78

LIFE OF COLONEL MACERONI.

almost cast a stone into the midst, were, in reality, severalmiles distant; and in those which were ten, fifteen, and moremiles removed, we could count the houses, windows, andsingle trees, with the naked eye.

Just previously to our arrival at Monte Cassino, we foundthree most interesting monuments of antiquity, either closeto, or very near, the road side. One of these is an octan-gular temple, with external columns around it, surmountedby a dome, the whole of white marble, and in every partentirely free from the slightest injury inflicted either by theband of time, or barbarism. There was also a fountain,consisting of a circular marble building, with a dome,the interior containing a species of sarcophagus, or basinof granite, into which the water falls from the identicaloriginal pipe, through the mouth of a lion. And at somedistance from the road, is a large building, consistingof four or five contiguous, square, arched chambers,on a level with the ground. The floors are mosaic, ratherbelow the present level, and are covered with a few inches ofwater, which seemed to come from the sloping ground above.The walls are of hard polished stucco, and covered with paint-ings in fresco; but, when I saw them, so blackened by thesmoke of the shepherds’ and goatherds’ fires as to have beenutterly undefinable. I have stopped to mention these interest-ing antiquities because I have never seen them described, oreven noticed, elsewhere; and wish to draw attention to them.

The celebrated convent of Monte Cassino is situated onthe summit of a mountain, about six miles from the city ofSt. Germano in the kingdom of Naples. It was at that timein full possession of its wealth, which was considerable,in lands, money, plate, and objects of the fine arts. Theroad from the fertile vale beneath, through which flows abright, sprightly, tributary stream to the Garigliano , windsand zig-zags with a gentle slope through vines, olives, and