88 Mr Forbes^s Physical Notices of the Bay of Naples. 



natural dismay. These objects of popular belief, or poetic fan- 

 cy, absurd as they may be, indicate not the less the existence 

 of such a real change ; and we have the express testimony of 

 Silius Italicus, a writer of the first century, when probably 

 the lake much resembled its present condition : 



" Ille olim populis dictum Styga, nomine verso, 

 Stagna inter celebrem nunc mitia monstrat Avernum ; 

 Turn tristi nemore atque iimbris nigrantibus horrens, 

 Et forraidatus volucri, lethale vomebat 



SufFuso virus ccelo " 



SiL. Ital. lib. xii. 



Lake Avernus, through the medium of the Lucrine, com- 

 municated with the Bay of Baja, near the foot of the Monte 

 Nuovo. In pursuing a westward course along the margin of 

 the Bay, we find about two-thirds of a mile to the south of 

 Lake Avernus, an object of very considerable interest. This 

 is the Stufe di Tritoli, or Baths of Nero, the most remarkable 

 thermal spring in the Bay of Naples, and of which I gave a 

 brief and imperfect description some years ago in this Journal, 

 The derivation of the name is somewhat doubtful ; it may, 

 however, be not improbably referred to the Greek word T^trctu 

 og, from the efficacy of the vapour-baths in tertian fevers. 

 That they are actually the Baths of Nero, we have very good 

 reason to believe, since the villa of that tyrant was certainly 

 in that neighbourhood, and these Stufe, as they are called, so 

 pre-eminent as to deserve MartiaPs facetious contrast of their 

 virtues, with those of their royal owner : " Quid Nerone pejus ? 

 Quid thermis melius Neronianis ?" The only accurate account 

 and plan of the singular passages connected with these thermal 

 springs, and which are cut out of the rock, is to be found, as 

 far as I know, in a small and neglected book of a century and 

 a-half ago, the " Guida de"" Forestieri per Pozzuoli,'' by Sar- 

 nelli, in which is a ground plan of these singular passages, 

 from the designs of Bulifon. By the distinct and accurate de- 

 tails of that little work, and the results of personal and atten- 

 tive observation, I shall be enabled to correct the mistatements 

 and exaggerations of even modern travellers and guide-books. 



At about thirty feet above the sea, we enter a passage cut out 

 of the tufaceous rock, which conducts us to several apartments, 



