p
I
drains. The middle baftion E , merits particular obferva'tion, as
it agrees -very well with modern military architedtuie; and a
Profeffor o f that noble art would find -many things befides this
worthy o f his attention. An-antiquary, or even a fimple lover
o f the fine arts, or o f erudition, cannot help wifhing at Pod-
graje, that fome powerful hand, Quicquid fub terra eji in apricum
proferit: and fuch a wiili becomes ftronger, when he reflects, that
fince the deftrudion o f that city, no fearch has ever been made
under ground, with a view to difcover any thing curious; and
yet thefe walls, without doubt, inclofe a valuable depofite o f antiquities,
thrown down in heaps, who knows by what caufe ; perhaps
naturally, by an earthquake, or perhaps, by a fudden inundation
o f barbarians, which is ftill w-orfe. T he gate now de-
moliihed, the confiderable height o f the walls to be feen in feve-
ral places from without, fome pieces o f thick walls, that ftill ap-
pear.levelled to the ground among the buihes, are circumftances,
which give ground to hope, that many coftly monuments might
be recovered out o f thefe ruins. T he magnificence o f the wall
F , and the many pieces o f w ell cut ftone, and fine marble feat-
tered over the contiguous fields, afford fufficient proof, that both
good tafte, and grandeur once flouriihed in that country. In
the midft o f the rubbiih, which covers the remains o f Afferia,
the pariih church o f the little village ftands infolated.; it is
built of broken pieces o f ancient ruins, taken as they happened
to be neareft, mixed with mutilated inforiptions, and fragments
o f noble cornices.
T h e Morlacks, who inhabit Podgraje, formerly paid feme
attention to ftones, on which they faw any thing remarkable,
when they met • th them in ploughing,'or digging; but ever
F fince