the left, and crossing another hill to the Ponte del Butero passes the valley of Vallerano, and proceeds by Tor di Sasso, Schizzanello, and Monte Migliore to Solfarata.

A beautiful forest road of five miles leads from Prattica to Tor Paterno, a lonely tower, joining a farmhouse half a mile from the coast, which used to be regarded as the site of Laurentum, though Nibby places it at Capo-Cotta, three miles distant, and inland, in contradiction of Pliny and Pomponius Mela, who describe it as near the coast. There are no ruins at Capo-Cotta, but plenty at Tor Paterno, though they are all of imperial date. Near Tor Paterno, also, are still remains of the marsh spoken of by Virgil :

· Atque hinc vasta palus, hinc ardua moenia cingunt.'

the frogs of which are celebrated by Martial :

'An Laurentino turpis in littore ranas,
Et satius tenues ducere credis acos ?

-Aen. xii. 745.

-Ep. x. 37, 5.

A road which leaves the Via Ostiense to the left after Valchetta, at about three miles from Rome, leads almost direct to Tor Paterno. Laurentum was the capital of King Latinus, and according to the legend was his residence when Aeneas and his Trojan colony landed on his shore, though upon the death of Latinus the seat of government was transferred first to Lavinium and then to Alba. Laurentum was never afterwards a place of much importance, though, because it was the only Latin city which took no part against Rome in the great war of B.C. 340, the treaty which had previously existed with the Laurentines was renewed always from year to year on the 10th day of the Feriae Latinae.' Lucan speaks of Laurentum as among the deserted cities-'vacuas urbes'-in his time (A.D. 60).

6

For the seven miles which separate Tor Paterno from Castel Fusano, we wander through the depths of the great forest of Silva Laurentina, which still covers the coast here as at the time when the Trojans are held to have landed and raided its timber :

Bis senos pepigere dies, et pace sequestra,
Per sylvas Teucri, mixtique impune Latini,
Erravere jugis. Ferro sonat ala bipenni
Fraxinus; evertunt actas ad sidera pinus;
Robora nec cuneis et olentem scindere cedrum,
Nec plaustris cessant vectare gementibus ornos.'

-Aen. xi. 133.

Amid the huge stone pines grow gigantic ilexes and bay-trees, descendants of the 'laurels' which, says Aurelius Victor, gave its name to Laurentum, and whose scent was considered so salubrious that the Emperor Commodus was advised to retire to a villa in the wood during a pestilence at Rome. Here Varro says that the orator Hortensius had a villa, and a park abounding with wild

boars, deer, and other game;1 and near the shore, where remains of buildings may be discovered, was the favourite villa of the younger Pliny. Still, as in ancient times, the forest is beloved by sportsmen, and famous for its wild boars (Cignale).

'Ac velut ille canum morsu de montibus altis

Actus aper, multos Vesulus quem penifer annos
Defendit, multoque palus Laurentia, silvâ

Pastus arundineâ, postquam inter retia ventum est,
Substitit, infremuitque ferox, et inhorruit armos;
Nec cuiquam irasci propiusve accedere virtus,
Sed jaculis tutisque procul clamoribus instant :
Ille autem impavidus partes cunctatur in omnes,
Dentibus infrendens, et tergo decutit hastas.'

-Aen. x. 707.

Here is still the pathless wood in which Virgil describes the tragic fate of the friends Nisus and Euryalus, the forest which :

'late dumis atque ilice nigra

Horrida, quam densi complerant undique sentes ;
Rara per occultos ducebat semita calles.'

-Aen. ix. 381.

The most beautiful of forest-tracks, four miles long, leads from Tor Paterno direct to Porcigliano, passing at intervals the remains of an aqueduct which probably led to the villa of Commodus.

At Porcigliano2 or Castel Porziano, is a rectangular castle with fifteenth-century turrets, which belonged to the Duca di Magliano, but was bought by Victor Emmanuel. It is situated beside an ancient by-road, the pavement of which has been used in its construction. Campo Bufalaro, near this, is supposed to mark the site of the station' Ad Helephantas.' From Porcigliano two roads lead to Rome, falling into the Via Ostiense. One passes by Decimo, the other by the Osteria di Malpasso.

1 Varro, R. R. iii. 13.

2 Fundus Procilianus.

CHAPTER XXVII

THE DESCENT OF THE TIBER-PORTO AND FIUMICINO

Although but eighteen miles distant, it is about an hour by rail from Rome to Fiumicino; trains twice daily in the morning, and twice for the return in the evening; 3 1. 85 c.: 21. 70 c. 1 1. 95 c. But it is more convenient to drive in about two and a half hours from Rome to Fiumicino, and a carriage with two horses for the day ought not to cost more than 20 lire.

THE

HE road to Porto, after leaving the Porta Portese, passes for some distance betwen the Tiber and a hilly district, which we may call an extension of the Janiculan Hill, far more wooded and cultivated than until lately was usual in the neighbourhood of Rome. The only point calling for attention is La Magliana, seven miles from Rome, which is to be seen near the Tiber and the railroad on the left.

Those who wish to make a more intimate acquaintance with the Tiber itself should take the steamer to Fiumicino. The descent is flat and ugly, but it introduces one to a curious and new section of country, and one which is filled with classical associations.

The Tiber (Tevere) rises in the Apennines near Città di Castello, and has a winding course of about 150 miles before reaching Rome, forming in ancient times the southern boundary of Etruria.

It receives numerous confluents or tributaries, of which the most important are the Tinea, an inconsiderable stream which joins it from the east, a little below Perusia, bringing with it the waters of the more celebrated Clitumnus; the Clanis, which falls into it from the right bank, descending from the marshy tract near Clusium; the Nar, a much more considerable stream, which is joined by the Velinus a few miles above Interamna, and discharges their combined waters into the Tiber, a few miles above Oriculum; and the Anio, which falls into the Tiber at Antemnae, three miles above Rome. These are the only affluents of the Tiber of any geographical importance, but among its minor tributaries, the Allia on its left bank, a few miles above the Anio, and the Cremera on the right, are names of historical celebrity, though very trifling streams, the identification of which is by no means certain. Two other streams of less note, which descend from the land of the Sabines and fall into the Tiber between Oriculum and Eretum, are the Himela (Aia) and the Farfarus (Farfa).'— Smith, Dict. of Greek and Roman Geography.'

In reality, it bears much of the character of a mountain-torrent, rising and falling rapidly with increased or diminished rains.

There was a Roman tradition that the original name of the Tiber was Albula, and that it was changed because Tiberinus, one of the

fabulous kings of Alba, was drowned in its waters. Hence the Latin poets frequently call it Albula.1

' amisit verum vetus Albula nomen.'

-Virgil, 'Aen.' viii. 332.

The name Albula was applied to all sulphureous waters, but it does not apply to the Tiber, which is yellow, and is so called by Virgil in other places

'Hunc inter fluvio Tiberinus amoeno, Vorticibus rapidis, et multa flavus arena, In mare prorumpit.'

But compare Elbe, also a muddy river. Moreover Alba was beside the lake-water.

The river-god or tutelary divinity of the the augurs under the name of Tiberinus. Tay, Tagus, Tavy, all words for water.]

Tiber was invoked by [Here compare Tyne,

The distance between Rome and its mouth, by water twentyseven miles, was navigable in imperial times for rowing vessels and some ships of war; but large merchant vessels discharged their cargoes at the mouth of the river, and forwarded them to Rome by barges.

After we emerge in the steamer from the walls of Rome, close to the Porta Portese on the right and passing on the left the Marmorata beneath the declivity of the Aventine, we pass under the Civita Vecchia railway-bridge. Before reaching S. Paolo, the Tiber receives, on the left, the Almo-the 'cursu brevissimus Almo' of Ovid-at the spot where the famous emblem of Cybele was landed, when it was brought from Pessinus in B.C. 204. The stream, a mere brooklet, is now generally called Aquataccia.

After leaving the ugly mass of buildings enclosing the basilica of San Paolo to the left, the Tiber receives (left) the stream of the Acque Salvie, which is supposed to be the Petronia, described by Festus as formed by the Fons Cati.

One of its early names was probably Rum, or Rumon, signifying the water, as in Rummel, Rha (ancient name of the Volga), Rhine, and Rhone, and Arrone, perhaps cognate with 'pêew.'

A little farther, also on the left, a brook flows into the Tiber which has its source at the Aqua Ferentina in the Alban Hills.

On the right is La Magliana, in a situation so dismal that one wonders how it could possibly have been the favourite palace of Leo X. It is like the moated grange of Mariana, and has crumbling embattled walls. In the courtyard is a beautiful fountain. The rooms contain some decaying frescoes. Several have been removed and are in the Capitoline gallery. Those of the Annunciation and Visitation, the Martyrdom of S. Felicitas, and God the Father in benediction (a grand work) were probably designed by Raffaelle, but executed by Lo Spagna. They have been beautifully engraved by Grüner.

'Leo X. was at his villa of Magliana, when he received intelligence that his party had triumphantly entered Milan; he abandoned himself to the exultation arising naturally from the successful completion of an important enterprise, and looked cheerfully at the festivities his people were preparing on the occasion.

'He paced backwards and forwards till deep in the night, between the window and a blazing hearth-it was in the month of November. Somewhat exhausted, but still in high spirits, he arrived in Rome, and the rejoicings there celebrated for his triumph were not yet concluded, when he was attacked by a mortal disease. "Pray for me," he said to his servants, "that I may yet make you all happy." We see that he loved life; but his hour was come, he had not time to receive the viaticum nor extreme unction. So suddenly, so prematurely, and surrounded by hopes so bright-he died-"as the poppy fadeth."

"The Roman populace could not forgive their pontiff for dying without the sacraments-for having spent so much money and yet leaving large debts. They pursued his corpse to its grave with insult and reproach. "Thou hast crept in like a fox," they exclaimed; "like a lion hast thou ruled us, and like a dog hast thou died."-Ranke, 'Hist. of the Popes.'

Near the station, on the left, lies the Vigna Ceccarelli, on Monte delle Piche, the head-centre of the ancient sacerdotal confraternity called Fratres Arvales, which from the remotest days of Roman history attested the pre-eminence of the Cult of the Fields, so significant to an agricultural people, such as were the early Alban emigrants, until the year A.D. 238, when it was suppressed by the Emperor Gordian III. Tradition ascribed the origin of the Brotherhood to the twelve sons of Acca Larentia, the nurse of Romulus. Their ritual vocation in life was to implore the benediction of Ceres, or Dea Dia, for the crops. Their festival, which occupied three days, beginning on May 29th, included a procession round the cultivated land of the community, with a view to charm away blight, smut, and all sinister influences. The Fratres chanting their peculiar litanies led the three sacrificial hostiae majores 'i.e. bull, ram, and boar-accompanied by their victimarii, or slayers, and followed by a garlanded throng, round the fields three times. After which the sacrifice took place. This is held now to be identical with the Ambarvalia. Mr. Warde Fowler, in his excellent work on Roman Festivals (p. 127), writes:

"Of all the Roman Festivals this is the only one which can be said with any truth to be still surviving. When the Italian priest leads his flock round the