the soul shudders

To have seen it only by day is not to know its effect: the brilliant Italian sun lends everything a holiday air, but the moon is the star for ruins. The Amphitheater seems to rise into the skies so that at times, seen through its apertures, some part of heaven's vault looks like a dark blue curtain placed behind the structure. The plants clinging to decaying walls, growing in solitary places, take on the colors of the night; finding itself alone with nature, the soul shudders and has tender feelings all at once.

-- Madame de Staël Corinne
Translated by Avriel H. Goldberger

Madame de Staël