the riches of the East were poured into its bosom, and its climate, baths, and beauty allured the most opulent Romans to its vicinity. Commerce has long

since forsaken it; the attraction of its climate and its situation still remain, but operate very feebly on a people little given to rural enjoyments.

"Its population, which once spread over the neighbouring hills, and covered them with public and private edifices, is now confined to the little point which formed the ancient port; and all the magnificence of antiquity has either been undermined by time, demolished by barbarism, or levelled in the dust by earthquakes. Vestiges, however, remain, shapeless indeed and deformed, but numerous and vast enough to give some idea of the extent and grandeur of Puteoli."

The following additional description is from the pen of an excellent individual,* a native of Italy, recently a minister of the church of Rome, now a preacher of the gospel in London. He has visited Puteoli, and describes it from personal observation.

"Pozzuolo is one of the oldest towns in the memory of man; it is supposed to have been founded by the Samiars, about four hundred and seventy years before Christ. It was an extensive city, having two suburbs, with causeways in the midst of them; one leading to Naples, strongly built and covered with earth; the remains of this causeway, sometimes called the mole of Caligula, are still visible in the solid masses of stone-work which rise at regular distances to a considerable extent in the sea. The presence of ruins on every side occupies the mind of the traveller, and transports him to the happy and glorious period of

* Dr. L. Giustiniani.

the great republic. The other road leads to the Campava, which was the via consolare, (consular way,) and extends from Pozzuolo to Capua, embracing the whole of the Terra di Lavoro, and, according to Pliny, is the most beautiful part in the world.

"In the midst of modern Pozzuolo is the temple of Jupiter Serapis, metamorphosed into the Cathedral; the statue of Jupiter is changed into the statue of the saint who is the patron of the city; Diana into a Madonna; so that every idol is substituted by an image of the church of Rome. This temple is built of immense square pieces of marble, with very high and thick pillars, on which an admirable and majestic order of architecture still reposes. It was built by Calofurnio, in honour of Octavius Augustus.

66 Midway from the Coloseum to St. Francesco, on the left is the temple of Nettuno, with the vestiges of its portico, mentioned by Cicero: in that temple are a large number of niches, and other signs indicate that statues were formerly placed there. The pillars and arches which yet remain would lead to the conclusion that this was one of the most beautiful temples of that age. Proceeding from Pozzuolo to the Coloseum, midway on the right, we see the ruins of another temple. From the marble statues which were found among its ruins, it is supposed that it was dedicated to Diana.

"The Coloseum is an amphitheatre of an oval form, and characterized by great magnificence; its destruction was effected rather by earthquakes than by the tooth of time. It was rebuilt in the time of the Consuls by a subscription of the inhabitants of Pozzuolo, where Octavius Augustus was invited to see the plays.

"There were anciently a great number of reservoirs,

and among those that are yet preserved, is one on the road which leads to the Salfatara, another near the church called St. Giacomo, and a third near the Coloseum.

“There are thirty-five very warm fountains, which are called baths, from the use which is made of them, either for pleasure, or as a remedy for some disorders, according to the quality or virtue of the waters.

"On the road that leads along the coast from Pozzuolo to the Lucrine lake, stood Cicero's Villa, called by him Puteolanum and Academia. Pliny relates that it was on the shore, and adorned with a grove and a portico, which seems to have been remarkable for its beauty; he adds, that Cicero erected here a monument, and that shortly after his death a fountain of warm water, very wholesome for the eyes, burst forth, and gave occasion to an epigram, which the philosopher quotes with applause. The portico is fallen, the groves are withered, the fountains dried up, and not a vestige of the academic retreat left behind to mark its situation. The verses remain, and perpetuate at once the glory of the Orator, the fame of the fountain, the beauty of the villa, and, what is more honourable than all united, the gratitude of the writer Laurea Tullius, Cicero's freedman."

"It appears from various passages in Cicero's letters, that he had two villas on this coast, the one which I have just mentioned, on the shore, the other, on the hills beyond the Lucrine lake, called the Cumanum, as lying towards that city, and nearer to it than to Puteoli. Perhaps the latter was a mere lodge or summer-house, of course on a much smaller scale. Of these villas, one stood on the hills, and commanded the Campi Phlegræi, the bay of Puteoli with its islands