which adorned the shores of
this Bay in classical times, Puteoli was the seat of commerce, and Baiae
the resort of pleasure and luxury; yet both were doomed to dwindle and
almost perish in the disastrous years that followed the break-up of the
Empire. The invading hordes of Germany, the raids of Saracen pirates, and
the constant presence of malaria on this deserted coast were sufficient
causes in themselves to reduce in the course of time the thriving port of
Puteoli to the squalid town of to-day. From our lofty post we can easily
distinguish the limits of the city in the days of Tiberius and Caligula,
for to the north we turn our faces towards the ruined bulk of the
Amphitheatre, now lying amidst fields and gardens, but well within the
town walls at the time when Nero entertained the Armenian king Tiridates
and shocked his Asiatic guest by himself descending into the arena and
deftly performing the usual disgusting feats of a professional gladiator.
To westward lies the Bay of Baiae, a semi-circle of glittering water
surrounded by low hills amidst which the Monte Nuovo, unknown to the
ancients, stands conspicuous. How completely have all traces of splendour
and extravagance disappeared from these shores! At fashionable Baiae
across the Bay there is nothing visible save a few shapeless ruins over
the identity of which scholars dispute; at busy Puteoli there survive
to-day but the ruined Amphitheatre, the Temple of Serapis, and the arches
of the famous Mole, to prove to wondering posterity how great were the
wealth, the population and the magnificence of a spot which is closely
associated with all the power and culture of the Roman Empire in its
zenith.

[Illustration: ON THE BEACH]

Of the various fragments of antiquity that are still standing in this
district of the Phlegrean Fields, the Mole of Puteoli is undoubtedly the
best preserved and the most interesting. So splendidly constructed is this
relic of the past, that but for continuous shocks of earthquake the whole
breakwater must have survived intact; as it is, more than half the Mole
has withstood the wear and tear of centuries of wind and storm. It is
built on the model of a Greek pier, a series of arches of massive masonry,
acting at once as a barrier against the force of the invading waves and as
a means of preventing the silting of the sand. Formed of brick, faced with
stone, and cemented with the local volcanic sand, which is consequently
known as _puzzol