selves unable (B.C. 209) to furnish supplies of provisions and men to Rome during the second Punic war. The unhealthiness of the situation hastened its decay. alludes to it :

'Ardea solstitio, Castranaque rura petantur,

Quique Cleonaeo sidere fervet ager.'-IV. 60.

Martial

Many great Roman personages, however, had villas here, among them Atticus, the friend of Cicero ; and the town spoken of as 'castellum Ardeae,' in the Middle Ages, has never quite ceased to exist, but has continued to occupy the rocky platform, which gained its name from Ardua-the cliff-girt.

The existing village and its castle, which belongs to the Duke Cesarini, occupy an isolated rock, evidently the ancient citadel, which is joined by a narrow neck of land to a larger platform, still called Civita Vecchia, and once covered by the ancient city, of which not a vestige remains. The citadel was surrounded by walls built of tufa in square blocks.

'The isthmus (uniting the citadel to the town), having been cut through in a very singular manner, has left three deep and broad ditches, separated by two piers of natural rock. This is the more curious, as it does not appear that these piers could have served as a bridge to the citadel, on account of their distance from each other; and though the ditch added to the strength of the fortress, yet this cannot be supposed to have been completely separated from the city. Moreover, the rock of the citadel is much higher than these two natural piers.

'Two streams, one of which is evidently derived from the Lake of Nemi, had, long before Ardea was built, worn valleys, which had left an eminence between them as a site for the city. At the western side of the city, these valleys approach each other, leaving a narrow isthmus for the entrance to the city from the east; this isthmus is considerably strengthened by a high mound, or agger, extending from valley to valley, which supported, or rather backed a wall, whence, in all probability, the idea of the Roman agger of Servius Tullius was originally taken. gap or cut exists, through which was the ancient entrance to the city; and in this is the ruin of a tower, fixing the site of the gate towards Aricia. Still more distant from the city is another similar mound, stretching also from valley to valley. These mounds are so high that

A

when the sun is over the Mediterranean they are distinguishable from Albano by the naked eye.'—Sir W. Gell.

Half a mile from Ardea, in the direction of the sea, at a spot called Rudera, the rock is full of caverns, and is supposed to have been the necropolis of the ancient city. There are no remains of the temple of Juno mentioned by Pliny, who describes it as adorned with ancient paintings of great beauty, so much esteemed that the artist, a Greek—' Marcus Ludius Elotas Oetolia oriundus '—was rewarded with the freedom of the city. Not far from Ardea, probably in the direction of Antium, was the Aphrodisium or shrine of Venus, mentioned by Strabo (v. 232) and Pliny (iii. 5). The site of the Castrum Inni, or of Pan, is supposed by Nibby to be somewhat identified by the name Fosso dell' Incastro applied to one of the streams which flow by Ardea. Martial mentions it, in the lines already quoted, and Silius Italicus :'Sacra manus Rutuli, servant qui Daunia regna, Laurentique domo gaudent, et fonte Numici,

Quos Castrum, Phrygibusque gravis quondam Ardea misit.'
VIII. 359.

:

Most travellers will take the direct route from Ardea to Rome or Albano. The track used by the charcoal burners near the coast to Porto d' Anzio (see 'Southern Italy ') crosses the Fosso della Moletta, and passes in turn by Torre di S. Lorenzo, Torre di S. Anastasia, and Torre di Caldana.

391

CHAPTER XXXI.

FRASCATI AND TUSCULUM.

Trains leave Rome for Frascati twice in the morning, returning twice in the afternoon. Time is given for a pleasant sight of Frascati, and for a ride or walk to Tusculum and the Villa Mondragone, or to Tusculum and Grotta Ferrata. The Albergo di Londra is an excellent small inn, very clean and comfortable. Donkeys cost 5 frs. for the whole day, or 2 frs. for the half day, but a distinct agreement must be made.

THE

HE railway runs close to the aqueducts, first the Paoline, then the ruined Claudian. As we pass outside the Porta Furba, the artificial sepulchral mound called Monte di Grano is seen on the left, and then the vast ruins called Sette Basse, belonging to a suburban villa of imperial date, and, as the light streams through their ruined windows, forming a beautiful foreground to the delicate distances of mountain and plain. Approaching nearer, Colonna is seen on the left upon its knoll, then Monte Porzio, and beneath it the site of the Lake Regillus. When the lights and shadows are favourable, the difference between the two craters of this volcanic chain of hills now becomes strikingly evident.

'The Alban hills form a totally distinct group, consisting of two principal extinct volcanic craters, somewhat resembling in their relation to each other the great Neapolitan craters of Vesuvius and Somma. One of them lies within the embrace of the other, just as Vesuvius lies half enclosed by Monte Somma. The walls of the outer Alban crater are of peperino, while those of the inner are basaltic. Both are broken away on the northern side towards Grotta Ferrata and Marino, but on the southern side they are tolerably perfect.

'The outer crescent-shaped crater beginning from Frascati extends

to Monte Porzio and Rocca Priore, and then curves round by Monte Algido, Monte Ariano, and Monte Artemisio. The inner crescent includes the height of Monte Cavo, and surrouuds the flat meadows known by the name of Campo d' Annibale. Besides these two principal craters, the ages of which are probably as distinct as those of Vesuvius and Somma, there are traces of at least four others to be found in the lakes of Castel Gandolfo, commonly called the Alban lake, and of Nemi, and in the two small cliff-encircled valleys of the Vallis Aricina and Larghetto.'- Burn, The Roman Campagna.'

At Ciampino the little line to Frascati branches off, and soon begins to ascend out of the Campagna into the land of corn and olives.

'Aux approches de ces petites montagnes, quand on a laissé derrière soi les longs aqueducs ruinés et trois ou quatre lieues de terrains ondulés, sans caractère et sans étendue pour le regard, on traverse de nouveau une partie de la plaine dont le nivellement absolu présente enfin un aspect particulier assez grandiose. C'est un lac de pâle verdure qui s'étend sur la gauche jusqu'au pied du massif du mont Gennaro. Au baisser du soleil, quand l'herbe fine et maigre de ce gigantesque pâturage est un peu échauffée par l'or du couchant et nuancée par les ombres portées des montagnes, le sentiment de la grandeur se révèle. Les petits accidents perdus dans ce cadre immense, les troupeaux et les chiens, seuls bergers qui, en de certaines parties de la steppe, osent braver la malaria toute la journée, se dessinent et s'enlèvent en couleur avec une netteté comparable à celle des objets lointains sur la mer. Au fond de cette nappe de verdure, si unie que l'on a peine à se rendre compte de son étendue, la base des montagnes semble nager dans une brume mouvante, tandis que leurs sommets se dressent immobiles et nets dans le ciel.'-George Sand, 'La Daniella.'

On the right, we pass the great ruined castle of Borghetto, which belonged to the Savelli in the 10th century. At the station, an open omnibus with awnings (fare, 50 centesimi), and carriages are waiting to save travellers the mile of steep ascent to the town. Here, passing near the Villa Sora, once the residence of Gregory XIII. (1752-85), and skirting the wall of the Villa Torlonia, we are set down in the noisy little piazza before the cathedral of Frascati, and are at once surrounded by donkey boys vociferating upon the merits of their respective animals.

The cathedral (S. Pietro) only dates from 1700, but we

must enter it to visit the monument (near the door) which Cardinal York put up to his brother Prince Charles Edward, who died Jan. 31, 1788. It is inscribed :

-

'Hic situs est Carolus Odoardus cui Pater Jacobus III. Rex Angliae, Scotiae, Franciae, Hiberniae. Prinius natorum, paterni juris et regiae dignitatis successor et haeres, qui domicilio sibi Romae delecto Comes Albaniensis dictus est.

'Vixit Annos LVII. et mensem; decessit in pace, pridie Kal. Feb. Anno MDCCLXXXVII.'

There is an older cathedral, Duomo Vecchio, now called SS. Sebastiano e Rocco, chiefly of the 14th century, and near it a fountain erected in 1480 by Cardinal d'Estouteville, the French Ambassador. The streets are dirty and ugly ; but the little town is important as being the centre of the villas which give Frascati all its charm. Most of these date only from the 17th century, and, with the exception of the Villa Mondragone, the buildings are seldom remarkable, but they are situated amid glorious groves of old trees, often relics of a natural forest, and amongst these are grand old fountains and water-falls, which, though artificial, have been long since adopted by Nature as her own, while from the terraces the views over the Campagna are of ever-varying loveliness. In many of these villas, far too large for any single occupants, vast airy suites of apartments may be hired for the summer villeggiatura, and, though scantily furnished, are a delightful retreat during the hot season.

'At Frascati and Albano there are good lodgings to be had. Noble old villas may be hired on the Alban slopes for a small rent, with gardens going to ruin, but beautifully picturesque-old fountains and water-works painted with moss, and decorated with maiden-hair, vines, and flowers-shady groves where nightingales sing all the day—avenues of lopped ilexes that, standing on either side like great chandeliers, weave together their branches overhead into a dense roof- and long paths of tall, polished laurel, where you may walk in shadow at morning and evening. The air here is not, however, "above suspicion ;" and one must be careful at night-fall lest the fever prowling round the damp alleys seize you as its prey. The views from these villas are truly exquisite. Before you lies the undulating plain of the Campagna, with every hue and changing tone of colour; far off against the horizon