Kitap 5
4.8
Following this is the fortress of Heraclaeum,Hercolano, or Herculaneum, by Cicero (to Atticus, vii. 3) called Herculanum. It is probable that the subversion of this town was not sudden, but progressive, since Seneca mentions a partial demolition which it sustained from an earthquake. (Nat. Quoest. vi. 1.) So many books have been written on the antiquities and works of art discovered in Herculaneum, that the subject need not be enlarged upon here. built upon a promontory which projects out into the sea, and which, on account of the prevalence of the south-west wind, is a very healthy spot. The OsciSeveral inscriptions in Oscan, and Etruscan, characters have been discovered in the ruins of Herculaneum. Lanzi, (tom. iii.,)—Romanelli Viaggio a Pompei ed Ercolano. originally possessed both this and Pompeia,Pompeii. which is next to it, by which the river SarnoThe ancient Sarnus. flows; afterwards the Tyrrheni and Pelasgi,These Pelasgi were established among the Tyrrhenians. and then the SamnitesIt is believed that the Samnites possessed both places, 310, B. C. obtained possession of them, and the lastThe Romans must have been masters of these cities 272, B. C. (Livy, Epit. xiv.) in their turn were driven from these regions. Pompeia is the port for Nola,Nola resisted, under the able direction of Marcellus, all the efforts of Hannibal after the battle of Cannae. A remarkable inscription in Oscan characters relative to this town is explained by Lanzi, (tom. iii. 612,) its name is there written NUFLA. See Cramer’s Ancient Italy, vol. ii. p. 211. Nuceria,Nocera de’ Pagani. and Acerrae, which bears the same name as the city near to Cremona. It is built on the river Sarno, by which merchandise is received and exported. Above these places is Mount Vesuvius, which is covered with very beautiful fields, excepting its summit, a great part of which is level, but wholly sterile. It appears ash-coloured to the eye, cavernous hollows appear formed of blackened stones, looking as if they had been subjected to the action of fire. From this we may infer that the place was formerly in a burning state with live craters, which however became extinguished on the failing of the fuel. Perhaps this [volcano] may have been the cause of the fertility of the surrounding country, the same as occurs in Catana, where they say that that portion which has been covered with ashes thrown up by the fires of Aetna is most excellent for the vine. The land about Vesuvius contains fat, and a soil which has been subjected to fire, and is very strong and productive of fruit: when this fat superabounds, it is apt, like all sulphurous substances, to take fire, but being dried up by evaporation, extinguished, and pulverized, it becomes a productive earth. Adjoining Pompeia is Surrentum,Sorrento. [a city] of the Campanians, from whence the Athenaeum,Punta della Campanella. called by some the promontory of the Sirenuae, projects [into the sea]; upon its summit is the temple of Minerva, founded by Ulysses. From hence to the island of Capreas the passage is short; after doubling the promontory you encounter various desert and rocky little islands, which are called the Sirenusae.The Sirenusae were three small rocks detached from the land, and celebrated as the islands of the Sirens; they are now called Galli. See Holsten. Adnot. p. 248; Romanelli, torn. iii. p. 619. Virgil, Aen. v. 864, describes them as, Jamque adeo scopulos advecta subibat; Difficiles quondam, multorumque ossibus albos. It had been decreed that the Sirens should live only till some one hearing their song should pass on unmoved, and Orpheus, who accompanied the Argonauts, having surpassed the Sirens, and led on the ship, they cast themselves into the sea, and were metamorphosed into these rocks. On the side towards Surrentum there is shown a temple with the ancient offerings of those who held this place in veneration. Here is the end of the bay named Crater,The bay of Naples. which is bounded by the two promontories of MisenumPunta di Miseno. and the Athenaeum, both looking towards the south. The whole is adorned by the cities we have described, by villas, and plantations, so close together that to the eye they appear but one city.
