S38 



TABLE-TALK AND VARIETIES. 



Nozos neglected their duties, there 

 was the detachment of Hanoverian 

 light horse after them instanter, 

 trot trot. She had, however, an 

 unpleasant custom of keeping part 

 of the broad galleries that ran 

 round the house in a perpetually 

 flooded state, from the gigantic 

 scale of washing operations that 

 seemed always going on there. 

 At times the soap-sud breakers ran 

 so high it was a matter of great 

 difficulty to pass them with safety, 

 and a small life-boat was quite a 

 desideratum. (Lady E. S. Wort- 

 ley's Travels in the United States 

 in 1849-50.) 



ANCIENT ROMAN WATERING-PLACES. 

 BALE AND AVERNUS. 



The real watering-place was Baias, 

 towards Cape Misenum. It is very 

 remarkable, that at present the 

 district is quite pestilential; if a 

 man were to sleep there one night 

 during the summer, he would be 

 seized with a bilious fever, in con- 

 sequence of the poisonous air. A 

 French officer, who imagined this 

 to be a mere prejudice, made a bet 

 that he would sleep in the Villa 

 Borghese : he was urgently request- 

 ed not to do it ; but the next morn- 

 ing he was quite swollen, and after 

 a few days he died of a putrid fever. 

 The same is the case at Baise ; and 

 yet the ancients, as we see from 

 a fragment of Cicero's speech in 

 Clodium at Curionem, most com- 

 monly staid there in April, when 

 it is already dangerous. I have 

 discovered the explanation of all 

 this, from a conversation with a 

 common man. He said to me that 

 the nature of the Pontine marshes 

 was a very strange thing ; that it 

 was not possible for any one in 

 summer to sleep there without fatal 

 consequences, and that it was the 

 same in many parts of Latium; 

 but he added, that to his own know- 

 ledge sailors and boatmen, even in 

 the dangerous season, slept in their 



boats very near the coast without 

 injuring their health. This proves 

 that the poisonous atmosphere does 

 not extend across the wafer. The 

 man's remarks contain a significant 

 hint. I remembered that the 

 English Ambassador, with whom I 

 often took a walk there he Avas 

 not a man of learning directed my 

 attention to the fact, that beyond 

 Mount Posilipo, in the midst of th& 

 sea, ruins of ancient Eoman houses 

 were found ; and he observed, that 

 the Eomans must have had a sin- 

 gular taste in thus building houses 

 in the midst of the water, and con- 

 nected with the mainland by means 

 of bridges, although there was no- 

 beauty to attract them. To aban- 

 don such a charming coast, and to 

 build a house in the sea, was, he 

 thought, a strange fancy. When, 

 afterwards, I heard the account of 

 the man I mentioned before, the 

 matter ceased to be a mystery to 

 me. Even at Formice, and cer- 

 tainly at Bains, the Eomans built 

 houses into the sea, in order to iso- 

 late themselves from the bad air: 

 these are the moles jactce in altum, 

 and on them people were safe. 



The country there is indescrib- 

 ably beautiful and charming; and 

 besides Baise, the Lake Avernus, 

 suirounded by very ancient forests,, 

 is likewise a spot of great interest. 

 Near it, a road has been cut through, 

 the rock leading to Cumse. Such 

 roads were often constructed for 

 the purpose of shortening the dis- 

 tance and avoiding the heights; for 

 the Eomans generally endeavoured 

 by every means to shorten the roads. 

 A similar road leads from Naples 

 to Puzzuoli, likewise made to avoid 

 a hill, which it would be very dif- 

 ficult to cross: hence, the crypto, 

 Pausilippana, Puteolana Neapoli- 

 tana. The Avernus Avas, no doubt 

 originally called ao^vos, and with 

 the digamma oifo^yo;. This ety- 

 mology has been rejected, because 

 it implied the statement that birds 



