terraces, designed by Giacomo della Porta, and finished

by Giovanni Fontana for Cardinal Pietro Aldobrandini, nephew of Clement VIII. The villa is adorned internally with frescoes by Cav. d'Arpino. Behind it a succession of waterfalls tumble through a glorious old ilex-grove, into a circle of fantastic statues. The scene may once have been ridiculous, but Nature has now made it most beautiful.

"At the Villa Aldobrandini, or Belvidere, we were introduced to the most multifarious collection of monsters I ever hope to behold. Giants, centaurs, fauns, cyclops, wild beasts, and gods, blew, bellowed, and squeaked, without mercy or intermission; and horns, pan's-pipes, organs, and trumpets, set up their combined notes in such a dissonant chorus, that we were fain to fly before them; when the strains that suddenly burst forth from Apollo and the Nine Muses, who were in a place apart, compelled us to stop our ears, and face about again in the opposite direction.

"When this horrible din was over, we were carried back to admire the now silent Apollo and the Muses,- -a set of painted wooden dolls, seated on a little mossy Parnassus, in a summer-house, -a plaything we should have been almost ashamed to have made even for the amusement of children. All these creatures, in the mean time, were spouting out

VILLA RUFINElla, FRASCATI.

105

water. The lions and tigers, however, contrary to their usual habits, did nothing else; and the 'great globe itself,' which Atlas was bearing on his shoulders, instead of 'the solid earth,' proved a mere aqueous ball, and was overwhelmed in a second deluge."—Eaton's Rome.

Those who are not good walkers, should engage donkeys for the excursion to Tusculum, to which a steep ascent leads from the piazza of the town, between the walls of the villas Aldobrandini and Falconieri. Just beyond the latter, an inscription marks the humble retreat of the learned Cardinal Baronius. A steep hill leads to the Convent of the Cappuccini, but our path passes through the shady and delightful walks of the Villa Rufinella, which is now the property of Prince Lancellotti, having formerly belonged to the Buonapartes. The casino was built by Vanvitelli. The chapel contains monuments of the Buonaparte family. During the residence of Lucien Buonaparte here (Nov. 1818), this villa was the scene of one of the boldest acts of brigandage known in the Papal States. A party of robbers, who had their rendezvous at Tusculum, first seized the old priest of the family as he was out walking, and having plundered and stripped him, bound him hand and foot. As they surmised, when the dinner-hour arrived, and the priest was missing, a servant was sent out in search of him, and left the door open, through which five bandits entered, and attacking the servants they met, forced them to silence by threats of instant death. One maid-servant, however, escaped, and gave warning to the party in the dining-room, who all had time to hide themselves, except the Prince's secretary, who had already left the room to discover the cause of the noise, and who was carried off, together with the butler, and a facchino. The

old priest meanwhile contrived to escape and conceal himself in some straw.

The next day the facchino was sent back to treat with the Prince, and to say that unless he sent a ransom of 4000 crowns the prisoners would be immediately put to death. He sent 2000 and an order on his banker for the remainder. The brigands, greatly irritated, returned the order torn up with a demand for 4000 crowns more, and with this the Prince was forced to comply in order to preserve the lives of his attendants. The brigands escaped scot free!

A tomb which is passed at the entrance of Frascati towards the Villa Rufinella is said to be that of Lucullus, who is known to have had a villa here. This stood near the Villa of Cicero, who was accustomed to borrow books and fetch them with his own hand (De Fin. iii. 2) from the library of his friend. The scholiast on Horace describes the Villa of Cicero as being "ad latera superiora " of the hill, and its site is generally believed to have been that now occupied by the Villa Rufinella, and that the Casino stands on the site of his Academica, which had shady walks like those of Plato's Garden-forefathers of the walks which we still see.

The Tusculan Disputations of Cicero take their name from this beloved villa of his, which he bitterly complained of the Roman consuls valuing at only "quingentis millibus " -between £4000 and £5000. A complete picture of the villa may be derived from the many allusions to it in the works of Cicero, thus :

"We learn that it contained two gymnasia (Div. i. s.), an upper one called the Lycæum, in which, like Aristotle, he was accustomed to walk and dispute in the morning (Tusc. Disp. ii. 3), and to which a library was attached (Div. ii. 3); and a lower one called the Academy (Tusc. Disp. ii. 3). Both were adorned with beautiful statues in marble and

bronze (Ep. ad Att. i. 8, 9, 10). The villa likewise contained a little aʼrium (atriolum, Ib. i. 10 ad Quint. Fr. iii. 1), a small portico with exedria (ad Fam. vii. 23), a bath (b. xiv. 20), a covered promenade ('tecta ambulatiuncula,' ad Att. xiii. 29), and a horologium (ad Fam. xvi. 18). The villa, like the town and neighbourhood, was supplied by the Aqua Crabra (De Leg. Agr. iii. 31).”—Smith's Dict. of Greek and Roman Geography.

In his Essay on Old Age, Cicero describes the delights of country life as enjoyed in a villa of this kind.

"Where the master of the house is a good and careful manager, his wine-cellar, his oil-stores, his larder, are always well stocked; there is a fulness throughout the whole establishment; pigs, kids, lambs, poultry, milk, cheese, honey,-all are in abundance. The produce of the garden is always equal, as our country-folk say, to a second course. And all these good things acquire a double relish from the voluntary labours of fowling and the chase. What need to dwell upon the charm of the green fields, the well-ordered plantations, the beauty of the vineyards and olive-groves? In short, nothing can be more luxuriant in produce, or more delightful to the eye, than a well-cultivated estate.”Trans. by Lucas Collins.

Leaving the Villa Rufinella by shady avenues of laurel and laurestinus, the path to Tusculum emerges on the hillside, where, between banks perfectly carpeted with anemones and violets in spring, a street paved with polygonal blocks has been laid bare. On the left are remains of the small Amphitheatre; all the seats have perished, and it is only recognizable by its form. Beyond, also on the left, are the ruins of a villa, called, without authority, Scuola di Cicerone.

The path leads directly up to the most important of the ruins, the Theatre, which was excavated in 1839 by Maria Christina, Queen-dowager of Sardinia. With the exception of the walls of the scena, the lower walls are almost perfect, and the fifteen rows of seats in the lower circle (cavea) remain intact, though the upper rows have perished. The spectators, facing the west, had a magnificent view over the

plains of Latium, with Rome in the distance. Close to the

Theatre are the remains of a piscina, and the fountain supplied from it.

"Je parvins au sommet de la montagne, en m'égarant dans de superbes bosquets. Puis, je me trouvai sur un long plateau dont le versant est aussi nu et aussi désert que celui que l'on monte depuis Frascati est ombragé et habité. Devant moi se présentait une petite voie antique, bordée d'arbres, qui, suivant à plat la crête douce de la montagne, devait me conduire à Tusculum.

"J'arrivai bientôt en vue d'un petit cirque de fin gazon, bordé de vestiges de constructions romaines. Un peu au-dessous, je pénétrai, à travers les ronces, dans la galerie souterraine par laquelle, au moyen de trappes, les animaux féroces, destinés aux combats, surgissaient tout à coup dans l'arène, aux yeux des spectateurs impatients. Ce cirque n'a de remarquable que sa situation. Assis sur le roc, au bout le plus élevé d'une étroite gorge en pente, qui s'en va réjoindre, en sauts gracieux et verdoyants, les collines plus basses de Frascati et en suite la plaine, il est là comme un beau siége de gazon, installé pour offrir au voyageur le plaisir de contempler à l'aise cette triste vue de la Campagne de Rome, qui devient magnifique, encadrée ainsi. Le remplement de la colline autour du cirque le préserve des vents maritimes. Ce serait un emplacement délicieux pour une villa d'hiver.

"J'y pris quelques moments de repos. Pour la première fois depuis que j'ai quitté Gênes, il faisait un temps clair. Les montagnes lointaines étaient d'un ton superbe, et Rome se voyait distinctement au fond de la plaine. Je fus étonné de l'emplacement énorme qu'elle occupe, et de l'importance du dôme de Saint-Pierre, qui, tout le monde vous l'a dit, ne fait pas grand effet, vu de plus près.

"En quittant cet amphithéâtre, je suivis, dans le désert, un chemin jonché de mosaïques des marbres les plus précieux, de verroteries, de tessons de vases étrusques et de gravats de plâtre encore revêtus des tons de la fresque antique. Je ramassai un assez beau fragment de terre