Atkins, Sarah: Relics of antiquity, exhibited in the ruins of Pompeii and Herculaneum: with an account of the destruction and recovery of those celebrated cities (London: St. Harris, St. Paul's Church-Yard, 1825)

12

NEAPOLITAN SCENERY.

Camaldulenses,” said he; “ and thither pious
recluses used to flee for refuge from the extrava-
gance and voluptuousness that reigned around
them. To the north, the sight is lost in those ex-
tensive and smiling plains, which have been de-
nominated the Campi Elisi (Elysian fields). The
eye, fatigued by the numerous asperities of the
surrounding mountains, here reposes upon the
uniformity of the champaign, whose secluded
beauty, silence and tranquillity form a great con-
trast to the busier scenes beneath our feet. The
road before us leads to Capua ; that on the right
to Casserta, celebrated for its aqueduct and palace.
In going thither, you cross a delicious plain to
Acerra, a very ancient town, and remarkable for
its attachment to the Romans, even after the bat-
tle of Cannes, and in the presence of Hannibal;
though perhaps still more so for the fertility of its
soil, extolled by Virgil, or rather for the harmony
of the verses which terminate in its name.
‘ Talem dives arat Capua et vicina Vesevo
Ora jugo, et vacuis Clanius non sequis Acerris.’*
Georg, ii. 221.
* “ Such is the soil of fat Campanian fields,
Such large increase the land that joins Vesuvius, yields;
And such a country could Acerra boast,
Till Clanius overflowed the unhappy coast.”

DRYDEN.