Road Trip

Horace left us the account of his fifteen day, rather leisurely trip from Rome to Brundisium. It is one of the very few accounts of travel in Italy from 2000 years ago that has survived to our time. Even though its a satire and Horace's main concern was to emphasize the negative side of the journey and provide some humor, it does help us to understand what traveling in Italy was like so many years ago.

There is some debate as to what year the trip took place, either 38 or 37 BCE. If the former date is correct, then Horace was simply a part of a company traveling with Maecenas and Antony's friend Cocceius to Brundisium where the latter two would then depart to Athens to meet with Antony. If the later date is correct, then the party's final destination would most likely have been Tarentium where Antony and Octavius would agree to renew the Triumvirate.

The trip follows the Appian Way, Rome's first great network of roads. Along the way the travelers experience bad water and food, dingy inns, undesirable folks and physical exhaustion and this was the best Italy had to offer!

"I set out on my journey and left behind me the bustling city of Rome. When I reached the little town of Aricia I stopped at a small inn. My traveling companion was Heliodorus, the rhetor, by far the most learned of the Greeks. From Aricia we went to Forum Appii, which was crowded with boatmen and greedy innkeepers. Being rather lazy, we had spread this part of the trip over two days, although the more energetic of the travelers make it in one. But the Appian Way is less tiring if you go slowly.

Because the drinking water at Forum Appii is so incredibly foul, I endured hunger pangs and waited impatiently while my traveling companions had dinner. And now night was preparing to spread her shadows over the earth and sprinkle her stars in the sky. Slaves jeered at boatmen, and boatmen chided slaves. "Put in here!" "Your taking on hundreds!" "Hey that's enough!" By the time the fare was paid and the mule hitched, a whole hour had gone by. The damn mosquitoes and frogs in the marsh made sleep impossible, while a boatman and a passenger, both drunk from too much cheap wine, took turns serenading their absent girlfriends. Finally the passenger was exhausted and fell asleep. The lazy boatman left the mule to graze, fastening the harness traces to a rock, and then lay on his back and snored. Day was already dawning before we noticed that the boat wasn't moving an inch. So one hothead jumped out of the boat and beat both the boatman and the mule on the head and loins with a willow club. Finally, about 10:00, we had just arrived at Feronia's waters.

We washed our hands and faces there and ate some breakfast. Then we crawled along for three miles, climbing steadily up to Anxur which sits atop shining, very conspicuous rocks. Maecenas, an excellent man, and Cocceius were to meet us there, both of them ambassadors, sent out on matters of great importance since they had reputations for patching up broken alliances. At Anxur I smeared some black ointment on my sore eyes. Maecenas and Cocceius arrived and, with them, Fonteius Capito, a polished gentleman and Antony's best friend..... The following day, weary from our travels, we stopped at Formiae; we had dinner at Capito's and spent the night at Murena's. We were eager to see the dawn of the next day because Plotius, Varius, and Vergil met us that day at Sinuessa. The earth has not borne souls more splendid than these! And no one is more attached to them than I. Oh, how many times we hugged one another and laughed with glee. As long as I'm in my right mind, there is nothing I could compare to a pleasant friend. A little house near the Campanian bridge provided shelter for the night......

The next day we traveled from there to Capua. At Capua we had the mules unsaddled. Maecenas played ball, but Vergil and I took a nap because playing ball is painful if you have sore eyes or indigestion. From Capua we traveled to Caudium, where Cocceius entertained us at his well stocked villa which is situated on a hill above the town and its inns.... We had a very enjoyable dinner there.

From Caudium we headed directed toward Beneventum, where the overly eager innkeeper almost burned down his whole place while roasting some scrawny thrushes on a spit. Some sparks from the fireplace fell on the floor, and the flames spread quickly through the ancient kitchen and raced upward to lick the roof. Had you been there, you would have seen hungry guests and frightened slaves grabbing the food and everyone trying to put out the fire.

Soon after Beneventum, Apulia began to reveal her mountains, so familiar to me. They were scorched by the hot wind, and we would never have managed to crawl through them if an inn near Trivicum had not taken us in for the night. But it was filled with eye stinging smoke because there were damp branches, leaves and all, burning in the fireplace. I very stupidly waited up half the night for a deceitful girl. When I finally fell asleep, I dreamed of Venus - and wet my bedclothes.

The next day we raced along over twenty four miles in carriages and then spent the night in a town whose name I cannot mention in verse. But I can easily give you some clues: water, the cheapest of commodities everywhere else, is here sold, but the bread here is by far the best anywhere, and the experienced traveler usually packs a few loaves for the journey ahead. Indeed the bread of Canusium....is gritty, and the town is not a jug richer in water. There Varius sadly departed, leaving his friends in tears.

When we finally reached Rubi, we were exhausted because we had covered a long distance and the trip was made even more uncomfortable by rain. The weather improved the next day, but the road was worse, right up to the walls of the fishing town of Barium. Our next stop was Gnatia......and finally Brundisium, the end of a long trip, and of my papyrus.