ascent,
but that it may voluptuously gaze on verdant plains and the blue
back of the sea. The city beholds the rising sun from its very
cradle, when the day that is about to be born sends forward no
heralding Aurora; but as soon as it begins to rise, the quivering
brightness displays its torch. It beholds Phoebus in his joy; it
is bathed in the brightness of that luminary so that it might be
thought to be itself the native land of the sun, the claims of
Rhodes to that honour being outdone.... It enjoys a translucent
air, but withal so temperate, that its winters are sunny and its
summers cool, and life passes there without sorrow, since hostile
seasons are feared by none. Hence, too, man himself is here freer
of soul than elsewhere, for this temperateness of the climate
prevails in all things.... Assuredly for the body to imbibe muddy
waters is a different thing from sucking in the transparency of a
sweet fountain. Even so the vigour of the mind is repressed when
it is clogged by a heavy atmosphere. Nature itself hath made us
subject to these influences.... clouds make us feel sad, and
again a bright day fills us with joy.... At the foot of the
Moscian Mount we hollowed out the bowels of the rock, and
tastefully introduced therein the eddying waves of Nereus. Here a
troop of fishes sporting in free captivity refreshes all minds
with delight, and charms all eyes with admiration. They run
greedily to the hand of man, and, before they become his food,
seek dainties from him.

He described the town as rich in vineyards and olive woods,
cornfields and villas.

He awarded the palm of beauty to Como and its lake, and although he
wrote in the clumsy language of a decaying literature, this
sixth-century sketch still strikes us as surprisingly complete and
artistic in feeling:

Como, with its precipitous mountains and its vast expanse of
lake, seems placed there for the defence of the Province of
Liguria; and yet again, it is so beautiful, that one would think
it was created for pleasure only.

To the south lies a fertile plain with easy roads for the
transport of provisions; on the north, a lake sixty miles long
abounding in fish, soothing the mind with delicious
recreation.... Rightly is it called Como, because it is adorned
with such gifts. The lake lies in a shell-like valley with white