CATARACTS, AND INUNDATIONS. 5? 



her body and deposited the ashes on the road to Bauli ; but these 

 ruins bear a greater resemblance to a theatre, or hanging garden, than 

 to a sepulchre. The place of her interment is not to be ascertained, 

 for the sea must now cover a large portion of land which formerly 

 contained spacious gardens, fish- ponds, and buildings : Hortensius, 

 the contemporary and rival of Cicero, possessed a villa on this shore, 

 for which the present confined spot could not possibly afford suffi- 

 cient space. We next eutereda bay, where the placid waters re- 

 flect the mutilated remnants of Buiae, that center of pleasures, 

 that elegant resort of the gay masters of the world. The hot 

 springs and medicinal vapours that abound in its environs must 

 very early have excited the attention of valetudinarians, as 

 bathing was the constant solace of the Greeks while in health, 

 and their remedy when diseased ; but Baiae does not seem to 

 have attained a degree of celebrity superior to that of other baths, 

 till the Roman commonwealth began to be in the wane. As soon 

 as the plunder of a conquered world was transferred from works of 

 public use and ornament to private luxury, the transcendent advan. 

 tages which Baiae offered to Roman voluptuaries, flying from the 

 capital in search of health and pleasure, were attended to with en- 

 thusiasm : the variety of its natural balhs, the softness of ils climate, 

 and the beauties of its landscape, captivated the minds of opulent 

 nobles, whose passion for bathing knew no bounds: abundance of 

 linen and disuse of ointments render the practice less necessary in 

 modern life ; but the ancients performed no exercise, engaged in no 

 study, without previous ablutions, which at Rome required an enor- 

 mous expence in aqueducts, stoves, attendants: a place, therefore, 

 where waters naturally heated to every degree of warmth bubbled 

 spontaneously out of the ground, in the pleasantest of all situations, 

 was such a treasure as could not be overlooked. Baiae was this place 

 in the highest perfection ; its easy communication with Rjme was 

 also a point of great weight. Hither at first retired for a temporary 

 relaxation the mighty rulers of the empire, to string anew their nerves 

 and revive their spirits, fatigued with bloody campaigns and civil 

 contests. Their habitations were small and modest, but soon in- 

 creasing luxury added palace to palace with such expedition and 

 sumptuosity, that ground was wanting for the vast demand ; enter- 

 prising architects, supported by infinite wealth, carried their founda- 

 tions into the sea, and drove that element back from its ancient 



