Bijhop B u R N E t’j Travels 
024 
cesj in a thick Smoke full of Brimftone, threw up 
about an Hundred and Fifty Years ago a vafi: Quantity 
of Earth, which was carried about three Miles thence, 
and formed the Hill called Monte Novo, upon the 
Ruins of a Town overwhelmed by this Eruption, which 
is of a very confiderable Height. They told me, that 
there was before that Time a Channel that went from 
the Bay into the Lake of Averno, of which one fees the 
Beginnings in the Bay, at fome Diflance from the Shore 5 
it carrieth Fill the Name of Julians, Mole, and is believ- 
ed to have been made by Julius Ccefar : But by the 
Swelling of the Ground, upon the Eruption of the 
Sulfatara, this Paflage is flopp’d, and the Averno is 
become now frefii Water. It is eighteen Fathom deep. 
On the Side of it is that amazing Cave, where the Sybil 
is faid to have given out her Infpirations : The hewlno- 
it out of the Rock appears to have been a prodio'ious 
Work ; for the Rock is one of the hardeft Stones in 
the World, and the Cave goeth in feven hundred Foot 
long, twenty Foot broad, and, as I guefs, eighteen 
Foot high : and from the End of this great Gallery, 
there is a narrow Paflage of three Foot broad, two 
Hundred foot long, and feven high, to a little Apart- 
ment, in a conflant Hoping Defcent from the great 
Cave. Here are three little Rooms ; in one of them 
there are fome Remains of an old Mofaick, with which 
the Walls and Roof were laid over: There is alfo a 
Spring of Water, and a Bath, in which it is fuppofed 
the Sybil bathed herfelf j and from this it is faid, there 
runs a Cave all along to Cu?na, which is three Jono- 
Miles, but the Paflage is now choak’d by the falling in 
of the Rock in feveral Places. This Piece of Work 
amazed me. J did not much mind the popular Opi- 
nion that is received here, that all this was done by the 
Devil. The Marks of the Chiflcl in all Parts of the 
Rock ftiew, that it is not a Work of Nature. Cer- 
tainly they had many Hands at their Command, who 
fet about it j and it feems to have been wrought with 
no other Defign, but to fubdue the People more en- 
tirely to the Condudl of the Priefts who managed this 
Impofture -, fo bufy hath the Ambition and Fraud of 
Priefts been in all Ages, and in all corrupt Religions. 
But of all the Scenes of noble Objects in the Bay of 
Puzzuolo, the Remains of Caligula's Bridge are moft 
amazing •, for there are yet ftanding eight or ten of the 
Pillars, and of fome of the Arches the half is yet en- 
tire. I had not a Line with me to examine the Depth 
of the Water, where the furtheft Pillar is built; but 
my Waterman aflured me, it was fifty Cubits. I have 
fince inftrufted one going thither in this Particular, and 
have received this Account from him ; That he had 
taken Care to plum the Water at the furtheft Pillar 
on the Puzzuolo Side, and found it feven Fathom and 
a half deep ; but he adds, that the Watermen affured 
him, that on the other Side before Baia, the Water was 
twenty-fix Fathom deep : But as he had not a Plum- 
met long enough to try that, fo he believed a good 
deal ought to be abated ; for the Watermen had alfo 
aflured him, that the Water was ten Fathom deep on the 
Puzzuolo Side ; and by this Meafure one may fuppofe that 
the Water is twenty Fathom deep on the other Side : So 
that it is one of the moft aftonifhing Things one can 
think of, that Pillars of Brick could have been built 
in fuch a Depth of Water. It is a noble Monument 
of that profufe and extravagant Expence of a brutal 
Tyrant, who made one of the vafteft Bridges that ever 
was attempted, over three or four Miles of Sea, merely 
to facrifice fo great a Treafurc to his Vanity. As for 
Agrippina's Tomb, it is no great Matter, only the Bas- 
relieves are yet entire. The marvellous Fifh-pond is a 
great Bafon of Water, wrought like a huge Temple, 
ftanding upon eight and forty great Pillars, all hew’d 
out of the Rock, and laid over with four Crufts of the 
old Plaifter, which is now as hard as Stone. This is 
believ’d to be a Work of Nero's. And about a Quar- 
ter of a Mile from thence, there is another vaft Work, 
which leads into a Rock, but at the Entrance there is 
a noble Portico built of Pillars of Brick ; and as one 
enters he finds a great many regular Rooms hewed out 
of the Rode, and covered over with Plaifter, which is 
T 
ftill entire, and fo white, that one can hardly think 
that it hath^not been wafhed over fince firft made. There 
are a vaft Number of thole Rooms ; they are faid to 
be a Hundred, from whence this Cave derives the 
Name of Centum Camera, i, e. Hundred Chambers. This 
hath been as expenfive a Work as it is ufelefs. Ic is 
aferibed to Nero, and they fay here he kept his Prifo- 
ners. .But there is nothing in ail this Bay that is both 
fo curious and fo ufcfui as the Baths, which feem 
to flow from the fame Caufe with thefe Erup- 
tions in the Vefuvio and Sulfatara, and the Grot- 
tos formerly ^ mentioned, that as this Heat makes 
fome Fountains boiling hot, fo it fends up a Steam 
mrough the Rock, that doth not break through the 
Pores of the Stone where it is hard ; but where the 
Rock is foft and fpungy, the Steams come throuo-h 
with fo melting a Heat, that a Man is very foon dTf- 
folved, as it were in Sweat : But if he ftoops low in 
the Paflages that are cut in the Rock, he finds no 
Heat, becaufe there the Rock is hard. Thofe Steams, 
as they are hot, fo they are alfo impregnated with fuch 
Minerals as they find in their Way through the Rock; 
and near this Bath there are Galleries hewed out, and 
faced with a Building, in which there are, as it were, 
Bedfteads made in the Walls, upon which thofe, that 
come to fweat for their Health, lay their Quilts and 
Bcd-clothes,^ and fo come regularly out of their Sweats. 
It is certain, that a Man can no where pafs a Day, 
both whth fo much Pleafure, and with fuch Advantage, 
as he finds in his Journey to Puzzuolo, and the Bay. 
But tho anciently this was all lb well built, fo throughly 
peopled, and lb beautifully laid out ; yet one lees no 
where more vifibly what a Change Time brings upon, 
all Places ; for Naples hath fo entirely eat out this 
Place, and drawn off its Inhabitants, that as Puzzuolo 
itfelf is but a fmall Village, fo there is now no other in this 
Bay, which was anciently built almoft all round ; for 
there are feven big Towns upon it. I cannot pals by 
that noble Remnant of the Via Appia, that runs along 
thirty Miles of the Road between Naples and Rome^ 
without making fome Mention of it. This Highway 
is twelve Foot broad, all made of huge Stones, moft 
of them blue, and they generally a Foot and half large 
on all Sides. The Strength of this Caufeway appears 
from its long Duration j lor it hath lafted above eighteen 
hundred Years, and is in moft Places, for feveral Miles 
together, as entire as when firft made ; and the Mend- 
ing fuch Places as have been worn out by Time, Ihews 
a vifible Difference between the ancient and the mo- 
dern Way of Paving. One Thing feems ftrange, that 
the Road is level with the Earth on both Sides ; where- 
as fo much Weight, as thofe Stones carry, Ihould have 
funk the Ground under them by its Prefllire. Befides, 
that the Earth, efpecially in low Grounds, receives a 
conftant Increafe by the Dull which the Winds or Brooks 
carry down from the Hills ; both which Reafons Ihould 
make a more fen fible Difference between thofeRoads and 
the Soil on both Sides ; and this makes me apt to be- 
lieve, that anciently they were a little raifed above the 
Level of the Ground, and that a Courfe of fo many Ages 
hath now brought them to an Equality. Thofe Roads 
were chiefly made for Foot PaiTengers ; for as Nothing 
is more pleafant than to walk along them, fo Nothing 
is more inconvenient for Horfes and all Sorts of Car- 
riage ; and indeed Mules are the only Beafts of Burthen 
that can hold out long in this Road, which beats all 
Horfes after they have gone it a little while. There 
are feveral Remains of Roman Antiquities at the Mole of 
Cajeta ; but the Ifle of Caprea, now called Crapa, which 
is a little Way to Sea from Naples, gave me a ftrange 
Idea of Tdiberius's Reign ; fince it is hard to tell, whe- 
ther it was more extraordinary, to fee a Prince abandon 
the beft Seats and Palaces of Italy, and fliut himfelf 
up in a little Ifland, in which I was told there was a 
Tradition of feven fmall Palaces that he built in it ; or 
to fee fo vaft a Body, as the Roman Empire, go- 
verned by fuch a tyrannical Prince, at fuch a Di- 
ftance from the chief Seat, fo that all might have been 
reverfed long before the News of it could have reached 
him. And as there is nothing more wonderful in Story, 
than 
