DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61894#0400
‘370
CLASSICAL TOUR
Ch. XL
been at the foot of Vesuvius. In the first place,
the word secutus is here taken in a figurative
_5
sense, as is evident from the word somnum, and
means following- the genius, or in other words
yielding to the influence of the coast. This mode
of reasoning, drawn from the strict sense or ra-
ther the sound of the words, is barely admissible
even in logical and metaphysical discussions ; it
is not certainly conformable to the latitude allow-
ed in ordinary description, whether in conversa-
tion or writing ; much less is it applicable to
the boldness of poetical composition. The ex-
pressions alluded to seem evidently to describe
the general features of the country, and not the
particular spot where stood the tomb of Virgil.
Besides the word littus does not mean the beach
only, but extends to the immediate neighborhood
of the sea ; now the road to Virgil’s tomb runs ac-
tually along the beach, and though it turns from
it in ascending the hills, yet it is always within
sight of it, and in reality never deviates half a
quarter of a mile from it, even when it terminates
in the sepulchre itself. In followingsuch a road
a poet may literally say, that he traverses the
beach, and always remains on the shore itself,
Surely, a sepulchre standing upon an eminence a
quarter of a mile from the sea, and looking down
upon it, may be said to be upon the coast.
CLASSICAL TOUR
Ch. XL
been at the foot of Vesuvius. In the first place,
the word secutus is here taken in a figurative
_5
sense, as is evident from the word somnum, and
means following- the genius, or in other words
yielding to the influence of the coast. This mode
of reasoning, drawn from the strict sense or ra-
ther the sound of the words, is barely admissible
even in logical and metaphysical discussions ; it
is not certainly conformable to the latitude allow-
ed in ordinary description, whether in conversa-
tion or writing ; much less is it applicable to
the boldness of poetical composition. The ex-
pressions alluded to seem evidently to describe
the general features of the country, and not the
particular spot where stood the tomb of Virgil.
Besides the word littus does not mean the beach
only, but extends to the immediate neighborhood
of the sea ; now the road to Virgil’s tomb runs ac-
tually along the beach, and though it turns from
it in ascending the hills, yet it is always within
sight of it, and in reality never deviates half a
quarter of a mile from it, even when it terminates
in the sepulchre itself. In followingsuch a road
a poet may literally say, that he traverses the
beach, and always remains on the shore itself,
Surely, a sepulchre standing upon an eminence a
quarter of a mile from the sea, and looking down
upon it, may be said to be upon the coast.