e, the
latter has become but an appendage to the modern splendor across the
bay. Monte Carlo occupies a site as beautiful as any in the world. In
front the blue sea laves its lovely garden; on the east the soft
coast-line of Italy stretches away in the distance; on the west is the
bold curving rock of Monaco, with its castle and port, and the great
cliff of the Dog's Head. Behind rises the near mountain high above; and
on its top, outlined against the sky, stands the old tower of Turbia in
its lonely ruined majesty, looking towards Rome.

"That tower is nineteen hundred feet above the sea," said the Professor.
"It was built by the Romans, on the boundary between Liguria and Gaul,
to commemorate a victory gained by Augustus Caesar over the Ligurians. It
was called Tropaeum Augusti, from which it has degenerated into Turbia.
Fragments of the inscription it once bore have been found on stones
built into the houses of the present village. The inscription itself is,
fortunately, fully preserved in Pliny, as follows: 'To Caesar, son of the
divine Caesar Augustus, Emperor for the fourteenth time, in the
seventeenth year of his reign, the Senate and the Roman people have
decreed this monument, in token that under his orders and auspices all
the Alpine races have been subdued by Roman arms. Names of the
vanquished:' and here follow the names of forty-five Alpine races."

At first we thought that the Professor was going to repeat them all; but
although no doubt he knew them, he abstained.

"The village behind the tower--we cannot see it from here--seems to be
principally built of fragments of the old Roman stone-work," said Lloyd.
"I have been up there several times."

"Then we do not see the Trophy as it was?" I said.

"No; it is but a ruin, although it looks imposing from here. It was used
as a fortress during the Middle Ages, and partially destroyed by the
French at the beginning of the last century."

"It must have been majestic indeed, since, after all its dismemberment,
it still remains so majestic now," said Margaret.

We were standing on the steps of the Casino during this conversation; I
think we all rather made ourselves stand there, and talk about Turbia
and the Middle Ages, because the evil and temptation we had come to see
were so near us, and we knew that they were. We all had a sentence ready
which we delivered impartially and carelessly; but none the less we knew
that we were going in, and that nothing woul