Those only who have lived in Rome can duly estimate the potent and
lasting impression produced upon the mind of a thinking man, by a
residence in this capital of the ancient world. The daily contemplation
of so many classical and noble objects elevates and purifies the soul,
and has a powerful tendency to allay the inconsiderate fervours and
impetuosities of youth, to mature, and consolidate the character. I am
already so altered, and, I have the vanity to think, so improved a man
since my arrival here, that there are times when I almost doubt my own
identity, and imagine that, by some preternatural agency, I have been
born over again, and have had new blood and new vitality infused into my
frame.
The gratifications of a residence in Rome are inexhaustible. At every
turn I discover some new evidence of the power and magnificence of her
ancient inhabitants, and vivid sensations of delight and awe rapidly
succeed each other. This venerable metropolis is the tomb and monument,
not of princes, but of nations; it illustrates the progressive stages of
human society, and all other cities appear modern and unfinished in
comparison.
Exploring this forenoon the vicinity of Monte Palatino, I discovered in
an obscure corner, near the temple of Romulus, the time-hallowed spring
of Juturna, rising with crystal clearness near the Cloaca maxima, into
which it flows unvalued and forgotten. I refreshed myself in the mid-day
heat by drinking its pure lymph from the hollow of my hand, and gazed
with long and insatiable delight upon the memorable fountain. This
sacred spot is surrounded and obscured by contiguous buildings, and the
walls are luxuriantly fringed and mantled with mosses, lichens, and
broad leaved ivy. The proud aqueducts of the expanding city diminish the
value and importance of this spring, but it was unquestionably the
ruling motive which determined Romulus, or possibly an earlier colony of
Greeks, to take root here, as within the wide compass of the Roman walls
there is no other source of pure water.--_Blackwood's Magazine._
* * * * *