ana_, this wonderful breakwater must originally have
stretched out into the Bay a total length of twenty-five arches, its
furthest extremity being crowned by a light-house. If we could only call
up in imagination the Bay of Baiae in the days of the Empire, when its
shores were fringed by sumptuous villas of famous or infamous Romans and
its expanse was thickly covered with every variety of vessel of pleasure
or merchandise, instead of the few fishing boats that now and again flit
across its glassy surface, we might better be able to realise the
extraordinary episode which is connected with this classical fragment in
the little port of Pozzuoli below us. For it was from the Mole of Puteoli
to the spit of land we see on the western shore opposite that the demented
tyrant, Caius Caligula, constructed his historic bridge of boats across
the Baiaean gulf. Every large vessel in the surrounding harbours had been
pressed into the service of the Emperor for this gigantic piece of folly,
so that the inhabitants of Rome were seriously inconvenienced by the
detention of their corn ships, and loud in consequence were the complaints
of the Roman populace, for whose anger, it is needless to state, the
Emperor cared not a fig. "History," says Gibbon, "is but a record of the
crimes, follies and misfortunes of mankind;" and this smiling Bay of Baiae
will ever be memorable as the scene of what was perhaps the worst
exhibition of tyrannical caprice that the world has yet witnessed.

Using a double line of vessels well yoked together as a compact and solid
base, the Emperor now gave orders for a military road of the usual Roman
type to be constructed of planks of timber covered with earth and paved
with hewn stones. When this stupendous work was completed, the usual
station-houses were erected at various intervals, and fresh water was laid
on by means of pipes connected with the Imperial cisterns at Misenum. Upon
this broad road, laid across the Baiaean Gulf, the young Emperor now
advanced on horseback, followed by his whole army clad in array of battle.
Caligula on this occasion wore a historic coat of armour studded with rare
gems that had once belonged to Alexander the Great; a jewelled sword was
fastened to his thigh, and a crown of oak leaves bound his temples.
Solemnly the Emperor and his army crossed the broad expanse of water on
dry land and entered Puteoli with mock honours of war. After remaining a
day in the port to refresh his vic