Ch. XV.] 



FLOOD AT TIVOLL 



355 



ancient Tibur, and which, like all the other inundations above 

 alluded to, occurred within the present century. The younger 

 Pliny, it will be remembered, describes a flood on the Anio, 

 which destroyed woods, rocks, and 



most 



sum 



,* For four or five cen- 

 turies consecutively, this ' headlong stream/ as Horace truly 

 called it, has often remained within its bounds, and then, after 

 so long an interval of rest, has at different periods inundated 

 its banks again, and widened its channel. The last of these 



Nov 



T 



me 



eye-witnesses when I visited the spot in 1829. The waters 



mi 



they were separated into two parts, a short distance above 

 Tivoli. They broke through this dike ; and leaving the left 

 trench dry, precipitated themselves, with their whole weight, 

 on the right side. Here they undermined, in the course of a 

 few hours, a high cliff, and widened the river's channel about 

 fifteen paces. On this stood the church of St. Lucia, and 

 about thirty-six houses of the town of Tivoli, which were all 

 carried away, presenting, as they sank into the roaring flood, 

 a terrific scene of destruction to the spectators on the oppo- 

 site bank. As the foundations were gradually 



rem 



some of them 



numei 



fissures, until at length the roofs fell in with a crash, and then 

 the walls sunk into the river, and were hurled down the cata- 

 ract below. 



The destroying agency of the flood cairie within two hun- 



dred yards of the precipice on which the beautiful temple 

 of Yesta stands ; but fortunately this precious relic of anti- 

 quity was spared, while the wreck of modern structures was 

 hurled down the abyss. Yesta, it will be remembered, in the 

 heathen mythology, personified the stability of the earth ; 

 and when the Samian astronomer, Aristarchus, first taught 

 that the earth revolved on its axis, and round the sun, he 

 was publicly accused of impiety, for 6 moving the everlasting 

 Yesta from her place/ Playfair observed, that when Hutton 



* Lib. viii. Epist. 17. 



A A 2 



