in our way from bologna to this place, we passed through ravenna, a disagreeable town, though at one period the seat of empire; for, after attila had left italy, valentinian chose ravenna, in preference to rome, for his residence, that he might always be ready to repel the huns and other barbarians, who poured from the banks of the danube, and prevent their penetrating into italy. the same reason afterwards induced theodoric, king of the ostrogoths, to keep his court at this city of ravenna, after he had defeated and killed odoacer, and assumed the title of king of rome. the ruins of his palace and his tomb now form part of the antiquities of ravenna; among which i shall not detain you a moment, but proceed to the river of pisatello, the famous rubicon,[314] which lies between this town and rimini, and was the ancient boundary between italy and cisalpine gaul. no roman, returning to rome, could pass in arms beyond this, without being deemed an enemy to his country. the small town of cesenate is situated near this brook, and the inhabitants value themselves not a little upon their vicinity to so celebrated a neighbour. but the people of rimini have had the malice to endeavour to deprive them of this satisfaction: they affirm, that the rivulet lusa, which is farther removed from cesenate, and nearer to themselves, is the true rubicon. i have considered this controversy with all the attention it merits; and i am of opinion, that the pretensions of pisatello, which is also called rugone, are the best founded. that you may not suspect my being influenced in my judgment by any motives but those of justice, i beg leave to inform you, that it is a matter of no importance to me which of the rivers is the real rubicon, for we[315] had the honour of passing both in our way to rimini.
what suetonius mentions concerning c?sar’s hesitation when he arrived at the banks of this river, does not agree with what the historian says a little before. quidam putant captum imperii consuetudine, pensitatisque suis & inimicorum viribus, usum occasione rapiend? dominationis, quam ?tate prima concupisset. and this, he adds, was the opinion of cicero, who says, that c?sar had often in his mouth this verse:
nam si violandum est jus, regnandi gratia
violandum est, aliis rebus pietatem colas.
it is most probable, that c?sar took his resolution to cross the rubicon as soon as antony and curio arrived in his camp, and afforded him a plausible pretext, by informing him and the army of the violent manner in which they had been driven from rome by the consul lentulus and the adherents of pompey. as for the[316] phantom, which suetonius informs us determined the dictator while he was yet in hesitation, we may either consider it intirely as a fiction, or as a scene previously arranged by himself to encourage his army, who may be supposed to have had scruples in disobeying a decree of the senate; which declared those persons sacrilegious and parricides, devoting them at the same time to the infernal gods, who should pass over this river in arms. c?sar was not of a character to be disturbed with religious scruples; he never delayed an enterprise, we are told, on account of unfavourable omens. ne religione quidem ulla a quoquam incepto absterritus unquam vel retardatus est. quum immolanti aufugisset hostia, profectionem adversus scipionem & jubam non distulit, &c. &c.
this hesitation, therefore, which is mentioned both by suetonius and plutarch, has no resemblance with the ambitious and decisive character of julius c?sar; the[317] picture which lucan has drawn of him has much more spirit, and in all probability more likeness.
c?sar ut adversam superato gurgite ripam,
attigit, hesperi? vetitis & constitit arvis,
hic, ait, hic pacem, temerataque jura relinquo;
te, fortuna, sequor; procul hinc jam f?dera sunto.
credidimus fatis, utendum est judice bello.
sic fatus, noctis tenebris rapit agmina ductor
impiger, & torto ballaris verbere fund?
ocyor, & missa parthi post terga sagitta;
vicinumque minax invadit ariminum—
though rimini is in a state of great decay, there are some monuments of antiquity worthy the attention of the curious traveler. it is the ancient ariminum, the first town of which c?sar took possession after passing the rubicon. in the market-place there is a kind of stone pedestal, with an inscription, declaring, that on it c?sar had stood and harangued his army; but the authenticity of this is not ascertained to the satisfaction of antiquarians.
[318]
we next passed through pesaro, a very agreeable town, better built and paved than the other towns we have seen on the adriatic shore. in the market-place there is a handsome fountain, and a statue of pope urban the eighth, in a sitting posture. in the churches of this town there are some pictures by baroccio, a painter, whose works some people esteem very highly, and who is thought to have imitated the manner of raphael and the tints of correggio, not without success. he lived about the middle of the sixteenth century, and his colours seem to have improved by time. i say, seem; for, in reality, all colours lose by time: but the operation of sun and air on pictures bringing all the colours to a kind of unison, occasions what is called harmony, and is thought an improvement on some pictures. this road, along the adriatic coast, is extremely pleasant. from pesaro we proceeded to fano, a little town, of nearly the same size, but more populous. it derives its name from[319] a temple of fortune [fanum fortun?], which stood here in the time of the romans. all the towns of italy, however religious they may be, are proud of their connections with those celebrated heathens. an image of the goddess fortune is erected on the fountain in the market-place, and the inhabitants show some ruins, which they pretend belong to the ancient temple of fortune; but what cannot be disputed, are the ruins of a triumphal arch in white marble, erected in honour of augustus, and which was greatly damaged by the artillery of pope paul the second, when he besieged this town in the year 1463. the churches of this town are adorned with some excellent pictures; there is one particularly in the cathedral church, by guercino, which is much admired. the subject is the marriage of joseph: it consists of three principal figures; the high priest, joseph, and the virgin.
[320]
a few miles beyond fano, we crossed the river metro, where claudius nero, the roman consul, defeated asdrubal, the brother of hannibal. this was, perhaps, the most important victory that ever was gained by a roman general; for, had asdrubal been victorious, or been able to effect a junction with his brother, the troops he brought from spain would have become of triple value as soon as they were under the direction of hannibal; and it is not improbable that, with such a reinforcement, that most consummate general would have put an end to the roman state; the glory of carthage would have begun where that of rome ended; and the history of the world would have been quite different from what it is. horace seems sensible of the infinite importance of this victory, and proclaims with a fine poetic enthusiasm, the obligations which rome owed to the family of the hero who obtained it, and the terror which, before[321] that time, hannibal had spread over all italy.
quid debeas, o roma, neronibus,
testis metaurum flumen, et asdrubal
devictus, et pulcher fugatis
ille dies latio tenebris,
qui primus alma risit adorea;
dirus per urbes afer ut italas,
ceu flamma per tedas, vel eurus
per siculas equitavit undas.
we came next to senegallia, another sea-port town upon this coast. there is nothing remarkable in this town, except during the time of the fair, which is held there once a year, to which a great concourse of merchants resort, from venice, and all the towns on both sides of the adriatic; also from sicily, and the archipelago. england carries on a very profitable trade with all the towns in romagnia, from which our merchants purchase great quantities of raw silk, and afterwards sell it, when manufactured, to the inhabitants.[322] they provide them also in english cotton and linen cloths, of every kind.
the distance between senegallia and ancona, is about fifteen miles. we travelled most of this road after it was dark, much against the inclination of the italian servants, who assured us, that it is often infested with robbers. those fellows, they told us, come sometimes from the coast of dalmatia, attack travellers on this road, carry what booty can be got, on board their boats, which are never at a great distance, and then sail to the opposite shore, or to some other part of the coast. as we travelled slowly over the sandy road, some men, in sailors dresses, overtook us. our italians were convinced they belonged to the gang of pirates, or robbers, they had spoken of. our company was too numerous to be attacked; but they attempted, secretly, to cut off the trunks from the chaises, without succeeding.
