VIEW OF THE CASCADE AT TIVOLI.
PLATE XXXVI.
This second fall is by most preferred to the great one above, where the waters, descending in one sheet, pass under the bridge seen above.
From this point the view may be contemplated to great advantage; the more majestic mass approaching the fall, spreading down the first steep, and after struggling with itself amongst the rocks for extrication, dashing forward its resonant waters to the caverns, worn by its continual action, below.
Above is seen a part of the town, with the temple of the Sibyl; a ruin which, however beautiful, remains without an iota upon which to form a conjecture of its real origin, and which may be attributed to all the heathen gods in succession, since all most probably received due honours at Tibur; though it seems but justice that the shade of the tutelary deity of the place should be suffered to linger about its latest ruin, associating a chain of classic recollection, of which the first links are lost in the obscurities of earliest time.
The cavern adds not a little to the effect of the scene, by the contrast of its obscurities with the foaming cascade; while the din of waters detained within its recesses, acquires a continuity in its lengthened echoes.
Me nec tam patiens Lacedaemon,
Nec tam Larissae percussit campus opimae,
Quam domus Albuneae resonantis
Et praeceps Anio, ac Tiburni lucus, et uda
Mobilibus pomaria rivis.
Hor. Car. i. 7.
Lactantius tells us, that the ancient statue of the Sibyl was found in the deep below.
From the Cascatelli and village of Maecenas up to this scarcely accessible spot, the river amongst the craggy precipices is romantically beautiful; and hardly less lovely, though amongst another description of scenery, down to the Ponte Lucano, where it enters the Campagna, and tranquilly pursues its level course to join the Tibur at no great distance.
Source: Italian scenery from drawings made in 1817 by Elizabeth Frances Batty. London: Published by Rodwell & Martin, 1820.
