6 Mills & Boon's Catalogue 



recognised by all travellers. Almost as generally but 

 less distinctly is it felt that a highly important element 

 in the attractiveness of the landscape is its historical 

 suggestiveness to the cultivated observer. The thoughts 

 which arise naturally to him who looks upon the scene 

 relate hardly at all to modern times, but range back to the 

 crafty Ulysses sailing by, or to the ancient Cumae whence 

 Greek civilisation entered Italy, or to Hannibal and 

 Capua, or to Spartacus and his stronghold in the crater 

 of Vesuvius, or to the great eruption of that mountain 

 and the sealing up of Pompeii and Herculaneum for our 

 eyes to gaze upon. The names that are remembered 

 are not those of to-day, but rather such as Tiberius, 

 Caligula, Nero, Lucullus, Cicero, or Pliny. 



To make this feature of the landscape assume a more 

 distinct form in the consciousness of the visitor to these 

 shores is the purpose of this book. It begins with the 

 old myths, and continues down through the surprisingly 

 large number of Roman events associated with this 

 district, keeping the local episodes in their due relation 

 to the general current of ancient history as well as to 

 the special points in the landscape where they happened. 

 It ends appropriately with the retirement to Naples of 

 the last Western Roman Emperor, Romulus Augustulus, 

 in A.D. 476, when classical times may be regarded as 

 closed. 



The narrative gives all the details needed by a reader 

 not especially familiar with Roman history. 



In illustrating the book the common expedient of 

 reproducing photographs of the present appearance of 

 the places mentioned has been discarded as inadequate 

 and indeed wellnigh worthless. What is needed is a 

 representation of the country as it was in Roman days. 

 While, of course, absolute precision of detail cannot 

 be attained (the same may be said of all narrative 

 history), the great progress made in archaeological 

 studies renders the portrayal of ancient scenes a sound 

 and legitimate work of the trained antiquarian and 

 artistic imagination. 



