I walked out into the country, and was struck with astonishment at the sight of the ruins scattered all round the neighborhood. They extend for miles in every direction. Walls, arches, columns, remains of temples, theatres and palaces met the eye at every step. Here and there were little gardens among the ruins, where artichokes were growing, but hardly a human being was to be seen. I came at length to the remains of a large theatre, consisting of a semicircle of stone steps, and found a mill stream tumbling down the middle of it. A ragged peasant was lying lazily in the sun among the ruins. I asked him what building it was, but he was totally ignorant of the matter, and could only reply that it was “_cosa antica_”--something ancient. Presently I discovered an enormous excavation in the solid rock, as big as a house, which excited my curiosity very strongly. I could not imagine the use of it, till I luckily met an old Capuchin friar, plodding along in his coarse woollen gown; and learnt from him that this was the famous “Ear of Dionysius,” where that tyrannical king used to confine such persons as fell under his suspicion. It is a most curious place, hollowed out in the shape of the human ear, and forming a vast cavern: in the top is a little nook or chamber, where the tyrant used to sit and hear what the prisoners said. The lowest whisper was heard distinctly in this spot; so that the prisoners were sure to betray themselves if they held any conversation together. While I stood wondering at this strange perversion of human ingenuity, I was startled by the appearance of a grim-looking fellow, who pulled out a pistol as he approached me. My first impulse was to grasp my trusty cudgel, and flourish it at him with a fierce air of defiance, for I took him to be a robber, of course. To my surprise he burst out a laughing, and told me he had come on purpose to show me the wonderful effect of sound in the Ear. He bade me go into the further end of the cavern, while he fired the pistol at the entrance. I did so, and the effect was like the roaring of thunder: I was glad to clap my hands to my ears and run out as fast as I could. I gave the fellow a few cents for his trouble, and told him I had never before got so much noise for so little money.