The morning of our departure from Rome arrived at last, and we sighed at the thoughts of having missed so much, and seen so little.
"The grandeur of Rome Could I leave it unseen, and nor yield to regret? With a hope (and no more) for a season to come Which ne'er may discharge the magnificent debt? Thou fortunate region! whose greatness inurned, Awoke to new life from its ashes and dust; Twice-glorified fields! if in sadness I turned From your infinite marvels, the sadness was just."
Ancient Roma and the remains of her past greatness will ever be impressed upon our memories. An empire once so mighty, the Mistress of the World; then for so long desolate and entombed, a city of ruins; and now, phoenix-like, rising rapidly from her ashes, and preparing as "Young Italy" to take her place as a power among the other nations of Europe, many of whom have already welcomed her as a sister.
On the morning of the 26th of January we left Rome for Naples, some 163 miles by railway.
For many miles we travelled almost in a direct line, and on a level plain through the Campagna, close to one of the great aqueducts, and with the Via Appia always following in the distance, until we passed the first station, Gaimpino, when we crossed this fine old Roman road, and wound round the base of the hills. We saw an almost endless succession of ruins--the tombs of Pompey, Dominician, and many others of the conquerors and arbiters of the world in bygone times. Then through Albano and Curioli, from which Coriolanus obtained his famous surname. Among the hills we caught glimpses every now and then of the Campagna, bright with heather; and sometimes, also, of the blue sea beyond.
We next passed through Civita Lavinia, near the site of Lanuvium, the birthplace of Antoninus Pius. The Via Appia here strikes across the Pontine marshes. Velletri, the site of an old city of the Volscians, and the birthplace of Augustus, is picturesquely situated half-way up Monte Arriano in the Alban Hills. Its raised walls were built by Coriolanus. Here the railway, leaving the old route towards the Naples frontier and along the Appian Way, strikes inland among the hills. Not far from this spot, on the old Appian coach road, is "Tres Tabernæ," or "Three Taverns," where St Paul met the brethren after his landing at Puteoli. This old road is so full of interest, that we hope to be able to travel by it more leisurely on a future occasion--especially as brigandage, once a common occurrence, is now a thing of the past, since Italy is under a strong and honest government.