18–24 March 1833

And to-day to the Lake Avernus, to the Lucrine Lake, to Baiae, the Arco Felice or gate of Cuma; and at Baias to the Temple of Venus, the Temple of Mercury and many, many name- less ruins. A day of ruins. The soil of Baiae is crumbled marble and brick. Dig anywhere, and they come to chambers and arches and ruins. What a subterranean taste these Roman build-^ ers had. On each side I saw structures peeping out of the ground that must have been originally built into the side of the hill. Here and there could be traced for some distance in the hillside the remains of a floor composed of small pieces of white marble, I broke some out. It is a most impressive spot. Before you is this ever beauti- ful bay, and Capri (always more like a picture than a real island), and Vesuvius with his smoke ; and about you are the great remains of this pleasure-ground of the Roman Senators, their magnificent Nahant, not only broken by time but by earthquakes, and covered even with new soil by the volcanic action which has raised Monte Nuovo, a large hill within a fourth of a mile from this spot. Then, to what base uses turned ! the Temple of Venus, which is almost all standing, and even some delicate bas-reliefs remain upon the ceiling, is now a cooper's shop, and asses bray in it. They turn the chambers of the Roman ladies into little stables for the goats, and all Baiae and Pozzuoli swarm with the gang of ciceroni and beggars. I saw the lake of Avernus, a beautiful little sheet of water, but what gave it its evil classic name, it is not easy to see. Nor did the Acherontian marsh at all suggest the images of the sheeted dead and the Judges of Hell. As to the Lucrine Lake, it is not above three times the size of Frog Pond, nor quite three times as pretty.

Judge of your natural character by what you do in your dreams. If you yield to temptation there, I am afraid you will, awake. If you are a coward then, I jalouse of your courage by day.