far had a villa here, which he was under the neceffity of felling to defray the expence of the public fhews and games he exhibited to the people during his Edileship. Plutarch fays, that his liberality and magnificence, on this occafion, obfcured the glory of all who had preceded him in the office, and gained the hearts of the people to fuch a degree, that they were ready to invent new offices and new honours for him. He then laid the foundation of that power and popularity, which enabled him, in the end, to overturn the conftitution of his country. Caius Caffius had also a countryhouse here; where Marcus Brutus and he are faid to have had frequent meetings, and to have formed the plan which terminated the ambition of Cæfar, and again offered to Rome that freedom which fhe had not the virtue to accept. Here alfo was the villa of Auguftus, whofe fuccefs in life arose at the field of Philippi, from which he fled, was confirmed by the death of the

moft virtuous citizens of Rome, and who, without the talents, reaped the fruits of the labours and vaft projects of Julius. Lepidus the Triumvir, Cæcilius Metellus, Quintilius Varus, the poets Catullus and Propertius, and other diftinguished Romans, had villas in this town or its environs; and you are fhewn the spots on which they ftood: but nothing renders Tibur fo interesting, as the frequent mention which Horace makes of it in his writings. His great patron and friend Mæcenas had a villa here, the ruins of which are to be feen on the fouth bank of the Anio; and it was pretty generally fuppofed, that the poet's own house and farm were very near it, and immediately without the walls of Tibur; but it has been of late afferted, with great probability, that Horace's farm was fituated nine miles above that of Mæcenas's, at the fide of a ftream called Licenza, formerly Digentia, near the hill Lucretilis, in the country of the ancient Sa

bines. Those who hold this opinion, fay, that when Horace talks of Tibur, he alludes to the villa of Mæcenas; but when he mentions Digentia, or Lucretilis, his own house and farm are to be understood; as in the eighteenth Epiftle of the firft book,

Me quoties reficit gelidus Digentia rivus, Quem Mandela bibit, rugofus frigore pagus; Quid fentire putas, quid credis, amice, precari*?

the feventeenth Ode of the firft book,

Velox amænum fæpe Lucretilem
Mutat Lycao Faunus

and in other paffages. But whether the poet's house and farm were near the town of Tibur, or at a distance from it, his writings fufficiently show that he spent much of his time there; and it is probable that he

When retired to the cool ftream of Digentia, which fupplies the cold village of Mandela with water; what, my friend, do you imagine, are my fentiments and wishes? + Pan from Arcadia's heights defcends,

To vifit oft my rural feat

FRANCIS.

composed

compofed great part of his works in that favourite retreat. This he himself in some measure declares, in that fine Ode addreffed to Julius Antonius, fon of Mark Antony, by Fulvia; the fame whom Auguftus first pardoned, and afterwards put privately to death, on account of an intrigue into which Antonius was feduced by the abandoned Julia, daughter of Auguftus.

-Ego, apis Matinæ
More modoque,

Grata carpentis thyma per laborem
Plurimum, circa nemus uvidique
Tiburis ripas, operofa parvus
Carmina fingo*.

If

you ever come to Tivoli, let it not be with a numerous party; come alone, or with a fingle friend, and be fure to put

*But as a bee, which thro' the shady groves,
Feeble of wing, with idle murmurs roves,
Sits on the bloom, and with unceasing toil,
From the sweet thyme extracts his flow'ry spoil,
So I, weak bard! round Tibur's lucid spring,
Of humble ftrain laborious verfes fing.

FRANCIS.

your

your Horace in your pocket. You will read him here with more enthusiasm than elsewhere; you will imagine you see the philofophic poet wandering among the groves, fometimes calmly meditating his moral precepts, and fometimes his eye in a fine frenzy rolling with all the fire of poIf Tivoli had nothing

etic enthusiasm. elfe to recommend it but its being so often fung by the most elegant of the poets, and its having been the refidence of fo many illuftrious men, these circumstances alone would render it worthy the attention of travellers; but it will also be interesting to many on account of its cascade, the Sibyl's Temple, and the Villa Estense.

The river Anio, deriving its fource from a part of the Apennines, fifty miles above Tivoli, glides through a plain till it comes near that town, when it is confined for a short space between two hills, covered with groves. These were supposed to have been the refidence of the Sibyl Albunea, to whom

the