Eustace, John Cretwode: A classical tour through Italy An. MDCCCII (Vol. 3): 3. ed., rev. and enl (London: J. Mawman, 1815)

CLASSICAL TOUR

Ch. III.

98
It is a pity that neither the government of Naples,
nor the proprietor of Pcestum, has public spirit
enough to remove the rubbish that buries the
monuments of this city, and restore to their pri-
mitive beauty edifices which, as long as they exist,
can never fail to attract travellers, and not only
redound to the glory, but contribute very mate-
terially to the interests of the country.
All the temples which I have mentioned stand
in a line, and border a street that ran from gate
to gate, and divided the town into two parts
nearly ecpial. A hollow space scooped out in a
semicircular form seems to be the traces of a thea-
tre, and as it lies in front of the temples gives
reason to suppose, that other public buildings
might have ornamented the same side and made
it to correspond in grandeur with that opposite;
in which case few cities could have surpassed
Peestum in splendid appearance^ The walls of
the town remain in all the circumference, five at
least, and in some places twelve feet high ; they
are formed of solid blocks of stone, with towers
at intervals ; the archway of one gate only stands
entire. Considering the materials and the extent
of this rampart, which encloses a space of nearly
four miles round, with the many towers that rose
at intervals, and its elevation of more than forty