CATARACTS, AND INUNDATIONS. 63 



some of his most admirable productions : it is at least a pleasing 

 illusion to fancy that we are treading ground on which that great 

 man took his solitary walks, and mused on the falling fortunes of 

 Rome, or the most sublime points of morals and metaphysics *. 



After many hours spent in a manner most satisfactory to my cu- 

 riosity, I closed the agreeable tour of the day with a moonlight 

 walk to Puzzuoli. The air was mildly agitated by the wind from 

 the land, which after sunset always succeeds the sea-breeze j the 

 waves dashed gently against the ruined edifices that impede their 

 progressf ; the reflection of the moon, and some vessels under sail, 

 enlivened the marine prospect, and from the gardens of the vale 

 were wafted the most delicious perfumes. 



6. The Lake Fucinus, now named Cdam. 



As soon as the weather would permit, we visited the lake of Celano, 

 so called by the moderns from a town near its north shore, the head 

 of the earldom that comprehended at one time the greatest part of 

 the country of the Marsi. This was the ancient name of the peo 

 pie that inhabited the environs of the lake, allowed by the Romans 

 to be the most intrepid soldiers of their legions, when in friend- 

 ship, and the most formidable oi their enemies when at variance. 

 It was a common spying, that Home :ould neither triumph over the 

 Marsi, nor without them. Jn the (>G2d year of Roiiie, they put 

 themselves at the head of the social war, one of the most obstinate 

 and dangerous oppositions ever made to the progress of the Roman 

 power: it was terminated by a grant of those privileges for which 

 they contended. Tlieir name still subsists in thai of the diocese, 

 for the prelate is styled bishop of the Marsi, 



Jn ancient times, the lake was called Fucinus, and was under the 



* From Pliny's topography it is probable that it stood on a spot covered by 

 the eruption of 1538. 



f These buildings, which for so many ages have withstood the daily assaults 

 of a boisterous element, owe their durability to the cement with which their 

 parts are united ; the principal ingredient is a line volcanical sand, called 

 Puzzolana; that acquires strength and hardness by lying um e svati-r ; it con- 

 sists of various metallic, stony, and earthy particles, calcined and triturated in 

 the central furnaces, and is found both iu the neighbourhood of Puzzuoli and 

 in that of Rome. 



