Do The Rivers Busento And Crati Still Keep The Secret Of That "Royal
Sepulchre, Adorned With The Splendid Spoils And Trophies Of Rome"?
It Seems Improbable That The Grave Was Ever Disturbed; To This Day
There Exists Somewhere Near Cosenza A Treasure-House More Alluring
Than Any Pictured In Arabian Tale.
It is not easy to conjecture what
"spoils and trophies" the Goths buried with their king; if they
sacrificed
Masses of precious metal, then perchance there still lies
in the river-bed some portion of that golden statue of Virtus,
which the Romans melted down to eke out the ransom claimed by
Alaric. The year 410 A.D. was no unfitting moment to break into
bullion the figure personifying Manly Worth. "After that," says an
old historian, "all bravery and honour perished out of Rome."
CHAPTER IV
TARANTO
Cosenza is on a line of railway which runs northward up the Crati
valley, and joins the long seashore line from Taranto to Reggio. As
it was my wish to see the whole of that coast, I had the choice of
beginning my expedition either at the northern or the southern end;
for several reasons I decided to make straight for Taranto.
The train started about seven o'clock in the morning. I rose at six
in chill darkness, the discomfort of my room seeming worse than ever
at this featureless hour. The waiter - perhaps he was the landlord,
I left this doubt unsolved - brought me a cup of coffee; dirtier
and more shabbily apparelled man I have never looked upon; viler
coffee I never drank.
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