"Sarete contenti di me, Signori. Io sono un' galant' uomo: miei figli sono galant' uomini: la mia barca è buona e bella. Tutti i Signori forestieri sono contenti di me."
As soon as we had made something of an offing, the sails were set, and we changed our marinaro's rhapsody of self-eulogy to some national airs sung by his sons. Their voices were good, and our navigation was prosperous and pleasant.
We were thoroughly tired out when we arrived at Salerno, which is less picturesquely situated than Amalfi, the shore around being low. When Amalfi was a great commercial sea-port, the medical school of Salerno was famous for its knowledge of the healing art. The students went to study in Arabia and Spain; and they returned to their native town to dispense, among crowds of rich and noble patients, the treasures of their skill. Salerno in those days was regarded as illustrious among the cities of modern Italy—the women were beautiful, and the men were honest; thus Gibbon transcribes the praise of William of Apulia—
"Urbs Latii non est hac delitiosor urbe:
Frugibus, arboribus, vinoque redundat; et unde
Non tibi poma, nuces, non pulchra palatia desunt
Non species muliebris abest probitasque virorum."
But we saw less of the remnants of this magni-
