NICE, May 2, 1764.
DEAR DOCTOR,--A few days ago, I rode out with two gentlemen of this
country, to see a stream of water which was formerly conveyed in an
aqueduct to the antient city of Cemenelion, from whence this place is
distant about a mile, though separated by abrupt rocks and deep
hollows, which last are here honoured with the name of vallies. The
water, which is exquisitely cool, and light and pure, gushes from the
middle of a rock by a hole which leads to a subterranean aqueduct
carried through the middle of the mountain. This is a Roman work, and
the more I considered it, appeared the more stupendous. A peasant who
lives upon the spot told us, he had entered by this hole at eight in
the morning, and advanced so far, that it was four in the afternoon
before he came out. He said he walked in the water, through a regular
canal formed of a hard stone, lined with a kind of cement, and vaulted
overhead; but so high in most parts he could stand upright, yet in
others, the bed of the canal was so filled with earth and stones, that
he was obliged to stoop in passing. He said that there were air-holes
at certain distances (and indeed I saw one of these not far from the
present issue) that there were some openings and stone seats on the
sides, and here and there figures of men formed of stone, with hammers
and working tools in their hands. I am apt to believe the fellow
romanced a little, in order to render his adventure the more
marvellous: but I am certainly informed, that several persons have
entered this passage, and proceeded a considerable way by the light of
torches, without arriving at the source, which (if we may believe the
tradition of the country) is at the distance of eight leagues from this
opening; but this is altogether incredible. The stream is now called la
fontaine de muraille, and is carefully conducted by different branches
into the adjacent vineyards and gardens, for watering the ground. On
the side of the same mountain, more southerly, at the distance of half
a mile, there is another still more copious discharge of the same kind
of water, called la source du temple. It was conveyed through the same
kind of passage, and put to the same use as the other; and I should
imagine they are both from the same source, which, though hitherto
undiscovered, must be at a considerable distance, as the mountain is
continued for several leagues to the westward, without exhibiting the
least signs of water in any other part. But, exclusive of the
subterranean conduits, both these streams must have been conveyed
through aqueducts extending from hence to Cemenelion over steep rocks
and deep ravines, at a prodigious expence. The water from this source
du temple, issues from a stone building which covers the passage in the
rock. It serves to turn several olive, corn, and paper mills, being
conveyed through a modern aqueduct raised upon paultry arcades at the
expence of the public, and afterwards is branched off in very small
streams, for the benefit of this parched and barren country. The Romans
were so used to bathing, that they could not exist without a great
quantity of water; and this, I imagine, is one reason that induced them
to spare no labour and expence in bringing it from a distance, when
they had not plenty of it at home. But, besides this motive, they had
another: they were so nice and delicate in their taste of water, that
they took great pains to supply themselves with the purest and lightest
from afar, for drinking and culinary uses, even while they had plenty
of an inferior sort for their bath, and other domestic purposes. There
are springs of good water on the spot where Cemenelion stood: but there
is a hardness in all well-water, which quality is deposited in running
a long course, especially, if exposed to the influence of the sun and
air. The Romans, therefore, had good reason to soften and meliorate
this element, by conveying it a good length of way in open aqueducts.
What was used in the baths of Cemenelion, they probably brought in
leaden pipes, some of which have been dug up very lately by accident.
You must know, I made a second excursion to these antient ruins, and
measured the arena of the amphitheatre with packthread. It is an oval
figure; the longest diameter extending to about one hundred and
thirteen feet, and the shortest to eighty-eight; but I will not answer
for the exactness of the measurement. In the center of it, there was a
square stone, with an iron ring, to which I suppose the wild beasts
were tied, to prevent their springing upon the spectators. Some of the
seats remain, the two opposite entrances, consisting each of one large
gate, and two lateral smaller doors, arched: there is also a
considerable portion of the external wall; but no columns, or other
ornaments of architecture. Hard by, in the garden of the count de
Gubernatis, I saw the remains of a bath, fronting the portal of the
temple, which I have described in a former letter; and here were some
shafts of marble pillars, particularly a capital of the Corinthian
order beautifully cut, of white alabaster. Here the count found a large
quantity of fine marble, which he has converted to various uses; and
some mutilated statues, bronze as well as marble. The peasant shewed me
some brass and silver medals, which he has picked up at different times
in labouring the ground; together with several oblong beads of coloured
glass, which were used as ear-rings by the Roman ladies; and a small
seal of agate, very much defaced. Two of the medals were of Maximian
and Gallienus; the rest were so consumed, that I could not read the
legend. You know, that on public occasions, such as games, and certain
sacrifices, handfuls of medals were thrown among the people; a
practice, which accounts for the great number which have been already
found in this district. I saw some subterranean passages, which seemed
to have been common sewers; and a great number of old walls still
standing along the brink of a precipice, which overhangs the Paglion.
The peasants tell me, that they never dig above a yard in depth,
without finding vaults or cavities. All the vineyards and
garden-grounds, for a considerable extent, are vaulted underneath; and
all the ground that produces their grapes, fruit, and garden-stuff, is
no more than the crumpled lime and rubbish of old Roman buildings,
mixed with manure brought from Nice. This antient town commanded a most
noble prospect of the sea; but is altogether inaccessible by any kind
of wheel carriage. If you make shift to climb to it on horseback, you
cannot descend to the plain again, without running the risk of breaking
your neck.
About seven or eight miles on the other side of Nice, are the remains
of another Roman monument which has greatly suffered from the barbarity
of successive ages. It was a trophy erected by the senate of Rome, in
honour of Augustus Caesar, when he had totally subdued all the
ferocious nations of these Maritime Alps; such as the Trumpilini
Camuni, Vennontes, Isnarci, Breuni, etc. It stands upon the top of a
mountain which overlooks the town of Monaco, and now exhibits the
appearance of an old ruined tower. There is a description of what it
was, in an Italian manuscript, by which it appears to have been a
beautiful edifice of two stories, adorned with columns and trophies in
alto-relievo, with a statue of Augustus Caesar on the top. On one of
the sides was an inscription, some words of which are still legible,
upon the fragment of a marble found close to the old building: but the
whole is preserved in Pliny, who gives it, in these words, lib. iii.
cap. 20.
IMPERATORI CAESARI DIVI. F. AVG. PONT.
MAX. IMP. XIV. TRIBVNIC. POTEST. XVIII.
S. P. Q. R.
QVODEIVSDVCTV, AVSPICIISQ. GENIES ALPINAE OMNES,
QVAE A MARI SVPERO AD INFERVM PERTINEBANT, SVB
IMPERIVM PO. RO. SUNT REDAC. GENTES ALPINAE DEVICTAE.
TRVMPILINI CAMVNI, VENNONETES, ISNARCI, BREVNI,
NAVNES, FOCVNATES, VINDELICORVM GENTES QVATVOR,
CONSVANETES, VIRVCINATES, LICATES, CATENATES, ABI-
SONTES, RVGVSCI, SVANETES, CALVCONES, BRIXENTES,
LEPONTII, VIBERI, NANTVATES, SEDVNI, VERAGRI,
SALASSI, ACITAVONES MEDVLLI, VCINI, CATVRIGES,
BRIGIANI, SOGIVNTII, NEMALONES, EDENETES,
ESVBIANI, VEAMINI, GALLITAE, TRIVLLATI,
ECTINI, VERGVNNI, EGVITVRI. NEMENTVRI,
ORATELLI, NERVSCI, VELAVNI, SVETRI.
This Trophy is erected by the Senate and People of Rome to the Emperor
Caesar Augustus, son of the divine Julius, in the fourteenth year of
his imperial Dignity, and in the eighteenth of his Tribunician Power,
because under his command and auspices all the nations of the Alps from
the Adriatic to the Tuscanian Sea, were reduced under the Dominion of
Rome. The Alpine nations subdued were the Trumpelini, etc.
Pliny, however, is mistaken in placing this inscription on a trophy
near the Augusta praetoria, now called Aosta, in Piedmont: where,
indeed, there is a triumphal arch, but no inscription. This noble
monument of antiquity was first of all destroyed by fire; and
afterwards, in Gothic times, converted into a kind of fortification.
The marbles belonging to it were either employed in adorning the church
of the adjoining village, which is still called Turbia, a corruption of
Trophaea; [This was formerly a considerable town called Villa Martis,
and pretends to the honour of having given birth to Aulus Helvius, who
succeeded Commodus as emperor of Rome, by the name of Pertinax which he
acquired from his obstinate refusal of that dignity, when it was forced
upon him by the senate. You know this man, though of very low birth,
possessed many excellent qualities, and was basely murdered by the
praetorian guards, at the instigation of Didius Tulianus. For my part,
I could never read without emotion, that celebrated eulogium of the
senate who exclaimed after his death, Pertinace, imperante, securi
viximus neminem timuimus, patre pio, patre senatus, patre omnium,
honorum, We lived secure and were afraid of nothing under the
Government of Pertinax, our affectionate Father, Father of the Senate,
Father to all the children of Virtue.] or converted into tomb-stones,
or carried off to be preserved in one or two churches of Nice. At
present, the work has the appearance of a ruinous watch-tower, with
Gothic battlements; and as such stands undistinguished by those who
travel by sea from hence to Genoa, and other ports of Italy. I think I
have now described all the antiquities in the neighbourhood of Nice,
except some catacombs or caverns, dug in a rock at St. Hospice, which
Busching, in his geography, has described as a strong town and seaport,
though in fact, there is not the least vestige either of town or
village. It is a point of land almost opposite to the tower of Turbia,
with the mountains of which it forms a bay, where there is a great and
curious fishery of the tunny fish, farmed of the king of Sardinia. Upon
this point there is a watch-tower still kept in repair, to give notice
to the people in the neighbourhood, in case any Barbary corsairs should
appear on the coast. The catacombs were in all probability dug, in
former times, as places of retreat for the inhabitants upon sudden
descents of the Saracens, who greatly infested these seas for several
successive centuries. Many curious persons have entered them and
proceeded a considerable way by torch-light, without arriving at the
further extremity; and the tradition of the country is, that they reach
as far as the ancient city of Cemenelion; but this is an idle
supposition, almost as ridiculous as that which ascribes them to the
labour and ingenuity of the fairies: they consist of narrow
subterranean passages, vaulted with stone and lined with cement. Here
and there one finds detached apartments like small chambers, where I
suppose the people remained concealed till the danger was over.
Diodorus Siculus tells us, that the antient inhabitants of this country
usually lived under ground. "Ligures in terra cubant ut plurimum;
plures ad cava, saxa speluncasque ab natura factas ubi tegantur corpora
divertunt," "The Ligurians mostly lie on the bare ground; many of them
lodge in bare Caves and Caverns where they are sheltered from the
inclemency of the weather." This was likewise the custom of the
Troglodytae, a people bordering upon Aethiopia who, according to
Aelian, lived in subterranean caverns; from whence, indeed they took
their name trogli, signifying a cavern; and Virgil, in his Georgics,
thus describes the Sarmatae,
Ipsi in defossis specubus, secura sub alta
Ocia agunt terra.--
In Subterranean Caves secure they lie
Nor heed the transient seasons as they fly.
These are dry subjects; but such as the country affords. If we have not
white paper, we must snow with brown. Even that which I am now
scrawling may be useful, if, not entertaining: it is therefore the more
confidently offered by--Dear Sir, Yours affectionately.