No. VI. — District of the Bay of Baja^ 85 



16tb. The 18th has already passed over, distinguished only 

 by the unprecedented number of eruptions of Vesuvius in the 

 latter part of it, which, by giving vent to the eruptive force, 

 may perhaps have checked the disposition to any irregular ef- 

 forts. 



It has been a subject of some dispute, whether or not the Lu- 

 crine Lake was filled up by the eruption of the Monte Nuovo, 

 or whether its destruction was owing solely to the decay of the 

 stupendous Julian Port, by which it was united to the Medi- 

 terranean, forming a large portion of the harbour. Both causes 

 have probably contributed to the effect. The bulwark of Au- 

 gustus has obviously sunk under the prophetic " Debe- 

 mur morti, " of Horace, * and one fragment alone, named 

 " Lanterna di Porto Giulio, " remains to mark the labours 

 of regal greatness; but besides, since the junction of the 

 Lucrine Lake was artificial, when the protecting mole was re- 

 moved, the entrance was probably again closed, or at least the 

 changes of relative level of the sea and land would probably 

 detach it ; and since the Monte Nuovo now appears, by all 

 accounts, to stand so directly on its site, as to give rise to the 

 conjecture, that the Lucrine owed its existence to the crater of a 

 pre-existent volcano, it seems also probable, that it was almost 

 entirely filled up by that explosion, the miserable marsh 

 which now alone can be identified with it, more than deserving 

 the appellation of '' diu sterilis palus" which the Roman poet 

 applied to it in its primaeval state. Though contemporary 

 authors do not expressly mention the destruction of the Lu- 

 crine Lake in 1588, we think there is some room for confirm- 

 ing the idea. Giacomo di Toledo, as quoted by Sir William 

 Hamilton, distinctly says, that the communication of Lake 

 Averno with the sea was hindered by the eruption, which 

 could only be through the Lucrine Lake; and therefore leads 

 us to the idea, that the latter was not entirely separated at 

 that period from the Mediterranean, till the elevation of the 

 plain in which it lay, which we have already considered to be 

 demonstrated. Besides, Capaccio, who, from the old date of 

 his writings, had the best means of information, speaks of the 



• Ars Poeitca, v. 63. 



