AND ITS TRIBUTARIES, THEIR NATURAL HISTORY AND CLASSICAL ASSOCIATIONS. BY STROTHER A. SMITH M.A., FELLOW OF ST. CATHARINE'S COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE. WITH MAP AND ILLUSTRATIONS. London: LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO., 1877. PREFACE. THE object of this work is to gather under one head everything of interest relating to the Tiber. For this purpose I have collected the facts which are scattered through a variety of works, some of which are out of print, and are fast mouldering away in the few libraries where they are preserved. In the latter alone are to be found the details of the great inundations of the sixteenth century, those of 1530, 1557, and 1598, an acquaintance with which, as well as with the meteorological conditions which preceded them, is essential to one who would explain their causes, foresee their recurrence, or devise the means of limiting their effects; for the idea of preventing them altogether I believe to be chimerical. As the Tiber never obtains more than a passing notice in the volumes which treat of the antiquities and churches of Rome, I have been led to consider that its history and associations are worthy of a more complete description. The subject, indeed, is usually assumed to be devoid of interest; but as the uninformed and unimaginative may travel from Dan to Beersheba, and exclaim that all is barren, while a b shrewder observer may notice facts which throw light upon history and science, or afford food for thought to the reflecting, so, notwithstanding the indifference with which the Tiber is regarded in general, it is hoped that some amusement and instruction may be gathered by the inquiring from its natural history and associations. A few years ago an interest was awaked about the Tiber, in consequence of a project lately revived, and which seemed likely to be seriously carried out, of dredging its bed, in order to recover the works of art supposed to have been cast into it in times of insecurity. But it was only as a receptacle for these works of art that any interest was felt about it. Most persons would be content to see it dried up for ever, or diverted altogether from the city, as was suggested in the time of Sixtus V., if they could reach with greater ease the objects which they prize. I have been unable to discover any authority for the story of "Ecce Tiberim," though I had hoped to find it before this work was printed. I should be obliged, therefore, to any of my readers who would enlighten me on this point. The anecdote has been familiar to me as far back as I can recollect; yet, strange to say, I have never met with an Englishman who had heard of it before. The story, however, is well known to the Scotch, who, being as intensely national as the Romans themselves, appear to have been offended by the comparison of the Tiber to the Tay, and to have resented as an insult what was |