[lit-ideas] The Swimming Pool Library, Villa Speranza, Bordighera
- From: jlsperanza@xxxxxxx
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 15 Jan 2008 09:41:47 -0500
Forza, Liguria!
????????????? A: Where does C live?
?????????????? B: Somewhere in the South of France.
?????????????????????????? Grice, "Logic and Conversation"
-----
The Argentines are a funny lot. There I was revising my certificates and things
in Buenos Aires, and under my nationality acts, etc., I read: "immediate
precedence: Celle Ligure". I knew that, but it nicely surprised me to see the
thing being expressed in _those_ words.
Anyway, the reference I have been mentioning on this forum for some time now --
to the point that Geary will now call me a 'barbarian Ligurian', when I'm not,
as I was early "romanized" by the roaming Romans, thankyou -- is this jewel:
?????????? Place of Publication: London
?????????? Date of Publication: 1898
?????????????????????? AUTHOR:???? HALL, W. H.
????????????????????? TITLE:
????????????????????? The Romans on the Riviera [and the Rhone]: [being] a
sketch
????????????????????????? of The Conquest of Liguria.
-- and the Roman Province [i.e. Provence]
Hall opens his book thus:
"Having enjoyed the last twelve years [1886-1898] the privilege of wintering on
the north-western shores of the Mediterranean, I have turned them to account by
following up in every direction the tracks left by the Romans on the French and
Italian Rivieras"
This is commendable, seeing that most tourists would 'turn them account' by
watching tits, rather.
"Ancient Liguria was much wider than the strip of Italian coast to which it is
limited now".
"In the days of Justinian, Milan was considered the capital of Liguria".
MAPS
1. The Riviera
2. The mouth of the Rhone
3. Marseilles
4. Frejus
5. Peutinger.
"We read in his life of Suetonius that when Caligula ran short of German
prisoners he was obliged to put up with the biggest Ligurians he could find. He
compelled them to let their hair grow long, dye it red, assume barbarous names,
and learn German." (p. 7).
"Herodotus mentions Ligurians as mercenaries collected from the coast by
Terillus."
"France has always remained Ligurian." (p. 13).
Polybius writes:
"Publius Cornelius Scipio coasted along Liguria, and crossing in five days from
Pisae to Marseilles, dropped anchor [ancora di speranza] at the most eastern
mouth of the Rhone." (p. 21).
"M. D'Arbois derives the Ligurians from an Aryan stock. He endeavours to prove
that a Ligurian population extended northwards through France and Western
Europe right up to the shores of the North Sea. Nor does M. D'Arbois hesitate
to carry his Ligurians across the Channel into the British Isles." (p. 46).
"The Ligurians arrived by sea, being essentially sea-rovers -- the Normans of
antiquity" (p. 47)
"In Corsica, M. D'Arbois cites 20 names of places ending in the distinctively
Ligurian termination of -asca."
There are 257 modern names of places in Modern Italy ending in -asca (or a
slight variation of that termination) of which only 36 are in the modern
Italian province of Liguria as restricted to the sea-coast."
There were two kinds of Ligurians: highlanders and lowlanders. The highlanders
were known as 'capillati' (long haired) and the lowlanders as 'tonsi' (shorn)
-- Coa lunga and coa raza in Ligurian.
"These capillati clung so desperately to their strongholds that Julius Caesar
failed to force a passage through them."
"It has been my good fortune to have been, as far as I know, the first
Englishman to visit and draw attention to the very striking remains of a series
of Ligurian antiquities in Provence." (p. 53).
"Consisting mostly of rocky ravines and forest clad mountains, Liguria offered
so little attraction to the Romans for colonizing purposes that they were in no
hurry to annex it." [but great for sailing with a view! and cfr. the longhaired]
"The Romans, being as a nation, DESTITUTE OF THE LOVE OF SCENERY FOR ITS OWN
SAKE [very boringly practical, the Romans. JLS], did not care to settle on a
narrow ledge between the MOUNTAINS AND THE SEA..."
???? Ahh! La mia villa Speranza!
"... where the difficulty of getting supplies must have been almost insuperable
in Roman times." (And they loved a heavy dining -- the fat bastards).
"This stretch of the coast-line is called by the modern Ligurians 'Riviera di
Levante' to distinguish it from that to the west known as 'Riviera di Ponente'."
Celle Ligure is on the Riviera di Levante, must say.
"So precipitous, however, are the cliffs, especially as far as Sestri-Levante,
that the coast is practically ONLY APPROACHABLE FROM THE SEA, even to this
day."
"Even fish are scarce along this inhospitable coast."
"These sixty miles of coastline are practically ignored by Livy"
Hall goes on to discuss the River Argens (cfr. Argentina -- ain't this a? small
world?)
"This beaten track is sometimes dignified by the name of Via Heraclea, sive
Herculia -- The earliest mention of this track -- which went down to Gibraltar
-- the pillar of Hercules -- is to be found in Polybius."
The haws of Beaucaire.
Mario (Marius) is still the most popular name in Liguria.
"If the reader will take the trouble to glance at the Map of the Riviera at the
beginning of the volume, he will observe that Dertona (Tortona) is situated at
the junction of two Roman roads, the via Postumia, and the Via Aemilia."
"Savona, where fair accomodation is afforeded at the Albergo Strizzera, will be
found the most convenient headquarters for exploring the region."
A letter from Lepidus to Cicero dated May 22, B. C. 43 mentions,
???? In camp at the Bridge of the Argens.
???? In castris ad Pontem Argenteum.
"The bridge over the Argens is within one mile of the station Les Arcs, where
all the expresses stop between Toulon and Cannes."
When Limpidus took his own at the bridge, "his was indeed the only drop of
blood which tinged the limpid waters of the Argens." (p. 160).
"In its Roman and international character, the Via Aurelia recognizes no
frontiers [ah, passe partout! JLS], and connects the French and Italian
Rivieras by an INDISOLUBLE BOND."
"Numerous as are the treatises dealing with the various sections of the Via
Aurelia, there is not a single one in any language, which treats of it at all
adequately as a whole."
Thus, Lentheric ("The Riviera") covers the French bit; "while the Italian
Riviera is almost entirely ignored".
After Strabo,
"On its first continuation through Pisae into Liguria, the road was called
Aemilia, after Aemilius Scaurus, the author of its prolongation to Vada Sabata.
?????????????? Via Aurelia ---? Via Aemilia --- Via Domitia --- Via Herculea.
From Luna it was carried some considerable distance inaldn up the valley of the
Magra to avoid the previpitous coast between Spezia and Moneglia."
At Vence (where D. H. Lawrence died), "there never was but one Roman road at
any time."
In the age of Dante, the coast road between Lerici (on the bay of Spezia) and
Turbia had become proverbial for its impracticability ('to live is accidental,
to sail is not")
?? Tra Lerici et Turbia, la piu diserta
?? La piu romita via, e una scala
?? Verso di quella, agevole et aperta
??????????????????????????? Purgatorio III 49
"Between Albenga and Alassio, the Roman road forms one of the most CHARMING
WALKS ON THE WHOLE RIVIERA" [great for convertible motor drives, too. JLS],
being carried under olive groves round the shoulder of the mountains for about
four miles at a considerable height above the sea, of which it commands
glorious views."
"From Bordighera to Vintimiglia, the Strada Romana runs parallel with the sea."
"The passage of the road through VIntimiglia is attested by three milestones in
the disused church of San Michele."
"Between Vintimiglia and Mentone [where Beardsley died. JLS] the Via Julia
Augusta is to be seen in all its naked simpliciity."
"Runs parallel to the railway, along the shore."
"over the stream of the Issole, which views with the Argens in its silvery
limpidity."
Cheers,
J. L. Speranza
The Swimming Pool Library
Villa Speranza, Bordighera
?
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