s, and a portion of a fluted column, and a
single Doric capital of the grand old style, supposed to belong to the
temple of Apollo, on the summit of the Acropolis, are all that meet
the eye to remind us of this home of ancient faith and prophecy. In
the plain at the foot of the rock is the Necropolis of Cumae, the most
ancient burial-place in Italy, from whose rifled Greek graves a most
valuable collection of archaic vases and personal ornaments were
obtained and transferred to the museums of Naples, Paris, and St.
Petersburg; but the tombs themselves have now been destroyed, and only
a few marble fragments of Roman sepulchral decoration scattered around
indicate the spot. And not far off, partially concealed by earth and
underwood, may be seen the ruins of the amphitheatre, with its
twenty-one tiers of seats leading down to the arena.
You look in vain for any trace of the sanctuary of the most celebrated
of the Sibyls. Her tomb is pointed out as a vague ruin a short
distance from the Necropolis, among the tombs which line the Via
Domitiana; and Justin Martyr and Pausanias both describe a round
cinerary urn found in this spot which was said to have contained her
ashes. The tufa rock of the Acropolis is pierced with numerous dark
caverns and labyrinthine passages, the work of prehistoric
inhabitants, which have only been partially explored on account of the
difficulty and danger, and any one of which might have been the abode
of the prophetess. A larger excavation in the side of the hill facing
the sea, with a flight of steps leading up from it into another
smaller recess, and numerous lateral openings and subterranean
passages, supposed to penetrate into the very heart of the mountain,
and even to communicate with Lake Fusaro, is pointed out by the local
guides as the Sibyl's Cave, which, as Virgil tells us, had a hundred
entrances and issues, from whence as many resounding voices echoed
forth the oracles of the inspired priestess. But we are confused in
our efforts at identification; for another cavern bore this name in
former ages, which was destroyed by the explosion of the combustible
materials with which Narses filled it in undermining the citadel.
This, we have reason to believe, was the cave which Justin Martyr
visited more than seventeen hundred years ago, and of which he has
left behind a most interesting account. "We saw," he says, "when we
were in Cumae, a place where a sanctuary is hollowed in the rock--a
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