Wanderings in Corsica: Its History and Its Heroes. Vol. 1 of 2Gregorovius, Ferdinand
History
Wanderings in Corsica: Its History and Its Heroes. Vol. 1 of 2
Gregorovius, Ferdinand
Corsica (France) -- Description and travel; Corsica (France) -- History
The voyage across to Corsica from Leghorn is very beautiful, and more
interesting than that from Leghorn to Genoa. We have the picturesque
islands of the Tuscan Channel constantly in view. Behind us lies the
Continent, Leghorn with its forest of masts at the foot of Monte Nero;
before us the lonely ruined tower of Meloria, the little island-cliff,
near which the Pisans under Ugolino suffered that defeat from the
Genoese, which annihilated them as a naval power, and put their
victorious opponents in possession of Corsica; farther off, the rocky
islet of Gorgona; and near it in the west, Capraja. We are reminded of
Dante's verses, in the canto where he sings the fate of Ugolino--
"O Pisa! the disgrace of that fair land
Where Si is spoken: since thy neighbours round
Take vengeance on thee with a tardy hand,--
To dam the mouth of Arno's rolling tide
Let Capraja and Gorgona raise a mound
That all may perish in the waters wide."
The island of Capraja conceals the western extremity of Corsica; but
behind it rise, in far extended outline, the blue hills of Cape Corso.
Farther west, and off Piombino, Elba heaves its mighty mass of cliff
abruptly from the sea, descending more gently on the side towards
the Continent, which we could faintly descry in the extreme distance.
The sea glittered in the deepest purple, and the sun, sinking behind
Capraja, tinged the sails of passing vessels with a soft rose-red.
A voyage on this basin of the Mediterranean is in reality a voyage
through History itself. In thought, I saw these fair seas populous with
the fleets of the Phœnicians and the Greeks, with the ships of those
Phocæans, whose roving bands were once busy here;--then Hasdrubal,
and the fleets of the Carthaginians, the Etruscans, the Romans, the
Moors, and the Spaniards, the Pisans, and the Genoese. But still more
impressively are we reminded, by the constant sight of Corsica and
Elba, of the greatest drama the world's history has presented in modern
times--the drama which bears the name of Napoleon. Both islands lie
in peaceful vicinity to each other; as near almost as a man's cradle
and his grave--broad, far-stretching Corsica, which gave Napoleon
birth, and the little Elba, the narrow prison in which they penned
the giant. He burst its rocky bonds as easily as Samson the withes of
the Philistines. Then came his final fall at Waterloo. After Elba, he
was merely an adventurer; like Murat, who, leaving Corsica, went, in
imitation of Napoleon, to conquer Naples with a handful of soldiers,
and met a tragic end.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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