I860.] SPRING FLOWERS OF THE SOUTH OF EUROPE. 295 



Solomon's-seal [Convallaria multiflora) ; one of the smaller Ai'is- 

 toloch'i(B {A. longa) ; the four-wliorled and delicate-leaved As2Je- 

 rula taurina, a plant of the Alps ; and the smaller of the two 

 English Symphyta, S. tuberosum. Further on in the woods, 

 towards La Riccia, we meet with Narcissus poeticus. Further 

 still, near Gensano, we come upon the Bladder-nut of our shrub- 

 beries, Staphylea pinnata ; Dentaria bulbifera, one of the finest 

 of our rarer indigenous plants ; and the blue Iris of our gardens, 

 /. germanica. If we would ascend the highest member of the 

 mountain-group, the Monte Cavo, we must make the circuit of 

 the north flank of the mountains by Marino, on the edge of the 

 Alban Lake, and Rocca di Papa, a picturesque village in the 

 hollow mountain-side, from which we climb through woods 

 abounding in Galanthus nivalis and Corydalis cava, to that sum- 

 mit which was the arx of Jupiter Latialis, and to which the thirty 

 Latian cities ascended in solemn procession to offer their annual 

 sacrifice. The place is now occupied by a convent, under the 

 wall of which I gathered OmitTiogalum nutans, and from its 

 neighbourhood I enjoyed a panoramic view, surely the most 

 glorious, in its combination of natural beauty and grandeur of 

 historical recollections, to be found anywhere on earth. 



The eye ranged from Terracina on one side to Veil on the 

 other, and beyond Veil to the hills of Sutrium and Nepete, 

 once covered by the Ciminian forests, then deemed an impene- 

 trable barrier between the interior of Etruria and Rome. Below 

 my feet, the Alban mountain, with all its forest-covered folds, 

 and in one of them the dark-blue lake of Nemi : that of Albano, 

 I think, was invisible. To the north, in the dim distance, the 

 Eternal City ; to the west, the eternal sea ; for eastern boundary, 

 the long line of Sabine mountains, from Soracte, past Tibur, 

 and away towards Prseneste. The range then passed behind the 

 Alban group, and became invisible, but reappeared to the south- 

 east as the mountain-crescent of Cora and Pometia, enclosing 

 between its horns the Pontine marshes, which lay spread out 

 below as far as the sea-line, extending east and west, from Ter- 

 racina in the bay of Fondi, the Volscian Anxur, to the angle 

 of the coast where rises suddenly, between the marshes and the 

 sea, the mountain promontory of Circeii, celebrated alike in his- 

 tory and in fable. Within the space visible fi:"om this one point 

 the destinies of the human race were decided. It took the Romans 



