DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.785#0204
102 SUTRI. [chap. iv.
has been the fate of these sepulchres—in all ages they
have been misapplied. The Romans, both Pagan and
Christian, introduced their own dead. In the dark and
turbulent ages succeeding the fall of the Empire, they
were probably inhabited by a semi-barbarous peasantry,
or served as the lurking-places of banditti; and now they
are frequently used as wine-cellars, hog-sties, or cattle-
stalls, and their sarcophagi converted into bins, mangers,
or watering-troughs.
Beyond the sculptured tombs, in a field by the road-side,
I found a sepulchre differing from any I had yet entered.
It was divided into several chambers, all with recesses sunk
in their walls to contain bodies, with or without sarcophagi
—in tiers of shelves one above the other, just like the berths
in a steamer's cabin. Such an arrangement is often observed
in the catacombs of Italy and Sicily, and would lead one
to suspect these tombs to have had a Christian origin, were
it not also found in connection with Etruscan inscriptions
at Civita Castellana, and Cervetri.
Some distance beyond, in a thick wood, is a cave called
the Grotta d' Orlando, a personage, who, like his Satanic
Majesty, has often a finger in many things mysterious in
nature or art—at least in the southern countries of Europe.
He it was who cleft the Pyrenees with one stroke of his
sword, Durandal, with the same ease with which he had
been wont to cleave the Saracens from crown to seat.
This may have been an Etruscan tomb, of two cham-
bers, the outer and larger supported by a square pillar.
But what has this to do with Orlando 1 Tradition repre-
sents that hero, while on his way to Rome in the army of
Charlemagne, as having lured away some maid or matron
of Sutri, and concealed her in this cave, which would
scarcely tempt an JSneas and Dido at present, whatever
may have been its former attractions. On the same cliff
has been the fate of these sepulchres—in all ages they
have been misapplied. The Romans, both Pagan and
Christian, introduced their own dead. In the dark and
turbulent ages succeeding the fall of the Empire, they
were probably inhabited by a semi-barbarous peasantry,
or served as the lurking-places of banditti; and now they
are frequently used as wine-cellars, hog-sties, or cattle-
stalls, and their sarcophagi converted into bins, mangers,
or watering-troughs.
Beyond the sculptured tombs, in a field by the road-side,
I found a sepulchre differing from any I had yet entered.
It was divided into several chambers, all with recesses sunk
in their walls to contain bodies, with or without sarcophagi
—in tiers of shelves one above the other, just like the berths
in a steamer's cabin. Such an arrangement is often observed
in the catacombs of Italy and Sicily, and would lead one
to suspect these tombs to have had a Christian origin, were
it not also found in connection with Etruscan inscriptions
at Civita Castellana, and Cervetri.
Some distance beyond, in a thick wood, is a cave called
the Grotta d' Orlando, a personage, who, like his Satanic
Majesty, has often a finger in many things mysterious in
nature or art—at least in the southern countries of Europe.
He it was who cleft the Pyrenees with one stroke of his
sword, Durandal, with the same ease with which he had
been wont to cleave the Saracens from crown to seat.
This may have been an Etruscan tomb, of two cham-
bers, the outer and larger supported by a square pillar.
But what has this to do with Orlando 1 Tradition repre-
sents that hero, while on his way to Rome in the army of
Charlemagne, as having lured away some maid or matron
of Sutri, and concealed her in this cave, which would
scarcely tempt an JSneas and Dido at present, whatever
may have been its former attractions. On the same cliff