slope of the hills opposite to the town; but do not imagine that we have
to regret this exertion; every step of the way abounds with such varied
beauty, that we are glad of anything which detains us. I shall not
attempt to carry you to the numerous villas about Tivoli; you can hardly
walk a furlong in any direction without stumbling on some of their
ruins, but I shall mention a few of them as they occur. The next object
in the usual tour is the Villa of Horace; not that he had any villa on
the spot, but there were fragments which wanted a name, and they gave it
a very pretty one, not forgetful of his relation to Mæcenas, whose
pretended habitation stands on the opposite side of the valley. It is a
pity to doubt, but after having examined, you cannot have any confident
belief. These ruins, like all the rest, are merely some of the
substructions and vaults, made in order to obtain a level surface for
the principal apartment, and probably for the court of the villa. Nature
has pretty generally denied this about Tivoli, and all the ancient
villas in the neighbourhood are on slopes, where works of this sort were
necessary, and they were carried to an immense extent. Other
constructions followed lower down, to support the gardens and fishponds,
forming a succession of terraces, of which the modern Italians have
frequently taken advantage to plant their olive-grounds. It seems to me,
that the Romans were fond of such situations and modes of construction,
as we frequently see them where they might have been avoided without
much difficulty, and it is even probable that they often resided in
these semi-subterranean apartments, which would be cooler than those
exposed all round to the air. There are some peculiarities of
disposition and construction in this villa of Horace, as indeed most of
the remains have something which renders them remarkable; and it is
extremely interesting to stand on the spot, and to speculate on the
probable use of the different parts; but this is a gratification which
would be lost in description. The vast extent also of these half-ruined
vaults impresses the mind with a sort of admiration; we seem to have got
among a race whose exertions were not limited by the weakness and
poverty of modern man. A little beyond, at the intersection of two
roads, is the Villa of Quintilius Varus, one of the largest of these
immense places, and I have wandered through, and over the vaults, and on
the terraces of the gardens, with an astonishment continually
increasing. We may add to the effect of the ruins themselves, that all
the situations are enchanting; some command more perfectly the Campagna
and distant Rome; others enjoy better the delightful valley of the Anio,
where rocks and cultivation, vines, olives, and natural woods, unite to
enrich and vary the scene; and the cascatelle pour down the steep and
rocky bank in white foam, and occasion a light mist which hangs as a
beautiful veil over the surrounding objects. Amongst however, the charms
of this valley, I should not omit the _Styrax officinalis_, which grows
abundantly in some parts, and is now covered with flowers; I am assured
that the fruit yields an excellent oil, not inferior to that of the
olive, and sometimes in greater quantity.
The usual tour follows the left-hand of the two roads abovementioned,
but I one day took the right-hand path, with a young abate, a relation
of the landlord of the inn, to look after Cyclopean walls.
In England, a little more than 200 years carries us back to a distinct
and peculiar style of architecture, and we consequently consider its
productions as antiquities. In Italy, what does not exceed 400 years is
absolutely modern, and a production is hardly considered as ancient,
unless it date at least before the destruction of the Roman empire,
under the reign of Augustulus, at the close of the 5th century. The
buildings of the early emperors have an undoubted claim to the title,
and still more those of the republic; but what name shall we apply to
those which were erected 1,800 years before Christ. This date is boldly
claimed for some of the Cyclopean walls; of which construction, it is
said, that there are 108 citadels in Italy, and the thorough-going
Italian antiquary, though he is contented to admit, that the oldest were
not erected more than 2760 years before the Christian era, yet will not
admit that any of them can be more recent than the foundation of Rome.
They were, according to him, introduced into Italy by Saturn, but their
earliest use in the temple of Hercules, at Tyre, was 2,760 years before
Christ. Leaving these suppositions, we may be justified in considering
the walls in question as the earliest remains of building in Italy. They
are, as you know, built with great irregular blocks of stone, made even
on the face, or nearly so, not squared, nor laid in regular courses, but
the inequalities are fitted to each other as much as possible, and the
interstices filled up with smaller stones. In what is probably the
earliest style of all, no tool seems to have been applied to the stone,
but the rude masses are merely heaped on one another, taking care in the
position of each successive block, to place it where it would most
nearly fit into the work, and probably keeping the smoothest side
outwards, to form the face of the wall; but the work is always rude and
uneven. In the second style, the tool has been used more or less, in
order to make the great stones fit with some degree of accuracy; and in
both these, one may easily conceive the use of the leaden rule described
by Herodotus, which, being bent to the internal angle, left on the top
of the wall, would be applied to the external angles of the stone
intended to be placed in it. In the third sort of Cyclopean walls, lines
nearly horizontal are decidedly more numerous than those in any other
direction, and here and there, are some appearances of level courses.
These, in later times, predominated more and more, till in the fourth
and last style, the only irregularity is found in the unequal thickness
of the stones of the same course, corrected sometimes by the
introduction of a sloping line, or more often by a notch to let the
larger stone into the course above or below. Though I believe this to
have been the general progress of the art, yet you must not imagine them
as distinctly characterizing different periods; on the contrary, there
is hardly any considerable wall of Cyclopean masonry, which does not
exhibit in different parts, two of these methods; and sometimes three
are found, without any appearance that they have been restorations of
different periods; we may however observe, that the second style is most
common in Latium, the fourth in Tuscany; the third is perhaps about
equally diffused in both countries. At all times, these blocks were used
without cement, and all that I have hitherto seen, are mere terrace
walls against a hill, and exhibiting in consequence one face only; but I
am told of instances where both sides are seen, and that in such cases
two walls are built back to back, without any attention to the
regularity, or evenness of what was to be the internal part, and without
any filling in. No arches, that is, no system of wedges mutually
supporting each other, is to be found, though such an arrangement would
seem to grow more easily out of these inclined lines, than from regular
courses of stones; but where there are openings, (of which I have seen
none hitherto) there is a very large stone, worked square, and laid
horizontally to cover it; and in one instance, at Arpino (perhaps
because the builders could not meet with a stone large enough to cover
the opening,) the size of the aperture is reduced by advancing courses,
into the form of a pointed arch. There is indeed a real arch at Fiesole,
which by some has been supposed to be part of the Cyclopean
construction, but both the arch and the fragment on which it rests are
obviously of a date much posterior. There are many remains of Cyclopean
walls both at Tivoli and Palestrina, and as according to Virgil, Tibur
and Præneste were founded about the time that Æneas landed in Italy;
this epoch has been assigned to their construction, but it must be
confessed, that the argument is not altogether conclusive. It is held
essential to Cyclopean walls, that there should be no cement, and _à
fortiori_, no rubble-work employed in their composition; but in this
neighbourhood, at what is called the villa of Brutus, which I shall
shortly mention to you; there is a wall of Cyclopean masonry, resting
for its whole length, and apparently backed in its whole extent by a
wall of rubble. This Cyclopean wall has been faced by another of _opus
reticulatum_, so common in the time of Augustus, and in that of the
first emperors, and which may be seen in almost all the villas about
Tivoli. It seems that the Romans did not like the appearance of these
large irregular blocks, and covered them with a masonry of small
fragments more suited to their taste. These circumstances render it
probable that none of these walls are so late as the time of the
emperors, but we have no proof that they were not in use a century
before that period.
There are some of these walls in the villa attributed to Ventidius
Bassus, which appear to rest on a rubble-work, held together by cement;
but without digging, I could not be quite certain. We continued our walk
considerably farther, and found at Vetriano other considerable fragments
of Cyclopean walls, but always built to support the earth behind them,
and to support terraces. The stones are worked with some approach to
horizontal courses and the wall strengthened by buttresses. There are
breaks enough to show that it is backed by _emplecton_, or rubble-work,
for its whole extent, and this _emplecton_ is perfectly rude, and
without any appearance of having been laid by hand, so that it destroys
a theory I had formed which pretended to distinguish the rubble-work
connected with the Cyclopean walls from that of a later period. Here are
some mosaics quite on the surface: they seem still to be very numerous
about Tivoli, notwithstanding the quantities which have been removed or
destroyed, but in general it is necessary to dig for them. Not far from
Vetriano, there are Roman constructions in brick, and the foundations
and mosaics of a Roman villa have been found by digging in the
vineyards. Here also is an oil-mill, and it appears evident that the oil
has corroded the stone. Nearer to Tivoli there is another considerable
Cyclopean wall, which is distinctly rusticated, and has large and solid
buttresses.
From Vetriano I continued my way alone (the abate returning to his
dinner), to the quarries of travertine, where I was shewn two great
blocks going to England in the shape of the eagles of the villa
Borghese. The part they are at present working has the appearance of
being a deposit, filling up an ancient excavation. The quality of the
stone is exactly like that of the Lago de Tartari, except that it is
much more compact; but it is as evidently a fresh-water formation. The
quarryman assured me that the bones of a Christian had been found there.
These quarries extend to within a moderate distance of the Solfatara,
already described. The ancient quarries are in the same bed, but on the
opposite side of the road to Rome. They are now filled with bushes, and
form a hollow near the river, perhaps two miles round, an excellent
harbour for game. In crossing from one to the other I passed two
aqueducts, one of which divides itself into two branches. The length,
the number, and the winding course of these aqueducts, render it
extremely difficult to trace them, or to comprehend their disposition;
indeed, for a passing stranger, it is impossible, and it could only be
done by a most careful survey, and an accurate determination of the
position, and the level of every fragment. The nature of the tufo, or
deposit on their sides, would perhaps yield some assistance. We are
surprised at this point to observe their rapid declension: about Tivoli
we see them winding along, to accommodate themselves to the form of the
hill, and to maintain their elevation; here they are almost on the level
of the upper part of the Campagna, at least 300 feet lower than those
which are observed at a distance of not more than two miles. After
leaving the quarries, I passed over the Ponte Lucano, and by the
Plautian monument, and leaving Hadrian’s villa on the right, and the
road to Tivoli on the left, went directly up the hill to look after more
Cyclopean walls, and to see the villas of Brutus and Cassius. The
remains of these are of immense extent, but they are only substructions
like the rest; by substructions, however, you must not understand mere
foundations of walls just peeping above the surface; they consist of
long walls and vaults, sometimes parallel with the direction of the
hill, and sometimes in that of the slope, supporting terraces covered
with earth, and olive-trees. The lower terrace of the villa of Brutus
must be above 400 feet long, and the wall which supports it near 40 feet
high. The second is nearly of the same length, and about 30 feet in
height, but interrupted. The third is also considerable; that of Cassius
was larger, but not so regular. The ilex, the lentiscus, and various
other shrubs, hung about these ruins; and the broad deep green leaves of
the fig, contrast with the light silvery gray spray of the olive.
Indeed, in this neighbourhood, every waste spot of ground presents a
collection of beautiful shrubs, most of which are now in flower. Higher
up the mountain, the gray rocks are principally covered with the Spanish
broom, and a large coarse grass (_Arundo ampelodesmus_) though not
without a mixture of the humbler growth of cistuses and helianthema. All
this sounds very beautiful, and in fact it is so, but the features are
so much hid by the continued grove of olive-trees, that they are almost
lost in the effect of the general scenery, and you may pass through the
country, and see very little of it.
This digression has entirely carried me away from the usual tour, which
was the first I made, and which I had begun to describe to you. I left
it just at the villa of Quintilius Varus. From every opening in this
part of the walk you have a view of the long portico of the villa of
Mæcenas, crowning the opposite hill, on lofty arched substructions, and
of the Cascatelle, rushing down the slope in sheets of foam, into the
valley beneath. We may leave the road soon after the bifurcation, where
I took the right-hand track, and keeping still more to the left, than
the left-hand path, descend to the bottom of the hill, to enjoy more
fully the view of the Cascatelle. The prospect varies at every step of
the descent. We first lose the distant Campagna, which is disclosed from
the upper part of the slope, and soon afterwards the olive-groves beyond
the villa of Mæcenas; while the villa itself seems more majestically
placed; the water falling in various directions becomes of more
consequence; and the rich woods of the high bank opposite to us display
all their beauties. The great Cascatella furnishes a considerable mass
of water, but though the fall is much higher than any that I have before
described, yet as it occupies a much more open situation, the character
of the scenery has less of the sublime than that about the grotto of the
Syren, and more of the beautiful.
There are a great many other fragments of villas about here, but as they
have nothing very characteristic, I shall not stop to enumerate them. We
will therefore pass on to the Ponticelli, or Ponte Acquorio, but before
crossing it, I will mention a beautiful spring called _Acqua Aurea_,
which rises by the side of the river, just above the bridge, and gives
to it the latter name: the former is thought to be a corruption of Pons
Gellius. You are told that a scheme was once in agitation to carry this
water to Rome, but on taking its level, it was found to be too low. This
does not seem to me at all probable. The Teverone is a pretty brisk
stream; and in a course, which, including the windings, must equal
twenty-five miles, it can hardly fall less than 75 feet, in which case
the _Acqua Aurea_ might enter Rome, not indeed at the Porta Maggiore,
but 50 feet above the level of the Tiber. The Lea, from Hertford to
Stratford, runs about the same distance, and I think not more rapidly,
and though we have to remount the Thames from thence to London, we find
the reservoir of the New River 84 feet above the tide.
The ancient road to Tivoli passed over this bridge, and some fragments
of the ancient work remain. At a very small distance is a cavern,
partly, if not entirely artificial, with some niches on the side, called
the Temple of the World; and on ascending the hill, we find a domed,
octagonal hall, denominated Tempio della Tosse, but supposed by
antiquaries to have derived its name from an ancient Tivolese family.
Its ancient destination is unknown, but in after-times it appears to
have been converted into a church, and retains some traces of such an
appropriation.
Our next object is the Villa of Mæcenas, where the remains are more
considerable than in any other, exhibiting, besides the usual
substructions, part of a court surrounded by half columns and arches,
and a long gallery, whence you command the valley below. The ancient
Roman road passed under this villa, part of which was lately
appropriated to a foundery for cannon, and an abundant stream of water
still dashes through the deserted vaults.
Within the city, a circular wall of reticulated work, at the back of the
cathedral, is supposed to mark the position of the Temple of Hercules;
and a double range of vaults of considerable length, is known by the
name of the Portico of Hercules. It has square pilasters in front, which
serve as buttresses to the vaulting.
The construction of the Villa d’Este is on a scale which may entitle it
to be mentioned among these ancient productions. Terrace rises above
terrace, and a copious supply of water rushes down an artificial rock 34
feet in height, spreading in a beautiful manner as it descends, while
the whole is crowned by the long façade of the palace.
LETTER XXXVI.
SUBIACO—PALESTRINA.
_Rome, 31st May, 1817._
AFTER I had pretty well explored the neighbourhood of Tivoli on that
side towards the Campagna, I was desirous to look at the aqueducts
remaining on the other side. About two miles from my inn, at a place
where a brook called Fosso degli Arci crosses the road to Siciliano, are
several fragments. _Fosso_, as perhaps you know, is the Roman name for a
brook. The Roman aqueducts which derive their origin from the valley of
the Anio above Tivoli are, the Anio vetus, the Marcia, the Anio novus,
and the Claudia. The first we meet with at this place is the Marcia,
which is here subterraneous, running along the side of the hill. It
passes under that of the Anio vetus where that crosses the road, and is
there composed of a mass of rubble, intermixed with some brickwork. We
then lose it; but some piers of the same nature, on the steep banks of
the brook, probably belong to it. The second is the Anio vetus, which
passes here on a higher level than the Marcia, contrary to what takes
place at Rome, where the latter is the highest; but it is supposed to be
known by its thick crust of deposit, the water of this arriving turbid
at Rome, while the others were clear. Yet the crust of the Claudia is of
immense thickness, and indeed it seems too abundant in all of them, to
be depended upon to distinguish any one. This tartar is deposited at the
top as well as at the sides, proving the channel to have been completely
filled. We have the evidence of Frontinus to prove, that the water of
the Anio vetus might have been brought on a much higher level to the
city, had it been supported in its course on numerous arches, like the
Claudia and Anio novus. It here crosses a depressed part of the road,
over an arch constructed of square stones. The core of the work is of
rubble, but there is no appearance of brick. Frontinus says that it is
taken from the river at the twentieth mile above Tibur, but antiquaries
dispute whether this is twenty miles from Rome, the words _above Tibur_
being added to show its position; or whether its origin be twenty miles
from Tibur or Tivoli. The length of its course being forty-three miles,
seems too much for one supposition, and too little for the other,
considering how much it winds. It is considerably elevated, and Cabral
and Del Re assure us, that its level at Tivoli is one hundred and fifty
palms, or above a hundred feet above the river; a difference far too
great to be obtained in the course of a mile or two; which is all that
can be allowed, if the distance be measured from Rome. A few paces
beyond the channel of the Anio vetus, the Claudian aqueduct crosses the
road on a lofty arch of rubble, faced with brick. There are some blocks
of tufo on both sides of the stream, which look as if they had supported
an aqueduct lower than any of these, but they are perhaps the remains of
an ancient bridge, which is more unequivocally the case with some other
fragments of rubble-work. This aqueduct may again be seen among the
vineyards, crossing a valley nearer to Tivoli, and there is a
considerable construction, perhaps connected with it, between the road
and the Anio. On the other side of the Fosso degli Arci, we meet again
with the remains of two of these aqueducts. They are soon lost, but
about a mile further on, we find a massive construction upon arches
crossing a little valley, and just beyond this, an apparent
ramification, and a much more extensive range of arches, but more
destroyed. I endeavoured to trace this branch, which seems to be that
which Frontinus mentions as having been made and then deserted. It
perforates the hill, crosses another valley in two parallel lines, which
unite again, passes through another hill, and is found coasting the
valley of the Fosso degli Arci, considerably above the place where I had
quitted it. The foundations are carried to the edge of the brook, and
the watercourse here could only be just high enough to enable it to pass
the natural channel of the little stream without obstructing it: here we
lose it. Where the channel itself can be examined, we find a deposit of
tartar, but not of the thickness that it is down below. All the hills
thus perforated are of a volcanic tufo, or peperino, for although the
valley of the Anio be essentially among the limestone of the Apennines,
yet for some miles above Tivoli, it abounds in abrupt eminences of
volcanic deposits. Towards Vico Varo we again see traces of an aqueduct
crossing the Anio, which is probably the Marcia, or a tributary stream
called Augusta, said to be equal in purity to itself. Below Tivoli, we
find again three of these aqueducts, on the slope of the hill above the
villa of Hadrian. The Anio vetus is traced round an ancient sepulchre,
at a very small distance from Tivoli, and the sharp curve it makes to
avoid the tomb, has occasioned so large a deposit, as to prevent the
free passage of the water; and a new channel was consequently formed for
it. Their course here is in a direction nearly opposite to that of Rome,
and I am always at a loss to know why their constructors should take so
much pains to maintain an elevation so greatly beyond what appears
necessary.