On the summit of this stupendous barrier and at a height of 1,574 feet is La Turbie. Gazing up from the streets of Monte Carlo the place can be located, although neither its walls, nor its houses nor any part of it are visible; but it is indicated by two remarkable4 objects which stand out clear on the sky line. They are strange and ill-assorted. One of the objects is a vast pillar or tower of stone, of the colour of a wheat stalk. From the Casino garden, half a mile below, it looks like a gigantic brick standing5 on end and turned edgeways. This is the Roman monument of Augustus erected6 over 1,900 years ago. The other object, placed by its side, is a coral pink hotel that may have sprung up in the night. Its outline is intentionally7 fantastic for it is built in “the Oriental style” in the belief that the simple might mistake it for a mosque8 or a palace of the caliphs. In spite of its appearance it is popular and well esteemed9. It is a theatrical10 creation as gaudy11 as if it were flooded by a rose-tinted limelight and as out of place on the top of the stately cliff as a cheap Paris bonnet12 on the head of the Venus de Milo.
LA TURBIE: THE ROMAN MONUMENT.
There are many ways of reaching La Turbie from the lower ground. For carriages there is the Cemetery13 road. It is so called, not because it is dangerous to motorists, but because it passes a cemetery. It winds in and out among the prehistoric14 fortifications of Mont des Mules15 and Mont Justicier, but is so irresolute16, so capricious, so inclined to go any way rather than up hill to La Turbie that the route is exasperating17. The track of the road is like the track of a drunken man who has become obstinate18 and deaf to all persuasions19 to go straight home.
There are two mule-paths up to the town, one on either side of the Vallon des Gaumates, the Moneghetti path on the west and the Bordina on the east. These paths are at least direct and know where they are going. They are paved with cobble stones, are arranged in long steps, are as monotonous20 as a treadmill21 and probably as tiring. They are paths that might have climbed up the penitential heights in Dante’s “Purgatorio.” Still they pass by pleasant ways among the shadows of the olives and the slips of garden piled one above the other on green ledges22. Moreover they are the old primitive23 roads of the country, the roads trod by the medi?val pedlar, by the wandering monk24 and by the errant knight25. Of all works of man throughout the ages they are among the oldest and the least disturbed by change.
It is possible also to reach La Turbie from Monte Carlo by the rack-and-pinion railway. The traveller sits in a carriage that slopes like a roof and is pushed up hill from behind by an engine that puffs26 like an asthmatic person overpowered by rage. There are three stations to be passed on the way. Nothing happens at two of these stations except that the train stops. It is merely a ceremonial act. There would be anxiety and inquiries27 of the guard if anyone got in or got out. One station is in a drear rocky waste, far removed from the haunts of men. The only passenger that could be expected to alight here would be a scapegoat28 laden29 with the sins of Monte Carlo and eager to get away from the unquiet world and be lost in the wilderness30.
La Turbie, or Turbia, was a Roman town. It stood on the famous road that led from Rome into Gaul. It was a busy and prosperous place that probably attained31 to its greatest importance about two thousand years ago, for the town goes back to a period before the time of Christ. When La Turbie was at the height of its vigour32 Monaco was a barren rock. Indeed when the first building appeared upon Monaco La Turbie was already more than twelve centuries old.
The ancient Roman road—the Aurelian Way as it was called—ran from the Forum33 at Rome to Arles on the banks of the Rhone. Its total length, according to Dr. George Müller, was 797 miles. It was commenced in the year B.C. 241 and its construction occupied many decades.
Starting from the Forum it followed the coast northwards. It passed through Pisa, Spezia and Genoa. Then turning westwards it came to Ventimiglia, where it followed the line of the present main street. It passed through Bordighera, along the Strada Romana of that town, and creeping under the foot of the Rochers Rouges34 it entered Mentone. It crossed the little torrent35 of St. Louis close to the beach and then began to mount upwards. Its course through Mentone is indicated by the Rue36 Longue. Thence it ascended37 to the Mont Justicier and so reached the crest38 of the hill at La Turbie. Between Mentone and La Turbie there are still to be found traces of this ancient highway which have been left undisturbed among the olive woods.
The road entered La Turbie by that gate which is still called the Portail Romain, made its way through the town with no little pomp and passed out by the Portail de Nice on the west. It now crossed the present Grand Corniche road, which it followed for a while, and then dipped pleasantly into the valley of Laghet. Leaving the convent on its right it turned to La Trinité-Victor and so moved onwards until it reached the great and important Roman city of Cimiez, then known as Cemenelum. Here we may take leave of it.
On this venerable highway La Turbie occupied a position of much interest. It marked the highest point attained by the Via Aureliana in its long journey. To the Romans it was the “Alpis summa.” It stands on the ridge40 or col which connects Mont Agel with the Tête de Chien and represents the summit of the pass between those heights. More than that—as a landmark41 visible for miles—it pointed42 out to the world the ancient frontier between Italy and Gaul and, in later years, the line that divided Provence from Liguria.
To the Roman traveller by the Aurelian Way La Turbie was a place of some significance. It was a goal to be attained. When once the weary man had passed through the gate of Turbia he could sit himself down on a cool bench in its shady street, wipe his brow, loosen his pack, let drop his staff and feel that the worst of the journey was over. He had crossed the frontier into Gaul and was almost within sight of the comforting city of Cemenelum of which old travellers, gossiping in the Forum, had told so much.
La Turbie was a posting town that marked a critical stage in the journey from the Eternal City. It was a place of great bustle43 and commotion44 in the spacious45 Roman days, for companies, large or small, were constantly arriving or leaving and whichever way they went they must halt at the col. How often children playing outside the gate would suddenly rush back to their mothers, with shrill46 cries, to say that they could see a party winding47 up the hill towards the town! How often the people would hurry out to see what kind of folk they were and to guess as to their means and their needs!
A CORNER IN LA TURBIE.
Sometimes it would be a body of Roman soldiers, marching in rigid48 column, under the command of a dignified49 centurion50. At another time some great patrician51, with his vast retinue52, would mount up to the town. He would grumble53, no doubt, at the steepness of the hill, but would be coaxed54 by the bowing governor to come to the edge of the cliff and look down upon Monaco Bay and upon the glorious line of coast spread out upon either side of it. The patrician lady, alighting from her litter, would thrill the little place with curiosity and excitement. The young women of La Turbie would note keenly the fashion of her dress—the last new mode of Rome—and the manner in which her hair was “done” in order to imitate both the one and the other when the grande dame55 had swept on to Arles. The suite56 at the patrician’s heels would be accosted57 by the gossips of La Turbie and by the young men about town eager to glean58 the latest news from the great city, news from the lips of men who but a month or so ago had strolled about the Forum or had viewed some amazing spectacle from the galleries of the Coliseum.
The slaves, who led the pack-horses and carried the litters, would chat with the local slaves in the stables and in the meaner wine shops and discuss the general trend of affairs in this outcast, deity-deserted country and compare the vices59 of their respective masters and the meanness or beauty of their respective ladies. Even the dogs in the cavalcade60 would excite the interest of the dogs on the hill. One may imagine the supercilious61 sniff62 with which the dog that had tramped all the way from Rome would regard the dog stranded63 on this bleak64 col and the snarl65 with which the La Turbie dog—more wolf than dog—would challenge the pampered66 intruder.
At another time a company of traders would pass through the town—strangely-garbed men speaking an unknown tongue and followed by a train of mules and donkeys laden with bales of rare stuffs and with panniers filled with mysterious and glittering things. One can see the pretty girl of La Turbie coaxing67 a grey-bearded merchant in a black burnous to open a pannier and let her have a peep and picture the staring eyes of the crowd that would hang over her shoulder.
On another day a troupe68 of Roman dancing girls would trip through the gate with a ripple69 of bright colour and with roguish glances, to the great disturbance70 of the young men of La Turbie who would be too shy to speak to them, too unready to reply to their city banter71 and too conscious of their own gaucherie.
On occasion, too, a party of gladiators would swagger along on their way to the arena72 of Cimiez, splendid men, perfect in form, firm of foot, alert in carriage they would swing down the street with a rhythmical73 step and would be followed by the children through the gate and far along the road, and followed, too, by the eyes of every young woman in La Turbie who could find a window or a gap on the wall that gave a view of the highway.
The main street of the town, along which the great road bustled74, must have presented, on these days of coming or going, a scene of much animation75. Here were the chief inns and the wine booths, the little local shops, the fruit stalls, the cobbler’s vaulted76 niche39 where sandals were repaired, the cutler’s store very bright with bronze, the houses of the dealers77 in corn and fodder78 and most assuredly some begrimed hut where an old crone sold curiosities and souvenirs of the place, native weapons and ornaments79, a hillman’s head-dress, strange coins dug up outside the walls, bright pieces of ore found among the mountains, the local snake in a bottle, some wolf’s teeth and a shell or two from Monaco beach. In the lesser80 streets would be the stables for the pack-horses and the mules, the cellars for goods in transit81, the hovels for the slaves, the moneylenders’ dens82, the compounds for the soldiers and the huts of the wretched wild-eyed Ligurians who, under the lash83 of their masters, did the mean work of the town.
La Turbie was indeed in these times a great caravanserai, a halting place on the march of civilisation84, a post by the side of the inscrutable road that led from the wonder-teeming East to the dull, unawakened land of the West, a road that carried with it the makings of a people who would dominate the world when the power and the glory of Rome had passed away.
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1
ledge
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| n.壁架，架状突出物；岩架，岩礁 | |
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precipice
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| n.悬崖，危急的处境 | |
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3
upwards
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| adv.向上，在更高处...以上 | |
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remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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6
ERECTED
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| adj. 直立的，竖立的，笔直的 vt. 使 ... 直立，建立 | |
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7
intentionally
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| ad.故意地，有意地 | |
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8
mosque
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| n.清真寺 | |
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esteemed
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| adj.受人尊敬的v.尊敬( esteem的过去式和过去分词 )；敬重；认为；以为 | |
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theatrical
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| adj.剧场的，演戏的；做戏似的，做作的 | |
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gaudy
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| adj.华而不实的；俗丽的 | |
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bonnet
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| n.无边女帽；童帽 | |
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cemetery
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| n.坟墓，墓地，坟场 | |
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14
prehistoric
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| adj.（有记载的）历史以前的，史前的，古老的 | |
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15
mules
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| 骡( mule的名词复数 )； 拖鞋； 顽固的人； 越境运毒者 | |
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irresolute
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| adj.无决断的，优柔寡断的，踌躇不定的 | |
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17
exasperating
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| adj. 激怒的 动词exasperate的现在分词形式 | |
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obstinate
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| adj.顽固的，倔强的，不易屈服的，较难治愈的 | |
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persuasions
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| n.劝说，说服（力）( persuasion的名词复数 )；信仰 | |
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monotonous
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| adj.单调的，一成不变的，使人厌倦的 | |
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21
treadmill
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| n.踏车；单调的工作 | |
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ledges
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| n.（墙壁，悬崖等）突出的狭长部分( ledge的名词复数 )；（平窄的）壁架；横档；（尤指）窗台 | |
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23
primitive
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| adj.原始的；简单的；n.原(始)人，原始事物 | |
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monk
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| n.和尚，僧侣，修道士 | |
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knight
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| n.骑士，武士；爵士 | |
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puffs
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| n.吸( puff的名词复数 )；（烟斗或香烟的）一吸；一缕（烟、蒸汽等）；（呼吸或风的）呼v.使喷出( puff的第三人称单数 )；喷着汽（或烟）移动；吹嘘；吹捧 | |
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27
inquiries
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| n.调查( inquiry的名词复数 )；疑问；探究；打听 | |
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28
scapegoat
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| n.替罪的羔羊，替人顶罪者；v.使…成为替罪羊 | |
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laden
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| adj.装满了的；充满了的；负了重担的；苦恼的 | |
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30
wilderness
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| n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠 | |
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31
attained
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| （通常经过努力）实现( attain的过去式和过去分词 )； 达到； 获得； 达到（某年龄、水平、状况） | |
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vigour
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| （=vigor）n.智力，体力，精力 | |
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forum
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| n.论坛，讨论会 | |
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34
rouges
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| 胭脂，口红( rouge的名词复数 ) | |
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35
torrent
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| n.激流，洪流；爆发，(话语等的)连发 | |
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rue
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| n.懊悔，芸香，后悔；v.后悔，悲伤，懊悔 | |
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37
ascended
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| v.上升，攀登( ascend的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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38
crest
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| n.顶点；饰章；羽冠；vt.达到顶点；vi.形成浪尖 | |
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39
niche
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| n.壁龛；合适的职务(环境、位置等) | |
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40
ridge
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| n.山脊；鼻梁；分水岭 | |
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41
landmark
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| n.陆标，划时代的事，地界标 | |
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42
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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43
bustle
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| v.喧扰地忙乱，匆忙，奔忙；n.忙碌；喧闹 | |
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44
commotion
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| n.骚动，动乱 | |
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45
spacious
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| adj.广阔的，宽敞的 | |
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46
shrill
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| adj.尖声的；刺耳的；v尖叫 | |
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47
winding
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| n.绕，缠，绕组，线圈 | |
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48
rigid
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| adj.严格的，死板的；刚硬的，僵硬的 | |
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49
dignified
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| a.可敬的，高贵的 | |
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50
centurion
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| n.古罗马的百人队长 | |
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51
patrician
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| adj.贵族的，显贵的；n.贵族；有教养的人；罗马帝国的地方官 | |
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52
retinue
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| n.侍从；随员 | |
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53
grumble
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| vi.抱怨；咕哝；n.抱怨，牢骚；咕哝，隆隆声 | |
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54
coaxed
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| v.哄，用好话劝说( coax的过去式和过去分词 )；巧言骗取；哄劝，劝诱 | |
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55
dame
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| n.女士 | |
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56
suite
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| n.一套(家具)；套房；随从人员 | |
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57
accosted
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| v.走过去跟…讲话( accost的过去式和过去分词 )；跟…搭讪；（乞丐等）上前向…乞讨；（妓女等）勾搭 | |
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58
glean
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| v.收集(消息、资料、情报等) | |
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59
vices
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| 缺陷( vice的名词复数 )； 恶习； 不道德行为； 台钳 | |
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60
cavalcade
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| n.车队等的行列 | |
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61
supercilious
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| adj.目中无人的，高傲的；adv.高傲地；n.高傲 | |
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62
sniff
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| vi.嗅…味道；抽鼻涕；对嗤之以鼻，蔑视 | |
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63
stranded
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| a.搁浅的，进退两难的 | |
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64
bleak
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| adj.(天气)阴冷的；凄凉的；暗淡的 | |
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65
snarl
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| v.吼叫，怒骂，纠缠，混乱；n.混乱，缠结，咆哮 | |
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66
pampered
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| adj.饮食过量的，饮食奢侈的v.纵容，宠，娇养( pamper的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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67
coaxing
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| v.哄，用好话劝说( coax的现在分词 )；巧言骗取；哄劝，劝诱；“锻炼”效应 | |
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68
troupe
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| n.剧团，戏班；杂技团；马戏团 | |
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69
ripple
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| n.涟波，涟漪，波纹，粗钢梳；vt.使...起涟漪，使起波纹； vi.呈波浪状，起伏前进 | |
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70
disturbance
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| n.动乱，骚动；打扰，干扰；(身心)失调 | |
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71
banter
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| n.嘲弄，戏谑；v.取笑，逗弄，开玩笑 | |
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72
arena
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| n.竞技场，运动场所；竞争场所，舞台 | |
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73
rhythmical
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| adj.有节奏的，有韵律的 | |
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74
bustled
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| 闹哄哄地忙乱，奔忙( bustle的过去式和过去分词 )； 催促 | |
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75
animation
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| n.活泼，兴奋，卡通片／动画片的制作 | |
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76
vaulted
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| adj.拱状的 | |
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77
dealers
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| n.商人( dealer的名词复数 )；贩毒者；毒品贩子；发牌者 | |
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78
fodder
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| n.草料；炮灰 | |
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79
ornaments
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| n.装饰( ornament的名词复数 )；点缀；装饰品；首饰v.装饰，点缀，美化( ornament的第三人称单数 ) | |
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80
lesser
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| adj.次要的，较小的；adv.较小地，较少地 | |
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81
transit
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| n.经过，运输；vt.穿越，旋转；vi.越过 | |
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82
dens
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| n.牙齿，齿状部分；兽窝( den的名词复数 )；窝点；休息室；书斋 | |
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83
lash
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| v.系牢；鞭打；猛烈抨击；n.鞭打；眼睫毛 | |
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84
civilisation
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| n.文明，文化，开化，教化 | |
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