DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.785#0496
chap, xx.] LE SALINE, OR SAN CLEMENTINO. 391
At San Clementino are traces of ancient habitation—two
vaults and a sewer of Roman date, and fragments of
pottery mingled with the soil.4 As the space thus strewn
is very circumscribed, and nothing is of Etruscan cha-
racter, I regard this as the site of some Roman station ;5
there is nothing extant to warrant the conclusion that it is
that of Craviscse.6
Three miles along the shore to the south stands the
lonely Tower of Bertaldo, at the mouth of the Mignone,7
probably marking the site of Rapinium, another station
on this coast, half-way between Centum Cellse (Civita
Vecchia) and G-raviscse. It is more commonly called Sant
Agostino, from a legend of that saint. The holy man, as
he once strayed along this shore, was pondering on the
mysteries of the Trinity, and doubts, suggested by the eyil
powers whose attacks he deplores in his "Confessions,"
were arising in his mind, when, on reaching this spot, he
beheld a child busied in filling with water a small hole in
the sand. St. Augustine asked what he was about.
" Trying to put the sea into this hole," replied the criatura.
" Impossible," cried the saint, laughing at the boy's sim-
plicity. " More easy this," said the other, who now stood
confessed an angel, " than for thee to comprehend those
sublime mysteries thou art vainly seeking to penetrate."
4 Westphal is therefore in error in depth below the surface, and in a circum-
denying the existence of ancient remains scribed spot of ground. In one were
on this site.—Ann, Inst. 1830,p. 28. found all the bones of a horse, and (as if
5 An inscription on the Dogana calls the owner had left to his steed the post
it the ancient Forum Aurelii, but that of honour) by its side lay a human
was much more probably at or near skeleton of gigantic size. Ann. Inst.
Montalto on the Fiora. 1829, p. 95—Avrolta.
6 At this site, however, painted rases r Anciently the Minio, mentioned by
have been found, which, if of the usual Virgil. JEa. X. 183 ; Sery. in loc. ;
character, would indicate Etruscan Mela, II. 4 ; Rutil. I. 279. Cluver (II.
habitation. They were found in sar- p. 483) regards the Bapinium of the
cophagi of stone or earthenware, not Maritime Itinerary as a corruption of
in tombs, but buried at a very little Minio.
At San Clementino are traces of ancient habitation—two
vaults and a sewer of Roman date, and fragments of
pottery mingled with the soil.4 As the space thus strewn
is very circumscribed, and nothing is of Etruscan cha-
racter, I regard this as the site of some Roman station ;5
there is nothing extant to warrant the conclusion that it is
that of Craviscse.6
Three miles along the shore to the south stands the
lonely Tower of Bertaldo, at the mouth of the Mignone,7
probably marking the site of Rapinium, another station
on this coast, half-way between Centum Cellse (Civita
Vecchia) and G-raviscse. It is more commonly called Sant
Agostino, from a legend of that saint. The holy man, as
he once strayed along this shore, was pondering on the
mysteries of the Trinity, and doubts, suggested by the eyil
powers whose attacks he deplores in his "Confessions,"
were arising in his mind, when, on reaching this spot, he
beheld a child busied in filling with water a small hole in
the sand. St. Augustine asked what he was about.
" Trying to put the sea into this hole," replied the criatura.
" Impossible," cried the saint, laughing at the boy's sim-
plicity. " More easy this," said the other, who now stood
confessed an angel, " than for thee to comprehend those
sublime mysteries thou art vainly seeking to penetrate."
4 Westphal is therefore in error in depth below the surface, and in a circum-
denying the existence of ancient remains scribed spot of ground. In one were
on this site.—Ann, Inst. 1830,p. 28. found all the bones of a horse, and (as if
5 An inscription on the Dogana calls the owner had left to his steed the post
it the ancient Forum Aurelii, but that of honour) by its side lay a human
was much more probably at or near skeleton of gigantic size. Ann. Inst.
Montalto on the Fiora. 1829, p. 95—Avrolta.
6 At this site, however, painted rases r Anciently the Minio, mentioned by
have been found, which, if of the usual Virgil. JEa. X. 183 ; Sery. in loc. ;
character, would indicate Etruscan Mela, II. 4 ; Rutil. I. 279. Cluver (II.
habitation. They were found in sar- p. 483) regards the Bapinium of the
cophagi of stone or earthenware, not Maritime Itinerary as a corruption of
in tombs, but buried at a very little Minio.