Page:Three Years in Europe.djvu/381

Rh rise to the level of its source! These high arches were perfectly unnecessary therefore, as water conveyed in pipes under ground would have risen to its proper height in the town! But such criticism on ancient and classic labours is ungracious and irreverent!

Twenty-six miles from Rome, I came to the ancient Volscian town of Velletri. The great Volscian patriot and warrior Coriolanus fortified this place against the Romans but in 338 B. C. The Romans at last dismantled the fort and transported the principal citizens of Rome. Forty miles from Rome I passed by the ancient town of Segni colonized by the Romans under Tarquinus Priscus. At last we reached the important town of Ceprano at sunset. It used to be the last frontier town in the south of the Dominions of the Pope before those Dominions were all amalgamated with the kingdom Italy in 1871. The town is beautifully situated, and the view from it, extending to Monte Casino isin [sic] one direction and through the valley of the Liris to the lofty Appenines on the other, is very fine indeed. The sunset too was magnificent, and was such as can only be seen in these southern climes. The whole range of rocks and mountains were illumined with lovely and variegated tints, blending almost imperceptibly into each other, and changing their colour until they disappeared in gloom as the sun went beneath the horizon. I could not see much of the country between Ceprano and Naples, where I reached late in the evening.

The beauty of Naples is in the lovely bay on which it