Capua, once the chief city of Campania, was founded by Capys, who is
described as having been the father, or rather the companion, of
Anchises. It was at one time so opulent, that it was called "the other
Rome."
Perhaps our readers will have no objection to have their memories
refreshed by an allusion to the mistake, committed at this place by
Hannibal. The details of it will give some variety to our page. It is
thus related by Rollin, from the luminous page of Livy:--"The battle of
Cannæ subjected the most powerful nations of Italy to Hannibal, drew
over to his interest Græcia Magna; also wrested from the Romans their
most ancient allies, amongst whom the Capuans held the first rank. This
city, by the fertility of its soil, its advantageous situation, and the
blessings of a long peace, had risen to great wealth and power. Luxury,
and a flow of pleasures, the usual attendants on wealth, had corrupted
the minds of all the citizens, who, from their natural inclination, were
but too much addicted to voluptuousness and all excesses. Hannibal made
choice of this city for his winter-quarters. There it was that his
soldiers, who had sustained the most grievous toils, and braved the most
formidable dangers, were overthrown by delights and a profusion of all
things, into which they plunged with the greater eagerness as they, till
then, had been entire strangers to them. Their courage was so enervated
in this bewitching retirement, that all their after-efforts were owing
rather to the fame and splendour of their former victories than to their
present strength. When Hannibal marched his forces out of the city, one
would have taken them for other men, and the reverse of those who had so
lately marched into it. Accustomed, during the winter season, to
commodious lodgings, to ease and plenty, they were no longer able to
bear hunger, thirst, long marches, watchings, and the other toils of
war; not to mention that all obedience, all discipline, were laid
aside."
Livy thinks that Hannibal's stay at Capua is a reproach to his conduct;
and pretends that he there was guilty of an infinitely greater error
than when he neglected to march directly to Rome after the battle of
Cannæ:--"For this delay," says Livy, "might seem only to have retarded
his victory; whereas this last misconduct rendered him absolutely
incapable of ever defeating the enemy. In a word, as Marcellus observed
judiciously afterwards, Capua was to the Carthaginians and their
general, what Cannæ had been to the Romans. There their martial genius,
their love of discipline, were lost; there their former fame, and their
almost certain hopes of future glory, vanished at once, and, indeed,
from thenceforth, the affairs of Hannibal advanced to their decline by
swift steps; fortune declared in favour of prudence, and victory seemed
now reconciled to the Romans." It is doubted, however, whether Livy has
reason to impute all these fatal consequences to the agreeable abode at
Capua. It might, indeed, have been one cause, but this would be a very
inconsiderable one; and the bravery with which the forces of Hannibal
afterwards defeated the armies of consuls and prætors; the towns they
took even in sight of the Romans; their maintaining their conquests so
vigorously, and staying fourteen years after this in Italy in spite of
the Romans; all these circumstances may induce us to believe that Livy
lays too much stress on the delights of Capua. In fact, the chief cause
of the decay of Hannibal's affairs was his want of necessary supplies
and succours from Carthage.
The revolt of Capua to the Carthaginians proved its ruin; for when taken
by the consuls Fulvius and Claudius, it was punished for its perfidy.
Genseric, the Vandal, however, was more cruel than the Romans had been;
for he massacred the inhabitants and burned the town to the ground.
Narses rebuilt it; but in 841 it was totally destroyed by an army of
Saracens, and the inhabitants driven to the mountains[170]. Some time
after the retreat of these savage invaders, the Lombards ventured down
again into the plain; but not deeming their force adequate to the
defence of so great a circuit as the large city, they built themselves a
smaller one on the river, and called it Capua.
In 1501 this new city was taken by storm by the French, who, according
to Guicciardini and Giannone, committed the most flagitious acts of
rapine, lust, and enormity.
"The amphitheatre of Old Capua," says Mr. Forsyth, "recals to us the
sublime image of Spartacus. It resembles the Coliseum in its form and in
its fate. Both were raised on magnificent designs--negligently executed.
Both have suffered from barbarians and from modern builders; but the
solitude of the Campanian ruin has exposed it to greater dilapidation
than the Roman has yet undergone. Part of its materials has emigrated to
modern Capua; a part is buried in its own arena. The first order of
columns is half interred; the second has none entire."
Though much defaced by the loss of its marble[171], this structure
offers many ornaments peculiar to itself. It is considerably smaller
than the Flavian amphitheatre at Rome; but worthy of the first among the
second cities of the empire: the monuments still to be seen on the spot
are certainly of a date long posterior to Capua's independence, and even
to that of Roman liberty. The lower order of the amphitheatre is Tuscan;
the second Doric. What the upper ones were cannot be ascertained: on the
keystone of each arcade was the bust of a deity of a colossal size and
coarse execution, much too massive for the rest of the work. It had four
entrances, and was built of brick, faced with stone or marble. The
little value set upon brick has preserved it; while the other materials
have been torn down to mend roads and build cottages.
"From Caserta," says Mr. Forsyth, "it is but half an hour's ride to the
remains of ancient Capua[172]. Some tombs on the road, though ruined and
encumbered with bushes, display a variety of sepulchral forms, unknown
during the Roman republic. Most of the Campanian tombs, anterior to
Cæsar, had been demolished by his soldiers, while searching for painted
vases; for Capua, though late in learning the ceramic art, was more
productive than the rest of Campania." Vases have lately been discovered
here in great variety, and antiquaries find out purposes for them all;
either in the form, or the size, or the painting, or their own
imagination[173].