DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61894#0288
258 CLASSICAL TOUR Ch. VIIL
nence above, the woods below and on the side of
the road, might furnish an excellent subject for
a landscape.*
The same alley continues to Grotta Ferrata,
once the favorite villa of Cicero, and now an
abbey of Greek monks. It stands on one of the
Tumuli or beautiful hills grouped together in the
Alban Mount. It is bounded on the south by a
deep dell, with a streamlet that falls from the
rock, and having1 turned a mill meanders through
the recess and disappears in its windings: this
stream, now the Marana, was anciently called
Aqua Crabra, and is alluded to by Cicero.
Eastward rises a lofty eminence once crowned
with Tusculum; westward the view descends,
and passing over the Campagna, fixes on Rome
and the distant mountains beyond it: on the
south, a gentle swell presents a succession of
vineyards and orchards, and behind it, towers
the summit of the Alban Mount once crowned
with the temple of Jupiter Latiaris. Thus
Cicero, from his portico, enjoyed the noblest and
most interesting view that could be imagined to
* The fountain is supposed to be the source of the Aqua
Ferentina, and Marino the Caput Aquae Ferentinae, so often
mentioned in Roman history.
o
nence above, the woods below and on the side of
the road, might furnish an excellent subject for
a landscape.*
The same alley continues to Grotta Ferrata,
once the favorite villa of Cicero, and now an
abbey of Greek monks. It stands on one of the
Tumuli or beautiful hills grouped together in the
Alban Mount. It is bounded on the south by a
deep dell, with a streamlet that falls from the
rock, and having1 turned a mill meanders through
the recess and disappears in its windings: this
stream, now the Marana, was anciently called
Aqua Crabra, and is alluded to by Cicero.
Eastward rises a lofty eminence once crowned
with Tusculum; westward the view descends,
and passing over the Campagna, fixes on Rome
and the distant mountains beyond it: on the
south, a gentle swell presents a succession of
vineyards and orchards, and behind it, towers
the summit of the Alban Mount once crowned
with the temple of Jupiter Latiaris. Thus
Cicero, from his portico, enjoyed the noblest and
most interesting view that could be imagined to
* The fountain is supposed to be the source of the Aqua
Ferentina, and Marino the Caput Aquae Ferentinae, so often
mentioned in Roman history.
o