JOTTINGS PROM A TRAVELLERS JOURNAL.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1032, 22 December 1883, Page 4

JOTTINGS PROM A TRAVELLERS JOURNAL.

[SPECIALLY ‘WRITTEN FOB " THE ASHBURTON TT'" GUARDIAN.”] XXll.—Continued. - The amhpitheatrb of Nero—lts Historical As ociATiONS—Lake Ldorihus —Lake Avernus—A look into the Grotto op Sybil’—The Baths of Nero A Sudoriparous Ordeal— Baja : Its Ruins and Echoes—A ! Lovely Panorama:. Yet Haunted with InThe amphitheatre is a gigantic ruin, and in some respects the moat interesting in the neighborhood of Pozzuoli. The living drapery of nature, the wi'd flowers and ferns, add new grace tq the old crumbling masonry. The structure originally stood on arches, and was surrounded by a spacious court : a lofty colonnade led tb he entrances. Pour tiers of seats rote one above the other, and the arena three hundred and sixty-nine fee-- long and two hundred and sixteen broad, could at ( leasure he filled with .watfer so - as to represent navat battles, and allow. the excited spectators to witness the strange conflicts of war gallies and their armaments. Many of the special appliancov of, the building, the ventilators; the outlets of the dens of the;wild beasts, are still comparatively perfect. This amphitheatre , mb the scene of Sbrii© celebrated displays. Kero, as the host of the King of Armenia sought to entertain Jiia_gnest, and gratify # his own degraded vanity, ;by appearing in the arena as a combatant. Thefe, too, :of-whom I havealre49V When*w collection with the cqMedratWijNaples, stood, uninjured before the he had been thrown by -the order of Diocletian—the noble hvy** 'frqpri: sqm&/cacsß or. other refusing to feast on ttie followerof Christ. I have already alluded incidentally to Lake Avernns. I must not forget to add that the formation of the, *ucrounding land giyes a literal signification to the old proverb, '‘Facilis est descensus Avemi ” The road/from vlidorinus to Avernns is easy and pleasant 1 imagine, however, the apothegm of the ancients derived its force from the fact that Lake Avernns is bounded by shelving hills, and any unfortunate traveller who began to ascend the

inolitrtd pUiie >would find it difficult to. stay his steps and avoid the fatal plunge. But all the mystic horrors of the place have vanished. The erruption that threw upiMdntpiSSaovo: in a night: put out the firq|t;;oiHAYsrnUß, and .transformed the region of noxious exhalations, once considered the precints of hell, into a pleasant rural solitude ; and the waters, over which, it is said, no bird could fly and live, into a placid pool, bright and beauti ful enough to be an ornament in a modern nobleman’s park. Onone side of the lake there ate openings in the rocks. Into one of these I looked. The look wfficqd. - It is c died the grotto of the Sybih %ht the long damp passage with its earthly smell did not accord with my conceptions of such a retreat as the Sybil would have chosen for the utterance of her orates; and therefore I passed it by. In, .the same way a very cursory glance at tbe chamber which is associated with thn entrance into the infernal tetiafied iny curicaity. The realities weresfifficient-to-dissipata the halo of romance that poetic imagination has thrown around these localities...'-- Perhaps, to thasprptise garrulous custodian, I evinced Wo i- desire.' fo ; lave - myself in the lukewarm w ater that supplies the reputed

bath of the t-'ybil. Returning to the main road, and proceedipgVtoWarda: Baja—the ancient' Raise —I was curious enough to venture, into the almost suffocating atmosphere of the bathes of Nero. Lighting one -of the tapers, for which I had been foolish enough to pay an exorbitant price, being assn red. by a local vendor* that a good 4 supply-of these would be found indispensfollowed ’a boyish guide down a narrow, dark, tortuous, and subterranean passage. I had to assume a stooping posture, and run as f life-depended Upoli'jthyispeed, for t'te heat’ was almost overpowering When I emerged I was in a profuse pera; i-ation. Very different must jiaffe been the ! accommodation, if in former days; the Hptnan Emperor fpund delight innihp'e hot baths. A visit to tbeminow* is an ihfliclTpn which most peoptii would 7 gladly escape. My co - panidn put her head into the passage and found it too warm to be, pleasant. She prudently remained in’ charge of my outer garments while I Went through the sudori-paroas-ordeal/ Baja as it is how called, presentsi’ttf’vet*y different appearance from that which it must have presented to the Apostle 4 when he landed at Puteoli. ;tf.bh‘a scene of magnificence, the and luxurious watering place ‘iri’ 1 the Roman Em pi re. But now it is coniparktively a 'sbene of , desolation. FragmeßrtS of nobie'strucVures are to be seen s nk htiany places—■ foundations of baths and summer houses extending even some-distance into,the so i—servo to give a faiilC’tdbh 'of the 1 grandeur of the city and before the period of decline., The names given to some of, the retied upop as truly desoriptlV^of ’the'nriginal structures. One octagtMal httildiife, with a circular interior, the temple of Diana. I

strongly auapectit to jba tharernainr of the bath-room 'rtf some wealthy Roman sybarite. Another circidar ; juln,, ,v?ith. a vaulted ceiling open in the* centra to the sky is said to have been a temple of Mercury. There is a fine echo in this ruin. There J;Wraß,..dfnU a cd bya-band of peasant women, who for the fee of fifty: cants went through the graceful movements of the “ tarantella.” If the iruina alt around had power bf speech what revolting secrets would be revealed ! In this region -the worst vices of which human nature is’ capable were practised without'restraint. Yoluptuosness andee usual indulgence in every form were 'the* dominant features of society. Standing by the mips of the castle on the jutting’ rufn dating no further back than the time of the Saracens the travetoffljMbpfjre.bim of the loveliest m NatureTpanoramas. But almost every feature of the unrivalled prospect may of' some unnatural crime the spot" on which his.,eye is fixed. If he is looking at Capri, rising likb ah enchanted island out of the blue boapmjOf. : the;deep, it will be borne back upon his,memory that there the infamous Tiberius practised abominations that must sot be; described. Does he allow-rbif eye to,, roam . over the high 1 He may almost detect the foundations jpf the villa in which YedirSa&ch Add dab wont to'feed the fish that sported, in his marble bordered pondi with the flesh of h : s.slaves who I Or >\ directinghis mediate preci ri cts of Posezuoli, he may see the fragments of the bridge erected by Ealigu.la, and from whichfoheb’hjsfcldebed'by drink he ordered a crowd of inoffensive spectators, who had assembled to eeSihinC. - , drive id' the chariot and armour of Alexan ’er the Great, to be hurled into Ah§ sea. On turning round to look towards the village of B coli—the ancient Bauli—his flesh may almost creep as he - recalls the parricidal attempt of Nero to murder his piother, Agrippena. When Paul stdbd'- bn the pier at Puteoli, all these places had reached, the zenith of gaiety and splendour. The whole region was swarming with life: - Towns, temples, palaces and villas of unimaginable magni licence crowded the localises where now the traveller beholds only insignificant villages, aeat66red- ruins and leafy solilodes. fTo be continued ) ... . v-:( . ; i