i6
THE RUINS
grant os his Territories from the Pope (i). At his Invitation we find them failingfrom Agropoli , and landing at Gaeta. They did indeed help Docibilis to recoverhis Territories from Pandenulf, but at the Expence of a considerable Part, which theyappropriated to their own Use; settling themselves on the North fide of the Gariglioni,where they kept possession above forty Years; till at length a Confederacy was formedagainst them by the Princes of Italy, by which, in the Year 915, they were entirelydefeated, and by a general Carnage, almost extirpated from the Country (2).
Those Saracens, who remained at Agropoli , hearing of these Misfortunes of theirCountrymen, and dreading the fame Fate themselves, determined to quit Italy; andafter securing the most valuable Effects they were able to carry with them, set fine tothe Town of Pœstum, by which it was entirely destroyed. From its ruins RoxbertGuiscard, in the eleventh Century, carried off fine marble Columns and other Materialsto Salernum, which he made use of in the Church he was building and dedicatinsg toSt. Matthew (3) ; so truly has Mr. Pope described the Causes of the Destructiom ofthese and other noble Monuments of. Antiquity.
Some felt the silent Stroke of mould’’ring Age,
Some hoflile Fury, some religious Rage-,
Barbarian Blmdnefs, Christian Zeal conspire ,
And Papal Piety , and Gothic Fire.
Epistle to Mr. Audison.
FkoM that Time, till very lately, these Ruins have lain desolate and unnoticed (4) •but those Travellers who have, within these few Years, ventured so far out os the
common Road of Travelling to see them, all agree that their Curiosity has been amplyrewarded. The Village, almost destitute of Inhabitants, that contains them, is nowcalled Piesti, about fifty Miles South-East of Naples, seven from the River Seloand half a Mile from the Sea. It is situated in a wide and pleasant Plain, thatcommands an extensive View. The Country is diversified into Vallies, Hills and
Mountains, all which form the most beautiful and inchanting Prospects.
(1) Leo Oft. L. V. C. 42, 44. ^
(2) Muratori. T. II. p. 441.
(3) II Trat. di Lucania diD. Giuseppi Antonini. Neapol. 1745.
(4) The first public Notice of them was, probably, no longerago than 1745, by the Baron D. G. Antonini ; and by theingenious and learned Abbe Winkleman.
(5) This is the ancient Silaris, mentioned by Virgil, onaccount of the Gad-bee, which then infested it, and still continuesto do so.
Est Lucos Silari circa, ilicibufque virentemPiurimus Alburnum volitans, cui Nomen AsiloRomanum est: œstron Grail vertere vocantes,
Afper, acerba sonans; quo tota exterrita fylvis
Diffugiunt armenta furit mugitibus ætherConcussus, Sylvæque, & Sicci ripa Tanagri.
Virg. Georg. III. 146.
The petrifying Qualities of its Waters were celebrated byAristotle, Strabo, Silius Italicus, and Plin y , whofays, Similiter in flumine Silaro ultra Surrentum non virgulta modoimmerfa, verum et folia lapidefcunt; alias Salubri potu ejusaquæ. Hist. Nat. II. 103. But Cluverius tells us, that whenhe mentioned this Property to the Inhabitants near it, they laughedat these Fables of Antiquity. Ital. P. 1253. Though thisfaithful Geographer was upon the Spot, he seems to have mindedhis Business as a Geographer only ; as it does not appear fromany thing he has said, that these magnificent Ruins made anyImpression on him.
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