DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.785#0124
22 VEIL—The City. [chap. i.
prove that the colony continued at least to exist to a late
period of the Roman empire.1
I have described my first walk round Veii as that which
it may be advisable for the visitor to take; but many
a day, and in all seasons, have I spent in wandering over
the site and around the walls of this once renowned
city. As no beds are to be had at Isola, I have been
wont to take up my quarters at La Storta, and step over
at day-break; and, with a luncheon in my pocket and a
draught from the Cremera, I have not cared to return till
the landscape was veiled in the purple shadows of sunset.
Every time I visit Veii I am struck with the rapid
progress of destruction. Nibby and Gell mention many
remains which are no longer visible. The site has less to
show on every succeeding year. Even masonry, such as
the pier of the bridge over the Fosso di Formello, that
from its massiveness might defy the pilferings of the
peasantry, is torn to pieces, and the blocks removed to
form walls or houses elsewhere, so that, ere long, I fear it
will be said of Veii, " Her very rains have perished "—
etiam pertfre ruince.
Occasionally, in my wanderings on this site, I have
entered, either from curiosity or for shelter, one of the
capanne scattered over the downs. These are tall, conical,
thatched huts, which the shepherds make their winter
abode. For in Italy, the low lands being generally un-
healthy in summer, the flocks are driven to the mountains
about May, and as soon as the great heats are past are
brought back to the richer pastures of the plains. It is a
curious sight—the interior of a capanna—and affords an
agreeable diversity to the antiquity-hunter. A little
1 The latest of these inscriptions is in Veii is also mentioned in the Theodosian
the Vatican—a dedicatory tablet to the Itinerary of the fourth century,
father of the Emperor Constantine.
prove that the colony continued at least to exist to a late
period of the Roman empire.1
I have described my first walk round Veii as that which
it may be advisable for the visitor to take; but many
a day, and in all seasons, have I spent in wandering over
the site and around the walls of this once renowned
city. As no beds are to be had at Isola, I have been
wont to take up my quarters at La Storta, and step over
at day-break; and, with a luncheon in my pocket and a
draught from the Cremera, I have not cared to return till
the landscape was veiled in the purple shadows of sunset.
Every time I visit Veii I am struck with the rapid
progress of destruction. Nibby and Gell mention many
remains which are no longer visible. The site has less to
show on every succeeding year. Even masonry, such as
the pier of the bridge over the Fosso di Formello, that
from its massiveness might defy the pilferings of the
peasantry, is torn to pieces, and the blocks removed to
form walls or houses elsewhere, so that, ere long, I fear it
will be said of Veii, " Her very rains have perished "—
etiam pertfre ruince.
Occasionally, in my wanderings on this site, I have
entered, either from curiosity or for shelter, one of the
capanne scattered over the downs. These are tall, conical,
thatched huts, which the shepherds make their winter
abode. For in Italy, the low lands being generally un-
healthy in summer, the flocks are driven to the mountains
about May, and as soon as the great heats are past are
brought back to the richer pastures of the plains. It is a
curious sight—the interior of a capanna—and affords an
agreeable diversity to the antiquity-hunter. A little
1 The latest of these inscriptions is in Veii is also mentioned in the Theodosian
the Vatican—a dedicatory tablet to the Itinerary of the fourth century,
father of the Emperor Constantine.