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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/4354-h.zip b/4354-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..804dd8c --- /dev/null +++ b/4354-h.zip diff --git a/4354-h/4354-h.htm b/4354-h/4354-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..bf3595b --- /dev/null +++ b/4354-h/4354-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,4905 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<HTML> +<HEAD> + +<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> + +<TITLE> +The Project Gutenberg E-text of By the Ionian Sea, by George Gissing +</TITLE> + +<STYLE TYPE="text/css"> +BODY { color: Black; + background: White; + margin-right: 10%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; + text-align: justify } + +P {text-indent: 4% } + +P.noindent {text-indent: 0% } + +P.poem {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-size: small } + +P.letter {text-indent: 0%; + font-size: small ; + margin-left: 10% ; + margin-right: 10% } + +P.footnote {font-size: small ; + text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +P.transnote {font-size: small ; + text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +P.finis { font-size: larger ; + text-align: center ; + text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +</STYLE> + +</HEAD> + +<BODY> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of By the Ionian Sea, by George Gissing + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: By the Ionian Sea + Notes of a Ramble in Southern Italy + +Author: George Gissing + +Posting Date: July 7, 2009 [EBook #4354] +Release Date: August, 2003 +First Posted: January 14, 2002 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BY THE IONIAN SEA *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Aldarondo. HTML version by Al Haines + + + + + +</pre> + + +<BR><BR> + +<H1 ALIGN="center"> +BY THE IONIAN SEA +</H1> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +NOTES OF A RAMBLE IN SOUTHERN ITALY +</H2> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +BY +</H3> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +GEORGE GISSING +</H2> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +CONTENTS +</H2> + +<TABLE ALIGN="center" WIDTH="80%"> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">I </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap01">FROM NAPLES.</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">II </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap02">PAOLA</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">III </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap03">THE GRAVE OF ALARIC</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IV </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap04">TARANTO</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">V </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap05">DULCE GALAESI FLUMEN</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VI </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap06">THE TABLE OF THE PALADINS</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap07">COTRONE</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VIII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap08">FACES BY THE WAY</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IX </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap09">MY FRIEND THE DOCTOR</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">X </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap10">CHILDREN OF THE SOIL</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XI </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap11">THE MOUNT OF REFUGE</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap12">CATANZARO</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap13">THE BREEZY HEIGHT</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIV </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap14">SQUILLACE</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XV </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap15">MISERIA</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVI </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap16">CASSIODORUS</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap17">THE GROTTA</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVIII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap18">REGGIO</A></TD> +</TR> + +</TABLE> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap01"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER I +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +FROM NAPLES +</H3> + +<P> +This is the third day of sirocco, heavy-clouded, sunless. All the +colour has gone out of Naples; the streets are dusty and stifling. I +long for the mountains and the sea. +</P> + +<P> +To-morrow I shall leave by the Messina boat, which calls at Paola. It +is now more than a twelvemonth since I began to think of Paola, and an +image of the place has grown in my mind. I picture a little <I>marina</I>; a +yellowish little town just above; and behind, rising grandly, the long +range of mountains which guard the shore of Calabria. Paola has no +special interest that I know of, but it is the nearest point on the +coast to Cosenza, which has interest in abundance; by landing here I +make a modestly adventurous beginning of my ramble in the South. At +Paola foreigners are rare; one may count upon new impressions, and the +journey over the hills will be delightful. +</P> + +<P> +Were I to lend ear to the people with whom I am staying, here in the +Chiatamone, I should either abandon my project altogether or set forth +with dire misgivings. They are Neapolitans of the better class; that is +to say, they have known losses, and talk of their former happiness, +when they lived on the Chiaia and had everything handsome about them. +The head of the family strikes me as a typical figure; he is an elderly +man, with a fine head, a dignified presence, and a coldly courteous +demeanour. By preference he speaks French, and his favourite subject is +Paris. One observes in him something like disdain for his own country, +which in his mind is associated only with falling fortunes and loss of +self-respect. The cordial Italian note never sounds in his talk. The +<I>signora</I> (also a little ashamed of her own language) excites herself +about taxation—as well she may—and dwells with doleful vivacity on +family troubles. Both are astonished at my eccentricity and hardiness +in undertaking a solitary journey through the wild South. Their +geographical notions are vague; they have barely heard of Cosenza or of +Cotrone, and of Paola not at all; it would as soon occur to them to set +out for Morocco as for Calabria. How shall I get along with people +whose language is a barbarous dialect? Am I aware that the country is +in great part pestilential?—<I>la febbre</I>! Has no one informed me that +in autumn snows descend, and bury everything for months? It is useless +to explain that I only intend to visit places easily accessible, that I +shall travel mostly by railway, and that if disagreeable weather sets +in I shall quickly return northwards. They look at me dubiously, and +ask themselves (I am sure) whether I have not some more tangible motive +than a lover of classical antiquity. It ends with a compliment to the +enterprising spirit of the English race. +</P> + +<P> +I have purchases to make, business to settle, and I must go hither and +thither about the town. Sirocco, of course, dusks everything to +cheerless grey, but under any sky it is dispiriting to note the changes +in Naples. <I>Lo sventramento</I> (the disembowelling) goes on, and regions +are transformed. It is a good thing, I suppose, that the broad Corso +Umberto I. should cut a way through the old Pendino; but what a +contrast between that native picturesqueness and the cosmopolitan +vulgarity which has usurped its place! "<I>Napoli se ne va</I>!" I pass the +Santa Lucia with downcast eyes, my memories of ten years ago striving +against the dulness of to-day. The harbour, whence one used to start +for Capri, is filled up; the sea has been driven to a hopeless distance +beyond a wilderness of dust-heaps. They are going to make a long, +straight embankment from the Castel dell'Ovo to the Great Port, and +before long the Santa Lucia will be an ordinary street, shut in among +huge houses, with no view at all. Ah, the nights that one lingered +here, watching the crimson glow upon Vesuvius, tracing the dark line of +the Sorrento promontory, or waiting for moonlight to cast its magic +upon floating Capri! The odours remain; the stalls of sea-fruit are as +yet undisturbed, and the jars of the water-sellers; women still comb +and bind each other's hair by the wayside, and meals are cooked and +eaten <I>al fresco</I> as of old. But one can see these things elsewhere, +and Santa Lucia was unique. It has become squalid. In the grey light of +this sad billowy sky, only its ancient foulness is manifest; there +needs the golden sunlight to bring out a suggestion of its ancient +charm. +</P> + +<P> +Has Naples grown less noisy, or does it only seem so to me? The men +with bullock carts are strangely quiet; their shouts have nothing like +the frequency and spirit of former days. In the narrow and thronged +Strada di Chiaia I find little tumult; it used to be deafening. Ten +years ago a foreigner could not walk here without being assailed by the +clamour of <I>cocchieri</I>; nay, he was pursued from street to street, +until the driver had spent every phrase of importunate invitation; now, +one may saunter as one will, with little disturbance. Down on the +Piliero, whither I have been to take my passage for Paola, I catch but +an echo of the jubilant uproar which used to amaze me. Is Naples really +so much quieter? If I had time I would go out to Fuorigrotta, once, it +seemed to me, the noisiest village on earth, and see if there also I +observed a change. It would not be surprising if the modernization of +the city, together with the state of things throughout Italy, had a +subduing effect upon Neapolitan manners. In one respect the streets are +assuredly less gay. When I first knew Naples one was never, literally +never, out of hearing of a hand-organ; and these organs, which in +general had a peculiarly dulcet note, played the brightest of melodies; +trivial, vulgar if you will, but none the less melodious, and dear to +Naples. Now the sound of street music is rare, and I understand that +some police provision long since interfered with the soft-tongued +instruments. I miss them; for, in the matter of music, it is with me as +with Sir Thomas Browne. For Italy the change is significant enough; in +a few more years spontaneous melody will be as rare at Naples or Venice +as on the banks of the Thames. +</P> + +<P> +Happily, the musicians errant still strum their mandoline as you dine. +The old trattoria in the Toledo is as good as ever, as bright, as +comfortable. I have found my old corner in one of the little rooms, and +something of the old gusto for <I>zuppa di vongole</I>. The homely wine of +Posillipo smacks as in days gone by, and is commended to one's lips by +a song of the South. . . . +</P> + +<P> +Last night the wind changed and the sky began to clear; this morning I +awoke in sunshine, and with a feeling of eagerness for my journey. I +shall look upon the Ionian Sea, not merely from a train or a steamboat +as before, but at long leisure: I shall see the shores where once were +Tarentum and Sybaris, Croton and Locri. Every man has his intellectual +desire; mine is to escape life as I know it and dream myself into that +old world which was the imaginative delight of my boyhood. The names of +Greece and Italy draw me as no others; they make me young again, and +restore the keen impressions of that time when every new page of Greek +or Latin was a new perception of things beautiful. The world of the +Greeks and Romans is my land of romance; a quotation in either language +thrills me strangely, and there are passages of Greek and Latin verse +which I cannot read without a dimming of the eyes, which I cannot +repeat aloud because my voice fails me. In Magna Graecia the waters of +two fountains mingle and flow together; how exquisite will be the +draught! +</P> + +<P> +I drove with my luggage to the Immacolatella, and a boatman put me +aboard the steamer. Luggage, I say advisedly; it is a rather heavy +portmanteau, and I know it will be a nuisance. But the length of my +wanderings is so uncertain, its conditions are so vaguely anticipated. +I must have books if only for rainy days; I must have clothing against +a change of season. At one time I thought of taking a mere wallet, and +now I am half sorry that I altered my mind. But—— +</P> + +<P> +We were not more than an hour after time in starting. Perfect weather. +I sang to myself with joy upon the sunny deck as we steamed along the +Bay, past Portici, and Torre del Greco, and into the harbour of Torre +Annunziata, where we had to take on cargo. I was the only cabin +passenger, and solitude suits me. All through the warm and cloudless +afternoon I sat looking at the mountains, trying not to see that +cluster of factory chimneys which rolled black fumes above the +many-coloured houses. They reminded me of the same abomination on a +shore more sacred; from the harbour of Piraeus one looks to Athens +through trails of coal-smoke. By a contrast pleasant enough, Vesuvius +to-day sent forth vapours of a delicate rose-tint, floating far and +breaking seaward into soft little fleeces of cirrus. The cone, covered +with sulphur, gleamed bright yellow against cloudless blue. +</P> + +<P> +The voyage was resumed at dinner-time; when I came upon deck again, +night had fallen. We were somewhere near Sorrento; behind us lay the +long curve of faint-glimmering lights on the Naples shore; ahead was +Capri. In profound gloom, though under a sky all set with stars, we +passed between the island and Cape Minerva; the haven of Capri showed +but a faint glimmer; over it towered mighty crags, an awful blackness, +a void amid constellations. From my seat near the stern of the vessel I +could discern no human form; it was as though I voyaged quite alone in +the silence of this magic sea. Silence so all-possessing that the sound +of the ship's engine could not reach my ear, but was blended with the +water-splash into a lulling murmur. The stillness of a dead world laid +its spell on all that lived. To-day seemed an unreality, an idle +impertinence; the real was that long-buried past which gave its meaning +to all around me, touching the night with infinite pathos. Best of all, +one's own being became lost to consciousness; the mind knew only the +phantasmal forms it shaped, and was at peace in vision. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap02"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER II +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +PAOLA +</H3> + +<P> +I slept little, and was very early on deck, scanning by the light of +dawn a mountainous coast. At sunrise I learnt that we were in sight of +Paola; as day spread gloriously over earth and sky, the vessel hove to +and prepared to land cargo. There, indeed, was the yellowish little +town which I had so long pictured; it stood at a considerable height +above the shore; harbour there was none at all, only a broad beach of +shingle on which waves were breaking, and where a cluster of men, women +and children stood gazing at the steamer. It gave me pleasure to find +the place so small and primitive. In no hurry to land, I watched the +unloading of merchandise (with a great deal of shouting and +gesticulation) into boats which had rowed out for the purpose; +speculated on the resources of Paola in the matter of food (for I was +hungry); and at moments cast an eye towards the mountain barrier which +it was probable I should cross to-day. +</P> + +<P> +At last my portmanteau was dropped down on to the laden boat; I, as +best I could, managed to follow it; and on the top of a pile of rope +and empty flour-sacks we rolled landward. The surf was high; it cost +much yelling, leaping, and splashing to gain the dry beach. Meanwhile, +not without apprehension, I had eyed the group awaiting our arrival; +that they had their eyes on me was obvious, and I knew enough of +southern Italians to foresee my reception. I sprang into the midst of a +clamorous conflict; half a dozen men were quarreling for possession of +me. No sooner was my luggage on shore than they flung themselves upon +it. By what force of authority I know not, one of the fellows +triumphed; he turned to me with a satisfied smile, and—presented his +wife. +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Mia sposa, signore</I>!" +</P> + +<P> +Wondering, and trying to look pleased, I saw the woman seize the +portmanteau (a frightful weight), fling it on to her head, and march +away at a good speed. The crowd and I followed to the <I>dogana</I>, close +by, where as vigorous a search was made as I have ever had to undergo. +I puzzled the people; my arrival was an unwonted thing, and they felt +sure I was a trader of some sort. Dismissed under suspicion, I allowed +the lady to whom I had been introduced to guide me townwards. Again she +bore the portmanteau on her head, and evidently thought it a trifle, +but as the climbing road lengthened, and as I myself began to perspire +in the warm sunshine, I looked at my attendant with uncomfortable +feelings. It was a long and winding way, but the woman continued to +talk and laugh so cheerfully that I tried to forget her toil. At length +we reached a cabin where the <I>dazio</I> (town dues) officer presented +himself, and this conscientious person insisted on making a fresh +examination of my baggage; again I explained myself, again I was eyed +suspiciously; but he released me, and on we went. I had bidden my guide +take me to the best inn; it was the <I>Leone</I>, a little place which +looked from the outside like an ill-kept stable, but was decent enough +within. The room into which they showed me had a delightful prospect. +Deep beneath the window lay a wild, leafy garden, and lower on the +hillside a lemon orchard shining with yellow fruit; beyond, the broad +pebbly beach, far seen to north and south, with its white foam edging +the blue expanse of sea. There I descried the steamer from which I had +landed, just under way for Sicily. The beauty of this view, and the +calm splendour of the early morning, put me into happiest mood. After +little delay a tolerable breakfast was set before me, with a good rough +wine; I ate and drank by the window, exulting in what I saw and all I +hoped to see. +</P> + +<P> +Guide-books had informed me that the <I>corriere</I> (mail-diligence) from +Paola to Cosenza corresponded with the arrival of the Naples steamer, +and, after the combat on the beach, my first care was to inquire about +this. All and sundry made eager reply that the <I>corriere</I> had long +since gone; that it started, in fact, at 5 A.M., and that the only +possible mode of reaching Cosenza that day was to hire a vehicle. +Experience of Italian travel made me suspicious, but it afterwards +appeared that I had been told the truth. Clearly, if I wished to +proceed at once, I must open negotiations at my inn, and, after a +leisurely meal, I did so. Very soon a man presented himself who was +willing to drive me over the mountains—at a charge which I saw to be +absurd; the twinkle in his eye as he named the sum sufficiently +enlightened me. By the book it was no more than a journey of four +hours; my driver declared that it would take from seven to eight. After +a little discussion he accepted half the original demand, and went off +very cheerfully to put in his horses. +</P> + +<P> +For an hour I rambled about the town's one street, very picturesque and +rich in colour, with rushing fountains where women drew fair water in +jugs and jars of antique beauty. Whilst I was thus loitering in the +sunshine, two well-dressed men approached me, and with somewhat +excessive courtesy began conversation. They understood that I was about +to drive to Cosenza. A delightful day, and a magnificent country! They +too thought of journeying to Cosenza, and, in short, would I allow them +to share my carriage? Now this was annoying; I much preferred to be +alone with my thoughts; but it seemed ungracious to refuse. After a +glance at their smiling faces, I answered that whatever room remained +in the vehicle was at their service—on the natural understanding that +they shared the expense; and to this, with the best grace in the world, +they at once agreed. We took momentary leave of each other, with much +bowing and flourishing of hats, and the amusing thing was that I never +beheld those gentlemen again. +</P> + +<P> +Fortunately—as the carriage proved to be a very small one, and the sun +was getting very hot; with two companions I should have had an +uncomfortable day. In front of the <I>Leone</I> a considerable number of +loafers had assembled to see me off, and of these some half-dozen were +persevering mendicants. It disappointed me that I saw no interesting +costume; all wore the common, colourless garb of our destroying age. +The only vivid memory of these people which remains with me is the +cadence of their speech. Whilst I was breakfasting, two women stood at +gossip on a near balcony, and their utterance was a curious +exaggeration of the Neapolitan accent; every sentence rose to a high +note, and fell away in a long curve of sound, sometimes a musical wail, +more often a mere whining. The protraction of the last word or two was +really astonishing; again and again I fancied that the speaker had +broken into song. I cannot say that the effect was altogether pleasant; +in the end such talk would tell severely on civilized nerves, but it +harmonized with the coloured houses, the luxuriant vegetation, the +strange odours, the romantic landscape. +</P> + +<P> +In front of the vehicle were three little horses; behind it was hitched +an old shabby two-wheeled thing, which we were to leave somewhere for +repairs. With whip-cracking and vociferation, amid good-natured +farewells from the crowd, we started away. It was just ten o'clock. +</P> + +<P> +At once the road began to climb, and nearly three hours were spent in +reaching the highest point of the mountain barrier. Incessantly +winding, often doubling upon itself, the road crept up the sides of +profound gorges, and skirted many a precipice; bridges innumerable +spanned the dry ravines which at another season are filled with furious +torrents. From the zone of orange and olive and cactus we passed that +of beech and oak, noble trees now shedding their rich-hued foliage on +bracken crisped and brown; here I noticed the feathery bowers of wild +clematis ("old man's beard"), and many a spike of the great mullein, +strange to me because so familiar in English lanes. Through mists that +floated far below I looked over miles of shore, and outward to the +ever-rising limit of sea and sky. Very lovely were the effects of +light, the gradations of colour; from the blue-black abysses, where no +shape could be distinguished, to those violet hues upon the furrowed +heights which had a transparency, a softness, an indefiniteness, unlike +anything to be seen in northern landscape. +</P> + +<P> +The driver was accompanied by a half-naked lad, who, at certain points, +suddenly disappeared, and came into view again after a few minutes, +having made a short cut up some rugged footway between the loops of the +road. Perspiring, even as I sat, in the blaze of the sun, I envied the +boy his breath and muscle. Now and then he slaked his thirst at a stone +fountain by the wayside, not without reverencing the blue-hooded +Madonna painted over it. A few lean, brown peasants, bending under +faggots, and one or two carts, passed us before we gained the top, and +half-way up there was a hovel where drink could be bought; but with +these exceptions nothing broke the loneliness of the long, wild ascent. +My man was not talkative, but answered inquiries civilly; only on one +subject was he very curt—that of the two wooden crosses which we +passed just before arriving at the summit; they meant murders. At the +moment when I spoke of them I was stretching my legs in a walk beside +the carriage, the driver walking just in front of me; and something +then happened which is still a puzzle when I recall it. Whether the +thought of crimes had made the man nervous, or whether just then I wore +a peculiarly truculent face, or had made some alarming gesture, all of +a sudden he turned upon me, grasped my arm and asked sharply: "What +have you got in your hand?" I had a bit of fern, plucked a few minutes +before, and with surprise I showed it; whereupon he murmured an +apology, said something about making haste, and jumped to his seat. An +odd little incident. +</P> + +<P> +At an unexpected turn of the road there spread before me a vast +prospect; I looked down upon inland Calabria. It was a valley broad +enough to be called a plain, dotted with white villages, and backed by +the mass of mountains which now, as in old time, bear the name of Great +Sila. Through this landscape flowed the river Crati—the ancient +Crathis; northward it curved, and eastward, to fall at length into the +Ionian Sea, far beyond my vision. The river Crathis, which flowed by +the walls of Sybaris. I stopped the horses to gaze and wonder; gladly I +would have stood there for hours. Less interested, and impatient to get +on, the driver pointed out to me the direction of Cosenza, still at a +great distance. He added the information that, in summer, the +well-to-do folk of Cosenza go to Paola for sea-bathing, and that they +always perform the journey by night. I, listening carelessly amid my +dream, tried to imagine the crossing of those Calabrian hills under a +summer sun! By summer moonlight it must be wonderful. +</P> + +<P> +We descended at a sharp pace, all the way through a forest of +chestnuts, the fruit already gathered, the golden leaves rustling in +their fall. At the foot lies the village of San Fili, and here we left +the crazy old cart which we had dragged so far. A little further, and +before us lay a long, level road, a true Roman highway, straight for +mile after mile. By this road the Visigoths must have marched after the +sack of Rome. In approaching Cosenza I was drawing near to the grave of +Alaric. Along this road the barbarian bore in triumph those spoils of +the Eternal City which were to enrich his tomb. +</P> + +<P> +By this road, six hundred years before the Goth, marched Hannibal on +his sullen retreat from Italy, passing through Cosentia to embark at +Croton. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap03"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER III +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE GRAVE OF ALARIC +</H3> + +<P> +It would have been prudent to consult with my driver as to the inns of +Cosenza. But, with a pardonable desire not to seem helpless in his +hands, I had from the first directed him to the <I>Due Lionetti</I>, relying +upon my guide-book. Even at Cosenza there is progress, and guide-books +to little-known parts of Europe are easily allowed to fall out of date. +On my arrival—— +</P> + +<P> +But, first of all, the <I>dazio</I>. This time it was a serious business; +impossible to convince the rather surly officer that certain of the +contents of my portmanteau were not for sale. What in the world was I +doing with <I>tanti libri</I>? Of course I was a commercial traveller; +ridiculous to pretend anything else. After much strain of courtesy, I +clapped to my luggage, locked it up, and with a resolute face cried +"Avanti!" And there was an end of it. In this case, as so often, I have +no doubt that simple curiosity went for much in the man's pertinacious +questioning. Of course the whole <I>dazio</I> business is ludicrous and +contemptible; I scarce know a baser spectacle than that of uniformed +officials groping in the poor little bundles of starved peasant women, +mauling a handful of onions, or prodding with long irons a cartload of +straw. Did any one ever compare the expenses with the results? +</P> + +<P> +A glance shows the situation of Cosenza. The town is built on a steep +hillside, above the point where two rivers, flowing from the valleys on +either side, mingle their waters under one name, that of the Crati. We +drove over a bridge which spans the united current, and entered a +narrow street, climbing abruptly between houses so high and so close +together as to make a gloom amid sunshine. It was four o'clock; I felt +tired and half choked with dust; the thought of rest and a meal was +very pleasant. As I searched for the sign of my inn, we suddenly drew +up, midway in the dark street, before a darker portal, which seemed the +entrance to some dirty warehouse. The driver jumped down—"Ecco +l'albergo!" +</P> + +<P> +I had seen a good many Italian hostelries, and nourished no +unreasonable expectations. The Lion at Paola would have seemed to any +untravelled Englishman a squalid and comfortless hole, incredible as a +place of public entertainment; the <I>Two Little Lions</I> of Cosenza made a +decidedly worse impression. Over sloppy stones, in an atmosphere heavy +with indescribable stenches, I felt rather than saw my way to the foot +of a stone staircase; this I ascended, and on the floor above found a +dusky room, where tablecloths and an odour of frying oil afforded some +suggestion of refreshment. My arrival interested nobody; with a good +deal of trouble I persuaded an untidy fellow, who seemed to be a +waiter, to come down with me and secure my luggage. More trouble before +I could find a bedroom; hunting for keys, wandering up and down stone +stairs and along pitch-black corridors, sounds of voices in quarrel. +The room itself was utterly depressing—so bare, so grimy, so dark. +Quickly I examined the bed, and was rewarded. It is the good point of +Italian inns; be the house and the room howsoever sordid, the bed is +almost invariably clean and dry and comfortable. +</P> + +<P> +I ate, not amiss; I drank copiously to the memory of Alaric, and felt +equal to any fortune. When night had fallen I walked a little about the +scarce-lighted streets and came to an open place, dark and solitary and +silent, where I could hear the voices of the two streams as they +mingled below the hill. Presently I passed an open office of some kind, +where a pleasant-looking man sat at a table writing; on an impulse I +entered, and made bold to ask whether Cosenza had no better inn than +the <I>Due Lionetti</I>. Great was this gentleman's courtesy; he laid down +his pen, as if for ever, and gave himself wholly to my concerns. His +discourse delighted me, so flowing were the phrases, so rounded the +periods. Yes, there were other inns; one at the top of the town—the +<I>Vetere</I>—in a very good position; and they doubtless excelled my own +in modern comfort. As a matter of fact, it might be avowed that the +<I>Lionetti</I>, from the point of view of the great centres of +civilization, left something to be desired—something to be desired; +but it was a good old inn, a reputable old inn, and probably on further +acquaintance—— +</P> + +<P> +Further acquaintance did not increase my respect for the <I>Lionetti</I>; it +would not be easy to describe those features in which, most notably, it +fell short of all that might be desired. But I proposed no long stay at +Cosenza, where malarial fever is endemic, and it did not seem worth +while to change my quarters. I slept very well. +</P> + +<P> +I had come here to think about Alaric, and with my own eyes to behold +the place of his burial. Ever since the first boyish reading of Gibbon, +my imagination has loved to play upon that scene of Alaric's death. +Thinking to conquer Sicily, the Visigoth marched as far as to the +capital of the Bruttii, those mountain tribes which Rome herself never +really subdued; at Consentia he fell sick and died. How often had I +longed to see this river Busento, which the "labour of a captive +multitude" turned aside, that its flood might cover and conceal for all +time the tomb of the Conqueror! I saw it in the light of sunrise, +flowing amid low, brown, olive-planted hills; at this time of the year +it is a narrow, but rapid stream, running through a wide, waste bed of +yellow sand and stones. The Crati, which here has only just started +upon its long seaward way from some glen of Sila, presents much the +same appearance, the track which it has worn in flood being many times +as broad as the actual current. They flow, these historic waters, with +a pleasant sound, overborne at moments by the clapping noise of +Cosenza's washerwomen, who cleanse their linen by beating it, then +leave it to dry on the river-bed. Along the banks stood tall poplars, +each a spire of burnished gold, blazing against the dark olive foliage +on the slopes behind them; plane trees, also, very rich of colour, and +fig trees shedding their latest leaves. Now, tradition has it that +Alaric was buried close to the confluence of the Busento and the Crati. +If so, he lay in full view of the town. But the Goths are said to have +slain all their prisoners who took part in the work, to ensure secrecy. +Are we to suppose that Consentia was depopulated? On any other +supposition the story must be incorrect, and Alaric's tomb would have +to be sought at least half a mile away, where the Busento is hidden in +its deep valley. +</P> + +<P> +Gibbon, by the way, calls it Busentinus; the true Latin was Buxentius. +To make sure of the present name, I questioned some half a dozen +peasants, who all named the river Basenzio or Basenz'; a countryman of +more intelligent appearance assured me that this was only a dialectical +form, the true one being Busento. At a bookseller's shop (Cosenza had +one, a very little one) I found the same opinion to prevail. +</P> + +<P> +It is difficult to walk much in this climate; lassitude and feverish +symptoms follow on the slightest exertion; but—if one can disregard +the evil smells which everywhere catch one's breath—Cosenza has +wonders and delights which tempt to day-long rambling. To call the town +picturesque is to use an inadequate word; at every step, from the +opening of the main street at the hill-foot up to the stern mediaeval +castle crowning its height, one marvels and admires. So narrow are the +ways that a cart drives the pedestrian into shop or alley; two vehicles +(but perhaps the thing never happened) would with difficulty pass each +other. As in all towns of Southern Italy, the number of hair-dressers +is astonishing, and they hang out the barber's basin—the very basin +(of shining brass and with a semicircle cut out of the rim) which the +Knight of La Mancha took as substitute for his damaged helmet. Through +the gloom of high balconied houses, one climbs to a sunny piazza, where +there are several fine buildings; beyond it lies the public garden, a +lovely spot, set with alleys of acacia and groups of palm and +flower-beds and fountains; marble busts of Garibaldi, Mazzini, and +Cavour gleam among the trees. Here one looks down upon the yellow gorge +of the Crati, and sees it widen northward into a vast green plain, in +which the track of the river is soon lost. On the other side of the +Crati valley, in full view of this garden, begins the mountain region +of many-folded Sila—a noble sight at any time of the day, but most of +all when the mists of morning cling about its summits, or when the +sunset clothes its broad flanks with purple. Turn westward, and you +behold the long range which hides the Mediterranean so high and wild +from this distance, that I could scarce believe I had driven over it. +</P> + +<P> +Sila—locally the Black Mountain, because dark with climbing +forests—held my gaze through a long afternoon. From the grassy +table-land of its heights, pasturage for numberless flocks and herds +when the long snows have melted, one might look over the shore of the +Ionian Sea where Greek craftsmen built ships of timber cut upon the +mountain's side. Not so long ago it was a haunt of brigands; now there +is no risk for the rare traveller who penetrates that wilderness; but +he must needs depend upon the hospitality of labourers and shepherds. I +dream of sunny glades, never touched, perhaps, by the foot of man since +the Greek herdsman wandered there with his sheep or goats. Somewhere on +Sila rises the Neaithos (now Neto) mentioned by Theocritus; one would +like to sit by its source in the woodland solitude, and let fancy have +her way. +</P> + +<P> +In these garden walks I met a group of peasants, evidently strange to +Cosenza, and wondering at all they saw. The women wore a very striking +costume: a short petticoat of scarlet, much embroidered, and over it a +blue skirt, rolled up in front and gathered in a sort of knot behind +the waist; a bodice adorned with needlework and metal; elaborate +glistening head-gear, and bare feet. The town-folk have no peculiarity +of dress. I observed among them a grave, intelligent type of +countenance, handsome and full of character, which may be that of their +brave ancestors the Bruttii. With pleasure I saw that they behaved +gently to their beasts, the mules being very sleek and +contented-looking. There is much difference between these people and +the Neapolitans; they seem to have no liking for noise, talk with a +certain repose, and allow the stranger to go about among them +unmolested, unimportuned. Women above the poorest class are not seen in +the streets; there prevails an Oriental system of seclusion. +</P> + +<P> +I was glad to come upon the pot market; in the south of Italy it is +always a beautiful and interesting sight. Pottery for commonest use +among Calabrian peasants has a grace of line, a charm of colour, far +beyond anything native to our most pretentious china-shops. Here still +lingers a trace of the old civilization. There must be a great good in +a people which has preserved this need of beauty through ages of +servitude and suffering. Compare such domestic utensils—these oil-jugs +and water-jars—with those in the house of an English labourer. Is it +really so certain that all virtues of race dwell with those who can +rest amid the ugly and know it not for ugliness? +</P> + +<P> +The new age declares itself here and there at Cosenza. A squalid +railway station, a hideous railway bridge, have brought the town into +the European network; and the craze for building, which has disfigured +and half ruined Italy, shows itself in an immense new theatre—Teatro +Garibaldi—just being finished. The old one, which stands ruinous close +by, struck me as, if anything, too large for the town; possibly it had +been damaged by an earthquake, the commonest sort of disaster at +Cosenza. On the front of the new edifice I found two inscriptions, both +exulting over the fall of the papal power; one was interesting enough +to copy:— +</P> + +<H4> + "20 SEPT., 1870.<BR> + QUESTA DATA POLITICA<BR> + DICE FINITA LA TEOCRAZIA<BR> + NEGLI ORDINAMENTI CIVILI.<BR> + IL DI CHE LA DIRA FINITA<BR> + MORALMENTE<BR> + SARA LA DATA UMANA."<BR> +</H4> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +which signifies: "This political date marks the end of theocracy in +civil life. The day which ends its moral rule will begin the epoch of +humanity." A remarkable utterance anywhere; not least so within the +hearing of the stream which flows over the grave of Alaric. +</P> + +<P> +One goes to bed early at Cosenza; the night air is dangerous, +and—Teatro Garibaldi still incomplete—darkness brings with it no sort +of pastime. I did manage to read a little in my miserable room by an +antique lamp, but the effort was dispiriting; better to lie in the dark +and think of Goth and Roman. +</P> + +<P> +Do the rivers Busento and Crati still keep the secret of that "royal +sepulchre, adorned with the splendid spoils and trophies of Rome"? It +seems improbable that the grave was ever disturbed; to this day there +exists somewhere near Cosenza a treasure-house more alluring than any +pictured in Arabian tale. It is not easy to conjecture what "spoils and +trophies" the Goths buried with their king; if they sacrificed masses +of precious metal, then perchance there still lies in the river-bed +some portion of that golden statue of <I>Virtus</I>, which the Romans melted +down to eke out the ransom claimed by Alaric. The year 410 A.D. was no +unfitting moment to break into bullion the figure personifying Manly +Worth. "After that," says an old historian, "all bravery and honour +perished out of Rome." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap04"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +TARANTO +</H3> + +<P> +Cosenza is on a line of railway which runs northward up the Crati +valley, and joins the long seashore line from Taranto to Reggio. As it +was my wish to see the whole of that coast, I had the choice of +beginning my expedition either at the northern or the southern end; for +several reasons I decided to make straight for Taranto. +</P> + +<P> +The train started about seven o'clock in the morning. I rose at six in +chill darkness, the discomfort of my room seeming worse than ever at +this featureless hour. The waiter—perhaps he was the landlord, I left +this doubt unsolved—brought me a cup of coffee; dirtier and more +shabbily apparelled man I have never looked upon; viler coffee I never +drank. Then I descended into the gloom of the street. The familiar +odours breathed upon me with pungent freshness, wafted hither and +thither on a mountain breeze. A glance upwards at the narrow strip of +sky showed a grey-coloured dawn, prelude, I feared, of a dull day. +</P> + +<P> +Evidently I was not the only traveller departing; on the truck just +laden I saw somebody else's luggage, and at the same moment there came +forth a man heavily muffled against the air, who, like myself, began to +look about for the porter. We exchanged greetings, and on our walk to +the station I learned that my companion, also bound for Taranto, had +been detained by illness for several days at the <I>Lionetti</I>, where, he +bitterly complained, the people showed him no sort of attention. He was +a commercial traveller, representing a firm of drug merchants in North +Italy, and for his sins (as he put it) had to make the southern journey +every year; he invariably suffered from fever, and at certain +places—of course, the least civilized—had attacks which delayed him +from three days to a week. He loathed the South, finding no +compensation whatever for the miseries of travel below Naples; the +inhabitants he reviled with exceeding animosity. Interested by the +doleful predicament of this vendor of drugs (who dosed himself very +vigorously), I found him a pleasant companion during the day; after our +lunch he seemed to shake off the last shivers of his malady, and was as +sprightly an Italian as one could wish to meet—young, sharp-witted, +well-mannered, and with a pleasing softness of character. +</P> + +<P> +We lunched at Sybaris; that is to say, at the railway station now so +called, though till recently it bore the humbler name of Buffaloria. +The Italians are doing their best to revive the classical place-names, +where they have been lost, and occasionally the incautious traveller is +much misled. Of Sybaris no stone remains above ground; five hundred +years before Christ it was destroyed by the people of Croton, who +turned the course of the river Crathis so as to whelm the city's ruins. +Francois Lenormant, whose delightful book, <I>La Grande Grece</I>, was my +companion on this journey, believed that a discovery far more wonderful +and important than that of Pompeii awaits the excavator on this site; +he held it certain that here, beneath some fifteen feet of alluvial +mud, lay the temples and the streets of Sybaris, as on the day when +Crathis first flowed over them. A little digging has recently been +done, and things of interest have been found; but discovery on a wide +scale is still to be attempted. +</P> + +<P> +Lenormant praises the landscape hereabouts as of "incomparable beauty"; +unfortunately I saw it in a sunless day, and at unfavourable moments I +was strongly reminded of the Essex coast—grey, scrubby fiats, crossed +by small streams, spreading wearily seaward. One had only to turn +inland to correct this mood; the Calabrian mountains, even without +sunshine, had their wonted grace. Moreover, cactus and agave, frequent +in the foreground, preserved the southern character of the scene. The +great plain between the hills and the sea grows very impressive; so +silent it is, so mournfully desolate, so haunted with memories of +vanished glory. I looked at the Crathis—the Crati of Cosenza—here +beginning to spread into a sea-marsh; the waters which used to flow +over golden sands, which made white the oxen, and sunny-haired the +children, that bathed in them, are now lost amid a wilderness poisoned +by their own vapours. +</P> + +<P> +The railway station, like all in this region, was set about with +eucalyptus. Great bushes of flowering rosemary scented the air, and a +fine cassia tree, from which I plucked blossoms, yielded a subtler +perfume. Our lunch was not luxurious; I remember only, as at all worthy +of Sybaris, a palatable white wine called Muscato dei Saraceni. +Appropriate enough amid this vast silence to turn one's thoughts to the +Saracens, who are so largely answerable for the ages of desolation that +have passed by the Ionian Sea. +</P> + +<P> +Then on for Taranto, where we arrived in the afternoon. Meaning to stay +for a week or two I sought a pleasant room in a well-situated hotel, +and I found one with a good view of town and harbour. The Taranto of +old days, when it was called Taras, or later Tarentum, stood on a long +peninsula, which divides a little inland sea from the great sea +without. In the Middle Ages the town occupied only the point of this +neck of land, which, by the cutting of an artificial channel, had been +made into an island: now again it is spreading over the whole of the +ancient site; great buildings of yellowish-white stone, as ugly as +modern architect can make them, and plainly far in excess of the actual +demand for habitations, rise where Phoenicians and Greeks and Romans +built after the nobler fashion of their times. One of my windows looked +towards the old town, with its long sea-wall where fishermen's nets +hung drying, the dome of its Cathedral, the high, squeezed houses, +often with gardens on the roofs, and the swing-bridge which links it to +the mainland; the other gave me a view across the Mare Piccolo, the +Little Sea (it is some twelve miles round about), dotted in many parts +with crossed stakes which mark the oyster-beds, and lined on this side +with a variety of shipping moored at quays. From some of these vessels, +early next morning, sounded suddenly a furious cannonade, which +threatened to shatter the windows of the hotel; I found it was in +honour of the Queen of Italy, whose <I>festa</I> fell on that day. This +barbarous uproar must have sounded even to the Calabrian heights; it +struck me as more meaningless in its deafening volley of noise than any +note of joy or triumph that could ever have been heard in old Tarentum. +</P> + +<P> +I walked all round the island part of the town; lost myself amid its +maze of streets, or alleys rather, for in many places one could touch +both sides with outstretched arms, and rested in the Cathedral of S. +Cataldo, who, by the bye, was an Irishman. All is strange, but too +close-packed to be very striking or beautiful; I found it best to +linger on the sea-wall, looking at the two islands in the offing, and +over the great gulf with its mountain shore stretching beyond sight. On +the rocks below stood fishermen hauling in a great net, whilst a boy +splashed the water to drive the fish back until they were safely +enveloped in the last meshes; admirable figures, consummate in graceful +strength, their bare legs and arms the tone of terra cotta. What slight +clothing they wore became them perfectly, as is always the case with a +costume well adapted to the natural life of its wearers. Their slow, +patient effort speaks of immemorial usage, and it is in harmony with +time itself. These fishermen are the primitives of Taranto; who shall +say for how many centuries they have hauled their nets upon the rock? +When Plato visited the Schools of Taras, he saw the same brown-legged +figures, in much the same garb, gathering their sea-harvest. When +Hannibal, beset by the Romans, drew his ships across the peninsula and +so escaped from the inner sea, fishermen of Tarentum went forth as +ever, seeking their daily food. A thousand years passed, and the fury +of the Saracens, when it had laid the city low, spared some humble +Tarentine and the net by which he lived. To-day the fisher-folk form a +colony apart; they speak a dialect which retains many Greek words +unknown to the rest of the population. I could not gaze at them long +enough; their lithe limbs, their attitudes at work or in repose, their +wild, black hair, perpetually reminded me of shapes pictured on a +classic vase. +</P> + +<P> +Later in the day I came upon a figure scarcely less impressive. Beyond +the new quarter of the town, on the ragged edge of its wide, +half-peopled streets, lies a tract of olive orchards and of seed-land; +there, alone amid great bare fields, a countryman was ploughing. The +wooden plough, as regards its form, might have been thousands of years +old; it was drawn by a little donkey, and traced in the soil—the +generous southern soil—the merest scratch of a furrow. I could not but +approach the man and exchange words with him; his rude but gentle face, +his gnarled hands, his rough and scanty vesture, moved me to a deep +respect, and when his speech fell upon my ear, it was as though I +listened to one of the ancestors of our kind. Stopping in his work, he +answered my inquiries with careful civility; certain phrases escaped +me, but on the whole he made himself quite intelligible, and was glad, +I could see, when my words proved that I understood him. I drew apart, +and watched him again. Never have I seen man so utterly patient, so +primaevally deliberate. The donkey's method of ploughing was to pull +for one minute, and then rest for two; it excited in the ploughman not +the least surprise or resentment. Though he held a long stick in his +hand, he never made use of it; at each stoppage he contemplated the +ass, and then gave utterance to a long "Ah-h-h!" in a note of the most +affectionate remonstrance. They were not driver and beast, but comrades +in labour. It reposed the mind to look upon them. +</P> + +<P> +Walking onward in the same direction, one approaches a great wall, with +gateway sentry-guarded; it is the new Arsenal, the pride of Taranto, +and the source of its prosperity. On special as well as on general +grounds, I have a grudge against this mass of ugly masonry. I had +learnt from Lenormant that at a certain spot, Fontanella, by the shore +of the Little Sea, were observable great ancient heaps of murex +shells—the murex precious for its purple, that of Tarentum yielding in +glory only to the purple of Tyre. I hoped to see these shells, perhaps +to carry one away. But Fontanella had vanished, swallowed up, with all +remnants of antiquity, by the graceless Arsenal. It matters to no one +save the few fantastics who hold a memory of the ancient world dearer +than any mechanic triumph of to-day. If only one could believe that the +Arsenal signified substantial good to Italy! Too plainly it means +nothing but the exhaustion of her people in the service of a base ideal. +</P> + +<P> +The confines of this new town being so vague, much trouble is given to +that noble institution, the <I>dazio</I>. Scattered far and wide in a dusty +wilderness, stand the little huts of the officers, vigilant on every +road or by-way to wring the wretched soldi from toilsome hands. As +became their service, I found these gentry anything but amiable; they +had commonly an air of <I>ennui</I>, and regarded a stranger with surly +suspicion. +</P> + +<P> +When I was back again among the high new houses, my eye, wandering in +search of any smallest point of interest, fell on a fresh-painted +inscription:— +</P> + +<H4> + "ALLA MAGNA GRAECIA. STABILIMENTO<BR> + IDROELETTROPATICO."<BR> +</H4> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +was well meant. At the sign of "Magna Graecia" one is willing to accept +"hydroelectropathic" as a late echo of Hellenic speech. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap05"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER V +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +DULCE GALAESI FLUMEN +</H3> + +<P> +Taranto has a very interesting Museum. I went there with an +introduction to the curator, who spared no trouble in pointing out to +me all that was best worth seeing. He and I were alone in the little +galleries; at a second or third visit I had the Museum to myself, save +for an attendant who seemed to regard a visitor as a pleasant novelty, +and bestirred himself for my comfort when I wanted to make sketches. +Nothing is charged for admission, yet no one enters. Presumably, all +the Tarentines who care for archaeology have already been here, and +strangers are few. +</P> + +<P> +Upon the shelves are seen innumerable miniature busts, carved in some +kind of stone; thought to be simply portraits of private persons. One +peers into the faces of men, women, and children, vaguely conjecturing +their date, their circumstances; some of them may have dwelt in the old +time on this very spot of ground now covered by the Museum. Like other +people who grow too rich and comfortable, the citizens of Tarentum +loved mirth and mockery; their Greek theatre was remarkable for +irreverent farce, for parodies of the great drama of Athens. And here +is testimony to the fact: all manner of comic masks, of grotesque +visages; mouths distorted into impossible grins, eyes leering and +goggling, noses extravagant. I sketched a caricature of Medusa, the +anguished features and snaky locks travestied with satiric grimness. +You remember a story which illustrates this scoffing habit: how the +Roman Ambassador, whose Greek left something to be desired, excited the +uproarious derision of the assembled Tarentines—with results that were +no laughing matter. +</P> + +<P> +I used the opportunity of my conversation with the Director of the +Museum to ask his aid in discovering the river Galaesus. Who could find +himself at Taranto without turning in thought to the Galaesus, and +wishing to walk along its banks? Unhappily, one cannot be quite sure of +its position. A stream there is, flowing into the Little Sea, which by +some is called Galeso; but the country-folk commonly give it the name +of Gialtrezze. Of course I turned my steps in that direction, to see +and judge for myself. +</P> + +<P> +To skirt the western shore of the Mare Piccolo I had to pass the +railway station, and there I made a few inquiries; the official with +whom I spoke knew not the name Galeso, but informed me that the +Gialtrezze entered the sea at a distance of some three kilometres. That +I purposed walking such a distance to see an insignificant stream +excited the surprise, even the friendly concern, of my interlocutor; +again and again he assured me it was not worth while, repeating +emphatically, "<I>Non c'e novita</I>." But I went my foolish way. Of two or +three peasants or fishermen on the road I asked the name of the little +river I was approaching; they answered, "Gialtrezze." Then came a man +carrying a gun, whose smile and greeting invited question. "Can you +tell me the name of the stream which flows into the sea just beyond +here?" "Signore, it is the Galeso." +</P> + +<P> +My pulse quickened with delight; all the more when I found that my +informant had no tincture of the classics, and that he supported Galeso +against Gialtrezze simply as a question of local interest. Joyously I +took leave of him, and very soon I was in sight of the river itself. +The river? It is barely half a mile long; it rises amid a bed of great +reeds, which quite conceal the water, and flows with an average breadth +of some ten feet down to the seashore, on either side of it bare, dusty +fields, and a few hoary olives. +</P> + +<P> +The Galaesus?—the river beloved by Horace; its banks pasturing a +famous breed of sheep, with fleece so precious that it was protected by +a garment of skins? Certain it is that all the waters of Magna Graecia +have much diminished since classic times, but (unless there have been +great local changes, due, for example, to an earthquake) this brook had +always the same length, and it is hard to think of the Galaesus as so +insignificant. Disappointed, brooding, I followed the current seaward, +and upon the shore, amid scents of mint and rosemary, sat down to rest. +</P> + +<P> +There was a good view of Taranto across the water; the old town on its +little island, compact of white houses, contrasting with the yellowish +tints of the great new buildings which spread over the peninsula. With +half-closed eyes, one could imagine the true Tarentum. Wavelets lapped +upon the sand before me, their music the same as two thousand years +ago. A goatherd came along, his flock straggling behind him; man and +goats were as much of the old world as of the new. Far away, the boats +of fishermen floated silently. I heard a rustle as an old fig tree hard +by dropped its latest leaves. On the sea-bank of yellow crumbling earth +lizards flashed about me in the sunshine. After a dull morning, the day +had passed into golden serenity; a stillness as of eternal peace held +earth and sky. +</P> + +<P> +"Dearest of all to me is that nook of earth which yields not to +Hymettus for its honey, nor for its olive to green Venafrum; where +heaven grants a long springtime and warmth in winter, and in the sunny +hollows Bacchus fosters a vintage noble as the Falernian——" The lines +of Horace sang in my head; I thought, too, of the praise of Virgil, +who, tradition has it, wrote his <I>Eclogues</I> hereabouts. Of course, the +country has another aspect, in spring and early summer; I saw it at a +sad moment; but, all allowance made for seasons, it is still with +wonder that one recalls the rapture of the poets. A change beyond +conception must have come upon these shores of the Ionian Sea. The +scent of rosemary seemed to be wafted across the ages from a vanished +world. +</P> + +<P> +After all, who knows whether I have seen the Galaesus? Perhaps, as some +hold, it is quite another river, flowing far to the west of Taranto +into the open gulf. Gialtrezze may have become Galeso merely because of +the desire in scholars to believe that it was the classic stream; in +other parts of Italy names have been so imposed. But I shall not give +ear to such discouraging argument. It is little likely that my search +will ever be renewed, and for me the Galaesus—"dulce Galaesi +flumen"—is the stream I found and tracked, whose waters I heard mingle +with the Little Sea. The memory has no sense of disappointment. Those +reeds which rustle about the hidden source seem to me fit shelter of a +Naiad; I am glad I could not see the water bubbling in its spring, for +there remains a mystery. Whilst I live, the Galaesus purls and glistens +in the light of that golden afternoon, and there beyond, across the +blue still depths, glimmers a vision of Tarentum. +</P> + +<P> +Let Taranto try as it will to be modern and progressive, there is a +retarding force which shows little sign of being overcome—the profound +superstition of the people. A striking episode of street life reminded +me how near akin were the southern Italians of to-day to their +predecessors in what are called the dark ages; nay, to those more +illustrious ancestors who were so ready to believe that an ox had +uttered an oracle, or that a stone had shed blood. Somewhere near the +swing-bridge, where undeniable steamships go and come between the inner +and the outer sea, I saw a crowd gathered about a man who was +exhibiting a picture and expounding its purport; every other minute the +male listeners doffed their hats, and the females bowed and crossed +themselves. When I had pressed near enough to hear the speaker, I found +he was just finishing a wonderful story, in which he himself might or +might not have faith, but which plainly commanded the credit of his +auditors. Having closed his narrative, the fellow began to sell it in +printed form—little pamphlets with a rude illustration on the cover. I +bought the thing for a soldo, and read it as I walked away. +</P> + +<P> +A few days ago—thus, after a pious exordium, the relation began—in +that part of Italy called Marca, there came into a railway station a +Capuchin friar of grave, thoughtful, melancholy aspect, who besought +the station-master to allow him to go without ticket by the train just +starting, as he greatly desired to reach the Sanctuary of Loreto that +day, and had no money to pay his fare The official gave a contemptuous +refusal, and paid no heed to the entreaties of the friar, who urged all +manner of religious motives for the granting of his request. The two +engines on the train (which was a very long one) seemed about to steam +away—but, behold, <I>con grande stupore di tutti</I>, the waggons moved not +at all! Presently a third engine was put on, but still all efforts to +start the train proved useless. Alone of the people who viewed this +inexplicable event, the friar showed no astonishment; he remarked +calmly, that so long as he was refused permission to travel by it, the +train would not stir. At length <I>un ricco signore</I> found a way out of +the difficulty by purchasing the friar a third-class ticket; with a +grave reproof to the station-master, the friar took his seat, and the +train went its way. +</P> + +<P> +But the matter, of course, did not end here. Indignant and amazed, and +wishing to be revenged upon that <I>frataccio</I>, the station-master +telegraphed to Loreto, that in a certain carriage of a certain train +was travelling a friar, whom it behoved the authorities to arrest for +having hindered the departure of the said train for fifteen minutes, +and also for the offense of mendicancy within a railway station. +Accordingly, the Loreto police sought the offender, but, in the +compartment where he had travelled, found no person; there, however, +lay a letter couched in these terms: "He who was in this waggon under +the guise of a humble friar, has now ascended into the arms of his +<I>Santissima Madre Maria</I>. He wished to make known to the world how easy +it is for him to crush the pride of unbelievers, or to reward those who +respect religion." +</P> + +<P> +Nothing more was discoverable; wherefore the learned of the Church—<I>i +dotti della chiesa</I>—came to the conclusion that under the guise of a +friar there had actually appeared "<I>N. S. G. C.</I>" The Supreme Pontiff +and his prelates had not yet delivered a judgment in the matter, but +there could be no sort of doubt that they would pronounce the +authenticity of the miracle. With a general assurance that the good +Christian will be saved and the unrepentant will be damned, this +remarkable little pamphlet came to an end. Much verbiage I have +omitted, but the translation, as far as it goes, is literal. Doubtless +many a humble Tarentine spelt it through that evening, with boundless +wonder, and thought such an intervention of Providence worthy of being +talked about, until the next stabbing case in his street provided a +more interesting topic. +</P> + +<P> +Possibly some malevolent rationalist might note that the name of the +railway station where this miracle befell was nowhere mentioned. Was it +not open to him to go and make inquiries at Loreto? +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap06"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE TABLE OF THE PALADINS +</H3> + +<P> +For two or three days a roaring north wind whitened the sea with foam; +it kept the sky clear, and from morning to night there was magnificent +sunshine, but, none the less, one suffered a good deal from cold. The +streets were barer than ever; only in the old town, where high, close +walls afforded a good deal of shelter, was there a semblance of active +life. But even here most of the shops seemed to have little, if any, +business; frequently I saw the tradesman asleep in a chair, at any hour +of daylight. Indeed, it must be very difficult to make the day pass at +Taranto. I noticed that, as one goes southward in Italy, the later do +ordinary people dine; appetite comes slowly in this climate. Between +<I>colazione</I> at midday and <I>pranzo</I> at eight, or even half-past, what an +abysm of time! Of course, the Tarantine never reads; the only bookshop +I could discover made a poorer display than even that at Cosenza—it +was not truly a bookseller's at all, but a fancy stationer's. How the +women spend their lives one may vainly conjecture. Only on Sunday did I +see a few of them about the street; they walked to and from Mass, with +eyes on the ground, and all the better-dressed of them wore black. +</P> + +<P> +When the weather fell calm again, and there was pleasure in walking, I +chanced upon a trace of the old civilization which interested me more +than objects ranged in a museum. Rambling eastward along the outer +shore, in the wilderness which begins as soon as the town has +disappeared, I came to a spot as uninviting as could be imagined, great +mounds of dry rubbish, evidently deposited here by the dust-carts of +Taranto; luckily, I continued my walk beyond this obstacle, and after a +while became aware that I had entered upon a road—a short piece of +well-marked road, which began and ended in the mere waste. A moment's +examination, and I saw that it was no modern by-way. The track was +clean-cut in living rock, its smooth, hard surface lined with two +parallel ruts nearly a foot deep; it extended for some twenty yards +without a break, and further on I discovered less perfect bits. Here, +manifestly, was the seaside approach to Tarentum, to Taras, perhaps to +the Phoenician city which came before them. Ages must have passed since +vehicles used this way; the modern high road is at some distance +inland, and one sees at a glance that this witness of ancient traffic +has remained by Time's sufferance in a desert region. Wonderful was the +preservation of the surface: the angles at the sides, where the road +had been cut down a little below the rock-level, were sharp and clean +as if carved yesterday, and the profound ruts, worn, perhaps, before +Rome had come to her power, showed the grinding of wheels with strange +distinctness. From this point there is an admirable view of Taranto, +the sea, and the mountains behind. +</P> + +<P> +Of the ancient town there remains hardly anything worthy of being +called a ruin. Near the shore, however, one can see a few remnants of a +theatre—perhaps that theatre where the Tarentines were sitting when +they saw Roman galleys, in scorn of treaty, sailing up the Gulf. +</P> + +<P> +My last evenings were brightened by very beautiful sunsets; one in +particular remains with me; I watched it for an hour or more from the +terrace-road of the island town. An exquisite after-glow seemed as if +it would never pass away. Above thin, grey clouds stretching along the +horizon a purple flush melted insensibly into the dark blue of the +zenith. Eastward the sky was piled with lurid rack, sullen-tinted folds +edged with the hue of sulphur. The sea had a strange aspect, curved +tracts of pale blue lying motionless upon a dark expanse rippled by the +wind. Below me, as I leaned on the sea-wall, a fisherman's boat crept +duskily along the rocks, a splash of oars soft-sounding in the +stillness. I looked to the far Calabrian hills, now scarce +distinguishable from horizon cloud, and wondered what chances might +await me in the unknown scenes of my further travel. +</P> + +<P> +The long shore of the Ionian Sea suggested many a halting-place. Best +of all, I should have liked to swing a wallet on my shoulder and make +the whole journey on foot; but this for many reasons was impossible. I +could only mark points of the railway where some sort of food or +lodging might be hoped for, and the first of these stoppages was +Metaponto. +</P> + +<P> +Official time-bills of the month marked a train for Metaponto at 4.56 +A.M., and this I decided to take, as it seemed probable that I might +find a stay of some hours sufficient, and so be able to resume my +journey before night. I asked the waiter to call me at a quarter to +four. In the middle of the night (as it seemed to me) I was aroused by +a knocking, and the waiter's voice called to me that, if I wished to +leave early for Metaponto, I had better get up at once, as the +departure of the train had been changed to 4.15—it was now half-past +three. There ensued an argument, sustained, on my side, rather by the +desire to stay in bed this cold morning than by any faith in the +reasonableness of the railway company. There must be a mistake! The +<I>orario</I> for the month gave 4.56, and how could the time of a train be +changed without public notice? Changed it was, insisted the waiter; it +had happened a few days ago, and they had only heard of it at the hotel +this very morning. Angry and uncomfortable, I got my clothes on, and +drove to the station, where I found that a sudden change in the +time-table, without any regard for persons relying upon the official +guide, was taken as a matter of course. In chilly darkness I bade +farewell to Taranto. +</P> + +<P> +At a little after six, when palest dawn was shimmering on the sea, I +found myself at Metaponto, with no possibility of doing anything for a +couple of hours. Metaponto is a railway station, that and nothing more, +and, as a station also calls itself a hotel, I straightway asked for a +room, and there dozed until sunshine improved my humour and stirred my +appetite. The guidebook had assured me of two things: that a vehicle +could be had here for surveying the district, and that, under cover +behind the station, one would find a little collection of antiquities +unearthed hereabout. On inquiry, I found that no vehicle, and no animal +capable of being ridden, existed at Metaponto; also that the little +museum had been transferred to Naples. It did not pay to keep the +horse, they told me; a stranger asked for it only "once in a hundred +years." However, a lad was forthcoming who would guide me to the ruins. +I breakfasted (the only thing tolerable being the wine), and we set +forth. +</P> + +<P> +It was a walk of some two or three miles, by a cart road, through +fields just being ploughed for grain. All about lay a level or slightly +rolling country, which in winter becomes a wilderness of mud; dry +traces of vast slough and occasional stagnant pools showed what the +state of things would be a couple of months hence. The properties were +divided by hedges of agave—huge growths, grandly curving their +sword-pointed leaves. Its companion, the spiny cactus, writhed here and +there among juniper bushes and tamarisks. Along the wayside rose tall, +dead thistles, white with age, their great cluster of seed-vessels +showing how fine the flower had been. Above our heads, peewits were +wheeling and crying, and lizards swarmed on the hard, cracked ground. +</P> + +<P> +We passed a few ploughmen, with white oxen yoked to labour. Ploughing +was a fit sight at Metapontum, famous of old for the richness of its +soil; in token whereof the city dedicated at Delphi its famous Golden +Sheaf. It is all that remains of life on this part of the coast; the +city had sunk into ruin before the Christian era, and was never +rebuilt. Later, the shore was too dangerous for habitation. Of all the +cities upon the Ionian Sea, only Tarentum and Croton continued to exist +through the Middle Ages, for they alone occupied a position strong for +defence against pirates and invaders. A memory of the Saracen wars +lingers in the name borne by the one important relic of Metapontum, the +<I>Tavola de' Paladini</I>; to this my guide was conducting me. +</P> + +<P> +It is the ruin of a temple to an unknown god, which stood at some +distance north of the ancient city; two parallel rows of columns, ten +on one side, five on the other, with architrave all but entire, and a +basement shattered. The fine Doric capitals are well preserved; the +pillars themselves, crumbling under the tooth of time, seem to support +with difficulty their noble heads. This monument must formerly have +been very impressive amid the wide landscape; but, a few years ago, for +protection against peasant depredators, a wall ten feet high was built +close around the columns, so that no good view of them is any longer +obtainable. To the enclosure admission is obtained through an iron +gateway with a lock. I may add, as a picturesque detail, that the lock +has long been useless; my guide simply pushed the gate open. Thus, the +ugly wall serves no purpose whatever save to detract from the beauty of +the scene. +</P> + +<P> +Vegetation is thick within the temple precincts; a flowering rose bush +made contrast of its fresh and graceful loveliness with the age-worn +strength of these great carved stones. About their base grew +luxuriantly a plant which turned my thoughts for a moment to rural +England, the round-leaved pennywort. As I lingered here, there stirred +in me something of that deep emotion which I felt years ago amid the +temples of Paestum. Of course, this obstructed fragment holds no claim +to comparison with Paestum's unique glory, but here, as there, one is +possessed by the pathos of immemorial desolation; amid a silence which +the voice has no power to break, nature's eternal vitality triumphs +over the greatness of forgotten men. +</P> + +<P> +At a distance of some three miles from this temple there lies a little +lake, or a large pond, which would empty itself into the sea but for a +piled barrier of sand and shingle. This was the harbour of Metapontum. +</P> + +<P> +I passed the day in rambling and idling, and returned for a meal at the +station just before train-time. The weather could not have been more +enjoyable; a soft breeze and cloudless blue. For the last half-hour I +lay in a hidden corner of the eucalyptus grove—trying to shape in +fancy some figure of old Pythagoras. He died here (says story) in 497 +B.C.—broken-hearted at the failure of his efforts to make mankind +gentle and reasonable. In 1897 A.D. that hope had not come much nearer +to its realization. Italians are yet familiar with the name of the +philosopher, for it is attached to the multiplication table, which they +call <I>tavola pitagorica</I>. What, in truth, do we know of him? He is a +type of aspiring humanity; a sweet and noble figure, moving as a dim +radiance through legendary Hellas. The English reader hears his name +with a smile, recalling only the mention of him, in mellow mirth, by +England's greatest spirit. "What is the opinion of Pythagoras +concerning wild fowl?" Whereto replies the much-offended Malvolio: +"That the soul of our grandam might haply inhabit a bird." He of the +crossed garters disdains such fantasy. "I think nobly of the soul, and +no way approve his opinion." +</P> + +<P> +I took my ticket for Cotrone, which once was Croton. At Croton, +Pythagoras enjoyed his moment's triumph, ruling men to their own +behoof. At Croton grew up a school of medicine which glorified Magna +Graecia. "Healthier than Croton," said a proverb; for the spot was +unsurpassed in salubrity; beauty and strength distinguished its +inhabitants, who boasted their champion Milon. After the fall of +Sybaris, Croton became so populous that its walls encircled twelve +miles. Hither came Zeuxis, to adorn with paintings the great temple of +Hera on the Lacinian promontory; here he made his picture of Helen, +with models chosen from the loveliest maidens of the city. I was +light-hearted with curious anticipation as I entered the train for +Cotrone. +</P> + +<P> +While daylight lasted, the moving landscape held me attentive. This +part of the coast is more varied, more impressive, than between Taranto +and Metaponto. For the most part a shaggy wilderness, the ground lies +in strangely broken undulations, much hidden with shrub and tangled +boscage. At the falling of dusk we passed a thickly-wooded tract large +enough to be called a forest; the great trees looked hoary with age, +and amid a jungle of undergrowth, myrtle and lentisk, arbutus and +oleander, lay green marshes, dull deep pools, sluggish streams. A spell +which was half fear fell upon the imagination; never till now had I +known an enchanted wood. Nothing human could wander in those pathless +shades, by those dead waters. It was the very approach to the world of +spirits; over this woodland, seen on the verge of twilight, brooded a +silent awe, such as Dante knew in his <I>selva oscura</I>. +</P> + +<P> +Of a sudden the dense foliage was cleft; there opened a broad alley +between drooping boughs, and in the deep hollow, bordered with sand and +stones, a flood rolled eastward. This river is now called Sinno; it was +the ancient Sins, whereon stood the city of the same name. In the +seventh century before Christ, Sins was lauded as the richest city in +the world; for luxury it outrivalled Sybaris. +</P> + +<P> +I had recently been reading Lenormant's description of the costumes of +Magna Graecia prior to the Persian wars. Sins, a colony from Ionia, +still kept its Oriental style of dress. Picture a man in a long, +close-clinging tunic which descended to his feet, either of fine linen, +starched and pleated, or of wool, falling foldless, enriched with +embroidery and adorned with bands of gay-coloured geometric patterns; +over this a wrap (one may say) of thick wool, tight round the bust and +leaving the right arm uncovered, or else a more ample garment, +elaborately decorated like the long tunic. Complete the picture with a +head ornately dressed, on the brow a fringe of ringlets; the long hair +behind held together by gold wire spirally wound; above, a crowning +fillet, with a jewel set in the front; the beard cut to a point, and +the upper lip shaven. You behold the citizen of these Hellenic colonies +in their stately prime. +</P> + +<P> +Somewhere in that enchanted forest, where the wild vine trails from +tree to tree, where birds and creatures of the marshy solitude haunt +their ancient home, lie buried the stones of Sins. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap07"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +COTRONE +</H3> + +<P> +Night hid from me the scenes that followed. Darkling, I passed again +through the station called Sybaris, and on and on by the sea-shore, the +sound of breakers often audible. From time to time I discerned black +mountain masses against a patch of grey sky, or caught a glimpse of +blanching wave, or felt my fancy thrill as a stray gleam from the +engine fire revealed for a moment another trackless wood. Often the +hollow rumbling of the train told me that we were crossing a bridge; +the stream beneath it bore, perhaps, a name in legend or in history. A +wind was rising; at the dim little stations I heard it moan and buffet, +and my carriage, where all through the journey I sat alone, seemed the +more comfortable. Rain began to fall, and when, about ten o'clock, I +alighted at Cotrone, the night was loud with storm. +</P> + +<P> +There was but one vehicle at the station, a shabby, creaking, +mud-plastered sort of coach, into which I bundled together with two +travellers of the kind called commercial—almost the only species of +traveller I came across during these southern wanderings. A long time +was spent in stowing freightage which, after all, amounted to very +little; twice, thrice, four, and perhaps five times did we make a false +start, followed by uproarious vociferation, and a jerk which tumbled us +passengers all together. The gentlemen of commerce rose to wild +excitement, and roundly abused the driver; as soon as we really +started, their wrath changed to boisterous gaiety. On we rolled, +pitching and tossing, mid darkness and tempest, until, through the +broken window, a sorry illumination of oil-lamps showed us one side of +a colonnaded street. "Bologna! Bologna!" cried my companions, mocking +at this feeble reminiscence of their fat northern town. The next moment +we pulled up, our bruised bodies colliding vigorously for the last +time; it was the <I>Albergo Concordia</I>. +</P> + +<P> +A dark stone staircase, yawning under the colonnade; on the first +landing an open doorway; within, a long corridor, doors of bedrooms on +either side, and in a room at the far end a glimpse of a tablecloth. +This was the hotel, the whole of it. As soon as I grasped the +situation, it was clear to me why my fellow travellers had entered with +a rush and flung themselves into rooms; there might, perchance, be only +one or two chambers vacant, and I knew already that Cotrone offered no +other decent harbourage. Happily I did not suffer for my lack of +experience; after trying one or two doors in vain, I found a +sleeping-place which seemed to be unoccupied, and straightway took +possession of it. No one appeared to receive the arriving guests. +Feeling very hungry, I went into the room at the end of the passage, +where I had seen a tablecloth; a wretched lamp burned on the wall, but +only after knocking, stamping, and calling did I attract attention; +then issued from some mysterious region a stout, slatternly, sleepy +woman, who seemed surprised at my demand for food, but at length +complied with it. I was to have better acquaintance with my hostess of +the <I>Concordia</I> before I quitted Cotrone. +</P> + +<P> +Next morning the wind still blew, but the rain was over; I could begin +my rambles. Like the old town of Taranto, Cotrone occupies the site of +the ancient acropolis, a little headland jutting into the sea; above, +and in front of the town itself, stands the castle built by Charles V., +with immense battlements looking over the harbour. From a road skirting +the shore around the base of the fortress one views a wide bay, bounded +to the north by the dark flanks of Sila (I was in sight of the Black +Mountain once more), and southwards by a long low promontory, its level +slowly declining to the far-off point where it ends amid the waves. On +this Cape I fixed my eyes, straining them until it seemed to me that I +distinguished something, a jutting speck against the sky, at its +farthest point. Then I used my field-glass, and at once the doubtful +speck became a clearly visible projection, much like a lighthouse. It +is a Doric column, some five-and-twenty feet high; the one pillar that +remains of the great temple of Hera, renowned through all the Hellenic +world, and sacred still when the goddess had for centuries borne a +Latin name. "Colonna" is the ordinary name of the Cape; but it is also +known as <I>Capo di Nau</I>, a name which preserves the Greek word <I>naos</I> +(temple). +</P> + +<P> +I planned for the morrow a visit to this spot, which is best reached by +sea. To-day great breakers were rolling upon the strand, and all the +blue of the bay was dashed with white foam; another night would, I +hoped, bring calm, and then the voyage! <I>Dis aliter visum</I>. +</P> + +<P> +A little fleet of sailing vessels and coasting steamers had taken +refuge within the harbour, which is protected by a great mole. A good +haven; the only one, indeed, between Taranto and Reggio, but it grieves +one to remember that the mighty blocks built into the sea-barrier came +from that fallen temple. We are told that as late as the sixteenth +century the building remained all but perfect, with eight-and-forty +pillars, rising there above the Ionian Sea; a guide to sailors, even as +when AEneas marked it on his storm-tossed galley. Then it was assailed, +cast down, ravaged by a Bishop of Cotrone, one Antonio Lucifero, to +build his episcopal palace. Nearly three hundred years later, after the +terrible earthquake of 1783, Cotrone strengthened her harbour with the +great stones of the temple basement. It was a more legitimate pillage. +</P> + +<P> +Driven inland by the gale, I wandered among low hills which overlook +the town. Their aspect is very strange, for they consist entirely—on +the surface, at all events—of a yellowish-grey mud, dried hard, and as +bare as the high road. A few yellow hawkweeds, a few camomiles, grew in +hollows here and there; but of grass not a blade. It is easy to make a +model of these Crotonian hills. Shape a solid mound of hard-pressed +sand, and then, from the height of a foot or two, let water trickle +down upon it; the perpendicular ridges and furrows thus formed upon the +miniature hill represent exactly what I saw here on a larger scale. +Moreover, all the face of the ground is minutely cracked and wrinkled; +a square foot includes an incalculable multitude of such meshes. +Evidently this is the work of hot sun on moisture; but when was it +done? For they tell me that it rains very little at Cotrone, and only a +deluge could moisten this iron soil. Here and there I came upon yet +more striking evidence of waterpower; great holes on the hillside, +generally funnel-shaped, and often deep enough to be dangerous to the +careless walker. The hills are round-topped, and parted one from +another by gully or ravine, shaped, one cannot but think, by furious +torrents. A desolate landscape, and scarcely bettered when one turned +to look over the level which spreads north of the town; one discovers +patches of foliage, indeed, the dark perennial verdure of the south; +but no kindly herb clothes the soil. In springtime, it seems, there is +a growth of grass, very brief, but luxuriant. That can only be on the +lower ground; these furrowed heights declare a perpetual sterility. +</P> + +<P> +What has become of the ruins of Croton? This squalid little town of +to-day has nothing left from antiquity. Yet a city bounded with a wall +of twelve miles circumference is not easily swept from the face of the +earth. Bishop Lucifer, wanting stones for his palace, had to go as far +as the Cape Colonna; then, as now, no block of Croton remained. Nearly +two hundred years before Christ the place was forsaken. Rome colonized +it anew, and it recovered an obscure life as a place of embarkation for +Greece, its houses occupying only the rock of the ancient citadel. Were +there at that date any remnants of the great Greek city?—still great +only two centuries before. Did all go to the building of Roman +dwellings and temples and walls, which since have crumbled or been +buried? +</P> + +<P> +We are told that the river AEsarus flowed through the heart of the city +at its prime. I looked over the plain, and yonder, towards the distant +railway station, I descried a green track, the course of the all but +stagnant and wholly pestilential stream, still called Esaro. Near its +marshy mouth are wide orange orchards. Could one but see in vision the +harbour, the streets, the vast encompassing wall! From the eminence +where I stood, how many a friend and foe of Croton has looked down upon +its shining ways, peopled with strength and beauty and wisdom! Here +Pythagoras may have walked, glancing afar at the Lacinian sanctuary, +then new built. +</P> + +<P> +Lenormant is eloquent on the orange groves of Cotrone. In order to +visit them, permission was necessary, and presently I made my way to +the town hall, to speak with the Sindaco (Mayor) and request his aid in +this matter. Without difficulty I was admitted. In a well-furnished +office sat two stout gentlemen, smoking cigars, very much at their +ease; the Sindaco bade me take a chair, and scrutinized me with +doubtful curiosity as I declared my business. Yes, to be sure he could +admit me to see his own orchard; but why did I wish to see it? My reply +that I had no interest save in the natural beauty of the place did not +convince him; he saw in me a speculator of some kind. That was natural +enough. In all the south of Italy, money is the one subject of men's +thoughts; intellectual life does not exist; there is little even of +what we should call common education. Those who have wealth cling to it +fiercely; the majority have neither time nor inclination to occupy +themselves with anything but the earning of a livelihood which for +multitudes signifies the bare appeasing of hunger. +</P> + +<P> +Seeing the Sindaco's embarrassment, his portly friend began to question +me; good-humouredly enough, but in such a fat bubbling voice (made more +indistinct by the cigar he kept in his mouth) that with difficulty I +understood him. What was I doing at Cotrone? I endeavoured to explain +that Cotrone greatly interested me. Ha! Cotrone interested me? Really? +Now what did I find interesting at Cotrone? I spoke of historic +associations. The Sindaco and his friend exchanged glances, smiled in a +puzzled, tolerant, half-pitying way, and decided that my request might +be granted. In another minute I withdrew, carrying half a sheet of +note-paper on which were scrawled in pencil a few words, followed by +the proud signature "Berlinghieri." When I had deciphered the scrawl, I +found it was an injunction to allow me to view a certain estate "<I>senza +nulla toccare</I>"—without touching anything. So a doubt still lingered +in the dignitary's mind. +</P> + +<P> +Cotrone has no vehicle plying for hire—save that in which I arrived at +the hotel. I had to walk in search of the orange orchard, all along the +straight dusty road leading to the station. For a considerable distance +this road is bordered on both sides by warehouses of singular +appearance. They have only a ground floor, and the front wall is not +more than ten feet high, but their low roofs, sloping to the ridge at +an angle of about thirty degrees, cover a great space. The windows are +strongly barred, and the doors show immense padlocks of elaborate +construction. The goods warehoused here are chiefly wine and oil, +oranges and liquorice. (A great deal of liquorice grows around the +southern gulf.) At certain moments, indicated by the markets at home or +abroad, these stores are conveyed to the harbour, and shipped away. For +the greater part of the year the houses stand as I saw them, locked, +barred, and forsaken: a street where any sign of life is exceptional; +an odd suggestion of the English Sunday in a land that knows not such +observance. +</P> + +<P> +Crossing the Esaro, I lingered on the bridge to gaze at its green, +muddy water, not visibly flowing at all. The high reeds which half +concealed it carried my thoughts back to the Galaesus. But the +comparison is all in favour of the Tarentine stream. Here one could +feel nothing but a comfortless melancholy; the scene is too squalid, +the degradation too complete. +</P> + +<P> +Of course, no one looked at the <I>permesso</I> with which I presented +myself at the entrance to the orchard. From a tumbling house, which we +should call the lodge, came forth (after much shouting on my part) an +aged woman, who laughed at the idea that she should be asked to read +anything, and bade me walk wherever I liked. I strayed at pleasure, +meeting only a lean dog, which ran fearfully away. The plantation was +very picturesque; orange trees by no means occupied all the ground, but +mingled with pomegranates and tamarisks and many evergreen shrubs of +which I knew not the name; whilst here and there soared a magnificent +stone pine. The walks were bordered with giant cactus, now and again so +fantastic in their growth that I stood to wonder; and in an open space +upon the bank of the Esaro (which stagnates through the orchard) rose a +majestic palm, its leaves stirring heavily in the wind which swept +above. Picturesque, abundantly; but these beautiful tree-names, which +waft a perfume of romance, are like to convey a false impression to +readers who have never seen the far south; it is natural to think of +lovely nooks, where one might lie down to rest and dream; there comes a +vision of soft turf under the golden-fruited boughs—"places of +nestling green for poets made." Alas! the soil is bare and lumpy as a +ploughed field, and all the leafage that hangs low is thick with a +clayey dust. One cannot rest or loiter or drowse; no spot in all the +groves where by any possibility one could sit down. After rambling as +long as I chose, I found that a view of the orchard from outside was +more striking than the picture amid the trees themselves. <I>Senza nulla +toccare</I>, I went my way. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap08"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VIII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +FACES BY THE WAY +</H3> + +<P> +The wind could not roar itself out. Through the night it kept awaking +me, and on the morrow I found a sea foamier than ever; impossible to +reach the Colonna by boat, and almost so, I was assured, to make the +journey by land in such weather as this. Perforce I waited. +</P> + +<P> +A cloudless sky; broad sunshine, warm as in an English summer; but the +roaring <I>tramontana</I> was disagreeably chill. No weather could be more +perilous to health. The people of Cotrone, those few of them who did +not stay at home or shelter in the porticoes, went about heavily +cloaked, and I wondered at their ability to wear such garments under so +hot a sun. Theoretically aware of the danger I was running, but, in +fact, thinking little about it, I braved the wind and the sunshine all +day long; my sketch-book gained by it, and my store of memories. First +of all, I looked into the Cathedral, an ugly edifice, as uninteresting +within as without. Like all the churches in Calabria, it is +white-washed from door to altar, pillars no less than walls—a cold and +depressing interior. I could see no picture of the least merit; one, a +figure of Christ with hideous wounds, was well-nigh as repulsive as +painting could be. This vile realism seems to indicate Spanish +influence. There is a miniature copy in bronze of the statue of the +chief Apostle in St. Peter's at Rome, and beneath it an inscription +making known to the faithful that, by order of Leo XIII. in 1896, an +Indulgence of three hundred days is granted to whosoever kisses the +bronze toe and says a prayer. Familiar enough this unpretentious +announcement, yet it never fails of its little shock to the heretic +mind. Whilst I was standing near, a peasant went through the mystic +rite; to judge from his poor malaria-stricken countenance, he prayed +very earnestly, and I hope his Indulgence benefited him. Probably he +repeated a mere formula learnt by heart. I wished he could have prayed +spontaneously for three hundred days of wholesome and sufficient food, +and for as many years of honest, capable government in his +heavy-burdened country. +</P> + +<P> +When travelling, I always visit the burial-ground; I like to see how a +people commemorates its dead, for tombstones have much significance. +The cemetery of Cotrone lies by the sea-shore, at some distance beyond +the port, far away from habitations; a bare hillside looks down upon +its graves, and the road which goes by is that leading to Cape Colonna. +On the way I passed a little ruined church, shattered, I was told, by +an earthquake three years before; its lonely position made it +interesting, and the cupola of coloured tiles (like that of the +Cathedral at Amalfi) remained intact, a bright spot against the grey +hills behind. A high enclosing wall signalled the cemetery; I rang a +bell at the gate and was admitted by a man of behaviour and language +much more refined than is common among the people of this region; I +felt sorry, indeed, that I had not found him seated in the Sindaco's +chair that morning. But as guide to the burial-ground he was +delightful. Nine years, he told me, he had held the post of custodian, +in which time, working with his own hands, and unaided, he had turned +the enclosure from a wretched wilderness into a beautiful garden. +Unaffectedly I admired the results of his labour, and my praise +rejoiced him greatly. He specially requested me to observe the +geraniums; there were ten species, many of them of extraordinary size +and with magnificent blossoms. Roses I saw, too, in great abundance; +and tall snapdragons, and bushes of rosemary, and many flowers unknown +to me. As our talk proceeded the gardener gave me a little light on his +own history; formerly he was valet to a gentleman of Cotrone, with whom +he had travelled far and wide over Europe; yes, even to London, of +which he spoke with expressively wide eyes, and equally expressive +shaking of the head. That any one should journey from Calabria to +England seemed to him intelligible enough; but he marvelled that I had +thought it worth while to come from England to Calabria. Very rarely +indeed could he show his garden to one from a far-off country; no, the +place was too poor, accommodation too rough; there needed a certain +courage, and he laughed, again shaking his head. +</P> + +<P> +The ordinary graves were marked with a small wooden cross; where a +head-stone had been raised, it generally presented a skull and crossed +bones. Round the enclosure stood a number of mortuary chapels, gloomy +and ugly. An exception to this dull magnificence in death was a marble +slab, newly set against the wall, in memory of a Lucifero—one of that +family, still eminent, to which belonged the sacrilegious bishop. The +design was a good imitation of those noble sepulchral tablets which +abound in the museum at Athens; a figure taking leave of others as if +going on a journey. The Lucifers had shown good taste in their choice +of the old Greek symbol; no better adornment of a tomb has ever been +devised, nor one that is half so moving. At the foot of the slab was +carved a little owl (civetta), a bird, my friend informed me, very +common about here. +</P> + +<P> +When I took leave, the kindly fellow gave me a large bunch of flowers, +carefully culled, with many regrets that the lateness of the season +forbade his offering choicer blossoms. His simple good-nature and +intelligence greatly won upon me. I like to think of him as still +quietly happy amid his garden walls, tending flowers that grow over the +dead at Cotrone. +</P> + +<P> +On my way back again to the town, I took a nearer view of the ruined +little church, and, whilst I was so engaged, two lads driving a herd of +goats stopped to look at me. As I came out into the road again, the +younger of these modestly approached and begged me to give him a +flower—by choice, a rose. I did so, much to his satisfaction and no +less to mine; it was a pleasant thing to find a wayside lad asking for +anything but soldi. The Calabrians, however, are distinguished by their +self-respect; they contrast remarkedly with the natives of the +Neapolitan district. Presently, I saw that the boy's elder companion +had appropriated the flower, which he kept at his nose as he plodded +along; after useless remonstrance, the other drew near to me again, +shamefaced; would I make him another present; not a rose this time, he +would not venture to ask it, but "<I>questo piccolo</I>"; and he pointed to +a sprig of geranium. There was a grace about the lad which led me to +talk to him, though I found his dialect very difficult. Seeing us on +good terms, the elder boy drew near, and at once asked a puzzling +question: When was the ruined church on the hillside to be rebuilt? I +answered, of course, that I knew nothing about it, but this reply was +taken as merely evasive; in a minute or two the lad again questioned +me. Was the rebuilding to be next year? Then I began to understand; +having seen me examining the ruins, the boy took it for granted that I +was an architect here on business, and I don't think I succeeded in +setting him right. When he had said good-bye he turned to look after me +with a mischievous smile, as much as to say that I had naturally +refused to talk to him about so important a matter as the building of a +church, but he was not to be deceived. +</P> + +<P> +The common type of face at Cotrone is coarse and bumpkinish; ruder, it +seemed to me, than faces seen at any point of my journey hitherto. A +photographer had hung out a lot of portraits, and it was a hideous +exhibition; some of the visages attained an incredible degree of vulgar +ugliness. This in the town which still bears the name of Croton. The +people are all more or less unhealthy; one meets peasants horribly +disfigured with life-long malaria. There is an agreeable cordiality in +the middle classes; business men from whom I sought casual information, +even if we only exchanged a few words in the street, shook hands with +me at parting. I found no one who had much good to say of his native +place; every one complained of a lack of water. Indeed, Cotrone has as +good as no water supply. One or two wells I saw, jealously guarded: the +water they yield is not really fit for drinking, and people who can +afford it purchase water which comes from a distance in earthenware +jars. One of these jars I had found in my bedroom; its secure corking +much puzzled me until I made inquiries. The river Esaro is all but +useless for any purpose, and as no other stream flows in the +neighbourhood, Cotrone's washerwomen take their work down to the beach; +even during the gale I saw them washing there in pools which they had +made to hold the sea water; now and then one of them ventured into the +surf, wading with legs of limitless nudity and plunging linen as the +waves broke about her. +</P> + +<P> +It was unfortunate that I brought no letter of introduction to Cotrone; +I should much have liked to visit one of the better houses. Well-to-do +people live here, and I was told that, in fine weather, "at least half +a dozen" private carriages might be seen making the fashionable drive +on the Strada Regina Margherita. But it is not easy to imagine luxury +or refinement in these dreary, close-packed streets. Judging from our +table at the <I>Concordia</I>, the town is miserably provisioned; the dishes +were poor and monotonous and infamously cooked. Almost the only +palatable thing offered was an enormous radish. Such radishes I never +saw: they were from six to eight inches long, and more than an inch +thick, at the same time thoroughly crisp and sweet. The wine of the +country had nothing to recommend it. It was very heady, and smacked of +drugs rather than of grape juice. +</P> + +<P> +But men must eat, and the <I>Concordia</I>, being the only restaurant, daily +entertained several citizens, besides guests staying in the house. One +of these visitants excited my curiosity; he was a middle-aged man of +austere countenance; shabby in attire, but with the bearing of one +accustomed to command. Arriving always at exactly the same moment, he +seated himself in his accustomed place, drew his hat over his brows, +and began to munch bread. No word did I hear him speak. As soon as he +appeared in the doorway, the waiter called out, with respectful hurry, +"Don Ferdinando!" and in a minute his first course was served. Bent +like a hunchback over the table, his hat dropping ever lower, until it +almost hid his eyes, the Don ate voraciously. His dishes seemed to be +always the same, and as soon as he had finished the last mouthful, he +rose and strode from the room. +</P> + +<P> +Don is a common title of respect in Southern Italy; it dates of course +from the time of Spanish rule. At a favourable moment I ventured to +inquire of the waiter who Don Ferdinando might be; the only answer, +given with extreme discretion, was "A proprietor." If in easy +circumstances, the Don must have been miserly, his diet was wretched +beyond description. And in the manner of his feeding he differed +strangely from the ordinary Italian who frequents restaurants. +Wonderful to observe, the representative diner. He always seems to know +exactly what his appetite demands; he addresses the waiter in a +preliminary discourse, sketching out his meal, and then proceeds to +fill in the minutiae. If he orders a common dish, he describes with +exquisite detail how it is to be prepared; in demanding something out +of the way he glows with culinary enthusiasm. An ordinary bill of fare +never satisfies him; he plays variations upon the theme suggested, +divides or combines, introduces novelties of the most unexpected kind. +As a rule, he eats enormously (I speak only of dinner), a piled dish of +macaroni is but the prelude to his meal, a whetting of his appetite. +Throughout he grumbles, nothing is quite as it should be, and when the +bill is presented he grumbles still more vigorously, seldom paying the +sum as it stands. He rarely appears content with his entertainment, and +often indulges in unbounded abuse of those who serve him. These +characteristics, which I have noted more or less in every part of +Italy, were strongly illustrated at the <I>Concordia</I>. In general, they +consist with a fundamental good humour, but at Cotrone the tone of the +dining-room was decidedly morose. One man—he seemed to be a sort of +clerk—came only to quarrel. I am convinced that he ordered things +which he knew the people could not cook just for the sake of reviling +their handiwork when it was presented. Therewith he spent incredibly +small sums; after growling and remonstrating and eating for more than +an hour, his bill would amount to seventy or eighty centesimi, wine +included. Every day he threatened to withdraw his custom; every day he +sent for the landlady, pointed out to her how vilely he was treated, +and asked how she could expect him to recommend the <I>Concordia</I> to his +acquaintances. On one occasion I saw him push away a plate of +something, plant his elbows on the table, and hide his face in his +hands; thus he sat for ten minutes, an image of indignant misery, and +when at last his countenance was again visible, it showed traces of +tears. +</P> + +<P> +I dwell upon the question of food because it was on this day that I +began to feel a loss of appetite and found myself disgusted with the +dishes set before me. In ordinary health I have the happiest +qualification of the traveller, an ability to eat and enjoy the +familiar dishes of any quasi-civilized country; it was a bad sign when +I grew fastidious. After a mere pretence of dinner, I lay down in my +room to rest and read. But I could do neither; it grew plain to me that +I was feverish. Through a sleepless night, the fever manifestly +increasing, I wished that illness had fallen on me anywhere rather than +at Cotrone. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap09"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IX +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +MY FRIEND THE DOCTOR +</H3> + +<P> +In the morning I arose as usual, though with difficulty. I tried to +persuade myself that I was merely suffering from a violent attack of +dyspepsia, the natural result of <I>Concordia</I> diet. When the waiter +brought my breakfast I regarded it with resentful eye, feeling for the +moment very much like my grumbling acquaintance of the dinner hour. It +may be as well to explain that the breakfast consisted of very bad +coffee, with goat's milk, hard, coarse bread, and goat's butter, which +tasted exactly like indifferent lard. The so-called butter, by a +strange custom of Cotrone, was served in the emptied rind of a +spherical cheese—the small <I>caccio cavallo</I>, horse cheese, which one +sees everywhere in the South. I should not have liked to inquire where, +how, when, or by whom the substance of the cheese had been consumed. +Possibly this receptacle is supposed to communicate a subtle flavour to +the butter; I only know that, even to a healthy palate, the stuff was +rather horrible. Cow's milk could be obtained in very small quantities, +but it was of evil flavour; butter, in the septentrional sense of the +word, did not exist. +</P> + +<P> +It surprises me to remember that I went out, walked down to the shore, +and watched the great waves breaking over the harbour mole. There was a +lull in the storm, but as yet no sign of improving weather; clouds +drove swiftly across a lowering sky. My eyes turned to the Lacinian +promontory, dark upon the turbid sea. Should I ever stand by the sacred +column? It seemed to me hopelessly remote; the voyage an impossible +effort. +</P> + +<P> +I talked with a man, of whom I remember nothing but his piercing eyes +steadily fixed upon me; he said there had been a wreck in the night, a +ship carrying live pigs had gone to pieces, and the shore was sprinkled +with porcine corpses. +</P> + +<P> +Presently I found myself back at the <I>Concordia</I>, not knowing exactly +how I had returned. The dyspepsia—I clung to this hypothesis—was +growing so violent that I had difficulty in breathing: before long I +found it impossible to stand. +</P> + +<P> +My hostess was summoned, and she told me that Cotrone had "a great +physician," by name "Dr. Scurco." Translating this name from dialect +into Italian, I presumed that the physician's real name was Sculco, and +this proved to be the case. Dr. Riccardo Sculco was a youngish man, +with an open, friendly countenance. At once I liked him. After an +examination, of which I quite understood the result, he remarked in his +amiable, airy manner that I had "a touch of rheumatism"; as a simple +matter of precaution, I had better go to bed for the rest of the day, +and, just for the form of the thing, he would send some medicine. +Having listened to this with as pleasant a smile as I could command, I +caught the Doctor's eye, and asked quietly, "Is there much congestion?" +His manner at once changed; he became businesslike and confidential. +The right lung; yes, the right lung. Mustn't worry; get to bed and take +my quinine in <I>dosi forti</I>, and he would look in again at night. +</P> + +<P> +The second visit I but dimly recollect. There was a colloquy between +the Doctor and my hostess, and the word <I>cataplasma</I> sounded +repeatedly; also I heard again "<I>dosi forti</I>." The night that followed +was perhaps the most horrible I ever passed. Crushed with a sense of +uttermost fatigue, I could get no rest. From time to time a sort of +doze crept upon me, and I said to myself, "Now I shall sleep"; but on +the very edge of slumber, at the moment when I was falling into +oblivion, a hand seemed to pluck me back into consciousness. In the +same instant there gleamed before my eyes a little circle of fire, +which blazed and expanded into immensity, until its many-coloured glare +beat upon my brain and thrilled me with torture. No sooner was the +intolerable light extinguished than I burst into a cold sweat; an icy +river poured about me; I shook, and my teeth chattered, and so for some +minutes I lay in anguish, until the heat of fever re-asserted itself, +and I began once more to toss and roll. A score of times was this +torment repeated. The sense of personal agency forbidding me to sleep +grew so strong that I waited in angry dread for that shock which +aroused me; I felt myself haunted by a malevolent power, and rebelled +against its cruelty. +</P> + +<P> +Through the night no one visited me. At eight in the morning a knock +sounded at the door, and there entered the waiter, carrying a tray with +my ordinary breakfast. "The Signore is not well?" he remarked, standing +to gaze at me. I replied that I was not quite well; would he give me +the milk, and remove from my sight as quickly as possible all the other +things on the tray. A glimpse of butter in its cheese-rind had given me +an unpleasant sensation. The goat's milk I swallowed thankfully, and, +glad of the daylight, lay somewhat more at my ease awaiting Dr. Sculco. +</P> + +<P> +He arrived about half-past nine, and was agreeably surprised to find me +no worse. But the way in which his directions had been carried out did +not altogether please him. He called the landlady, and soundly rated +her. This scene was interesting, it had a fine flavour of the Middle +Ages. The Doctor addressed mine hostess of the <I>Concordia</I> as "thou," +and with magnificent disdain refused to hear her excuses; she, the +stout, noisy woman, who ruled her own underlings with contemptuous +rigour, was all subservience before this social superior, and whined to +him for pardon. "What water is this?" asked Dr. Sculco, sternly, taking +up the corked jar that stood on the floor. The hostess replied that it +was drinking water, purchased with good money. Thereupon he poured out +a little, held it up to the light, and remarked in a matter-of-fact +tone, "I don't believe you." +</P> + +<P> +However, in a few minutes peace was restored, and the Doctor prescribed +anew. After he had talked about quinine and cataplasms, he asked me +whether I had any appetite. A vision of the dining-room came before me, +and I shook my head. "Still," he urged, "it would be well to eat +something." And, turning to the hostess, "He had better have a +beefsteak and a glass of Marsala." The look of amazement with which I +heard this caught the Doctor's eye. "Don't you like <I>bistecca</I>?" he +inquired. I suggested that, for one in a very high fever, with a good +deal of lung congestion, beefsteak seemed a trifle solid, and Marsala +somewhat heating. "Oh!" cried he, "but we must keep the machine going." +And thereupon he took his genial leave. +</P> + +<P> +I had some fear that my hostess might visit upon me her resentment of +the Doctor's reproaches; but nothing of the kind. When we were alone, +she sat down by me, and asked what I should really like to eat. If I +did not care for a beefsteak of veal, could I eat a beefsteak of +mutton? It was not the first time that such a choice had been offered +me, for, in the South, <I>bistecca</I> commonly means a slice of meat done +on the grill or in the oven. Never have I sat down to a <I>bistecca</I> +which was fit for man's consumption, and, of course, at the <I>Concordia</I> +it would be rather worse than anywhere else. I persuaded the good woman +to supply me with a little broth. Then I lay looking at the patch of +cloudy sky which showed above the houses opposite, and wondering +whether I should have a second fearsome night. I wondered, too, how +long it would be before I could quit Cotrone. The delay here was +particularly unfortunate, as my letters were addressed to Catanzaro, +the next stopping-place, and among them I expected papers which would +need prompt attention. The thought of trying to get my correspondence +forwarded to Cotrone was too disturbing; it would have involved an +enormous amount of trouble, and I could not have felt the least +assurance that things would arrive safely. So I worried through the +hours of daylight, and worried still more when, at nightfall, the fever +returned upon me as badly as ever. +</P> + +<P> +Dr. Sculco had paid his evening visit, and the first horror of +ineffectual drowsing had passed over me, when my door was flung +violently open, and in rushed a man (plainly of the commercial +species), hat on head and bag in hand. I perceived that the <I>diligenza</I> +had just arrived, and that travellers were seizing upon their bedrooms. +The invader, aware of his mistake, discharged a volley of apologies, +and rushed out again. Five minutes later the door again banged open, +and there entered a tall lad with an armful of newspapers; after +regarding me curiously, he asked whether I wanted a paper. I took one +with the hope of reading it next morning. Then he began conversation. I +had the fever? Ah! everybody had fever at Cotrone. He himself would be +laid up with it in a day or two. If I liked, he would look in with a +paper each evening—till fever prevented him. When I accepted this +suggestion, he smiled encouragingly, cried "<I>Speriamo</I>!" and clumped +out of the room. +</P> + +<P> +I had as little sleep as on the night before, but my suffering was +mitigated in a very strange way. After I had put out the candle, I +tormented myself for a long time with the thought that I should never +see La Colonna. As soon as I could rise from bed, I must flee Cotrone, +and think myself fortunate in escaping alive; but to turn my back on +the Lacinian promontory, leaving the cape unvisited, the ruin of the +temple unseen, seemed to me a miserable necessity which I should lament +as long as I lived. I felt as one involved in a moral disaster; working +in spite of reason, my brain regarded the matter from many points of +view, and found no shadow of solace. The sense that so short a distance +separated me from the place I desired to see, added exasperation to my +distress. Half-delirious, I at times seemed to be in a boat, tossing on +wild waters, the Column visible afar, but only when I strained my eyes +to discover it. In a description of the approach by land, I had read of +a great precipice which had to be skirted, and this, too, haunted me +with its terrors: I found myself toiling on a perilous road, which all +at once crumbled into fearful depths just before me. A violent +shivering fit roused me from this gloomy dreaming, and I soon after +fell into a visionary state which, whilst it lasted, gave me such +placid happiness as I have never known when in my perfect mind. Lying +still and calm, and perfectly awake, I watched a succession of +wonderful pictures. First of all I saw great vases, rich with ornament +and figures; then sepulchral marbles, carved more exquisitely than the +most beautiful I had ever known. The vision grew in extent, in +multiplicity of detail; presently I was regarding scenes of ancient +life—thronged streets, processions triumphal or religious, halls of +feasting, fields of battle. What most impressed me at the time was the +marvellously bright yet delicate colouring of everything I saw. I can +give no idea in words of the pure radiance which shone from every +object, which illumined every scene. More remarkable, when I thought of +it next day, was the minute finish of these pictures, the definiteness +of every point on which my eye fell. Things which I could not know, +which my imagination, working in the service of the will, could never +have bodied forth, were before me as in life itself. I consciously +wondered at peculiarities of costume such as I had never read of; at +features of architecture entirely new to me; at insignificant +characteristics of that by-gone world, which by no possibility could +have been gathered from books. I recall a succession of faces, the +loveliest conceivable; and I remember, I feel to this moment the pang +of regret with which I lost sight of each when it faded into darkness. +</P> + +<P> +As an example of the more elaborate visions that passed before me, I +will mention the only one which I clearly recollect. It was a glimpse +of history. When Hannibal, at the end of the second Punic War, was +confined to the south of Italy, he made Croton his head-quarters, and +when, in reluctant obedience to Carthage, he withdrew from Roman soil, +it was at Croton that he embarked. He then had with him a contingent of +Italian mercenaries, and, unwilling that these soldiers should go over +to the enemy, he bade them accompany him to Africa. The Italians +refused. Thereupon Hannibal had them led down to the shore of the sea, +where he slaughtered one and all. This event I beheld. I saw the strand +by Croton; the promontory with its temple; not as I know the scene +to-day, but as it must have looked to those eyes more than two thousand +years ago. The soldiers of Hannibal doing massacre, the perishing +mercenaries, supported my closest gaze, and left no curiosity +unsatisfied. (Alas! could I but see it again, or remember clearly what +was shown tome!) And over all lay a glory of sunshine, an indescribable +brilliancy which puts light and warmth into my mind whenever I try to +recall it. The delight of these phantasms was well worth the ten days' +illness which paid for them. After this night they never returned; I +hoped for their renewal, but in vain. When I spoke of the experience to +Dr. Sculco, he was much amused, and afterwards he often asked me +whether I had had any more <I>visioni</I>. That gate of dreams was closed, +but I shall always feel that, for an hour, it was granted to me to see +the vanished life so dear to my imagination. If the picture +corresponded to nothing real, tell me who can, by what power I +reconstructed, to the last perfection of intimacy, a world known to me +only in ruined fragments. +</P> + +<P> +Daylight again, but no gleam of sun. I longed for the sunshine; it +seemed to me a miserable chance that I should lie ill by the Ionian Sea +and behold no better sky than the far north might have shown me. That +grey obstruction of heaven's light always weighs upon my spirit; on a +summer's day, there has but to pass a floating cloud, which for a +moment veils the sun, and I am touched with chill discouragement; heart +and hope fail me, until the golden radiance is restored. +</P> + +<P> +About noon, when I had just laid down the newspaper bought the night +before—the Roman <I>Tribuna</I>, which was full of dreary politics—a +sudden clamour in the street drew my attention. I heard the angry +shouting of many voices, not in the piazza before the hotel, but at +some little distance; it was impossible to distinguish any meaning in +the tumultuous cries. This went on for a long time, swelling at moments +into a roar of frenzied rage, then sinking to an uneven growl, broken +by spasmodic yells. On asking what it meant, I was told that a crowd of +poor folk had gathered before the Municipio to demonstrate against an +oppressive tax called the <I>fuocatico</I>. This is simply hearth-money, an +impost on each fireplace where food is cooked; the same tax which made +trouble in old England, and was happily got rid of long ago. But the +hungry plebs of Cotrone lacked vigour for any effective self-assertion; +they merely exhausted themselves with shouting "<I>Abbass' 'o sindaco</I>!" +and dispersed to the hearths which paid for an all but imaginary +service. I wondered whether the Sindaco and his portly friend sat in +their comfortable room whilst the roaring went on; whether they smoked +their cigars as usual, and continued to chat at their ease. Very +likely. The privileged classes in Italy are slow to move, and may well +believe in the boundless endurance of those below them. Some day, no +doubt, they will have a disagreeable surprise. When Lombardy begins in +earnest to shout "<I>Abbasso</I>!" it will be an uneasy moment for the heavy +syndics of Calabria. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap10"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER X +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHILDREN OF THE SOIL +</H3> + +<P> +Any northern person who passed a day or two at the <I>Concordia</I> as an +ordinary traveller would carry away a strong impression. The people of +the house would seem to him little short of savages, filthy in person +and in habits, utterly uncouth in their demeanour, perpetual wranglers +and railers, lacking every qualification for the duties they pretended +to discharge. In England their mere appearance would revolt decent +folk. With my better opportunity of judging them, I overcame the first +natural antipathy; I saw their good side, and learnt to forgive the +faults natural to a state of frank barbarism. It took two or three days +before their rough and ready behaviour softened to a really human +friendliness, but this came about at last, and when it was known that I +should not give much more trouble, that I needed only a little care in +the matter of diet, goodwill did its best to aid hopeless incapacity. +</P> + +<P> +Whilst my fever was high, little groups of people often came into the +room, to stand and stare at me, exchanging, in a low voice, remarks +which they supposed I did not hear, or, hearing, could not understand; +as a matter of fact, their dialect was now intelligible enough to me, +and I knew that they discussed my chances of surviving. Their natures +were not sanguine. A result, doubtless, of the unhealthy climate, every +one at Cotrone seemed in a more or less gloomy state of mind. The +hostess went about uttering ceaseless moans and groans; when she was in +my room I heard her constantly sighing, "Ah, Signore! Ah, +Cristo!"—exclamations which, perhaps, had some reference to my +illness, but which did not cease when I recovered. Whether she had any +private reason for depression I could not learn; I fancy not; it was +only the whimpering and querulous habit due to low health. A female +servant, who occasionally brought me food (I found that she also cooked +it), bore herself in much the same way. This domestic was the most +primitive figure of the household. Picture a woman of middle age, +wrapped at all times in dirty rags (not to be called clothing), obese, +grimy, with dishevelled black hair, and hands so scarred, so deformed +by labour and neglect, as to be scarcely human. She had the darkest and +fiercest eyes I ever saw. Between her and her mistress went on an +unceasing quarrel: they quarrelled in my room, in the corridor, and, as +I knew by their shrill voices, in places remote; yet I am sure they did +not dislike each other, and probably neither of them ever thought of +parting. Unexpectedly, one evening, this woman entered, stood by the +bedside, and began to talk with such fierce energy, with such flashing +of her black eyes, and such distortion of her features, that I could +only suppose that she was attacking me for the trouble I caused her. A +minute or two passed before I could even hit the drift of her furious +speech; she was always the most difficult of the natives to understand, +and in rage she became quite unintelligible. Little by little, by dint +of questioning, I got at what she meant. There had been <I>guai</I>, worse +than usual; the mistress had reviled her unendurably for some fault or +other, and was it not hard that she should be used like this after +having <I>tanto, tanto lavorato</I>! In fact, she was appealing for my +sympathy, not abusing me at all. When she went on to say that she was +alone in the world, that all her kith and kin were <I>freddi morti</I> +(stone dead), a pathos in her aspect and her words took hold upon me; +it was much as if some heavy-laden beast of burden had suddenly found +tongue, and protested in the rude beginnings of articulate utterance +against its hard lot. If only one could have learnt, in intimate +detail, the life of this domestic serf! How interesting, and how +sordidly picturesque against the background of romantic landscape, of +scenic history! I looked long into her sallow, wrinkled face, trying to +imagine the thoughts that ruled its expression. In some measure my +efforts at kindly speech succeeded, and her "Ah, Cristo!" as she turned +to go away, was not without a touch of solace. +</P> + +<P> +Another time my hostess fell foul of the waiter, because he had brought +me goat's milk which was very sour. There ensued the most comical +scene. In an access of fury the stout woman raged and stormed; the +waiter, a lank young fellow, with a simple, good-natured face, after +trying to explain that he had committed the fault by inadvertence, +suddenly raised his hand, like one about to exhort a congregation, and +exclaimed in a tone of injured remonstrance, "<I>Un po' di calma! Un po' +di calma!</I>" My explosion of laughter at this inimitable utterance put +an end to the strife. The youth laughed with me; his mistress bustled +him out of the room, and then began to inform me that he was weak in +his head. Ah! she exclaimed, her life with these people! what it cost +her to keep them in anything like order! When she retired, I heard her +expectorating violently in the corridor; a habit with every inmate of +this genial hostelry. +</P> + +<P> +When the worst of my fever had subsided, the difficulty was to obtain +any nourishment suitable to my state. The good doctor, who had +suggested beefsteak and Marsala when I was incapable of taking anything +at all, ruled me severely in the matter of diet now that I really began +to feel hungry. I hope I may never again be obliged to drink goat's +milk; in these days it became so unutterably loathsome to me that I +had, at length, to give it up altogether, and I cannot think of it now +without a qualm. The broth offered me was infamous, mere coloured water +beneath half an inch of floating grease. Once there was a promise of a +fowl, and I looked forward to it eagerly; but, alas! this miserable +bird had undergone a process of seething for the extraction of soup. I +would have defied anyone to distinguish between the substance remaining +and two or three old kid gloves boiled into a lump. With a pleased air, +the hostess one day suggested a pigeon, a roasted pigeon, and I +welcomed the idea joyously. Indeed, the appearance of the dish, when it +was borne in, had nothing to discourage my appetite—the odour was +savoury; I prepared myself for a treat. Out of pure kindness, for she +saw me tremble in my weakness, the good woman offered her aid in the +carving; she took hold of the bird by the two legs, rent it asunder, +tore off the wings in the same way, and then, with a smile of +satisfaction, wiped her hands upon her skirt. If her hands had known +water (to say nothing of soap) during the past twelve months I am much +mistaken. It was a pity, for I found that my teeth could just masticate +a portion of the flesh which hunger compelled me to assail. +</P> + +<P> +Of course I suffered much from thirst, and Dr. Sculco startled me one +day by asking if I liked <I>tea</I>. Tea? Was it really procurable? The +Doctor assured me that it could be supplied by the chemist; though, +considering how rarely the exotic was demanded, it might have lost +something of its finer flavour whilst stored at the pharmacy. An order +was despatched. Presently the waiter brought me a very small paper +packet, such as might have contained a couple of Seidlitz powders; on +opening it I discovered something black and triturated, a crumbling +substance rather like ground charcoal. I smelt it, but there was no +perceptible odour; I put a little of it to my tongue, but the effect +was merely that of dust. Proceeding to treat it as if it were veritable +tea, I succeeded in imparting a yellowish tinge to the hot water, and, +so thirsty was I, this beverage tempted me to a long draught. There +followed no ill result that I know of, but the paper packet lay +thenceforth untouched, and, on leaving, I made a present of it to my +landlady. +</P> + +<P> +To complete the domestic group, I must make mention of the +"chambermaid." This was a lively little fellow of about twelve years +old, son of the landlady, who gave me much amusement. I don't know +whether he performed chambermaid duty in all the rooms; probably the +fierce-eyed cook did the heavier work elsewhere, but upon me his +attendance was constant. At an uncertain hour of the evening he entered +(of course, without knocking), doffed his cap in salutation, and began +by asking how I found myself. The question could not have been more +deliberately and thoughtfully put by the Doctor himself. When I replied +that I was better, the little man expressed his satisfaction, and went +on to make a few remarks about the pessimo <I>tempo</I>. Finally, with a +gesture of politeness, he inquired whether I would permit him "<I>di fare +un po' di pulizia</I>"—to clean up a little, and this he proceeded to do +with much briskness. Excepting the good Sculco, my chambermaid was +altogether the most civilized person I met at Cotrone. He had a +singular amiability of nature, and his boyish spirits were not yet +subdued by the pestilent climate. If I thanked him for anything, he +took off his cap, bowed with comical dignity, and answered "<I>Grazie a +voi, Signore</I>." Of course these people never used the third person +feminine of polite Italian. Dr. Sculco did so, for I had begun by +addressing him in that manner, but plainly it was not familiar to his +lips. At the same time there prevailed certain forms of civility, which +seemed a trifle excessive. For instance, when the Doctor entered my +room, and I gave him "<I>Buon giorno</I>," he was wont to reply, "<I>Troppo +gentile</I>!"—too kind of you! +</P> + +<P> +My newspaper boy came regularly for a few days, always complaining of +feverish symptoms, then ceased to appear. I made inquiry: he was down +with illness, and as no one took his place I suppose the regular +distribution of newspapers in Cotrone was suspended. When the poor +fellow again showed himself, he had a sorry visage; he sat down by my +bedside (rain dripping from his hat, and mud, very thick, upon his +boots) to give an account of his sufferings. I pictured the sort of +retreat in which he had lain during those miserable hours. My own +chamber contained merely the barest necessaries, and, as the gentleman +of Cosenza would have said, "left something to be desired" in point of +cleanliness. Conceive the places into which Cotrone's poorest have to +crawl when they are stricken with disease. I admit, however, that the +thought was worse to me at that moment than it is now. After all, the +native of Cotrone has advantages over the native of a city slum; and it +is better to die in a hovel by the Ionian Sea than in a cellar at +Shoreditch. +</P> + +<P> +The position of my room, which looked upon the piazza, enabled me to +hear a great deal of what went on in the town. The life of Cotrone +began about three in the morning; at that hour I heard the first +voices, upon which there soon followed the bleating of goats and the +tinkling of ox-bells. No doubt the greater part of the poor people were +in bed by eight o'clock every evening; only those who had dealings in +the outer world were stirring when the <I>diligenza</I> arrived about ten, +and I suspect that some of these snatched a nap before that late hour. +Throughout the day there sounded from the piazza a ceaseless clamour of +voices, such a noise as in England would only rise from some excited +crowd on a rare occasion; it was increased by reverberations from the +colonnade which runs all round in front of the shops. When the +north-east gale had passed over, there ensued a few days of sullen +calm, permitting the people to lead their ordinary life in open air. I +grew to recognize certain voices, those of men who seemingly had +nothing to do but to talk all day long. Only the sound reached me; I +wish I could have gathered the sense of these interminable harangues +and dialogues. In every country and every age those talk most who have +least to say that is worth saying. These tonguesters of Cotrone had +their predecessors in the public place of Croton, who began to gossip +before dawn, and gabbled unceasingly till after nightfall; with their +voices must often have mingled the bleating of goats or the lowing of +oxen, just as I heard the sounds to-day. +</P> + +<P> +One day came a street organ, accompanied by singing, and how glad I +was! The first note of music, this, that I had heard at Cotrone. The +instrument played only two or three airs, and one of them became a +great favourite with the populace; very soon, numerous voices joined +with that of the singer, and all this and the following day the melody +sounded, near or far. It had the true characteristics of southern song; +rising tremolos, and cadences that swept upon a wail of passion; high +falsetto notes, and deep tum-tum of infinite melancholy. Scorned by the +musician, yet how expressive of a people's temper, how suggestive of +its history! At the moment when this strain broke upon my ear, I was +thinking ill of Cotrone and its inhabitants; in the first pause of the +music I reproached myself bitterly for narrowness and ingratitude. All +the faults of the Italian people are whelmed in forgiveness as soon as +their music sounds under the Italian sky. One remembers all they have +suffered, all they have achieved in spite of wrong. Brute races have +flung themselves, one after another, upon this sweet and glorious land; +conquest and slavery, from age to age, have been the people's lot. +Tread where one will, the soil has been drenched with blood. An +immemorial woe sounds even through the lilting notes of Italian gaiety. +It is a country wearied and regretful, looking ever backward to the +things of old; trivial in its latter life, and unable to hope sincerely +for the future. Moved by these voices singing over the dust of Croton, +I asked pardon for all my foolish irritation, my impertinent +fault-finding. Why had I come hither, if it was not that I loved land +and people? And had I not richly known the recompense of my love? +</P> + +<P> +Legitimately enough one may condemn the rulers of Italy, those who take +upon themselves to shape her political life, and recklessly load her +with burdens insupportable. But among the simple on Italian soil a +wandering stranger has no right to nurse national superiorities, to +indulge a contemptuous impatience. It is the touch of tourist +vulgarity. Listen to a Calabrian peasant singing as he follows his oxen +along the furrow, or as he shakes the branches of his olive tree. That +wailing voice amid the ancient silence, that long lament solacing +ill-rewarded toil, comes from the heart of Italy herself, and wakes the +memory of mankind. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap11"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE MOUNT OF REFUGE +</H3> + +<P> +My thoughts turned continually to Catanzaro. It is a city set upon a +hill, overlooking the Gulf of Squillace, and I felt that if I could but +escape thither, I should regain health and strength. Here at Cotrone +the air oppressed and enfeebled me; the neighbourhood of the sea +brought no freshness. From time to time the fever seemed to be +overcome, but it lingered still in my blood and made my nights +restless. I must away to Catanzaro. +</P> + +<P> +When first I spoke of this purpose to Dr. Sculco, he indulged my fancy, +saying "Presently, presently!" A few days later, when I seriously asked +him how soon I might with safety travel, his face expressed misgiving. +Why go to Catanzaro? It was on the top of a mountain, and had a most +severe climate; the winds at this season were terrible. In conscience +he could not advise me to take such a step: the results might be very +grave after my lung trouble. Far better wait at Cotrone for a week or +two longer, and then go on to Reggio, crossing perhaps to Sicily to +complete my cure. The more Dr. Sculco talked of windy altitudes, the +stronger grew my desire for such a change of climate, and the more +intolerable seemed my state of languishment. The weather was again +stormy, but this time blew sirocco; I felt its evil breath waste my +muscles, clog my veins, set all my nerves a-tremble. If I stayed here +much longer, I should never get away at all. A superstitious fear crept +upon me; I remembered that my last visit had been to the cemetery. +</P> + +<P> +One thing was certain: I should never see the column of Hera's temple. +I made my lament on this subject to Dr. Sculco, and he did his best to +describe to me the scenery of the Cape. Certain white spots which I had +discovered at the end of the promontory were little villas, occupied in +summer by the well-to-do citizens of Cotrone; the Doctor himself owned +one, which had belonged to his father before him. Some of the earliest +memories of his boyhood were connected with the Cape: when he had +lessons to learn by heart, he often used to recite them walking round +and round the great column. In the garden of his villa he at times +amused himself with digging, and a very few turns of the spade sufficed +to throw out some relic of antiquity. Certain Americans, he said, +obtained permission not long ago from the proprietor of the ground on +which the temple stood to make serious excavations, but as soon as the +Italians heard of it, they claimed the site as a national monument; the +work was forbidden, and the soil had to be returned to its former +state. Hard by the ancient sanctuary is a chapel, consecrated to the +Madonna del Capo; thither the people of Cotrone make pilgrimages, and +hold upon the Cape a rude festival, which often ends in orgiastic riot. +</P> + +<P> +All the surface of the promontory is bare; not a tree, not a bush, save +for a little wooded hollow called Fossa del Lupo—the wolf's den. +There, says legend, armed folk of Cotrone used to lie in wait to attack +the corsairs who occasionally landed for water. +</P> + +<P> +When I led him to talk of Cotrone and its people, the Doctor could but +confirm my observations. He contrasted the present with the past; this +fever-stricken and waterless village with the great city which was +called the healthiest in the world. In his opinion the physical change +had resulted from the destruction of forests, which brought with it a +diminution of the rainfall. "At Cotrone," he said, "we have practically +no rain. A shower now and then, but never a wholesome downpour." He had +no doubt that, in ancient times, all the hills of the coast were +wooded, as Sila still is, and all the rivers abundantly supplied with +water. To-day there was scarce a healthy man in Cotrone: no one had +strength to resist a serious illness. This state of things he took very +philosophically; I noticed once more the frankly mediaeval spirit in +which he regarded the populace. Talking on, he interested me by +enlarging upon the difference between southern Italians and those of +the north. Beyond Rome a Calabrian never cared to go; he found himself +in a foreign country, where his tongue betrayed him, and where his +manners were too noticeably at variance with those prevailing. Italian +unity, I am sure, meant little to the good Doctor, and appealed but +coldly to his imagination. +</P> + +<P> +I declared to him at length that I could endure no longer this dreary +life of the sick-room; I must get into the open air, and, if no harm +came of the experiment, I should leave for Catanzaro. "I cannot prevent +you," was the Doctor's reply, "but I am obliged to point out that you +act on your own responsibility. It is <I>pericoloso</I>, it is +<I>pericolosissimo</I>! The terrible climate of the mountains!" However, I +won his permission to leave the house, and acted upon it that same +afternoon. Shaking and palpitating, I slowly descended the stairs to +the colonnade; then, with a step like that of an old, old man, tottered +across the piazza, my object being to reach the chemist's shop, where I +wished to pay for the drugs that I had had and for the tea. When I +entered, sweat was streaming from my forehead; I dropped into a chair, +and for a minute or two could do nothing but recover nerve and breath. +Never in my life had I suffered such a wretched sense of feebleness. +The pharmacist looked at me with gravely compassionate eyes; when I +told him I was the Englishman who had been ill, and that I wanted to +leave to-morrow for Catanzaro, his compassion indulged itself more +freely, and I could see quite well that he thought my plan of travel +visionary. True, he said, the climate of Cotrone was trying to a +stranger. He understood my desire to get away; but—Catanzaro! Was I +aware that at Catanzaro I should suddenly find myself in a season of +most rigorous winter? And the winds! One needed to be very strong even +to stand on one's feet at Catanzaro. For all this I returned thanks, +and, having paid my bill, tottered back to the <I>Concordia</I>. It seemed +to me more than doubtful whether I should start on the morrow. +</P> + +<P> +That evening I tried to dine. Don Ferdinando entered as usual, and sat +mute through his unchanging meal; the grumbler grumbled and ate, as +perchance he does to this day. I forced myself to believe that the food +had a savour for me, and that the wine did not taste of drugs. As I sat +over my pretended meal, I heard the sirocco moaning without, and at +times a splash of rain against the window. Near me, two military men +were exchanging severe comments on Calabria and its people. "<I>Che +paese</I>!"—"What a country!" exclaimed one of them finally in disgust. +Of course they came from the north, and I thought that their +conversation was not likely to knit closer the bond between the +extremes of Italy. +</P> + +<P> +To my delight I looked forth next morning on a sunny and calm sky, such +as I had not seen during all my stay at Cotrone. I felt better, and +decided to leave for Catanzaro by train in the early afternoon. Shaking +still, but heartened by the sunshine, I took a short walk, and looked +for the last time at the Lacinian promontory. On my way back I passed a +little building from which sounded an astonishing noise, a confused +babble of shrill voices, blending now and then with a deep stentorian +shout. It was the communal school—not during playtime, or in a state +of revolt, but evidently engaged as usual upon its studies. The +school-house was small, but the volume of clamour that issued from it +would have done credit to two or three hundred children in unrestrained +uproariousness. Curiosity held me listening for ten minutes; the tumult +underwent no change of character, nor suffered the least abatement; the +mature voice occasionally heard above it struck a cheery note, by no +means one of impatience or stern command. Had I been physically capable +of any effort, I should have tried to view that educational scene. The +incident did me good, and I went on in a happier humour. +</P> + +<P> +Which was not perturbed by something that fell under my eye soon +afterwards. At a shop door hung certain printed cards, bearing a notice +that "wood hay-makers," "wood binders," and "wood mowers" were "sold +here." Not in Italian this, but in plain, blunt English; and to each +announcement was added the name of an English manufacturing firm, with +an agency at Naples. I have often heard the remark that Englishmen of +business are at a disadvantage in their export trade because they pay +no heed to the special requirements of foreign countries; but such a +delightful illustration of their ineptitude had never come under my +notice. Doubtless these alluring advertisements are widely scattered +through agricultural Calabria. Who knows? they my serve as an +introduction to the study of the English tongue. +</P> + +<P> +Not without cordiality was my leave-taking. The hostess confided to me +that, in the first day of my illness, she had felt sure I should die. +Everybody had thought so, she added gaily; even Dr. Sculco had shaken +his head and shrugged his shoulders; much better, was it not, to be +paying my bill? Bill more moderate, under the circumstances, no man +ever discharged; Calabrian honesty came well out of the transaction. So +I tumbled once more into the dirty, ramshackle <I>diligenza</I>, passed +along the dusty road between the barred and padlocked warehouses, and +arrived in good time at the station. No sooner had I set foot on the +platform than I felt an immense relief. Even here, it seemed to me, the +air was fresher. I lifted my eyes to the hills and seemed to feel the +breezes of Catanzaro. +</P> + +<P> +The train was made up at Cotrone, and no undue haste appeared in our +departure. When we were already twenty minutes late, there stepped into +the carriage where I was sitting a good-humoured railway official, who +smiled and greeted me. I supposed he wanted my ticket, but nothing of +the kind. After looking all round the compartment with an air of +disinterested curiosity, he heaved a sigh and remarked pleasantly to +me, "<I>Non manca niente</I>"—"Nothing is amiss." Five minutes more and we +steamed away. +</P> + +<P> +The railway ascended a long valley, that of the Esaro, where along the +deep watercourse trickled a scarce perceptible stream. On either hand +were hills of pleasant outline, tilled on the lower slopes, and often +set with olives. Here and there came a grassy slope, where shepherds or +goatherds idled amid their flocks. Above the ascent a long tunnel, +after which the line falls again towards the sea. The landscape took a +nobler beauty; mountains spread before us, tenderly coloured by the +autumn sun. We crossed two or three rivers—rivers of flowing water, +their banks overhung with dense green jungle. The sea was azure, and +looked very calm, but white waves broke loudly upon the strand, last +murmur of the storm which had raged and renewed itself for nearly a +fortnight. +</P> + +<P> +At one of the wayside stations entered a traveller whom I could not but +regard with astonishment. He was a man at once plump and muscular, his +sturdy limbs well exhibited in a shooting costume. On his face glowed +the richest hue of health; his eyes glistened merrily. With him he +carried a basket, which, as soon as he was settled, gave forth an +abundant meal. The gusto of his eating, the satisfaction with which he +eyed his glasses of red wine, excited my appetite. But who <I>was</I> he? +Not, I could see, a tourist; yet how account for this health and vigour +in a native of the district? I had not seen such a man since I set out +upon my travels; the contrast he made with the figures of late familiar +to me was so startling that I had much ado to avoid continuously gazing +at him. His proximity did me good; the man radiated health. +</P> + +<P> +When next the train stopped he exchanged words with some one on the +platform, and I heard that he was going to Catanzaro. At once I +understood. This jovial, ruddy-cheeked personage was a man of the +hills. At Catanzaro I should see others like him; perhaps he fairly +represented its inhabitants. If so, I had reason for my suspicion that +poor fever-stricken Cotrone regarded with a sort of jealousy the breezy +health of Catanzaro, which at the same time is a much more prosperous +place. Later, I found that there did exist some acerbity of mutual +criticism between the two towns, reminding one of civic rivalry among +the Greeks. Catanzaro spoke with contempt of Cotrone. Happily I made no +medical acquaintance in the hill town; but I should have liked to +discuss with one of these gentlemen the view of their climate held by +Dr. Sculco. +</P> + +<P> +In the ages that followed upon the fall of Rome, perpetual danger drove +the sea-coast population of Calabria inland and to the heights. Our own +day beholds a counter movement; the shore line of railway will create +new towns on the old deserted sites. Such a settlement is the Marina of +Catanzaro, a little port at the mouth of a wide valley, along which +runs a line to Catanzaro itself, or rather to the foot of the great +hill on which the town is situated. The sun was setting when I alighted +at the Marina, and as I waited for the branch train my eyes feasted +upon a glory of colour which made me forget aching weariness. All +around lay orchards of orange trees, the finest I had ever seen, and +over their solid masses of dark foliage, thick hung with ripening +fruit, poured the splendour of the western sky. It was a picture +unsurpassable in richness of tone; the dense leafage of deepest, +warmest green glowed and flashed, its magnificence heightened by the +blaze of the countless golden spheres adorning it. Beyond, the magic +sea, purple and crimson as the sun descended upon the vanishing +horizon. Eastward, above the slopes of Sila, stood a moon almost at its +full, the yellow of an autumn leaf, on a sky soft-flushed with rose. +</P> + +<P> +In my geography it is written that between Catanzaro and the sea lie +the gardens of the Hesperides. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap12"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CATANZARO +</H3> + +<P> +For half an hour the train slowly ascends. The carriages are of special +construction, light and many-windowed, so that one has good views of +the landscape. Very beautiful was this long, broad, climbing valley, +everywhere richly wooded; oranges and olives, carob and lentisk and +myrtle, interspersed with cactus (its fruit, the prickly fig, all +gathered) and with the sword-like agave. Glow of sunset lingered upon +the hills: in the green hollow a golden twilight faded to dusk. The +valley narrowed; it became a gorge between dark slopes which closed +together and seemed to bar advance. Here the train stopped, and all the +passengers (some half-dozen) alighted. +</P> + +<P> +The sky was still clear enough to show the broad features of the scene +before me. I looked up to a mountain side, so steep that towards the +summit it appeared precipitous, and there upon the height, dimly +illumined with a last reflex of after-glow, my eyes distinguished +something which might be the outline of walls and houses. This, I knew, +was the situation of Catanzaro, but one could not easily imagine by +what sort of approach the city would be gained; in the thickening +twilight, no trace of a road was discernible, and the flanks of the +mountain, a ravine yawning on either hand, looked even more abrupt than +the ascent immediately before me. +</P> + +<P> +There, however, stood the <I>diligenza</I> which was somehow to convey me to +Catanzaro; I watched its loading with luggage-merchandise and +mail-bags—whilst the exquisite evening melted into night. When I had +thus been occupied for a few minutes, my look once more turned to the +mountain, where a surprise awaited me: the summit was now encircled +with little points of radiance, as though a starry diadem had fallen +upon it from the sky. "<I>Pronti</I>!" cried our driver. I climbed to my +seat, and we began our journey towards the crowning lights. +</P> + +<P> +By help of long loops the road ascended at a tolerably easy angle; the +horse-bells tinkled, the driver shouted encouragement to his beasts, +and within the vehicle went on a lively gossiping, with much laughter. +Meanwhile the great moon had risen high enough to illumine the valley +below us; silvery grey and green, the lovely hollow seemed of +immeasurable length, and beyond it one imagined, rather than discerned, +a glimmer of the sea. By the wayside I now and then caught sight of a +huge cactus, trailing its heavy knotted length upon the face of a rock; +and at times we brushed beneath overhanging branches of some tree that +could not be distinguished. All the way up we seemed to skirt a sheer +precipice, which at moments was alarming in its gloomy depth. Deeper +and deeper below shone the lights of the railway station and of the few +houses about it; it seemed as though a false step would drop us down +into their midst. +</P> + +<P> +The fatigue of the day's journey passed away during this ascent, which +lasted nearly an hour; when, after a drive through dark but wide +streets, I was set down before the hotel, I felt that I had shaken off +the last traces of my illness. A keen appetite sent me as soon as +possible in search of the dining-room, where I ate with extreme gusto; +everything seemed excellent after the sorry table of the <I>Concordia</I>. I +poured my wine with a free hand, rejoicing to find it was wine once +more, and not (at all events to my palate) a concoction of drugs. The +albergo was decent and well found; a cheerful prosperity declared +itself in all I had yet seen. After dinner I stepped out on to the +balcony of my room to view the city's main street; but there was very +scant illumination, and the moonlight only showed me high houses of +modern build. Few people passed, and never a vehicle; the shops were +all closed. I needed no invitation to sleep, but this shadowed +stillness, and the fresh mountain air, happily lulled my thoughts. Even +the subject of earthquakes proved soporific. +</P> + +<P> +Impossible to find oneself at Catanzaro without thinking of +earthquakes; I wonder that the good people of Coltrone did not include +this among deterrents whereby they sought to prejudice me against the +mountain town. Over and over again Catanzaro has been shaken to its +foundations. The worst calamity recorded was towards the end of the +eighteenth century, when scarce a house remained standing, and many +thousands of the people perished. This explains a peculiarity in the +aspect of the place, noticeable as soon as one begins to walk about; it +is like a town either half built or half destroyed, one knows not +which; everywhere one comes upon ragged walls, tottering houses, yet +there is no appearance of antiquity. One ancient building, a castle +built by Robert Guiscard when he captured Catanzaro in the eleventh +century, remained until of late years, its Norman solidity defying +earthquakes; but this has been pulled down, deliberately got rid of for +the sake of widening a road. Lament over such a proceeding would be +idle enough; Catanzaro is the one progressive town of Calabria, and has +learnt too thoroughly the spirit of the time to suffer a blocking of +its highway by middle-age obstructions. +</P> + +<P> +If a Hellenic or Roman city occupied this breezy summit, it has left no +name, and no relics of the old civilization have been discovered here. +Catanzaro was founded in the tenth century, at the same time that +Taranto was rebuilt after the Saracen destruction; an epoch of revival +for Southern Italy under the vigorous Byzantine rule of Nicephorus +Phocas. From my point of view, the interest of the place suffered +because I could attach to it no classic memory. Robert Guiscard, to be +sure, is a figure picturesque enough, and might give play to the +imagination, but I care little for him after all; he does not belong to +my world. I had to see Catanzaro merely as an Italian town amid +wonderful surroundings. The natural beauty of the spot amply sufficed +to me during the days I spent there, and gratitude for health recovered +gave me a kindly feeling to all its inhabitants. +</P> + +<P> +Daylight brought no disillusion as regards natural features. I made the +circuit of the little town, and found that it everywhere overlooks a +steep, often a sheer, descent, save at one point, where an isthmus +unites it to the mountains that rise behind. In places the bounding +wall runs on the very edge of a precipice, and many a crazy house, +overhanging, seems ready to topple into the abyss. The views are +magnificent, whether one looks down the valley to the leafy shore, or, +in an opposite direction, up to the grand heights which, at this +narrowest point of Calabria, separate the Ionian from the Tyrrhene Sea. +I could now survey the ravines which, in twilight, had dimly shown +themselves on either side of the mountain; they are deep and narrow, +craggy, wild, bare. Each, when the snows are melting, becomes the bed +of a furious torrent; the watercourses uniting below to form the river +of the valley. At this season there was a mere trickling of water over +a dry brown waste. Where the abruptness of the descent does not render +it impossible, olives have been planted on the mountain sides; the +cactus clings everywhere, making picturesque many a wall and hovel, +luxuriating on the hard, dry soil; fig trees and vines occupy more +favoured spots, and the gardens of the better houses are often graced +by a noble palm. +</P> + +<P> +After my morning's walk I sought the residence of Signor Pasquale +Cricelli, to whom I carried a note of introduction. This gentleman +holds the position of English Vice-Consul at Catanzaro, but it is +seldom that he has the opportunity of conversing with English +travellers; the courtesy and kindness with which he received me have a +great part in my pleasant memory of the mountain town. Signor Cricelli +took me to see many interesting things, and brought me into touch with +the every-day life of Catanzaro. I knew from Lenormant's book that the +town had a singular reputation for hospitality. The French +archaeologist tells amusing stories in illustration of this +characteristic. Once, when he had taken casual refreshment at a +restaurant, a gentleman sitting at another table came forward and, with +grave politeness, begged permission to pay for what Lenormant had +consumed. This was a trifle in comparison with what happened when the +traveller, desirous of making some return for much kindness, +entertained certain of his acquaintances at dinner, the meal, +naturally, as good a one as his hotel could provide. The festival went +off joyously, but, to Lenormant's surprise, nothing was charged for it +in his bill. On making inquiry he learnt that the cost of the +entertainment had already been discharged by one of his guests! Well, +that took place years ago, long before a railway had been thought of in +the valley of the Corace; such heroic virtues ill consist with the life +of to-day. Nevertheless, Don Pasquale (Signor Cricelli's name when +greeted by his fellow-citizens) several times reminded me, without +knowing it, of what I had read. For instance, we entered a shop which +he thought might interest me; the salesman during our talk +unobtrusively made up a little parcel of goods, and asked, at length, +whether I would take this with me or have it sent to the hotel. That +point I easily decided, but by no persistence could I succeed in paying +for the things. Smiling behind his counter, the shopkeeper declined to +name a price; Don Pasquale declared that a payment under such +circumstances was a thing unknown in Catanzaro, and I saw that to say +anything more would be to run the risk of offending him. The same day +he invited me to dinner, and explained that we must needs dine at the +hotel where I was staying, this being the best place of entertainment +in the town. I found that my friend had a second reason for the choice; +he wished to ascertain whether I was comfortably lodged, and as a +result of his friendly offices, various little changes came about. Once +more I make my grateful acknowledgements to the excellent Don Pasquale. +</P> + +<P> +Speaking of shops, I must describe in detail the wonderful pharmacy. +Signor Cricelli held it among the sights of Catanzaro; this chemist's +in the main street was one of the first places to which he guided me. +And, indeed, the interior came as a surprise. Imagine a spacious shop, +well proportioned, perfectly contrived, and throughout fitted with +woodwork copies from the best examples of old Italian carving. Seeking +pill or potion, one finds oneself in a museum of art, where it would be +easy to spend an hour in studying the counter, the shelves, the +ceiling. The chemists (two brothers, if I remember rightly) pointed out +to me with legitimate pride all that they had done for the beautifying +of their place of business; I shall not easily forget the glowing +countenance, the moved voice, which betrayed their feelings as they led +me hither and thither; for them and their enterprise I felt a hearty +respect. When we had surveyed everything within doors I was asked to +look at the <I>mostra</I>—the sign that hung over the entrance; a sort of +griffin in wrought iron, this, too, copied from an old masterpiece, and +reminding one of the fine ironwork which adorns the streets of Siena. +Don Pasquale could not be satisfied until I had privately assured him +of my genuine admiration. Was it, he asked, at all like a chemist's +shop in London? My reply certainly gratified him, but I am afraid it +did not increase his desire to visit England. +</P> + +<P> +Whilst I was at the chemist's, there entered a number of peasants, +whose appearance was so striking that I sought information about them. +Don Pasquale called them "<I>Greci</I>"; they came from a mountain village +where the dialect of the people is still a corrupt Greek. One would +like to imagine that their origin dates back to the early Hellenic +days, but it is assuredly much later. These villages may be a relic of +the Byzantine conquest in the sixth century, when Southern Italy was, +to a great extent, re peopled from the Eastern Empire, though another +theory suggests that they were formed by immigrants from Greece at the +time of the Turkish invasion. Each of the women had a baby hanging at +her back, together with miscellaneous goods which she had purchased in +the town: though so heavily burdened, they walked erect, and with the +free step of mountaineers. +</P> + +<P> +I could not have had a better opportunity than was afforded me on this +day of observing the peasantry of the Catanzaro district. It was the +feast of the Immaculate Conception, and from all around the +country-folk thronged in pilgrimage to the church of the Immaculate; +since earliest morning I had heard the note of bagpipes, which +continued to sound before the street shrines all day long. Don Pasquale +assured me that the festival had an importance in this region scarcely +less than that of Christmas. At the hour of high mass I entered the +sanctuary whither all were turning their steps; it was not easy to make +a way beyond the portico, but when I had slowly pressed forward through +the dense crowd, I found that the musical part of the service was being +performed by a lively string-band, up in a gallery. For seats there was +no room; a standing multitude filled the whole church before the altar, +and the sound of gossiping voices at moments all but overcame that of +the music. I know not at what point of the worship I chanced to be +present; heat and intolerable odours soon drove me forth again, but I +retained an impression of jollity, rather than of reverence. Those +screaming and twanging instruments sounded much like an invitation to +the dance, and all the faces about me were radiant with cheerfulness. +Just such a throng, of course, attended upon the festival of god or +goddess ere the old religion was transformed. Most of the Christian +anniversaries have their origin in heathendom; the names have changed, +but amid the unlettered worshippers there is little change of spirit; a +tradition older than they can conceive rules their piety, and gives it +whatever significance it may have in their simple lives. +</P> + +<P> +Many came from a great distance; at the entrance to the town were +tethered innumerable mules and asses, awaiting the hour of return. +Modern Catanzaro, which long ago lost its proper costume, was enlivened +with brilliant colours; the country women, of course, adorned +themselves, and their garb was that which had so much interested me +when I first saw it in the public garden at Cosenza. Brilliant blue and +scarlet were the prevailing tones; a good deal of fine embroidery +caught the eye. In a few instances I noticed men wearing the true +Calabrian hat—peaked, brigandesque—which is rapidly falling out of +use. These people were, in general, good-looking; frequently I observed +a very handsome face, and occasionally a countenance, male or female, +of really heroic beauty. Though crowds wandered through the streets, +there sounded no tumult; voices never rose above an ordinary pitch of +conversation; the general bearing was dignified, and tended to gravity. +One woman in particular held my attention, not because of any +exceptional beauty, for, indeed, she had a hard, stern face, but owing +to her demeanour. Unlike most of the peasant folk, she was bent on +business; carrying upon her head a heavy pile of some ornamented +fabric—shawls or something of the kind—she entered shops, and paused +at house doors, in the endeavour to find purchasers. I watched her for +a long time, hoping she might make a sale, but ever she was +unsuccessful; for all that she bore herself with a dignity not easily +surpassed. Each offer of her wares was made as if she conferred a +graceful favour, and after each rejection she withdrew unabashed, +outwardly unperturbed, seeming to take stately leave. Only her +persistence showed how anxious she was to earn money; neither on her +features nor in her voice appeared the least sign of peddling +solicitude. I shall always remember that tall, hard-visaged woman, as +she passed with firm step and nobly balanced figure about the streets +of Catanzaro. To pity her would have been an insult. The glimpse I +caught of her laborious life revealed to me something worthy of +admiration; never had I seen a harassing form of discouragement so +silently and strongly borne. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap13"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE BREEZY HEIGHT +</H3> + +<P> +Catanzaro must be one of the healthiest spots in Southern Italy; +perhaps it has no rival in this respect among the towns south of Rome. +The furious winds, with which my acquaintances threatened me, did not +blow during my stay, but there was always more or less breeze, and the +kind of breeze that refreshes. I should like to visit Catanzaro in the +summer; probably one would have all the joy of glorious sunshine +without oppressive heat, and in the landscape in those glowing days +would be indescribably beautiful. +</P> + +<P> +I remember with delight the public garden at Cosenza, its noble view +over the valley of the Crati to the heights of Sila; that of Catanzaro +is in itself more striking, and the prospect it affords has a sterner, +grander note. Here you wander amid groups of magnificent trees, an +astonishingly rich and varied vegetation; and from a skirting terrace +you look down upon the precipitous gorge, burnt into barenness save +where a cactus clings to some jutting rock. Here in summer-time would +be freshness amid noontide heat, with wondrous avenues of golden light +breaking the dusk beneath the boughs. I shall never see it; but the +desire often comes to me under northern skies, when I am weary of +labour and seek in fancy a paradise of idleness. +</P> + +<P> +In the public gardens is a little museum, noticeable mostly for a fine +collection of ancient coins. There are Greek pots, too, and weapons, +found at Tiriolo, a village high up on the mountain above Catanzaro. As +at Taranto, a stranger who cares for this kind of thing can be sure of +having the museum all to himself. On my first visit Don Pasquale +accompanied me, and through him I made the acquaintance of the +custodian. But I was not in the museum mood; reviving health inclined +me to the open air, and the life of to-day; I saw these musty relics +with only a vague eye. +</P> + +<P> +After living amid a malaria-stricken population, I rejoiced in the +healthy aspect of the mountain folk. Even a deformed beggar, who +dragged himself painfully along the pavement, had so ruddy a face that +it was hard to feel compassion for him. And the wayside children—it +was a pleasure to watch them at their games. Such children in Italy do +not, as a rule, seem happy; too often they look ill, cheerless, +burdened before their time; at Catanzaro they are as robust and lively +as heart could wish, and their voices ring delightfully upon the ear. +It is not only, I imagine, a result of the fine air they breathe; no +doubt they are exceptional among the poor children of the south in +getting enough to eat. The town has certain industries, especially the +manufacture of silk; one feels an atmosphere of well-being; mendicancy +is a rare thing. +</P> + +<P> +Fruits abounded, and were very cheap; if one purchased from a stall the +difficulty was to carry away the abundance offered for one's smallest +coin. Excellent oranges cost about a penny the half-dozen. Any one who +is fond of the prickly fig should go to Catanzaro. I asked a man +sitting with a basket of them at a street corner to give me the worth +of a soldo (a half-penny); he began to fill my pocket, and when I cried +that it was enough, that I could carry no more, he held up one +particularly fine fruit, smiled as only an Italian can, and said, with +admirable politeness, "<I>Questo per complimento</I>!" I ought to have +shaken hands with him. +</P> + +<P> +Even when I had grown accustomed to the place, its singular appearance +of incompleteness kept exciting my attention. I had never seen a town +so ragged at the edges. If there had recently been a great +conflagration and almost all the whole city were being rebuilt, it +would have looked much as it did at the time of my visit. To enter the +post-office one had to clamber over heaps of stone and plaster, to +stride over tumbled beams and jump across great puddles, entering at +last by shaky stairs a place which looked like the waiting-room of an +unfinished railway station. The style of building is peculiar, and +looks so temporary as to keep one constantly in mind of the threatening +earthquake. Most of the edifices, large and small, public and private, +are constructed of rubble set in cement, with an occasional big, +rough-squared stone to give an appearance of solidity, and perhaps a +few courses of bricks in the old Roman style. If the building is of +importance, this work is hidden beneath stucco; otherwise it remains +like the mere shell of a house, and is disfigured over all its surface +with great holes left by the scaffolding. Religion supplies something +of adornment; above many portals is a rudely painted Virgin and Child, +often, plainly enough, the effort of a hand accustomed to any tool +rather than that of the artist. On the dwellings of the very poor a +great Cross is scrawled in whitewash. These rickety houses often +exhibit another feature more picturesque and, to the earthly +imagination, more consoling; on the balcony one sees a great gourd, +some three feet long, so placed that its yellow plumpness may ripen in +sun and air. It is a sign of plenty: the warm spot of colour against +the rough masonry does good to eye and heart. +</P> + +<P> +My hotel afforded me little amusement after the <I>Concordia</I> at Cotrone, +yet it did not lack its characteristic features. I found, for instance, +in my bedroom a printed notice, making appeal in remarkable terms to +all who occupied the chamber. The proprietor—thus it ran—had learnt +with extreme regret that certain travellers who slept under his roof +were in the habit of taking their meals at other places of +entertainment. This practice, he desired it to be known, not only hurt +his personal feelings—<I>tocca il suo morale</I>—but did harm to the +reputation of his establishment. Assuring all and sundry that he would +do his utmost to maintain a high standard of culinary excellence, the +proprietor ended by begging his honourable clients that they would +bestow their kind favours on the restaurant of the house—<I>signora +pregare i suoi respettabili clienti perche vogliano benignarsi il +ristorante</I>; and therewith signed himself—Coriolano Paparazzo. +</P> + +<P> +For my own part I was not tempted to such a breach of decorum; the fare +provided by Signor Paparazzo suited me well enough, and the wine of the +country was so good that it would have covered many defects of cookery. +Of my fellow-guests in the spacious dining-room I can recall only two. +They were military men of a certain age, grizzled officers, who walked +rather stiffly and seated themselves with circumspection. Evidently old +friends, they always dined at the same time, entering one a few minutes +after the other; but by some freak of habit they took places at +different tables, so that the conversation which they kept up all +through the meal had to be carried on by an exchange of shouts. Nothing +whatever prevented them from being near each other; the room never +contained more than half a dozen persons; yet thus they sat, evening +after evening, many yards apart, straining their voices to be mutually +audible. Me they delighted; to the other guests, more familiar with +them and their talk, they must have been a serious nuisance. But I +should have liked to see the civilian who dared to manifest his +disapproval of these fine old warriors. +</P> + +<P> +They sat interminably, evidently having no idea how otherwise to pass +the evening. In the matter of public amusements Catanzaro is not +progressive; I only once saw an announcement of a theatrical +performance, and it did not smack of modern enterprise. On the +dining-room table one evening lay a little printed bill, which made +known that a dramatic company was then in the town. Their entertainment +consisted of two parts, the first entitled: "The Death of Agolante and +the Madness of Count Orlando"; the second: "A Delightful Comedy, the +Devil's Castle with Pulcinella as the Timorous Soldier." In addition +were promised "new duets and Neapolitan songs." The theatre would +comfortably seat three hundred persons, and the performance would be +given twice, at half-past eighteen and half-past twenty-one o'clock. It +was unpardonable in me that I did not seek out the Teatro delle +Varieta; I might easily have been in my seat (with thirty, more likely +than three hundred, other spectators) by half-past twenty-one. But the +night was forbidding; a cold rain fell heavily. Moreover, just as I had +thought that it was perhaps worth while to run the risk of another +illness—one cannot see the Madness of Count Orlando every day—there +came into the room a peddler laden with some fifty volumes of fiction +and a fine assortment of combs and shirt-studs. The books tempted me; I +looked them through. Most, of course, were translations from the +vulgarest French <I>feuilletonistes</I>; the Italian reader of novels, +whether in newspaper or volume, knows, as a rule, nothing but this +imported rubbish. However, a real Italian work was discoverable, and, +together with the unfriendly sky, it kept me at home. I am sorry now, +as for many another omission on my wanderings, when lack of energy or a +passing mood of dullness has caused me to miss what would be so +pleasant in the retrospect. +</P> + +<P> +I spent an hour one evening at the principal cafe, where a pianist of +great pretensions and small achievement made rather painful music. +Watching and listening to the company (all men, of course, though the +Oriental system regarding women is not so strict at Catanzaro as +elsewhere in the south), I could not but fall into a comparison of this +scene with any similar gathering of middle-class English folk. The +contrast was very greatly in favour of the Italians. One has had the +same thought a hundred times in the same circumstances, but it is worth +dwelling upon. Among these representative men, young and old, of +Catanzaro, the tone of conversation was incomparably better than that +which would rule in a cluster of English provincials met to enjoy their +evening leisure. They did, in fact, converse—a word rarely applicable +to English talk under such conditions; mere personal gossip was the +exception; they exchanged genuine thoughts, reasoned lucidly on the +surface of abstract subjects. I say on the surface; no remark that I +heard could be called original or striking; but the choice of topics +and the mode of viewing them was distinctly intellectual. Phrases often +occurred such as have no equivalent on the lips of everyday people in +our own country. For instance, a young fellow in no way distinguished +from his companions, fell to talking about a leading townsman, and +praised him for his <I>ingenio simpatico, his bella intelligenza</I>, with +exclamations of approval from those who listened. No, it is not merely +the difference between homely Anglo-Saxon and a language of classic +origin; there is a radical distinction of thought. These people have an +innate respect for things of the mind, which is wholly lacking to a +typical Englishman. One need not dwell upon the point that their +animation was supported by a tiny cup of coffee or a glass of lemonade; +this is a matter of climate and racial constitution; but I noticed the +entire absence of a certain kind of jocoseness which is so naturally +associated with spirituous liquors; no talk could have been less +offensive. From many a bar-parlour in English country towns I have gone +away heavy with tedium and disgust; the cafe at Catanzaro seemed, in +comparison, a place of assembly for wits and philosophers. +</P> + +<P> +Meanwhile a season of rain had begun; heavy skies warned me that I must +not hope for a renewal of sunny idleness on this mountain top; it would +be well if intervals of cheerful weather lighted my further course by +the Ionian Sea. Reluctantly, I made ready to depart. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap14"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +SQUILLACE +</H3> + +<P> +In meditating my southern ramble I had lingered on the thought that I +should see Squillace. For Squillace (Virgil's "ship-wrecking +Scylaceum") was the ancestral home of Cassiodorus, and his retreat when +he became a monk; Cassiodorus, the delightful pedant, the liberal +statesman and patriot, who stands upon the far limit of his old Roman +world and bids a sad farewell to its glories. He had niched himself in +my imagination. Once when I was spending a silent winter upon the shore +of Devon, I had with me the two folio volumes of his works, and +patiently read the better part of them; it was more fruitful than a +study of all the modern historians who have written about his time. I +saw the man; caught many a glimpse of his mind and heart, and names +which had been to me but symbols in a period of obscure history became +things living and recognizable. +</P> + +<P> +I could have travelled from Catanzaro by railway to the sea-coast +station called Squillace, but the town itself is perched upon a +mountain some miles inland, and it was simpler to perform the whole +journey by road, a drive of four hours, which, if the weather favoured +me, would be thoroughly enjoyable. On my last evening Don Pasquale gave +a good account of the sky; he thought I might hopefully set forth on +the morrow, and, though I was to leave at eight o'clock, promised to +come and see me off. Very early I looked forth, and the prospect seemed +doubtful; I had half a mind to postpone departure. But about seven came +Don Pasquale's servant, sent by his master to inquire whether I should +start or not, and, after asking the man's opinion, I decided to take +courage. The sun rose; I saw the streets of Catanzaro brighten in its +pale gleams, and the rack above interspaced with blue. +</P> + +<P> +Luckily my carriage-owner was a man of prudence; at the appointed hour +he sent a covered vehicle—not the open <I>carozzella</I> in which I should +have cheerfully set forth had it depended upon myself. Don Pasquale, +too, though unwilling to perturb me, could not altogether disguise his +misgivings. At my last sight of him, he stood on the pavement before +the hotel gazing anxiously upwards. But the sun still shone, and as we +began the descent of the mountain-side I felt annoyed at having to view +the landscape through loopholes. +</P> + +<P> +Of a sudden—we were near the little station down in the valley—there +arose a mighty roaring, and all the trees of the wayside bent as if +they would break. The sky blackened, the wind howled, and presently, as +I peered through the window for some hope that this would only be a +passing storm, rain beat violently upon my face. Then the carriage +stopped, and my driver, a lad of about seventeen, jumped down to put +something right in the horses' harness. +</P> + +<P> +"Is this going to last?" I shouted to him. +</P> + +<P> +"No, no, signore" he answered gaily. "It will be over in a minute or +two. <I>Ecco il sole</I>!" +</P> + +<P> +I beheld no sun, either then or at any moment during the rest of the +day, but the voice was so reassuring that I gladly gave ear to it. On +we drove, down the lovely vale of the Corace, through orange-groves and +pine-woods, laurels and myrtles, carobs and olive trees, with the rain +beating fiercely upon us, the wind swaying all the leafage like billows +on a stormy sea. At the Marina of Catanzaro we turned southward on the +coast road, pursued it for two or three miles, then branched upon our +inland way. The storm showed no sign of coming to an end. Several times +the carriage stopped, and the lad got down to examine his +horses—perhaps to sympathize with them; he was such a drenched, +battered, pitiable object that I reproached myself for allowing him to +pursue the journey. +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Brutto tempo</I>!" he screamed above the uproar, when I again spoke to +him; but in such a cheery tone that I did not think it worth while to +make any further remark. +</P> + +<P> +Through the driving rain, I studied as well as I could the features of +the country. On my left hand stretched a long fiat-topped mountain, +forming the southern slope of the valley we ascended; steep, dark, and +furrowed with innumerable torrent-beds, it frowned upon a river that +rushed along the ravine at its foot to pour into the sea where the +mountain broke as a rugged cliff. This was the Mons Moscius of old +time, which sheltered the monastery built by Cassiodorus. The headlong, +swollen flood, coloured like yellow clay, held little resemblance to +the picture I had made of that river Pellena which murmurs so musically +in the old writer's pages. Its valley was heaped with great blocks of +granite—a feature which has interest for the geologist; it marks an +abrupt change of system, from the soft stone of Catanzaro (which ends +the Apennine) to the granitic mass of Aspromonte (the toe of Italy) +which must have risen above the waters long before the Apennines came +into existence. The wild weather emphasized a natural difference +between this valley of Squillace and that which rises towards +Catanzaro; here is but scanty vegetation, little more than thin +orchards of olive, and the landscape has a bare, harsh character. Is it +changed so greatly since the sixth century of our era? Or did its +beauty lie in the eyes of Cassiodorus, who throughout his long life of +statesmanship in the north never forgot this Bruttian home, and who +sought peace at last amid the scenes of his childhood? +</P> + +<P> +At windings of the way I frequently caught sight of Squillace itself, +high and far, its white houses dull-gleaming against the lurid sky. The +crag on which it stands is higher than that of Catanzaro, but of softer +ascent. As we approached I sought for signs of a road that would lead +us upward, but nothing of the sort could be discerned; presently I +became aware that we were turning into a side valley, and, to all +appearances, going quite away from the town. The explanation was that +the ascent lay on the further slope; we began at length to climb the +back of the mountain, and here I noticed with a revival of hope that +there was a lull in the tempest; rain no longer fell so heavily; the +clouds seemed to be breaking apart. A beam of sunshine would have set +me singing with joy. When half-way up, my driver rested his horses and +came to speak a word; we conversed merrily. He was to make straight for +the hotel, where shelter and food awaited us—a bottle of wine, ha! ha! +He knew the hotel, of course? Oh yes, he knew the hotel; it stood just +at the entrance to the town; we should arrive in half an hour. +</P> + +<P> +Looking upwards I saw nothing but a mass of ancient ruins, high +fragments of shattered wall, a crumbling tower, and great windows +through which the clouds were visible. Inhabited Squillace lay, no +doubt, behind. I knew that it was a very small place, without any +present importance; but at all events there was an albergo, and the +mere name of albergo had a delightful sound of welcome after such a +journey. Here I would stay for the night, at all events; if the weather +cleared, I might be glad to remain for two or three days. Certainly the +rain was stopping; the wind no longer howled. Up we went towards those +ragged walls and great, vacant windows. We reached the summit; for two +minutes the horses trotted; then a sudden halt, and my lad's face at +the carriage door. +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Ecco l'albergo, Signore</I>!" +</P> + +<P> +I jumped out. We were at the entrance to an unpaved street of squalid +hovels, a street which the rain had converted into a muddy river, so +that, on quitting the vehicle, I stepped into running water up to my +ankles. Before me was a long low cabin, with a row of four or five +windows and no upper storey; a miserable hut of rubble and plaster, +stained with ancient dirt and, at this moment, looking soaked with +moisture. Above the doorway I read "Osteria Centrale"; on the bare end +of the house was the prouder inscription, "Albergo Nazionale"—the +National Hotel. I am sorry to say that at the time this touch of humour +made no appeal to me; my position was no laughing matter. Faint with +hunger, I saw at once that I should have to browse on fearsome food. I +saw, too, that there was scarce a possibility of passing the night in +this place; I must drive down to the sea-shore, and take my chance of a +train which would bring me at some time to Reggio. While I thus +reflected—the water rushing over my boots—a very ill-looking man came +forth and began to stare curiously at me. I met his eye, but he offered +no greeting. A woman joined him, and the two, quite passive, waited to +discover my intentions. +</P> + +<P> +Eat I must, so I stepped forward and asked if I could have a meal. +Without stirring, the man gave a sullen assent. Could I have food at +once? Yes, in a few minutes. Would they show me—the dining room? Man +and woman turned upon their heels, and I followed. The entrance led +into a filthy kitchen; out of this I turned to the right, went along a +passage upon which opened certain chamber doors, and was conducted into +a room at the end—for the nonce, a dining-room, but at ordinary times +a bedroom. Evidently the kitchen served for native guests; as a +foreigner I was treated with more ceremony. Left alone till my meal +should be ready, I examined the surroundings. The floor was of worn +stone, which looked to me like the natural foundation of the house; the +walls were rudely plastered, cracked, grimed, and with many a deep +chink; as for the window, it admitted light, but, owing to the aged +dirt which had gathered upon it, refused any view of things without +save in two or three places where the glass was broken; by these +apertures, and at every point of the framework, entered a sharp wind. +In one corner stood an iron bedstead, with mattress and bedding in a +great roll upon it; a shaky deal table and primitive chair completed +the furniture. Ornament did not wholly lack; round the walls hung a +number of those coloured political caricatures (several indecent) which +are published by some Italian newspapers, and a large advertisement of +a line of emigrant ships between Naples and New York. Moreover, there +was suspended in a corner a large wooden crucifix, very quaint, very +hideous, and black with grime. +</P> + +<P> +Spite of all this, I still debated with myself whether to engage the +room for the night. I should have liked to stay; the thought of a sunny +morning here on the height strongly allured me, and it seemed a shame +to confess myself beaten by an Italian inn. On the other hand, the look +of the people did not please me; they had surly, forbidding faces. I +glanced at the door—no lock. Fears, no doubt, were ridiculous; yet I +felt ill at ease. I would decide after seeing the sort of fare that was +set before me. +</P> + +<P> +The meal came with no delay. First, a dish of great <I>peperoni</I> cut up +in oil. This gorgeous fruit is never much to my taste, but I had as yet +eaten no such <I>peperoni</I> as those of Squillace; an hour or two +afterwards my mouth was still burning from the heat of a few morsels to +which I was constrained by hunger. Next appeared a dish for which I had +covenanted—the only food, indeed, which the people had been able to +offer at short notice—a stew of pork and potatoes. Pork (<I>maiale</I>) is +the staple meat of all this region; viewing it as Homeric diet, I had +often battened upon such flesh with moderate satisfaction. But the pork +of Squillace defeated me; it smelt abominably, and it was tough as +leather. No eggs were to be had no macaroni; cheese, yes—the familiar +<I>cacci cavallo</I> Bread appeared in the form of a fiat circular cake, a +foot in diameter, with a hole through the middle; its consistency +resembled that of cold pancake. And the drink! At least I might hope to +solace myself with an honest draught of red wine. I poured from the +thick decanter (dirtier vessel was never seen on table) and tasted. The +stuff was poison. Assuredly I am far from fastidious; this, I believe, +was the only occasion when wine has been offered me in Italy which I +could not drink. After desperately trying to persuade myself that the +liquor was merely "rough," that its nauseating flavour meant only a +certain coarse quality of the local grape, I began to suspect that it +was largely mixed with water—the water of Squillace! Notwithstanding a +severe thirst, I could not and durst not drink. +</P> + +<P> +Very soon I made my way to the kitchen, where my driver, who had +stabled his horses, sat feeding heartily; he looked up with his merry +smile, surprised at the rapidity with which I had finished. How I +envied his sturdy stomach! With the remark that I was going to have a +stroll round the town and should be back to settle things in half an +hour, I hastened into the open. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap15"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +MISERIA +</H3> + +<P> +"What do people do here?" I once asked at a little town between Rome +and Naples; and the man with whom I talked, shrugging his shoulders, +answered curtly, "<I>C'e miseria</I>"—there's nothing but poverty. The same +reply would be given in towns and villages without number throughout +the length of Italy. I had seen poverty enough, and squalid conditions +of life, but the most ugly and repulsive collection of houses I ever +came upon was the town of Squillace. I admit the depressing effect of +rain and cloud, and of hunger worse than unsatisfied; these things +count emphatically in my case; but under no conditions could inhabited +Squillace be other than an offence to eye and nostril. The houses are, +with one or two exceptions, ground-floor hovels; scarce a weather-tight +dwelling is discoverable; the general impression is that of dilapidated +squalor. Streets, in the ordinary sense of the word, do not exist; +irregular alleys climb above the rugged heights, often so steep as to +be difficult of ascent; here and there a few boulders have been thrown +together to afford a footing, and in some places the native rock lies +bare; but for the most part one walks on the accumulated filth of ages. +At the moment of my visit there was in progress the only kind of +cleaning which Squillace knows; down every trodden way and every +intermural gully poured a flush of rain-water, with occasionally a +leaping torrent or small cascade, which all but barred progress. Open +doors everywhere allowed me a glimpse of the domestic arrangements, and +I saw that my albergo had some reason to pride itself on superiority; +life in a country called civilized cannot easily be more primitive than +under these crazy roofs. As for the people, they had a dull, heavy +aspect; rare as must be the apparition of a foreigner among them, no +one showed the slightest curiosity as I passed, and (an honourable +feature of their district) no one begged. Women went about in the rain +protected by a shawl-like garment of very picturesque colouring; it had +broad yellow stripes on a red ground, the tones subdued to a warm +richness. +</P> + +<P> +The animal population was not without its importance. Turn where I +would I encountered lean, black pigs, snorting, frisking, scampering, +and squealing as if the bad weather were a delight to them. Gaunt, +low-spirited dogs prowled about in search of food, and always ran away +at my approach. In one precipitous by-way, where the air was +insupportably foul, I came upon an odd little scene: a pig and a cat, +quite alone, were playing together, and enjoying themselves with +remarkable spirit. The pig lay down in the running mud, and pussy, +having leapt on to him, began to scratch his back, bite his ears, +stroke his sides. Suddenly, porker was uppermost and the cat, +pretending to struggle for life, under his forefeet. It was the only +amusing incident I met with at Squillace, and the sole instance of +anything like cheerful vitality. +</P> + +<P> +Above the habitations stand those prominent ruins which had held my eye +during our long ascent. These are the rugged walls and windows of a +monastery, not old enough to possess much interest, and, on the +crowning height, the heavy remnants of a Norman castle, with one fine +doorway still intact. Bitterly I deplored the gloomy sky which spoiled +what would else have been a magnificent view from this point of +vantage—a view wide-spreading in all directions, with Sila northwards, +Aspromonte to the south, and between them a long horizon of the sea. +Looking down upon Squillace, one sees its houses niched among huge +masses of granite, which protrude from the scanty soil, or clinging to +the rocky surface like limpet shells. Was this the site of Scylaceum, +or is it, as some hold, merely a mediaeval refuge which took the name +of the old city nearer to the coast? The Scylaceum of the sixth century +is described by Cassiodorus—a picture glowing with admiration and +tenderness. It lay, he says, upon the side of a hill; nay, it hung +there "like a cluster of grapes," in such glorious light and warmth +that, to his mind, it deserved to be called the native region of the +sun. The fertility of the Country around was unexampled; nowhere did +earth yield to mortals a more luxurious life. Quoting this description, +Lenormant holds that, with due regard to time's changes, it exactly +fits the site of Squillace. Yet Cassiodorus says that the hill by which +you approached the town was not high enough to weary a traveller, a +consideration making for the later view that Scylaceum stood very near +to the Marina of Catanzaro, at a spot called Roccella, where not only +is the nature of the ground suitable, but there exist considerable +traces of ancient building, such as are not discoverable here on the +mountain top. Lenormant thought that Roccella was merely the sea-port +of the inland town. I wish he were right. No archaeologist, whose work +I have studied, affects me with such a personal charm, with such a +sense of intellectual sympathy, as Francois Lenormant—dead, alas, +before he could complete his delightful book. But one fears that, in +this instance, he judged too hastily. +</P> + +<P> +There is no doubt, fortunately, as to the position of the religious +house founded by Cassiodorus; it was in the shadow of Mons Moscius, and +quite near to the sea. I had marked the spot during my drive up the +valley, and now saw it again from this far height, but I could not be +satisfied with distant views. Weather and evil quarters making it +impossible to remain at Squillace, I decided to drive forthwith to the +railway station, see how much time remained to me before the arrival of +the train for Reggio, and, if it could be managed, visit in that +interval the place that attracted me. +</P> + +<P> +It is my desire to be at peace with all men, and in Italy I have rarely +failed to part with casual acquaintances—even innkeepers and +cocchieri—on friendly terms; but my host of the <I>Albergo Nazionale</I> +made it difficult to preserve good humour. Not only did he charge +thrice the reasonable sum for the meal I could not eat, but his bill +for my driver's <I>colazione</I> contained such astonishing items that I had +to question the lad as to what he had really consumed. It proved to be +a very ugly case of extortion, and the tone of sullen menace with which +my arguments were met did not help to smooth things. Presently the man +hit upon a pleasant sort of compromise. Why, he asked, did I not pay +the bill as it stood, and then, on dismissing my carriage—he had +learnt that I was not returning to Catanzaro—deduct as much as I chose +from the payment of the driver? A pretty piece of rascality, this, +which he would certainly not have suggested but that the driver was a +mere boy, helpless himself and bound to render an account to his +master. I had to be content with resolutely striking off half the sum +charged for the lad's wine (he was supposed to have drunk four litres), +and sending the receipted bill to Don Pasquale at Catanzaro, that he +might be ready with information if any future traveller consulted him +about the accommodation to be had at Squillace. No one is likely to do +so for a long time to come, but I have no doubt Don Pasquale had a +chuckle of amused indignation over the interesting and very dirty bit +of paper. We drove quickly down the winding road, and from below I +again admired the picturesqueness of Squillace. Both my guide-books, by +the way, the orthodox English and German authorities, assert that from +the railway station by the sea-shore Squillace is invisible. Which of +the two borrowed this information from the other? As a matter of fact, +the view of mountain and town from the station platform is admirable, +though, of course, at so great a distance, only a whitish patch +represents the hovels and ruins upon their royal height. +</P> + +<P> +I found that I had a good couple of hours at my disposal, and that to +the foot of Mons Moscius (now called Coscia di Stalletti) was only a +short walk. It rained drearily, but by this time I had ceased to think +of the weather. After watching the carriage for a moment, as it rolled +away on the long road back to Catanzaro (sorry not to be going with +it), I followed the advice of the stationmaster, and set out to walk +along the line of rails towards the black, furrowed mountain side. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap16"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XVI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CASSIODORUS +</H3> + +<P> +The iron way crosses the mouth of the valley river. As I had already +noticed, it was a turbid torrent, of dull yellow; where it poured into +the sea, it made a vast, clean-edged patch of its own hue upon the +darker surface of the waves. This peculiarity resulted, no doubt, from +much rain upon the hills; it may be that in calmer seasons the Fiume di +Squillace bears more resemblance to the Pellena as one pictures it, a +delightful stream flowing through the gardens of the old monastery. +Cassiodorus tells us that it abounded in fish. One of his happy labours +was to make fish-ponds, filled and peopled from the river itself. In +the cliff-side where Mons Moscius breaks above the shore are certain +rocky caves, and by some it is thought that, in speaking of his +fish-preserves, Cassiodorus refers to these. Whatever the local +details, it was from this feature that the house took its name, +Monasterium Vivariense. +</P> + +<P> +Here, then, I stood in full view of the spot which I had so often +visioned in my mind's eye. Much of the land hereabout—probably an +immense tract of hill and valley—was the old monk's patrimonial +estate. We can trace his family back through three generations, to a +Cassiodorus, an Illustris of the falling Western Empire, who about the +middle of them fifth century defended his native Bruttii against an +invasion of the Vandals. The grandson of this noble was a distinguished +man all through the troubled time which saw Italy pass under the +dominion of Odovacar, and under the conquest of Theodoric; the Gothic +king raised him to the supreme office of Praetorian Prefect. We learn +that he had great herds of horses, bred in the Bruttian forests, and +that Theodoric was indebted to him for the mounting of troops of +cavalry. He and his ancestry would signify little now-a-days but for +the life-work of his greater son—Magnus Aurelius Cassiodorus Senator, +statesman, historian, monk. <I>Senator</I> was not a title, but a personal +name; the name our Cassiodorus always used when speaking of himself. +But history calls him otherwise, and for us he must be Cassiodorus +still. +</P> + +<P> +The year of his birth was 480. In the same year were born two other +men, glories of their age, whose fame is more generally remembered: +Boethius the poet and philosopher, and Benedict called Saint. +</P> + +<P> +From Quaestorship (old name with no longer the old significance) to +Praetorian Prefecture, Cassiodorus held all offices of state, and seems +under every proof to have shown the nobler qualities of statesmanship. +During his ripe years he stood by the side of Theodoric, minister in +prime trust, doubtless helping to shape that wise and benevolent policy +which made the reign of the Ostrogoth a time of rest and hope for the +Italian people—Roman no longer; the word had lost its meaning, though +not its magic. The Empire of the West had perished; Theodoric and his +minister, clearly understanding this, and resolute against the +Byzantine claim which was but in half abeyance, aimed at the creation +of an independent Italy, where Goth and Latin should blend into a new +race. The hope proved vain. Theodoric's successors, no longer kings, +but mere Gothic chieftains, strove obscurely against inevitable doom, +until the generals of Juistinian trod Italy into barren servitude. Only +when the purpose of his life was shattered, when—Theodoric long +dead—his still faithful service to the Gothic rule became an idle +form, when Belisarius was compassing the royal city of Ravenna, and +voice of council could no longer make itself heard amid tumult and +ruin, did Cassiodorus retire from useless office, and turn his back +upon the world. +</P> + +<P> +He was aged about sixty. Long before, he had written a history of the +Goths (known to us only in a compendium by another hand), of which the +purpose seems to have been to reconcile the Romans to the Gothic +monarchy; it began by endeavouring to prove that Goths had fought +against the Greeks at Troy. Now that his public life was over, he +published a collection of the state papers composed by him under the +Gothic rulers from Theodoric to Vitigis: for the most part royal +rescripts addressed to foreign powers and to officials of the kingdom. +Invaluable for their light upon men and things fourteen hundred years +ago, these <I>Variae</I> of Cassiodorus; and for their own sake, as literary +productions, most characteristic, most entertaining. Not quite easy to +read, for the Latin is by no means Augustan, but after labour well +spent, a delightful revelation of the man and the age. Great is the +variety of subjects dealt with or touched upon; from the diplomatic +relations between Ravenna and Constantinople, or the alliances of the +Amal line with barbaric royalties in Gaul and Africa, to the pensioning +of an aged charioteer and the domestic troubles of a small landowner. +We form a good general idea of the condition of Italy at that time, +and, on many points political and social, gather a fund of most curious +detail. The world shown to us is in some respects highly civilized, its +civilization still that of Rome, whose laws, whose manners, have in +great part survived the Teutonic conquest; from another point of view +it is a mere world of ruin, possessed by triumphant barbarism, and +sinking to intellectual darkness. We note the decay of central power, +and the growth of political anarchy; we observe the process by which +Roman nobles, the Senatorial Order when a Senate lingers only in name, +are becoming the turbulent lords of the Middle Ages, each a power in +his own territory, levying private war, scornful of public interests. +The city of Rome has little part in this turbid history, yet her name +is never mentioned without reverence, and in theory she is still the +centre of the world. Glimpses are granted us of her fallen majesty; we +learn that Theodoric exerted himself to preserve her noble buildings, +to restore her monuments; at the same time we hear of marble stolen +from palaces in decay, and of temples which, as private property, are +converted to ignoble use. Moreover, at Rome sits an ecclesiastical +dignitary, known as <I>Papa</I>, to whose doings already attaches +considerable importance. One of the last acts of the Senate which had +any real meaning was to make a decree with regard to the election of +this Bishop, forbidding his advance by the way of Simony. Theodoric, an +Arian, interferes only with the Church of Rome in so far as public +peace demands it. In one of his letters occurs a most remarkable dictum +on the subject of toleration. "<I>Religionem imperare non possumus, quia +nemo cogitur ut credat invitus</I>—we cannot impose a religious faith, +for no one can be compelled to believe against his conscience." This +must, of course, have been the king's own sentiment, but Cassiodorus +worded it, and doubtless with approval. +</P> + +<P> +Indeed, we are at no loss to discern the mind of the secretary in these +official papers. Cassiodorus speaks as often for himself as for the +king; he delights to expatiate, from an obviously personal point of +view, on any subject that interests him. One of these is natural +history; give him but the occasion, and he gossips of beasts, birds, +and fishes, in a flow of the most genial impertinence. Certain bronze +elephants on the Via Sacra are falling to pieces and must be repaired: +in giving the order, Theodoric's minister pens a little treatise on the +habits and characteristics of the elephant. His erudition is often +displayed: having to convey some direction about the Circus at Rome, he +begins with a pleasant sketch of the history of chariot racing. One +marvels at the man who, in such a period, preserved this mood of +liberal leisure. His style is perfectly suited to the matter; diffuse, +ornate, amusingly affected; altogether a <I>precious</I> mode of writing, +characteristic of literary decadence. When the moment demands it, he is +pompously grandiloquent; in dealing with a delicate situation, he +becomes involved and obscure. We perceive in him a born courtier, a +proud noble, a statesman of high purpose and no little sagacity; +therewith, many gracious and attractive qualities, coloured by +weaknesses, such as agreeable pedantry and amiable self-esteem, which +are in part personal, partly the note of his time. +</P> + +<P> +One's picture of the man is, of course, completed from a knowledge of +the latter years of his life, of the works produced during his monastic +retirement. Christianity rarely finds expression in the <I>Variae</I>, a +point sufficiently explained by the Gothic heresy, which imposed +discretion in public utterances; on the other hand, pagan mythology +abounds; we observe the hold it still had upon educated +minds—education, indeed, meaning much the same thing in the sixth +century after Christ as in the early times of the Empire. Cassiodorus +can never have been a fanatical devotee of any creed. Of his sincere +piety there is no doubt; it appears in a vast commentary on the Psalms, +and more clearly in the book he wrote for the guidance and edification +of his brother monks—brothers (<I>carissimi fratres</I>), for in his +humility he declined to become the Abbot of Vivariense; enough that his +worldly dignity, his spiritual and mental graces, assured to him the +influence he desired. The notable characteristic of his rule was a +sanctifying of intellectual labour. In abandoning the world, he by no +means renounced his interest in its civilization. Statesmanship having +failed to stem the tide of Oriental tyranny and northern barbarism, he +set himself to save as much as possible of the nobler part, to secure +for happier ages the record of human attainment. Great was the +importance he attached to the work of his Antiquarii—copyists who +laboured to preserve the manuscript literature which was in danger of +utterly perishing. With special reference to their work upon the +Scriptures, he tells them that they "fight against the wiles of Satan +with pen and ink." And again: "Writing with three fingers, they thus +symbolize the virtues of the Holy Trinity; using a reed, they thus +attack the craft of the Devil with that very instrument which smote the +Lord's head in his Passion." But all literature was his care. That the +copyists might write correctly, he digested the works of half a dozen +grammarians into a treatise on orthography. Further, that the books of +the monastery might wear "a wedding garment" (his own phrase), he +designed a great variety of bindings, which were kept as patterns. +</P> + +<P> +There, at the foot of Moscius, did these brethren and their founder +live and work. But on the top of the mountain was another retreat, +known as Castellense, for those monks who—<I>divina gratia +suffragante</I>—desired a severer discipline, and left the coenobitic +house to become anchorites. Did these virtuous brothers continue their +literary labours? One hopes so, and one is glad that Cassiodorus +himself seems to have ended his life down in the valley by the Pellena. +</P> + +<P> +A third class of monks finds mention, those in whom "<I>Frigidus +obstiterit circum praecordia sanguis</I>," quotes the founder. In other +words, the hopelessly stupid. For these there was labour in the garden, +and to console them Cassiodorus recites from a Psalm: "Thou shalt eat +the labour of thy hands; happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with +thee." A smile is on the countenance of the humane brother. He did his +utmost, indeed, for the comfort, as well as the spiritual welfare, of +his community. Baths were built "for the sick" (heathendom had been +cleaner, but we must not repine); for the suffering, too, and for +pilgrims, exceptional food was provided—young pigeons, delicate fish, +fruit, honey; a new kind of lamp was invented, to burn for long hours +without attention; dials and clepsydras marked the progress of day and +night. +</P> + +<P> +Among the monastic duties is that of giving instruction to the +peasantry round about. They are not to be oppressed, these humble +tillers of the soil, for is it not written that "My yoke is easy, and +my burden light"? But one must insist that they come frequently to +religious service, and that they do not <I>lucos colere</I>—worship in +groves—which shows that a heathen mind still lingered among the +people, and that they reverenced the old deities. Benedict, the +contemporary of Cassiodorus (we have no authority for supposing that +they knew each other), when he first ascended the mount above Casinum, +found a temple of Apollo, with the statue of the god receiving daily +homage. Archaeologists have tried to determine at what date the old +religion became extinct in Italy. Their research leads them well into +the Middle Ages, but, undoubtedly, even then they pause too soon. +</P> + +<P> +Legend says that Cassiodorus attained the age of nearly a hundred +years. We may be sure that to the end he lived busily, for of idleness +he speaks with abhorrence as the root of evil. Doubtless he was always +a copious talker, and to many a pilgrim he must have gossiped +delightfully, alternating mundane memories with counsel good for the +soul. Only one of his monastic brethren is known to us as a man of any +distinction: this was Dionysius Exiguus, or the Little, by birth a +Scythian, a man of much learning. He compiled the first history of the +Councils, and, a matter more important, originated the computation of +the Christian Era; for up to this time men had dated in the old way, by +shadowy consulships and confusing Indictions. There is happy +probability that Cassiodorus lived out his life in peace; but the +monastery did not long exist; like that of Benedict on Monte Cassino, +it seems to have been destroyed by the Lombards, savages and Arians. No +trace of it remains. But high up on the mountain is a church known as +S. Maria de Vetere, a name indicating an ancient foundation, which +perhaps was no other than the anchorite house of Castellense. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap17"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XVII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE GROTTA +</H3> + +<P> +About a mile beyond Squillace the line passes by a tunnel through the +promontory of Mons Moscius. At this point on the face of the sea-cliff +I was told that I should discover a <I>grotta</I>, one of the caverns which +some think are indicated by Cassiodorus when he speaks of his +fish-preserves. Arrived near the mouth of the tunnel I found a +signal-box, where several railway men were grouped in talk; to them I +addressed myself, and all immediately turned to offer me guidance. We +had to clamber down a rocky descent, and skirt the waves for a few +yards; when my cluster of companions had sufficiently shown their +good-will, all turned back but one, who made a point of giving me safe +conduct into the cave itself. He was a bronzed, bright-eyed, +happy-looking fellow of middle age, his humorous intelligence appearing +in a flow of gossip about things local. We entered a narrow opening, +some twelve feet high, which ran perhaps twenty yards into the cliff. +Lenormant supposes that this was a quarry made by the original Greek +colonists. If Cassiodorus used it for the purpose mentioned, the cave +must have been in direct communication either with the sea or the +river; at present, many yards of sloping shingle divide it from the +line of surf, and the river flows far away. Movement of the shore there +has of course been, and the Pellena may have considerably changed the +direction of its outflow; our author's description being but vague, one +can only muse on probabilities and likelihoods. +</P> + +<P> +Whilst we talked, the entrance to the cave was shadowed, and there +entered one of the men who had turned back half-way; his face betrayed +the curiosity which had after all prevailed to bring him hither. +Shouting merrily, my companion hailed him as "Brigadiere." The two +friends contrasted very amusingly; for the brigadiere was a mild, +timid, simple creature, who spoke with diffidence; he kept his +foolishly good-natured eyes fixed upon me, a gaze of wonder. After +listening to all that my guide had to say—it was nothing to the point, +dealing chiefly with questions of railway engineering—I had just begun +to explain my interest in the locality, and I mentioned the name of +Cassiodorus. As it passed my lips the jovial fellow burst into a roar +of laughter. "Cassiodorio! Ha, ha! Cassiodorio! Ha, ha, ha!" I asked +him what he meant, and found that he was merely delighted to hear a +stranger unexpectedly utter a name in familiar local use. He ran out +from the cave, and pointed up the valley; yonder was a fountain which +bore the name "Fontana di Cassiodorio." (From my authors I knew of +this; it may or may not have genuine historic interest.) Thereupon, I +tried to discover whether any traditions hung to the name, but these +informants had only a vague idea that Cassiodorus was a man of times +long gone by. How, they questioned in turn, did <I>I</I> know anything about +him? Why, from books, I replied; among them books which the ancient +himself had written more than a thousand years ago. This was too much +for the brigadiere; it moved him to stammered astonishment. Did I mean +to say that books written more than a thousand years ago still existed? +The jovial friend, good-naturedly scornful, cried out that of course +they did, and added with triumphant air that they were not in the +language of to-day but in <I>latino, latino</I>! All this came as a +revelation to the other, who stared and marvelled, never taking his +eyes from my face. At length he burst out with an emphatic question; +these same books, were they large? Why yes, I answered, some of them. +Were they—were they <I>as large as a missal</I>? A shout of jolly laughter +interrupted us. It seemed to me that my erudite companion was in the +habit of getting fun of out his friend the brigadiere, but so kindly +did he look and speak, that it must have been difficult for the +simpleton ever to take offence. +</P> + +<P> +Meanwhile the sullen sky had grown blacker, and rain was descending +heavily. In any case, I should barely have had time to go further, and +had to be content with a description from my companions of a larger +cave some distance beyond this, which is known as the Grotta of San +Gregorio—with reference, no doubt, to S. Gregory the Thaumaturgist; to +him was dedicated a Greek monastery, built on the ruined site of +Vivariense. After the Byzantine conquest of the sixth century, Magna +Graecia once more justified its ancient name; the civilization of this +region became purely Greek; but for the Lombards and ecclesiastical +Rome, perhaps no Latin Italy would have survived. Greek monks, who +through the darkest age were skilful copyists, continued in Calabria +the memorable work of Cassiodorus. The ninth century saw Saracen +invasion, and then it was, no doubt, that the second religious house +under Mons Moscius perished from its place. +</P> + +<P> +Thinking over this, I walked away from the cave and climbed again to +the railway; my friends also were silent and ruminative. Not +unnaturally, I suspected that a desire for substantial thanks had some +part in their Silence, and at a convenient spot I made suitable +offering. It was done, I trust, with all decency, for I knew that I had +the better kind of Calabrian to deal with; but neither the jovially +intelligent man nor the pleasant simpleton would for a moment entertain +this suggestion. They refused with entire dignity—grave, courteous, +firm-and as soon as I had apologized, which I did not without emphasis, +we were on the same terms as before; with handshaking, we took kindly +leave of each other. Such self-respect is the rarest thing in Italy +south of Rome, but in Calabria I found it more than once. +</P> + +<P> +By when I had walked back to the station, hunger exhausted me. There +was no buffet, and seemingly no place in the neighbourhood where food +could be purchased, but on my appealing to the porter I learnt that he +was accustomed to entertain stray travellers in his house hard by, +whither he at once led me. To describe the room where my meal was +provided would be sheer ingratitude: in my recollection it compares +favourably with the <I>Albergo Nazionale</I> of Squillace. I had bread, +salame, cheese, and, heaven be thanked, wine that I could swallow—nay, +for here sounds the note of thanklessness, it was honest wine, of which +I drank freely. Honest, too, the charge that was made; I should have +felt cheap at ten times the price that sudden accession of bodily and +mental vigour. Luck be with him, serviceable <I>facchino</I> of Squillace! I +remember his human face, and his smile of pleasure when I declared all +he modestly set before me good and good again. His hospitality sent me +on my way rejoicing—glad that I had seen the unspeakable little +mountain town, thrice glad that I had looked upon Mons Moscius and +trodden by the river Pellena. Rain fell in torrents, but I no longer +cared. When presently the train arrived, I found a comfortable corner, +and looked forward with a restful sigh to the seven hours' travel which +would bring me into view of Sicily. +</P> + +<P> +In the carriage sat a school-boy, a book open upon his knee. When our +eyes had met twice or thrice, and an ingenuous smile rose to his +handsome face, I opened conversation, and he told me that he came every +day to school from a little place called San Sostene to Catanzaro, +there being no nearer instruction above the elementary; a journey of +some sixteen miles each way, and not to be reckoned by English +standards, for it meant changing at the Marina for the valley train, +and finally going up the mountain side by <I>diligenza</I>. The lad flushed +with delight in his adventure—a real adventure for him to meet with +some one from far-off England. Just before we stopped at San Sostene, +he presented me with his card—why had he a card?—which bore the name, +De Luca Fedele. A bright and spirited lad, who seemed to have the best +qualities of his nation; I wish I might live to hear him spoken of as a +man doing honour to Italy. +</P> + +<P> +At this station another travelling companion took the school-boy's +place; a priest, who soon addressed me in courteous talk. He journeyed +only for a short way, and, when alighting, pointed skyward through the +dark (night had fallen) to indicate his mountain parish miles inland. +He, too, offered me his card, adding a genial invitation; I found he +was Parroco (parish priest) of San Nicola at Badolato. I would ask +nothing better than to visit him, some autumn-tide, when grapes are +ripening above the Ionian Sea. +</P> + +<P> +It was a wild night. When the rain at length ceased, lightning flashed +ceaselessly about the dark heights of Aspromonte; later, the moon rose, +and, sailing amid grandly illumined clouds, showed white waves rolling +in upon the beach. Wherever the train stopped, that sea-music was in my +ears—now seeming to echo a verse of Homer, now the softer rhythm of +Theocritus. Think of what one may in day-time on this far southern +shore, its nights are sacred to the poets of Hellas. In rounding Cape +Spartivento, I strained my eyes through the moonlight—unhappily a +waning moon, which had shone with full orb the evening I ascended to +Catanzaro—to see the Sicilian mountains; at length they stood up +darkly against the paler night. There came back to my memory a voyage +at glorious sunrise, years ago, when I passed through the Straits of +Messina, and all day long gazed at Etna, until its cone, solitary upon +the horizon, shone faint and far in the glow of evening—the morrow to +bring me a first sight of Greece. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap18"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XVIII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +REGGIO +</H3> + +<P> +By its natural situation Reggio is marked for an unquiet history. It +was a gateway of Magna Graecia; it lay straight in the track of +conquering Rome when she moved towards Sicily; it offered points of +strategic importance to every invader or defender of the peninsula +throughout the mediaeval wars. Goth and Saracen, Norman, Teuton and +Turk, seized, pillaged, and abandoned, each in turn, this stronghold +overlooking the narrow sea. Then the earthquakes, ever menacing between +Vesuvius and Etna; that of 1783, which wrought destruction throughout +Calabria, laid Reggio in ruins, so that to-day it has the aspect of a +newly-built city, curving its regular streets, amphitheatre-wise, upon +the slope that rises between shore and mountain. Of Rhegium little is +discernible above ground; of the ages that followed scarce anything +remains but the Norman fortress, so shaken by that century-old disaster +that huge gaps show where its rent wall sank to a lower level upon the +hillside. +</P> + +<P> +At first, one has eyes and thoughts for nothing but the landscape. From +the terrace road along the shore, Via Plutino, beauties and glories +indescribable lie before one at every turn of the head. Aspromonte, +with its forests and crags; the shining straits, sail-dotted, opening +to a sea-horizon north and south; and, on the other side, the +mountain-island, crowned with snow. Hours long I stood and walked here, +marvelling delightedly at all I saw, but in the end ever fixing my gaze +on Sicily. Clouds passed across the blue sky, and their shadows upon +the Sicilian panorama made ceaseless change of hue and outline. At +early morning I saw the crest of Etna glistening as the first sun-ray +smote upon its white ridges; at fall of day, the summit hidden by heavy +clouds, and western beams darting from behind the mountain, those far, +cold heights glimmered with a hue of palest emerald, seeming but a +vision of the sunset heaven, translucent, ever about to vanish. Night +transformed but did not all conceal. Yonder, a few miles away, shone +the harbour and the streets of Messina, and many a gleaming point along +the island coast, strand-touching or high above, signalled the homes of +men. Calm, warm, and clear, this first night at Reggio; I could not +turn away from the siren-voice of the waves; hearing scarce a footstep +but my own, I paced hither and thither by the sea-wall, alone with +memories. +</P> + +<P> +The rebuilding of Reggio has made it clean and sweet; its air is +blended from that of mountain and sea, ever renewed, delicate and +inspiriting. But, apart from the harbour, one notes few signs of +activity; the one long street, Corso Garibaldi, has little traffic; +most of the shops close shortly after nightfall, and then there is no +sound of wheels; all would be perfectly still but for the occasional +cry of lads who sell newspapers. Indeed, the town is strangely quiet, +considering its size and aspect of importance; one has to search for a +restaurant, and I doubt if more than one cafe exists. At my hotel the +dining-room was a public <I>trattoria</I>, opening upon the street, but only +two or three military men—the eternal officers—made use of it, and I +felt a less cheery social atmosphere than at Taranto or at Catanzaro. +One recurring incident did not tend to exhilarate. Sitting in view of a +closed door, I saw children's faces pressed against the glass, peering +little faces, which sought a favourable moment; suddenly the door would +open, and there sounded a thin voice, begging for <I>un pezzo di pane</I>—a +bit of bread. Whenever the waiter caught sight of these little +mendicants, he rushed out with simulated fury, and pursued them along +the pavement. I have no happy recollection of my Reggian meals. +</P> + +<P> +An interesting feature of the streets is the frequency of carved +inscriptions, commemorating citizens who died in their struggle for +liberty. Amid quiet by-ways, for instance, I discovered a tablet with +the name of a young soldier who fell at that spot, fighting against the +Bourbon, in 1860: "<I>offerse per l'unita della patria sua vita +quadrilustre</I>." The very insignificance of this young life makes the +fact more touching; one thinks of the unnumbered lives sacrificed upon +this soil, age after age, to the wild-beast instinct of mankind, and +how pathetic the attempt to preserve the memory of one boy, so soon to +become a meaningless name! His own voice seems to plead with us for a +regretful thought, to speak from the stone in sad arraignment of +tyranny and bloodshed. A voice which has no accent of hope. In the days +to come, as through all time that is past, man will lord it over his +fellow, and earth will be stained red from veins of young and old. That +sweet and sounding name of <I>patria</I> becomes an illusion and a curse; +linked with the pretentious modernism, <I>civilization</I>, it serves as +plea to the latter-day barbarian, ravening and reckless under his civil +garb. How can one greatly wish for the consolidation and prosperity of +Italy, knowing that national vigour tends more and more to +international fear and hatred? They who perished that Italy might be +born again, dreamt of other things than old savagery clanging in new +weapons. In our day there is but one Italian patriot; he who tills the +soil, and sows, and reaps, ignorant or careless of all beyond his +furrowed field. +</P> + +<P> +Whilst I was still thinking of that memorial tablet, I found myself in +front of the Cathedral. As a structure it makes small appeal, dating +only from the seventeenth century, and heavily restored in times more +recent; but the first sight of the facade is strangely stirring. For +across the whole front, in great letters which one who runs may read, +is carved a line from the Acts of the Apostles:— +</P> + +<P> +"Circumlegentes devenimus Rhegium." +</P> + +<P> +Save only those sonorous words which circle the dome of S. Peter's, I +have seen no inscription on Christian temple which seemed to me so +impressive. "We fetched a compass, and came to Rhegium." Paul was on +his voyage from Caesarea to Rome, and here his ship touched, here at +the haven beneath Aspromonte. The fact is familiar enough, but, +occupied as I was with other thoughts, it had not yet occurred to me; +the most pious pilgrim of an earlier day could not have felt himself +more strongly arrested than I when I caught sight of these words. Were +I to inhabit Reggio, I should never pass the Cathedral without stopping +to read and think; the carving would never lose its power over my +imagination. It unites for me two elements of moving interest: a vivid +fact from the ancient world, recorded in the music of the ancient +tongue. All day the words rang in my head, even as at Rome I have gone +about murmuring to myself: "<I>Aedificabo ecclesiam meam</I>." What a noble +solemnity in this Latin speech! And how vast the historic significance +of such monumental words! Moralize who will; enough for me to hear with +delight that deep-toned harmony, and to thrill with the strangeness of +old things made new. +</P> + +<P> +It was Sunday, which at Reggio is a day or market. Crowds of +country-folk had come into the town with the produce of field and +garden; all the open spaces were occupied with temporary stalls; at +hand stood innumerable donkeys, tethered till business should be over. +The produce exhibited was of very fine quality, especially the +vegetables; I noticed cauliflowers measuring more than a foot across +the white. Of costume there was little to be observed—though the long +soft cap worn by most of the men, hanging bag-like over one ear almost +to the shoulder, is picturesque. The female water-carriers, a long slim +cask resting lengthwise upon their padded heads, hold attention as they +go to and from the fountains. Good-looking people, grave of manner, and +doing their business without noise. It was my last sight of the +Calabrian hillsmen; to the end they held my interest and my respect. +When towns have sucked dry their population of strength and virtue, it +is such folk as these, hardy from the free breath of heaven and the +scent of earth, who will renew a flaccid race. +</P> + +<P> +Walking beyond the town in the southern direction, where the shape of +Etna shows more clearly amid the lower mountains, I found myself +approaching what looked like a handsome public edifice, a museum or +gallery of art. It was a long building, graced with a portico, and +coloured effectively in dull red; all about it stood lemon trees, and +behind, overtopping the roof, several fine palms. Moved by curiosity I +quickened my steps, and as I drew nearer I felt sure that this must be +some interesting institution of which I had not heard. Presently I +observed along the facade a row of heads of oxen carved in stone—an +ornament decidedly puzzling. Last of all my eyes perceived, over the +stately entrance, the word "Macello," and with astonishment I became +aware that this fine structure, so agreeably situated, was nothing else +than the town slaughter-house. Does the like exist elsewhere? It was a +singular bit of advanced civilization, curiously out of keeping with +the thoughts which had occupied me on my walk. Why, I wonder, has +Reggio paid such exceptional attention to this department of its daily +life? One did not quite know whether to approve this frank exhibition +of carnivorous zeal; obviously something can be said in its favour, +yet, on the other hand, a man who troubles himself with finer scruples +would perhaps choose not to be reminded of pole-axe and butcher's +knife, preferring that such things should shun the light of day. It +gave me, for the moment, an odd sense of having strayed into the world +of those romancers who forecast the future; a slaughter-house of +tasteful architecture, set in a grove of lemon trees and date palms, +suggested the dreamy ideal of some reformer whose palate shrinks from +vegetarianism. To my mind this had no place amid the landscape which +spread about me. It checked my progress; I turned abruptly, to lose the +impression as soon as possible. +</P> + +<P> +No such trouble has been taken to provide comely housing for the +collection of antiquities which the town possesses. The curator who led +me through the museum (of course I was the sole visitor) lamented that +it was only communal, the Italian Government not having yet cared to +take it under control; he was an enthusiast, and spoke with feeling of +the time and care he had spent upon these precious relics—<I>sedici anni +di vita</I>—sixteen years of life, and, after all, who cared for them? +There was a little library of archaeological works, which contained two +volumes only of the <I>Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum</I>; who, asked the +curator sadly, would supply money to purchase the rest? Place had been +found on the walls for certain modern pictures of local interest. One +represented a pasture on the heights of Aspromonte, shepherds and their +cattle amid rich herbage, under a summer sky, with purple summits +enclosing them on every side; the other, also a Calabrian mountain +scene, but sternly grand in the light of storm; a dark tarn, a rushing +torrent, the lonely wilderness. Naming the painter, my despondent +companion shook his head, and sighed "<I>Morto! Morto!</I>" +</P> + +<P> +Ere I left, the visitors' book was opened for my signature. Some twenty +pages only had been covered since the founding of the museum, and most +of the names were German. Fortunately, I glanced at the beginning, and +there, on the first page, was written "Francois Lenormant, Membre de +l'Institut de France"—the date, 1882. The small, delicate character +was very suggestive of the man as I conceived him; to come upon his +name thus unexpectedly gave me a thrill of pleasure; it was like being +brought of a sudden into the very presence of him whose spirit had +guided, instructed, borne me delightful company throughout my +wanderings. When I turned to the curator, and spoke of this discovery, +sympathy at once lighted up his face. Yes, yes! He remembered the +visit; he had the clearest recollection of Lenormant—"<I>un bravo +giovane</I>!" Thereupon, he directed my attention to a little slip of +paper pasted into the inner cover of the book, on which were written in +pencil a few Greek letters; they were from the hand of Lenormant +himself, who had taken out his pencil to illustrate something he was +saying about a Greek inscription in the museum. Carefully had this +scrap been preserved by the good curator; his piety touched and +delighted me. +</P> + +<P> +I could have desired no happier incident for the close of my journey; +by lucky chance this visit to the museum had been postponed till the +last morning, and, as I idled through the afternoon about the Via +Plutino, my farewell mood was in full harmony with that in which I had +landed from Naples upon the Calabrian shore. So hard a thing to catch +and to retain, the mood corresponding perfectly to an intellectual +bias—hard, at all events, for him who cannot shape his life as he +will, and whom circumstance ever menaces with dreary harassment. Alone +and quiet, I heard the washing of the waves; I saw the evening fall on +cloud-wreathed Etna, the twinkling lights come forth on Scylla and +Charybdis; and, as I looked my last towards the Ionian Sea, I wished it +were mine to wander endlessly amid the silence of the ancient world, +to-day and all its sounds forgotten. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="finis"> +THE END. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of By the Ionian Sea, by George Gissing + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BY THE IONIAN SEA *** + +***** This file should be named 4354-h.htm or 4354-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/4/3/5/4354/ + +Produced by Charles Aldarondo. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: By the Ionian Sea + Notes of a Ramble in Southern Italy + +Author: George Gissing + +Posting Date: July 7, 2009 [EBook #4354] +Release Date: August, 2003 +First Posted: January 14, 2002 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BY THE IONIAN SEA *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Aldarondo. HTML version by Al Haines + + + + + + + + + +BY THE IONIAN SEA + +NOTES OF A RAMBLE IN SOUTHERN ITALY + + +BY + +GEORGE GISSING + + + + +CONTENTS + + I FROM NAPLES + II PAOLA + III THE GRAVE OF ALARIC + IV TARANTO + V DULCE GALAESI FLUMEN + VI THE TABLE OF THE PALADINS + VII COTRONE + VIII FACES BY THE WAY + IX MY FRIEND THE DOCTOR + X CHILDREN OF THE SOIL + XI THE MOUNT OF REFUGE + XII CATANZARO + XIII THE BREEZY HEIGHT + XIV SQUILLACE + XV MISERIA + XVI CASSIODORUS + XVII THE GROTTA + XVIII REGGIO + + + + +CHAPTER I + +FROM NAPLES + + +This is the third day of sirocco, heavy-clouded, sunless. All the +colour has gone out of Naples; the streets are dusty and stifling. I +long for the mountains and the sea. + +To-morrow I shall leave by the Messina boat, which calls at Paola. It +is now more than a twelvemonth since I began to think of Paola, and an +image of the place has grown in my mind. I picture a little _marina_; a +yellowish little town just above; and behind, rising grandly, the long +range of mountains which guard the shore of Calabria. Paola has no +special interest that I know of, but it is the nearest point on the +coast to Cosenza, which has interest in abundance; by landing here I +make a modestly adventurous beginning of my ramble in the South. At +Paola foreigners are rare; one may count upon new impressions, and the +journey over the hills will be delightful. + +Were I to lend ear to the people with whom I am staying, here in the +Chiatamone, I should either abandon my project altogether or set forth +with dire misgivings. They are Neapolitans of the better class; that is +to say, they have known losses, and talk of their former happiness, +when they lived on the Chiaia and had everything handsome about them. +The head of the family strikes me as a typical figure; he is an elderly +man, with a fine head, a dignified presence, and a coldly courteous +demeanour. By preference he speaks French, and his favourite subject is +Paris. One observes in him something like disdain for his own country, +which in his mind is associated only with falling fortunes and loss of +self-respect. The cordial Italian note never sounds in his talk. The +_signora_ (also a little ashamed of her own language) excites herself +about taxation--as well she may--and dwells with doleful vivacity on +family troubles. Both are astonished at my eccentricity and hardiness +in undertaking a solitary journey through the wild South. Their +geographical notions are vague; they have barely heard of Cosenza or of +Cotrone, and of Paola not at all; it would as soon occur to them to set +out for Morocco as for Calabria. How shall I get along with people +whose language is a barbarous dialect? Am I aware that the country is +in great part pestilential?--_la febbre_! Has no one informed me that +in autumn snows descend, and bury everything for months? It is useless +to explain that I only intend to visit places easily accessible, that I +shall travel mostly by railway, and that if disagreeable weather sets +in I shall quickly return northwards. They look at me dubiously, and +ask themselves (I am sure) whether I have not some more tangible motive +than a lover of classical antiquity. It ends with a compliment to the +enterprising spirit of the English race. + +I have purchases to make, business to settle, and I must go hither and +thither about the town. Sirocco, of course, dusks everything to +cheerless grey, but under any sky it is dispiriting to note the changes +in Naples. _Lo sventramento_ (the disembowelling) goes on, and regions +are transformed. It is a good thing, I suppose, that the broad Corso +Umberto I. should cut a way through the old Pendino; but what a +contrast between that native picturesqueness and the cosmopolitan +vulgarity which has usurped its place! "_Napoli se ne va_!" I pass the +Santa Lucia with downcast eyes, my memories of ten years ago striving +against the dulness of to-day. The harbour, whence one used to start +for Capri, is filled up; the sea has been driven to a hopeless distance +beyond a wilderness of dust-heaps. They are going to make a long, +straight embankment from the Castel dell'Ovo to the Great Port, and +before long the Santa Lucia will be an ordinary street, shut in among +huge houses, with no view at all. Ah, the nights that one lingered +here, watching the crimson glow upon Vesuvius, tracing the dark line of +the Sorrento promontory, or waiting for moonlight to cast its magic +upon floating Capri! The odours remain; the stalls of sea-fruit are as +yet undisturbed, and the jars of the water-sellers; women still comb +and bind each other's hair by the wayside, and meals are cooked and +eaten _al fresco_ as of old. But one can see these things elsewhere, +and Santa Lucia was unique. It has become squalid. In the grey light of +this sad billowy sky, only its ancient foulness is manifest; there +needs the golden sunlight to bring out a suggestion of its ancient +charm. + +Has Naples grown less noisy, or does it only seem so to me? The men +with bullock carts are strangely quiet; their shouts have nothing like +the frequency and spirit of former days. In the narrow and thronged +Strada di Chiaia I find little tumult; it used to be deafening. Ten +years ago a foreigner could not walk here without being assailed by the +clamour of _cocchieri_; nay, he was pursued from street to street, +until the driver had spent every phrase of importunate invitation; now, +one may saunter as one will, with little disturbance. Down on the +Piliero, whither I have been to take my passage for Paola, I catch but +an echo of the jubilant uproar which used to amaze me. Is Naples really +so much quieter? If I had time I would go out to Fuorigrotta, once, it +seemed to me, the noisiest village on earth, and see if there also I +observed a change. It would not be surprising if the modernization of +the city, together with the state of things throughout Italy, had a +subduing effect upon Neapolitan manners. In one respect the streets are +assuredly less gay. When I first knew Naples one was never, literally +never, out of hearing of a hand-organ; and these organs, which in +general had a peculiarly dulcet note, played the brightest of melodies; +trivial, vulgar if you will, but none the less melodious, and dear to +Naples. Now the sound of street music is rare, and I understand that +some police provision long since interfered with the soft-tongued +instruments. I miss them; for, in the matter of music, it is with me as +with Sir Thomas Browne. For Italy the change is significant enough; in +a few more years spontaneous melody will be as rare at Naples or Venice +as on the banks of the Thames. + +Happily, the musicians errant still strum their mandoline as you dine. +The old trattoria in the Toledo is as good as ever, as bright, as +comfortable. I have found my old corner in one of the little rooms, and +something of the old gusto for _zuppa di vongole_. The homely wine of +Posillipo smacks as in days gone by, and is commended to one's lips by +a song of the South. . . . + +Last night the wind changed and the sky began to clear; this morning I +awoke in sunshine, and with a feeling of eagerness for my journey. I +shall look upon the Ionian Sea, not merely from a train or a steamboat +as before, but at long leisure: I shall see the shores where once were +Tarentum and Sybaris, Croton and Locri. Every man has his intellectual +desire; mine is to escape life as I know it and dream myself into that +old world which was the imaginative delight of my boyhood. The names of +Greece and Italy draw me as no others; they make me young again, and +restore the keen impressions of that time when every new page of Greek +or Latin was a new perception of things beautiful. The world of the +Greeks and Romans is my land of romance; a quotation in either language +thrills me strangely, and there are passages of Greek and Latin verse +which I cannot read without a dimming of the eyes, which I cannot +repeat aloud because my voice fails me. In Magna Graecia the waters of +two fountains mingle and flow together; how exquisite will be the +draught! + +I drove with my luggage to the Immacolatella, and a boatman put me +aboard the steamer. Luggage, I say advisedly; it is a rather heavy +portmanteau, and I know it will be a nuisance. But the length of my +wanderings is so uncertain, its conditions are so vaguely anticipated. +I must have books if only for rainy days; I must have clothing against +a change of season. At one time I thought of taking a mere wallet, and +now I am half sorry that I altered my mind. But---- + +We were not more than an hour after time in starting. Perfect weather. +I sang to myself with joy upon the sunny deck as we steamed along the +Bay, past Portici, and Torre del Greco, and into the harbour of Torre +Annunziata, where we had to take on cargo. I was the only cabin +passenger, and solitude suits me. All through the warm and cloudless +afternoon I sat looking at the mountains, trying not to see that +cluster of factory chimneys which rolled black fumes above the +many-coloured houses. They reminded me of the same abomination on a +shore more sacred; from the harbour of Piraeus one looks to Athens +through trails of coal-smoke. By a contrast pleasant enough, Vesuvius +to-day sent forth vapours of a delicate rose-tint, floating far and +breaking seaward into soft little fleeces of cirrus. The cone, covered +with sulphur, gleamed bright yellow against cloudless blue. + +The voyage was resumed at dinner-time; when I came upon deck again, +night had fallen. We were somewhere near Sorrento; behind us lay the +long curve of faint-glimmering lights on the Naples shore; ahead was +Capri. In profound gloom, though under a sky all set with stars, we +passed between the island and Cape Minerva; the haven of Capri showed +but a faint glimmer; over it towered mighty crags, an awful blackness, +a void amid constellations. From my seat near the stern of the vessel I +could discern no human form; it was as though I voyaged quite alone in +the silence of this magic sea. Silence so all-possessing that the sound +of the ship's engine could not reach my ear, but was blended with the +water-splash into a lulling murmur. The stillness of a dead world laid +its spell on all that lived. To-day seemed an unreality, an idle +impertinence; the real was that long-buried past which gave its meaning +to all around me, touching the night with infinite pathos. Best of all, +one's own being became lost to consciousness; the mind knew only the +phantasmal forms it shaped, and was at peace in vision. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +PAOLA + + +I slept little, and was very early on deck, scanning by the light of +dawn a mountainous coast. At sunrise I learnt that we were in sight of +Paola; as day spread gloriously over earth and sky, the vessel hove to +and prepared to land cargo. There, indeed, was the yellowish little +town which I had so long pictured; it stood at a considerable height +above the shore; harbour there was none at all, only a broad beach of +shingle on which waves were breaking, and where a cluster of men, women +and children stood gazing at the steamer. It gave me pleasure to find +the place so small and primitive. In no hurry to land, I watched the +unloading of merchandise (with a great deal of shouting and +gesticulation) into boats which had rowed out for the purpose; +speculated on the resources of Paola in the matter of food (for I was +hungry); and at moments cast an eye towards the mountain barrier which +it was probable I should cross to-day. + +At last my portmanteau was dropped down on to the laden boat; I, as +best I could, managed to follow it; and on the top of a pile of rope +and empty flour-sacks we rolled landward. The surf was high; it cost +much yelling, leaping, and splashing to gain the dry beach. Meanwhile, +not without apprehension, I had eyed the group awaiting our arrival; +that they had their eyes on me was obvious, and I knew enough of +southern Italians to foresee my reception. I sprang into the midst of a +clamorous conflict; half a dozen men were quarreling for possession of +me. No sooner was my luggage on shore than they flung themselves upon +it. By what force of authority I know not, one of the fellows +triumphed; he turned to me with a satisfied smile, and--presented his +wife. + +"_Mia sposa, signore_!" + +Wondering, and trying to look pleased, I saw the woman seize the +portmanteau (a frightful weight), fling it on to her head, and march +away at a good speed. The crowd and I followed to the _dogana_, close +by, where as vigorous a search was made as I have ever had to undergo. +I puzzled the people; my arrival was an unwonted thing, and they felt +sure I was a trader of some sort. Dismissed under suspicion, I allowed +the lady to whom I had been introduced to guide me townwards. Again she +bore the portmanteau on her head, and evidently thought it a trifle, +but as the climbing road lengthened, and as I myself began to perspire +in the warm sunshine, I looked at my attendant with uncomfortable +feelings. It was a long and winding way, but the woman continued to +talk and laugh so cheerfully that I tried to forget her toil. At length +we reached a cabin where the _dazio_ (town dues) officer presented +himself, and this conscientious person insisted on making a fresh +examination of my baggage; again I explained myself, again I was eyed +suspiciously; but he released me, and on we went. I had bidden my guide +take me to the best inn; it was the _Leone_, a little place which +looked from the outside like an ill-kept stable, but was decent enough +within. The room into which they showed me had a delightful prospect. +Deep beneath the window lay a wild, leafy garden, and lower on the +hillside a lemon orchard shining with yellow fruit; beyond, the broad +pebbly beach, far seen to north and south, with its white foam edging +the blue expanse of sea. There I descried the steamer from which I had +landed, just under way for Sicily. The beauty of this view, and the +calm splendour of the early morning, put me into happiest mood. After +little delay a tolerable breakfast was set before me, with a good rough +wine; I ate and drank by the window, exulting in what I saw and all I +hoped to see. + +Guide-books had informed me that the _corriere_ (mail-diligence) from +Paola to Cosenza corresponded with the arrival of the Naples steamer, +and, after the combat on the beach, my first care was to inquire about +this. All and sundry made eager reply that the _corriere_ had long +since gone; that it started, in fact, at 5 A.M., and that the only +possible mode of reaching Cosenza that day was to hire a vehicle. +Experience of Italian travel made me suspicious, but it afterwards +appeared that I had been told the truth. Clearly, if I wished to +proceed at once, I must open negotiations at my inn, and, after a +leisurely meal, I did so. Very soon a man presented himself who was +willing to drive me over the mountains--at a charge which I saw to be +absurd; the twinkle in his eye as he named the sum sufficiently +enlightened me. By the book it was no more than a journey of four +hours; my driver declared that it would take from seven to eight. After +a little discussion he accepted half the original demand, and went off +very cheerfully to put in his horses. + +For an hour I rambled about the town's one street, very picturesque and +rich in colour, with rushing fountains where women drew fair water in +jugs and jars of antique beauty. Whilst I was thus loitering in the +sunshine, two well-dressed men approached me, and with somewhat +excessive courtesy began conversation. They understood that I was about +to drive to Cosenza. A delightful day, and a magnificent country! They +too thought of journeying to Cosenza, and, in short, would I allow them +to share my carriage? Now this was annoying; I much preferred to be +alone with my thoughts; but it seemed ungracious to refuse. After a +glance at their smiling faces, I answered that whatever room remained +in the vehicle was at their service--on the natural understanding that +they shared the expense; and to this, with the best grace in the world, +they at once agreed. We took momentary leave of each other, with much +bowing and flourishing of hats, and the amusing thing was that I never +beheld those gentlemen again. + +Fortunately--as the carriage proved to be a very small one, and the sun +was getting very hot; with two companions I should have had an +uncomfortable day. In front of the _Leone_ a considerable number of +loafers had assembled to see me off, and of these some half-dozen were +persevering mendicants. It disappointed me that I saw no interesting +costume; all wore the common, colourless garb of our destroying age. +The only vivid memory of these people which remains with me is the +cadence of their speech. Whilst I was breakfasting, two women stood at +gossip on a near balcony, and their utterance was a curious +exaggeration of the Neapolitan accent; every sentence rose to a high +note, and fell away in a long curve of sound, sometimes a musical wail, +more often a mere whining. The protraction of the last word or two was +really astonishing; again and again I fancied that the speaker had +broken into song. I cannot say that the effect was altogether pleasant; +in the end such talk would tell severely on civilized nerves, but it +harmonized with the coloured houses, the luxuriant vegetation, the +strange odours, the romantic landscape. + +In front of the vehicle were three little horses; behind it was hitched +an old shabby two-wheeled thing, which we were to leave somewhere for +repairs. With whip-cracking and vociferation, amid good-natured +farewells from the crowd, we started away. It was just ten o'clock. + +At once the road began to climb, and nearly three hours were spent in +reaching the highest point of the mountain barrier. Incessantly +winding, often doubling upon itself, the road crept up the sides of +profound gorges, and skirted many a precipice; bridges innumerable +spanned the dry ravines which at another season are filled with furious +torrents. From the zone of orange and olive and cactus we passed that +of beech and oak, noble trees now shedding their rich-hued foliage on +bracken crisped and brown; here I noticed the feathery bowers of wild +clematis ("old man's beard"), and many a spike of the great mullein, +strange to me because so familiar in English lanes. Through mists that +floated far below I looked over miles of shore, and outward to the +ever-rising limit of sea and sky. Very lovely were the effects of +light, the gradations of colour; from the blue-black abysses, where no +shape could be distinguished, to those violet hues upon the furrowed +heights which had a transparency, a softness, an indefiniteness, unlike +anything to be seen in northern landscape. + +The driver was accompanied by a half-naked lad, who, at certain points, +suddenly disappeared, and came into view again after a few minutes, +having made a short cut up some rugged footway between the loops of the +road. Perspiring, even as I sat, in the blaze of the sun, I envied the +boy his breath and muscle. Now and then he slaked his thirst at a stone +fountain by the wayside, not without reverencing the blue-hooded +Madonna painted over it. A few lean, brown peasants, bending under +faggots, and one or two carts, passed us before we gained the top, and +half-way up there was a hovel where drink could be bought; but with +these exceptions nothing broke the loneliness of the long, wild ascent. +My man was not talkative, but answered inquiries civilly; only on one +subject was he very curt--that of the two wooden crosses which we +passed just before arriving at the summit; they meant murders. At the +moment when I spoke of them I was stretching my legs in a walk beside +the carriage, the driver walking just in front of me; and something +then happened which is still a puzzle when I recall it. Whether the +thought of crimes had made the man nervous, or whether just then I wore +a peculiarly truculent face, or had made some alarming gesture, all of +a sudden he turned upon me, grasped my arm and asked sharply: "What +have you got in your hand?" I had a bit of fern, plucked a few minutes +before, and with surprise I showed it; whereupon he murmured an +apology, said something about making haste, and jumped to his seat. An +odd little incident. + +At an unexpected turn of the road there spread before me a vast +prospect; I looked down upon inland Calabria. It was a valley broad +enough to be called a plain, dotted with white villages, and backed by +the mass of mountains which now, as in old time, bear the name of Great +Sila. Through this landscape flowed the river Crati--the ancient +Crathis; northward it curved, and eastward, to fall at length into the +Ionian Sea, far beyond my vision. The river Crathis, which flowed by +the walls of Sybaris. I stopped the horses to gaze and wonder; gladly I +would have stood there for hours. Less interested, and impatient to get +on, the driver pointed out to me the direction of Cosenza, still at a +great distance. He added the information that, in summer, the +well-to-do folk of Cosenza go to Paola for sea-bathing, and that they +always perform the journey by night. I, listening carelessly amid my +dream, tried to imagine the crossing of those Calabrian hills under a +summer sun! By summer moonlight it must be wonderful. + +We descended at a sharp pace, all the way through a forest of +chestnuts, the fruit already gathered, the golden leaves rustling in +their fall. At the foot lies the village of San Fili, and here we left +the crazy old cart which we had dragged so far. A little further, and +before us lay a long, level road, a true Roman highway, straight for +mile after mile. By this road the Visigoths must have marched after the +sack of Rome. In approaching Cosenza I was drawing near to the grave of +Alaric. Along this road the barbarian bore in triumph those spoils of +the Eternal City which were to enrich his tomb. + +By this road, six hundred years before the Goth, marched Hannibal on +his sullen retreat from Italy, passing through Cosentia to embark at +Croton. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE GRAVE OF ALARIC + + +It would have been prudent to consult with my driver as to the inns of +Cosenza. But, with a pardonable desire not to seem helpless in his +hands, I had from the first directed him to the _Due Lionetti_, relying +upon my guide-book. Even at Cosenza there is progress, and guide-books +to little-known parts of Europe are easily allowed to fall out of date. +On my arrival---- + +But, first of all, the _dazio_. This time it was a serious business; +impossible to convince the rather surly officer that certain of the +contents of my portmanteau were not for sale. What in the world was I +doing with _tanti libri_? Of course I was a commercial traveller; +ridiculous to pretend anything else. After much strain of courtesy, I +clapped to my luggage, locked it up, and with a resolute face cried +"Avanti!" And there was an end of it. In this case, as so often, I have +no doubt that simple curiosity went for much in the man's pertinacious +questioning. Of course the whole _dazio_ business is ludicrous and +contemptible; I scarce know a baser spectacle than that of uniformed +officials groping in the poor little bundles of starved peasant women, +mauling a handful of onions, or prodding with long irons a cartload of +straw. Did any one ever compare the expenses with the results? + +A glance shows the situation of Cosenza. The town is built on a steep +hillside, above the point where two rivers, flowing from the valleys on +either side, mingle their waters under one name, that of the Crati. We +drove over a bridge which spans the united current, and entered a +narrow street, climbing abruptly between houses so high and so close +together as to make a gloom amid sunshine. It was four o'clock; I felt +tired and half choked with dust; the thought of rest and a meal was +very pleasant. As I searched for the sign of my inn, we suddenly drew +up, midway in the dark street, before a darker portal, which seemed the +entrance to some dirty warehouse. The driver jumped down--"Ecco +l'albergo!" + +I had seen a good many Italian hostelries, and nourished no +unreasonable expectations. The Lion at Paola would have seemed to any +untravelled Englishman a squalid and comfortless hole, incredible as a +place of public entertainment; the _Two Little Lions_ of Cosenza made a +decidedly worse impression. Over sloppy stones, in an atmosphere heavy +with indescribable stenches, I felt rather than saw my way to the foot +of a stone staircase; this I ascended, and on the floor above found a +dusky room, where tablecloths and an odour of frying oil afforded some +suggestion of refreshment. My arrival interested nobody; with a good +deal of trouble I persuaded an untidy fellow, who seemed to be a +waiter, to come down with me and secure my luggage. More trouble before +I could find a bedroom; hunting for keys, wandering up and down stone +stairs and along pitch-black corridors, sounds of voices in quarrel. +The room itself was utterly depressing--so bare, so grimy, so dark. +Quickly I examined the bed, and was rewarded. It is the good point of +Italian inns; be the house and the room howsoever sordid, the bed is +almost invariably clean and dry and comfortable. + +I ate, not amiss; I drank copiously to the memory of Alaric, and felt +equal to any fortune. When night had fallen I walked a little about the +scarce-lighted streets and came to an open place, dark and solitary and +silent, where I could hear the voices of the two streams as they +mingled below the hill. Presently I passed an open office of some kind, +where a pleasant-looking man sat at a table writing; on an impulse I +entered, and made bold to ask whether Cosenza had no better inn than +the _Due Lionetti_. Great was this gentleman's courtesy; he laid down +his pen, as if for ever, and gave himself wholly to my concerns. His +discourse delighted me, so flowing were the phrases, so rounded the +periods. Yes, there were other inns; one at the top of the town--the +_Vetere_--in a very good position; and they doubtless excelled my own +in modern comfort. As a matter of fact, it might be avowed that the +_Lionetti_, from the point of view of the great centres of +civilization, left something to be desired--something to be desired; +but it was a good old inn, a reputable old inn, and probably on further +acquaintance---- + +Further acquaintance did not increase my respect for the _Lionetti_; it +would not be easy to describe those features in which, most notably, it +fell short of all that might be desired. But I proposed no long stay at +Cosenza, where malarial fever is endemic, and it did not seem worth +while to change my quarters. I slept very well. + +I had come here to think about Alaric, and with my own eyes to behold +the place of his burial. Ever since the first boyish reading of Gibbon, +my imagination has loved to play upon that scene of Alaric's death. +Thinking to conquer Sicily, the Visigoth marched as far as to the +capital of the Bruttii, those mountain tribes which Rome herself never +really subdued; at Consentia he fell sick and died. How often had I +longed to see this river Busento, which the "labour of a captive +multitude" turned aside, that its flood might cover and conceal for all +time the tomb of the Conqueror! I saw it in the light of sunrise, +flowing amid low, brown, olive-planted hills; at this time of the year +it is a narrow, but rapid stream, running through a wide, waste bed of +yellow sand and stones. The Crati, which here has only just started +upon its long seaward way from some glen of Sila, presents much the +same appearance, the track which it has worn in flood being many times +as broad as the actual current. They flow, these historic waters, with +a pleasant sound, overborne at moments by the clapping noise of +Cosenza's washerwomen, who cleanse their linen by beating it, then +leave it to dry on the river-bed. Along the banks stood tall poplars, +each a spire of burnished gold, blazing against the dark olive foliage +on the slopes behind them; plane trees, also, very rich of colour, and +fig trees shedding their latest leaves. Now, tradition has it that +Alaric was buried close to the confluence of the Busento and the Crati. +If so, he lay in full view of the town. But the Goths are said to have +slain all their prisoners who took part in the work, to ensure secrecy. +Are we to suppose that Consentia was depopulated? On any other +supposition the story must be incorrect, and Alaric's tomb would have +to be sought at least half a mile away, where the Busento is hidden in +its deep valley. + +Gibbon, by the way, calls it Busentinus; the true Latin was Buxentius. +To make sure of the present name, I questioned some half a dozen +peasants, who all named the river Basenzio or Basenz'; a countryman of +more intelligent appearance assured me that this was only a dialectical +form, the true one being Busento. At a bookseller's shop (Cosenza had +one, a very little one) I found the same opinion to prevail. + +It is difficult to walk much in this climate; lassitude and feverish +symptoms follow on the slightest exertion; but--if one can disregard +the evil smells which everywhere catch one's breath--Cosenza has +wonders and delights which tempt to day-long rambling. To call the town +picturesque is to use an inadequate word; at every step, from the +opening of the main street at the hill-foot up to the stern mediaeval +castle crowning its height, one marvels and admires. So narrow are the +ways that a cart drives the pedestrian into shop or alley; two vehicles +(but perhaps the thing never happened) would with difficulty pass each +other. As in all towns of Southern Italy, the number of hair-dressers +is astonishing, and they hang out the barber's basin--the very basin +(of shining brass and with a semicircle cut out of the rim) which the +Knight of La Mancha took as substitute for his damaged helmet. Through +the gloom of high balconied houses, one climbs to a sunny piazza, where +there are several fine buildings; beyond it lies the public garden, a +lovely spot, set with alleys of acacia and groups of palm and +flower-beds and fountains; marble busts of Garibaldi, Mazzini, and +Cavour gleam among the trees. Here one looks down upon the yellow gorge +of the Crati, and sees it widen northward into a vast green plain, in +which the track of the river is soon lost. On the other side of the +Crati valley, in full view of this garden, begins the mountain region +of many-folded Sila--a noble sight at any time of the day, but most of +all when the mists of morning cling about its summits, or when the +sunset clothes its broad flanks with purple. Turn westward, and you +behold the long range which hides the Mediterranean so high and wild +from this distance, that I could scarce believe I had driven over it. + +Sila--locally the Black Mountain, because dark with climbing +forests--held my gaze through a long afternoon. From the grassy +table-land of its heights, pasturage for numberless flocks and herds +when the long snows have melted, one might look over the shore of the +Ionian Sea where Greek craftsmen built ships of timber cut upon the +mountain's side. Not so long ago it was a haunt of brigands; now there +is no risk for the rare traveller who penetrates that wilderness; but +he must needs depend upon the hospitality of labourers and shepherds. I +dream of sunny glades, never touched, perhaps, by the foot of man since +the Greek herdsman wandered there with his sheep or goats. Somewhere on +Sila rises the Neaithos (now Neto) mentioned by Theocritus; one would +like to sit by its source in the woodland solitude, and let fancy have +her way. + +In these garden walks I met a group of peasants, evidently strange to +Cosenza, and wondering at all they saw. The women wore a very striking +costume: a short petticoat of scarlet, much embroidered, and over it a +blue skirt, rolled up in front and gathered in a sort of knot behind +the waist; a bodice adorned with needlework and metal; elaborate +glistening head-gear, and bare feet. The town-folk have no peculiarity +of dress. I observed among them a grave, intelligent type of +countenance, handsome and full of character, which may be that of their +brave ancestors the Bruttii. With pleasure I saw that they behaved +gently to their beasts, the mules being very sleek and +contented-looking. There is much difference between these people and +the Neapolitans; they seem to have no liking for noise, talk with a +certain repose, and allow the stranger to go about among them +unmolested, unimportuned. Women above the poorest class are not seen in +the streets; there prevails an Oriental system of seclusion. + +I was glad to come upon the pot market; in the south of Italy it is +always a beautiful and interesting sight. Pottery for commonest use +among Calabrian peasants has a grace of line, a charm of colour, far +beyond anything native to our most pretentious china-shops. Here still +lingers a trace of the old civilization. There must be a great good in +a people which has preserved this need of beauty through ages of +servitude and suffering. Compare such domestic utensils--these oil-jugs +and water-jars--with those in the house of an English labourer. Is it +really so certain that all virtues of race dwell with those who can +rest amid the ugly and know it not for ugliness? + +The new age declares itself here and there at Cosenza. A squalid +railway station, a hideous railway bridge, have brought the town into +the European network; and the craze for building, which has disfigured +and half ruined Italy, shows itself in an immense new theatre--Teatro +Garibaldi--just being finished. The old one, which stands ruinous close +by, struck me as, if anything, too large for the town; possibly it had +been damaged by an earthquake, the commonest sort of disaster at +Cosenza. On the front of the new edifice I found two inscriptions, both +exulting over the fall of the papal power; one was interesting enough +to copy:-- + + "20 SEPT., 1870. + QUESTA DATA POLITICA + DICE FINITA LA TEOCRAZIA + NEGLI ORDINAMENTI CIVILI. + IL DI CHE LA DIRA FINITA + MORALMENTE + SARA LA DATA UMANA." + +which signifies: "This political date marks the end of theocracy in +civil life. The day which ends its moral rule will begin the epoch of +humanity." A remarkable utterance anywhere; not least so within the +hearing of the stream which flows over the grave of Alaric. + +One goes to bed early at Cosenza; the night air is dangerous, +and--Teatro Garibaldi still incomplete--darkness brings with it no sort +of pastime. I did manage to read a little in my miserable room by an +antique lamp, but the effort was dispiriting; better to lie in the dark +and think of Goth and Roman. + +Do the rivers Busento and Crati still keep the secret of that "royal +sepulchre, adorned with the splendid spoils and trophies of Rome"? It +seems improbable that the grave was ever disturbed; to this day there +exists somewhere near Cosenza a treasure-house more alluring than any +pictured in Arabian tale. It is not easy to conjecture what "spoils and +trophies" the Goths buried with their king; if they sacrificed masses +of precious metal, then perchance there still lies in the river-bed +some portion of that golden statue of _Virtus_, which the Romans melted +down to eke out the ransom claimed by Alaric. The year 410 A.D. was no +unfitting moment to break into bullion the figure personifying Manly +Worth. "After that," says an old historian, "all bravery and honour +perished out of Rome." + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +TARANTO + + +Cosenza is on a line of railway which runs northward up the Crati +valley, and joins the long seashore line from Taranto to Reggio. As it +was my wish to see the whole of that coast, I had the choice of +beginning my expedition either at the northern or the southern end; for +several reasons I decided to make straight for Taranto. + +The train started about seven o'clock in the morning. I rose at six in +chill darkness, the discomfort of my room seeming worse than ever at +this featureless hour. The waiter--perhaps he was the landlord, I left +this doubt unsolved--brought me a cup of coffee; dirtier and more +shabbily apparelled man I have never looked upon; viler coffee I never +drank. Then I descended into the gloom of the street. The familiar +odours breathed upon me with pungent freshness, wafted hither and +thither on a mountain breeze. A glance upwards at the narrow strip of +sky showed a grey-coloured dawn, prelude, I feared, of a dull day. + +Evidently I was not the only traveller departing; on the truck just +laden I saw somebody else's luggage, and at the same moment there came +forth a man heavily muffled against the air, who, like myself, began to +look about for the porter. We exchanged greetings, and on our walk to +the station I learned that my companion, also bound for Taranto, had +been detained by illness for several days at the _Lionetti_, where, he +bitterly complained, the people showed him no sort of attention. He was +a commercial traveller, representing a firm of drug merchants in North +Italy, and for his sins (as he put it) had to make the southern journey +every year; he invariably suffered from fever, and at certain +places--of course, the least civilized--had attacks which delayed him +from three days to a week. He loathed the South, finding no +compensation whatever for the miseries of travel below Naples; the +inhabitants he reviled with exceeding animosity. Interested by the +doleful predicament of this vendor of drugs (who dosed himself very +vigorously), I found him a pleasant companion during the day; after our +lunch he seemed to shake off the last shivers of his malady, and was as +sprightly an Italian as one could wish to meet--young, sharp-witted, +well-mannered, and with a pleasing softness of character. + +We lunched at Sybaris; that is to say, at the railway station now so +called, though till recently it bore the humbler name of Buffaloria. +The Italians are doing their best to revive the classical place-names, +where they have been lost, and occasionally the incautious traveller is +much misled. Of Sybaris no stone remains above ground; five hundred +years before Christ it was destroyed by the people of Croton, who +turned the course of the river Crathis so as to whelm the city's ruins. +Francois Lenormant, whose delightful book, _La Grande Grece_, was my +companion on this journey, believed that a discovery far more wonderful +and important than that of Pompeii awaits the excavator on this site; +he held it certain that here, beneath some fifteen feet of alluvial +mud, lay the temples and the streets of Sybaris, as on the day when +Crathis first flowed over them. A little digging has recently been +done, and things of interest have been found; but discovery on a wide +scale is still to be attempted. + +Lenormant praises the landscape hereabouts as of "incomparable beauty"; +unfortunately I saw it in a sunless day, and at unfavourable moments I +was strongly reminded of the Essex coast--grey, scrubby fiats, crossed +by small streams, spreading wearily seaward. One had only to turn +inland to correct this mood; the Calabrian mountains, even without +sunshine, had their wonted grace. Moreover, cactus and agave, frequent +in the foreground, preserved the southern character of the scene. The +great plain between the hills and the sea grows very impressive; so +silent it is, so mournfully desolate, so haunted with memories of +vanished glory. I looked at the Crathis--the Crati of Cosenza--here +beginning to spread into a sea-marsh; the waters which used to flow +over golden sands, which made white the oxen, and sunny-haired the +children, that bathed in them, are now lost amid a wilderness poisoned +by their own vapours. + +The railway station, like all in this region, was set about with +eucalyptus. Great bushes of flowering rosemary scented the air, and a +fine cassia tree, from which I plucked blossoms, yielded a subtler +perfume. Our lunch was not luxurious; I remember only, as at all worthy +of Sybaris, a palatable white wine called Muscato dei Saraceni. +Appropriate enough amid this vast silence to turn one's thoughts to the +Saracens, who are so largely answerable for the ages of desolation that +have passed by the Ionian Sea. + +Then on for Taranto, where we arrived in the afternoon. Meaning to stay +for a week or two I sought a pleasant room in a well-situated hotel, +and I found one with a good view of town and harbour. The Taranto of +old days, when it was called Taras, or later Tarentum, stood on a long +peninsula, which divides a little inland sea from the great sea +without. In the Middle Ages the town occupied only the point of this +neck of land, which, by the cutting of an artificial channel, had been +made into an island: now again it is spreading over the whole of the +ancient site; great buildings of yellowish-white stone, as ugly as +modern architect can make them, and plainly far in excess of the actual +demand for habitations, rise where Phoenicians and Greeks and Romans +built after the nobler fashion of their times. One of my windows looked +towards the old town, with its long sea-wall where fishermen's nets +hung drying, the dome of its Cathedral, the high, squeezed houses, +often with gardens on the roofs, and the swing-bridge which links it to +the mainland; the other gave me a view across the Mare Piccolo, the +Little Sea (it is some twelve miles round about), dotted in many parts +with crossed stakes which mark the oyster-beds, and lined on this side +with a variety of shipping moored at quays. From some of these vessels, +early next morning, sounded suddenly a furious cannonade, which +threatened to shatter the windows of the hotel; I found it was in +honour of the Queen of Italy, whose _festa_ fell on that day. This +barbarous uproar must have sounded even to the Calabrian heights; it +struck me as more meaningless in its deafening volley of noise than any +note of joy or triumph that could ever have been heard in old Tarentum. + +I walked all round the island part of the town; lost myself amid its +maze of streets, or alleys rather, for in many places one could touch +both sides with outstretched arms, and rested in the Cathedral of S. +Cataldo, who, by the bye, was an Irishman. All is strange, but too +close-packed to be very striking or beautiful; I found it best to +linger on the sea-wall, looking at the two islands in the offing, and +over the great gulf with its mountain shore stretching beyond sight. On +the rocks below stood fishermen hauling in a great net, whilst a boy +splashed the water to drive the fish back until they were safely +enveloped in the last meshes; admirable figures, consummate in graceful +strength, their bare legs and arms the tone of terra cotta. What slight +clothing they wore became them perfectly, as is always the case with a +costume well adapted to the natural life of its wearers. Their slow, +patient effort speaks of immemorial usage, and it is in harmony with +time itself. These fishermen are the primitives of Taranto; who shall +say for how many centuries they have hauled their nets upon the rock? +When Plato visited the Schools of Taras, he saw the same brown-legged +figures, in much the same garb, gathering their sea-harvest. When +Hannibal, beset by the Romans, drew his ships across the peninsula and +so escaped from the inner sea, fishermen of Tarentum went forth as +ever, seeking their daily food. A thousand years passed, and the fury +of the Saracens, when it had laid the city low, spared some humble +Tarentine and the net by which he lived. To-day the fisher-folk form a +colony apart; they speak a dialect which retains many Greek words +unknown to the rest of the population. I could not gaze at them long +enough; their lithe limbs, their attitudes at work or in repose, their +wild, black hair, perpetually reminded me of shapes pictured on a +classic vase. + +Later in the day I came upon a figure scarcely less impressive. Beyond +the new quarter of the town, on the ragged edge of its wide, +half-peopled streets, lies a tract of olive orchards and of seed-land; +there, alone amid great bare fields, a countryman was ploughing. The +wooden plough, as regards its form, might have been thousands of years +old; it was drawn by a little donkey, and traced in the soil--the +generous southern soil--the merest scratch of a furrow. I could not but +approach the man and exchange words with him; his rude but gentle face, +his gnarled hands, his rough and scanty vesture, moved me to a deep +respect, and when his speech fell upon my ear, it was as though I +listened to one of the ancestors of our kind. Stopping in his work, he +answered my inquiries with careful civility; certain phrases escaped +me, but on the whole he made himself quite intelligible, and was glad, +I could see, when my words proved that I understood him. I drew apart, +and watched him again. Never have I seen man so utterly patient, so +primaevally deliberate. The donkey's method of ploughing was to pull +for one minute, and then rest for two; it excited in the ploughman not +the least surprise or resentment. Though he held a long stick in his +hand, he never made use of it; at each stoppage he contemplated the +ass, and then gave utterance to a long "Ah-h-h!" in a note of the most +affectionate remonstrance. They were not driver and beast, but comrades +in labour. It reposed the mind to look upon them. + +Walking onward in the same direction, one approaches a great wall, with +gateway sentry-guarded; it is the new Arsenal, the pride of Taranto, +and the source of its prosperity. On special as well as on general +grounds, I have a grudge against this mass of ugly masonry. I had +learnt from Lenormant that at a certain spot, Fontanella, by the shore +of the Little Sea, were observable great ancient heaps of murex +shells--the murex precious for its purple, that of Tarentum yielding in +glory only to the purple of Tyre. I hoped to see these shells, perhaps +to carry one away. But Fontanella had vanished, swallowed up, with all +remnants of antiquity, by the graceless Arsenal. It matters to no one +save the few fantastics who hold a memory of the ancient world dearer +than any mechanic triumph of to-day. If only one could believe that the +Arsenal signified substantial good to Italy! Too plainly it means +nothing but the exhaustion of her people in the service of a base ideal. + +The confines of this new town being so vague, much trouble is given to +that noble institution, the _dazio_. Scattered far and wide in a dusty +wilderness, stand the little huts of the officers, vigilant on every +road or by-way to wring the wretched soldi from toilsome hands. As +became their service, I found these gentry anything but amiable; they +had commonly an air of _ennui_, and regarded a stranger with surly +suspicion. + +When I was back again among the high new houses, my eye, wandering in +search of any smallest point of interest, fell on a fresh-painted +inscription:-- + + "ALLA MAGNA GRAECIA. STABILIMENTO + IDROELETTROPATICO." + +was well meant. At the sign of "Magna Graecia" one is willing to accept +"hydroelectropathic" as a late echo of Hellenic speech. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +DULCE GALAESI FLUMEN + + +Taranto has a very interesting Museum. I went there with an +introduction to the curator, who spared no trouble in pointing out to +me all that was best worth seeing. He and I were alone in the little +galleries; at a second or third visit I had the Museum to myself, save +for an attendant who seemed to regard a visitor as a pleasant novelty, +and bestirred himself for my comfort when I wanted to make sketches. +Nothing is charged for admission, yet no one enters. Presumably, all +the Tarentines who care for archaeology have already been here, and +strangers are few. + +Upon the shelves are seen innumerable miniature busts, carved in some +kind of stone; thought to be simply portraits of private persons. One +peers into the faces of men, women, and children, vaguely conjecturing +their date, their circumstances; some of them may have dwelt in the old +time on this very spot of ground now covered by the Museum. Like other +people who grow too rich and comfortable, the citizens of Tarentum +loved mirth and mockery; their Greek theatre was remarkable for +irreverent farce, for parodies of the great drama of Athens. And here +is testimony to the fact: all manner of comic masks, of grotesque +visages; mouths distorted into impossible grins, eyes leering and +goggling, noses extravagant. I sketched a caricature of Medusa, the +anguished features and snaky locks travestied with satiric grimness. +You remember a story which illustrates this scoffing habit: how the +Roman Ambassador, whose Greek left something to be desired, excited the +uproarious derision of the assembled Tarentines--with results that were +no laughing matter. + +I used the opportunity of my conversation with the Director of the +Museum to ask his aid in discovering the river Galaesus. Who could find +himself at Taranto without turning in thought to the Galaesus, and +wishing to walk along its banks? Unhappily, one cannot be quite sure of +its position. A stream there is, flowing into the Little Sea, which by +some is called Galeso; but the country-folk commonly give it the name +of Gialtrezze. Of course I turned my steps in that direction, to see +and judge for myself. + +To skirt the western shore of the Mare Piccolo I had to pass the +railway station, and there I made a few inquiries; the official with +whom I spoke knew not the name Galeso, but informed me that the +Gialtrezze entered the sea at a distance of some three kilometres. That +I purposed walking such a distance to see an insignificant stream +excited the surprise, even the friendly concern, of my interlocutor; +again and again he assured me it was not worth while, repeating +emphatically, "_Non c'e novita_." But I went my foolish way. Of two or +three peasants or fishermen on the road I asked the name of the little +river I was approaching; they answered, "Gialtrezze." Then came a man +carrying a gun, whose smile and greeting invited question. "Can you +tell me the name of the stream which flows into the sea just beyond +here?" "Signore, it is the Galeso." + +My pulse quickened with delight; all the more when I found that my +informant had no tincture of the classics, and that he supported Galeso +against Gialtrezze simply as a question of local interest. Joyously I +took leave of him, and very soon I was in sight of the river itself. +The river? It is barely half a mile long; it rises amid a bed of great +reeds, which quite conceal the water, and flows with an average breadth +of some ten feet down to the seashore, on either side of it bare, dusty +fields, and a few hoary olives. + +The Galaesus?--the river beloved by Horace; its banks pasturing a +famous breed of sheep, with fleece so precious that it was protected by +a garment of skins? Certain it is that all the waters of Magna Graecia +have much diminished since classic times, but (unless there have been +great local changes, due, for example, to an earthquake) this brook had +always the same length, and it is hard to think of the Galaesus as so +insignificant. Disappointed, brooding, I followed the current seaward, +and upon the shore, amid scents of mint and rosemary, sat down to rest. + +There was a good view of Taranto across the water; the old town on its +little island, compact of white houses, contrasting with the yellowish +tints of the great new buildings which spread over the peninsula. With +half-closed eyes, one could imagine the true Tarentum. Wavelets lapped +upon the sand before me, their music the same as two thousand years +ago. A goatherd came along, his flock straggling behind him; man and +goats were as much of the old world as of the new. Far away, the boats +of fishermen floated silently. I heard a rustle as an old fig tree hard +by dropped its latest leaves. On the sea-bank of yellow crumbling earth +lizards flashed about me in the sunshine. After a dull morning, the day +had passed into golden serenity; a stillness as of eternal peace held +earth and sky. + +"Dearest of all to me is that nook of earth which yields not to +Hymettus for its honey, nor for its olive to green Venafrum; where +heaven grants a long springtime and warmth in winter, and in the sunny +hollows Bacchus fosters a vintage noble as the Falernian----" The lines +of Horace sang in my head; I thought, too, of the praise of Virgil, +who, tradition has it, wrote his _Eclogues_ hereabouts. Of course, the +country has another aspect, in spring and early summer; I saw it at a +sad moment; but, all allowance made for seasons, it is still with +wonder that one recalls the rapture of the poets. A change beyond +conception must have come upon these shores of the Ionian Sea. The +scent of rosemary seemed to be wafted across the ages from a vanished +world. + +After all, who knows whether I have seen the Galaesus? Perhaps, as some +hold, it is quite another river, flowing far to the west of Taranto +into the open gulf. Gialtrezze may have become Galeso merely because of +the desire in scholars to believe that it was the classic stream; in +other parts of Italy names have been so imposed. But I shall not give +ear to such discouraging argument. It is little likely that my search +will ever be renewed, and for me the Galaesus--"dulce Galaesi +flumen"--is the stream I found and tracked, whose waters I heard mingle +with the Little Sea. The memory has no sense of disappointment. Those +reeds which rustle about the hidden source seem to me fit shelter of a +Naiad; I am glad I could not see the water bubbling in its spring, for +there remains a mystery. Whilst I live, the Galaesus purls and glistens +in the light of that golden afternoon, and there beyond, across the +blue still depths, glimmers a vision of Tarentum. + +Let Taranto try as it will to be modern and progressive, there is a +retarding force which shows little sign of being overcome--the profound +superstition of the people. A striking episode of street life reminded +me how near akin were the southern Italians of to-day to their +predecessors in what are called the dark ages; nay, to those more +illustrious ancestors who were so ready to believe that an ox had +uttered an oracle, or that a stone had shed blood. Somewhere near the +swing-bridge, where undeniable steamships go and come between the inner +and the outer sea, I saw a crowd gathered about a man who was +exhibiting a picture and expounding its purport; every other minute the +male listeners doffed their hats, and the females bowed and crossed +themselves. When I had pressed near enough to hear the speaker, I found +he was just finishing a wonderful story, in which he himself might or +might not have faith, but which plainly commanded the credit of his +auditors. Having closed his narrative, the fellow began to sell it in +printed form--little pamphlets with a rude illustration on the cover. I +bought the thing for a soldo, and read it as I walked away. + +A few days ago--thus, after a pious exordium, the relation began--in +that part of Italy called Marca, there came into a railway station a +Capuchin friar of grave, thoughtful, melancholy aspect, who besought +the station-master to allow him to go without ticket by the train just +starting, as he greatly desired to reach the Sanctuary of Loreto that +day, and had no money to pay his fare The official gave a contemptuous +refusal, and paid no heed to the entreaties of the friar, who urged all +manner of religious motives for the granting of his request. The two +engines on the train (which was a very long one) seemed about to steam +away--but, behold, _con grande stupore di tutti_, the waggons moved not +at all! Presently a third engine was put on, but still all efforts to +start the train proved useless. Alone of the people who viewed this +inexplicable event, the friar showed no astonishment; he remarked +calmly, that so long as he was refused permission to travel by it, the +train would not stir. At length _un ricco signore_ found a way out of +the difficulty by purchasing the friar a third-class ticket; with a +grave reproof to the station-master, the friar took his seat, and the +train went its way. + +But the matter, of course, did not end here. Indignant and amazed, and +wishing to be revenged upon that _frataccio_, the station-master +telegraphed to Loreto, that in a certain carriage of a certain train +was travelling a friar, whom it behoved the authorities to arrest for +having hindered the departure of the said train for fifteen minutes, +and also for the offense of mendicancy within a railway station. +Accordingly, the Loreto police sought the offender, but, in the +compartment where he had travelled, found no person; there, however, +lay a letter couched in these terms: "He who was in this waggon under +the guise of a humble friar, has now ascended into the arms of his +_Santissima Madre Maria_. He wished to make known to the world how easy +it is for him to crush the pride of unbelievers, or to reward those who +respect religion." + +Nothing more was discoverable; wherefore the learned of the Church--_i +dotti della chiesa_--came to the conclusion that under the guise of a +friar there had actually appeared "_N. S. G. C._" The Supreme Pontiff +and his prelates had not yet delivered a judgment in the matter, but +there could be no sort of doubt that they would pronounce the +authenticity of the miracle. With a general assurance that the good +Christian will be saved and the unrepentant will be damned, this +remarkable little pamphlet came to an end. Much verbiage I have +omitted, but the translation, as far as it goes, is literal. Doubtless +many a humble Tarentine spelt it through that evening, with boundless +wonder, and thought such an intervention of Providence worthy of being +talked about, until the next stabbing case in his street provided a +more interesting topic. + +Possibly some malevolent rationalist might note that the name of the +railway station where this miracle befell was nowhere mentioned. Was it +not open to him to go and make inquiries at Loreto? + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE TABLE OF THE PALADINS + + +For two or three days a roaring north wind whitened the sea with foam; +it kept the sky clear, and from morning to night there was magnificent +sunshine, but, none the less, one suffered a good deal from cold. The +streets were barer than ever; only in the old town, where high, close +walls afforded a good deal of shelter, was there a semblance of active +life. But even here most of the shops seemed to have little, if any, +business; frequently I saw the tradesman asleep in a chair, at any hour +of daylight. Indeed, it must be very difficult to make the day pass at +Taranto. I noticed that, as one goes southward in Italy, the later do +ordinary people dine; appetite comes slowly in this climate. Between +_colazione_ at midday and _pranzo_ at eight, or even half-past, what an +abysm of time! Of course, the Tarantine never reads; the only bookshop +I could discover made a poorer display than even that at Cosenza--it +was not truly a bookseller's at all, but a fancy stationer's. How the +women spend their lives one may vainly conjecture. Only on Sunday did I +see a few of them about the street; they walked to and from Mass, with +eyes on the ground, and all the better-dressed of them wore black. + +When the weather fell calm again, and there was pleasure in walking, I +chanced upon a trace of the old civilization which interested me more +than objects ranged in a museum. Rambling eastward along the outer +shore, in the wilderness which begins as soon as the town has +disappeared, I came to a spot as uninviting as could be imagined, great +mounds of dry rubbish, evidently deposited here by the dust-carts of +Taranto; luckily, I continued my walk beyond this obstacle, and after a +while became aware that I had entered upon a road--a short piece of +well-marked road, which began and ended in the mere waste. A moment's +examination, and I saw that it was no modern by-way. The track was +clean-cut in living rock, its smooth, hard surface lined with two +parallel ruts nearly a foot deep; it extended for some twenty yards +without a break, and further on I discovered less perfect bits. Here, +manifestly, was the seaside approach to Tarentum, to Taras, perhaps to +the Phoenician city which came before them. Ages must have passed since +vehicles used this way; the modern high road is at some distance +inland, and one sees at a glance that this witness of ancient traffic +has remained by Time's sufferance in a desert region. Wonderful was the +preservation of the surface: the angles at the sides, where the road +had been cut down a little below the rock-level, were sharp and clean +as if carved yesterday, and the profound ruts, worn, perhaps, before +Rome had come to her power, showed the grinding of wheels with strange +distinctness. From this point there is an admirable view of Taranto, +the sea, and the mountains behind. + +Of the ancient town there remains hardly anything worthy of being +called a ruin. Near the shore, however, one can see a few remnants of a +theatre--perhaps that theatre where the Tarentines were sitting when +they saw Roman galleys, in scorn of treaty, sailing up the Gulf. + +My last evenings were brightened by very beautiful sunsets; one in +particular remains with me; I watched it for an hour or more from the +terrace-road of the island town. An exquisite after-glow seemed as if +it would never pass away. Above thin, grey clouds stretching along the +horizon a purple flush melted insensibly into the dark blue of the +zenith. Eastward the sky was piled with lurid rack, sullen-tinted folds +edged with the hue of sulphur. The sea had a strange aspect, curved +tracts of pale blue lying motionless upon a dark expanse rippled by the +wind. Below me, as I leaned on the sea-wall, a fisherman's boat crept +duskily along the rocks, a splash of oars soft-sounding in the +stillness. I looked to the far Calabrian hills, now scarce +distinguishable from horizon cloud, and wondered what chances might +await me in the unknown scenes of my further travel. + +The long shore of the Ionian Sea suggested many a halting-place. Best +of all, I should have liked to swing a wallet on my shoulder and make +the whole journey on foot; but this for many reasons was impossible. I +could only mark points of the railway where some sort of food or +lodging might be hoped for, and the first of these stoppages was +Metaponto. + +Official time-bills of the month marked a train for Metaponto at 4.56 +A.M., and this I decided to take, as it seemed probable that I might +find a stay of some hours sufficient, and so be able to resume my +journey before night. I asked the waiter to call me at a quarter to +four. In the middle of the night (as it seemed to me) I was aroused by +a knocking, and the waiter's voice called to me that, if I wished to +leave early for Metaponto, I had better get up at once, as the +departure of the train had been changed to 4.15--it was now half-past +three. There ensued an argument, sustained, on my side, rather by the +desire to stay in bed this cold morning than by any faith in the +reasonableness of the railway company. There must be a mistake! The +_orario_ for the month gave 4.56, and how could the time of a train be +changed without public notice? Changed it was, insisted the waiter; it +had happened a few days ago, and they had only heard of it at the hotel +this very morning. Angry and uncomfortable, I got my clothes on, and +drove to the station, where I found that a sudden change in the +time-table, without any regard for persons relying upon the official +guide, was taken as a matter of course. In chilly darkness I bade +farewell to Taranto. + +At a little after six, when palest dawn was shimmering on the sea, I +found myself at Metaponto, with no possibility of doing anything for a +couple of hours. Metaponto is a railway station, that and nothing more, +and, as a station also calls itself a hotel, I straightway asked for a +room, and there dozed until sunshine improved my humour and stirred my +appetite. The guidebook had assured me of two things: that a vehicle +could be had here for surveying the district, and that, under cover +behind the station, one would find a little collection of antiquities +unearthed hereabout. On inquiry, I found that no vehicle, and no animal +capable of being ridden, existed at Metaponto; also that the little +museum had been transferred to Naples. It did not pay to keep the +horse, they told me; a stranger asked for it only "once in a hundred +years." However, a lad was forthcoming who would guide me to the ruins. +I breakfasted (the only thing tolerable being the wine), and we set +forth. + +It was a walk of some two or three miles, by a cart road, through +fields just being ploughed for grain. All about lay a level or slightly +rolling country, which in winter becomes a wilderness of mud; dry +traces of vast slough and occasional stagnant pools showed what the +state of things would be a couple of months hence. The properties were +divided by hedges of agave--huge growths, grandly curving their +sword-pointed leaves. Its companion, the spiny cactus, writhed here and +there among juniper bushes and tamarisks. Along the wayside rose tall, +dead thistles, white with age, their great cluster of seed-vessels +showing how fine the flower had been. Above our heads, peewits were +wheeling and crying, and lizards swarmed on the hard, cracked ground. + +We passed a few ploughmen, with white oxen yoked to labour. Ploughing +was a fit sight at Metapontum, famous of old for the richness of its +soil; in token whereof the city dedicated at Delphi its famous Golden +Sheaf. It is all that remains of life on this part of the coast; the +city had sunk into ruin before the Christian era, and was never +rebuilt. Later, the shore was too dangerous for habitation. Of all the +cities upon the Ionian Sea, only Tarentum and Croton continued to exist +through the Middle Ages, for they alone occupied a position strong for +defence against pirates and invaders. A memory of the Saracen wars +lingers in the name borne by the one important relic of Metapontum, the +_Tavola de' Paladini_; to this my guide was conducting me. + +It is the ruin of a temple to an unknown god, which stood at some +distance north of the ancient city; two parallel rows of columns, ten +on one side, five on the other, with architrave all but entire, and a +basement shattered. The fine Doric capitals are well preserved; the +pillars themselves, crumbling under the tooth of time, seem to support +with difficulty their noble heads. This monument must formerly have +been very impressive amid the wide landscape; but, a few years ago, for +protection against peasant depredators, a wall ten feet high was built +close around the columns, so that no good view of them is any longer +obtainable. To the enclosure admission is obtained through an iron +gateway with a lock. I may add, as a picturesque detail, that the lock +has long been useless; my guide simply pushed the gate open. Thus, the +ugly wall serves no purpose whatever save to detract from the beauty of +the scene. + +Vegetation is thick within the temple precincts; a flowering rose bush +made contrast of its fresh and graceful loveliness with the age-worn +strength of these great carved stones. About their base grew +luxuriantly a plant which turned my thoughts for a moment to rural +England, the round-leaved pennywort. As I lingered here, there stirred +in me something of that deep emotion which I felt years ago amid the +temples of Paestum. Of course, this obstructed fragment holds no claim +to comparison with Paestum's unique glory, but here, as there, one is +possessed by the pathos of immemorial desolation; amid a silence which +the voice has no power to break, nature's eternal vitality triumphs +over the greatness of forgotten men. + +At a distance of some three miles from this temple there lies a little +lake, or a large pond, which would empty itself into the sea but for a +piled barrier of sand and shingle. This was the harbour of Metapontum. + +I passed the day in rambling and idling, and returned for a meal at the +station just before train-time. The weather could not have been more +enjoyable; a soft breeze and cloudless blue. For the last half-hour I +lay in a hidden corner of the eucalyptus grove--trying to shape in +fancy some figure of old Pythagoras. He died here (says story) in 497 +B.C.--broken-hearted at the failure of his efforts to make mankind +gentle and reasonable. In 1897 A.D. that hope had not come much nearer +to its realization. Italians are yet familiar with the name of the +philosopher, for it is attached to the multiplication table, which they +call _tavola pitagorica_. What, in truth, do we know of him? He is a +type of aspiring humanity; a sweet and noble figure, moving as a dim +radiance through legendary Hellas. The English reader hears his name +with a smile, recalling only the mention of him, in mellow mirth, by +England's greatest spirit. "What is the opinion of Pythagoras +concerning wild fowl?" Whereto replies the much-offended Malvolio: +"That the soul of our grandam might haply inhabit a bird." He of the +crossed garters disdains such fantasy. "I think nobly of the soul, and +no way approve his opinion." + +I took my ticket for Cotrone, which once was Croton. At Croton, +Pythagoras enjoyed his moment's triumph, ruling men to their own +behoof. At Croton grew up a school of medicine which glorified Magna +Graecia. "Healthier than Croton," said a proverb; for the spot was +unsurpassed in salubrity; beauty and strength distinguished its +inhabitants, who boasted their champion Milon. After the fall of +Sybaris, Croton became so populous that its walls encircled twelve +miles. Hither came Zeuxis, to adorn with paintings the great temple of +Hera on the Lacinian promontory; here he made his picture of Helen, +with models chosen from the loveliest maidens of the city. I was +light-hearted with curious anticipation as I entered the train for +Cotrone. + +While daylight lasted, the moving landscape held me attentive. This +part of the coast is more varied, more impressive, than between Taranto +and Metaponto. For the most part a shaggy wilderness, the ground lies +in strangely broken undulations, much hidden with shrub and tangled +boscage. At the falling of dusk we passed a thickly-wooded tract large +enough to be called a forest; the great trees looked hoary with age, +and amid a jungle of undergrowth, myrtle and lentisk, arbutus and +oleander, lay green marshes, dull deep pools, sluggish streams. A spell +which was half fear fell upon the imagination; never till now had I +known an enchanted wood. Nothing human could wander in those pathless +shades, by those dead waters. It was the very approach to the world of +spirits; over this woodland, seen on the verge of twilight, brooded a +silent awe, such as Dante knew in his _selva oscura_. + +Of a sudden the dense foliage was cleft; there opened a broad alley +between drooping boughs, and in the deep hollow, bordered with sand and +stones, a flood rolled eastward. This river is now called Sinno; it was +the ancient Sins, whereon stood the city of the same name. In the +seventh century before Christ, Sins was lauded as the richest city in +the world; for luxury it outrivalled Sybaris. + +I had recently been reading Lenormant's description of the costumes of +Magna Graecia prior to the Persian wars. Sins, a colony from Ionia, +still kept its Oriental style of dress. Picture a man in a long, +close-clinging tunic which descended to his feet, either of fine linen, +starched and pleated, or of wool, falling foldless, enriched with +embroidery and adorned with bands of gay-coloured geometric patterns; +over this a wrap (one may say) of thick wool, tight round the bust and +leaving the right arm uncovered, or else a more ample garment, +elaborately decorated like the long tunic. Complete the picture with a +head ornately dressed, on the brow a fringe of ringlets; the long hair +behind held together by gold wire spirally wound; above, a crowning +fillet, with a jewel set in the front; the beard cut to a point, and +the upper lip shaven. You behold the citizen of these Hellenic colonies +in their stately prime. + +Somewhere in that enchanted forest, where the wild vine trails from +tree to tree, where birds and creatures of the marshy solitude haunt +their ancient home, lie buried the stones of Sins. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +COTRONE + + +Night hid from me the scenes that followed. Darkling, I passed again +through the station called Sybaris, and on and on by the sea-shore, the +sound of breakers often audible. From time to time I discerned black +mountain masses against a patch of grey sky, or caught a glimpse of +blanching wave, or felt my fancy thrill as a stray gleam from the +engine fire revealed for a moment another trackless wood. Often the +hollow rumbling of the train told me that we were crossing a bridge; +the stream beneath it bore, perhaps, a name in legend or in history. A +wind was rising; at the dim little stations I heard it moan and buffet, +and my carriage, where all through the journey I sat alone, seemed the +more comfortable. Rain began to fall, and when, about ten o'clock, I +alighted at Cotrone, the night was loud with storm. + +There was but one vehicle at the station, a shabby, creaking, +mud-plastered sort of coach, into which I bundled together with two +travellers of the kind called commercial--almost the only species of +traveller I came across during these southern wanderings. A long time +was spent in stowing freightage which, after all, amounted to very +little; twice, thrice, four, and perhaps five times did we make a false +start, followed by uproarious vociferation, and a jerk which tumbled us +passengers all together. The gentlemen of commerce rose to wild +excitement, and roundly abused the driver; as soon as we really +started, their wrath changed to boisterous gaiety. On we rolled, +pitching and tossing, mid darkness and tempest, until, through the +broken window, a sorry illumination of oil-lamps showed us one side of +a colonnaded street. "Bologna! Bologna!" cried my companions, mocking +at this feeble reminiscence of their fat northern town. The next moment +we pulled up, our bruised bodies colliding vigorously for the last +time; it was the _Albergo Concordia_. + +A dark stone staircase, yawning under the colonnade; on the first +landing an open doorway; within, a long corridor, doors of bedrooms on +either side, and in a room at the far end a glimpse of a tablecloth. +This was the hotel, the whole of it. As soon as I grasped the +situation, it was clear to me why my fellow travellers had entered with +a rush and flung themselves into rooms; there might, perchance, be only +one or two chambers vacant, and I knew already that Cotrone offered no +other decent harbourage. Happily I did not suffer for my lack of +experience; after trying one or two doors in vain, I found a +sleeping-place which seemed to be unoccupied, and straightway took +possession of it. No one appeared to receive the arriving guests. +Feeling very hungry, I went into the room at the end of the passage, +where I had seen a tablecloth; a wretched lamp burned on the wall, but +only after knocking, stamping, and calling did I attract attention; +then issued from some mysterious region a stout, slatternly, sleepy +woman, who seemed surprised at my demand for food, but at length +complied with it. I was to have better acquaintance with my hostess of +the _Concordia_ before I quitted Cotrone. + +Next morning the wind still blew, but the rain was over; I could begin +my rambles. Like the old town of Taranto, Cotrone occupies the site of +the ancient acropolis, a little headland jutting into the sea; above, +and in front of the town itself, stands the castle built by Charles V., +with immense battlements looking over the harbour. From a road skirting +the shore around the base of the fortress one views a wide bay, bounded +to the north by the dark flanks of Sila (I was in sight of the Black +Mountain once more), and southwards by a long low promontory, its level +slowly declining to the far-off point where it ends amid the waves. On +this Cape I fixed my eyes, straining them until it seemed to me that I +distinguished something, a jutting speck against the sky, at its +farthest point. Then I used my field-glass, and at once the doubtful +speck became a clearly visible projection, much like a lighthouse. It +is a Doric column, some five-and-twenty feet high; the one pillar that +remains of the great temple of Hera, renowned through all the Hellenic +world, and sacred still when the goddess had for centuries borne a +Latin name. "Colonna" is the ordinary name of the Cape; but it is also +known as _Capo di Nau_, a name which preserves the Greek word _naos_ +(temple). + +I planned for the morrow a visit to this spot, which is best reached by +sea. To-day great breakers were rolling upon the strand, and all the +blue of the bay was dashed with white foam; another night would, I +hoped, bring calm, and then the voyage! _Dis aliter visum_. + +A little fleet of sailing vessels and coasting steamers had taken +refuge within the harbour, which is protected by a great mole. A good +haven; the only one, indeed, between Taranto and Reggio, but it grieves +one to remember that the mighty blocks built into the sea-barrier came +from that fallen temple. We are told that as late as the sixteenth +century the building remained all but perfect, with eight-and-forty +pillars, rising there above the Ionian Sea; a guide to sailors, even as +when AEneas marked it on his storm-tossed galley. Then it was assailed, +cast down, ravaged by a Bishop of Cotrone, one Antonio Lucifero, to +build his episcopal palace. Nearly three hundred years later, after the +terrible earthquake of 1783, Cotrone strengthened her harbour with the +great stones of the temple basement. It was a more legitimate pillage. + +Driven inland by the gale, I wandered among low hills which overlook +the town. Their aspect is very strange, for they consist entirely--on +the surface, at all events--of a yellowish-grey mud, dried hard, and as +bare as the high road. A few yellow hawkweeds, a few camomiles, grew in +hollows here and there; but of grass not a blade. It is easy to make a +model of these Crotonian hills. Shape a solid mound of hard-pressed +sand, and then, from the height of a foot or two, let water trickle +down upon it; the perpendicular ridges and furrows thus formed upon the +miniature hill represent exactly what I saw here on a larger scale. +Moreover, all the face of the ground is minutely cracked and wrinkled; +a square foot includes an incalculable multitude of such meshes. +Evidently this is the work of hot sun on moisture; but when was it +done? For they tell me that it rains very little at Cotrone, and only a +deluge could moisten this iron soil. Here and there I came upon yet +more striking evidence of waterpower; great holes on the hillside, +generally funnel-shaped, and often deep enough to be dangerous to the +careless walker. The hills are round-topped, and parted one from +another by gully or ravine, shaped, one cannot but think, by furious +torrents. A desolate landscape, and scarcely bettered when one turned +to look over the level which spreads north of the town; one discovers +patches of foliage, indeed, the dark perennial verdure of the south; +but no kindly herb clothes the soil. In springtime, it seems, there is +a growth of grass, very brief, but luxuriant. That can only be on the +lower ground; these furrowed heights declare a perpetual sterility. + +What has become of the ruins of Croton? This squalid little town of +to-day has nothing left from antiquity. Yet a city bounded with a wall +of twelve miles circumference is not easily swept from the face of the +earth. Bishop Lucifer, wanting stones for his palace, had to go as far +as the Cape Colonna; then, as now, no block of Croton remained. Nearly +two hundred years before Christ the place was forsaken. Rome colonized +it anew, and it recovered an obscure life as a place of embarkation for +Greece, its houses occupying only the rock of the ancient citadel. Were +there at that date any remnants of the great Greek city?--still great +only two centuries before. Did all go to the building of Roman +dwellings and temples and walls, which since have crumbled or been +buried? + +We are told that the river AEsarus flowed through the heart of the city +at its prime. I looked over the plain, and yonder, towards the distant +railway station, I descried a green track, the course of the all but +stagnant and wholly pestilential stream, still called Esaro. Near its +marshy mouth are wide orange orchards. Could one but see in vision the +harbour, the streets, the vast encompassing wall! From the eminence +where I stood, how many a friend and foe of Croton has looked down upon +its shining ways, peopled with strength and beauty and wisdom! Here +Pythagoras may have walked, glancing afar at the Lacinian sanctuary, +then new built. + +Lenormant is eloquent on the orange groves of Cotrone. In order to +visit them, permission was necessary, and presently I made my way to +the town hall, to speak with the Sindaco (Mayor) and request his aid in +this matter. Without difficulty I was admitted. In a well-furnished +office sat two stout gentlemen, smoking cigars, very much at their +ease; the Sindaco bade me take a chair, and scrutinized me with +doubtful curiosity as I declared my business. Yes, to be sure he could +admit me to see his own orchard; but why did I wish to see it? My reply +that I had no interest save in the natural beauty of the place did not +convince him; he saw in me a speculator of some kind. That was natural +enough. In all the south of Italy, money is the one subject of men's +thoughts; intellectual life does not exist; there is little even of +what we should call common education. Those who have wealth cling to it +fiercely; the majority have neither time nor inclination to occupy +themselves with anything but the earning of a livelihood which for +multitudes signifies the bare appeasing of hunger. + +Seeing the Sindaco's embarrassment, his portly friend began to question +me; good-humouredly enough, but in such a fat bubbling voice (made more +indistinct by the cigar he kept in his mouth) that with difficulty I +understood him. What was I doing at Cotrone? I endeavoured to explain +that Cotrone greatly interested me. Ha! Cotrone interested me? Really? +Now what did I find interesting at Cotrone? I spoke of historic +associations. The Sindaco and his friend exchanged glances, smiled in a +puzzled, tolerant, half-pitying way, and decided that my request might +be granted. In another minute I withdrew, carrying half a sheet of +note-paper on which were scrawled in pencil a few words, followed by +the proud signature "Berlinghieri." When I had deciphered the scrawl, I +found it was an injunction to allow me to view a certain estate "_senza +nulla toccare_"--without touching anything. So a doubt still lingered +in the dignitary's mind. + +Cotrone has no vehicle plying for hire--save that in which I arrived at +the hotel. I had to walk in search of the orange orchard, all along the +straight dusty road leading to the station. For a considerable distance +this road is bordered on both sides by warehouses of singular +appearance. They have only a ground floor, and the front wall is not +more than ten feet high, but their low roofs, sloping to the ridge at +an angle of about thirty degrees, cover a great space. The windows are +strongly barred, and the doors show immense padlocks of elaborate +construction. The goods warehoused here are chiefly wine and oil, +oranges and liquorice. (A great deal of liquorice grows around the +southern gulf.) At certain moments, indicated by the markets at home or +abroad, these stores are conveyed to the harbour, and shipped away. For +the greater part of the year the houses stand as I saw them, locked, +barred, and forsaken: a street where any sign of life is exceptional; +an odd suggestion of the English Sunday in a land that knows not such +observance. + +Crossing the Esaro, I lingered on the bridge to gaze at its green, +muddy water, not visibly flowing at all. The high reeds which half +concealed it carried my thoughts back to the Galaesus. But the +comparison is all in favour of the Tarentine stream. Here one could +feel nothing but a comfortless melancholy; the scene is too squalid, +the degradation too complete. + +Of course, no one looked at the _permesso_ with which I presented +myself at the entrance to the orchard. From a tumbling house, which we +should call the lodge, came forth (after much shouting on my part) an +aged woman, who laughed at the idea that she should be asked to read +anything, and bade me walk wherever I liked. I strayed at pleasure, +meeting only a lean dog, which ran fearfully away. The plantation was +very picturesque; orange trees by no means occupied all the ground, but +mingled with pomegranates and tamarisks and many evergreen shrubs of +which I knew not the name; whilst here and there soared a magnificent +stone pine. The walks were bordered with giant cactus, now and again so +fantastic in their growth that I stood to wonder; and in an open space +upon the bank of the Esaro (which stagnates through the orchard) rose a +majestic palm, its leaves stirring heavily in the wind which swept +above. Picturesque, abundantly; but these beautiful tree-names, which +waft a perfume of romance, are like to convey a false impression to +readers who have never seen the far south; it is natural to think of +lovely nooks, where one might lie down to rest and dream; there comes a +vision of soft turf under the golden-fruited boughs--"places of +nestling green for poets made." Alas! the soil is bare and lumpy as a +ploughed field, and all the leafage that hangs low is thick with a +clayey dust. One cannot rest or loiter or drowse; no spot in all the +groves where by any possibility one could sit down. After rambling as +long as I chose, I found that a view of the orchard from outside was +more striking than the picture amid the trees themselves. _Senza nulla +toccare_, I went my way. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +FACES BY THE WAY + + +The wind could not roar itself out. Through the night it kept awaking +me, and on the morrow I found a sea foamier than ever; impossible to +reach the Colonna by boat, and almost so, I was assured, to make the +journey by land in such weather as this. Perforce I waited. + +A cloudless sky; broad sunshine, warm as in an English summer; but the +roaring _tramontana_ was disagreeably chill. No weather could be more +perilous to health. The people of Cotrone, those few of them who did +not stay at home or shelter in the porticoes, went about heavily +cloaked, and I wondered at their ability to wear such garments under so +hot a sun. Theoretically aware of the danger I was running, but, in +fact, thinking little about it, I braved the wind and the sunshine all +day long; my sketch-book gained by it, and my store of memories. First +of all, I looked into the Cathedral, an ugly edifice, as uninteresting +within as without. Like all the churches in Calabria, it is +white-washed from door to altar, pillars no less than walls--a cold and +depressing interior. I could see no picture of the least merit; one, a +figure of Christ with hideous wounds, was well-nigh as repulsive as +painting could be. This vile realism seems to indicate Spanish +influence. There is a miniature copy in bronze of the statue of the +chief Apostle in St. Peter's at Rome, and beneath it an inscription +making known to the faithful that, by order of Leo XIII. in 1896, an +Indulgence of three hundred days is granted to whosoever kisses the +bronze toe and says a prayer. Familiar enough this unpretentious +announcement, yet it never fails of its little shock to the heretic +mind. Whilst I was standing near, a peasant went through the mystic +rite; to judge from his poor malaria-stricken countenance, he prayed +very earnestly, and I hope his Indulgence benefited him. Probably he +repeated a mere formula learnt by heart. I wished he could have prayed +spontaneously for three hundred days of wholesome and sufficient food, +and for as many years of honest, capable government in his +heavy-burdened country. + +When travelling, I always visit the burial-ground; I like to see how a +people commemorates its dead, for tombstones have much significance. +The cemetery of Cotrone lies by the sea-shore, at some distance beyond +the port, far away from habitations; a bare hillside looks down upon +its graves, and the road which goes by is that leading to Cape Colonna. +On the way I passed a little ruined church, shattered, I was told, by +an earthquake three years before; its lonely position made it +interesting, and the cupola of coloured tiles (like that of the +Cathedral at Amalfi) remained intact, a bright spot against the grey +hills behind. A high enclosing wall signalled the cemetery; I rang a +bell at the gate and was admitted by a man of behaviour and language +much more refined than is common among the people of this region; I +felt sorry, indeed, that I had not found him seated in the Sindaco's +chair that morning. But as guide to the burial-ground he was +delightful. Nine years, he told me, he had held the post of custodian, +in which time, working with his own hands, and unaided, he had turned +the enclosure from a wretched wilderness into a beautiful garden. +Unaffectedly I admired the results of his labour, and my praise +rejoiced him greatly. He specially requested me to observe the +geraniums; there were ten species, many of them of extraordinary size +and with magnificent blossoms. Roses I saw, too, in great abundance; +and tall snapdragons, and bushes of rosemary, and many flowers unknown +to me. As our talk proceeded the gardener gave me a little light on his +own history; formerly he was valet to a gentleman of Cotrone, with whom +he had travelled far and wide over Europe; yes, even to London, of +which he spoke with expressively wide eyes, and equally expressive +shaking of the head. That any one should journey from Calabria to +England seemed to him intelligible enough; but he marvelled that I had +thought it worth while to come from England to Calabria. Very rarely +indeed could he show his garden to one from a far-off country; no, the +place was too poor, accommodation too rough; there needed a certain +courage, and he laughed, again shaking his head. + +The ordinary graves were marked with a small wooden cross; where a +head-stone had been raised, it generally presented a skull and crossed +bones. Round the enclosure stood a number of mortuary chapels, gloomy +and ugly. An exception to this dull magnificence in death was a marble +slab, newly set against the wall, in memory of a Lucifero--one of that +family, still eminent, to which belonged the sacrilegious bishop. The +design was a good imitation of those noble sepulchral tablets which +abound in the museum at Athens; a figure taking leave of others as if +going on a journey. The Lucifers had shown good taste in their choice +of the old Greek symbol; no better adornment of a tomb has ever been +devised, nor one that is half so moving. At the foot of the slab was +carved a little owl (civetta), a bird, my friend informed me, very +common about here. + +When I took leave, the kindly fellow gave me a large bunch of flowers, +carefully culled, with many regrets that the lateness of the season +forbade his offering choicer blossoms. His simple good-nature and +intelligence greatly won upon me. I like to think of him as still +quietly happy amid his garden walls, tending flowers that grow over the +dead at Cotrone. + +On my way back again to the town, I took a nearer view of the ruined +little church, and, whilst I was so engaged, two lads driving a herd of +goats stopped to look at me. As I came out into the road again, the +younger of these modestly approached and begged me to give him a +flower--by choice, a rose. I did so, much to his satisfaction and no +less to mine; it was a pleasant thing to find a wayside lad asking for +anything but soldi. The Calabrians, however, are distinguished by their +self-respect; they contrast remarkedly with the natives of the +Neapolitan district. Presently, I saw that the boy's elder companion +had appropriated the flower, which he kept at his nose as he plodded +along; after useless remonstrance, the other drew near to me again, +shamefaced; would I make him another present; not a rose this time, he +would not venture to ask it, but "_questo piccolo_"; and he pointed to +a sprig of geranium. There was a grace about the lad which led me to +talk to him, though I found his dialect very difficult. Seeing us on +good terms, the elder boy drew near, and at once asked a puzzling +question: When was the ruined church on the hillside to be rebuilt? I +answered, of course, that I knew nothing about it, but this reply was +taken as merely evasive; in a minute or two the lad again questioned +me. Was the rebuilding to be next year? Then I began to understand; +having seen me examining the ruins, the boy took it for granted that I +was an architect here on business, and I don't think I succeeded in +setting him right. When he had said good-bye he turned to look after me +with a mischievous smile, as much as to say that I had naturally +refused to talk to him about so important a matter as the building of a +church, but he was not to be deceived. + +The common type of face at Cotrone is coarse and bumpkinish; ruder, it +seemed to me, than faces seen at any point of my journey hitherto. A +photographer had hung out a lot of portraits, and it was a hideous +exhibition; some of the visages attained an incredible degree of vulgar +ugliness. This in the town which still bears the name of Croton. The +people are all more or less unhealthy; one meets peasants horribly +disfigured with life-long malaria. There is an agreeable cordiality in +the middle classes; business men from whom I sought casual information, +even if we only exchanged a few words in the street, shook hands with +me at parting. I found no one who had much good to say of his native +place; every one complained of a lack of water. Indeed, Cotrone has as +good as no water supply. One or two wells I saw, jealously guarded: the +water they yield is not really fit for drinking, and people who can +afford it purchase water which comes from a distance in earthenware +jars. One of these jars I had found in my bedroom; its secure corking +much puzzled me until I made inquiries. The river Esaro is all but +useless for any purpose, and as no other stream flows in the +neighbourhood, Cotrone's washerwomen take their work down to the beach; +even during the gale I saw them washing there in pools which they had +made to hold the sea water; now and then one of them ventured into the +surf, wading with legs of limitless nudity and plunging linen as the +waves broke about her. + +It was unfortunate that I brought no letter of introduction to Cotrone; +I should much have liked to visit one of the better houses. Well-to-do +people live here, and I was told that, in fine weather, "at least half +a dozen" private carriages might be seen making the fashionable drive +on the Strada Regina Margherita. But it is not easy to imagine luxury +or refinement in these dreary, close-packed streets. Judging from our +table at the _Concordia_, the town is miserably provisioned; the dishes +were poor and monotonous and infamously cooked. Almost the only +palatable thing offered was an enormous radish. Such radishes I never +saw: they were from six to eight inches long, and more than an inch +thick, at the same time thoroughly crisp and sweet. The wine of the +country had nothing to recommend it. It was very heady, and smacked of +drugs rather than of grape juice. + +But men must eat, and the _Concordia_, being the only restaurant, daily +entertained several citizens, besides guests staying in the house. One +of these visitants excited my curiosity; he was a middle-aged man of +austere countenance; shabby in attire, but with the bearing of one +accustomed to command. Arriving always at exactly the same moment, he +seated himself in his accustomed place, drew his hat over his brows, +and began to munch bread. No word did I hear him speak. As soon as he +appeared in the doorway, the waiter called out, with respectful hurry, +"Don Ferdinando!" and in a minute his first course was served. Bent +like a hunchback over the table, his hat dropping ever lower, until it +almost hid his eyes, the Don ate voraciously. His dishes seemed to be +always the same, and as soon as he had finished the last mouthful, he +rose and strode from the room. + +Don is a common title of respect in Southern Italy; it dates of course +from the time of Spanish rule. At a favourable moment I ventured to +inquire of the waiter who Don Ferdinando might be; the only answer, +given with extreme discretion, was "A proprietor." If in easy +circumstances, the Don must have been miserly, his diet was wretched +beyond description. And in the manner of his feeding he differed +strangely from the ordinary Italian who frequents restaurants. +Wonderful to observe, the representative diner. He always seems to know +exactly what his appetite demands; he addresses the waiter in a +preliminary discourse, sketching out his meal, and then proceeds to +fill in the minutiae. If he orders a common dish, he describes with +exquisite detail how it is to be prepared; in demanding something out +of the way he glows with culinary enthusiasm. An ordinary bill of fare +never satisfies him; he plays variations upon the theme suggested, +divides or combines, introduces novelties of the most unexpected kind. +As a rule, he eats enormously (I speak only of dinner), a piled dish of +macaroni is but the prelude to his meal, a whetting of his appetite. +Throughout he grumbles, nothing is quite as it should be, and when the +bill is presented he grumbles still more vigorously, seldom paying the +sum as it stands. He rarely appears content with his entertainment, and +often indulges in unbounded abuse of those who serve him. These +characteristics, which I have noted more or less in every part of +Italy, were strongly illustrated at the _Concordia_. In general, they +consist with a fundamental good humour, but at Cotrone the tone of the +dining-room was decidedly morose. One man--he seemed to be a sort of +clerk--came only to quarrel. I am convinced that he ordered things +which he knew the people could not cook just for the sake of reviling +their handiwork when it was presented. Therewith he spent incredibly +small sums; after growling and remonstrating and eating for more than +an hour, his bill would amount to seventy or eighty centesimi, wine +included. Every day he threatened to withdraw his custom; every day he +sent for the landlady, pointed out to her how vilely he was treated, +and asked how she could expect him to recommend the _Concordia_ to his +acquaintances. On one occasion I saw him push away a plate of +something, plant his elbows on the table, and hide his face in his +hands; thus he sat for ten minutes, an image of indignant misery, and +when at last his countenance was again visible, it showed traces of +tears. + +I dwell upon the question of food because it was on this day that I +began to feel a loss of appetite and found myself disgusted with the +dishes set before me. In ordinary health I have the happiest +qualification of the traveller, an ability to eat and enjoy the +familiar dishes of any quasi-civilized country; it was a bad sign when +I grew fastidious. After a mere pretence of dinner, I lay down in my +room to rest and read. But I could do neither; it grew plain to me that +I was feverish. Through a sleepless night, the fever manifestly +increasing, I wished that illness had fallen on me anywhere rather than +at Cotrone. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +MY FRIEND THE DOCTOR + + +In the morning I arose as usual, though with difficulty. I tried to +persuade myself that I was merely suffering from a violent attack of +dyspepsia, the natural result of _Concordia_ diet. When the waiter +brought my breakfast I regarded it with resentful eye, feeling for the +moment very much like my grumbling acquaintance of the dinner hour. It +may be as well to explain that the breakfast consisted of very bad +coffee, with goat's milk, hard, coarse bread, and goat's butter, which +tasted exactly like indifferent lard. The so-called butter, by a +strange custom of Cotrone, was served in the emptied rind of a +spherical cheese--the small _caccio cavallo_, horse cheese, which one +sees everywhere in the South. I should not have liked to inquire where, +how, when, or by whom the substance of the cheese had been consumed. +Possibly this receptacle is supposed to communicate a subtle flavour to +the butter; I only know that, even to a healthy palate, the stuff was +rather horrible. Cow's milk could be obtained in very small quantities, +but it was of evil flavour; butter, in the septentrional sense of the +word, did not exist. + +It surprises me to remember that I went out, walked down to the shore, +and watched the great waves breaking over the harbour mole. There was a +lull in the storm, but as yet no sign of improving weather; clouds +drove swiftly across a lowering sky. My eyes turned to the Lacinian +promontory, dark upon the turbid sea. Should I ever stand by the sacred +column? It seemed to me hopelessly remote; the voyage an impossible +effort. + +I talked with a man, of whom I remember nothing but his piercing eyes +steadily fixed upon me; he said there had been a wreck in the night, a +ship carrying live pigs had gone to pieces, and the shore was sprinkled +with porcine corpses. + +Presently I found myself back at the _Concordia_, not knowing exactly +how I had returned. The dyspepsia--I clung to this hypothesis--was +growing so violent that I had difficulty in breathing: before long I +found it impossible to stand. + +My hostess was summoned, and she told me that Cotrone had "a great +physician," by name "Dr. Scurco." Translating this name from dialect +into Italian, I presumed that the physician's real name was Sculco, and +this proved to be the case. Dr. Riccardo Sculco was a youngish man, +with an open, friendly countenance. At once I liked him. After an +examination, of which I quite understood the result, he remarked in his +amiable, airy manner that I had "a touch of rheumatism"; as a simple +matter of precaution, I had better go to bed for the rest of the day, +and, just for the form of the thing, he would send some medicine. +Having listened to this with as pleasant a smile as I could command, I +caught the Doctor's eye, and asked quietly, "Is there much congestion?" +His manner at once changed; he became businesslike and confidential. +The right lung; yes, the right lung. Mustn't worry; get to bed and take +my quinine in _dosi forti_, and he would look in again at night. + +The second visit I but dimly recollect. There was a colloquy between +the Doctor and my hostess, and the word _cataplasma_ sounded +repeatedly; also I heard again "_dosi forti_." The night that followed +was perhaps the most horrible I ever passed. Crushed with a sense of +uttermost fatigue, I could get no rest. From time to time a sort of +doze crept upon me, and I said to myself, "Now I shall sleep"; but on +the very edge of slumber, at the moment when I was falling into +oblivion, a hand seemed to pluck me back into consciousness. In the +same instant there gleamed before my eyes a little circle of fire, +which blazed and expanded into immensity, until its many-coloured glare +beat upon my brain and thrilled me with torture. No sooner was the +intolerable light extinguished than I burst into a cold sweat; an icy +river poured about me; I shook, and my teeth chattered, and so for some +minutes I lay in anguish, until the heat of fever re-asserted itself, +and I began once more to toss and roll. A score of times was this +torment repeated. The sense of personal agency forbidding me to sleep +grew so strong that I waited in angry dread for that shock which +aroused me; I felt myself haunted by a malevolent power, and rebelled +against its cruelty. + +Through the night no one visited me. At eight in the morning a knock +sounded at the door, and there entered the waiter, carrying a tray with +my ordinary breakfast. "The Signore is not well?" he remarked, standing +to gaze at me. I replied that I was not quite well; would he give me +the milk, and remove from my sight as quickly as possible all the other +things on the tray. A glimpse of butter in its cheese-rind had given me +an unpleasant sensation. The goat's milk I swallowed thankfully, and, +glad of the daylight, lay somewhat more at my ease awaiting Dr. Sculco. + +He arrived about half-past nine, and was agreeably surprised to find me +no worse. But the way in which his directions had been carried out did +not altogether please him. He called the landlady, and soundly rated +her. This scene was interesting, it had a fine flavour of the Middle +Ages. The Doctor addressed mine hostess of the _Concordia_ as "thou," +and with magnificent disdain refused to hear her excuses; she, the +stout, noisy woman, who ruled her own underlings with contemptuous +rigour, was all subservience before this social superior, and whined to +him for pardon. "What water is this?" asked Dr. Sculco, sternly, taking +up the corked jar that stood on the floor. The hostess replied that it +was drinking water, purchased with good money. Thereupon he poured out +a little, held it up to the light, and remarked in a matter-of-fact +tone, "I don't believe you." + +However, in a few minutes peace was restored, and the Doctor prescribed +anew. After he had talked about quinine and cataplasms, he asked me +whether I had any appetite. A vision of the dining-room came before me, +and I shook my head. "Still," he urged, "it would be well to eat +something." And, turning to the hostess, "He had better have a +beefsteak and a glass of Marsala." The look of amazement with which I +heard this caught the Doctor's eye. "Don't you like _bistecca_?" he +inquired. I suggested that, for one in a very high fever, with a good +deal of lung congestion, beefsteak seemed a trifle solid, and Marsala +somewhat heating. "Oh!" cried he, "but we must keep the machine going." +And thereupon he took his genial leave. + +I had some fear that my hostess might visit upon me her resentment of +the Doctor's reproaches; but nothing of the kind. When we were alone, +she sat down by me, and asked what I should really like to eat. If I +did not care for a beefsteak of veal, could I eat a beefsteak of +mutton? It was not the first time that such a choice had been offered +me, for, in the South, _bistecca_ commonly means a slice of meat done +on the grill or in the oven. Never have I sat down to a _bistecca_ +which was fit for man's consumption, and, of course, at the _Concordia_ +it would be rather worse than anywhere else. I persuaded the good woman +to supply me with a little broth. Then I lay looking at the patch of +cloudy sky which showed above the houses opposite, and wondering +whether I should have a second fearsome night. I wondered, too, how +long it would be before I could quit Cotrone. The delay here was +particularly unfortunate, as my letters were addressed to Catanzaro, +the next stopping-place, and among them I expected papers which would +need prompt attention. The thought of trying to get my correspondence +forwarded to Cotrone was too disturbing; it would have involved an +enormous amount of trouble, and I could not have felt the least +assurance that things would arrive safely. So I worried through the +hours of daylight, and worried still more when, at nightfall, the fever +returned upon me as badly as ever. + +Dr. Sculco had paid his evening visit, and the first horror of +ineffectual drowsing had passed over me, when my door was flung +violently open, and in rushed a man (plainly of the commercial +species), hat on head and bag in hand. I perceived that the _diligenza_ +had just arrived, and that travellers were seizing upon their bedrooms. +The invader, aware of his mistake, discharged a volley of apologies, +and rushed out again. Five minutes later the door again banged open, +and there entered a tall lad with an armful of newspapers; after +regarding me curiously, he asked whether I wanted a paper. I took one +with the hope of reading it next morning. Then he began conversation. I +had the fever? Ah! everybody had fever at Cotrone. He himself would be +laid up with it in a day or two. If I liked, he would look in with a +paper each evening--till fever prevented him. When I accepted this +suggestion, he smiled encouragingly, cried "_Speriamo_!" and clumped +out of the room. + +I had as little sleep as on the night before, but my suffering was +mitigated in a very strange way. After I had put out the candle, I +tormented myself for a long time with the thought that I should never +see La Colonna. As soon as I could rise from bed, I must flee Cotrone, +and think myself fortunate in escaping alive; but to turn my back on +the Lacinian promontory, leaving the cape unvisited, the ruin of the +temple unseen, seemed to me a miserable necessity which I should lament +as long as I lived. I felt as one involved in a moral disaster; working +in spite of reason, my brain regarded the matter from many points of +view, and found no shadow of solace. The sense that so short a distance +separated me from the place I desired to see, added exasperation to my +distress. Half-delirious, I at times seemed to be in a boat, tossing on +wild waters, the Column visible afar, but only when I strained my eyes +to discover it. In a description of the approach by land, I had read of +a great precipice which had to be skirted, and this, too, haunted me +with its terrors: I found myself toiling on a perilous road, which all +at once crumbled into fearful depths just before me. A violent +shivering fit roused me from this gloomy dreaming, and I soon after +fell into a visionary state which, whilst it lasted, gave me such +placid happiness as I have never known when in my perfect mind. Lying +still and calm, and perfectly awake, I watched a succession of +wonderful pictures. First of all I saw great vases, rich with ornament +and figures; then sepulchral marbles, carved more exquisitely than the +most beautiful I had ever known. The vision grew in extent, in +multiplicity of detail; presently I was regarding scenes of ancient +life--thronged streets, processions triumphal or religious, halls of +feasting, fields of battle. What most impressed me at the time was the +marvellously bright yet delicate colouring of everything I saw. I can +give no idea in words of the pure radiance which shone from every +object, which illumined every scene. More remarkable, when I thought of +it next day, was the minute finish of these pictures, the definiteness +of every point on which my eye fell. Things which I could not know, +which my imagination, working in the service of the will, could never +have bodied forth, were before me as in life itself. I consciously +wondered at peculiarities of costume such as I had never read of; at +features of architecture entirely new to me; at insignificant +characteristics of that by-gone world, which by no possibility could +have been gathered from books. I recall a succession of faces, the +loveliest conceivable; and I remember, I feel to this moment the pang +of regret with which I lost sight of each when it faded into darkness. + +As an example of the more elaborate visions that passed before me, I +will mention the only one which I clearly recollect. It was a glimpse +of history. When Hannibal, at the end of the second Punic War, was +confined to the south of Italy, he made Croton his head-quarters, and +when, in reluctant obedience to Carthage, he withdrew from Roman soil, +it was at Croton that he embarked. He then had with him a contingent of +Italian mercenaries, and, unwilling that these soldiers should go over +to the enemy, he bade them accompany him to Africa. The Italians +refused. Thereupon Hannibal had them led down to the shore of the sea, +where he slaughtered one and all. This event I beheld. I saw the strand +by Croton; the promontory with its temple; not as I know the scene +to-day, but as it must have looked to those eyes more than two thousand +years ago. The soldiers of Hannibal doing massacre, the perishing +mercenaries, supported my closest gaze, and left no curiosity +unsatisfied. (Alas! could I but see it again, or remember clearly what +was shown tome!) And over all lay a glory of sunshine, an indescribable +brilliancy which puts light and warmth into my mind whenever I try to +recall it. The delight of these phantasms was well worth the ten days' +illness which paid for them. After this night they never returned; I +hoped for their renewal, but in vain. When I spoke of the experience to +Dr. Sculco, he was much amused, and afterwards he often asked me +whether I had had any more _visioni_. That gate of dreams was closed, +but I shall always feel that, for an hour, it was granted to me to see +the vanished life so dear to my imagination. If the picture +corresponded to nothing real, tell me who can, by what power I +reconstructed, to the last perfection of intimacy, a world known to me +only in ruined fragments. + +Daylight again, but no gleam of sun. I longed for the sunshine; it +seemed to me a miserable chance that I should lie ill by the Ionian Sea +and behold no better sky than the far north might have shown me. That +grey obstruction of heaven's light always weighs upon my spirit; on a +summer's day, there has but to pass a floating cloud, which for a +moment veils the sun, and I am touched with chill discouragement; heart +and hope fail me, until the golden radiance is restored. + +About noon, when I had just laid down the newspaper bought the night +before--the Roman _Tribuna_, which was full of dreary politics--a +sudden clamour in the street drew my attention. I heard the angry +shouting of many voices, not in the piazza before the hotel, but at +some little distance; it was impossible to distinguish any meaning in +the tumultuous cries. This went on for a long time, swelling at moments +into a roar of frenzied rage, then sinking to an uneven growl, broken +by spasmodic yells. On asking what it meant, I was told that a crowd of +poor folk had gathered before the Municipio to demonstrate against an +oppressive tax called the _fuocatico_. This is simply hearth-money, an +impost on each fireplace where food is cooked; the same tax which made +trouble in old England, and was happily got rid of long ago. But the +hungry plebs of Cotrone lacked vigour for any effective self-assertion; +they merely exhausted themselves with shouting "_Abbass' 'o sindaco_!" +and dispersed to the hearths which paid for an all but imaginary +service. I wondered whether the Sindaco and his portly friend sat in +their comfortable room whilst the roaring went on; whether they smoked +their cigars as usual, and continued to chat at their ease. Very +likely. The privileged classes in Italy are slow to move, and may well +believe in the boundless endurance of those below them. Some day, no +doubt, they will have a disagreeable surprise. When Lombardy begins in +earnest to shout "_Abbasso_!" it will be an uneasy moment for the heavy +syndics of Calabria. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +CHILDREN OF THE SOIL + + +Any northern person who passed a day or two at the _Concordia_ as an +ordinary traveller would carry away a strong impression. The people of +the house would seem to him little short of savages, filthy in person +and in habits, utterly uncouth in their demeanour, perpetual wranglers +and railers, lacking every qualification for the duties they pretended +to discharge. In England their mere appearance would revolt decent +folk. With my better opportunity of judging them, I overcame the first +natural antipathy; I saw their good side, and learnt to forgive the +faults natural to a state of frank barbarism. It took two or three days +before their rough and ready behaviour softened to a really human +friendliness, but this came about at last, and when it was known that I +should not give much more trouble, that I needed only a little care in +the matter of diet, goodwill did its best to aid hopeless incapacity. + +Whilst my fever was high, little groups of people often came into the +room, to stand and stare at me, exchanging, in a low voice, remarks +which they supposed I did not hear, or, hearing, could not understand; +as a matter of fact, their dialect was now intelligible enough to me, +and I knew that they discussed my chances of surviving. Their natures +were not sanguine. A result, doubtless, of the unhealthy climate, every +one at Cotrone seemed in a more or less gloomy state of mind. The +hostess went about uttering ceaseless moans and groans; when she was in +my room I heard her constantly sighing, "Ah, Signore! Ah, +Cristo!"--exclamations which, perhaps, had some reference to my +illness, but which did not cease when I recovered. Whether she had any +private reason for depression I could not learn; I fancy not; it was +only the whimpering and querulous habit due to low health. A female +servant, who occasionally brought me food (I found that she also cooked +it), bore herself in much the same way. This domestic was the most +primitive figure of the household. Picture a woman of middle age, +wrapped at all times in dirty rags (not to be called clothing), obese, +grimy, with dishevelled black hair, and hands so scarred, so deformed +by labour and neglect, as to be scarcely human. She had the darkest and +fiercest eyes I ever saw. Between her and her mistress went on an +unceasing quarrel: they quarrelled in my room, in the corridor, and, as +I knew by their shrill voices, in places remote; yet I am sure they did +not dislike each other, and probably neither of them ever thought of +parting. Unexpectedly, one evening, this woman entered, stood by the +bedside, and began to talk with such fierce energy, with such flashing +of her black eyes, and such distortion of her features, that I could +only suppose that she was attacking me for the trouble I caused her. A +minute or two passed before I could even hit the drift of her furious +speech; she was always the most difficult of the natives to understand, +and in rage she became quite unintelligible. Little by little, by dint +of questioning, I got at what she meant. There had been _guai_, worse +than usual; the mistress had reviled her unendurably for some fault or +other, and was it not hard that she should be used like this after +having _tanto, tanto lavorato_! In fact, she was appealing for my +sympathy, not abusing me at all. When she went on to say that she was +alone in the world, that all her kith and kin were _freddi morti_ +(stone dead), a pathos in her aspect and her words took hold upon me; +it was much as if some heavy-laden beast of burden had suddenly found +tongue, and protested in the rude beginnings of articulate utterance +against its hard lot. If only one could have learnt, in intimate +detail, the life of this domestic serf! How interesting, and how +sordidly picturesque against the background of romantic landscape, of +scenic history! I looked long into her sallow, wrinkled face, trying to +imagine the thoughts that ruled its expression. In some measure my +efforts at kindly speech succeeded, and her "Ah, Cristo!" as she turned +to go away, was not without a touch of solace. + +Another time my hostess fell foul of the waiter, because he had brought +me goat's milk which was very sour. There ensued the most comical +scene. In an access of fury the stout woman raged and stormed; the +waiter, a lank young fellow, with a simple, good-natured face, after +trying to explain that he had committed the fault by inadvertence, +suddenly raised his hand, like one about to exhort a congregation, and +exclaimed in a tone of injured remonstrance, "_Un po' di calma! Un po' +di calma!_" My explosion of laughter at this inimitable utterance put +an end to the strife. The youth laughed with me; his mistress bustled +him out of the room, and then began to inform me that he was weak in +his head. Ah! she exclaimed, her life with these people! what it cost +her to keep them in anything like order! When she retired, I heard her +expectorating violently in the corridor; a habit with every inmate of +this genial hostelry. + +When the worst of my fever had subsided, the difficulty was to obtain +any nourishment suitable to my state. The good doctor, who had +suggested beefsteak and Marsala when I was incapable of taking anything +at all, ruled me severely in the matter of diet now that I really began +to feel hungry. I hope I may never again be obliged to drink goat's +milk; in these days it became so unutterably loathsome to me that I +had, at length, to give it up altogether, and I cannot think of it now +without a qualm. The broth offered me was infamous, mere coloured water +beneath half an inch of floating grease. Once there was a promise of a +fowl, and I looked forward to it eagerly; but, alas! this miserable +bird had undergone a process of seething for the extraction of soup. I +would have defied anyone to distinguish between the substance remaining +and two or three old kid gloves boiled into a lump. With a pleased air, +the hostess one day suggested a pigeon, a roasted pigeon, and I +welcomed the idea joyously. Indeed, the appearance of the dish, when it +was borne in, had nothing to discourage my appetite--the odour was +savoury; I prepared myself for a treat. Out of pure kindness, for she +saw me tremble in my weakness, the good woman offered her aid in the +carving; she took hold of the bird by the two legs, rent it asunder, +tore off the wings in the same way, and then, with a smile of +satisfaction, wiped her hands upon her skirt. If her hands had known +water (to say nothing of soap) during the past twelve months I am much +mistaken. It was a pity, for I found that my teeth could just masticate +a portion of the flesh which hunger compelled me to assail. + +Of course I suffered much from thirst, and Dr. Sculco startled me one +day by asking if I liked _tea_. Tea? Was it really procurable? The +Doctor assured me that it could be supplied by the chemist; though, +considering how rarely the exotic was demanded, it might have lost +something of its finer flavour whilst stored at the pharmacy. An order +was despatched. Presently the waiter brought me a very small paper +packet, such as might have contained a couple of Seidlitz powders; on +opening it I discovered something black and triturated, a crumbling +substance rather like ground charcoal. I smelt it, but there was no +perceptible odour; I put a little of it to my tongue, but the effect +was merely that of dust. Proceeding to treat it as if it were veritable +tea, I succeeded in imparting a yellowish tinge to the hot water, and, +so thirsty was I, this beverage tempted me to a long draught. There +followed no ill result that I know of, but the paper packet lay +thenceforth untouched, and, on leaving, I made a present of it to my +landlady. + +To complete the domestic group, I must make mention of the +"chambermaid." This was a lively little fellow of about twelve years +old, son of the landlady, who gave me much amusement. I don't know +whether he performed chambermaid duty in all the rooms; probably the +fierce-eyed cook did the heavier work elsewhere, but upon me his +attendance was constant. At an uncertain hour of the evening he entered +(of course, without knocking), doffed his cap in salutation, and began +by asking how I found myself. The question could not have been more +deliberately and thoughtfully put by the Doctor himself. When I replied +that I was better, the little man expressed his satisfaction, and went +on to make a few remarks about the pessimo _tempo_. Finally, with a +gesture of politeness, he inquired whether I would permit him "_di fare +un po' di pulizia_"--to clean up a little, and this he proceeded to do +with much briskness. Excepting the good Sculco, my chambermaid was +altogether the most civilized person I met at Cotrone. He had a +singular amiability of nature, and his boyish spirits were not yet +subdued by the pestilent climate. If I thanked him for anything, he +took off his cap, bowed with comical dignity, and answered "_Grazie a +voi, Signore_." Of course these people never used the third person +feminine of polite Italian. Dr. Sculco did so, for I had begun by +addressing him in that manner, but plainly it was not familiar to his +lips. At the same time there prevailed certain forms of civility, which +seemed a trifle excessive. For instance, when the Doctor entered my +room, and I gave him "_Buon giorno_," he was wont to reply, "_Troppo +gentile_!"--too kind of you! + +My newspaper boy came regularly for a few days, always complaining of +feverish symptoms, then ceased to appear. I made inquiry: he was down +with illness, and as no one took his place I suppose the regular +distribution of newspapers in Cotrone was suspended. When the poor +fellow again showed himself, he had a sorry visage; he sat down by my +bedside (rain dripping from his hat, and mud, very thick, upon his +boots) to give an account of his sufferings. I pictured the sort of +retreat in which he had lain during those miserable hours. My own +chamber contained merely the barest necessaries, and, as the gentleman +of Cosenza would have said, "left something to be desired" in point of +cleanliness. Conceive the places into which Cotrone's poorest have to +crawl when they are stricken with disease. I admit, however, that the +thought was worse to me at that moment than it is now. After all, the +native of Cotrone has advantages over the native of a city slum; and it +is better to die in a hovel by the Ionian Sea than in a cellar at +Shoreditch. + +The position of my room, which looked upon the piazza, enabled me to +hear a great deal of what went on in the town. The life of Cotrone +began about three in the morning; at that hour I heard the first +voices, upon which there soon followed the bleating of goats and the +tinkling of ox-bells. No doubt the greater part of the poor people were +in bed by eight o'clock every evening; only those who had dealings in +the outer world were stirring when the _diligenza_ arrived about ten, +and I suspect that some of these snatched a nap before that late hour. +Throughout the day there sounded from the piazza a ceaseless clamour of +voices, such a noise as in England would only rise from some excited +crowd on a rare occasion; it was increased by reverberations from the +colonnade which runs all round in front of the shops. When the +north-east gale had passed over, there ensued a few days of sullen +calm, permitting the people to lead their ordinary life in open air. I +grew to recognize certain voices, those of men who seemingly had +nothing to do but to talk all day long. Only the sound reached me; I +wish I could have gathered the sense of these interminable harangues +and dialogues. In every country and every age those talk most who have +least to say that is worth saying. These tonguesters of Cotrone had +their predecessors in the public place of Croton, who began to gossip +before dawn, and gabbled unceasingly till after nightfall; with their +voices must often have mingled the bleating of goats or the lowing of +oxen, just as I heard the sounds to-day. + +One day came a street organ, accompanied by singing, and how glad I +was! The first note of music, this, that I had heard at Cotrone. The +instrument played only two or three airs, and one of them became a +great favourite with the populace; very soon, numerous voices joined +with that of the singer, and all this and the following day the melody +sounded, near or far. It had the true characteristics of southern song; +rising tremolos, and cadences that swept upon a wail of passion; high +falsetto notes, and deep tum-tum of infinite melancholy. Scorned by the +musician, yet how expressive of a people's temper, how suggestive of +its history! At the moment when this strain broke upon my ear, I was +thinking ill of Cotrone and its inhabitants; in the first pause of the +music I reproached myself bitterly for narrowness and ingratitude. All +the faults of the Italian people are whelmed in forgiveness as soon as +their music sounds under the Italian sky. One remembers all they have +suffered, all they have achieved in spite of wrong. Brute races have +flung themselves, one after another, upon this sweet and glorious land; +conquest and slavery, from age to age, have been the people's lot. +Tread where one will, the soil has been drenched with blood. An +immemorial woe sounds even through the lilting notes of Italian gaiety. +It is a country wearied and regretful, looking ever backward to the +things of old; trivial in its latter life, and unable to hope sincerely +for the future. Moved by these voices singing over the dust of Croton, +I asked pardon for all my foolish irritation, my impertinent +fault-finding. Why had I come hither, if it was not that I loved land +and people? And had I not richly known the recompense of my love? + +Legitimately enough one may condemn the rulers of Italy, those who take +upon themselves to shape her political life, and recklessly load her +with burdens insupportable. But among the simple on Italian soil a +wandering stranger has no right to nurse national superiorities, to +indulge a contemptuous impatience. It is the touch of tourist +vulgarity. Listen to a Calabrian peasant singing as he follows his oxen +along the furrow, or as he shakes the branches of his olive tree. That +wailing voice amid the ancient silence, that long lament solacing +ill-rewarded toil, comes from the heart of Italy herself, and wakes the +memory of mankind. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE MOUNT OF REFUGE + + +My thoughts turned continually to Catanzaro. It is a city set upon a +hill, overlooking the Gulf of Squillace, and I felt that if I could but +escape thither, I should regain health and strength. Here at Cotrone +the air oppressed and enfeebled me; the neighbourhood of the sea +brought no freshness. From time to time the fever seemed to be +overcome, but it lingered still in my blood and made my nights +restless. I must away to Catanzaro. + +When first I spoke of this purpose to Dr. Sculco, he indulged my fancy, +saying "Presently, presently!" A few days later, when I seriously asked +him how soon I might with safety travel, his face expressed misgiving. +Why go to Catanzaro? It was on the top of a mountain, and had a most +severe climate; the winds at this season were terrible. In conscience +he could not advise me to take such a step: the results might be very +grave after my lung trouble. Far better wait at Cotrone for a week or +two longer, and then go on to Reggio, crossing perhaps to Sicily to +complete my cure. The more Dr. Sculco talked of windy altitudes, the +stronger grew my desire for such a change of climate, and the more +intolerable seemed my state of languishment. The weather was again +stormy, but this time blew sirocco; I felt its evil breath waste my +muscles, clog my veins, set all my nerves a-tremble. If I stayed here +much longer, I should never get away at all. A superstitious fear crept +upon me; I remembered that my last visit had been to the cemetery. + +One thing was certain: I should never see the column of Hera's temple. +I made my lament on this subject to Dr. Sculco, and he did his best to +describe to me the scenery of the Cape. Certain white spots which I had +discovered at the end of the promontory were little villas, occupied in +summer by the well-to-do citizens of Cotrone; the Doctor himself owned +one, which had belonged to his father before him. Some of the earliest +memories of his boyhood were connected with the Cape: when he had +lessons to learn by heart, he often used to recite them walking round +and round the great column. In the garden of his villa he at times +amused himself with digging, and a very few turns of the spade sufficed +to throw out some relic of antiquity. Certain Americans, he said, +obtained permission not long ago from the proprietor of the ground on +which the temple stood to make serious excavations, but as soon as the +Italians heard of it, they claimed the site as a national monument; the +work was forbidden, and the soil had to be returned to its former +state. Hard by the ancient sanctuary is a chapel, consecrated to the +Madonna del Capo; thither the people of Cotrone make pilgrimages, and +hold upon the Cape a rude festival, which often ends in orgiastic riot. + +All the surface of the promontory is bare; not a tree, not a bush, save +for a little wooded hollow called Fossa del Lupo--the wolf's den. +There, says legend, armed folk of Cotrone used to lie in wait to attack +the corsairs who occasionally landed for water. + +When I led him to talk of Cotrone and its people, the Doctor could but +confirm my observations. He contrasted the present with the past; this +fever-stricken and waterless village with the great city which was +called the healthiest in the world. In his opinion the physical change +had resulted from the destruction of forests, which brought with it a +diminution of the rainfall. "At Cotrone," he said, "we have practically +no rain. A shower now and then, but never a wholesome downpour." He had +no doubt that, in ancient times, all the hills of the coast were +wooded, as Sila still is, and all the rivers abundantly supplied with +water. To-day there was scarce a healthy man in Cotrone: no one had +strength to resist a serious illness. This state of things he took very +philosophically; I noticed once more the frankly mediaeval spirit in +which he regarded the populace. Talking on, he interested me by +enlarging upon the difference between southern Italians and those of +the north. Beyond Rome a Calabrian never cared to go; he found himself +in a foreign country, where his tongue betrayed him, and where his +manners were too noticeably at variance with those prevailing. Italian +unity, I am sure, meant little to the good Doctor, and appealed but +coldly to his imagination. + +I declared to him at length that I could endure no longer this dreary +life of the sick-room; I must get into the open air, and, if no harm +came of the experiment, I should leave for Catanzaro. "I cannot prevent +you," was the Doctor's reply, "but I am obliged to point out that you +act on your own responsibility. It is _pericoloso_, it is +_pericolosissimo_! The terrible climate of the mountains!" However, I +won his permission to leave the house, and acted upon it that same +afternoon. Shaking and palpitating, I slowly descended the stairs to +the colonnade; then, with a step like that of an old, old man, tottered +across the piazza, my object being to reach the chemist's shop, where I +wished to pay for the drugs that I had had and for the tea. When I +entered, sweat was streaming from my forehead; I dropped into a chair, +and for a minute or two could do nothing but recover nerve and breath. +Never in my life had I suffered such a wretched sense of feebleness. +The pharmacist looked at me with gravely compassionate eyes; when I +told him I was the Englishman who had been ill, and that I wanted to +leave to-morrow for Catanzaro, his compassion indulged itself more +freely, and I could see quite well that he thought my plan of travel +visionary. True, he said, the climate of Cotrone was trying to a +stranger. He understood my desire to get away; but--Catanzaro! Was I +aware that at Catanzaro I should suddenly find myself in a season of +most rigorous winter? And the winds! One needed to be very strong even +to stand on one's feet at Catanzaro. For all this I returned thanks, +and, having paid my bill, tottered back to the _Concordia_. It seemed +to me more than doubtful whether I should start on the morrow. + +That evening I tried to dine. Don Ferdinando entered as usual, and sat +mute through his unchanging meal; the grumbler grumbled and ate, as +perchance he does to this day. I forced myself to believe that the food +had a savour for me, and that the wine did not taste of drugs. As I sat +over my pretended meal, I heard the sirocco moaning without, and at +times a splash of rain against the window. Near me, two military men +were exchanging severe comments on Calabria and its people. "_Che +paese_!"--"What a country!" exclaimed one of them finally in disgust. +Of course they came from the north, and I thought that their +conversation was not likely to knit closer the bond between the +extremes of Italy. + +To my delight I looked forth next morning on a sunny and calm sky, such +as I had not seen during all my stay at Cotrone. I felt better, and +decided to leave for Catanzaro by train in the early afternoon. Shaking +still, but heartened by the sunshine, I took a short walk, and looked +for the last time at the Lacinian promontory. On my way back I passed a +little building from which sounded an astonishing noise, a confused +babble of shrill voices, blending now and then with a deep stentorian +shout. It was the communal school--not during playtime, or in a state +of revolt, but evidently engaged as usual upon its studies. The +school-house was small, but the volume of clamour that issued from it +would have done credit to two or three hundred children in unrestrained +uproariousness. Curiosity held me listening for ten minutes; the tumult +underwent no change of character, nor suffered the least abatement; the +mature voice occasionally heard above it struck a cheery note, by no +means one of impatience or stern command. Had I been physically capable +of any effort, I should have tried to view that educational scene. The +incident did me good, and I went on in a happier humour. + +Which was not perturbed by something that fell under my eye soon +afterwards. At a shop door hung certain printed cards, bearing a notice +that "wood hay-makers," "wood binders," and "wood mowers" were "sold +here." Not in Italian this, but in plain, blunt English; and to each +announcement was added the name of an English manufacturing firm, with +an agency at Naples. I have often heard the remark that Englishmen of +business are at a disadvantage in their export trade because they pay +no heed to the special requirements of foreign countries; but such a +delightful illustration of their ineptitude had never come under my +notice. Doubtless these alluring advertisements are widely scattered +through agricultural Calabria. Who knows? they my serve as an +introduction to the study of the English tongue. + +Not without cordiality was my leave-taking. The hostess confided to me +that, in the first day of my illness, she had felt sure I should die. +Everybody had thought so, she added gaily; even Dr. Sculco had shaken +his head and shrugged his shoulders; much better, was it not, to be +paying my bill? Bill more moderate, under the circumstances, no man +ever discharged; Calabrian honesty came well out of the transaction. So +I tumbled once more into the dirty, ramshackle _diligenza_, passed +along the dusty road between the barred and padlocked warehouses, and +arrived in good time at the station. No sooner had I set foot on the +platform than I felt an immense relief. Even here, it seemed to me, the +air was fresher. I lifted my eyes to the hills and seemed to feel the +breezes of Catanzaro. + +The train was made up at Cotrone, and no undue haste appeared in our +departure. When we were already twenty minutes late, there stepped into +the carriage where I was sitting a good-humoured railway official, who +smiled and greeted me. I supposed he wanted my ticket, but nothing of +the kind. After looking all round the compartment with an air of +disinterested curiosity, he heaved a sigh and remarked pleasantly to +me, "_Non manca niente_"--"Nothing is amiss." Five minutes more and we +steamed away. + +The railway ascended a long valley, that of the Esaro, where along the +deep watercourse trickled a scarce perceptible stream. On either hand +were hills of pleasant outline, tilled on the lower slopes, and often +set with olives. Here and there came a grassy slope, where shepherds or +goatherds idled amid their flocks. Above the ascent a long tunnel, +after which the line falls again towards the sea. The landscape took a +nobler beauty; mountains spread before us, tenderly coloured by the +autumn sun. We crossed two or three rivers--rivers of flowing water, +their banks overhung with dense green jungle. The sea was azure, and +looked very calm, but white waves broke loudly upon the strand, last +murmur of the storm which had raged and renewed itself for nearly a +fortnight. + +At one of the wayside stations entered a traveller whom I could not but +regard with astonishment. He was a man at once plump and muscular, his +sturdy limbs well exhibited in a shooting costume. On his face glowed +the richest hue of health; his eyes glistened merrily. With him he +carried a basket, which, as soon as he was settled, gave forth an +abundant meal. The gusto of his eating, the satisfaction with which he +eyed his glasses of red wine, excited my appetite. But who _was_ he? +Not, I could see, a tourist; yet how account for this health and vigour +in a native of the district? I had not seen such a man since I set out +upon my travels; the contrast he made with the figures of late familiar +to me was so startling that I had much ado to avoid continuously gazing +at him. His proximity did me good; the man radiated health. + +When next the train stopped he exchanged words with some one on the +platform, and I heard that he was going to Catanzaro. At once I +understood. This jovial, ruddy-cheeked personage was a man of the +hills. At Catanzaro I should see others like him; perhaps he fairly +represented its inhabitants. If so, I had reason for my suspicion that +poor fever-stricken Cotrone regarded with a sort of jealousy the breezy +health of Catanzaro, which at the same time is a much more prosperous +place. Later, I found that there did exist some acerbity of mutual +criticism between the two towns, reminding one of civic rivalry among +the Greeks. Catanzaro spoke with contempt of Cotrone. Happily I made no +medical acquaintance in the hill town; but I should have liked to +discuss with one of these gentlemen the view of their climate held by +Dr. Sculco. + +In the ages that followed upon the fall of Rome, perpetual danger drove +the sea-coast population of Calabria inland and to the heights. Our own +day beholds a counter movement; the shore line of railway will create +new towns on the old deserted sites. Such a settlement is the Marina of +Catanzaro, a little port at the mouth of a wide valley, along which +runs a line to Catanzaro itself, or rather to the foot of the great +hill on which the town is situated. The sun was setting when I alighted +at the Marina, and as I waited for the branch train my eyes feasted +upon a glory of colour which made me forget aching weariness. All +around lay orchards of orange trees, the finest I had ever seen, and +over their solid masses of dark foliage, thick hung with ripening +fruit, poured the splendour of the western sky. It was a picture +unsurpassable in richness of tone; the dense leafage of deepest, +warmest green glowed and flashed, its magnificence heightened by the +blaze of the countless golden spheres adorning it. Beyond, the magic +sea, purple and crimson as the sun descended upon the vanishing +horizon. Eastward, above the slopes of Sila, stood a moon almost at its +full, the yellow of an autumn leaf, on a sky soft-flushed with rose. + +In my geography it is written that between Catanzaro and the sea lie +the gardens of the Hesperides. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +CATANZARO + + +For half an hour the train slowly ascends. The carriages are of special +construction, light and many-windowed, so that one has good views of +the landscape. Very beautiful was this long, broad, climbing valley, +everywhere richly wooded; oranges and olives, carob and lentisk and +myrtle, interspersed with cactus (its fruit, the prickly fig, all +gathered) and with the sword-like agave. Glow of sunset lingered upon +the hills: in the green hollow a golden twilight faded to dusk. The +valley narrowed; it became a gorge between dark slopes which closed +together and seemed to bar advance. Here the train stopped, and all the +passengers (some half-dozen) alighted. + +The sky was still clear enough to show the broad features of the scene +before me. I looked up to a mountain side, so steep that towards the +summit it appeared precipitous, and there upon the height, dimly +illumined with a last reflex of after-glow, my eyes distinguished +something which might be the outline of walls and houses. This, I knew, +was the situation of Catanzaro, but one could not easily imagine by +what sort of approach the city would be gained; in the thickening +twilight, no trace of a road was discernible, and the flanks of the +mountain, a ravine yawning on either hand, looked even more abrupt than +the ascent immediately before me. + +There, however, stood the _diligenza_ which was somehow to convey me to +Catanzaro; I watched its loading with luggage-merchandise and +mail-bags--whilst the exquisite evening melted into night. When I had +thus been occupied for a few minutes, my look once more turned to the +mountain, where a surprise awaited me: the summit was now encircled +with little points of radiance, as though a starry diadem had fallen +upon it from the sky. "_Pronti_!" cried our driver. I climbed to my +seat, and we began our journey towards the crowning lights. + +By help of long loops the road ascended at a tolerably easy angle; the +horse-bells tinkled, the driver shouted encouragement to his beasts, +and within the vehicle went on a lively gossiping, with much laughter. +Meanwhile the great moon had risen high enough to illumine the valley +below us; silvery grey and green, the lovely hollow seemed of +immeasurable length, and beyond it one imagined, rather than discerned, +a glimmer of the sea. By the wayside I now and then caught sight of a +huge cactus, trailing its heavy knotted length upon the face of a rock; +and at times we brushed beneath overhanging branches of some tree that +could not be distinguished. All the way up we seemed to skirt a sheer +precipice, which at moments was alarming in its gloomy depth. Deeper +and deeper below shone the lights of the railway station and of the few +houses about it; it seemed as though a false step would drop us down +into their midst. + +The fatigue of the day's journey passed away during this ascent, which +lasted nearly an hour; when, after a drive through dark but wide +streets, I was set down before the hotel, I felt that I had shaken off +the last traces of my illness. A keen appetite sent me as soon as +possible in search of the dining-room, where I ate with extreme gusto; +everything seemed excellent after the sorry table of the _Concordia_. I +poured my wine with a free hand, rejoicing to find it was wine once +more, and not (at all events to my palate) a concoction of drugs. The +albergo was decent and well found; a cheerful prosperity declared +itself in all I had yet seen. After dinner I stepped out on to the +balcony of my room to view the city's main street; but there was very +scant illumination, and the moonlight only showed me high houses of +modern build. Few people passed, and never a vehicle; the shops were +all closed. I needed no invitation to sleep, but this shadowed +stillness, and the fresh mountain air, happily lulled my thoughts. Even +the subject of earthquakes proved soporific. + +Impossible to find oneself at Catanzaro without thinking of +earthquakes; I wonder that the good people of Coltrone did not include +this among deterrents whereby they sought to prejudice me against the +mountain town. Over and over again Catanzaro has been shaken to its +foundations. The worst calamity recorded was towards the end of the +eighteenth century, when scarce a house remained standing, and many +thousands of the people perished. This explains a peculiarity in the +aspect of the place, noticeable as soon as one begins to walk about; it +is like a town either half built or half destroyed, one knows not +which; everywhere one comes upon ragged walls, tottering houses, yet +there is no appearance of antiquity. One ancient building, a castle +built by Robert Guiscard when he captured Catanzaro in the eleventh +century, remained until of late years, its Norman solidity defying +earthquakes; but this has been pulled down, deliberately got rid of for +the sake of widening a road. Lament over such a proceeding would be +idle enough; Catanzaro is the one progressive town of Calabria, and has +learnt too thoroughly the spirit of the time to suffer a blocking of +its highway by middle-age obstructions. + +If a Hellenic or Roman city occupied this breezy summit, it has left no +name, and no relics of the old civilization have been discovered here. +Catanzaro was founded in the tenth century, at the same time that +Taranto was rebuilt after the Saracen destruction; an epoch of revival +for Southern Italy under the vigorous Byzantine rule of Nicephorus +Phocas. From my point of view, the interest of the place suffered +because I could attach to it no classic memory. Robert Guiscard, to be +sure, is a figure picturesque enough, and might give play to the +imagination, but I care little for him after all; he does not belong to +my world. I had to see Catanzaro merely as an Italian town amid +wonderful surroundings. The natural beauty of the spot amply sufficed +to me during the days I spent there, and gratitude for health recovered +gave me a kindly feeling to all its inhabitants. + +Daylight brought no disillusion as regards natural features. I made the +circuit of the little town, and found that it everywhere overlooks a +steep, often a sheer, descent, save at one point, where an isthmus +unites it to the mountains that rise behind. In places the bounding +wall runs on the very edge of a precipice, and many a crazy house, +overhanging, seems ready to topple into the abyss. The views are +magnificent, whether one looks down the valley to the leafy shore, or, +in an opposite direction, up to the grand heights which, at this +narrowest point of Calabria, separate the Ionian from the Tyrrhene Sea. +I could now survey the ravines which, in twilight, had dimly shown +themselves on either side of the mountain; they are deep and narrow, +craggy, wild, bare. Each, when the snows are melting, becomes the bed +of a furious torrent; the watercourses uniting below to form the river +of the valley. At this season there was a mere trickling of water over +a dry brown waste. Where the abruptness of the descent does not render +it impossible, olives have been planted on the mountain sides; the +cactus clings everywhere, making picturesque many a wall and hovel, +luxuriating on the hard, dry soil; fig trees and vines occupy more +favoured spots, and the gardens of the better houses are often graced +by a noble palm. + +After my morning's walk I sought the residence of Signor Pasquale +Cricelli, to whom I carried a note of introduction. This gentleman +holds the position of English Vice-Consul at Catanzaro, but it is +seldom that he has the opportunity of conversing with English +travellers; the courtesy and kindness with which he received me have a +great part in my pleasant memory of the mountain town. Signor Cricelli +took me to see many interesting things, and brought me into touch with +the every-day life of Catanzaro. I knew from Lenormant's book that the +town had a singular reputation for hospitality. The French +archaeologist tells amusing stories in illustration of this +characteristic. Once, when he had taken casual refreshment at a +restaurant, a gentleman sitting at another table came forward and, with +grave politeness, begged permission to pay for what Lenormant had +consumed. This was a trifle in comparison with what happened when the +traveller, desirous of making some return for much kindness, +entertained certain of his acquaintances at dinner, the meal, +naturally, as good a one as his hotel could provide. The festival went +off joyously, but, to Lenormant's surprise, nothing was charged for it +in his bill. On making inquiry he learnt that the cost of the +entertainment had already been discharged by one of his guests! Well, +that took place years ago, long before a railway had been thought of in +the valley of the Corace; such heroic virtues ill consist with the life +of to-day. Nevertheless, Don Pasquale (Signor Cricelli's name when +greeted by his fellow-citizens) several times reminded me, without +knowing it, of what I had read. For instance, we entered a shop which +he thought might interest me; the salesman during our talk +unobtrusively made up a little parcel of goods, and asked, at length, +whether I would take this with me or have it sent to the hotel. That +point I easily decided, but by no persistence could I succeed in paying +for the things. Smiling behind his counter, the shopkeeper declined to +name a price; Don Pasquale declared that a payment under such +circumstances was a thing unknown in Catanzaro, and I saw that to say +anything more would be to run the risk of offending him. The same day +he invited me to dinner, and explained that we must needs dine at the +hotel where I was staying, this being the best place of entertainment +in the town. I found that my friend had a second reason for the choice; +he wished to ascertain whether I was comfortably lodged, and as a +result of his friendly offices, various little changes came about. Once +more I make my grateful acknowledgements to the excellent Don Pasquale. + +Speaking of shops, I must describe in detail the wonderful pharmacy. +Signor Cricelli held it among the sights of Catanzaro; this chemist's +in the main street was one of the first places to which he guided me. +And, indeed, the interior came as a surprise. Imagine a spacious shop, +well proportioned, perfectly contrived, and throughout fitted with +woodwork copies from the best examples of old Italian carving. Seeking +pill or potion, one finds oneself in a museum of art, where it would be +easy to spend an hour in studying the counter, the shelves, the +ceiling. The chemists (two brothers, if I remember rightly) pointed out +to me with legitimate pride all that they had done for the beautifying +of their place of business; I shall not easily forget the glowing +countenance, the moved voice, which betrayed their feelings as they led +me hither and thither; for them and their enterprise I felt a hearty +respect. When we had surveyed everything within doors I was asked to +look at the _mostra_--the sign that hung over the entrance; a sort of +griffin in wrought iron, this, too, copied from an old masterpiece, and +reminding one of the fine ironwork which adorns the streets of Siena. +Don Pasquale could not be satisfied until I had privately assured him +of my genuine admiration. Was it, he asked, at all like a chemist's +shop in London? My reply certainly gratified him, but I am afraid it +did not increase his desire to visit England. + +Whilst I was at the chemist's, there entered a number of peasants, +whose appearance was so striking that I sought information about them. +Don Pasquale called them "_Greci_"; they came from a mountain village +where the dialect of the people is still a corrupt Greek. One would +like to imagine that their origin dates back to the early Hellenic +days, but it is assuredly much later. These villages may be a relic of +the Byzantine conquest in the sixth century, when Southern Italy was, +to a great extent, re peopled from the Eastern Empire, though another +theory suggests that they were formed by immigrants from Greece at the +time of the Turkish invasion. Each of the women had a baby hanging at +her back, together with miscellaneous goods which she had purchased in +the town: though so heavily burdened, they walked erect, and with the +free step of mountaineers. + +I could not have had a better opportunity than was afforded me on this +day of observing the peasantry of the Catanzaro district. It was the +feast of the Immaculate Conception, and from all around the +country-folk thronged in pilgrimage to the church of the Immaculate; +since earliest morning I had heard the note of bagpipes, which +continued to sound before the street shrines all day long. Don Pasquale +assured me that the festival had an importance in this region scarcely +less than that of Christmas. At the hour of high mass I entered the +sanctuary whither all were turning their steps; it was not easy to make +a way beyond the portico, but when I had slowly pressed forward through +the dense crowd, I found that the musical part of the service was being +performed by a lively string-band, up in a gallery. For seats there was +no room; a standing multitude filled the whole church before the altar, +and the sound of gossiping voices at moments all but overcame that of +the music. I know not at what point of the worship I chanced to be +present; heat and intolerable odours soon drove me forth again, but I +retained an impression of jollity, rather than of reverence. Those +screaming and twanging instruments sounded much like an invitation to +the dance, and all the faces about me were radiant with cheerfulness. +Just such a throng, of course, attended upon the festival of god or +goddess ere the old religion was transformed. Most of the Christian +anniversaries have their origin in heathendom; the names have changed, +but amid the unlettered worshippers there is little change of spirit; a +tradition older than they can conceive rules their piety, and gives it +whatever significance it may have in their simple lives. + +Many came from a great distance; at the entrance to the town were +tethered innumerable mules and asses, awaiting the hour of return. +Modern Catanzaro, which long ago lost its proper costume, was enlivened +with brilliant colours; the country women, of course, adorned +themselves, and their garb was that which had so much interested me +when I first saw it in the public garden at Cosenza. Brilliant blue and +scarlet were the prevailing tones; a good deal of fine embroidery +caught the eye. In a few instances I noticed men wearing the true +Calabrian hat--peaked, brigandesque--which is rapidly falling out of +use. These people were, in general, good-looking; frequently I observed +a very handsome face, and occasionally a countenance, male or female, +of really heroic beauty. Though crowds wandered through the streets, +there sounded no tumult; voices never rose above an ordinary pitch of +conversation; the general bearing was dignified, and tended to gravity. +One woman in particular held my attention, not because of any +exceptional beauty, for, indeed, she had a hard, stern face, but owing +to her demeanour. Unlike most of the peasant folk, she was bent on +business; carrying upon her head a heavy pile of some ornamented +fabric--shawls or something of the kind--she entered shops, and paused +at house doors, in the endeavour to find purchasers. I watched her for +a long time, hoping she might make a sale, but ever she was +unsuccessful; for all that she bore herself with a dignity not easily +surpassed. Each offer of her wares was made as if she conferred a +graceful favour, and after each rejection she withdrew unabashed, +outwardly unperturbed, seeming to take stately leave. Only her +persistence showed how anxious she was to earn money; neither on her +features nor in her voice appeared the least sign of peddling +solicitude. I shall always remember that tall, hard-visaged woman, as +she passed with firm step and nobly balanced figure about the streets +of Catanzaro. To pity her would have been an insult. The glimpse I +caught of her laborious life revealed to me something worthy of +admiration; never had I seen a harassing form of discouragement so +silently and strongly borne. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE BREEZY HEIGHT + + +Catanzaro must be one of the healthiest spots in Southern Italy; +perhaps it has no rival in this respect among the towns south of Rome. +The furious winds, with which my acquaintances threatened me, did not +blow during my stay, but there was always more or less breeze, and the +kind of breeze that refreshes. I should like to visit Catanzaro in the +summer; probably one would have all the joy of glorious sunshine +without oppressive heat, and in the landscape in those glowing days +would be indescribably beautiful. + +I remember with delight the public garden at Cosenza, its noble view +over the valley of the Crati to the heights of Sila; that of Catanzaro +is in itself more striking, and the prospect it affords has a sterner, +grander note. Here you wander amid groups of magnificent trees, an +astonishingly rich and varied vegetation; and from a skirting terrace +you look down upon the precipitous gorge, burnt into barenness save +where a cactus clings to some jutting rock. Here in summer-time would +be freshness amid noontide heat, with wondrous avenues of golden light +breaking the dusk beneath the boughs. I shall never see it; but the +desire often comes to me under northern skies, when I am weary of +labour and seek in fancy a paradise of idleness. + +In the public gardens is a little museum, noticeable mostly for a fine +collection of ancient coins. There are Greek pots, too, and weapons, +found at Tiriolo, a village high up on the mountain above Catanzaro. As +at Taranto, a stranger who cares for this kind of thing can be sure of +having the museum all to himself. On my first visit Don Pasquale +accompanied me, and through him I made the acquaintance of the +custodian. But I was not in the museum mood; reviving health inclined +me to the open air, and the life of to-day; I saw these musty relics +with only a vague eye. + +After living amid a malaria-stricken population, I rejoiced in the +healthy aspect of the mountain folk. Even a deformed beggar, who +dragged himself painfully along the pavement, had so ruddy a face that +it was hard to feel compassion for him. And the wayside children--it +was a pleasure to watch them at their games. Such children in Italy do +not, as a rule, seem happy; too often they look ill, cheerless, +burdened before their time; at Catanzaro they are as robust and lively +as heart could wish, and their voices ring delightfully upon the ear. +It is not only, I imagine, a result of the fine air they breathe; no +doubt they are exceptional among the poor children of the south in +getting enough to eat. The town has certain industries, especially the +manufacture of silk; one feels an atmosphere of well-being; mendicancy +is a rare thing. + +Fruits abounded, and were very cheap; if one purchased from a stall the +difficulty was to carry away the abundance offered for one's smallest +coin. Excellent oranges cost about a penny the half-dozen. Any one who +is fond of the prickly fig should go to Catanzaro. I asked a man +sitting with a basket of them at a street corner to give me the worth +of a soldo (a half-penny); he began to fill my pocket, and when I cried +that it was enough, that I could carry no more, he held up one +particularly fine fruit, smiled as only an Italian can, and said, with +admirable politeness, "_Questo per complimento_!" I ought to have +shaken hands with him. + +Even when I had grown accustomed to the place, its singular appearance +of incompleteness kept exciting my attention. I had never seen a town +so ragged at the edges. If there had recently been a great +conflagration and almost all the whole city were being rebuilt, it +would have looked much as it did at the time of my visit. To enter the +post-office one had to clamber over heaps of stone and plaster, to +stride over tumbled beams and jump across great puddles, entering at +last by shaky stairs a place which looked like the waiting-room of an +unfinished railway station. The style of building is peculiar, and +looks so temporary as to keep one constantly in mind of the threatening +earthquake. Most of the edifices, large and small, public and private, +are constructed of rubble set in cement, with an occasional big, +rough-squared stone to give an appearance of solidity, and perhaps a +few courses of bricks in the old Roman style. If the building is of +importance, this work is hidden beneath stucco; otherwise it remains +like the mere shell of a house, and is disfigured over all its surface +with great holes left by the scaffolding. Religion supplies something +of adornment; above many portals is a rudely painted Virgin and Child, +often, plainly enough, the effort of a hand accustomed to any tool +rather than that of the artist. On the dwellings of the very poor a +great Cross is scrawled in whitewash. These rickety houses often +exhibit another feature more picturesque and, to the earthly +imagination, more consoling; on the balcony one sees a great gourd, +some three feet long, so placed that its yellow plumpness may ripen in +sun and air. It is a sign of plenty: the warm spot of colour against +the rough masonry does good to eye and heart. + +My hotel afforded me little amusement after the _Concordia_ at Cotrone, +yet it did not lack its characteristic features. I found, for instance, +in my bedroom a printed notice, making appeal in remarkable terms to +all who occupied the chamber. The proprietor--thus it ran--had learnt +with extreme regret that certain travellers who slept under his roof +were in the habit of taking their meals at other places of +entertainment. This practice, he desired it to be known, not only hurt +his personal feelings--_tocca il suo morale_--but did harm to the +reputation of his establishment. Assuring all and sundry that he would +do his utmost to maintain a high standard of culinary excellence, the +proprietor ended by begging his honourable clients that they would +bestow their kind favours on the restaurant of the house--_signora +pregare i suoi respettabili clienti perche vogliano benignarsi il +ristorante_; and therewith signed himself--Coriolano Paparazzo. + +For my own part I was not tempted to such a breach of decorum; the fare +provided by Signor Paparazzo suited me well enough, and the wine of the +country was so good that it would have covered many defects of cookery. +Of my fellow-guests in the spacious dining-room I can recall only two. +They were military men of a certain age, grizzled officers, who walked +rather stiffly and seated themselves with circumspection. Evidently old +friends, they always dined at the same time, entering one a few minutes +after the other; but by some freak of habit they took places at +different tables, so that the conversation which they kept up all +through the meal had to be carried on by an exchange of shouts. Nothing +whatever prevented them from being near each other; the room never +contained more than half a dozen persons; yet thus they sat, evening +after evening, many yards apart, straining their voices to be mutually +audible. Me they delighted; to the other guests, more familiar with +them and their talk, they must have been a serious nuisance. But I +should have liked to see the civilian who dared to manifest his +disapproval of these fine old warriors. + +They sat interminably, evidently having no idea how otherwise to pass +the evening. In the matter of public amusements Catanzaro is not +progressive; I only once saw an announcement of a theatrical +performance, and it did not smack of modern enterprise. On the +dining-room table one evening lay a little printed bill, which made +known that a dramatic company was then in the town. Their entertainment +consisted of two parts, the first entitled: "The Death of Agolante and +the Madness of Count Orlando"; the second: "A Delightful Comedy, the +Devil's Castle with Pulcinella as the Timorous Soldier." In addition +were promised "new duets and Neapolitan songs." The theatre would +comfortably seat three hundred persons, and the performance would be +given twice, at half-past eighteen and half-past twenty-one o'clock. It +was unpardonable in me that I did not seek out the Teatro delle +Varieta; I might easily have been in my seat (with thirty, more likely +than three hundred, other spectators) by half-past twenty-one. But the +night was forbidding; a cold rain fell heavily. Moreover, just as I had +thought that it was perhaps worth while to run the risk of another +illness--one cannot see the Madness of Count Orlando every day--there +came into the room a peddler laden with some fifty volumes of fiction +and a fine assortment of combs and shirt-studs. The books tempted me; I +looked them through. Most, of course, were translations from the +vulgarest French _feuilletonistes_; the Italian reader of novels, +whether in newspaper or volume, knows, as a rule, nothing but this +imported rubbish. However, a real Italian work was discoverable, and, +together with the unfriendly sky, it kept me at home. I am sorry now, +as for many another omission on my wanderings, when lack of energy or a +passing mood of dullness has caused me to miss what would be so +pleasant in the retrospect. + +I spent an hour one evening at the principal cafe, where a pianist of +great pretensions and small achievement made rather painful music. +Watching and listening to the company (all men, of course, though the +Oriental system regarding women is not so strict at Catanzaro as +elsewhere in the south), I could not but fall into a comparison of this +scene with any similar gathering of middle-class English folk. The +contrast was very greatly in favour of the Italians. One has had the +same thought a hundred times in the same circumstances, but it is worth +dwelling upon. Among these representative men, young and old, of +Catanzaro, the tone of conversation was incomparably better than that +which would rule in a cluster of English provincials met to enjoy their +evening leisure. They did, in fact, converse--a word rarely applicable +to English talk under such conditions; mere personal gossip was the +exception; they exchanged genuine thoughts, reasoned lucidly on the +surface of abstract subjects. I say on the surface; no remark that I +heard could be called original or striking; but the choice of topics +and the mode of viewing them was distinctly intellectual. Phrases often +occurred such as have no equivalent on the lips of everyday people in +our own country. For instance, a young fellow in no way distinguished +from his companions, fell to talking about a leading townsman, and +praised him for his _ingenio simpatico, his bella intelligenza_, with +exclamations of approval from those who listened. No, it is not merely +the difference between homely Anglo-Saxon and a language of classic +origin; there is a radical distinction of thought. These people have an +innate respect for things of the mind, which is wholly lacking to a +typical Englishman. One need not dwell upon the point that their +animation was supported by a tiny cup of coffee or a glass of lemonade; +this is a matter of climate and racial constitution; but I noticed the +entire absence of a certain kind of jocoseness which is so naturally +associated with spirituous liquors; no talk could have been less +offensive. From many a bar-parlour in English country towns I have gone +away heavy with tedium and disgust; the cafe at Catanzaro seemed, in +comparison, a place of assembly for wits and philosophers. + +Meanwhile a season of rain had begun; heavy skies warned me that I must +not hope for a renewal of sunny idleness on this mountain top; it would +be well if intervals of cheerful weather lighted my further course by +the Ionian Sea. Reluctantly, I made ready to depart. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +SQUILLACE + + +In meditating my southern ramble I had lingered on the thought that I +should see Squillace. For Squillace (Virgil's "ship-wrecking +Scylaceum") was the ancestral home of Cassiodorus, and his retreat when +he became a monk; Cassiodorus, the delightful pedant, the liberal +statesman and patriot, who stands upon the far limit of his old Roman +world and bids a sad farewell to its glories. He had niched himself in +my imagination. Once when I was spending a silent winter upon the shore +of Devon, I had with me the two folio volumes of his works, and +patiently read the better part of them; it was more fruitful than a +study of all the modern historians who have written about his time. I +saw the man; caught many a glimpse of his mind and heart, and names +which had been to me but symbols in a period of obscure history became +things living and recognizable. + +I could have travelled from Catanzaro by railway to the sea-coast +station called Squillace, but the town itself is perched upon a +mountain some miles inland, and it was simpler to perform the whole +journey by road, a drive of four hours, which, if the weather favoured +me, would be thoroughly enjoyable. On my last evening Don Pasquale gave +a good account of the sky; he thought I might hopefully set forth on +the morrow, and, though I was to leave at eight o'clock, promised to +come and see me off. Very early I looked forth, and the prospect seemed +doubtful; I had half a mind to postpone departure. But about seven came +Don Pasquale's servant, sent by his master to inquire whether I should +start or not, and, after asking the man's opinion, I decided to take +courage. The sun rose; I saw the streets of Catanzaro brighten in its +pale gleams, and the rack above interspaced with blue. + +Luckily my carriage-owner was a man of prudence; at the appointed hour +he sent a covered vehicle--not the open _carozzella_ in which I should +have cheerfully set forth had it depended upon myself. Don Pasquale, +too, though unwilling to perturb me, could not altogether disguise his +misgivings. At my last sight of him, he stood on the pavement before +the hotel gazing anxiously upwards. But the sun still shone, and as we +began the descent of the mountain-side I felt annoyed at having to view +the landscape through loopholes. + +Of a sudden--we were near the little station down in the valley--there +arose a mighty roaring, and all the trees of the wayside bent as if +they would break. The sky blackened, the wind howled, and presently, as +I peered through the window for some hope that this would only be a +passing storm, rain beat violently upon my face. Then the carriage +stopped, and my driver, a lad of about seventeen, jumped down to put +something right in the horses' harness. + +"Is this going to last?" I shouted to him. + +"No, no, signore" he answered gaily. "It will be over in a minute or +two. _Ecco il sole_!" + +I beheld no sun, either then or at any moment during the rest of the +day, but the voice was so reassuring that I gladly gave ear to it. On +we drove, down the lovely vale of the Corace, through orange-groves and +pine-woods, laurels and myrtles, carobs and olive trees, with the rain +beating fiercely upon us, the wind swaying all the leafage like billows +on a stormy sea. At the Marina of Catanzaro we turned southward on the +coast road, pursued it for two or three miles, then branched upon our +inland way. The storm showed no sign of coming to an end. Several times +the carriage stopped, and the lad got down to examine his +horses--perhaps to sympathize with them; he was such a drenched, +battered, pitiable object that I reproached myself for allowing him to +pursue the journey. + +"_Brutto tempo_!" he screamed above the uproar, when I again spoke to +him; but in such a cheery tone that I did not think it worth while to +make any further remark. + +Through the driving rain, I studied as well as I could the features of +the country. On my left hand stretched a long fiat-topped mountain, +forming the southern slope of the valley we ascended; steep, dark, and +furrowed with innumerable torrent-beds, it frowned upon a river that +rushed along the ravine at its foot to pour into the sea where the +mountain broke as a rugged cliff. This was the Mons Moscius of old +time, which sheltered the monastery built by Cassiodorus. The headlong, +swollen flood, coloured like yellow clay, held little resemblance to +the picture I had made of that river Pellena which murmurs so musically +in the old writer's pages. Its valley was heaped with great blocks of +granite--a feature which has interest for the geologist; it marks an +abrupt change of system, from the soft stone of Catanzaro (which ends +the Apennine) to the granitic mass of Aspromonte (the toe of Italy) +which must have risen above the waters long before the Apennines came +into existence. The wild weather emphasized a natural difference +between this valley of Squillace and that which rises towards +Catanzaro; here is but scanty vegetation, little more than thin +orchards of olive, and the landscape has a bare, harsh character. Is it +changed so greatly since the sixth century of our era? Or did its +beauty lie in the eyes of Cassiodorus, who throughout his long life of +statesmanship in the north never forgot this Bruttian home, and who +sought peace at last amid the scenes of his childhood? + +At windings of the way I frequently caught sight of Squillace itself, +high and far, its white houses dull-gleaming against the lurid sky. The +crag on which it stands is higher than that of Catanzaro, but of softer +ascent. As we approached I sought for signs of a road that would lead +us upward, but nothing of the sort could be discerned; presently I +became aware that we were turning into a side valley, and, to all +appearances, going quite away from the town. The explanation was that +the ascent lay on the further slope; we began at length to climb the +back of the mountain, and here I noticed with a revival of hope that +there was a lull in the tempest; rain no longer fell so heavily; the +clouds seemed to be breaking apart. A beam of sunshine would have set +me singing with joy. When half-way up, my driver rested his horses and +came to speak a word; we conversed merrily. He was to make straight for +the hotel, where shelter and food awaited us--a bottle of wine, ha! ha! +He knew the hotel, of course? Oh yes, he knew the hotel; it stood just +at the entrance to the town; we should arrive in half an hour. + +Looking upwards I saw nothing but a mass of ancient ruins, high +fragments of shattered wall, a crumbling tower, and great windows +through which the clouds were visible. Inhabited Squillace lay, no +doubt, behind. I knew that it was a very small place, without any +present importance; but at all events there was an albergo, and the +mere name of albergo had a delightful sound of welcome after such a +journey. Here I would stay for the night, at all events; if the weather +cleared, I might be glad to remain for two or three days. Certainly the +rain was stopping; the wind no longer howled. Up we went towards those +ragged walls and great, vacant windows. We reached the summit; for two +minutes the horses trotted; then a sudden halt, and my lad's face at +the carriage door. + +"_Ecco l'albergo, Signore_!" + +I jumped out. We were at the entrance to an unpaved street of squalid +hovels, a street which the rain had converted into a muddy river, so +that, on quitting the vehicle, I stepped into running water up to my +ankles. Before me was a long low cabin, with a row of four or five +windows and no upper storey; a miserable hut of rubble and plaster, +stained with ancient dirt and, at this moment, looking soaked with +moisture. Above the doorway I read "Osteria Centrale"; on the bare end +of the house was the prouder inscription, "Albergo Nazionale"--the +National Hotel. I am sorry to say that at the time this touch of humour +made no appeal to me; my position was no laughing matter. Faint with +hunger, I saw at once that I should have to browse on fearsome food. I +saw, too, that there was scarce a possibility of passing the night in +this place; I must drive down to the sea-shore, and take my chance of a +train which would bring me at some time to Reggio. While I thus +reflected--the water rushing over my boots--a very ill-looking man came +forth and began to stare curiously at me. I met his eye, but he offered +no greeting. A woman joined him, and the two, quite passive, waited to +discover my intentions. + +Eat I must, so I stepped forward and asked if I could have a meal. +Without stirring, the man gave a sullen assent. Could I have food at +once? Yes, in a few minutes. Would they show me--the dining room? Man +and woman turned upon their heels, and I followed. The entrance led +into a filthy kitchen; out of this I turned to the right, went along a +passage upon which opened certain chamber doors, and was conducted into +a room at the end--for the nonce, a dining-room, but at ordinary times +a bedroom. Evidently the kitchen served for native guests; as a +foreigner I was treated with more ceremony. Left alone till my meal +should be ready, I examined the surroundings. The floor was of worn +stone, which looked to me like the natural foundation of the house; the +walls were rudely plastered, cracked, grimed, and with many a deep +chink; as for the window, it admitted light, but, owing to the aged +dirt which had gathered upon it, refused any view of things without +save in two or three places where the glass was broken; by these +apertures, and at every point of the framework, entered a sharp wind. +In one corner stood an iron bedstead, with mattress and bedding in a +great roll upon it; a shaky deal table and primitive chair completed +the furniture. Ornament did not wholly lack; round the walls hung a +number of those coloured political caricatures (several indecent) which +are published by some Italian newspapers, and a large advertisement of +a line of emigrant ships between Naples and New York. Moreover, there +was suspended in a corner a large wooden crucifix, very quaint, very +hideous, and black with grime. + +Spite of all this, I still debated with myself whether to engage the +room for the night. I should have liked to stay; the thought of a sunny +morning here on the height strongly allured me, and it seemed a shame +to confess myself beaten by an Italian inn. On the other hand, the look +of the people did not please me; they had surly, forbidding faces. I +glanced at the door--no lock. Fears, no doubt, were ridiculous; yet I +felt ill at ease. I would decide after seeing the sort of fare that was +set before me. + +The meal came with no delay. First, a dish of great _peperoni_ cut up +in oil. This gorgeous fruit is never much to my taste, but I had as yet +eaten no such _peperoni_ as those of Squillace; an hour or two +afterwards my mouth was still burning from the heat of a few morsels to +which I was constrained by hunger. Next appeared a dish for which I had +covenanted--the only food, indeed, which the people had been able to +offer at short notice--a stew of pork and potatoes. Pork (_maiale_) is +the staple meat of all this region; viewing it as Homeric diet, I had +often battened upon such flesh with moderate satisfaction. But the pork +of Squillace defeated me; it smelt abominably, and it was tough as +leather. No eggs were to be had no macaroni; cheese, yes--the familiar +_cacci cavallo_ Bread appeared in the form of a fiat circular cake, a +foot in diameter, with a hole through the middle; its consistency +resembled that of cold pancake. And the drink! At least I might hope to +solace myself with an honest draught of red wine. I poured from the +thick decanter (dirtier vessel was never seen on table) and tasted. The +stuff was poison. Assuredly I am far from fastidious; this, I believe, +was the only occasion when wine has been offered me in Italy which I +could not drink. After desperately trying to persuade myself that the +liquor was merely "rough," that its nauseating flavour meant only a +certain coarse quality of the local grape, I began to suspect that it +was largely mixed with water--the water of Squillace! Notwithstanding a +severe thirst, I could not and durst not drink. + +Very soon I made my way to the kitchen, where my driver, who had +stabled his horses, sat feeding heartily; he looked up with his merry +smile, surprised at the rapidity with which I had finished. How I +envied his sturdy stomach! With the remark that I was going to have a +stroll round the town and should be back to settle things in half an +hour, I hastened into the open. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +MISERIA + + +"What do people do here?" I once asked at a little town between Rome +and Naples; and the man with whom I talked, shrugging his shoulders, +answered curtly, "_C'e miseria_"--there's nothing but poverty. The same +reply would be given in towns and villages without number throughout +the length of Italy. I had seen poverty enough, and squalid conditions +of life, but the most ugly and repulsive collection of houses I ever +came upon was the town of Squillace. I admit the depressing effect of +rain and cloud, and of hunger worse than unsatisfied; these things +count emphatically in my case; but under no conditions could inhabited +Squillace be other than an offence to eye and nostril. The houses are, +with one or two exceptions, ground-floor hovels; scarce a weather-tight +dwelling is discoverable; the general impression is that of dilapidated +squalor. Streets, in the ordinary sense of the word, do not exist; +irregular alleys climb above the rugged heights, often so steep as to +be difficult of ascent; here and there a few boulders have been thrown +together to afford a footing, and in some places the native rock lies +bare; but for the most part one walks on the accumulated filth of ages. +At the moment of my visit there was in progress the only kind of +cleaning which Squillace knows; down every trodden way and every +intermural gully poured a flush of rain-water, with occasionally a +leaping torrent or small cascade, which all but barred progress. Open +doors everywhere allowed me a glimpse of the domestic arrangements, and +I saw that my albergo had some reason to pride itself on superiority; +life in a country called civilized cannot easily be more primitive than +under these crazy roofs. As for the people, they had a dull, heavy +aspect; rare as must be the apparition of a foreigner among them, no +one showed the slightest curiosity as I passed, and (an honourable +feature of their district) no one begged. Women went about in the rain +protected by a shawl-like garment of very picturesque colouring; it had +broad yellow stripes on a red ground, the tones subdued to a warm +richness. + +The animal population was not without its importance. Turn where I +would I encountered lean, black pigs, snorting, frisking, scampering, +and squealing as if the bad weather were a delight to them. Gaunt, +low-spirited dogs prowled about in search of food, and always ran away +at my approach. In one precipitous by-way, where the air was +insupportably foul, I came upon an odd little scene: a pig and a cat, +quite alone, were playing together, and enjoying themselves with +remarkable spirit. The pig lay down in the running mud, and pussy, +having leapt on to him, began to scratch his back, bite his ears, +stroke his sides. Suddenly, porker was uppermost and the cat, +pretending to struggle for life, under his forefeet. It was the only +amusing incident I met with at Squillace, and the sole instance of +anything like cheerful vitality. + +Above the habitations stand those prominent ruins which had held my eye +during our long ascent. These are the rugged walls and windows of a +monastery, not old enough to possess much interest, and, on the +crowning height, the heavy remnants of a Norman castle, with one fine +doorway still intact. Bitterly I deplored the gloomy sky which spoiled +what would else have been a magnificent view from this point of +vantage--a view wide-spreading in all directions, with Sila northwards, +Aspromonte to the south, and between them a long horizon of the sea. +Looking down upon Squillace, one sees its houses niched among huge +masses of granite, which protrude from the scanty soil, or clinging to +the rocky surface like limpet shells. Was this the site of Scylaceum, +or is it, as some hold, merely a mediaeval refuge which took the name +of the old city nearer to the coast? The Scylaceum of the sixth century +is described by Cassiodorus--a picture glowing with admiration and +tenderness. It lay, he says, upon the side of a hill; nay, it hung +there "like a cluster of grapes," in such glorious light and warmth +that, to his mind, it deserved to be called the native region of the +sun. The fertility of the Country around was unexampled; nowhere did +earth yield to mortals a more luxurious life. Quoting this description, +Lenormant holds that, with due regard to time's changes, it exactly +fits the site of Squillace. Yet Cassiodorus says that the hill by which +you approached the town was not high enough to weary a traveller, a +consideration making for the later view that Scylaceum stood very near +to the Marina of Catanzaro, at a spot called Roccella, where not only +is the nature of the ground suitable, but there exist considerable +traces of ancient building, such as are not discoverable here on the +mountain top. Lenormant thought that Roccella was merely the sea-port +of the inland town. I wish he were right. No archaeologist, whose work +I have studied, affects me with such a personal charm, with such a +sense of intellectual sympathy, as Francois Lenormant--dead, alas, +before he could complete his delightful book. But one fears that, in +this instance, he judged too hastily. + +There is no doubt, fortunately, as to the position of the religious +house founded by Cassiodorus; it was in the shadow of Mons Moscius, and +quite near to the sea. I had marked the spot during my drive up the +valley, and now saw it again from this far height, but I could not be +satisfied with distant views. Weather and evil quarters making it +impossible to remain at Squillace, I decided to drive forthwith to the +railway station, see how much time remained to me before the arrival of +the train for Reggio, and, if it could be managed, visit in that +interval the place that attracted me. + +It is my desire to be at peace with all men, and in Italy I have rarely +failed to part with casual acquaintances--even innkeepers and +cocchieri--on friendly terms; but my host of the _Albergo Nazionale_ +made it difficult to preserve good humour. Not only did he charge +thrice the reasonable sum for the meal I could not eat, but his bill +for my driver's _colazione_ contained such astonishing items that I had +to question the lad as to what he had really consumed. It proved to be +a very ugly case of extortion, and the tone of sullen menace with which +my arguments were met did not help to smooth things. Presently the man +hit upon a pleasant sort of compromise. Why, he asked, did I not pay +the bill as it stood, and then, on dismissing my carriage--he had +learnt that I was not returning to Catanzaro--deduct as much as I chose +from the payment of the driver? A pretty piece of rascality, this, +which he would certainly not have suggested but that the driver was a +mere boy, helpless himself and bound to render an account to his +master. I had to be content with resolutely striking off half the sum +charged for the lad's wine (he was supposed to have drunk four litres), +and sending the receipted bill to Don Pasquale at Catanzaro, that he +might be ready with information if any future traveller consulted him +about the accommodation to be had at Squillace. No one is likely to do +so for a long time to come, but I have no doubt Don Pasquale had a +chuckle of amused indignation over the interesting and very dirty bit +of paper. We drove quickly down the winding road, and from below I +again admired the picturesqueness of Squillace. Both my guide-books, by +the way, the orthodox English and German authorities, assert that from +the railway station by the sea-shore Squillace is invisible. Which of +the two borrowed this information from the other? As a matter of fact, +the view of mountain and town from the station platform is admirable, +though, of course, at so great a distance, only a whitish patch +represents the hovels and ruins upon their royal height. + +I found that I had a good couple of hours at my disposal, and that to +the foot of Mons Moscius (now called Coscia di Stalletti) was only a +short walk. It rained drearily, but by this time I had ceased to think +of the weather. After watching the carriage for a moment, as it rolled +away on the long road back to Catanzaro (sorry not to be going with +it), I followed the advice of the stationmaster, and set out to walk +along the line of rails towards the black, furrowed mountain side. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +CASSIODORUS + + +The iron way crosses the mouth of the valley river. As I had already +noticed, it was a turbid torrent, of dull yellow; where it poured into +the sea, it made a vast, clean-edged patch of its own hue upon the +darker surface of the waves. This peculiarity resulted, no doubt, from +much rain upon the hills; it may be that in calmer seasons the Fiume di +Squillace bears more resemblance to the Pellena as one pictures it, a +delightful stream flowing through the gardens of the old monastery. +Cassiodorus tells us that it abounded in fish. One of his happy labours +was to make fish-ponds, filled and peopled from the river itself. In +the cliff-side where Mons Moscius breaks above the shore are certain +rocky caves, and by some it is thought that, in speaking of his +fish-preserves, Cassiodorus refers to these. Whatever the local +details, it was from this feature that the house took its name, +Monasterium Vivariense. + +Here, then, I stood in full view of the spot which I had so often +visioned in my mind's eye. Much of the land hereabout--probably an +immense tract of hill and valley--was the old monk's patrimonial +estate. We can trace his family back through three generations, to a +Cassiodorus, an Illustris of the falling Western Empire, who about the +middle of them fifth century defended his native Bruttii against an +invasion of the Vandals. The grandson of this noble was a distinguished +man all through the troubled time which saw Italy pass under the +dominion of Odovacar, and under the conquest of Theodoric; the Gothic +king raised him to the supreme office of Praetorian Prefect. We learn +that he had great herds of horses, bred in the Bruttian forests, and +that Theodoric was indebted to him for the mounting of troops of +cavalry. He and his ancestry would signify little now-a-days but for +the life-work of his greater son--Magnus Aurelius Cassiodorus Senator, +statesman, historian, monk. _Senator_ was not a title, but a personal +name; the name our Cassiodorus always used when speaking of himself. +But history calls him otherwise, and for us he must be Cassiodorus +still. + +The year of his birth was 480. In the same year were born two other +men, glories of their age, whose fame is more generally remembered: +Boethius the poet and philosopher, and Benedict called Saint. + +From Quaestorship (old name with no longer the old significance) to +Praetorian Prefecture, Cassiodorus held all offices of state, and seems +under every proof to have shown the nobler qualities of statesmanship. +During his ripe years he stood by the side of Theodoric, minister in +prime trust, doubtless helping to shape that wise and benevolent policy +which made the reign of the Ostrogoth a time of rest and hope for the +Italian people--Roman no longer; the word had lost its meaning, though +not its magic. The Empire of the West had perished; Theodoric and his +minister, clearly understanding this, and resolute against the +Byzantine claim which was but in half abeyance, aimed at the creation +of an independent Italy, where Goth and Latin should blend into a new +race. The hope proved vain. Theodoric's successors, no longer kings, +but mere Gothic chieftains, strove obscurely against inevitable doom, +until the generals of Juistinian trod Italy into barren servitude. Only +when the purpose of his life was shattered, when--Theodoric long +dead--his still faithful service to the Gothic rule became an idle +form, when Belisarius was compassing the royal city of Ravenna, and +voice of council could no longer make itself heard amid tumult and +ruin, did Cassiodorus retire from useless office, and turn his back +upon the world. + +He was aged about sixty. Long before, he had written a history of the +Goths (known to us only in a compendium by another hand), of which the +purpose seems to have been to reconcile the Romans to the Gothic +monarchy; it began by endeavouring to prove that Goths had fought +against the Greeks at Troy. Now that his public life was over, he +published a collection of the state papers composed by him under the +Gothic rulers from Theodoric to Vitigis: for the most part royal +rescripts addressed to foreign powers and to officials of the kingdom. +Invaluable for their light upon men and things fourteen hundred years +ago, these _Variae_ of Cassiodorus; and for their own sake, as literary +productions, most characteristic, most entertaining. Not quite easy to +read, for the Latin is by no means Augustan, but after labour well +spent, a delightful revelation of the man and the age. Great is the +variety of subjects dealt with or touched upon; from the diplomatic +relations between Ravenna and Constantinople, or the alliances of the +Amal line with barbaric royalties in Gaul and Africa, to the pensioning +of an aged charioteer and the domestic troubles of a small landowner. +We form a good general idea of the condition of Italy at that time, +and, on many points political and social, gather a fund of most curious +detail. The world shown to us is in some respects highly civilized, its +civilization still that of Rome, whose laws, whose manners, have in +great part survived the Teutonic conquest; from another point of view +it is a mere world of ruin, possessed by triumphant barbarism, and +sinking to intellectual darkness. We note the decay of central power, +and the growth of political anarchy; we observe the process by which +Roman nobles, the Senatorial Order when a Senate lingers only in name, +are becoming the turbulent lords of the Middle Ages, each a power in +his own territory, levying private war, scornful of public interests. +The city of Rome has little part in this turbid history, yet her name +is never mentioned without reverence, and in theory she is still the +centre of the world. Glimpses are granted us of her fallen majesty; we +learn that Theodoric exerted himself to preserve her noble buildings, +to restore her monuments; at the same time we hear of marble stolen +from palaces in decay, and of temples which, as private property, are +converted to ignoble use. Moreover, at Rome sits an ecclesiastical +dignitary, known as _Papa_, to whose doings already attaches +considerable importance. One of the last acts of the Senate which had +any real meaning was to make a decree with regard to the election of +this Bishop, forbidding his advance by the way of Simony. Theodoric, an +Arian, interferes only with the Church of Rome in so far as public +peace demands it. In one of his letters occurs a most remarkable dictum +on the subject of toleration. "_Religionem imperare non possumus, quia +nemo cogitur ut credat invitus_--we cannot impose a religious faith, +for no one can be compelled to believe against his conscience." This +must, of course, have been the king's own sentiment, but Cassiodorus +worded it, and doubtless with approval. + +Indeed, we are at no loss to discern the mind of the secretary in these +official papers. Cassiodorus speaks as often for himself as for the +king; he delights to expatiate, from an obviously personal point of +view, on any subject that interests him. One of these is natural +history; give him but the occasion, and he gossips of beasts, birds, +and fishes, in a flow of the most genial impertinence. Certain bronze +elephants on the Via Sacra are falling to pieces and must be repaired: +in giving the order, Theodoric's minister pens a little treatise on the +habits and characteristics of the elephant. His erudition is often +displayed: having to convey some direction about the Circus at Rome, he +begins with a pleasant sketch of the history of chariot racing. One +marvels at the man who, in such a period, preserved this mood of +liberal leisure. His style is perfectly suited to the matter; diffuse, +ornate, amusingly affected; altogether a _precious_ mode of writing, +characteristic of literary decadence. When the moment demands it, he is +pompously grandiloquent; in dealing with a delicate situation, he +becomes involved and obscure. We perceive in him a born courtier, a +proud noble, a statesman of high purpose and no little sagacity; +therewith, many gracious and attractive qualities, coloured by +weaknesses, such as agreeable pedantry and amiable self-esteem, which +are in part personal, partly the note of his time. + +One's picture of the man is, of course, completed from a knowledge of +the latter years of his life, of the works produced during his monastic +retirement. Christianity rarely finds expression in the _Variae_, a +point sufficiently explained by the Gothic heresy, which imposed +discretion in public utterances; on the other hand, pagan mythology +abounds; we observe the hold it still had upon educated +minds--education, indeed, meaning much the same thing in the sixth +century after Christ as in the early times of the Empire. Cassiodorus +can never have been a fanatical devotee of any creed. Of his sincere +piety there is no doubt; it appears in a vast commentary on the Psalms, +and more clearly in the book he wrote for the guidance and edification +of his brother monks--brothers (_carissimi fratres_), for in his +humility he declined to become the Abbot of Vivariense; enough that his +worldly dignity, his spiritual and mental graces, assured to him the +influence he desired. The notable characteristic of his rule was a +sanctifying of intellectual labour. In abandoning the world, he by no +means renounced his interest in its civilization. Statesmanship having +failed to stem the tide of Oriental tyranny and northern barbarism, he +set himself to save as much as possible of the nobler part, to secure +for happier ages the record of human attainment. Great was the +importance he attached to the work of his Antiquarii--copyists who +laboured to preserve the manuscript literature which was in danger of +utterly perishing. With special reference to their work upon the +Scriptures, he tells them that they "fight against the wiles of Satan +with pen and ink." And again: "Writing with three fingers, they thus +symbolize the virtues of the Holy Trinity; using a reed, they thus +attack the craft of the Devil with that very instrument which smote the +Lord's head in his Passion." But all literature was his care. That the +copyists might write correctly, he digested the works of half a dozen +grammarians into a treatise on orthography. Further, that the books of +the monastery might wear "a wedding garment" (his own phrase), he +designed a great variety of bindings, which were kept as patterns. + +There, at the foot of Moscius, did these brethren and their founder +live and work. But on the top of the mountain was another retreat, +known as Castellense, for those monks who--_divina gratia +suffragante_--desired a severer discipline, and left the coenobitic +house to become anchorites. Did these virtuous brothers continue their +literary labours? One hopes so, and one is glad that Cassiodorus +himself seems to have ended his life down in the valley by the Pellena. + +A third class of monks finds mention, those in whom "_Frigidus +obstiterit circum praecordia sanguis_," quotes the founder. In other +words, the hopelessly stupid. For these there was labour in the garden, +and to console them Cassiodorus recites from a Psalm: "Thou shalt eat +the labour of thy hands; happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with +thee." A smile is on the countenance of the humane brother. He did his +utmost, indeed, for the comfort, as well as the spiritual welfare, of +his community. Baths were built "for the sick" (heathendom had been +cleaner, but we must not repine); for the suffering, too, and for +pilgrims, exceptional food was provided--young pigeons, delicate fish, +fruit, honey; a new kind of lamp was invented, to burn for long hours +without attention; dials and clepsydras marked the progress of day and +night. + +Among the monastic duties is that of giving instruction to the +peasantry round about. They are not to be oppressed, these humble +tillers of the soil, for is it not written that "My yoke is easy, and +my burden light"? But one must insist that they come frequently to +religious service, and that they do not _lucos colere_--worship in +groves--which shows that a heathen mind still lingered among the +people, and that they reverenced the old deities. Benedict, the +contemporary of Cassiodorus (we have no authority for supposing that +they knew each other), when he first ascended the mount above Casinum, +found a temple of Apollo, with the statue of the god receiving daily +homage. Archaeologists have tried to determine at what date the old +religion became extinct in Italy. Their research leads them well into +the Middle Ages, but, undoubtedly, even then they pause too soon. + +Legend says that Cassiodorus attained the age of nearly a hundred +years. We may be sure that to the end he lived busily, for of idleness +he speaks with abhorrence as the root of evil. Doubtless he was always +a copious talker, and to many a pilgrim he must have gossiped +delightfully, alternating mundane memories with counsel good for the +soul. Only one of his monastic brethren is known to us as a man of any +distinction: this was Dionysius Exiguus, or the Little, by birth a +Scythian, a man of much learning. He compiled the first history of the +Councils, and, a matter more important, originated the computation of +the Christian Era; for up to this time men had dated in the old way, by +shadowy consulships and confusing Indictions. There is happy +probability that Cassiodorus lived out his life in peace; but the +monastery did not long exist; like that of Benedict on Monte Cassino, +it seems to have been destroyed by the Lombards, savages and Arians. No +trace of it remains. But high up on the mountain is a church known as +S. Maria de Vetere, a name indicating an ancient foundation, which +perhaps was no other than the anchorite house of Castellense. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE GROTTA + + +About a mile beyond Squillace the line passes by a tunnel through the +promontory of Mons Moscius. At this point on the face of the sea-cliff +I was told that I should discover a _grotta_, one of the caverns which +some think are indicated by Cassiodorus when he speaks of his +fish-preserves. Arrived near the mouth of the tunnel I found a +signal-box, where several railway men were grouped in talk; to them I +addressed myself, and all immediately turned to offer me guidance. We +had to clamber down a rocky descent, and skirt the waves for a few +yards; when my cluster of companions had sufficiently shown their +good-will, all turned back but one, who made a point of giving me safe +conduct into the cave itself. He was a bronzed, bright-eyed, +happy-looking fellow of middle age, his humorous intelligence appearing +in a flow of gossip about things local. We entered a narrow opening, +some twelve feet high, which ran perhaps twenty yards into the cliff. +Lenormant supposes that this was a quarry made by the original Greek +colonists. If Cassiodorus used it for the purpose mentioned, the cave +must have been in direct communication either with the sea or the +river; at present, many yards of sloping shingle divide it from the +line of surf, and the river flows far away. Movement of the shore there +has of course been, and the Pellena may have considerably changed the +direction of its outflow; our author's description being but vague, one +can only muse on probabilities and likelihoods. + +Whilst we talked, the entrance to the cave was shadowed, and there +entered one of the men who had turned back half-way; his face betrayed +the curiosity which had after all prevailed to bring him hither. +Shouting merrily, my companion hailed him as "Brigadiere." The two +friends contrasted very amusingly; for the brigadiere was a mild, +timid, simple creature, who spoke with diffidence; he kept his +foolishly good-natured eyes fixed upon me, a gaze of wonder. After +listening to all that my guide had to say--it was nothing to the point, +dealing chiefly with questions of railway engineering--I had just begun +to explain my interest in the locality, and I mentioned the name of +Cassiodorus. As it passed my lips the jovial fellow burst into a roar +of laughter. "Cassiodorio! Ha, ha! Cassiodorio! Ha, ha, ha!" I asked +him what he meant, and found that he was merely delighted to hear a +stranger unexpectedly utter a name in familiar local use. He ran out +from the cave, and pointed up the valley; yonder was a fountain which +bore the name "Fontana di Cassiodorio." (From my authors I knew of +this; it may or may not have genuine historic interest.) Thereupon, I +tried to discover whether any traditions hung to the name, but these +informants had only a vague idea that Cassiodorus was a man of times +long gone by. How, they questioned in turn, did _I_ know anything about +him? Why, from books, I replied; among them books which the ancient +himself had written more than a thousand years ago. This was too much +for the brigadiere; it moved him to stammered astonishment. Did I mean +to say that books written more than a thousand years ago still existed? +The jovial friend, good-naturedly scornful, cried out that of course +they did, and added with triumphant air that they were not in the +language of to-day but in _latino, latino_! All this came as a +revelation to the other, who stared and marvelled, never taking his +eyes from my face. At length he burst out with an emphatic question; +these same books, were they large? Why yes, I answered, some of them. +Were they--were they _as large as a missal_? A shout of jolly laughter +interrupted us. It seemed to me that my erudite companion was in the +habit of getting fun of out his friend the brigadiere, but so kindly +did he look and speak, that it must have been difficult for the +simpleton ever to take offence. + +Meanwhile the sullen sky had grown blacker, and rain was descending +heavily. In any case, I should barely have had time to go further, and +had to be content with a description from my companions of a larger +cave some distance beyond this, which is known as the Grotta of San +Gregorio--with reference, no doubt, to S. Gregory the Thaumaturgist; to +him was dedicated a Greek monastery, built on the ruined site of +Vivariense. After the Byzantine conquest of the sixth century, Magna +Graecia once more justified its ancient name; the civilization of this +region became purely Greek; but for the Lombards and ecclesiastical +Rome, perhaps no Latin Italy would have survived. Greek monks, who +through the darkest age were skilful copyists, continued in Calabria +the memorable work of Cassiodorus. The ninth century saw Saracen +invasion, and then it was, no doubt, that the second religious house +under Mons Moscius perished from its place. + +Thinking over this, I walked away from the cave and climbed again to +the railway; my friends also were silent and ruminative. Not +unnaturally, I suspected that a desire for substantial thanks had some +part in their Silence, and at a convenient spot I made suitable +offering. It was done, I trust, with all decency, for I knew that I had +the better kind of Calabrian to deal with; but neither the jovially +intelligent man nor the pleasant simpleton would for a moment entertain +this suggestion. They refused with entire dignity--grave, courteous, +firm-and as soon as I had apologized, which I did not without emphasis, +we were on the same terms as before; with handshaking, we took kindly +leave of each other. Such self-respect is the rarest thing in Italy +south of Rome, but in Calabria I found it more than once. + +By when I had walked back to the station, hunger exhausted me. There +was no buffet, and seemingly no place in the neighbourhood where food +could be purchased, but on my appealing to the porter I learnt that he +was accustomed to entertain stray travellers in his house hard by, +whither he at once led me. To describe the room where my meal was +provided would be sheer ingratitude: in my recollection it compares +favourably with the _Albergo Nazionale_ of Squillace. I had bread, +salame, cheese, and, heaven be thanked, wine that I could swallow--nay, +for here sounds the note of thanklessness, it was honest wine, of which +I drank freely. Honest, too, the charge that was made; I should have +felt cheap at ten times the price that sudden accession of bodily and +mental vigour. Luck be with him, serviceable _facchino_ of Squillace! I +remember his human face, and his smile of pleasure when I declared all +he modestly set before me good and good again. His hospitality sent me +on my way rejoicing--glad that I had seen the unspeakable little +mountain town, thrice glad that I had looked upon Mons Moscius and +trodden by the river Pellena. Rain fell in torrents, but I no longer +cared. When presently the train arrived, I found a comfortable corner, +and looked forward with a restful sigh to the seven hours' travel which +would bring me into view of Sicily. + +In the carriage sat a school-boy, a book open upon his knee. When our +eyes had met twice or thrice, and an ingenuous smile rose to his +handsome face, I opened conversation, and he told me that he came every +day to school from a little place called San Sostene to Catanzaro, +there being no nearer instruction above the elementary; a journey of +some sixteen miles each way, and not to be reckoned by English +standards, for it meant changing at the Marina for the valley train, +and finally going up the mountain side by _diligenza_. The lad flushed +with delight in his adventure--a real adventure for him to meet with +some one from far-off England. Just before we stopped at San Sostene, +he presented me with his card--why had he a card?--which bore the name, +De Luca Fedele. A bright and spirited lad, who seemed to have the best +qualities of his nation; I wish I might live to hear him spoken of as a +man doing honour to Italy. + +At this station another travelling companion took the school-boy's +place; a priest, who soon addressed me in courteous talk. He journeyed +only for a short way, and, when alighting, pointed skyward through the +dark (night had fallen) to indicate his mountain parish miles inland. +He, too, offered me his card, adding a genial invitation; I found he +was Parroco (parish priest) of San Nicola at Badolato. I would ask +nothing better than to visit him, some autumn-tide, when grapes are +ripening above the Ionian Sea. + +It was a wild night. When the rain at length ceased, lightning flashed +ceaselessly about the dark heights of Aspromonte; later, the moon rose, +and, sailing amid grandly illumined clouds, showed white waves rolling +in upon the beach. Wherever the train stopped, that sea-music was in my +ears--now seeming to echo a verse of Homer, now the softer rhythm of +Theocritus. Think of what one may in day-time on this far southern +shore, its nights are sacred to the poets of Hellas. In rounding Cape +Spartivento, I strained my eyes through the moonlight--unhappily a +waning moon, which had shone with full orb the evening I ascended to +Catanzaro--to see the Sicilian mountains; at length they stood up +darkly against the paler night. There came back to my memory a voyage +at glorious sunrise, years ago, when I passed through the Straits of +Messina, and all day long gazed at Etna, until its cone, solitary upon +the horizon, shone faint and far in the glow of evening--the morrow to +bring me a first sight of Greece. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +REGGIO + + +By its natural situation Reggio is marked for an unquiet history. It +was a gateway of Magna Graecia; it lay straight in the track of +conquering Rome when she moved towards Sicily; it offered points of +strategic importance to every invader or defender of the peninsula +throughout the mediaeval wars. Goth and Saracen, Norman, Teuton and +Turk, seized, pillaged, and abandoned, each in turn, this stronghold +overlooking the narrow sea. Then the earthquakes, ever menacing between +Vesuvius and Etna; that of 1783, which wrought destruction throughout +Calabria, laid Reggio in ruins, so that to-day it has the aspect of a +newly-built city, curving its regular streets, amphitheatre-wise, upon +the slope that rises between shore and mountain. Of Rhegium little is +discernible above ground; of the ages that followed scarce anything +remains but the Norman fortress, so shaken by that century-old disaster +that huge gaps show where its rent wall sank to a lower level upon the +hillside. + +At first, one has eyes and thoughts for nothing but the landscape. From +the terrace road along the shore, Via Plutino, beauties and glories +indescribable lie before one at every turn of the head. Aspromonte, +with its forests and crags; the shining straits, sail-dotted, opening +to a sea-horizon north and south; and, on the other side, the +mountain-island, crowned with snow. Hours long I stood and walked here, +marvelling delightedly at all I saw, but in the end ever fixing my gaze +on Sicily. Clouds passed across the blue sky, and their shadows upon +the Sicilian panorama made ceaseless change of hue and outline. At +early morning I saw the crest of Etna glistening as the first sun-ray +smote upon its white ridges; at fall of day, the summit hidden by heavy +clouds, and western beams darting from behind the mountain, those far, +cold heights glimmered with a hue of palest emerald, seeming but a +vision of the sunset heaven, translucent, ever about to vanish. Night +transformed but did not all conceal. Yonder, a few miles away, shone +the harbour and the streets of Messina, and many a gleaming point along +the island coast, strand-touching or high above, signalled the homes of +men. Calm, warm, and clear, this first night at Reggio; I could not +turn away from the siren-voice of the waves; hearing scarce a footstep +but my own, I paced hither and thither by the sea-wall, alone with +memories. + +The rebuilding of Reggio has made it clean and sweet; its air is +blended from that of mountain and sea, ever renewed, delicate and +inspiriting. But, apart from the harbour, one notes few signs of +activity; the one long street, Corso Garibaldi, has little traffic; +most of the shops close shortly after nightfall, and then there is no +sound of wheels; all would be perfectly still but for the occasional +cry of lads who sell newspapers. Indeed, the town is strangely quiet, +considering its size and aspect of importance; one has to search for a +restaurant, and I doubt if more than one cafe exists. At my hotel the +dining-room was a public _trattoria_, opening upon the street, but only +two or three military men--the eternal officers--made use of it, and I +felt a less cheery social atmosphere than at Taranto or at Catanzaro. +One recurring incident did not tend to exhilarate. Sitting in view of a +closed door, I saw children's faces pressed against the glass, peering +little faces, which sought a favourable moment; suddenly the door would +open, and there sounded a thin voice, begging for _un pezzo di pane_--a +bit of bread. Whenever the waiter caught sight of these little +mendicants, he rushed out with simulated fury, and pursued them along +the pavement. I have no happy recollection of my Reggian meals. + +An interesting feature of the streets is the frequency of carved +inscriptions, commemorating citizens who died in their struggle for +liberty. Amid quiet by-ways, for instance, I discovered a tablet with +the name of a young soldier who fell at that spot, fighting against the +Bourbon, in 1860: "_offerse per l'unita della patria sua vita +quadrilustre_." The very insignificance of this young life makes the +fact more touching; one thinks of the unnumbered lives sacrificed upon +this soil, age after age, to the wild-beast instinct of mankind, and +how pathetic the attempt to preserve the memory of one boy, so soon to +become a meaningless name! His own voice seems to plead with us for a +regretful thought, to speak from the stone in sad arraignment of +tyranny and bloodshed. A voice which has no accent of hope. In the days +to come, as through all time that is past, man will lord it over his +fellow, and earth will be stained red from veins of young and old. That +sweet and sounding name of _patria_ becomes an illusion and a curse; +linked with the pretentious modernism, _civilization_, it serves as +plea to the latter-day barbarian, ravening and reckless under his civil +garb. How can one greatly wish for the consolidation and prosperity of +Italy, knowing that national vigour tends more and more to +international fear and hatred? They who perished that Italy might be +born again, dreamt of other things than old savagery clanging in new +weapons. In our day there is but one Italian patriot; he who tills the +soil, and sows, and reaps, ignorant or careless of all beyond his +furrowed field. + +Whilst I was still thinking of that memorial tablet, I found myself in +front of the Cathedral. As a structure it makes small appeal, dating +only from the seventeenth century, and heavily restored in times more +recent; but the first sight of the facade is strangely stirring. For +across the whole front, in great letters which one who runs may read, +is carved a line from the Acts of the Apostles:-- + +"Circumlegentes devenimus Rhegium." + +Save only those sonorous words which circle the dome of S. Peter's, I +have seen no inscription on Christian temple which seemed to me so +impressive. "We fetched a compass, and came to Rhegium." Paul was on +his voyage from Caesarea to Rome, and here his ship touched, here at +the haven beneath Aspromonte. The fact is familiar enough, but, +occupied as I was with other thoughts, it had not yet occurred to me; +the most pious pilgrim of an earlier day could not have felt himself +more strongly arrested than I when I caught sight of these words. Were +I to inhabit Reggio, I should never pass the Cathedral without stopping +to read and think; the carving would never lose its power over my +imagination. It unites for me two elements of moving interest: a vivid +fact from the ancient world, recorded in the music of the ancient +tongue. All day the words rang in my head, even as at Rome I have gone +about murmuring to myself: "_Aedificabo ecclesiam meam_." What a noble +solemnity in this Latin speech! And how vast the historic significance +of such monumental words! Moralize who will; enough for me to hear with +delight that deep-toned harmony, and to thrill with the strangeness of +old things made new. + +It was Sunday, which at Reggio is a day or market. Crowds of +country-folk had come into the town with the produce of field and +garden; all the open spaces were occupied with temporary stalls; at +hand stood innumerable donkeys, tethered till business should be over. +The produce exhibited was of very fine quality, especially the +vegetables; I noticed cauliflowers measuring more than a foot across +the white. Of costume there was little to be observed--though the long +soft cap worn by most of the men, hanging bag-like over one ear almost +to the shoulder, is picturesque. The female water-carriers, a long slim +cask resting lengthwise upon their padded heads, hold attention as they +go to and from the fountains. Good-looking people, grave of manner, and +doing their business without noise. It was my last sight of the +Calabrian hillsmen; to the end they held my interest and my respect. +When towns have sucked dry their population of strength and virtue, it +is such folk as these, hardy from the free breath of heaven and the +scent of earth, who will renew a flaccid race. + +Walking beyond the town in the southern direction, where the shape of +Etna shows more clearly amid the lower mountains, I found myself +approaching what looked like a handsome public edifice, a museum or +gallery of art. It was a long building, graced with a portico, and +coloured effectively in dull red; all about it stood lemon trees, and +behind, overtopping the roof, several fine palms. Moved by curiosity I +quickened my steps, and as I drew nearer I felt sure that this must be +some interesting institution of which I had not heard. Presently I +observed along the facade a row of heads of oxen carved in stone--an +ornament decidedly puzzling. Last of all my eyes perceived, over the +stately entrance, the word "Macello," and with astonishment I became +aware that this fine structure, so agreeably situated, was nothing else +than the town slaughter-house. Does the like exist elsewhere? It was a +singular bit of advanced civilization, curiously out of keeping with +the thoughts which had occupied me on my walk. Why, I wonder, has +Reggio paid such exceptional attention to this department of its daily +life? One did not quite know whether to approve this frank exhibition +of carnivorous zeal; obviously something can be said in its favour, +yet, on the other hand, a man who troubles himself with finer scruples +would perhaps choose not to be reminded of pole-axe and butcher's +knife, preferring that such things should shun the light of day. It +gave me, for the moment, an odd sense of having strayed into the world +of those romancers who forecast the future; a slaughter-house of +tasteful architecture, set in a grove of lemon trees and date palms, +suggested the dreamy ideal of some reformer whose palate shrinks from +vegetarianism. To my mind this had no place amid the landscape which +spread about me. It checked my progress; I turned abruptly, to lose the +impression as soon as possible. + +No such trouble has been taken to provide comely housing for the +collection of antiquities which the town possesses. The curator who led +me through the museum (of course I was the sole visitor) lamented that +it was only communal, the Italian Government not having yet cared to +take it under control; he was an enthusiast, and spoke with feeling of +the time and care he had spent upon these precious relics--_sedici anni +di vita_--sixteen years of life, and, after all, who cared for them? +There was a little library of archaeological works, which contained two +volumes only of the _Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum_; who, asked the +curator sadly, would supply money to purchase the rest? Place had been +found on the walls for certain modern pictures of local interest. One +represented a pasture on the heights of Aspromonte, shepherds and their +cattle amid rich herbage, under a summer sky, with purple summits +enclosing them on every side; the other, also a Calabrian mountain +scene, but sternly grand in the light of storm; a dark tarn, a rushing +torrent, the lonely wilderness. Naming the painter, my despondent +companion shook his head, and sighed "_Morto! Morto!_" + +Ere I left, the visitors' book was opened for my signature. Some twenty +pages only had been covered since the founding of the museum, and most +of the names were German. Fortunately, I glanced at the beginning, and +there, on the first page, was written "Francois Lenormant, Membre de +l'Institut de France"--the date, 1882. The small, delicate character +was very suggestive of the man as I conceived him; to come upon his +name thus unexpectedly gave me a thrill of pleasure; it was like being +brought of a sudden into the very presence of him whose spirit had +guided, instructed, borne me delightful company throughout my +wanderings. When I turned to the curator, and spoke of this discovery, +sympathy at once lighted up his face. Yes, yes! He remembered the +visit; he had the clearest recollection of Lenormant--"_un bravo +giovane_!" Thereupon, he directed my attention to a little slip of +paper pasted into the inner cover of the book, on which were written in +pencil a few Greek letters; they were from the hand of Lenormant +himself, who had taken out his pencil to illustrate something he was +saying about a Greek inscription in the museum. Carefully had this +scrap been preserved by the good curator; his piety touched and +delighted me. + +I could have desired no happier incident for the close of my journey; +by lucky chance this visit to the museum had been postponed till the +last morning, and, as I idled through the afternoon about the Via +Plutino, my farewell mood was in full harmony with that in which I had +landed from Naples upon the Calabrian shore. So hard a thing to catch +and to retain, the mood corresponding perfectly to an intellectual +bias--hard, at all events, for him who cannot shape his life as he +will, and whom circumstance ever menaces with dreary harassment. Alone +and quiet, I heard the washing of the waves; I saw the evening fall on +cloud-wreathed Etna, the twinkling lights come forth on Scylla and +Charybdis; and, as I looked my last towards the Ionian Sea, I wished it +were mine to wander endlessly amid the silence of the ancient world, +to-day and all its sounds forgotten. + + + + +THE END. + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of By the Ionian Sea, by George Gissing + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BY THE IONIAN SEA *** + +***** This file should be named 4354.txt or 4354.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/4/3/5/4354/ + +Produced by Charles Aldarondo. 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Hart +and may be reprinted only when these Etexts are free of all fees.] +[Project Gutenberg is a TradeMark and may not be used in any sales +of Project Gutenberg Etexts or other materials be they hardware or +software or any other related product without express permission.] + +*END THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.10/04/01*END* + + + + +Edited by Charles Aldarondo (aldarondo@yahoo.com) + +BY THE IONIAN SEA + +NOTES OF A RAMBLE IN SOUTHERN ITALY + +BY GEORGE GISSING + + + + + +CHAPTER I + +FROM NAPLES. + + + + + +This is the third day of sirocco, heavy-clouded, sunless. All the +colour has gone out of Naples; the streets are dusty and stifling. I +long for the mountains and the sea. + +To-morrow I shall leave by the Messina boat, which calls at Paola. +It is now more than a twelvemonth since I began to think of Paola, +and an image of the place has grown in my mind. I picture a little +_marina_; a yellowish little town just above; and behind, rising +grandly, the long range of mountains which guard the shore of +Calabria. Paola has no special interest that I know of, but it is +the nearest point on the coast to Cosenza, which has interest in +abundance; by landing here I make a modestly adventurous beginning +of my ramble in the South. At Paola foreigners are rare; one may +count upon new impressions, and the journey over the hills will be +delightful. + +Were I to lend ear to the people with whom I am staying, here in the +Chiatamone, I should either abandon my project altogether or set +forth with dire misgivings. They are Neapolitans of the better +class; that is to say, they have known losses, and talk of their +former happiness, when they lived on the Chiaia and had everything +handsome about them. The head of the family strikes me as a typical +figure; he is an elderly man, with a fine head, a dignified +presence, and a coldly courteous demeanour. By preference he speaks +French, and his favourite subject is Paris. One observes in him +something like disdain for his own country, which in his mind is +associated only with falling fortunes and loss of self-respect. The +cordial Italian note never sounds in his talk. The _signora_ (also a +little ashamed of her own language) excites herself about taxation +--as well she may--and dwells with doleful vivacity on family +troubles. Both are astonished at my eccentricity and hardiness in +undertaking a solitary journey through the wild South. Their +geographical notions are vague; they have barely heard of Cosenza or +of Cotrone, and of Paola not at all; it would as soon occur to them +to set out for Morocco as for Calabria. How shall I get along with +people whose language is a barbarous dialect? Am I aware that the +country is in great part pestilential?--_la febbre_! Has no one +informed me that in autumn snows descend, and bury everything for +months? It is useless to explain that I only intend to visit places +easily accessible, that I shall travel mostly by railway, and that +if disagreeable weather sets in I shall quickly return northwards. +They look at me dubiously, and ask themselves (I am sure) whether I +have not some more tangible motive than a lover of classical +antiquity. It ends with a compliment to the enterprising spirit of +the English race. + +I have purchases to make, business to settle, and I must go hither +and thither about the town. Sirocco, of course, dusks everything to +cheerless grey, but under any sky it is dispiriting to note the +changes in Naples. _Lo sventramento_ (the disembowelling) goes on, +and regions are transformed. It is a good thing, I suppose, that the +broad Corso Umberto I. should cut a way through the old Pendino; but +what a contrast between that native picturesqueness and the +cosmopolitan vulgarity which has usurped its place! "_Napoli se ne +va_!" I pass the Santa Lucia with downcast eyes, my memories of ten +years ago striving against the dulness of to-day. The harbour, +whence one used to start for Capri, is filled up; the sea has been +driven to a hopeless distance beyond a wilderness of dust-heaps. +They are going to make a long, straight embankment from the Castel +dell'Ovo to the Great Port, and before long the Santa Lucia will be +an ordinary street, shut in among huge houses, with no view at all. +Ah, the nights that one lingered here, watching the crimson glow +upon Vesuvius, tracing the dark line of the Sorrento promontory, or +waiting for moonlight to cast its magic upon floating Capri! The +odours remain; the stalls of sea-fruit are as yet undisturbed, and +the jars of the water-sellers; women still comb and bind each +other's hair by the wayside, and meals are cooked and eaten _al +fresco_ as of old. But one can see these things elsewhere, and Santa +Lucia was unique. It has become squalid. In the grey light of this +sad billowy sky, only its ancient foulness is manifest; there needs +the golden sunlight to bring out a suggestion of its ancient charm. + +Has Naples grown less noisy, or does it only seem so to me? The men +with bullock carts are strangely quiet; their shouts have nothing +like the frequency and spirit of former days. In the narrow and +thronged Strada di Chiaia I find little tumult; it used to be +deafening. Ten years ago a foreigner could not walk here without +being assailed by the clamour of _cocchieri_; nay, he was pursued +from street to street, until the driver had spent every phrase of +importunate invitation; now, one may saunter as one will, with +little disturbance. Down on the Piliero, whither I have been to take +my passage for Paola, I catch but an echo of the jubilant uproar +which used to amaze me. Is Naples really so much quieter? If I had +time I would go out to Fuorigrotta, once, it seemed to me, the +noisiest village on earth, and see if there also I observed a +change. It would not be surprising if the modernization of the city, +together with the state of things throughout Italy, had a subduing +effect upon Neapolitan manners. In one respect the streets are +assuredly less gay. When I first knew Naples one was never, +literally never, out of hearing of a hand-organ; and these organs, +which in general had a peculiarly dulcet note, played the brightest +of melodies; trivial, vulgar if you will, but none the less +melodious, and dear to Naples. Now the sound of street music is +rare, and I understand that some police provision long since +interfered with the soft-tongued instruments. I miss them; for, in +the matter of music, it is with me as with Sir Thomas Browne. For +Italy the change is significant enough; in a few more years +spontaneous melody will be as rare at Naples or Venice as on the +banks of the Thames. + +Happily, the musicians errant still strum their mandoline as you +dine. The old trattoria in the Toledo is as good as ever, as bright, +as comfortable. I have found my old corner in one of the little +rooms, and something of the old gusto for _zuppa di vongole_. The +homely wine of Posillipo smacks as in days gone by, and is commended +to one's lips by a song of the South. . . . + +Last night the wind changed and the sky began to clear; this morning +I awoke in sunshine, and with a feeling of eagerness for my journey. +I shall look upon the Ionian Sea, not merely from a train or a +steamboat as before, but at long leisure: I shall see the shores +where once were Tarentum and Sybaris, Croton and Locri. Every man +has his intellectual desire; mine is to escape life as I know it and +dream myself into that old world which was the imaginative delight +of my boyhood. The names of Greece and Italy draw me as no others; +they make me young again, and restore the keen impressions of that +time when every new page of Greek or Latin was a new perception of +things beautiful. The world of the Greeks and Romans is my land of +romance; a quotation in either language thrills me strangely, and +there are passages of Greek and Latin verse which I cannot read +without a dimming of the eyes, which I cannot repeat aloud because +my voice fails me. In Magna Graecia the waters of two fountains +mingle and flow together; how exquisite will be the draught! + +I drove with my luggage to the Immacolatella, and a boatman put me +aboard the steamer. Luggage, I say advisedly; it is a rather heavy +portmanteau, and I know it will be a nuisance. But the length of my +wanderings is so uncertain, its conditions are so vaguely +anticipated. I must have books if only for rainy days; I must have +clothing against a change of season. At one time I thought of taking +a mere wallet, and now I am half sorry that I altered my mind. But +---- + +We were not more than an hour after time in starting. Perfect +weather. I sang to myself with joy upon the sunny deck as we steamed +along the Bay, past Portici, and Torre del Greco, and into the +harbour of Torre Annunziata, where we had to take on cargo. I was +the only cabin passenger, and solitude suits me. All through the +warm and cloudless afternoon I sat looking at the mountains, trying +not to see that cluster of factory chimneys which rolled black fumes +above the many-coloured houses. They reminded me of the same +abomination on a shore more sacred; from the harbour of Piraeus one +looks to Athens through trails of coal-smoke. By a contrast pleasant +enough, Vesuvius to-day sent forth vapours of a delicate rose-tint, +floating far and breaking seaward into soft little fleeces of +cirrus. The cone, covered with sulphur, gleamed bright yellow +against cloudless blue. + +The voyage was resumed at dinner-time; when I came upon deck again, +night had fallen. We were somewhere near Sorrento; behind us lay the +long curve of faint-glimmering lights on the Naples shore; ahead was +Capri. In profound gloom, though under a sky all set with stars, we +passed between the island and Cape Minerva; the haven of Capri +showed but a faint glimmer; over it towered mighty crags, an awful +blackness, a void amid constellations. From my seat near the stern +of the vessel I could discern no human form; it was as though I +voyaged quite alone in the silence of this magic sea. Silence so +all-possessing that the sound of the ship's engine could not reach +my ear, but was blended with the water-splash into a lulling murmur. +The stillness of a dead world laid its spell on all that lived. +To-day seemed an unreality, an idle impertinence; the real was that +long-buried past which gave its meaning to all around me, touching +the night with infinite pathos. Best of all, one's own being became +lost to consciousness; the mind knew only the phantasmal forms it +shaped, and was at peace in vision. + + + + + + +CHAPTER II + +PAOLA + + + + + +I slept little, and was very early on deck, scanning by the light of +dawn a mountainous coast. At sunrise I learnt that we were in sight +of Paola; as day spread gloriously over earth and sky, the vessel +hove to and prepared to land cargo. There, indeed, was the yellowish +little town which I had so long pictured; it stood at a considerable +height above the shore; harbour there was none at all, only a broad +beach of shingle on which waves were breaking, and where a cluster +of men, women and children stood gazing at the steamer. It gave me +pleasure to find the place so small and primitive. In no hurry to +land, I watched the unloading of merchandise (with a great deal of +shouting and gesticulation) into boats which had rowed out for the +purpose; speculated on the resources of Paola in the matter of food +(for I was hungry); and at moments cast an eye towards the mountain +barrier which it was probable I should cross to-day. + +At last my portmanteau was dropped down on to the laden boat; I, as +best I could, managed to follow it; and on the top of a pile of rope +and empty flour-sacks we rolled landward. The surf was high; it cost +much yelling, leaping, and splashing to gain the dry beach. +Meanwhile, not without apprehension, I had eyed the group awaiting +our arrival; that they had their eyes on me was obvious, and I knew +enough of southern Italians to foresee my reception. I sprang into +the midst of a clamorous conflict; half a dozen men were quarreling +for possession of me. No sooner was my luggage on shore than they +flung themselves upon it. By what force of authority I know not, one +of the fellows triumphed; he turned to me with a satisfied smile, +and--presented his wife. + +"_Mia sposa, signore_!" + +Wondering, and trying to look pleased, I saw the woman seize the +portmanteau (a frightful weight), fling it on to her head, and march +away at a good speed. The crowd and I followed to the _dogana_, +close by, where as vigorous a search was made as I have ever had to +undergo. I puzzled the people; my arrival was an unwonted thing, and +they felt sure I was a trader of some sort. Dismissed under +suspicion, I allowed the lady to whom I had been introduced to guide +me townwards. Again she bore the portmanteau on her head, and +evidently thought it a trifle, but as the climbing road lengthened, +and as I myself began to perspire in the warm sunshine, I looked at +my attendant with uncomfortable feelings. It was a long and winding +way, but the woman continued to talk and laugh so cheerfully that I +tried to forget her toil. At length we reached a cabin where the +_dazio_ (town dues) officer presented himself, and this +conscientious person insisted on making a fresh examination of my +baggage; again I explained myself, again I was eyed suspiciously; +but he released me, and on we went. I had bidden my guide take me to +the best inn; it was the _Leone_, a little place which looked from +the outside like an ill-kept stable, but was decent enough within. +The room into which they showed me had a delightful prospect. Deep +beneath the window lay a wild, leafy garden, and lower on the +hillside a lemon orchard shining with yellow fruit; beyond, the +broad pebbly beach, far seen to north and south, with its white foam +edging the blue expanse of sea. There I descried the steamer from +which I had landed, just under way for Sicily. The beauty of this +view, and the calm splendour of the early morning, put me into +happiest mood. After little delay a tolerable breakfast was set +before me, with a good rough wine; I ate and drank by the window, +exulting in what I saw and all I hoped to see. + +Guide-books had informed me that the _corriere_ (mail-diligence) +from Paola to Cosenza corresponded with the arrival of the Naples +steamer, and, after the combat on the beach, my first care was to +inquire about this. All and sundry made eager reply that the +_corriere_ had long since gone; that it started, in fact, at 5 A.M., +and that the only possible mode of reaching Cosenza that day was to +hire a vehicle. Experience of Italian travel made me suspicious, but +it afterwards appeared that I had been told the truth. Clearly, if I +wished to proceed at once, I must open negotiations at my inn, and, +after a leisurely meal, I did so. Very soon a man presented himself +who was willing to drive me over the mountains--at a charge which +I saw to be absurd; the twinkle in his eye as he named the sum +sufficiently enlightened me. By the book it was no more than a +journey of four hours; my driver declared that it would take from +seven to eight. After a little discussion he accepted half the +original demand, and went off very cheerfully to put in his horses. + +For an hour I rambled about the town's one street, very picturesque +and rich in colour, with rushing fountains where women drew fair +water in jugs and jars of antique beauty. Whilst I was thus +loitering in the sunshine, two well-dressed men approached me, and +with somewhat excessive courtesy began conversation. They understood +that I was about to drive to Cosenza. A delightful day, and a +magnificent country! They too thought of journeying to Cosenza, and, +in short, would I allow them to share my carriage? Now this was +annoying; I much preferred to be alone with my thoughts; but it +seemed ungracious to refuse. After a glance at their smiling faces, +I answered that whatever room remained in the vehicle was at their +service--on the natural understanding that they shared the +expense; and to this, with the best grace in the world, they at once +agreed. We took momentary leave of each other, with much bowing and +flourishing of hats, and the amusing thing was that I never beheld +those gentlemen again. + +Fortunately--as the carriage proved to be a very small one, and +the sun was getting very hot; with two companions I should have had +an uncomfortable day. In front of the _Leone_ a considerable number +of loafers had assembled to see me off, and of these some half-dozen +were persevering mendicants. It disappointed me that I saw no +interesting costume; all wore the common, colourless garb of our +destroying age. The only vivid memory of these people which remains +with me is the cadence of their speech. Whilst I was breakfasting, +two women stood at gossip on a near balcony, and their utterance was +a curious exaggeration of the Neapolitan accent; every sentence rose +to a high note, and fell away in a long curve of sound, sometimes a +musical wail, more often a mere whining. The protraction of the last +word or two was really astonishing; again and again I fancied that +the speaker had broken into song. I cannot say that the effect was +altogether pleasant; in the end such talk would tell severely on +civilized nerves, but it harmonized with the coloured houses, the +luxuriant vegetation, the strange odours, the romantic landscape. + +In front of the vehicle were three little horses; behind it was +hitched an old shabby two-wheeled thing, which we were to leave +somewhere for repairs. With whip-cracking and vociferation, amid +good-natured farewells from the crowd, we started away. It was just +ten o'clock. + +At once the road began to climb, and nearly three hours were spent +in reaching the highest point of the mountain barrier. Incessantly +winding, often doubling upon itself, the road crept up the sides of +profound gorges, and skirted many a precipice; bridges innumerable +spanned the dry ravines which at another season are filled with +furious torrents. From the zone of orange and olive and cactus we +passed that of beech and oak, noble trees now shedding their +rich-hued foliage on bracken crisped and brown; here I noticed the +feathery bowers of wild clematis ("old man's beard"), and many a +spike of the great mullein, strange to me because so familiar in +English lanes. Through mists that floated far below I looked over +miles of shore, and outward to the ever-rising limit of sea and sky. +Very lovely were the effects of light, the gradations of colour; +from the blue-black abysses, where no shape could be distinguished, +to those violet hues upon the furrowed heights which had a +transparency, a softness, an indefiniteness, unlike anything to be +seen in northern landscape. + +The driver was accompanied by a half-naked lad, who, at certain +points, suddenly disappeared, and came into view again after a few +minutes, having made a short cut up some rugged footway between the +loops of the road. Perspiring, even as I sat, in the blaze of the +sun, I envied the boy his breath and muscle. Now and then he slaked +his thirst at a stone fountain by the wayside, not without +reverencing the blue-hooded Madonna painted over it. A few lean, +brown peasants, bending under faggots, and one or two carts, passed +us before we gained the top, and half-way up there was a hovel where +drink could be bought; but with these exceptions nothing broke the +loneliness of the long, wild ascent. My man was not talkative, but +answered inquiries civilly; only on one subject was he very curt-- +that of the two wooden crosses which we passed just before arriving +at the summit; they meant murders. At the moment when I spoke of +them I was stretching my legs in a walk beside the carriage, the +driver walking just in front of me; and something then happened +which is still a puzzle when I recall it. Whether the thought of +crimes had made the man nervous, or whether just then I wore a +peculiarly truculent face, or had made some alarming gesture, all of +a sudden he turned upon me, grasped my arm and asked sharply: "What +have you got in your hand?" I had a bit of fern, plucked a few +minutes before, and with surprise I showed it; whereupon he murmured +an apology, said something about making haste, and jumped to his +seat. An odd little incident. + +At an unexpected turn of the road there spread before me a vast +prospect; I looked down upon inland Calabria. It was a valley broad +enough to be called a plain, dotted with white villages, and backed +by the mass of mountains which now, as in old time, bear the name of +Great Sila. Through this landscape flowed the river Crati--the +ancient Crathis; northward it curved, and eastward, to fall at +length into the Ionian Sea, far beyond my vision. The river Crathis, +which flowed by the walls of Sybaris. I stopped the horses to gaze +and wonder; gladly I would have stood there for hours. Less +interested, and impatient to get on, the driver pointed out to me +the direction of Cosenza, still at a great distance. He added the +information that, in summer, the well-to-do folk of Cosenza go to +Paola for sea-bathing, and that they always perform the journey by +night. I, listening carelessly amid my dream, tried to imagine the +crossing of those Calabrian hills under a summer sun! By summer +moonlight it must be wonderful. + +We descended at a sharp pace, all the way through a forest of +chestnuts, the fruit already gathered, the golden leaves rustling in +their fall. At the foot lies the village of San Fili, and here we +left the crazy old cart which we had dragged so far. A little +further, and before us lay a long, level road, a true Roman highway, +straight for mile after mile. By this road the Visigoths must have +marched after the sack of Rome. In approaching Cosenza I was drawing +near to the grave of Alaric. Along this road the barbarian bore in +triumph those spoils of the Eternal City which were to enrich his +tomb. + +By this road, six hundred years before the Goth, marched Hannibal on +his sullen retreat from Italy, passing through Cosentia to embark at +Croton. + + + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE GRAVE OF ALARIC + + + + + +It would have been prudent to consult with my driver as to the inns +of Cosenza. But, with a pardonable desire not to seem helpless in +his hands, I had from the first directed him to the _Due Lionetti_, +relying upon my guide-book. Even at Cosenza there is progress, and +guide-beooks to little-known parts of Europe are easily allowed to +fall out of date. On my arrival---- + +But, first of all, the _dazio_. This time it was a serious business; +impossible to convince the rather surly officer that certain of the +contents of my portmanteau were not for sale. What in the world was +I doing with _tanti libri_? Of course I was a commercial traveller; +ridiculous to pretend anything else. After much strain of courtesy, +I clapped to my luggage, locked it up, and with a resolute face +cried "Avanti!" And there was an end of it. In this case, as so +often, I have no doubt that simple curiosity went for much in the +man's pertinacious questioning. Of course the whole _dazio_ business +is ludicrous and contemptible; I scarce know a baser spectacle than +that of uniformed officials groping in the poor little bundles of +starved peasant women, mauling a handful of onions, or prodding with +long irons a cartload of straw. Did any one ever compare the +expenses with the results? + +A glance shows the situation of Cosenza. The town is built on a +steep hillside, above the point where two rivers, flowing from the +valleys on either side, mingle their waters under one name, that of +the Crati. We drove over a bridge which spans the united current, +and entered a narrow street, climbing abruptly between houses so +high and so close together as to make a gloom amid sunshine. It was +four o'clock; I felt tired and half choked with dust; the thought of +rest and a meal was very pleasant. As I searched for the sign of my +inn, we suddenly drew up, midway in the dark street, before a darker +portal, which seemed the entrance to some dirty warehouse. The +driver jumped down--"Ecco l'albergo!" + +I had seen a good many Italian hostelries, and nourished no +unreasonable expectations. The Lion at Paola would have seemed to +any untravelled Englishman a squalid and comfortless hole, +incredible as a place of public entertainment; the _Two Little +Lions_ of Cosenza made a decidedly worse impression. Over sloppy +stones, in an atmosphere heavy with indescribable stenches, I felt +rather than saw my way to the foot of a stone staircase; this I +ascended, and on the floor above found a dusky room, where +tablecloths and an odour of frying oil afforded some suggestion of +refreshment. My arrival interested nobody; with a good deal of +trouble I persuaded an untidy fellow, who seemed to be a waiter, to +come down with me and secure my luggage. More trouble before I could +find a bedroom; hunting for keys, wandering up and down stone stairs +and along pitch-black corridors, sounds of voices in quarrel. The +room itself was utterly depressing--so bare, so grimy, so dark. +Quickly I examined the bed, and was rewarded. It is the good point +of Italian inns; be the house and the room howsoever sordid, the bed +is almost invariably clean and dry and comfortable. + +I ate, not amiss; I drank copiously to the memory of Alaric, and +felt equal to any fortune. When night had fallen I walked a little +about the scarce-lighted streets and came to an open place, dark and +solitary and silent, where I could hear the voices of the two +streams as they mingled below the hill. Presently I passed an open +office of some kind, where a pleasant-looking man sat at a table +writing; on an impulse I entered, and made bold to ask whether +Cosenza had no better inn than the _Due Lionetti_. Great was this +gentleman's courtesy; he laid down his pen, as if for ever, and gave +himself wholly to my concerns. His discourse delighted me, so +flowing were the phrases, so rounded the periods. Yes, there were +other inns; one at the top of the town--the _Vetere_--in a very +good position; and they doubtless excelled my own in modern comfort. +As a matter of fact, it might be avowed that the _Lionetti_, from +the point of view of the great centres of civilization, left +something to be desired--something to be desired; but it was a +good old inn, a reputable old inn, and probably on further +acquaintance---- + +Further acquaintance did not increase my respect for the _Lionetti_; +it would not be easy to describe those features in which, most +notably, it fell short of all that might be desired. But I proposed +no long stay at Cosenza, where malarial fever is endemic, and it did +not seem worth while to change my quarters. I slept very well. + +I had come here to think about Alaric, and with my own eyes to +behold the place of his burial. Ever since the first boyish reading +of Gibbon, my imagination has loved to play upon that scene of +Alaric's death. Thinking to conquer Sicily, the Visigoth marched as +far as to the capital of the Bruttii, those mountain tribes which +Rome herself never really subdued; at Consentia he fell sick and +died. How often had I longed to see this river Busento, which the +"labour of a captive multitude" turned aside, that its flood might +cover and conceal for all time the tomb of the Conqueror! I saw it +in the light of sunrise, flowing amid low, brown, olive-planted +hills; at this time of the year it is a narrow, but rapid stream, +running through a wide, waste bed of yellow sand and stones. The +Crati, which here has only just started upon its long seaward way +from some glen of Sila, presents much the same appearance, the track +which it has worn in flood being many times as broad as the actual +current. They flow, these historic waters, with a pleasant sound, +overborne at moments by the clapping noise of Cosenza's washerwomen, +who cleanse their linen by beating it, then leave it to dry on the +river-bed. Along the banks stood tall poplars, each a spire of +burnished gold, blazing against the dark olive foliage on the slopes +behind them; plane trees, also, very rich of colour, and fig trees +shedding their latest leaves. Now, tradition has it that Alaric was +buried close to the confluence of the Busento and the Crati. If so, +he lay in full view of the town. But the Goths are said to have +slain all their prisoners who took part in the work, to ensure +secrecy. Are we to suppose that Consentia was depopulated? On any +other supposition the story must be incorrect, and Alaric's tomb +would have to be sought at least half a mile away, where the Busento +is hidden in its deep valley. + +Gibbon, by the way, calls it Busentinus; the true Latin was +Buxentius. To make sure of the present name, I questioned some half +a dozen peasants, who all named the river Basenzio or Basenz'; a +countryman of more intelligent appearance assured me that this was +only a dialectical form, the true one being Busento. At a +bookseller's shop (Cosenza had one, a very little one) I found the +same opinion to prevail. + +It is difficult to walk much in this climate; lassitude and feverish +symptoms follow on the slightest exertion; but--if one can +disregard the evil smells which everywhere catch one's breath-- +Cosenza has wonders and delights which tempt to day-long rambling. +To call the town picturesque is to use an inadequate word; at every +step, from the opening of the main street at the hill-foot up to the +stern mediaeval castle crowning its height, one marvels and admires. +So narrow are the ways that a cart drives the pedestrian into shop +or alley; two vehicles (but perhaps the thing never happened) would +with difficulty pass each other. As in all towns of Southern Italy, +the number of hair-dressers is astonishing, and they hang out the +barber's basin--the very basin (of shining brass and with a +semicircle cut out of the rim) which the Knight of La Mancha took as +substitute for his damaged helmet. Through the gloom of high +balconied houses, one climbs to a sunny piazza, where there are +several fine buildings; beyond it lies the public garden, a lovely +spot, set with alleys of acacia and groups of palm and flower-beds +and fountains; marble busts of Garibaldi, Mazzini, and Cavour gleam +among the trees. Here one looks down upon the yellow gorge of the +Crati, and sees it widen northward into a vast green plain, in which +the track of the river is soon lost. On the other side of the Crati +valley, in full view of this garden, begins the mountain region of +many-folded Sila--a noble sight at any time of the day, but most +of all when the mists of morning cling about its summits, or when +the sunset clothes its broad flanks with purple. Turn westward, and +you behold the long range which hides the Mediterranean so high and +wild from this distance, that I could scarce believe I had driven +over it. + +Sila--locally the Black Mountain, because dark with climbing +forests--held my gaze through a long afternoon. From the grassy +table-land of its heights, pasturage for numberless flocks and herds +when the long snows have melted, one might look over the shore of +the Ionian Sea where Greek craftsmen built ships of timber cut upon +the mountain's side. Not so long ago it was a haunt of brigands; now +there is no risk for the rare traveller who penetrates that +wilderness; but he must needs depend upon the hospitality of +labourers and shepherds. I dream of sunny glades, never touched, +perhaps, by the foot of man since the Greek herdsman wandered there +with his sheep or goats. Somewhere on Sila rises the Neaithos (now +Neto) mentioned by Theocritus; one would like to sit by its source +in the woodland solitude, and let fancy have her way. + +In these garden walks I met a group of peasants, evidently strange +to Cosenza, and wondering at all they saw. The women wore a very +striking costume: a short petticoat of scarlet, much embroidered, +and over it a blue skirt, rolled up in front and gathered in a sort +of knot behind the waist; a bodice adorned with needlework and +metal; elaborate glistening head-gear, and bare feet. The town-folk +have no peculiarity of dress. I observed among them a grave, +intelligent type of countenance, handsome and full of character, +which may be that of their brave ancestors the Bruttii. With +pleasure I saw that they behaved gently to their beasts, the mules +being. very sleek and contented-looking. There is much difference +between these people and the Neapolitans; they seem to have no +liking for noise, talk with a certain repose, and allow the stranger +to go about among them unmolested, unimportuned. Women above the +poorest class are not seen in the streets; there prevails an +Oriental system of seclusion. + +I was glad to come upon the pot market; in the south of Italy it is +always a beautiful and interesting sight. Pottery for commonest use +among Calabrian peasants has a grace of line, a charm of colour, far +beyond anything native to our most pretentious china-shops. Here +still lingers a trace of the old civilization. There must be a great +good in a people which has preserved this need of beauty through +ages of servitude and suffering. Compare such domestic utensils-- +these oil-jugs and water-jars--with those in the house of an +English labourer. Is it really so certain that all virtues of race +dwell with those who can rest amid the ugly and know it not for +ugliness? + +The new age declares itself here and there at Cosenza. A squalid +railway station, a hideous railway bridge, have brought the town +into the European network; and the craze for building, which has +disfigured and half ruined Italy, shows itself in an immense new +theatre--Teatro Garibaldi--just being finished. The old one, +which stands ruinous close by, struck me as, if anything, too large +for the town; possibly it had been damaged by an earthquake, the +commonest sort of disaster at Cosenza. On the front of the new +edifice I found two inscriptions, both exulting over the fall of the +papal power; one was interesting enough to copy:-- + +"20 SEPT., 1870. +QUESTA DATA POLITICA +DICE FINITA LA TEOCRAZIA +NEGLI ORDINAMENTI CIVILI. +IL DI CHE LA DIRA FINITA +MORALMENTE +SARA LA DATA UMANA." + +which signifies: "This political date marks the end of theocracy in +civil life. The day which ends its moral rule will begin the epoch +of humanity." A remarkable utterance anywhere; not least so within +the hearing of the stream which flows over the grave of Alaric. + +One goes to bed early at Cosenza; the night air is dangerous, and-- +Teatro Garibaldi still incomplete--darkness brings with it no sort +of pastime. I did manage to read a little in my miserable room by an +antique lamp, but the effort was dispiriting; better to lie in the +dark and think of Goth and Roman. + +Do the rivers Busento and Crati still keep the secret of that "royal +sepulchre, adorned with the splendid spoils and trophies of Rome"? +It seems improbable that the grave was ever disturbed; to this day +there exists somewhere near Cosenza a treasure-house more alluring +than any pictured in Arabian tale. It is not easy to conjecture what +"spoils and trophies" the Goths buried with their king; if they +sacrificed masses of precious metal, then perchance there still lies +in the river-bed some portion of that golden statue of _Virtus_, +which the Romans melted down to eke out the ransom claimed by +Alaric. The year 410 A.D. was no unfitting moment to break into +bullion the figure personifying Manly Worth. "After that," says an +old historian, "all bravery and honour perished out of Rome." + + + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +TARANTO + + + + + +Cosenza is on a line of railway which runs northward up the Crati +valley, and joins the long seashore line from Taranto to Reggio. As +it was my wish to see the whole of that coast, I had the choice of +beginning my expedition either at the northern or the southern end; +for several reasons I decided to make straight for Taranto. + +The train started about seven o'clock in the morning. I rose at six +in chill darkness, the discomfort of my room seeming worse than ever +at this featureless hour. The waiter--perhaps he was the landlord, +I left this doubt unsolved--brought me a cup of coffee; dirtier +and more shabbily apparelled man I have never looked upon; viler +coffee I never drank. Then I descended into the gloom of the street. +The familiar odours breathed upon me with pungent freshness, wafted +hither and thither on a mountain breeze. A glance upwards at the +narrow strip of sky showed a grey-coloured dawn, prelude, I feared, +of a dull day. + +Evidently I was not the only traveller departing; on the truck just +laden I saw somebody else's luggage, and at the same moment there +came forth a man heavily muffled against the air, who, like myself, +began to look about for the porter. We exchanged greetings, and on +our walk to the station I learned that my companion, also bound for +Taranto, had been detained by illness for several days at the +_Lionetti_, where, he bitterly complained, the people showed him no +sort of attention. He was a commercial traveller, representing a +firm of drug merchants in North Italy, and for his sins (as he put +it) had to make the southern journey every year; he invariably +suffered from fever, and at certain places--of course, the least +civilized--had attacks which delayed him from three days to a +week. He loathed the South, finding no compensation whatever for the +miseries of travel below Naples; the inhabitants he reviled with +exceeding animosity. Interested by the doleful predicament of this +vendor of drugs (who dosed himself very vigorously), I found him a +pleasant companion during the day; after our lunch he seemed to +shake off the last shivers of his malady, and was as sprightly an +Italian as one could wish to meet--young, sharp-witted, +well-mannered, and with a pleasing softness of character. + +We lunched at Sybaris; that is to say, at the railway station now so +called, though till recently it bore the humbler name of Buffaloria. +The Italians are doing their best to revive the classical +place-names, where they have been lost, and occasionally the +incautious traveller is much misled. Of Sybaris no stone remains +above ground; five hundred years before Christ it was destroyed by +the people of Croton, who turned the course of the river Crathis so +as to whelm the city's ruins. Francois Lenormant, whose delightful +book, _La Grande Grece_, was my companion on this journey, believed +that a discovery far more wonderful and important than that of +Pompeii awaits the excavator on this site; he held it certain that +here, beneath some fifteen feet of alluvial mud, lay the temples and +the streets of Sybaris, as on the day when Crathis first flowed over +them. A little digging has recently been done, and things of +interest have been found; but discovery on a wide scale is still to +be attempted. + +Lenormant praises the landscape hereabouts as of "incomparable +beauty"; unfortunately I saw it in a sunless day, and at +unfavourable moments I was strongly reminded of the Essex coast-- +grey, scrubby fiats, crossed by small streams, spreading wearily +seaward. One had only to turn inland to correct this mood; the +Calabrian mountains, even without sunshine, had their wonted grace. +Moreover, cactus and agave, frequent in the foreground, preserved +the southern character of the scene. The great plain between the +hills and the sea grows very impressive; so silent it is, so +mournfully desolate, so haunted with memories of vanished glory. I +looked at the Crathis--the Crati of Cosenza--here beginning to +spread into a sea-marsh; the waters which used to flow over golden +sands, which made white the oxen, and sunny-haired the children, +that bathed in them, are now lost amid a wilderness poisoned by +their own vapours. + +The railway station, like all in this region, was set about with +eucalyptus. Great bushes of flowering rosemary scented the air, and +a fine cassia tree, from which I plucked blossoms, yielded a subtler +perfume. Our lunch was not luxurious; I remember only, as at all +worthy of Sybaris, a palatable white wine called Muscato dei +Saraceni. Appropriate enough amid this vast silence to turn one's +thoughts to the Saracens, who are so largely answerable for the ages +of desolation that have passed by the Ionian Sea. + +Then on for Taranto, where we arrived in the afternoon. Meaning to +stay for a week or two I sought a pleasant room in a well-situated +hotel, and I found one with a good view of town and harbour. The +Taranto of old days, when it was called Taras, or later Tarentum, +stood on a long peninsula, which divides a little inland sea from +the great sea without. In the Middle Ages the town occupied only the +point of this neck of land, which, by the cutting of an artificial +channel, had been made into an island: now again it is spreading +over the whole of the ancient site; great buildings of +yellowish-white stone, as ugly as modern architect can make them, +and plainly far in excess of the actual demand for habitations, rise +where Phoenicians and Greeks and Romans built after the nobler +fashion of their times. One of my windows looked towards the old +town, with its long sea-wall where fishermen's nets hung drying, the +dome of its Cathedral, the high, squeezed houses, often with gardens +on the roofs, and the swing-bridge which links it to the mainland; +the other gave me a view across the Mare Piccolo, the Little Sea (it +is some twelve miles round about), dotted in many parts with crossed +stakes which mark the oyster-beds, and lined on this side with a +variety of shipping moored at quays. From some of these vessels, +early next morning, sounded suddenly a furious cannonade, which +threatened to shatter the windows of the hotel; I found it was in +honour of the Queen of Italy, whose _festa_ fell on that day. This +barbarous uproar must have sounded even to the Calabrian heights; it +struck me as more meaningless in its deafening volley of noise than +any note of joy or triumph that could ever have been heard in old +Tarentum. + +I walked all round the island part of the town; lost myself amid its +maze of streets, or alleys rather, for in many places one could +touch both sides with outstretched arms, and rested in the Cathedral +of S. Cataldo, who, by the bye, was an Irishman. All is strange, but +too close-packed to be very striking or beautiful; I found it best +to linger on the sea-wall, looking at the two islands in the offing, +and over the great gulf with its mountain shore stretching beyond +sight. On the rocks below stood fishermen hauling in a great net, +whilst a boy splashed the water to drive the fish back until they +were safely enveloped in the last meshes; admirable figures, +consummate in graceful strength, their bare legs and arms the tone +of terra cotta. What slight clothing they wore became them +perfectly, as is always the case with a costume well adapted to the +natural life of its wearers. Their slow, patient effort speaks of +immemorial usage, and it is in harmony with time itself. These +fishermen are the primitives of Taranto; who shall say for how many +centuries they have hauled their nets upon the rock? When Plato +visited the Schools of Taras, he saw the same brown-legged figures, +in much the same garb, gathering their sea-harvest. When Hannibal, +beset by the Romans, drew his ships across the peninsula and so +escaped from the inner sea, fishermen of Tarentum went forth as +ever, seeking their daily food. A thousand years passed, and the +fury of the Saracens, when it had laid the city low, spared some +humble Tarentine and the net by which he lived. To-day the +fisher-folk form a colony apart; they speak a dialect which retains +many Greek words unknown to the rest of the population. I could not +gaze at them long enough; their lithe limbs, their attitudes at work +or in repose, their wild, black hair, perpetually reminded me of +shapes pictured on a classic vase. + +Later in the day I came upon a figure scarcely less impressive. +Beyond the new quarter of the town, on the ragged edge of its wide, +half-peopled streets, lies a tract of olive orchards and of +seed-land; there, alone amid great bare fields, a countryman was +ploughing. The wooden plough, as regards its form, might have been +thousands of years old; it was drawn by a little donkey, and traced +in the soil--the generous southern soil--the merest scratch of a +furrow. I could not but approach the man and exchange words with +him; his rude but gentle face, his gnarled hands, his rough and +scanty vesture, moved me to a deep respect, and when his speech fell +upon my ear, it was as though I listened to one of the ancestors of +our kind. Stopping in his work, he answered my inquiries with +careful civility; certain phrases escaped me, but on the whole he +made himself quite intelligible, and was glad, I could see, when my +words proved that I understood him. I drew apart, and watched him +again. Never have I seen man so utterly patient, so primaevally +deliberate. The donkey's method of ploughing was to pull for one +minute, and then rest for two; it excited in the ploughman not the +least surprise or resentment. Though he held a long stick in his +hand, he never made use of it; at each stoppage he contemplated the +ass, and then gave utterance to a long "Ah-h-h!" in a note of the +most affectionate remonstrance. They were not driver and beast, but +comrades in labour. It reposed the mind to look upon them. + +Walking onward in the same direction, one approaches a great wall, +with gateway sentry-guarded; it is the new Arsenal, the pride of +Taranto, and the source of its prosperity. On special as well as on +general grounds, I have a grudge against this mass of ugly masonry. +I had learnt from Lenormant that at a certain spot, Fontanella, by +the shore of the Little Sea, were observable great ancient heaps of +murex shells--the murex precious for its purple, that of Tarentum +yielding in glory only to the purple of Tyre. I hoped to see these +shells, perhaps to carry one away. But Fontanella had vanished, +swallowed up, with all remnants of antiquity, by the graceless +Arsenal. It matters to no one save the few fantastics who hold a +memory of the ancient world dearer than any mechanic triumph of +to-day. If only one could believe that the Arsenal signified +substantial good to Italy! Too plainly it means nothing but the +exhaustion of her people in the service of a base ideal. + +The confines of this new town being so vague, much trouble is given +to that noble institution, the _dazio_. Scattered far and wide in a +dusty wilderness, stand the little huts of the officers, vigilant on +every road or by-way to wring the wretched soldi from toilsome +hands. As became their service, I found these gentry anything but +amiable; they had commonly an air of _ennui_, and regarded a +stranger with surly suspicion. + +When I was back again among the high new houses, my eye, wandering +in search of any smallest point of interest, fell on a fresh-painted +inscription:-- + +"ALLA MAGNA GRAECIA. STABILIMENTO +IDROELETTROPATICO." + +was well meant. At the sign of "Magna Graecia" one is willing to +accept "hydroelectropathic" as a late echo of Hellenic speech. + + + + + + +CHAPTER V + +DULCE GALAESI FLUMEN + + + + + +Taranto has a very interesting Museum. I went there with an +introduction to the curator, who spared no trouble in pointing out +to me all that was best worth seeing. He and I were alone in the +little galleries; at a second or third visit I had the Museum to +myself, save for an attendant who seemed to regard a visitor as a +pleasant novelty, and bestirred himself for my comfort when I wanted +to make sketches. Nothing is charged for admission, yet no one +enters. Presumably, all the Tarentines who care for archaeology have +already been here, and strangers are few. + +Upon the shelves are seen innumerable miniature busts, carved in +some kind of stone; thought to be simply portraits of private +persons. One peers into the faces of men, women, and children, +vaguely conjecturing their date, their circumstances; some of them +may have dwelt in the old time on this very spot of ground now +covered by the Museum. Like other people who grow too rich and +comfortable, the citizens of Tarentum loved mirth and mockery; their +Greek theatre was remarkable for irreverent farce, for parodies of +the great drama of Athens. And here is testimony to the fact: all +manner of comic masks, of grotesque visages; mouths distorted into +impossible grins, eyes leering and goggling, noses extravagant. I +sketched a caricature of Medusa, the anguished features and snaky +locks travestied with satiric grimness. You remember a story which +illustrates this scoffing habit: how the Roman Ambassador, whose +Greek left something to be desired, excited the uproarious derision +of the assembled Tarentines--with results that were no laughing +matter. + +I used the opportunity of my conversation with the Director of the +Museum to ask his aid in discovering the river Galaesus. Who could +find himself at Taranto without turning in thought to the Galaesus, +and wishing to walk along its banks? Unhappily, one cannot be quite +sure of its position. A stream there is, flowing into the Little +Sea, which by some is called Galeso; but the country-folk commonly +give it the name of Gialtrezze. Of course I turned my steps in that +direction, to see and judge for myself. + +To skirt the western shore of the Mare Piccolo I had to pass the +railway station, and there I made a few inquiries; the official with +whom I spoke knew not the name Galeso, but informed me that the +Gialtrezze entered the sea at a distance of some three kilometres. +That I purposed walking such a distance to see an insignificant +stream excited the surprise, even the friendly concern, of my +interlocutor; again and again he assured me it was not worth while, +repeating emphatically, "_Non c'e novita_." But I went my foolish +way. Of two or three peasants or fishermen on the road I asked the +name of the little river I was approaching; they answered, +"Gialtrezze." Then came a man carrying a gun, whose smile and +greeting invited question. "Can you tell me the name of the stream +which flows into the sea just beyond here?" "Signore, it is the +Galeso." + +My pulse quickened with delight; all the more when I found that my +informant had no tincture of the classics, and that he supported +Galeso against Gialtrezze simply as a question of local interest. +Joyously I took leave of him, and very soon I was in sight of the +river itself. The river? It is barely half a mile long; it rises +amid a bed of great reeds, which quite conceal the water, and flows +with an average breadth of some ten feet down to the seashore, on +either side of it bare, dusty fields, and a few hoary olives. + +The Galaesus?--the river beloved by Horace; its banks pasturing a +famous breed of sheep, with fleece so precious that it was protected +by a garment of skins? Certain it is that all the waters of Magna +Graecia have much diminished since classic times, but (unless there +have been great local changes, due, for example, to an earthquake) +this brook had always the same length, and it is hard to think of +the Galaesus as so insignificant. Disappointed, brooding, I followed +the current seaward, and upon the shore, amid scents of mint and +rosemary, sat down to rest. + +There was a good view of Taranto across the water; the old town on +its little island, compact of white houses, contrasting with the +yellowish tints of the great new buildings which spread over the +peninsula. With half-closed eyes, one could imagine the true +Tarentum. Wavelets lapped upon the sand before me, their music the +same as two thousand years ago. A goatherd came along, his flock +straggling behind him; man and goats were as much of the old world +as of the new. Far away, the boats of fishermen floated silently. I +heard a rustle as an old fig tree hard by dropped its latest leaves. +On the sea-bank of yellow crumbling earth lizards flashed about me +in the sunshine. After a dull morning, the day had passed into +golden serenity; a stillness as of eternal peace held earth and sky. + +"Dearest of all to me is that nook of earth which yields not to +Hymettus for its honey, nor for its olive to green Venafrum; where +heaven grants a long springtime and warmth in winter, and in the +sunny hollows Bacchus fosters a vintage noble as the Falernian----" +The lines of Horace sang in my head; I thought, too, of the praise +of Virgil, who, tradition has it, wrote his _Eclogues_ hereabouts. +Of course, the country has another aspect. in spring and early +summer; I saw it at a sad moment; but, all allowance made for +seasons, it is still with wonder that one recalls the rapture of the +poets. A change beyond conception must have come upon these shores +of the Ionian Sea. The scent of rosemary seemed to be wafted across +the ages from a vanished world. + +After all, who knows whether I have seen the Galaesus? Perhaps, as +some hold, it is quite another river, flowing far to the west of +Taranto into the open gulf. Gialtrezze may have become Galeso merely +because of the desire in scholars to believe that it was the classic +stream; in other parts of Italy names have been so imposed. But I +shall not give ear to such discouraging argument. It is little +likely that my search will ever be renewed, and for me the Galaesus +--"dulce Galaesi flumen"--is the stream I found and tracked, +whose waters I heard mingle with the Little Sea. The memory has no +sense of disappointment. Those reeds which rustle about the hidden +source seem to me fit shelter of a Naiad; I am glad I could not see +the water bubbling in its spring, for there remains a mystery. +Whilst I live, the Galaesus purls and glistens in the light of that +golden afternoon, and there beyond, across the blue still depths, +glimmers a vision of Tarentum. + +Let Taranto try as it will to be modern and progressive, there is a +retarding force which shows little sign of being overcome--the +profound superstition of the people. A striking episode of street +life reminded me how near akin were the southern Italians of to-day +to their predecessors in what are called the dark ages; nay, to +those more illustrious ancestors who were so ready to believe that +an ox had uttered an oracle, or that a stone had shed blood. +Somewhere near the swing-bridge, where undeniable steamships go and +come between the inner and the outer sea, I saw a crowd gathered +about a man who was exhibiting a picture and expounding its purport; +every other minute the male listeners doffed their hats, and the +females bowed and crossed themselves. When I had pressed near enough +to hear the speaker, I found he was just finishing a wonderful +story, in which he himself might or might not have faith, but which +plainly commanded the credit of his auditors. Having closed his +narrative, the fellow began to sell it in printed form--little +pamphlets with a rude illustration on the cover. I bought the thing +for a soldo, and read it as I walked away. + +A few days ago--thus, after a pious exordium, the relation began +--in that part of Italy called Marca, there came into a railway +station a Capuchin friar of grave, thoughtful, melancholy aspect, +who besought the station-master to allow him to go without ticket by +the train just starting, as he greatly desired to reach the +Sanctuary of Loreto that day, and had no money to pay his fare The +official gave a contemptuous refusal, and paid no heed to the +entreaties of the friar, who urged all manner of religious motives +for the granting of his request. The two engines on the train (which +was a very long one) seemed about to steam away--but, behold, _con +grande stupore di tutti_, the waggons moved not at all! Presently a +third engine was put on, but still all efforts to start the train +proved useless. Alone of the people who viewed this inexplicable +event, the friar showed no astonishment; he remarked calmly, that so +long as he was refused permission to travel by it, the train would +not stir. At length _un ricco signore_ found a way out of the +difficulty by purchasing the friar a third-class ticket; with a +grave reproof to the station-master, the friar took his seat, and +the train went its way. + +But the matter, of course, did not end here. Indignant and amazed, +and wishing to be revenged upon that _frataccio_, the station-master +telegraphed to Loreto, that in a certain carriage of a certain train +was travelling a friar, whom it behoved the authorities to arrest +for having hindered the departure of the said train for fifteen +minutes, and also for the offense of mendicancy within a railway +station. Accordingly, the Loreto police sought the offender, but, in +the compartment where he had travelled, found no person; there, +however, lay a letter couched in these terms: "He who was in this +waggon under the guise of a humble friar, has now ascended into the +arms of his _Santissima Madre Maria_. He wished to make known to the +world how easy it is for him to crush the pride of unbelievers, or +to reward those who respect religion." + +Nothing more was discoverable; wherefore the learned of the Church +--_i dotti della chiesa_--came to the conclusion that under the +guise of a friar there had actually appeared "_N. S. G. C._" The +Supreme Pontiff and his prelates had not yet delivered a judgment in +the matter, but there could be no sort of doubt that they would +pronounce the authenticity of the miracle. With a general assurance +that the good Christian will be saved and the unrepentant will be +damned, this remarkable little pamphlet came to an end. Much +verbiage I have omitted, but the translation, as far as it goes, is +literal. Doubtless many a humble Tarentine spelt it through that +evening, with boundless wonder, and thought such an intervention of +Providence worthy of being talked about, until the next stabbing +case in his street provided a more interesting topic. + +Possibly some malevolent rationalist might note that the name of the +railway station where this miracle befell was nowhere mentioned. Was +it not open to him to go and make inquiries at Loreto? + + + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE TABLE OF THE PALADINS + + + + + +For two or three days a roaring north wind whitened the sea with +foam; it kept the sky clear, and from morning to night there was +magnificent sunshine, but, none the less, one suffered a good deal +from cold. The streets were barer than ever; only in the old town, +where high, close walls afforded a good deal of shelter, was there a +semblance of active life. But even here most of the shops seemed to +have little, if any, business; frequently I saw the tradesman asleep +in a chair, at any hour of daylight. Indeed, it must be very +difficult to make the day pass at Taranto. I noticed that, as one +goes southward in Italy, the later do ordinary people dine; appetite +comes slowly in this climate. Between _colazione_ at midday and +_pranzo_ at eight, or even half-past, what an abysm of time! Of +course, the Tarantine never reads; the only bookshop I could +discover made a poorer display than even that at Cosenza--it was +not truly a bookseller's at all, but a fancy stationer's. How the +women spend their lives one may vainly conjecture. Only on Sunday +did I see a few of them about the street; they walked to and from +Mass, with eyes on the ground, and all the better-dressed of them +wore black. + +When the weather fell calm again, and there was pleasure in walking, +I chanced upon a trace of the old civilization which interested me +more than objects ranged in a museum. Rambling eastward along the +outer shore, in the wilderness which begins as soon as the town has +disappeared, I came to a spot as uninviting as could be imagined, +great mounds of dry rubbish, evidently deposited here by the +dust-carts of Taranto; luckily, I continued my walk beyond this +obstacle, and after a while became aware that I had entered upon a +road--a short piece of well-marked road, which began and ended in +the mere waste. A moment's examination, and I saw that it was no +modern by-way. The track was clean-cut in living rock, its smooth, +hard surface lined with two parallel ruts nearly a foot deep; it +extended for some twenty yards without a break, and further on I +discovered less perfect bits. Here, manifestly, was the seaside +approach to Tarentum, to Taras, perhaps to the Phoenician city which +came before them. Ages must have passed since vehicles used this +way; the modern high road is at some distance inland, and one sees +at a glance that this witness of ancient traffic has remained by +Time's sufferance in a desert region. Wonderful was the preservation +of the surface: the angles at the sides, where the road had been cut +down a little below the rock-level, were sharp and clean as if +carved yesterday, and the profound ruts, worn, perhaps, before Rome +had come to her power, showed the grinding of wheels with strange +distinctness. From this point there is an admirable view of Taranto, +the sea, and the mountains behind. + +Of the ancient town there remains hardly anything worthy of being +called a ruin. Near the shore, however, one can see a few remnants +of a theatre--perhaps that theatre where the Tarentines were +sitting when they saw Roman galleys, in scorn of treaty, sailing up +the Gulf. + +My last evenings were brightened by very beautiful sunsets; one in +particular remains with me; I watched it for an hour or more from +the terrace-road of the island town. An exquisite after-glow seemed +as if it would never pass away. Above thin, grey clouds stretching +along the horizon a purple flush melted insensibly into the dark +blue of the zenith. Eastward the sky was piled with lurid rack, +sullen-tinted folds edged with the hue of sulphur. The sea had a +strange aspect, curved tracts of pale blue lying motionless upon a +dark expanse rippled by the wind. Below me, as I leaned on the +sea-wall, a fisherman's boat crept duskily along the rocks, a splash +of oars soft-sounding in the stillness. I looked to the far +Calabrian hills, now scarce distinguishable from horizon cloud, and +wondered what chances might await me in the unknown scenes of my +further travel. + +The long shore of the Ionian Sea suggested many a halting-place. +Best of all, I should have liked to swing a wallet on my shoulder +and make the whole journey on foot; but this for many reasons was +impossible. I could only mark points of the railway where some sort +of food or lodging might be hoped for, and the first of these +stoppages was Metaponto. + +Official time-bills of the month marked a train for Metaponto at +4.56 A.M., and this I decided to take, as it seemed probable that I +might find a stay of some hours sufficient, and so be able to resume +my journey before night. I asked the waiter to call me at a quarter +to four. In the middle of the night (as it seemed to me) I was +aroused by a knocking, and the waiter's voice called to me that, if +I wished to leave early for Metaponto, I had better get up at once, +as the departure of the train had been changed to 4.15--it was now +half-past three. There ensued an argument, sustained, on my side, +rather by the desire to stay in bed this cold morning than by any +faith in the reasonableness of the railway company. There must be a +mistake! The _orario_ for the month gave 4.56, and how could the +time of a train be changed without public notice? Changed it was, +insisted the waiter; it had happened a few days ago, and they had +only heard of it at the hotel this very morning. Angry and +uncomfortable, I got my clothes on, and drove to the station, where +I found that a sudden change in the time-table, without any regard +for persons relying upon the official guide, was taken as a matter +of course. In chilly darkness I bade farewell to Taranto. + +At a little after six, when palest dawn was shimmering on the sea, I +found myself at Metaponto, with no possibility of doing anything for +a couple of hours. Metaponto is a railway station, that and nothing +more, and, as a station also calls itself a hotel, I straightway +asked for a room, and there dozed until sunshine improved my humour +and stirred my appetite. The guidebook had assured me of two things: +that a vehicle could be had here for surveying the district, and +that, under cover behind the station, one would find a little +collection of antiquities unearthed hereabout. On inquiry, I found +that no vehicle, and no animal capable of being ridden, existed at +Metaponto; also that the little museum had been transferred to +Naples. It did not pay to keep the horse, they told me; a stranger +asked for it only "once in a hundred years." However, a lad was +forthcoming who would guide me to the ruins. I breakfasted (the only +thing tolerable being the wine), and we set forth. + +It was a walk of some two or three miles, by a cart road, through +fields just being ploughed for grain. All about lay a level or +slightly rolling country, which in winter becomes a wilderness of +mud; dry traces of vast slough and occasional stagnant pools showed +what the state of things would be a couple of months hence. The +properties were divided by hedges of agave--huge growths, grandly +curving their sword-pointed leaves. Its companion, the spiny cactus, +writhed here and there among juniper bushes and tamarisks. Along the +wayside rose tall, dead thistles, white with age, their great +cluster of seed-vessels showing how fine the flower had been. Above +our heads, peewits were wheeling and crying, and lizards swarmed on +the hard, cracked ground. + +We passed a few ploughmen, with white oxen yoked to labour. +Ploughing was a fit sight at Metapontum, famous of old for the +richness of its soil; in token whereof the city dedicated at Delphi +its famous Golden Sheaf. It is all that remains of life on this part +of the coast; the city had sunk into ruin before the Christian era, +and was never rebuilt. Later, the shore was too dangerous for +habitation. Of all the cities upon the Ionian Sea, only Tarentum and +Croton continued to exist through the Middle Ages, for they alone +occupied a position strong for defence against pirates and invaders. +A memory of the Saracen wars lingers in the name borne by the one +important relic of Metapontum, the _Tavola de' Paladini_; to this my +guide was conducting me. + +It is the ruin of a temple to an unknown god, which stood at some +distance north of the ancient city; two parallel rows of columns, +ten on one side, five on the other, with architrave all but entire, +and a basement shattered. The fine Doric capitals are well +preserved; the pillars themselves, crumbling under the tooth of +time, seem to support with difficulty their noble heads. This +monument must formerly have been very impressive amid the wide +landscape; but, a few years ago, for protection against peasant +depredators, a wall ten feet high was built close around the +columns, so that no good view of them is any longer obtainable. To +the enclosure admission is obtained through an iron gateway with a +lock. I may add, as a picturesque detail, that the lock has long +been useless; my guide simply pushed the gate open. Thus, the ugly +wall serves no purpose whatever save to detract from the beauty of +the scene. + +Vegetation is thick within the temple precincts; a flowering rose +bush made contrast of its fresh and graceful loveliness with the +age-worn strength of these great carved stones. About their base +grew luxuriantly a plant which turned my thoughts for a moment to +rural England, the round-leaved pennywort. As I lingered here, there +stirred in me something of that deep emotion which I felt years ago +amid the temples of Paestum. Of course, this obstructed fragment +holds no claim to comparison with Paestum's unique glory, but here, +as there, one is possessed by the pathos of immemorial desolation; +amid a silence which the voice has no power to break, nature's +eternal vitality triumphs over the greatness of forgotten men. + +At a distance of some three miles from this temple there lies a +little lake, or a large pond, which would empty itself into the sea +but for a piled barrier of sand and shingle. This was the harbour of +Metapontum. + +I passed the day in rambling and idling, and returned for a meal at +the station just before train-time. The weather could not have been +more enjoyable; a soft breeze and cloudless blue. For the last +half-hour I lay in a hidden corner of the eucalyptus grove--trying +to shape in fancy some figure of old Pythagoras. He died here (says +story) in 497 B.C.--broken-hearted at the failure of his efforts +to make mankind gentle and reasonable. In 1897 A.D. that hope had +not come much nearer to its realization. Italians are yet familiar +with the name of the philosopher, for it is attached to the +multiplication table, which they call _tavola pitagorica_. What, in +truth, do we know of him? He is a type of aspiring humanity; a sweet +and noble figure, moving as a dim radiance through legendary Hellas. +The English reader hears his name with a smile, recalling only the +mention of him, in mellow mirth, by England's greatest spirit. "What +is the opinion of Pythagoras concerning wild fowl?" Whereto replies +the much-offended Malvolio: "That the soul of our grandam might +haply inhabit a bird." He of the crossed garters disdains such +fantasy. "I think nobly of the soul, and no way approve his +opinion." + +I took my ticket for Cotrone, which once was Croton. At Croton, +Pythagoras enjoyed his moment's triumph, ruling men to their own +behoof. At Croton grew up a school of medicine which glorified Magna +Graecia. "Healthier than Croton," said a proverb; for the spot was +unsurpassed in salubrity; beauty and strength distinguished its +inhabitants, who boasted their champion Milon. After the fall of +Sybaris, Croton became so populous that its walls encircled twelve +miles. Hither came Zeuxis, to adorn with paintings the great temple +of Hera on the Lacinian promontory; here he made his picture of +Helen, with models chosen from the loveliest maidens of the city. I +was light-hearted with curious anticipation as I entered the train +for Cotrone. + +While daylight lasted, the moving landscape held me attentive. This +part of the coast is more varied, more impressive, than between +Taranto and Metaponto. For the most part a shaggy wilderness, the +ground lies in strangely broken undulations, much hidden with shrub +and tangled boscage. At the falling of dusk we passed a +thickly-wooded tract large enough to be called a forest; the great +trees looked hoary with age, and amid a jungle of undergrowth, +myrtle and lentisk, arbutus and oleander, lay green marshes, dull +deep pools, sluggish streams. A spell which was half fear fell upon +the imagination; never till now had I known an enchanted wood. +Nothing human could wander in those pathless shades, by those dead +waters. It was the very approach to the world of spirits; over this +woodland, seen on the verge of twilight, brooded a silent awe, such +as Dante knew in his _selva oscura_. + +Of a sudden the dense foliage was cleft; there opened a broad alley +between drooping boughs, and in the deep hollow, bordered with sand +and stones, a flood rolled eastward. This river is now called Sinno; +it was the ancient Sins, whereon stood the city of the same name. In +the seventh century before Christ, Sins was lauded as the richest +city in the world; for luxury it outrivalled Sybaris. + +I had recently been reading Lenormant's description of the costumes +of Magna Graecia prior to the Persian wars. Sins, a colony from +Ionia, still kept its Oriental style of dress. Picture a man in a +long, close-clinging tunic which descended to his feet, either of +fine linen, starched and pleated, or of wool, falling foldless, +enriched with embroidery and adorned with bands of gay-coloured +geometric patterns; over this a wrap (one may say) of thick wool, +tight round the bust and leaving the right arm uncovered, or else a +more ample garment, elaborately decorated like the long tunic. +Complete the picture with a head ornately dressed, on the brow a +fringe of ringlets; the long hair behind held together by gold wire +spirally wound; above, a crowning fillet, with a jewel set in the +front; the beard cut to a point, and the upper lip shaven. You +behold the citizen of these Hellenic colonies in their stately +prime. + +Somewhere in that enchanted forest, where the wild vine trails from +tree to tree, where birds and creatures of the marshy solitude haunt +their ancient home, lie buried the stones of Sins. + + + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +COTRONE + + + + + +Night hid from me the scenes that followed. Darkling, I passed again +through the station called Sybaris, and on and on by the sea-shore, +the sound of breakers often audible. From time to time I discerned +black mountain masses against a patch of grey sky, or caught a +glimpse of blanching wave, or felt my fancy thrill as a stray gleam +from the engine fire revealed for a moment another trackless wood. +Often the hollow rumbling of the train told me that we were crossing +a bridge; the stream beneath it bore, perhaps, a name in legend or +in history. A wind was rising; at the dim little stations I heard it +moan and buffet, and my carriage, where all through the journey I +sat alone, seemed the more comfortable. Rain began to fall, and +when, about ten o'clock, I alighted at Cotrone, the night was loud +with storm. + +There was but one vehicle at the station, a shabby, creaking, +mud-plastered sort of coach, into which I bundled together with two +travellers of the kind called commercial--almost the only species +of traveller I came across during these southern wanderings. A long +time was spent in stowing freightage which, after all, amounted to +very little; twice, thrice, four, and perhaps five times did we make +a false start, followed by uproarious vociferation, and a jerk which +tumbled us passengers all together. The gentlemen of commerce rose +to wild excitement, and roundly abused the driver; as soon as we +really started, their wrath changed to boisterous gaiety. On we +rolled, pitching and tossing, mid darkness and tempest, until, +through the broken window, a sorry illumination of oil-lamps showed +us one side of a colonnaded street. "Bologna! Bologna!" cried my +companions, mocking at this feeble reminiscence of their fat +northern town. The next moment we pulled up, our bruised bodies +colliding vigorously for the last time; it was the _Albergo +Concordia_. + +A dark stone staircase, yawning under the colonnade; on the first +landing an open doorway; within, a long corridor, doors of bedrooms +on either side, and in a room at the far end a glimpse of a +tablecloth. This was the hotel, the whole of it. As soon as I +grasped the situation, it was clear to me why my fellow travellers +had entered with a rush and flung themselves into rooms; there +might, perchance, be only one or two chambers vacant, and I knew +already that Cotrone offered no other decent harbourage. Happily I +did not suffer for my lack of experience; after trying one or two +doors in vain, I found a sleeping-place which seemed to be +unoccupied, and straightway took possession of it. No one appeared +to receive the arriving guests. Feeling very hungry, I went into the +room at the end of the passage, where I had seen a tablecloth; a +wretched lamp burned on the wall, but only after knocking, stamping, +and calling did I attract attention; then issued from some +mysterious region a stout, slatternly, sleepy woman, who seemed +surprised at my demand for food, but at length complied with it. I +was to have better acquaintance with my hostess of the _Concordia_ +before I quitted Cotrone. + +Next morning the wind still blew, but the rain was over; I could +begin my rambles. Like the old town of Taranto, Cotrone occupies the +site of the ancient acropolis, a little headland jutting into the +sea; above, and in front of the town itself, stands the castle built +by Charles V., with immense battlements looking over the harbour. +From a road skirting the shore around the base of the fortress one +views a wide bay, bounded to the north by the dark flanks of Sila (I +was in sight of the Black Mountain once more), and southwards by a +long low promontory, its level slowly declining to the far-off point +where it ends amid the waves. On this Cape I fixed my eyes, +straining them until it seemed to me that I distinguished something, +a jutting speck against the sky, at its farthest point. Then I used +my field-glass, and at once the doubtful speck became a clearly +visible projection, much like a lighthouse. It is a Doric column, +some five-and-twenty feet high; the one pillar that remains of the +great temple of Hera, renowned through all the Hellenic world, and +sacred still when the goddess had for centuries borne a Latin name. +"Colonna" is the ordinary name of the Cape; but it is also known as +_Capo di Nau_, a name which preserves the Greek word _naos_ +(temple). + +I planned for the morrow a visit to this spot, which is best reached +by sea. To-day great breakers were rolling upon the strand, and all +the blue of the bay was dashed with white foam; another night would, +I hoped, bring calm, and then the voyage! _Dis aliter visum_. + +A little fleet of sailing vessels and coasting steamers had taken +refuge within the harbour, which is protected by a great mole. A +good haven; the only one, indeed, between Taranto and Reggio, but it +grieves one to remember that the mighty blocks built into the +sea-barrier came from that fallen temple. We are told that as late +as the sixteenth century the building remained all but perfect, with +eight-and-forty pillars, rising there above the Ionian Sea; a guide +to sailors, even as when AEneas marked it on his storm-tossed +galley. Then it was assailed, cast down, ravaged by a Bishop of +Cotrone, one Antonio Lucifero, to build his episcopal palace. Nearly +three hundred years later, after the terrible earthquake of 1783, +Cotrone strengthened her harbour with the great stones of the temple +basement. It was a more legitimate pillage. + +Driven inland by the gale, I wandered among low hills which overlook +the town. Their aspect is very strange, for they consist entirely-- +on the surface, at all events--of a yellowish-grey mud, dried +hard, and as bare as the high road. A few yellow hawkweeds, a few +camomiles, grew in hollows here and there; but of grass not a blade. +It is easy to make a model of these Crotonian hills. Shape a solid +mound of hard-pressed sand, and then, from the height of a foot or +two, let water trickle down upon it; the perpendicular ridges and +furrows thus formed upon the miniature hill represent exactly what I +saw here on a larger scale. Moreover, all the face of the ground is +minutely cracked and wrinkled; a square foot includes an +incalculable multitude of such meshes. Evidently this is the work of +hot sun on moisture; but when was it done? For they tell me that it +rains very little at Cotrone, and only a deluge could moisten this +iron soil. Here and there I came upon yet more striking evidence of +waterpower; great holes on the hillside, generally funnel-shaped, +and often deep enough to be dangerous to the careless walker. The +hills are round-topped, and parted one from another by gully or +ravine, shaped, one cannot but think, by furious torrents. A +desolate landscape, and scarcely bettered when one turned to look +over the level which spreads north of the town; one discovers +patches of foliage, indeed, the dark perennial verdure of the south; +but no kindly herb clothes the soil. In springtime, it seems, there +is a growth of grass, very brief, but luxuriant. That can only be on +the lower ground; these furrowed heights declare a perpetual +sterility. + +What has become of the ruins of Croton? This squalid little town of +to-day has nothing left from antiquity. Yet a city bounded with a +wall of twelve miles circumference is not easily swept from the face +of the earth. Bishop Lucifer, wanting stones for his palace, had to +go as far as the Cape Colonna; then, as now, no block of Croton +remained. Nearly two hundred years before Christ the place was +forsaken. Rome colonized it anew, and it recovered an obscure life +as a place of embarkation for Greece, its houses occupying only the +rock of the ancient citadel. Were there at that date any remnants of +the great Greek city?--still great only two centuries before. Did +all go to the building of Roman dwellings and temples and walls, +which since have crumbled or been buried? + +We are told that the river AEsarus flowed through the heart of the +city at its prime. I looked over the plain, and yonder, towards the +distant railway station, I descried a green track, the course of the +all but stagnant and wholly pestilential stream, still called Esaro. +Near its marshy mouth are wide orange orchards. Could one but see in +vision the harbour, the streets, the vast encompassing wall! From +the eminence where I stood, how many a friend and foe of Croton has +looked down upon its shining ways, peopled with strength and beauty +and wisdom! Here Pythagoras may have walked, glancing afar at the +Lacinian sanctuary, then new built. + +Lenormant is eloquent on the orange groves of Cotrone. In order to +visit them, permission was necessary, and presently I made my way to +the town hall, to speak with the Sindaco (Mayor) and request his aid +in this matter. Without difficulty I was admitted. In a +well-furnished office sat two stout gentlemen, smoking cigars, very +much at their ease; the Sindaco bade me take a chair, and +scrutinized me with doubtful curiosity as I declared my business. +Yes, to be sure he could admit me to see his own orchard; but why +did I wish to see it? My reply that I had no interest save in the +natural beauty of the place did not convince him; he saw in me a +speculator of some kind. That was natural enough. In all the south +of Italy, money is the one subject of men's thoughts; intellectual +life does not exist; there is little even of what we should call +common education. Those who have wealth cling to it fiercely; the +majority have neither time nor inclination to occupy themselves with +anything but the earning of a livelihood which for multitudes +signifies the bare appeasing of hunger. + +Seeing the Sindaco's embarrassment, his portly friend began to +question me; good-humouredly enough, but in such a fat bubbling +voice (made more indistinct by the cigar he kept in his mouth) that +with difficulty I understood him. What was I doing at Cotrone? I +endeavoured to explain that Cotrone greatly interested me. Ha! +Cotrone interested me? Really? Now what did I find interesting at +Cotrone? I spoke of historic associations. The Sindaco and his +friend exchanged glances, smiled in a puzzled, tolerant, +half-pitying way, and decided that my request might be granted. In +another minute I withdrew, carrying half a sheet of note-paper on +which were scrawled in pencil a few words, followed by the proud +signature "Berlinghieri." When I had deciphered the scrawl, I found +it was an injunction to allow me to view a certain estate "_senza +nulla toccare_"--without touching anything. So a doubt still +lingered in the dignitary's mind. + +Cotrone has no vehicle plying for hire--save that in which I +arrived at the hotel. I had to walk in search of the orange orchard, +all along the straight dusty road leading to the station. For a +considerable distance this road is bordered on both sides by +warehouses of singular appearance. They have only a ground floor, +and the front wall is not more than ten feet high, but their low +roofs, sloping to the ridge at an angle of about thirty degrees, +cover a great space. The windows are strongly barred, and the doors +show immense padlocks of elaborate construction. The goods +warehoused here are chiefly wine and oil, oranges and liquorice. (A +great deal of liquorice grows around the southern gulf.) At certain +moments, indicated by the markets at home or abroad, these stores +are conveyed to the harbour, and shipped away. For the greater part +of the year the houses stand as I saw them, locked, barred, and +forsaken: a street where any sign of life is exceptional; an odd +suggestion of the English Sunday in a land that knows not such +observance. + +Crossing the Esaro, I lingered on the bridge to gaze at its green, +muddy water, not visibly flowing at all. The high reeds which half +concealed it carried my thoughts back to the Galaesus. But the +comparison is all in favour of the Tarentine stream. Here one could +feel nothing but a comfortless melancholy; the scene is too squalid, +the degradation too complete. + +Of course, no one looked at the _permesso_ with which I presented +myself at the entrance to the orchard. From a tumbling house, which +we should call the lodge, came forth (after much shouting on my +part) an aged woman, who laughed at the idea that she should be +asked to read anything, and bade me walk wherever I liked. I strayed +at pleasure, meeting only a lean dog, which ran fearfully away. The +plantation was very picturesque; orange trees by no means occupied +all the ground, but mingled with pomegranates and tamarisks and many +evergreen shrubs of which I knew not the name; whilst here and there +soared a magnificent stone pine. The walks were bordered with giant +cactus, now and again so fantastic in their growth that I stood to +wonder; and in an open space upon the bank of the Esaro (which +stagnates through the orchard) rose a majestic palm, its leaves +stirring heavily in the wind which swept above. Picturesque, +abundantly; but these beautiful tree-names, which waft a perfume of +romance, are like to convey a false impression to readers who have +never seen the far south; it is natural to think of lovely nooks, +where one might lie down to rest and dream; there comes a vision of +soft turf under the golden-fruited boughs--"places of nestling +green for poets made." Alas! the soil is bare and lumpy as a +ploughed field, and all the leafage that hangs low is thick with a +clayey dust. One cannot rest or loiter or drowse; no spot in all the +groves where by any possibility one could sit down. After rambling +as long as I chose, I found that a view of the orchard from outside +was more striking than the picture amid the trees themselves. _Senza +nulla toccare_, I went my way. + + + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +FACES BY THE WAY + + + + + +The wind could not roar itself out. Through the night it kept +awaking me, and on the morrow I found a sea foamier than ever; +impossible to reach the Colonna by boat, and almost so, I was +assured, to make the journey by land in such weather as this. +Perforce I waited. + +A cloudless sky; broad sunshine, warm as in an English summer; but +the roaring _tramontana_ was disagreeably chill. No weather could be +more perilous to health. The people of Cotrone, those few of them +who did not stay at home or shelter in the porticoes, went about +heavily cloaked, and I wondered at their ability to wear such +garments under so hot a sun. Theoretically aware of the danger I was +running, but, in fact, thinking little about it, I braved the wind +and the sunshine all day long; my sketch-book gained by it, and my +store of memories. First of all, I looked into the Cathedral, an +ugly edifice, as uninteresting within as without. Like all the +churches in Calabria, it is white-washed from door to altar, pillars +no less than walls--a cold and depressing interior. I could see no +picture of the least merit; one, a figure of Christ with hideous +wounds, was well-nigh as repulsive as painting could be. This vile +realism seems to indicate Spanish influence. There is a miniature +copy in bronze of the statue of the chief Apostle in St. Peter's at +Rome, and beneath it an inscription making known to the faithful +that, by order of Leo XIII. in 1896, an Indulgence of three hundred +days is granted to whosoever kisses the bronze toe and says a +prayer. Familiar enough this unpretentious announcement, yet it +never fails of its little shock to the heretic mind. Whilst I was +standing near, a peasant went through the mystic rite; to judge from +his poor malaria-stricken countenance, he prayed very earnestly, and +I hope his Indulgence benefited him. Probably he repeated a mere +formula learnt by heart. I wished he could have prayed spontaneously +for three hundred days of wholesome and sufficient food, and for as +many years of honest, capable government in his heavy-burdened +country. + +When travelling, I always visit the burial-ground; I like to see how +a people commemorates its dead, for tombstones have much +significance. The cemetery of Cotrone lies by the sea-shore, at some +distance beyond the port, far away from habitations; a bare hillside +looks down upon its graves, and the road which goes by is that +leading to Cape Colonna. On the way I passed a little ruined church, +shattered, I was told, by an earthquake three years before; its +lonely position made it interesting, and the cupola of coloured +tiles (like that of the Cathedral at Amalfi) remained intact, a +bright spot against the grey hills behind. A high enclosing wall +signalled the cemetery; I rang a bell at the gate and was admitted +by a man of behaviour and language much more refined than is common +among the people of this region; I felt sorry, indeed, that I had +not found him seated in the Sindaco's chair that morning. But as +guide to the burial-ground he was delightful. Nine years, he told +me, he had held the post of custodian, in which time, working with +his own hands, and unaided, he had turned the enclosure from a +wretched wilderness into a beautiful garden. Unaffectedly I admired +the results of his labour, and my praise rejoiced him greatly. He +specially requested me to observe the geraniums; there were ten +species, many of them of extraordinary size and with magnificent +blossoms. Roses I saw, too, in great abundance; and tall +snapdragons, and bushes of rosemary, and many flowers unknown to me. +As our talk proceeded the gardener gave me a little light on his own +history; formerly he was valet to a gentleman of Cotrone, with whom +he had travelled far and wide over Europe; yes, even to London, of +which he spoke with expressively wide eyes, and equally expressive +shaking of the head. That any one should journey from Calabria to +England seemed to him intelligible enough; but he marvelled that I +had thought it worth while to come from England to Calabria. Very +rarely indeed could he show his garden to one from a far-off +country; no, the place was too poor, accommodation too rough; there +needed a certain courage, and he laughed, again shaking his head. + +The ordinary graves were marked with a small wooden cross; where a +head-stone had been raised, it generally presented a skull and +crossed bones. Round the enclosure stood a number of mortuary +chapels, gloomy and ugly. An exception to this dull magnificence in +death was a marble slab, newly set against the wall, in memory of a +Lucifero--one of that family, still eminent, to which belonged the +sacrilegious bishop. The design was a good imitation of those noble +sepulchral tablets which abound in the museum at Athens; a figure +taking leave of others as if going on a journey. The Lucifers had +shown good taste in their choice of the old Greek symbol; no better +adornment of a tomb has ever been devised, nor one that is half so +moving. At the foot of the slab was carved a little owl (civetta), a +bird, my friend informed me, very common about here. + +When I took leave, the kindly fellow gave me a large bunch of +flowers, carefully culled, with many regrets that the lateness of +the season forbade his offering choicer blossoms. His simple +good-nature and intelligence greatly won upon me. I like to think of +him as still quietly happy amid his garden walls, tending flowers +that grow over the dead at Cotrone. + +On my way back again to the town, I took a nearer view of the ruined +little church, and, whilst I was so engaged, two lads driving a herd +of goats stopped to look at me. As I came out into the road again, +the younger of these modestly approached and begged me to give him a +flower--by choice, a rose. I did so, much to his satisfaction and +no less to mine; it was a pleasant thing to find a wayside lad +asking for anything but soldi. The Calabrians, however, are +distinguished by their self-respect; they contrast remarkedly with +the natives of the Neapolitan district. Presently, I saw that the +boy's elder companion had appropriated the flower, which he kept at +his nose as he plodded along; after useless remonstrance, the other +drew near to me again, shamefaced; would I make him another present; +not a rose this time, he would not venture to ask it, but "_questo +piccolo_"; and he pointed to a sprig of geranium. There was a grace +about the lad which led me to talk to him, though I found his +dialect very difficult. Seeing us on good terms, the elder boy drew +near, and at once asked a puzzling question: When was the ruined +church on the hillside to be rebuilt? I answered, of course, that I +knew nothing about it, but this reply was taken as merely evasive; +in a minute or two the lad again questioned me. Was the rebuilding +to be next year? Then I began to understand; having seen me +examining the ruins, the boy took it for granted that I was an +architect here on business, and I don't think I succeeded in setting +him right. When he had said good-bye he turned to look after me with +a mischievous smile, as much as to say that I had naturally refused +to talk to him about so important a matter as the building of a +church, but he was not to be deceived. + +The common type of face at Cotrone is coarse and bumpkinish; ruder, +it seemed to me, than faces seen at any point of my journey +hitherto. A photographer had hung out a lot of portraits, and it was +a hideous exhibition; some of the visages attained an incredible +degree of vulgar ugliness. This in the town which still bears the +name of Croton. The people are all more or less unhealthy; one meets +peasants horribly disfigured with life-long malaria. There is an +agreeable cordiality in the middle classes; business men from whom I +sought casual information, even if we only exchanged a few words in +the street, shook hands with me at parting. I found no one who had +much good to say of his native place; every one complained of a lack +of water. Indeed, Cotrone has as good as no water supply. One or two +wells I saw, jealously guarded: the water they yield is not really +fit for drinking, and people who can afford it purchase water which +comes from a distance in earthenware jars. One of these jars I had +found in my bedroom; its secure corking much puzzled me until I made +inquiries. The river Esaro is all but useless for any purpose, and +as no other stream flows in the neighbourhood, Cotrone's washerwomen +take their work down to the beach; even during the gale I saw them +washing there in pools which they had made to hold the sea water; +now and then one of them ventured into the surf, wading with legs of +limitless nudity and plunging linen as the waves broke about her. + +It was unfortunate that I brought no letter of introduction to +Cotrone; I should much have liked to visit one of the better houses. +Well-to-do people live here, and I was told that, in fine weather, +"at least half a dozen" private carriages might be seen making the +fashionable drive on the Strada Regina Margherita. But it is not +easy to imagine luxury or refinement in these dreary, close-packed +streets. Judging from our table at the _Concordia_, the town is +miserably provisioned; the dishes were poor and monotonous and +infamously cooked. Almost the only palatable thing offered was an +enormous radish. Such radishes I never saw: they were from six to +eight inches long, and more than an inch thick, at the same time +thoroughly crisp and sweet. The wine of the country had nothing to +recommend it. It was very heady, and smacked of drugs rather than of +grape juice. + +But men must eat, and the _Concordia_, being the only restaurant, +daily entertained several citizens, besides guests staying in the +house. One of these visitants excited my curiosity; he was a +middle-aged man of austere countenance; shabby in attire, but with +the bearing of one accustomed to command. Arriving always at exactly +the same moment, he seated himself in his accustomed place, drew his +hat over his brows, and began to munch bread. No word did I hear him +speak. As soon as he appeared in the doorway, the waiter called out, +with respectful hurry, "Don Ferdinando!" and in a minute his first +course was served. Bent like a hunchback over the table, his hat +dropping ever lower, until it almost hid his eyes, the Don ate +voraciously. His dishes seemed to be always the same, and as soon as +he had finished the last mouthful, he rose and strode from the room. + +Don is a common title of respect in Southern Italy; it dates of +course from the time of Spanish rule. At a favourable moment I +ventured to inquire of the waiter who Don Ferdinando might be; the +only answer, given with extreme discretion, was "A proprietor." If +in easy circumstances, the Don must have been miserly, his diet was +wretched beyond description. And in the manner of his feeding he +differed strangely from the ordinary Italian who frequents +restaurants. Wonderful to observe, the representative diner. He +always seems to know exactly what his appetite demands; he addresses +the waiter in a preliminary discourse, sketching out his meal, and +then proceeds to fill in the minutiae. If he orders a common dish, +he describes with exquisite detail how it is to be prepared; in +demanding something out of the way he glows with culinary +enthusiasm. An ordinary bill of fare never satisfies him; he plays +variations upon the theme suggested, divides or combines, introduces +novelties of the most unexpected kind. As a rule, he eats enormously +(I speak only of dinner), a piled dish of macaroni is but the +prelude to his meal, a whetting of his appetite. Throughout he +grumbles, nothing is quite as it should be, and when the bill is +presented he grumbles still more vigorously, seldom paying the sum +as it stands. He rarely appears content with his entertainment, and +often indulges in unbounded abuse of those who serve him. These +characteristics, which I have noted more or less in every part of +Italy, were strongly illustrated at the _Concordia_. In general, +they consist with a fundamental good humour, but at Cotrone the tone +of the dining-room was decidedly morose. One man--he seemed to be +a sort of clerk--came only to quarrel. I am convinced that he +ordered things which he knew the people could not cook just for the +sake of reviling their handiwork when it was presented. Therewith he +spent incredibly small sums; after growling and remonstrating and +eating for more than an hour, his bill would amount to seventy or +eighty centesimi, wine included. Every day he threatened to withdraw +his custom; every day he sent for the landlady, pointed out to her +how vilely he was treated, and asked how she could expect him to +recommend the _Concordia_ to his acquaintances. On one occasion I +saw him push away a plate of something, plant his elbows on the +table, and hide his face in his hands; thus he sat for ten minutes, +an image of indignant misery, and when at last his countenance was +again visible, it showed traces of tears. + +I dwell upon the question of food because it was on this day that I +began to feel a loss of appetite and found myself disgusted with the +dishes set before me. In ordinary health I have the happiest +qualification of the traveller, an ability to eat and enjoy the +familiar dishes of any quasi-civilized country; it was a bad sign +when I grew fastidious. After a mere pretence of dinner, I lay down +in my room to rest and read. But I could do neither; it grew plain +to me that I was feverish. Through a sleepless night, the fever +manifestly increasing, I wished that illness had fallen on me +anywhere rather than at Cotrone. + + + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +MY FRIEND THE DOCTOR + + + + + +In the morning I arose as usual, though with difficulty. I tried to +persuade myself that I was merely suffering from a violent attack of +dyspepsia, the natural result of _Concordia_ diet. When the waiter +brought my breakfast I regarded it with resentful eye, feeling for +the moment very much like my grumbling acquaintance of the dinner +hour. It may be as well to explain that the breakfast consisted of +very bad coffee, with goat's milk, hard, coarse bread, and goat's +butter, which tasted exactly like indifferent lard. The so-called +butter, by a strange custom of Cotrone, was served in the emptied +rind of a spherical cheese--the small _caccio cavallo_, horse +cheese, which one sees everywhere in the South. I should not have +liked to inquire where, how, when, or by whom the substance of the +cheese had been consumed. Possibly this receptacle is supposed to +communicate a subtle flavour to the butter; I only know that, even +to a healthy palate, the stuff was rather horrible. Cow's milk could +be obtained in very small quantities, but it was of evil flavour; +butter, in the septentrional sense of the word, did not exist. + +It surprises me to remember that I went out, walked down to the +shore, and watched the great waves breaking over the harbour mole. +There was a lull in the storm, but as yet no sign of improving +weather; clouds drove swiftly across a lowering sky. My eyes turned +to the Lacinian promontory, dark upon the turbid sea. Should I ever +stand by the sacred column? It seemed to me hopelessly remote; the +voyage an impossible effort. + +I talked with a man, of whom I remember nothing but his piercing +eyes steadily fixed upon me; he said there had been a wreck in the +night, a ship carrying live pigs had gone to pieces, and the shore +was sprinkled with porcine corpses. + +Presently I found myself back at the _Concordia_, not knowing +exactly how I had returned. The dyspepsia--I clung to this +hypothesis--was growing so violent that I had difficulty in +breathing: before long I found it impossible to stand. + +My hostess was summoned, and she told me that Cotrone had "a great +physician," by name "Dr. Scurco." Translating this name from dialect +into Italian, I presumed that the physician's real name was Sculco, +and this proved to be the case. Dr. Riccardo Sculco was a youngish +man, with an open, friendly countenance. At once I liked him. After +an examination, of which I quite understood the result, he remarked +in his amiable, airy manner that I had "a touch of rheumatism"; as a +simple matter of precaution, I had better go to bed for the rest of +the day, and, just for the form of the thing, he would send some +medicine. Having listened to this with as pleasant a smile as I +could command, I caught the Doctor's eye, and asked quietly, "Is +there much congestion?" His manner at once changed; he became +businesslike and confidential. The right lung; yes, the right lung. +Mustn't worry; get to bed and take my quinine in _dosi forti_, and +he would look in again at night. + +The second visit I but dimly recollect. There was a colloquy between +the Doctor and my hostess, and the word _cataplasma_ sounded +repeatedly; also I heard again "_dosi forti_." The night that +followed was perhaps the most horrible I ever passed. Crushed with a +sense of uttermost fatigue, I could get no rest. From time to time a +sort of doze crept upon me, and I said to myself, "Now I shall +sleep"; but on the very edge of slumber, at the moment when I was +falling into oblivion, a hand seemed to pluck me back into +consciousness. In the same instant there gleamed before my eyes a +little circle of fire, which blazed and expanded into immensity, +until its many-coloured glare beat upon my brain and thrilled me +with torture. No sooner was the intolerable light extinguished than +I burst into a cold sweat; an icy river poured about me; I shook, +and my teeth chattered, and so for some minutes I lay in anguish, +until the heat of fever re-asserted itself, and I began once more to +toss and roll. A score of times was this torment repeated. The sense +of personal agency forbidding me to sleep grew so strong that I +waited in angry dread for that shock which aroused me; I felt myself +haunted by a malevolent power, and rebelled against its cruelty. + +Through the night no one visited me. At eight in the morning a knock +sounded at the door, and there entered the waiter, carrying a tray +with my ordinary breakfast. "The Signore is not well?" he remarked, +standing to gaze at me. I replied that I was not quite well; would +he give me the milk, and remove from my sight as quickly as possible +all the other things on the tray. A glimpse of butter in its +cheese-rind had given me an unpleasant sensation. The goat's milk I +swallowed thankfully, and, glad of the daylight, lay somewhat more +at my ease awaiting Dr. Sculco. + +He arrived about half-past nine, and was agreeably surprised to find +me no worse. But the way in which his directions had been carried +out did not altogether please him. He called the landlady, and +soundly rated her. This scene was interesting, it had a fine flavour +of the Middle Ages. The Doctor addressed mine hostess of the +_Concordia_ as "thou," and with magnificent disdain refused to hear +her excuses; she, the stout, noisy woman, who ruled her own +underlings with contemptuous rigour, was all subservience before +this social superior, and whined to him for pardon. "What water is +this?" asked Dr. Sculco, sternly, taking up the corked jar that +stood on the floor. The hostess replied that it was drinking water, +purchased with good money. Thereupon he poured out a little, held it +up to the light, and remarked in a matter-of-fact tone, "I don't +believe you." + +However, in a few minutes peace was restored, and the Doctor +prescribed anew. After he had talked about quinine and cataplasms, +he asked me whether I had any appetite. A vision of the dining-room +came before me, and I shook my head. "Still," he urged, "it would be +well to eat something." And, turning to the hostess, "He had better +have a beefsteak and a glass of Marsala." The look of amazement with +which I heard this caught the Doctor's eye. "Don't you like +_bistecca_?" he inquired. I suggested that, for one in a very high +fever, with a good deal of lung congestion, beefsteak seemed a +trifle solid, and Marsala somewhat heating. "Oh!" cried he, "but we +must keep the machine going." And thereupon he took his genial +leave. + +I had some fear that my hostess might visit upon me her resentment +of the Doctor's reproaches; but nothing of the kind. When we were +alone, she sat down by me, and asked what I should really like to +eat. If I did not care for a beefsteak of veal, could I eat a +beefsteak of mutton? It was not the first time that such a choice +had been offered me, for, in the South, _bistecca_ commonly means a +slice of meat done on the grill or in the oven. Never have I sat +down to a _bistecca_ which was fit for man's consumption, and, of +course, at the _Concordia_ it would be rather worse than anywhere +else. I persuaded the good woman to supply me with a little broth. +Then I lay looking at the patch of cloudy sky which showed above the +houses opposite, and wondering whether I should have a second +fearsome night. I wondered, too, how long it would be before I could +quit Cotrone. The delay here was particularly unfortunate, as my +letters were addressed to Catanzaro, the next stopping-place, and +among them I expected papers which would need prompt attention. The +thought of trying to get my correspondence forwarded to Cotrone was +too disturbing; it would have involved an enormous amount of +trouble, and I could not have felt the least assurance that things +would arrive safely. So I worried through the hours of daylight, and +worried still more when, at nightfall, the fever returned upon me as +badly as ever. + +Dr. Sculco had paid his evening visit, and the first horror of +ineffectual drowsing had passed over me, when my door was flung +violently open, and in rushed a man (plainly of the commercial +species), hat on head and bag in hand. I perceived that the +_diligenza_ had just arrived, and that travellers were seizing upon +their bedrooms. The invader, aware of his mistake, discharged a +volley of apologies, and rushed out again. Five minutes later the +door again banged open, and there entered a tall lad with an armful +of newspapers; after regarding me curiously, he asked whether I +wanted a paper. I took one with the hope of reading it next morning. +Then he began conversation. I had the fever? Ah! everybody had fever +at Cotrone. He himself would be laid up with it in a day or two. If +I liked, he would look in with a paper each evening--till fever +prevented him. When I accepted this suggestion, he smiled +encouragingly, cried "_Speriamo_!" and clumped out of the room. + +I had as little sleep as on the night before, but my suffering was +mitigated in a very strange way. After I had put out the candle, I +tormented myself for a long time with the thought that I should +never see La Colonna. As soon as I could rise from bed, I must flee +Cotrone, and think myself fortunate in escaping alive; but to turn +my back on the Lacinian promontory, leaving the cape unvisited, the +ruin of the temple unseen, seemed to me a miserable necessity which +I should lament as long as I lived. I felt as one involved in a +moral disaster; working in spite of reason, my brain regarded the +matter from many points of view, and found no shadow of solace. The +sense that so short a distance separated me from the place I desired +to see, added exasperation to my distress. Half-delirious, I at +times seemed to be in a boat, tossing on wild waters, the Column +visible afar, but only when I strained my eyes to discover it. In a +description of the approach by land, I had read of a great precipice +which had to be skirted, and this, too, haunted me with its terrors: +I found myself toiling on a perilous road, which all at once +crumbled into fearful depths just before me. A violent shivering fit +roused me from this gloomy dreaming, and I soon after fell into a +visionary state which, whilst it lasted, gave me such placid +happiness as I have never known when in my perfect mind. Lying still +and calm, and perfectly awake, I watched a succession of wonderful +pictures. First of all I saw great vases, rich with ornament and +figures; then sepulchral marbles, carved more exquisitely than the +most beautiful I had ever known. The vision grew in extent, in +multiplicity of detail; presently I was regarding scenes of ancient +life--thronged streets, processions triumphal or religious, halls +of feasting, fields of battle. What most impressed me at the time +was the marvellously bright yet delicate colouring of everything I +saw. I can give no idea in words of the pure radiance which shone +from every object, which illumined every scene. More remarkable, +when I thought of it next day, was the minute finish of these +pictures, the definiteness of every point on which my eye fell. +Things which I could not know, which my imagination, working in the +service of the will, could never have bodied forth, were before me +as in life itself. I consciously wondered at peculiarities of +costume such as I had never read of; at features of architecture +entirely new to me; at insignificant characteristics of that by-gone +world, which by no possibility could have been gathered from books. +I recall a succession of faces, the loveliest conceivable; and I +remember, I feel to this moment the pang of regret with which I lost +sight of each when it faded into darkness. + +As an example of the more elaborate visions that passed before me, I +will mention the only one which I clearly recollect. It was a +glimpse of history. When Hannibal, at the end of the second Punic +War, was confined to the south of Italy, he made Croton his +head-quarters, and when, in reluctant obedience to Carthage, he +withdrew from Roman soil, it was at Croton that he embarked. He then +had with him a contingent of Italian mercenaries, and, unwilling +that these soldiers should go over to the enemy, he bade them +accompany him to Africa. The Italians refused. Thereupon Hannibal +had them led down to the shore of the sea, where he slaughtered one +and all. This event I beheld. I saw the strand by Croton; the +promontory with its temple; not as I know the scene to-day, but as +it must have looked to those eyes more than two thousand years ago. +The soldiers of Hannibal doing massacre, the perishing mercenaries, +supported my closest gaze, and left no curiosity unsatisfied. (Alas! +could I but see it again, or remember clearly what was shown tome!) +And over all lay a glory of sunshine, an indescribable brilliancy +which puts light and warmth into my mind whenever I try to recall +it. The delight of these phantasms was well worth the ten days' +illness which paid for them. After this night they never returned; I +hoped for their renewal, but in vain. When I spoke of the experience +to Dr. Sculco, he was much amused, and afterwards he often asked me +whether I had had any more _visioni_. That gate of dreams was +closed, but I shall always feel that, for an hour, it was granted to +me to see the vanished life so dear to my imagination. If the +picture corresponded to nothing real, tell me who can, by what power +I reconstructed, to the last perfection of intimacy, a world known +to me only in ruined fragments. + +Daylight again, but no gleam of sun. I longed for the sunshine; it +seemed to me a miserable chance that I should lie ill by the Ionian +Sea and behold no better sky than the far north might have shown me. +That grey obstruction of heaven's light always weighs upon my +spirit; on a summer's day, there has but to pass a floating cloud, +which for a moment veils the sun, and I am touched with chill +discouragement; heart and hope fail me, until the golden radiance is +restored. + +About noon, when I had just laid down the newspaper bought the night +before--the Roman _Tribuna_, which was full of dreary politics-- +a sudden clamour in the street drew my attention. I heard the angry +shouting of many voices, not in the piazza before the hotel, but at +some little distance; it was impossible to distinguish any meaning +in the tumultuous cries. This went on for a long time, swelling at +moments into a roar of frenzied rage, then sinking to an uneven +growl, broken by spasmodic yells. On asking what it meant, I was +told that a crowd of poor folk had gathered before the Municipio to +demonstrate against an oppressive tax called the _fuocatico_. This +is simply hearth-money, an impost on each fireplace where food is +cooked; the same tax which made trouble in old England, and was +happily got rid of long ago. But the hungry plebs of Cotrone lacked +vigour for any effective self-assertion; they merely exhausted +themselves with shouting "_Abbass' 'o sindaco_!" and dispersed to +the hearths which paid for an all but imaginary service. I wondered +whether the Sindaco and his portly friend sat in their comfortable +room whilst the roaring went on; whether they smoked their cigars as +usual, and continued to chat at their ease. Very likely. The +privileged classes in Italy are slow to move, and may well believe +in the boundless endurance of those below them. Some day, no doubt, +they will have a disagreeable surprise. When Lombardy begins in +earnest to shout "_Abbasso_!" it will be an uneasy moment for the +heavy syndics of Calabria. + + + + + + +CHAPTER X + +CHILDREN OF THE SOIL + + + + + +Any northern person who passed a day or two at the _Concordia_ as an +ordinary traveller would carry away a strong impression. The people +of the house would seem to him little short of savages, filthy in +person and in habits, utterly uncouth in their demeanour, perpetual +wranglers and railers, lacking every qualification for the duties +they pretended to discharge. In England their mere appearance would +revolt decent folk. With my better opportunity of judging them, I +overcame the first natural antipathy; I saw their good side, and +learnt to forgive the faults natural to a state of frank barbarism. +It took two or three days before their rough and ready behaviour +softened to a really human friendliness, but this came about at +last, and when it was known that I should not give much more +trouble, that I needed only a little care in the matter of diet, +goodwill did its best to aid hopeless incapacity. + +Whilst my fever was high, little groups of people often came into +the room, to stand and stare at me, exchanging, in a low voice, +remarks which they supposed I did not hear, or, hearing, could not +understand; as a matter of fact, their dialect was now intelligible +enough to me, and I knew that they discussed my chances of +surviving. Their natures were not sanguine. A result, doubtless, of +the unhealthy climate, every one at Cotrone seemed in a more or less +gloomy state of mind. The hostess went about uttering ceaseless +moans and groans; when she was in my room I heard her constantly +sighing, "Ah, Signore! Ah, Cristo!"--exclamations which, perhaps, +had some reference to my illness, but which did not cease when I +recovered. Whether she had any private reason for depression I could +not learn; I fancy not; it was only the whimpering and querulous +habit due to low health. A female servant, who occasionally brought +me food (I found that she also cooked it), bore herself in much the +same way. This domestic was the most primitive figure of the +household. Picture a woman of middle age, wrapped at all times in +dirty rags (not to be called clothing), obese, grimy, with +dishevelled black hair, and hands so scarred, so deformed by labour +and neglect, as to be scarcely human. She had the darkest and +fiercest eyes I ever saw. Between her and her mistress went on an +unceasing quarrel: they quarrelled in my room, in the corridor, and, +as I knew by their shrill voices, in places remote; yet I am sure +they did not dislike each other, and probably neither of them ever +thought of parting. Unexpectedly, one evening, this woman entered, +stood by the bedside, and began to talk with such fierce energy, +with such flashing of her black eyes, and such distortion of her +features, that I could only suppose that she was attacking me for +the trouble I caused her. A minute or two passed before I could even +hit the drift of her furious speech; she was always the most +difficult of the natives to understand, and in rage she became quite +unintelligible. Little by little, by dint of questioning, I got at +what she meant. There had been _guai_, worse than usual; the +mistress had reviled her unendurably for some fault or other, and +was it not hard that she should be used like this after having +_tanto, tanto lavorato_! In fact, she was appealing for my sympathy, +not abusing me at all. When she went on to say that she was alone in +the world, that all her kith and kin were _freddi morti_ (stone +dead), a pathos in her aspect and her words took hold upon me; it +was much as if some heavy-laden beast of burden had suddenly found +tongue, and protested in the rude beginnings of articulate utterance +against its hard lot. If only one could have learnt, in intimate +detail, the life of this domestic serf! How interesting, and how +sordidly picturesque against the background of romantic landscape, +of scenic history! I looked long into her sallow, wrinkled face, +trying to imagine the thoughts that ruled its expression. In some +measure my efforts at kindly speech succeeded, and her "Ah, Cristo!" +as she turned to go away, was not without a touch of solace. + +Another time my hostess fell foul of the waiter, because he had +brought me goat's milk which was very sour. There ensued the most +comical scene. In an access of fury the stout woman raged and +stormed; the waiter, a lank young fellow, with a simple, +good-natured face, after trying to explain that he had committed the +fault by inadvertence, suddenly raised his hand, like one about to +exhort a congregation, and exclaimed in a tone of injured +remonstrance, "_Un po' di calma! Un po' di calma!_" My explosion of +laughter at this inimitable utterance put an end to the strife. The +youth laughed with me; his mistress bustled him out of the room, and +then began to inform me that he was weak in his head. Ah! she +exclaimed, her life with these people! what it cost her to keep them +in anything like order! When she retired, I heard her expectorating +violently in the corridor; a habit with every inmate of this genial +hostelry. + +When the worst of my fever had subsided, the difficulty was to +obtain any nourishment suitable to my state. The good doctor, who +had suggested beefsteak and Marsala when I was incapable of taking +anything at all, ruled me severely in the matter of diet now that I +really began to feel hungry. I hope I may never again be obliged to +drink goat's milk; in these days it became so unutterably loathsome +to me that I had, at length, to give it up altogether, and I cannot +think of it now without a qualm. The broth offered me was infamous, +mere coloured water beneath half an inch of floating grease. Once +there was a promise of a fowl, and I looked forward to it eagerly; +but, alas! this miserable bird had undergone a process of seething +for the extraction of soup. I would have defied anyone to +distinguish between the substance remaining and two or three old kid +gloves boiled into a lump. With a pleased air, the hostess one day +suggested a pigeon, a roasted pigeon, and I welcomed the idea +joyously. Indeed, the appearance of the dish, when it was borne in, +had nothing to discourage my appetite--the odour was savoury; I +prepared myself for a treat. Out of pure kindness, for she saw me +tremble in my weakness, the good woman offered her aid in the +carving; she took hold of the bird by the two legs, rent it asunder, +tore off the wings in the same way, and then, with a smile of +satisfaction, wiped her hands upon her skirt. If her hands had known +water (to say nothing of soap) during the past twelve months I am +much mistaken. It was a pity, for I found that my teeth could just +masticate a portion of the flesh which hunger compelled me to +assail. + +Of course I suffered much from thirst, and Dr. Sculco startled me +one day by asking if I liked _tea_. Tea? Was it really procurable? +The Doctor assured me that it could be supplied by the chemist; +though, considering how rarely the exotic was demanded, it might +have lost something of its finer flavour whilst stored at the +pharmacy. An order was despatched. Presently the waiter brought me a +very small paper packet, such as might have contained a couple of +Seidlitz powders; on opening it I discovered something black and +triturated, a crumbling substance rather like ground charcoal. I +smelt it, but there was no perceptible odour; I put a little of it +to my tongue, but the effect was merely that of dust. Proceeding to +treat it as if it were veritable tea, I succeeded in imparting a +yellowish tinge to the hot water, and, so thirsty was I, this +beverage tempted me to a long draught. There followed no ill result +that I know of, but the paper packet lay thenceforth untouched, and, +on leaving, I made a present of it to my landlady. + +To complete the domestic group, I must make mention of the +"chambermaid." This was a lively little fellow of about twelve years +old, son of the landlady, who gave me much amusement. I don't know +whether he performed chambermaid duty in all the rooms; probably the +fierce-eyed cook did the heavier work elsewhere, but upon me his +attendance was constant. At an uncertain hour of the evening he +entered (of course, without knocking), doffed his cap in salutation, +and began by asking how I found myself. The question could not have +been more deliberately and thoughtfully put by the Doctor himself. +When I replied that I was better, the little man expressed his +satisfaction, and went on to make a few remarks about the pessimo +_tempo_. Finally, with a gesture of politeness, he inquired whether +I would permit him "_di fare un po' di pulizia_"--to clean up a +little, and this he proceeded to do with much briskness. Excepting +the good Sculco, my chambermaid was altogether the most civilized +person I met at Cotrone. He had a singular amiability of nature, and +his boyish spirits were not yet subdued by the pestilent climate. If +I thanked him for anything, he took off his cap, bowed with comical +dignity, and answered "_Grazie a voi, Signore_." Of course these +people never used the third person feminine of polite Italian. Dr. +Sculco did so, for I had begun by addressing him in that manner, but +plainly it was not familiar to his lips. At the same time there +prevailed certain forms of civility, which seemed a trifle +excessive. For instance, when the Doctor entered my room, and I gave +him "_Buon giorno_," he was wont to reply, "_Troppo gentile_!"-- +too kind of you! + +My newspaper boy came regularly for a few days, always complaining +of feverish symptoms, then ceased to appear. I made inquiry: he was +down with illness, and as no one took his place I suppose the +regular distribution of newspapers in Cotrone was suspended. When +the poor fellow again showed himself, he had a sorry visage; he sat +down by my bedside (rain dripping from his hat, and mud, very thick, +upon his boots) to give an account of his sufferings. I pictured the +sort of retreat in which he had lain during those miserable hours. +My own chamber contained merely the barest necessaries, and, as the +gentleman of Cosenza would have said, "left something to be desired" +in point of cleanliness. Conceive the places into which Cotrone's +poorest have to crawl when they are stricken with disease. I admit, +however, that the thought was worse to me at that moment than it is +now. After all, the native of Cotrone has advantages over the native +of a city slum; and it is better to die in a hovel by the Ionian Sea +than in a cellar at Shoreditch. + +The position of my room, which looked upon the piazza, enabled me to +hear a great deal of what went on in the town. The life of Cotrone +began about three in the morning; at that hour I heard the first +voices, upon which there soon followed the bleating of goats and the +tinkling of ox-bells. No doubt the greater part of the poor people +were in bed by eight o'clock every evening; only those who had +dealings in the outer world were stirring when the _diligenza_ +arrived about ten, and I suspect that some of these snatched a nap +before that late hour. Throughout the day there sounded from the +piazza a ceaseless clamour of voices, such a noise as in England +would only rise from some excited crowd on a rare occasion; it was +increased by reverberations from the colonnade which runs all round +in front of the shops. When the north-east gale had passed over, +there ensued a few days of sullen calm, permitting the people to +lead their ordinary life in open air. I grew to recognize certain +voices, those of men who seemingly had nothing to do but to talk all +day long. Only the sound reached me; I wish I could have gathered +the sense of these interminable harangues and dialogues. In every +country and every age those talk most who have least to say that is +worth saying. These tonguesters of Cotrone had their predecessors in +the public place of Croton, who began to gossip before dawn, and +gabbled unceasingly till after nightfall; with their voices must +often have mingled the bleating of goats or the lowing of oxen, just +as I heard the sounds to-day. + +One day came a street organ, accompanied by singing, and how glad I +was! The first note of music, this, that I had heard at Cotrone. The +instrument played only two or three airs, and one of them became a +great favourite with the populace; very soon, numerous voices joined +with that of the singer, and all this and the following day the +melody sounded, near or far. It had the true characteristics of +southern song; rising tremolos, and cadences that swept upon a wail +of passion; high falsetto notes, and deep tum-tum of infinite +melancholy. Scorned by the musician, yet how expressive of a +people's temper, how suggestive of its history! At the moment when +this strain broke upon my ear, I was thinking ill of Cotrone and its +inhabitants; in the first pause of the music I reproached myself +bitterly for narrowness and ingratitude. All the faults of the +Italian people are whelmed in forgiveness as soon as their music +sounds under the Italian sky. One remembers all they have suffered, +all they have achieved in spite of wrong. Brute races have flung +themselves, one after another, upon this sweet and glorious land; +conquest and slavery, from age to age, have been the people's lot. +Tread where one will, the soil has been drenched with blood. An +immemorial woe sounds even through the lilting notes of Italian +gaiety. It is a country wearied and regretful, looking ever backward +to the things of old; trivial in its latter life, and unable to hope +sincerely for the future. Moved by these voices singing over the +dust of Croton, I asked pardon for all my foolish irritation, my +impertinent fault-finding. Why had I come hither, if it was not that +I loved land and people? And had I not richly known the recompense +of my love? + +Legitimately enough one may condemn the rulers of Italy, those who +take upon themselves to shape her political life, and recklessly +load her with burdens insupportable. But among the simple on Italian +soil a wandering stranger has no right to nurse national +superiorities, to indulge a contemptuous impatience. It is the touch +of tourist vulgarity. Listen to a Calabrian peasant singing as he +follows his oxen along the furrow, or as he shakes the branches of +his olive tree. That wailing voice amid the ancient silence, that +long lament solacing ill-rewarded toil, comes from the heart of +Italy herself, and wakes the memory of mankind. + + + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE MOUNT OF REFUGE + + + + + +My thoughts turned continually to Catanzaro. It is a city set upon a +hill, overlooking the Gulf of Squillace, and I felt that if I could +but escape thither, I should regain health and strength. Here at +Cotrone the air oppressed and enfeebled me; the neighbourhood of the +sea brought no freshness. From time to time the fever seemed to be +overcome, but it lingered still in my blood and made my nights +restless. I must away to Catanzaro. + +When first I spoke of this purpose to Dr. Sculco, he indulged my +fancy, saying "Presently, presently!" A few days later, when I +seriously asked him how soon I might with safety travel, his face +expressed misgiving. Why go to Catanzaro? It was on the top of a +mountain, and had a most severe climate; the winds at this season +were terrible. In conscience he could not advise me to take such a +step: the results might be very grave after my lung trouble. Far +better wait at Cotrone for a week or two longer, and then go on to +Reggio, crossing perhaps to Sicily to complete my cure. The more Dr. +Sculco talked of windy altitudes, the stronger grew my desire for +such a change of climate, and the more intolerable seemed my state +of languishment. The weather was again stormy, but this time blew +sirocco; I felt its evil breath waste my muscles, clog my veins, set +all my nerves a-tremble. If I stayed here much longer, I should +never get away at all. A superstitious fear crept upon me; I +remembered that my last visit had been to the cemetery. + +One thing was certain: I should never see the column of Hera's +temple. I made my lament on this subject to Dr. Sculco, and he did +his best to describe to me the scenery of the Cape. Certain white +spots which I had discovered at the end of the promontory were +little villas, occupied in summer by the well-to-do citizens of +Cotrone; the Doctor himself owned one, which had belonged to his +father before him. Some of the earliest memories of his boyhood were +connected with the Cape: when he had lessons to learn by heart, he +often used to recite them walking round and round the great column. +In the garden of his villa he at times amused himself with digging, +and a very few turns of the spade sufficed to throw out some relic +of antiquity. Certain Americans, he said, obtained permission not +long ago from the proprietor of the ground on which the temple stood +to make serious excavations, but as soon as the Italians heard of +it, they claimed the site as a national monument; the work was +forbidden, and the soil had to be returned to its former state. Hard +by the ancient sanctuary is a chapel, consecrated to the Madonna del +Capo; thither the people of Cotrone make pilgrimages, and hold upon +the Cape a rude festival, which often ends in orgiastic riot. + +All the surface of the promontory is bare; not a tree, not a bush, +save for a little wooded hollow called Fossa del Lupo--the wolf's +den. There, says legend, armed folk of Cotrone used to lie in wait +to attack the corsairs who occasionally landed for water. + +When I led him to talk of Cotrone and its people, the Doctor could +but confirm my observations. He contrasted the present with the +past; this fever-stricken and waterless village with the great city +which was called the healthiest in the world. In his opinion the +physical change had resulted from the destruction of forests, which +brought with it a diminution of the rainfall. "At Cotrone," he said, +"we have practically no rain. A shower now and then, but never a +wholesome downpour." He had no doubt that, in ancient times, all the +hills of the coast were wooded, as Sila still is, and all the rivers +abundantly supplied with water. To-day there was scarce a healthy +man in Cotrone: no one had strength to resist a serious illness. +This state of things he took very philosophically; I noticed once +more the frankly mediaeval spirit in which he regarded the populace. +Talking on, he interested me by enlarging upon the difference +between southern Italians and those of the north. Beyond Rome a +Calabrian never cared to go; he found himself in a foreign country, +where his tongue betrayed him, and where his manners were too +noticeably at variance with those prevailing. Italian unity, I am +sure, meant little to the good Doctor, and appealed but coldly to +his imagination. + +I declared to him at length that I could endure no longer this +dreary life of the sick-room; I must get into the open air, and, if +no harm came of the experiment, I should leave for Catanzaro. "I +cannot prevent you," was the Doctor's reply, "but I am obliged to +point out that you act on your own responsibility. It is +_pericoloso_, it is _pericolosissimo_! The terrible climate of the +mountains!" However, I won his permission to leave the house, and +acted upon it that same afternoon. Shaking and palpitating, I slowly +descended the stairs to the colonnade; then, with a step like that +of an old, old man, tottered across the piazza, my object being to +reach the chemist's shop, where I wished to pay for the drugs that I +had had and for the tea. When I entered, sweat was streaming from my +forehead; I dropped into a chair, and for a minute or two could do +nothing but recover nerve and breath. Never in my life had I +suffered such a wretched sense of feebleness. The pharmacist looked +at me with gravely compassionate eyes; when I told him I was the +Englishman who had been ill, and that I wanted to leave to-morrow +for Catanzaro, his compassion indulged itself more freely, and I +could see quite well that he thought my plan of travel visionary. +True, he said, the climate of Cotrone was trying to a stranger. He +understood my desire to get away; but--Catanzaro! Was I aware that +at Catanzaro I should suddenly find myself in a season of most +rigorous winter? And the winds! One needed to be very strong even to +stand on one's feet at Catanzaro. For all this I returned thanks, +and, having paid my bill, tottered back to the _Concordia_. It +seemed to me more than doubtful whether I should start on the +morrow. + +That evening I tried to dine. Don Ferdinando entered as usual, and +sat mute through his unchanging meal; the grumbler grumbled and ate, +as perchance he does to this day. I forced myself to believe that +the food had a savour for me, and that the wine did not taste of +drugs. As I sat over my pretended meal, I heard the sirocco moaning +without, and at times a splash of rain against the window. Near me, +two military men were exchanging severe comments on Calabria and its +people. "_Che paese_!"--"What a country!" exclaimed one of them +finally in disgust. Of course they came from the north, and I +thought that their conversation was not likely to knit closer the +bond between the extremes of Italy. + +To my delight I looked forth next morning on a sunny and calm sky, +such as I had not seen during all my stay at Cotrone. I felt better, +and decided to leave for Catanzaro by train in the early afternoon. +Shaking still, but heartened by the sunshine, I took a short walk, +and looked for the last time at the Lacinian promontory. On my way +back I passed a little building from which sounded an astonishing +noise, a confused babble of shrill voices, blending now and then +with a deep stentorian shout. It was the communal school--not +during playtime, or in a state of revolt, but evidently engaged as +usual upon its studies. The school-house was small, but the volume +of clamour that issued from it would have done credit to two or +three hundred children in unrestrained uproariousness. Curiosity +held me listening for ten minutes; the tumult underwent no change of +character, nor suffered the least abatement; the mature voice +occasionally heard above it struck a cheery note, by no means one of +impatience or stern command. Had I been physically capable of any +effort, I should have tried to view that educational scene. The +incident did me good, and I went on in a happier humour. + +Which was not perturbed by something that fell under my eye soon +afterwards. At a shop door hung certain printed cards, bearing a +notice that "wood hay-makers," "wood binders," and "wood mowers" +were "sold here." Not in Italian this, but in plain, blunt English; +and to each announcement was added the name of an English +manufacturing firm, with an agency at Naples. I have often heard the +remark that Englishmen of business are at a disadvantage in their +export trade because they pay no heed to the special requirements of +foreign countries; but such a delightful illustration of their +ineptitude had never come under my notice. Doubtless these alluring +advertisements are widely scattered through agricultural Calabria. +Who knows? they my serve as an introduction to the study of the +English tongue. + +Not without cordiality was my leave-taking. The hostess confided to +me that, in the first day of my illness, she had felt sure I should +die. Everybody had thought so, she added gaily; even Dr. Sculco had +shaken his head and shrugged his shoulders; much better, was it not, +to be paying my bill? Bill more moderate, under the circumstances, +no man ever discharged; Calabrian honesty came well out of the +transaction. So I tumbled once more into the dirty, ramshackle +_diligenza_, passed along the dusty road between the barred and +padlocked warehouses, and arrived in good time at the station. No +sooner had I set foot on the platform than I felt an immense relief. +Even here, it seemed to me, the air was fresher. I lifted my eyes to +the hills and seemed to feel the breezes of Catanzaro. + +The train was made up at Cotrone, and no undue haste appeared in our +departure. When we were already twenty minutes late, there stepped +into the carriage where I was sitting a good-humoured railway +official, who smiled and greeted me. I supposed he wanted my ticket, +but nothing of the kind. After looking all round the compartment +with an air of disinterested curiosity, he heaved a sigh and +remarked pleasantly to me, "_Non manca niente_"--"Nothing is +amiss." Five minutes more and we steamed away. + +The railway ascended a long valley, that of the Esaro, where along +the deep watercourse trickled a scarce perceptible stream. On either +hand were hills of pleasant outline, tilled on the lower slopes, and +often set with olives. Here and there came a grassy slope, where +shepherds or goatherds idled amid their flocks. Above the ascent a +long tunnel, after which the line falls again towards the sea. The +landscape took a nobler beauty; mountains spread before us, tenderly +coloured by the autumn sun. We crossed two or three rivers--rivers +of flowing water, their banks overhung with dense green jungle. The +sea was azure, and looked very calm, but white waves broke loudly +upon the strand, last murmur of the storm which had raged and +renewed itself for nearly a fortnight. + +At one of the wayside stations entered a traveller whom I could not +but regard with astonishment. He was a man at once plump and +muscular, his sturdy limbs well exhibited in a shooting costume. On +his face glowed the richest hue of health; his eyes glistened +merrily. With him he carried a basket, which, as soon as he was +settled, gave forth an abundant meal. The gusto of his eating, the +satisfaction with which he eyed his glasses of red wine, excited my +appetite. But who _was_ he? Not, I could see, a tourist; yet how +account for this health and vigour in a native of the district? I +had not seen such a man since I set out upon my travels; the +contrast he made with the figures of late familiar to me was so +startling that I had much ado to avoid continuously gazing at him. +His proximity did me good; the man radiated health. + +When next the train stopped he exchanged words with some one on the +platform, and I heard that he was going to Catanzaro. At once I +understood. This jovial, ruddy-cheeked personage was a man of the +hills. At Catanzaro I should see others like him; perhaps he fairly +represented its inhabitants. If so, I had reason for my suspicion +that poor fever-stricken Cotrone regarded with a sort of jealousy +the breezy health of Catanzaro, which at the same time is a much +more prosperous place. Later, I found that there did exist some +acerbity of mutual criticism between the two towns, reminding one of +civic rivalry among the Greeks. Catanzaro spoke with contempt of +Cotrone. Happily I made no medical acquaintance in the hill town; +but I should have liked to discuss with one of these gentlemen the +view of their climate held by Dr. Sculco. + +In the ages that followed upon the fall of Rome, perpetual danger +drove the sea-coast population of Calabria inland and to the +heights. Our own day beholds a counter movement; the shore line of +railway will create new towns on the old deserted sites. Such a +settlement is the Marina of Catanzaro, a little port at the mouth of +a wide valley, along which runs a line to Catanzaro itself, or +rather to the foot of the great hill on which the town is situated. +The sun was setting when I alighted at the Marina, and as I waited +for the branch train my eyes feasted upon a glory of colour which +made me forget aching weariness. All around lay orchards of orange +trees, the finest I had ever seen, and over their solid masses of +dark foliage, thick hung with ripening fruit, poured the splendour +of the western sky. It was a picture unsurpassable in richness of +tone; the dense leafage of deepest, warmest green glowed and +flashed, its magnificence heightened by the blaze of the countless +golden spheres adorning it. Beyond, the magic sea, purple and +crimson as the sun descended upon the vanishing horizon. Eastward, +above the slopes of Sila, stood a moon almost at its full, the +yellow of an autumn leaf, on a sky soft-flushed with rose. + +In my geography it is written that between Catanzaro and the sea lie +the gardens of the Hesperides. + + + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +CATANZARO + + + + + +For half an hour the train slowly ascends. The carriages are of +special construction, light and many-windowed, so that one has good +views of the landscape. Very beautiful was this long, broad, +climbing valley, everywhere richly wooded; oranges and olives, carob +and lentisk and myrtle, interspersed with cactus (its fruit, the +prickly fig, all gathered) and with the sword-like agave. Glow of +sunset lingered upon the hills: in the green hollow a golden +twilight faded to dusk. The valley narrowed; it became a gorge +between dark slopes which closed together and seemed to bar advance. +Here the train stopped, and all the passengers (some half-dozen) +alighted. + +The sky was still clear enough to show the broad features of the +scene before me. I looked up to a mountain side, so steep that +towards the summit it appeared precipitous, and there upon the +height, dimly illumined with a last reflex of after-glow, my eyes +distinguished something which might be the outline of walls and +houses. This, I knew, was the situation of Catanzaro, but one could +not easily imagine by what sort of approach the city would be +gained; in the thickening twilight, no trace of a road was +discernible, and the flanks of the mountain, a ravine yawning on +either hand, looked even more abrupt than the ascent immediately +before me. + +There, however, stood the _diligenza_ which was somehow to convey me +to Catanzaro; I watched its loading with luggage-merchandise and +mail-bags--whilst the exquisite evening melted into night. When I +had thus been occupied for a few minutes, my look once more turned +to the mountain, where a surprise awaited me: the summit was now +encircled with little points of radiance, as though a starry diadem +had fallen upon it from the sky. "_Pronti_!" cried our driver. I +climbed to my seat, and we began our journey towards the crowning +lights. + +By help of long loops the road ascended at a tolerably easy angle; +the horse-bells tinkled, the driver shouted encouragement to his +beasts, and within the vehicle went on a lively gossiping, with much +laughter. Meanwhile the great moon had risen high enough to illumine +the valley below us; silvery grey and green, the lovely hollow +seemed of immeasurable length, and beyond it one imagined, rather +than discerned, a glimmer of the sea. By the wayside I now and then +caught sight of a huge cactus, trailing its heavy knotted length +upon the face of a rock; and at times we brushed beneath overhanging +branches of some tree that could not be distinguished. All the way +up we seemed to skirt a sheer precipice, which at moments was +alarming in its gloomy depth. Deeper and deeper below shone the +lights of the railway station and of the few houses about it; it +seemed as though a false step would drop us down into their midst. + +The fatigue of the day's journey passed away during this ascent, +which lasted nearly an hour; when, after a drive through dark but +wide streets, I was set down before the hotel, I felt that I had +shaken off the last traces of my illness. A keen appetite sent me as +soon as possible in search of the dining-room, where I ate with +extreme gusto; everything seemed excellent after the sorry table of +the _Concordia_. I poured my wine with a free hand, rejoicing to +find it was wine once more, and not (at all events to my palate) a +concoction of drugs. The albergo was decent and well found; a +cheerful prosperity declared itself in all I had yet seen. After +dinner I stepped out on to the balcony of my room to view the city's +main street; but there was very scant illumination, and the +moonlight only showed me high houses of modern build. Few people +passed, and never a vehicle; the shops were all closed. I needed no +invitation to sleep, but this shadowed stillness, and the fresh +mountain air, happily lulled my thoughts. Even the subject of +earthquakes proved soporific. + +Impossible to find oneself at Catanzaro without thinking of +earthquakes; I wonder that the good people of Coltrone did not +include this among deterrents whereby they sought to prejudice me +against the mountain town. Over and over again Catanzaro has been +shaken to its foundations. The worst calamity recorded was towards +the end of the eighteenth century, when scarce a house remained +standing, and many thousands of the people perished. This explains a +peculiarity in the aspect of the place, noticeable as soon as one +begins to walk about; it is like a town either half built or half +destroyed, one knows not which; everywhere one comes upon ragged +walls, tottering houses, yet there is no appearance of antiquity. +One ancient building, a castle built by Robert Guiscard when he +captured Catanzaro in the eleventh century, remained until of late +years, its Norman solidity defying earthquakes; but this has been +pulled down, deliberately got rid of for the sake of widening a +road. Lament over such a proceeding would be idle enough; Catanzaro +is the one progressive town of Calabria, and has learnt too +thoroughly the spirit of the time to suffer a blocking of its +highway by middle-age obstructions. + +If a Hellenic or Roman city occupied this breezy summit, it has left +no name, and no relics of the old civilization have been discovered +here. Catanzaro was founded in the tenth century, at the same time +that Taranto was rebuilt after the Saracen destruction; an epoch of +revival for Southern Italy under the vigorous Byzantine rule of +Nicephorus Phocas. From my point of view, the interest of the place +suffered because I could attach to it no classic memory. Robert +Guiscard, to be sure, is a figure picturesque enough, and might give +play to the imagination, but I care little for him after all; he +does not belong to my world. I had to see Catanzaro merely as an +Italian town amid wonderful surroundings. The natural beauty of the +spot amply sufficed to me during the days I spent there, and +gratitude for health recovered gave me a kindly feeling to all its +inhabitants. + +Daylight brought no disillusion as regards natural features. I made +the circuit of the little town, and found that it everywhere +overlooks a steep, often a sheer, descent, save at one point, where +an isthmus unites it to the mountains that rise behind. In places +the bounding wall runs on the very edge of a precipice, and many a +crazy house, overhanging, seems ready to topple into the abyss. The +views are magnificent, whether one looks down the valley to the +leafy shore, or, in an opposite direction, up to the grand heights +which, at this narrowest point of Calabria, separate the Ionian from +the Tyrrhene Sea. I could now survey the ravines which, in twilight, +had dimly shown themselves on either side of the mountain; they are +deep and narrow, craggy, wild, bare. Each, when the snows are +melting, becomes the bed of a furious torrent; the watercourses +uniting below to form the river of the valley. At this season there +was a mere trickling of water over a dry brown waste. Where the +abruptness of the descent does not render it impossible, olives have +been planted on the mountain sides; the cactus clings everywhere, +making picturesque many a wall and hovel, luxuriating on the hard, +dry soil; fig trees and vines occupy more favoured spots, and the +gardens of the better houses are often graced by a noble palm. + +After my morning's walk I sought the residence of Signor Pasquale +Cricelli, to whom I carried a note of introduction. This gentleman +holds the position of English Vice-Consul at Catanzaro, but it is +seldom that he has the opportunity of conversing with English +travellers; the courtesy and kindness with which he received me have +a great part in my pleasant memory of the mountain town. Signor +Cricelli took me to see many interesting things, and brought me into +touch with the every-day life of Catanzaro. I knew from Lenormant's +book that the town had a singular reputation for hospitality. The +French archaeologist tells amusing stories in illustration of this +characteristic. Once, when he had taken casual refreshment at a +restaurant, a gentleman sitting at another table came forward and, +with grave politeness, begged permission to pay for what Lenormant +had consumed. This was a trifle in comparison with what happened +when the traveller, desirous of making some return for much +kindness, entertained certain of his acquaintances at dinner, the +meal, naturally, as good a one as his hotel could provide. The +festival went off joyously, but, to Lenormant's surprise, nothing +was charged for it in his bill. On making inquiry he learnt that the +cost of the entertainment had already been discharged by one of his +guests! Well, that took place years ago, long before a railway had +been thought of in the valley of the Corace; such heroic virtues ill +consist with the life of to-day. Nevertheless, Don Pasquale (Signor +Cricelli's name when greeted by his fellow-citizens) several times +reminded me, without knowing it, of what I had read. For instance, +we entered a shop which he thought might interest me; the salesman +during our talk unobtrusively made up a little parcel of goods, and +asked, at length, whether I would take this with me or have it sent +to the hotel. That point I easily decided, but by no persistence +could I succeed in paying for the things. Smiling behind his +counter, the shopkeeper declined to name a price; Don Pasquale +declared that a payment under such circumstances was a thing unknown +in Catanzaro, and I saw that to say anything more would be to run +the risk of offending him. The same day he invited me to dinner, and +explained that we must needs dine at the hotel where I was staying, +this being the best place of entertainment in the town. I found that +my friend had a second reason for the choice; he wished to ascertain +whether I was comfortably lodged, and as a result of his friendly +offices, various little changes came about. Once more I make my +grateful acknowledgements to the excellent Don Pasquale. + +Speaking of shops, I must describe in detail the wonderful pharmacy. +Signor Cricelli held it among the sights of Catanzaro; this +chemist's in the main street was one of the first places to which he +guided me. And, indeed, the interior came as a surprise. Imagine a +spacious shop, well proportioned, perfectly contrived, and +throughout fitted with woodwork copies from the best examples of old +Italian carving. Seeking pill or potion, one finds oneself in a +museum of art, where it would be easy to spend an hour in studying +the counter, the shelves, the ceiling. The chemists (two brothers, +if I remember rightly) pointed out to me with legitimate pride all +that they had done for the beautifying of their place of business; I +shall not easily forget the glowing countenance, the moved voice, +which betrayed their feelings as they led me hither and thither; for +them and their enterprise I felt a hearty respect. When we had +surveyed everything within doors I was asked to look at the _mostra_ +--the sign that hung over the entrance; a sort of griffin in +wrought iron, this, too, copied from an old masterpiece, and +reminding one of the fine ironwork which adorns the streets of +Siena. Don Pasquale could not be satisfied until I had privately +assured him of my genuine admiration. Was it, he asked, at all like +a chemist's shop in London? My reply certainly gratified him, but I +am afraid it did not increase his desire to visit England. + +Whilst I was at the chemist's, there entered a number of peasants, +whose appearance was so striking that I sought information about +them. Don Pasquale called them "_Greci_"; they came from a mountain +village where the dialect of the people is still a corrupt Greek. +One would like to imagine that their origin dates back to the early +Hellenic days, but it is assuredly much later. These villages may be +a relic of the Byzantine conquest in the sixth century, when +Southern Italy was, to a great extent, re peopled from the Eastern +Empire, though another theory suggests that they were formed by +immigrants from Greece at the time of the Turkish invasion. Each of +the women had a baby hanging at her back, together with +miscellaneous goods which she had purchased in the town: though so +heavily burdened, they walked erect, and with the free step of +mountaineers. + +I could not have had a better opportunity than was afforded me on +this day of observing the peasantry of the Catanzaro district. It +was the feast of the Immaculate Conception, and from all around the +country-folk thronged in pilgrimage to the church of the Immaculate; +since earliest morning I had heard the note of bagpipes, which +continued to sound before the street shrines all day long. Don +Pasquale assured me that the festival had an importance in this +region scarcely less than that of Christmas. At the hour of high +mass I entered the sanctuary whither all were turning their steps; +it was not easy to make a way beyond the portico, but when I had +slowly pressed forward through the dense crowd, I found that the +musical part of the service was being performed by a lively +string-band, up in a gallery. For seats there was no room; a +standing multitude filled the whole church before the altar, and the +sound of gossiping voices at moments all but overcame that of the +music. I know not at what point of the worship I chanced to be +present; heat and intolerable odours soon drove me forth again, but +I retained an impression of jollity, rather than of reverence. Those +screaming and twanging instruments sounded much like an invitation +to the dance, and all the faces about me were radiant with +cheerfulness. Just such a throng, of course, attended upon the +festival of god or goddess ere the old religion was transformed. +Most of the Christian anniversaries have their origin in heathendom; +the names have changed, but amid the unlettered worshippers there is +little change of spirit; a tradition older than they can conceive +rules their piety, and gives it whatever significance it may have in +their simple lives. + +Many came from a great distance; at the entrance to the town were +tethered innumerable mules and asses, awaiting the hour of return. +Modern Catanzaro, which long ago lost its proper costume, was +enlivened with brilliant colours; the country women, of course, +adorned themselves, and their garb was that which had so much +interested me when I first saw it in the public garden at Cosenza. +Brilliant blue and scarlet were the prevailing tones; a good deal of +fine embroidery caught the eye. In a few instances I noticed men +wearing the true Calabrian hat--peaked, brigandesque--which is +rapidly falling out of use. These people were, in general, +good-looking; frequently I observed a very handsome face, and +occasionally a countenance, male or female, of really heroic beauty. +Though crowds wandered through the streets, there sounded no tumult; +voices never rose above an ordinary pitch of conversation; the +general bearing was dignified, and tended to gravity. One woman in +particular held my attention, not because of any exceptional beauty, +for, indeed, she had a hard, stern face, but owing to her demeanour. +Unlike most of the peasant folk, she was bent on business; carrying +upon her head a heavy pile of some ornamented fabric--shawls or +something of the kind--she entered shops, and paused at house +doors, in the endeavour to find purchasers. I watched her for a long +time, hoping she might make a sale, but ever she was unsuccessful; +for all that she bore herself with a dignity not easily surpassed. +Each offer of her wares was made as if she conferred a graceful +favour, and after each rejection she withdrew unabashed, outwardly +unperturbed, seeming to take stately leave. Only her persistence +showed how anxious she was to earn money; neither on her features +nor in her voice appeared the least sign of peddling solicitude. I +shall always remember that tall, hard-visaged woman, as she passed +with firm step and nobly balanced figure about the streets of +Catanzaro. To pity her would have been an insult. The glimpse I +caught of her laborious life revealed to me something worthy of +admiration; never had I seen a harassing form of discouragement so +silently and strongly borne. + + + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE BREEZY HEIGHT + + + + + +Catanzaro must be one of the healthiest spots in Southern Italy; +perhaps it has no rival in this respect among the towns south of +Rome. The furious winds, with which my acquaintances threatened me, +did not blow during my stay, but there was always more or less +breeze, and the kind of breeze that refreshes. I should like to +visit Catanzaro in the summer; probably one would have all the joy +of glorious sunshine without oppressive heat, and in the landscape +in those glowing days would be indescribably beautiful. + +I remember with delight the public garden at Cosenza, its noble view +over the valley of the Crati to the heights of Sila; that of +Catanzaro is in itself more striking, and the prospect it affords +has a sterner, grander note. Here you wander amid groups of +magnificent trees, an astonishingly rich and varied vegetation; and +from a skirting terrace you look down upon the precipitous gorge, +burnt into barenness save where a cactus clings to some jutting +rock. Here in summer-time would be freshness amid noontide heat, +with wondrous avenues of golden light breaking the dusk beneath the +boughs. I shall never see it; but the desire often comes to me under +northern skies, when I am weary of labour and seek in fancy a +paradise of idleness. + +In the public gardens is a little museum, noticeable mostly for a +fine collection of ancient coins. There are Greek pots, too, and +weapons, found at Tiriolo, a village high up on the mountain above +Catanzaro. As at Taranto, a stranger who cares for this kind of +thing can be sure of having the museum all to himself. On my first +visit Don Pasquale accompanied me, and through him I made the +acquaintance of the custodian. But I was not in the museum mood; +reviving health inclined me to the open air, and the life of to-day; +I saw these musty relics with only a vague eye. + +After living amid a malaria-stricken population, I rejoiced in the +healthy aspect of the mountain folk. Even a deformed beggar, who +dragged himself painfully along the pavement, had so ruddy a face +that it was hard to feel compassion for him. And the wayside +children--it was a pleasure to watch them at their games. Such +children in Italy do not, as a rule, seem happy; too often they look +ill, cheerless, burdened before their time; at Catanzaro they are as +robust and lively as heart could wish, and their voices ring +delightfully upon the ear. It is not only, I imagine, a result of +the fine air they breathe; no doubt they are exceptional among the +poor children of the south in getting enough to eat. The town has +certain industries, especially the manufacture of silk; one feels an +atmosphere of well-being; mendicancy is a rare thing. + +Fruits abounded, and were very cheap; if one purchased from a stall +the difficulty was to carry away the abundance offered for one's +smallest coin. Excellent oranges cost about a penny the half-dozen. +Any one who is fond of the prickly fig should go to Catanzaro. I +asked a man sitting with a basket of them at a street corner to give +me the worth of a soldo (a half-penny); he began to fill my pocket, +and when I cried that it was enough, that I could carry no more, he +held up one particularly fine fruit, smiled as only an Italian can, +and said, with admirable politeness, "_Questo per complimento_!" I +ought to have shaken hands with him. + +Even when I had grown accustomed to the place, its singular +appearance of incompleteness kept exciting my attention. I had never +seen a town so ragged at the edges. If there had recently been a +great conflagration and almost all the whole city were being +rebuilt, it would have looked much as it did at the time of my +visit. To enter the post-office one had to clamber over heaps of +stone and plaster, to stride over tumbled beams and jump across +great puddles, entering at last by shaky stairs a place which looked +like the waiting-room of an unfinished railway station. The style of +building is peculiar, and looks so temporary as to keep one +constantly in mind of the threatening earthquake. Most of the +edifices, large and small, public and private, are constructed of +rubble set in cement, with an occasional big, rough-squared stone to +give an appearance of solidity, and perhaps a few courses of bricks +in the old Roman style. If the building is of importance, this work +is hidden beneath stucco; otherwise it remains like the mere shell +of a house, and is disfigured over all its surface with great holes +left by the scaffolding. Religion supplies something of adornment; +above many portals is a rudely painted Virgin and Child, often, +plainly enough, the effort of a hand accustomed to any tool rather +than that of the artist. On the dwellings of the very poor a great +Cross is scrawled in whitewash. These rickety houses often exhibit +another feature more picturesque and, to the earthly imagination, +more consoling; on the balcony one sees a great gourd, some three +feet long, so placed that its yellow plumpness may ripen in sun and +air. It is a sign of plenty: the warm spot of colour against the +rough masonry does good to eye and heart. + +My hotel afforded me little amusement after the _Concordia_ at +Cotrone, yet it did not lack its characteristic features. I found, +for instance, in my bedroom a printed notice, making appeal in +remarkable terms to all who occupied the chamber. The proprietor-- +thus it ran--had learnt with extreme regret that certain +travellers who slept under his roof were in the habit of taking +their meals at other places of entertainment. This practice, he +desired it to be known, not only hurt his personal feelings-- +_tocca il suo morale_--but did harm to the reputation of his +establishment. Assuring all and sundry that he would do his utmost +to maintain a high standard of culinary excellence, the proprietor +ended by begging his honourable clients that they would bestow their +kind favours on the restaurant of the house--_signora pregare i +suoi respettabili clienti perche vogliano benignarsi il ristorante_; +and therewith signed himself--Coriolano Paparazzo. + +For my own part I was not tempted to such a breach of decorum; the +fare provided by Signor Paparazzo suited me well enough, and the +wine of the country was so good that it would have covered many +defects of cookery. Of my fellow-guests in the spacious dining-room +I can recall only two. They were military men of a certain age, +grizzled officers, who walked rather stiffly and seated themselves +with circumspection. Evidently old friends, they always dined at the +same time, entering one a few minutes after the other; but by some +freak of habit they took places at different tables, so that the +conversation which they kept up all through the meal had to be +carried on by an exchange of shouts. Nothing whatever prevented them +from being near each other; the room never contained more than half +a dozen persons; yet thus they sat, evening after evening, many +yards apart, straining their voices to be mutually audible. Me they +delighted; to the other guests, more familiar with them and their +talk, they must have been a serious nuisance. But I should have +liked to see the civilian who dared to manifest his disapproval of +these fine old warriors. + +They sat interminably, evidently having no idea how otherwise to +pass the evening. In the matter of public amusements Catanzaro is +not progressive; I only once saw an announcement of a theatrical +performance, and it did not smack of modern enterprise. On the +dining-room table one evening lay a little printed bill, which made +known that a dramatic company was then in the town. Their +entertainment consisted of two parts, the first entitled: "The Death +of Agolante and the Madness of Count Orlando"; the second: "A +Delightful Comedy, the Devil's Castle with Pulcinella as the +Timorous Soldier." In addition were promised "new duets and +Neapolitan songs." The theatre would comfortably seat three hundred +persons, and the performance would be given twice, at half-past +eighteen and half-past twenty-one o'clock. It was unpardonable in me +that I did not seek out the Teatro delle Varieta; I might easily +have been in my seat (with thirty, more likely than three hundred, +other spectators) by half-past twenty-one. But the night was +forbidding; a cold rain fell heavily. Moreover, just as I had +thought that it was perhaps worth while to run the risk of another +illness--one cannot see the Madness of Count Orlando every day-- +there came into the room a peddler laden with some fifty volumes of +fiction and a fine assortment of combs and shirt-studs. The books +tempted me; I looked them through. Most, of course, were +translations from the vulgarest French _feuilletonistes_; the +Italian reader of novels, whether in newspaper or volume, knows, as +a rule, nothing but this imported rubbish. However, a real Italian +work was discoverable, and, together with the unfriendly sky, it +kept me at home. I am sorry now, as for many another omission on my +wanderings, when lack of energy or a passing mood of dullness has +caused me to miss what would be so pleasant in the retrospect. + +I spent an hour one evening at the principal cafe, where a pianist +of great pretensions and small achievement made rather painful +music. Watching and listening to the company (all men, of course, +though the Oriental system regarding women is not so strict at +Catanzaro as elsewhere in the south), I could not but fall into a +comparison of this scene with any similar gathering of middle-class +English folk. The contrast was very greatly in favour of the +Italians. One has had the same thought a hundred times in the same +circumstances, but it is worth dwelling upon. Among these +representative men, young and old, of Catanzaro, the tone of +conversation was incomparably better than that which would rule in a +cluster of English provincials met to enjoy their evening leisure. +They did, in fact, converse--a word rarely applicable to English +talk under such conditions; mere personal gossip was the exception; +they exchanged genuine thoughts, reasoned lucidly on the surface of +abstract subjects. I say on the surface; no remark that I heard +could be called original or striking; but the choice of topics and +the mode of viewing them was distinctly intellectual. Phrases often +occurred such as have no equivalent on the lips of everyday people +in our own country. For instance, a young fellow in no way +distinguished from his companions, fell to talking about a leading +townsman, and praised him for his _ingenio simpatico, his bella +intelligenza_, with exclamations of approval from those who +listened. No, it is not merely the difference between homely +Anglo-Saxon and a language of classic origin; there is a radical +distinction of thought. These people have an innate respect for +things of the mind, which is wholly lacking to a typical Englishman. +One need not dwell upon the point that their animation was supported +by a tiny cup of coffee or a glass of lemonade; this is a matter of +climate and racial constitution; but I noticed the entire absence of +a certain kind of jocoseness which is so naturally associated with +spirituous liquors; no talk could have been less offensive. From +many a bar-parlour in English country towns I have gone away heavy +with tedium and disgust; the cafe at Catanzaro seemed, in +comparison, a place of assembly for wits and philosophers. + +Meanwhile a season of rain had begun; heavy skies warned me that I +must not hope for a renewal of sunny idleness on this mountain top; +it would be well if intervals of cheerful weather lighted my further +course by the Ionian Sea. Reluctantly, I made ready to depart. + + + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +SQUILLACE + + + + + +In meditating my southern ramble I had lingered on the thought that +I should see Squillace. For Squillace (Virgil's "ship-wrecking +Scylaceum") was the ancestral home of Cassiodorus, and his retreat +when he became a monk; Cassiodorus, the delightful pedant, the +liberal statesman and patriot, who stands upon the far limit of his +old Roman world and bids a sad farewell to its glories. He had +niched himself in my imagination. Once when I was spending a silent +winter upon the shore of Devon, I had with me the two folio volumes +of his works, and patiently read the better part of them; it was +more fruitful than a study of all the modern historians who have +written about his time. I saw the man; caught many a glimpse of his +mind and heart, and names which had been to me but symbols in a +period of obscure history became things living and recognizable. + +I could have travelled from Catanzaro by railway to the sea-coast +station called Squillace, but the town itself is perched upon a +mountain some miles inland, and it was simpler to perform the whole +journey by road, a drive of four hours, which, if the weather +favoured me, would be thoroughly enjoyable. On my last evening Don +Pasquale gave a good account of the sky; he thought I might +hopefully set forth on the morrow, and, though I was to leave at +eight o'clock, promised to come and see me off. Very early I looked +forth, and the prospect seemed doubtful; I had half a mind to +postpone departure. But about seven came Don Pasquale's servant, +sent by his master to inquire whether I should start or not, and, +after asking the man's opinion, I decided to take courage. The sun +rose; I saw the streets of Catanzaro brighten in its pale gleams, +and the rack above interspaced with blue. + +Luckily my carriage-owner was a man of prudence; at the appointed +hour he sent a covered vehicle--not the open _carozzella_ in which +I should have cheerfully set forth had it depended upon myself. Don +Pasquale, too, though unwilling to perturb me, could not altogether +disguise his misgivings. At my last sight of him, he stood on the +pavement before the hotel gazing anxiously upwards. But the sun +still shone, and as we began the descent of the mountain-side I felt +annoyed at having to view the landscape through loopholes. + +Of a sudden--we were near the little station down in the valley-- +there arose a mighty roaring, and all the trees of the wayside bent +as if they would break. The sky blackened, the wind howled, and +presently, as I peered through the window for some hope that this +would only be a passing storm, rain beat violently upon my face. +Then the carriage stopped, and my driver, a lad of about seventeen, +jumped down to put something right in the horses' harness. + +"Is this going to last?" I shouted to him. + +"No, no, signore" he answered gaily. "It will be over in a minute or +two. _Ecco il sole_!" + +I beheld no sun, either then or at any moment during the rest of the +day, but the voice was so reassuring that I gladly gave ear to it. +On we drove, down the lovely vale of the Corace, through +orange-groves and pine-woods, laurels and myrtles, carobs and olive +trees, with the rain beating fiercely upon us, the wind swaying all +the leafage like billows on a stormy sea. At the Marina of Catanzaro +we turned southward on the coast road, pursued it for two or three +miles, then branched upon our inland way. The storm showed no sign +of coming to an end. Several times the carriage stopped, and the lad +got down to examine his horses--perhaps to sympathize with them; +he was such a drenched, battered, pitiable object that I reproached +myself for allowing him to pursue the journey. + +"_Brutto tempo_!" he screamed above the uproar, when I again spoke +to him; but in such a cheery tone that I did not think it worth +while to make any further remark. + +Through the driving rain, I studied as well as I could the features +of the country. On my left hand stretched a long fiat-topped +mountain, forming the southern slope of the valley we ascended; +steep, dark, and furrowed with innumerable torrent-beds, it frowned +upon a river that rushed along the ravine at its foot to pour into +the sea where the mountain broke as a rugged cliff. This was the +Mons Moscius of old time, which sheltered the monastery built by +Cassiodorus. The headlong, swollen flood, coloured like yellow clay, +held little resemblance to the picture I had made of that river +Pellena which murmurs so musically in the old writer's pages. Its +valley was heaped with great blocks of granite--a feature which +has interest for the geologist; it marks an abrupt change of system, +from the soft stone of Catanzaro (which ends the Apennine) to the +granitic mass of Aspromonte (the toe of Italy) which must have risen +above the waters long before the Apennines came into existence. The +wild weather emphasized a natural difference between this valley of +Squillace and that which rises towards Catanzaro; here is but scanty +vegetation, little more than thin orchards of olive, and the +landscape has a bare, harsh character. Is it changed so greatly +since the sixth century of our era? Or did its beauty lie in the +eyes of Cassiodorus, who throughout his long life of statesmanship +in the north never forgot this Bruttian home, and who sought peace +at last amid the scenes of his childhood? + +At windings of the way I frequently caught sight of Squillace +itself, high and far, its white houses dull-gleaming against the +lurid sky. The crag on which it stands is higher than that of +Catanzaro, but of softer ascent. As we approached I sought for signs +of a road that would lead us upward, but nothing of the sort could +be discerned; presently I became aware that we were turning into a +side valley, and, to all appearances, going quite away from the +town. The explanation was that the ascent lay on the further slope; +we began at length to climb the back of the mountain, and here I +noticed with a revival of hope that there was a lull in the tempest; +rain no longer fell so heavily; the clouds seemed to be breaking +apart. A beam of sunshine would have set me singing with joy. When +half-way up, my driver rested his horses and came to speak a word; +we conversed merrily. He was to make straight for the hotel, where +shelter and food awaited us--a bottle of wine, ha! ha! He knew the +hotel, of course? Oh yes, he knew the hotel; it stood just at the +entrance to the town; we should arrive in half an hour. + +Looking upwards I saw nothing but a mass of ancient ruins, high +fragments of shattered wall, a crumbling tower, and great windows +through which the clouds were visible. Inhabited Squillace lay, no +doubt, behind. I knew that it was a very small place, without any +present importance; but at all events there was an albergo, and the +mere name of albergo had a delightful sound of welcome after such a +journey. Here I would stay for the night, at all events; if the +weather cleared, I might be glad to remain for two or three days. +Certainly the rain was stopping; the wind no longer howled. Up we +went towards those ragged walls and great, vacant windows. We +reached the summit; for two minutes the horses trotted; then a +sudden halt, and my lad's face at the carriage door. + +"_Ecco l'albergo, Signore_!" + +I jumped out. We were at the entrance to an unpaved street of +squalid hovels, a street which the rain had converted into a muddy +river, so that, on quitting the vehicle, I stepped into running +water up to my ankles. Before me was a long low cabin, with a row of +four or five windows and no upper storey; a miserable hut of rubble +and plaster, stained with ancient dirt and, at this moment, looking +soaked with moisture. Above the doorway I read "Osteria Centrale"; +on the bare end of the house was the prouder inscription, "Albergo +Nazionale"--the National Hotel. I am sorry to say that at the time +this touch of humour made no appeal to me; my position was no +laughing matter. Faint with hunger, I saw at once that I should have +to browse on fearsome food. I saw, too, that there was scarce a +possibility of passing the night in this place; I must drive down to +the sea-shore, and take my chance of a train which would bring me at +some time to Reggio. While I thus reflected--the water rushing +over my boots--a very ill-looking man came forth and began to +stare curiously at me. I met his eye, but he offered no greeting. A +woman joined him, and the two, quite passive, waited to discover my +intentions. + +Eat I must, so I stepped forward and asked if I could have a meal. +Without stirring, the man gave a sullen assent. Could I have food at +once? Yes, in a few minutes. Would they show me--the dining room? +Man and woman turned upon their heels, and I followed. The entrance +led into a filthy kitchen; out of this I turned to the right, went +along a passage upon which opened certain chamber doors, and was +conducted into a room at the end--for the nonce, a dining-room, +but at ordinary times a bedroom. Evidently the kitchen served for +native guests; as a foreigner I was treated with more ceremony. Left +alone till my meal should be ready, I examined the surroundings. The +floor was of worn stone, which looked to me like the natural +foundation of the house; the walls were rudely plastered, cracked, +grimed, and with many a deep chink; as for the window, it admitted +light, but, owing to the aged dirt which had gathered upon it, +refused any view of things without save in two or three places where +the glass was broken; by these apertures, and at every point of the +framework, entered a sharp wind. In one corner stood an iron +bedstead, with mattress and bedding in a great roll upon it; a shaky +deal table and primitive chair completed the furniture. Ornament did +not wholly lack; round the walls hung a number of those coloured +political caricatures (several indecent) which are published by some +Italian newspapers, and a large advertisement of a line of emigrant +ships between Naples and New York. Moreover, there was suspended in +a corner a large wooden crucifix, very quaint, very hideous, and +black with grime. + +Spite of all this, I still debated with myself whether to engage the +room for the night. I should have liked to stay; the thought of a +sunny morning here on the height strongly allured me, and it seemed +a shame to confess myself beaten by an Italian inn. On the other +hand, the look of the people did not please me; they had surly, +forbidding faces. I glanced at the door--no lock. Fears, no doubt, +were ridiculous; yet I felt ill at ease. I would decide after seeing +the sort of fare that was set before me. + +The meal came with no delay. First, a dish of great _peperoni_ cut +up in oil. This gorgeous fruit is never much to my taste, but I had +as yet eaten no such _peperoni_ as those of Squillace; an hour or +two afterwards my mouth was still burning from the heat of a few +morsels to which I was constrained by hunger. Next appeared a dish +for which I had covenanted--the only food, indeed, which the +people had been able to offer at short notice--a stew of pork and +potatoes. Pork (_maiale_) is the staple meat of all this region; +viewing it as Homeric diet, I had often battened upon such flesh +with moderate satisfaction. But the pork of Squillace defeated me; +it smelt abominably, and it was tough as leather. No eggs were to be +had no macaroni; cheese, yes--the familiar _cacci cavallo_ Bread +appeared in the form of a fiat circular cake, a foot in diameter, +with a hole through the middle; its consistency resembled that of +cold pancake. And the drink! At least I might hope to solace myself +with an honest draught of red wine. I poured from the thick decanter +(dirtier vessel was never seen on table) and tasted. The stuff was +poison. Assuredly I am far from fastidious; this, I believe, was the +only occasion when wine has been offered me in Italy which I could +not drink. After desperately trying to persuade myself that the +liquor was merely "rough," that its nauseating flavour meant only a +certain coarse quality of the local grape, I began to suspect that +it was largely mixed with water--the water of Squillace! +Notwithstanding a severe thirst, I could not and durst not drink. + +Very soon I made my way to the kitchen, where my driver, who had +stabled his horses, sat feeding heartily; he looked up with his +merry smile, surprised at the rapidity with which I had finished. +How I envied his sturdy stomach! With the remark that I was going to +have a stroll round the town and should be back to settle things in +half an hour, I hastened into the open. + + + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +MISERIA + + + + + +"What do people do here?" I once asked at a little town between Rome +and Naples; and the man with whom I talked, shrugging his shoulders, +answered curtly, "_C'e miseria_"--there's nothing but poverty. The +same reply would be given in towns and villages without number +throughout the length of Italy. I had seen poverty enough, and +squalid conditions of life, but the most ugly and repulsive +collection of houses I ever came upon was the town of Squillace. I +admit the depressing effect of rain and cloud, and of hunger worse +than unsatisfied; these things count emphatically in my case; but +under no conditions could inhabited Squillace be other than an +offence to eye and nostril. The houses are, with one or two +exceptions, ground-floor hovels; scarce a weather-tight dwelling is +discoverable; the general impression is that of dilapidated squalor. +Streets, in the ordinary sense of the word, do not exist; irregular +alleys climb above the rugged heights, often so steep as to be +difficult of ascent; here and there a few boulders have been thrown +together to afford a footing, and in some places the native rock +lies bare; but for the most part one walks on the accumulated filth +of ages. At the moment of my visit there was in progress the only +kind of cleaning which Squillace knows; down every trodden way and +every intermural gully poured a flush of rain-water, with +occasionally a leaping torrent or small cascade, which all but +barred progress. Open doors everywhere allowed me a glimpse of the +domestic arrangements, and I saw that my albergo had some reason to +pride itself on superiority; life in a country called civilized +cannot easily be more primitive than under these crazy roofs. As for +the people, they had a dull, heavy aspect; rare as must be the +apparition of a foreigner among them, no one showed the slightest +curiosity as I passed, and (an honourable feature of their district) +no one begged. Women went about in the rain protected by a +shawl-like garment of very picturesque colouring; it had broad +yellow stripes on a red ground, the tones subdued to a warm +richness. + +The animal population was not without its importance. Turn where I +would I encountered lean, black pigs, snorting, frisking, +scampering, and squealing as if the bad weather were a delight to +them. Gaunt, low-spirited dogs prowled about in search of food, and +always ran away at my approach. In one precipitous by-way, where the +air was insupportably foul, I came upon an odd little scene: a pig +and a cat, quite alone, were playing together, and enjoying +themselves with remarkable spirit. The pig lay down in the running +mud, and pussy, having leapt on to him, began to scratch his back, +bite his ears, stroke his sides. Suddenly, porker was uppermost and +the cat, pretending to struggle for life, under his forefeet. It was +the only amusing incident I met with at Squillace, and the sole +instance of anything like cheerful vitality. + +Above the habitations stand those prominent ruins which had held my +eye during our long ascent. These are the rugged walls and windows +of a monastery, not old enough to possess much interest, and, on the +crowning height, the heavy remnants of a Norman castle, with one +fine doorway still intact. Bitterly I deplored the gloomy sky which +spoiled what would else have been a magnificent view from this point +of vantage--a view wide-spreading in all directions, with Sila +northwards, Aspromonte to the south, and between them a long horizon +of the sea. Looking down upon Squillace, one sees its houses niched +among huge masses of granite, which protrude from the scanty soil, +or clinging to the rocky surface like limpet shells. Was this the +site of Scylaceum, or is it, as some hold, merely a mediaeval refuge +which took the name of the old city nearer to the coast? The +Scylaceum of the sixth century is described by Cassiodorus--a +picture glowing with admiration and tenderness. It lay, he says, +upon the side of a hill; nay, it hung there "like a cluster of +grapes," in such glorious light and warmth that, to his mind, it +deserved to be called the native region of the sun. The fertility of +the Country around was unexampled; nowhere did earth yield to +mortals a more luxurious life. Quoting this description, Lenormant +holds that, with due regard to time's changes, it exactly fits the +site of Squillace. Yet Cassiodorus says that the hill by which you +approached the town was not high enough to weary a traveller, a +consideration making for the later view that Scylaceum stood very +near to the Marina of Catanzaro, at a spot called Roccella, where +not only is the nature of the ground suitable, but there exist +considerable traces of ancient building, such as are not +discoverable here on the mountain top. Lenormant thought that +Roccella was merely the sea-port of the inland town. I wish he were +right. No archaeologist, whose work I have studied, affects me with +such a personal charm, with such a sense of intellectual sympathy, +as Francois Lenormant--dead, alas, before he could complete his +delightful book. But one fears that, in this instance, he judged too +hastily. + +There is no doubt, fortunately, as to the position of the religious +house founded by Cassiodorus; it was in the shadow of Mons Moscius, +and quite near to the sea. I had marked the spot during my drive up +the valley, and now saw it again from this far height, but I could +not be satisfied with distant views. Weather and evil quarters +making it impossible to remain at Squillace, I decided to drive +forthwith to the railway station, see how much time remained to me +before the arrival of the train for Reggio, and, if it could be +managed, visit in that interval the place that attracted me. + +It is my desire to be at peace with all men, and in Italy I have +rarely failed to part with casual acquaintances--even innkeepers +and cocchieri--on friendly terms; but my host of the _Albergo +Nazionale_ made it difficult to preserve good humour. Not only did +he charge thrice the reasonable sum for the meal I could not eat, +but his bill for my driver's _colazione_ contained such astonishing +items that I had to question the lad as to what he had really +consumed. It proved to be a very ugly case of extortion, and the +tone of sullen menace with which my arguments were met did not help +to smooth things. Presently the man hit upon a pleasant sort of +compromise. Why, he asked, did I not pay the bill as it stood, and +then, on dismissing my carriage--he had learnt that I was not +returning to Catanzaro--deduct as much as I chose from the payment +of the driver? A pretty piece of rascality, this, which he would +certainly not have suggested but that the driver was a mere boy, +helpless himself and bound to render an account to his master. I had +to be content with resolutely striking off half the sum charged for +the lad's wine (he was supposed to have drunk four litres), and +sending the receipted bill to Don Pasquale at Catanzaro, that he +might be ready with information if any future traveller consulted +him about the accommodation to be had at Squillace. No one is likely +to do so for a long time to come, but I have no doubt Don Pasquale +had a chuckle of amused indignation over the interesting and very +dirty bit of paper. We drove quickly down the winding road, and from +below I again admired the picturesqueness of Squillace. Both my +guide-books, by the way, the orthodox English and German +authorities, assert that from the railway station by the sea-shore +Squillace is invisible. Which of the two borrowed this information +from the other? As a matter of fact, the view of mountain and town +from the station platform is admirable, though, of course, at so +great a distance, only a whitish patch represents the hovels and +ruins upon their royal height. + +I found that I had a good couple of hours at my disposal, and that +to the foot of Mons Moscius (now called Coscia di Stalletti) was +only a short walk. It rained drearily, but by this time I had ceased +to think of the weather. After watching the carriage for a moment, +as it rolled away on the long road back to Catanzaro (sorry not to +be going with it), I followed the advice of the stationmaster, and +set out to walk along the line of rails towards the black, furrowed +mountain side. + + + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +CASSIODORUS + + + + + +The iron way crosses the mouth of the valley river. As I had already +noticed, it was a turbid torrent, of dull yellow; where it poured +into the sea, it made a vast, clean-edged patch of its own hue upon +the darker surface of the waves. This peculiarity resulted, no +doubt, from much rain upon the hills; it may be that in calmer +seasons the Fiume di Squillace bears more resemblance to the Pellena +as one pictures it, a delightful stream flowing through the gardens +of the old monastery. Cassiodorus tells us that it abounded in fish. +One of his happy labours was to make fish-ponds, filled and peopled +from the river itself. In the cliff-side where Mons Moscius breaks +above the shore are certain rocky caves, and by some it is thought +that, in speaking of his fish-preserves, Cassiodorus refers to +these. Whatever the local details, it was from this feature that the +house took its name, Monasterium Vivariense. + +Here, then, I stood in full view of the spot which I had so often +visioned in my mind's eye. Much of the land hereabout--probably an +immense tract of hill and valley--was the old monk's patrimonial +estate. We can trace his family back through three generations, to a +Cassiodorus, an Illustris of the falling Western Empire, who about +the middle of them fifth century defended his native Bruttii against +an invasion of the Vandals. The grandson of this noble was a +distinguished man all through the troubled time which saw Italy pass +under the dominion of Odovacar, and under the conquest of Theodoric; +the Gothic king raised him to the supreme office of Praetorian +Prefect. We learn that he had great herds of horses, bred in the +Bruttian forests, and that Theodoric was indebted to him for the +mounting of troops of cavalry. He and his ancestry would signify +little now-a-days but for the life-work of his greater son--Magnus +Aurelius Cassiodorus Senator, statesman, historian, monk. _Senator_ +was not a title, but a personal name; the name our Cassiodorus +always used when speaking of himself. But history calls him +otherwise, and for us he must be Cassiodorus still. + +The year of his birth was 480. In the same year were born two other +men, glories of their age, whose fame is more generally remembered: +Boethius the poet and philosopher, and Benedict called Saint. + +From Quaestorship (old name with no longer the old significance) to +Praetorian Prefecture, Cassiodorus held all offices of state, and +seems under every proof to have shown the nobler qualities of +statesmanship. During his ripe years he stood by the side of +Theodoric, minister in prime trust, doubtless helping to shape that +wise and benevolent policy which made the reign of the Ostrogoth a +time of rest and hope for the Italian people--Roman no longer; the +word had lost its meaning, though not its magic. The Empire of the +West had perished; Theodoric and his minister, clearly understanding +this, and resolute against the Byzantine claim which was but in half +abeyance, aimed at the creation of an independent Italy, where Goth +and Latin should blend into a new race. The hope proved vain. +Theodoric's successors, no longer kings, but mere Gothic chieftains, +strove obscurely against inevitable doom, until the generals of +Juistinian trod Italy into barren servitude. Only when the purpose +of his life was shattered, when--Theodoric long dead--his still +faithful service to the Gothic rule became an idle form, when +Belisarius was compassing the royal city of Ravenna, and voice of +council could no longer make itself heard amid tumult and ruin, did +Cassiodorus retire from useless office, and turn his back upon the +world. + +He was aged about sixty. Long before, he had written a history of +the Goths (known to us only in a compendium by another hand), of +which the purpose seems to have been to reconcile the Romans to the +Gothic monarchy; it began by endeavouring to prove that Goths had +fought against the Greeks at Troy. Now that his public life was +over, he published a collection of the state papers composed by him +under the Gothic rulers from Theodoric to Vitigis: for the most part +royal rescripts addressed to foreign powers and to officials of the +kingdom. Invaluable for their light upon men and things fourteen +hundred years ago, these _Variae_ of Cassiodorus; and for their own +sake, as literary productions, most characteristic, most +entertaining. Not quite easy to read, for the Latin is by no means +Augustan, but after labour well spent, a delightful revelation of +the man and the age. Great is the variety of subjects dealt with or +touched upon; from the diplomatic relations between Ravenna and +Constantinople, or the alliances of the Amal line with barbaric +royalties in Gaul and Africa, to the pensioning of an aged +charioteer and the domestic troubles of a small landowner. We form a +good general idea of the condition of Italy at that time, and, on +many points political and social, gather a fund of most curious +detail. The world shown to us is in some respects highly civilized, +its civilization still that of Rome, whose laws, whose manners, have +in great part survived the Teutonic conquest; from another point of +view it is a mere world of ruin, possessed by triumphant barbarism, +and sinking to intellectual darkness. We note the decay of central +power, and the growth of political anarchy; we observe the process +by which Roman nobles, the Senatorial Order when a Senate lingers +only in name, are becoming the turbulent lords of the Middle Ages, +each a power in his own territory, levying private war, scornful of +public interests. The city of Rome has little part in this turbid +history, yet her name is never mentioned without reverence, and in +theory she is still the centre of the world. Glimpses are granted us +of her fallen majesty; we learn that Theodoric exerted himself to +preserve her noble buildings, to restore her monuments; at the same +time we hear of marble stolen from palaces in decay, and of temples +which, as private property, are converted to ignoble use. Moreover, +at Rome sits an ecclesiastical dignitary, known as _Papa_, to whose +doings already attaches considerable importance. One of the last +acts of the Senate which had any real meaning was to make a decree +with regard to the election of this Bishop, forbidding his advance +by the way of Simony. Theodoric, an Arian, interferes only with the +Church of Rome in so far as public peace demands it. In one of his +letters occurs a most remarkable dictum on the subject of +toleration. "_Religionem imperare non possumus, quia nemo cogitur ut +credat invitus_--we cannot impose a religious faith, for no one +can be compelled to believe against his conscience." This must, of +course, have been the king's own sentiment, but Cassiodorus worded +it, and doubtless with approval. + +Indeed, we are at no loss to discern the mind of the secretary in +these official papers. Cassiodorus speaks as often for himself as +for the king; he delights to expatiate, from an obviously personal +point of view, on any subject that interests him. One of these is +natural history; give him but the occasion, and he gossips of +beasts, birds, and fishes, in a flow of the most genial +impertinence. Certain bronze elephants on the Via Sacra are falling +to pieces and must be repaired: in giving the order, Theodoric's +minister pens a little treatise on the habits and characteristics of +the elephant. His erudition is often displayed: having to convey +some direction about the Circus at Rome, he begins with a pleasant +sketch of the history of chariot racing. One marvels at the man who, +in such a period, preserved this mood of liberal leisure. His style +is perfectly suited to the matter; diffuse, ornate, amusingly +affected; altogether a _precious_ mode of writing, characteristic of +literary decadence. When the moment demands it, he is pompously +grandiloquent; in dealing with a delicate situation, he becomes +involved and obscure. We perceive in him a born courtier, a proud +noble, a statesman of high purpose and no little sagacity; +therewith, many gracious and attractive qualities, coloured by +weaknesses, such as agreeable pedantry and amiable self-esteem, +which are in part personal, partly the note of his time. + +One's picture of the man is, of course, completed from a knowledge +of the latter years of his life, of the works produced during his +monastic retirement. Christianity rarely finds expression in the +_Variae_, a point sufficiently explained by the Gothic heresy, which +imposed discretion in public utterances; on the other hand, pagan +mythology abounds; we observe the hold it still had upon educated +minds--education, indeed, meaning much the same thing in the sixth +century after Christ as in the early times of the Empire. +Cassiodorus can never have been a fanatical devotee of any creed. Of +his sincere piety there is no doubt; it appears in a vast commentary +on the Psalms, and more clearly in the book he wrote for the +guidance and edification of his brother monks--brothers +(_carissimi fratres_), for in his humility he declined to become the +Abbot of Vivariense; enough that his worldly dignity, his spiritual +and mental graces, assured to him the influence he desired. The +notable characteristic of his rule was a sanctifying of intellectual +labour. In abandoning the world, he by no means renounced his +interest in its civilization. Statesmanship having failed to stem +the tide of Oriental tyranny and northern barbarism, he set himself +to save as much as possible of the nobler part, to secure for +happier ages the record of human attainment. Great was the +importance he attached to the work of his Antiquarii--copyists who +laboured to preserve the manuscript literature which was in danger +of utterly perishing. With special reference to their work upon the +Scriptures, he tells them that they "fight against the wiles of +Satan with pen and ink." And again: "Writing with three fingers, +they thus symbolize the virtues of the Holy Trinity; using a reed, +they thus attack the craft of the Devil with that very instrument +which smote the Lord's head in his Passion." But all literature was +his care. That the copyists might write correctly, he digested the +works of half a dozen grammarians into a treatise on orthography. +Further, that the books of the monastery might wear "a wedding +garment" (his own phrase), he designed a great variety of bindings, +which were kept as patterns. + +There, at the foot of Moscius, did these brethren and their founder +live and work. But on the top of the mountain was another retreat, +known as Castellense, for those monks who--_divina gratia +suffragante_--desired a severer discipline, and left the +coenobitic house to become anchorites. Did these virtuous brothers +continue their literary labours? One hopes so, and one is glad that +Cassiodorus himself seems to have ended his life down in the valley +by the Pellena. + +A third class of monks finds mention, those in whom "_Frigidus +obstiterit circum praecordia sanguis_," quotes the founder. In other +words, the hopelessly stupid. For these there was labour in the +garden, and to console them Cassiodorus recites from a Psalm: "Thou +shalt eat the labour of thy hands; happy shalt thou be, and it shall +be well with thee." A smile is on the countenance of the humane +brother. He did his utmost, indeed, for the comfort, as well as the +spiritual welfare, of his community. Baths were built "for the sick" +(heathendom had been cleaner, but we must not repine); for the +suffering, too, and for pilgrims, exceptional food was provided-- +young pigeons, delicate fish, fruit, honey; a new kind of lamp was +invented, to burn for long hours without attention; dials and +clepsydras marked the progress of day and night. + +Among the monastic duties is that of giving instruction to the +peasantry round about. They are not to be oppressed, these humble +tillers of the soil, for is it not written that "My yoke is easy, +and my burden light"? But one must insist that they come frequently +to religious service, and that they do not _lucos colere_--worship +in groves--which shows that a heathen mind still lingered among +the people, and that they reverenced the old deities. Benedict, the +contemporary of Cassiodorus (we have no authority for supposing that +they knew each other), when he first ascended the mount above +Casinum, found a temple of Apollo, with the statue of the god +receiving daily homage. Archaeologists have tried to determine at +what date the old religion became extinct in Italy. Their research +leads them well into the Middle Ages, but, undoubtedly, even then +they pause too soon. + +Legend says that Cassiodorus attained the age of nearly a hundred +years. We may be sure that to the end he lived busily, for of +idleness he speaks with abhorrence as the root of evil. Doubtless he +was always a copious talker, and to many a pilgrim he must have +gossiped delightfully, alternating mundane memories with counsel +good for the soul. Only one of his monastic brethren is known to us +as a man of any distinction: this was Dionysius Exiguus, or the +Little, by birth a Scythian, a man of much learning. He compiled the +first history of the Councils, and, a matter more important, +originated the computation of the Christian Era; for up to this time +men had dated in the old way, by shadowy consulships and confusing +Indictions. There is happy probability that Cassiodorus lived out +his life in peace; but the monastery did not long exist; like that +of Benedict on Monte Cassino, it seems to have been destroyed by the +Lombards, savages and Arians. No trace of it remains. But high up on +the mountain is a church known as S. Maria de Vetere, a name +indicating an ancient foundation, which perhaps was no other than +the anchorite house of Castellense. + + + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE GROTTA + + + + + +About a mile beyond Squillace the line passes by a tunnel through +the promontory of Mons Moscius. At this point on the face of the +sea-cliff I was told that I should discover a _grotta_, one of the +caverns which some think are indicated by Cassiodorus when he speaks +of his fish-preserves. Arrived near the mouth of the tunnel I found +a signal-box, where several railway men were grouped in talk; to +them I addressed myself, and all immediately turned to offer me +guidance. We had to clamber down a rocky descent, and skirt the +waves for a few yards; when my cluster of companions had +sufficiently shown their good-will, all turned back but one, who +made a point of giving me safe conduct into the cave itself. He was +a bronzed, bright-eyed, happy-looking fellow of middle age, his +humorous intelligence appearing in a flow of gossip about things +local. We entered a narrow opening, some twelve feet high, which ran +perhaps twenty yards into the cliff. Lenormant supposes that this +was a quarry made by the original Greek colonists. If Cassiodorus +used it for the purpose mentioned, the cave must have been in direct +communication either with the sea or the river; at present, many +yards of sloping shingle divide it from the line of surf, and the +river flows far away. Movement of the shore there has of course +been, and the Pellena may have considerably changed the direction of +its outflow; our author's description being but vague, one can only +muse on probabilities and likelihoods. + +Whilst we talked, the entrance to the cave was shadowed, and there +entered one of the men who had turned back half-way; his face +betrayed the curiosity which had after all prevailed to bring him +hither. Shouting merrily, my companion hailed him as "Brigadiere." +The two friends contrasted very amusingly; for the brigadiere was a +mild, timid, simple creature, who spoke with diffidence; he kept his +foolishly good-natured eyes fixed upon me, a gaze of wonder. After +listening to all that my guide had to say--it was nothing to the +point, dealing chiefly with questions of railway engineering--I +had just begun to explain my interest in the locality, and I +mentioned the name of Cassiodorus. As it passed my lips the jovial +fellow burst into a roar of laughter. "Cassiodorio! Ha, ha! +Cassiodorio! Ha, ha, ha!" I asked him what he meant, and found that +he was merely delighted to hear a stranger unexpectedly utter a name +in familiar local use. He ran out from the cave, and pointed up the +valley; yonder was a fountain which bore the name "Fontana di +Cassiodorio." (From my authors I knew of this; it may or may not +have genuine historic interest.) Thereupon, I tried to discover +whether any traditions hung to the name, but these informants had +only a vague idea that Cassiodorus was a man of times long gone by. +How, they questioned in turn, did _I_ know anything about him? Why, +from books, I replied; among them books which the ancient himself +had written more than a thousand years ago. This was too much for +the brigadiere; it moved him to stammered astonishment. Did I mean +to say that books written more than a thousand years ago still +existed? The jovial friend, good-naturedly scornful, cried out that +of course they did, and added with triumphant air that they were not +in the language of to-day but in _latino, latino_! All this came as +a revelation to the other, who stared and marvelled, never taking +his eyes from my face. At length he burst out with an emphatic +question; these same books, were they large? Why yes, I answered, +some of them. Were they--were they _as large as a missal_? A shout +of jolly laughter interrupted us. It seemed to me that my erudite +companion was in the habit of getting fun of out his friend the +brigadiere, but so kindly did he look and speak, that it must have +been difficult for the simpleton ever to take offence. + +Meanwhile the sullen sky had grown blacker, and rain was descending +heavily. In any case, I should barely have had time to go further, +and had to be content with a description from my companions of a +larger cave some distance beyond this, which is known as the Grotta +of San Gregorio--with reference, no doubt, to S. Gregory the +Thaumaturgist; to him was dedicated a Greek monastery, built on the +ruined site of Vivariense. After the Byzantine conquest of the sixth +century, Magna Graecia once more justified its ancient name; the +civilization of this region became purely Greek; but for the +Lombards and ecclesiastical Rome, perhaps no Latin Italy would have +survived. Greek monks, who through the darkest age were skilful +copyists, continued in Calabria the memorable work of Cassiodorus. +The ninth century saw Saracen invasion, and then it was, no doubt, +that the second religious house under Mons Moscius perished from its +place. + +Thinking over this, I walked away from the cave and climbed again to +the railway; my friends also were silent and ruminative. Not +unnaturally, I suspected that a desire for substantial thanks had +some part in their Silence, and at a convenient spot I made suitable +offering. It was done, I trust, with all decency, for I knew that I +had the better kind of Calabrian to deal with; but neither the +jovially intelligent man nor the pleasant simpleton would for a +moment entertain this suggestion. They refused with entire dignity +--grave, courteous, firm-and as soon as I had apologized, which I +did not without emphasis, we were on the same terms as before; with +handshaking, we took kindly leave of each other. Such self-respect +is the rarest thing in Italy south of Rome, but in Calabria I found +it more than once. + +By when I had walked back to the station, hunger exhausted me. There +was no buffet, and seemingly no place in the neighbourhood where +food could be purchased, but on my appealing to the porter I learnt +that he was accustomed to entertain stray travellers in his house +hard by, whither he at once led me. To describe the room where my +meal was provided would be sheer ingratitude: in my recollection it +compares favourably with the _Albergo Nazionale_ of Squillace. I had +bread, salame, cheese, and, heaven be thanked, wine that I could +swallow--nay, for here sounds the note of thanklessness, it was +honest wine, of which I drank freely. Honest, too, the charge that +was made; I should have felt cheap at ten times the price that +sudden accession of bodily and mental vigour. Luck be with him, +serviceable _facchino_ of Squillace! I remember his human face, and +his smile of pleasure when I declared all he modestly set before me +good and good again. His hospitality sent me on my way rejoicing-- +glad that I had seen the unspeakable little mountain town, thrice +glad that I had looked upon Mons Moscius and trodden by the river +Pellena. Rain fell in torrents, but I no longer cared. When +presently the train arrived, I found a comfortable corner, and +looked forward with a restful sigh to the seven hours' travel which +would bring me into view of Sicily. + +In the carriage sat a school-boy, a book open upon his knee. When +our eyes had met twice or thrice, and an ingenuous smile rose to his +handsome face, I opened conversation, and he told me that he came +every day to school from a little place called San Sostene to +Catanzaro, there being no nearer instruction above the elementary; a +journey of some sixteen miles each way, and not to be reckoned by +English standards, for it meant changing at the Marina for the +valley train, and finally going up the mountain side by _diligenza_. +The lad flushed with delight in his adventure--a real adventure +for him to meet with some one from far-off England. Just before we +stopped at San Sostene, he presented me with his card--why had he +a card?--which bore the name, De Luca Fedele. A bright and +spirited lad, who seemed to have the best qualities of his nation; I +wish I might live to hear him spoken of as a man doing honour to +Italy. + +At this station another travelling companion took the school-boy's +place; a priest, who soon addressed me in courteous talk. He +journeyed only for a short way, and, when alighting, pointed skyward +through the dark (night had fallen) to indicate his mountain parish +miles inland. He, too, offered me his card, adding a genial +invitation; I found he was Parroco (parish priest) of San Nicola at +Badolato. I would ask nothing better than to visit him, some +autumn-tide, when grapes are ripening above the Ionian Sea. + +It was a wild night. When the rain at length ceased, lightning +flashed ceaselessly about the dark heights of Aspromonte; later, the +moon rose, and, sailing amid grandly illumined clouds, showed white +waves rolling in upon the beach. Wherever the train stopped, that +sea-music was in my ears--now seeming to echo a verse of Homer, +now the softer rhythm of Theocritus. Think of what one may in +day-time on this far southern shore, its nights are sacred to the +poets of Hellas. In rounding Cape Spartivento, I strained my eyes +through the moonlight--unhappily a waning moon, which had shone +with full orb the evening I ascended to Catanzaro--to see the +Sicilian mountains; at length they stood up darkly against the paler +night. There came back to my memory a voyage at glorious sunrise, +years ago, when I passed through the Straits of Messina, and all day +long gazed at Etna, until its cone, solitary upon the horizon, shone +faint and far in the glow of evening--the morrow to bring me a +first sight of Greece. + + + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +REGGIO + + + + + +By its natural situation Reggio is marked for an unquiet history. It +was a gateway of Magna Graecia; it lay straight in the track of +conquering Rome when she moved towards Sicily; it offered points of +strategic importance to every invader or defender of the peninsula +throughout the mediaeval wars. Goth and Saracen, Norman, Teuton and +Turk, seized, pillaged, and abandoned, each in turn, this stronghold +overlooking the narrow sea. Then the earthquakes, ever menacing +between Vesuvius and Etna; that of 1783, which wrought destruction +throughout Calabria, laid Reggio in ruins, so that to-day it has the +aspect of a newly-built city, curving its regular streets, +amphitheatre-wise, upon the slope that rises between shore and +mountain. Of Rhegium little is discernible above ground; of the ages +that followed scarce anything remains but the Norman fortress, so +shaken by that century-old disaster that huge gaps show where its +rent wall sank to a lower level upon the hillside. + +At first, one has eyes and thoughts for nothing but the landscape. +From the terrace road along the shore, Via Plutino, beauties and +glories indescribable lie before one at every turn of the head. +Aspromonte, with its forests and crags; the shining straits, +sail-dotted, opening to a sea-horizon north and south; and, on the +other side, the mountain-island, crowned with snow. Hours long I +stood and walked here, marvelling delightedly at all I saw, but in +the end ever fixing my gaze on Sicily. Clouds passed across the blue +sky, and their shadows upon the Sicilian panorama made ceaseless +change of hue and outline. At early morning I saw the crest of Etna +glistening as the first sun-ray smote upon its white ridges; at fall +of day, the summit hidden by heavy clouds, and western beams darting +from behind the mountain, those far, cold heights glimmered with a +hue of palest emerald, seeming but a vision of the sunset heaven, +translucent, ever about to vanish. Night transformed but did not all +conceal. Yonder, a few miles away, shone the harbour and the streets +of Messina, and many a gleaming point along the island coast, +strand-touching or high above, signalled the homes of men. Calm, +warm, and clear, this first night at Reggio; I could not turn away +from the siren-voice of the waves; hearing scarce a footstep but my +own, I paced hither and thither by the sea-wall, alone with +memories. + +The rebuilding of Reggio has made it clean and sweet; its air is +blended from that of mountain and sea, ever renewed, delicate and +inspiriting. But, apart from the harbour, one notes few signs of +activity; the one long street, Corso Garibaldi, has little traffic; +most of the shops close shortly after nightfall, and then there is +no sound of wheels; all would be perfectly still but for the +occasional cry of lads who sell newspapers. Indeed, the town is +strangely quiet, considering its size and aspect of importance; one +has to search for a restaurant, and I doubt if more than one cafe +exists. At my hotel the dining-room was a public _trattoria_, +opening upon the street, but only two or three military men--the +eternal officers--made use of it, and I felt a less cheery social +atmosphere than at Taranto or at Catanzaro. One recurring incident +did not tend to exhilarate. Sitting in view of a closed door, I saw +children's faces pressed against the glass, peering little faces, +which sought a favourable moment; suddenly the door would open, and +there sounded a thin voice, begging for _un pezzo di pane_--a bit +of bread. Whenever the waiter caught sight of these little +mendicants, he rushed out with simulated fury, and pursued them +along the pavement. I have no happy recollection of my Reggian +meals. + +An interesting feature of the streets is the frequency of carved +inscriptions, commemorating citizens who died in their struggle for +liberty. Amid quiet by-ways, for instance, I discovered a tablet +with the name of a young soldier who fell at that spot, fighting +against the Bourbon, in 1860: "_offerse per l'unita della patria sua +vita quadrilustre_." The very insignificance of this young life +makes the fact more touching; one thinks of the unnumbered lives +sacrificed upon this soil, age after age, to the wild-beast instinct +of mankind, and how pathetic the attempt to preserve the memory of +one boy, so soon to become a meaningless name! His own voice seems +to plead with us for a regretful thought, to speak from the stone in +sad arraignment of tyranny and bloodshed. A voice which has no +accent of hope. In the days to come, as through all time that is +past, man will lord it over his fellow, and earth will be stained +red from veins of young and old. That sweet and sounding name of +_patria_ becomes an illusion and a curse; linked with the +pretentious modernism, _civilization_, it serves as plea to the +latter-day barbarian, ravening and reckless under his civil garb. +How can one greatly wish for the consolidation and prosperity of +Italy, knowing that national vigour tends more and more to +international fear and hatred? They who perished that Italy might be +born again, dreamt of other things than old savagery clanging in new +weapons. In our day there is but one Italian patriot; he who tills +the soil, and sows, and reaps, ignorant or careless of all beyond +his furrowed field. + +Whilst I was still thinking of that memorial tablet, I found myself +in front of the Cathedral. As a structure it makes small appeal, +dating only from the seventeenth century, and heavily restored in +times more recent; but the first sight of the facade is strangely +stirring. For across the whole front, in great letters which one who +runs may read, is carved a line from the Acts of the Apostles:-- + +"Circumlegentes devenimus Rhegium." + +Save only those sonorous words which circle the dome of S. Peter's, +I have seen no inscription on Christian temple which seemed to me so +impressive. "We fetched a compass, and came to Rhegium." Paul was on +his voyage from Caesarea to Rome, and here his ship touched, here at +the haven beneath Aspromonte. The fact is familiar enough, but, +occupied as I was with other thoughts, it had not yet occurred to +me; the most pious pilgrim of an earlier day could not have felt +himself more strongly arrested than I when I caught sight of these +words. Were I to inhabit Reggio, I should never pass the Cathedral +without stopping to read and think; the carving would never lose its +power over my imagination. It unites for me two elements of moving +interest: a vivid fact from the ancient world, recorded in the music +of the ancient tongue. All day the words rang in my head, even as at +Rome I have gone about murmuring to myself: "_Aedificabo ecclesiam +meam_." What a noble solemnity in this Latin speech! And how vast +the historic significance of such monumental words! Moralize who +will; enough for me to hear with delight that deep-toned harmony, +and to thrill with the strangeness of old things made new. + +It was Sunday, which at Reggio is a day or market. Crowds of +country-folk had come into the town with the produce of field and +garden; all the open spaces were occupied with temporary stalls; at +hand stood innumerable donkeys, tethered till business should be +over. The produce exhibited was of very fine quality, especially the +vegetables; I noticed cauliflowers measuring more than a foot across +the white. Of costume there was little to be observed--though the +long soft cap worn by most of the men, hanging bag-like over one ear +almost to the shoulder, is picturesque. The female water-carriers, a +long slim cask resting lengthwise upon their padded heads, hold +attention as they go to and from the fountains. Good-looking people, +grave of manner, and doing their business without noise. It was my +last sight of the Calabrian hillsmen; to the end they held my +interest and my respect. When towns have sucked dry their population +of strength and virtue, it is such folk as these, hardy from the +free breath of heaven and the scent of earth, who will renew a +flaccid race. + +Walking beyond the town in the southern direction, where the shape +of Etna shows more clearly amid the lower mountains, I found myself +approaching what looked like a handsome public edifice, a museum or +gallery of art. It was a long building, graced with a portico, and +coloured effectively in dull red; all about it stood lemon trees, +and behind, overtopping the roof, several fine palms. Moved by +curiosity I quickened my steps, and as I drew nearer I felt sure +that this must be some interesting institution of which I had not +heard. Presently I observed along the facade a row of heads of oxen +carved in stone--an ornament decidedly puzzling. Last of all my +eyes perceived, over the stately entrance, the word "Macello," and +with astonishment I became aware that this fine structure, so +agreeably situated, was nothing else than the town slaughter-house. +Does the like exist elsewhere? It was a singular bit of advanced +civilization, curiously out of keeping with the thoughts which had +occupied me on my walk. Why, I wonder, has Reggio paid such +exceptional attention to this department of its daily life? One did +not quite know whether to approve this frank exhibition of +carnivorous zeal; obviously something can be said in its favour, +yet, on the other hand, a man who troubles himself with finer +scruples would perhaps choose not to be reminded of pole-axe and +butcher's knife, preferring that such things should shun the light +of day. It gave me, for the moment, an odd sense of having strayed +into the world of those romancers who forecast the future; a +slaughter-house of tasteful architecture, set in a grove of lemon +trees and date palms, suggested the dreamy ideal of some reformer +whose palate shrinks from vegetarianism. To my mind this had no +place amid the landscape which spread about me. It checked my +progress; I turned abruptly, to lose the impression as soon as +possible. + +No such trouble has been taken to provide comely housing for the +collection of antiquities which the town possesses. The curator who +led me through the museum (of course I was the sole visitor) +lamented that it was only communal, the Italian Government not +having yet cared to take it under control; he was an enthusiast, and +spoke with feeling of the time and care he had spent upon these +precious relics--_sedici anni di vita_--sixteen years of life, +and, after all, who cared for them? There was a little library of +archaeological works, which contained two volumes only of the +_Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum_; who, asked the curator sadly, +would supply money to purchase the rest? Place had been found on the +walls for certain modern pictures of local interest. One represented +a pasture on the heights of Aspromonte, shepherds and their cattle +amid rich herbage, under a summer sky, with purple summits enclosing +them on every side; the other, also a Calabrian mountain scene, but +sternly grand in the light of storm; a dark tarn, a rushing torrent, +the lonely wilderness. Naming the painter, my despondent companion +shook his head, and sighed "_Morto! Morto!_" + +Ere I left, the visitors' book was opened for my signature. Some +twenty pages only had been covered since the founding of the museum, +and most of the names were German. Fortunately, I glanced at the +beginning, and there, on the first page, was written "Francois +Lenormant, Membre de l'Institut de France"--the date, 1882. The +small, delicate character was very suggestive of the man as I +conceived him; to come upon his name thus unexpectedly gave me a +thrill of pleasure; it was like being brought of a sudden into the +very presence of him whose spirit had guided, instructed, borne me +delightful company throughout my wanderings. When I turned to the +curator, and spoke of this discovery, sympathy at once lighted up +his face. Yes, yes! He remembered the visit; he had the clearest +recollection of Lenormant--"_un bravo giovane_!" Thereupon, he +directed my attention to a little slip of paper pasted into the +inner cover of the book, on which were written in pencil a few Greek +letters; they were from the hand of Lenormant himself, who had taken +out his pencil to illustrate something he was saying about a Greek +inscription in the museum. Carefully had this scrap been preserved +by the good curator; his piety touched and delighted me. + +I could have desired no happier incident for the close of my +journey; by lucky chance this visit to the museum had been postponed +till the last morning, and, as I idled through the afternoon about +the Via Plutino, my farewell mood was in full harmony with that in +which I had landed from Naples upon the Calabrian shore. So hard a +thing to catch and to retain, the mood corresponding perfectly to an +intellectual bias--hard, at all events, for him who cannot shape +his life as he will, and whom circumstance ever menaces with dreary +harassment. Alone and quiet, I heard the washing of the waves; I saw +the evening fall on cloud-wreathed Etna, the twinkling lights come +forth on Scylla and Charybdis; and, as I looked my last towards the +Ionian Sea, I wished it were mine to wander endlessly amid the +silence of the ancient world, to-day and all its sounds forgotten. + +THE END. + + +End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of By the Ionian Sea +by George Gissing + diff --git a/old/bythn10.zip b/old/bythn10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..2a9a5e0 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/bythn10.zip |