This descent really is fitted to give one an idea of the descent to the shades below, and what added to the illusion was that when we arrived at the bottom of the descent and just at the entrance of the cave where the Sybil held her oracles, we discovered four fierce looking fellows with lighted torches in their hands standing at the entrance. My friend cried out _Voilà les Furies_, and these proved to be our boatmen who, while we were contemplating the _bolge d'Averno_, had run on before to provide torches to shew us the interior of the grotto of the Sybil. As this grotto is nearly knee-deep filled with water we got on the backs of the boatmen to enter it. It is about twenty-five feet long, fifteen broad and the height about thirteen feet. As we were neither devoured by Cerberus nor hustled by old Charon into his boat, we returned from the _Shades below_ to the light of heaven, triumphant like Ulysses or Aeneas, considering ourselves now among the _Pauci quos aequus amavit Jupiter_.[99] Acheron, the dreadful Acheron, is not far from Avernus and is likewise a lake, tho' call'd a river in the mythology. It is also sulfuric and the ground about it is woody, low, marshy and consequently aguish. We next ascended the cliffs of Baiae and we were shown the remains of the villas of Cicero, Caesar, Sylla and other great names. We then went to the baths of Nero (so called). Here it is the fashion to descend under ground in order to feel the effect of the sulfuric heat, which is intense, and my friend who descended soon returned dripping with perspiration and calling out: _Qui n'a pas vu cela n'a rien vu!_ but I did not chuse to descend, as I could feel no pleasure in being half stifled and the _grotto del Cane_ had already given me a full idea of the force of the vapour of the _Thermes_. We then descended from the cliffs of Baiae on the other side, and visited the remains of three celebrated temples of antiquity situated on the beach nearly and very close to each other, viz., the temples of Diana, of Venus and of Mercury; all striking objects and majestic, tho' in a state of dilapidation. Each of these temples has cupolas. We then ascended the slope of ground leading towards cape Misensus, to visit the _Cento Camarelle_ and _Piscina mirabile_, both vast edifices under ground, serving as cellars or appendages to a Palace that stood on this spot. We then visited the lake called the _Mare Morto_ or Styx; and then went round to the other side of it, to visit those beautiful _coteaux_ planted in vines and their summits crowned with groves which have obtained the name of the Elysian fields. This Styx and these Elysian fields look like any other lake and _coteaux_ and are entirely indebted to the lyre of Maro for their celebrity.