Italy from the Alps to Mount Etna . ater which is brought in artificial canals, and left to stagnate inthe sun. Salt indeed is the only crop which the soil produces ; no ear of corn bestowedby bounteous Ceres bends beneath the reapers sickle, no ripening fruit blesses thegardeners hand. As I traversed that dreary road one midsummer day, and compared thepast with the present, the lines came into my head :— ******* And when five hundred years were oer,I passed the self-same way once more,But of the town I found no trace ;A lonely shepherd piping played,And flocks were grazing on the place. When
Italy from the Alps to Mount Etna . ater which is brought in artificial canals, and left to stagnate inthe sun. Salt indeed is the only crop which the soil produces ; no ear of corn bestowedby bounteous Ceres bends beneath the reapers sickle, no ripening fruit blesses thegardeners hand. As I traversed that dreary road one midsummer day, and compared thepast with the present, the lines came into my head :— ******* And when five hundred years were oer,I passed the self-same way once more,But of the town I found no trace ;A lonely shepherd piping played,And flocks were grazing on the place. When was the town destroyed ? I answered, and piped on full clear, My flocks have always pastured here.—RUCKERT. The town * still looks imposing from a distance, by reason of its bold and threateningmediaeval castle, which once protected the town, the fruitful Campagna, and the mouths * That is to say the modern, or rather the mediaeval town of Ostia, which stands within a stones throw of theancient city.—Translators if* ISC* .„.l\ of THE NORTHERN WANDERER IN THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA. 289 of the Tiber, and on whose walls six Popes one after another have placed their marblescutcheons. But seen near, Ostia is unable to dissimulate the beggars garment she nowwears. Her streets and alleys are empty and deserted. A dozen or so of half-starvedinhabitants, carefully wrapped in shawls and mantles even at midday, glide trembling withfever between the houses which threaten speedily to fall in ruins. Alas, the change ! Allis in fragments; the foot treads on nothing but fragments : —fragments of colouredmosaics, fragments of glass showing prismatic hues, fragments of vases, lamps, ornaments
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