We passed through the Porta del Popolo at about eight o'clock; and after a moment's delay, while the passport was examined, began our journey along the Flaminian Way, between two such high and inhospitable walls of brick or stone as seem to shut in all the avenues to Rome. We had not gone far before we heard military music in advance of us, and saw the road blocked up with people, and then the glitter of muskets10, and soon appeared the drummers, fifers, and trumpeters, and then the first battalion11 of a French regiment12, marching into the city, with two mounted officers at their head; then appeared a second and then a third battalion, the whole seeming to make almost an army, though the number on their caps showed them all to belong to one regiment,—the 1st; then came a battery of artillery13, then a detachment of horse,—these last, by the crossed keys on their helmets, being apparently14 papal troops. All were young, fresh, good-looking men, in excellent trim as to uniform and equipments, and marched rather as if they were setting out on a campaign than returning from it; the fact being, I believe, that they have been encamped or in barracks within a few miles of the city. Nevertheless, it reminded me of the military processions of various kinds which so often, two thousand years ago and more, entered Rome over the Flaminian Way, and over all the roads that led to the famous city,—triumphs oftenest, but sometimes the downcast train of a defeated army, like those who retreated before Hannibal. On the whole, I was not sorry to see the Gauls still pouring into Rome; but yet I begin to find that I have a strange affection for it, and so did we all,—the rest of the family in a greater degree than myself even. It is very singular, the sad embrace with which Rome takes possession of the soul. Though we intend to return in a few months, and for a longer residence than this has been, yet we felt the city pulling at our heartstrings far more than London did, where we shall probably never spend much time again. It may be because the intellect finds a home there more than in any other spot in the world, and wins the heart to stay with it, in spite of a good many things strewn all about to disgust us.
The road in the earlier part of the way was not particularly picturesque15,—the country undulated, but scarcely rose into hills, and was destitute16 of trees; there were a few shapeless ruins, too indistinct for us to make out whether they were Roman or mediaeval. Nothing struck one so much, in the forenoon, as the spectacle of a peasant-woman riding on horseback as if she were a man. The houses were few, and those of a dreary17 aspect, built of gray stone, and looking bare and desolate18, with not the slightest promise of comfort within doors. We passed two or three locandas or inns, and finally came to the village (if village it were, for I remember no houses except our osteria) of Castel Nuovo di Porta, where we were to take a dejeuner a la fourchette, which was put upon the table between twelve and one. On this journey, according to the custom of travellers in Italy, we pay the vetturino a certain sum, and live at his expense; and this meal was the first specimen19 of his catering20 on our behalf. It consisted of a beefsteak, rather dry and hard, but not unpalatable, and a large omelette; and for beverage21, two quart bottles of red wine, which, being tasted, had an agreeable acid flavor. . . . The locanda was built of stone, and had what looked like an old Roman altar in the basement-hall, and a shrine22, with a lamp before it, on the staircase; and the large public saloon in which we ate had a brick floor, a ceiling with cross-beams, meagrely painted in fresco23, and a scanty24 supply of chairs and settees.
After lunch, we wandered out into a valley or ravine near the house, where we gathered some flowers, and J——- found a nest with the young birds in it, which, however, he put back into the bush whence he took it.
Our afternoon drive was more picturesque and noteworthy. Soracte rose before us, bulging25 up quite abruptly27 out of the plain, and keeping itself entirely28 distinct from a whole horizon of hills. Byron well compares it to a wave just on the bend, and about to break over towards the spectator. As we approached it nearer and nearer, it looked like the barrenest great rock that ever protruded29 out of the substance of the earth, with scarcely a strip or a spot of verdure upon its steep and gray declivities. The road kept trending towards the mountain, following the line of the old Flaminian Way, which we could see, at frequent intervals30, close beside the modern track. It is paved with large flag-stones, laid so accurately31 together, that it is still, in some places, as smooth and even as the floor of a church; and everywhere the tufts of grass find it difficult to root themselves into the interstices. Its course is straighter than that of the road of to-day, which often turns aside to avoid obstacles which the ancient one surmounted32. Much of it, probably, is covered with the soil and overgrowth deposited in later years; and, now and then, we could see its flag-stones partly protruding33 from the bank through which our road has been cut, and thus showing that the thickness of this massive pavement was more than a foot of solid stone. We lost it over and over again; but still it reappeared, now on one side of us, now on the other; perhaps from beneath the roots of old trees, or the pasture-land of a thousand years old, and leading on towards the base of Soracte. I forget where we finally lost it. Passing through a town called Rignano, we found it dressed out in festivity, with festoons of foliage34 along both sides of the street, which ran beneath a triumphal arch, bearing an inscription35 in honor of a ducal personage of the Massimi family. I know no occasion for the feast, except that it is Whitsuntide. The town was thronged36 with peasants, in their best attire37, and we met others on their way thither38, particularly women and girls, with heads bare in the sunshine; but there was no tiptoe jollity, nor, indeed, any more show of festivity than I have seen in my own country at a cattle-show or muster39. Really, I think, not half so much.
The road still grew more and more picturesque, and now lay along ridges40, at the bases of which were deep ravines and hollow valleys. Woods were not wanting; wilder forests than I have seen since leaving America, of oak-trees chiefly; and, among the green foliage, grew golden tufts of broom, making a gay and lovely combination of hues41. I must not forget to mention the poppies, which burned like live coals along the wayside, and lit up the landscape, even a single one of them, with wonderful effect. At other points, we saw olive-trees, hiding their eccentricity42 of boughs43 under thick masses of foliage of a livid tint44, which is caused, I believe, by their turning their reverse sides to the light and to the spectator. Vines were abundant, but were of little account in the scene. By and by we came in sight, of the high, flat table-land, on which stands Civita Castellana, and beheld45, straight downward, between us and the town, a deep level valley with a river winding46 through it; it was the valley of the Treja. A precipice47, hundreds of feet in height, falls perpendicularly48 upon the valley, from the site of Civita Castellana; there is an equally abrupt26 one, probably, on the side from which we saw it; and a modern road, skilfully49 constructed, goes winding down to the stream, crosses it by a narrow stone bridge, and winds upward into the town. After passing over the bridge, I alighted, with J——- and R——-, . . . . and made the ascent50 on foot, along walls of natural rock, in which old Etruscan tombs were hollowed out. There are likewise antique remains51 of masonry52, whether Roman or of what earlier period, I cannot tell. At the summit of the acclivity, which brought us close to the town, our vetturino took us into the carriage again and quickly brought us to what appears to be really a good hotel, where all of us are accommodated with sleeping-chambers in a range, beneath an arcade53, entirely secluded54 from the rest of the population of the hotel. After a splendid dinner (that is, splendid, considering that it was ordered by our hospitable9 vetturino), U——, Miss Shepard, J——-, and I walked out of the little town, in the opposite direction from our entrance, and crossed a bridge at the height of the table-land, instead of at its base. On either side, we had a view down into a profound gulf55, with sides of precipitous rock, and heaps of foliage in its lap, through which ran the snowy track of a stream; here snowy, there dark; here hidden among the foliage, there quite revealed in the broad depths of the gulf. This was wonderfully fine. Walking on a little farther, Soracte came fully1 into view, starting with bold abruptness56 out of the middle of the country; and before we got back, the bright Italian moon was throwing a shower of silver over the scene, and making it so beautiful that it seemed miserable57 not to know how to put it into words; a foolish thought, however, for such scenes are an expression in themselves, and need not be translated into any feebler language. On our walk we met parties of laborers58, both men and women, returning from the fields, with rakes and wooden forks over their shoulders, singing in chorus. It is very customary for women to be laboring59 in the fields.
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1 fully | |
adv.完全地,全部地,彻底地;充分地 | |
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2 invoke | |
v.求助于(神、法律);恳求,乞求 | |
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3 precludes | |
v.阻止( preclude的第三人称单数 );排除;妨碍;使…行不通 | |
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4 anathemas | |
n.(天主教的)革出教门( anathema的名词复数 );诅咒;令人极其讨厌的事;被基督教诅咒的人或事 | |
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5 invoked | |
v.援引( invoke的过去式和过去分词 );行使(权利等);祈求救助;恳求 | |
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6 wafted | |
v.吹送,飘送,(使)浮动( waft的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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7 infested | |
adj.为患的,大批滋生的(常与with搭配)v.害虫、野兽大批出没于( infest的过去式和过去分词 );遍布于 | |
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8 warfare | |
n.战争(状态);斗争;冲突 | |
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9 hospitable | |
adj.好客的;宽容的;有利的,适宜的 | |
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10 muskets | |
n.火枪,(尤指)滑膛枪( musket的名词复数 ) | |
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11 battalion | |
n.营;部队;大队(的人) | |
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12 regiment | |
n.团,多数,管理;v.组织,编成团,统制 | |
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13 artillery | |
n.(军)火炮,大炮;炮兵(部队) | |
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14 apparently | |
adv.显然地;表面上,似乎 | |
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15 picturesque | |
adj.美丽如画的,(语言)生动的,绘声绘色的 | |
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16 destitute | |
adj.缺乏的;穷困的 | |
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17 dreary | |
adj.令人沮丧的,沉闷的,单调乏味的 | |
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18 desolate | |
adj.荒凉的,荒芜的;孤独的,凄凉的;v.使荒芜,使孤寂 | |
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19 specimen | |
n.样本,标本 | |
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20 catering | |
n. 给养 | |
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21 beverage | |
n.(水,酒等之外的)饮料 | |
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22 shrine | |
n.圣地,神龛,庙;v.将...置于神龛内,把...奉为神圣 | |
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23 fresco | |
n.壁画;vt.作壁画于 | |
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24 scanty | |
adj.缺乏的,仅有的,节省的,狭小的,不够的 | |
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25 bulging | |
膨胀; 凸出(部); 打气; 折皱 | |
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26 abrupt | |
adj.突然的,意外的;唐突的,鲁莽的 | |
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27 abruptly | |
adv.突然地,出其不意地 | |
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28 entirely | |
ad.全部地,完整地;完全地,彻底地 | |
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29 protruded | |
v.(使某物)伸出,(使某物)突出( protrude的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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30 intervals | |
n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 );间隔时间;[数学]区间;(戏剧、电影或音乐会的)幕间休息 | |
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31 accurately | |
adv.准确地,精确地 | |
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32 surmounted | |
战胜( surmount的过去式和过去分词 ); 克服(困难); 居于…之上; 在…顶上 | |
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33 protruding | |
v.(使某物)伸出,(使某物)突出( protrude的现在分词 );凸 | |
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34 foliage | |
n.叶子,树叶,簇叶 | |
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35 inscription | |
n.(尤指石块上的)刻印文字,铭文,碑文 | |
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36 thronged | |
v.成群,挤满( throng的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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37 attire | |
v.穿衣,装扮[同]array;n.衣着;盛装 | |
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38 thither | |
adv.向那里;adj.在那边的,对岸的 | |
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39 muster | |
v.集合,收集,鼓起,激起;n.集合,检阅,集合人员,点名册 | |
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40 ridges | |
n.脊( ridge的名词复数 );山脊;脊状突起;大气层的)高压脊 | |
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41 hues | |
色彩( hue的名词复数 ); 色调; 信仰; 观点 | |
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42 eccentricity | |
n.古怪,反常,怪癖 | |
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43 boughs | |
大树枝( bough的名词复数 ) | |
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44 tint | |
n.淡色,浅色;染发剂;vt.着以淡淡的颜色 | |
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45 beheld | |
v.看,注视( behold的过去式和过去分词 );瞧;看呀;(叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现)哎哟 | |
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46 winding | |
n.绕,缠,绕组,线圈 | |
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47 precipice | |
n.悬崖,危急的处境 | |
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48 perpendicularly | |
adv. 垂直地, 笔直地, 纵向地 | |
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49 skilfully | |
adv. (美skillfully)熟练地 | |
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50 ascent | |
n.(声望或地位)提高;上升,升高;登高 | |
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51 remains | |
n.剩余物,残留物;遗体,遗迹 | |
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52 masonry | |
n.砖土建筑;砖石 | |
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53 arcade | |
n.拱廊;(一侧或两侧有商店的)通道 | |
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54 secluded | |
adj.与世隔绝的;隐退的;偏僻的v.使隔开,使隐退( seclude的过去式和过去分词) | |
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55 gulf | |
n.海湾;深渊,鸿沟;分歧,隔阂 | |
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56 abruptness | |
n. 突然,唐突 | |
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57 miserable | |
adj.悲惨的,痛苦的;可怜的,糟糕的 | |
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58 laborers | |
n.体力劳动者,工人( laborer的名词复数 );(熟练工人的)辅助工 | |
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59 laboring | |
n.劳动,操劳v.努力争取(for)( labor的现在分词 );苦干;详细分析;(指引擎)缓慢而困难地运转 | |
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