DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61894#0301
Ch. VIII.
THROUGH ITALY.
271
and sixty in height, or perhaps more correctly
in depth. It was built of the most solid wood
fastened with brass and iron nails, and covered
with plates of lead which were double in places
exposed to the action of the water. Within, it
was lined and paved with marble or a composition
resembling' marble; its ceiling's were supported
by beams of brass; and the whole was adorned
and fitted up in a style truly imperial. It was
supplied by pipes with abundance of the purest
water from the fountain of Egeria, not only for
the use of the table, but even for the ornament of
the courts and apartments. This wonderful vessel
was moored in the centre of the lake, which
thus encircled it like a wide moat round a Gothic,
I might almost say, an enchanted castle; and to
prevent the swelling of the water an outlet was
opened through the mountain like that of the
Alban Lake, of less magnificence indeed, but of
greater length. On the borders of the lake various
walks were traced out, and alleys opened, not
only as beautiful accompaniments to the edifice,
but as accommodations for the curious who might
Montisque jacens radicibus imis
Liquitur in lacrumas—donee pietate dolentis
Mota soror Phoebi, gelidum de corpore fontem
Fecit et aeternas avtus tennavit in undas.
Ovid. Met.
THROUGH ITALY.
271
and sixty in height, or perhaps more correctly
in depth. It was built of the most solid wood
fastened with brass and iron nails, and covered
with plates of lead which were double in places
exposed to the action of the water. Within, it
was lined and paved with marble or a composition
resembling' marble; its ceiling's were supported
by beams of brass; and the whole was adorned
and fitted up in a style truly imperial. It was
supplied by pipes with abundance of the purest
water from the fountain of Egeria, not only for
the use of the table, but even for the ornament of
the courts and apartments. This wonderful vessel
was moored in the centre of the lake, which
thus encircled it like a wide moat round a Gothic,
I might almost say, an enchanted castle; and to
prevent the swelling of the water an outlet was
opened through the mountain like that of the
Alban Lake, of less magnificence indeed, but of
greater length. On the borders of the lake various
walks were traced out, and alleys opened, not
only as beautiful accompaniments to the edifice,
but as accommodations for the curious who might
Montisque jacens radicibus imis
Liquitur in lacrumas—donee pietate dolentis
Mota soror Phoebi, gelidum de corpore fontem
Fecit et aeternas avtus tennavit in undas.
Ovid. Met.