66 nec si vacuet Mevania valles, Aut præstent niveos Clitumna novalia tauros, * Stat. Sylv. i. 4. We learn from Pliny that this spot was not only one of local veneration, but was visited by strangers. The Emperor Caligula travelled here for this purpose. The building which still exists was probably a successor of one of the shrines or chapels (sacella) mentioned by Pliny, which were scattered over the hill-side above the temple of the rivergod. The little existing building is of the Lower Empire. It will be interesting to read upon the spot the description. of C. Pliny, written to his friend Romanus : "Have you ever seen the sources of the Clitumnus? If not (and I think, if you had, you would have mentioned it to me), go and see them. I saw them not long since, and I regret that I did not see them sooner. There is a rising ground of moderate elevation, thickly shaded with ancient cypresses. At the foot of this, a fountain gushes out in several unequal veins, and having made its escape, forms a pool, whose broad bosom expands, so pure and crystal-like, that you may count small pieces of money that you throw in, and the shining pebbles. Thence it is impelled forward, not by the declivity of the ground, but, as it were, by its own abundance and weight. Though yet at its source, it is already a spacious river, capable of bearing vessels, which it transports. in every direction, even such as come upwards, and strive against the stream; it is so powerful that oars give no assistance downwards, but upwards oars and poles can scarce get the better of the current. It is a delightful recreation to those who amuse themselves with floating upon its surface, to exchange alternately, as they alter their direction, labour for ease, and ease for labour. Some parts of the banks are clothed with the wild ash, some with poplars, and the transparent river gives back the image of every one of them distinctly, as if they were submerged beneath its waters. The coldness of the water is equal to that of snow, and its colour nearly so. Hard by, is an ancient and venerable temple. There stands the God Clitumnus himself, not naked, but adorned with *Suet. Cal. 43. the prætexta. The oracles which are delivered there indicate, not only the presence, but the prophetic power of the deity. Several chapels are scattered about the neighbourhood, each containing an image of the god; each has a sanctity, and each a divinity peculiar to itself; some also contain fountains. For besides the Clitumnus, who is, as it were, the father of all the rest, there are some smaller streams, distinct at the source, but which mingle with the river as soon as it passes the bridge. There ends everything sacred and profane. Above the bridge, navigation only is allowed; below it, swimming is permitted. The inhabitants of Hispella, to whom Augustus made a present of the place, supply a bath and an inn for the accommodation of the public. Along the banks are a number of villas, to which the beauty of the stream has given birth. In a word, there is nothing with which you will not be delighted. For you may even indulge your propensity for study, and may read many inscriptions written by different persons on every pillar and every wall, in honour of the fountain and the god. Many you will applaud, some you will laugh at, though, in fact, such is your good nature, you will laugh at none. Farewell."-C. Plin. Liv. viii. Ep. 8, Eustace's Trans. The scene is still one of unspoilt loveliness, as when Byron visited it: "But thou, Clitumnus! in thy sweetest wave Of the most living crystal that was e'er Surely that stream was unprofaned by slaughters— "And on thy happy shore a temple still, Of small and delicate proportion, keeps, Its memory of thee; beneath it sweeps The finny darter with the glittering scales, Down where the shallower wave still tells its bubbling tales.' Childe Harold. About 2 miles beyond the Temple of the Clitumnus is Trevi (a station on the railway), the ancient Trebia, a mountain-town occasionally resorted to by Romans in summer, and one of the steepest places imaginable, each house apparently rising on the hill-side almost where the roof of the last comes to an end. It deserves visiting on account of the pictures in its churches. La Madonna delle Lagrime contains a large fresco of the Adoration of the Magi by Perugino. In the same church are a set of frescoes by Lo Spagna, among which Kugler notices the Deposition as of peculiar excellence. "In a lunette, S. Ubaldo in benediction sits between rows of kneeling monks, whilst an angel holds up an open book out of which he reads, and others attend with his crozier and mitre. In the Deposition from the Cross, beneath the lunette, as in the chief personage of the lunette itself, a distant reminiscence of Raphael may be discovered. The Deposition is taken from that in the Borghese Palace at Rome, or from one of the numerous drawings sketched previous to its completion. On the pilasters of the altar, two canvasses contain S. Catherine of Alexandria and S. Cecilia. Had not Spagna renewed his companionship with Raphael at Rome, he could scarcely have done anything so redolent of the great master."-Crowe and Cavalcaselle. The Church of S. Martino, outside the town, has a fine altar-piece by Lo Spagna, executed about 1512. It represents the Coronation of the Virgin, with S.S. Mary Magda len and Catherine in the foreground, and in the distance a view of the convent of S. Francesco at Assisi. In the deadhouse of the adjoining convent is an Assumption by the same artist. A lunette of the Virgin and Child in the church is a beautiful work of Tiberio d'Assisi. CHAPTER XXVIII. IN THE ABRUZZI (ABRUZZO ULTERIORE II.) (This tour is easily made from Rome, and will soon be rendered extremely simple by the new lines of railway, branching off from Terni. The excursion however should be postponed at least till April, as the snow lies long in the Abruzzi, or it may be more pleasantly taken in October. The reports of brigands and alarming adventures are almost entirely unfounded. No difficulties attend the tour. The roads are excellent, the food generally very tolerable, and the inhabitants simple and hospitable to a degree, and uniformly kind and civil to strangers. The medieval costumes are preserved, and are highly picturesque. The Abruzzi have hitherto been unspoilt by a rush of English and Americans, and the old Italian scale of prices is maintained. A journey of 8 or 9 hours by diligence seldom costs more than 5 or 6 francs. Five soldi are considered a handsome buonamano for a guide or facchino for a short distance. In the hotels, rooms cost from 1 to 2 francs, dinner from 2 to 2 francs, breakfast from 60 to 85 centimes. At present it is quite unnecessary to make a bargain at the hotels, and would only lead to suspicion and mistrust. Those who travel in the Abruzzi should be as unencumbered as possible with luggage, for which there is little or no accommodation in the carriages or diligences. The Abruzzi consist of three provinces. Abruzzo Ulteriore, whose principal towns are Ascoli, Teramo, and Civita di Penne; Abruzzo Ulteriore II., which includes part of the Sabina, and contains Civita Ducale, Aquila, Solmona, and Avezzano; and Abruzzo Citeriore, It is which includes the country around Chieti, Lanciano, and Vasto. only with the second of these, whose mountains are visible from Rome, that we are now concerned. It is most easily approached through the Sabine hills below Rieti. There are two ways of reaching Rieti from Rome by a public conveyance. First, by the diligence which meets the quick train from Rome to Florence at the station of Corese, and arrives at Rieti at 3 p. m., having halted for 2 hours at a wayside inn; and, secondly, by the diligence which leaves the market-place at Terni at 12, on the arrival of the same train, and reaches Rieti at 5 p. m., without any halt. A place in the diligence from Terni to Rieti costs 3 francs; a two-horse carriage for the same, 16 francs.) T is a long ascent from Terni to Papigno, above the Falls. IT Thence, avoiding Pie di Luco with its lake and echo, the road follows the upland plain of the Velino, filled with vines trained upon the white mulberry-trees. The country is wonderfully rich. Cicero * speaks of it as the Rheatine Tempe. The banks of the river were the "Rosea rura Velini" of Virgil. The hills are limestone, and consequently incapable of fine forms, and there is little beauty, till we reach Rieti high in the upland, 1396 feet above the sea, but close under |