DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.786#0402
CHAPTER LII.
CHIUSI.-CZ USIUM.
PoGGIO GrAJELLA.
Crede mihi, vires aliquas natura sepulcris
Attribuit; tumulos vindicat umbra suos.
Seneca.
Ut quondam Creta fertur Labyrinthus in alta
Parietibus textum csecis iter, ancipitemque
Mille viis habuisse dolum, qua signa sequendi
Falieret indeprensua et irremeabilis error.
VlBGIi.
It is a notable fact that but one description of an
Etruscan tomb is to be found in ancient writers ; and that
tomb was at Olusium—the mausoleum of Lars Porsena.
It is thus described by Varro, as quoted by Pliny :—
" He was buried under the city of Clusium, in a spot
where he has left a monument in rectangular masonry,
each side whereof is three hundred feet wide, and fifty
high, and within the square of the basement is an
inextricable labyrinth, out of which no one who ventures
in without a clue of thread, can ever find an exit. On
that square basement stand five pyramids, four at the
angles, and one in the centre, each being seventy-five feet
wide at its base, and one hundred and fifty high, and all so
terminating above, as to support a brazen circle and a
petasus, from which are hung by chains certain bells,
which, when stirred by the wind, resound afar off", as was
formerly the case at Dodona. Upon this circle four other
pyramids are based, each rising to the height of one
VOL. II. c c
CHIUSI.-CZ USIUM.
PoGGIO GrAJELLA.
Crede mihi, vires aliquas natura sepulcris
Attribuit; tumulos vindicat umbra suos.
Seneca.
Ut quondam Creta fertur Labyrinthus in alta
Parietibus textum csecis iter, ancipitemque
Mille viis habuisse dolum, qua signa sequendi
Falieret indeprensua et irremeabilis error.
VlBGIi.
It is a notable fact that but one description of an
Etruscan tomb is to be found in ancient writers ; and that
tomb was at Olusium—the mausoleum of Lars Porsena.
It is thus described by Varro, as quoted by Pliny :—
" He was buried under the city of Clusium, in a spot
where he has left a monument in rectangular masonry,
each side whereof is three hundred feet wide, and fifty
high, and within the square of the basement is an
inextricable labyrinth, out of which no one who ventures
in without a clue of thread, can ever find an exit. On
that square basement stand five pyramids, four at the
angles, and one in the centre, each being seventy-five feet
wide at its base, and one hundred and fifty high, and all so
terminating above, as to support a brazen circle and a
petasus, from which are hung by chains certain bells,
which, when stirred by the wind, resound afar off", as was
formerly the case at Dodona. Upon this circle four other
pyramids are based, each rising to the height of one
VOL. II. c c