f the sea-fowl is almost the only sound that breaks the stillness,
was crowded with the vessels of the Roman fleet, commanded by Pliny;
and its waters were alive with the pleasure-boats of the patrician
youths, filling the air with the music of their laughter and song.
Puteoli, or, as it is now called, Pozzuoli, a dull and stagnant
fourth-rate town, was then the Liverpool of Italy, carrying on an
immense trade in corn between Egypt and the western provinces of the
Roman Empire. It rivalled Delos in magnificence, and was called the
Little Rome. It had a splendid forum and harbour, and was guarded by
fortifications which resisted the repeated attacks of Hannibal. In
this region almost every famous Roman of the later days of the
Republic and the earlier days of the Empire had his sea-side villa to
which he retired from the noise and bustle of the Imperial City. It
was the Brighton or more properly the Bath of Rome; for though it was
frequented during the burning heats of summer for the sake of its
comparative coolness, it was principally chosen as a winter retreat to
escape from the frosts and snows of the north. Lucullus carried here
the gorgeous luxury and extravagance of his city life; here Augustus
and Hadrian had their palaces erected on vast piers thrown out into
the sea, whose waters still murmur over their remains; while Cicero
built here his _Puteolanum_, delightfully situated on the coast, and
surrounded by a shady grove, which he called his Academy, in imitation
of Plato, and where he composed his "Academia" and "De Fato." Hardly
an inch of the soil but is full of fragments of mosaic pavements. The
common stones of the road are often rich marbles, that formed part of
imperial structures; and the very dust on which you tread, if
analysed, would be found to be a powder of gems and precious stones.

But alas! in some of the fairest spots of earth man has been vilest;
and like the ancient Cities of the Plain, which stood in a region of
Edenic loveliness, the shores of the Bay of Naples were inhabited by
a race corrupted with the worst vices of Roman civilisation. Some of
the most dreadful crimes that have disgraced humanity were committed
on that radiant shore. Yonder sleeps in the azure distance the
enchanted isle of Capri, haunted for ever by dreadful memories of the
unnameable atrocities with which the Emperor Tiberius had stained its
peaceful bowers. On the neighbouring heights of Posilipo are traces of
the vill