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HISTORY OF ENGINEERING.

Book I.

lay a large lake, K, called Acherusia, which communicated by means of a canal with the season the western coast.

Cumae was founded by a colony of Greeks from Chalcis in Euboea and from Cum*in Eolis: although it was the first Grecian establishment in Italy , for many centuries itwas the chief in power, opulence, and population. Its peculiar situation fitted it forcommerce, and its oracle, sibyl, and tewiple, brought to it many votaries and visitors.When Juvenal wrote, the neighbouring towns of Bai* and Puteoli or Puzzuoli were pre-ferred on account of their salubrity to the marshy district around Cuma;; soon afterwardsits population declined, and in the sixth century we read of it as a mere military post.The ruins of the ancient city may yet be traced, in a solitary wood, which has grown upover its once busy streets, where the wild boar is now sought and destroyed by the hunters,this district forming part of the royal chase belonging to the king of Naples .

'The Lake Fusaro, or the ancient Acherusia palus, situated on the south towards Misenus,is a long and shallow piece of water, called by Strabo a muddy irruption of the sea;there is a small island with the remains of a castle, and at the end of the lake is a pool,called l’Aqua Morta.

Baiae has a bay, in the form of an amphitheatre, and is situated on the western coastopposite to Pozzuoli , from whence it is about three miles distant; ruins of Roman villas,baths and temples, may be seen at the bottom of the sea, which indicate a much largerextent at one period. Here the emperor Nero had a palace and splendid baths, whichSuetonius tells us contained a reservoir, in which the thermal waters of the surroundingdistrict were collected. Nero had intended that his palace should have extended over thewhole country lying between Lake Avernus and Misenus, a distance of at least threemiles and a half.

Portus Julius was formed by Augustus, for draining the Lake Avernus , and to admitthe waters of the ocean for the purpose of dispelling the noxious vapours that constantlyhung over the Infernal Basin. When this work was undertaken, the anger of the gods orinfernal divinities was supposed to be raised, and a violent tempest accompanied the descentof the waters of the lake into the ocean, which was probably no more than the effect ofremoving the barrier of earth which confined them, and kept them from flowing intoa lower level. After the waters had passed through the new port, the Lake Avernus wasstripped of its horrors; on the margin are many ruins; near the shore may be tracedthose of an extensive mole, that appears to have formed an outer port, and may be a portionof the harbour of Agrippa, mentioned both by Virgil and Horace.

The Lakes Avernus and Lucrinus being united, formed a most capacious harbour, andbeyond is pointed out some remains of a mole, now crossed by a road, said to have beenconstructed by Hercules.

The Lucrine Lake is covered with rushes; the bottom was uplifted in the year 1538,and now forms a conical hill, instead of deep water as formerly.

The Lake Avernus is about 1^ miles in circuit, surrounded by gardens and woods, andbears no resemblance to the description left us by the poets.

Pozzuoli or Puteoli , a town of Greek origin, first called Dicrearchia, was erected by theearly settlers at Cum*; the Romans strongly fortified it about two centuries before theChristian era, and made it a port of considerable importance. Its site, in the centre of afine bay, surrounded by lofty coasts, watered by rivers, cannot be surpassed for a commercialport.

The Romans here purchased all that an extensive commerce with the east could procurefor them : it was injured by the earthquakes to which it was subject. In one of its squaresthere still remains a pedestal in marble, on which is represented in bas-relief the fourteen citiesof Asia Minor, which were rebuilt by Tiberius after their destruction by an earthquake.Behind the city, to the north-east, are the remains of its amphitheatre, and near the coast,on the western side, those of the temple of Jupiter Serapis, near which are the ruins of thefamous mole that formed the port. Several of its piers remain sunk in deep water, whichsupported the open arches, said to have formed a part of Caligula ’s celebrated bridge, whichextended from the port of Puteoli to Baiae . But little reliance can be placed on thisstatement, as in all probability the mad scheme of this emperor was nothing more thana floating raft or bridge of boats, carried across the bay, in imitation of that constructedby Xerxes. Seneca, Ep. 77. speaks of this mole or pil*, and Strabo designates it as awork carried out far into the sea, at which vessels of considerable burthen might withgreat convenience discharge their cargoes.

Antoninus restored this splendid mole after it had received some damage ; it had beenprobably built long before, in the manner commonly practised by the Romans. It deservesour attention, both for the economy evinced in the quantity of material employed, and forthe means it afforded of allowing a free current for the waters, consequently diminishingthe chance of the bay silting up. The great strength of this work, exposed at times toa heavy sea, mainly depended upon the fine cement obtained on this coast, which when usedunder water acquires the consistency and strength of marble.