshes. The Caetani territory begins at Foce Verde, 6 kil. further south. Three picturesque lakes, abounding with wild-fowl, break the inland expanse of marsh and macchia-the Lago di Fogliano, the Lago di Caprolace, and the Lago di Paolo. They are much frequented by the peasants for the fishing they afford. Travellers instead of continuing along the coast, will usually go round by Terracina in order to visit the Circean Promontory, which rises so gloriously out of the blue waters beyond.

Between Foce Verde and Fogliano (where the Duke of Sermoneta has a residence with a charming garden bordering the long lake), are traversed eight miles of well-cared-for forest, with here and there long meadows containing grimy herds of buffalo, often up to their necks in the pools. Near the Torre di Fogliano ( a xvii. cent. watchtower on the coast), are remains of a villa with a colonnade. At Porcareccia (2 m.) are extensive remains of a Roman piscicultural establishment. Hence may be visited by the privileged traveller the grand artificial Fosso di S. Martino (120 ft. wide and 60 ft. deep), made by the ancients in order to drain the marshes. It runs up (E.) through a beautiful old forest (which also now drops down into and fills it) to Passo S. Donato. Nothing can well exceed the spring-loveliness here in the great silent woodland. In the Fosso, under great trees, often standing in the pools, are seen beds of iris and lilies; while its steep sides are clothed with oak and blossoming

1 Middleton (Life of Cicero, vol. ii. 365), on authority of Plutarch, says she died in the orator's house at Rome.

genista. The voices of birds of all kinds are heard at varying distances, and nightingales, merry woodpeckers, querulous jays, hoarse crows, and the incessant wren-smallest of all; while the sunshine is often seen only in the upper boughs as we ride following along it for miles. In the rare openings, Sezze, up on the mountainside, can be seen, with its white road zig-zagging up toward it.

A ride of ten miles southward from Fogliano, entirely through forest, and wading many small streams, leads to the little lake of Caprolace, about two miles long. Before reaching it some men with guns put these down and ran away at our approach; an action explained by the fact that they mistook us for the police, and lacked licences to carry weapons.

The larger lake of Paolo, which extends to the base of Circeo, is referred to in the chapter on Terracina. The ancient Via Severiana passed behind the lake to S. Felice (Circeum).

At Porto d' Anzio on Good Friday, the town was illuminated, every fisherman's hut along the pier lighting its rows of tiny earthenware lamps, whose rays were reflected a thousandfold in the waters of the bay. Then, when all was ready, the church doors were thrown open, and amid a clash of music, and loud chanting of priests, the dead Christ was borne through the town, followed by the figure of Our Lady of Sorrow' and the images of all the favourite local saints, surrounded by flashing torches. The streets were thronged, cannon fired, and all the people knelt as the procession passed, many praying, some weeping.

The coast between Porto d' Anzio and Ostia is difficult to visit

except on horseback. The greater part of the way leads through the immemorial forest of Silva Laurentina, part of which was sacred to Picus and Faunus, where the spirit of Virgil still seems to pervade the silent depths of the wood, and where, while the buildings have passed away and the very sites of the towns whose foundation he describes are forgotten or disputed, Nature remains absolutely unchanged-the same pines raise their vast umbrella-like heads to the stars, the same thickets of brambles and impervious brushwood are ready to mislead the wanderer, the same springs sparkle in its deep recesses.

The easiest way of reaching Ardea is from Cecchina station, or by the Via Ardeatina, from Rome itself. The former leads by paths among vineyards for three hours' walking. The traveller who follows the track of the charcoal-burners near the coast from Porto d'Anzio will in turn pass the old watch-towers, Torre Caldara, Torre di S. Anastasia, Torre di S. Lorenzo, and Torre della Moletta. Then, without crossing the Incastro, he at length sees Ardea rising before him crowning a rock, three miles from the sea, over the Tenuta Salzara.

Desolate and forlorn as this property of the Sforza-Cesarini is now, and almost totally deserted by its two hundred inhabitants during the summer months, Ardea was once one of the most important as