Sometimes the dead come to the bedside of those who have survived, and say, "Now lament for me no more, and cease weeping, for I have the certainty that I shall yet be among the blessed." In the silent night-hours, when you sit upon your bed, and your sad heart will not let you sleep, often the dead call you by name: "O Marì!--O Josè!" For your life do not answer, though they cry ever so mournfully, and your heart be like to break. Answer not! if you answer, you must die. "Andate! andate! the storm is coming! Look at the tromba there, as it drives past Elba!" And vast and dark swept the mighty storm-spectre over the sea, a sight of terrific beauty; the moon was hid, and sea and shore lay wan in the glare of lightning.--God be praised! we are at the Tower of Bastia. The holy Mother of God _had_ helped us, and as we stepped on land, the storm began in furious earnest. We, however, were in port. [G] A kilometre is 1093·633 yards. [H] Usually given along with Seneca's Tragedies; but believed to be of later origin--_Tr._ [I] The olive. [J] It may be worth while to notice a contradiction between this epigram and the preceding, in order that no more insults to Corsica may be fathered on Seneca than he is probably the author of. It is not quite easy to imagine that the writer who, in one epigram, had characterized Corsica as "traversed by fish-abounding streams"--_piscosis pervia fluminibus_--would in another deny that it afforded a draught of water--_non haustus aquæ_. Such an expression as _piscosis pervia fluminibus_ guarantees to a considerable extent both quantity and quality of water.--_Tr._ [K] "Die Sonne sie bleibet am Himmel nicht stehen, Es treibt sie durch Meere und Länder zu gehen." [L] For this unblushing assertion, Livius Geminus had actually received from Caligula a reward of 250,000 denarii. BOOK V.--WANDERINGS IN CORSICA. CHAPTER I. VESCOVATO AND THE CORSICAN HISTORIANS. Some miles to the southwards of Bastia, on the heights of the east coast, lies Vescovato, a spot celebrated in Corsican history. Leaving the coast-road at the tower of Buttafuoco, you turn upwards into the hills, the way leading through magnificent forests of chestnuts, which cover the heights on every side. The general name for this beautiful little district is Casinca; and the region round Vescovato is honoured with the special appellation of Castagniccia, or the land of chestnuts.