DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.785#0293
chap, xi.] VIEW FROM THE PASS. 191
the Alban Mount with its soft flowing outlines; and
there, apparently at its foot, lies Rome herself, distinguish-
able more by the cupola of St. Peters, than by the
white line of her buildings. Well, traveller, mayest thou
gaze, for even in her present fallen state
Possis nihil urbe Roma
Visere majus.8
Nor must the dense and many-tinted woods, which
clothe the slopes of the mountain around and beneath,
be passed without notice. It is the Ciminian forest, still as
in olden times the terror of the Roman,9 and still with
its majestic oaks and chestnuts vindicating its ancient
reputation—sUvce sunt consule dignte!
On descending from the crest of the pass on the road
to Viterbo, a new scene broke on my view. The slopes
around and beneath were still densely clothed with
wood10—a wide plain again lay at my feet—mountains
also rose beyond—the sea glittered in a golden line on
the horizon—a lake shone out from the plain—even
Soracte had its counterpart : the general features of
the scene were the same as on the other side of the
mountain, but there was more tameness, more mono-
tony in their character, and the same stirring interest
did not attach to every spot as the site of some histo-
ric event or romantic legend; nor was there one grand
focus of attraction to which every other object was
» Horat. Cam. Ssec. 11. (Liv. IX. 38).
9 It was so dreaded by the ancient 10 The height on the northern shore
Romans, that the Senate, even after the of the lake is called Monte Venere—a
great rout of the Etruscans at Sutrium, name it is said to owe to a temple of
in the year 444, dispatched legates to Venus, that once occupied the summit,
the consul Fabius, charging him not to But as far as I can learn, the existence
enter the wood (Liv. IX. 36; Floras, of a temple here has never been as-
I. 17) ; and when it was known that he certained.
had done so, all Rome was terror-struck
the Alban Mount with its soft flowing outlines; and
there, apparently at its foot, lies Rome herself, distinguish-
able more by the cupola of St. Peters, than by the
white line of her buildings. Well, traveller, mayest thou
gaze, for even in her present fallen state
Possis nihil urbe Roma
Visere majus.8
Nor must the dense and many-tinted woods, which
clothe the slopes of the mountain around and beneath,
be passed without notice. It is the Ciminian forest, still as
in olden times the terror of the Roman,9 and still with
its majestic oaks and chestnuts vindicating its ancient
reputation—sUvce sunt consule dignte!
On descending from the crest of the pass on the road
to Viterbo, a new scene broke on my view. The slopes
around and beneath were still densely clothed with
wood10—a wide plain again lay at my feet—mountains
also rose beyond—the sea glittered in a golden line on
the horizon—a lake shone out from the plain—even
Soracte had its counterpart : the general features of
the scene were the same as on the other side of the
mountain, but there was more tameness, more mono-
tony in their character, and the same stirring interest
did not attach to every spot as the site of some histo-
ric event or romantic legend; nor was there one grand
focus of attraction to which every other object was
» Horat. Cam. Ssec. 11. (Liv. IX. 38).
9 It was so dreaded by the ancient 10 The height on the northern shore
Romans, that the Senate, even after the of the lake is called Monte Venere—a
great rout of the Etruscans at Sutrium, name it is said to owe to a temple of
in the year 444, dispatched legates to Venus, that once occupied the summit,
the consul Fabius, charging him not to But as far as I can learn, the existence
enter the wood (Liv. IX. 36; Floras, of a temple here has never been as-
I. 17) ; and when it was known that he certained.
had done so, all Rome was terror-struck