VIRGIL! We entered; a vaulted cell and two modern windows alone
presented themselves to view: the poet's name is the only ornament of
the place. No sarcophagus, no urn, and even no inscription to feed the
devotion of the classical pilgrim. The epitaph which though not genuine
is yet ancient, was inscribed by the order of the Duke of Pescolangiano,
then proprietor of the place, on a marble slab placed in the side of the
rock opposite the entrance of the tomb, where it still remains. Every
body is acquainted with it--


Mantua me genuit, Calabri rapuere, tenet nunc Parthenope, cecini
pascua, rura, duces.


But there are authors who venture to assert, that the tomb of which we
are now speaking, is not the sepulchre of Virgil. Of this number are the
classic Addison and the laborious and accurate Cluverius. The authority
of two such eminent persons, without doubt, carries great weight with
it, but that weight is upon this occasion considerably lessened by the
weakness of the arguments on which their opinion is grounded. These
arguments may be found in Cluverius, and Addison merely expresses his
opinion without entering into any discussion. They are drawn from a few
verses of Statius.

In opposition to these arguments, or rather conjectures founded upon the
vague expressions of a single poet (a poet often censured for his
obscurity), we have the constant and uninterrupted tradition of the
country supported by the authority of a numerous host of learned and
ingenious antiquaries; and upon such grounds we may still continue to
cherish the conviction, that we have visited the tomb of Virgil, and