s, Temple of Bacchus, the
Fountain of Egeria, San Stefano Rotondo, Temple of Pallas, Arches
of Drusus and Dollabella, and the Borghese Villa and Gardens. The
ruins of the Gaetani Castle are rather picturesque, but they
spoil the tomb, which would be far finer without its turrets. The
Circus is as curious as anything I have seen, for it looks like a
fresh ruin. Old Torlonia furbished it up at his own expense,
and brought to light the inscription which proved it to be
Maxentius's instead of Caracalla's Circus. The remains are so
perfect that it is easy to trace the whole arrangement of the
ancient games. Forsyth says very truly that the Fountain of
Egeria is a mere trough; but everybody praises the water, which
is delicious, and it falls with a murmur which invites to
idleness and contemplation. This fountain has been beautifully
sung, but it is a miserable ruin, ill deserving of such strains.

In vallum Egeriae descendimus et speluncas
Dissimiles veris--quanto praestantius esset
Numen aquae, viridi si margine clauderet undas
Herba, nec ingenuum violarent marmora tophum.
JUVENAL.

A little wood of firs, and pines, and ilexes about thirty or
forty years old is pointed out as the grove in which Numa used to
meet the nymph. In all the views on one side Soracte is a
striking object, as it

From out the plain
Heaves like a long-swept wave about to break
And on the curl hangs pausing.

I like this side of Rome, where the aqueducts stride over the
Campagna, and the ruins of the mighty Claudian tower over the
pigmy arches of the Pope, like the genius of ancient over that of
modern Rome. The Borghese is the _beau ideal_ of a villa; lofty,
spacious apartments, adorned with statues, busts, and marbles,
painting and gilding, and magnificent gardens; but deserted by
its owner, who has only been there once in the last thirty years,
and untenable in the summer from malaria, which is very
unaccountable, for it is close to Rome, high, and full of trees;
but nobody knows anything about the malaria. The Gardens are the
fashionable lounge, but after June nobody can walk there. Though
the Prince never comes here he has just bought a large piece of
ground between the Porta del Popolo and the Gardens, and is
making a handsome entrance, has already built gates and some ugly
Egyptian imitatio