New-York daily tribune., 1843-07-31
Netters from 7surope. No. XIII.

Foreign Correspondence OF The New-f oTk tribune.
ISLANDS ABOUT NArLEs-yIRGM's SCENES, ETC.
CAruA, May, laiS
/ DESIGNED to have given you one letter on the
Islands around Naples, and another on the runs
that cover the ground that Virgil has made so
classic. But really Virgil never was my admira
ton; and his River Styx, and Achcron, and Sea
of the Dead, and Avcrnus, and above all his
Elysian Fields are such entire creations OF the
imagination that | cannot with sober face
speak of them with the dignity that the scholar
asks. So one letter must answer for the whole
region. The truth is Styx cannot be found, and
Ayernus is but fish pond, and the Elyslan Fields
a little bank that was once used for ID Cemetery.
When came to see the localities of Vlrgil's
Eneid / had greater respect for him than ever
before. He had more Imagination than / gave
him credit for. 1t is not every one that could
gather two worlds and the passage between them
into so narrow and ordinary place. The truth
is, this region was the resort of the Emperors and
Philosophers and Poets of Rome, in their leisure
hours On this beautiful shore they built villas
and temples, and adorned every hilltop and made
every glen and pool mysterious by the gods and
nymphs they gathered around them Virgil wrote
for Royal ears, and hence chose spot that would
f1atter those whose favor he sought. Here the
Cesars came, and their learned and luxurious
Courts. Near by also is the ancient CumH, the
Temple of Apollo, where D@dalus ahghted IN his
winged flight from Crete; and there the shore
where Eneas drew up his ships, and the very
cave to which he ascended to consult the Gu
mean Sybil Here Tarquinius Superbus found
an asylum, and here long after Alaric piled his
spoils. The whole shore and hillside Is covered
with ruined temples dedicated TO Venus, Apollo,
Mercury Diana, &c. Once this shore must
have been picture. Two things interested me
more than any thing else One was view OF
the Tomb of Scipio Afr,canus from the top OF
the Sybil's Cave, standing solitary and alone on
the far sea-shore. Thither in pride and scorn he
retired, and died and was buried. 1t is close on
the beach, all alone, looking proudly dcsolate.
The sea murnurs around it, and the night-tem-
pest howls by-making the only dirge that is
chanted over the proud Chiettain. The other
was the harbor of Misenum. As | stood on the
summit Of the hill that overlooked the now ruined
and desolate harbor, on which not even fishers
boat was moored, with here and there an arch
Just rising from the water, where an earthquake
had tumbled it, it did not seem possible that
there the Roman Fleet was wont to ride in It's
rlorv Yet it was here commanded by Plinv
the elder, at the time of the eruption of VesuviuS
that buried Pompeii. In this very harbor occur
red a scene that well-nigh changed the destlnieS
of the World. Right below me, on that quiet
unconscious sheet of water, now SO lonely-look-
ing and desolate, sat once the galley of SeXtus
Pompeius. and on board of it Octavius Caesar
and Antony at dinner. Light as sea.bird she
sat on the wave, while those mastcr-spirts dis
russed together the fate of the World During
dinner Pompeius's Admiral formerly his slave,
whom he had freed and honored, came and wins.
pered in his ear Shall I cut the cable and
make uom master of the World z" Why did
YOU not do so without asking me :" answered
Pompeius " My word is now given, and
must abide By it." One good stroke of the knife
then would have changed the fate OF Rome and
the World On that single rope hung immense
destinies, and the fingers were already feeling the
handle of the knife that should sever it. On
rope did say2 On lighter thing than that =
on masass toorG. Yet this same sense of obll-
CATION is sometimes fearfully strong IN the human
heart-stronger even than ambition. The con-
queror who Will walk unshrinkingly over a thou
sand smoking cottages and bleeding hearts, and
violate thousand times over the ho!iest rights Of
Man, will yet at times regard SO sacred his given
word, that rather than break it he win put in
jeopardy his Empire, his Crown and his life
Strange distinctions viii Man make, and then