E 1 « 3
pr.of Rovigno. Perhapg.it naay be,fp, andjj will not venture to af*
fert preeife|y,|thei,cpnttaryt;|^a iinii,.tlte;''<?piiniop !of(fo great a man.
Bpt I ¡may 'jtaptiflp .rn.arbJe had been o f
thq fame i&fStPS.with the which.moilly comppfes,
the ihore.;andi iilapdSipfii/hjiai.^idvlilqlrnatia, the Romans
qeeded no£ tpigp. ¿iE©i the hills in the
neigbptyrbpcjd. pfs Rpn>e, Rontine marihes,
%s.i^r, as fPerrgeinfl^hwithatltitpsfiti^ijiag! jjle Mediterranean hills
o f tjho/pj part?) ere mpftly comppfed <of.thi$ ytryritnje kind o f marble,
which I: believe,.I may call marble, or hard ftone of the Apennines,
fince.the ;mftfsl;o f that, whole cbain.of mountains is al—
wpft , totally (formed..of dUojfr ifcrjftifleBfejinpUthat with much
Ws .ei;ppnce, they could have brought, large ¡rnaffes from Terra-
cinjt to, Rotne, than/from D.almatia. Mejther cap it be alledged,
that the Romans .were/.not , acquainted vrith the ¡quarries o f the
Apennine marble-,: ¡or knewonot howlargfe pieces they might ex-
traih.from rthepce,qj, Amo,ng ¡other! plaebs,, where; the labours. > o f
their ftone-cutteiSiappearei that’pieaefnf marble mountain ¡cut per-
psndieiferiyt 0« the/bankfof-thq fca),mfgna?. httndred and twenty
feetnrjsijfl; o^rtTet-raciriii/ teitoenuwd an:-!iocemmodious;-p&lfsi>in
tl^iAppiatt wayy.dsns'esyedbferwabktiit p o » .douhtlefs-eisamitied
»feiip imm pa.fiagte ¡that>w%",tacK'i|desdg!o>!vifiti^efu-vM: Be-
hdgsi:; Hhlhiftite^mdiadf.thorenj-isilfl-ougHle^ritejr which- can-
not'herattnhuKJd-.tb <fo wife a ipeopHf, YftsiJb¥in^'<a defy common
j©a>rble from a diftant province,Athey would not, at leaft, have
brought it from Trau, but rather from the eaftern parts of Dal-
n).,tia, pr.fi cqp ..the, nea,rep, ifl'Hndsi • which /equally abound with
i t , ..,andi-''whqi!6o<thterrvsdf®1 w#enR^iisdfi'iCedtKmeriienfs'. ■ Add to
this, ,t h a t , ^ i i i p f ^ c r S f e E ^ V o r L ; o f ’thil: kind
tfie ancienf fab
r i c ^ !t]ae, harf# J q n ^ d f,'T iv o li ; called T ra vertine
r % r
vertine in our days ; or the Peperine taken from the hills near
the city itfelf, not from Piperno ; and 1 aft I y the fandy Vulcahic:
tophus, which was brought from the hills o f Marino.* In colonnades,
and other ornamental parts o f ancient buddings^ be-
fides granites, porphyry, and other vitrefcent marbles, there are
to be feen calcareous breccia o f various Rains, and folid marble
of different colours and fubftance, brought from different coun*
tries. Among thefe ftones o f the fecond clafs it would* be requi-
lite to fearch for the Tragurienfe, which nobilitated its native foil.
It probably was a variegated breccia, now confounded with the
African marble, as the-tops of the hills over all Dalmatia furniih
various and noble fpecimens. It is alfo very likely, that the
ancients found ftatuary marble in the neighbourhood o f T r a il:
but it is impoffible to guefs where the quarry is, unlefs it happened
to be difcovered by chance, or by a perfon employed on
purpofe to examine the whole country with minute attention
? I endeavoured, though unfuccefsfully, to find the' fa-
line marble near Trau ; and an attempt was made to rrri-
pofe on me, by fhowing me a piece o f Carrareie marble, and
pretending it was taken from the hill o f S. Elia, near the
city, where, in a-rocky fituation, there are ancient quarries,
not quite vulgar, though very far inferior to the Carrarefe marble.
It were well if all* travellers ufed the fame precaution that I
conftantly did, before they afferted a fait on the faith o f another,
■■1-K and
* It is Arrange that the celebrated’ Wafterius' confounds the lapis Psptrinus
with the Travertinus, and, by the defcription he gives o f both, fhows, that he
knows neither.of them well. Pag. 356^ 357, of the .new edition 1772, 0/ his
Mineralogical fyftem ; trufting to d'Arctt, he aflerts, that the Peperine ftone is
not vulcanic ; yet at page 422, forgetting himfelf, he acknowledges the Peperine
or Tihirtine to be vtilcariic, * believing thefe two vCry different fpecies one and the
fame, How many corrections would the moil celebrated writers make in their
fyftems, i f they travelled a little more !