Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-06-15
ltaly's Western Coast, Region
Of Historic and Physical
Interest.
A Visit to the Tomb of Virgil, Which
Modern Scepticism Claim Contain
Not His Ashes.
Description of the Hill of Prosilipo In
Which Are Immense Tunnels, MarTels
OF Engineering Skill

NAPLES, April 2l.-There are certain
days that seem too beautiful to be real
days that have somehow dropped down
from the calendar OF the gods. in which
il seems that events do not so much make
the charm of the day, as that the day
attracts the events and throws a prism
light over them. 1t was OF such day
that We drove out TO Pozzuoli, the Lake
of Avernus, and Baiae, or
Baja, as the present little viii
lage IS called. Yet 1 know
not but any day would seem a
dream day that was spent In that
strangely beautiful region on the north
arm of the bay of Naples, between the
city and the western coast Of Italy. All
this region is of extreme historic and
physical interest. It is warmed not
only by the rich Italian sunlight, but by
the central fires of the planet itself, that
bubble up close beneath it, and so many
times has the land been sucked in and
thrown out of the flaming earth-heart
that it is quite a different land
scape from what the Romans knew.
1t would seem natural that in this spot
where nature is so intensely vital, and
where
THE GREAT ELEMENTAL POWERS
are manifested, that there should be q
corresponding activity and intensity Of
life in the human inhabitants of the re-
gion. The old legends embodied by
Homer and Virgil seem to prove this, for
they tell US that here the Grecians first COL
ouized in Italy communication was estab-
lished with the East, and Hellenic ctvili-
cation first took root and developed. 1t
was q mystic, wonderful region to the
early Romans, covered with mist OF
traditions and superstitions. Here by
the Lake of Avernus in one of the dark
grottos, numerous IN this country, they
placed the entrance TO the realms of
Pluto; In another cave at Cum@ lived
the famous SibyI, and mysterious, sun
less beings peopled the gorges. The peo-
pie seemed to feel and personify, without
knowing what it was, the tremendous
forces at work in this region, the reali-
ties of which are far more
strange and wonderful than the
widest supersItions. In passing
through the country now it is easy to be-
lieve in slbyls of superhuman wisdom
dwelling here and drawing secrets from
nature in these wierd places where one
can almost see her heart beating; these
gloomy cayerns, too, might in truth
lead into an Internal region more iu-
fernal than was ever guarded by three
headed Cerberus. After nOurishing
that first root of civilization, this
country became the place where the
luxury and profiigaoy of that luxurious
and profiigats empire made its country
home; sumptuous villas were built all
over it, and superstitions were dispelled
by Roman roads and Roman improve
ments built under Augustus.
II was the morning of fresh, sweet
April day when we drove out of the
city Dy the beautiful park which skirts
the bay and made our first stop at the
foot of the hill OF Prosilipo, where we
left the carriage to
ASCEND TO THE TOMB OF VIRGIL.
Now modern scepticIsm shifts at the
tomb of Virgil, and declares we have no
solid, historic proof that Virgil's ashes
were ever placed here, but nnd that it
is the most comfortable and delightful
way to believe all the traditions of the
country am travelling in; then, my i'm
agination is never at a loss, and every
spot is full of associations which might
be true ii they are not. Virgil
himself says he wrote the Georges
and the Enead in his villa on
Proslipo, and local tradition has
always called the large tomb on Pros
ilipo, the tomb of Virgil. Petrarch be-
leved it, and on his visit there planted
laurel tree, which has been carried away
by tourists even unto the uttermost root,
but it has been replaced by another
laurel, which answers every purpose.
No lovelier burial place than this could
be found, and it is pleasant to associate
the thought of the gentle, scholarly poet
with that charming view.
The hill of Prosilipo is full of historic
interest; it is now as 1t was two thousand
years ago, the place of elegant villas.
Here, among others was the magnificent
villa of Vedius Polio, and the fish ponds
where he fed his fish with the flesh of his
slaves. The hill is bored by tunnels in
three different places; the oldest and
most interesting one was made in 81 B I
G. and is some thousand yards in length;
another, which is still much used, was
probably constructed in the time of Au-
gustus and is such
MARVEL OF ENGINEERING SKILL
that in the middle ages superstition said
that it had been made by Virgil, who
was supposed to have practiced magic |
arts. The third, through which we |
passed, is modern and uninteresting and |
full OF the smell of goats. We came out |
10 long country road bordered with |
trees Everything was freshly washed |
with rain; the sunshine itself had been |
rlnsed bright and clear; the green figs |
were bullying out from among the FIVE
fingered leaves, and the grape vines |
were reaching up their delicate tendrlls
like childish fingers trying to grasp sun
shine. on at the left in that sea of
molten sapphires was the little rocky is
land TO which Brutus retired after the
murder OF Caesar and now 1t is the qusran-
tine station. As said before, there is
unique attraction about all this volcanic
scenery; it is not dignified by mountains
like the southern arm of the bay of
Naples, but the irregular hills are
interesting, looking as il they had been
thrown up in a hurry and not yet
smoothed over by time. There is gem
eral air of recent commotion, though to
be sure things have not been especially
stirred up since the Sixteenth century;
yet when one is living with the ancient
Romans the Sixteenth century looms up
very near, and certainly landscape made
in the Sixteenth century seems more
modern than other things of the same