spelunca
Click here here for a view of the remains of the grotto of Egeria whose elaboration Juvenal laments.
Compare Juvenal's description of the shrine in his day to Ovid's description in Metamorphoses, Book 3.157-162 of the grove sacred to the goddess Diana:
| cuius in extremo est antrum nemorale recessu |
| arte laboratum nulla: simulaverat artem |
| ingenio natura suo; nam pumice vivo |
| et levibus tofis nativum duxerat arcum; |
| fons sonat a dextra tenui perlucidus unda, |
| margine gramineo patulos incinctus hiatus. |
Deep in the woods that fringed the valley's edge, was hollowed in
frail sandstone and the soft white pumice of the hills an arch, so true it
seemed the art of man; for Nature's touch ingenious had so fairly wrought
the stone, making the entrance of a grotto cool. Upon the right a limpid
fountain ran, and babbled, as its lucid channel spread into a clear pool
edged with tender grass.
--translated by Brookes Moore (at Perseus)