Grotto (Spelunca)

Forming summer dining hall from villa of Tiberius, Sperlonga, Italy Tacitus, Annals, Book 4.59 (on events of 23-28 A.D.; Tacitus lived ca. 55-120 A.D.): LIX. It happened at this time that a perilous accident which occurred to the emperor strengthened vague rumours and gave him grounds for trusting more fully in the friendship and fidelity of Sejanus. They were dining in a country house called "The Cave" (Spelunca in Latin, from which Sperlonga derives), between the gulf of Amuclae and the hills of Fundi, in a natural grotto. The rocks at its entrance suddenly fell in and crushed some of the attendants; thereupon panic seized the whole company and there was a general flight of the guests. Sejanus hung over the emperor, and with knee, face, and hand encountered the falling stones; and was found in this attitude by the soldiers who came to their rescue. After this he was greater than ever, and though his counsels were ruinous, he was listened to with confidence, as a man who had no care for himself. Suetonius, Life of Tiberius 39 (Suetonius lived 69-140 A.D.) XXXIX. But after being bereft of both his sons—Germanicus had died in Syria and Drusus at Rome—he (Tiberius) retired to Campania, and almost everyone firmly believed and openly declared that he would never come back, but would soon die there. And both predictions were all but fulfilled; for he did not return again to Rome, and it chanced a few days later that as he was dining near Tarracina in a villa called the Grotto (Spelunca in Latin, from which Sperlonga derives), many huge rocks fell from the ceiling and crushed a number of the guests and servants, while the emperor himself had a narrow escape.