DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.785#0212
HO NEPI. [chap. v.
mass blued by distance; and far away in the horizon is
the range of snow-capt Apennines.
On entering the gate the eye is caught by a fine piece
of ancient walling, in nineteen courses, or about thirty-six
feet and a half in height, and of considerable length.
Its crumbling weather-worn condition proclaims its anti-
quity, and the size and arrangement of the blocks mark its
Etruscan character. Just within the inner gate is another
fragment of less extent, only ten courses high, and still
more ruinous. These are probably the very walls which
Camillus and his soldiers scaled when they stormed the
town, 386 years before Christ.6
But instead of entering the town, cross the court-
yard to the right, and pass through another gate in the
fortifications.7 Here you are on the brink of the ravine
which bounds Nepi on the south. The view of the cliff-
bound city—of the profound, lonely ravine—of the lofty
venerable walls of the keep, with their machicolated battle-
ments towering above you—of the lowly mill at their feet,
vying with them in picturesque effect, as it shoots out a jet
of foam which sinks in a cascade into the glen—would
alone claim admiration. But there is yet more for the
attention of the antiquary. At the verge of the cliff, to
which, indeed, it forms a facing or embankment, and only
a few steps from the gate of the town, is another bit of the
ancient walling of Nepete, and the most perfect specimen
remaining. It is but of four courses, in an excellent state
of preservation. Like the two other portions mentioned,
it is of emplecton, precisely similar to the walls of Sutri.
The wall, of which this is a fragment, seems to have ex-
tended along the face of the precipice. Much seems to
6 Liv. VI. 10. vera! miles, but said to be a wretched
' The road from this gate is a bye track, utterly impracticable for vehicles,
path to Le Sette Vene, shorter by se-
mass blued by distance; and far away in the horizon is
the range of snow-capt Apennines.
On entering the gate the eye is caught by a fine piece
of ancient walling, in nineteen courses, or about thirty-six
feet and a half in height, and of considerable length.
Its crumbling weather-worn condition proclaims its anti-
quity, and the size and arrangement of the blocks mark its
Etruscan character. Just within the inner gate is another
fragment of less extent, only ten courses high, and still
more ruinous. These are probably the very walls which
Camillus and his soldiers scaled when they stormed the
town, 386 years before Christ.6
But instead of entering the town, cross the court-
yard to the right, and pass through another gate in the
fortifications.7 Here you are on the brink of the ravine
which bounds Nepi on the south. The view of the cliff-
bound city—of the profound, lonely ravine—of the lofty
venerable walls of the keep, with their machicolated battle-
ments towering above you—of the lowly mill at their feet,
vying with them in picturesque effect, as it shoots out a jet
of foam which sinks in a cascade into the glen—would
alone claim admiration. But there is yet more for the
attention of the antiquary. At the verge of the cliff, to
which, indeed, it forms a facing or embankment, and only
a few steps from the gate of the town, is another bit of the
ancient walling of Nepete, and the most perfect specimen
remaining. It is but of four courses, in an excellent state
of preservation. Like the two other portions mentioned,
it is of emplecton, precisely similar to the walls of Sutri.
The wall, of which this is a fragment, seems to have ex-
tended along the face of the precipice. Much seems to
6 Liv. VI. 10. vera! miles, but said to be a wretched
' The road from this gate is a bye track, utterly impracticable for vehicles,
path to Le Sette Vene, shorter by se-