Читать книгу Rambles in Rome - S. Russell Forbes - Страница 10

The work of clearing the bed of the Tiber has at last commenced. It is proposed to clear away the accumulation of the mud at different parts, remove some of the old masonry that stands in the bed of the river, and widen it at certain points. We very much doubt if this will have any effect upon the floods, as during the republic and empire, when there was not all this accumulation, Rome was flooded several times. The valley of the Tiber, in which Rome stands, is very low, forming, as it were, a basin which is easily overflowed. It would be advisable if the authorities were to clean out the old drains, and put swing trap-doors over their mouths, so that the drainage might flow out, and the river prevented from flowing in. Every winter some part of the city is under water, which is caused by the river rushing up the drains into the city, and not by the overflow of the Tiber. This inpouring might easily be stopped.

Some people think that treasures will be found in the bed of the Tiber, but this is a delusion. Nothing of any value has ever been found in the river, and it is not likely that anything of value was thrown there. Small objects only have been found in the recent dredging. The story of the seven-branched candlestick being thrown into the river is a delusion, for we have direct evidence to the contrary. (See p. 89.)

The piers of the bridges show that the actual bed of the river has not been much raised; indeed the stream flows so fast that everything is carried down to the sea.

Punch says anticipations may be entertained of finding the footstool of Tullia, the jewels of Cornelia, the ivory-headed sceptre of the senator Papirius, and the golden manger of the horse of Caligula.

The length of the Tiber is 250 miles. It rises due east of Florence, in the same hills as the Arno. Its bed at the Ripetta in Rome is 5.20 metres above the sea, and it discharges at the rate of 280 cubic metres a second. The fall from Rome to the sea is 4.20 metres, or about thirteen feet, and it flows about five miles an hour.

"'Behold the Tiber!' the vain Roman cried,

Viewing the ample Tay from Baiglie's side;

But where's the Scot that would the vaunt repay,

And hail the puny Tiber for the Tay?"

Sir Walter Scott.

The river was originally called the Albula, from its colour, and it was named Tiberis, from King Tiberinus of Alba Longa, who was drowned in it, and became the river-god (Dionysius, i. 71).

The ancient Romans looked upon their river with veneration; their poets sang its praises, its banks were lined with the villas of the wealthy, and its waters brought the produce of the world to Rome.