Chap. IV.
ROMAN.
139
Mediterranean. Its position is in the form of an amphitheatre on the shores of a bay,shut in by the Isle of Caprea, 17 miles distant to the south, and Procida and Ischia .
Vesuvius on the east may be seen, lifting its fire-scathed summit above the villages ofPortici and Torre del Greco, and on the other side is the grotto of Posilippo . The atmo-sphere is usually bright and cloudless, and it was made by the wealthy Romans a mostdelightful place of residence, the shores of its picturesque bay being covered with theirvillas.
On our way from Naples to Pozzuoli , we find, on approaching the latter place, loftyand precipitous cliffs of indurated tuff, between which and the sea lies a low level tract offertile land. 'This cliff, now far inland, may be seen opposite the island of Nisida, two milesand a half south-east of Pozzuoli : pursuing our course northwards, we find the slopingsides of Monte Barbaro, terminating also in an inland cliff, which indicates that the seaonce washed its base. Great has been the change to which this coast has been subjected ;and we have every evidence that the land has been both depressed and upheaved severaltimes : the firm earth and the inconstant sea have frequently changed their relative positions.The physical causes now in operation, as formerly, enable us to account for the situation ofcliffs where the sea has now retired, and for estuaries, where high tides once rose, beingsilted up, and rendered dry land. The volcano and the earthquake on these shores haveeffected, in the memory of history, wonderful changes: both, no doubt, have a commonorigin; and they continue occasionally to shake the whole district around Vesuvius , toalter the current and quality of the waters, and the character of the mineral substances thatcome within their effects. In this neighbourhood is found the earth puzzolana, so valuableto us as an hydraulic mortar, and which the ancients made so much use of in the formationof their moles and breakwaters; they had only to cast it into the sea, between proper limits,and an island was at once formed.
Cuma y Miseno , J3ai<z, and Pozzuoli . These ports were at one time celebrated for theircommerce with the greater part of the habitable globe. Capua, one of the noblest and mostsplendid cities of the Romans, surrounded by plains of great beauty and fertility, was suppliedwith its merchandise and luxuries from the vessels which resorted to its coast.
Strabo , lib. v. cap. 4. mentions Cuma as a very ancient city, which, with its amphitheatrewas situated, at N, on a rock overlooking the sea. Miseno occupied the promontory at M,
CUMA.
Fig. 149.
and its port, which was double, F and G. The town and basin of Baise are shown at C,whilst Pozzuoli stood on the outside of the bay, at H, and was joined to the castle at Bai*by the celebrated bridge, E, of Caligula . The lake Avernus, at A, communicated with anotherport at Lucrinus, B, or Porto Guilio. The island of Nisida, at I, detached from the mainland, bounded the eastern part of this beautiful bay. Behind the promontory of Miseno , I,