At pius Æneas ingenti mole Sepulchrum Imponit, fuaque arma viro remumque tubamque Monte fub Aerio, qui nunc Mifenus ab illo Dicitur, aternumque tenet per facula nomen. An. L. 6. There are ftill to be feen a few Ruins of old Milenum, but the most confiderable Antiquity of the Place is a Set of Galleries that are hewn into the Rock, and are much more fpacious than the Pifcina Mirabilis. Some will have 'em to have been a Refervoir of Water, but others more probably fuppofe 'em to have been Nero's Baths. I lay the first Night on the Ifle of Procitu, that is pretty well cultivated, and contains about Four Thousand Inhabitants, who are all Vaffals to the Marquis de Vafto. The next Morning I went to see the Isle of Ifchia, that stands further out into the Sea. The ancient Poets call it Inarime and lay Typhaus under it, by reafon of its Eruptions of Fire. There has been no Eruption for near thefe Three Hundred Years. The last was very terrible, and destroy'd a whole City. At prefent there are scarce any Marks left of a Subterraneous Fire, for the Earth is cold, and cover'd with Grafs and Shrubs, where the Rocks will fuffer it. There are indeed feveral little Cracks in it, thro' which there iflues a conftant Smoke, but 'tis probable this arifes from 23 from the warm Springs that feed the mairy Baths with which this Iflands is plentifully ftock'd. I obferv'd, about one of thefe Breathing Paflages, a Spot of Myrtles that flourish within the Steam of thefe Vapours, and have a continual Moifture hanging upon 'em. On the South of Ifchia lyes a round Lake of about Three Quarters of a Mile Diameter, feparate from the Sea by a nar. row Tract of Land. It was formerly a Roman Port. On the North End of the Ifland ftands the Town and Castle an exceeding high Rock, divided from the Body of the Ifland, and inacceffible to an Eneiny on all Sides. This Ifland is larger, but much more Rocky and Barren than Procita. Virgil makes 'em both flake at the Fall of part of the Mole of Baja that flood at a few Miles diftance from 'em. on Qualis in Eaboico Bajarum littore quondam Saxea pila cadit, magnis quam molibus ante. Conflructam jaciunt pelago: Sic illa ruinam Prona trabit, penitufque vadis illifa recumbit; Mifcent fe maria & nigre attolluntur arena: Tum fonitu Prochita alta tremit, durumque cubile Inarime, Jovis Imperiis impofla Typhao. Rn. 9. Not with lefs Ruin than the Bajan Mole Rais'd on the Seas the Surges to con trol) At At once comes tumbling down the rocky Wall, Prone to the Deep the Stones disjointed fall Off the vaft Pile; the fcatter'd Ocean flies; Black Sands, discolour'd Froth, and mingled Mud arise. The frighted Billows roll, and feek the Shores : Trembles high Prochyta, and Ifchia roars: Typhæus roars beneath, by Jove's Command, Astonish'd at the Flaw that fhakes the Landə Soon fhifts his weary Side, and fcarce awake, With Wonder feels the Weight prefs lighter on his Back. Drydes I don't see why Virgil in this noble Comparifon has given the Epithet of Alta to Procita, for it is not only no high Island in it felf, but is much lower than chia, and all the Points of Land that lye within its Nigbourhood. I fhould think Alta was join'd adverbially with Tremit, did Virgil make use of fo Equivocal a Syntax. I cannot forbear inferting in this Place the lame Imitation that Silius Italicus has made of the foregoing Paffage. Haud aliter fructo Tyrrhena ad littora Saxo, Pa Pugnatura fretis fubter cæcifque procellis ves, Thrown from its Bafis with a dreadful Sound, Dashes the broken Billows all around, And with refiftles Force the Surface cle aves, That in its angry Waves the falling Rock receives. The next Morning going to Cuma thro' a very pleasant Path, by the Mare Mortuum, and the Elifian Fields, we faw in our Way a great many Ruins of Sepulchres, and other ancient Edifices. Cuma is at present utterly deftitute of Inhabitants, so much is it chang'd fince Lucan's Time, if the Poem to Pifo be his. Acidalia qua condidit Alite maros Euboicam referens facunda Neapolis urbem. Where the fam'd Walls of fruitful Naples lye, That That may for Multitudes with Cuma vie. They how here the Remains of Apollo's Temple, which all the Writers of the Antiquities of this Place fuppofe to have been the fame Virgil defcribes in his Sixth Eneid, as built by Dedalus, and that the very Sto ry which Virgil there mentions, was actu ally Engraven on the Front of it. Redditus bis primùm terris tibi Phabe Sacravis Remigium Alarum, pofuitque immania Templa. In foribus lethum Androgeo, tum pendere panas Cecropida juffi, miferum! Septena quotannis Carpora Natorum: Stat duclis fortibus urna. Contra elata mari refpondet Gnoffia tellus, &c. An. 64 To the Cumean Coast at lenght he came, And, here alighting, built his coftly Frame, Infcrib'd to Phabus, here he hung on high The Steerage of his Wings that cut the Sky; Then o'er the lofty Gate his Art emboss'd Androgeo's Death, and Off'rings to his Ghoft Sev'n Youths from Athens yearly fent, to meet The Fate appointed by revengeful Creet, A a And |