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AUTHOR:

SMITH, STROTHER
ANCRUM

JL JL A M.^^ K...J #

THE TIBER AND ITS
TRIBUTARIES

PLACE:

LONDON

DA TE .

1877

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES
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THE TIBER

AND ITS TRIBUTARIES.

CAMBRIDGE :

PRINTED BV W. METCALFE AND SON, TRINITY STREET.

THE TIBER

AND ITS

tributaries! , , , .. ,

X

X

J^ I

c.

THEIR NATURAL HISTORY AND CLASSICAL ASSOCIATIONSy

BY

STROTHER A. SMITH M.A.,

FELLOW OF ST. CATHARINH'S COLLEGE, CAMRKIDCEO

IV/TH MAP AND ILLUSTRATIONS

':)

LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.,

1877.

PREFACE.

6>

The object of this work is to gather under one
head everything of interest relating to the Tiber. For
this purpose I have collected the facts which are
scattered through a variety of works, some of which
are out of print, and are fast mouldering away in the
few libraries where they are preserved. In the latter
alone are to be found the details of the great inun-
dations of the sixteenth century, those of 1530, 1557,
and 1598, an acquaintance with which, as well as with
the meteorological conditions which preceded them, is
essential to one who would explain their causes, foresee
their recurrence, or devise the means of limiting their
effects; for the idea of preventing them altogether I
believe to be chimerical.

As the Tiber never obtains more than a passing
notice in the volumes which treat of the antiquities
and churches of Rome, I have been led to con-
sider that its history and associations are worthy of
*

a more complete description. The subject, indeed, is

usually assumed to be devoid of interest; but as the

uninformed and unimaginative may travel from Dan to

Beersheba, and exclaim that all is barren, while a

b

8 7 0 (5

VI

PREFACE.

shrewder observer may notice facts which throw light
upon history and science, or afford food for thought
to the reflecting, so, notwithstanding the indifference
with which the Tiber is regarded in general, it is
hoped that some amusement and instruction may be
gathered by the inquiring from its natural history and
associations.

A few years ago an interest was awaked about the
Tiber, in consequence of a project lately revived, and
which seemed likely to be seriously carried out, of
dredging its bed, in order to recover the works of art
supposed to have been cast into it in times of insecurity.
But it was only as a receptacle for these works of art
that any interest was felt about it. Most persons would
be content to see it dried up for ever, or diverted
altogether from the city, as was suggested in the time
of Sixtus v., if they could reach with greater ease the
objects which they prize.

I have been unable to discover any authority for
the story of " Ecce Tiberim,- though I had hoped to
find it before this work was printed. I should be
obliged, therefore, to any of my readers who would
enlighten me on this point. The anecdote has been
familiar to me as far back as I can recollect; yet,
strange to say, I have never met with an Englishman
who had heard of it before. The story, however, is
well known to the Scotch, who, being as intensely
national as the Romans themselves, appear to have
been offended by the comparison of the Tiber to the
Tay, and to have resented as an insult what was

PREFACE.

Vll

intended as a compliment. In the ** Fair Maid of Perth"
there are four verses alluding to this story which form
the motto of one of the chapters; but, as they are not
very complimentary to the Tiber, I refrain from quoting
them. To those, however, who know the verses, or
have the curiosity to search for them, I may observe,
that the comparison is not a fair one, as the Tay at
Perth is an estuary, and, therefore, widened by the
tide, while there is no tide in the Tiber. The estuary
of the Mersey at Liverpool is much wider than any
part of the Rhine from Basle to the sea; yet it would
be absurd to speak of the Rhine as puny compared
with the Mersey, whose course is short, and whose
width is insignificant above the influence of the tide.

The authors of most of the books upon Rome appear
to consider the works of God as unworthy of mention
by the side of those of the great painters and sculptors
of Italy. An object in Nature obtains but a cursory
notice, while the vulgar errors, with regard to Natural
phenomena and their causes, current among the ignorant
and superstitious Italians, are adopted without hesitation,
and given to the world as if they were undoubted truths.
In order, therefore, to supplement these works, I have
chosen a subject more suggestive than any other of
scientific topics, and, at the same time, associated with
many eminent persons and remarkable historical events ;
and I have collected everything connected with it
which I thought would interest at once the classical
scholar and the lover of Nature. A river, also, has the
advantage of being more unchangeable than any of

Vlll

PREFACE.

those objects to which Roman artists and archaeologists
confine their attention. A time must come when the
Coliseum, by repeated restorations, will be like a knife
with a new handle and a new blade, nothing remaining
but the form or model of the original building and
the memories which will still cling to it. But the
Tiber, like other rivers, whatever minor changes it may
have undergone since the last geological convulsion,
is essentially the same that it was when the Palatine
hill was first occupied by the Arcadian adventurer:
Labitur et labetur in omne volubilis aevum.

I

INTRODUCTION.

It has long been a matter of surprise to me that
while so much has been written on the ruins and
monuments of Rome, while every fragment of a brick
wall has been made the subject of a learned treatise,
and its plan and purpose illustrated by diagrams
and photographs, the Tiber, the river in which the
Romans took such pride, has been passed over in
silence or mentioned only in disparaging terms. The
author of a late work on Rome and the Campagna
remarks in substance that the Tiber is large enough
to be mischievous but too small to be useful. The
observations of others are nearly in the same strain;
Eustace and the late Lord Broughton (Sir J. Cam
Hobhouse) being, as far as I know, the only two
writer* who have attempted to defend the river against
its detractors. Yet the feelings and superstitions of
the Romans with regard to the Tiber belong to what
may be called the Archaeology of the Roman mind,
and the river may be regarded as a ruin in a certain

X INTRODUCTION.

sense. As a man is said to be ruined who has lost his
fortune, and with it his social position, though he remains
physically the same being as before; so the Tiber,
which has fallen from its high estate under the
Romans, which has lost its crown of palaces and
groves, may be styled a ruin of what it once was,
though it has merely reverted to its former state,
when it flowed through primeval solitudes. I %vill try,
therefore, to do for the Roman river, according to my
imperfect ability and knowledge, what Canina has
done so well for the other ruins of the city, and as
the antiquarian has restored on paper the Roman
Forum and the Appian way, to restore in imagination
a faint image of what the Tiber must once have been,
and what, I trust, it will again become.

To many, doubtless, it will seem absurd to write
a book upon it. For how, it may be asked, can a
single river furnish materials for even the thinnest
pamphlet? To such a question I would reply, that
not only is no river in the world so rich in associa-
tions as the Tiber, but that the river, with its
tributaries, presents an epitome of the physical
peculiarities which are to be found in all the other
rivers of the earth. If Byron has used the bold
f5giyre "stumbling o'er recollections,"* I may be
allowed to speak of the Tiber as laden with associa-
tions, as bearing with it to the heart of Rome

INTRODUCTION.

XI

• "Childc Harold."— Canto iv. 8i,

whatever of historic or poetic interest it has gathered
along with their waters from its tributary streams,
the Clitumnus, the Velinus, the Anio, and the Nar.
Such were the thoughts which crowded on the
mind of Goethe's " Werter," when he gazed upon a
stream which had traversed some country far away,
perhaps, but renowned in history, romance, or song;
and though I cannot enter into all the feelings
of that sentimental being, I fully sympathise with

this.

To me there is something more grand, as well
as more suggestive in a broad and rapid river
than in the ocean itself. When Columbus beheld
the vast volume of water discharged by the Orinoco,
driving back for many a league the waves of the
sea, and freshening its waters for a hundred miles,
there arose before his mind the image of a mighty
continent, with all its attendant features, boundless
plains traversed by the river in its lower course,
trackless forests overshadowing its stream, and tens
of hundreds of miles away, ranges of lofty moun-
tains, whose summits were lost in the clouds, and
whose rains and snows fed the sea of waters which
rolled tumultuously past his ship. He felt that
the great object of his mission was accomplished,
that his success was complete, and that not merely
Hispaniola and Cuba, large as those islands are,
but a fourth quarter had been added to the habitable
globe. But in the monotonous ocean, the symbol
of unchangeableness, there is nothing to aid the

I

M^imiii!^*>i»i>^*iJiiWii^«#'wi^^tf«^^

XII

INTRODUCTION.

imagination in its flight beyond the visible horizon;
nothing to indicate whether we are looking on the
straits of Dover or upon twenty miles of the broad
Atlantic.

The Tiber would be but a third or fourth rate
tributary of the Orinoco. But if it does not speak
to the imagination by its vastness, there is the
element of the grand in its inundations, and it is
interesting from its associations ^nd its natural his-
tory; for its lakes, morasses, cascades, and plateaus
illustrate on a small scale the physical geography
Of other rivers, or are illustrated by it ; while " ana-
stomosis." or the connection of two water systems
by the intervention of a third, a phenomenon 'of
rare occurrence, but seen on a grand scale in South
America, is observed in miniature proportions in the
case of one of its tributaries, the Chiana.

There are enquiries, likewise, suggested by the
physical peculiarities of the Tiber and by its inun-
dations, which may be pursued with advantage, as
throwing light upon arch^ological or scientific
questions; the extent, for instance, to which sun-dried
bricks were used by the Romans, and the degree
of rapidity with which the plains, and with them the
beds of the rivers which traverse them, are raised by
the annual deposit brought down by the streams

Geography is a science of which most persons, even
those otherwise well educated, are not entirely ignorant
They are satisfied, in general, if they are acquainted
with the shortest and most convenient route by which

INTRODUCTION.

XUl

I

they may reach the place to which they are bound,
or know whether a town which has been the scene
of some great natural convulsion, or some important
political movement, as in Belgium or in Spain. Of
the natural features and characteristics of countries,
called by the name of Physical Geography, they know
nothing, and are not ashamed to confess their ignorance.
It seems, even, as if many persons had a contempt
for Geography, in common with the other sciences
of observation, such as Botany and Natural History,
as though it required no exertion of the intellectual

powers.

But, whatever the reason. Geography is a science
which ought to become an essential part of a liberal
education. Of the Tiber above Rome as little is
known as of the river on which Yarkand is situated.
I have known persons long resident in Rome who
fancied that the Nera, the principal tributary of
the Tiber, flowed into the Adriatic, making its way
by some unknown chasm through the great chain of
the Apennines, and that the Tiber was a smaller river
than the Arno, though the former is more than one-
third longer than the latter, and contains at least ten
times its volume of water. For the single affluent the
Anio, which makes no apparent addition to the bulk
of the Tiber, discharges into it more water in summer
than the Arno can collect in the whole of its course.

Mr. Burn, in his work on Rome and the Campagna,
which is, doubtless, extremely correct in all that relates
to the monuments of antiquity and the works of man,

XIV

INTRODUCTION.

appears to be completely in the dark about the Tiber
between Rome and its source. He calls the Chiana
its principal tributary, probably because he has more
frequently seen the name of the Chiana than that of the
Nera, and attributes its inundations to its short and
tortuous course ; though what connexion there is between
the short and winding course of a river and its floods it
is difficult to discover. One might as well account for
the riotous excesses of an individual by the shortness
of his stature and the crookedness of his shape. Short,
moreover, is nothing but a relative term. The Tiber
is short indeed, compared with the Mississippi or the
Amazon, being about one-fourteenth part of their
length; but it seems absurd for an Englishman to talk
of the shortness of a river which, even above Rome,
exceeds in length the Thames from its source to
Gravesend.

Mr. Burn and others would say, perhaps, that it was
no part of their plan to describe the Tiber, and that
the river itself is so insignificant that they may be
excused for knowing nothing about it. But, as a man
would rather have his existence ignored than be
described, from imagination or imperfect information,
as only five feet high and distorted in shape, so father
Tiber protests against his name being mentioned at
all, if it is only to be mentioned in disparaging terms,
by those who will not give themselves the trouble of
obtaining correct information regarding him. He recalls
with indignation the following passage in the diary of
a lady traveller: <^\t the Ponte-Molle we crossed the

INTRODUCTION.

XV

f

Tiber, a small stream."* He thinks the lady must have
been dozing when she crossed the bridge, knowing, as
he does, and as every person who pretends to describe
him ought to know, that the river at the point in
question is four hundred feet wide, when lowest, and
discharges through the six arches of the bridge more
fresh water than the Thames and Severn combined.

The commissioners appointed by the Government to
consider the best means of preventing or lessening the
inundations of the Tiber have just given in their
report. They recommend the deepening and widening
of the river at certain points, and the removal of the
mills, piers of ruined bridges, and other obstructions to
the flow of the water; among the rest the picturesque
ruin called the Ponte Rotto. By this means they
expect to lower the level of the river in time of
floods no less than two metres. In this expectation
they will, I believe, be disappointed. The removal of
these obstructions will facilitate the navigation of the
Tiber; but, instead of lowering the level of the floods
two metres, it will not, I am persuaded, make the
difference of two inches. This I will undertake to shew
in its proper place.

"Without a knowledge of the physical geography
of the Tiber above Rome and of its meteorological
conditions, it is impossible to say what quantity of
water may, under a combination of circumstances, be

♦ Quoted by the late Lord Broughton, then Sir John Cam Hobhouse,
in his work on Italy.

XVI

INTRODUCTION.

poured into the valley of the river. Yet neither of
these points appears to have been taken into con-
sideration by the commissioners. But, surely, it is
necessary to estimate the quantity of water which has
to be discharged by a pipe, before we can say that
the pipe, however free from obstructions, is able to
convey it.

The works which I have consulted, besides the
classical authors, are:

1. "Del' Tevere" of M. Andrea Bacci, published in 1576,
and containing a full account of the Inundation of 1557.

2. "II Tevere Incatenato" of the Abbate Filippo Maria
Bonini, Vicario Generale of Palestrina, published in 1663.

3. "II Tevere Navigabile" of Leone Pascoli, published
in 1740.

4. "The Report of the Engineers. Andrea Chiesa and
Bernardo Gambarini,'* who were appointed by Clement XII.
to enquire whether there were any means of rendering the
Tiber navigable from Ponte Nuovo, six miles below Perugia,
to the confluence of the Nera. The Report, which was drawn
up after the death of Clement, and dedicated to his successor,
Benedict XIV., bears the date 1746.

5. A Work on the Anio and the Inundation of 1826, by
an Inhabitant of Tivoli and an Official of the Government.
The name of the author I unfortunately forgot to note before
I quitted Rome, and the book cannot be found.

6. The elaborate Work of Elisee Reclus, entitled " La Terre,'»
which contains a large mass of information gathered from various
sources.

7. "Etudes Sur Les Inondations," par M. F. Vall^s, Ing^nieur
en Chef des Ponts et Chaussees. A Work which treats the
subject of Inundations in great detail, and exposes many popular
fallacies.

t

INTRODUCTION.

XVll

8. Muratori. "Annali d' Italia."

9. Moroni, "Dizionario d* Erudizione Ecclesiastica.*'

10. Letters of the Correspondent of the "Times" relating to
the Embankment of Rivers.

I have also derived some useful hints from a pamphlet
by Signore Lanciani on the port of Trajan, and from
another published a short time ago by Signore Aubert
on the late inundation and the means of preventing
similar calamities. Something, also, has been gleaned
from Preller's "Rom und der Tiber." Most of the
modern writers, however, and Preller among the rest,
confine themselves to the Tiber in and below the city
of Rome. They treat the river as if it had no
antecedents, as if it descended from the clouds, or
emerged from the earth immediately before it entered
Rome. Their suggestions, therefore, are of little value,
and the remedies which they propose are either entirely
useless or mere palliatives, as I shall be prepared to
shew more fully in the course of this work.

CONTENTS.

PAGE

Preface y

Introduction jx

Contents xix

The Tiber j

Description of the Tiber 7

Comments on Gibbon 24

Navigation of the Tiber 27

Water of the Tiber 39

Superstitions connected with the Tiber , 44

Angling for Wood in the Tiber 49

Inundations of the Tiber ^2

Inundation of 700 u.c 54

Inundations in Modern Times 62

Inundation of 1530 , 64

Inundation of 1557 70

Pius V. and the Tiber, 66 — 72 , 74

Inundation of 1598 77

Inundation of 1870 81

Popular Theories regarding the Inundations 93

Causes of the Inundations :

Area of Basin 102

Rainfall 104

Permeability of the Soil 105

Number of Tributaries 106

Plans for Preventing Inundations :

Widening and Deepening the Bed of the Tiber 108

Diversion of a Portion of its Waters m

Proposed Embankment of the Tiber 114

Removal of Obstructions 126

Reservoirs for Retaining the Floods 127

Animals of the Tiber 1 30

XX

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

Birds of the Tiber :

The Gulls

The Kingfisher .-

The Heron

The Bittern **.,

Fish of the Tiber :

The Lupus

The Sturgeon

The Grey MuUet

The Eel !...!.............

The Tench

The Shad ,

The Lamprey

The Otter

Searching the Bed of the Tiber for Works of Art

Roman Terms for Colour

On the Proposed Schemes for Preventing the Inundations of the Tiber

Climate of Rome in Ancient Times

Conclusion

PAGV

132

138
144
149

151
153
'55
157
158

160
160

162

166

181

183

199

216

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

Map of the Tiber and its tributaries Frontispiece.

Isola St. Bartolomeo et Ponte Rotto, with view of Ponte quarto Capi,

Ponte Sisto, and Ponte Rotto ' j

The Ponte MoUe, as it appeared after the Siege of Rome by the French

in 1840

^^ 49

Geometncal Figures

* 109

Fish of the Tiber (coloured)

Plate I., Fig. i. Muraena of the Romans.
Fig. 2. Common Lamprey.
Fig. 3. Mugilis of the Romans— Grey Mullet.
Fig. 4. Red Mullet of the Romans.
Fig. 5. Common Sturgeon.
Plate II., Fig. 6. Lupus of the Romans j r j

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TIBER AND ITS TRIBUTARIES^.

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THE TIBER.-

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K. y

The transference of the capital of Italy to Rome, and the
late disastrous inundation in 1870, have directed public attention
to the river Tiber. Its destructive floods, and their causes,
have formed the subject of conversation in every society, and
various schemes have been suggested, by which the occurrence
of similar visitations may be prevented, or their inconveniences
confined within the narrowest possible limits. A navigable
river is an advantage, which, in opposition to other considera-
tions, has often determined the site of a town ; but in the
case of the Tiber there are peculiarities which have caused it
to be viewed with disfavour by many, and even regarded as
a nuisance, and an objection to Rome as the capital of Italy.
The sudden and enormous rise of its waters, which within
the historic period have attained the height of forty feet above
its summer level, and the copious deposits of mud left by the
receding flood, which disfigure its banks, and generate un-
wholesome vapours during the summer heats, are thought by
many to outweigh its advantages as a navigable river, and even
to leave a balance of mischief to its account.

Far diflerent were the feelings with which the Tiber was
regarded by the Romans in classical times. Rivers among the

B

r^

^ THE TIBER.

ancients were objects of religious veneration, and often of
religious worship. The most important streams had their own
peculiar deities, to whom sacrifices were offered, and whose
rites were celebrated at stated periods. These deities were
always represented with horns, and of a ccerulean or sea green
hue.* Thus Virgil calls the Tiber (viii. 64 & 77) "corniger
fluvius " and *' coeruleus amnis,"t in reference to the colour of
the god and not of the water. With other rivers poetic legends
were associated, as with the Acis and many others, whose names
are familiar even to those who have no acquaintance with
classical lore. The Tiber, indeed, had no distinctive worship,
though its principal tributaries possessed, as we learn from
Tacitus, '' their own peculiar rites, their altars and their groves ;''
but the river itself was regarded with a feeling of mingled
reverence and affection, which appears incomprehensible to the
moderns who gaze upon its muddy stream. If its appearance
is so repulsive in the present day, what must it have been
when it was the common sewer of millions of human beings. J

<(

* Ovid thus describes the change of Acis into a river :

Miraque res ! subito media tenus extitit alvo
Incinctus juvenis flexis nova cornua cannis;
Qui, nisi quod major, quod toto coerulus ore est,
Acis erat. — Met. xiii. 893.

t It is Strange that Servius should have so far mistaken the meaning of
coeruleus" as to explain it by "deep." Most commentators maintain a
discreet silence, evidently referring the word to the colour of the water, but
not knowing how to reconcile it with the epithet ** flavus " usually applied to
the Tiber. Nibby fancies he discovers a faint shade of blue in the water after a
spell of dry weather, when the river has deposited all its yellow mud, like milk,
which has been well watered, called in London slang "sky-blue." But
surely, Virgil, who was familiar with the Mincio and the Adda, rivers which
>vith propriety may be called " ccerule," would never have used the term
as characteristic of the Tiber. He>Tie, of course, sees the meaning of the word.

X Many historians have been puzzled to explain how the limited area
within the walls of Aurelian— occupied, as great part of it was, by temples,
baths, and other pubhc buildings—could have contained the millions that are
supposed to have been congregated within the city bounds. Sufficient
account has not been taken of the suburbs, which extended to a prodigious
distance from the walls. " Exspatiantia tecta," says Pliny the naturalist
III (section on the Tiber and Rome) " multas addidere urbes." "The
continual extension of the buildings has added many cities to the original

\\

4|;

THE TIBER. 3

We have no reason to suppose that the Romans under the
Empire had any system of intercepting sewers, by which the
filth of the city was diverted from the river, and employed in
fertilizing the land. The stream, both within and below the town,
must have been still more unsightly than it appears to us. Yet
no where is the Tiber spoken of in disparaging terms. No
Roman humorist would have attempted to provoke a smile at
the expense of father Tiber; no Roman Punch would have
represented him as crowned with a diadem of drowned animals,
or other disgusting objects, to denote the impurity of his
waters. Nay, so anxious were they to spare his feelings that,
when it was proposed to moderate his inundations by diverting
into new channels the streams and lakes by which his waters
are swelled, it was looked upon as a crowning objection to the
scheme, that " father Tiber would be unwilling to be bereft of his
affluent streams, and to flow hereafter with diminished pride."*
His defects were glossed over, invested with a poetic interest,
or described by terms expressive of qualities that are pleasing
to the eye. His colour was euphemised by the word "flavus,"
which may be translated "auburn;" for Ganymede, who wis
stolen away by order of Jupiter on account of his beauty, is
called by Horace "flavus Ganymedes "f '* auburn-haired Gany-
mede," so that, whatever was the shade of colour denoted by
" flavus," it must have been beautiful to Roman eyes. On the
other hand, as far as I can recollect, no epithet expressive of
impurity is ever applied to the Tiber. Its flow was described
as majestic, and even its inundations were regarded with religious
awe as manifestations of the anger of the river god. Thus
Pliny the naturalist, in his strange and figurative style, observes
that, even in the sudden risings to which the Tiber is subject,
we may with more truth discern the seer, the monitor, and
the awakener of religious awe, than the stern and pitiless

one."-These were the Kennington, Chelsea, Notting Hill, Islington, &c.
of Roman times, and all their sewage must have drained into the Tiber.

• Tac. Ann. i. 79.

t Hor. Car. iv. 4.

B 2

\\

THE TIBER.

tyrant * Horace, also, in relating the effects of an inundation
which destroyed the tcmi)le of Vesta, and led the nations, he
says, to expect a return of the universal deluge, has no harsher
term to apply to the author of so much mischief than ** uxorius
amnis," "uxorious river," or river overfond of his mythical
wife Rhea Sylvia, whose cause he is assumed to be avenging.f
In the earlier period of the republic the Romans were acquainted
with no river with which they could compare their own ; but
even when they were familiar with the majestic streams of the
Rhine and Danube, their partiality could suggest no grander
standard of comparison than their native Tiber, and " Ecce
Tiberim," "Behold the Tiber," was the exclamation of the
Roman legions when they first caught sight of the Tay at
Perth.

While Pliny describes the navigable capabilities of the Tiber,
and personifies it as " M creator placidissimus,"t a "most
benignant merchant," who conveyed to Rome the productions
of every clime, Virgil enlarges upon the beauty of the river
in early days, when its banks were still in a state of nature,
fringed with forests, and vocal only with the song of birds,
and styles it " amoenus,"|| or " picturesque," and " coelo gratissimus
amnis,"§ "river most acceptable to heaven." Later writers are
equally enthusiastic in its praise, when it bore a more artificial
character, and owed its beauty to the hands of man. Pliny
the elder observes: "that all the rivers in the world together
were not peopled, or adorned with such a multitude of villas

* Phn. nr. 9.— Quinimo vates intelligitur potius et monitor, auctu semper
religiosus vcrius qiiam s.aeviis.

The same veneration for the Tiber appears to have existed among the
Tuscan nations. For Livy relat<>s that they deferred a war which they con-
templated with the Romans, in consequence of an inundation of that river
which laid waste the property of their leaders :

"NiViens bellum religio principum distulisset, quorum agros Tiberis super
ripas effusus maxime minis villarum vastavit. iv. 49.

t Hor. Car. i. 2.

X Plin. III. (9), 54. Teub.

II Huic Deus ipse loci fluvio Tiberinus amoeno. Vir. in. 31.

§ Cccruleus Tybris ccelo gratissimus amnis. Vir. viil. 64.

THE TIBER.

as the single river Tiber."* Dionysius, surnamed Periegetcs,
who lived about 300 years after Christ, and wrote a description
of the world in Greek Hexameters, calls it " most regal of
rivers ;"t and Claudian, writing a century later, anticipates a
time " when the Rhine shall be lined, after the fashion of the
Tiber, with mansions pleasing to the eye. "J

The moderns, who know the Tiber only as a river winding
through the desolate Campagna, or skirted by mean and dirty
buildings in its passage through the town, may smile at the
epithet of regal which the poet bestows upon it. But the
word merely expresses the effect produced upon his imagina-
tion by the lordly mansions and richly-decorated villas, between
which the Tiber flowed, suggesting to his thoughts the power
and opulence of regal Rome. At that time the river was but
a subordinate feature in the scene, lost, as it were, in the
crowd of its accessories, and forming, like the Roman "girl of
the period," described by Ovid, "the smallest part of itself."||

It appears from this that the Romans had succeeded in
imparting an ornamental character to their river, and render-
ing its borders an eligible site for country houses. For this
purpose they must have removed the mud as soon as the
inundations subsided, and paid constant attention to the con-
dition of the banks ; which then, perhaps, ascended in gentle
slopes from the river, or were cut into terraces, and planted
with ornamental shrubs. It seems that the Romans had taken
their river for better and for worse, and resolved to turn its
capabilities, whether for use or ornament, to the best account ;
though as Tacitus informs us, they had abandoned all hope of
regulating the volume of its waters. We, too, shall fail, I
am convinced, in our attempts to prevent its inundations ; but

♦ Pluribus prope solus quam coeteri in omnibus terris amnes accolitur,
aspiciturque villis. — Plin. in. (9), 54, Teub.

■f" 9u/Li/3/3i? i'vpfjtiT}!^ irorafxiov (iuai\(uTaroi dWwv ["Dionysii Alexandriiii
Tijs otKou/nti/ijv TTipniyrjai^. Line 353, Lutetian, mdxlvii."]

X et saivum gentibus amnem.

Tibridis in morem domibus prDcvalet amoenis. — Dc laudibus Stiliconis.

II Pars minima est i])sa j^ucUa sui.— Ovid. llcm. Am. 344.

'1

6

THE TIBER.

we may, as I shall hereafter shew, foresee both the height of
the floods, and the time of their occurrence, and place our
moveable property out of reach of damage. We may also,
like the Romans, speedily repair the mischief it has done, and
obliterate the traces it has left behind. Though we cannot
persuade ourselves that its colour is a beauty, we may prevent
the river from continuing to be an eye-sore, and set it off,
like a plain woman, by a becoming dress. The banks of the
Tiber may again be lined with the villas of the citizens, and
stately mansions once more be reflected in the waters of the
fine reaches which extend above the Ponte Molle.

I will now give a description of the Tiber and its tributaries,
and notice the most remarkable inundations which have occurred
in ancient or modern times. I will then proceed to examine
the theories which have been propounded to account for these
inundations, and the schemes which have been devised to prevent
their recurrence. Most of these, as I shall attempt to shew,
are based upon false assumptions, or conceived in ignorance
of the first principles of science. They must, therefore, result
in failure, and in the loss of the money expended, whether by
private speculators or the state.

DESCRIPTION OF THE TIBER.

Though the Tiber is insignificant in size compared with
the great rivers of the world, it is one of the most famous,
and even its tributaries, down to the smallest brook, have
some historical or poetic association connected with them, or
exhibit some singular natural peculiarity. Its stream is swelled
by the superfluous waters of the historic Thrasymene ; its
aflluents, the Velino and the Anio, form the celebrated cascades
of Terni and Tivoli ; the Clitumnus and the Nar are invested
with poetic interest by the verses of Virgil, Ovid, and Silius
Italicus ; while the Chiana presents the singular phenomenon
of a river which, within the historic period, has divided itself
into two, and now forms a connecting link between the Arno
and the Tiber, discharging a portion of its waters into each.
The smaller streams, also, the Cremera, the Allia, and the
Almo, have each their legend, historical, or mythological;
while the rivulet of the Aqua Crabra, or INIarrana, recalls the
memory of Cicero and his litigation with the company which
supplied his establishment at Tusculum with water from the
brook.

The Tiber rises nearly due east of Florence, and on the
opposite side of the ridge which gives birth to the Arno.
It issues in a copious spring of limpid water, which at the
distance of a mile has force enough to turn a mill. If we
are to believe Bacci, it exhales so warm a vapour that snow,
notwithstanding the elevation of the region, will not lie along
its course within half a mile. For a distance of fifty-
six miles it flows in a south-easterly direction through an
elevated valley, in the upper part of which the cold, accord-
ing to Pliny the younger, who had a villa there, was too
great for the olive, and where the snow often accumulates to a
considerable depth. Not far from Perugia it turns to the south,

t

i

8

BESCRirXION OF THE TIBER.

and about fourteen miles lower down by the windings of the
stream, receives its first affluent the Chiascia, which brings
with it the Topino (anciently Tineas), and the waters of the
classic Clitumnus, known to the readers of Virgil,* Propertius.f
and Silius Italicus§ as the river on whose banks were bred,
and in whose stream were washed, the milk-white oxen "which
drew the Roman triumphs to the temples of the gods," and
the same which is so picturesquely described by the younger
Pliny.ll At a place called le Vene, one of the sources of the
Clitumnus rises at the foot of a hill. Like the fountain of
Vaucluse, it issues a small river from the earth, and, accord-
ing to Pliny, had sufficient depth of water to float a boat. It
is clear as crystal, delightfully cool in summer, and of an
agreeable warmth in winter. Near it stands a temple once
sacred to the river god, but now surmounted by the triumphant
cross. It seems to have been a favorite place of resort for
the Romans, as far as their limited means of locomotion
would permit; since even the ferocious Caligula, as Suetonius
tells us,§ attended by his body-guard of Batavians, was among
the visitors to these celebrated springs. The beauty of the
scenery appears to have been the attraction ; for there were
no mineral sources, and a refined superstition would have
prevented the Romans from availing themselves of the agree-
able temperature of the water to indulge in the luxury of
bathing, rivers near their sources being accounted sacred,
and polluted by the contact of a naked body. Of all the
misdeeds of Nero none, perhaps, contributed more to his
unpopularity than his swimming,^ during one of his drunken

* Hinc albi, Clitumne, greges, et maxima taurus

Victima, saepe tuo perfusi flumine sacro,

Romanes ad templa Deum duxere triumphos.— Vir. Geo. ii. 146.
t Qua formosa suo Clitumnus flumina luco,

Integit, et niveos abluit unda boves.— Pro. 11. 19.
X Et lavat ingentem perfundens flumine sacro

Clitumnus taurum.— Sil. Ital. vili. 516.
II Plin. VIII. Ep. 8.
§ Suet. Cal. 43.
f Tac. An. .\iv. 22.

DESCRIPTION OF THE TIBER.

9

frolics, in the source of the Aqua Marcia, the same which is
brought by the aqueduct to Rome, and which rises in the
mountains of the Abruzzi, where Nero was staying at the
time.

When the news of this act of profanation arrived in the
city it created a great sensation, and an illness with which
he was shortly afterwards seized was attributed to the anger
of the god.

Seven miles lower down on the right the Tiber receives
the Nestore, a large and impetuous torrent, or torrentaccio,
as it is called by the Italians. The Nestore, where it enters
the Tiber, flows in a bed of sand and shingle no less than a
third of a Roman mile in width,^- and after heavy rains must
bring down an enormous body of water. Into the Cina, one
of its tributaries, by means of a tunnel, the overflow of the
lake of Thrasymene is discharged. The emissary originates
in the south eastern bay of the lake, but when, or by whom,
the work was executed is matter of dispute. Thirty and a half
miles further on, the Tiber is joined by the Chiana (anciently
Clanis), which, after uniting with the Paglia, flows into it on
the same side as the Nestore, and in the neighbourhood of
Orvieto.

The Paglia rises in the high volcanic mountain of Monte
Amiata, and in summer is nearly dry ; but its broad stony
channel at Acquapendente shows what a contribution it must
bring to the main stream in time of floods. The Chiana,
which from the black and muddy colour of its waters has
received the name of the Lethe of Tuscany, but which might
with more propriety be called the Tuscan Cocytus, was once
a single stream originating in the neighbourhood of Arezzo,
and flowing southward into the Tiber. But in the middle ao-es
a large portion of the valley in which it flowed was filled up
by the debris which in time of floods was brought down by
the lateral torrents. A sort of plateau was thus formed, sloping
at its edges towards the vallies of the Tiber and the Arno.

♦ Gambarini and Chicsa.

I

f

10

DESCRIPTION OF THE TIBER.

DESCRIPTION OF THE TIBER.

The Streams which entered this plateau stagnated in the dead
level which it formed, converting it into an unproductive and
unhealthy marsh, the abode of malaria and the pest-house of
Dante's Purgatorio * They then flowed over the northern and
southern edges of the plateau, and, uniting with others, formed
two distinct rivers called the Tuscan and Roman Chianas.

The torrent of the Tresa, rising not far from the lake of
Thrasymene, and now diverted into the lake of Chiusi, may
be considered as the head waters of the Tuscan Chiana, the
torrent of the Astrone, rising in the direction of Montepulciano,
as the main branch of the Roman Chiana. The two are con-
nected by canals and wet ditches, so that it is conceivable
that a small piece of wood thrown into one of these might,
according to circumstances and the direction of the wind, find
its way to Florence or to Eome.f

The district which I have described, the celebrated Val di
Chiana, is now one of the most productive regions of Italy,
green with vineyards and pastures, and golden with waving
crops. Nor is it unhealthy, except in the immediate vicinity
of the lakes. The change was effected by canalizing the
streams, and by the process called warping, which is the

11

* Qua! dolor fora, se degli Spedali,
Di Val di Chiana tra'l Luglio e'l Settembre,
E di Maremma et di Sardigna i mali,
Fossero in una fossa tutti insieme.— Inf. Cant. 29, 46.
t A simUar phenomenon is observed on a ranch larger scale in the province
of Columbia m South America, where the upper Orinoco, on the plateau of
Esmeralda, sends off a branch which joins the Rio Negro, a large affluent of
the Amazon, thus connecting the water systems of those two great rivers
This branch called the Cassiquiare, before it loses itself in the Rio Neero'
becomes a river as large as the Rhine. -Mrs. Somen^ilU and ElisU Redus
In an umntemipted voyage of 920 miles, Humboldt penetrated through a*
remarkable network of rivers, from the Rio Negro, along the Cassiquiare to
the Onnoco. Humbolt's -Aspects of Nature." It appears from this that a
person may enter the Amazon, and after sailing many hundred miles across
the continent of South America, descend the Orinoco to the sea. Such a feat
could not be accomplished in the case of the Tiber and Arno, because the
Roman Chiana is not navigable even for small boats, and the Tuscan Chiana
or canal of the Chiana, as it is called, is of still snialler dimcnvions

V

.1

method adopted in Lincolnshire for reclaiming land from the
sea. A certain space was enclosed with banks, into which
the streams were diverted when they were swollen and charged
with mud. The opening was then closed with a floodgate,
and the water left to deposit the matter which it held in
suspension. In this way an inch or two of soil was gained
every year, until the land became sufficiently dry and firm. It
was then sown with crops, and planted with trees, which served
still further to purify the air by decomposing with their leaves
and fixing in their tissues the vapours which had given the
Val di Chiana so deadly a name.

Turning again to the south east and at a distance of 136J
miles from its source, the Tiber is swelled by the united
streams of the Nera, the Velino, and the Salto. The Nera,
the ** sulphurea Nar albus aqua" of Virgil, and " Narque albes-
centibus undis" of Silius Italicus, rises at the foot of the lofty
peak of ]\Ionte Vettore, part of the Sibylline range, and is the
tributary which is most aff'ected by the melting of the snows.

The Velino also has its source in the great central chain
of the Apennines, and after being joined by the Salto and
Turano, forms the cascade of Terni by dashing over the precipice
which terminates the valley, and hastens to meet the Nera.
The Salto, rising in the kingdom of Naples, flows northward
for fifty miles, and after passing beneath the lofty range of
Monte Velino, and receiving a contribution from its snows,
mingles its waters with the Velino. Swelled by these tribu-
taries the Nera rolls along a full and rapid stream, and sweeping
past Terni and Narni, loses itself in the Tiber.*

The plateau of Rieti, embosomed in mountains, through
which the Velino flows for thirty miles before it precipitates
itself over the escarpement of the tableland into the valley
of the Nera, has a history more remarkable even than that

* The Nera contributes to the Tiber more tlian half its volume of water.
Hence the saying of tlie Romans :

II Tevere non sarcbbe il Tevcre
Si la Nera non gli dcssc da bcvere.

12

DESCRIPTION OF THE TIBER,

Of the \al di Chiana. Nothing certain is known of its condition
before the age of Curius Dcntatus, the conqucior of Pyrrhus
and the Samnites. At that time the outlet of the Velino had
been wholly or partially closed by the calcareous deposits from
the river called Travertino, and the water spread itself over a
large portion of the tableland, forming a succession of lakes
and marshes. These not only occupied the space which might
have been devoted to tillage, but tainted the atmosphere durin-
the summer months. The case was still worse after heavy
rains. The lakes extended themselves over a wider area, filling
the whole plain between the mountains, until the excess of
water escaped over the brow of the precipice in which the
plateau terminates.

To remedy this state of things, Curius Dentatus cut a new
channel for the river, by which the marshes were drained and
the lakes confined within narrow limits, the Velino bein<> dis
charged over the cliffs into the valley beneath, and fomii„<.
the original cascade of Terni. °

For many years this plan succeeded, and the plain of Reate
the " Rosea rura Velini"* of Virgil, became one of the richest
and most healthy districts of Italy. Equally productive, and
far more picturesque than the X-^l di Chiana. it received the
name of the Eoman Tempe.

There was another party, however, who were not equally
satisfied with the change. The people of Terni. who dwelt
below the fall, declined to receive the superfluous water of the
people of Rieti. The evaporating surface being diminished by
the drainage of the lakes and marshes, the volume of water in
the Velino, where it joins the Nera, was considerably increased
and the people of Terni, or Interamnates, as the/ were then
called, complained that their lands were laid waste by the
rt^fair '""'"^°^"°°'^^--^--^--vly-

"de*n^"The"fer,iL?' "rt 'T°'''" " ""''-'"-"y derived from "ro,"

DESCRIPTION OF THE TIBER.

13

Up to the time of the Empire they continued to petition
the senate to put an end to the inconveniences which they
suffered, by blocking the outlet of the Velino. This petition
it was of course impossible to grant ; for the interests of the
people of Reati were of more importance than those of the
people of Terni. On one occasion we learn that the latter
had recourse to legal proceedings, and brought an action for
damages against the former,* who secured the services of Cicero
to plead their cause. " His rebus actis, Reatini me ad sua
Tt/ATrrj duxerunt ut agerem causam contra Interamnates apud
consulem et decem legatos, quod lacus Velinus h. Marco Curio
emissus, interciso monte, in Narem influit, etc.," Ad. Attic :
VI. 15. It is not known what was the decision of the consul
and the ten commissioners, but probably it was favourable to
the case of the Reatini, since the emissary was allowed to
remain unchanged.

At length a new cut was made by order of the Emperor
Tiberius, which appears to have had the effect of removing
many of the evils complained of, for we hear nothing more
of the matter until the fourteenth century.

Meanwhile a change had come over the valley of Reati.
The outlet of the Curian canal was again closed by incrustations,
and again the valley suffered from inundations and stagnant
water. The position of the parties was now reversed. The
people of Terni wished to leave matters as they were, the
people of Reati to relieve themselves of the redundant water.
An attempt of the latter to open a new channel was opposed
by the former, and a contest ensued in which many lives were
lost. A petty prince Braccio da I\rontone,f called by historians
the tyrant of Perugia, then interfered and insisted upon a new

♦ The passage of Cicero is corrupt, and obscure, and is differently explained ;
some supposinjj that the action was brought by the people of Reati against
the Interamnates in consequence of the interference of the latter with the tunnel.

t Braccio d-\ Montone, a celebrated captain of free-corps in the I5lh
century, had made himself master of Perugia, his native town, as well as of
Rieti, and was for some time in possession of Terni. He had, therefore, a
personal interest in settling the dispute between the two latter towns. See
Muratori, Annaii </' Italia, Era vul^are, Anno 1416. . . , I424.

>

14

DESCRIPTION OF THE TIBER.

DESCRIPTION OF THE TIBER.

channel being dug. But this was of small dimensions, and
soon filled by the calcareous deposits. In 1546 Paul 111, visited
the spot in person in order to reconcile the differences of the
contending parties. He ordered three additional openings to be
made, imagining that a great deal of the water in descending
from such a height would be lost in spray, so that the volume
of water in the Velino would thereby be diminished. Strange
to say, the strongest opposition was offered to this useful work.
Not only Tcrni, and the other cities below the falls, but even
Rome remonstrated against the scheme. It was imagined in
those times that the large body of water brought down by
the Velino after heavy rains was the chief cause of inundations
in the low country, and Bacci, whom I have mentioned as
the author of a book upon the Tiber, held this opinion among
the rest. The work, nevertheless, proceeded, but, like all the
plans which had been tried before it, proved a failure. At
length, after another unsuccessful attempt by Fontana in 1,-96,
the present channel was formed in the year 1785, and in the
pontificate of Pius VI., and has ever since answered its purpose.

About sixty-four miles lower down, and four and a half above
Rome by the river, the Tiber is joined by the Anio. or Teverone,
the most important, with the exception of the Nera, of all its tribu-
taries. No river is better known than the Anio. The scenery of its
valley, the classical associations of its neighbourhood, and the
celebrated cascades of Tivoli, have made it the favourite resort
of tourists ; and full descriptions of the most interesting sites
and directions for reaching them in the most convenient manner'
may be found in the popular guide books. I shall confine
myself, therefore, to the physical characters of the river, and
to a short notice of the aqueducts which were sui)plied 'from
It, or from its tributaries. The Anio rises in the mountains
of the Ilernici, part of the modern Abruzzi, and after flowing for
about thirty-six miles through a narrow valley whose general course
IS to the west, precipitates itself into the gorge which is
overlooked by the town of Tivoli ; emerging from which it turns
west-south-west and joins the Tiber after a further course of
twenty miles. Midway between its source and Tivoli; it passes

15

i

the town of Subiaco, anciently Sublaqueum, which derives its
name from three picturesque lakes, " tres lacus amoenitate
nobiles" (Plin. iii. 12) which formerly existed there.*

Tivoli is well known to have been the favourite retreat of
the wealthy Romans from the turmoil, and what Horace calls
the "fumus," of Rome.f The names and the ruins of these
villas yet remain, but no trace is left of those which once
adorned the banks of the Tiber, and perhaps of the Anio in
the lower part of its course.

Pliny the younger calls the Anio ** delicatissimus amnium/'
"softest and gentlest of rivers" (Ep. viii. 17), and adds
"that it was for this reason invited, as it were, and retained
by the neighbouring villas "+ for their own exclusive use. Yet
this ''delicate river" indulged occasionally in the wildest
escapades, and Pliny himself, in this very letter, describes an
inundation in which it swept away woods, undermined hills,
and committed extraordinary havoc among the neighbouring
farms. (See Letter), From this time to the year 1826 it was
a constant source of apprehension to the people of Tivoli,
and of anxiety to the government at Rome, which expended
considerable sums in trying to prevent some great calamity,
or in repairing the damage which had been done. Once since
the time of Strabo the river is thought to have changed its
course, discharging itself at a lower level into the Grotto of
Neptune, but still forming a lofty and picturesque cascade.

At different periods it had destroyed buildings, undermined
the foundation of others, and defied every effort to control
its violence. At length these floods culminated in the great
inundation of 1826, which entirely altered the character of the
cascade, and necessitated the formation of the tunnel through
Monte Catillo. In consequence of heavy and continued rains.

♦ These lakes were artificial and attached to the vdlla of Nero.

t Omitte mirari beatne

Fumum ct opes strepitumque Roma?. Hor. Car. iii, 29.

It is strange that most commentators should hesitate to render *' fumnm "
"smoke" and explain it by vain and empty pomp; as if there were no smoke
from wood fires, as well as other disagreeable vapours at Rome.

I " Adjacentibus villib velut invi atus et retentus."— Plin. Fp. viir. i".

^

IG

DESCRIPTIOX OF THE TIBER.

Ill

il

which fell in the middle of November, on the sixteenth the Anio
rose to an extraordinary height. Trunks of trees and cabins
of shepherds, borne along on the surface of the boilimr flood,
told the story of the havoc which the river was committin"-
in the upper country; while the roar of the waters as they
discharged themselves over the cascade struck terror into the
hearts of those whose houses adjoined the falls. As they were
gazing on the grand but fearful spectacle, on a sudden the
river was seen to change its course, and diverging to the right,
to open for itself a new channel, which the ru.sh of the waters
contributed every instant to deepen. The cascade became a
rapid, and as the friable soil yielded to the violence of the
current, a ravine was opened nearly thirty feet in depth. The
foundations of the houses situated near the river were under-
mined, and a whole street, the church of St. Lucia, and half
the palace of Boschi, sank into the yawning gulf, along with
the vineyards and gardens beside them.

iNIeanwhile the mills and manufactories which had been
supplied with water from the river were left dry by the sinking
in the level of its bed ; their works were suspended, and there
was a prospect that for an indefmite period the workmen might
be thrown out of employment.

When the flood had subsided, the first care of the authorities
was to restore the water to the suspended works; for the
stoppage of the flour mills had caused great distress, and the
suspension of those for crushing the olives would have entailed
great loss on the district, as the last crop of that fruit had
been unusually abundant. By means of canals drawn from a
higher level the mills were at length set in motion, and the
thoughts of the government, after relieving the immediate
distress, were turned to the means of repairing the damage
and preventing similar disasters in future.*

Among many proposals made to the Papal government, was
one for diverting the river by a tunnel through Monte Catillo ;
but at the time it was considered too dillicult and too ex-

ly.

DESCRIPTION OF THE TIBER.

17

♦ II fiume TAniene, by an inhabitant of Tivoli.

p

1

pensive, and it was therefore resolved to restore the cascade,
with some modification, and to strengthen the natural pillar
which supports the roof of the grotto of Neptune, the destruction
of which, it was thought, would lead to the fall of the cliff
on which stands the temple of the Sibyl, with other monu-
ments of antiquity. The pillar was surrounded with stout oak
planks firmly braced with iron, forty great beams of oak, and
four others of less thickness ; thirteen hundred pounds of iron,
and five hundred of lead being employed. But on the twenty-
eighth of December, 1831, there came another great flood, and
the river beat with such fury against the grotto and the pillar,
that not a vestige remained of the stout covering of the latter,
and further progress was made in the corrosion of the pillar
Itself. The proposer of this plan of strengthening the support
could only exclaim, when he saw the havoc which had been
wrought, " It seems impossible, and yet it is a fact."

At length it was seen that nothing but the diversion of the
river could prevent the undermining and fall of the clifl', and
with it the destruction of the temple of the Sibyl, and of a
portion of the town. For the substance of the cliff" is neither
the close-grained Travertino used in building, nor the hard
secondary limestone of the Apennines, like that of Monte
Castillo, but a porous, spongy deposit, called by the Italians
* tartaro,' which is deposited by the river under certain conditions,
and corroded by it under others.

It was decided, therefore, that the tunnel should be com-
menced. The work was let on contract to two rival firms,
and pushed forward with such vigour that, though it was con-
sidered a most arduous undertaking in those times, it was
completed in 1836, during the Pontificate of Gregory XVI.

From the Anio, or its tributaries, was drawn the water which
supplied the principal aqueducts of Rome, the Anio Vetus,
the Marcia, the Anio Novus, and the Claudia. When the
original Aqua Appia and Anio Vetus were found insuflicient
for the increasing wants of Rome, it was resolved to seek for
a fresh supply. This was found in a stream of limpid water
rising about thirty-six miles from Rome in the Marsiau

C

18

DESCRIPTION OF THE TIBER.

I

I

1 1 ;

mountains, and flowing into the Anio. As the water of the
Anio Vetus was often turbid after rain, and even the Piscina,
or reservoir, through which it was made to pass, often failed to
purify it, Quintus Marcius Rex, who was appointed to superintend
the work, was desirous that the water of the new aqueduct
should be taken from one of the tributaries of the river, and
as near as possible to its source. The scheme, Frontinus tells us
was nearly failing owing to a superstitious scruple. The work
had actually been commenced, when the decurions fancied that
they had discovered in the Sibylline books a prohibition against
using the stream in question, and a command, that the water
required should be taken from the river. The matter was debated
for some days in the Senate, but the inOuence of Marcius
prevailed, and the work was allowed to proceed. As the source
was in the country beyond the Anio, the aqueduct was of
course more expensive than any of the preceding ones, and
the entire length was no less than sixty-one miles, of which
six were on arches, the rest being subterranean. But, if the
expense was greater, the quality of the water was superior to
that of any other with which Rome was acquainted. Strabo
(v. c. 240) describes it as "distinguished for its excellence
above all other waters,"* and Plinyf observes : "that the INIarcian,
most limpid of all the waters in the world, and by the verdict
of the city carrying off the palm for coolness and salubrity,
is undoubtedly a gift of heaven to the State.'^ Both authors
describe it as passing from lake Fucinus through a subter-
ranean channel, which had its opening in the valley of the Anio.
riiny makes it perform a longer and stranger pilgrimagej—
"It rises in the farthest mountains of the Peligni, crosses
the Marsi, and the lake Fucinus, making straight for Rome.
Bye-and-by it sinks into caverns, and comes to light again in
the territory of Tibur." It is needless to observe that all
this is fanciful, and that the springs of le Serene, from which

• " riapd TO dWa ivcoKinovvTo^ i'oaTa,"— Strabo, V. C. 24O.
t Pliny, XXI. 24.

X - Oritur in ultimis montibus Pelignorum, transit Marsos et Fucinum lacum
Romam non dubie petens. Mox in specus mersa in Tiburtina se aperit."

DESCRIPTION OF THE TIBER.

19

the larger portion both of the ancient and modern Aqua Marcia
IS derived, have no connexion with lake Fucinus. A short
description of the modern aqueduct may be found in the last
edition of Murray. The Aqua Marcia was valued for its
limpidity and freshness, and Statius describes it as bringing
with it to Rome the coolness of the Marsian hills in which it
rose.

Marsasque nives, et frigora ducens

Marcia, i, 5, 26. Balneum Claudii Etnisci.

Tibullus also. III. Eleg. 6, 58, alludes to its potable qualities:
Temperet annosum Marcia lympha merum.

Subsequently, when the Anio Novus and Aqua Claudia
were brought to Rome, great abuses began to prevail. The
Aquarii, or watermen (Frontinus, Art. 91), used to supplement,
more freely than was required, the deficiency of the Aqua xMarcia,
and the Aqua Claudia— which also was supplied from springs—
with the abundant, but more turbid water of the Anio Novus.
The fullones, or fullers, also took a fancy to the Aqua Marcia,'
thinking that it improved the appearance of their cloth, and
it was also employed, as Frontinus complains, for purposes too
foul to be mentioned. A regulation, therefore (Frontinus 92), was
made that the .Alarcia should be reserved exclusively for drinking,
*'potui tota serviret," and that the waters of the other aqueducts
should be applied, according to their qualities, to the purposes
for which they was best suited, the Anio Vetus, for instance,
to watering gardens, and to the requirements of cleansing a
city.

The aqueducts of the Anio Novus, and the Aqua Claudia,
of which I have spoken, were completed in the reign of Claudius!
The Aqua Claudia, which came from springs, was nearly equal
in quality to the Marcia, while the two Anios were often
turbid, even in fine weather, from the falling in of their
banks (Frontinus, Art. 90). But Claudius improved the quality
of the Anio Novus, by abandoning the river at the point from
which the water had been drawn, and taking it from a lake,
out of which the stream issues limpid, after having deposited
the greater part of its impurities.

C2

I

20

DESCRIPTION OF THE TIBER.

Altoo^ether, according to the calculation of Fca, half the
volume of the Anio was abstracted by the four aqueducts which
have been mentioned.

Four tributaries remain to be described — the Cremera, the
Allia, the Aqua Crabra, and the Almo — streams insignificant
in size, but famous in the annals of Rome, or possessing an
interest for the classical scholar and the archaeologist. The
Cremera, a mere brook, over which an active person might
leap, rises in the little lake Baccano, and flowing past the
site of Veii, crosses the Flaminian way about six miles from
Eome. This brook must not be confounded with another a
little higher up, and which is a rivulet unknown to fame. The
Cremera is associated, as every student of Roman history is
aware, with the patriotic devotion of the Fabii, whose story
may be found in Livy, ii. 48, 49, 50.

On the banks of the Allia, the " flebilis Allia" of Ovid, a
still smaller stream, though dignified by the historians with the
name of river, was fought a battle with the Gauls, in which
the Romans sustained a signal defeat. Ovid thus alludes to
the event :

Tunc licet incipias qua flebilis Allia luce

Vulneribus Latiis sanguinolenta fuit. — Ars. Am. I, 413.

The disastrous result of this battle is known to all, but
comparatively few are acquainted with the details. The subsidia,
or reserves, who occupied a strong position, made some resistance,
but the legionary soldiers on the left wing were seized with a
panic, and fled before they had received a wound, and almost
before the enemy were in sight. Casting away their arms,
they unaccountably made their way to Veii across the Tiber,
instead of to Rome, which was on their side of the river.
There was, therefore, no slaughter of combatants, but only
of fugitives, who were cut down in the rear, as they impeded
each others' flight, or were helplessly slaughtered on the banks of
the Tiber, before they had time to cross the river. Many also
were drowned, borne down by the weight of their armour;
but the larger portion reached Veii in safety. It was the
Tiber, therefore, rather than the Allia, which was "crimsoned

itit^mmmiim

mmm i jjin iii .1 Ji . .im '1 1 im,.iii ,1.1.11". ¥ w'.

||i»ji|i.H HHipii^lim

mmmjM.mj*»*

'

•n*

DESCRIPTION OF THE TIBER.

21

with Latian blood." For the line of the Allia had been
abandoned, as we have seen, without a struggle, and even
without a wound. See Livy, v. 38. The right wing retreated
unharmed to Rome.

The Allia cannot be identified with certainty, but it is
supposed to be a small stream flowing in a deep ravine, which
joins the Tiber on the side opposite to Veii, and about three
miles above Castel Guibileo, the site of the ancient Fidenoe.
This stream agrei-s with the description of Livy.*

I^he Aqua Crabra is generally known by the name of the
Marrana, but is also called Aqua Mariana, and Marrana del
Maria ; Marrana being a name frequently given to brooks by
the modern Romans. Tiius wo have Marrana della Cafi'arella,
another name for the Almone, and Marrana di Grotta perfetta.
The rivulet anciently known by the name of the Aqua Crabra
rises in the heart of the Alban hills, and after passing beneath
the heights on which Tusculum and Frascati are situated,
turned northward in obedience to the configuration of the ground,
and flowed into the Anio. But, at some unknown period after
the fall of the Roman Empire, it was diverted by means of a
tunnel into the channel in which it at present runs, for the
purpose of turning mills and irrigating the land. The little
stream, also, which flows in the valley between Marino and
the ridge encircling the Alban lake, whose source is considered
by some to be the Aqua Fercntina of Livy, is conveyed through
a similar luunel to swell the scanty waters of the Aqua Crabra.
In ancient times this rivulet was considered of such importance
to the people of Tusculum, who lived out of the way of the
great aqueducts, that Agrippa, as Frontinus tells us, consented
not to turn it into the "caput," or well head, of the Aqua
Julia, as he had originally proposed. It was looked upon as
a treasure to be doled out in measures to the thirsty people
of Tusculum, and was often contended for by legal proceedings.
Cicero, in his oration de lege Agraria, iii. 2, informs us that
he paid rates to the authorities of Tusculum for his share
of the precious fluid. " Ego Tusculanis pro aqua Crabra vectigal

" Crustuminiis montibus praealto defluens alveo."— Livy, v. 37.

■ 'WWiWfe'iB.Bi^'iinWD'W'iiitii. >

m\

22

DESCRIPTION OF THE TIBER.

pendam," and in his oration pro Balbo, ch. 22, he refers
to a litigation with the municipality which furnished the water,
probably on account of the deficient supply. In this action
"he was in the habit," he tells us, ''of consulting the lawyer,
Tugio, on account of his long experience in similar cases.'*
" Si nos de aqua nostra Tusculana M. Tugionem potius quam
C. Aquilium consulebamus, quod assiduus usus uni rei deditus
et ingenium et artem saepe vincit." Tugio seems to have justified
his choice, and to have frightened the municipality into granting
a more abundant supply, for we find Cicero in his letter to
Tiro, Ep. ad Fam. xvi. 18, observing, -that now there was
more water than enough." -I should like to know," he says,
"how the business of the aqua Crabra is going on, though
now indeed there is more water than enough." "De aqua
Crabra quid agatur, et si nunc quidem nimium est aqu«, tamen
scire velim."

The Almo, "cursuque brevissimus Almo," of Ovid Met. xiv.
329, is the stream which flows in the valley of Cafi"arella*
close to the Nymphceum, which does duty for the grotto of
Egeria. Its most remote source is about six miles from Rome,
in the direction of Albano, and this is usually dry; so that
the Almo is with great propriety called "brevissimus," in
comparison with the other rivers which Ovid is enumerating
The perennial source is at Aqua Santa, not more than three
miles from the city. The stream that rises in the valley
between .Marino and the Alban lake is represented in most
maps as flowing into the Almo. It is really diverted by a
tunnel into the Aqua Crabra.

At the junction of the Almo with the Tiber were washed
every year, the statue of the Goddess Cybele, her chariot and
the sacred instruments of her worship. Ovid thus describes
the ceremony:

Est locus in Tiberim qua lubricus influit Almo,

Et nomen magno perdit ab amne minor.
Illic purpurea canus cum veste sacerdos

Almonis dominam sacraque lavit aquis.
Exululant comites, furiosaque tibia flatur,

Et feriunt moUes taurea terga manus.— Ov. Fasti, iv. 337.

DESCRIPTION OF THE TIBER.

23

'

»

And Lucan alludes to it thus :

Qui lotam parvo renovant Almone Cybebem, I. 600.

Among the remaining tributaries of the Tiber may be
enumerated the Farfarus, which is a torrent joining the Tiber
on the left a little above Correse. It is mentioned by Ovid
along with the Nar :

Narve tulit pncceps, et opacae Farfarus undae. — Ov. Met. xrv, 330.

Also the little stream, the Aqua Albana, which is discharged
by the emissary of the Alban lake, a work executed three
hundred and ninty-three years before Christ. For the circum-
stances which led to its formation, see Livy, v. 15, 16.

The caput Ferentinum, into which Appius Herdonius, the
personal enemy of Tarquinius Superbus, was plunged, and
kept down with a hurdle until he was drowned, has been
before referred to. Murray, or the authors whom Murray has
consulted, and Nibby, place it where it is most natural that
it should be placed, near the town from which it derives its
name, and in the valley between Marino and the Alban lake.
A German, author of a description of Rome and its environs,
has discovered a new site for it in the Campagna, while Rosa,
curator of the Palatine, identifies it with a spring, which,
rising near the summit of the Alban mount, loses itself in the
earth before it reaches the foot of the hill. One can only
exclaim, when those who profess to have studied the question
differ so widely :

Who can decide when doctors disagree,
And Nibby, Rosa, doubt like you or me ?

The Story may be seen in Livy, i. 50, 51.

I'

m

COMMENTS ON GIBBON.

In the seventy-first chapter of Gibbon we have the fol-
lowing observations: "From its situation Rome is exposed to
frequent inundations. Wiihout excepting the Tiber, the rivers which
descend from either side of the Apennines have a short and
irregular course; a shallow stream in the summer heats, an
impetuous torrent when it is swelled in the Spring or Winter
by the fall of rain or the melting of the snows. When the
current is repelled from the sea by adverse winds, when the
ordinary bed is inadequate to the weight of waters, they rise
above their banks and overspread, without control, the plains
and cities of the adjacent country." Afterwards, in describing
a particular inundation, he speaks of the buildings of Rome
as being undermined by the long continuance of the flood.

This is a most inaccurate description of the Tiber, and
confirms what I have elsewhere observed, that those whose
pursuits are exclusively literary are never shrewd observers of
natural objects, or of the phenomena of nature. The power of
discovering substantial agreement amid apparent difference,
and of detecting essential difference beneath superficial re-
semblance, constitutes a science in itself and requires a special
training. Accordingly, we find that Gibbon, Arnold, and
many others, adopt popular notions in science which they have
neither the time nor the inclination to investigate, and give
them additional currency by impressing them with the stamp
of their genius, and clothing them with the graces of their
style.

Nothing which is said of the other streams which descend
from the Apennines is applicable to the Tiber. Measured
by an English standard, the Tiber cannot be called a river
whose course is short ; for its length, from its source to Rome,
exceeds that of the Thames from its most remote fountain

COMMENTS ON GIBBON.

25

I

in Gloucestershire to Gravesend. The long continuance, also,
of the inundation described by Gibbon is inconsistent with
the shortness of course which he attributes to the Tiber; for
mountain torrents, like the Trebbia and Eeno, subside as
rapidly as they rise.

Neither is the Tiber a shallow stream, or nearly dried up
in summer, as the reader might infer from the language of
Gibbon. It is nowhere fordable in the neighbourhood of
Rome, and it is only for a short time during the droughts
of summer that the navigation by small steamers from Rome
to Scorano is suspended. Formerly they ascended as high
as Ponte Felice, which is distant about fifty miles from the city.
Yet the words of the historian would convey the impression
that the appearance of the Tiber in the summer months
resembles that of the torrents which descend from the Northern
declivity of the Apennines to join the Po. The traveller from
Bologna to Turin crosses half-a-dozen, or more, wide beds
of mountain torrents, spanned by bridges of eight, ten, or
twelve arches, These beds of torrents present nothing to the
view but a wide waste of sand and shingle, the whole of the
scanty stream, which flows in them during the summer season,
being diverted for the purpose of irrigation. Among these
are the Reno, near Bologna, and the Secchia, the Tara, and
the Trebbia, famous for the defeat of the Romans by Hannibal,
but robbed, like the rest, of its water for the use of the
agriculturist. I have also seen the Arno, when the rivulet,
which threads its way through mud and sand in the month
of August, had been turned through the dairy farm of the late
Duke of Tuscany, so dry, below the town of Florence, that
a person might have picked his way across it, without wetting
anything but the soles of his shoes.

Far different is the appearance of the Tiber in the summer
months. At a point, where I ascertained it by measurement
to be five hundred feet wide in the month of July, it was not
only deep enough to float a large row-boat, but flowed with
a swift current, so that it must have discharged a great body
of water. Where the Thames, above the influence of the tide

^\

r~

26

COMMENTS ON GIBBON.

<

is widest— and no where is it wider than four hundred feet—

the current in dry weather is scarcely perceptible.

From my observation of the river at the point indicated,

coupled with the strength of the current, I feel not the

slightest doubt that the volume of water in the Tiber, during

the summer, is equal to that of the Thames and Severn put

together, while in the winter the disproportion is greater
still.

4.

NAVIGATION OF THE TIBER.

When the Romans, after the burning of their city by the
Gauls, were deliberating about migrating to Veil, whose
bu,ld,ngs, far exceeding in splendour those of Rome, remained
mtact. Livy puts into the mouth of Camillus a speech in which
he tnes to d.ssuade them from their design. After enlarging
upon vanous considerations, which should induce them to
rema,„. such as their religious rites, which could be fitly
performed only i„ their ancestral city, and the recollections
connected w.th their native land, which furnished a never-
fa.l.ng sfmulus to deeds of heroism, he goes on to notice
the advantage which Rome enjoyed over Veii. in the possession
of a navgable river, by means of which corn could be floated
down from the interior, and the produce of other regions
rece.ved from the side of the sea.* The arguments of Camillus
prevailed, and the Eomans remained, to turn to account the
natural advantages of their city, and to render Rome the
mistress of the world.

The river appears to have been utilised to a far greater
e.xtent in ancient than in modern times. Pliny, the elder, tells

that of the Tineas (Chiascia). and of the Clanis (Chiana)

Kon sine causa Dn hominesque hunc urbi condendae locum elet-eru.f
salubemmos colics, flumen opportunum quo ex mcditerraneisToct Z
devehantur, quo maritimi commeatus acciplntur. Livy V .4 ^

See, also Cicero de republica, u. v. lo, where, whUe using nearly the sam.
language as Livy with regard to the Tiber, he styles the river •' peremfis " whTh

L h ' , -r'"^' "' ^°' "' ^"^^ *'"> ^ '^' -<1 strong'cu'r'evI^S

i^T '^^-«- •" ^- - -r.L^di.rnc-t- ir

I

28

NAVIGATION OF THE TIBER.

was damraed up, and if no rain fell within nine days, it was let
out, to render these rivers navigable, or to increase the volume
of water in the Tiber. The " muro grosso," or great dike
on the Roman Chiana, below the town of Canagiola. which
tradition assigns to Nero, is thought to be part of a larger
work, constructed by the Romans, for the purpose of retaining
the water of that river. Strabo* informs us that not only
was the Nar navigable for large boats, but that smaller ones
descended the Tineas, and conveyed to the Tiber the produce
of the country on its banks ; and Piso, the reputed poisoner
of Germanicus, is said, by Tacitus, to have embarked at Narni
on the Nar, and descended that river and the Tiber to Rome.
According to the historian.f his object in taking this route
was to avoid the suspicion of tampering with the legions,
whose favourite he was, on account of the licence in which
he allowed them to indulge. Perhaps, also, he was fearful
of attracting the notice of the people to whom he knew
himself to be odious, before he arrived at Rome, and was
surrounded and protected by his clients and retainers

Such was the hatred with which he was regarded as the
suspected murderer of the darling of the people, that an evil
.nterpretafon was put upon his most harmless actions. It was
made a charge against him, that he had landed close to the
Mausoleum of Augustus, as if his object were to insult that
family, the noblest scion of which had just fallen a victim
to his infernal arts.}; »ii-iini

But whatever might have been the motives of Piso there
were doubtless many others who preferred the river io the
high road, paved, as the latter was. with lava blocks over
which they were jolted in their springless cars.

It appears, also, from the account of Strabo, that the Anio
then, as now. was navigable from Tivoli to its junction with

1

NAVIGATION OF THE TIBER.

29

* Strabo, v. c. 253.
t Tac. Ann. in. 9.

the Tiber; and he describes it as traversing a very fruitful
plain in the neighbourhood of the quarries of Tiburtine and
Gabian stone (Travertino and Peperino) * and notices the great
facilities which it afforded for the transport of those stones, of
which the greater part of the public buildings of Rome were
constructed. We read in Livy, iv. 52, that, during a famine,
commissioners were sent to the people who inhabited the
shores of the Etruscan sea and the banks of the Tiber, to
purchase corn for the people, and that abundant supplies
were conveyed down the river, -great earnestness being dis-
played by the Etrurians to furnish them/' " Maximos commeatus
summo Etruriae studio Tiberis devexit." This corn probably
came from the plains about Perugia, where it would be likely
to be grown in larger quantities than elsewhere. According
to Pliny, the younger, boats descended the Tiber from Tifernum,
near which his villa was situated, to Rome, conveying to that
city the produce of the upper country; "but only,'» he says,
''in winter and in spring. In summer the river sinks, and
presents nothing but a dry channel, where once was an immense
river."t Tifernum, according to Cluverius, was Borgo San
Sepulcro; according to others, Citta di Castello. Both towns
are situated in the upper valley of the Tiber, where the river
is nothing but a large mountain torrent.

Below the junction of the Nera, however, the Tiber was
navigable for boats, like our barges, at every season of the
year. The river above and below Rome, as well as in the
city, must, in the time of the Empire, have presented a scene
of life and animation strongly contrasting with its desolation in
the present day. Propertius describes his friend Gallus as
"flinging himself luxuriously beside the Tiber's waves, and
while he quaffs Lesbian wine from vessels wrought by the
hands of Mentor, admiring, at one time, the swiftness with

• "Travertino," a yellowish limestone deposited from springs; "Peperino,"
a consolidated volcanic dust, or volcanic conglomerate, of a greyish colour,
whence the name from " Pepe," ** pepper."

t Plin. Ep. V. 6th section.

r

30

NAVIGATION OF THE TIBER.

i

which the boats descended the stream, at another the slowness
with which they are towed against it by means of ropes—

Tu licet abjectus Tiberina molliter unda

Lesbia Mentoreo vina bibas opere :
Et modo tarn celeres mireris currere lintres

Et modo tam tardas funibus ire rates.— El. I. 14.

In the present day, the boats which descend the stream
are few and far between. One may stand on the Ponte Molle
for an entire day without seeing the water enlivened by a
single oar or sail. A solitary tug. once a week, is sufficient
to tow, against the stream, all the barges which have descended
the river within that time. This absence of traffic on the
Tiber is owing partly to the competition of the railroad, which
follows the valley of the river, partly to the uncultivated state
of the Campagna, and partly to the impoverished condition
of the towns on the Nera and upper Tiber, Terni. Name,
and Citti di Castello, which were comparatively nourishing in
the time of the Romans.

Even below the city there is little life or movement. A
steamer or boat of any description is rarely seen to come or
go. But in the time of the Empire, the Tiber at the Ripa
Grande must have been crowded with vessels, departing or
arriving, laden with the precious productions of the East, or the
corn with which the teeming multitudes of Rome were fed.
For the "fruges" and the "res ad victum cultumque maxime
necessarian," which Livy and Cicero* describe as being brought
down the Tiber from the interior, had long since ceased to be
produced. Italy, which once, not only fed her inhabitants, but
exported corn.f was now occupied by the mansions and pleasure-
grounds of the great and wealthy, or had become the vineyard,
orchard, and kitchen-garden of the imperial city. Little, there-

* Livy V. 54, and Cicero " De republica," ri. v 10

porttbtnt" nt' °'™ "r"'"!. ''^°"""'^ ^onginc^n^s in provincias commea.us
portabant , nee nunc mfecundUate laboratur, sed African, potius et ^gvDtum

exercemus, navibusque et casibus vita nnn„li n ■ ■ "' ""' ^syP""'"

T„ „ Ti, o "" P°P"'' '^o'"^'" commissa est.— Tac. Ann

III. 43- These reflections were suggested by a riot in the rei™ of Claudius
consequent upon the dearth of grain and the high price of bread '

.

,

I

NAVIGATION OF THE TIBER. 31

fore, either by land or river carriage, could be expected from
that quarter, and the supply of corn was almost entirely
confined to what arrived by sea.

Below Rome, the Tiber is sJid by Pliny, the elder, to have
been navigable, not only for the barges, whatever their tonnage,
which conveyed the merchandise to Rome, but for vessels of
the largest size, sea-going vessels from the Italian seas ; and
Livy tells us that vessels of the royal navy of Perseus, " naves
regime, which were of a magnitude never before beheld,
mvisitatas ante magnitudinis," after their capture by the
Romans, were brought up the Tiber as far as the Campus
Mart.us; but as they were "subducts," or hauled up upon
dry land according to the usual practice, we cannot form a
very exalted notion of their size. A nondescript craft, also,
of unusual length, and impelled by no fewer than three-hundred
oars which had been built expressely to convey the Vatican
Obelisk from Alexandria to Rome, came up the river as far as
the vicus Alexandri, three miles below the town, whence the
obelisk was transported on rollers to the Campus Martius It
appears, therefore, that a ship large enough to carry such a
cargo across the Mediterranean was able to ascend the Tiber
within three miles of Rome. We learn, however, from Strabo
that the larger class of merchant vessels, which were impelled
by sails, and, therefore, required a larger draught of water
were obliged to anchor in the open roadstead off the mouth
of the Tiber. A portion of their cargo was then discharged
.nto lighters, after which the vessels proceeded up the river
to Rome.

But the ascent of the Tiber by vessels of war will not
assist us in forming a conjecture as to its depth. The ancient
galhes were built exclusively for offence and speed; they
earned no stores for distant voyages, and were furnished with
slender accommodation for their crews, or for the soldiers who
fought aboard them as marines.^ Their displacement, there-

' Thucydides informs us (iv. 26) that the Athenian vessels blockading
Sphactena were reduced to great straits by want of food and water, and

J

32

NAVIGATION OF THE TIBER.

fore, was small, and they were easily impelled by oars against
the current of the river. Merchant vessels, also, if their burden
did not exceed three thousand modii, or thirty tons, ascended
the river without difficulty (Lanciani, who quotes Rasi, and de
Fazio) ; but if their tonnage exceeded that indicated, they were
obliged, as I have said, to tranship a portion of their cargo.
These merchant vessels were dragged against the stream,
probably, as in the present day, by ropes attached to the horns
of buffaloes. The monster galley, likewise, which bore the
Vatican obelisk, whose extraordinary dimensions, as well as
foreign and mysterious cargo, (must, Ammianus Marcellinus says,
have frightened father Tiber out of his propriety),* drew probably
but little water, perhaps not more than the three feet eight
inches, which in the present day is the minimum depth in
summer below the city of Rome. Such a vessel, burdened
with a deck-load of one million three hundred and one thousand
four-hundred and seventy-four pounds, or nearly six-hundred
tons, and loaded, besides, with four blocks of granite to form
the pedestal of the obelisk,! must, notwithstanding the
hundred and twenty-thousand modii of lentils which it carried
as ballast, have run the risk in crossing the Mediterranean of
sharing the fate of our Captain.

But, whatever might have been the depth of water when
this vessel made the ascent of the Tiber, the river, owing to the
annual deposit of mud, continued to become shallower, and
the difficulty of navigation to increase. Caligula was obliged

were obliged to take turns in going on shore to procure them. The crews
of these gallies seem to have been always cramped for room, as they were
sometimes stinted for food, and were glad when an opportunity presented
itself of going on shore to stretch their limbs and take their meals in
comfort.

• tandemque sero impositus navi per maria fluentaque Tibridis, velut

parentis defertur.— Am. Mar, xiii. 414.

t Abies admirationis praecipuae visa est in nave quae ex Egypto Caii
principis jussu obeliscum in Vaticano Circo statutum, quatuorque truncos
lapidis ejusdem ad sustinendum eum, adduxit ; qua nave nihil admirabilius
visum in mari certum est. 120,000 modium lenti$ pro saburra ei fuere.— Plin.
Lib. XVI. 76, 4.

NAVIGATION OF THE TIBER. 33

to make use of a bireme. instead of a trireme, to convey the
ashes of his mother and brother to Rome,* and Claudius
was enraged with the people of Ostia, because they had not
sent scaphae, or small boats, to meet him,t his own vessel
being unable without difficulty to cross the bar.

At last the Emperors began to fear that the supplies of
corn, for which Rome was dependent on the navigation of
the Tiber, might fail, and, as - Panis et Circenses " were the
two means by which the populace of Rome was kept in good
humour,! it became a matter of vital importance to construct a
a new port, and improve the navigation of the river. Ostia
had never been anything but an emporium, where ships might
discharge their cargoes, if they were indisposed to make the
tedious ascent to Rome, or ride at anchor protected from the
storms of the Mediterranean by a bend in the river. A project,
first conceived by Julius Caesar, was carried out by Claudius!
of forming a harbour with docks and artificial basins. In order
to make a good foundation for one of the piers, or sea walls,
the great vessel of which we have spoken was sunk as a
caisson; the inside was filled with masonry; and on this was
erected a tower of great height to serve as a lighthouse, in
imitation of the celebrated lighthouse on the island of Pharos
in the harbour of Alexandria.

The accommodation, however, afforded by the new port
proving inadequate to the requirements of the increasing

* Suet. Cal. 15.

t Id. Claud. 38.

% Vopiscus in his life of Aurelian gives a letter addressed by the Emperor
to the "praefectus annonae " or *♦ inspector of the markets," in which the
following curious passage occurs. After enumerating all that he had done to
facilitate the supply of food to the people by improving the navigation of the
Tiber, and increasing the number of boats which plied upon the river, he goes
on to say: "Nunc tenue est officium, jucundissime Arabiane, elaborare ne mese
dispositiones in irritum veniant. Neque enim populo Romano saturo quicquam
potest esse laetius." '' It is now an easy task for you, my dearest Arabianus, to
use your endeavours, that my arrangements do not come to nought. For
nothing can be in better humour than the Roman people when their bellies are
full." From which it may be inferred that nothing would be in worse hu^nour
when their bellies were empty.

D

:l

34

NAVIGATION OF THE TIBER.

i

commerce of Rome, a new basin was dug by Trajan, and
works constructed on a gigantic scale, including not only
interminable rows of magazines, and all the conveniences
required by a great commercial port, but those buildings which
ministered to the luxury of the Roman people, and were looked
upon as the inseparable adjuncts of even a second or third-
rate city, baths, temples, and an imperial palace with a theatre
attached to it. Portus, the new city, increased at the expense
of its sister colony of Ostia ; the municipality of the latter
migrated in great part to the former ; new buildings grouped
themselves round the imperial palace and the storehouse,* and
every day added to the importance of the town. It continued
to be a port up to the time of Constantine. But the course
of nature cannot be arrested ; no harbour can long exist at the
mouth of a river which brings down large quantities of mud,
and is continually extending its delta ; though the navigation
of such a river may be continued by dredging and other
artificial means. Portus has shared the fate of Ostia, and its
remains are to be sought in the centre of a dreary and un-
wholesome fen a mile and a half from the sea, while Ostia
is removed to the distance of three miles.

It is no part of my plan to enter into architectural details,
or to describe the works of man, except as far as they affect
the navigation or modify the physical character of the river.
The reader, therefore, who wishes to be informed regarding
the discoveries which have been made by excavations, and to
learn the speculations of archaeologists upon them, is referred
to the pamphlet of Lanciani, and to the works of the authors
whom he mentions as furnishing fuller details, namely, Fea,
Nibby, Rasi, and Canina.

In the present day small steamers drawing about four feet
of water, and from eighty-five to one hundred and twenty feet
in length, and twelve to seventeen feet broad, ply between
Rome and Fiumicino at the mouth of the northern branch
of the Tiber. Fea, with whom agree Rasi, Nibby, and Canina,

NAVIGATION OF THE TIBER.

35

'

♦ Lanciaiii, who quotes Dollinger, Hippolytus, and Callistus.

considers the Fiumicino arm to have been originally an
artificial canal dug by Trajan to connect his port with the
Tiber, and calls it Fossa Trajana. As the delta advanced
the canal extended itself beyond the limits of the port of
Trajan, from which its mouth is now distant a mile and a
half. It was deepened by Fontana at the desire of the reign-
ing Pope, and is now the only navigable branch. By means
oi stakes the channel is narrowed, and the requisite depth of
water and velocity of current maintained ; but the width is so
contracted by this means, that two small vessels can scarcely
pass each other. Similar small steamers formerly ascended
the river as high as Ponte Felice, about fifty-one and a half
English miles above Rome, while large barges went as far as
Orte, two miles above the confluence of the Nera, knd distant
seventy-one miles from the city by the windings of the stream ;
but now, owing to the state of the river, the steamers ascend
only to Scorano near Correse, and the barges to Ponte Felice.
The barges are towed by the steamers as far as the latter go,
and the remainder of the distance by buffaloes. The steamers
draw from three feet three inches to three feet eight inches of
water, and have a speed of from eight to ten miles an hour,
but owing to the rapidity of the current their progress is
extremely slow, and they are now employed exclusively as tugs ;
few persons caring to encounter the weariness and discomfort
of the voyage.

Above Orte the Tiber is navigated only by rafts, which
descend the river during the autumn and winter months, and
on their arrival at Rome are broken up and sold. The navi-
gation of the upper Tiber presents peculiar difficulties, owing
to the great fall of the river and the number of rapids in its
course. The subject has engaged the attention of successive
Pontiffs, among others of Clement XII., who appointed the
engineers, Andrea Chiesa and Bernardo Gambarini, to survey
the course of the Tiber, and report upon the feasibility of
rendering it navigable from Ponte Nuovo, just below the mouth
of the Chiascia to the Nera, a distance of fifty-two English
miles and a quarter.

D2

36

NAVIGATION OF THE TIBER.

The Tiber is described by them as flowing below Ponte
Nuovo in a wide and shallow bed, occasionally encircling
islands of small extent. In the neighbourhood of Todi the
rapids commence. The river rushes with great force through
the narrow gorge of II Forello, and soon after precipitates
itself into the gulf or chaldron known by the name of Inferno,
where there is a tradition that a raft was once swallowed up
and never reappeared. Emerging thence it descends by a
series of rapids known by the names of Infernello, Cacastozza,
Molinacci and etc., to its junction with the Chiana. The
whole fall of the river is no less than two hundred and sixty-
six feet and a half in the course of fifty-two miles and a
quarter. The river also is liable to change its course, which
increases the difficulty of dealing with it.

The attempt to overcome the difficulties created by the
shallowness of the river in one place, and its rapidity in
another, would involve, the engineers consider, an enormous
expenditure, with the almost certainty of failure. The piling
and embankments required to narrow the current of the river
and increase its depth would be wholly or partially swept
away during great floods, while the locks and dams, which
must be constructed at the rapids, would not only be very
expensive in the first instance, but liable to be destroyed bv
the force of the swollen current beating against their walls.
They might also be rendered useless by a change in the bed
of the river. They suggest, therefore, that, instead of trying
to render the river itself navigable, a canal should be formed
parallel to its course, and supplied with water from it; the
river, where circumstances admit, being used as part of the
canal. The report was submitted in the year 1746 to
Benedict XII. but was never acted upon ; either because the
Popes were too poor to bear the expense, or because such
a canal, not connecting any large towns, would not be
likely to pay. The scheme may, however, be revived and
carried out under the new government when the Cam-
pagna is cultivated and the canal can be turned to better
account.

NAVIGATION OF THE TIBER. 37

The estimates of the length of the Tiber differ to the
extent of twenty miles. I have adopted that which I consider
the most correct ; according to which the total length of the
river from its source to the sea is two hundred and fifty
Roman, or two hundred and thirty-two English miles, and the
distance from Rome to Fiumicino twenty-two and a half.

The distance in a direct line from the source of the Tiber
on the north to that of the Salto on the south is one hundred
and forty miles ; and from the source of the Paglia on the
west to that of the Nera on the east about seventy-eight. If
we take the mean of the greatest and least widths, the basin
of the Tiber, or area drained by its tributaries, may be esti-
mated roughly at six thousand five hundred square miles*
This includes, of course, the minor basins of the Chiascia,
the Chiana, the Nera and the Anio.

The colour of the river is owing to the constant falling in
and abrasion of the banks in the alluvial valley through which
the river flows after quitting the mountains. The fine soil is
quickly diffused through the water, and imparts to it its
peculiar tinge.

The mud of the Tiber is said not to possess the fertilizing
property of the slime of other rivers, which, by enriching
the land which they overflow, make some amends for the
damage caused by their inundations. But this absence of
fertilizing power is only temporary and apparent. The infant
river in its rapid descent as a mountain torrent carries with
It rocks, gravel, and sand, and when it overflows its banks
covers the fields with a debris which seems to condemn them
to perpetual sterility. As the declivity of its channel diminishes
the stones and gravel are left behind and the sand alone is
deposited.! But it is not until it arrives in the plains and
flows with a sluggish current that the finer particles of earth
and any organic matter it may contain, subside to the

• The basin of the Tiber is extremely irregular, and more accurate measure-
ments have shown that it exceeds seven thousand square miles

t If water flows three inches in a second, it will carry clay • if six inches
sand ; and if twelve inches, ^jravel. ^ ' ^'

38

NAVIGATION OF THE TIBER.

1

bottom during floods, and constitute the rich loam which
imparts exuberant fertility to the lower courses and deltas of
rivers. The Tiber, as low down as Rome, retains many of
the characteristics of a mountain torrent. Even when the
river is low, the current is strong ; and during floods the com-
motion of the waters allows nothing to be deposited but the
heavier sand, while the fine earth and lighter organic matters
are held in suspension and carried onward to the sea. The
deposit of the Tiber—for mud it can scarcely be called—
consists almost entirely of volcanic sand or minute particles
of volcanic minerals derived from the disintegration of the tufa,
among which mica is conspicuous, sparkling like diamonds
in the sun. It contains no appreciable quantity of organic
matter, is wholly free from smell, and in situations where it
can dry readily, is not likely to evolve unwholesome gases, or
to produce the deleterious eflfects attributed to it.

If we examine it under a high power of the microscope,
we detect, besides the mica, the dark coloured pyroxene or
augite, and fragments of amphigene or leucite, sometimes
called white garnet, which is found in great abundance in the
neighbourhood of Rome, and often used in cheap jewelry.
This volcanic sand is very different from pure silicious sand,
consisting, as it does, of compound minerals, which, when
exposed to the atmosphere, undergo a slow decomposition, and
are resolved into the earths which constitute the soil best
adapted to the growth of plants. Volcanic soils are proverbially
fertile, and, though the impalpable earths already liberated by
the chemical decomposition of these volcanic minerals are
carried away, as I have said, by the current of the Tiber,
the coarse sand will in its turn undergo decomposition in situ!
and the Prati and other lands overflowed by the Tiber be
eventually benefited by the top dressing they receive.

^

f

WATER OF THE TIBER.

If we look upon the seething waters of the Tiber in a flood,
yellow as pea-soup, and apparently of the same consistence,
we may be disposed to pity the Romans of the early republic,
who for four hundred and forty years had little else to drink.
Equally hard may seem the lot of their descendants of the
middle ages, who were constrained to return to the water of
their turbid stream.* The aqueducts, which once conveyed
whole rivers to what was then the capital of the world, had
long since been broken drown by the Barbarians or fallen
into decay. Rome, reduced to the dimensions of a petty
state, and drained of its resources by civil wars and continually
recurring calamities, was unable to keep such gigantic structures
in repair. The Piscinae, or reservoirs, in which the water
deposited its mud, were no longer cleaned out ; the conduits
were obstructed by calcareous incrustations, and the springs
from the distant mountains ceased to flow in their accustomed
channels or were wasted by leakage before they reached the
town. The water of the Tiber, supplemented by a few small
springs and wells, was thus the only resource of the Romans,
and was sold through the city in barrels, after it had been
allowed to settle for six months, and deposit the impurities
it contained.! This state of things continued up to the time
of Pope Pius IV., 1559, who repaired the Aqua Virgo, now
called the Acqua Vergine, the aqueduct whose restoration
entailed the least expense; and about twenty years later

• When Rome was invested by the armies of Alaric, the aqueducts were
broken do\\Ti, and the citizens were driven to drink the long-disused water of
the muddy Tiber. But this was one of the privations incident to all sieges, and
trifling compared to others which they had to endure.

t The mother of Rienzi eked out her gains as a washerwoman by hawking
tliis water through the streets.

fi

40

WATER OF THE TIBER.

Sixtus v., availing himself of the remaining arches of the Aqua
Claudia, brought an entirely new source into Rome, the
Acqua Felice, so called from his conventual name, Fra Felice.
Yet there were some who preferred to any other the water
to which they had so long been used, and attributed to it
superior sweetness and health-bestowing qualities. Clement
yiL, 1523, carried a supply of it with him, by advice of his
physician Conti, when he repaired to Marseilles, to celebrate
the marriage of his niece Catherine di IMedici with the brother
of the Dauphin, afterwards Henry II.; and Paul III., 1534,
was never without it in his longest tours. Even Gregory' XIII.,'
1573, though he filled the Papal chair after the restoration
of the Aqua Virgo, drank the Tiber water constantly up to
the time of his death, which occurred in the eighty-fourth
year of his age.*

Cancellieri-as Moroni informs us-in a work entitled
"Mercato,- published in 181 1, declares that up to that date
the Therisians of the convent of Scala, and the Benedictines
of the Monastery of Calisto, both situated in the Transtevere f
as well as the Philippines of the Chiesa Nuova, made use of
this water, though they considered it necessary to allow it to
settle for a period of six months.

A difference of opinion having arisen as to the wholesome-
ness of the Tiber, it was analyzed-according to the same
Moroni-by Antonio Clementi, afterwards Professor in the
University, and pronounced, not only fit to drink, but superior
in quality to that of the Thames or Seine.

♦ Moroni Dizionario d'enidizione Ecclesiastica. Moroni observes that he
toad seen this statement in many authors which he had read

t Before the restoration of the Acqua Paolo, the ancient Aqua Alsietina, by
J^aul V 1605, there was no aqueduct on the Transtevere side of the Tiber ; but
that after that date, with such a supply of the purest fluid at hand, any one
should prefer the water of the Tiber, may appear incomprehensible to those who

seUle ^""^ '""""^ ^^^' '"'''"' ^''°"''' ^^^^' ^''""^ ^"°^ed to

The water conveyed to Rome by the aqueducts of the Acqua Ver^ine
Acqua Fehce, and Acqua Paolo exceeds in amount that which is furnished by the
canal d Ourc, the principal source of supply to Paris, a city containing ten times
the population of Rome,

WATER OF THE TIBER.

41

Being desirous to learn something about the quality of this
water, and to form an opinion as to the time within which
it might be drunk, I filled a large flagon with it at a time
when it was greatly discoloured by a sudden flood. . At the
end of five hours, I found that it had deposited all its yellow
mud, but still retained a slightly milky hue. I had purposed
to filter it, in order to render it perfectly transparent ; but
being otherwise engaged, and obliged to defer the operation,
I was surprised to find that, on the fifth day, inclusive, it had
become as clear as crystal, and in no way distinguishable
from the water of the Acqua Vergine.

I drank a portion, used another portion for making tea,
and found it excellent. A trial of it with soap shewed it to
be of a medium degree of hardness. In short, it was very
superior to the water with which Londoners are supplied from
the Thames. A bottle of it well corked was left at Eome
during the summer, to see whether it would undergo fermenta-
tion owing to the presence of organic matter, and develope
any unpleasant taste or smell. On my return, after an interval
of four months, the water was found to be perfectly sweet to
the taste, and free from any disagreeable odour.

It appears from this experiment that the impurities held in
suspension will be deposited as completely in six days as in
six months. It is scarcely necessary to observe that those
which are chemically dissolved will not separate after any
length of time.

It would seem as if the presence of earthy matters held in
suspension tended to deodorise and render innoxious the
organic substances contained in water ; for the water of all
muddy rivers, which have not received the sewage of towns,
has the reputation of being both wholesome and pleasant to
the taste. The author of the "Attractions of the Nile"*
declares the water of that river to be the sweetest, softest, and
most palatable he had ever tasted. "Its thick, muddy, yellow
appearance created, indeed, a feeling of aversion, but when

• Attractions of the Nile, by C. Smith, m.A.

42

WATER OF THE TIBER.

passed through a filterer it came out bright and sparkling.'*
Even when he was away from the filter, and drank direct
from the river, no difference of taste, he said, could be
perceived.

Similar testimony is given by travellers to the excellence
of the water of the Missouri and lower IMississipi, while the
muddy water of the Hoogly at Calcutta is declared by the
government analyst to be purer than that which Glasgow draws
from Loch Catrine, and it is from that source that Calcutta will
in future be supplied with water, the impurities, of course,
being allowed to subside *

But though the water of the Tiber was wholesome, and the
supply of it abundant, the labour of fetching it from the river
must have been very great, when the Romans dwelt mainly on
the hills, and the reservoirs required for purifying it, if purifi-
cation was thought necessary, must have occupied a considerable
space, and entailed a great amount of trouble. Aqueducts
therefore, were constructed to supply the water at a higher
level for the convenience of the Thermce, and other public
estabhsments, as well as of private houses. Accordingly we
find that as Rome became more populous, and the people
more luxurious, the water of each successive aqueduct was
taken from a higher source and entered the city at a higher
level The following are the relative heights given by Murray
at which the aqueducts successively constructed, entered Rome:

Aqua Appia 121 feet English
Anio Vetus 149
Aqua Marcia 173
Tepula 182
Julia 191
Claudia 203
Anio Novus 212.
Such was the quantity of water brought by the aqueducts
that, to use the language of Strabo, (Lib. v. Chap. 8) whole
nvers flowed through the city and the sewers, and thanks to

WATER OF THE TIBER.

43

if

t»

fi

Agrippa, almost every house in Rome was provided with pipes
for conveying the water and tanks for storing it.*

Within the city the bed of the Tiber is artificially con-
tracted in order to gain ground for houses and gardens, or
to secure a sufficient depth of water for boats; the houses
in some cases being built on arches over the river. Thus, at
the Ripetta the stream is not more than one hundred and ninety-
seven feet in width when the river is low; and immediately
above Ponte Sisto, where it appears to have been most
encroached upon, it is narrower still. But at the Ponte Molle its
breadth is four- hundred feet; and midway between the bridge
and Aqua Acetosa it expands to the width of five-hundred feet,
even in the dryest season. The average width of the river
above the Ponte .Molle considerably exceeds that of the Thames
at any point beyond the influence of the tide, as at Hampton
or Eton, and the volume of water is many times greater. In
this part of the Tiber many fine positions for villas might be
found overlooking the broad reaches of the river, and with
the lofty range of the Apennines for a background. Judicious
and tasteful planting would complete the beauty of the view.
When Rome under the new government becomes a richer and
more prosperous city, and the reputed unhealthiness of the
Campagna has been corrected by cultivation and planting,
I have no doubt, advantage will be taken of such sites, an^d
the Tiber again present the appearance which it exhibited
in the times of Ancient Eome, like that which the banks of the
Thames exhibit at the present day.

• TocrovTov 6' iaTi to daaycvytfMou vSoop 5td rdSu Copayooy.u^u ^are tto.

ii^af^iud, Kal aicpa,va, Kal Kpovuov, £>:.; dcpOouov,, cJi, irXdcrrrju ^Trifxikuau
ivoujaaro MdpKon 'Ayp'nnrav,

II

* Letter of the Calcutta correspondent of 7/,, Times, March 25, ,873.

SUPERSTITIONS CONNECTED WITH

THE TIBER.

The Tiber, as I have before observed, had no special form
of worship, though altars were raised and sacrifices offered to
Its tributary streams, nor in the earlier period of the history
of Rome was any religious observance connected with it.*
But towards the close of the republic, when Rome had become
the mistress of the world, new feelings and practices came to
be associated with the river of the conquering state. People
of every race and creed flocked to the Imperial city, where
they enjoyed the freest licence of opinion, and practised their
rites, however strange, without molestation.f For it was the

,-„t. ,^ T-t'^"' °J "l"."^" "^ ■""" ^"""^'^ of bulrushes, which were thrown
into the Tiber on the Ides of May, were not in.en.led as offerings to the riv^
or as a recognition of its divinity. The origin of the custom is uncertain. Two
explanations «-ere offered i„ the time of Ovid : first, that the figures representid
old men past the age of sixty, who in barbarous limes were casf into the river as
burdens on the community. Secon.l, that they were substitutes for .he human
victims who m a remote period of Italian histoiy were sacrificed to Saturn The
first explanation IS rejected by the Poet as absurd; the second may equally be
repudiated. For there is no evidence of human sacrifices in the s!tum Ses
The Argei were thirty in number, and were thrown from the Pons Publiciur ai
being the most venerable from its antiquity, and invested with a sacred chaacter
Ovid represents the Tiber as settling the question by telling the s.o,^ of how he
practiceonginated.-SeeFasti v. 635. c iioiy 01 now the

t It is scarcely necessary to observe that the Christians were not persecuted

SUPERSTITIONS CONNECTED WITH THE TIBER. 45

policy of the Romans to tolerate every form of belief which
did not interfere with the worship established by law, or
appear to be subversive of social order, or dangerous to the
government of the day* Fresh gods might be introduced
provided the old ones were recognised, and the new Divinities
were content to take their places, side by side, with the occu-
pants of the existing temples.

Along with their peculiar dogmas and rites the votaries of
these foreign religions imported the superstitions connected
with the rivers of the East, the Jordan, the Ganges, and the

tion of which nothing was known, except that it worked in darkness. Indi-
viduals were thus tempted to denounce their personal enemies as members of an
illegal society, and Governors of provinces, like Pliny the younger, however
humane, and however free from fanaticism, were compelled to enforce the law
agamst them. That the fears of the authorities were not groundless appears
from a. modern instance. The late insurrection in Poland was organized and
directed by the so- called Agricultural Association, consisting mainly of landed
proprietors. The name was intended merely as a screen, and though meetings
were occasionally held, at which Agricultural subjects were discussed, the
members met also in secret conclave to concert measures for forwarding the
national cause.

Other religions, it may be remarked, were proscribed with impartial severity
when they did not comply with the conditions on which toleration was granted
Attempts were made both by Augustus and by Tiberius to suppress the worship
of Isis, on account of the immoralities of her priests, and in the reign of the
latter, the Egj-ptians, as they were called, were banished from Rome. The
priests of a temple of Isis had been agents in a nefarious transaction ; tlie
aggrieved party complained to Tiberius, and the emperor ordered the priests
to be crucified, the temple to be razed to the ground, and the image of the
goddess to be thrown into the Tiber [See the story of Mundus and Paulina in
Josephus.-Ant. Jud. xviii. 7.] At the same time the followers of Isis were
banished from Rome, and her religion appeared to be extinguished for ever.
But public feeling was too strong for the government. The mysterious rites of
the Egyptian religion seem to have possessed an extraordinary fascination for the
Roman mind ; the worship of Isis revived, and even spread more widely than
before, until it became a theme for the indignant declamation of Juvenal.

• In the reign of Tiberius the Jews also, with far less reason, were expelled
from Rome. An individual of that nation had appropriated a large sum of
money which had been entrusted to him to be remitted to Jerusalem for the
service of the temple, and the whole people were involved in the consequences of
his crime. The Jewish youths were draughted into the army, and sent to the
most unhealthy quarters of the globe, and the remainder were ordered under the
severest penalties to quit the city.-Suet. Tib. 36, and Joseph. Ant. Jud. xvili 7.

46 SUPERSTITIONS CONNECTED WITH THE TIBER.

Nile, and as appears from Horace, Juvenal, and Persius, the
Chaldeans, the Egyptians, and the Jews, attributed to the
Tiber, as to their native streams, the power of insuring against
coming evils, and of cleansing from mora! as well as physical
pollutions, those who bathed in its waters and performed the
ceremonies prescribed by their priests.

Among the various forms of religion which prevailed under
the Empire, that of the Jews was regarded with the greatest
aversion and contempt, while that of Isis attracted the lar-est
number of followers. The Jews were despised for their credu'lity
and hatred for their moroseness. Few were found to embrace
so uninviting a religion; nor were the Jews themselves dis-
posed to seek for converts. The worship of Isis, on the other
hand, was highly popular. Her temples rose in every quarter
of the city, and the priests of the Egyptian goddess seem
to have gained an extraordinary ascendancy over the Roman
dames.

In the following passage of Juvenal* we have an account
of the strange ceremonies performed, and of the physical
discomforts endured by their disciples of the softer sex :

Hybernum fracta glacie descendet in amnem.
Ter matutino Tiberi mergetur, et ipsis
Vorticibus timidum caput abluet ; unde Superbi
Totum regis agrum, nuda, ac tremebunda cruentis
Erepet genibus.— Juv. vi. 521.

,. ? r' T ^°' '^' P"'P°'' °^ hardening their constitutions
that the Roman dames, of whom the poet is speaking, broke
the ice, and plunged into the Tiber at early dawn; but by
direction of the priests of Isis, as part of the ceremony for
averting coming misfortunes.

• The Jews in the age of Juvenal appear to have led a life not unlike the

": re^rrchii';^ ^'"' -^ '"'''' ^•'^'- "^^ ^igar""!

tellers ol the city, the Chaldoeans, as soothsayers holding the highest rank

Quahacunque voles Jud:ei somnia vendunt."-vf «6
T„Z ''T t" ut '""' '"^ *'"'"' y"" P'^^"^^' '^y^ Juvenal, but' the " credat

il

i

SUPERSTITIONS CONNECTED WITH THE TIBER. 47

For the benefit of the ladies I subjoin a translation of this
passage that they may see of what their sex is capable, under
the influence of highly-wrought feeling, whether well or ill
directed :

** In depth of winter she will break the ice, and
descend into the stream. Thrice at eariy dawn
she will plunge into the Tiber, and in its very
eddies bathe her shrinking head. Then naked,*
[that is, in her tunic, or as we should say, in
her shift] and shivering, on bleeding knees, she
will creep across the entire middle of the Proud
King's estate.'' -The Campus Martins, once the
property of Tarquinius Superbus.jf

The same practice is also referred to by Persius:

Hcec sancte ut poscas, Tiberino in gurgite mergis
Mane caput bis terque.— n. 15.

Horace, likewise, describes a similar superstition :

"Jupiter ingentcs qui das adimisque dolores — "

Mater ait pueri menses jam quinque cubantis —
"Frigida si puerum quartana rehquerit, illo

Mane die quo tu indicis jejunia, nudus

In Tiberi stabit." Casus medicusve levarit

w^grum ex praicipiti, mater delira necabit

In gelida fixum ripa, febrimque reducet.

"Jupiter"— exclaims the mother of a boy
Now lying ill five long and weary months —

"Should the cold quartan ague quit my child.
Upon the morning of the day when thou
A fast proclaimest, naked he shall stand
In Tiber's stream." Let Chance, or doctor's skill
Snatch the sick striphng from the jaws of death,
The mother— idiot-like will kill her son
Stuck, like a post, upon the chilly bank,
And cause the banished fever to return.

In this quotation the address of the mother of the sick boy
is, to Jupiter, a Roman god ; but the superstitious practice of

♦ Thus nudus ara, sere nudus. . . .G. i. 15. «' Plough in your tunic, in your
tunic sow." The Roman Tunic, though made of wool, corresponded to our
shirt.

t This would be equal to the distance from the Porta del Popolo to the
Capitol, or from the Corso to Ponte St. Angelo.

48 SUPERSTITIONS CONNECTED WITH THE TIBER.

Standing naked in the Tiber is evidently of Eastern origin;
for it was no part of the religion of the Romans to propitiate
the gods, by inflicting physicial sufferings on themselves, like
the votaries of Baal or of Shiva. Jupiter, above all others,
was a self-indulgent god, and indulgent to others, as the
word "jovial," derived from his name, would imply; and as
long as his divinity was recognised and his rites duly performed,
was content that his worshippers should lead an easy, or,
if they were so disposed, a voluptuous life.

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ANGLING FOR WOOD IN THE TIBER.

-ed cttV:\ ^"''" '^'''' ^^^^"'"^ '^- -^'- »>ow he
-^sesar irom drowning in the Tiber;

For once upon a raw and wintry day,

The troubled Tiber chafing with her hores,

C»sar sa,d to me: ..Can'st thou, Cassias Iw

Leap ,nw.,h me into this ang^ flood,

And sw,m to yonder point." Upon the word

Accoutred as I was, I plunged in!

And bade him follow; so indeed he did.

The torrent roared, and we did buffet it,

^l "h '"''ly sinews throwing it aside

And stemming i, with hearts of controversy.

But ere he could arrive the point proposed

C.sarc„ed..Helpme,CasL,ofl':rk'.
y, as .^.ncas, our great ancestor,

?ile Ir^^l"''"" "' ^™y "P°" Ws back

The old Anch.es bear, so from the waves of Tiber

Did I the tired C«sar.-AcT I, Scene z.

a river so narro^ ? oTsL L t^ P'" '^^ "'^ ^^^^^'^^ ^^'
leap across it. Su h was t ' ' P""'"" '"'^''' ^''"°^'

the works on Rome Ih Ih h "T7"°" '' '^'^ ^^"'^'^'' f^-
lithograph or the Ton e Ll e wTh- h 1 ^'°^'^' '^'••" '"^^
ti>e Tiber was not quite so Lias ul b """ ""^ "'*
by those whose prejudices are s ron ' tt T ''^'^''^'^^
and whose powers o observation bTt " '^^" "^"'''^^*'

that they are incaoabL n7 J ^^ *""" '° ''"'^ ^^e^'^'^^d,

or one hundred'lTtr" untdtr"^! 'T'^ ^ ''-'''
that, though wind had little efet n i '"'°™'' '^'™

the river, owing to the height oMheb T'"^ *'^ ^"^^^« *>f
Y •'eav, rains, and nearl/o a . v 1 '^t'th^ b^T ^^°"^"
along an immense body of water IZ "'''' " ■"""^

fully to realize the descript In of.r? '°'" ""'^ ^'^'^'^^ ^° ^^

description of Shakespeare. At such times

50

ANGLING FOR WOOD IN THE TIBER.

It would be a matter of difficulty, and even risk, to stem
the impetuous current, and avoid the trunks of trees and
rafts of underwood which the river is continually bringing down *
On these occasions, those who happen to be near the river
may witness an amusement or occupation of a novel and
characteristic kind; that of angling for the wood, brought
down, as I have said, by the floods from the Campagna and
the forests of the Apennines. While some in their frail barques
stem the violence of the current, and strive to arrest the
progress of the trees as they sweep past their boat, others
stand on the banks or the bridges, poising in their hands a
piece of wood, from which project two or three long and
crooked teeth formed by the smaller branches growing out of
the trunk from which the piece of wood is cut. This instru-
ment called in Italian " rampicone," or grapple, is attached
to a long piece of rope, which is gathered up in the hands
When a log approaches within striking distance, a cast is
made with the " rampicone," but usually, as far as my own
observation goes, without success. Either it misses the object
at which it is aimed or fails to grasp it with sufficient firm-
ness. The log sails past and pursues its way to the Mediter
ranean, unless stopped lower down by some more skilful or
fortunate angler.

It may seem that such an amusement ought to be wholly free
from risk, yet fatal accidents occasionally occur. Some persons
are foolish enough to fasten the rope to their wrists, and if
they happen to hook a log of more than ordinary dimensions,
they are unable either to resist the force with which the
current impels it or to free themselves from the rope, and are

ntfr. -"V" ^''" '"' '^°""^"'- ^" '«7o two persons
perished in this manner.

On these occasions policemen used to be sent by the Papal
government to warn the people against the dangerous practice
^hich I have described. Nevertheless, one or more lost their
lives every year.

• A man was drowned, May 21st. 1872 in attpmnf,T,„ ♦ '•

Tiber at Pon.e .Si.o, .„ ... .o^e ./e g:ns rriz'r:;:;:;^

./

ANGLING FOR WOOD IN THE TIBER. fij

ti-s'lver brtheTefwUhTr f"^^^^' ^""^ ^^ --
b« those that man Ml "''^ '""^^ '"'° *=°»i«i°n:

a« I can lear,^ alwa s 7 T '"'""' ^"'"""^' '-"' - f«
By far Z \ ^ "'"'^ '" ^^^^P^-

consfderabl pi leTlo 7"' 'l '''"'' '' '^^^^ ^-'^' -"^ ^

->s Which z:::z.Tz^T:: ''-'V'-

•« getting it to bum H T' ' '""^ *'^ '^"^^"''^ ' f°-d

-^ad Lde ': vo;Ser: r Tibi '" -^ --"- -

kept afloat by the bu.r lT . '''" P°'"°"^ °' '^^ ^^^^
the i^PetuosX or the'i;;" t"'"^*° '''""' ^^^'^^^ ^^^^
to be conclusive aga „st th .^"""^ ' "'"''''' '' "^^

«°ods to the dammfnTtp ^ , ^T t '""'"'" ''^'^

For the trees must hf ! ^"^ ^^ '"''^^o winds.

swollen by rl o Le, ed"'"°' "' ''''"' '^'^ ''^ ^^-"'^
the river can be H - '"°"'' ""^ '^^ '""^^^^'^ velocity of

poured Lto it ro^ab;' •° ''' t''°"^' '^"^""'^ °^ ^^^r
the stream without increi'n.Ttrv? '""' ""' ^^'""'"^ "^
its current more slugrh Vh , T "°"" '^ *° ^^"^-
t-ted at greater leng treal^^ "'^"'' '°^^^^^' ^"' '^

E 2

)i '

INUNDATIONS OF THE TIBER.

It '

INUNDATIONS OF THE TIBER.

The Tiber is remarkable among the rivers of the world for
the suddenness of its inundations, the height to which they
rise and the devastation which they cause. These visitations
have occurred at every period in the annals of the world, and
have been chronicled by Roman historians and writers of the
middle ages along with the wars and political revolutions of
the time. The origin of Rome is associated with an inun-
dation, and an inundation is said to have consummated the
ruin of the city.

Thirty-six great floods of the Tiber are enumerated by an
Italian writer, Jacomo Castiglione, from the birth of Romulus
to the year .598. The most remarkable of these I will notice
describing at greater length the inundation which happened
in the reign of Tiberius, and those of the years 1530, ,557
1598. Copious details of these, illustrating the manners, feelings
and political sentiments of the times, are given by writers
who lived not long after the age in which they occurred.

Several are mentioned by Livy, beginning with the year 2,4
before Christ. The most destructive appear to have been those
which occurred in that year, and in 192 a.c.

For we read :

" Twice in that year there were great rains, and the Tiber
inundated the fields, causing the downfall of many buildings
and great loss of life among men and cattle."*

"The Tiber inundating the city with more destructive
violence than before, overthrew two bridges and many build-

i

53

Ti Ji^ndrd r ct;urSiu7.%r '^"- '-- ^^^

pccua ablata. villarum strages facta est."_Lib xxxv ,. '^' ^'"™ ^""'^^"^

t "Aqua; ingentes in eo anno fuerunt T» I' .' ""■"■ '^'•
planaque urbis inundavit."_Lib xxxvm 28 a g" ' ^^"P"™ ^^^''"'"n

• "Aqus magne bis in eo anno fuerunt, Tibcrisquc agros inundavit cum
magna strage tectorum pecorumque, et honiinum pernicie "-Lib xxiv „
A.c. 214. "^^ 9*

Ml

INUNDATION OF 700 u.c.

In the year 700 u.c. there was a great inundation, of which
a brief account is given by Cicero in a letter to his brother
Quintus : ** At Eome, and especially on the Appian way, as far
as the temple of Mars, there has been an extraordinary inunda-
tion. The walk in the pleasure-grounds of Crassipes was swept
away, as well as very many gardens and booths [for the sale of
merchandise]. The flood rose to a great height, and reached
as far as the public swimming bath.''*

Cicero, instead of giving us further particulars which would
have enabled us to identify the position of the Piscina Publica
and to estimate the extent of the flood, goes on to moralise
on the visitation. He quotes the lines of Homerf in

♦ "Romae et maxime Appia ad ^lartis mira alluvies. Crassipedis ambulatio
ablata, horti, tabernae plurimDe ; magna vis aquae usque ad Piscinam publicam."—
Cic. Epp. III. 7.

t All that is known about the position of the Piscina Publica is that it was
somewhere between the Vicus Alexandri and the Circus Maximus, probably
nearer to the latter. For Ammianus Marcellinus tells us that the Vatican
obelisk on its way from the Vicus Alexandri, where it was landed, to the Circus
Maximus, passed near to the Piscina Publica.

X I make no apology for transcribing entire this fine passage ;

'Q« 6* VTto \ai\airi iraaa KiXaivfj (Sidpidt x^'*'*'

'Hhut' oTTwpii/w, ore XafSpoTarov x*«t vSwp

ZtJs, oT£ ifj t' avSptaai Kortaaaptvo'i xctXtTnivn

"Ol ftiri iiv dyoprj <TKo\i(h Kpiuuitrt dtpiara^
Elf Sk diKriv sXdacotri, dtwv ottiv ovk dKiyovrtv

TiZv Sk T« -rai/Tcs fuv TroTofiol ir\^dov<Ti piot^ra

noWas 6k xXtTys tot' aTTorptjyovai xupd^pat

'Es 5' dXa tropcpvpiuv piydXa crTtvdxovcri piovtrai

'E^ opio^v iitl Kdp' /iti/i/'dti 6k Tt Ipy' dvdpwTTwv,~l\. XVI. 384-392.

Tis thus in Autumn Jove his fury pours,
And earth is laden with incessant showers.
WTien guilty mortals break th* eternal laws,
Or judges bribed betray the righteous cause,

INUNDATION OF 700 U.C.

55

»

which violent rains and floods are attributed to the anger
of Jupiter at the perversion of justice by unprincipled men,
and connects the inundation of the Tiber with the acquittal
of the notorious Gabinius, who had been brought to trial for
malversion and corruption in his government.

The "tabernae" here mentioned were booths or sheds, in
which articles of every description were exposed for sale. The
shops of the Romans were of two kinds, those which were
situated in the basement story of larger buildings, and were
let to strangers or sometimes occupied by the master of the
house himself, and temporary sheds attached to the side of
houses and projecting into the streets. The latter being
built of wood, and lightly put together, were liable to be
swept away by every flood. As they were a nuisance to the
foot passengers, narrowing, as Martial expresses it, the "via"
to a "semita,'' the "road" to a "foot-path," and often
compelling the Praetor himself to walk in the mire,* their
destruction was doubtless regarded with complacency by all
but their owners.

An Italian translator of Cicero, Antonio Cesari, absurdly
renders "tabernae," "taverns," as if Father Tiber had been
a member of the temperance society, and had singled out the
taverns from all other buildings for destruction.

Some other details of this inundation are given by Dion
Cassius, who, though he lived more than two hundred years

From their deep beds he bids the rivers rise.

And opens all the floodgates of the skies,

Th' impetuous torrents from their hills obey ;

Whole fields are drowned and mountains swept away.

Loud roars the torrent till it meets the main,

And trembling man sees all his labour vain. — Pope.

♦ Nee Praetor medio cogitur ire luto. — Mart. vii. 61.

This line is from an Epigram in which Martial, who was a great flatterer
of the Emperor Domitian, praises him fur having caused these sheds to be
removed, and details all their inconveniences. After complaining that the
costermongers had monopolised the whole of the city, and enumerating the
various articles which they sold, he concludes with

Nunc Roma est ; nuper magna taberna fuit.

Now it is Rome indeed. Just now 'twas one great shop.

56

INUNDATION OF 700 U.C.

U

M:

after the time of its occurrence, may be considered a trust-
worthy authority ; for he was in the habit of consulting original
documents, and displayed judgment and discrimination in the
use of them. Dion, like Cicero, is disposed to look upon
the flood as a special visitation of Providence: '* tV napaa^evf'n
^ai^nyiov Tiyag,'' denoting the wrath of the gods at the misdeeds
of Gabinius, who had procured his acquittal by a lavish dis-
tribution of bribes.

The river, he tell us, covered not only the lower parts of
the city but portions of the high ground. It rose so
suddenly that many persons were surprised in the streets,
and drowned, while others, who had succeeded in reaching the
upper chambers of their houses, escaped immediate death only
to perish by the subsidence of the foundations and the collapse
of the buildings.

An observation which he makes on this occasion does not
appear to have been noticed or explained by any archaeologist.
*'The streets," he says, ''remained so long under water that
the houses, being built of brick, became thoroughly soaked
and fell to the ground, and all the beasts of burden perished.

We read, also in Tacitus that the foundations of the
insulce, or detached houses, or blocks of houses, were sapped
by a flood which occurred in the reign of Otho. It would
appear, therefore, that sun-dried bricks were used, wholly or
partially, in the construction of many houses. It may be
suggested that the fall of the houses was owing to the sub-
sidence of the ground; but Dio Cassius tells us expressly
that the houses fell becausf they were built of brick * Tho
*'insulae" were usually let out in lodgings, and though
more lofty, were, as appears from Vitruvius, ji. 8, more
lightly built than the '' domus." It is not unlikely, therefore,
that economy would be consulted in the choice of the material.
It is impossible, except from the flimsiness of their construc-
tion and the bad quality of their materials, to explain the

• 'Ek irXt'i/dmi/ ycip avuoiKocourii^iuai t]aav, Sid^poxoi ri iyivovro kuI
^(lTtppdyr)<ruu. — h\h, XXXIX. 6l, p. ^2^.

INUNDATION OF 700 U.C.

57

¥

I

1

wholesale destruction of buildings, especially of farm houses,
which is recorded by the Roman historians to have taken
place whenever an inundation occurred. If we turn to
A itruvius, we see why these consequences were likely to
result from the Roman mode of construction. Speaking of
the construction of the insu/cE, or many-storeyed houses, he
uses the words*: "But brick walls a foot and a half thick— the
maximum allowed by law— do not admit of being carried
higher than one storey." He then goes on to describe the
material to be used for the upper storeys, stone and terra
cotta. The style of Vitruvius is obscure, and the word sustiners
is employed in an unusual sense; but the comparison of one
part with another shews that by " lateres " he understands
crude or sun-dried bricks — for he distinguishes " lateritii "
from " testacei "— and that sun-dried bricks constituted the
material of the lower storey. It is not surprising, therefore,
that buildings so constructed should give way after having
been some days under water.

That Vitruvius uses " lateres " in the sense of sun-dried
bricks appears also from book ii. chap. 3, where we find
a detailed account of the precautions which he recommends
to be observed in their manufacture. They are not to be
made of clay containing too much sand or gravel, because
they would, he says, be more likely to crumble to pieces,
when exposed to long continued rain. They should be made
during the spring and autumn, when they can be gradually
and uniformly dried. For the heat of summer would cover
the outside with a hardened crust, which would be cracked,
as the interior dried and shrunk, and thus the strength of
the brick would be impaired. He recommends that they should
be kept for two years in order to insure their perfect dryness,
and quotes with ajiprobation the municipal regulations of Utica,
which forbade any bricks to be used in the construction of
houses that were less than five years old.

Not a word is said about the burning of bricks, nor could

* ♦' Lateritii vcro (paiietes) sesquipcdali crassitudine non possunt plus quara
unam sustincre conti^nationem." — 11. 8.

■' I

58

INUNDATION OF 700 U.C.

>

Ih

it be gathered from the article that such a thing as a burnt
brick was known to the Romans.

But if crude bricks were used to such an extent by the
Romans, why do we find no traces of them in the ruins of
ancient structures. Perhaps public buildings intended to endure
for ages were constructed of more durable materials ; perhaps,
as has been suggested, the crude bricks in the course of ages
may have melted away. A Signore Scamosse suggests an
explanation, which is quoted only to be ridiculed by the editor
of Vitruvius: that, owing to the numerous fires from which
Rome had suOered, the /erra cnida had beconu,' terra cotta.

Of the consequences of building with sun-dried bricks we
have an illustration in the present century. During the great
flood of the Loire, which hapi)ened in the year 1859, owing
to the disruption of the dikes, there was an extensive downfall
of buildings from a similar cause. The Loire, like all rivers
that have been embanked for ages, flows in many places above
the level of the adjoining country, and when it burst its banks,
it laid the fields under water to an extent in one place of
twenty miles. Owing to the relative depression of the country,
the water remained a long time on the ground, and the conse-
quence was, that great numbers of houses which were built
of unburnt brick, or of wood and mud, melted away, and the
whole structure fell to the ground.

Everyone will remember the allusion of Horace to the great
flood in his time, which destroyed the temple of Vesta, and
led people to expect a return of the universal deluge. But
in Tacitus we have an account of a remarkable inundation,
which occurred in the reign of Tiberius, and as the details
are interesting, and illustrate the manners and feelings of the
time, I will give the description entire, and in the words of
the author :

"Swollen by incessant rains, the river had inundated all
the level parts of the city, and when it retired within its bed,
it carried with it the wrecks of buildings which it had over-
thrown, and the bodies of those that were drowned. It was
proposed to consult the Sibylline books; but Tiberius objected,

INUNDATION OF 700 U.C.

59

from his inveterate habit of shrouding in mystery all things
human and divine ; and to Ateius Capito and Lucius Auruntius
was assigned the task of keeping the river within bounds."

After some time these commissioners brought forward in the
senate a plan for moderating its inundations, by turning into
new channels the rivers and lakes by which ks waters are
swelled.

No sooner, however, did the municipal towns situated on its
tributaries learn what was going on, than they sent deputations
to protest against the scheme. The people of Florence intreated
that the Clanis might not be turned into their own unruly torrent,
and thus bring destruction on their town. In a similar strain',
the people of Terni maintained: 'That the most fertile lands
in Italy would go to rack and ruin, if the Nar'— for this also
was in contemplation—' were cut up into a multitude of canals,
and allowed to saturate or overflow the fields.' Nor did the
people of Reate preserve silence. They objected to the Veline
lake being blocked up, where it discharges itself into the Nar.
*It would burst, they feared, into the neighbouring fields.'
'Nature,' they observed, 'had best consulted the interests of
man by assigning to rivers their mouths and their courses,
their termination as well as their origin. Some consideration,'
also, should be shown for the religious rites of the associated
states, which had dedicated to their ancestral rivers their peculiar
sacrifices, their altars and their groves. Nay, father Tiber
himself would be unwilling to be bereft of his affluent streams,
and to flow henceforward with diminished pride."*'

It is curious to observe, as illustrating the comparative
infiuence of sentimental and material considerations in ancient
and modern times, that, while so much was thought of hurting
the feelings of father Tiber, not a word was said about the
injury which the navigation would sustain by lessening the volume
of water in the river.

The result was that, partly owing to the prayers of the
colonists, partly to superstitious scruples, as Tacitus irreverently

* Tacitus, Ann. Lib. I. 79.

60

INUNDATION OF 700 U.C.

INUNDATION OF 700 U.C.

61

I

calls them, and partly, and perhaps principally, to engineering
difficulties, this particular scheme was abandoned. But five
conservators of senatorial rank were appointed, to whom was
assigned the impossible task of regulating the volume of
water in the river, so that there might be no deficiency in
summer and no injurious excess in winter.*

But, as might have been expected, man was impotent against
nature, and father Tiber revenged himself for the attempts
made to control him, by continuing to lay waste the city and
the country. The same historian records an inundation lu
the reign of the Emperor Otho still more destructive than the
one above mentioned. -Rising to an immense height the
river carried away the Sublician bridge, and covered not only
the low lying and level parts of the city, but i)laces which
were thought to be beyond the reach of such disasters. So
sudden was the rise of the Tiber that many were swept away
in public places, and the escape of many who happened to
be in the ' tabernce,' or one-storeyed shops, was cut off. The
foundations of the Mnsulae' (or detached buildings, usually let
out in lodgings) were sapped by the water, and, when the
river subsided, they fell to the ground."t

In the country the devastation was equally great. "For
twenty miles above Rome," as Suetonius informs us, "the
Flaminian way was obstructed, and the march of the army of

Otho impeded, by the ruins of buildings which had been

overthrown by the flood. "|

In the reign of the Emperor Trajan there was another

great flood recorded by Pliny the younger, Ep. viii. 7, to

which reference will hereafter be made.

And in most of the subsequent reigns there were inundations

of greater or less extent, and more or less destructive, culmi-

natmg m the great flood in the time of Valentinian and Valens,

A.D. 371, recorded by Ammianus Marcellinus.

I will close the series of inundations in ancient times by

* Dio Cassius lvii. 3.
t Tacitus, Hist. i. So.
X Suet. Otho. S.

transcribing the description of this flood by the last-mentioned
historian :

*' In consequence of excessive rains the Tiber overflowed
the banks, and spreading itself so as to lose the appearance
of a river, covered almost every spot with its waters. Thus,
while the other quarters of the city, which lie at a low level,
presented the aspect of a lake, the hills alone, and a few
elevated points that rose like islands above the watery waste,
were relieved from immediate fear. As, owing to the extent
of the flood, nobody was able to leave his house, and there
was danger lest many should perish from starvation ; provisions
in abundance, by means of boats and skiffs, were supplied [to
all]. But, when the rainy weather abated, and the river which
had burst its bounds returned to its accustomed channel, all
fear was banished, and no further inconvenience was appre-
hended."*

In this extract the classical scholar will remark the barbarism,
and awkwardness of the style, which renders a paraphrase
necessary to make the meaning clear; and the general reader
w^ill observe how little eflect the works executed by the " Con-
servators of the Tiber" had in preventing, or even moderating,
the inundations of the river. Yet there are engineers in the
present day who think that, by en:iploying the same means
which so signally failed in ancient times, they can succeed on
confining the river within its banks.

* Tibcris ... clTusione imbiium cxuberans nimia, et supra amnis speciem
pansus, omnia pacne contcxit, ct stagnantibus civitatis residuis membris, quae
tcnduntur in planitiem molliorem, montcs soli, et quicquid insularum Celsius
eminebat a pr?esenti mctu defendebatur ; et ne multi inedia ccntabescerent,
undarum magnitudinc nusquam progrcdi permittcnte, lembis et scaphis copia
suggercbatur abunde ciborum. At vero, ubi tcmpestas mollivit, et flumen
retinaculis ru]->lis rediit ad solitum cursum, absterso mctu nihil postea molestum
expectabatur xxxix. [near the end]."

i

IXUXDATIOXS IX MODERX TIMJ.S.

Many inundations arc recorded by writers of the middle ages,
the most remarkable of which were those of 555, 589, 725, 778,
H7^> ^530^ ^557' ^^^^^ '598-

The account of the flood in 555, given by Paulus Diaconus,
may be rejected as altogether fabulous. lie describes the
river as flowing over the walls of Rome, and mentions a
dragon, or sea monster of enormous size, which passed through
the city and descended to the sea. This monster appears to
have availed itself of the opportunity afTorded by the flood
to pay a flying visit to Rome, and to inspect its curiosities. All
the accounts of this age are tinctured with fable, and Paul the
Deacon seems to have been of a peculiarly credulous disposition.

In November of 589, the year before the Pontificate of Gregory
the Great, occurred an inundation which is said by the writers
of those times to have consummated the ruin of the city.

In the year 725 there was a flood which lasted for seven
days, and persons sailed from the Ponte IMoIle to the steps
of St. Peter's in boats of no small size. This was the old
St. Peter's. The approach to the new has been considerably
raised since that time.

In the year 778 an inundation threw down the Flaminian gate,
and carried away the wooden portion of the Sublician bridge!
The stone piers were removed to make cannon-balls in t'^ie
fifteenth century.

In 1476 the river rose so high that a second deluge, like
that of Noah, was anticipated. On this occasion the following
verses were composed :

Crevit ad hoc signum transcendens limina Tybris

Octava lani, quae memoranda dies.
Territa Roma : Noe redeunt jam tcmpora, dixit,

Diluvio atque iterum corruel omne genus.

1

'1

INUNDATIONS IN MODERN TIMES.

63

We come now to three of the most remarkable inundations
of modern times, those of 1530, 1557, and 1598. Of these
we possess full and authentic details. Printing had been
invented ninety years before the first, and the particulars are
given by persons who lived at the time, or derived their infor-
mation from contemj)orary authorities. The consternation and
devastation caused by the first inundation of the three, which
rose seven feet higher than that of 1870, may be gathered
from the inscription* on the tablet affixed to the walls of the
convent of the Minerva:

To this point the Tiber rose, and now all Rome would have been overthrown
Had not the Virgin brought it speedy aid.

* Hue Tiber ascendit, jamque obruta tota fuisset
Roma, nisi hue celerem Virgo tulissct opcm.

INUNDATION OF 1530.

The hordes led by the Constable da Bourbon to the sack of
Rome had long evacuated the Eternal City, and Clement VII.
was recovered from the effects of his six months' imprisonment
in the castle of St. Angelo. The position of the contending
parties had undergone a change, and brighter prospects appeared
to be opening before the Pope. "But his joy was destined
soon to be turned into the deepest sorrow, by reason of a
calamity which in the present year burst upon the down-
trodden city of Rome; for, while scarcely beginning to breathe
after ,he heaviest misfortunes, it found itself plunged into
adversity no less gloomy than before."*

"Clement had gone to Ostia for recreation, when lo ! the

floodgates of heaven were opened, and there fell during several

days a rain so heavy and continuous that all the rivers in

those parts, and especially the Tiber, were swollen above

measure, and overflowed their banks." So sudden was the rise

of the water that many persons were unable to escape, and

bridges with the strongest buildings were in a few hours

overwhelmed and washed away. All the warehouses, shops,

and underground magazines, were invaded by the flood, and

countless merchandise and cattle were destroyed. Never before

had such losses been caused by the rise of the Tiber, so that

the damage was believed to be no less than that which had

been sustamed at the sack of Rome.t

The Pope having gone, as I said, to Ostia, was imprisoned
by the waters. The whole country was like a sea, communi-
cation was cut ofl-, and the supply of provisions began to fail
As .t was uncertain how long the inundation might last, Clement
decided to return to Rome. In those times the Popes did not

• Muratori, Annali d' Italia, Era vulgare. Anno UDXXX.
t Muratori, Annali d' Italia.

i

IXUXDATIOX OF 1530. gg

perTon'^; TT'^ "" "" ''^ """^ P^°^'^'°" ^^^^^ <■- '^eir
suTe had ?■'' " "" '^"""' '^^- ^'^'-"' -d his

wn .A ° u ^"' '° '""""' ""^'^ h°"^'' -d pick their

i k' llu ! ' """' ^'''"^ '''' ''^^J^'^ --'^^ With great
sk b h to himself and the rest of the party, the watef. as

ucceed '• "'\"'' '° "'^ ''"^^'^ °^ ''"^- l^^-^^- 'he Pope
leaded in reaching the city. Here he found all the bridges

wUh r P "■" t "" '"''^ °' "''^ ™'— -- 'he
he l; 1 ^ !''''' f '°-°^ ^"--'l hy the waters, so that

of St AnT ""' ''' ''''"^"' ^^ ''^ ''-'-'^- The castle

Ouinn-,t ''"' ''^"'"^ inaccessible, and the palace of the

Q . nna was not then in existence,! so that he was fain to
aU refuge at St. Agatha on Monte Cavallo, until the waters
should return to their accustomed bed J

attailrtf ' "! ''\'''' "^""''"^ '^^ "'°'^' ^^-h- *he flood
^ocJLrT 7""'' ''' "'^"^^^'^^ 2~'° Cellini
but o„r;l"; ''^^'"'^'°;■'"^ ^ -^^ of art, the great golden
button for the Papal cope,§ the most famous, after the chalice.

shor , P;°^-'-»- The rush of waters came, and in I
hort time h.s house and studio were surrounded, though not

LZ.Z:T' '''''• '"' ''""^ ^°-^' '---^ -hi:h tT

fnr Vc "'"'™ '^hat to do. He had to provide not only
for his own safety and the preservation of the work of art
which ..s now approaching completion, but for the securit;
o the Papal jewels, which had been intrusted to him by
Clement MI. to be reset. Towards evening the river began
to increase again, and, uncertain ho. high it might rise

ee

INUNDATION OF 1530.

during the night, he resolved to make his escape. *' Making
the preservation of my life my first care, and my honour my
next,* I put all the jewels," says Cellini, - in my pocket, left
my work in gold under the care of my journeymen, and,
taking off my shoes and stockings, went out at a back
window, and waded through the water, as well as I could,
until I reached Monte Cavallo."

As the night closed in after the escape of Cellini, and
it was apparent to every eye that the Tiber continued to rise,
"the City," says Bonini. "was given up for lost; for the
current did not cease to batter and overthrow the best
inhabited and most considerable houses in the city; such as
was that in the Strada Julia belonging to Guilano Cesi." A
large factory was undermined, and fell to the ground, burying
all the people and animals it contained, and the church of
St. Bartolommeo, in the island of the Tiber, as well as the
Palazzo Gaetani, was completely wrecked.f "The silence by
which the great expressed their consternation was broken only
by the groans and shrill cries of the common people, who
implored the succour which none were able to afford; for
the city had been so impoverished by the sack three years
previously, that it did not possess the ordinary appliances
reserved for such emergences, or any means of relieving the
poorer classes imprisoned by the waters, and in danger of
being drowned, or of perishing by starvation.^

The next morning, however, the fears of the people were
relieved; for the river began to subside, and in three or
four days had retired within its bed. But, though the waters
retired, "the putrid matters left behind in so many under-
ground places, and the stench which arose therefrom, drew

♦ This seems a strange avowal in one who was so ready to wipe out an
insult, real or supposed, with the blood of the offender. Contrast Shakespeare :

Mine honour is my life; both grow in one.

Take honour from me and my life is done.— Richard II.

t Litterae Principum, t. e. Littera ultima. Quoted by Moroni in his
Dizionano d erudizione Ecclesiastica.
X Bonini, " II Tavere incatenato."

INUNDATION OF 1530.

67

after^them a great pestilence, i„ other words, evil upon

retuterir 'Lr:; '^T "^^ "'^^^^''"^' ^^"---'^ ^^'""'

of God .nHh ' '''^'' ""y ^'^^"^ ^"h the help

evThrter: zr-r ""^™^"" " "^ '-' ^^^ ^^^

days declared t t Te TiJr 17T '""""" °' "^"^
outraires infl.V, a ^ ''°''"° '" ""'nd ^he past

Charles V °"."' "'^' '"'^ "^^ '"^'^Sed at seeing that

the L!' ZV I '''' '' "•^ '''y °^ ^°'°^- to receive

h s armies 1,7 "' ''' ^°"^"^ ^^^^ '^at Pontiff whom
his arm.es had kept in the darkness of a dungeon It fore

aTto J: r 'Y r''' ^'" ''^ ^---^^ °^ Ciar'co L nt

"Such ZZT *' ''' '''""" "'" ''' ^'^"- -Publics."
Such were the conceits of men justly irritated by the
calamities they had endured.-J ^

The most extraordinary circumstance connected with thi,

ZurT^wilh'^ ''r^'"f" "' ''' -'''-^ °^ ^^' ^^

dation and thft , ^' ^"'''^ ^''''' ^^^^^^^^ ">^ '--
dation, and the testimony of many of these writers to the

absence of rain, and as f^r o.

Mnr=.t • u ^^ ^"^ ^^n gather, of wind

Muraton, we have seen, speaks of violent rains du ing several
successive days. Bonini, on the other hand, informs us tha
there was nothing in the state of the wea her to e d the

• Muratori, •• Annali d' Italia." ' ~~

t Memoirs of Benvenuto Cellini.-Roscoe's tranO»tm„ Ti,
give us a veiy vivid picture of the manners of he me n ihe n "' fT ""

e«e.ence a' fi ^ i:^'^^^^^ 7^X7^1:° T °"^""' ^^ '-
absolution from the Pooe for th/l,^ -^ f ""' """' '^"'^^d

another. The best 'arinti:':ha~- ^ffj^^^^^^^^^^ '» ^T'
arnusm, though it ma, seem to he in some measurf jl^Ld"; rtllt:

upoi L'Lntlttcl^oTthTaru^'^ '"'^ "''°" '^^ '"^^'"^ «--' -

F2

68

INUNDATION OF 1 530.

quotes contemporary authority; but we may accept the account
of Muratori as the more probable of the two, especially as
Bonini loves a miracle, and is always disposed to dispense
with natural causes.*

At the castle of St. Angelo there used to be a slab fixed
against a lofty wall marking the height to which the inunda-
tion of 1530 rose, and bearing this inscription;

Memori^

Inusitat^ auctus tiberis

Amnis ad hoc signum

Quo Roma sereno tempore facta est

TOTA NAVIGABILIS

viii. Idus Octobris mdxxx.

ClemexNte vir. Pont. Max. Anno vii.

GuiDo Medices arcis

Pr.€F. POSUIT.f

If "sereno tempore *» means merely that the day on which the
flood occurred was fine and calm, the circumstances, so far
from being miraculous, is what we might expect, and what
I have usually observed. When a long spell of wet weather
culminates in a great fall of rain, the following day is generally
fine and calm, and as the flood occasioned by the rain takes
from twenty-four to thirty hours to descend the Tiber to Rome
it will most frequently happen that the day is calm and sunshiny'
when the river is at its height. If the words mean that for
several days there had been little or no rain at Rome, the fact

In Ranke s History of the Popes there is no mention of this inundation
The pedantic Germans seem to think that History should be confined to war and
diplomacy, and that the works of God and the j^eat phenomena of Nature are
unworthy of notice, even though the life of the potentate, whose history thev
are wntin-, may have been endangered by storm or flood. Livy Tacitus Dion
Cassius and others, had a juster idea of the province of Histor^s and they always
Z'AttTZoT^^ ^^""" floods, and other remarkable phenomenaTn

t Why this slab was removed it is impossible to conjecture. The indif
fe^ence of the Romans to everything but Art may, perhaps, have rendered them
careless about the preser^-ation of a monument of a great phenomenon of

r

INUNDATION OF 1530. ^9

IIZIT' '' 'T ' '''"'-' '"' ^^ ^'^^ -» ^^ - effect
TZt\7"r' "'"'^'" ^" ^^J^'^*^^ - 'he present day,

we must eek for some other explanation of the phenomenon

wLdTs'i ::T' M °' ''' '''-' "^^"^ '^--'^ "P ^^ a Sirocco

Ascribe r'J "f r *'" '''" -• '°' "°"^ °f '^^ -i'-s who
descnbe the flood make any mention of gales, and on the eighth

sno. ?„':L !" """ ''" '"" "° '"^' — '^tiof of
snow on the Apennines. We should be driven, therefore to

the conclusion, if we adopt the account of Bonini, thaTfo^

one or more days there had been violent storms among the

had been observed by which the catastrophe could have been
foreseen ; but the unscientific are alway/inaccurate observ s
-or -how to observe.' is itself a science-and the supeJ
^.t,ous prefer to call in the aid of supernatural agendl
Doubtless, a meteorologist would have discerned in the'clo dj
wh.ch lowered over the Apennines, and the thunder which
growled m the distance, unmistakeable indications of viol nt
tempests which were discharging themselves over the valleys
dramed by the principal tributaries of the Tiber."

INUNDATION OF 1557.

"The Tiber, which is wont to emulate the glories of dis-
tinguished men, and itself retains something of the Roman
pride, did not fail in the year 1557 and fourteenth of September,
to appear not only as the triumphant master, but as the tyrant
of Rome." Such are the words in which Bonini introduces
a short account of the great inundation of 1557. "Yet may
we not rather, he continues, look upon the river as the
righteous avenger of so holy a pontiff on his ungrateful
people.'' He then goes on to describe the exertions of
Paul IV. to relieve the public distress, how by his voice, and
by his example, he animated his subordinates, and made them
fly through every region of the City to furnish provisions in
abundance to all that were in need.* But the calamities
brought upon the City by the war with Spain, in which the
Pope had rashly engaged; the unsparing severity with which
he enforced his reforms, and, above all, the restoration of the
inquisition with all its cruelties, had so alienated the affections
of his subjects, that after his death the people rose, and in
their fury mutilated his statue, attacked the inquisition, and ill-
treated the officials, and finally tore down every memorial of
him, among others, the tablets which he had caused to be
affixed in memory of the flood.

This inundation is remarkable, not only because it is the
highest but one of which we have any measurement, but

♦ Paul IV. may have deserved all the praise which is bestowed upon him for
his conduct on this occasion ; but Bononi's account both of men and things must
be received with great distrust. He was inchned by his taste and disposition to
use high-flown language, and to draw upon his imagination for his facts ; and he
was constrained by his official position to make flattering mention of all the
Popes in turn. As they pass in review before him in connexion with the inunda-
tions which occurred in their pontificates, each is dismissed with more or less of
praise. Even Alexander VI. is in his eyes an exemplary Pontiff". If he
spoke from his heart, the other Popes must have appeared to him like anizels of
light, **

(

INUNDATION OF 1557. 71

because it occurred at a season. September fifteenth, when the
snows had disappeared from all but a few isolated peaks of
he Apennines ; showing how groundless is the popular notion
that the floods of the Tiber are caused exclusively by the
melting: of the snows.

Copious details may be found in the work of Bacci who
lived at the time, and who wrote a description of the flood
Itself, and of the atmospheric conditions by which it was
preceded. According to this writer, the spring of ,557 was
serene with northerly winds, and the summer dry. But in the
month of May a peculiar condition of atmosphere began to
prevail. A haze brooded over the landscape, and the air
appeared to be loaded with humid and unwholesome vapours
Numbers were attacked with fevers, which either carried them
ofl- at once, or left them in a state of prostration which made
them easy victims to other complaints. This state of things
contmued until the middle of September, when the humki
vapours appeared to be precipitated in the form of rains of
unusual violence, which, commencing in Sicily and the south-
east of France, extended themselves over the whole of Italy
Ihe ram descended in sheets from the clouds, so that every
little rivulet became an impetuous torrent and an agent of
destruction. All Ravenna was submerged by the torrent of
the Montone, and the castle of la Strada was laid in ruins
by a small stream which passes close beside it. But the Arno
and the Tiber, being the two largest rivers, rose to the
greatest height, and caused the most wide-spread destruction
At Horence it was calculated that, without taking into account
the damage done in the environs, the loss sustained within
the precincts of the town by the carrying away of bridges, the
downfall of houses, and the spoiling of articles of merchandise
and food, was equal to the expense of building another City
The Tiber laid waste the country almost from its source
sweeping away bridges and mills, and everything which it
encountered in its course, and increasing in height and fury
as each successive tributary discharged its swollen torrent into
the surging mass. The Nera poured down a flood which

MIMMM

72

INUNDATION OF 1557.

r ve r ?K r '^"' °^ '^' '^"'•^^ "^^'f- ^"'J -hen the two

nvers met the Campagna presented the appearance of a raging
sea wh.ch bore down upon Rome and threatened to sweep it

oTJl T'; ^"f'' " "" ""'"'^ '^y^'S^' '>'^'-'>- 'he rfver
overflowed Us banks, and the note of alarm had already been

sounded, so that a considerable portion of the moveable

property was saved. But the time for removal was short ; the

Tiber rushed with great force into the streets, and in the

ITZ lu" '"' '"" '"' "'°'^ °' ^°'"^' -i'h the exception
of the hills was navigable for boats. Nor did the water cease

n/ 11 u ^"^ '°'"'' "^^ ^''^ °f 'he Piazza di Spagna.
and washed the spot where now commences the steps of th;
ascent to the Trinity dei Monti.*

"A fearful and a piteous spectacle it was-to use the words

sea and everything floating about in confusion; articles of
clothing, eaables, merchandise, and entire herds of cattle-
Without speaking of diverse accidents to individuals, of whom'
some, caught unexpectedly by the waters, took refuge in trees
others found themselves seated in a wretched littfe build ng
m the country, in imminent danger of being buried by its
downfall, or of perishing by hunger ; while others attempt d
o save themselves through the windows in boats, or wai ed
for some one to present them with a loaf of bread on the
point of a Pike. Many also there must have been, of ^hose
fate nothing certain is known, who were buried u;der ruins

VriLVT:' ^" ''''-' ^^>-" -"'^^ ^-^^

lasted the longest, the City being under water for the space

ZeTL''- ^"" ''' ^"^°""' °^ --^--^ caused b7h
late flood we may conceive the misery which must have been

occasioned among the poorer classes by an inundation wh ch

rose as much above the inundation of ,870 as that was above

an ordinary flood into the Ripetta. We have seen that pIu

used every exertion to lighte^whe_^alamit^.v. had fJ^Ten

INUNDATION OF 1557. 73

on the City. But the same facilities which we now possess
or -heving distress did not e..ist in those days, and the ew

n obahl H ' " '' "°"' ^''^ P""*^'?^' -ff"-^. would
probably have received less attention than the rest, even if

they were not looked upon as a race accursed of heaven and

deserving of all that they endured. The stones record ng

flood, p aced by order of the Pope, were destroyed, as /have

POD;iact"\r . '"" •"°""™'^"'^ "^y 'he infuriated

populace. It ,s for this reason that the date of ;», is

d. Ripetta After some time the Dominican monks of the
conven of the Minerva, who naturally cherished the memory
of Paul, as a member of their order, and an ardent asserter
of their principles, caused the present tablet to be afiixed on

verse" ' '"" '"''"'"'^ ^''^ '^' ^°"°^'"^ -'^''^hed

Hue Tiber ascendit Paulus dum Quartus in anno

Temo ejus rector maximus orbis erat.
To this point the Tiber rose whilst Paul the fourth
In his third year was greatest ruler of the globe.

I

PIUS V. AND THE TIBER, 66-72.

In Bonini we meet with the following strange account.
Dunng an inundation which occurred in the Pontificate of

K u '*? ^°^^ '°°^ ^" ^^""' ^"* (^ *^^«" ™^g<^ impressed
wuh the .figure of a lamb, and consecrated by the Pope, to

be distributed to the faithful) and directed an Archbishop, one

of h.s intimate friends, to cast it into the Tiber, where

the swell of the river was greatest. "When this had been

done, ,n a moment the river bowed its head, and with rapid

strides abandoned the city, and hastened, like a guilty person

to plunge into the waves of the Tyrrhenian sea." "The

man.- Bonini adds, "that could subdue the pride of the

Tiber was able to accomplish even greater things." This refers

to the part which the Pope took against the Turks, and to

the victory of Lepanto. The object nearest to the heart of

P.US was to humble the pride of the Turks, and secure

Christendom against their attacks. By unwearied exertions he

succeeded in infusing courage unto the Christian Princes, and

formed a league of the Empire, the Venetians, and the States

of the Church, to arrest the progress of the Infidels. The

efforts of the Pope were crowned with success; the fleet of

the allies, commanded by Don John of Austria, obtained a

signal victory over the Turks, and the tide of invasion began

from that time to ebb.* The victory of Pius over the Turks

1„H Jf, I /, V""' ''^'•^^P'="«<1 the kniKhtsof St. John from Rhodes
had defea ed and slam Oie last king of Hungaiy of the native line, and evTn la7d'
siege to Vienna. They hung like a eloud over Europe, and though occas onal v
worsted , hey were strong enough in 1683 to besiege Vienna for the second tl"^
on which occasion the city was relieved by John Sobiesky. What a change in
the relative strength of the two countries, when Austria, which ,3 jeaT 'o
was unable ,0 defend herself against Turkey without foreign aid. is not dlbera

PIUS V. AND THE TIBER. 75

is known to every reader of History, but none but the readers
of Bonini ever heard of his victory over the Tiber.

So foolish a story may seem unworthy of insertion in a
serious treatise. But it is given as an illustration of the
superstition of the Romans, and of the tendency of the
human mind to seek for the explanation of a phenomenon in
occult causes, or supernatural agencies, rather than in the
uniform action of some known and general law. It also shows
the worthlessness of popular testimony either to miracles, or
facts in science, where no personal interests are involved, and
where nobody has any motive for contradicting a story how-
ever absurd it may be. The object of those from whom
Bonini received his account was to make out a case for a
miracle and to flatter a Pope. On the other hand, it was
a matter of indifference to those who were not under the
influence of superstition, whether a story which they disbelieved
obtained currency or not. If this is true of relations which
shock the reason by their absurdity, it is truer still of popular
notions in Science and Natural History. An account of a
phenomenon in Nature, or of the habits of an animal origin-
ating in superficial observation, or the love of the marvellous,
is accepted by a few who will not give themselves the trouble
to investigate its truth, is adopted by others on the credit of
the first hearers, and propagated from individual to individual,
and from generation to generation, until it becomes an article
of popular faith. The universality of the opinion is then
appealed to as a presumption of its truth, as if all the
individuals who held it, had arrived at the same conclusion by
independent observation, or a distinct process of reasoning.

In the reign of Sixtus V. no great inundation occurred.
But what he saw, coupled with what he had heard, led him
to form the design of curbing the insolence of the river, as he
had by his stern measures of repression destroyed the banditti
that used to infest the states of the church. The following
is the language used in regard to Sixtus V. and the Tiber
by the author Bonini: -Sixtus V. the most imperturbable of
Pontiffs, and the scourge of wicked men and assassins, could

Mil

76

PIUS V. AND THE TIBER.

not fa, to have an opportunity of seeing an inundation of

linn !^' """ ^'' ''°"'" °"'^ '■°^ g^^-t things, and

among o hers to curb that river, which, .ike a public bravo.

Two though not of the first magnitude, which happened in

PavinTh'^H ? "'^"' ^^^^ '^^ ^" opportunity of dis-
pkyng h.s benevolence in relieving the distress of the people,
and at the same t,me suggested to him the appointment of a

and T"" '-. "'"" ""'° ''' ^"""^ °^ "'^^^ inundations,
and to onsult upon the means of preventing them, so tha

ent dV 7""' ''' ""''' ''"'""' "^ ^^-^-^ 2"' death pre-
vented him from carrying out his designs

Jhe terms in which the Tiber is spoken of in this passage
may appear inconsistent with the respectful language which
Bonini generally uses in speaking of the river, and Ih h

Whit tl^^T ? t," ""^^'"°" '" ''' ^°-- -^^'' '"^^ ^-
Bu the ""''""" /"'^"^'"^^ f- 'heir native stream.
But the matter is regarded from Si.xtus' point of view whose
practical mind was devoid equally of poetical sentim nl and
of reverence for antiquity. One who dismantled the Sep^'
zonium of Severus. and contemplated the destruction of te

rerst°t f,''^'^"^' '^ "°' '''^'y '° »•-« ^h-^'^ed ^

superstmous feeling for a river, or to have been influenced by

;;• an e ^^ ^^^"°" ''^" ''' '''' ""-- «^ ^^^'^"^ a

INUNDATION OF 1598.

wit^r'' T-f '*"' ^' "°"''^ '"'" ^^^" "^ ^"^"^^f"' in dealing

B ? '17 '' ""'"^ ''^ '"^^"'^^' '^ ""^"" f'^^ speculation
But eight years after his death, and in the pontificate of
Clement VIII., there occurred the greatest inundation of modern
t.mes, and equal, perhaps, to any of those which are recorded
^o ha,e happened in the time of the Romans. For no measure-
nient was given by the historians who describe them, and

The eve /r* "° "''"' °' '"^"""'"^ ^ comparison.
J he event ,s thus noticed .in the highest of the tablets

attached to the building of the Minerva:

Anno Dom. mdxcviii. 8. Cal. J.-in.
Redux recepta Pontifex Ferraria
Non ante tam supcrbi hujusce Tjbridis
Insanientes execratur vortices.

In the year of our Lord 1598, 25 Dec.
The Pontiff returning after the conquest of Ferraria
Curses the furious eddies of this our Tiber.
Which never before exhibited such pride. '

Eight hundred persons are said to have been drowned, or
to have perished by hunger, on this occasion. The Pons
Emihus, which had been rebuilt by Julius III. and Gregory
XIII in place of the ancient structure, which had fallen down
m the thirteenth century, was partially swept away. The
broken portion, under the name of the Ponte Rotto. still
remains, a picturesque object in a sketch, and an evidence of
he force by which the ruin was effected. In the flowery
langijage of Bononi "the woes and devastation of the city
by the flood would have caused stones to weep," and an
Italian of the time, called Guiseppe Castaglio, wrote a poem
■n Latin describing the destruction which it wrought.

<! 'I

i

78

INUNDATION OF 1598.

In a preface to this poem addressed to the Cardinal Aldo-
brandini, Castaglio expresses his conviction that the flood was
sent by God as a punishment for the sins of the people,
which he proceeds to describe in detail. The Tiber here is
no longer personified, represented as endowed with feelings,
and acting on its own impulses, but described as an instru-
ment in the hands of the Deity to accomplish his own
purposes.

The river, he says, began to overflow its banks on the
night of the eighth Cal. Jan., or twenty-fourth of December,
increasing slowly that night, and the following morning. It
then rose suddenly, and rushed with such violence through
the streets, that in many of them people were afraid to trust
themselves to the boats. The river rose to the first storey
of the houses, and in many places even higher. On Christmas-
day nearly all the people were confined in their houses, and
unable to attend divine service, which was performed only in
the churches on the hills.

On the fifth day the river retired within its bed, leaving
the city in such a state that there was scarcely a street in
which houses might not be observed in a falling state or
propped up with timbers.* The Pons Senatorius, the same
as the Pons Emilius, and commonly called in those times
Ponte di Santa Maria, was partly carried away, as I have
already mentioned ; the bricks in the upper part of the Ponte
St. Angela were displaced, and the shops, which then, as on
the old bridges of London and Florence, encumbered the
structure, were broken up.

It has been before observed that the wide-spread destruction among
Roman buddmgs especally farm-houses (agros Tiberis super ripas eflusuf
maxime rumis vOlarum vastavit.-Livy, ,v. 49.) was owing, probably, to the
inaterral (sun-dned bricks) of which they were built, and the nimsiness of
thetr construcon To the same cause was due the frequent collapse of
houses ,„ the m.ddle ages. '• Houses of poor people in 'hose ,Ws were
shghtly bu.t, of .nfenor materials, and their foundations laid but a short
distance below the earth. They lived either in houses of one storev or on
the lowest floor of higher buildings. Hence so many are recorded LLv^
been drowned."-Pamphlet bv Sigre. Aubert

INUNDATION OF 1598. 79

In his poem Castaglio describes the same incidents of the
flood, and extols the benevolence of the Pope, and his
unweaned exertions to save those who were in danger
drowntng. and to supply food and shelter to all. I the

?orm of ?"'"^"' ""■■• ' P"^"""^ '"^'^ 'his is a mere
form of words, and that no formal imprecation was pro-
nounced upon ,t. But Castaglio tells us that the Pope lifted

ILlV 'I ""• ""' P"^^<^ '° G°<^ 'hat he would lay

as>de h,s wrath and ward ofl^ destruction from the sacred city.
He then stretched forth his hands in the form of a cros^
on wh,ch the Tiber straightway stayed the violence of h ;
course, and shrunk within his bed.

Nam crucis in speciem simul afque extenders deztra»
in se tc Tibns sensit, violenta repressit
Agmma continue, notumque recessit in alveum.

This was doubtless when the flood had nearly subsided, and
when al the mischief had been done. It was a pity h d"d
not perform the miracle at an earlier stage

The details of the flood of ,660. which scarcely equalled
m hetght that of ,870. may be passed over, as dkrL „
no respect from those which have been recounted. But the
observations of Bonini upon the Jews of the Ghetto, and an
mctdent which he relates, will serve to illustrate the feelings
entertamed by the Christians of the time towards the Je/s
and he hatred with which the Jews returned the scorn of the
Chnsttans. "That obstinate nation, says the author, derived
however, some benefit from the inundation ; for while it refused

t bTV", T" "^ '''P'"" '""^ "-'wanness of the soul,
beheld, cleaned away by that of the Tiber, the impurities of

ts body, and of tts rooms, which, owing to the stench and to
the filth, were .„ some places almost unapproachable. Yet the
authonfes pitying even this reprobate people, ordered that an
opening should be made into the Ghetto on the side ofthe
Signon Cenci. that &c."

with U,r' r ''"' ^"'""'' '^'' '^' '"™' ""'hor. but envenomed
w.th the nattve arrogance of the people, which was returned by

1^1

m

'mmm

80

INUNDATION OF 1 598.

a wretched woman, a Jewess, to an ecclesiastic. She was
almost immersed in the water, and the ecclesiastic exhorted her
to withdraw herself from the danger with his aid, and to place
her life in security from the fragments which were floating
about. " No," she replied ; " I have no need of the aid of
the Christians, since it suffices the Hebrew to call upon the
name of God ; and at all times and in all places He will return
an answer to his prayers." The ecclesiastic smiled and left
her in the water.

INUNDATION OF ,870.

highest of which wL have an, ,S"' '"" ''''' '' '' ''^

Bon"?!- tat''"";t"" '' ^^""°' "^ -^' - 'he words of
have been ore ee?.. T" "° '"''"^^"-^ ''>' ^hich it »i,ht
its approach r flood Tl "" '''' "^'^^^^ ^^^'"^ °f
of the^J „reatf n of" t ^'^^"^ '^ "^"^"^ '^^ -"■'

of rain, da,? a, t ^hlh^'the /'"' ^'°^^^ ^ '°"« ^P^"
north-east, d spersin. h ^'""'""^ ^^^""^'^ '^ 'he

•melting o the sn" 3 on th "'"' '^'°"'^' ^"'^ ^^-^""^^ 'he
when fhe riv rTa Zff TT'""'' ^"*' °" *^'^ ---"'

invaded the iovepnlof' "^ ^'^^"^ '^'^ ^'^^^
-eanwhile, the we'athTinl 'a/r^"^"^ ^"'' ^'^^^^^
than ever. On the LT ■ ! ""^ "P" ''^^^'"^ ^^orse
the Wednesd?, when the I 7 ^""^""'^^ ''^ P^"^-^
descended in ^or ents t ■ T "' ''' ^''s'"'- '^e rain

hghtning. One cat'wa, T"? "''' ^'°''^"' "^""'^" -^
like an earthq^ ke Ld h ", : *''' " ^''°°'^ ''^^ ^°--
the Vatican. :: •:, o t f ^^f'th^' " '''' ^'™^^
destro,i„g a pictur: at the altar N " ""P^' ^"'^

studied the phenomena of he tathefTnd 7 T ■'"'° '''
they bear to the heit^hf .f .^ n ^ ''''^"°" '^hich

Viol... i„ .h. c. ' o7 .::s*. ""■" °^ "■"""'

prcoladon and e,.po,aii„„ before i,«, '"''

».». K ,k. „r or .i.n.ct ..1* ■;:,"' r "-

(1

I.

82

INUNDATION OF 1870.

among the mountains, and along the valleys through which
the tributaries of the Tiber flow. Yet no warning voice was
heard from the Collegio Romano, nor was the note of alarm
sounded from the Capitol; though at both places meteoro-
logical observations are made. Nor had any one sufficient
intiligence to infer what would be the effect of the addition
to the swollen river of such a quantity of rain extending, in
all probability, over the whole seven thousand square miles of
the basin of the Tiber. The flood, therefore, which followed
the rain at an interval of twenty-fonr hours, took everybody
by surprise; the Corso was a river, and the shops of the
tradespeople were invaded by the water, and their property
damaged or destroyed, before they were well awake. On the
twenty-eighth and twenty-ninth the city presented a singular
spectacle. The Corso, and the streets which branch from it,
instead of noisy carriages, were traversed by boats, rafts,
pontoons, and even tubs, which, gliding silently along, conveyed
bread and other provisions, candles and firewood, to the people
imprisoned by the waters. As the boats approached, from
every storey were lowered buckets, baskets, and towels, tied
up at the corners by those who eagerly sought to obtain some
small portion of the stores that were being distributed, such
as a loaf of bread or a scrap of meat.

During the inundation the post-office was closed for nearly
sixty hours, and for two nights, the twenty-eighth and twenty-
ninth, the city was in darkness, owing to the flooding of the
gas-works and the immersion of the pipes.

Nothing certain is known about the loss of life, the estimates
varying from three to seventeen, and part of those who perished
were drowned by the oversetting of a raft.

When the inundation had subsided on the thirty-first, and
Victor Emmanuel paid his first visit to Rome, nothing could
be more dismal than the aspect of the town. A cold rain
was falling, the streets, abandoned by the Tiber, were ancle-
deep with mud, and strewn with delicate articles irreparably
damaged by the flood, while the foot-pavement was encum-
bered by piles of carpets, silks, velvets, and other costly fabrics

INUNDATION OF 1870. 33

^h4 would fir tl ™" .'' '''''''' ^"^ ^°'d f- -hat

procession /rter/tn^^Bu: f'i ^""'' -" ''^ ->-^'

^y^iy lurn. tJut brighter <5tmc o«^

prosperous times mu^f I..n^ u ^"^ ^^^^

;i.i. .^o.. .,„, „jz:j:. ' r:„ r'^« -r"""

dations of ic,o icc^ .a . endure in the inun-

from six to sev'en ft ; Tu "'; '''" °"'^ ^'^ '^^ --
houses apnea T hive h' V f"^ ^'°" ''°°''' ''"* 'he

^ater. Relief a!,n [ "^'* ^-^>' '" the

same-seal^ '..-ht'hes" '" '"' "°' ""'^^^'^ ^ 'he
Henc'e w read o h T !>"'"'"'"' "' '' ''' P^^^-^"' ^^^•
drowning, oZ to t, e" ", '"'^'"^ '^ ^'^^-"^ -
houses. Hou ": now ""'""'"'"^ ^^ ^°"apse of their

is better organTed Tnd T TT ^'^'^""^"^ ''"'"' ^^^ --f
creed ; so Z e trl'w : T ' cl '''''' " '^^ ^
-Porar, inconvenience du!r;th:s:'wsitatir ^""^ °"'^ ^

an-vithin the period J..^:!;:: ^^:;:7i:T^
reU';: rft cif :t ^r. T'" \ '- - "-

u X , 55/. and who lived in fh^ ;„f^ i

between the second and the third „f ,u ^^'

in^agined that Hoods were ^oj- ^ rn: e Xeirtr^;

yore, and appears to have anticipated that they Tu d c - ^

•n some great catastrophe like those which' .rel^Su

d.irerent geological epochs. A similar delusion seemst , '

prevailed „. every age with regard to the weat cT a ^d I

phenomena depending upon it. We constants

advanced in Hfe observing, that the s Cs ^'or ": TT""^

are very different from what they remember thli t In 1 '"'

■n thc.r early days, and that the climitc i ,

gradual change, sometimes for the be.fbu.'Vr:--,,;

G 2

84

I

INUNDATION OF 1870.

worse. Yet a little reflection, and the analogy of other sciences,
ought to teach us that the order of nature is constant; that
the phenomena of the weather depend on laws as fixed as
those which regulate the movements of the heavenly bodies;
and that rain, wind and frost must recur ao-ain and acrain in a
certain dcfmitc order.

It is true that in the present state of our knowledge, and
with the paucity of observations which we possess, we are
unable to determine, even empirically, the period of the cycle,
or the interval of time after which the same weather returns
in the same order ; but if we deny such a c}xle to exist, we
must suppose, either that the weather is left to blind chance,
or that it is under the more immediate control of the Creator
than any other department of nature, so that every fall of rain
or gale of wind is a special act of Providence. The approach
to regularity which we observe in the general character of the
weather which prevails at different seasons contradicts the first
supposition, and the second is manifestly absurd.

Doubtless, at some unknown period in the history of the
world the same atmospheric conditions which produced the
floods of 1530, 1557, and 1598, will return, and the Tiber
again cover the Piazza di Spagna, and wash the steps of the
ascent to the Trinita dei Monti. Perhaps, however, before
that time the scheme for excluding the inundations by lofty
embankments may be carried out. Whether such a remedy
would not be worse than the disease will be considered
hereafter.

Less irrational, but equally erroneous, is the assumption
that, because rivers which overflow their banks raise the level
of the adjoining country, their inundations must become less
frequent in each successive age, and rise to a smaller height;
and consequently, that such floods of the Tiber as are recorded
in Roman times, and in the middle ages, can never again be
witnessed. Those who hold this opinion do not seem t^'o have
enquired what has happened in the case of other rivers whose
inundations are periodic, and whose phenomena have, there-
fore, been observed with greater attention. Were the' notion

)

]

INUNDATION OF 1870.

85

founded in truth, the Nile would long since have ceased to
fertilize the valley and delta of Egypt, and the Ganges to
convert the plains of Bengal into an ocean, during the season
of the rains. On the contrary, the former river rises to the
same height, twenty-three or twenty-four feet, which it did
in the time of Herodotus, while the water, according to Sir
G. Wilkinson, spreads over a larger area of country. Yet, such
is the rise in the land, due to the annual deposit, that in
ancient times it was found necessary to abandon many cities,
and rebuild them on higher ground; while the deserted sites
of otlicrs are gradually disappearing beneath the increasing
accumulation of soil, and even the colossal statues of the plain
of Thebes must ultimately be buried.*

Why, notwithstanding this rise in the level of the land, do
the inundations still continue, and even extend themselves more
widely than before ? The only explanation that can be ofl^ered
is, that the bottom of the river is raised in the same ratio as
the country which it overflows, and thus a fixed relation is
maintained between the level of the two. A constant rise of
the land contiguous to the banks, without a corresponding rise
in the bed of a river, is a case that can scarcely be conceived.
IMountain streams which flow over hard strata often scoop out
deep channels in the solid rock, because, however slow the
process may be, the sides can never fall in, so that the effect
is accumulated during countless ages. Thus in the Jura the
torrents may often be seen flowing at the bottom of deep
ravines, which they have hollowed out in the limestone rock .
and in the mountains of Auvergne new channels have been
worn by the streams through the basalt which in former ages
flowed across and blocked up their course.

In this case the bed of the stream is lowered relatively to
the surface of the land; but the converse eff"ect, the raising
of the bank relatively to the bed of the stream, can never
continue for any length of time, because the bank so raised
is continually being undermined, and falling in; often partially

* Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians.

.

■'•mlt*-k.,^^ S.,

86

INUNDATION OF 1 870.

\\

T

1
I

blocking up the river, and forcing it to seek a new channel,
and consequently a new bottom. In fact, the tendency of rivers
which flow with a sluggish current through an alluvial district
IS to raise their own bottoms, to obliterate their banks, and
eventually, in many cases, to form shallow lakes or extensive
morasses. Many of the morasses so formed have been drained,
and the rivers kept within bounds by the labour of man. Firm
ground and rich pastures have replaced the marshes of
Somersetshire, where Alfred the Great sought refuge from the
Danes, and the Val di Chiani with its rich agricultural produce
now sustains the life which its miasmata once contributed to
shorten; but, if the controlling hand of man were removed,
these districts would doubtless revert to their original condition,
as the Val di Chiana has done within the historic period.
For we have evidence from Livy, xxii. 3, that in the time of
the second Punic war, it was a highly cultivated region, which
Hannibal, as he traversed it, laid waste with fire and sword,
in order to cripple the resources of the Romans. Yet in the
age of Dante, it had returned to its condition in primceval
times, that of a dreary and pestilential fen ; to become again,
through the engineering operations of Fossombroni, the ga^^rden
of Italy, and as healthy as productive.

An illustration on a much larger scale is afforded by the
river Euphrates. The Euphrates was to Mesopotamia and
Babylonia what the Nile is to Egypt. Its annual inundations
were utilised to impart fertility to the land, and innumerable
canals intersected the country, which conveyed the redundant
waters to every portion of the soil, whose 'exuberant fertility
excited the admiration of Herodotus.* Yet the river was
confined within prescribed limits; and when the inundation
had subsided, the irrigated fields were left to mature their
produce under a burning sun. What is the aspect of the
river in the present day? For more than fifty miles above and

• The return was two or three hundred fold; the leaves of the wheit and
barley were four fingers broad ; and the millet attained the dimensions of a small
tree.— Sec Ilciodotu*, Euterpe.

A

INUNDATION OF 1870. 87

below its junction with the Tigris the river forms extensive
swamps, penetrating scores of miles into the interior, which
taint the air of Bassorah during the summer months, and
occupy thousands of square miles of land which might be
devoted to tillage. The river, when left to itself and allowed
to overflow the plain without control, has simply encroached
upon it, and, at the same time, its bed has become so shallow
that none except steamers drawing but a few feet of water
can accomplish the downward voyage.

To return to the Tiber. For two centuries the rise in the
level of its bed has been a subject of debate, - et adhuc sub
judice lis est," - the case is still before the judge." Conflict-
ing evidence has been brought forward, and, what is stranger
still, opposite conclusions have been drawn from the same
facts. The engineers, Gambarini and Chiesa, hold that no
appreciable change has taken place since the time of the
Romans, and in support of this view they instance the platea,
or foundation of the bridge of St. Angelo, which is uncovered
when the water is moderately low, and the flooring of the
sewers, which, with the exception of the Cloaca Maxima, are
still, they say, above the level of the river.

Bonini, on the other hand, maintains that nothing but
perversity, or the desire of appearing more learned than the
rest of the world, would lead any one to dispute the fact
of a rise in the bed of the Tiber; and this rise he considers
to amount to twenty-four palms, or about seventeen English
feet, which is evidently an exaggerated estimate. He grounds
his opinion on the present condition of the Cloaca Maxima,
and on the fact that Sixtus IV., when he rebuilt the bridge
now called the Ponte Sisto, laid the new foundations on the
"pilastri" and " speroni," or piers and cutwaters of the ancient
structure ; from which he infers that the bottom of the river at
that point must have risen by a height equal to the height of
the piers, or, in other words, must have risen so as to'' bury
the piers, or what remained of them. Both of them appeal to
the figure of a ship m the isle of St. Bartolomeo, but as their
reasoning is based upon an assumption of the height above

mmmmmmimmi>mmm

88

INtTNDATION OF 187O.

)

the water, at which the figure originally stood, it would not be
^likely to carry conviction to the minds of others.

Bunsen adopting the estimate of Tinolle, makes the rise of
the bottom from four to five feet.

Sig^^. Aubert, who has lately written a work upon the Tiber,
adduces, among other evidence in support of his belief, that
the bottom of the Tiber has risen many feet since the time
of the Romans. The moderate depth at which water is met with
in sinking for the foundation of a house, is generally a little
below, and sometimes actually above, the ancient pavements.
He also mentions the fact, that the caves below the Colosseum,
in which the wild beasts, intended for the spectacles, were
confined, are now filled with water, when the river is in its
ordinary state. The water in both cases can only be that of
the Tiber, which has been filtered by percolating through the
soil, or of springs, whose fiow into the river has been arrested
by the rise in the level of its surface.

But the strongest evidence is that afforded by the Cloaca
Maxima. Strabo tells us that the sewers were arched with
stones, nicely fitted together, and that the dimensions of some
were such that a cart loaded with hay could pass beneath
them.* We learn from Pliny that they were traversed by boats
in the a^dileship of Marcus Agrippa,t and on referring to Dion
Cassius we find that, while Agrippa held that office, among
other great and useful works, he cleaned out the sewers, and
then sailed beneath their arched passages into the Tiber.|
Even if the great aedile, and son-in-law of Augustus, were
content to bow his head, and the boat were pushed along with
the hands, such a feat would be impossible in the present
day.

It is clear from this, that in the time of Augustus the part
of the arch above the surface of the water must have been
sufficiently wide and high to admit of the passage of a boat

* Strabo, V. c. 235, 8, Ed. Teub. Meineke.

t Plin. xxxvi. 24, 104, Ed. Teub. Jan.

: Dio Cassius, xlix. 43, 2, V.d. Dindorf. Teub.

INUNDATION OF 1 870.

89

and that the arch could not have been built, as has been
suggested, when the river was at its lowest, in order that the
sewage might be discharged into the Tiber below the surface
of the water.

Next to the Cloaca Maxima, the Pantheon appears to me
to afiford the strongest confirmation of a rise in the bed of
the river; for it is impossible to conceive that a public
building would have been erected on a site which was at
the time liable to be flooded by every trifiing rise of the Tiber.

In these discussions it seems always to be assumed that, if
the bottom rises at all, it must rise uniformly, and in every
part ; whereas the bridges, and other obstacles which exist in
every town, occasion such a variation in the velocity of the
current, that a great rise in one place may coexist with an
actual lowering of the bed in another. Owing to the removal
of London-bridge the scour above it was so much increased,
that the foundations of Blackfriars-bridge were undermined,
and it was found necessary to take it down and rebuild it.
The bed of the river at Ponte St. Angelo may have undergone very
little alteration, and yet above and below Ponte Sisto it may
have been considerably raised. The rise of the bottom of
the Tiber is partly owing to the quantity of rubbish, too heavy
to be transported by the current, which is continually thrown
into it ; and this would naturally be the greatest in the most
populous part of the city.

But the rise in the bottom of a river may not only be a
fact to be established by evidence, but a necessary consequence
of the protrusion of its delta into the sea. As the sea is
removed to a greater distance, a line drawn from it to any
given spot will make a smaller angle with the horizon, and,
consequently, the average inclination of the bottom will be
diminished. If the spot is not much raised above the level
of the sea, the effect would at length be seen in the decreas-
ing velocity of the current, and the decreasing velocity of
the current would favour the deposit of matter, and thus
the bottom would gradually be raised. But, meanwhile,
the land on each side will continue to rise from the sediment

'I-

:

l!

90

INUNDATION OF 1870.

left by the river in time of floods : and this rise, of course will
be the greatest in the oldest portions of the alhivial valley
and the Delta, where the annual layers are the most numerous.
In this way the bottom and the banks are raised pan passu
with the extension of the land, and, at the same time, a gradual
slope is maintained. Thus, while in Egypt the rise in the
level of the land is nine feet at Elei)hantine, at Memphis,
near Cairo, it is seven feet, and in the Delta it continually
diminishes as we approach the sea, until at the mouths of
the Nile it is imperceptible.*'

From what has been said about the Euphrates and the Nile,
It IS evident that, if man pay due attention to the condition of
the banks, nature will perform her part by maintaining the
proper levels, and that when rivers are neglected, the tendency
is rather to raise the bottom relatively to the banks than the
banks in relation to the bottom. Thus, while the Euphrates
has become in many places an immense morass, there are no
instances of rivers flowing at the bottom of little valleys whose
sides are formed by their own deposits.

To apply this to the Tiber. It is usually calculated that
its delta advances at the rate of two metres a year. Sig^^.
Lanciani says that, as the result of accurate measurements made
within the last three years, he has found the annual increase
to be ys metres at the Fiumicino, and as much as 9-025
metres at the Ostia mouth. Ostia is now three miles, and the
port of Trajan one mile and a half distant from the sea.

This extension of the coast may appear insufll.^ient to
produce much efl^ect upon the bed of the river. But there are
other causes at work. Notwithstanding the rapidity of the
Tiber, large sandbanks are deposited during floods within a
certain distance of the sides, which arc cut through when the
river sinks to a lower level ; the banks are continually falling
in, and the soil is distributed along the bottom by the current.
The river in the Campagna frequently changes its course, and
the new bed would naturally be higher than the old one

f

INUNDATION OF 1870.

91

* Sec Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians.

It appears to be a law of nature, that running water, while
it degrades the mountains, should raise the level of the plains,
and with it the bottom of the rivers by which they are
traversed. There is no reason to believe that the Tiber is an
exception to the general law. Certainly, when we observe how
much the level of the Campus Martins, and the Roman Forum,
has been raised by the accumulation of rubbish, we must, if w^e
hold that the bottom of the Tiber was never lower than at
present, rest in the conclusion that ancient Rome was almost
always under water.

In confirmation of what has been said, it may be added,
that rivers, which are embanked, invariably raise their bottoms,
so as to necessitate a corresponding raising of the embank-
ments ; until, in course of time, they flow, like aqueducts,
above the level of the adjoining country, and continually
threaten some great catastrophe.

I have treated the subject of the rise of the bed of the river
at great length, not only because it belongs to the natural
history of the Tiber, but because it has an important bearing
upon the question of its inundations and their remedies. If
the bottom and banks of the river maintain on the average a
given relation to each other, we cannot hope that nature will
do for us what we cannot do for ourselves, and place Rome
at length out of tlie reach of inundations. The fact, therefore,
of this constancy must be taken into account in any scheme
for their prevention.

I come now to the consideration of the causes of these
inundations ; causes so simple and obvious that, if it were
not necessary to shew the absurdity of the notions which are
current on the subject, I should consider it a waste of time,
and an insult to the understanding of the reader, to make a
formal statement of them. Inundations of the Tiber never
occur except during seasons of heavy and continuous rains ;
the height to which the river rises is always proportional to
the quantity of rain which falls in the course of a day; and
the time when the flood attains its greatest height bears a
flxcd relation to the hour at which the rain ceases at Rome,

i

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92

INUNDATION OF 1870.

■*i

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I

the interval varying from twenty-four to thirty hours, according
to the state of the river. The natural conclusion, therefore'',
would be, that the rain and flood stand to each other in the
relation of cause and effect *

♦ Nothing shows the unobservant nature of the Romans more than the fact,
that no one to whom I have spoken has noticed, that the floods of the Tiber
take from twenty-four to thirty hours to descend the River to Rome • twenty,
four hours when the river is confined within its bed, and thirty when it
has overflowed the Campagna. In this case the lake formed by the inundation
acts as a regulator, and causes a more gradual rise and subsidence of the
flood.

In eveiy town on the banks of a river, a given relation is observed between
the time at which a flood attains its greatest height, and the cessation of the
rain by which it is produced. The floods of the Loire take a defmite time to
reach Roanne ; and Valles informs us, that in 1846 the inundation tooK sixty
hours to descend the river from Roanne to Orleans, and sixty-two in 1856-
a difference of only two hours, showing how easily the arrival of these floods
may be calculated. The distance by the windings of the stream is under
two-hundred miles, so that the velocity of the current of the Loire is only
half that of the Tiber. The floods of the Medway take, as I have said, thirty
hours to reach Yalding, a distance by the river of only thirty miles. Those
of the Thames and the Severn do not arrive at Windsor or Gloucester for
two or three days. The average process, therefore, of the inundations of the
Tiber far exceeds that of any of these rivers, being at the rate of about seven
miles an hour ; which is unusually rapid.

The notion, that there is no connexion between the rain and the flood
prevents the Romans from obser^'ing the relation which exists between the
time of these two phenomena, and the consequence is, that the flood takes
them as much by surprise as if it were an earthquake, and always finds them
unprepared. Yet ever>' labourer on the banks of the Medway can foresee a
flood, and tell within an hour at what time it will reach its 'greatest height.
Why should not the Romans be able to do the same ?

POPULAR THEORIES REGARDING THE

INUNDATIONS.

This explanation, however, is too simple to satisfy the
unscientific mind, which delights in gratuitous assumptions
and occult causes, the magnitude of which cannot be measured
by the senses, and on which, therefore, the imagination can
draw to any amount.

Bacon observes in his plain language that "men have a
natural, though corrupt, love of the lie itself."* Without going
the length of Bacon, and affirming that men love falsehood
for falsehood's sake, we may assert that few have any love
of truth for the sake of truth, and that, when their material
interests are not concerned, the majority do not care to
investigate and bring it to light. On the contrary, they prefer
to leave it in obscurity, because wider scope remains for the
play of their fancy. When Tacitus put the *'oinne ignotum
pro magnifico " in the mouth of the Caledonian chieftain, f
he shewed his knowledge of human nature, and of the
feelings by which most persons are influenced in judging of
men and things. This indifference to abstract truth is especially
observed in matters of science, where there is no question of
material loss or gain ; and opinions have been current since
the time of Cicero which a few simple experiments or obser-
vations, recorded for a single year, would have shewn to have
no foundation in truth. J It is in accordance with such a

* Bacon's Essays, I.
t Taciti Agricola xxx.

X Witness the popular belief in the influence of the moon on the weather
and in equinoctial gales. All scientific men of note, as Arago, Herschel,
Admiral Intzroy, &cc., are agreed that there is no connexion between the
changes of the weather and the changes of the moon. The belief in such
a connexion is nothing but a relic of the astrological superstition which
attributed to that planet an influence over men as well as things ; the

94

POPULAR THEORIES

«,

I

I

feeling that the damming up of the waters of the Til>cr hv
a Scirocco wind,* and the increase of their volume by the
melting of the snows on the Apennines, are the popular
modes of accounting for the inundations of the river, while
the rain, though it may promote the melting of the snows.
IS thought to contribute nothing to the mass of water. The
latter notion I will examine first; for the former, though
opposed to every principle of mechanical science, may seem
to be borne out by what occurs in a few other rivers. It will
be necessary, therefore, to examine it at greater length, and
to shew how different are the conditions in the case of the
Tiber and of those rivers wh'ere floods are actually produced
by the action of the wind.

As the modern Romans take no account of the rain, so
the ancients appear to have ignored the snow. Livy, in his
notices of the floods, which occurred in different epochs of the
history of Rome, always attributes them to rain. His words
are invariably " magnae aquae erant " or " ingentes aqua^ erant,"
-there were copious rains" or -there were great rains," and
the Tiber overflowed its banks, &c. Tacitus, also, in describing

REGARDING THE INUXDATIOXS.

95

memor>- of which superstition is still preserved in the word -lunatic " Yet
the notion will probably hold its ground to the end of time, because nobody
has any personal interest in disproWng it.

The bdief in equinoctial gales Ts as old as the time of Cicero, who
alludes to It ; and m the present day these imaginary gales have been assigned
by the government as a reason for modifymg the original plan for the
autumnal mana>uvres of the troops. Yet, in the average of years the
for mght before and the fortnight after the twenty-firsf Septembe; r
fine and calm. Ihe greatest storms on record have occurred either in
November or nearer to the winter solstice than to the autumnal equinox
We might, theretore, with more propriety talk of solstitial than of equinoctial

* This appears to have been a generally accepted theory in the latter
end of the sixteenth century. In a Latin poem of the time, written immediately
after an inundation, the earth is represented as complaining to the Tiber
that It IS despoiled of all its productions and all its beauty by the viol nee
o he latter; to which the Tiber replies that it is not its fault, but the hu
of the south wind, which bars the passage of its water to the sea.

At si forte graves aspirat ab sequore flatus,

Egressum nostris impedit Auster aquis.

the inundation in the reign of Tiberius, uses the words " con-
tinuis imbribus auctus Tiberis plana urbis stagnaverat." "The
Tiber swollen by incessant rains had inundated the level parts of
the city." Pliny, the younger, also describes an inundation of
the Anio, the same to which we have before referred, which
was caused by rains of extraordinary violence, so that great
damage was done by the temporary torrents which they
produced in places where there were no streams. Neither in
these authors nor in Dio Cassius is there any mention of
snow as connected with the rising of the river. In this they
were nearer to the truth than the moderns; for though the
snow aids somewhat in producing the inundation, and in
exceptional cases may contribute largely to it, yet everyone
who studies the weather and observes the phenomena of the
river must see that it plays but a subordinate part. We have
seen that the greatest flood but one recorded in modern history,
was produced entirely by rains of unusual violence. On the
other hand, there is no instance of any great inundation pro-
duced by the melting of the snows unaccompanied by heavy
rain. In the January of 187 1 there was an unusual accumulation
of snow on the Apennines; yet, though melted by a warm
Scirocco wind, and accompanied by gentle rains at the com-
mencement, it only swelled the river to the level of the Ripetta.

It will be easy, however, to shew by a simple calculation
that, under no conceivable circumstances could the effect of
the snow equal that of the rain, and that the great rise of
the river on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, the twenty-
seventh and twenty-eighth December, 1870, was due to the
heavy rain of Monday night, the twenty-sixth. Fresh fallen
and uncompressed snow occupies about fourteen times the
space of water.* On the night of Monday, the twenty-sixth,

♦ Dove. Meteorologische Untersuchungen, Berlin, 1839, page 51.

It should be observed that the space occupied by snow dep^'ends upon the
temperature at which it falls, being greatest when the temperature is low
and the snow light and feathery, and least when the temperature approaches
the freezing point and the snow is ready to melt.

But fourteen inches is the mean. Dove's obsen-ations agree nearly with
my own.

96

POPULAR THEORIES

If

there fell more than an inch and a half of rain. To produce
the effect of this depth of rain, a foot and three-quarters of
snow extending over the whole basin of the Tiber would be
required. But the superficies of the Apennines covered with
snow, even when the snow descends as low as two thousand
feet above the sea, is not one-fourth of the area of the basin
of the Tiber. The depth of snow, therefore, on the Apennines
ought to have been seven feet on the level, and the snow
ought to have melted in twelve hours, in order to produce the
rapid rise of the river which took place on Wednesday, the
twenty-eighth. Now, such a depth of snow is unknown on
the Alps, below the region of perpetual congelation, except in
drifts, and on the Apennines it is inconceivable, especially
when a large part of it must have been dissolved by the
Scirocco wind of the previous day and night; and as snow
absorbs a large quantity of latent heat in the process of
liquefaction, it would have required, even when aided by rain,
three or four days to melt. The temperature of the plains
never exceeded fifty- five or fifty-six degrees Fahrenheit, and
the average temperature at an elevation of between two thousand
and six thousand feet, corresponding to that temperature in the
plains, would not be more than forty-three degrees Fahrenheit,
a temperature at which it is impossible that the melting of the
snow could proceed at a rapid rate. Anyone who has observed
how long it takes for half-a-foot of snow to melt in the
plains, even when a strong south-west wind is blowing, will
see how impossible it is that such a depth of snow as^'would
be required to produce the requisite quantity of water could
have been dissolved in the mountains in the course of tv^■elve
hours. On the other hand, a given quantity of rain may be
spread over several days, or may descend in half-an-hour with
the violence of a waterspout. Sudden inundations, therefore,
where the river comes down with a head of water, must always
be due mainly to rain.

I now proceed to explain how tides or gales of wind may
occasion floods in rivers, whose volume is not increased by
rain or melted snow. When a river widens rapidly as it

REGARDING THE INUNDATIONS.

■%

97

approaches the sea, so as to form a funnel-shaped estuary,
who>e mouth is open to a stormy wind, the tides often rise to
a g.cat height, and floods occasioned by them or by storms
of wind are of frequent occurrence in the low lying districts
along their banks. When the tidal wave enters the mouth of
the estuary, its progress is checked in front by the sudden
contraction of the banks, and the hinder part retaining its
momentum rises over it and adds to its height. The effect
is repeated, as the wave advances up the estuary, until the
height of the tide in the estuary far exceeds its height in the
open sea. Thus the spring tides, which, according to Professor
Air)',* rise only eighteen feet at the mouth of the Bristol
Channel, reach the height of more than thirty at Swansea
and fifty at Chepstow ; and in the bay of Fundy, between Nova
Scotia and New Brunswick, they attain an elevation of one
hundred and twenty feet.f The lower parts of London are
often inundated by high tides at the time when it is low
water in the German Ocean, the tidal wave by its momentum
having, as it were, run up an in. -lined plane. In like manner,
a gale of wind blowing into the mouth of a funnel-shaped
bay may heap up the water at the narrow end far above its
level in the oi)L"n sea. In this way are produced the floods
whi-h have often devastated St. Petersburg. The stormy west
wind blowing up the gulf of Finland drives vast billows into
the oj)en mouth, which rise to a great height at the narrow
extremity. The waters of the Neva are dammed up, and rising
above the quays overflow the city. St. Petersburg, as everyone
knows, was originally a morass, but slightly elevated above the

• Eucyrlopedi;i Mctropolitana.

t (Land and Sca).-Yct at Giccn Imy, on the north side of the isthmus
which separates it from ;he narrow end r.f tlic bay of Fundy, it rises only
seven feet. In tlie same work there is the story of a ship which during the
n.^'lit was deposited by tlie risin- tide of the bay of Fundy on a rock of
considerable elevation. We may conceive the astonishment and dismay of
the crew at daybreak, when tlicy found themselves suspended high in air
like an aerial vessel. *

The story does not go on to tell us whether they got afloat again at
hi^h water. ^

98

POPULAR THEORIES

Baltic, and a great part of it is built upon piles. The inun-
dation, therefore, becomes part of the sea, and great waves
roll through the town, and beat upon the houses as on
stranded ships.

Three great inundations are recorded within the last one
hundred years, those of 1776, 1777, and 1824, of which that
of 1824 was the most disastrous. A violent west wind raised
a barrier of water at the Neva's mouth, and the river rose
until it had attained a height of from six to twelve feet in
every quarter of the city. Immense waves raised by the
hurricane beat with fury into the midst of the town. Entire
streets were destroyed, and the miserable cottages of the
suburbs were carried away, and their wretched inhabitants
either buried under their ruins or engulfed in the Neva. Not
only were boats swept into the midst of the town, but at
Cronstadt, the port, a ship of a hundred guns was carried
into the midst of a square, overthrowing all the buildings in
its way. The number of victims was considerable, for there
was no rising ground to which they could escape. In one of
the barracks the soldiers sought refuge upon the roof. In a
short time the waves had shaken the building, so that it fell
to pieces, and all these unhappy men disappeared beneath
the waters. These scenes of horror were repeated during the
small number of hours which the inundation lasted. Happily
the wind calmed after three hours, and in a short time the
town was free from water.*

Nothing like this could ever happen in the case of the
Tiber, even if Rome were situated at the apex of the Delta
or built on the site of Fiumicino, so as to be more within
the influence of the sea. The river is scarcely wider at its
mouth than it is for many miles higher up, so that a
wave would not increase in height as it ascended the stream •
and the wave at starting would not be more than about four
feet above the sea level, which was the greatest height observed

Voyage en Russie, par L^on Renouard de Bussidre. Lettre IV.

REGARDING THE INUNDATIONS.

99

I

by Gambarini and Chiesa during the most violent storms*
Again, the Tiber, instead of flowing into a funnel-shaped bay
like the Neva, has pushed out a tongue of land into the sea,
so that all the conditions on which floods produced by gales
of wind depend, are here reversed. No force of wind, even if
an Oriental cyclone were combined with a West Indian
hurricane, could on this shallow coast heap up the water in
the manner supposed by the advocates of the Scirocco theory
of inundations. Were it possible for such a wall of water to
be raised, it would not be confined to the Tiber's mouth, but
extend along the whole coast, and flood far into the interior
the low lying country which stretches north and south from
eighty to a hundred miles. Yet such an efi'ect has never been
observed. The greatest floods, also, rise but little in the
Delta of the Tiber, where, according to the theory which
I am controverting, they ought to be the greatest. From
Ostia to Torre San Michele, and thence to the sea, the rise
is trifling.

But there are some who say that if the wind does not
heap up the waters of the sea, and impel great waves into
the mouth of the river, it may, when it blows against the
course of the stream, retard by its friction the velocity of the
current, and thus gradually raise the level of the water, until,
either alone or aided by rain, it causes the river to overflow
its banks. Theoretically, one would not expect that the friction
of the wind on a nearly smooth and horizontal surface would
produce any appreciable efi'ect. But this is a question to be
determined by observation and experiment. It is not found
that other rivers are flooded, or sensibly raised by winds
blowing against the course of their streams, unless their
estuaries are of the form which I have described. No inun-
dations of the Po are produced by easterly, or of the Rhine

♦ Off the Cape of Good Hope waves are sometimes forty feet in height.
In our seas, those about England, only ten and, in exceptional cases, eighteen
feet (Land and Sea) ; but half this height is depression below the mean level
of the sea.

H 2

iMllMki

100

POPULAR THEORIES

by northerly winds, however violent they may be; and in the
case of the Tiber, it is a remarkable fact that the days on
which the greatest floods have occurred during the last thirteen
years, have either been quite calm or with a light breeze from
the north-east. The answer usually given by the advocates
of the theory whi( h attributes these floods to wind, when
their attention is directed to this fact, is "that a heavy gale
may be blowing at the mouth of the Tiber while a dead calm
prevails at Rome." This is a purely gratuitous assumption,
and so improbable— considering the short distance as a bird
would fly, scarcely fifteen miles from Rome to the sea— as not
to deserve a serious reply. Gambarini and Chiesa report that
the effect of the wind in retarding the current of the river
is extremely slight. This they ascertained by comparing the
velocity of a piece of wood when the day was calm, and
when there was a gale of wind blowing up the stream, and
they ridicule the notion that the wind has any considerable
effect in causing the rise of the Tiber.

To those who are not acquainted with Rome it may
appear a waste of time and paper to argue against notions
so absurd; but these opinions are held by many persons well
known in the city, both Romans and English residents in
Rome, and by diverting the public mind from the true causes
of the floods of the Tiber, they prevent any effectual precautions
being taken against them.

In the time of Bonini and Bacci, or three hundred years
ago, it was the fashion to ascribe these inundations to the
great quantity of water brought down by the Velino, which,
along with the Salto and Turano, drains, as will be seen
from the map, a large area of country; and Bacci speculates
on the feasibility of diverting it from the Nera, and turning
it through a rocky district abounding in caverns and chasms,
which he fancied would be able to swallow it up. The same
authors ridicule the apprehension which prevailed in those
times that the " muro grosso," or great dike of the Chiana,
which kept up a head of water in that river, would give way
in time of floods, and liberate a mass of water by which Rome

3

REGARDING THE INUNDATIONS.

101

II

would be submerged. These notions are mentioned along
with the popular fallacies of the present day, to shew the
tendency of the human mind to look for the cause of a phe-
nomenon in every direction but that in which it is likely to
be found.

\

l1?"

CAUSES OF THE INUNDATIONS.

Having shewn that the popular theories are insufficient to
explain the great and sudden risings of the Tiber. I proceed
to state the real causes of these floods. The inundations of
a river depend :

1. On the area and form of its basin.

i. On the rainfall within that basin, and its distribution
among the months of the year.

3- On the permeability of the soil traversed by its affluents.

4- On the number of its tributaries.

I. AREA OF BASIN.

If a fall of rain extends over the whole basin of a river
the quantity of water which finds its way into the river and
swells Its stream, will, ceteris paribus, be proportionate to the
area of the basin. On the other hand, the larger the basin,
the less likely is a fall of rain to be simultaneous over its whole
extent. It seldom happens that all the tributaries, even of the
Tiber, whose basin has an area of only seven thousand five
hundred square miles, are swelled at the same time, and in
the same degree, and rarely, if ever, that those of the much
arger basin of the Loire, of which the superficies is forty-five
thousand square miles, are simultaneously flooded, though the
same kind of weather may prevail over the whole centre and
south of France. This is truer still of the Danube, which
drams an area of more than three hundred thousand square

The affluents of the Mississippi and the Amazon, which are
equal to rivers of the first magnitude on the continent of
Europe, belong to difl^erent climates, and diff-erent meteoro-
logical conditions; so that, while some are in high flood
others are at their lowest level. Hence there are two great
risings of the Mississippi in the year, corresponding to the

CAUSES OF THE INUNDATIONS.

103

I

'

seasons at which each half of its tributaries is flooded ; the
one in January, the other, which is the highest and the most
dreaded by planters, in the month of June.*

The great affluents of the Amazon, north of the equator,
are flooded when the sun has passed that line and is
advancing towards the tropic of Cancer, and the southern
aflluents during his passage towards the tropic of Capricorn.f
Thus an equilibrium is established, and while the main stream
has its own inundation during the spring and early summer*
when it overspreads the country, sometimes for a hundred miles,
at all times it retains its majesty, and rolls towards the Atlantic
a vast body of water miles in width.

But high as the floods of these great rivers rise, their inun-
dations can never be relatively as great as those of smaller
streams, over the whole of whose basin some great storm of
rain may burst at once. Elis^e Reclus gives from Marchegay's
"Annales des Fonts et Chauss^es" an account of an extra-
ordinary inundation of the Ardeche, in which that little river,
not greater than a second rate tributary of the Tiber, rose in
1837 at the bridge of Gournier to the height of twenty metres
and two-fifths of a metre, or about seventy English feet. On
the other hand, the highest recorded flood of the Garonne,t
rose only to thirteen metres or forty-two feet and a half, and
the greatest height ever attained by the Seine was eighteen
metres or thirty-two and a half English feet.

The basin of the Tiber, whose superficies exceeds that of
the Thames by two thousand square miles, is large in pro-
portion to the length of the main stream, and owing to the
compactness of its form, which approaches in shape to a semi-
circle, of which the centre is the confluence of the Nera, no
one point is so far removed from another as to render it
extremely improbable that a great fall of rain should occa-
sionally extend over the whole of its surface, and swell
simultaneously its tributary streams.

* Elis6e Reclus.

t Idem.

X Raulin Geographie Girondine, quoted by Elisce Reclus.

104

CAUSES OF THE INUNDATIONS.

CAUSES OF THE INUNDATIONS.

105

». RAINFALL.

The rainfall within the basin of a river, and its distribution
among the months of the year, is the second condition on
which the occurrence of floods depends. How much depends
upon the distribution of the rain appears from the case of
Australia, where frequent droughts, during which the sheep
perish by thousands, alternate with floods which are equally
destructive to the crops and the cattle. Yet the annual amount
of rain, both for Melbourne and Sidney, if uniformly spread
over the year, would clothe the fields in perpetual verdure,
and maintain a full and perennial flow in the rivers.*

The average rainfall for Rome is a little above thirty-one
inches, the extremes being forty-three and nineteen inches,
neglecting decimals; and nearly the whole of this quantity
falls during the nine months of the year when its eff-ect is
the greatest. The average for Florence is given at forty-two
inches. If this be correct, the difference must be owing to
the greater pro.ximity of Florence to the Apennines. If forty-
two inches be the average at the foot of the Apennines, and
the extremes bear the same relation to the average as at Rome
we shall have about sixty inches, as the quantity which in
exceptional years may fall over the whole region through which
the tributaries of the Tiber flow.

From the source of the Tiber on the north to that of the
Salto on the south, the distance, as a bird would fly as I
have said, is one hundred and forty miles. For this distance
all the rain and melted snow from the western slopes of the
Apennmes must fall within the basin of the Tiber. If to this
we add the contributions of the western tributaries, we shall
have an e.xplanation of the inundations of the river, as far
as they depend upon the depth of rain which falls.

But how much of this rain finds its way into the river?
This depends upon the permeability or absorbent qualities of

. At Melbourne there fell in the year ,870 sl^:iyl^6i:^;^i~~^;^~^^
three months of January, February and March, .87., sixteen inche . But this

a^c" ,,ti; """"'• "''"' ' ''"^"-- ■"' y^' """^ - opportunity

I

w

\

the soil, and upon the number of tributaries which intersect
the basin of the river.

3. PERMEABILITY OF THE SOIL.

Of all soils the most permeable is pure silicious sand. It
not only furnishes no water to the streams which traverse it,
but abstracts a portion of their volume, and if the sandy
district be extensive, ends by swallowing them up entirely.
In this way rivers of considerable size are lost in the sandy
deserts of Africa and Central Asia. Next in order of per-
meability comes the chalk, which is characterised, as everyone
may have observed, by extreme dryness. No springs originate
in strata of chalk, and no rivulets flow through chalky valleys.
All the rain which falls upon the surface percolates through
the soil, until it is stopped by some impervious stratum, when
it either forms reservoirs in the earth or issues as a spring
at a lower level. The same description will apply to the four
inferior members of the Oolitic series, which are nearly as
absorbent as the chalk. Valles observes that in a district of
two thousand square kilometres of such a formation, there was
no trace of streams, all the rain which fell disappearing in the
earth.

In a letter from the engineer Belgrand to the Geological
Society of France, it is stated that on the fifteenth and six-
teenth of October the enormous quantity of 1655 metres, or about
six and a half inches of rain fell in the upper part of the
basins both of the Loire and the Seine, rather more in the
basin of the Seine than that of the Loire. Yet the Loire, which,
in the upper part of its course, flows through the impermeable
granite, was swollen to a great height, and caused losses
which, according to the Moniteur of third June, 1847, amounted
to forty millions of francs. The rise of the Seine, on the
other hand, was so trifling that it attracted no notice.

The Medway aff'ords another illustration of the connexion
between the floods of a river and the nature of the soil
through which it flows. The Medway is a river of a short
course, but so sluggish that its floods take thirty hours to

r

■%•&■*'" "»%l'*"*wt»*

' ■^■>m ■■' ' '»-i%Hi- ■■■'

106

CAUSES OF THE INUNDATIONS.

descend the stream to Yalding, which is distant not more
than the same number of miles from its source. Its tribu-
taries all flow through the Wealden clay and Hastings sand,
both impermeable strata. As soon as the clay is saturated in
autumn, the rain runs off the surface as if it were paved. Every
tenth-of-an-inch of rain produces a rise in the river, and half-
an-inch causes a considerable flood.

The course of the Tiber and its tributaries is almost entirely
through impermeable strata: the Jura limestone in the moun-
tains, and the clays, sandstones, and tufas of the tertiary and
post-tertiary strata. Hence its floods suffer little diminution
from the percolation of water through the soil.

4. NUMBER OF TRIBUTARIES.

The shrewd old tyrant Tiberius, when he attributed the
floods of the Tiber to the multitude of its affluents,* shewed
that he understood far more about the matter than any of
our modern engineers, who fancy that these inundations are
caused by a few petty obstructions in the bed of the stream,
as if rivers in a state of nature never overflowed their banks.
Pliny enumerates two and forty rivers which flowed into the
Tiber below the confluence of the Chiana.f Most of these
are mere brooks, and, to avoid confusion, are omitted in the
map prefixed to this work, but, if they were represented, the
map would present a complete network of streams.

It may seem at first as if all the rain which falls in the
quadrilateral formed by two great tributaries, the hills in which
they rise and the main stream must find its way into the
river, with the exception of the part which disappears at once

♦ Tou T« iroranov row TipepiSoi iroWa t^« iro'Xtcov KaraaxovTO^, uxtti
ir\tvardt)vai. , . .iKeivo^ Si dfj vofiiaa^ U iroXvTrXrjdiav vafidriov dvro ytyovivai,
«.T.\.— Dio Cassius LVii. 3, Tib.

The river Tiber having inundated great part of the city, so that it was

navigated by boats he thinking that this was owing to the multitude of its

tributaries, &c.

t Infra Arietinum Glanim duobus et quadraginta fluviis auctus, prsecipue
autem Nare et Aniene, qui et ipse navigabilis, Latium includit a tergo.
— Plin. III. q. u.

CAUSES OF THE INUNDATIONS.

107

by evaporation and absorption. But this is not the case. In
the steppes of Southern Russia, lying between the great affluents
of the Don, small streams flowing into these affluents are rarely
met with. Owing to the horizontal arrangement of the strata
the water arising from the rain, after flowing for some distance,
forms little ponds and morasses, and eventually either sinks
into the earth or disappears by evaporation. On the other
hand, the numerous little streams which intersect the basin of
the Tiber convey the rain rapidly to the river before it has
time to evaporate or sink into the earth. The result is the
same as that produced artificially by thorough draining, which is
said to have the effect of increasing the floods in winter, while
it lessens the supply of water during the summer droughts.

It thus appears that the size and form of the basin of the
Tiber, the large rainfall within its basin, the number of its
tributaries, and the impermeability of the soil through which
they flow, all conspire to increase the volume of its waters
during seasons of heavy and continuous rain. To the increase
of that volume the floods of the Tiber are owing, and not
to the damming up of its waters by winds or artificial obstruc-
tions. When the rains are exceptionally heavy and extend at
once over all minor basins drained by its tributaries, then
we have a combination of circumstances producing those great
inundations for which a remedy is being sought. But an
efficient remedy will, I believe, be sought in vain.

In support of this conclusion let us examine the plans which
have been proposed for preventing these inundations or lowering
their height, so that they shall cease to be an inconvenience
to the city.

PLANS FOR PREVENTING INUNDATIONS.

Manifold are the schemes which have been suggested for
restraining the excesses and curbing the violence of father
Tiber. It has been proposed at different times to widen him,
to deepen him, and to straighten him ; to weaken him by
division, to check his riotous proceedings by cutting off his
supplies, to imprison him between lofty embankments, and,
finally, to banish him as an incorrigible scapegrace to some
distant valley, where he might disport himself without injury
to the rest of the world. The last scheme was proposed in
the Pontificate of Sixtus V., but was never seriously entertained ;
perhaps because people, even in those times, had some con-
ception of the engineering difficulties to be overcome, and
some recollection of the services which the Tiber had performed
in the age of the Emperors, when it was the principal channel
by which the Romans were supplied with food. The other
schemes, some of which have been tried and failed, while
others which have not been carried into execution, will be
examined in their turn.

JS

WIDENING AND DEEPENING THE BED OP THE TIBER.

Augustus, as we are told by Suetonius, **in order to check
its inundations, enlarged and cleaned out the bed of the Tiber,
which had long been filled with rubbish and narrowed by the
encroachment of houses," and appointed a class of officers,
with the title of "curatores alvei et riparum Tiberis," "curators
of the bed and banks of the Tiber."* The functions of these

• Ad coercendas inundationes alveum Tiberis laxavit, et repurgavit
completum olim ruderibus, et aedificionim prolationibus coartatum. Suet.
Oct. 30. The reading here gives a better sense than " prolapsionibus."

PLANS FOR PREVENTING INUNDATIONS.

109

c

B

^^saiiiiii

A^^^

c

k»8^

»

E

^.^

--.^^s.

C

^^^^^^

^^^^

1)
F

"^^

D

hiti BnuA i u.

J

officers were enlarged by Tiberius, in consequence of the great
flood which happened in his time ; their supervision was
extended over the whole course of the river, and they were
required to discharge their duties, ''so that in summer it should
never sink too low or in winter rise too high, but flow always
as uniformly as possible in height and strength "* — a task which,
it is needless to say, was beyond their powers.

From Augustus to Aurelian the office was held by the most
distinguished men of senatorial and consular rank, who were
proud, as appears from various inscriptions,t to add to their
other titles that of "curator of the bed and banks" of their
Historical river. But, whatever may have been their attention
to the duties of their office, they seem to have been powerless
to contend with the Tiber; if we are to judge from the great
inundation already described in the time of Otho, and from
that in the reign of Trajan, of which an account is given by
Pliny, the younger.

The truth is that the widening and deepening of a river —
the only remedy which they attempted — can have no effisct in
lowering its level or diminishing the height to which the
floods attain, unless the deepening or widening be carried to
a point at which there is a great fall or rapid of the river.
If ACEB (plate, fig. i) represent the original bed of the river,
and a portion of it CDE be dug out to any depth, the
velocity of the current and the quantity of water discharged
at B will not be affected. A great hole will simply have been
made in the bed of the stream, which will be filled with
stagnant water instead of earth ; but the stream above it will
flow onward as before, because the declivity from A to B
remains the same. J

♦ •jrtire dtl /SouXtjxdc #fX tj/owtouc iirififXtiaQai tvv iroTafiov TrpoaiTafev
7»o ft^Tt Tov Qipoui iWeiTTTi^ M'iTe tov x^^/^'*'"''^ xXtoi/a'^p, dW tao9 oti
/xa'Xto-Ta dil pf'ri. — Dio Cassius LVII. 3.

t For these inscriptions see Preller's "Rom und der Tiber."
X The inclination of the bottom in fig. i, which is about one in six, far
exceeds the average incHnation of any mountain river. With such a fall, or
even with one less considerable, the surface might be lowered by deepening

110 PLANS FOR PREVENTING INUNDATIONS.

If, however, there be a great fall at B (fig. 2), and the
river be deepened by cutting away the obtuse angle at that
point, the declivity of the bqd and the velocity of the current
will be increased, and the surface lowered to AC. But there
is no such fall at any point of the bed of the Tiber between
Eome and the sea, the declivity of the channel being pretty
uniform and not exceeding two-thirds of a foot in a mile.
Again, the widening of the bed of the river would have no
appreciable effect unless it were carried to a point at which
there was a considerable fall, or continued of the same or
greater width to the sea; otherwise nothing would have been
done but forming two bays on each side of the former channel,
in which the water would stagnate or revolve in eddies without
any change of level. The floods of the Nile rise only a few
feet in the Delta of Egypt, and in the Delta of the Tiber
they are equally inconsiderable, because the water spreads over
a wide area and is never afterwards confined within a narrower
channel. The widening and deepening of the river by Augustus
did not prevent the great flood in the reign of his successor,
and in the present age it would be equally inoperative.

That increasing the breadth and depth of a river, as long
as the declivity remains unaltered, can have no efl-ect upon
the volume of water which flows through it in a given time,
will be rendered clear by supposing water to flow through a
pipe AB (fig. 3) of given inclination and section. Would
anybody imagine that the quantity of water discharged at B
would be increased by causing the pipe to bulge out at C
(fig. 4) ?*

the bed; but the deepening must stop short of a horizontal line drawn
through E. It is e^•ident, therefore, that in the case of the Tiber, and other
rivers flowing through the plains, where the fall does not exceed one in
SIX thousand, nothing appreciable would be gained by sinking the bed.

* That deepening a river, as long as the declivity remains the same, can
have no appreciable effect upon its level will be sufficiently clear from the
diagram ; but that no sensible effect will be produced by widening it for a
l^sv hundred yards, unless the fall is verj- great or unless the widening is
earned to a point where there is a sudden and rapid descent, may seem
to require a further explanation. Let AB (fig. 5) represent, as before, the

PLANS FOR PREVENTING INUNDATIONS.

Ill

The straightening of the river need not be considered, as
it finds no supporters in the present day. The expenditure
would be out of all proportion to the results obtained, which
would be an addition of a foot, perhaps, or a foot and a half
to the fall, and a slight increase in the velocity.

DIVERSION OF A PORTION OF ITS WATERS.

The most popular scheme in every age for moderating the
inundations of the Tiber has been to divert a portion of its
waters above Rome, and either restore them to the river at a
lower level, or convey them to the sea by an independent
channel. Some have supposed that the canal referred to by
Pliny the younger in the following passage : **the Tiber, though
relieved by the canal which the most wise of Emperors has made,
inundates the valleys and floods the plains,"* commenced at some
point above the Pontc Molle, and after being carried by a cutting-
through the Val del Inferno, was discharged into the country

surface of the river, and let AC be the Aill in the distance AB. It is
self-evident that, however much we may widen the river between A and B,
we can never lower its level by a height equal to AC, because there must
always be a fall from A to B, otherwise the river would cease to flow.
Let AB be a mile and CA a foot, which exceeds the average fall of the
Tiber in that distance in and below Rome, then by widening the river for a
mile we could only lower its level at A by something less than a foot.

Nor would the level of the river in time of floods be lowered by more
than this small difference.

For, since by supposition the breadth of the river at B remains unchanged,
no more water can pass through it than before, and, consequently, no more
water can be discharged by the widened part. Its level would not, therefore,
be lowered relatively to the river at other points. On the contrary, the
difference of level would be lessened, as I have shewn, by a rise in the
river, and a portion of the advantage gained would be lost. If the river
be widened, not, as I have assumed, for a mile, but only for two or three
hundred yards, the lowering of the level in time of floods would be reduced
to something trifling in the extreme.

• Tiberis quanquam fossa quam providissimus Imperator fecit exhaustus,
premi valles, innatat campis (Plin. viii. Ep. 17 to Macrinus).— The most
probable supposition, however, is that the canal in question was the present
Fiumicino arm, which is considered by many to be artificial, and to have
been dug by the Emperor, to connect the Tiber with his newly-created port.

112 PLANS FOR PREVENTING INUNDATIONS.

below, and left to find its way to the sea ; a monstrous suppo-
sition, as if there were no rights of private property in tho.se days,
or as if even an Emperor could turn a river through the lands
of his subjects without any regard to the damage it might
cause. It would not be surprising if the Tiber had avenged
itself for the vaceremonious manner in which it was tamed
out of a back door by laying waste the countiy, and tainting
the air.

A plan for diverting the Anio from the Tiber was brought
for^vard in the time of Clement VIII. The canal was to
commence at the Ponte Mammolo, and after passing close to
the walls of Rome on the eastern side, so as to serve as a
wet ditch for the protection of the city, was to rejoin the
river at the church of Santo Paolo without the walls. It was
thought, that not only would the Anio be cut off from the
Tiber, but in time of floods, a portion of the waters of the
latter would discharge themselves through the Anio into the
canal. In the opinion of Bonini very little good would be
effected by such a diversion, because there are often floods
of the Tiber without any increase of the Anio. The Anio,
besides, drains but a small portion of the basin of the Tiber,'
as will be seen by inspection of f he map.

All these proposals for drawing off a portion of the Tiber
in time of floods, and restoring it to the river at a lower point,
remind me of the ingenious device of the Irishman for lengthen-
ing a piece of cloth, by cutting off a portion from th^'e top
and sewing it on to the bottom. Every one would be sensible
of the folly of trying to empty a reservoir by taking a pailful
out of one end, and discharging it into the other. Yet the
plans proposed are only a degree less absurd, when we consider
the slight fall of the Tiber between Ponte Molle and the sea,
and the great expense which would be incurred to lower the
level of the floods a foot or two ; if indeed it were possible to
lower them as much.

Let AB (fig. 5) represent the surface of the river between
Ponte Molle and San Paolo, the inclination being greatly
exaggerated to make it sensible to the eye, and let CB be

k

j»

I)

..

PLANS FOR PREVENTING INUNDATIONS. 113

the horizontal line. It is evident that whatever quantity of
water we abstract at A, and restore at B, we can never lower
the surface at A below the point C, otherwise the water would
run back again from B to C. According to Chiesa and
Gambarini, the fall of the river from the Ripetta to Ripa Grande
is four and eleven-twelfths palms, or about three and a half
English feet. Let us assume the difference of level between
Ponte Molle and Santo Paolo to be eight feet. The effect
of a rise in a river, as will be hereafter shown, is to obliterate
differences of level,* and render the declivity of the surface
more gentle along the whole course of the stream. The
difference of level, therefore, will be considerably reduced, say
to five feet, and since the level of the flood at B will not be
lowered at all, the difference at the Eipetta would be the mean
between AC and O, or two feet and a half. But the whole,
even of this difference, would not be gained. As the velocity
of a river is always greatest in the middle, and the canal
at its origin would have but a slight inclination, the same
as that of the river itself, it would be extremely difficult to
divert the current of the river into the canal,t and to make
it draw off the required quantity of water. Again, the current
from the canal when it joined the river again, by striking the
stream of the river obliquely, would retard its velocity, raise its
level above the point of junction, and in some degree neutralise
the advantage which had been gained.

Altogether, the flood would not be lowered more, perhaps,
than a few inches at the point where it is most important that

♦ That is to say, if the difference of level is caused by an obstruction oz>gr
which the river falls. In the case of a stone bridge, the difference of level
increases as the river rises. In this calculation I leave out of consideration the
effect produced by the Poiite St. Angclo, in keeping up a head of water, because
such an act of vandaHsm as the removal of that bridge is not contemplated.

t It seems to be assumed that the Tiber would rush into the canal, as if a
flood gate were opened in a reservoir. But there is no reason whv, the levels
being the same, the water should elect to enter the canal, rather than to continue
its course in the main channel. Witliout a barrage, to which there would he
objections which it would occupy too much space to discuss, it would be
impossible, I believe, to lower the level of the river one foot.

I

114

PLANS FOR PREVENTING INUNDATIONS.

it should be lowered; in the neighbourhood, namely, of the
Ripetta and the Corso.

But not to speak of their inefficiency, canals through which
the water was to discharge itself only in time of floods,
whether they entered the river at a lower level, or were
continued to the sea, would soon become an unmitigated
nuisance. To say nothing of the first cost, a considerable
expense would be incurred in maintaining these new channels,
and keeping them open; otherwise, as the waters sank, they
would become full of sandbanks, between which pools of
stagnant water would collect; a rank growth of weeds would
choke their beds; unwholesome vapours would be evolved
from them during the heats of summer ; and musquitoes would
find in them the breeding places which they most affect. The
comparative immunity of Rome from musquitoes is doubtless
owing to the absence of stagnant water. Every one, who is
acquainted with the natural history of that delectable insect,
is aware that it passes the first stage of its existence under
water, and that, when it is about to undergo its transformation,
it rises to the surface. But, unless the water is perfectly tranquil,
the winged insect, as it emerges from its larva case, is overset
and drowned. The stagnant pools in these canals would,
therefore, supply what the musquitoes would doubtless consider
a great desideratum to their race.

When afire breaks out in a theatre, the tank that should
extinguish the fire is usually found to be empty, and the pipes
that should distribute the water to be out of order. So it
would be with the canal. When a great flood came, it would
be found that the banks had fallen in, that the bed was choked,
and that the canal was incapable of performing its office.

PROPOSED EMBANKMENT OF THE TIBER.

Among the many schemes which have been proposed to the
present government of Italy, in consequence of the late inun-
undation, is that of embanking the Tiber. I shall, therefore,
consider, first, the subject of embankments in general, and!

PLANS FOR PREVENTING INUNDATIONS. 115

second, the expediency of embanking the Tiber under the
actual conditions of that river.

The Tiber does not appear to have been embanked by the
Romans. The idea did not occur to the commissioners
appointed by Tiberius to consider the means of moderating
Its mundations, though far more feasible than the plan proposed
by them of diverting its affluents ; a plan which would be con-
sidered impracticable by engineers of the present day. The
passage " Tiberis ripas extruxi,- in the letter of Aurelian already
quoted, has been translated by some, " I have raised embank-
ments along the Tiber.'' It means, I think, merely: ^'I have
built up the banks of the Tiber," that is, I have repaired the
banks, faced them with stone, or supported them by piles. The
whole tenor of the letter shows that the object of Aurelian was
not to prevent inundations, but to remove obstructions to the
navigation of the river, in order to facilitate the supply of grain
the great object of anxiety with the Roman Emperors. There
are no traces of such a work as is supposed, though portions
of it must necessarily have survived the lapse of ages.

In mountainous regions torrents are confined by mounds of
earth and stone to prevent them from tearing up the ground
and converting the adjoining fields into a sandy and stony
desert; but rivers in the plains were originally embanked, not
for the purpose of preventing their occasional inundations,
which are by no means an unmixed evil,* but to reclaim land
which was under water the whole or greater part of the year ;
for in those cases the declivity of the rivers was so slight that
it was impossible to drain the country by lowering the level of
their beds. High mounds, therefore, were erected along their
course, sufficient to confine the river during the greatest floods

• TorriceUi used to say that - les limons," or muddy deposits of rivers were
more precious than sands of gold.

During an inundation of the Loire in 1846 the plains of Forez above Roanne
where the nver had liberty to expand itself, were overflowed, and many houses
destroyed, yet the engineer in chief, Boulang^, declared that far more good had
been done by the fertilizing deposits left by the flood than harm by the destruction
of the houses.

12

116

h

PLANS FOR PREVENTING INUNDATIONS.

and the stagnant water was allowed to evaporate or was
removed by some mechanical contrivance. Such was the history
of the Po, the Loire, the lower Mississippi, the Cambridge and
Norfolk Ouse, and probably of the Euphrates, in ancient times.

In the age of Strabo the Po had no regular bed, but stag-
nated over the whole of Lombardy, forming lakes and marshes *
Its dikes were the work of the middle ages. At Orleans a
width of three thousand five hundred metres, or two miles
and a quarter, and at Jargeau a breadth of seven thousand
metres, or four miles and three-quarters, was continually liable
to be overflowed by the inundations of the Loire. The space
over which the river can range is now reduced to two hundred
and eighty metres at the former place, and two hundred and
fifty at the latter.f The Mississippi is bordered by wide tracts
of low lying land, which used to be under water for long
periods, when the river was swollen; and during the inun-
dations of 1782 and 1828, the whole region comprised between
the left bank of that river and the Yazou, a belt of fifty chilo-
metres, or about thirty miles of mean breadth, was completely
covered with water. To reclaim these lands, and allow them
to be cultivated, the great levies of the Mississippi were
raised. The great rise of the rivers, also, is not in the winter
months, like that of rivers of shorter course, but in the month
of June, when the crops are ripe, or approaching to maturity.
It became, therefore, a matter of vital importance, in order to
prevent the damage which the floods would cause at such a
time, to confine the river by embankments which will prevent
its overflow during the highest floods.

The cultivated lands which border the lower Ouse were
gained from the sea, or from morasses, by embanking the
river, and the waters which percolate through the banks, the
small streams, and the pools left by rain or floods, are dis-
charged into the river at low water, or raised to its level by
means of pumps or syphons, of which windmills or steam-
engines furnish the motive or exhausting power.

• Strabo, v. i. 5.

t Elis^e Reel us.

■•

I

PLANS FOR PREVENTING INUNDATIONS.

117

When, in consequence of high tides or heavy rains, the
river overtops or bursts its banks, the whole country presents
the appearance of an ocean, and the greatest difficulty is ex-
perienced in getting rid of the water.

The case of the Euphrates in ancient times was peculiar.
Though embanked, it was allowed to overflow the country during
Its periodical inundations and deposit its fertilizing slime,
because the stagnant water could afterwards be drained ofif into
the valley of the Tigris, which lies at a lower level.

In none of these cases is there any precedent for embanking
a river like the Tiber, which flows in a deep sunk bed, whose
inundations occur only in winter, and which, after a few days,
retires within its bed, leaving no large collections of stagnant
water to impede the operations of the cultivator. The damage
done two or three times in a century is as nothing compared
with the inconveniences which would result from embanking
a river which has so considerable a fall above Rome. If
embanked in the Campagna, the river in time of floods, being
prevented from spreading itself over the flat country, would
enter Rome at a higher level, and thus necessitate the raising
of the dikes much higher than has been calculated. If the
embankments were confined to Eome, there would be great
difficulty in isolating the city, and the duration of the floods
would be prolonged, because the exit for them would be
narrowed. Space must be left between the river and the dikes,*
otherwise the river would undermine and overthrow them, and
the cost of the land for this purpose within the precincts of
the city would be very great.

The drains must be greatly strengthened to prevent them
from being burst by the hydrostatic pressure of the water, and
they must be nicely trapped to prevent its escape. Means
must be provided for getting rid of the water which would
accumulate from the aqueducts, from the sewage, and from

• These spaces, called golenas, are in the case of the Po sufficiently wide to
be divided into fields and cultivated.

\

118

PLANS FOR PREVENTING INUNDATIONS.

falls of rain during the two, three, or four days which the river
might remain above the level of the town.

A proposition which I have seen for embanking the Tiber
appears to be a revival of a scheme attributed to Bramante.
Bramante is said to have given out that he had a plan by
which, for the expenditure of a million of crowns of gold, he
could secure the city against inundations, if not for ever, at
least for a very considerable time. In those days the sum
appeared to be excessive, and the proposal was rejected by
Leo X. and his council. Bononi tells us that he was curious
to learn the nature of the plan, and that a manuscript was
brought to him, which he believed to be that of Bramante,
and which contained the details of his plan. The principal
feature of the scheme was a great sumpf to be dug in the
lowest part of the city, to serve as a receptacle for the super-
fluous waters, while the river was at its height. This was to
communicate by flood-gates with the river above and below
the town, and, when the river had sunk to a certain level,
the flood-gates were to be opened in order to flush the sumpf,
and clear it of the mud which had accumulated during the
flood. Instead of a continuous embankment, the ends of the
streets, where they debouched upon the river, were to be closed
against the inundation, and the lower windows were to be
rendered water-tight. It is needless to discuss such a scheme,
because the sumpf, and the space it would occupy, would be
a sufficient objection at the present day.

But there are other and greater evils in embankments, which
can only be counterbalanced by the profits derived from the
land which they enable us to bring into cultivation. Rivers
which are confined between dikes invariably raise their bottoms,*
and thus necessitate the raising of the embankments in the
same ratio. The mud which should fertilise the fields encumbers
their channels, or is carried onwards to the sea, where it
impedes navigation by forming bars and shallows. In this

♦ Though this is the general opinion of pracUcal men, it is fair to obser\'e
that the fact is disputed with regard to the lower Po by some Italian engineers.

4.

1 I

PLANS FOR PREVENTING INUNDATIONS.

119

way the dangerous consequences which would result from the
giving way of the dikes, increase year by year. The Po in
many places, when flooded, is above the roofs of the houses
of the adjoining towns, and the traveller, as he drives along
the embankment of the Loire, and surveys the country
stretched below him, and extending to the extreme verge of
the horizon, speculates upon the devastation which would be
caused by the rupture of the dikes. When at length the dikes
give way in consequence of the pressure caused by an
extraordinary flood, the water rushes like a cataract into the
adjoining fields, sweeping every thing before it, and often
covers the country as far as the eye can reach *

In 1856 the Loire opened seventy-three breaches through
its levees, before considered " insubmersible," carrying away
roads, overthrowing houses, and doing damage to the amount
of one hundred and seventy-two thousand francs.f The damage
done in such cases is so great that it has been asked whether
it would not be better to throw down the dikes and replace
them by trees thickly planted. The water making its way

• During the inundation of the Loire in 1846, it burst the dikes by which
it was confined below the town of Roanne, and committed great havoc ; while
above the town, where it had liberty to spread itself gradually over the fields,
it was said to have done more good than harm.— Vallds, Etudes sur les
Inotidations .

Six ruptures of the dikes of the Po are reckoned by Lombardini during the
present age. In 1836, in consequence of the rupture of the dikes at Astrakan, all
the houses of wood were carried away and hundreds of persons perished.
Owing to the bursting of the embankments of the Waal in 142 1, seventy-two
villages were swallowed up and one hundred thousand persons were drowned.—
Etudes sur les Inondations,

t Elis^e Reclus.

In 1856 the Loire rose at Orleans 7-20 metres, or rather more than
twenty-three feet and a half, and reached within less than a foot of the top of the
dike. But, though not actually overtopped by the flood, the dikes were, as I
have related, broken through at various points. The author of a scheme for
embanking the Tiber, which was put into my hands at Rome, proposes that the
embankment, including a moveable parapet of several feet in height, should be
sufficiently elevated to exclude the great inundation of 1598. He appears not to
have considered that the river when enclosed between dikes would rise higher
than when unconfined.

li I

120

PLANS FOR PREVENTING INUNDATIONS.

slowly through the trees would gradually cover the country
instead of sweeping in a devastating torrent through it.
Those who read the American intelligence in the "Times" may
remember the account of the crevasse in the levee of the
IMississippi at Bonnet-Carr^, through which the water rushed
for many weeks before it could be closed, inundating a great
part of New-Orleans, and if the water had not found an outlet
into the Lake Pontchartrain the damage would have been
greater still.

In the October of 1872, a year after the above pages were
written, there occurred an inundation of the Po, on a scale
as extensive, and with results as disastrous as that of the
Loire in 1846. Rains of unusual violence fell over the whole
basin of the Po and its tributary streams, and, assisted by
the melting of the glaciers of the Alps, raised the river to
a greater height than it had reached during the present
century. The consequences were foreseen, and "desperate
efforts were made by the people of the neighbourhood to
strengthen the dikes, which were continually being worn away
by the raging flood. At Cremona, where seven hundred metres
had become so thin that an enormous breach was every
moment to be feared, the nearest houses and even a theatre
were pulled down, in order to use the materials for the purpose
of strengthening the crumbling bulwark; boats were sunk and
tens of thousands of bags full of earth and stones were thrown
into the bed of the river. With the same object at Casal
Maggiore the materials of fifty-two houses and two churches,
as well as fifty-four thousand bags of earth, were employed.
But this mass of matter seemed a mere trifle to the all-
devouring Po, which swallowed it up with ease, and continued
its destructive course.** The dikes at length gave way, and
the waters rushed into the adjoining lands with a vio'lence
which may be conceived from what I have said of the Po,
that it flows like an aqueduct above the level of the country
which it traverses. " Not only the solid barns and substantial
farm-houses peculiar to these districts, but even the churches
were unable to withstand the force of the current. Many

PLANS FOR PREVENTING INUNDATIONS.

121

human beings lost their lives, not only those who allowed
themselves to be caught within the lower buildings, but those
who fled for safety to the loftier buildings. The rush of
waters continued until they had found their level; and vast
tracts in the territories of Parma, Reggio, and Modena were
turned into lakes. Twenty thousand families were rendered
houseless, the fields they had sown were laid waste, and even
the cattle which they had saved from drowning were perishing
from want of fodder. What was a month ago the richest of
plains is now a chaotic marsh, not unlikely to bear for years
the marks of a few hours' havoc.'*

A still more remarkable illustration of the evils which arise
from the attempt to confine rivers within their beds and
prevent their inundations for an indefinite period is afforded
by the Hoangho, or Yellow River of China. For ages huge
embankments had been built to contain the stream, and these
had to be heightened as the river silted up its bed. At length,
in 1853, the pressure of the water suspended, as it were, above
the adjoining plains became so great that the banks gave way
at a point five hundred miles from the old mouth of the river
in the Yellow Sea, and the river rushed like a cataract through
the outlet it had formed. Turning northward, in obedience to
the configuration of the surface, it swept everything before it,
and, taking advantage of the channels of some of the smaller
streams, finally forced its way into the gulf of Petcheli, so that the
new estuary is three hundred miles distant in a straight line from
its former mouth. Immense damage was done, the banks of the
grand canal were burst, and wide districts were flooded.

According to the Mandarin Li, appointed by the Chinese
government to draw up a report upon the cause and conse-
quences of the disaster: the level of the old bed, or that
abandoned in 1853, is actually thirty or forty feet above that
of the adjoining country, and is now covered with rice-fields
and villages, and forms a refuge in time of floods of the lesser •
streams for the people inhabiting the neighbouring districts.*

• Letter of a correspondent of the "Timis," November 6, 1872.

122

PLANS FOR PREVENTING INUNDATIONS.

Surely a practice must be wrong which leads to such anomalous
results.

of ]l^r'"f" "°"'''" ^' ^''" '''' '■°"°^'"« ?^^Phic account
of the disastrous consequences of an inundation of the Mahan-

addy. a river which, though greatly inferior in size to the
Ganges the Indus, or the Godavery, has a course of f5ve
hundred miles, and drains a considerable portion of the Penin-
sula of Ind.a. It was in i866 that the inundation occurred
and the scene of the disaster was the Delta of the river *
The branches into which it is divided are embanked, and floods
caused by the bursting of the dikes are of frequent occurrence
al ernatmg w,th the droughts from which the province suffer;
st,n more than from the floods. On this occasion, says
Hunter, ,n the single district of Puri more than twelve miles
square of solid land were suddenly turned into a sea, and

of'lT TTV° '"'" "''■■^"''"^ ^°^ ""'"y "'>■'■ Thousands
of miserable fam.hes floated about in canoes, on bamboo rafts

on trunks of trees, or on rice-stacks, which threatened even:

moment to dissolve into fragments beneath them. Most of

he hamlets have boats attached to the houses, and for miles

L to'^afr T ' r'' "' '''' '^°^" •'^ •'^""'- ^'^l'-. -

a^ to aiford a refuge in time of floods. Starving colonies
m.ght be seen thus perched above the w.ters. while "he
Brahmms effected settlements on the roof of their br ck

From :; "« !°t' '°^" '" "'^'^ ^' "^^ «-d --d p t
From the first the cattle suffered terribly; sheep and goat

were earned away by herds in the torrent, and in a few 'ay

the^ carcases came to the surface covered with crows and

scufilmg kites. But the most piteous sight of al was "e

plough cattle standing in shallow parts up to their Lk

and hungnly snufiing the barren waters for food, u i, ht;

sank exhausted into the slime. Before the thirt; dly we e

f

"Orissa, Past and Present/' by W. Hunter.

PLANS FOR PREVENTING INUNDATIONS. 123

I will conclude with a letter of the " Times '» correspondent
from Egypt, dated October, 1874, shewing what a source of
anxiety an embanked river is to the inhabitants of the districts
which it traverses. In former times, before the cultivation of
cotton assumed its present proportions, the annual inundation
was allowed to cover the entire valley of the Nile as well
as the Delta, only the towns and villages, which are built
on rising ground, appearing above the sea of waters. At that
time the crops which were cultivated consisted mainly of
cereals and other plants, which were sown when the inundation
subsided and gathered in before they were endangered by its
return. But the cotton-plant is a biennial, or requires more
than a year to arrive at maturity; it could not, therefore, be
grown in the interval between two floods, and it became
a matter of necessity to keep the great river within bounds by
a system of dikes. These entail every year much labour,
anxiety, and expense; for, whatever other public works may
be neglected, the dikes must be carefully looked to, since the
very existence of the cotton harvest depends upon them. On
the present occasion the river rose to an unusual height, and
apprehensions were entertained that it might overtop or 'burst
its dikes. To prevent this calamity the greatest exertions were
made both by the government and the people. No less than
two hundred thousand men were distributed along the course
of the river and great canals of Lower Egypt, and watchmen
stationed in suspected places at every fifty or sixty paces.
Most strange, says an eye-witness, was the spectacle presented
by the Nile at night; the dark groups of fellahs massed
on the dikes, patiently waiting the summons to give aid
at some menaced point; the watchmen incessantly pacing
up and down and uttering their prolonged guttural sounds
of warning ; the rows of twinkling lanterns and cressets fol-
lowing the windings of the banks until lost in the distance;
and the swollen river faintly visible in the moonlight,'
rolling its turbid waters along with a force and a volume
which nothing would seem able to resist. Lower Egypt and
the cotton crop were saved, but wide tracts in the upper

124 PLANS FOR PREVENTING INUNDATIONS.

course of the river were flooded and considerable damage
done.*

In England, as I have before observed, there are instances,
though on a much smaller scale, of similar disasters, when
the dikes of the Ousef give way from the pressure of the water.
But the Ouse is a mere brook in comparison with the Po at
Cremona, and with the other rivers which I have mentioned,
and its level is not so much above the adjoining lands. There
is, therefore, neither the same volume nor the same rush of
waters. Loss of life, destruction of buildings, or drowning of
cattle is extremely rare, and the damage is usually confined to
the spoilmg of the crops.

It appears from the examples which I have given, that the
results are invariable when rivers are embanked. A compara-
tively slight inconvenience is staved off for a time, until it
attains the dimensions of a great calamity, and inflicts far
more loss on the country than all the annual floods combined
would have caused. What Horace says of the propensities of
men, " Naturam expellas furca tamen usque recurret," is
equally true of the material forces of Nature. If you try to
thwart her, she will have her revenge at last. Embanking a
river for the purpose of altogether preventing its floods is like
trymg to confine steam, whose elasticity is perpetually increasing,
by strengthening from time to time the vessel in which it is
contamed. Sooner or later, by some accidental increase in the
heat or by some miscalculation of the addition which should
be given to the thickness of the vessel, the steam will gain
the ascendency and a destructive explosion will occur In
like manner some mistake is sure to be made in raising and
strengthening the banks, so as to suit the variations in the
depth, direction, and velocity of the stream. Supervision is
troublesome, and is at length entirely neglected, when long
impunity has bred indiff-erence and a feeling of false security
some weak point is overlooked, and then comes an unusual

PLANS FOR PREVENTING INUNDATIONS.

125

! " ?'T'" .^''''^'' ^- ^"^"^ Alexandria, September 6.
T J-ne Huntingdon and Norfolk Ouse.

fall of rain, and the embankments are either overflowed or
swept away. The security of a whole province should never
depend upon vigilance to be exercised for an indefinite period,
for vigilance, unless kept alive by frequently recurring alarms,
is sure to go to sleep at last.

I have observed in a former chapter that rivers which flow
with a sluggish current have a tendency, especially in the
lower part of their course, to form marshes by obstructing their
channels and obliterating their banks. Such was the case with
the Po in the time of Strabo, when a large part of Lombardy
was nothing but a morass. The proper course for redeeming
the land would have been, not to embank the river, but to
dredge its bed and to remove, as far as possible, every
obstruction to the flow of the water. Afterwards transverse
embankments should have been formed, extending from the
Po to the nearest rising ground. If there should be no rise
in the ground for a considerable distance, the embankments
might be made to curve inwards at their extremities, so as
to unite at last and enclose a space. The river, then, should
have been allowed to have its own way and overflow the land
at will. The earthworks which I have described by dividing
the flooded area into compartments, within which the water
was comparatively stagnant, would have prevented the current
from tearing up the ground, and at the same time have
favoured the deposit of mud. The sediment would at once
have fertilised the ground and raised its height above the Po.
Something would have been gained every year, and, as in
the case of the Chiana, the land would have continued to rise,
until, in course of time, the due relation was established between
the level of the river and that of the country on either side.
Floods would still have occurred, but they would have been
far less destructive in their eff"ects, and when the river fell
the water would all have drained into it, leaving the land
free for the operations of the agriculturist. But now, owing
to the depression of the country below the level of the Po,
the water of the inundation can disappear only by evaporation
or by soaking into the earth; and, therefore, remains for

126

PLANS FOR PREVENTING INUNDATIONS.

weeks or months upon the ground, chilling and scouring the
land, and preventing it from being prepared for future crops.

But, as matters have gone so far, nothing remains but to
strengthen the embankments, with the certainty that, while
averting misfortune for the present, we are increasing the
danger for the future, and preparing for another age a calamity
still more disastrous than any which has occurred.

The embankment recommended by the government com-
missioners is very different from the dikes of which we have
been speaking. By embankment they understand quays along
the river side, faced with stone, like the new Thames embank-
ment or the Lung' Arno at Florence, but not rising much
above the present level. These, which are the most sensible
thmg they recommend, would be an ornament to the town
and a pleasant promenade for the inhabitants, but would have
no effect upon the floods. Lofty dikes, such as I have seen
proposed, high enough to exclude the great inundation of
1598, would be an eyesore and shut out entirely the view of
the river, already too deeply sunk between its banks, while
they would entail all the inconveniences on which I have
enlarged.

REMOVAL OF OBSTRUCTIONS.

There remain now to be considered the proposals for
removing the obstructions in the bed of the river as a
means of lowering the level of the floods. The removal of
many of these obstructions would improve the navigation of
the Tiber, and give the river a more tidy appearance, but
would have no sensible effect on the height of the floods.
The widening of the arches of the bridge of St. Angelo might,
indeed, lower the level of the water above it a little, though
less, I believe, than is supposed ; for I have never observed a
difference of more than a foot, or so, between the height of
the river above and below the bridge. But to suppose that
the removal of the piers of the Sublician bridge, or any other
obstruction which rises but a foot or two above the surface of
the Tiber at low water, could sensibly lower the level of the

PLANS FOR PREVENTING INUNDATIONS. 127

floods, betrays an extraordinary ignorance of the phenomena
of running water. The effect of an obstruction is measured
by the difference of level which it produces; and the effect
of a rise in the river is to obliterate that difference of level,
and to render the declivity of the surface more uniform, as
well as to diminish its inclination to the horizon. Any person,
who takes the trouble to observe, may satisfy himself of this!
If there is a weir across a river, it will be seen that, as the
river rises, the fall diminishes, until the fall becomes a rapid.
As the rise continues, the violence of the rapid lessens, until
at length nothing but a ripple marks the place where the fall
once was. As the river sinks, the rapid re-appears, and then
the fall. The same effect is produced at every trifling descent
until the whole surface become more uniform, and makes
a smaller angle with the horizon. It is evident, therefore,
that those objects which are buried deep beneath the flood,'
like the piers in question, can have no appreciable effect upon
its height.

RESERVOIRS FOR RETAINING THE FLOODS.

I have thus examined the schemes which have been pro-
posed at different times for moderating the inundations of the
Tiber, and have shown, as I conceive, how inefficient they would
be. But there is one to which no reference is made by the com-
missioners, if I may judge from the abstract of their report
which appears in the Italian papers. Valles, after discussing
the various plans which have been tried or suggested for
preventing the disasters caused by the overflowing of the rivers
of France, and pointing out the disadvantages of all, especially
of the system of longitudinal dikes, gives the preference to a
plan, approved by many other engineers, of forming vast
reservoirs in the mountain valleys, to retain a portion of the
water of the tributaries of these rivers during heavy rains.
The floods would be lessened by the amount of water which
these reservoirs could contain, and when the inundation had

128

PLANS FOR PREVENTING INUNDATIONS.

partially subsided, the reservoirs, which would be provided
with means of rapid discharge, might be emptied and ready
for another flood. When all danger of floods was over, the
rain water might be allowed to accumulate and reserved for
the purpose of irrigation. The plan, he observes, has been
tried on a pretty large scale in comparatively level districts,
with the object of feeding the canals ; and he complains of the
apathy of his countrymen, who, wedded to old practices, cannot
be persuaded to give to his system the extension he recom-
mends, but are content to jog along in the old path, patching
up the dikes, and using different modes of construction in
different parts of the country, which only serve to counteract
each other.

Into the details of this plan, the cost, the appropriate sites
for the reservoirs, and the profit to be derived from the irriga-
tion, I will not enter; my business being only to indicate
general principles. But it appears to me that under certain cir-
cumstances these reservoirs might aggravate the evil and increase
the floods, by keeping up the level of the river in the interval
between two great falls of rain, and thus enabling the latter
to produce a greater eff"ect.

It is doubtful whether such a plan would be entertained by
the Italian government. To say nothing of the expense, if
the Romans are as fanciful as of yore, they would not like the
thought of these great reservoirs suspended, like the sword of
Damocles, above their heads. I have mentioned the absurd
apprehension which prevailed in the sixteenth century, that
Rome would be submerged by the giving way of the "muro
grosso," or dike of the Chiana, an apprehension which Bacci
ridiculed, and tried to remove by showing that, owing to the
narrowness of the Chiana, the head of water kept up by the
dike, which is only seventeen Roman palms, or twelve English
feet in height, would be lost in the bed of the Tiber. I
have related also how the Romans at a later period opposed
the formation of a new outlet for the Velino. They
were apprehensive that some fine morning the Veline
lake on the plateau of Rcati might take advantage of

u

f e

PLANS FOR PREVENTING INUNDATIONS. 129

the new opening, and come down bodily on the town
of Eome.*

This apprehension, though absurd in the case of a lake, which shelves
gradually from the shore, and can never discharge itself at once, is not
without foundation in the case of an artificial reservoir confined by a barrier
which may be swept away in a trice. Many persons will remember the
burstmg of the Holmfirth reservoir, when many houses, mills, &c. were swept
away and many lives were lost. I myself saw a manufactory which had
been cut in two by the rush of waters as neatly as if it had been done
with an instrument, leaving the machinery exposed or projecting from the

II

4

ANIAIALS OF THE TIBER.

The Tiber, for long distances between its source and Rome,
flows through a country almost as solitary as the wilds of Canada
or Australia. While the banks of the Thames, throughout the
greater part of its course, are lined with towns or villages and
adorned with the villas of the rich and noble ; scarcely a village
is to be seen on the immediate banks of the Tiber. Borgo
St. Sepulchro and Citta di Castello, twenty and thirty miles
respectively from its source, and Terni and Narni on the Nera,
are the only towns which are situated on the banks either of
the main stream or of its tributaries, and all four are insig-
nificant in extent and population. One or two little hamlets
may be built close to the water's edge ; but, with these
exceptions, the .course of the Tiber for more than two hundred
miles is sileaa.t .and solitary. Pastures and thickets unrelieved
by cultivation bound the river on either side, and, except at the
railway stations, the face of a human being is rarely to be seen.
Hence many birds and animals which shun the neighbourhood
of man, as kingfishers and otters, find shelter and a convenient
breeding-place in the steep banks and thickets of the Tiber,
while others which breed elsewhere, as herons, resort to the
river for security and food. The kingfisher, which is scarce
in England, where it is exposed to many casualties from the
density of the population and the greater severity of the
winters, is comparatively plentiful on the Tiber and the smaller
streams which discharge themselves into it ; for there it can
always find the retirement which it loves, and procure the food
on which it subsists in the larger or smaller streams, which
remain unfrozen throughout the year.

In treating of the fauna of the Tiber I shall confine myself
to a limited number of species, giving in detail the history of
those birds and fishes alone which arc most interesting from their

ANIMALS OF THE TIBER. 131

Classical associations, their singular instincts, or the popular
notions regarding them, and noticing briefly or merely naming
the others. On the subject of Natural History, as of science
in general, it is extremely difficult to procure information in
this city. The Romans are a singularly unobservant and un-
inquiring people in all matters which do not affect their
personal interests. This is owing to the state of mental
tutelage in which they were held so long, and which led them
to take their opinions upon trust, instead of seeing and
thinking for themselves. Even those connected with the Uni-
versity, whose duties require them to deal with the subject of
Natural History, do not think it incumbent upon them to
learn the names and study the habits of the birds and quadrupeds
which haunt the banks of their native streams. When a question
relating to the animals of the Campagna is put to them, the
answer usually received is -Chi to sa," -Who can tell," accom-
panied with a shrug of the shoulders, as if it was not their
business to tell. More information is to be gleaned from
English sportsmen than from Roman professors, and partly
from this source and partly from books the history of these
animals will be given.

K2

BIRDS OF THE TIBER.

THE GULLS.

Among the birds which frequent the Tiber the foremost
place must be assigned to the gulls, which, during the winter
season, may be observed hovering over the river, and occasionally
dipping down to seize a small fish which is swimming near
the surface, or a piece of garbage which may be floating past.
This species (Larus ridibundus) is about the size of a pigeon,
and is the one which is most frequently seen in the interior
of the country. It appears, indeed, to prefer fresh to salt
water, and in Italy during the winter some of them may
always be seen flying over the rivers and marshes, even at
a considerable distance from the sea. Wherever the rivers
have overflowed their banks or the rain has inundated the
plains, thither innumerable flocks of them repair, which con-
tinually wheel above the surface of the water, now resting and
now resuming their flight, while they are ever in chase of
the insects which in such places swim and sport upon the
stagnant pools.*

These gulls are migrator}^ as well as gregarious birds, and
during the summer wing their flight to more northerly regions,
where they build their nests and rear their young. The late
Bishop of Norwich (Stanley) in his " History of Birds," informs
us that the Larus ridibundus, or red-legged gull, as it is called,
annually takes possession of an island in Norfolk, about thirty
acres in extent, and builds its nest. In Ireland, the black-
headed gulls, as they are also named, f frequent, for the same

♦ Omithologia Toscana del dottore Paolo Save.

t Great confusion is created by calling the Larus ridibundus black-headed
gull, and at the same time giving the scientific name of Larus melanocephalus to
another species, which is, perhaps, only a variety of the "ridibundus."

BIRDS OF THE TIBER.

133

purpose, the gravelly beach of a portion of Ram's island in
Lough Neagh, and so closely are the nests placed on the
ground that Mr. W. Thompson and some friends, when visiting
the place, had to use great circumspection in setting down
their feet, that they might not do injury to the nest or
eggs.*

During the interval between late autumns and early springs,
flocks of these birds may be seen gracefully skimming over
the surface of the Tiber, especially when the river is low,
and swooping down every now and then upon their prey,
which consists of insects, as well as of small fish and carrion.
All day long they are on the wing, and, like the swallows,
never seem to tire ; for rarely are they seen to float upon the
water, and, like their congeners of the sea,f to rest themselves
by riding on the waves. At night they retire to the neigh-
bouring meadows. They seem to stand in little awe of man,
and in their gyrations will pass close to barges in which are
men at work ; nor do they pay much attention to the stones
which mischievous boys occasionally fling at them. It is a
pleasing sight to a naturalist to stand on the banks of the
Tiber and watch their movements. Now that firearms can
be more freely used than under the former government, it is
hoped that none of the so-called sportsmen will molest these
interesting birds, and drive them from the city to more tranquil
haunts.

THE KINGFISHER.

No winged creature has been the subject of so many fables as
this shy and solitary bird. In the account which the ancients
have given of it, they seem in the most literal sense to have
drawn on their imagination for their facts, and to have sat
down in their closets and invented a history for a creation of
which they scarcely knew, with certainty, the colour or the
form. It was feigned that the kingfisher built its nest and

♦ See Thompson's Natural History of Ireland, and Birds of Ireland.

t Larus canus, the common gull, and Larus marinus the black-backed gull.

134

BIRDS OF THE TIBER.

reared its young upon the surface of the sea * which, even
in the depth of winter, maintained a perfect calm in order
to suit the convenience of the bird.

Perque dies placidos hyberao tempore septem

Incubat Halcyone pendentibus requore nidis.

Turn via tuta maris; ventos custodit et arcet

^olus egressu, praestatque nepotibus «quor.-Ov. Met. XT. 745.

Seven days on nest that floats upon the wave,
The winter sea unruffled by a breeze.
The Halcyon sits. Then Ocean's paths are safe
To all that sail ; for ^olus guards the winds,
Forbids them exit, and his daughters broodf
Assures 'gainst all the dangers of the deep.

The fable of the Halcyon is older than the time of
Anstotle, who relates it, without any misgivings, as an estab-
ished fact in Natural History,! though he confesses that in
the chmate of Greece the seven days preceding and following
the wmter solstice were not always fine and calm, as the popular
story assumed.

For many hundred years, with the vitality of error, this
fable held its ground. Plautus, who lived before, and during
the second Punic war, thus alludes to it:

Ag. Jam hercle tu pcristi ; ni illam mihi tarn tranquillam facis
Quam mare est olim, quum ibi alcedo puUos educit suos.-Poenulus I. 11. ,45
By Hercules 'tis you that are undone, unless you succeed
In makmg her as calm towards me as is the sea at the
Tmie when the Alcedo is rearing her young upon it.

Every one knows the origin of the expression ^' Halcyon
days ; but many have imagined, from the difficulty of applying
to the kingfisher what is said of the halcyon, that the king-
fisher and the halcyon were different birds. The description

appears to have been of the same opinion. Thus : ' '"^ ^''^^

'^'Non tepidum ad solem pinnas in littore ponunt "
Delectae Thetidi Alcyones."— G. i. 399

t Halcyone was daughter of ^olus.

t Aristotle de historia animalium.-Lib. v. cap. 8, at the end.

BIRDS OF THE TIBER.

135

J

however, given by Aristotle of the plumage of the halcyon
leaves no doubt of its identity with the kingfisher.

When we consider the wildness of this bird, and the
lonely character of the river bank which it frequents, and
beyond which it never extends its flight, it is not surprising
that its true history should have remained unknown to the
ancients, who never sought out an animal in its native haunts,
for the purpose of making themselves acquainted with its habits.
Pliny would not even take the trouble to procure a specimen
of the kingfisher when dead, in order that he might be able
to describe with accuracy its plumage and its shape, but con-
tented himself with copying the description of Aristotle, which
he contrived to mistranslate in a most important point. Aristotle
correctly described the halcyon as having a long and slender
beak : tu ^e ^'^yxoi i/7ro^\wpo>' /xeV, yaiKpov ce kuI XcTrrov ;* ** the
beak is greenish (or rather yellowish) but long and slender."
Pliny, through ignorance, or carelessness, translates "jovyx'^c"
by "collum," and thus represents the kingfisher as having
a long and slender neck,f than which nothing can be more
contrary to the truth.

The kingfisher, " Alcedo ispida,"J is called by the Italians
*• Uccello pescatore," and also '* Uccello della Maria," not from
any legend which connects it with the Madonna, but from
the azure on its back, a colour which the early painters were
fond of introducing into the drapery of the Virgin. It is now
known that, so far from building its nest upon the sea, it
builds no nest at all, but lays its eggs in the hole of a water-
rat, the depression left by the hoof of a horse near the banks
of a river, or in any natural or artificial hollow, enlarging or
contracting it to suit its convenience, and lining it with the
small fish bones which it ejects in pellets. Neither is it true
that the period of its incubation is about the winter solstice ;
for in Italy the young are hatched in the month of March,

♦ Arist. de Historia Animalium. — Lib. ix. cap 14.
t Pliny.— Lib. x. cap. 47 (32).

X The derivation of ''ispida" is uncertain. It has nothing to do with
" Hespida."

136

BIRDS OF THE TIBER.

and in England in the beginning of April. The only circum-
stance in which the true history of the kingfisher agrees with
the fable of Ceyx is in the attachment of the male to the
female, and the fidelity of the former to the latter while she
IS sitting on her eggs or rearing her young. Other birds grow
thin while they are sitting; but the female kingfisher is said
to be fatter than at any other time, from the quantity of fish
which is brought her by the male.

The kingfisher, as its name implies, feeds upon small fishes,
as well as aquatic insects. For two or three hours together
it will sit upon a branch overhanging the stream,* waiting
until it sees a fish within its reach, when it darts down upon
It with the speed of lightning, and having brought its prey
to land, despatches it with repeated strokes of its bill. If there
are no trees, and it is obliged to watch upon the gravel, it
makes a bound into the air of twelve or fifteen feet, and then
plunges into the water from that height. From the rapidity
with which it launches itself upon its prey, it is called by the
Italians, in addition to other names, " piombino," or the
plummet, though the word scarcely conveys an idea of the
quickness of its movements ; for, if it allows a fish to drop,
it often succeeds in recovering it before it reaches the ground!
Frequently, especially when the water is turbid, the king-
fisher may be seen flying close to the surface or the stream
with a rapidity which is astonishing, when we consider the
shortness of its wings, and, as it flies, it utters a piercing cry

During the colder winters of Germany, when the rivers are
partially frozen, it is often observed, while pursuing its prey
to plunge beneath the ice, whence the name of - eisvo-el '»'

BIRDS OF THE TIBER.

137

* The kingfisher naturally chooses a dead branch, which, being bare of leaves
allows a better view of the river below. Yet such is the propensity of the human
r..n to falsehood that the French peasantry, accordin/to^Buffon, aU Hir o
the Lnghsher the power of blasting the branch on which it settles; though
common sense ought to have taught them that the bough is not withered because
the bird perches upon it, but that the bird perches upon it because the bough s
withered. I have been told by a fiiend that a similar superstition exists _
the peasantry in England. ^ '"^ ^^"^^"^

11

or " icebird," has been given to it in that country. Sometimes,
when the streams are frozen completely over, dead kingfishers
are found, which have perished, either from cold or from
inability to procure their usual food.

No such casualities are to be dreaded by the kingfishers
of the Tiber, which have nothing to fear, except the cruelty
of man. To the English, the name of " icebird " appears
strange, because it suggests the idea of a denizen of the polar
regions, a bird which dwells habitually on the borders of the
ice; but to the Romans it must seem stranger still, when they
see the kingfisher darting along the surface of the river and its
tributary streams, which are never known to freeze.

The flesh of the kingfisher is said to have a musky odour
and unpleasant taste. This, and its rapid and irregular flight,
which makes it difficult to take a proper aim, are its chief
security against the Italian sportsman, who considers everything
as game from a heron to a wren, while everything which has
life is food for the ordinary Roman. Innumerable singing
birds, each of which is scarcely a mouthful, are killed with
the gun, or caught in nets, by the tasteless Romans, who have
more pleasure in eating a nightingale than in listening to its

song.

According to Gesner, the kingfisher cannot be tamed, and
before the last forty or fifty years, I am not aware that any one
had succeeded in keeping it alive for more than a few months.
Daubenton, of the Academy of Sciences, fed them, Buffon
tells us, for several months with small fish placed in a basin
of water; but we are not informed of what became of them
at the end of that time. Buffon himself was less fortunate.
Fish, he observes, must be the only food suited to them ; for,
of four full-grown young birds brought to him from the nest,
two constantly refused the flies, ants, earthworms, and cheese
which he offered them, and perished of inanition at the end
of two days, while the two utlicrs, which eat a little cheese and
a ft'w worms, lived only six.

Now, however, that the economy of animal life is better
understood, we arc enabled to imitate the conditions which are

J

'.

138

BIRDS OF THE TIBER.

BIRDS OF THE TIBER.

139

essential to the life and health of the different species, and to
naturalise them in our parks or confine them in our Zoological
Gardens.

" I love," says Waterton, speaking of the kingfishers in his
park, "to take my stand behind a large tree and watch the
kingfisher as he hovers over the water, and at last plunges
into it with a velocity like that of an arrow from a bow. I
sometimes fancy that it is all over with it, when I see it plunge
into a pond which I know to be well stocked with ravenous
pike; still it invariably returns uninjured, and prepares to take
another dip."

In the Zoological Gardens, also in the Regent's Park, London,
the kingfishers appear to be perfectly healthy and happy, and
readily catch and devour their fish; for there the conditions
under which they live in a state of nature have been success-
fully imitated.

THE HERON.

The grallatores, or waders, are birds of passage in the climate
of Rome. The heron, for instance, which remains all the year
round in England and the north of Europe, spends only the
winter months in central Italy, and quits it for cooler regions
when the heats of summer have begun to dry up the marshes
which it frequents and to limit the means of procuring its
usual food. The difficulty, also, of finding convenient breeding-
places in the parched and naked Campagna must determine
the migration of the greater part, for a few arc said to remain
and build their nests in the Pomptine marshes, where they
can find the retirement which they love, and enjoy the freedom
from molestation which at such a time is indispensable to
them.

The common heron, -Ardea cinerea,"* is not unfrcqucntly
seen in the neighbourhood of the Tiber and its tributary streams
though It IS often overlooked by those who cannot discern i[
at a distance or rccogni.sc it in the air by its pecuhar mode

• The "Airone" of the ItaHans, called, also, .« Scarza cinerea,'' and the
Aschegrauer reiher " of the Germans.

of flight. Sometimes it is flushed in the brooks and ditches

which discharge themselves into that river ; sometimes it is

seen standing motionless, a picturesque object in a landscape,

on the sandy spits which project into the stream, or among

the thickets of reeds or underwood which line the banks ;

and sometimes it is observed sailing across the country from

one fishing station to another. On tliese occasions it often

rises to an immense height, and, when at a great elevation,

presents a singular appearance. Its meagre body, which is

laterally compressed, appears then reduced to a mere line, and

the large concave wings seem to have nothing to support.

According to Virgil, before storms of wind and rain it soars

above the region of the clouds :

notasque paludes
Deserit, atque altam super volat ardea nubem. — G. i. 363.

While the crane, with more good sense, forsakes the regions of
air and flies for shelter to the bottoms of the valleys :

ilium surgentem vallibus irais
Aereae fugere gruea. — G. i. 374.

Whence this difference in the behaviour of birds so nearly
allied ? We can only reply that, as instinct is unerring and
directs an animal to what is necessary to its preservation, it
must lead species which are closely related and whose habits
are similar, to act in a like manner under the same circum-
stances. We may assume, therefore, that the lofty flight of
the heron before a storm is a fancy of Virgil or a popular
error of the day.

Buffon writes in a very sentimental strain about the heron,
and describes it as leading a life of unmitigated wretchedness.
When it is seen standing like a lifeless image on the river's
bank, as if absorbed in inward contemplation, but in reality
intent upon the movements of the fish, this imaginative writer
pictures it to himself as brooding over its own miseries, and
almost indifferent to the preservation of a life which, for it,
is nothing but a burden. Even the more matter-of-fact
Willoughby attributes its mcagreness — for, notwithstanding its
size, it weighs but three or four pounds — to the constant state

;

140

BIRDS OF THE TIBER.

I

or anx.ety in which it lives. This meagrcness is the more
remarkable when we consider the voracity imputed to the bird,
and how it devours indiscriminately not only fish but frogs,'
every kind of aquatic reptile, and even water-plants when
other food is scarce. The frogs it appears to swallow whole,
for the bones are observed to be discharged unbroken.

Of the persecutions to which it is subjected there can be
no question, whatever elTect they may have on its corporeal
frame. The love of cruelty and the propensity to destruction,
which are almost ' instinctive in the human breast, for they
are seen in greatest intensity in boys, uneducated persons, and
uncivilized nations, disposes the common herd* to attribute
no.xious qualities to almost every animal in a state of nature.f

To the love of cruelty and the love of mischief we may add the love of
ying, which Bacon (Essays i., line .5) declares to be natural to man. This
love of falsehood leads the vulgar to invent stories of the ferocity and venomous
properues of certain animals, which every naturalist, from his acquaintance with
the pecuhar organ zation of these animals, knows to be physically impossible.
Against the amiable trio which I have mentioned the poor animals would have
ittle chance, if the superior intelligence and energy of the small minority who
take them under their protection did not make up for the paucity of their
numbers. If the nation had been polled, the act against cruelty to animals
would never have been passed ; if the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty had
not been formed, that act would never have been enforced.

t The vulgar errors respecting the toad, the hedgehog, the goatsucker, the
woodpecker and m Italy the brown lizard, called the "Gecko," are illustrations
01 this AH these animals are insectivorous, and, therefore, beneficial to man •
yet nothing will convince the country people that the fir.t is not venomous, and
that the second does not milk cows and carry away apj.les on the point of
Its spines In some old parish accounts the ratepayers are debited with certain
sums paid as rewards for the destruction of " urchins," as hedgehogs were then
called. In other words, the householders of the parish were made to pay for
he destruction of an animal which was not only harmless but actually useful
to them, and which is sold in Covent Cxarden market as a destroyer of noxious
insects. The goatsucker, as not only its popular but its scientific name implies
IS supposed to drain the udders of goats, and the woodpecker to injure trees bv
bonng holes in them, though it merely makes an opening into the cotton cavities
where insects lodge and breed, and by devouring them removes one source of
damage to the tree. The Gecko, called by the Italians "Tarantula," which
possesses the power not only of climbing walls but of walking, like a fly, upon the
ceiling of a building, is perfectly harmless, and feeds, like the other lizards, upon
insects ; yet ,t ,s assumed to be venomous, because its colour and form are

BIRDS OF THE TIBER.

141

in order that they may have an excuse for ill-using and
destroying it. Even in the older naturalists something of this
disposition may be discerned, while the moderns, being better
informed, are more disposed to extenuate the supposed evil
doings of the animal creation, or, as in the case of the
sparrow, to set off the good they do against the pilfering, of
which they are occasionally guilty in our fields and gardens.
Thus Willoughby, who lived in the seventeenth century, speaks
of the quantity of fish destroyed by the heron. Waterton, on
the other hand, who, as everyone knows, made his park an
asylum for every kind of persecuted creature, thus expresses
himself with regard to that bird : ** I encourage this poor
persecuted wader to come and take shelter here, and am glad
to see it build its nest in the trees which overhang the water,
though carp and tench and many other sorts of fish are there
in abundance. Close attention to its habits has convinced me
that I have not done amiss. Let us bear in mind that the
heron can neither dive nor swim, and, therefore, in shallow
water only can it surprise the fish ; and even then, when we

repulsive, and while it is darting along the walls in pursuit of its prey is
supposed by the stupid Neapolitans to have entered their houses with some

fell intent.

Of the combined love of cruelty and mischief, and, we may add, stupidity, we
have additional illustrations in the shooting of swallows at the time M-hen they
are serving mankind by hawking for insects and of seafowl during the breeding
season. These birds are often very useful, by warning ships by their cries of the
vicinity of rocks, which are invisible, owing to the density of the fog. To
prevent the extermination, therefore, of the seafowl in certain localities it was
found necessary to enact a law against molesting them at the time when they are
sitting on their eggs or rearing their young. To these instances we may add the
wanton destruction of elephants in India. Everjone knows that this animal
rarely breeds in captivity, and that the supply of domestic elephants, which are
a necessity in that climate, is recruited from the wild herds that range over the
uncultivated districts of the provinces of Tipperah and Chittagong, lying east
of Calcutta and the table-lands of Mysore, or roam through the forests of
Ceylon. Some time ago an act was passed for their preservation within certain
limits ; yet such was the havoc committed amongst them by " sportf^mcn " that
there was danger of a failure in the supply, and it became necessary to pass a
more stringent act, which, in the case of the elephants of Mysore, has lately
(July, 1874) come into operation.

It

.^

i,i

142

BIRDS OF THE TIBER.

see it standing motionless and suppose it to be intent on
striking some delicious perch or passing tench, it is just as
likely that it has waded into the pond to have a better oppor-
tunity of transfixing a water-rat lurking at the mouth of its
hole* or of gobbling down some unfortunate frog which had
taken refuge in the rush-grown margin of the pond. As the
ordinary food of these birds consists of reptiles, quadrupeds,
and fish, and as the heron can only catch fish when they
come into shallow water, I think we may fairly consider this
wader not very injurious to our property, especially when we
reflect for a moment on the prodigious fecundity of fish.''

Heron hawking was formerly a favourite amusement of the
nobility in England and the north of Europe. On these
occasions both hawk and heron soar to an immense height,
each striving to rise above the other, the hawk to acquire
the impetus for making its deadly swoop, the heron to escape
it by gaining the vantage ground. The reader may remember
the vivid description in Sir Walter Scott's "Betrothed" of the
chase of the heron by the falcon. In this we have a faithful
account of the behaviour of the birds as they strive to outstrip
one another in their upward flight, but naturalists have doubted
whether the heron ever awaits the onset of the falcon in the
manner described, and impales its enemy on its bill.

The flesh of the heron was highly esteemed in former days,
ranking with that of peacocks and pheasants, and the proprietors
of heronries often derived a profit from the sale of the young
and tender birds. Now it is supposed by most persons to be
a rank and unpalatable food. Selby.f however, declares that,
when in good condition and well cooked, it is little inferior to
some of our most approved water-fowl.

On account of the sport which it afforded and the estimation
in which its flesh was held, the heron was protected by severe
pecuniary penalties, and heronries were far more numerous than

• \\ aterton tells us that the bank of an artihcial piece of water in his park
which was much infested with rats, was almost entirely cleared of tliese vermin
by the herons which he encouraged to breed upon the trees beside it

t Illustrations of British Ornithology.

BIRDS OF THE TIBER.

143

in the present day. Now they are found on the estates of
only a few landed proprietors, where they are retained as an
appendage to the state of the wealthy and high-born owner,
or protected as objects of natural curiosity.

In France they were established in the forest of Fontaine-
bleau by Francis I., who took a great pride in them. In Italy
I cannot learn that they ever existed, though falconry was
practised to a certain extent, and the heron was one of the
quarries at which the hawk was flown. The Italians seem
never to have possessed that love of simple nature and that
interest in the animal creation which has been displayed by
nations of Teutonic origin; which led the English to imitate
the wild and rural in their gardens, and to encourage the
heron to breed near their mansions; which, also, led the
Dutch to protect the stork that breeds upon their roofs.

Buffon thus describes and moralizes upon the behaviour of
the heron in captivity: "When a heron has been taken, it
may be kept for fifteen days without being observed to seek
or to take any nourishment. It rejects even that which they
try to make it swallow. Its natural melancholy, increased, no
doubt, by captivity, prevails over the instinct of self-preservation,
and the apathetic heron perishes without complaining and
almost without appearance of regret." Whether it be true or
not that the captive heron refuses food and starves itself to
death, it is certain that when taken young it may be tamed
and will know the person by whom it expects to be fed.

A young heron was formerly called a heronshaw (from the
French " heronceau," diminutive of heron), which word has
been corrupted into "handsaw" in the line of Hamlet:

When the wind is south, I know a hawk from a handsaw. — Act ii. 2.

The heron is seen in the neighbourhood of Rome from the
middle of October to the middle of ^lay, and even later. During
the winter it haunts the river both above and below the city,
but towards the close of the season only below it.

SaUEtrrB?-

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144

BIRDS OF THE TIBER.

THE BITTERN.

As Pliny had never seen a specimen of a kingfisher, so he
appears to have known nothing about the bittern. He copies,
indeed, from Aristotle the names of three species of heron,
among which was the "astcrias," or bittern; but there is
nothing in his Natural History to indicate that he knew
anvthinof about the form or the habits of the bird. The sounds
resembling the lowing of cattle, which were heard, he says,
in the neighbourhood of Aries, '^ were undoubtedly the booming
of the bittern, though he incorrectly attributes them to a small
bird which he calls the ''taurus."

Aristotle, on the other hand, was acquainted with the bittern,
which he calls "asterias," *' stellaris" ; but he was as much
in the dark as Pliny with regard to the strange noise which
it makes. Having no suspicion that the loud sounds which
reached his ears from the recesses of the marsh proceeded from
a bird, he sought an explanation of the phenomenon in the
expulsion of air from caverns by the sudden rush of water.f
These sounds, which resembled, he tells us, the bellowing of
a bull,]: were heard by the superstitious with religious awe and
attributed to oxen sacred to the god.

The booming of the bittern, which is the call of the male
during the breeding season, is its chief peculiarity, and has
procured for it in Lincolnshire the name of ** miredrum," or
drum of miry places ; in Italy of " trombone," or the great

* Plin. Hist. Nat. x. 41, 57.

t This conclusion of Aristotle is a good illustration of the different mode in
the investigation of truth adopted by the ancients and the moderns. A modern
naturalist would have penetrated into the marsh, traced the sound to its source,
and thus discovered the animal from which it proceeded. The physical labour
and discomfort of such researches was not to the taste of the ancient philosophers,
who preferred sitting down in their closets and framing some ingenious hypothesis
to account for a natural phenomenon. But as the hypothesis was neither based
upon observation nor verified by experiment, it was usually wide of the trutli.

^ Aiu Ti [ii/] t'Xfcri Tois trapa touv TTOTa/uoi/s yivovTai 01 KaXoufitifoi
poufjiUKOi, ov^ /jLvdoKoyovai Tau/ooi/s iipov<i tivai rov 6(oC ■ lari £i to ytvofjiivov
\f/6(poi buoio^ xf/wurj TaOpou, k.t, X,, AristOtle, oaa irrpl top ufpa <pvan<a irpom
fiXn/jLaTa. Ki. 3. (25. 2).

BIRDS OF THE TIBER.

145

trumpet; and in Germany of " erdbull," or earthbull, in addition

to the more common name of " rohrdommel." The name of

"erdbull" is, perhaps, the expression of the popular belief that

the sound is produced by thrusting the bill into the ground.

To this belief Thompson, in his "Seasons," alludes in the

following verses :

So that scarce
The bittern knows his time, with bill engulfed
To shake the sounding marsh. — Spring, v. 21.

It is scarcely necessary to observe that the effect of burying
its bill in the earth would be to deaden instead of to increase
the sound of the air proceeding from the lungs.

The booming is so loud that it may be heard, it is said,
at the distance of a mile and a half. Belon, a French naturalist,
declares that no bull can bellow^ as loud.

The bittern is rarely seen and spends the day in extensive
marshes, where it remains concealed from the view^ of all its
enemies, while it finds in such places the food on which it
subsists. This consists of water reptiles, frogs, and rats, which
it swallows entire. In Grave's "British Birds" it is stated
that the intestines of one dissected in 181 1 contained the
remains of four eels, several water newts, a short-tailed field-
mouse, three frogs, two buds of the water-lily, and some other
vegetable substances.

It is owing to the habits of this bird and the instinct
which leads it to seek safety in concealment that it is seldom
or never to be met with on the Tiber above Rome, where
the marshes are few and of limited extent. It is in the
extensive morasses on the lower course of the river, reaching
in breadth from Ostia to Macarese, that the bittern must be
sought. P>om these reedy coverts it is very difficult to dislodge
it, and the sportsmen must beat for these birds with pointers,
for they lie so close that, like the jack snipe, they may almost
be trodden upon before they will rise ; and it is frequently
necessary to traverse two or three times, up to the knees in
water, the marshes in which they lurk. From its immobility
during the dav the bittern received from the Greeks, as we

146

BIRDS OF THE TIBER.

are told by Aristotle, the name of okvoq, or the sluggish.* He
adds that it was fabled to have been transformed from a slave
into a bird, and is, as the name would imply, very sluggish
in its habits.

It is only at sunset and in autumn, according to Willoughby,
that the bittern quits the spot where it had lain for many
days concealed. f It then ascends in a spiral course to an
enormous height, as if to take a survey of the country, and
select a new abode. From its lofty flight on these occasions,
Scaliger fancifully derived its specific name of ** stellaris," as
though it were given to it because it soars towards the starry
vault of heaven. Others think that it derives its name from
the marks on its plumage, though these are not disposed in
the form of stars.

The bittern, as it mounts, utters a re-sounding cry, quite
distinct from its booming noise. This cry, heard in the
stillness of the night, has often impressed those that were
abroad with superstitious awe. Willoughby believes the bittern
to have been the night-raven, at

whose deadly voice
The superstitious wayfarer of the night
Turned pale and trembled.

Others think, with better reason, that the night-raven was the
"Ardea nycticorax," whose specific name ("nycticorax") means
** raven of the night." No species, it may be observed, of the
true raven, or of the genus "corvus," is a nocturnal bird or
flies abroad after sunset.

The bittern, like the heron, was a bird of chase and placed
under protection of similar game laws. The taking of one of
its eggs was, in the reign of Henry VIII., punished by a
year's imprisonment and a fine of eightpence. Its flesh, also,
was considered a delicacy by our forefathers, and even in the

* 6 it dcTTipia^ 6 iiriKaXovfjitvoi okvo^. — Arist. de Hist. Anim. ix. i8.

t Though most naturalists are agreed that the bittern remains quiescen^
during the day, I have met with English sportsmen who declare that they have
seen it fljing backwards and forwards in broad daylight over the country that
borders on the lower Tiber.

BIRDS OF THE TIBER. 147

present day it is found to be good eating, if care be taken
to strip ofl^ the skin of the breast and wings, for the capillary
vessels of the skin contain an acrid oil, which in the process
of cooking diiTuscs itself througli the flesh.

Whatever may be thought of the heron, the bittern can
scarcely be accused of devouring human food, unless a French-
man should grudge it the frogs, which form the larger portion
of its ordinary diet. Yet, of those who would neither taste
its flesh nor care to preserve its skin, few would be found to
spare its life if it came within their reach.

In addition to the four species which I have described at
length, the following aquatic and wading birds frequent the
lower Tiber and the marshes at its mouth :

Ardea (Botaurus) minuta Little Bittern.

Ardea nycticorax (nycticorax griseus) .. Night Raven.

Ardea (Herodias) garzetta Little Egret Heron (rare).

Ardea purpurea Painted Heron.

Ardea ralloides Buff- backed Heron.

Ibis Falcinellus Bronzed or Glossy Ibis.

Ibis rehgiosa Sacred Ibis (very rare).

Himantopus melanopterus Stilted Plover (called by the Italians

"Cavalier d' Italia")

Machetes pugnax Ruffs and Reeves.

Vanellus cristatus Lapwing.

Numenius arquata Common Curlew.

CEdicnemus crepitans Stone or Whistling Curlew.

Scolopax rusticola Woodcock.

Scolopax Gallinago Snipe.

Scolopax Gallinula jack Snipe.

Podiceps cristatus Crested Grebe.

Podiceps auritus Long-eared Grebe.

Podiceps minor Dab Chick.

Fulica atra Common Coot.

Rallus aquaticus Water Rail.

Anas clangula Golden.eyed Duck (called " Morettone "

by tlie Italians).

Anas Boschas Mallard, or Wild Duck.

Anas clypeata Shoveller.

Anas Penelope Widgeon )

Anas Tadorna Shieldrake / ^^^^^o^^Hy only.

Querquedula crecca Common Teal.

^^^^^^^^^s Wild or Grey Goose.

L2

148

BIRDS OF THE TIBER.

The following are rarely seen :

Phoenicopteria antiquorum Flamingo.

Platalea leucorodia Spoonbill.

By far the larger portion of the species enumerated are found
only on the lower Tiber and in the marshes at its mouth ;
but some of the waders and swimmers are met with in the
winter higher up than Rome. Such waders as seek their food
on shingly sea-shores, like the "oyster-catcher" and " turnstone/*
are omitted, as not pertaining to rivers, like the Tiber, with
muddy banks.

1

Plate 2.

t

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FISH OF THE TIBER.

The fresh-water fish of the Tiber was held in little esteem

by the ancient Romans. The only species mentioned by the

poets of the Empire* was the *' Anguilla," or eel, which Juvenal

describes as penetrating the sewers and fattening upon the

garbage which it met with there. It was looked upon as

inferior food, and the same poet represents it as set before

the parasite, while the host regaled himself with the more

delicate " jNIuraena" ;

Virroni muraena datur quae maxima venit
Gurgite de Siculo

Vos anguilla manet longse cognata colubrae

Vernula riparum, pinguis torrente cloaca

Et solitus mediae cryptam penetrare SuburrDe.— V. 99.

The fish most esteemed by the epicures of the city were
those which were caught on the shores of the IMediterranean,
or which occasionally ascended the Tiber from the open sea.
Such were the "Rhombus," or turbot, the " JMurccna/'f the

• The perch is described by Aiisonius, who lived in the early part of the
fourth century, as a fish which might vie even with the red mullet :

Solus puniccis facilis contendere mullis.
But the perch is now, and probably always was, a stranger to the Tiber. Those
of which Ausonius speaks were caught in the Moselle.

t Muraina is usually translated "lamprey," but, as the lamprey from the
structure of its mouth is incapable of biting, it could not have been the fish
by which the slave of Vedius Pollio was condemned to be devoured. Ovid

describes the " Muraena " as

ardons

Auratis raurscna notis.— Halieut 26.
"Whereas the lamprey has no such spots, and calls it «' ferox."— Id. 113, 114.
And Aristotle tells us that it feeds on fiesh. On the oihcr hand, the lamiMcy
(Petromyzon) only sucks. Cuvier, therefore, supposes that the "Mura:na" of
the ancients was the same with the " :Mura."na Helena" vX Linna?us. an eel-like

150

FISH OF THE TIBER.

Mulus, or red mullet, the " Acipenser," or sturgeon, and
the Lupus. In the time of Pliny a fish called the " Scarus."
winch cannot be ulentificd with any modern species, was
thought to bear off the palm; but the five which I have
mentioned always maintained their reputation.* The last two
the former of which is caught in the Tiber in modern times!
the latter associated with it in ancient, will be treated of at
greater length.

Everyone has read the story of Domitian and the turbot f
and of \edius Tollio and the mura..na. which he fed with
dehnquent slaves,! and every tyro in classics knows what
enormous sums were paid for red mullets which exceeded the
ordinary standard of size. From Horace, Plinv, and Martial
we learn ,n what estimation the - Lupus » was held, while the
flesh of the sturgeon was pronounced to be ambrosia, a I'ood
fi ted only for the imn,ortal gods, and one which, according to
Martia ,§ ought to be reserved for the table of Emperors. As
tl.e "Lupus," though now confined to the sea, ascended the
nver ,n the time of Horace as far as the centre of Home,
and as the sturgeon is still caught at the Ponte Sisto in the
present day, the two may be considered as belonging to the

animal which resembles the lamnrev in if«; rr^n^^-oi

Cuvier himself sav» '• that it bit s ev re v " ■ S ^^^'''''"''' ''"' "^ ^''-h
Annotations of c/. Cuvier to P, ly th Sinalis" ,7"";.%^™;"^'-: <^-
TauHnoru.. T.in., U may L obser:^':^ .h "se^ .^n l^"nt:

♦ Next to the.se ranked the " AcpH.ic " r.,^^ j i.

^'^ ^""^ '^'^^'^'■™' """ 'I^^nu.s nomine Asellus.-Hal. 131
The latter were kept in large salt-water ponds, called - cetiria " .n 1 n
referred to by Horace ; cttaiia, and are thus

Plures annabunt thynni, et cetaria crescent.-Sat. n, 5, 44.
t See Juv. Sat. iv. 72. ^^

X The story may be found in Seneca do T,-^ rrr ^
dictionary. '^ '^"^ ^'''' '''' ■^^' ^' ^" '-^^y classical

§ Ai] Pallatinas acipcnscm mittite men.sas

Ambro.sias ornent munera rara dapcs.

i

Plate 1

MurffncL of tJie hU'f/uz^i^

Tig. 3

Muffdis of thp. Motrtanti. /Mu^il Cephali4S J

Grey MuJlet.

7^e<l MuUet of th^, Jivmans

C^

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Luke - k Coioure^i. ^y

'f ifihrfl ut tlif U,iliri'.

•I
ll

'^3

1

jyieCca.i/k A i5i?w. /^^a.nr^ri4ip^-

FISH OF THE TIBER.

151

\

Natural History of the Tiber and its classical associations,
and, therefore, merit a longer description than the other fish,
which were either fresh-water species held in little esteem by
the ancient Romans, or salt-water species caught only in
the open sea.

THE LUPUS.

The "Lupus" appears to have ranked next to the "Muraena,"
the "Mullus," and the "Acipenser" for the delicacy of its
flavour. The Roman epicures imagined that they could dis-
tinguish by the flavour not only whether the "Lupus" was
caught in the Tiber or in the open sea, but even in what
part of the Tiber it was taken, whether at Ostia or between
the bridges :

Unde datum sentis lupus hie Tiberinus, an alto
Captus hiet ? pontesne inter jaetatus, an amnis
Ostia sub Tusci.— Hor. Sat. ii. 2, 31.

Those taken in the heart of the city were preferred, as well
as the "lanati" or "lanei," as they were called by Pliny and
Martial, from the whiteness and softness of their flesh,* the
latter of which qualities would be no recommendation in the
present day, when fish is valued in proportion to its firmness.

In many dictionaries, and even in Becker's " Gallus," the
"Lupus" is mentioned as if nothing were known about it,
except that it was a voracious fish, as its name would seem
to imply, and some, who have not given their attention to
the Natural History of fish, assume that it was the pike, which,
from its greediness and fierceness, has received the name of
the fresh-water shark. But the pike is an exclusively fresh-
water fish, and is never taken, like the "Lupus" of the Romans,
in the open sea or even in salt-water estuaries, though it is
sometimes found in the inlets of the Baltic, which is far less
salt than either the Atlantic or the Mediterranean, and in some
places almost fresh.

♦ Luporum laudatissimi qui appellantur lanati a canJore mollitieque carnis..

— Plin. IX. 6i. ^. .

Laneus Eugenci lupus excipit ora Timavi

^quorco dulcis cum sale pastus aquas.— Mart. xiii. 91.

.,_.i.^- . ■« .1

152

FISH OF THE TIBER.

There seems, however, no question about the identity of the
"Lupus/* and it is now recognised as the ** Perca Labiax'* of
Linnaeus, or the "Labrax Lupus" of Cuvier, a fish of the family
of the perches, which grows to a much larger size and attains
a much greater weight than the common perch * It is described
as a fish of extraordinary voracity, which is accounted for by
the large size of its stomach and the number of its coecums
(a division of the intestines), which amount to five, while the
fresh-water perch has only three. Though there is nothing
repulsive in its appearance, and it has a superficial resemblance
to the salmon, it has, from its boldness and voracity, received
throughout the south of Europe names evidently derived from
the Latin "Lupus," being called "Lupo" in Spain, *'Loup"
at Marseilles, *' Luvasso " at Nice, and " Lupasso," though
more generally " Spigola," at Rome. On the coasts of the
ocean it is less plentiful, and it is called "Loubine" in some
of the parts of Guienne. It is the "bar" of the coasts of
Normandy and the "bass" of the English. Its usual length
is a foot and a half, but individuals are not unfrequently found
of two or, more rarely, of three feet. It seldom exceeds the
weight of fifteen or twenty pounds, though Prince Bonaparte
tells us he has weighed some of forty pounds.f On the other
hand, it is rare to meet with a fresh-water perch of more than
three pounds, though in the lakes Maggiore and Como they
have been taken of six, eight, and ten pounds each.J:

The flesh of the "Labiax" is very delicate, and is as much
esteemed by the modern Romans as by their ancestors of the
age of Augustus. The larger specimens are eagerly bought
up by the wealthy Romans, and exhibited with pride at their
feasts.

The "Spigola" is taken in large numbers on the shores of
the Mediterranean, and in less quantity on the coasts of Nor-
mandy and England. According to Athenaeus it was greatly

♦ Histoire Naturelle des Poissons, by Baron Cuvier and M. A. Valenciennes.
Paris, 1836.

t Fauna Italica, by Carlo. J.. Principe Bonnparte, Principe di Canino.
I These would, of course, be Roman pounds.

FISH OF THE TIBER.

153

I

esteemed in Greece, where it was known by the name of
Xd/3pa4, which is evidently derived from the XafiporrjQ, or
voraciousness of the fish.

THE STURGEON.

The capture of the sturgeon, according to Pliny, was a rare
event,* and its excellence was perhaps overrated on that account.
In Athenaeus we have a description of an Attic supper in mock
heroic verse, which doubtless represents the tastes of the
Romans of the time [a.d. 230]. The description is supposed
to be given by Matron, a 7rupu)huQ or composer of burlesques.
Matron tells us that, though he had already eaten a hearty
supper, he could not restrain his impatience to taste the
sturgeon, which, according to the usual practice, was introduced
in state, and that it seemed to him " ambrosia," food fitted only
for the immortal gods.f

To us it does not appear to deserve the praises bestowed
upon it by the ancients; the flesh, at least in the larger fish,
being dry, and resembling coarse veal more than anything else.

The sturgeon is taken in the Tiber of every size, from
eighteen inches or less to twelve feet or more. It ascends
the river in the month of May, and is caught from that time
to the end of June. Large fish, weighing from one hundred

• Nullo nunc in honore est, quod quidem miror, quum sit rams inventu.
Plin. IX. 60. But what he says about the sturgeon being less esteemed than
formerly is contradicted by the verses quoted from Martial, who lived at the same
time as Pliny.

"f Ta>f B' dp' iXtjoxj/ Kptitov ^ovpiKKvTOt r\yip.6viviv

Oi*, irXt/'/otjv irip itJi/, Kpaffpo^ iraXapri iTTopi)(Qriv
TivaiaQ^ l/jLtipwv^ to dt y* dfippoai}] fiol i^o^tv
'Ell/, i\v 6aiovTai /xaKapti dtoi diiv lovri^, — IV. C.

The sturgeon led them warrior prince renowned,
Although already sated with the feast,
Eager to taste it forth I stretched my hand,
And seized a portion in my sturdy grasp.
Methought it seemed ambrosia, food for gods,
Such as immortal gods alone may taste.

The sturgeon was brought in first in the procession of dishes.

154

FISH OF THE TIBER.

FISH OF THE TIBER.

155

to three hundred pounds, are entangled occasionally in the
revolving nets at the Ponte Sisto, which are intended principally
for the capture of shad, and called -giornelli," because all
day long they never cease to turn. When this takes place,
the revolution of the net is arrested by the weight of the
fish, which is secured by means of a boat.

The larger sturgeons, of which not more than thirty or forty
are taken in a year, are, of course, considered great prizes;
but the llesh of the smaller ones, called by the Romans
"porchetti," or sucking-pigs, is far more delicate than that
of those which attain the dimensions I have stated, while it
is sufficiently firm.

The sturgeon has always been considered "a dainty dish
to set before a king." I have quoted the lines of Martial in
which he recommends a sturgeon to be sent to the Palatine,
as its only fitting destination; and in modern times, the
sturgeon, when caught in the Thames, within the jurisdiction
of the Lord Mayor, is considered a royal fish. The kin-
appears, however, to possess the same claim to the fish when
caught anywhere within the British Isles. In the '' Times " of
the twenty-ninth of May, 1872, there appeared a letter from
a fishmonger of King's Lynn, Norfolk, complaining that the
supermtendent of police and two officers had called at his shop
and carried ofi' a sturgeon of fifty or sixty pounds, saying that
It ought to have been offered to the Mayor (to be presented
I presume, to the Queen). In the same Journal, of the twenty-
first of July, in the same year, appeared the following i)ara-
graph, headed: -A Royal Fish.-On Friday morning a sturgeon,
SIX feet six inches long, weighing about one hundred and twenty
pounds, was caught in the .Medway. opposite Chatham dock-
yard. The Mayor of Rochester sent the fish to the Queen, at
Windsor, by the principal water-baililf of the city, Mr. E.' G.
Watson." It docs not appear whether any compensation was
made either to the Lynn fishmonger or to the captor of the
sturgeon at Chatham.

As the sturgeon in England was considered to belong of
right to the king, so one which was taken m the revolving

nets at the Ponte Sisto was thought a fitting present for a
Pope. It was the year 184S, and Pius IX. was in the height
of his popularity. The sturgeon, which was between seven
and eight feet in length, was put alive into a large vessel of
water, placed upon a frame decorated with green boughs and
flowers, and carried in procession by six boatmen dressed in
white, and wearing scarlet caps. This happened during the
Easter festival, at the time of the Apostolical supper, and a
large portion of the sturgeon is said to have been distributed
among the men who represented the twelve apostles.

The sturgeon belongs to the order of cartilaginous fishes,
or those with gristly instead of bony skeletons. It is, there-
fore, allied to the shark, which, in some parts of its structure,
it resembles. As in the shark, the mouth is underneath, while
the long snout, where we should expect the mouth to be, is
undivided. In other respects nothing can be more different
than the two fishes, the mouth of the sturgeon being small,
toothless, and protractile, so that it is incapable of feeding
on anything but small animals and soft substances.

THE GREY MULLET.

Though the grey mullet, ''mugilis cephalus," is properly a
fish of the sea, yet, as it is caught at the mouth of the Tiber,
and is mentioned by Juvenal as the instrument of punishment
for a certain class of offences,"-^' it will not be out of place to
give its history here.

The flesh of the grey mullet, which is commonly sold in
the markets of Rome, is firm and delicate, and fully equal to
that of the *♦ Lupus," or *' Spigola ; " yet it does not appear
to have been held in the same estimation by the ancient
Romans, who gave such enormous sums for the red mullet, a
fish nearly allied to the grey. The beauty, however, of the
red mullet appears to have been its principal recommendation,
for it was often brought in alive at a banquet, in order that

(iuosdam mocchos et mugilis inlrat.—x. 317.

;>

156

FISH OF THE TIBER.

the guests might feast their eyes with the changes of colour
which it exhibited as it expired.

The ''MugiHs cephakis," so named from the Large size of its
head, and called by the Italians cefalo del Mare, is one of the
largest of the genus. Specimens are often seen, which are
eighteen inches long, and some have been found which
measured two feet or more. It attains the weight of ten, twelve,
and sometimes, according to Prince Musignano, seventeen
pounds.

Modern observation has confirmed the accounts which the
ancients have given us of the sagacity and extraordinary
activity of this fish, which has led fanciful Etymologists to
derive the name "mugilis" from " multum agilis," "very active.'*
On calm and moonlight nights they may be seen at Civita
Vecchia amusing themselves by leaping out of the water, sphish
succeeding splash in rapid succession, so that listeners have
imagined that persons on shore were throwing stones into the
sea. Pliny asserts that they have been known to leap over
a ship ; but of what size is not stated. Even under the sun
of India the grey mullet retains its peculiarities. For the
correspondent of the "Times," who accompanied the Prince
of Wales, while sailing in an open boat along the coast south
of Bombay, observed a species similar to, or identical with
this, continually jumping out of the water. One lea])t into
the boat, and another would have followed if it had not been
arrested by an arm.

When many are caught in a net, it is necessary to close
it as quickly as possible at the top, otherwise they will all
jump over it and escape.

The foremost dorsal fin of the mullet is furnished with four
rigid spines, which lie flat when the fish is moved in the
direction of its head, through an opening a little larger than
itself, but which erect themselves when it is attempted to
withdraw it. It was thus used by the Romans to lacerate the
tenderest parts of the human body, as a punishment for the
crime of adultcrv.

FISH OF THE TIBER.

THE EEL.

157

llie eel is in much higher favour with the people of Rome
in the present day than in the time of Juvenal, when, as we
have seen, it was banished to the table of the parasite. It
is now considered as excellent food by people of every class ;
but the eels caught in the Tiber form but a very small part
of those which are consumed in the modern city. The main
supj)ly comes from the lagunes of Comacchio, near the mouth
of the Po, and communicating by a channel with that river.
The eels, according to Spallanzani, retreat to the lagunes
immediately after their birth, and at the end of five years they
return to the Po. At the period of their return the fisher-
men of the Comacchio form small chambers with reeds, in
which they are caught, and in which they collect in such
numbers that they may actually be seen above the surface of
the water. Pliny"^ describes them as taken in his time in
similar chambers [excipulis], at the point where the river
INIincius issues from the lake Benacus, and says that as many
as a thousand have been caught in one of these.

As soon as the eels are taken out of the water they are
cooked, and after being cut into pieces are packed in barrels
with a certain proportion of vinegar, and sold in Rome,
Naples, and the principal cities of Italy. The larger specimens,
distinguished by the name of " capitone," are preserved alive in
enclosures, similar to those which have been described, and sent
during the month of November and December to Naples and
Rome, where they are highly relished by people of every grade,
and where, on the day before Christmas, "capitone" forms a
standing dish in every Italian family.

In the utilization of the eel as an article of food the British
may learn a lesson from the Italians. Frank Buckland, in the
"Times," twenty-first of September, 1872, expresses his surprise
that the Scotch salmon fishermen allowed the eels to pass them
during the period of their annual migration (the middle of

i

• Plin. Hist. Nat. IX. 21 (38).

■^<*'*pf?fH!M

;s

158

FISH OF THK TIBER.

the sea ...thout any attempt to catch them. It appears that the
Scot^ ave a prejudice against the eei. and Zm as soon,
Auckland observes, eat a viper or boaconstrictor. But ^vhv

are T, i^'^/.V^ °'^'"' '° '''"'' ^"'^ ^^" ^"^-^ ^^'^e- 'h^
are highly rchshed, as in London and other places. He then

goes on to describe his visits to various eating-houses fre-

He found them, he says, extremely savoury, and, with the
sauce, well worth the twopence he paid for his portion le
regrets, therefore, that at a time when there are so n.";

should be thrown away by prejudice or carelessness.

THE TENCH.

in Iv r?' """'"' "'"'"'•" '^ ' ''^ "''-'' '--'•^'- ■■' ""-i.
.n ^^h■ch ,t .s supposed to bury itself during the winter, for

eemrf ""f V'' ""' ""°"- '''' ^"^"- ^'--^°-. -'"d
se m to be a habuat peculiarly suited to its tastes. But if

eJeot 'i.rr " r ;"" ^^'^ ^■'^^ "^°^'^' =-• '^ ->d- '•o"n<>

at Rom ": ''"'''''' ^'"^"'^ ''^-'^ ^-"ff-^t to market

whi h d . r ""'''' """"" '■" "^ '^"^^^ °'' ^^'-° -d others
wh.ch discharge themselves into the Tiber; those taken in

e nver Use f being supposed to be swept into it when ,
streams which issue from the lakes are swelled by rain.

7 he flesh of the tench was held in little repute by the
,en f~ A-onius speaks of it as a fish'which'no
but the coarse appetites of the common people could relish.

Quis non et virides vulgi solatia Tineas
Novit ? Auson.

Ausonius lived, in.leod, a.d. 410, and the taste in fish may
have undergone a great change since the time of Aug stu ;
but there is no reason to suppose that the tench was a
favourite with the Romans at any time. By the modern
Romans it is relished as little as by the.r an esto s. I

FISH OF THE TIBER.

159

thought to have a flavour derived from the mud in which it
delights to wallow, and it requires, as the Romans think, to
be dressed the very day on which it is caught. In England,
also, its flesh is underrated, as Yarrell considers, and he
recommends it as one of the most useful fish for stocking
ponds.

The fish above described are those which are mentioned by
the poets or natural historians of Rome; but some of the
species taken in the Tiber in the present day, and used as
food l)y the inhabitants of the city, cannot be identified with
any that are noticed by ancient writers. These species are
few in number compared to those which are caught in the
Thames, some of which appear to have been artificially intro-
duced. The salmon, being a stranger to the :\rediterranean,
is, of course, unknown in the rivers which flow into that sea ;
the tunny, a fish which never ascends rivers, supplying its
place as an article of luxury and trade. The perch and the
trout* also are wanting in the Tiber, and even the pike and
tench are extremely scarce. When taken in the river, they
are supposed to have been washed down by the floods from
the small lakes which empty themselves into it and where
they are usually caught. l^he most abundant fish appear to
be the barbel and the shad when in season. If to these we
add the river lamprey, a species of carp called by the Romans
"Regina," a species of dace to which the name of ^'Squaglio"
is given, and two varieties of eel, the list of species will nearly
be complete. Of these, the most important or the most
interesting from their natural history, are the shad and the
lamprey, and a short account of these will be given.

♦ These remarks apply only to the Tiber between the sea and the junction
of the Nera, a distance of about eighty-five miles by the windings of the
stream. But high uj) the tributaries of the river, at and above tIvoH and
the falls of Temi, and wherever the affluents flow with a clear current over
a rocky or pebbly bottom, the angler may find the trout.

p lil|pR««inP!

mmmimmmi

V

160

FISH OF THE TIBER.

THE SHAD.

The shad, " Clupea alosa" (Italian ^'Laccia**), is a fish of
the family of the herrings, which it resembles in everything
but size, the usual length being eighteen or nineteen inches
and weight four pounds and a half, while some attain the
length of two feet and weigh eight pounds. The "Laccia"
ascends the Tiber in the early part of the summer, and is
caught in large numbers in the revolving nets of which I
have spoken. This is the cheapest fish at Rome during the
time when it is in season, and its flavour is delicate; but it
abounds in small bones, like its congener the herring, which
it resembles in taste and in the oiliness and texture of its flesh.

THE LAMPREY.

The lamprey, though confounded by the moderns with the
"Murcena," does not appear to have been mentioned by any
of the Latin writers. In the present day it is rarely seen in
the markets of Rome, and forms but an inconsiderable part
of the food of the people. Its associations, also, are with the
death of an English king rather than with classical literature.
Yet as one species, the *' Petromyzon fluviatilis," is found in
the Tiber, a place must be given it in the fauna of that river.
The lamprey is worthy of notice, likewise, on account of the
peculiarity of its respiratory system. Seven round holes, dis-
posed in a line on one side of the neck, admit the water,
which is expelled through an opening at the top of the head,
and issues from it in a little spout. It is thus enabled to
breathe while it adheres to stones or other objects with its
circular mouth.

It is remarkable that neither the perch nor the gudgeon,
"Cyprinus Gobio'' or '* Gobio fluviatilis," the little fish so
plentiful in the fresh waters of England, and so easily caught
.that the name of gudgeon is applied to a simpleton, who
allows himself to be easily entrapped, is found in any of the
rivers of central Italy. Of the perch, - Perca fluviatilis," Bona-
parte, Prince of Canino, observes: *' Niun Pcrcha d' acqua
dolce si cognosce in questo piccolo angolo della terra che

FISH OF THE TIBER.

161

e Roma, ne in tutta la parte meridionale dello stato" (that
IS, m the states of the church south of the Apennines, as
distmguished from the Romagna).

Professor Diorio remarks that owing, perhaps, to the poisonin-
of tlie water by the refuse from the gas-works, there appears
to be a line of demarcation between the fish of the upper and
lower Tiber, which neither is able to cross. It is owing,
perhaps, to this and other causes that the "Lupus" no longer
ascends the river to the heart of Rome, to prey upon the
garbage, which imparted to it the flavour so much admired
by the epicures of the time of Horace, and that, even at
Ostia, only small specimens, called - Spigoletti," diminutive
of '* Spigola," arc said to be taken at the present day.

In addition to those which I have mentioned before the
common carp (- Cyprinus Carpio"), the golden tench (- Tinea
Chrysitis"), and the -Tinea Italica" (rare), are occasionally
taken. A small fish, also, of which there are three species,
the -Laterina Hepsetes," the - Laterina Lacustris," and the
**Laterina Sardica," is caught in great abundance, and con-
sidered a delicacy. It is from an inch to an inch and a half
or more in length, and is eaten whole.

M

r

■■•lit III I iii>iim

THE OTTER.

:h

The solitary habits of the otter and its peculiar instincts
explain why it is so little known except to those who go to
seek It, and wliy its existence is often unsuspected in places
where it is tolerably abundant. Like the kingfisher, it confines
Itself to the streams where it was born and reared, and where
It has been in the habit of fishing, and rarely crosses from
one nver to another. Its retreat, also, is concealed in a most
ingenious manner. The otter always forms an entrance below
the surface of the water and works upwards, hollowing out
one or more chambers. The hole for the admission of air is
made to open beneath a bush, so that there is no external
indication of the presence of the animal.

As might have been expected from the unobservant nature
of the Romans and the difficulty of discovering the otter's
retreat, it is impossible to learn anytliing certain respecting
It from the natives of the town ; and as the cruel amusement
of otter-hunting has not yet been introduced into Rome there
IS no inducement to ascertain its haunts or to learn whether
It exists at all. Even the -Professor of Zoology could not say
whether otters are found on the Tiber above the city, though
he had heard that they were occasionally seen between the
city and the sea. In fact, the Tiber between Rome and its
source is a terra incognita to the Roman.., almost as little
explored as the Congo in its upper course, and anv information
regarding its Natural History must be gleaned from Knc^lish
sportsmen and French savants. Accordingly, we are informed
by Bonaparte, Prince of Canino, that the otter is met with
in the marshes of Ostia. upon the borders of the Anio, alon^
the banks of the Tiber, and sometimes even within the walls
of Rome.

THE OTTER.

163

Natural Ilistor; of a. inlls Th:^ ' "".""^ "'^'"^ '° '''
in the waters of A ., "'"'"' ^°' ^"''"^l dwelling

ouer; t <.^e„ yd ris' ^^^ T"'™'^^' ''''''''' ''''' °-
Greek) wis -, ! r "^ ^^ ^^""''^ translation of the

,^' '''^s '^ ■'^Pccies of snake or fish Plinv ^. i • ■ r
had probably seen (!„> I, , r , '' ""^ '"^ informant.

it for that of a sni r°, " '^'""^'"' °"^^' ^"^ "^'-k
■ of a large sear ., • , ' ''"' '' ""' ''^^^ -'^ ^^oulders

.- rist trll:^:f^r:L:;:r °^ '- -- -

the vulgar herd to seek L tl l , '^'"'' ^""^"^

the animal an excuse or ' "''"'' "°"°"^ 'l"^'"''^^ °^

many fish nVtZl ^'''"'''""•'^ ''• I' i^ said to destroy

Tins' n^b h "s'e tr^.r '""' '"^ '''''' ^"'^ ^'^-'^--

-H .n a well ;toZ Cp ij 'ZV 'Tl " '''"' '''
tint ., I ' ' "t "■ 's absurd to suonose

that a hungry otter, which has just cau-.h. .ft,- PP°'^

would leave the jrreiter n-,rt f ^ '"' '" ^ "^^'■'

fresh one UV T -^ ""'"■^""''^ ^"'^ ^° 'o hunt a

one A\ere the instinct of destruction as great as is
represented, the vicinity of an otter', I,.. u

1 , / ^' ^^1 oner s hoe oup-ht in hf^ q

complete charnel-house for fish bones nn,! ,u
..a would infallibly betray its wl^Tbo:: u ^11^
that such a sight has ever been observed

The otter when taken young may be tamed, and become
as am.har as a dog, though it is said that it can never be
taught habits of cleanliness. ^

acclt 'o/Tl"'" ,f ""'''7 "^'" '^ ''' ^°"-'"«- -'-esting
account of the otter, which has been domesticated in thf

T. 1 . , ^Livicr. We passed '^ savs thi<!

benevolent prelate, -to my surprise, a row of no lessMan

ine or ten very large and very beautiful otters, teth ed with

.raw col ars and long strings to bamboo stakes on the banks

lrttro^h^f°i.i;;-~ '-'- --

M 2

f

164

THE OTTER.

THE OTTER.

4

half out of the water; others were rolling themselves in the
sun on the sandy bank, uttering a shrill whistling noise, as
if in play. I was told that most of the fishermen in this
neighbourhood kept one or more of these animals, which are
almost as tame as dogs and of great use in fishing, sometimes
driving the shoals into the nets and sometimes bringing out
the larger fish with their teeth. I was much pleased and
interested with the sight. It has always been a fancy of mine
that the poor creatures which we waste and persecute to death,
for no other reason than the gratification of our cruelty, might,
by reasonable treatment, be made the sources of abundant
amusement and advantage to us."

The kind-hearted Bishop is one of the few w!io do not
regard with indifference the cruelties practised upon animals
in a state of nature, or think it an unmanly weakness to feel
for their sufferings. The allusion is, of course, to the cruel
and cowardly amusement of otter-hunting, or, as it might with
more propriety be called, otter-baiting; for what is the dif-
ference in principle between otter-hunting and the baiting of
bulls and badgers, now happily proscribed by law. If there
be any difference, otter- baiting is the more cruel and cowardlv
sport of the two, because the otter is placed at a greater
disadvantage by the number of its assailants.

It has been urged in defence of fox-hunting that it is
conducive to health, and that the galloping across country is a
good training for cavalry officers in time of war; but what
incidental benefits are derived from standing on the banks of
a river or walking a short distance along it to see an unfor-
tunate animal battling against a whole pack of hounds, and,
being nearly suffocated by constant diving and lacerated by
scores of wounds, succumbing at last to the multitude of its
enemies.

It might be expected that a naturalist would sympathise
with the animals whose habits he has studied, and with many
of whom, if of a kindly disposition, he would havo formed a
sort of friendship; yet Dr. Bell, in his "History of British
Quadrupeds," describes an otter-hunt, and details all its bar-

IQ^O

banties with the unction of one whose life had been devoted
to the sports of the field. He writes, not only as if he himself
saw nothing wrong in the amusement, but as if it never
entered into his head that anyone could object to it on the
score of cruelty.

Humanity to animals is a virtue of very recent date. There
.s no trace of it, as a principle, in the ancient writers, though
Huhv.duals are recorded to have had their pets,* and it is not
enforced ,n the New Testament. Hence a large portion of
those belonging to the so-called religious world display little
sympathy with the sufferings of animals, and contribute nothing
to the society for their protection, as if cruelty to animals,
though not forbidden "totidem verbis" by Christ and his dis-
c.ples, any more than slavery or polygamy, were not contrary
to the spirit of the Gospel.

• Catullus has immortalised the sparrow of Lesbia ; Hortensius, the orator
was so attached to a tame murx-na, which fed from his hand, that he is saM to

an'dMe Brir" "r™ "' "'f ^''''"^ '" *' «' '») and Mac;obius, Sat ml ^
of 1hl h T ''"' "' f'^' ^'^- ^^'- ^- '^1 ^'^ >«>' taste the flesh

"a^Lcaul "^ common fowl, or the goose, but kept them for amusement,
an,m. causa To V .r«il the slaymg of a pet stag is fabled to have been the
art wluch first aroused the Latins to take up arms against the Trojans.

(

f-,

. SEARCHIXG THE BED OF THE TIBER

FOR WORKS OF ART.

It may bo expected that some notice should be taken of
the speculation which some years ago engaged the attention
and raised the hopes of the Roman archaeologists, an<l from
wh.ch such great results were looked for-the recovery, namely.
by dredgmg, of the works of art which are popularly supposed
to be entombed in the mud of the Tiber.* On the subject
of these treasures, whose existence rests on traditions as
apocryphal as the story of the golden candlestick, I have
CO ected, I beheve. all that can be said; but previouslv I
V.I1 not.ce the extraordinary conclusion at which Preller.' in
MS Eom und der Tiber" arrives: "that experience, and the
repeated researches of practical men, have shown that this
nofon (that the bed of the Tiber contains large treasures of
art) IS either altogether unfounded or at least greatly ex-
aggerated Both these engineers (Feaand Lino'te) 'po nt
out, that the fall of the bed of the river is sutTicientl • great
the current of the river itself within the city sufiicientl/stLg

stream. In this sentence there is great confusion of ideas

If every object of art has long been swent awnv fl 1

r.r^ ^„„o,- r !>«ept awa}, there can be

no question of more or less tii,i r,^ r

T!„f i„H- ., ■ ° '■°°™ ^°'' f^'->.?geration.

But. letting this pass, is it not strange that the engineers

!:l:^^l^uthor^P^ quo^^ have the reputaUon o/

St. Ui^Xhif :rr;%r \zt^^i^

attack would naturally have be.n m de ^ h^'H '" °''"""''' "'■^' '"'^

and. conse,nen.,y, Z the statues ^uL no. nec:tl'';r"f '', ".'^ ^"'"'
into the bed of the river. necessarily have found their way

presentemente." ' ^" '°" "^^""^ ^'^^'^'^ ^^^ q^^^Ha chc ha

''

SKARCIIING THE TIBER FOR WORKS OF ART. 167

being men of science, should form such an erroneous estimate
of the power of running water as to suppose the current of the
Iiber capable of transporting statues of marble and of bronze.

\allcs, the engineer in chief of the Ponts et Chaussees,
maintains, on the contrary, that rivers in their course through
the plains are incapable of transporting even gravel, and that
the gravel which is found in their beds has not been carried
from the hills in which they had their source, but is derived
from the banks in the immediate neighbourhood * Now, as
the transporting power, cx^teris paribus, is proportionate to
the surface, which increases as the square, while the weight to
be moved is proportionate to the solid content, which increases
as the cube, we may see the absurdity of supposing that a river
that could not move gravel would have the power to transport
masses of stone. Only when the declivity of a river is measured
by tens of feet in a mile, has the stream suflicient force to over-
come the friction of a large body, and set it in motion. Nor is
the power of transporting objects lying at the bottom of a river
augmented during floods. The increased velocity of a swollen
river is due to the hydrostatic pressure of the water above,
and extends to a depth equal to the rise of the river. It is
no more sensible at the bottom than the motion of the waves
bejond a certain depth.f The Tiber, when flooded, deposits

♦ Valles, Etudes sur les Inondations, chap. Force de transport des fleuves.

t The following are some of the superficial and mean velocities of rivers in
the plains, as ascertained by experiment. They are extracted from a larger
number given by Valles :

Velocities of Surface.

2-IOO

1-400

1-450
2224

Mean Velocities.

1-580

.798

I 004

1-518

The corresponding minimum velocities, or those near the bottom, would be
l-c6o, -196, -558, -812. It appears from this that, when the fall is inconsider-
able, a great diilerence may exist between the velocity at the surface and that at
the bottom, u])on which the transporting power of rivers depends; though as the
declivity increases, the ratio of the bottom to the surface velocity approaches to a
ratio of equality, the transporting power is increased, and at the same time a

mmmmm

168

SEARCHING THE BED OF THE TIBER

arge sand banks, not only in sheltered nooks, lu.t in spots
where the banks form a straiglu line, and sloping from .he
sides towards the centre of the stream, showing that the
bottom .s comparatively tranquil. These sand-banks arc cut

through and swept away when the river sinks and the super-

hcial velocity readies them.

_ We may, therefore, assume, tliat whatever works of art

incapable of much damage from water, were con.mitted to the

■ the . T 'r" '"'™'''^ '° '''-' '^"■'^P'"- '->"'• ""S'>t remain
there to the day of judgment, or at least to the next geological

convu s.on. for all that the Tiber can do to remove them.
Ih.s bemg granted, we will consider the probability of works
of art havng fallen into the river by accident, or been thrown
.nto . by des,gn, and left there by those who had neither the
opportunuy nor the inclination to attempt their recovery

Most students of archeology are aware that there' is no
novelty ,„ the idea of dredging the Tiber in the hope of
discovering some statue, or object of antiquarian interest, which
chance or design had committed to its depths, and that similar
h mes have been broached from time to time ,n the course
of the la.t two or three hundred years. The President de
Brosses who visited Italy during the Pontificate of Benedict
XIV. (, 40 , tells, in his letters, the apocryphal storv of an
of^. made by the Jews to e..eavate and clean out the bed of
the Tiber, provided they were allowed to appropriate all the
treasures and objects of antiquarian interest thich they m t
.It in the course of their operations. The offer was declined.
It IS said, because it was feared that the stirring up of the mud
would create a pestilence in the city

the'^p" T' ," "'°"^" '^' ''"'" '" ''''' b«^" P^^^^d upon
!!:ij;::!:::^^^^^J^^ -'-ther Le or fale!

ana Uie lar.e amount of M . on ole o -e tf^Ilnrn'o "' '^ ''' " ''' ^'''"'
from the swiftness of its current in til .f fl T <^°"'^'"«>on can be drawn

heavy objects resting o„ i"rd. °'' "' '° "^ P°"" "' transporting

• Fea Novelie del Tevere.-Roma, 1819.

\)

FOR \VOJ<.KS OF ART.

1C9

It Shows that the attention of the Romans of the time was
directed to the subject. Nevertheless, either owing to the
want of funds, the unfavourable report of the engineers or
the disappointment of the Pope, no attempt was made to carry
the design into execution, and after having amused the city
for a time, it was dismissed entirely from the thoughts of men.

We hear next of the matter in the early part of the present
century, when Gcorgina, Duchess of Devonshire, after trying
in vain to procure permission for herself, or a company which
she represented, to divert the course of the Tiber, determined
to dredge the river at her own expense. She appears, however
to have met with nothing to reward her pains, or to repay
any portion of the money sunk in the venture.

Shortly before 1819 the dredging of the bed of the Tiber
had again become the subject of conversation, and " opinions "
says Fea, "were revived, which good sense, and a more
accurate knowledge of history and topography, had cast into
another river, that of Lethe, and it might have been hoped
into eternal oblivion."

This time, also, nothing appears to have been done and
the project slept for five-and-forty years, when an association
was formed for the purpose of carrying out a scheme so often
projected and so o.rten abandoned. Mr. Lecky undertook to
be the medium of communication with the government, and
having procured an interview with Cardinal Antonelli. explained
to him that It was j.roposed to divert the course of the Tiber
and thus to recover with greater ease the objects of art sup-
posed .0 be lying in its bed. The same objection was made
by Cardinal Antonelli which had been raised against similar
propositions in former days-that the stirring up of the mud
of the Iiber would breed a pestilence in the city during the
heats of summer. The plan was thus nipped in the bud and
nothing more was heard of it until the year .870. There is
a general impression that a new association was formed at
that date with the sanction and approval of the Italian govern-
nKMit. It appears, however, that the present society is nothing
but a resuscitation of the old association, whose members

ismm

•MIMMrMpiMpMlil

mm

170

SEARCHING THE BED OF THE TIBER

hoped to obtain from the more Hberal ministers of Victor
Emmanuel the permission which had been refused by the
government of the Pope.

I am unable to learn whether the society has done anvthini'-
towards carrying out the object with which it was formed.
The •* dolce far niente " seems to influence every proceedin"- of
the Italians, whether they act separately or in masses, so
that it is impossible to say whether the society has abandoned
its design or is merely taking its siesta.

The belief that countless works of art are imbedded in the
mud of the Tiber appears to be based, partly on the alleged
vandalism of Gregory the Great, and partly on the stories of
statues and other ])recious objects cast into the river in
order to preserve them from destruction by the enemies of
Rome. It is said that Gregory, in order to withdraw from the
sight of the pilgrims who resorted to the Eternal City every
object of profane curiosity, caused the statues and other
sculptures of the Gentiles, as he called them, to be removed
from the public edifices and cast into the Tiber.

With regard to the objects of art thought to have been
consigned to that river as a place of security, the belief rests
only on tradition, which itself was, probably, based on a pre-
sumption of how people were likely to act in times of terror
and insecurity; though, as the author of a letter in the
"Times," the third of May, 1872, well observes: '*when people
wish to conceal their property either from foreign invaders or
domestic revolutionists, they are more likely to bury it in the
earth than to consign it to the depths of a river, whence its
subsequent withdrawal may be diilicult," or, we may add, im-
possible.*

Fea examines at length the charge against Gregory, and
shews the improbability of its truth. The story is found in
no contemporary record, and ap])ears to have been propagated

♦ There is a record of one statue, at least, having been thrown into the Tiber
though with an object very different from that of which we are speaking. We
refer to the statue of Isis, mcnlioued in a former chapter.—" Superstitions
connected with the Tiber."

/

>

FOR WORKS OF ART.

171

botl> by fncnds and by enemies ; by fanatical friends, ^vho
admired h,s religious zeal, and by free-thinking enemies, who
thought to satirise his narrow fanaticism and absence of taste
\et Gregory was of an illustrious senatorial family, and a man
of cu t.vated intellect. It is unlikely, therefore, that he would
have been insensible to the beauty of the works of art which
he IS accused of having consigned to oblivion. Before he became
a monk he had been IVxtor Urbanus, or Prefect of Rome
to wh>ch dignity was attached the office of "Curator of the
bed and banks of the T.ber," and, by the terms of that office
he was bound to attend to the channel of the river and to
keep u free from every kind of obstruction. There had been
a destructive inundation in the November of the year c8q
preceding his election, followed by a pestilence, which was
attributed by many to the inundation. It is, therefore, highly
improbable that by casting such a r>umber of statues into the
libcr lie would have impeded the navigation of the river and
increased its liability to floods, attended, as they were by
consequences so disastrous to the city. '

The legend, also, of Gregory's admiration for the monuments
o the Forum* of Trajan and for llie character of that Emperor
which led him to be the means of releasing his soul from hell l

• Tl.is w,is in perfect preservation in his lime. A.D. wo and th^r. ,1,.
of the day used to meet and recite their verses or those of the s.^ t^ r
ant,,u,,.. In Vcnantius For.unatus, B.hop of Poictier:, a " ^ n^ o1
Gregory, we have the following lines : temporary ol

Vix modo tim nitido pomposa poemata cultu
Audit frajano Roma veremia Foro.— Car. in c 23
We are not informed whether these -pompous" poems w'ereth. •
^.odacU^r Homer and V.,, or .he .rjoUen L;.;^ l^rsrll

t The stop, is told by Paul the Deacon from the Saxon Ecclesiastic^
Chromcles, where a.one U is to he found. •• Gre.orius cum quad m d L S
l-o,um Irajam, quod opere ma«mf.co constat esse extruCum; precede et et

' , •" ^'■'2""'' '"'• "• '^■'"' goes on to tell the siorv nf

a widow, whicli ajipears either to liave been suPPest.vl m r ^ '^

to his recollection by a group of figures in the7orum Tr.H^^T " ''"''"'"'

on horsebacU and ready to start for^ the seat of taT^stoppr VI widoTr

"T"

tmrnfmrnm

172

SEARCHING THE BED OF THE TIBER

appears to be inconsistent either with the want of taste or
with the religious fanaticism attributed to him.* Besides, he
could not have taken so decided a step without the permis'sion
of the Emperor Maurice, who reigned at ConstantinoiJe, of
which Rome was then a dependency, and he must have con-
fronted the indignation of the people, who took a pride in the
works of art with which their city was adorned.

Of the number of statues existing half-a-century before his
time, we have evidence from many sources. Among the manu-
scripts brought to light by the late Cardinal Mai is one in
Syriac, which bears the name of Zacharias, Bishop of Melitene
in Armenia, who lived in the sixth century, and who is surnamed
" Rhetor," to distinguish him from Zacharias, Bishop of Mitylene
who lived at the same time, and is generally known by the
name of - Scholasticus." The document in question consists of
a series of tracts upon miscellaneous subjects, and is followed
by another in the same language, which describes the streets,
the public buildings, and the works of art of Rome.

FOR WORKS OF ART.

173

entreats him to do justice on the murderers of her son. Trajan pleads haste
as a reason for declining her request, and promises to hear her case when he
returns. -But, suppose you never return," said the widow. On this Trajan
dismounted, and, after enquiring into the truth of her story, inilicted due
punishment on the guilty.

.. ^°^.\'^' i^'"'"'''' '"^ ''^''^''^ '^' '^"^^ ^*°^> P^^^s ^he conversation
somewhat, and puts a more cogent argument into the mouth of the widow

Suppose you never return," says she. "Then my successor wiU see you
nghted, rephed Trajan. '«But is it not better," rejoined the widow, "to
perform the good action yourself, and thus gain aU the credit both in this world
and m the next?" The argument appeared conclusive to Trajan, and he dis-
mounted, &c.

The sequel of the story is better knou^: that Gregory was moved to tears
by the thought that so good a man should be doomed to eternal torments, and
prayed fervently for him. In the evening he fell into a trance, and was informed
by a voice from heaven that his prayer had been heard and the soul of Trajan

Xt'rrnhd:;!' '" ^'" '- -^^^ -'- -^^ ^-— ^° ^--^^ ^- -

* The legend, as I have before observed, is found only in the Saxon
Chronicles. Gregory was an especial favourite with the Saxons, whom he had
been the means of converting to Christianity, and the legend was, perhaps
invented by them for the purpose of doing him honour. ^ ^ '

Mai, who translates the other tracts into Latin, gives no
version of this, assigning as a reason his belief that it was
not the production of Zacharias* In Ampere's " History of
the Roman P^mpire"t the most remarkable passages of this
treatise are quoted, but nothing is said about the language in
which they were written, nor does Ampere tell us whether
he translates directly from the Syriac or copies the translation
of another. He is silent, also, upon the doubts of the authen-
ticity of the tract expressed by Cardinal Mai. Not being a
Hebrew scholar myself, I will give from Ampere the passages
relating to the works of art, without vouching for the authenticity
of the original or the correctness of the translation.

According, then, to this author, whose identity with the
Bishop of Melitene is matter of dispute, there were in Rome,
at the time when he wrote, eighty great statues of gold (that
is, statues plated or gilded with gold), sixty-six ivory statues
(or statues veneered with ivory) of the gods, three thousand seven
hundred and eighty-five bronze statues of emperors and other gene-
rals, twenty-two equestrian statues in bronze and two colossuses.

But, if this authority be looked upon as apocryphal and
suspicious from its very preciseness, we have testimony more
unimpeachable in the writings of Cassiodorus, the secretary
of Theodoric, who lived about the same time, and in the
city, whose wonders of art he is describing. I refer to his
well-known saying that the number of statues in Rome was
so large that they seemed almost as numerous as the living
population. J

• Sequuntur autem ibidem, in miscello scilicet codice, alia quaedam de
originibus et aedificiis Romae, quae Syriace quidem edidimus, sed Latine non
fecimus, quia Zacharias foetum non existimavimus. — Mai. vol. x. of his works
under letter Z. index.

I have thought it necessary to enter into these details, because there are
many who neglect to give references, or withhold all information regarding the
authorities which they quote.

t L' Empire Remain k Rome, par J. J. Ampere, tom. ii. pp. 407, 408.

X " Has (statuas) primum Tusci in Italia invenisse referuntur, quas amplexa
posteritas paene parem populum urbi dedit quam natura procreavit." — Cassiodorus,
Variorum, Lib. vii., Formula xv. ad Praefectum Urbis de Architect© faciendo.

'V]

174

SEARCHING THE BED OF THE TIBER

If, then, there is no reason to believe that these statues
were cast wholesale into the Tiber by Gregory, or singly by
individuals, the question arises in what manner have they dis-
appeared ? The bronze statues were, doubtless, melted down
for the sake of their material. That many were burnt for lime
by the same modern barbarians, who built their houses with
stones taken from the Colosseum, has long been known, but
additional light has been thrown upon their fate by recent
discoveries. In a lecture delivered in .869 by Mr. Shakespcre
Wood, before the British Archaeological Society, some interesting
details were given on the subject. Mr. Wood mentioned that
since the middle of the last century several of these lime-kilns
have been discovered (one by Signer Rosa, in the excavations
on the Palatine), with fragments of statues wilfully broken
lying around them. He stated, also, that there was historical
evidence to shew that the districts likely to prove fruitful in
the remains of sculpture were let out to lime-burners, especially
at Ostia and at Adrian's Villa.

In the latter part of the fifteenth century this destructive
process was arrested by the reviving taste for the arts, and

"The Etniscans are said to have been the first people who invented these
statues, and posterity adopting (a taste for) them has given the city almost as
large a population as nature has begotten."

In another passage of the same section, Cassiodorus enlarges upon the beautv
of these statues: "videbit profecto meliora quam legit, pulchriora quam
cogitare potutt. statuas illas auctorum suorum adhuc signa retinentes ut
quam dm laudabihum personarum opinio superesset tarn diu et simili.
tudmem v,v=e substamiae imago corporis custodiret . . . . mirabitur formis equinis
signa euarn messe fervoris. Crispatis enim naribus ac rotundis, constrictis
membns, aunbus remulsis, credet forsitan cursus appetere. cum se metalla
novent non movere." -.Assuredly, he wUl see things more exceUent than
he has read of, more beautiful than he could have conceived ; those statues
namely, sUU retaming their sculptors' mark.... so that as long as the fame
of d.st.ngmshed persons survived, so long the image of their bo.ly might retain
the hkeness of their hv,ng substance. .. .he will be astonished at the expression
of fire m the figures of horses, and whUe he beholds them with curled and
rounded nostrils, with limbs drawn close together, and with ears thrown back
he W.11 perhaps .magine that they are eager for the course, though he is weU
aware that metal is incapable of motion " . t c is weu

by tleVrndaTs""'" '""' 'hr^-^l"-"- of a century after the pillage of Rome

FOR WORKS OF ART.

175

about the middle of the sixteenth the reaction was complete.
Paul III., Farnese, even passed a law by which the severest
penalties were inflicted on those who threw torsos or fragments
of sculptured marble into lime-kilns.

The following are the principal arguments by which Fea*
supports his conclusion that few works of art are likely to
be found in the Tiber in the present day:

(i) In laying new foundations for the Ponte Sistof in 1474,
and for the Pons ylilmilius (Ponte Rotto) in 1554 and 1575,
nothing of any value was found.

(2) In the seventeenth century the bed of the Tiber was
examined in every part by antiquarians and engineers, among
whom may be mentioned the names of Bacci, Lombardi, Cas-
tiglione, Bonini, and Fontana, with the object of removing
impediments to the flow of the stream, and suggesting a sure
and permanent remedy against the frequent inundations.

(3) In the year 1744 the banks and middle of the river
were visited and carefully sounded, in all their extension and
depth, from Ponte Molle to the Marmorata, by the engineers
Gambarini and Chiesa, acting under the directions of Pope
Benedict XIV. On neither of these occasions is there any
mention of statues.

Nor at any other time is there a well-attested instance of
the discovery of a valuable work of art in the Tiber, though
stories have been current of divers meeting with statues, which
they were afraid to remove without receiving permission from
the Pope. J Yet, led by these stories, Montfaucon observes in
his '* Diarium Italicum :" '* In Tiberi non statuas modo et
marmora psene infinita latere experimento plurimorum con-
spicuum est, sed etiam thesauros, eodem conjectos olim, extare ;

• Fea, Novelle del Tevere.

t It may be observed that if sculptures or other objects had been wilfully
cast into the river, they would, probably, have been thrown either from the
bridges or the banks, and have been found in close proximity to one or
the other.

^ Fea, Novelle del Tevere.

176

SEARCHING THE BED OF THE TIBER

et numismata omnis generis educi indies narrant bene multi
Romanorum."* — Cap. xvi.

The tradition of the golden candlestick flung into the
Tiber to save it from the enemy may rank with the
story of the entertainmentf given by Agostino Chigi to Pope
Leo X. The service of plate off which the Pope had con-
descended to dine was, so goes the story, cast into the Tiber
in order that it might never be applied to baser uses. But
a net, it is said, was spread to receive it, and the plate was
recovered at a convenient opportunity. In like manner, if the
golden candlestick, the property of the Emperor, or, rather,
of the State, had been flung into the river, it must have been
done oflicially, and several persons must have been privy to
the act. When, therefore, the danger was past, an object so
precious would have been removed, either openly or by stealth.

• Diarium Italicum ^ R. P. D. Bernardo di Montfaucon, monacho Bene-
dictino. Montfaucon, who visited Rome at the close of the seventeenth century,
transcribes from Flaminius Vacca, a Roman sculptor and antiquary, his account
of a consul in a sitting position, and holding a roll of puper in his hand, but
without a head, which had been found by a diver between the Porta Flaminia
(Porte del Popolo) and the Ripetta. It was the work, according to Vacca,
of a very skilful artist, and in his time was on view in the house of one Palombo,
a notary, whose house was behind S. Maria in Via. As far as I can learn, this
work is no longer in existence.

t An account of this entertainment is given by Zanucci (Opere pie di Roma,
lib II. cap. 21). Agostino Chigi, according to Zanucci, was the richest merchant
that had ever lived or, probably, ever would live. Neither he nor his agents
knew the amount of his wealth. It was on the occasion of his marriage that
Chigi feasted the Pope and twelve Cardinals in a temporary building erected in
the course of a single night, close to the Famesina palace and on the banks of
the Tiber, by an inundation of which it was afterwards swept away. Every
delicacy which money could procure was set before the guests, and, as each
course was removed, the plate on which it was served was thrown into the
Tiber. Zanucci is simple enongh to observe that ** it was never seen again,**
*' piu non comparivano," evidently believing that the Tiber, no more than the
deep, could be made to give up its treasures. There is no contemporary
authority for the story, for Zanucci, Hadrian, Junius, and others, quoted by
Bayle in his "Dictionary," and by Platner in his "Be schreibung der Stadt
Rom," lived in the latter half of the sixteenth century, and "have not,** as
Bayle complains, " the goodness to tell us in what author they read the
account."

FOR WORKS OF ART.

177

Other stories are current respecting it, all marked by extreme
improbability or absurdity. It is said that the temple of Peace,
m which, according to Josephus, the sacred utensils of the
temple of Solomon were deposited, was consumed by fire, and
that the candlestick perished in the conflagration. So intense,
we are told, was the heat that the metals used in the interior
decorations were fused and ran in streams along the streets.

There is much improbability in this tale. In the time of
the Empire the body of a Roman temple was built exclusively
of brick or stone. No woodwork was used for internal decoration
or convenience, like the pews of modern churches. It was only
in the roof that rafters of timber were employed. Now, if the
fire had originated in the roof, it is scarcely possible that the
heat could have been as great as is described, or that the
candlestick and other treasures of the temple of Solomon could
have been melted into an unrecognisable mass. On the other
hand, if the fire had broken out in the neighbourhood, it is
very unlikely that no eff"orts would have been made to rescue
such interesting historical monuments before the building, in
which they had been deposited, was surrounded with an ocean of
flame, such as is said to have caused their destruction.*

The story of the candlestick falling into the Tiber during
the flight of Maxentius is the most absurd of any, for what
motive had he for taking it with him when he went forth to
encounter the army of Constantine in the immediate vicinity

♦ In the "Times" of July 15, 1872, there is an account of the partial
destruction by fire of the church of St. Mary Magdalen, Paddington. The
fire originated in the roof of the chancel, where it continued to bum until the
roof was entirely destroyed; but, though the blazing rafters fell within the
church, the interior sustained but little damage. Even the painted windows
were only partially cracked, and the organ was but slightly injured. The escape
of the church from total destruction was due partly to the absence of pews and
partly to the ascending current of air, which carried upwards a great deal of the
heat generated in the roof.

It is plain from this that the burning of the roof could never produce heat
enough to melt gold and silver in the interior. Even the hangings, if any, or
the votive offerings, the only combustible matter we can conceive to have existed
in the body of the temple would, from their hght nature, have been too quickly
consumed to have generated the heat required to produce the effect supposed.

N

178

SEARCHING THE BED OF THE TIBER

of Rome. If he had been victorious, the candlestick and all
other treasures would have been safer at Rome than anywhere
else ; and, if vanquished, he knew that they must fall into the
power of the victor. As well might a king go forth to some
future battle of Dorking, taking with him the regalia from the
tower.

Some time ago there appeared a letter in the "Times,"
informing us that we were all in the dark about this interesting
monument of antiquity, and that, instead of reposing in the mud
of the Tiber, waiting to be brought to light by some enter-
prising individual or company, it was lying fathoms deep at the
bottom of the Mediterranean. The writer of the letter had dipped,
it seems, into Procopius, and lighting upon a page, in which
mention is made of a tradition, that a ship had foundered laden
with statues and other spoils carried off by Genseric from the
temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, he assumed without warrant that
the sacred objects in question formed part of the cargo, and
imagined that he had thus accounted for their fate. If he
had taken the trouble to read a little further, he would have
found that the «ccc^)'/\ia, as Procopius calls them, of Solomon's
temple, after the conquest of the Vandal kingdom, were
removed by Belisarius from Carthage to Constantinople, where
they figured in his triumph, as they had done in that of
Titus, after which it was proposed to preserve them in the
capital of the Eastern Empire.

But a Jew, says Procopius, having learnt what was intended,
procured an audience of one of the intimate friends of the
Emperor Justinian, and addressed him in the followed words :
" It would be unlucky, I am convinced, to introduce these
treasures into the palace of Byzantium, for it is not possible
that they should remain with propriety anywhere but in the
city where Solomon, the king of the Jews, originally deposited
them. It was for this reason that Genseric was enabled to
capture the palace of the Romans, and that now the army of
the Romans has captured the palace of the Vandals.*'*

♦ iu Tots Kal ret lovSaivou Kfiyu^Xia i\u airip 'Ovicnraaiavov T/tos /utri

FOR WORKS OF ART.

179

When these words, observes the historian, were reported to
the Emperor, he was seized with dread, and sent away every-
thing in haste to the churches of the Christians at Jerusalem.

It will be observed that Procopius does not specify the
articles of which the KetiitiXta consisted, so that it is not
absolutely certain that the candlestick was among them, but
its loss or destruction would, probably, have been noticed.

After its removal to Jerusalem all trace of it is lost, yet
neither intrinsic improbability nor historic evidence can shake
the faith of many in the popular tradition, and the same story
is still repeated by modern travellers. *• Here, or hereabouts,"
observes Hawthorne, as he crossed the Ponte Molle, "lies the
golden candlestick at the bottom of the Tiber."

The story, incredible as it is, was improved upon by the
Talmudists, who were unwilling to be outdone in absurdity.
In order that their sacred candlestick might lie in greater
state, and that the world might form a more exalted notion
of their riches and their wrongs, they fabled that the Tiber
from Rome to Ostia had been paved with bronze, and that
the work had been accomplished with the tribute collected from
their nation by Augustus and succeeding Emperors.* It would
scarcely be more irrational to believe that there may be some
foundation for this story than to think that the candlestick may
possibly be found in the mud of the river.

'Tea thus concludes: "When we consider how many statues
have been found under the ruins of the buildings in which

rriv T(Sv lipofToXvutav aXtotriif h Ftifxriv <ri)v ertpoii Tiaiv ^utyKtv, Kal avrd
TiZv Tic lovdalutv Uoiu Kai irapacrTd^ TtZu (incriXiwi yvwpiumv tivI- xauTo, icpr^
TO. XP»fMOTa ts TO iv ^v'iavTit^ iraXdrtov etrKOfxilfadat dvunfp^pov oifxai siuar
6v yap olovTi dvT(i iTtpwdi ilvai 7"; \v rtS x<^/ow ov 6t, SoXo.uuJi/ dvra irp6Ttpov
6 TtSv *loviaiu,u paaiXtO^ tdiro. Aid Tayra ydp Kal FilipiKo^ to Fwpaiwu
ftatriXiia el\e, teal vuv td Bav6i\(ov 6 Ptonaitov CTptno^. Taura tir^i
dvivixQivra fiaaiXiv^ rJKOvcrt' idtiatrt Kal avixiravra Kara Tdxox *s Tuitf
XpiariaufSv rd iv 'lipoaoXupoi^ Upd l-jrcyui/zc. — Procop. de bello Vand. 11.
cap. IX. sec. 2.

* This I give en the authority of Bonini and Fea, not being myself
acquainted with the writings of the Talmudists. According to Bonini, the
Talmudists wrote that, while the Emperors furnished the funds, the work
itself, being beyond the power of mortals, was executed by demons.

N2

180 SEARCHING THE TIBER FOR WORKS OF ART.

they were originally deposited, shewing that they had never
been removed ; how many were burnt for lime during the dark
ages of Europe ; and how many, notwithstanding, have been
disinterred, sufficient to people all the museums of Rome,
Italy, and Europe, there seems no reason to imagine that the
number remaining undiscovered is so great as is supposed, or
that more would be found in the bed of the Tiber than in any
other area of equal extent.

ROMAN TERMS FOR COLOUR.

Exception has been taken to the translation of ** flavus,"
which signifies, it is contended, not *' auburn," but a brownish
yellow, the colour of ripened corn. But it is as impossible
to say what particular shade of colour is intended by a given
Latin word as to form a clear conception of the musical terms
of the Greek ; for neither colour nor sound admits of descrip-
tion in words. Our difficulty is increased by the looseness
with which such terms as " fulvus," " coeruleus," and
" purpureus," are employed by the poets. Thus we have in
Virgil "fulvum aurum " {JE. vii. 279), " fulvum leonem" {/E.
IV. 159), " fulva aquila" {JE. xii. 751-2), and ** lumine fulvo'*
(JE. VII. 26). Between the colour of gold, or flame, and that
of an eagle, there is certainly a wide difference.

*' Coeruleus " may mean any hue from sky-blue to dark green,
a light, or sea-green being probably that of the river gods.
A sky-blue Acis would have been a repulsive object to
Galatea ; a sea, or olive-green, would have been more
endurable ; but it does not appear that the lovers ever met
after the change of Acis into a god.

Purpureus is still more vague, and may mean any dark or
any bright and dazzling colour, except, perhaps, yellow and-
green ; for we have in Virgil, " mare purpureum " ** the dark
sea," (G. IV. 373), in imitation of the ** a\ct 7^o/^^vpe^/>/" of
Homer, and in Horace ''purpureis ales oloribus" (Car. iv. i. 10).
To talk of purple swans may seem to be carrying poetic licence
pretty far ; for it is scarcely necessary to observe, that the
black swan, found only in Australia, was not merely a " rara
avis in terris," but absolutely unknown to the Romans. The
truth is, the word " purpureus " came at last to signify nothing
but sparkling beauty on the one hand or any dark colour on
the other.

i

182

ROMAN TERMS FOR COLOUR.

But of the words which I have mentioned none is more
uncertain in its acceptation than " flavus." Riddle and Arnold,
in their comprehensive English and Latin Dictionary, translate
'* auburn" in one place by *'flavus," and "yellow" in another
by the same word. When the Romans attempt to explain the
force of their own terms, they only add to our perplexity. In
a discussion upon colours in Aulus Gellius (Noctes Attics, ii.
27), "flavus" is enumerated among the " rufi colores," or
"reddish colours," and defined to be a mixture of "white,"
" green," and " red " : " ex viridi, et rufo, et albo concretus."

The only thing certain about "flavus" is, that hair of that
colour was considered beautiful by the Romans, like "auburn"
in the present day, and that the term was applied by an
euphemism to the Tiber, in which yellow predominates, just
as the name of "auburn" might be claimed by a lady, or her
admirers, for hair which to others would appear an unmistake-
able red.

ON THE

PROPOSED SCHEMES FOR PREVENTING THE

INUNDATIONS OF THE TIBER.

No subject in Nature possesses a greater interest for man
than that of rivers, whether we consider their ornamental
character, their commercial utility, or their importance to the
cultivation of the soil. Next to the forces by which the strata
have been upheaved and the mountain ridges formed, rivers
have been the most potent agents in determining the con-
figuration of the surface of the globe. By the rush of their
waters they have scooped out deep ravines, while by their
inundations in their lower course, they have created the wide
alluvial plains and clothed the rocky skeleton of a primeval
world with a rich deposit of vegetable mould. The prosperity,
and even the existence of a people, may depend upon them,
for they are the highways of commerce, and, when the rainfall
is uncertain or deficient, they supply the means of correcting
by irrigation the capriciousness or the parsimony of Nature.
Everyone knows that Egypt is dependent on the Nile ; and,
to use an illustration on a smaller scale, the historic city of
Damascus would perish by drought, and the green oasis in
which it is situated would revert to the condition of a sandy
waste, if the little river Abana were diverted from its course.
Charmed by their beauty, grateful for the benefits which they
confer upon mankind, and awed, perhaps, by the power which
they exhibit in their angry moods, the ancients attributed to
rivers a supernatural character, and paid them a religious
worship. Every river had its god, while the smaller springs
and fountains, which never failed in summer or overflowed
their banks in winter, were supposed to be presided over by
divinities of the softer sex. As a consequence of this feeling,
the benefits of rivers were accepted with gratitude, and the
havoc which they sometimes commit, was submitted to with

184

ON THE SCHEMES FOR PREVENTING

THE INUNDATIONS OF THE TIBER.

185

resignation, as a necessity of Nature or a manifestation of
the anger of the river god. To divert them from their course
or to lessen the volume of their water was thought to be
offensive to the deity of the stream, and when, in the reign
of Tiberius, it was proposed to turn into new channels the
tributaries of the Tiber, in order to lessen the inundations of that
river, the crowning objection brought forward against the scheme
was, that "Father Tiber would be unwilling to be bereft of his
affluent streams, and to flow henceforward with diminished pride.'*
Not a trace of this sentiment remains in the present day,
when everything is regarded only in relation to material con-
siderations. On the contrary, we heap every kind of indignity
on our streams. We make them the receptacles for the excreta
of man and for the refuse of manufactories, and, in order to
secure some imaginary advantage or to avert some local or
temporary inconvenience, we mar their beauty by diverting
them into new and unpicturesque channels or confining them
between artificial mounds.

Were the results anticipated from these operations attained,
the lover of Nature, and the man of poetical temperament, and
literary or scientific tastes, would acquiesce in the change,
because the pleasure derived from the beauty of rivers, and
from their historical or legendary associations, must give way
to material advantages; but, except in the case of a few
mountain torrents and estuaries, I am not aware that any real
advantage has been gained by diverting the course of rivers,*
and it is certain, that rivers when embanked, become sources
of present anxiety and of future danger, greater than any which
it is our object to prevent.

♦ This obsen'ation does not apply to works like the Bedford Level
This IS a straight cut from a point on the lower course of the river Ouse

land from the sea. and by substitutmg a straight for a tortuous course not
only was a shght fall gained, but. what was of more importance.' the
embankment was less liable to be undermined, and, consequently, the expense
of keeping it m repair was reduced. But this is no precedent for diverting

reqled " '" '' ^""^' ^"' "^^^^ ^' embankments arf

The engineers who suggest these alterations for the purpose

of preventing inundations may be well acquainted with the

mechanical part of their profession, the driving of tunnels and

the construction of skew bridges and of viaducts, but they

are often as ignorant of the principles of physical geography

as they are devoid of taste ; otherwise, they would know that

inundations are by no means an unqualified evil, and that

they are one* of the means by which the earth has been

fertilized, and by which its fertility will be maintained if man

does not interfere to thwart the purposes of Nature. **The

true golden sands," says Torricelli, "are the sediment of

rivers," and the increased fertility of a small plain overflowed

by the Loire in 1846 was said by the government engineers

to have more than compensated for the destruction of a

few houses, which were sapped and overthrown by the

flood. The floods, also, to which all rivers in a state of

Nature are liable, are the means by which the relative level

of the river and the adjoining country is maintained. If,

therefore, we succeed in preventing the inundations of rivers,

by widening and deepening their channels or diverting their

course, we deprive ourselves of certain compensating advantages ;

while, if we attain the same end by means of embankments, we

not only interfere with the adjustments of Nature, but create

new dangers, which increase year by year, until they culminate

in some great disaster. That we shall rarely succeed in our

attempts to prevent inundations, and that success would be

productive of evils greater than any which we desire to avert,

I will try to shew.

When a river flows through a mountainous country or
elevated plateau, where the descent is measured by tens of feet
in a mile, a deeper and straighter channel may be dug and
a considerable fall be gained. In this way, in Switzerland,
the damage done by inundations has in many cases been
prevented or moderated. Again, when a river is embanked

• The other is the disintegration of certain rocks, especially those of igneous
formation. The fertility of volcanic soils is proverbial.

MBS.

'fil

186

ON THE SCHEMES FOR PREVENTING

THE INUNDATIONS OF THE TIBER.

187

for the purpose of enabling marshes to be cultivated or land
to be reclaimed from the sea, a straighter and shorter artificial
bed will not only lessen the cost of embankment in the first
instance, but also the expense of keeping it in repair. When,
also, the bed of a river is narrowed or its channel crossed
by a ledge of rocks, the rocks may be blown up and the
level of the water be permanently lowered, because no operation
of Nature can restore the rocks. In this instance, the bed of
the river is determined by the configuration of the surface
and the stratification of the rocks,* and man does but aid
and accelerate the natural process by which the rocks are
slowly worn away. There is no fear, therefore, lest Nature
should undo his work. But the case is widely different when
a river flows with an inconsiderable descent through an alluvial
plain or occupies, like the Tiber, a portion of a wide alluvial
valley. Here the bed of the river, like the alluvial plain or
valley, is the creation of the river itself A river, by a sort
of instinct, chooses the most convenient course, and when it
IS free to scoop out its channel in an alluvial soil, the breadth
and depth of the river at any point will be suited to its
requirements at that point. If, therefore, an artificial addition
be made to that breadth and depth, the only result will be
that the sides and bottom will be filled with nearly stagnant
^yater, a rapid deposit of mud will take place, and in a short
time the work of man will be undone. We may see an
Illustration of this in the Tiber and other rivers when a
portion of the bank falls in. The little bay so created is
soon silted up ; and, if the land be valuable, the process may
be accelerated by partially enclosing it with stakes.

Many engineers reason as if they thought that Nature had

• The Rio Negro, a large tributary of the Amazon, is represented in
some „,p3 fl„„i„g ,. ^ ^^^^^.^ p^.^^ ^^ .^^ ^^^^^^ ,^ Z„ t ,e s

than nme mUes m width; but it is not said whether the river at the note
expands into a lake or threads a multitude of islands with "ulfousTd

he case tr:- ^ "' "'^"^""" "^^^ '^ ^='""^' "'^ '»"" « P-baWy
the case, the nver being prevented by the granite from dccpenin,. its bed

Lower down, though the soU is alluvial, it is f^een mUcs acriss

made a calculation of the largest quantity of water which a
river would have to convey, and had adjusted the dimensions
of the channel to that quantity, so that, if a river ever over-
flows its banks, it must be owing to some stricture, as it were,
in its bed, which it is the province of engineering science to
remove. But the breadth and depth of a river are determined,
not by the volume of water in time of floods, but by the
average of the quantity which it discharges in the course of
a year. Accordingly, in Australia, where long droughts alternate
with deluges of rain, the bed of rivers is often ridiculously
small compared with the sea of waters which they bring down
after heavy rains. The Murray at Echuca (Victoria Colony),
after a course of between three and four hundred miles, is
no wider in summer than the Tiber at the Ripetta; yet, during
great floods, it is sometimes a mile across and forty-five feet
deep. What would be the dimensions of an artificial bed
sufficient to carry off" this body of water without overflowing,
and what would be the expense of keeping it free from
obstructions during the season of drought, so that it should
perform its office when the rains returned ? Let the engineers
who propose to operate upon the Tiber reply.

Those who expect great results from widening, deepening,
straightening the Tiber, and removing a few petty obstructions
in its bed, must be ignorant of the history of the river under
the Roman Emperors. We learn from Dion Cassius that, in
consequence of the great inundations in the reign of Tiberius,
conservators "of the bed and banks of the Tiber" were
appointed, whose office was to keep the river within bounds.
These conservators were men of the highest position ; they
were armed with every power required for carr^'ing out their
object, and they were backed with all the resources of the
State. Yet, though they employed the same means which are
now suggested, as if those means had never been tried before,
history informs us that they accomplished nothing. In the
reign of Otho we learn from Tacitus that the Tiber rose so
suddenly that people were swept away in the public streets,
while, according to Suetonius, for twenty miles above Rome

188

ON THE SCHEMES FOR PREVENTING

the road was obstructed and the march of the army of the
Emperor impeded by the ruins of buildings which had been
overthrown by the flood. To pass over the many inundations
in the subsequent reigns, among others that in the time of
Trajan, recorded by the younger Pliny, we come to the great
flood described by Ammianus Marcellinus, who lived in the
reign of Valentinian and Valens, when the whole of Rome
was converted into a sea, and only a few elevated spots
appeared like islands above the watery waste. During four
hundred years, therefore, nothing had been achieved, and the
conservators had been playing a losing game with Father
Tiber. Why, then, should we expect that more would be
effected by the same means in the present day ? Does anyone
suppose that the Tiber is broader or deeper now than it was
m the time of the Romans ? If not, Nature must have undone
all that the Romans accomplished in the way of widening and
deepening the river; and will undo, in like manner, all the
digging and dredging of modern engineers.

But much, it is said, may be expected from the removal of
the piers of the Sublician, and Triumphal bridges, and of other
obstructions, such as the ruins of the Emilian bridge, called
the Ponte Rotto. The engineers from whom the report on
the Tiber emanates appear to have added together the little
falls of inches and half feet produced at low water by the
obstructions in question, and assuming that the same difference
of level will remain when the river is flooded, they assure us
that the inundations may be lowered two metres, or more than
six feet, by the operations they contemplate. But, if they had
ever studied the phenomena of floods, they would have re-
marked, that the efl-ect of a rise in the water is to obliterate
differences of level,* and to cause the surface to make a

The reason of the obliteration of the differences of level is that, when the
nver is rising, the water above the fall aiTives faster than it can flow away
Conversely, when the river is falling, the water flows away faster than it can
amve, and the fall reappears. If immediately below the first fall there is another
similar aU, he effect would take place below the second Hill, which would be
obhterated first, and then, if the river continued to rise, the first faU would

THE INUNDATIONS OF THE TIBER.

189

smaller angle with the horizon. Any one who takes the
trouble to observe, may satisfy himself of this. If there is a
weir across a river, it will be seen that, as the river rises, the
fall diminishes, until the fall becomes a rapid. As the rise
continues, the violence of the rapid lessens, until nothing but
a ripple marks the place where the fall once was. As the
river sinks, the rapid reappears, and then the fall. The same
effect is produced at every trifling descent, until the whole
surface becomes more uniform, and makes a smaller angle with
the horizon. It is evident, therefore, that those objects which
are buried deep beneath the flood, like the piers of the ancient
bridges, can have no appreciable effect upon its height.*

As to the Ponte Rotto, it is absurd to suppose that the
remaining arches of that bridge can offer any sensible impedi-
ment to the passage of the floods. The suspension-bridge
affords abundant water way, and the fact of the bridge having
been carried away on that side shows that the current is
directed towards the south-eastern shore. Even the Ponte Sisto
has very little effect upon the height of floods. During the
inundation of 1870, the Ponte St. Angelo was unapproachable;
but I succeeded in reaching the Ponte Sisto when the flood
was at its height. Here the rush of water was very great, but

gradually disappear, and so with any number of small falls succeeding each other,
like the steps of a stair. It is astonishing that the Italian engineers should have
taken no account of this phenomenon, which any one may obser\'e during the
rise of a river, and which is treated of in Vall^s' •♦ Etudes des Inondations," a
work which every one who deals with rivers ought to read.

It is part of the scheme finally decided upon by the Commissioners appointed
to regulate the course of the Tiber, to cut through the neck of the bend of the
river at San Paolo. The fall gained in this way would not, I believe, amount to
two inches, and would have no sensible effect upon the floods. It would be
impossible by this means to confine the river within its bed, and when the whole
valley at San Paolo became a lake, the difference between the two channels
would wholly disappear.

« On this subject see Valles' " Etudes sur les Inondations," page 339, 340.
Paris 1857. Strictly speaking, the difference of level will never be entirely
obliterated ; but the height of the water, above and below the obstruction, will,
as the river rises, approach nearer and nearer to a ratio of equality, just as a curve,
when indefinitely prolonged, approaches closer and closer to its asymptote, but
never actually coincides with it.

i

190

ON THE SCHEMES FOR PREVENTING

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191

there was no fall, such as the damming up of the river by
the piers of the bridge would have produced. On the contrary,
the water, after passing through the arches, boiled up in such
a manner as almost to deceive the eye into the belief that the
level of the water was higher below than above the bridge
If. now, the Ponte Sisto, which e.xtends across the stream,
has so little influence on the height of floods, how slight must
be the efl^ect of the remaining arches of the Ponte Rotto
which occupy only one side of the river, and that the side
where the current is feeblest. How preposterous, then, would
>t be to incur the expense of removing these arches, and con-
structing a new suspension bridge, in order to lower the floods
an inch or two, or perhaps only the fraction of an inch.

The Ponte St. Angelo off-ers. no doubt, a considerable
obstruction to the passage of the water, when the river attains
a certain height; for the flood in ,870 rose above the crown
of the arches. But such an act of Vandalism as the destruc-
tion of this bridge is not contemplated, I believe ; nor is the
i'onte St. Angelo the only cause of floods ; for it was not in
existence during the great inundations recorded by Dio Cassias
Tacitus, and Pliny, in the times of Cicero. Tiberius, and
irajan. Something, indeed, may be gained by clearing away
the sand with which the side arches are encumbered, and
the level of the floods may be slightly reduced by widening
the river at the gardens of the Famesina ; for the Tiber at
that point has been artificially narrowed, and the obstructions
placed by man may be removed by man ; nor will the river
have any tendency to restore what the river has not created
But these two operations combined will not. I am convinced'
lower the floods one foot, while the efl-ect of removing the
piers of the Ponte Rotto will, for the reason I have given be
inappreciable. '

The truth is, that the inconsiderable fall of the Tiber be
tween Rome and the sea, amounting only to eight inches in
a mile, leaves no margin for lowering its bed. On the other
hand. If we widen it at a point where no .r/yf./a/ obstruction
exists, our labour will be thrown away; for if the width had

been insufficient, the river, by its abrasion, would have done
the work itself. Were it possible to bring up the level of the
sea to Rome and to widen the Tiber a thousand feet, in a
short time the great ditch so created would be filled by a
rapid deposit of mud on the horizontal bottom, the space
dug out at the sides, not being utilized by the river, would be
silted up, and the old dimensions of the channel would be
restored. This is the reason why the ancients failed in their
endeavours to prevent inundations by widening and deepening
the river's bed, and why we, if we employ the same means,
shall be sure to fail. I have before shown that the removal
of the so-called obstructions can have no effect. The idea,
therefore, of lowering the floods in any sensible degree by
operations on the bed of the Tiber may be dismissed as
chimerical.

But there is another scheme often projected, though never
carried out by the ancient Romans and the Romans of the
sixteenth and subsequent centuries, that of diverting the Tiber
wholly, or partially, from the city. As the former scheme,
that for diverting the river into a new channel and filling
up the old bed has been abandoned, on account of its enormous
expense, little notice need be taken of it, except to observe
that the very conception of such a plan shows the stupidity
and tastelessness of the modern Romans.^ A river is always
useful, and may be made ornamental. Most important cities,
when their site has not been determined by considerations of
safety or the proximity of minerals, are situated upon rivers.
Livy puts into the mouth of Camillus a speech, in which he
enlarges upon the advantage which Rome enjoyed over Veii
in being built upon a navigable river, and even in the present
day the Tiber is utilised to a certain extent, though far less
than in the time of the ancient Romans. In their time, also,
it had an ornamental character, and villas of the rich and
noble were erected along its banks. These are alluded to by
many writers. I will instance only the line of Horace:

Cedes coemptis saltibus, et domo,

Villaque, flavus quam Tibcris lavit.— Car. II. 3.

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ON THE SCHEMES FOR PREVENTING

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193

-1

and the passage of Pliny in which he observes that "all the
rivers in the world together were not peopled and adorned
with so many villas as the single river Tiber."— III. (9) 54.

What, then, could be more preposterous than diverting at
an enormous expense a river which is already useful and
might be made highly ornamental, and which was styled by
a poet of the Empire, who wrote in Greek hexameters, "the
most regal of rivers,"* in reference, probably, to its magni-
ficent surroundings, the stately buildings, and lordly villas, with
which its banks were lined.

But, as this scheme has been abandoned, not on account
of its absurdity, but its enormous expense, I will confine myself
to examining the other, that, namely, of digging a canal, which,
commencing above the junction of the Anio and the Tiber,
shall carry off the entire water of the former and a portion
of the latter, whenever it reaches a certain height. The canal
is intended to join the Tiber again in the neighbourhood of
San Paolo fuori le Mura. This plan would entail a less
expense than the other, but as it would, in my opinion, fail
to attain its end, the waste of money would be greater still.
In the first place, the total diversion of the Anio will have
little effect in lowering the inundations of the larger stream.
Anyone who takes the trouble to inspect the map will see
that the Anio drains but a small portion of the basin of the
Tiber, and that its length is less than that of the Nera, or
of the Tiber above its junction with the former stream, some
miles higher up than Orte. Since, then. One is sixty miles
above Rome, the combined floods of the Tiber and the Nera
would, if we suppose the current to flow at the rate of five
miles an hour (which is, probably, above the average), reach
Rome twelve hours after that of the Anio ; but by that time
the flood of the Anio will have come and gone, to say nothing
of its being, in a great measure, lost in the much wider bed
of the Tiber. On the other hand, the upper Tiber and the

^ • e.V/3^tv kiJpptirn'i iroraf^^y ^aatXtvTaro, &\\u,u. Dionysu Alexandrini.
T»j« olKovfiivij'i irtpniyrjaiv.

Nera, which are nearly of the same length, and the Chiana,
which, though shorter, flows with a more sluggish course, will,
when swollen by a rain extending over the whole of their
basins, come down simultaneously with a head of water. The
effect, therefore, upon the floods of abstracting the entire water
of the Anio may be left out of consideration.

Let us now examine the other part of the scheme for
diverting a portion of the water of the Tiber in time of floods
and restoring it, along with that of the Anio, to the river
at a lower point. When we consider the slight fall of the
Tiber from the Anio to San Paolo, the conception of the
Italian engineers is scarcely reasonable. Again, in all the
reports of the engineers two tacit assumptions appear to be
made; first, that as soon as the Tiber reaches a certain height
it will rush into the canal as if a sluice were opened ; and,
secondly, that the inundation in the main stream will be
lowered in proportion to the quantity of water abstracted ; so
that, if we could draw off by means of the canal one-third of
the additional volume of water in time of floods, we should
reduce the height of the floods by one-third.* Both of these
assumptions are false, as everyone knows who has studied the
phenomena of rivers. Supposing the Tiber at Rome flowed
through an elevated plateau, and there were a great rapid or
cataract in the neighbourhood of San Paolo, then, if the canal
joined the river below the rapid, a considerable inclination
might be given to its bed, the water from the Tiber would
flow into it as from a dammed-up mill-pond, and the height
of the river above the point of diversion might be lowered
several feet. But as no such rapid exists, the slope of the
bed of the canal cannot be made greater than the slope of
the Tiber between the Anio and Rome, and the slope being
the same, and that slope only eight inches in a mile, there
is no reason why the water should elect to enter the canal
instead of pursuing a more direct course down the channel

• The second assumption would be correct, if the quantity abstracted could
be annihilated instead of being merely diverted.

194

ON THE SCHEMES FOR PREVENTING

THE INUNDATIONS OF THE TIBER.

195

of the river. In fact, as* the current of a river is always
most feeble at the side, and the Anio, which will form part of
the canal, enters the Tiber at right angles, it will be found
extremely difficult to coax more than an insignificant portion
of the flood to enter the canal.

Again, it is not true that the height of the flood will be
lowered in proportion to the quantity of water abstracted by
the canal. If a tributary joins a river, it is found that the
height of the river is not increased in the ratio of the volume
of water discharged into it by the tributary, but its velocity
is augmented. Conversely, therefore, when a canal is diverted
from a river, the velocity of the current in the river will be
lessened, but the surface will be lowered in a far less ratio
than the quantity of water abstracted. When, therefore, we
consider how small a portion of the flood water is likely to
enter the canal, and how little that portion would lower the
height of the floods, we may well pause before we incur the
expense of digging the canal, of bridging it, and of keeping
it free from sandbanks and other obstructions.

In what I have written I have introduced no arithmetical
calculations or algebraical formulae, but have satisfied myself
with indicating general principles, partly because the numerical
details of the scheme are not yet settled, and partly because
mathematical calculations as to the flow of rivers are altogether
illusory. When the subject first attracted the attention of
scientific men it was investigated by Torricelli in his closet,
not, as it ought to have been, on the river banks, and his
algebraical formulae conducted him to the conclusion that the
velocity of a river is greatest at the bottom, which everyone
knows to be the reverse of truth. In fact, the flow of rivers
is in a great measure an empirical science, or a science of
observation and experiment. Owing to the irregularities in
the breadth and depth of rivers, the subject is so complicated
that mathematics will avail us little, or lead us farther astray,
because the postulates or data can never be ascertained with
certainty. Torricelli, as we have seen, deduced by calculations
which were undoubtedly correct, from premises which were

certainly false, an utterly erroneous result, and calculations of
the volume of water discharged by rivers often diff'er so widely
in amount as to shew either that the formulae used are
incorrect or that the conditions under which they are applied
are continually varying. It is with rivers as with the tides
and with the weather. We know the cause of the tides and
the height to which they rise in the open sea; yet what
mathematics would have enabled us to foretell that, while the
tide is only eighteen feet at the mouth of the Bristol Channel,
it rises thirty at Swansea and fifty at Chepstow, and that,
while it attains an elevation of one hundred and twenty, according
to some, in the Bay of Fundy between Nova Scotia and New
Brunswick, it rises only seven feet at Green Bay, separated
from the Bay of Fundy by nothing but a narrow isthmus.?
Similar observations may be made with regard to the weather,
the causes of whose changes are well known to us, though it
is only empirically and within narrow limits of time that we
can forecast those changes.

As I have treated elsewhere the subject of embankments,
and as it is not proposed to erect huge dikes along the banks
of the Tiber for the purpose of keeping out the floods at
their greatest height, I will confine myself to observing that
the Tiber, considering its low level in summer, may be looked
upon as a river naturally embanked, and occasionally overtopping
its natural embankments. All, therefore, that reason and good
taste would suggest would be to raise those banks where they
are below the general level, and to form quays of stone at
that level. These would be a convenience to navigation, an
ornament to the town, and a handsome promenade. Everything
beyond would be an eyesore, and a greater nuisance than the
floods themselves.

I will now recapitulate what I have said on the subject of
widening and deepening the Tiber, and removing obstructions
in its bed. Under the Roman Emperors, as I have observed,
"conservators of the bed and banks of the Tiber" were
appointed, whose office was to keep the river within bounds.
These conservators employed the same means which are sug-

02

— ((BM-^-fl!^^,-.,^**-*!

196

ON THE SCHEMES FOR PREVENTING

THE INUNDATIONS OF THE TIBER.

197

gested in the present day, and with what result ? In each
successive reign we read of inundations as great as any which
preceded them, and culminating in the great flood recorded
by Ammianus Marcellinus. Not only did the alterations in
the bed of the river produce no effect, but the alterations
themselves have disappeared, and the river has resumed its
normal width and depth.

With regard to the piers of the ancient bridges, I have
shewn that they can produce only an infinitesimal effect when
the river has attained a certain height. If three or four blocks
of stone were lying at the bottom of a river twenty-five to
thirty feet deep, no one would expect the river to sink when
the blocks were removed. Now, the piers in question are,
when the water is high, like so many blocks resting on the
bed of the stream. Or we may reason in this manner. A
body is no obstruction if it does not raise the level of the
water above it. When, therefore, the difference of level is
obliterated before the river overflows its banks (as it always
is, if the object is low and the banks are high), it can produce
no effect when the river is brimful, and nothing would be gained
by removing it.

As to the canal of diversion, though to most persons it
would appear that the amount of water which it abstracts must
be regulated by the dimensions of the canal, this is far from
being the case. The quantity which enters it depends in a
great measure upon the angle which it makes with the river.
W^hy this is so, a little consideration will make clear. The
velocity of a river is always greatest in the middle, and if
the canal makes a large angle with the river below the fork,
the great bulk of the water will pass the mouth of the canal
before it can be drawn within its vortex. This is, of course,
on the supposition that the slope of the canal at the point
of diversion is no greater than the slope of the river at the
same point. I will say nothing further about the canal, or
discuss the question of barrages for the purpose of forcing the
water of the river into the canal, because I have just learnt
that this part of the scheme has been abandoned, and that the

commisioners have resolved to confine themselves to operations
upon the bed of the Tiber within the limits of the town and
its suburbs. In this they have acted wisely, for comparatively
little money will be wasted ; but they can do nothing, I believe,
which will materially lower the height of the floods. I have
shewn from history that the widening and deepening the Tiber
had no effect in preventing great inundations, and I have,
I hope, made it clear that the removal of the piers of the
ancient bridges, as well as of the remaining arches of the
Ponte Rotto, cannot sensibly lower these inundations. There
remain, therefore, only the clearing out of the side arches of
the Ponte St. Angelo, and the widening of the river at the
Corsini gardens, the combined effect of which will not, I am
convinced, amount to a foot.

In conclusion, the advice I would tender is to leave the
river alone, or confine ourselves to improving it by building
quays of stone, for ornament or convenience, at the general
level of the banks, not by raising dikes with the intention of
preventing inundations altogether. If the piers of the Triumphal
and Sublician bridges are to be removed, it must be with the
purpose of improving the navigation, not with the hope of
lowering the floods. Father Tiber in every age has shewn
himself a sturdy antagonist and hard to deal with. He resisted
all the efforts of the Romans in their palmiest days to control
him, and it is not likely that he would be overcome by
weapons similar to those which they employed, but wielded
by feebler arms. Instead, then, of trying to prevent floods by
an expenditure, the interest of which in an average of years
would exceed all the damage done by the floods in the same
space of time, let us use the appliances of modern science,
the rain gauge and the electric telegraph, to enable us to
foresee them. I myself anticipated the great inundation of
1870 three days before it occurred, and twenty- four hours
beforehand I confidently predicted it to some friends. What
I did everyone else might do, by taking account of the height
of the river at a given time, by measuring and obtaining?
information regarding the depth of the rainfall in each of the

ni

198

ON THE INUNDATIONS OF THE TIBER.

Tiber's tributary streams, and by forming some conjecture,
from previous meteorological conditions, as to the depth of
snow upon the mountains. The cry of "wolf" may sometimes
be raised in vain, but the wolf should never be allowed to
steal upon us unawares.

CLIMATE OF ROME IN ANCIENT TIMES.

The formation of ice in a rapid river like the Tiber may
seem to imply a more intense degree of cold than any which
is experienced in the present day, and the line " Hibernum
fracta glacie descendet in amnem" (Juv. vi. 521) may be
added to those which are usually quoted from the Roman
poets and historians to prove the greater severity of the Italian
winters in former times. Everybody will recall the stanza of
Horace in which he describes Soracte as white with snow,
the trees as bending beneath their load, and the streams as
arrested in their course by frost; to which we may add two
other lines of the same poet :

Diffugere nives, redeunt jam gramina campis

Arboribusque comae. — Hor. Car. iv. 9, i.

The snows have disappeared, herbage now returns
To the fields, and foliage to the trees.

The "jam" appearing to imply that the snow had remained
some time upon the ground.

The passage, also, in the Georgics of Virgil :

Cum nix alta jacet, glaciem cum flumina trudunt.— G. i. 310.

Wlien the snow lies deep, when the rivers are bringing down ice,

appears to favour the same idea. But poets are bad authority
in matters of science.* Their office being to excite the

* When a poet describes in verse special objects in nature or phenomena
which occurred at a given time and place, he may, of course, be received as
authority. Thus Ovid's account of the ** Munena," in his " HaUeuticon," is
accepted by Naturalists. In like manner, Horace's description of the weather
preceding the great inundations of his time, in the ode commencing "Jam satis

terris &c., may be received as evidence of the character of that particular

season.

200

CLIMATE OF ROME

imagination and move the feelings by strong contrasts, they
select the most striking rather than the most usual images,
they describe the seasons by their grander phenomena or most
attractive features, and thus produce a false impression upon
those who do not consider the privilege ** quidlibet audendi "
which a poet enjoys.

In the fourth book of the Georgics, we have an account of
an old man from Corycus in Cilicia, who had inherited a small
patrimony on the banks of the river Galesus, near the city
of Tarentum. This Cor}xian old man, said the poet, by his
industry and skill, succeeded in raising the earliest fruits and
flowers of all his compeers, and " even while dreary winter was
splitting the rocks with frost, and curbing with ice the current
of the streams, he was already gathering the flower of the
tender hyacinth, chiding (by so doing) the late summer and
the lingering zephyrs."

Et cum tristis hyems etiamnum frigora saxa

Rumperet et glacie cursus fraenaret aquanim,

lUe comam mollis jam tondebat hyacinthi

^statem increpitans seram zephyrosque morantes. — rv. 135.

Does anyone imagine that Virgil is speaking of a fact
within his own experience, or that the winters in the extreme
south of Italy were so severe in the time of Augustus that
rocks were rent with frost and rapid mountain torrents — for
such are all the rivers of that region — were bridled by the
ice which collected in their beds ? Evidently the poet, in
order to heighten the contrast between the rigour of the season
and the results of the good man's labours, and enhance the
merit of his success, has given us a picture of winter in the
abstract, without reference to country or locality.

But, if anyone should still maintain that the language of
Virgil is to be literally understood, let him turn to the sixth
ode of the second book of Horace, where the poet tells us
that, if prevented by hard fate from settling in his old age at
Tibur, he will seek the banks of the Galesus, where long
springs and mild winters are granted by Jupiter as a boon to
man :

/

IN ANCIENT TIMES. 201

Unde si Parcae prohibent iniquae

Galesi

Flumen et regnata petam Laconi

nira Phalanto

Ver ubi longum tepidasque praebet
Jupiter bruraas Car. II. 6, 7 .... 18.

How are we to reconcile the two descriptions and explain
the apparent contradiction. Evidently by supposing that Horace
describes the real character of the climate, and that Virgil
does not intend to describe it at all. With Horace, the main
consideration was the general softness of the winters of the
Galesus; with Virgil, it was the skill and industry of the old
Corycian. The winter, in the latter case, is merely mentioned
incidentally to mark the early period of the year, and enhance
the merit of the old man's success in the cultivation of fruit
and flowers, and being so introduced, it is described, for efl'ect,
by the most salient features of the season. The words, there-
fore, "et cum glacialis hyems," &c., mean no more than this;
" and even when dreary winter throughout the world was

rending," &c.

Similar observations may be made with regard to the other
passages which I have quoted.

One who knew nothing of the climate of England, and
read the descriptions of spring in the English poets, would
imagine that it was the most genial season in the year, whereas
it is notoriously the most inclement. Horace Walpole, in one
of his letters, observes jokingly to his friend "that the spring
had set in with its usual severity," and this character it still
maintains. The weather in the latter end of March of the
year 1872 was wintry in the extreme, and the boat-race between
Oxford and Cambridge was rowed in the midst of showers
of snow driven by a north-easterly gale. Throughout the
month of April, as everyone knows, cold easterly winds prevail,
and even in the " merry month of May" the fair face of
heaven is often deformed by driving sleet and the promise
of an abundant fruit crop blasted by nipping frosts. The
truth is, the spring of the English and the winter of the

202

CLIMATE OF ROME

IN ANCIENT TIMES.

203

Romans are equally ideal; the reality in one case being too
harsh, and in the other too tame for the purposes of poetry.*

It is a necessary consequence of the licence conceded to
poets that their evidence, or what is presumed to be such, is
conflicting and contradictory, and many passages may be
quoted from Horace and Virgil to shew that the general
character of the weather in central Italy cannot have altered
much during the last nineteen hundred years. The myrtle was
not only abundant on the seashore,t but was a favourite shrub
in Roman gardens and pleasure grounds, and Horace thus
complains :

platanusque coelebs

EvinCet ulmos; turn violaria, et
Myrtus, et omnis copia narium,
Spargent olivetis odorem
Fertilibus domino priori.— -Hor. Car. ii. 15, 4.
The bachelor plane tree will displace
the elms [which were married by the
vines]. Next the violet beds, and the myrtle,
and the whole tribe of scents, will scatter
their perfume over olive grounds which
were productive to their former lord.

Virgil in his Georgics recommends the cultivation of the
myrtle as furnishing stout shafts for spears.^ It appears, there-

* In the Book of Job there are allusions to ice and snow : ♦' The streams are
blackish by reason of the ice, and wherein the snow is hid."— vi. 16. "Out of
whose womb came the ice and the hoarj- frost of heaven, who has gendered it ? "
" The waters are hid as with a stone, and the face of the deep is frozen."— xxxviil.
29, 30. Also in the Psalms : " He casteth forth His ice like morsels, who can
stand before His cold ? "— cxlvii. 16, 1 7. Job is generally supposed to have been an
Arabian Sheik, and Uz, his native country, is conjectured to have lain south-cast
of Damascus, in an arid region where frost and snow must have been unknown ;
yet he speaks of rivers as covered with a solid mass of ice, and even of the sea
as frozen. If Job, therefore, while illustrating the power of God by the wonders
of creation, describes what he could have known only from hearsay, and adorns
his poetry with the grander imagery of winter in countries lying far away to the
north, why should not the Italian poets have indulged in the same Ucence ?

t Littora myrtetis laetissima G. 11. 112.

amantes litora myrtos. — G. iv. 124.

t Viminibus salices foecundae, frondibus ulmi :
At myrtus validis hastilibus, et bona bello
Coraus G. II. 446—8.

fore, that it must have attained a considerable size, and that,
consequently, it could not have been liable to be cut down
at short intervals by frost. Now, in the middle and eastern
parts of England, the myrtle requires protection in winter, and
even near Clonmel in Ireland, which is only thirty miles distant
from the southern coast, I have seen one which was planted
against a sunny wall, and covered with a mat in winter, stripped
of all its leaves and partially killed by a severe frost accompany-
ing an easterly wind. It is only in Cornwall,* the county
Kerry in Ireland, and a few sheltered spots on the southern
and eastern coasts of the British islands that standard myrtles

can be grown.f

It appears, therefore, that, judged by this test, the winters
of Rome, in the time of Augustus, could not have been colder
than those of Cornwall in the present day, the greater heat
of the summer in Italy allowing the myrtle to attain the size
which it must have reached to fit it for the purposes indicated

by Virgil.

The evidence, therefore, of the poets may be rejected as
counteracting itself, or proving nothing but the fertility of their
imaginations. Nor is the testimony of ancient historians or
naturalists^ of greater value, unless they speak of some great

A myrtle formed the shaft of the spear of Camilla.
Et pastoralem praefixa cuspide myrtum.— -^. Vll. 817.

The epithet •* pastoralem " shows that the wood of the myrtle was extensively
used by the shepherds for their javelins or for their crooks.

• Garden hedges are said to be made of the broad- leaved or hardier variety,
in the neighbourhood of Cork and Belfast. But there are sheltered spots on the
sea-coast both of England and Ireland which have a chmate of their own. In
the interior of Ireland, the comity Tipperary, for instance, myrtles cannot be
grown without protection. They may support two or three winters in the open
air, but are sure to be cut off at last.

t The myrtles at Rome required no protection ; for the "teneros defendo i
frigore myrtos," (E. vii. 6) is put by VirgU into the mouth of a Mantuan

swain.

-*■ Pliny's Natural History, for instance, is nothmg but a collection of all the
vulgar notions respecting animals and objects in Nature which were current in
his time, and of all the foolish stories on the subject which he had been able to
collect. He took no pains to sift his materials to separate the true from the

II

204

CLIMATE OF ROME

catastrophe of their own times, the details and disastrous effects
of which must have been known to many, or of natural pheno-
mena of habitual recurrence to which there is frequent occasion
to allude, and concerning which they could not have been
misinformed. Among the Romans there was no such thing
as science in the modern acceptation of the term. No attempt
was made to ascertain by experiment or accurate observation
the truth of the facts which they made the basis of their
reasoning, or to arrange them systematically, and hence to
deduce the laws by which they are connected. The facts were
looked upon as independent phenomena, or special inter-
positions of the Deity, and hence there was no inducement
to investigate the truth of a story in order to reconcile it with
some acknowledged law of Nature. On the contrary, constituted
as human nature is, there was every temptation to exaggerate
whatever was wonderful in creation, and to make gratuitous
assumptions respecting it. There is a remarkable instance of
this in the Georgics of Virgil. Virgil here appears, not in
the character of a poet, a 7rot?/rric, or composer of fictions, but
of a naturalist writing in verse ; he comes forward as the
instructor of mankind in a useful art, and his work has a
practical object. We are entitled, therefore, to require that
he should state nothing as a fact, the truth of which was
doubtful, and by which his readers might be misled. Yet he
assures us that oaks may be grafted upon elms.

glandemque sues fregere sub ulmis. — G. ii. 72.

And swine have crunched the acorn 'neath the elm.

false, and the doubtful from either ; and so careless was he, that he would not
give himself the trouble to translate correctly the descriptions of the kingfisher
which he borrowed from Aristotle. By a false rendering of a Greek word he
represents the kingfisher as having a long neck instead of a long beak, which is
ridiculously inaccurate. The only parts of his work which are of any value are
those where he describes objects which were constantly before his eyes, or facts
which he had witnessed himself, or might have learnt from contemporary sources.
The chapters, also, which treat of works of Art supply valuable information not
to be obtained from any other source.

IN ANCIENT TIMES.

205

Two lines higher up we have a still more extraordinary state-
ment.

Et steriles platani malos gessere valentes. — li. 70.

And barren planes have vigorous apples borne.

This is much the same as if Virgil had assumed as a fact
that mules had been bred between a horse and a cow, because
he knew them to have been bred between a horse and an
ass ; for all practical gardeners, as well as theoretical botanists,
are aware that grafting succeeds only when the stock and
graft are nearly allied ; that is to say, when they belong to
different varieties of the same species, or different species of
the same genus. If, then, such false statements can be made
in a work which ought to be a scientific treatise written in
verse, adorned only with the imagery of well-known facts or
acknowledged fables, how absurd it is to bring forward as
evidence the statements of a poet in compositions where his
inventive powers are under no restraint, and where his only
object is to rouse, astonish, or to melt.

The fabled music of the dying swan is another illustration
of the indifference of the ancients to the truth of facts in
Nature. This belief held its ground for ages, yet no one
thought of testing by a simple experiment the truth of the
popular belief.*

When popular errors, which rested upon no rational founda-
tion, and which, by applying the test of experiment, might at
any instant have been disproved, retained their vitality so long,
it is not surprising that accounts of extraordinary natural
phenomena — exaggerated and embellished as they must have
been during their passage from age to age, often by oral

• Waterton tells us in his interesting essays, that one of several swans which
he had in his park fell sick, and eventually died. Being curious to learn what
grounds the ancients had for attributing such delightful melody to the swan
before its death, he watched the sick bird with great attention in its last
moments, but did not observe that it uttered any sound. In fact, the tame
swan utters no cry at any time, and has for that reason been called the mule
swan, "cygnus mutus," to distinguish it from the wild or whistling swan,
•♦cygnus ferus."

204

CLIMATE OF ROME

IN ANCIENT TIMES.

205

catastrophe of their own times, the details and disastrous effects
of which must have been known to many, or of natural pheno-
mena of habitual recurrence to which there is frequent occasion
to allude, and concerning which they could not have been
misinformed. Among the Romans there was no such thing
as science in the modern acceptation of the term. No attempt
was made to ascertain by experiment or accurate observation
the truth of the facts which they made the basis of their
reasoning, or to arrange them systematically, and hence to
deduce the laws by which they are connected. The facts were
looked upon as independent phenomena, or special inter-
positions of the Deity, and hence there was no inducement
to investigate the truth of a story in order to reconcile it with
some acknowledged law of Nature. On the contrary, constituted
as human nature is, there was every temptation to exaggerate
whatever was wonderful in creation, and to make gratuitous
assumptions respecting it. There is a remarkable instance of
this in the Georgics of Virgil. Virgil here appears, not in
the character of a poet, a Troti^rrjc, or composer of fictions, but
of a naturalist writing in verse ; he comes forward as the
instructor of mankind in a useful art, and his work has a
practical object. We are entitled, therefore, to require that
he should state nothing as a fact, the truth of which was
doubtful, and by which his readers might be misled. Yet he
assures us that oaks may be grafted upon elms.

glandemque sues frcgere sub ulmis.— g. ii. 72.

And swine have crunched the acorn 'neath the elm.

false, and the doubtful from either ; and so careless was he, that he would not
give himself the trouble to translate correctly the descriptions of the kingfisher
which he borrowed from Aristotle. By a false rendering of a Greek word he
represents the kingfisher as having a long neck instead of a long beak, which is
ridiculously inaccurate. The only parts of his work which are of any value are
those where he describes objects which were constantly before his eyes, or facts
which he had witnessed himself, or might have learnt from contemporary sources.
The chapters, also, which treat of works of Art supply valuable information not
to be obtained from any other source.

/;

Two lines higher up we have a still more extraordinary state-
ment.

Et steriles platani malos gessere valentes. — li. 70.
And barren planes have vigorous apples borne.

This is much the same as if Virgil had assumed as a fact
that mules had been bred between a horse and a cow, because
he knew them to have been bred between a horse and an
ass ; for all practical gardeners, as well as theoretical botanists,
are aware that grafting succeeds only when the stock and
graft are nearly allied ; that is to say, when they belong to
different varieties of the same species, or different species of
the same genus. If, then, such false statements can be made
in a work which ought to be a scientific treatise written in
verse, adorned only with the imagery of well-known facts or
acknowledged fables, how absurd it is to bring forward as
evidence the statements of a poet in compositions where his
inventive powers are under no restraint, and where his only
object is to rouse, astonish, or to melt.

The fabled music of the dying swan is another illustration
of the indifference of the ancients to the truth of facts in
Nature. This belief held its ground for ages, yet no one
thought of testing by a simple experiment the truth of the
popular belief.*

When popular errors, which rested upon no rational founda-
tion, and which, by applying the test of experiment, might at
any instant have been disproved, retained their vitality so long,
it is not surprising that accounts of extraordinary natural
phenomena — exaggerated and embellished as they must have
been during their passage from age to age, often by oral

* Waterton tells us in his interesting essays, that one of several swans which
he had in his park fell sick, and eventually died. Being curious to learn what
grounds the ancients had for attributing such delightful melody to the swan
before its death, he watched the sick bird with great attention in its last
moments, but did not observe that it uttered any sound. In fact, the tame
swan utters no cry at any time, and has for that reason been called the mute
swan, "cygnus mutus," to distinguish it from tlie wild or whistling swan,
"cygnus fcrus."

206

CLIMATE OF ROME

transmission— should have been accepted without enquiry, and
recorded by historians who lived long after the time when
they are said to have occurred. But such accounts must be
received with suspicion, and cannot be made the basis of a
scientific theory, which ought to rest upon facts about which
there is no dispute.

The accounts of severe winters at Rome are at intervals
of centuries. That of 356 a.u.c., or 396 b.c, recorded by
Livy V. 13, and supposed to be the same as that mentioned
by Dionysius, and on which so much stress is laid, happened
before the taking of the city by the Gauls, when all the records
are believed to have perished. It must, therefore, have been
handed down by tradition, and in its passage from mouth to
mouth it doubtless received many embellishments, until it was
finally committed to writing. The winter of A.u.c. 573, or
B.C. 179, referred to by Livy, was still 180 years before his
time. The winter, also, described by St. Augustine* as one
of extraordinary severity, when the snow lay to a great depth
for forty days in the Forum, and the Tiber was frozen over,
occurred, if it ever did occur, in the time of the war with
Pyrrhus, or 700 years before the age of St. Augustine. St.
Augustine concludes his account with the observation: "What
would these people have said if such a winter had happened in
our times.?" Yet this passage is usually quoted in a way to
lead the reader to suppose that the winter recorded by St
Augustine occurred during his lifetime, or not very long before.
Such exceptional weather may still recur in the revolution
of ages, but it proves nothing with regard to the normal
character of a climate. In Tegg's "Chronology- the winter
of 1234 is stated to have been so severe in the south of
Europe that the Mediterranean was frozen over, by which I
presume, is meant that certain bays and inlets of that sea

• Quid hyems ilia memorabilis tam incredibili immanitate sreviens ut nivibus
du'^tt si'f ""t" '"^^"'^^^ ^^^'^'^^"^^ manentibus. Tiber^: X

IN ANCIENT TIMES.

207

were covered with ice. Tegg was a mere compiler, and he

does not give his authority; but he. probably, knew as much

about the winters of .23+ as St. Augustine, who lived at the

t.me of the taking of Rome by the Goths, did of those in

the t.me of Pyrrhus. In ,843 the snow lay for two days on

the ground at Rome, and the thermometer of Fahrenheit

descended to seventeen degrees, or fifteen degrees below the

freezmg point ; and if we possessed records of all the seasons

in Italy for fifteen hundred years,* we should, probably, find

that at long intervals there were some which might vie in

seventy with those described by Livy and Dionysius, especially

If we make an allowance for the probable exaggeration of

their accounts.

The only evidence of any value as the foundation of a
scientific theory would be the reference of the poets and
historians to the weather of their own times. I can recall
but few passages of this kind,t of which the two most
frequently quoted to prove the severity of the winters in
ancient days are the account in the ode of Horace, i. 2 of
the weather preceding the great inundation in the' reign of
Augustus, and the story in Martial of the icicle which fell
from the arch of the aqueduct near the Porta Capena, and
killed one who happened to be passing beneath it.t But

• The authority of the Abbi de Lonqoerue is quoted by Gibbon, in his
"Miscellaneous Works." vol. 3, p. 246, for the fact that the Tiber was frozen
OTer in the winter of 1709, which was remarkable for its severity throughout Uie
whole of Europe. *•

t I take no account of such verses as those which I have already quoted

" DifTugere nivcs " &c., for the snows are as unreal as the "Graces," who

are represented as dancing after their disappearance.

Qua vicina pluit yipsanis porta columnis,
Et niadet assiduo lubricus imbre lapis,
In jugulum pueri, qui roscida templa subibat,
Decidit hybemo praegravis unda gelu.

Cumque peregisset miseri crudelia fata,

Tabuit in calido vulnere macro tener.
Quid non s.Tva sibi voluit fortuna licere .'

Aut ubi mors non est, si jugulatis aquae?— iv. 6.

+

208

CLIMATE OF ROME

neither of these passages, if examined with the eye of a
meteorologist, will be found to sustain this view. Horace,
indeed, speaks of great falls of snow, but he also mentions
frequent thunder and hail. Now, a frequency of thunder-storms
implies a prevalence of scirocco winds, and, consequently, of
mild, though wet and stormy, weather. For these storms rarely
occur, except during south winds or when the south wind
suddenly chancres to the west or north, the meeting of the
currents in the latter case inducing that rapid precipitation of
vapour which is always attended with a development of elec-
tricity. We may suppose, therefore, that there were violent
thunder-storms with hail, while the wind blew from the south,
and that, when the wind changed to the north, the rain
became snow, which fell in abundance for a time, and contri-
buted as it melted to swell the inundation, for there is nothing
in the ode to shew that it remained even for one day on the
ground.

With regard to the story of the icicle, it was certainly
unfortunate for the individual who happened to be passing
beneath, that it should have detached itself at that particular
time ; but in the formation of the icicle itself there is nothing
extraordinary, for the size which it attained would not depend
merely on the intensity of the frost, but on the rate at which
the water dripped, which must be such as to supply as much
water, and no morcy as will freeze in a given time. In the
present day icicles may be seen hanging from the fountains
of Rome after a night of five or six degrees Fahrenheit of
frost; and in the winter of 1843, when there were fifteen
degrees of cold, the formation of an icicle sufficiently large to
kill a man, if it fell upon him from a certain height, may easily
be conceived.

But, whatever weight these and two or three similar relations
may be thought to carry, the expressive silence of Tacitus and
of Pliny the younger, who wrote of events nearer to their
time, furnishes negative testimony more conclusive on the
other side. Tacitus has usually a chapter in each book devoted
to prodigies and natural phenomena of unusual occurrence.

IN ANCIENT TIMES.

209

Mention is made in these chapters of a swarm of bees settling
on the capitol, of a calf born with its head on its le^ of
a great whirlwind in Campania, and of the various inundations

lu?^^'' ^""^ ""^^ ^ ^°'^ '^ ^^^^ ^bout any winter
remarkable for its severity, nor is the occurrence of great falls
of snow or intense frost revealed incidentally by the incon-
venience they occasioned in the city, or by their effect in
impeding military operations.

Again, in the letters of Pliny the younger, which are full
of gossip on all subjects, the weather among the rest, there
IS no mention of frost or snow, though he enters into long
details about great falls of rain and the damage which they
caused. To this we may add, that the floods of the Tiber
are never attributed, by the writers I have mentioned, either
wholly or partially to the melting of the snows, but always
to excessive rains; though, if such deep snows, as is supposed,
had fallen over the whole seven thousand square miles of the
basin of the Tiber, their sudden melting must often have been
the principal agent in producing those floods. From modern
histories the general character of the weather which prevails
during a campaign may usually be gathered, and Pliny, as I
have observed, is very fond of talking about it. It is strange
therefore, that the subject of frost and snow should never once
crop up, either in the history of Tacitus or in the letters of
Plmy. It IS evident from this that, in the time of Pliny
and Tacitus, frost and snow were phenomena of rare occurrence
and mild in their character. '

Yet Arnold, in his " History of Rome," assumes as a fact
the greater severity of the Italian winters in ancient times,
and attempts to explain- it by a theory, now exploded, which
the progress of the science of heat and the logic of facts in
Canada ought to have shewn him to be untenable ; the theory
namely, that forests and marshes tend to increase the rigour
of the winter cold. "In the time of the Romans,'^ he observes,
the Apennines were covered with forests, and the influence
of the forests and marshes of Germany must have been felt
as far as central Italy." Arnold was an accomplished scholar,

P

210

CLIMATE OF ROME

but he was not a man of science or a shrewd observer of
Nature ; otherwise, his reason would have told him that forests,
as far as they have any influence at all, must tend to moderate
the severity of the winter cold, by impeding radiation and
preventing the escape of heat from the earth, and observation
would have taught him that the soil beneath trees often remains
soft and moist, while in more exposed situations the ground
is hard with frost. Was he never told by his gardener that
on a calm and clear night a piece of canvas placed across
four sticks will protect tender plants from two or three degrees
of frost, even though the sides are open to the air? From
this he might have inferred what would be the effect of trees.

It would be truer to say that the intense cold of certain
elevated plateaus was due rather to the absence of trees than
the supposed severity of the climate of ancient Italy to their
presence ; for, in the former case, there is nothing either to
retain the heat of the earth or to check the fury of the icy
blasts which sweep across its naked surface. The clearing of
the forests of Canada has not produced the amelioration of
climate which was anticipated, and the cold of the winters
is as great as ever. Indeed, the winter of 1865 — 66 was one
of the severest on record, the thermometer at Montreal having
descended to twenty-eight degrees of Fahrenheit below zero,
while heavy ordnance was conveyed across the St. Lawrence
on the ice.

Samuel Forey, also, in his "Treatise on the Climate of the
United States" (1842, p. 37), observes that the winters of Salem,
Massachusetts, instead of being rendered milder by the eradi-
cation of the forests, had been four degrees colder during
the last thirty-three years than the preceding average.

There are two passages, however, in the younger and elder
Pliny which are thought to support the popular notion of a
change of climate in Italy. The younger Pliny, in his letters,
describing his villa on the upper Tiber, which must have
been, at least, a thousand feet above the level of the sea,
observes that, notwithstanding the greater cold of the winters
in that elevated region, the bay tree succeeds very well.

IN ANCIENT TIMES.

211

"Sometimes," he says, -it is killed by frost, but not oftener
than in the neighbourhood of Rome. "Caelum est hyeme
fngidum et gelidum ; myrtos, oleas, quseque alia assiduo tepore
laetantur, aspernatur et respuit ; laurum tamen patitur, et etiam
nitidissimum profert; interdum, sed non saepius quam sub
urbe nostra necat." In this passage there is something which
I find it difficult to reconcile, either with itself or with the
evidence to be derived from other quarters. The bay, "Laurus
nobilis," though somewhat tender and requiring a sheltered
situation, is a hardier tree than the myrtle,* and is very generally
planted in English shrubberies, while even the least delicate
variety, the broad-leaved or Roman myrtle, requires the pro-
tection of a conservative wall. Pliny himself tells us that the
myrtle is more tender than the bay,t for he says that the climate

• The myrtle, so carefully tended in England and so highly valued by the
ancient Romans, is now banished from the gardens and pleasure-grounds of
their descendants. Its modest beauty, its fragrance, and its poetical associations
are disregarded, and its place is usurped by more showy plants. There is not
a single specimen in the Pincian gardens. A prejudice, even, appears to exist
against it ; for a large shrub growing in a little garden on the left of the ascent
to the Trinity dei Monti, and covered every year with bloom, the only one I have
noticed m a cultivated state, has lately been cut down.

t In the notes to Arnold's "History of Rome" it is confessed that the
behef m the tenderness of the bay might have been a popular error. It may
seem strange that such an error should have held its ground in opposition
to umversal experience ; but the ancients neither instituted experiments nor
registered observations for the purpose of determining the truth of a fact
in Nature, and they forgot how often the bay had survived their severest
winters. In like manner, we forget how often the popular belief in the
influence of the moon on the weather is falsified by the event, and the beUef
m such influence will, probably, continue to the end of time. Many trees
and shrubs, at their first introduction into England, were believed to be
tender, which experience afterwards showed to be hardy. The horse-chesnut
for instance, a tree from the lower ridges of the Himalaya mountains was
treated at first as a conservatory plam, but it was soon found to be capable
of supporting the severest winters of England ; the ancients would, probablv
have never made the discovery of its hardiness. It may be observed with
regard to the olive, that it wiU stand the winters of England, and even 'attain
the dimensions of a small tree; but, as it never ripens its fruit and there
IS no beauty in its foliage, it is never planted except for curiosity. It is
therefore, hardier than the myrtle, which, consequently, furnishes a better
illustration of my argument.

P2

210

CLIMATE OF ROME

but he was not a man of science or a shrewd observer of
Nature ; otherwise, his reason would have told him that forests,
as far as they have any influence at all, must tend to moderate
the severity of the winter cold, by impeding radiation and
preventing the escape of heat from the earth, and observation
would have taught him that the soil beneath trees often remains
soft and moist, while in more exposed situations the ground
is hard with frost. Was he never told by his gardener that
on a calm and clear night a piece of canvas placed across
four sticks will protect tender plants from two or three degrees
of frost, even though the sides are open to the air? From
this he might have inferred what would be the effect of trees.

It would be truer to saj that the intense cold of certain
elevated plateaus was due rather to the absence of trees than
the supposed severity of the climate of ancient Italy to their
presence ; for, in the former case, there is nothing either to
retain the heat of the earth or to check the fury of the icy
blasts which sweep across its naked surface. The clearing of
the forests of Canada has not produced the amelioration of
climate which was anticipated, and the cold of the winters
is as great as ever. Indeed, the winter of 1865 — 66 was one
of the severest on record, the thermometer at Montreal having
descended to twenty-eight degrees of Fahrenheit below zero,
while heavy ordnance was conveyed across the St. Lawrence
on the ice.

Samuel Forey, also, in his ** Treatise on the Climate of the
United States" (1842, p. 37), observes that the winters of Salem,
Massachusetts, instead of being rendered milder by the eradi-
cation of the forests, had been four degrees colder during
the last thirty-three years than the preceding average.

There are two passages, however, in the younger and elder
Pliny which are thought to support the popular notion of a
change of climate in Italy. The younger Pliny, in his letters,
describing his villa on the upper Tiber, which must have
been, at least, a thousand feet above the level of the sea,
observes that, notwithstanding the greater cold of the winters
in that elevated region, the bay tree succeeds very well.

IN ANCIENT TIMES.

211

"Sometimes," he says, "it is killed by frost, but not oftener
than in the neighbourhood of Rome. "Caelum est hyeme
frigidum et gelidum ; myrtos, oleas, quaeque alia assiduo tepore
laetantur, aspernatur et respuit; laurum tamen patitur, et etiam
nitidissimum profert; interdum, sed non ssepius quam sub
urbe nostra necat." In this passage there is something which
I find it difficult to reconcile, either with itself or with the
evidence to be derived from other quarters. The bay, " Laurus
nobilis," though somewhat tender and requiring a sheltered
situation, is a hardier tree than the myrtle,* and is very generally
planted in English shrubberies, while even the least delicate
variety, the broad-leaved or Roman myrtle, requires the pro-
tection of a conservative wall. Pliny himself tells us that the
myrtle is more tender than the bay,t for he says that the climate

• The myrtle, so carefully tended in England and so highly valued by the
ancient Romans, is now banished from the gardens and pleasure-grounds of
their descendants. Its modest beauty, its fragrance, and its poetical associations
are disregarded, and its place is usurped by more showy plants. There is not
a single specimen in the Pincian gardens. A prejudice, even, appears to exist
against it ; for a large shrub growing in a little garden on the left of the ascent
to the Trinity dei Monti, and covered every year with bloom, the only one I have
noticed in a cultivated state, has lately been cut down.

t In the notes to Arnold's "History of Rome" it is confessed that the
belief in the tenderness of the bay might have been a popular error. It may
seem strange that such an error should have held its ground in opposition
to universal experience ; but the ancients neither instituted experiments nor
registered observations for the purpose of determining the truth of a fact
in Nature, and they forgot how often the bay had survived their severest
winters. In iike manner, we forget how often the popular belief in the
influence of the moon on the weather is falsified by the event, and the beUef
in such influence wiU, probably, continue to the end of time. Many trees
and shrubs, at their first introduction into England, were believed to be
tender, which experience afterwards showed to be hardy. The horse-chesnut,
for instance, a tree from the lower ridges of the Himalaya mountains, was
treated at first as a conservatory plant, but it was soon found to be ca'pable
of supporting the severest winters of England ; the ancients would, probably
have never made the discovery of its hardiness. It may be observed with
regard to the olive, that it will stand the winters of England, and even 'attain
the dimensions of a smaU tree ; but, as it never ripens its fruit and there
is no beauty in its foliage, it is never planted except for curiosity It is
therefore, hardier than the myrtle, which, consequently, furnishes a better
illustration of my argument.

T2

212

CLIMATE OF ROME

IN ANCIENT TIMES.

213

of his villa rejects the former, but produces very fine specimens
of the latter. I have shewn that the myrtle was grown, not
only for ornament but for economical purposes, and, of course,
in the open air; for the idea of cultivating for their wood
trees that require protection is absurd.

If, then, the bay was a hardier shrub than the myrtle,
and the myrtle must have survived many winters in the open
air, in order to suit the purposes of the cultivator, it is incon-
ceivable that the bay tree could have been killed in the
neighbourhood of Rome, except after very long intervals of
time, and this supposition is not inconsistent with the lan-
guage of Pliny, who, by saying that the bay was not killed
oftener than at Rome, might intend to imply the extreme
infrequency of the occurrence.

The other passage is quoted in Dyer's "Rome" from the
elder Pliny, to shew that in his time the snow in the neigh-
bourhood of Eome used to lie a long time on the ground.
The words are : " Alioquin vota arborum frugumque communia
sunt, nives diutinas sedere.*' *' For the rest, trees and crops
have this one wish in common, that snow may lie a long time
on the earth."

The strange style of Pliny, who is fond of personifying
inanimate objects, and attributing to them the feelings of
human beings, often renders a paraphrase necessary in order to
make his meaning clear; but I have given, I believe, the sense
of the author, who is merely stating the result of observations
made, perhaps, at his birthplace, near the lake of Como,
where the winters are much colder than in central Italy. Yet,
it is absurdly assumed that, because Virgil and Pliny wrote
at Rome, they must necessarily have had in their thoughts the
climate of Rome when they described the phenomena of
winter. If a writer on British agriculture, domiciled at Pen-
zance, were to make the observation in his work that a thick
covering of snow was useful in protecting plants from severe
frosts, and give directions for the treatment of crops and
trees during weather which is not unusual in the wolds of
Yorkshire, would it not be preposterous for a foreigner to

I/)

infer that heavy snows, lying long on the ground, and severe
frosts, were of frequent occurrence in Cornwall. Yet such is
the reasoning of Dyer and others, though there is nothing in
the passage quoted from Pliny, or in the context, to shew that
his words have reference to Rome more than to Mantua,*
Lyons, or Cologne.

The treatise of Virgil on agriculture, and the observations
of Pliny on the conditions under which trees and crops arc
most likely to thrive, are doubtless intended to apply to Italy
as a whole, from Tarento, where frost and snow are almost
unknown to the valley of the Po, where snow sometimes lies
for several days. Why, also, should not the outlying colonies
of the Empire, as Lyons and Cologne, be included in the
general scope of the work }

But, independently of the evidence for or against a change
afforded by the writers of antiquity, it appears to be physically
impossible that the climate of any place can have changed
since the last geological convulsion which determined the
present configuration of the surface of the globe. Geologists,
therefore, have been driven to explain the great decrease of
temperature which the remains of extinct animals show to
have taken place in the northern hemisphere by a different
distribution of land and water; by a gradual cooling of the
crust of the earth, supposed to have been originally in a
molten state, or by a change in the inclination of the axis
of the earth to the plane of the ecliptic. But during each
geological epoch, the climate of a place can depend only on
(i) its latitude, (2) its distance from the sea, (3) its elevation
above the level of the sea, and (4) the direction of the pre.
vailing winds. Man, by draining marshes, cutting down forests,
and planting trees, may, to a certain extent, and within limited
areas, increase the salubrity of the air or modify the amount
of moisture which it contains, but the great phenomena of

1^*11

• I am surprised that the line "....teneros defendo a frigore mvrtos '»
(E. VII. 6), which is supposed to be spoken in the neighbourhood of Mantua
hz^ never been quoted to prove the cold of a Roman winter.

N

214

CLIMATE OF ROxME

the weather, rain, wind, and snow, depend upon causes which

which ;? '""' ''^ ^°"'^°'' ^"^^ ^°"' -"'^'"°-. «-el,
which I have enumerated.

Any one of these conditions may modify or neutralise the
rest. Thus the winters of the eastern states of America are
far more rigorous than those of the countries in the same
parallel of latitude on the western side of Europe; the d"!

a Ln sir 7 A '• ''"' ■" '^'''"'^ ""^y '^^S-' - the
eastern s.de of Amenca is as cold as that of one in latitude

fifty degrees on the western side of Europe

This anomaly may be explained, partly by the greater
extension of land in America towards the North Pole „d
partly by the prevalence of westerly winds, which blow right
round the globe, in a belt extending from below forty
degrees to about fifty degrees of latitude. These winds, if they
are either due west, or from points between west and north

amve m the eastern states as freezing blasts, bringing with

hem f,ost and snow. Starting again from the eastL'coa t

3nd crossing an unfrozen ocean more than three thousand

sho '"r rf '• '''' ""'' ^"^'^"^ --^ the west of Tnce
shorn of all their severity, and though often cold and raw yei
always sonie degrees above the freezing point

The prevalence of these winds appears to me a simpler

ea t oflm? ""°: T '"'"^"" ''"^^^" "^'^ ^''-'^ oT'the
east of America and the west of Europe than the Gulf stream

which IS made to do duty on so many occasions when "^
ser ices are not required. It accounts, also, for the mi dne
of the western coast of Anierica as compared with the eastern
the climate of Vancouver's Island resembling that of th^
British Isles, though it is in the latitude of Labrador, wh.
the winters are intensely severe.

The supposed change in the' climate of Italy is not a ques-
tion of purely speculative interest, but has to a certain extent
a practical bearing; for many persons have argueT"hat th.
greater healthiness of the Campagna in Rome in'anc e 1

IN ANCIENT TIMES.

215

was owing to the severity of the winters, by which the germs
of disease were either destroyed or retained for a longer time
in a dormant state. If, then, it can be shown that the climate
of central Italy has undergone no change within the historic
period, the moderns will have no greater difficulty than the
ancients to contend with, and may hope, like them, to correct
by cultivation or other remedial measures the reputed insa-
lubrity of Rome and the surrounding country.

CONCLUSION.

Before concluding this work I will recapitulate some of
the topics on which I have enlarged. I have treated the Tiber
as an object of natural history, and as a monument of
antiquity, describing its physical peculiarities, and illustrating
from classical authors the feelings of affection, pride, and
reverence with which it was regarded by the ancient Eomans.
I have shown, also, that this feeling of reverence for its
divinity, or of superstition as we should call it in the present
day, was shared by the Tuscan nations who dwelt along its
banks; since they were diverted, Livy tells us, from a war
with the Romans, by an inundation which damaged the property
of their influential chiefs, and appeared to be of evil omen
for the success of their cause.

Our knowledge of the ornamental character imparted to
the river must be gathered from the notices, few and far
between, which are scattered through the ancient writers. Few
travelled in those days but the rich and high born, most of
whom had their "hospites" in the principal towns of the
Empire, with whom they stayed when they visited a foreign
city, and who probably acted as their cicerones in showing
them the curiosities of the places. There were, therefore, no
guide books, or descriptions of the town and their environs,
for the use of the general public, one of which, if it had
survived the wreck of time, would have thrown light on a
number of interesting points. But the quotations from Pliny
and Claudian leave no doubt that the banks of the Tiber
for miles above Rome, and probably also below it, were adorned
with villas and other ornamental structures, though of the
manner in which they were laid out we possess no informa-
tion. The ancients, doubtless, availed themselves of the

CONCLUSION.

217

advantages of the site for picturesque effect, as the moderns
might, by planting the ridges and knolls which skirt the strip
of alluvial valley through which the river flows.

I am aware that many artists deprecate the idea of planting
the Campagna, as impairing its peculiar character ; but if the
planting were done tastefully and artistically, so as to harmonise
with the other features of the landscape, the general effect
would be improved, and the banks of the Tiber, lined, as in
the time of Claudian, with villas, would present an appearance
more pleasing than the banks of the Thames, which wants the
fine back-ground of mountains which the valley of the Tiber
possesses.

Of the commercial value of the Tiber we possess more
precise information, and from many sources. The author of
Rome and the Campagna appears to think that, because the
Tiber is too narrow for the Warrior to turn in and too shallow
to float an East-Indiaman, it could have been of little com-
mercial value, and rejects the description of its advantages
put by Livy into the mouth of Camillus as a rhetorical ampli-
fication.* But to say nothing of the accounts of Pliny, Strabo,
and others, the passage from Vopiscus which I have quoted
seems to shew that it was in those times not only the principal
but the only channel in which corn was conveyed to Rome.
Aurelian,t i" his letter, observes that he had established a line

• Non sine causa Dii hominesque hunc urbi condendae locum eligerunt,
saluberrimos colles, flumen opportunum, quo ex Mediterraneis locis fruges
devehanter, quo maritimi commeatus accipianlur.

If Livy was deceived when he made Camillus enlarge upon the commercial
advantages of the Tiber, Cicero must have been under a like delusion when he
expressed himself in a similar strain in his " De republica," ii. 3 — 5. The latter
calls the river «* perennis," which is true ; for, unlike the Amo, it flows with a
full and strong current even in the heats of summer, and ** aequabilis," which is
as untrue ; for no river varies so much in height, forty feet being the difference
between the two extremes. Like Livy, Cicero speaks of the produce of
Italy brought down the river, as well as of the commodities imported from
abroad.

t I have observed that in the time of Aurclian the Tiber <^as the principal,
and probably the only channel by which Rome was supplied with food. I infer
this from the absence of alj mention in his letter of Italy as a source of supply.

I

218

CONCLUSION.

of merchant vessels between Egypt and Italy, and stationed
river-boats "amnicos" in the Tiber in connection with them.
The navigation of the Tiber is of less importance in the
present day owing to the introduction of railroads and the
improvement of the ordinary routes ; but as water carriage for
heavy goods is cheaper even than by railroads, something will
probably be done to render the Tiber navigable from Rome
to Perugia. If a canal parallel to the river, in conformity
with the advice of Gambarini, is determined upon, there
would at least be abundance of water at every season of the
year.

With regard to the inundations, I have explained what I
conceive to be their causes, and expressed an opinion that
nothing but embankments — a remedy worse than the disease-
could exclude them from the city, and that no human means
can appreciably lower their height. It might be supposed
from the remedies which have been proposed that nobody
had realised the fact that a channel of given section and
declivity can discharge only a given quantity of water, and
that, when that quantity is exceeded, it must necessarily over-
flow.. If we are to believe Gambarini and Chiesa, the Nestore,
at its junction with the Tiber, is one-third of a Roman mile
in width in the time of floods, or broader than the Thames at
Westminster bridge when the tide is in. There is, I suspect,
some mistake in this; but allowing for exaggeration, the
Nestore must after heavy rains bring down an enormous body
of water. The Paglia at Acquapendente flows, as I have noticed,
in a stony bed, as wide as the Tiber itself at Rome, and must,
when flooded, contribute largely to swell the volume of that

The ''fniges," and the "res victum cultumque maxime necessarise," which Livy
and Cicero (Livy, v, 54, and Cicero de Republica, II. 3—5) describe as being
brought down the Tiber from the interior, had long since ceased to be produced.
At hercule olim ex Italiae regionibus longinquas in provincias commeatus
portabant ; nee nunc infecunditate laboratur, sed Africam potius et -^gyptum
exercemus, navibusque et casibus vita populi Romani commissa est.—Tac.
Ann. XII. 43.

These reflections were suggested by a riot in the reign of Claudius consequent
upon the dearth of grain, and the high price of bread.

CONCLUSION.

219

river. When to these, which are but second-rate tributaries,
we add the upper Tiber and the larger affluents — the Nera,
the Velino, the Salto, and the Turano, which drain the
Western slopes of the Apennines for one hundred and forty
miles — it appears more surprising that the narrow bed of the
Tiber at Rome should be able to contain the immense mass
of waters poured into it after every heavy fall of rain than that
it should occasionally overflow. How absurd, then, is it to
suppose that the removal of a few petty obstructions can
have any sensible eff'ect upon the height of the floods.

It may be asked, what I would recommend myself.? I reply
in the words of the Senate, after taking into consideration the
propositions of Arruntius and Ateius, ** nihil esse mutandum,"
** that no change be made,"* as far at least as the bed of
the Tiber is concerned. "A most lame and impotent con-
clusion" this may appear. But it is better to do nothing than
to expend large sums of money on works whose utility is
questionable. The first cost of these works, and the expense
of maintaining them in an efficient state for thirty, forty,
or fifty years, would pay over and over again the damage that
the floods might cause in that interval of time. It would be
better, therefore, to invest the money and apply it to that
purpose than to sink it, not in doing good but in creating a

nuisance.

But though the floods cannot be prevented, they may, I
contend, be foreseen for twenty-four or thirty hours before
they occur, leaving ample time to place all moveable property
out of reach of harm. The question, whether the floods of
the Tiber are owing to rain or melted snow, may seem to
many as vain as the dispute " de lana caprina,"t whether the
natural covering of a goat ought to be called hair or wool,
and as void of practical result. But a great deal depends on
which is the more potent agent, rain or snow, in producing

♦ Tac. Ann. I. 79. This does not apply to deepening the river and
removing obstructions in order to improve the navigation, or to the construction
of quays for ornament and convenience.

t Alter rixatur dc lana saepc caprina.—Hor. Ep. i. 18, 555.

220

CONCLUSION.

CONCLUSION.

221

the floods. If. as the Romans absurdly suppose, the rain
adds l.ttle to the mass of waters, and serves only to promote
the more rapid dissolution of the snows, the height of the
flood must depend upon the quantity of snow to be melted,
of wh.ch nothing certain can be known ; but, if the rain be
the principal agent, its depth may be measured, not only at
Kome, but at other stations within the basin of the Tiber
and the average taken. If this be multiplied by the area of
the basm, we have, making allowance for the portion which
disappears by evaporation and percolation, the cubical content
of the mass of water which would find its way into the river

In this way. on Tuesday morning the twenty-seventh of
December, .870. I made a calculation of the quantity of water

Z^Z .' T "'" °' ''""'^^^ "'^'^^ '"^^ twenty-sixth,
namely ,-6 .„eh, and found that, if it extended over the

whole basm of the Tiber, it would be more than sufficient to

fill a reservoir twenty miles long, two miles broad, and twenty

S a'"\ °^^'' '""" '°"^' *"° -"''^^ '''°-d. and ten
eet deep.* The river was at that time two feet deep in

the Ripetta. Such a quantity of water therefore, coming at

a time when the Tiber was already flooded, and its channel

could contain no more, was quite sufficient to account for the

inundation. Yet the foolish Romans could not be persuaded

hat the rain of Monday, violent as it was, would have any

t^!n tT"h t- """""'"^ ">' "P'"'"'^ «" '»>- calcula-
tion had made, on the Tuesday morning I confidently

pr dieted a great flood into the Corso on the Wednesday

who if"f; ? ,' "°' ""^^' '" ^°"^'-'"^ ^^^ t-<^esmen'

!:!!!ll^l:!3^J^lP|^^^d^^^ at the Ripetta on Tuesda;

cJX:.:tir.;;wVfrntr

nature of the soil through ::hich ran" of s tb!. hI's 7o7 V^ ^'^""T

and the earth was completely saturated so tU 7° °'' '^''' ^°""'

lost. ^ saturated, so that comparatively little of it was

night to give the alarm, would have received information of
the rapid rise of the river, which took place at two or three
o'clock on Wednesday morning, and have had time to save
a large portion of their goods.

I would recommend, therefore, that there should be meteoro-
logical stations in the principal towns at the entrance of the
basins of the tributaries of the Tiber, namely, Orvieto,
Perugia, Foligno, and Terni. It has been suggested that the
height of the flood at Terni and other places should be tele-
graphed to Rome. I would take time by the forelock, and
telegraph to Rome the depth of rain at all these towns ; thus
enabling a calculation to be made, on which might be based
a sound conjecture as to the height of the coming flood.
The height of the river at the time must, of course, be taken
into consideration ; for the same quantity of rain which would
produce a great and disastrous inundation, when the river
is full, might only be sufiicient to fill it to the brim when low.

I now conclude, hoping that what I have said about the
Tiber may divert to it some portion of the interest which is
now concentrated upon brick and mortar, and that my observa-
tions upon the causes of its inundations may, on the one
hand, save expenditure on useless and injurious plans, and on
the other, suggest precautions which, if they cannot lower the
level of the floods, may at least reduce their injurious conse-
quences to a minimum.

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INDEX.

IIH

Acton s Modem Cookery 24

Alpine Club Map of Switzerland ....'.*.*.'.*.*.*.'.' 20

Alpine Guide (The) 20

Amos' s Jurisprudence *]"'" 5

lYimcr of the Constitution 6

Andersons Strength of Materials 12

Ar milages Childhood of the English

Nation .

Armstrong's Organic Chemistry *.*.*.*.*.'.*....'.'.* 12

Arnold's (Dr.) Christian Life 17

• Lectures on Modem History 2

Miscellaneous Works 7

• School Sermons 17

Sermons 17

(T. ) Manual of English Literature 7

Beowulf 21

Arnott's Elements of Physics n

Atelier (The) du Lys 20

Atherstone Priory 21

Autumn Holidays of a Country Parson ... 8

Ayre's Treasury of Bible Knowledge 9, 23

Bacon's Essays, by IVhately •... 6

Life and Letters, by Spedding ... 6

Works 6

Bain's Mental and Moral Science 7

on the Senses and Intellect 7

Emotions and Will 7

Baker's Two Works on Ceylon ,.. 19

Balfs Guide to the Central Alps 20

Guide to the Westem Alps 20

Guide to the Eastern Alps 20

Bancroft's Native Races of the Pacific 3

Barry on Railway Appliances 12

Beacon sfield' s (Lord) Novels and Tales ... 20

Becker s Charicles and Gallus 20

Beesly's Gracchi, Marius, and Sulla 4

Black's Treatise on Brewing 23

-5/ar-6/(fy J German- English Dictionary 9

Blaine's Rural Sports 22

Bloxam's Metals 12

Bolland and Lang's Aristotle's Politics....." 6

Boultbee on 39 Articles 16

Bourne's Catechism of the Steam Engine*.' 16

Handbook of Steam Engine 16

Treatise on the Steam Engine ... 15

Improvements in the same 15

Bawdier s Family Shakespeare 21

Bramley-Moore s Six Sisters of the Valleys . 21
Brande's Dictionary of Science, Literature,'

and Art j^

Brinkley s Asironomy !........... 10

Browne's Exposition of the 39 Articles.*.*.*.".*! 16

Buckle's History of Civilisation 2

Posthumous Remains 7

Buckton's Health in the House 14.

Bull's Hints to Mothers 23

Maternal Management of Children . 23

Burgomaster's Family (The) 21

Burke's Vicissitudes of Families 5

Cabinet Lawyer 23

Campbell's Norway .*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.'.*.* 20

Ca/tfj'j Age of the Antonines 4

— Early Roman Empire 4

Gates' s Biographical Dictionary 5

and Woodward' s Encyclopaedia ... 3

Cayleys Iliad of Homer 21

Changed Aspects of Unchanged Tmths ... 8

Chesney's Indian Polity 2

— Modern Military Biography 2

Waterloo Campaign 3

Church's Sketches of Ottoman History ... i

Colenso on Moabite Stone &c 19

's Pentateuch and Book of Joshua. 19

Commonplace Philosopher in Town and

Country 3

Comte's Positive Polity 5

Congreve's Politics of Aristotle 6

Conington's Translation of Virgil's ^neid 21

Miscellaneous Writings 8

Contanseau s Two French Dictionaries ... 8
Conybeare and Howson's Life and Epistles

of St. Paul 17

Counsel and Comfort from a City Pulpit... 8

Cox's (G. W.) Aryan Mythology 3

Athenian Empire 4

• • Cmsades 4

General History of Greece 3

— - Greeks and Persians 4

History of Greece 3

Tales of Ancient Greece ... 21

Creighton's Age of Elizabeth 4

Cresy's Encyclopaedia of Civil Engineering 16

Critical Essays of a Country Parson 8

CrcJ^^^j'j Anthracen 16

Chemical Analyses 14

■ Dyeing and Calico-printing 16

Culleys Handbook of Telegraphy 15

Curteis's Macedonian Empire 4

Davidson s Introduction to the New Tes-
tament 18

D'Aubignh's Reformation 18

De Caisne and Le Maoufs Botany 14

•«■

26 NEW WORKS published by LONGMANS 6- CO.

"^ .'■ I

♦ : 1
,1,

r\ T- PAGE

Ve Tocqueville s Democracy in America.. 5

Dobson on the Ox 22

Dove's Law of Storms ]..*] 10

Z)fw<r//' J History of Taxes 6

DoyUs{,K.) Fairyland 14

Eastlakes Hints on Household Taste 15

Edwards's Rambles among the Dolomites 20

Nile 19

— Year in Western France 19

Elements of Botany 13

-£//iVo//'j Commentary on Ephesians 17

Galatians 17

Pastoral Epist. 17

' Philippians,&c. 17

" ' Thessalonians . 17

Lectures on Life of Christ 17

Elsa, a Tale of the Tyrolean Alps ai

Epochs of Ancient History 4

Modem History 4

Evans (J.) Ancient Stone implements ... 13

(A. J.) Bosnia 19

Ewalds History of Israel 18

Antiquities of Israel 18

Fairbaim's Application of Cast and

Wrought Iron to Building... 16

■ Information for Engineers 16

Life 4

' 1 Treatise on Mills and Milhvork 16

Farrar's Chapters on Language 8

— ; Families of Speech 8

/^»'«/aJ^«'i Judicial System 24

Fitzwygram on Horses and Stables 22

Forbes s Two Years in Fiji 19

Frampton's (Bishop) Life 5

Francis's Fishing Book 22

Freshfield's Italian Alps 19

/^r^wd'/r' J English in Ireland 2

" History of England 2

■ Short Studies 7

Gairdner's Houses of Lancaster and York 4

Gfl«c/'j Elementary Physics n

Natural Philosophy n

Gardiner's Buckingham and Charles a

Personal Government of Charles I. 2

■ First Two Stuarts 4

Thirty Years' War 4

Geffcken's Church and State 6

German Home Life 7

Gilbert &> Churchill's Dolomites .....*.*...'.*.*.* 20

Girdlestone s Bible Synonyms 17

Goldziher's Hebrew Mythology 17

Goodeves Mechanics 12

Mechanism 12

Grant's Ethics of Aristotle ]. 6

Graver Thoughts of a Country Parson 8

Greville's]o\irn2\ 2

Griffin's Algebra and Trigonometry!!!!!!!!! 12

Griffith's Behind the Veil 18

Grohman's Tyrol and the Tyrolese*!!!!!!!!! 19
Grove (Sir W. R.) on Correlation of Phy-
sical Forces u

(F. C.) The Frosty Caucasus 19

Gwilt's Encyclopaedia of Architecture 15

TT > . PACK

//d;/^ J Fall of the Stuarts 4

//ar//fy on the Air xo

Hartwig's Aerial World la

Polar World la

Sea and its Living Wonders ... la

Subterranean World 13

Tropical World la

Haughton s hmmi\. Mechanics 11

Hayward's Biographical and Critical Essays 5

Heer's Primeval World of Switzerland 13

Heine's Life and Works, by Stigand 4

Helmholtz on Tone n

Nelmhol/z's Scientific Lectures n

Hemsley's Trees and Shrubs 14

Herschets Outlines of Astronomy 10

Hinchliff's Over the Sea and Far Away ... 19

Hobson s Xxn^aXcMx Mechanic 15

Hoskold's Engineer's Valuing Assistant ... 15

Howorth's Mongols 3

Nullah's History of Modem Music 13

Transition Period 13

//ume's Essays 7

Treatise on Human Nature 7

/hne's Rome to its Capture 4

History of Rome 3

Indian Alps jo

/ngelow's Poems ai

Jameson's Legends of the Saints & Martyrs 15

Legends of the Madonna 15

Legends of the Monastic Orders 15

Legends of the Saviour 15

y^«i/«'j Electricity and Magnetism xa

"^erram's Lycidas of Milton ai

^errold's Life of Napoleon a

Johnston's Geographical Dictionary 9

^ukes's Types of Genesis 18

on Second Death 18

Kalisch's Commentary on the Bible 17

Keith's Evidence of Prophecy 17

KerTs Metallurgy, by Crookes and Rohrig. 16

Kirby and Spcnce's Entomology 12

Kirkman's Philosophy 7

Knatchbull- Hugessen s Whispers from

Fairy- Land ... ao

— Higgledy-Piggledy ao

Kuenens Prophets and Prophecy in Israel 17

Landscapes, Churches, &c 8

Latham's English Dictionaries 8

Handbook of English Language 8

Lawrence on Rocks 13

Lecky's History of European Morals 3

Rationalism 3

Leaders of Public Opinion 5

Lefroy's Bermudas 19

Leisure Hours in Town 8

Lessons of Middle Age 8

Lewes' s Biographical History of Philosophy 4

Z,«^/j on Authority 7

NEW WORKS published by LONGMANS &> CO. 27

II!!

PAGE

Liddell z.n6. Scott's Greek-English Lexicons 9
Lindley and Moore's Treasury of Botany.. 13, 22

Lloyd's Magnetism 11

Wave-Theory of Light 11

Longman's (F. W. ) Chess Openings 23

' German Dictionary ... 9

(W.) Edward the Third 2

Lectures on History of

England 2

Old and New St. Paul's 15

Loudon's Encyclopaedia of Agriculture ... 16

Gardening 16

Plants 13

Lubbock's Origin of Civilisation 13

Ludlo7v' s Axnencan War 4

Lyra Germanica liJ

Macaulay s (Lord) Essays 1

History of England ... i

Lays of Ancient Rome 14, 21

Life and Letters 4

Miscellaneous Writings 7

Speeches 7

Works I

■ Writings, Selections from 7

Mac Coir s Eastern Question i

McCulhcK s Dictionary of Commerce 9

Macleod s Economical Philosophy 6

Theory and Practice of Banking 24

Elements of Banking 24

Mademoiselle Mori 21

A/<2/^/'j Annals of the Road 22

Marshall s Physiology 14

Marshman s Life of Havelock 5

Martineau s (Z\\x\si\A.n Life 19

Hours of Thought 19

Hymns 18

Maunder s Biographical Treasury 5, 23

Geograph i cal Treasury 23

Historical Treasury 23

. Scientific and Literary Treasury 23

Treasury of Knowledge 9, 23

Treasury of Natural History.. 13, 23

Maxwells Theory of Heat 12

May's History of Democracy 2

History of England 2

Melville's Digby Grand 21

General Bounce 21

Gladiators 21

. Good for Nothing 21

Holmby House 21

Interpreter 21

Kate Coventry 21

Queen's Maries 21

Mendelssohn s Letters 4

Merivale's Fall of the Roman Republic ... 3

General History of Rome 3

Roman Triumvirates 4

. Romans under the Empire 3

Merrifields Arithmetic and Mensuration... 12

Miles on Horse's Foot and Horse Shoeing 22

on Horse's Teeth and Stables 22

Mill(].) on the Mind 6

Dissertations & Discussions 6

Essays on Religion 17

Hamilton's Philosophy 6

(J. S.) Liberty 5

Political Economy 5

PAGE

Mill (J. S.) Representative Government ... 5

System of Logic 6

Unsettled Questions 5

Utilitarianism 5

Autobiography 5

Miller's Elements of Chemistry 14

Inorganic Chemistry 12

Afitchells Manual of Assaying 16

Modem Novelist's Library 21

Monselts Spiritual Songs 18

Moore's Irish Melodies, Illustrated Edition 15

Lalla Rookh, Illustrated Edition.. 15

Morells Mental Philosophy 7

Mozart' s Life and Letters 4

Mailer s Chips from a German Workshop. 8

Science of Language 8

Science of Religion 3

Neison on the Moon 10

New Testament, Illustrated Edition 15

Nicols's Puzzle of Life 13

Northcott's Lathes & Turning 1$

C)'C(0«(7r' J Commentary on Hebrews 18

Romans 18

St. John 18

Osborns Islam 3

Owen's Comparative Anatomy and Physio-
logy of Vertebrate Animals I2

Packes Guide to the Pyrenees 20

Pattison's Casaubon 5

Payen's Industrial Chemistry 15

Pewtner's Comprehensive Specifier 23

Pierce K Chess Problems 23

Pole's Game of Whist 23

Preece & Sivewright's Telegraphy 12

Present-Day Thoughts 8

Proctor's Astronomical Essays 10

Moon 10

Orbs around Us 10

Other Worlds than Ours 10

Saturn 10

Scientific Essays (Two Series) ... la

Sun 10

Transits of Venus 10

Two Star Atlases 10

Universe 10

Prothero's De'Monifori 2

Public Schools Atlas of Ancient Geography 9
Atlas of Modem Geography 9

Pawlinson's Parthia 3

Sassanians 3

Recreations of a Country Parson 8

Redgrave' s 'Dictionary oi Axiisls 14

Reeve's Residence in Vienna and Berlin ... 19

Reilly's Map of Mont Blanc 20

Monte Rosa ao

Reresby's Memoirs 5

Reynardson s Down the Road 22

LmmfS

'■«••;*- ■*w-*^.--s*afci--t

28 JV£IV WOJiKS published by LONGMANS &■ CO.

Rick's Dictionary of Antiquities ....

Rivers s Rose Amateur's Guide

Rogers's Eclipse of Faith

Defence of Eclipse of Faith

Essays..

Roget's Thesaurus of English Words and

Phrases

Ronald's Fly-Fisher's Entomology "*.'.'.'.*.*.*.".*

Roscoe's Outlines of Civil Procedure .*.*,"

Rothschilds Israelites

Bandars' s Justinian's Institutes
Sankey's Sparta and Thebes ...

Savile on Apparitions

on Primitive Faith

Schellen's Spectrum Analysis

Scott's Lectures on the Fine Arts
Poems

Seaside Musing

Seebohm's Oxford Reformers of 1498*.
Protestant Revolution ....

«S«f^//'j' History of France

Passing Thoughts on Religion .."

■ Preparation for Communion

Questions of the Day

Self-Examination for Confirmation

Stories and Tales

■ Thoughts for the Age '..„

Shelley's Workshop Appliances

Short's Church History .*.

Smith's {Sydney) Essays '!!,'.'.'.

■ Wit and Wisdom

• (Dr. R. A.) Air and Rain ,

" • {R. B.) Rome and Carthage

Southey's Poetical Works

Stanley's History of British Birds .'.*!..*.'!.".*!!

Stephen's Ecclesiastical Biography .*.

Stonehenge on the Dog ...\***

on the Greyhound

S ton ey on Strains

Stubbs's Early Plantagenets ........'.

Sunday Afternoons at the Parish Church of

a University City

Supernatural Religion *.'*.*.'.'.'.'.'.'.*.'.*.*.*.*.*.*.

Swinbourne' s Picture Logic ...*.."*.'*.*.'.'.*.*.'.*.'.'.*

6

4
8

17
10

14

14

8

3
4
2
18
i8
18
18
21
18
12

3

7

7

10

4
21

13

5
22
22
16

4

8

18
6

Taj/?/-' J History of India 2

— Manual of Ancient History".'."..".'* 4

Manual of Modern History 4

-—[Jeremy] Works, edited hy Eden.

Text-Books of Science

Thorn fs Structural and Physiological" "Bo-
tany

Thomsons Laws of Thought ,. ..'.".*.*.!!!.'.
Thorpe's Quantitative Analysis ...''''..
Thorpe ^nd Muirs Qualitative Analysis ... 12
-r//a't'« ^ Chemical Philosophy 12 14

18
12

12, 13

•• 7
.. 12

PAGE

9

13

17

17

5

8
22

6
18

PACE

2

Todd on Parliamentary Government

Trench's Reahties of Irish Life 7

Trollope's Barchester Towers ..'.*.*.*.*.*.*.* 21

Warden !!!!.*.*.*! 21

Twiss's Law of Nations ..*.*..'..*."..' 6

Tyndalls American Lectures on Light

Diamagnetism

■ Fragments of Science !!!„...

Heat a Mode of Motion .....'.'.*.'.* 11

Lectures on Electricity .'" xt

Lectures on Light
Lectures on Sound

II
II
II

— Molecular Physics ,

II
II
II

Unawares

Unwin's Machine Design !.*!!!!!.".*.'..'!

Ure's Dictionary of Arts, Manufactures,'
and Mines jg

2Z
12

Vaughan's Trident, Crescent, and Cross... 18

IValkeronWhisi 2a

Warburton 's Edward the Third "!!!.'!!!!!." .' 4

Watson's Geometry \^\\\ jg

Watts's Dictionary of Chemist'ry".".'.*."."!.'.""! 14

Webb's Objects for Common Telescopes ... 10

Wemhold's Experimental Physics n

Wellington's Life, by Gleig ] 5

Whately's English Synonymes .....'.".".*.'.'.'.*.*.'.* 8

Logic 6

Rhetoric 5

White and Riddles Latin Dictionaries**!!; o

Whit-worth's Measuring Machine le

W^//.r(7f/6yj Sea-Fisherman !.'].*.*.' 22

Williams's Ax\sXoW€s Ethics 6

IK/7//V//' J Popular Tables 2d

Woods (J. G.) Bible Animals '.!".'.*.'.!*/. ,2

Homes without Hands ... 12

Insects at Home 12

■ Insects Abroad 12

Out of Doors

12

■ Strange Dwellings 12

(J. T.) Ephesus jg

Woodward' s GeoXo^y ^t

Wyatt's History of Prussia '.*!!..!!!!!!.*.*.*!.*.*.* 2

Yonge's English-Greek Lexicons 9

■ Horace «»

Youatt on the Dog !.!!!.'!.*]!.'.".*.".'!

on the Horse

21
22
22

Zellcr's Plato

Socrates '""!.

— Stoics. Epicureans, and Sceptics!!.*

Zimmcrns Life of Schopenhauer

3
3
3

4

MODERN HISTORICAL EPOCHS.

In course of jpuUicatlon, each volume infcp. Svo. complete in itself,

EPOCHS OF MODERN HISTORY;

A. SERIES OF BOOKS NARRA.TINO THE

HISTORY Of ENGLAND and EimOPE

At SUCCESSIVE EPOCHS SUBSEQUENT to the CHRISTIAN ERA.

EDITED BY

E. E. MORRIS, M.A. Lincoln Coll. Oxford;

J. S. PHILLPOTTS, B.C.L. New Coll. Oxford; and

C. COLBECK, M.A. Fellow of Trin. Coll. Oxford.

'.This striking collection of little volumes
is a valuable contribution to the litera-
ture of the day, whether for youthful or
more mature readers. As an abridgment
of several important phases of modern
history it has great merit, and some of its
parts display powers and qualities of a high
order. Such writers, indeed, as Professor
Sttjbbs, Messrs. Warburton, Gairdner,
Creightox, and others, could not fail

to give us excellent work. . . . The style
of the series is, as a general rule, correct
and pure ; in the case of Mr. Stubbs it
more than once rises into genuine, simple,
and manly eloquence ; and the composi-
tion of some of the volumes displays no
ordinary historical skill. . . . The Series
is and deserves to be popular.'

The Times, Jan. 2, 1877.

Eleven Volumes Now Published ;—
The ERA of the PROTESTANT REVOLUTION. By F. Seebohm

' Mr. Seebohm's Era of the Protestant

Revolution shews an admirable mastery
of a complex subject ; it abounds in sound

and philosophic thought, and as a com-
position it is very well ordered. . . . This
volume, in short, is of the greatest merit.'

The Times Tin 9
The CRUSADES. By the Rev. G. W. Cox, M.A. late Scholar of Trinity

College, Oxford ; Author of the ' Aryan Mythology ' &c. With a Coloured Map. Price 2s. 6d.
• The earliest period, in point of time,
is that of the Crusades, of which we have

a summary from the accomplished pen of
the well-known Author of one of the best

and latest histories of Greece. Mr. Cox's
narrative is flowing and easy, and parts
of his work are extremely good.'

The Times, Jan. 2.

The THIRTY YEARS' WAR, 1CI8-1648. By Samuel Rawson

GAiiDiNEn, late Student of Ch. Ch. ; Author of ♦ History of Enfrtand from the AorvJInn nf
James I. to the Disgrace of Chief Justice Coke ' &c. With a ColoureS Map Price 2TS

' The narrative-a singularly perplexing 1 incidents that marked its progress. Mr
task-18 on the whole remarkably clear, Gardiner's judgments, too, are usually
and the Author gives us a well-written | just... .The Author, we should add, is very
summary of the causes that led to the I skilful in his delineation of historical
great contest, and of the most striking 1 characters.' The Times, Jan. 2.

^^^ ^o^o^^l^cJ'i^P^^I^^ "^^ ^^^^5 ^''^ '^' CONQUEST and

* Mr. G airdner's Epoch, * Lancaster and
York, is usually correct and sensible, and

the conclusions of the Author are just and
acccurate.' The Times, Jan. 2.

London, LONGMANS & CO.

[Continued.

»it»^,!"j^':

EPOCHS OF MODERN HISTORY~co..v../.

EDWARD THE THIRD. By the Rev. W. Warburton, M.A. late

Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford ; Tier Majasty's Senior Inspector of Schools. With I
Coloured Maps and 3 Genealogical Tables. Price 2t. 6d.

ii

well the spirit and genius ef that chivalric
age.* The Times, Jan. 2.

'This Epoch is a very good one, and is
well worth a studious reader's attention.
Mr. Warbuuton has reproduced extremely

The AGE of ELIZABETH. By the Rev. M. CRErciiTON, M.A. late

Fellow and Tutor of Merton College, Oxford. With 5 Mftp3 and 4 Genealogical Tables. '2s. 6d.

• Mr. Creighton has thoroughly mastered j tween this country and the other States
the intricate mysteries of the foreign poli- ' of Europe, and the character of the policy
tics of the whole period ; and he has of the Queen and her counsellors.'
described extremely ably the relations be- | The Times, Jan. 2.

The FALL of the STUARTS; and WESTERN EUROPE from 1678

to 1697. By the Rev. Edward Hale, M.A. Assistant- Master at Eton. With Eleven Maps and
Plans. Price '2s. Gi. '

•Mr. Hale has thoroughly grasped the | them in a very effective light.'
great facts of the time, and has placed | The Times, Jan. 2.

The FIRST TWO STUARTS and the PURITAN REVOLUTION,

I60a-1660. By Samlel Rawson Gardiner, Author of 'The Thirty Years' War, 1618-1648.'
With 4 Coloured Maps. Price 2s. 6d.

'Mr. Gardiner's "First Two Stuarts , work. Mr. Gabdixer's sketch of the time
and the Puritan Revolution" deserves! of James I. brings out much that had
more notice than we can bestow upon it. [ hitherto been little known.'
This is in some respects a very striking I The Times, Jan. 2.

The WAR of AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE, 1775-1783. By John

Malcolm Ludlow, Barrister-at-Law. With 4 Colouretl Maps. Price 2s. 6</.
'Mr. Ludlow's account of the obscure the Red Indian communities is admirable
annals of what afterwards became the for its good feeling and insight. . . . The
Thirteen Colonies is learned, judicious, i volume is characterised by impartiality
and full of interest, and his description of | and good sense.' Thk Times, Jan. 2.

The EARLY PLANTAGENETS. By the Rev. W. Stubds, M.A.

Regius Professor of Modem History in the University of Oxford. V>-ith 2 tolonJed Maps.

♦As a whole, his book is one of rare clear, well put together, and often pic-
excellence. As a comprehensive sketch turesque ; his language is always forcible
of the penod it is worthy of very high and sometimes eloquent ; his power of
commendation. ... As an analyst of condensation is very remarkable, and his
institutions and laws Mr. Stubbs is cer- j chapter on the contemporaneous state of
tainly not inferior to Hallam. His nar- Europe is admirable for its breadth and
rative, moreover, is, as a rule, excellent, | conciseness.' The Times, Jan. 2.

The AGE of ANNE. By E. E. Morris, M.A. of Lincoln Collerre

Oxford; Head Master of the Melbourne Grammar School, Australia ; Original Editor of ^he
Series. With 7 Maps and Plans. Price 2s. tid.

Volumes in preparation^ in continuation of the Series •

The NORMANS in EUROPE. By Rev. A. H. Johnson, M.A., Fellow of

All Souls College, Oxford. iA'early ready.

The BEGINNING of the MIDDLE AGES ; Charles the Great and Alfred •

the History of England in connexion with that of Europe in the Ninth Centurv Bv the \>r^
Rev. R. W. Church, M.A. Dean of St. Paul's. [In (he press ^

The EARLY HANOVERIANS. By the Rev. T. J. Lawrence BA

Warden of Cavendish College, late FeUow and Tutor of Downing College, Cambriflge *

The FRENCH REVOLUTION to the BATTLE of WATERLOO 1780-

1815. By Bkutha M. Cordeuy, Author of ' The Struggle Against Absolute Monarchy '

FREDERICK the GREAT and the SEVEN YEARS' WAR Bv F W
Longman, of BaUiol College, Oxford. » ^^». jj/ x . v> .

London, LONGMANS & CO.

Spottitvoode & Co., Prmlers, New-street Square, London.

1(1

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