In the ascent to the town from the station, on the right is a beautiful valley, once a lake, but now drained, called the Vale of Ariccia. It is not known when it was drained. It is thus alluded to by Ovid ("Fasti," iii. 263):—
"Deep in Ariccia's vale, and girt around
With shady trees, a sacred lake is found;
Here Theseus' son in safe concealment lay,
When hurried by the violent steeds away."
Passing through the town, we come to the Viaduct of Pius IX. (1846–1863).
Just before reaching the viaduct, the old Appian Way branches off to the right, descending the side of the Vale of Ariccia. Several remains of tombs exist at this point, notably that of Aruns, the son of Porsena of Clusium.
TOMB OF ARUNS.
This ruin agrees exactly with the lower part of the Tomb of Porsena at Clusium, described by Pliny (xxxvi. 19). He says: "But as the fabulousness of the story connected with it quite exceeds all bounds, I shall employ the words given by M. Varro himself in his account of it. 'Porsena was buried,' says he, 'beneath the city of Clusium, in the spot where he had constructed a square monument, built of squared stones. Each side of this monument was 300 feet long and 50 feet high, and beneath the base, which was also square, was an inextricable labyrinth.... Above this square building there stood five pyramids—one at each corner and one in the middle—75 feet broad at the base and 150 feet in height,'" &c.
The present ruin is 49 feet long on each side and 24 feet high, surmounted at the angles with four cones, and one larger, in the centre, 26 feet in diameter, in which the urn was found in the last century.