DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.55699#0235
THE FORUM.
189
existence of some subterraneous chamber, when suddenly
the ground gave way beneath his feet, and the unfor-
tunate antiquary was plunged up to his shoulders in the
cavity. His own efforts and those of his servant were
exerted in vain to extricate him from his perilous situa-
tion. Their attempts only widened the aperture; and
the pious antiquary well knowing that he must be plunged
into the abyss below, whatever might be its depth, calmly
repeated the prayers appointed for those who are in the
article of death. The servant’s strength being at length
spent in endeavouring to uphold his master’s weight,
Bianchini fell the depth of thirty feet upon a heap of
ruins. Regardless of the contusions he had received,
the joyous antiquary called loudly for a lamp, to view
the treasures amidst which he had fallen and on being
furnished with lights he found himself in a vast saloon
ornamented with frescoes. The discovery, however, cost
him dear ; for within the space of two years the conse-
quences of his accident carried him to the grave.
The Palatine Hill possesses a better claim to the no-
tice of the traveller than that which it derives from its
having been the site of Nero’s Golden House. Here
stood the mansion of Cicero, situated on the declivity
of the hill, overlooking the Forum—that mansion, for
the restoration of which the orator put forth the whole
soul and strength of his eloquence in his immortal ora-
tion “ Pro Domo.” Upon the Palatine also the orator
Hortensius possessed a house, which subsequently be-
came the residence of Augustus, and was afterwards
the site of Nero’s palace.
The Palatine Hill is now little more than a deserted
189
existence of some subterraneous chamber, when suddenly
the ground gave way beneath his feet, and the unfor-
tunate antiquary was plunged up to his shoulders in the
cavity. His own efforts and those of his servant were
exerted in vain to extricate him from his perilous situa-
tion. Their attempts only widened the aperture; and
the pious antiquary well knowing that he must be plunged
into the abyss below, whatever might be its depth, calmly
repeated the prayers appointed for those who are in the
article of death. The servant’s strength being at length
spent in endeavouring to uphold his master’s weight,
Bianchini fell the depth of thirty feet upon a heap of
ruins. Regardless of the contusions he had received,
the joyous antiquary called loudly for a lamp, to view
the treasures amidst which he had fallen and on being
furnished with lights he found himself in a vast saloon
ornamented with frescoes. The discovery, however, cost
him dear ; for within the space of two years the conse-
quences of his accident carried him to the grave.
The Palatine Hill possesses a better claim to the no-
tice of the traveller than that which it derives from its
having been the site of Nero’s Golden House. Here
stood the mansion of Cicero, situated on the declivity
of the hill, overlooking the Forum—that mansion, for
the restoration of which the orator put forth the whole
soul and strength of his eloquence in his immortal ora-
tion “ Pro Domo.” Upon the Palatine also the orator
Hortensius possessed a house, which subsequently be-
came the residence of Augustus, and was afterwards
the site of Nero’s palace.
The Palatine Hill is now little more than a deserted