eat magnitude
heaped together as at Radicofani. It gave the idea as if it were the
identical field of battle between Jupiter and the Titans, and as if the
masses of rock that everywhere meet the eye had been hurled at the Empyreum
by the Titans and had fallen back on the spot from whence they were torn
up. It is indeed very probable that this volcano which vomited forth rocks
and stones in a very remote age, gave rise to the Fable of the war between
Jupiter and the Giants; just as the volcanos in Sicily and Stromboli gave
rise to the story of the Cyclops with one eye (the crater) in their
forehead. But the mountain of Radicofani must have been a volcano anterior
even to Aetna; it presents the image of an ancient world destroyed by fire.

At Ponte Centino the next morning we took our leave of

_La patria bella
Di vaghe Donne e di dolce favella;_

in plain prose, we left the Tuscan territory, and re-entered the dominions
of His Holiness. After being detained half an hour at the _Douane_, we
proceeded to Acquapendente to breakfast. The country between Radicofani and
Acquapendente is dreary, thinly populated, little cultivated, and volcanic
steams of sulphur assail the nostrils. Before we arrived at Acquapendente
we had a troublesome river to cross, which at times is nearly dry, and at
other times the water comes down in torrents from the surrounding mountains
and precipices, so as to render its passage extremely dangerous. It is
always necessary previous to the passage of a carriage, to send on a man to
ford and sound it, from its meandering and forming different beds crossed
seven times, twice less than Styx _novies interfusa_, and it is a very slow
operation from the number of rocks and quicksands; so that, should the
torrent come down while you are in the act of crossing, you and your whole
equipage would be swept away by the stream and drowned or dashed to pieces.
Travellers going to and returning from Rome are frequently detained for a
day or two at Ponte Centino or Acquapendente during the rainy season; for
immediately after heavy rains, there is always a great risk and it is
better to halt for several hours to allow the waters to pass off. The
extent of ground that this river covers by its meandering and forming so
many beds nearly parallel to each other renders it impossible to construct
a bridge long enough; and it would be always liable to be swept away by the
torrent. Nobody ever thinks of crossing th