Naples, Past and PresentNorway, Arthur H. (Arthur Hamilton)
History
Naples, Past and Present
Norway, Arthur H. (Arthur Hamilton)
Naples (Italy) -- Description and travel
_Page 26._ This gossip about the Grotta del Cane is derived chiefly
from a small guide to the locality, published early in the present
century.
_Page 37._ Petrarch's account of his visit to the Phlegræan Fields
will be found among his Latin verse epistles (_Carm._ lib. ii. epist.
7).
_Page 41._ Upon the theory that Cumæ was founded so early as a
thousand years before Christ, I translate as follows from Holm
(_Geschichte Griechenlands_, vol. i. p. 340), the most recent of
authorities, and perhaps the most judicious:--"It is scarcely credible
that an organised Greek city existed in these regions in such early
times. But it need not be questioned that scattered settlements of
Greeks were already established on the Campanian coast a thousand
years before Christ; and it cannot be doubted that Cumæ is the
earliest Greek colony, recognised as such, in the West.... Cumæ also
became the mother city of Naples, but at what precise date cannot be
determined."
_Page 45._ The dyke of Hercules. See Beloch, _Campanien_.
_Page 52._ For the Villa of Vedius Pollio, as well as for all the
other antiquities of this region, see Beloch, _Campanien_.
_Page 53._ The story of the Grotta dei Tuoni is one of the interesting
pieces of folklore collected by Signor Gaetano Amalfi, to whose
unwearied labours I acknowledge gratefully many debts. It was
published in the periodical called _Napoli Nobilissima_ in 1895.
_Page 55._ For the stories of the enchanter Virgil, see Comparetti,
_Virgilio nel Mediævo_. The tale of the plundering of Virgil's tomb in
the reign of Roger of Sicily is taken from the same work, where it is
told on the authority of Gervasius of Tilbury. It was a widely
credited tale, and will be found also in Marin Sanudo, _Vite dei
Dogi_, p. 232 of the fine new edition of Muratori, now (1901) being
issued under the direction of Giosuè Carducci, an enterprise which is
remarkable both for scholarship and beauty, and deserves the more
praise since it emanates from no great city, but from the printing
house of Scipione Lapi at Città di Castello, on the upper valley of
the Tiber.
_Page 65._ The traditions of Queen Joanna are well set out by Signor
Amalfi in _La Regina Giovanna nella Tradizione_ (Naples, 1892), a
little work which, though no other exists upon the subject, the
British Museum disdains to purchase. Mr. Nutt procured me a copy,
though with some difficulty. The book is not as complete as it might
be; it contains, for example, no reference to the traditions of the
Queen at Amalfi.
_Page 71._ For Alfonso of Aragon, see Guicciardini, _Istoria
d'Italia_, lib. i. cap. 4. Most of my history is taken from this
writer.
_Page 72._ For an account of San Lionardo, as well as for the
subsequent tale of the Torretta, see _Napoli Nobilissima_ (1892).
_Page 81._ Niccolò Pesce. See _Nap. Nob._ (1896). Schiller's ballad,
"Der Taucher," will of course be found in any collection of his works.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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