DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.55582#0193
Antiquities and Curiojities
that Virgil was the Magician 5 who
is in greater Repute among the Neapo-
litans for having made the Grotto, than
the JEneid.
If a Man would form to himself a juft
Idea of this Place, he must fancy a vast
Rock undermin’d from one End to the
other, and a Highway running thro’ it,
near as long and as broad as the Mall in
St. James's Park. This Subterraneous
Pasiage is much mended since Seneca
gave so bad a Character of it. The En-
try at both Ends is higher than the mid-
dle Parts of it, and sinks by degrees, to
ssing in more Light upon the rest. To-
wards the middle are Two large Fun-
nels, bor’d thro’ the Roof of the Grot-
to, to let in Light and frefli Air.
There are no where about the Moun-
tain any vast Heaps of Stones, tho’ it is
certain the great Quantities of ’em that
are dug out of the Rock could not easi-
ly conceal themselves, had they not pro-
bably been consum’d in the Moles and
Buildings of Naples. This confirm’d me
in a Conjefture which I made at the
first sight of this Subterraneous Pasiage,
that it was not at firft design’d so much for
a High-way as for a Quarry of Stone, but
"that the Inhabitants, finding a double Ad-
vantage by it, hew’d it into the Form we
now
that Virgil was the Magician 5 who
is in greater Repute among the Neapo-
litans for having made the Grotto, than
the JEneid.
If a Man would form to himself a juft
Idea of this Place, he must fancy a vast
Rock undermin’d from one End to the
other, and a Highway running thro’ it,
near as long and as broad as the Mall in
St. James's Park. This Subterraneous
Pasiage is much mended since Seneca
gave so bad a Character of it. The En-
try at both Ends is higher than the mid-
dle Parts of it, and sinks by degrees, to
ssing in more Light upon the rest. To-
wards the middle are Two large Fun-
nels, bor’d thro’ the Roof of the Grot-
to, to let in Light and frefli Air.
There are no where about the Moun-
tain any vast Heaps of Stones, tho’ it is
certain the great Quantities of ’em that
are dug out of the Rock could not easi-
ly conceal themselves, had they not pro-
bably been consum’d in the Moles and
Buildings of Naples. This confirm’d me
in a Conjefture which I made at the
first sight of this Subterraneous Pasiage,
that it was not at firft design’d so much for
a High-way as for a Quarry of Stone, but
"that the Inhabitants, finding a double Ad-
vantage by it, hew’d it into the Form we
now