_A beautiful Country.--Magnificent Scenery.--The Approach to
Albano.--Enthusiasm of the Boys.--Archaeology versus Appetite.--The
Separation of the Boys.--The Story of the Alton Lake and the
ancient subterranean Channel._
As they rolled along the road on this last stage of their eventful
journey, they were all in the highest spirits. On to Rome! was
the watchword. It was a glorious day; the sun shone brightly from
a cloudless sky; the air was pure, and brilliant, and genial, and
it also had such a wonderful transparency that distant objects
seemed much nearer from the distinctness with which their outlines
were revealed. The road was a magnificent one,--broad, well paved,
well graded,--and though for some miles it was steadily ascending,
yet the ascent was made by such an easy slope, that it was really
imperceptible; and they bowled along as easily and as merrily as
if on level ground. Moreover, the scenery around was of the most
attractive character. They were among the mountains; and though
there were no snow-clad summits, and no lofty peaks lost amid the
clouds, still the lowering forms that appeared on every side were
full of grandeur and sublimity. Amid these the road wound, and, at
every new turn some fresh scene of beauty or of magnificence was
disclosed to their admiring eyes. Now it was a sequestered valley,
with a streamlet running through it, and the green of its surface
diversified by one or two white cottages, or the darker hue of
olive groves and vineyards; again it was some little hamlet far up
the sloping mountain-side; again some mouldering tower would appear,
perched upon some commanding and almost inaccessible eminence--the
remains of a feudal castle, the monument of lawless power overthrown
forever. Sometimes they would pass through the street of a town,
and have a fresh opportunity of contrasting the lazy and easy-going
life of Italy with the busy, energetic, restless, and stirring life
of their own far-distant America.
On to Rome!
This day was to land them in the "Eternal City;" and though they
enjoyed the drive, still they were eager to have it over, and to
find themselves in that place which was once the centre of the
world's rule, and continued to be so for so many ages. Their
impatience to reach their destination was not, however, excessive,
and did not at all prevent them from enjoying to the utmost the
journey so long as it lasted. Uncle Moses was the only exception.
He was most eager to have it over, and reach some place of rest.
True, no accident had happened; but he had gone through enough
tribulation, both in body and in mind, to furnish the working,
material for a dozen very serious accidents indeed; and the general
effect produced upon him was precisely what might have resulted
from a really perilous journey.
At length they arrived at the town of Albano, where they intended
to remain two hours, and afterwards resume their journey. The town
stood on the side of a hill, and the hotel at which they drew up
was so situated that it commanded a boundless view.
Few places cherish a stronger local pride than Albano. Tradition
identifies this town with no less a place than Alba Longa, so famous
in early Roman legends; for though, according to the old accounts,
Tullus Hostilius destroyed the city proper of Alba Longa, yet
afterwards another town grew on its site, and all around rose up
the splendid villas of the Roman nobility. Here, too, Tiberius and
Domitian had palaces, where they sought relaxation from the cares
of empire in a characteristic way.
On reaching this place, their first care was to order dinner, and
then, as there would be some time taken up in preparation for that
meal, they looked about for some mode of pastime. The landlord
recommended to them a visit to a convent at the top of the hill.
He informed them that it stood on the site of a famous temple, and
that it was visited every day by large numbers of travellers. On,
referring to their guide-book, the boys learned that the temple
referred to by the landlord was that of the Latian Jupiter.
As they had nothing else to do, they set out for the convent, and
soon reached it. Arriving there, they found spread out before them
a view which surpassed anything that they had ever seen in their
lives. Far down beneath them descended the declivity of the Alban
hill, till it terminated in the Roman Campagna. Then, far away
before their eyes it spread for many a mile, till it was terminated
by a long blue line, which it needed not the explanation of the
monk at their elbow to recognize as the Mediterranean; and this
blue line of distant sea spread far away, till it terminated in a
projecting promontory, which their guide told them was the Cape of
Terracina. But their attention was arrested by an object which was
much nearer than this. Through that gray Campagna,--whose gray hue,
the result of waste and barrenness, seemed also to mark its hoary
age,--through this there ran a silver thread, with many a winding
to and fro, now coming full into view, and gleaming in the sun,
now retreating, till it was lost to sight.
"What is this?" asked David.
"The Tiber!" said the monk.
At the mention of this august historic name, a thrill involuntarily
passed through them. The Tiber! What associations clustered around
that word!
Along this silver thread their eyes wandered, till at length it
was lost for a time in a dark, irregular mass of something. The
atmosphere just now had grown slightly hazy in this direction, so
that they could not make out what this was, exactly; whether a
hill, or a grove, or a town; but it looked most like a town, and
the irregularities and projections seemed like towers and domes.
Prominent among these projections was one larger mass, which rose
up above all the others, and formed the chief feature in that
indistinct mass.
"What is all that?" asked David, in a hesitating way, like one who
suspects the truth, but does not feel at all sure about it.
"Dat," said the guide, "dat is Rome; and dat black mass dat you
see is de Church of St. Peter's. It's not clear to-day--some time
we can see it all plain."
At this the boys said nothing, but stood in silence, looking upon
the scene. It was one which might have stirred the souls of even
the least emotional, and among this little company there were two,
at least, who were quick to kindle into enthusiasm at the presence
of anything connected with the storied past. These were David and
Clive, who each, though from different causes, now felt himself
profoundly moved by this spectacle. David's enthusiasm was that
of a scholar; Clive's was that of a poet; yet each was keen in his
susceptibility, and eloquent in the expression of his feelings.
As for Frank and Bob, they were far less demonstrative; and though
they had plenty of enthusiasm of their own, yet it was not often
excited very violently by either poetic feeling or classical
reminiscences. The scene before them certainly moved their feelings
also, on the present occasion; but they were not in the habit of
indulging in exclamatory language, and so they looked on in quiet
appreciation, without saying anything.
Not so the other two, David and Clive. Each burst forth in his
own way.
"How magnificent!" cried Clive. "What a boundless scene! How
fortunate we are to have our first view of Rome! I don't believe
there is such another sight in all the world. But what a scene must
have appeared from these heights when Rome was in its glory!"
"Yes," said David, chiming in, "such a place doesn't exist anywhere
else in all the world. It's the cradle of history, and modern
civilization. Here is where the mighty Roman empire began. There
is the Rome of the kings and the consuls; and down there is the
arena, where they fought out that long battle that arranged the
course of future ages."
"Besides," said Clive; "there is the scene of all the latter part
of the Aeneid, and of all the immortal legends that arose out of
the early growth of Rome. What a place this would be to read
Macaulay's Lays of Ancient Rome!--
"Hail to the great asylum!
Hail to the hill-tops seven!
Hail to the fire that burns for aye!
And the shields that fell from heaven!"
At this moment Frank's attention was attracted to a place not very
far away, where the sheen of some silver water flashed forth from
amid the dark green hue of the surrounding hills.
"What is that?" he asked of the guide. "It looks like a lake."
"It is de Alban Lake."
"The Alban Lake!" cried David, in a fresh transport of enthusiasm;
"the Alban Lake! What, the lake that the Romans drained at the
siege of Veii?"
"It is de same," said the guide.
"Is it really? and is the canal or tunnel still in existence?
"It is."
"Is it far away?"
"Not ver far."
"Boys, we must go there. It is the greatest curiosity of the country
about here."
"Well," said Frank, "I'm in for any curiosity. But how long will
it take for us to see it?"
"It will take more dan one hour," said the guide.
"More than an hour!" said Frank. "Hm--that won't do--we've got to
go back at once to get our dinner. It's ready by this time, and
then we must leave for Rome."
"Well, it's a great pity," said David, sadly. "I think I should be
willing to go without my dinner, to see that wonderful tunnel."
"I shouldn't, then," said Frank, "not for all the tunnels in
the world."
"Nor should I," said Bob.
"But what a magnificent effect the lake has when embraced in our
view!" said Clive. "How finely is the description in Childe Harold
adapted to this scene--
'And near, Albano's scarce divided waves
Shine from a sister valley; and afar
The Tiber winds, and the broad ocean laves
The Latian coast, where sprung the Epic war,
"Arms and the man," whose reascending star
Rose o'er an empire; but beneath thy right
Fully reposed from Rome; and where yon bar
Of girdling mountains intercepts thy sight,
The Sabine farm was tilled, the weary bard's delight.'
"Clive," said David, who had waited patiently for him to finish
his poetical quotation, "you'll come--won't you?"
"Come? Come where?"
"Why, I want to visit the tunnel of the Alban Lake, and it'll take
an hour to do it. If we go, we'll lose our dinner. What do you say?
You don't think a dinner's the most important thing in the world?"
"Of course not," said Clive. "Besides, we can pick up some scraps
when we return, and eat them in the carriage."
"That's right," said David. "Boys," he continued, appealing to
Frank and Bob, "you'd better come."
"What! and lose our dinners?" cried Frank, scornfully. "Catch us
at it. No. We require more substantial food than poetry and old
ruins. Don't we, Bob?"
"Certainly," said Bob. "For my part poetry and old ruins never were
in my line. As for 'Arms and the man' and the 'Sabine farm,' why,
all I can say is, I always hated them. I detested Virgil, and
Horace, and Cicero, and the whole lot of them, at school; and why
I should turn round now, and pretend to like them, I don't know,
I'm sure. Horace and Virgil, indeed! Bother Horace and Virgil, I
say."
At such flippancy as this both David and Clive looked too much
pained to reply. They turned away in silence, and spoke to the
guide.
"So you're not coming back to dinner?" said Frank.
"No," said David; "we want to see that tunnel."
"Well, you'll lose your dinner; that's all."
"Of course. We don't care."
"At any rate, don't go and forget about us. We want to leave, for
Rome after dinner, and you ought to be back in one hour, at the
very farthest."
"O, yes; the guide says it'll only take an hour. We don't intend
to spend any more time there than we can help."
"Well, I think you ought to come back," said Bob; "you know very
well how poor old Uncle Moses will fidget and worry about you."
"O, no; it's all right. Tell him that the guide is with us,
you know."
After a few more words, Frank and Bob, who were ravenously hungry,
hurried back to the hotel, and David and Clive, who were also, to
tell the truth, equally hungry, resisted their appetites as well
as they were able, and accompanied their guide to the Lake Albano.
Most boys are familiar with the story of the Alban Lake; but
for the benefit of those who may not have heard of it, or who,
having heard, have forgotten, it may be as well to give a
brief account of the famous tunnel, which was so very attractive
to Clive and David.
The city of Veii had been besieged for nine years, without success,
by the Romans; and at length, in the tenth year, a great prodigy
occurred, in the shape of the sudden rising of the waters of the
Alban Lake to an extraordinary height, without any apparent cause.
The Romans, in their bewilderment, sent a messenger to the oracle
of Delphi to inquire about it. Before this messenger returned, they
also captured a Verentine priest, who informed them that there were
certain oracular books in Veii, which declared that Veii could
never perish unless the waters of the Alban Lake should reach
the sea. Not long afterwards the messenger returned from Delphi,
who brought back an answer from the oracle at that place to the
same effect. Upon this, the Romans resolved to draw off the
waters of the lake so as to let them flow to the sea. Such an
undertaking was one of the most laborious kind, especially in an
age like that; but the Romans entered upon it, and worked at it
with that extraordinary tenacity of purpose which always
distinguished them. It was necessary to cut a tunnel through
the mountain, through rock of the hardest possible description.
But the same age had seen the excavation of other subterranean
passages far larger than this, and in the same country, preeminently
the Grotto of Posilipo, at Naples, and that of the Cumaean Sibyl,
and at length it was accomplished. The people of Veii heard of
it, and were filled with alarm. Ambassadors were sent to Rome,
with the hope of inducing the Romans to come to some other terms
less severe than the surrender of the city; but they were
disappointed, and according to the legend, could only comfort
themselves by announcing to the Romans a prophecy in the oracular
books of Veii, to the effect that, if this siege should be carried
through to the capture of the city, Rome itself should be taken
by the Gauls soon after. This prophecy, however, had no effect.
whatever upon the stern resolution of the Romans.
The subterranean passage to the lake was also supplemented by
another, which led to the citadel of Veii. As the time approached
for the final assault, the Roman Senate invited all the Roman people
to participate in it, and promised them a share of the booty. This
promise induced a vast multitude, old and young, to go there. The
time at last came. The water of the Alban Lake was let out into
the fields, and the party that entered the subterranean passage to
the citadel were led by Camillus, while, at the same time, a general
assault was made upon the walls by the rest of the army. At that
moment the king of Veii happened to be sacrificing in the Temple
of Juno, which was in the citadel, and Camillus, with his Romans,
were immediately beneath, close enough to hear what he said. It
happened that the attendant priest declared that whoever should
bring the goddess her share of the victim should conquer. Camillus
heard the words, and at once they burst forth upon the astonished
Veientans, seized upon the altar, offered the sacrifice, and thus
performed what had been declared to be the conditions of victory.
After this they held the citadel, and sent a detachment to open
the gates to the assaulting army outside. Thus Veil fell; and this
is the legend which, like many others belonging to early Roman
times, is more full of poetry than of truth.
The tunnel still remains, and is one of the chief curiosities left
from ancient times. It is about two miles long, six feet high, and
three and a half feet wide.
To this place the guide led David and Clive, and entertained them
on the way with the account of its origin, which accorded in most
particulars with that which is given above; and though both of the
boys were familiar with the story, yet it was not unpleasant to
hear it again, told by one who lived in the neighborhood of the
place, and had passed his life amid these scenes. It seemed to them
to give a certain degree of authenticity to the old legend.
There was not much to see, except an opening in the rock, the mouth
of the tunnel, with rushes, and mosses, and grasses, and shrubbery
growing around it. Having seen it, they were satisfied, and turned
to go back to the hotel. After a short distance, the guide showed
them where there was a path turning off through the fields, which
formed a short cut back. Upon this they paid him for his trouble,
and he went back to the convent, while they went along the path by
which he had directed them.