198 EAMBLES OF A NATURALIST. 



Ferdinand caused the soil to be removed which 

 covered the sub-basements and floor, and, wishing to 

 immortalise this act of royal munificence, caused a 

 long slab of not very white marble to be inserted, 

 like some huge stain, on the noble front of the 

 edifice, displaying in large letters, whose gilding is 

 already half worn off, the pompous inscription, 

 Ferdinandi I. Regis Augustissimi Providentia Re- 

 stituit, Anno 1781. Let us further add that this 

 very august monarch had neither the merit of 

 suggesting nor of completely carrying out this 

 measure. The honour of the undertakino; is for the 

 most part due to the Duke of Serra di Falco, who 

 here, as in a hundred other places, has left traces of 

 his intelligent and generous activity. 



From the temple we proceeded to the theatre, the 

 stage of which is in perfect preservation ; the lower 

 tiers of seats are also in a tolerable condition, in 

 consequence of their having been cleared from the 

 ruins, with which they had been encumbered, by 

 the orders of the Duke of Serra di Falco and King 

 Ferdinand. This theatre, with the temple, are the 

 sole remains of that proud and opulent Segesta, 

 which was once the formidable rival of Ao^riorentum 

 and Syracuse. Of the city and its palaces not a 

 fragment of wall remains. Nature herself seems to 

 have succumbed to this inexplicable devastation. 

 Around this miraculously preserved temple, around 

 this theatre which, by an equally singular fate, has 

 escaped the universal ruin, the same magnificent 

 scene still meets the eye which once entranced the 

 gaze of -<3Eneas and his companions. From the 



