[1313] Now Capo or Punta di Miseno; a town built on a promontory of Campania, by Æneas, it was said, in honour of his trumpeter, Misenus, who was drowned there. It was made by Augustus the principal station of the Roman fleet. Here was the villa of Marius, which afterwards belonged to Lucullus and the Emperor Tiberius, who died here.
[1314] Famous for its warm springs, and the luxurious resort of the Roman patricians. Marius, Lucullus, Pompey, and Cæsar had villas here. In later times it became the seat of every kind of pleasure and dissipation. It is now rendered unwholesome by the Malaria, and the modern Castello di Baja, with numerous ruins, alone marks its site.
[1315] The modern village of Baolo stands near its site. It was here that Hortensius had his fish-ponds, mentioned by Pliny in B. ix. c. 55. It rivalled its neighbour Baiæ in ministering to the luxury of the wealthy Romans, and was occupied by numerous villas so late as the reign of Theodosius.
[1316] Probably the inner part of the Gulf of Cumæ or Puteoli, but separated from the remainder by an embankment eight stadia in length. It was famous for its oyster-beds. Behind it was the Lake Avernus, occupying the crater of an extinct volcano, and supposed by the Greeks to be the entrance to the Infernal Regions. Agrippa opened a communication with the Lucrine Lake to render Lake Avernus accessible to ships. The Lucrine Lake was filled up by a volcanic eruption in 1538, and a mountain rose in its place. The Lake Avernus is still called the Lago di Averno.
[1317] Or “the town Cimmerium.” Nothing is known of it.
[1318] Now Pozzuolo. The Romans called it Puteoli, from the strong smell of its mineral springs. There are still many ruins of the ancient town, which was destroyed by Alaric, Genseric, and Totila, and as many times rebuilt.
[1319] Now called Salpatara. This was the name given to the volcanic plain extending from Cumæ to Capua, and supposed to have been once covered with fire; whence the name, from φλέγω, “to burn.”
[1320] Now the Lago di Fusaro. It seems to have had its name from its vicinity to Avernus, the supposed entrance to the infernal regions. Its banks were, in the later times of the Roman republic, adorned with the villas of the wealthy.
[1321] Neapolis, or the “New City,” was founded by the Chalcidians of Cumæ on the site of Parthenope, the supposed burial-place of the Siren of that name. It was so called as being only a ‘new quarter’ of the neighbouring city of Cumæ. The modern city of Naples stands nearly on its site.
[1322] Said to have been founded by Hercules. It was on the occasion of its destruction by an eruption of Vesuvius, A.D. 79, that our author unfortunately met his death, a martyr to his thirst for knowledge. Its closer proximity to Vesuvius caused it to be buried under a more solid body of materials ejected from the mountain than was the case with Pompeii; which seems to have been suffocated with ashes, while Herculaneum was covered with volcanic tufa most probably hardened by the agency of water. A few scattered inhabitants are supposed to have afterwards settled upon the site where it was buried, which for many centuries was utterly forgotten, till brought to light in 1738. Part of the site over the buried town is occupied by the villages of Resina and Portici. The works of art found here far exceed in value and interest those discovered at Pompeii.