CASCATA DELLE MARMORE. TERNI. Lo! where it comes like an eternity, As if to sweep down all things in its track, Charming the eye with dread,-a matchless cataract, Childe Harold. ERNI, the ancient Interamna of Umbria, is in the present day a thriving little town, in which the manufacture of silk and woollen fabrics is carried on to some extent. Beyond the fact of its being the birth-place of Tacitus the historian, and of the emperors Tacitus and Florian, it offers in itself scarcely anything to attract the attention of travellers. The interest of this locality centres altogether in the Cascata delle Marmore, or Marble Cascade, a magnificent waterfall celebrated throughout Europe, and more popularly known as the Falls of Terni. Byron has remarked upon the extraordinary fact, that the two finest cascades in Europe those of Terni and Tivoli-are both artificial. The formation of the Cascata delle Marmore originated in the necessity for providing an outlet for the waters of the Velino, which anciently, in conséquence of calcareous deposits shallowing and contracting its bed, often overflowed and inundated the valley of the Nar. To counteract this evil, Marcus Curius Dentatus, in the year before Christ 271, caused a canal to be cut, to carry the Velino into the Nar. This work appears, however, to have been conducted with too exclusive a reference to the protection of Rieti, and with little or no regard to the safety of Terni; for the waters of the Velino being discharged over a precipice of great height in the vicinity of the latter place, the upper valley of the Velino was relieved from inundation, by the sacrifice of the lower valley of the Nar. In the frequent disputes which arose between the inhabitants of the two valleys, regarding this channel, the Reatines sought counsel from Cicero, to whom they subsequently erected a statue in acknowledgment of his services. For nearly 1700 years from its first construction, this canal continued to carry off the superabundant waters of the Velino, till at length, about A.D. 1400, it became so much obstructed that the Reatines were compelled to clear it, and in doing this, they gave a direction to the waters which again threatened the lower valley with ruin. To terminate the serious disputes thence arising, an entirely new channel was cut, which preserved peace between the two valleys for nearly a century and a half, when this new outlet also failed to fulfil its purpose. Paul III. then gave orders for the construction of a canal sufficiently large to carry off all the waters of Rieti; and though Terni, and other cities situated below the falls, protested against the proceeding, the work went forward to completion. This channel, however, like the former ones, did not long answer its purpose; and, at length, Fontana the celebrated engineer undertook to render the canal permanently effective. He commenced by re-opening a considerable portion of the old channel cut by Dentatus; but instead of following it to an obtuse junction with the Nar, he cut a new portion at right angles to the valley, and the consequence of this unfortunate blunder was, that vast quantities of fragments of rocks, brought down by the Velino, blocked up the course of the Nar, and produced below the Falls the floods so much dreaded. Fresh disputes arose out of this disaster, and continued without intermission till 1785, when the oblique angle of junction was restored, and other measures taken to secure the lower plains from injury, and since that time the two valleys have been at peace. The Falls of Terni are distant between three and four miles from the town. They are approached by a road ascending from the valley of the Nar as far as Papigno, whence a branch road leads to the bottom of the Falls. From this point, the spectator sees the principal fall, and also two or three minor cascades, which, although of little importance in themselves, add considerably to the collective grandeur of the scene. Ascending the hill, the tourist arrives in full view of the waters of the Velino, and beholds them foaming and tumbling down the precipice. He is next led to a projecting eminence, whence the cataract is seen rolling on, "like an eternity," in one unbroken fall, bursting into foam which surrounds it like a mantle, and plunging into the deep abyss that rises to meet it at its coming in thick clouds of vapour. At this point, the spectator is admitted into a small building seated on the very edge of the projecting rock, and said to have been erected by order of Napoleon; here he looks forth, with a feeling of security, upon "the hell of waters" raging before him and beneath him. Descending from this building, and crossing the Nar, the tourist reaches the little summer-house, from which an uninterrupted view is obtained of the cataract in all its extent. Of the character of the country above the Falls, but in connection with them, no engraving hitherto published has conveyed any idea. The view from the valley of the Nar, shows all the lower cataracts fore-shortened, and excludes the country above; and the prospect from the top of the Falls, is made indistinct by the mists. Our scene, representing the cataract in its relation to the surrounding country, is taken from the high ground above the right bank of the Nar, opposite its confluence with the Velino; it thus commands an extensive view above and beyond the crest of the cascade; the mountains where its waters take their rise, and the direction of the valleys through which they pass, are seen; whilst the eye embraces the entire cataract from the first great plunge of 300 or 400 feet, through all the continuous and lower falls, to the stream of the Nar,-a collective depth of nearly 1000 feet.* * Wilson the painter visited these Falls in company with Sir Joshua Reynolds. Sir Joshua relates, that for a moment Wilson stood in mute astonishment at the sublimity of the spectacle, and at length unconsciously exclaimed -"Well done, water, by God!" Let the reader pardon the apparent irreverence of the exclamation, and then contrast it with the insipid remark by Addison, that "these Falls are superior to the water-works at Versailles." CIVITA CASTELLANA. NTIQUARIANS were, until within the last few years, much divided in opinion regarding the sites of several ancient cities, each of which had been identified, by different authorities, with the modern town of Civita Castellana.* It is now, however, pretty clearly ascertained that this town marks the locality of the classic Falerium, the capital of the Falisci, and one of the cities of the Etrurian league. It is situated on the Flaminian Way, at the distance of thirty-seven miles from Rome, and though containing within its walls nothing of great interest to the traveller, the picturesque beauty of its site and neighbourhood, and the classical associations connected with them, render it worthy of regard by the antiquarian, the scholar, and the man of taste. * Civita Castellana has been variously regarded as the site of Veii, Falerium or Falerii, and Fescennium, three famous cities of Etruria. The insulation of the town by deep ravines, running almost entirely round it, seemed to favour the hypothesis of its having been the ancient Veii, so celebrated in classical history for its resistance of the Roman power under Camillus. This city, which sustained a siege of ten years, was larger and far more magnificent than Rome itself. The Romans, whose city had recently been much injured by the Gauls, were anxious to migrate to Veii; and the authority and eloquence of Camillus were scarcely sufficient to change their resolution. At length, however, he prevailed, and Veii was destroyed. The recent discovery of inscriptions, marble columns, and fragments of temples, has determined the true situation of Veii to be at La Storta, about twelve miles from Rome. The city of Fescennium is now ascertained to have had its site at Galese, a few miles north-east of Civita Castellana. The famous Fescennine Verses, invented by the Fescenni, are frequently mentioned by the Latin poets. They were a sort of rustic dialogue in which the failings and vices of mankind were exposed to ridicule. With a considerable share of satirical humour, they blended a too great licentiousness of language. They ultimately became a vehicle for gross and slanderous attacks upon patrician families; and Augustus was compelled to proscribe them, as being more offensive by their immorality than corrective by their satire. In his Epistle to Augustus, Horace thus alludes to them: Fescennina per hunc invecta licentia morem Epist. II. 1. 145. Here, in alternate verse, with rustic jest, Francis. Falerium, or Falerii, whose site is now fixed, by the best authorities, at Civita Castellana, is rendered famous by the noble conduct of Camillus. The Falisci having rendered assistance to the Veientes during the siege of Veii, Camillus invested their city. Whilst the Roman army lay before the place, a schoolmaster went out of the gates with his pupils, and delivered them into the hands of Camillus, as the surest means of inducing the citizens to sur |