Harvest-time passes, and the vintage ends; but when the long winter comes, their productiveness is present, and the stores laid up are found to be indeed true treasures.
[1] German name for the Moselle.
CHAPTER VI.
“Augusta Trevirorum” of the Romans, “Trier” of the Germans, and “Trèves” to English, is, or at any rate claims to be, the most ancient city of Europe; according to the legend it was founded by a Prince Trebeta, who was driven out of his Asiatic possessions by Semiramis. He is described as having been a wise and strong prince, who built a magnificent palace of vast strength on the heights over the Moselle, opposite to the town, which he called after his own name: these things he did 1300 years before the foundation of Rome; and on the “Rothen Haus” in Trèves are still the words, “Ante Romam Treviris stetit annis mille trecentis.” A picture, said to represent this Prince Trebeta, is in the Town-hall: he is sitting on his father’s lap, with the spires of the Cathedral in his hand.
Very interesting is Trèves; and if we cannot place confidence in Prince Trebeta and his days, we must turn to that surer period when it was the capital of the Roman dominions beyond the Alps, and received the name of Augusta of the Trevii; these Trevii being the German tribe residing around this part of the Moselle.
Under its Roman name Trèves rose to the height of its glory; it was then celebrated for the number of its magnificent temples, its splendid palaces, its amphitheatre and baths. Remnants of this past splendour still exist; such as portions of the baths and amphitheatre, the bridge, and especially the Porta Nigra, which is one of the finest Roman ruins extant.
