IK. LA TURBIE. ^ _ 



burst upon us like a x-ision in tlic distance. The Corniche 

 reaches its highest point at La Tvirbie — tl^e old 

 "Tropliea" or "Turris in x'ia". — about H)3U feet abox-e 

 sea le\'el. The present road, \\-ltich Napoleon [ con- 

 structed in 18lJfi, followed the old Roman road. Turbie 

 is now also connected with Monte Carlo hv a funicular 

 railwa\-. The frontier between Gaul and Itah" once ran 

 throutJ'h l^urbie. The tower, known as the Tower of 

 Augustus, still defies the ra\ages of time. It rises out 

 of mightx' ruins and can be seen at a great distance. 

 The tower with its jagged battlements was built in the 

 fourteenth centur\- out of the he\\n stones of the huge 

 monument u'hich the Senate and Roman people erected 

 to Octavius when the battle of Actium made him master 

 of the world. Plin\- has ]ireserved for us the inscription 

 \x'hich the monument bore on its four sides. Besides the 

 dedication to Caesar Imperator, there were the names 

 of twent\-four Alpine tribes who had been subjugated 

 b\' the Romans. A statue of tlie Emperor crowned the 

 monument, whicli according to old descriptions must 

 ha\'e been imposing. Nevertheless later generations chd 

 not spare it. The Lombards commenced its destruction: 

 and the Saracens turned it into a 'fortress. Then for 

 centuries the inhabitants of La Turbie and Monaco treated 

 the ruins as a quarr\' to obtain building material for 

 their churches and houses. In the twelfth century the 

 Genoese fetched marble from here to adorn their build- 

 ings, and what tlien remained u-as used for the high 

 altar of the old Cathedral ot Nice. From La ^Furhie 

 Monte Carlo, with all its splendour and miser\-, looks 



