dy from seizing them.

On Mount Aventine were placed the temple of patrician, and that of
plebeian modesty. At the foot of this hill is seen the temple of Vesta,
which yet remains whole, though it has been often menaced by the
inundations of the Tiber. Not far from thence is the ruin of a prison
for debt, where it is said a fine trait of filial piety was displayed,
which is pretty generally known. It was also in this place that Clelia
and her companions, prisoners of Porsenna, crossed the Tiber in order to
rejoin the Romans. This Aventine Mount affords the soul repose after the
painful reflections which the other hills awaken, and its aspect is as
beautiful as the memories it recalls. The name of _Pulchrum Littus_,
Beautiful Shore, was given to the banks of the river, which rolls at its
foot, which was the walk of the Roman orators when they quitted the
forum--it was there that Caesar and Pompey met like private citizens, and
sought to captivate Cicero whose independent eloquence was then of more
importance to them than even the power of their armies.

Poetry too lends its aid to embellish this retreat; Virgil has placed
the cavern of Cacus upon Mount Aventine, and the Romans, so great by
their history, are still more so by the heroic fictions with which the
bards have decorated their fabulous origin. Lastly, in returning from
this mountain is seen the house of Nicholas Rienzi, who vainly
endeavoured to revive ancient times among the moderns, and this memento,
feeble as it is, by the side of so many others, gives birth to much
reflection. Mount Caelius is remarkable because there we behold the
remains of the Praetorian camp, and that of the foreign soldiers. This
inscription has been found in the ruins of the edifice built for the
reception of these soldiers:--"To the hallowed genius of foreign camps!"
Hallowed indeed, for those whose power it maintained! What remains of
these ancient barracks, enables us to judge that they were built after
the manner of cloisters, or rather, that cloisters have been built upon
their model.

Mount Esquiline was called the _Poets' Mount_, because Mecenas having
his palace on this hill, Horace, Propertius and Tibullus dwelt there
also. Not far from here are the ruins of the Thermae of Titus, and of
Trajan. It is believed that Raphael took the model of his arabesques
from the fresco paintings of the Thermae of Titus. It is there, also,
that was discovered the group of the Laocoon. The fr