Naples Past and Present Part 17

There is a so-called Basilica here, but the name is of no authority, and the building is probably a temple. Wide differences of opinion exist about its date, but none about its beauty. The third temple shows marks of differing styles, and while in part it may be coeval with the foundation of the city, it was probably retouched during the period of Roman rule.

Such are the visible remains of Paestum. In all Italy there is no more interesting spot. Not Rome itself, which ruled the habitable world, has cast over mankind a spell so mighty as these Greek cities, which scarcely aimed at rule beyond their walls, and cared nothing for the l.u.s.t of wide dominion. Conquest was not in their hearts, but the desire of beauty burned there more pa.s.sionately than ever before or after, creating loveliness which has gone on breeding loveliness and wisdom which has not ceased begetting wisdom, while kingdoms have crumbled into dust and conquerors have earned no better guerdon than forgetfulness; so that still men look back on the life of the Greek cities as the very flower of human culture, the finest expression of what may be achieved by heart and soul and brain aspiring together.

The cities perished, but the heritage to mankind remains, kindling still the desire for that beauty in form, thought, and word which was attained upon these coasts more than twenty centuries ago. And if the heritage was for mankind, it was first of all for Italy, that n.o.ble land which has been the scene of every kind of greatness, which has been burdened with every shame and sorrow that can afflict mankind, yet is rising once more into strength which will surely dismay her slanderers and shame those who seek to work her ruin. And so I lay down my pen, with a faith in the future which turns ever back to the n.o.blest song yet sung of Italy:--

"Salve magna parens frugum, Saturnia tellus, Magna virum; tibi res antiquae laudis et artis Ingredior...."

APPENDIX

_Page 6._ The story of the French knights who misunderstood the warning shots from Ischia is told in Brantome's Life of Dragut, No. 37 of the "Vies des Hommes Ill.u.s.tres." Concerning Vittoria Colonna there is, of course, a considerable literature. A pleasant and readable account of her life is contained in _A Decade of Italian Women_, by T.

A. Trollope (Chapman and Hall, 1859).

_Page 7._ The tale of Gianni di Procida is Novella VI. of the fifth day of the _Decameron_.

_Page 9._ The common tale about the origin of the Sicilian Vespers is that Gianni di Procida, who is sometimes spoken of as having suffered in his own family from the l.u.s.tful dealings of the French soldiery, and sometimes only as sympathising with the islanders in their intolerable wrongs, went through the island in disguise, beating a drum and capering up to whomsoever he met. If it were a Frenchman, he screamed some mad jest in his ear; if a Sicilian, he whispered some information about the projected rising, which was to take place at the signal of the Vesper bell ringing in Palermo. But for this tale there is no historical authority. Procida had certainly some connection with the revolt; but so far as can be discovered, the actual outbreak was unpremeditated, and the name of the Sicilian Vespers is applied to the ma.s.sacre by no writer earlier than the latter part of the fifteenth century. The great authority on this subject is of course Amari, _La Guerra del Vespro Siciliano_.

_Page 9._ Virgil the enchanter. See note on p. 55.

_Page 21._ It is impossible to give separate references to all the authorities which I have consulted in writing this chapter. The work which I have found most valuable--incomparably so--is the _Campanien_ of Beloch, which outstrips both in learning and in judgment all works known to me upon the Phlegraean Fields. It may be said, once for all, that with hardly one exception, the best works upon the region of Naples are by Germans. English scholarship does not appear to advantage. If a man will not read German, he may seek information usefully from Breislak, _Topograpia Fisica della Campania_ (Firenze, 1798). Other useful works are:--Phillips, J., _Vesuvius_ (Oxford, 1869); Daubeny, C. G. B., _A Description of Volcanoes_ (London, 1848); Logan Lobley, _Mount Vesuvius_ (London, 1889); to which should be added the "Physical Notices of the Bay of Naples," by Professor Forbes, in Brewster's _Edinburgh Journal of Science_, vol. x. All these works treat of the Phlegraean Fields, as well as of Vesuvius.

_Page 24._ The treatise of Capaccio will be found in the collection of chronicles which bears the name of Graevius, but was, in fact, completed after the death of that great scholar by Peter Burmann. The collection is an honour to Leyden, where it was published full half a century before Muratori commenced his work.

_Page 26._ This gossip about the Grotta del Cane is derived chiefly from a small guide to the locality, published early in the present century.

_Page 37._ Petrarch's account of his visit to the Phlegraean Fields will be found among his Latin verse epistles (_Carm._ lib. ii. epist.

7).

_Page 41._ Upon the theory that c.u.mae was founded so early as a thousand years before Christ, I translate as follows from Holm (_Geschichte Griechenlands_, vol. i. p. 340), the most recent of authorities, and perhaps the most judicious:--"It is scarcely credible that an organised Greek city existed in these regions in such early times. But it need not be questioned that scattered settlements of Greeks were already established on the Campanian coast a thousand years before Christ; and it cannot be doubted that c.u.mae is the earliest Greek colony, recognised as such, in the West.... c.u.mae also became the mother city of Naples, but at what precise date cannot be determined."

_Page 45._ The d.y.k.e of Hercules. See Beloch, _Campanien_.

_Page 52._ For the Villa of Vedius Pollio, as well as for all the other antiquities of this region, see Beloch, _Campanien_.

_Page 53._ The story of the Grotta dei Tuoni is one of the interesting pieces of folklore collected by Signor Gaetano Amalfi, to whose unwearied labours I acknowledge gratefully many debts. It was published in the periodical called _Napoli n.o.bilissima_ in 1895.

_Page 55._ For the stories of the enchanter Virgil, see Comparetti, _Virgilio nel Mediaevo_. The tale of the plundering of Virgil's tomb in the reign of Roger of Sicily is taken from the same work, where it is told on the authority of Gervasius of Tilbury. It was a widely credited tale, and will be found also in Marin Sanudo, _Vite dei Dogi_, p. 232 of the fine new edition of Muratori, now (1901) being issued under the direction of Giosue Carducci, an enterprise which is remarkable both for scholarship and beauty, and deserves the more praise since it emanates from no great city, but from the printing house of Scipione Lapi at Citta di Castello, on the upper valley of the Tiber.

_Page 65._ The traditions of Queen Joanna are well set out by Signor Amalfi in _La Regina Giovanna nella Tradizione_ (Naples, 1892), a little work which, though no other exists upon the subject, the British Museum disdains to purchase. Mr. Nutt procured me a copy, though with some difficulty. The book is not as complete as it might be; it contains, for example, no reference to the traditions of the Queen at Amalfi.

_Page 71._ For Alfonso of Aragon, see Guicciardini, _Istoria d'Italia_, lib. i. cap. 4. Most of my history is taken from this writer.

_Page 72._ For an account of San Lionardo, as well as for the subsequent tale of the Torretta, see _Napoli n.o.bilissima_ (1892).

_Page 81._ Niccol Pesce. See _Nap. n.o.b._ (1896). Schiller's ballad, "Der Taucher," will of course be found in any collection of his works.

_Page 88._ The best book on the Hohenstaufen is Von Raumer, _Geschichte der Hohenstaufen_, a very fine and interesting work.

Frederick loved more than Arab art, unless history is unjust. Amari speaks of him and his grandfather, King Roger, as "i due Sultani battezzati di Sicilia."

_Page 97._ Upon the vexed question where Palaeopolis stood, or if it stood anywhere at all, Beloch seems a little wilful, arguing stoutly that there never was such a city. "But," says Mr. Hodgkin, "in the face of Livy's clear statement (viii. 22) as to the situation of the two cities, and the record in the Triumphal Fasti of the victory of Publilius over the 'Samnites Palaeopolitanei,' this seems too bold a stroke of historical scepticism" (_Italy and Her Invaders_, vol. iv.

p. 53).

_Page 108 et seq._ See Camillo Porzio, _La Congiura de' Baroni_.

_Page 121._ Upon the churches of Naples there are two works which surpa.s.s all others--namely, _Doc.u.menti per la storia, le arti e le industrie_, by Prince Gaetano Filangieri, a monument of vast learning; and _Denkmaeler der Kunst des Mittelalters in Unter Italien_, by H. W.

Schulz, whose work forms the basis of almost every guide-book published on southern Italy.

_Page 123._ This tale of the graceless Duke of Calabria is in Giannone, _Storia di Napoli_, lib. xxii. _ad init._

_Page 126._ Those who desire more information on the everyday life of Naples will do well to seek it in Kellner's work, _Alltagliches aus Neapel_, the tenth volume of the well-known series, "Kennst du das Land," which is sold everywhere in Italy.

_Page 137._ The account of this storm is in book v. epist. 5, of Petrarch's letters. The storm may, or may not, be the one which destroyed Amalfi. I know of no evidence pointing either way, save the improbability that two tempests should have wrought such devastation.

_Page 140._ Fucini's work is called _Napoli a Occhio Nudo_.

_Page 141._ Any history of Naples will give the facts of the struggle between Frederick the Second and Innocent. See especially von Raumer or Giannone.

_Page 143._ La Colonna della Vicaria. Signor Amalfi quotes from Voltero, _Dizionario filosofico_, _s.v._ "Banqueroute," the following pa.s.sage:--"Le negociant _fallito_ pouvait dans certaines villes d'Italie garder tous ses biens et frustrer ses creanciers, pourvu qu'il s'a.s.sit le derriere nu sur une pierre en presence de tous les marchands. C'etait une derivation douce de l'ancien proverbe romain, _Solvere aut in aere, aut in cute_, payer de son argent ou de sa peau"

(_Tradizioni ed usi_, p. 123).

_Page 146._ The facts about the descent of the Turks upon Otranto in 1480 will be found stated briefly in all the histories. But they are sufficiently curious to make it worth while to consult the admirable and detailed report made to Ludovic Sforza, Il Moro, by the commissary who served him in his capacity as Duke of Bari. As ruler of the chief Apulian coast town, Il Moro was of course painfully anxious for exact information about the proceedings of the Turks. The report will be found in volume vi. of the _Archivio Storico_, published by the "Societa di Storia Patria," of Naples.

_Page 150 et seq._ The story of Conradin's expedition and death is told best in von Raumer, _Geschichte der Hohenstaufen_. It will be found also in Amari, _La Guerra del Vespro_. The two historians report the circ.u.mstances of Conradin's death with some differences of detail, having relied on different chronicles. The variations are not essential.

_Page 158._ Details concerning the examination of Conradin's tomb will be found in Filangieri, _op. cit._

_Page 161._ For the story of Mas'aniello's revolt I have followed Sign. Gabriele Tontoli, _Il Masaniello, overo Discorsi Narrativi, La Sollevatione di Napoli_, printed at Naples in 1648. I selected this work (1) because it is rare; (2) because it is full of detail; (3) because it is the narrative of an eye-witness.

_Page 178._ The literature of Vesuvius is immense. As general references, I can only indicate again the works named in the note on page 21.

_Page 182._ Braccini's narrative was published at Naples in 1632 under the t.i.tle _Dell'Incendio fattosi nel Vesuvio_.

_Page 190._ Palmieri's account has been translated. _The Eruption of Vesuvius in 1872_ (London, 1873).

_Page 196._ Herculaneum. Once more it is well to refer to Beloch, _Campanien_.

_Page 201 et seq._ The work of Signori Comparetti and de Petra was published at Turin in 1883, under the t.i.tle _La Villa Ercolanense dei Pisoni_. It is one of those monuments of patient, well-directed learning and research which fill one with high hopes for the future of Italian scholarship. I presume the British Museum acquired its copy shortly after publication. I may add that I cut its pages in July, 1900--a fact that says worlds about British scholarship.

_Page 209._ The translation of Mau's _Pompeii, its Life and Art_, was published at New York in 1899.

_Page 217._ The only works worth mentioning about the pictures at Pompeii are those of Helbig, _Untersuchungen uber die Campanische Wandmalerei_ (Leipzig, 1873), and his earlier _Wandgemalde_ (Leipzig, 1868). A summary of Helbig's conclusions will be found in _Promenades Archeologiques_, by Gaston Boissier (Paris, 1895).

_Page 223._ On Stabiae a work comparable only to that cited above on Piso's villa has been written by Signor Michele Ruggiero, _Degli Scavi di Stabia_ (Naples, 1881).

In connection with the Roman country life, I might have mentioned the recent excavations at Bosco-reale, where the villas were doubtless similar to those upon Varano. The first discoveries on that spot are set down by the superst.i.tious peasants to the credit of a priest, who is said to have indicated a place where treasure would be found by digging. The real fact is that about the year 1868 a small proprietor named Pulzella discovered, while hoeing his field, the entrance to a buried chamber. He enlarged the aperture, and found a second room; but could not penetrate further without entering a neighbouring property, which belonged to Signor de Prisco. Of this discovery he said nothing for twenty years. In 1888 the ground pa.s.sed into the possession of the de Prisco family, who, learning what had occurred, continued the excavation, found in 1894 all the apartments of a bath, and in one of them a great treasure of money and silver plate of exquisite workmanship, which was bought by Baron Rothschild and presented to the Louvre. A full account of the villa then unearthed is given by August Mau.

Six years pa.s.sed, and recently the excavations have been resumed. A larger villa has been unearthed, near the former one. No treasure was found in it, nor any portable articles. Possibly the owners had been able to return and recover their property, or more probably they had fled on earlier warning. But the interest of this new house lies in its frescoes, which are of great beauty, both architectural and figure pieces. There can be no doubt that we are on the verge of a great expansion of our knowledge of Roman life; and it is to be hoped that the works at Bosco-reale will be vigorously pushed and carefully supervised.