# The Geography of Strabo/Book 6

WS Note: the sections can be linked, ex. …/Book 6#3:10 links to section 10 of Chapter III.
Chapters: I – II – III – IV
ITALY. SUMMARY.
CHAPTER I.
For the Greeks of Italy, enticed by this prophecy, marched against Laüs, and were defeated by the Leucani.
2. Such, along the shores of the Tyrrhenian Sea, are the possessions of the Leucani, which at first did not reach to the other sea; the Greeks who dwelt on the Gulf of Tarentum possessed it. But before the coming of the Greeks there were no Leucani, the Chones and Œnotri possessed these territories. But when the Samnites had greatly increased, and expelled the Chones and Œnotri, and driven the Leucani into this region, while the Greeks possessed the sea-coast on both sides as far as the straits, the Greeks and the Barbarians maintained a lengthened contest. The tyrants of Sicily, and afterwards the Carthaginians, at one time making war against the Romans, for the acquisition of Sicily, and at another, for Italy itself, utterly wasted all these regions. The Greeks, however, succeeded in depriving the ancient inhabitants of a great portion of the midland country, beginning even as early as the Trojan war; they increased in power, and extent of territory, to such a degree, that they called this region and Sicily, the Magna Græcia. But now the whole region, except Tarentum, Rhegium, and Neapolis, has become barbarian, and belongs partly to the Leucani and Bruttii, partly to the Campani; to these, however, only in name, but truly to the Romans; for these people have become Roman. However, it is incumbent on one who is treating of ​universal geography, to speak both of things as they now are, and of some of those that have been, and especially when they are important. Of the Leucani, who border upon the Tuscan Sea, mention has already been made; those who possess the midland regions dwell above the Gulf of Tarentum, but these, as well as the Bruttii, and the Samnites themselves, the progenitors of both, have been so maltreated [by the Romans], that it is difficult to determine the boundaries of each people. The reason of this is, that there no longer remains separately any of the institutions common to these nations; and their peculiarities of language, of military and civil costume, and such particulars, have passed away; besides, even their places of abode, considered separately and apart, possess nothing worthy of observation.
3. We will narrate in a general manner what we have gathered concerning the Leucani, who dwell in the interior, without too much care in distinguishing them from their neighbours, the Samnites. Petilia is considered as the metropolis of the Leucani, and is still well peopled. It owes its foundation to Philoctetes, who was compelled to quit Melibœa on account of civil dissensions. Its position is so strong, that the Samnites were formerly obliged to construct forts around it for the defence of their territory. The ancient Crimissa, situated near these places, was also founded by Philoctetes. Apollodorus, in his description of the ships [of the Greeks], narrates concerning Philoctetes, that, according to certain writers, this prince having disembarked in the district of Crotona, settled on the promontory of Crimissa, and built the city of Chone above it, from which the inhabitants were called Chones; and that certain colonists being sent by him into Sicily, to the neighbourhood of Eryx, with Ægestus the ​Trojan, founded Ægesta. In the inland districts are also Grumentum, Vertinæ, Calasarna, and other small villages, reaching as far as Venusia, a city of some importance. This, however, I consider to be a Samnite city, as are also those which are next met with on going into Campania. Above the Thurii lies the district called Tauriana. The Leucani are of Samnite origin. Having vanquished the Posidoniates and their allies, they took possession of their cities. At one time the institutions of the Leucani were democratic, but during the wars a king was elected by those who were possessed of chief authority: at the present time they are Roman.
4. The Bruttii occupy the remainder of the coast as far as the Strait of Sicily, extending about 1350 stadia. Antiochus, in his treatise on Italy, says that this district, which he intended to describe, was called Italy, but that previously it had been called Œnotria. The boundary which he assigns to it on the Tyrrhenian Sea, is the river Lao, and on the Sea of Sicily Metapontium, the former of which we have given as the boundary of the Bruttii. He describes Tarentum, which is next to Metapontium, as beyond Italy, calling it Iapygian. He also relates that, at a more ancient period, those who dwelt on this side the isthmus, which lies next the Strait of Sicily, were the only people who were called Œnotrians and Italians. The isthmus is 160 stadia across between the two gulfs, namely, that of Hipponium, which Antiochus called Napitinus, and ​that of Scylletium. The circumnavigation of the peninsula, which is comprised between this isthmus and the strait, is 2000 stadia. He says that afterwards the names of Italy and of the Œnotrians were extended as far as Metapontium and the Siritis; the Chones, a people of Œnotrian descent, and highly civilized, inhabited these districts, and called their country Chone. However, this author has written in a very loose and old-fashioned manner, without giving any definite boundaries to the Leucani and Bruttii. Now Leucania is situated on the Tyrrhenian and Sicilian Seas, extending on one coast from the Silaro to the river Lao, and on the other from Metapontium to Thurii. Along the continent it stretches from the country of the Samnites, as far as the isthmus between Thurii and Cerilli, near the Lao. This isthmus is 300 stadia across. Beyond are the Bruttii, who dwell on the peninsula; in this is included another peninsula, which is bounded by the isthmus between Scylletium and the Hipponiate gulf. The nation received its appellation from the Leucani, for they call runaways Bruttii, and they say that formerly they ran away from them when employed as shepherds, and that afterwards their independence was established through the weakness [of the Leucani], when Dion [of Syracuse] was prosecuting a war against [the younger] Dionysius, and fomented hostilities amongst all. This is all we shall remark as to the Leucani and Bruttii.
​5. From the Lao the first city is the Temesa of the Bruttii, which at present is called Tempsa. It was founded by the Ausonians; afterwards the Ætolians, under the command of Thoas, gained possession of it. These were expelled by the Bruttii; Hannibal and the Romans have overthrown the Bruttii. In the vicinity of Temesa is the Heroum of Polites, one of the companions of Ulysses. It is surrounded by a thick grove of wild olives. He was treacherously slain by the barbarians, and became in consequence very wrathful, and his shade so tormented the inhabitants that they submitted to pay him a tribute, according to the direction of a certain oracle. Thus it became a proverb amongst them, “Let no one offend the hero of Temesa,” for they said that [for a long time he] had tormented them. But when the Epizephyrian Locrians took the city, they feign that Euthymus the pugilist went out against him, and having overcome him in fight, constrained him to free the inhabitants from tribute. They say that the poet intended this Temesa, and not the Tamassus in Cyprus, (for it is said that the words are suitable to either,) when he sings,
for he thought that it foreshowed the destruction of his enemies, and not of his own people. They say that Pandosia ​was formerly the residence of the Œnotrian kings. After Cosentia is Hipponium, founded by the Locrians. The Romans took it from the Bruttii, who were in possession of it at a subsequent period, and changed the name into Vibo-Valentia. And because the meadows in its vicinity are luxuriant and full of flowers, it is supposed that Proserpine came over from Sicily to gather them, and from thence the custom among women of this city, to gather flowers and plait garlands, prevailed to such an extent, that they now think it shameful to wear purchased garlands at the festivals. It also possesses a harbour made by Agathocles, the tyrant of Sicily, when he was in possession of the town. On sailing hence to the Portus Herculis, we come to the point where the headlands of Italy, as they stretch towards the Strait [of Sicily], begin to turn westward. In this voyage we pass Medma, a city of the same Locrians, which bears the name of a copious fountain, and possessing at a short distance a naval station, called Emporium. Very nigh is the river Metauro, as also a naval station bearing the same name. The Lipari Isles lie off this coast; they are distant 200 stadia from the strait. They say that they are the islands of Æolus, of whom the poet makes ​mention in the Odyssey. They are seven in number, and are all easily distinguished both from Sicily and the coast of the continent about Medma. We will speak of them in particular when we describe Sicily. After the river Metaurus, there is another Metaurus. Next in order is Scyllæum, an elevated cliff nearly surrounded by the sea. But connected with the main-land by a low isthmus easily accessible on either side, which Anaxilaus, the tyrant of Rhegium, fortified against the Tyrrheni, and formed a commodious haven, and thus prevented the pirates from passing through the strait. Next to the Scyllæan promontory was that of Cænys, distant from Medma 250 stadia. It is the last headland, and forms the narrowest part of the Strait [of Sicily], being opposite to Cape Pelorus on the Sicilian side, which is one of the three points which give to that island the form of a triangle. Its aspect is towards the rising of the sun in summer, whilst that of Cænys looks towards the west. Indeed they both seem to have diverged from the general line of coast in order to stand out opposite each other. From Cænys to the Posidonium [and] the Columna Rheginorum, the narrow part of the strait stretches as much as 6 stadia, the shortest passage across the strait is a little more. From the Columna ​[Rheginorum] to Rhegium, where the strait begins to widen, is a hundred [stadia] as you advance in a direction towards the exterior and eastern sea, which is called the sea of Sicily.
6. Rhegium was founded by certain Chalcidenses, who, as they say, were decimated as an offering to Apollo in a time of scarcity, by order of an oracle, and afterwards removed hither from Delphi, taking with them certain others from home. As Antiochus says, the Zanclæans sent for the Chalcidenses, and appointed Antimnestus chief over them. Certain fugitives of the Messenians of Peloponnesus accompanied this colony, who had been compelled to fly by those who refused to give satisfaction to the Lacedæmonians for the violation of the virgins at Limnæ, whom they had abused when attending the religious festival, and had slain those who assisted them. However when the fugitives had removed to Macistus, they sent to the oracle complaining against Apollo and Diana for suffering these things to happen notwithstanding they so greatly honoured them, and inquiring how the devoted might be saved. Apollo commanded to send them with the Chalcidenses to Rhegium, and to be grateful, therefore, to his sister Diana for that they were not lost but saved, as they should not be destroyed with their country, which would be annihilated shortly after by the Spartans. They acted in accordance with the oracle, and thus it was that the rulers of the Rhegini were all of Messenian race until the time of Anaxilaus.
Others, as well as he, have affirmed the same thing, and adduce as an evidence that which is observed about Ætna, and the appearances seen in other parts of Sicily, the Lipari and neighbouring islands, and even in the Pithecussæ, with the whole coast beyond them, which prove that it was not unlikely that this convulsion had taken place. But now these mouths being opened, through which the fire is drawn up, and the ardent masses and water poured out, they say that the land in the neighbourhood of the Strait of Sicily rarely suffers from the effects of earthquakes; but formerly all the passages to the surface being blocked up, the fire which was smouldering beneath the earth, together with the vapour, occasioned terrible earthquakes, and the regions, being disturbed by the force of the pent-up winds, sometimes gave way, and being rent received the sea, which flowed in from either side; and thus were formed both this strait and the sea which surrounds the other islands in the neighbourhood. For Prochyta and the ​Pithecussæ, as well as Capreæ, Leucosia, the Sirenes, and the Œnotrides, are but so many detached fragments from the continent, but other islands have risen from the bottom of the sea, a circumstance which frequently occurs in many places; for it is more reasonable to think that the islands in the midst of the sea have been raised up from the bottom, and that those which lie off headlands and are separated merely by a strait were broken off from them. Still it is beside our purpose to investigate thoroughly whether the name were given to the city for these causes, or whether it were named by the Samnites from the Latin word regium, which, signifies royal, on account of its importance, for their chieftains participated in the privileges of citizenship with the Romans, and generally used the Latin language. But Dionysius (the elder), having been treated with contempt by them, destroyed the illustrious city which had founded many towns and produced many distinguished characters, whether statesmen or men of letters, for when he sought a consort from their city, they offered him the hangman’s daughter; but his son (Dionysius the younger) partly restored it, and called it Phœbia. During the war with Pyrrhus, a body of Campanians destroyed most of the citizens against the faith of treaties, and a little ​before the Marsic or social war, earthquakes destroyed most of the towns; but after Augustus Cæsar had driven Sextus Pompeius out of Sicily, when he saw that the city was deficient of inhabitants, he appointed certain of those who accompanied the expedition to reside there, and it is now tolerably well peopled.
7. Sailing 50 stadia from Rhegium towards the east, we meet the cape called Leucopetra, from the colour of the rock, where they say the range of the Apennines terminates. Further on is Heraclæum. It is the last promontory, and looks towards the south; for presently on doubling it the course takes a south-western direction as far as the promontory of Iapygia, then it runs towards the north more and more, and towards the west along the Ionian gulf. After the Herculeum Promontorium is the head-land of Locris, which is called Zephyrium, possessing a haven exposed to the west winds, whence is derived its name. Then is the state of the Locri Epizephyrii, a colony of Locrians transported by Evanthes from the Crissæan gulf, shortly after the foundation of Crotona and Syracuse. Ephorus was not correct in stating ​that they were a colony of the Locri Opuntii. They remained at first during three or four years at Cape Zephyrium; afterwards they removed their city, with the assistance of certain Syracusans who dwelt amongst them. There is also a fountain called Locria in the place where the Locri first took up their abode. From Rhegium to the Locri there are 600 stadia. The city is built on a height, which they call Esopis.
8. The Locri are believed to have been the first who committed their laws to writing, but after they had enjoyed the advantage of these good laws for a very considerable time, Dionysius [the younger], having been expelled from Syracuse, found means to abuse them in a most abominable manner, for he, entering into a private chamber where certain young brides had been adorned for their nuptials, violated them; he also gathered the most beautiful virgins to his revels, and having liberated doves with uncut wings, commanded the young women to chase them round the apartment in a state of perfect nudity, while on some he bound sandals of unequal height, one being high and the other low, in order to make their appearance in the pursuit the more unseemly. However he paid dearly for this, for having returned to Sicily to resume his government, the Locri overpowered the guard he had left in their city, freed themselves, and obtained possession of his wife and children; there were two of his daughters, and his second son who had already attained the age of manhood; the eldest, however, called Apollocrates, accompanied his father in the expedition. And although Dionysius himself entreated them earnestly, as did also the Tarentines, to deliver the prisoners for whatever ransom they should name, they remained inexorable, and endured a siege and the wasting of their country, that they might vent their rage on his daughters. After having exposed them to the most shameful ​outrages, they strangled them, burnt their bodies, pounded their bones, and cast them into the sea. Ephorus in speaking of the written law of the Locri, which Zaleucus had most judiciously selected from the Cretan, Lacedæmonian, and Areopagite codes, says that Zaleucus was the first to establish this principle, that whereas formerly lawgivers had left it to the judges to award the punishments for the several offences, he established a certain penalty in his laws, thinking that the minds of the judges would not be led to attach the same penalties for the same transgressions, which course he considered expedient. He praises him also for having simplified the law of contracts. [He says also] that the Thurians, being desirous to improve [the code of Zaleucus] more than the Locri had done, became more celebrated, but were less judicious. For that state is not regulated by the best government, where they guard against all manner of deceit by their laws, but that wherein they abide by laws simply framed. Plato also has observed that where there are many laws, there there will be law-suits and evil lives, in the same way as, where there are many physicians, there it is likely there is much sickness.
9. There is a certain singular circumstance, respecting grasshoppers, worthy of note. The river Alece divides Rhegium from Locris, flowing through a deep ravine; those which are in the territory of the Locrians sing, but those on the other side are silent; and it is thought probable that this is caused by the region being woody, and their membranes being softened by dew do not produce sound; but those on the Locrian side being sunned, are dry and horny, so that the sound is easily produced by them. The statue of Eunomus the harper having a grasshopper seated on his harp is shown at Locri. Timæus says, that this Eunomus was once contending at the Pythian games and disputed with Aristo of Rhegium for the prize, and that Aristo declared that the people ​of Delphi ought to take part with him, because his ancestors were consecrated to the god, and sent out to found the colony; but Eunomus said that they could have no claim to contend for melody with any one, because that among them even the grasshoppers, who are the most gifted of all creatures, were mute. Nevertheless Aristo was applauded, and had hopes of obtaining the victory, but Eunomus was declared victorious, and dedicated the said statue in his country, because that at the contest one of the chords of his harp having broken, a grasshopper taking his stand on it supplied the sound. Above these towns the Bruttii possess the interior, and there is the city Mamertium, and the forest which they call Sila, which produces the best or Bruttian pitch. It yields fine trees, and is well watered, extending over a length of 700 stadia.
10. After the Locri is the [river] Sagras, in the feminine gender, on which is situated the altar of the Dioscuri, near which ten thousand Locrians, with a small body of Rhegians gained a victory over 130,000 Crotoniatæ, whence they say arose the proverb applied to incredulous people, “It is more true than the victory of the Sagras.” Some people add to the mysterious account, that it was announced the same day at the Olympic games to the people there assembled, and this speedy news was found perfectly correct. They say that this mischance was so unfortunate an event to the Crotoniatæ, that after it they did not long remain as a nation, on account ​of the number of citizens who fell in the battle. After the Sagras is Caulonia, which was at first called Aulonia, from the αὐλὼν, or valley, in which it was situated; but it is deserted, for its former possessors were driven out by the barbarians, and have taken refuge in Sicily, and there founded [another] Caulonia. After this is Scylletium, a colony of the Athenians, who set out under Menestheus; it is now called Scylacium. Dionysius [the elder] allotted a portion of it to the Locri, whilst it was in the possession of the Crotoniatæ. The Scylleticus Sinus received its name from this city. It together with the Hipponiates Sinus forms the isthmus which we have mentioned above. Dionysius undertook to build a wall across the isthmus, at the time he was carrying on war against the Leucani, assigning as a pretext that it would afford security to the inhabitants of the peninsula from the inroads of the barbarians dwelling beyond it; but in truth his intention was to cut off the communication of the Greeks with each other, and to have the greater power over those who dwelt within the peninsula, but those who dwelt without assembled and prevented the undertaking.
11. After Scylletium is the region of Crotona, and the ​Iapygum tria Promontoria, and after these the Lacinium, sacred to Juno, formerly rich and filled with many offerings. But the distances have not been accurately stated. We can only say that in a general way Polybius reckons 2300 stadia from the strait to Lacinium, and 700 stadia from Lacinium to the Iapygian promontory. They call this the entrance of the Gulf of Taranto. The extent of the gulf is considerable, being 240 miles along the shore. As the chorographer says … of 380 … to a light person, Artemidorus: wanting also by so many … of the breadth of the mouth of the gulf. Its aspect looks towards the rising of the sun in winter. It commenced from Lacinium, for presently on doubling the cape you come to where the Greek cities formerly stood; now they no longer exist, with the exception of Tarentum. But on account of the estimation in which certain of them were held, it is worth while to speak of them somewhat in detail.
12. The first is Crotona, 150 stadia from Lacinium and the river Esaro; there is also a haven there, and another river ​Nieto, the name whereof is said to be derived from the following circumstance—they say that certain of the Greeks who had wandered from the fleet which had besieged Troy, having arrived in this place, disembarked to take a survey of the country, and that the Trojan women who accompanied them in the fleet, having observed the absence of the men, and being wearied with a toilsome voyage, set fire to the fleet, so that they were compelled to abide, when they saw, in addition [to the loss of their ships], that the soil was very fertile. Many others arriving soon after, and being desirous to live near their fellow-countrymen, founded several settlements. Most of them derived their names from the Trojans, and the river Nieto received its appellation from the destruction [of the ships]. But Antiochus relates that an oracle having commanded the Greeks to found Crotona, Myscellus went forth to view the place, and having seen Sybaris already built on a neighbouring river of the same name, thought it better, and returned to the god to ask if he might be permitted to settle in that, instead of the other; but that the oracle answered, applying to him an epithet noticing his defective stature, (for Myscellus was somewhat crook-backed,)
and that he returned and built Crotona, wherein he was assisted by Archias, the founder of Syracuse, who happened to touch at Crotona by chance, as he was proceeding to the colony of the Syracusans. The Iapyges possessed Crotona before this time, as Ephorus relates. The city cultivated martial ​discipline and athletic exercises to a great extent, and in one of the Olympic games all the seven wrestlers, who obtained the palm in the stadium, were Crotoniatæ; whence, it seems, the saying arose that the last wrestler of Crotona was the first of the other Greeks, and hence they say also is the origin of the expression, “more salubrious than Crotona,” as instancing a place which had something to show, in the number of wrestlers which it produced, as a proof of its salubrity and the robust frame of body which it was capable of rearing. Thus it had many victors in the Olympic games, although it cannot be reckoned to have been long inhabited on account of the vast destruction of its citizens, who fell at the battle of the Sagras. Its celebrity too was not a little spread by the number of Pythagoreans who resided there, and Milo, who was the most renowned of wrestlers, and lived in terms of intimacy with Pythagoras, who abode long in this city. They relate that at a banquet of the philosophers, when one of the pillars in the hall gave way, Milo sustained the ceiling while they all escaped, and afterwards saved himself. It is likely that, trusting to the same strength, he met his fate as related by some, for whilst making his way through a thick wood, he strayed considerably out of the path, when finding a great log with wedges in it, he thrust both his hands and feet into the fissure, intending to split it completely, but was only able to force it enough to let the wedges fall out, when the gaping log presently closed on him, and he, being taken as in a snare, was devoured by wild beasts.
13. Beyond this, at the distance of 200 stadia, is situated Sybaris, a colony settled by the Achæans, between the two ​rivers Crati and Sybaris. Its founder was Is… the Helicean. So great was the prosperity enjoyed by this city anciently, that it held dominion over four neighbouring people and twenty-five towns; in the war with the Crotoniatæ it brought into the field 300,000 men, and occupied a circuit of 50 stadia on the Crati. But on account of the arrogance and turbulence of its citizens, it was deprived of all its prosperity by the Crotoniatæ in 70 days, who took the city, and turning the waters of the river [Crati], overwhelmed it with an inundation. Some time after, a few who had escaped came together and inhabited the site of their former city, but in time they were dispossessed by the Athenians and other Greeks, who came and settled amongst them, but they despised and subjugated them, and removed the city to a neighbouring place, calling its name Thurii, from a fountain of that name. The water of the river Sybaris has the peculiar property of making the horses which drink it shy, for which reason they keep their horses away from the river. The Crati turns the hair of those who bathe in it yellow, and sometimes white, but has ​been found salutary for the cure of many disorders. Thurii, after having flourished for a long time, became a continual prey to the aggressions of the Leucani, and afterwards the Tarentini troubling them, they appealed to the Romans for succour, who, in course of time, sent a colony when it was nearly deserted, and changed the name of the city to Copiæ.
14. After Thurii is Lagaria, a garrison fort; it was originally settled by Epeius and the Phocenses; hence is derived the Lagaritan wine, sweet and delicate, and much recommended by the physicians, as is likewise the Thurian wine, which is reckoned among the best. Then comes the city of Heraclea, a little way from the sea, and two navigable rivers, the Agri and the Sinno, on which was the city Siris, founded by a Trojan colony, but in course of time, when Heraclea was peopled with the citizens of Siris by the Tarentini, it became the harbour of Heraclea. Its distance from Heraclea was 24 stadia, and from Thurii about 330. They point out the statue of the Trojan Minerva, which is erected there, as a proof of its colonization by the Trojans. They also relate as a miracle how the statue closed its eyes when the suppliants, who had fled for sanctuary to her shrine, were dragged away by the Ionians after they had taken the city; they say that these Ionians came to settle here, when they fled from the yoke of the Lydians, and took the town of the Trojans by force, calling its name Polieum. They show, too, at the present time ​the statue that closes its eyes. It must, however, require a good courage, not to assert that it appeared to have closed its eyes, as that at Troy turned away its eyes from beholding the violence offered to Cassandra, but to show it in the act of winking:—but it is much more daring to make so many statues of the Minerva rescued from Ilium, as those who describe them affirm, for there is a Minerva said to be Trojan in the sense of having been rescued from that city, not only at Siris, but at Rome, at Lavinium, and at Luceria. The scene, too, of the daring of the Trojan female captives is assigned to many different places and appears incredible, although it is by no means impossible. There are some who say that Siris, and also that Sybaris on the Trionto, were founded by the Rhodians. Antiochus says that the site of Siris having become the subject of a contention between the Tarentini and the Thurii, on that occasion commanded by Cleandridas the general who had been banished from Lacedæmon, the two people came to a composition, and agreed to inhabit it in common, but that the colony should be considered as Tarentine; however, at a subsequent period both the name and the locality were changed, and it was called Heraclea.
15. Next in order is Metapontium, at a distance of 140 stadia from the sea-port of Heraclea. It is said to be a settlement of the Pylians at the time of their return from Ilium under Nestor; their success in agriculture was so great, that it is said they offered at Delphi a golden harvest: they adduce, as a proof of this foundation, the offerings of the dead sacrificed periodically to the Neleïdæ; but it was destroyed by ​the Samnites.
afford sufficient proof that Melanippe was led to Dius and not to Metabum. Ephorus says that Daulius, the tyrant of Crissa near Delphi, was the founder of Metapontium. There is, however, another tradition, that Leucippus was sent by the Achæans to help to found the colony, and having asked permission of the Tarentini to have the place for a day and a night, would not give it up, replying by day to those who ​asked it of him, that he had asked and obtained it till the following night, and when asked by night, he said that he held it till the coming day.
Next adjoining is Tarentum and Iapygia, which we will describe when we shall have first gone through the islands which lie off Italy, according to our original purpose; for we have always given the adjacent islands with every nation we have hitherto described, and since we have gone through Œnotria, which only, the people of ancient times named Italy, we feel justified in keeping to the same arrangement, and shall pass on to Sicily and the surrounding islands.
CHAPTER II.
1. SICILY is triangular in form, and on this account was at first called Trinacria, but afterwards the name was softened and it was changed into Thrinacia. Three low headlands bound the figure: Pelorias is the name of that towards Cænys and the Columna Rheginorum which forms the strait; Pachynus is that which stretches towards the east, and is washed by the Sea of Sicily, looking towards the Peloponnesus and in the direction of the passage to Crete; the third is Lilybæum, and is next to Africa, looking towards that region and the setting of the sun in winter. Of the sides which these three headlands bound, two are somewhat concave, while the third is slightly convex, it runs from Lilybæum to Pelorias, and is the longest, being, as Posidonius has said, 1700 stadia adding ​further twenty. Of the others, that extending to Pachynus from Lilybæum is the longer, while the shortest faces the Strait and Italy, extending from Pelorias to Pachynus, being about 1120 or 1130 stadia. Posidonius shows that the circumference is 4400 stadia, but in the Chorography the distances are declared to exceed the above numbers, being severally reckoned in miles. Thus from Cape Pelorias to Mylæ, 25 miles; from Mylæ to Tyndaris, 25; thence to Agathyrnum, 30; from Agathyrnum to Alæsa, 30; from Alæsa to Cephalœdium, 30; these are but insignificant places; from Cephalœdium to the river Himera, which runs through the midst of Sicily, 18; from thence to Panormus, 35; [thence] to the Emporium of the Ægestani, 32; leaving to Lilybæum a distance of 38; thence having doubled the Cape and coasting the adjacent side to Heracleum, 75; and to the Emporium of the Agrigentini, 20; and to ​Camarina, another 20; then to Pachynus, 50; thence again along the third side to Syracuse, 36; from Syracuse to Catana, 60; then to Tauromenium, 33; thence to Messana, 30. Thus on foot from Pachynus to Pelorias we have 168 [miles], and from Messana to [Cape] Lilybæum, on the Via Valeria, we have 235 [miles]. Some have estimated the circuit in a more simple way, as Ephorus, who says that the compass of the island by sea takes five days and nights. Posidonius attempts to determine the situation of the island by climata, and places Pelorias to the north, Lilybæum to the south, and Pachynus to the east. We however consider that of necessity all climata are set out in the manner of a parallelogram, but that districts portrayed as triangles, and especially such triangles as are scalene, and whereof no one side lies parallel to a side of the parallelogram, cannot in any way be assimilated to climata on account of their obliquity. However, we must allow, that in treating of Sicily, Pelorias, which lies to the south of Italy, may well be called the most northern of the three angles, so that we say that the line which joins it to Pachynus faces the east but looks towards the north. Now this line [of coast] will make the side next the Strait [of Messina], and it must have a slight inclination towards the winter sunrise; for thus the shore slightly changes its direction as you travel from Catana towards Syracuse and Pachynus. Now the transit from Pachynus to the mouth of the Alpheus is 4000 stadia. But when Artemidorus says that from ​Pachynus to Tænarum it is 4600, and from the Alpheus to the Pamisus is 1130 stadia, he appears to me to lie open to the objection of having given distances which do not accord with the 4000 stadia from Pachynus to the Alpheus. The line run from Pachynus to Lilybæum (which is much to the west of Pelorias) is considerably diverged from the south towards the west, having at the same time an aspect looking towards the east and towards the south. On one side it is washed by the sea of Sicily, and on the other by the Libyan Sea, extending from Carthage to the Syrtes. The shortest run is 1500 stadia from Lilybæum to the coast of Africa about Carthage; and, according to report, a certain very sharp-sighted person, placed on a watch-tower, announced to the Carthaginians besieged in Lilybæum the number of the ships which were leaving Carthage. And from Lilybæum to Pelorias the side must necessarily incline towards the east, and look in a direction towards the west and north, having Italy to the north, and the Tyrrhenian Sea with the islands of Æolus to the west.
2. The cities situated on the side which forms the Strait are, first Messana, then Tauromenium, Catana, and Syracuse; between Catana and Syracuse were the ruined cities Naxos and Megara, situated where the rivers descending from Ætna fall into the sea, and afford good accommodation for shipping. Here is also the promontory of Xiphonia. They say that Ephorus founded these first cities of the Greeks in Sicily in ​the tenth generation from the Trojan war. For those who preceded him were so terrified by the piratical customs of the Tyrrheni, and the ferocity of the savages of the neighbourhood, that they did not even venture to resort thither for the purposes of commerce. Theocles the Athenian, however, having been driven to Sicily by storms, observed both the weakness of the inhabitants and the excellence of the soil. On his return home, he was unable to persuade the Athenians to make any attempt, but he collected a numerous band of Chalcidians in Eubœa, with some Ionians and Dorians, whereof the most part were Megarenses, and sailed. The Chalcidians founded Naxos, and the Dorians Megara, which was at first called Hybla. These cities no longer exist, but the name of Hybla survives on account of the Hyblæan honey.
3. The first of the cities which at present remain on the aforesaid side is Messana, built at the head of the gulf of Pelorias, which is curved very considerably towards the east, and forms a bay. The passage across to Rhegium is 60 stadia, but the distance to the Columna Rheginorum is much less. It was from a colony of the Messenians of the Peloponnesus that it was named Messana, having been originally called Zancle, on account of the great inequality of the coast (for anything irregular was termed ζάγκλιον). It was originally founded by the people of Naxos near Catana. Afterwards the Mamertini, a tribe of Campanians, took possession of it. The Romans, in the war in Sicily against the Carthaginians, used it as an arsenal. Still more recently, Sextus Pompeius assembled his fleet in it, to contend against Augustus Cæsar; and when he relinquished the island, he took ship from thence. Charybdis is pointed out at a short distance from the city in the Strait, an immense gulf, into which the back currents of the Strait frequently impel ships, carrying them down with a whirl and the violence of the eddy. When they are swallowed down and shattered, the wrecks are cast by the stream on the shore of Tauromenia, which they call, on account of this kind of accumulation, the dunghill. So greatly have the Mamertini prevailed over the Messenians, that they have by degrees wrested the ​city from them. The inhabitants generally are rather called Mamertini than Messenians. The district abounds in wine, which we do not call Messenian, but Mamertinian: it vies with the best produced in Italy. The city is well peopled, but Catana is more populous, which has been colonized by the Romans. Tauromenium is less populous than either. Catana was founded by people from Naxos, and Tauromenium by the Zanclæans of Hybla, but Catana was deprived of its original inhabitants when Hiero, the tyrant of Syracuse, introduced others, and called it by the name of Ætna instead of Catana. It is of this that Pindar says he was the founder, when he sings, “Thou understandest what I say, O father, that bearest the same name with the splendid holy sacrifices, thou founder of Ætna.”
But on the death of Hiero, the Catanæans returned and expelled the new inhabitants, and demolished the mausoleum of the tyrant. The Ætnæans, compelled to retire, established themselves on a hilly district of Ætna, called Innesa, and called the place Ætna. It is distant from Catana about 80 stadia. They still acknowledged Hiero as their founder.
Ætna lies the highest of any part of Catana, and participates the most in the inconveniences occasioned by the mouths of the volcano, for the streams of lava flowing down in Catanæa pass through it first. It was here that Amphinomus ​and Anapias set the example of filial piety so greatly celebrated, for they, seizing their parents, carried them on their shoulders to a place of safety from the impending ruin; for whenever, as Posidonius relates, there is an eruption of the mountain the fields of the Catanæans are buried to a great depth. However, after the burning ashes have occasioned a temporary damage, they fertilize the country for future seasons, and render the soil good for the vine and very strong for other produce, the neighbouring districts not being equally adapted to the produce of wine. They say that the roots which the districts covered with these ashes produce, are so good for fattening sheep, that they are sometimes suffocated, wherefore they bleed them in the ear every four or five days, in the same way as we have related a like practice at Erythia. When the stream of lava cools it covers the surface of the earth with stone to a considerable depth, so that those who wish to uncover the original surface are obliged to hew away the stone as in a quarry. For the stone is liquefied in the craters and then thrown up. That which is cast forth from the top is like a black moist clay and flows down the hill-sides, then congealing it becomes mill-stone, preserving the same colour it had while fluid. The ashes of the stones which are burnt are like what would be produced by wood, and as rue thrives on wood ashes, so there is probably some quality in the ashes of Ætna which is appropriate to the vine.
4. Archias, sailing from Corinth, founded Syracuse about the same period that Naxos and Megara were built. They say that Myscellus and Archias having repaired to Delphi at the same time to consult the oracle, the god demanded whether they would choose wealth or health, when Archias
Timæus the historian advances these accounts in like manner with Pindar. Undoubtedly if before reaching the sea the Alpheus were to fall into some chasm, there would be a probability that it continued its course from thence to Sicily, preserving its potable water unmixed with the sea; but since the mouth of the river manifestly falls into the sea, and there does not appear any opening in the bed of the sea there, which would be capable of imbibing the waters of the river, (although even if there were they could not remain perfectly fresh, still it might be possible to retain much of the character of fresh water, if they were presently to be swallowed down into a passage running below the earth which forms the bed of the sea,) it is altogether impossible; and this the water of Arethusa clearly proves, being perfectly fit for beverage; but ​that the flow of the river should remain compact through so long a course, not mixing with the sea until it should fall into the fancied channel, is entirely visionary; for we can scarcely credit it of the Rhone, the body of the waters of which remains compact during its passage through the lake, and preserves a visible course, but in that instance both the distance is short and the lake is not agitated by waves like the sea, but in this case of the Alpheus, where there are great storms and the waters are tossed with violence, the supposition is by no means worthy of attention. The fable of the chalice being carried over is likewise a mere fabrication, for it is not calculated for transfer, nor is it by any means probable it should be washed away so far, nor yet by such difficult passages. Many rivers, however, and in many parts of the world, flow beneath the earth, but none for so great a distance.—Still, although there may be no impossibility in this circumstance, yet the above-mentioned accounts are altogether impossible, and almost as absurd as the fable related of the Inachus: this river, as Sophocles feigns, “Flowing from the heights of Pindus and Lacmus, passes from the country of the Perrhœbi to that of the Amphilochi and the Acarnanians, and mingles its waters with the Achelous:”
and further on [he says], “Thence to Argos, cutting through the waves, it comes to the territory of Lyrceius.”
Those who would have the river Inopus to be a branch of the Nile flowing to Delos, exaggerate this kind of marvel to the utmost. Zoïlus the rhetorician, in his Eulogium of the people of Tenedos, says that the river Alpheus flows from Tenedos: yet this is the man who blames Homer for fabulous writing. Ibycus also says that the Asopus, a river of Sicyon, flows from Phrygia. Hecatæus is more rational, who says that the Inachus of the Amphilochi, which flows from Mount Lacmus, from whence also the Æas descends, was distinct from the river of like name in Argolis, and was so named after Amphilochus, from whom likewise the city of Argos was ​denominated Amphilochian. He says further, that this river falls into the Achelous, and that the Æas flows to Apollonia towards the west. On each side of the island there is an extensive harbour; the extent of the larger one is 80 stadia. [Augustus] Cæsar has not only restored this city, but Catana, and likewise Centoripa, which had contributed much towards the overthrow of [Sextus] Pompey. Centoripa is situated above Catana and confines with the mountains of Ætna and the river Giaretta, which flows into Catanæa.
5. One of the remaining sides, that stretching from Pachynus to Lilybæum, is entirely deserted; still, it preserves a few traces of the ancient inhabitants, one of whose cities was Camarina. Acragas, which was a colony of the Geloi, together with its port and Lilybæum, still exist. In fact, these regions, lying opposite to Carthage, have been wasted by the great and protracted wars which have been waged. The remaining and greatest side, although it is by no means densely peopled, is well occupied, for Alæsa, Tyndaris, the emporium of the Ægestani and Cephalœdium, are respectable towns. Panormus has received a Roman colony: they say that Ægesta was founded by the Greeks who passed over, as we have related when speaking of Italy, with Philoctetes to the Crotoniatis, and were by him sent to Sicily with Ægestus the Trojan.
6. In the interior of the island a few inhabitants possess Enna, in which there is a temple of Ceres; it is situated on ​a hill, and surrounded by spacious table-lands well adapted for tillage. The fugitive slaves, who placed themselves under the leading of Eunus, and sustained in this city a long siege, scarcely being reduced by the Romans, occasioned much damage to the city. The Catanæi, Tauromenitæ, and many others, suffered, much in like manner, † Eryx, a very lofty mountain, is also inhabited. It possesses a temple of Venus, which is very much esteemed; in former times it was well filled with women sacred to the goddess, whom the inhabitants of Sicily, and also many others, offered in accomplishment of their vows; but now, both is the neighbourhood much thinner of inhabitants, and the temple not near so well supplied with priestesses and female attendants. There is also an establishment of this goddess at Rome called the temple of Venus Erycina, just before the Colline Gate; in addition to the temple it has a portico well worthy of notice.† The other settlement and most of the interior have been left to the shepherds for pasturage; for we do not know that Himera is yet inhabited, or Gela, or Callipolis, or Selinus, or Eubœa, or many other places; of these the Zanclæi of Mylæ founded Himera, the people of Naxos, Callipolis, the Megaræans of Sicily, Selinus, and the Leontini Eubœa. Many too of the cities ​of the aboriginal inhabitants have been destroyed, as Camici, the kingdom of Cocalus, at whose house Minos is reported to have been treacherously cut off. The Romans therefore, considering the deserted condition of the country, and having got possession both of the hills and the most part of the plains, have given them over to horse-breeders, herdsmen, and shepherds, by whom the island has frequently been brought into great perils. First of all the shepherds, taking to pillage here and there in different places, and afterwards assembling in numbers and forcibly taking settlements; for instance, as those under the command of Eunus seized upon Enna. And quite recently, during the time that we were at Rome, a certain Selurus, called the son of Ætna, was sent up to that city. He had been the captain of a band of robbers, and had for a long time infested the country round Ætna, committing frequent depredations. We saw him torn to pieces by wild beasts in the forum after a contest of gladiators: he had been set upon a platform fashioned to represent Mount Ætna, which being suddenly unfastened and falling, he was precipitated amongst certain cages of wild beasts, which had also been slightly constructed under the platform for the occasion.
7. The fertility of the country is so generally extolled by every one, as nothing inferior to Italy, that there is a question as to what we should say of it. Indeed, for wheat, honey, saffron, and some other commodities, it even surpasses that country. In addition to this, its proximity renders the island like a part of Italy itself, so that it supplies the Roman market with produce both commodiously and without trouble. Indeed they call it the granary of Rome, for all the produce of the island is carried thither, except a few things required for home consumption. It consists not only of the fruits of the earth, but of cattle, skins, wool, and the like. Posidonius says that Syracuse and Eryx are situated on the sea like two citadels, and that Enna in the midst, between Syracuse and Eryx, commands the surrounding plains. † The whole territory ​of the Leontini, which was possessed by the people of Naxos settled in Sicily, suffered much, for they always shared in the misfortunes of Syracuse, but not always in its prosperity.†
8. Near to Centoripa is the town we have a little before mentioned, Ætna, which serves as a place for travellers about to ascend Mount Ætna, to halt and refresh themselves for the expedition. For here commences the region in which is situated the summit of the mountain. The districts above are barren and covered with ashes, which are surmounted by the snows in winter: all below it however is filled with woods and plantations of all kinds. It seems that the summits of the mountain take many changes by the ravages of the fire, which sometimes is brought together into one crater, and at another is divided; at one time again it heaves forth streams of lava, and at another flames and thick smoke: at other times again ejecting red-hot masses of fire-stone. In such violent commotions as these the subterraneous passages must necessarily undergo a corresponding change, and at times the orifices on the surface around be considerably increased. Some who have very recently ascended the mountain, reported to us, that they found at the top an even plain of about 20 stadia in circumference, enclosed by an overhanging ridge of ashes about the height of a wall, so that those who are desirous of proceeding further are obliged to leap down into the plain. They noticed in the midst of it a mound; it was ash-coloured, as was likewise the plain in appearance. Above the mound a column of cloud reared itself in a perpendicular line to the height of 200 stadia, and remained motionless (there being no air stirring at the time); it resembled smoke. Two of the party resolutely attempted to proceed further across this plain, but, finding the sand very hot and sinking very deep in it, they turned back, without however being able to make any more particular observations, as to what we have described, than those who beheld from a greater distance. They were, however, of opinion, from the observations they were able to make, that much exaggeration pervades the accounts we have of the volcano, and especially the tale about Empedocles, that he leaped into the ​crater, and left as a vestige of his folly one of the brazen sandals which he wore, it being found outside at a short distance from the lip of the crater, with the appearance of having been cast up by the violence of the flame; for neither is the place approachable nor even visible, nor yet was it likely that any thing could be cast in thither, on account of the contrary current of the vapours and other matters cast up from the lower parts of the mountain, and also on account of the overpowering excess of heat, which would most likely meet any one long before approaching the mouth of the crater; and if eventually any thing should be cast down, it would be totally decomposed before it were cast up again, what manner of form soever it might have had at first. And again, although it is not unreasonable to suppose that the force of the vapour and fire is occasionally slackened for want of a continual supply of fuel, still we are not to conclude that it is ever possible for a man to approach it in the presence of so great an opposing power. Ætna more especially commands the shore along the Strait and Catana, but it also overlooks the sea that washes Tyrrhenia and the Lipari Islands. By night a glowing light appears on its summit, but in the day-time it is enveloped with smoke and thick darkness.
9. The Nebrodes mountains take their rise opposite to Ætna; they are not so lofty as Ætna, but extend over a much greater surface. The whole island is hollow under ground, and full of rivers and fire like the bed of the Tyrrhenian Sea, as far as Cumæa, as we before described. For there are hot springs in many places in the island, some of which are saline, as those named Selinuntia and the springs at Himera, while those at Ægesta are fresh. Near to Acragas there are certain lakes, the waters of which taste like the sea, but their ​properties are very different, for if those who do not know how to swim plunge into them, they are not covered over by them, but float on the surface like pieces of wood.
The Palici possess craters which cast up water in a jet, having the appearance of a dome, and then receive it back again into the same place it rose from. The cavern near Mataurum has within it a considerable channel, with a river flowing through it under ground for a long distance, and afterwards emerging to the surface as does the El-Asi in Syria, which, after descending into the chasm between Apameia and Antioch, which they call Charybdis, rises again to the surface at the distance of about 40 stadia. Much the same circumstances are remarked of the Tigris in Mesopotamia, and the Nile in Africa, a little before its most notorious springs. The water in the neighbourhood of the city of Stymphalus, having passed under ground about 200 stadia, gives rise to the river Erasinus in Argia; and again, the waters which are ingulfed with a low roaring sound near Asea in Arcadia, after a long course, spring forth with such ​copiousness as to form the Eurotas and the Alpheus, whence has arisen a fable extensively credited, that if a certain charm is uttered over each of two crowns on their being cast into the stream where the two rivers flow in a common channel, each crown will make its appearance in its respective river according to the charm. As for what we might add with reference to the Timao, it has already been particularized.
10. Phænomena, similar to these, and such as take place throughout Sicily, are witnessed in the Lipari Islands, and especially in Lipari itself.—These islands are seven in number, the chief of which is Lipari, a colony of the Cnidians. It is nearest to Sicily after Thermessa. It was originally named Meligunis. It was possessed of a fleet, and for a considerable time repelled the incursions of the Tyrrheni. The islands now called Liparæan were subject to it, some call them the islands of Æolus. The citizens were so successful as to make frequent offerings of the spoils taken in war to the temple of Apollo at Delphi. It possesses a fertile soil, ​and mines of alum easy to be wrought, hot springs, and craters. [Thermessa] is, as it were, situated between this and Sicily; it is now designated as Hiera, or sacred to Vulcan; it is entirely rocky, and desert, and volcanic. In it are three craters, and the flames which issue from the largest are accompanied with burning masses of lava, which have already obstructed a considerable portion of the strait [between Thermessa and the island Lipari]; repeated observations have led to the belief that the flames of the volcanos, both in this island and at Mount Ætna, are stimulated by the winds as they rise; and when the winds are lulled, the flames also subside; nor is this without reason, for if the winds are both originally produced and kept up by the vapours arising from the sea, those who witness these phenomena will not be surprised, if the fire should be excited in some such way, by the like aliment and circumstances. Polybius tells us that one of the three craters of the island has partly fallen down, while the larger of the two that remain has a lip, the circumference of which is five stadia, and the diameter nearly 50 feet, and its elevation about a stadium from the level of the sea, which may be seen at the base in calm weather; but if we are to credit this, we may as well attend to what has been reported concerning Empedocles. [Polybius] also says, that “when the south wind is to blow, a thick cloud lies stretched round the island, so that one cannot see even as far as Sicily in the distance; but when there is to be a north wind, the clear flames ascend to a great height above the said crater, and great rumblings are heard; while for the west wind effects are produced about half way between these two. The other craters are similarly affected, but their exhalations are not so violent. Indeed, it is possible to foretell what wind will blow three days beforehand, from the degree of intensity of the rumbling, and also from the part whence the exhalations, flames, and smoky blazes issue. It is said indeed that some of the inhabitants of the Lipari Islands, at times when there has been so great a calm that no ship could sail out of port, have ​predicted what wind would blow, and have not been mistaken.” From hence indeed that which seems to be the most fabulous invention of the poet, appears not to have been written without some foundation, and he appears to have merely used an allegorical style, while guided by the truth, when he says that Æolus is the steward of the winds; however, we have formerly said enough as to this. We will now return to the point whence we digressed.
11. We have noticed the islands of Lipari and Thermessa. As for Strongyle, it takes its name from its form. Like the other two, it is subigneous, but is deficient in the force of the flames which are emitted, while their brightness is greater. It is here they say that Æolus resided. The fourth is Didyma; this island also is named from its form. Of the others, [the fifth and sixth] are ​Ericussa and Phœnicussa; they are called from the plants which they produce, and are given up to pasture. The seventh [island] is called Euonymus; it is the farthest in the sea and barren. It is called Euonymus because it lies the most to the left when you sail from the island of Lipari to Sicily, and many times flames of fire have been seen to rise to the surface, and play upon the sea round the islands: these flames rush with violence from the cavities at the bottom of the sea, and force for themselves a passage to the open air. Posidonius says, that at a time so recent as to be almost within his recollection, about the summer solstice and at break of day, between Hiera and Euonymus, the sea was observed to be suddenly raised aloft, and to abide some time raised in a compact mass and then to subside. Some ventured to approach that part in their ships; they observed the fish dead and driven by the current, but being distressed by the heat and foul smell, were compelled to turn back. One of the boats which had approached nearest lost some of her crew, and was scarcely able to reach Lipari with the rest, and they had fits like an epileptic person, at one time fainting and giddy, and at another returning to their senses; and many days afterwards a mud or clay was observed rising in the sea, and in many parts the flames ​issued, and smoke and smoky blazes; afterwards it congealed and became a rock like mill-stones. Titus Flaminius, who then commanded in Sicily, despatched to the senate [of Rome] a full account of the phenomenon; the senate sent and offered sacrifices to the infernal and marine divinities both in the little island [which had thus been formed] and the Lipari Islands. Now the chorographer reckons that from Ericodes to Phœnicodes are 10 miles, from thence to Didyma 30, from thence to the northernmost point of Lipari 29, and from thence to Sicily 19, while from Strongyle are 16. Melita lies before Pachynus; from thence come the little dogs called Maltese; so does also Gaudus, both of them are situated about 88 miles distant from that promontory. Cossura is situated before Cape Lilybæum, and opposite the Carthaginian city Aspis, which they call [in Latin] Clypea, it is situated in the midst of the space which lies between those ​two places, and is distant from each the number of miles last given. Ægimurus also and other little islands lie off Sicily and Africa. So much for the islands.
CHAPTER III.
1. HAVING previously passed over the regions of ancient Italy as far as Metapontium, we must now proceed to describe the rest. After it Iapygia comes next in order; the Greeks call it Messapia, but the inhabitants, dividing it into cantons, call one the Salentini, that in the neighbourhood of the Cape Iapygia, and another the Calabri; above these towards the north lie the Peucetii, and those who are called Daunii in the Greek language, but the inhabitants call ​the whole region beyond the Calabri, Apulia. Some of these people are called Pœdicli, especially the Peucetii. Messapia forms a peninsula; the isthmus extending from Brentesium to Tarentum, which bounds it, being 310 stadia, and the circumnavigation round the Iapygian promontory about [one thousand] four hundred. [Tarentum] is distant from Metapontium about two hundred and [twenty] stadia. The course to it by sea runs in an easterly direction. The Gulf of Tarentum is for the most part destitute of a port, but here there is a spacious and commodious [harbour], closed in by a great bridge. It is 100 stadia in circuit. This port, at the head of its basin which recedes most inland, forms, with the exterior sea, an isthmus which connects the peninsula with the land. The city is situated upon this peninsula. The neck of land is so low that ships are easily hauled over it from either side. The site of the city likewise is extremely low; the ground, however, rises slightly towards the citadel. The old wall of the city has an immense circuit, but now the portion towards the isthmus is deserted, but that standing near the mouth of the harbour, where the citadel is situated, still subsists, and contains a considerable city. It possesses a noble gymnasium and a spacious forum, in which there is set up a brazen colossus of Jupiter, the largest that ever was, with the exception of that of Rhodes. The citadel is situated between the forum and the entrance of the harbour, it still preserves some slight relics of its ancient magnificence ​and gifts, but the chief of them were destroyed either by the Carthaginians when they took the city, or by the Romans when they took it by force and sacked it. Amongst other booty taken on this occasion was the brazen colossus of Hercules, the work of Lysippus, now in the Capitol, which was dedicated as an offering by Fabius Maximus, who took the city.
2. Antiochus, speaking of the foundation of this city, says that after the Messenian war such of the Lacedæmonians as did not join the army were sentenced to be slaves, and denominated Helots; and that such as were born during the period of the war they termed Partheniæ, and decreed to be base: but these not bearing the reproach, (for they were many,) conspired against the free citizens, but the chief magistrates, becoming acquainted with the existence of the plot, employed certain persons, who, by feigning friendship to the cause, should be able to give some intelligence of the nature of it. Of this number was Phalanthus, who was apparently the chief leader of them, but who was not quite pleased with those who had been named to conduct their deliberations. It was agreed that at the Hyacinthine games, celebrated in the temple of Amyclæ, just at the conclusion of the contest, and when Phalanthus should put on his helmet, they should make a simultaneous attack. The free citizens were distinguishable from others by their hair. They, having been secretly warned as to the arrangements made for the signal of Phalanthus, just as the chief contest came off, a herald came forward and proclaimed, “Let not Phalanthus put on his helmet.” The conspirators perceiving that the plot was disclosed, some fled, and others supplicated mercy. When the chief magistrates had bid them not to fear, they ​committed them to prison, but sent Phalanthus to inquire after a new settlement. He received from the oracle the following response, “To thee Satyrium I have given, and the rich country of Tarentum to inhabit, and thou shalt become a scourge to the Iapygians.”
The Partheniæ accordingly accompanied Phalanthus to their destination, and the barbarians and Cretans, who already possessed the country, received them kindly. They say that these Cretans were the party who sailed with Minos to Sicily, and that after his death, which took place at Camici, in the palace of Cocalus, they took ship and set sail from Sicily, but in their voyage they were cast by tempest on this coast, some of whom, afterwards coasting the Adriatic on foot, reached Macedonia, and were called Bottiæi. They further add, that all the people who reach as far as Daunia were called Iapygians, from Iapyx, who was born to Dædalus by a Cretan woman, and became a chief leader of the Cretans. The city Tarentum was named from a certain hero.
Thus then did they destroy Messenia, but returning home, they neglected to honour the Partheniæ like other youths, and treated them as though they had been born out of wedlock. The Partheniæ, leaguing with the Helots, conspired against the Lacedæmonians, and agreed to raise a Laconic felt hat in the market-place as a signal for the commencement of hostilities. Some of the Helots betrayed the plot, but the government found it difficult to resist them by force, for they were many, and all unanimous, and looked upon each other as brothers; those in authority therefore commanded such as were appointed to raise the signal, to depart out of the market-place; when they therefore perceived that their plot ​was disclosed they desisted, and the Lacedæmonians persuaded them, through the instrumentality of their fathers, to leave the country and colonize: and advised them, if they should get possession of a convenient place, to abide in it, but if not, they promised that a fifth part of Messenia should be divided amongst them on their return. So they departed and found the Greeks carrying on hostilities against the barbarians, and taking part in the perils of the war, they obtained possession of Tarentum, which they colonized.
4. At one time, when the government of the Tarentines had assumed a democratic form, they rose to great importance; for they possessed the greatest fleet of any state in those parts, and could bring into the field an army of 30,000 foot and 3000 horse, exclusive of a select body of 1000 cavalry called Hipparchi. They likewise encouraged the Pythagorean philosophy, and Archytas, who for a long time presided over the government of their state, gave it his special support. But at a later period their luxury, which was produced by their prosperity, increased to that degree that their general holidays or festivals exceeded in number the days of the year; and hence arose an inefficient government, and as one proof of their unstatesmanlike acts we may adduce their employment of foreign generals; for they sent for Alexander, king of the Molossi, to come and assist them against the Messapii and Leucani. They had before that employed Archidamus, the son of Agesilaus; afterwards they called in Cleonymus and Agathocles, and later, when they rose against the Romans, Pyrrhus. They were not able even to retain the respect of those whom they had invited, but rather merited their disgust. Alexander [of Epirus] was so displeased with them that he endeavoured to remove the seat of the general council of the Greek states in Italy, which was accustomed to assemble at Heraclea, a city of the Tarentines, to a city of the Thurii; and he commanded that some place on the river Acalandrus, ​commodious for their meetings, should be properly fortified for their reception.—And indeed they say that the misfortune of that prince was chiefly due to a want of good feeling on their part. They were deprived of their liberty during the wars of Hannibal, but have since received a Roman colony, and now live in peace and are in a more prosperous state than ever. They also engaged in war with the Messapii concerning Heraclea, when they counted the kings of the Daunii and of the Peucetii as allies.
5. The remainder of the country of the Iapygii is very fair, notwithstanding unfavourable appearances; for although, for the most part, it appears rugged, yet when it is broken up the soil is found to be deep; and although it lacks water, yet it appears well-suited for pasture, and is furnished with trees. At one time it was thickly inhabited throughout its whole extent, and possessed thirteen cities, but now it is so depopulated that, with the exception of Tarentum and Brentesium, they only deserve the name of hamlets. They say that the Salentini are a colony of Cretans. Here is the temple of Minerva, which formerly was rich, and the rock called Acra Iapygia, which juts out far into the sea towards the rising of the sun in winter, and turning, as it were, towards ​Cape Lacinium, which lies opposite to it on the west, it closes the entrance of the Gulf of Tarentum, as on the other side, the Ceraunian Mountains, together with the said Cape, close the entrance of the Ionian Gulf, the run across is about 700 stadia from that, both to the Ceraunian Mountains and to Cape Lacinium. In coasting along the shore from Tarentum to Brentesium there are 600 stadia as far as the little city of Baris, which is at the present time called Veretum, and is situated on the extremities of the Salentine territory; the approach to it from Tarentum is much easier on foot than by sea. Thence to Leuca are 80 stadia; this too is but a small village, in which there is shown a well of fetid water, and the legend runs, that when Hercules drove out the last of the giants from Phlegra in Campania, who were called Leuternians, some fled and were buried here, and that from their blood a spring issues to supply the well; on this account likewise the coast is called the Leuternian coast. From Leuca to Hydrus, a small town, 150 stadia. From thence to Brentesium 400, and the like distance also [from Hydrus] to the island Saso, which is situated almost in the midst of the course from Epirus to Brentesium; and therefore when vessels are unable to obtain a direct passage they run to the left from Saso to Hydrus, and thence watching for a favourable wind they steer towards the haven of Brentesium, or the passengers disembarking proceed on foot by a shorter way through Rudiæ, a Grecian city, where the poet Ennius was born. The district which we have followed by sea from ​Tarentum to Brentesium is like a peninsula. The road by land from Brentesium to Tarentum is but a day’s journey for a light person on foot, it constitutes the isthmus of the said peninsula, which people in general call Messapia, Iapygia, Calabria, or Salentinum, without being at all particular; but some, as we have said before, do make a distinction. Thus have we described the towns on the sea-coast.
6. In the inland are Rudiæ and Lupiæ, and at a short distance from the sea Aletia; about the middle of the isthmus is Uria, in which is still shown the palace of a certain famous nobleman. As Hyria is described by Herodotus as situated in Iapygia, and as founded by the Cretans who strayed from the fleet of Minos while sailing to Sicily; we must suppose that he meant either this place [Uria] or Veretum. It is said that a colony of Cretans settled in Brentesium, but the tradition varies; some say they were those who came with Theseus from Cnossus; others, that they were some out of Sicily who had come with Iapyx; they agree however in saying that they did not abide there, but went thence to Bottiæa. At a later period, when the state was under the government of a monarch, it lost a large portion of its territories, which was taken by the Lacedæmonians who came over under Phalanthus; notwithstanding this the Brundusians received him when he was expelled from Tarentum, and honoured him with a splendid tomb at his death. They possess a district of superior fertility to that of the Tarentines; for its soil is light, still it is fruitful, and its honey and wools are amongst the most esteemed; further, the harbour of Brentesium is superior to that of Tarentum, for many havens are protected by the single entrance, and rendered perfectly smooth, many ​bays [or reaches] being formed within it, so that it resembles in fashion the antlers of a stag, whence its name, for the place, together with the city, is exceedingly like the head of a stag, and in the Messapian language the stag’s head is called Brentesium; while the port of Tarentum is not entirely safe, both on account of its lying very open, and of certain shallows near its head.
7. Further, the course for passengers from Greece and Asia is most direct to Brentesium, and in fact all who are journeying to Rome disembark here. Hence there are two ways to Rome; one, which is only walked by mules, through the Peucetii, who are called Pœdicli, the Daunii, and the Samnites, as far as Beneventum, on which road is the city Egnatia, then Celia, Netium, Canusium, and Herdonia. That through Tarentum is a little to the left, it runs about a day’s journey round for one traversing the whole distance; it is called the Appian Way, and is more of a carriage road than the other. On it stands the city Uria, and Venusia; the one [Uria] between Tarentum and Brentesium, the other on the confines of the Samnites and Lucani. Both the roads from Brentesium run into one near Beneventum and Campania, and thence to Rome it receives the name of Appian, and runs through Caudium, Calatia, Capua, and Casilinum, to Sinuessa. The way from thence to Rome has been already described.—The whole length of the Appian Way from Rome to Brentesium is 360 miles.
There is a third way from Rhegium, through the Bruttii, Lucani, and Samnites, along the chain of the Apennines, into ​Campania, where it joins the Appian Way; it is longer than those from Brentesium by about three or four days’ journey.
8. From Brentesium the sea is traversed by two passages to the opposite coast, one crossing to the Ceraunian Mountains and the adjacent coasts of the Epirus and Greece, the other to Epidamnus, which is the longer of the two, being 1800 stadia. Still this is habitually traversed, on account of the situation of the city [Epidamnus] being convenient for the nations of Illyria and Macedonia. As we coast along the shore of the Adriatic from Brentesium we come to the city Egnatia, it is the general place to stop at for those travelling to Barium, as well by land as by sea. The run is made when the wind blows from the south. The territory of the Peucetii extends as far as this along the coast, in the interior of the land it reaches as far as Silvium. It is throughout rugged and mountainous, and chiefly occupied by the Apennine mountains. It is thought to have been colonized by a party of Arcadians. The distance from Brentesium to Barium is about 700 stadia. [Tarentum] is about equally distant from both. The Daunii inhabit the adjoining district, then the Apuli as far as the Phrentani. As the inhabitants of the district, except in ancient times, have never been particular in speaking of the Peucetii or Daunii precisely, and as the whole of this country is now called Apulia, the boundaries of these nations are necessarily but ill defined: wherefore we ourselves shall not be very exact in treating of them.
​9. From Barium to the river Ofanto, on which the Canusitæ have established an emporium, there are 400 stadia. The course up the river to the emporium is 90 [stadia]. Near it is Salapia, the port of the Argyrippeni. For the two cities, Canusium and Argyrippa, are situated at no great distance from the sea, and in the midst of a plain; at one time they were the most important cities of the Greeks of Italy, as is manifest from the circumference of their walls, but now they have fallen off. One of them was originally called Argos Hippium, then Argyrippa, and then again Arpi. They are said to have been both founded by Diomed, and both the plain of Diomed and many other things are shown in these districts as evidence of his having possessed them. Such were the ancient offerings in the temple of Minerva, at Luceria. That was an ancient city of the Daunii, but now it is of no account. Again, in the neighbouring sea there are two islands called the Diomedean islands, one of which is inhabited, but the other, they say, is desert: in the latter it is fabled that Diomed disappeared from the earth, and that his companions were transformed into birds, and indeed the fable goes so far as to prolong their race to the present time, saying that they are tame, and lead a sort of human life, both in respect of food, and their readiness to approach men of gentle manners, and to shun the evil and wanton. We have already noticed what is currently reported amongst the Heneti concerning this hero [Diomed] and the honours decreed to him by custom. It is thought also that Sipus was a settlement founded by Diomed, ​it is distant from Salapia about 140 stadia, and was called by the Greeks Sepius, from the numbers of cuttle fish thrown up by the sea along its shore. Between Salapia and Sipus is a navigable river, and a considerable estuary; by both of these channels the merchandise, and wheat especially, of Sipus is conveyed to the sea. Two heroa or shrines are shown on a hill of Daunia, called Drium, one on the very brow of the hill sacred to Calchas, those who are about to inquire of the oracle offer a black ram to him, and sleep upon the fleece, the other below near the foot of the hill is dedicated to Podalirius, it is about a hundred stadia distant from the sea; from this hill also flows a stream, which is a potent cure for all manner of diseases among cattle. The promontory of Garganum running into the sea, juts out from this bay about 300 stadia. As you turn the point you perceive the town of Urium, while off the headland are seen the Diomedean islands. All this coast produces everything in great abundance, it is exceedingly well adapted for horses and sheep, and the wool is finer than that of Tarentum, but less glossy. The district is mild on account of the cup-like situation of the plains. There are some who report that Diomed attempted to cut a canal to the sea, but being sent for to return home, where he died, left it incomplete, as well as other undertakings. This is one account of him; another makes him abide here till the end of his days; a third is the fable I have already noticed, that he vanished in the island [of Teutria], and one might reckon as a fourth that of the Heneti, for they somehow make out that he finished his career among them, as they ​assert his apotheosis. The distances I have thus given are laid down in accordance with those of Artemidorus.
10. The chorographer indeed gives only 165 miles from Brentesium to Garganum, but Artemidorus makes them more. Thence to Ancona, the first says there are 254 miles, whilst Artemidorus has given but 1250 stadia to the Fiumesino, near to Ancona, which is much shorter. Polybius says that from Iapygia the distance has been laid down in miles, and that there are 562 miles thence to the town of Sila, thence to Aquileia 178. These geographers do not agree as to the length to be assigned to the line of the sea-coast of Illyria, run from the Ceraunian Mountains to the head of the Adriatic, some of them stating it to be above 6000 [stadia], and making it longer than the opposite coast [of Italy], while it is much shorter. Indeed they all generally differ among themselves in stating distances, as we often have occasion to remark. Wherever it is possible to discriminate we set forth what appears to us to be correct, but where it is impossible to come to any safe conclusion we think it our duty to publish their several assertions. However, when we have no data furnished by them, it must not be wondered at, if we should leave some points untouched in treating of such and so vast a subject as we have undertaken. We would not indeed omit any of the important particulars, but trifling circumstances, even when they are noted, are of little advantage, and when taken no heed of, are not missed, nor does their omission at all impair the whole work, or, if it does, at most not much.
​11. Immediately beyond the Garganum comes a deep bay. Those who dwell round it call themselves Apuli, they speak the same language as the Daunii and Peucetii, and at the present time resemble them in every other particular; however it is likely that they were formerly distinct, since their names completely differ from those of the others. In ancient times the whole of this country was flourishing, but Hannibal and the wars which subsequently occurred have wasted it. Here too was fought the battle of Cannæ, where there was so great a slaughter of the Roman forces and their allies. Near this gulf there is a lake, and above the lake in the interior is the Apulian Teanum, having a like name with that of the Sidicini. It is between this and the neighbourhood of Dicæarchia that the breadth of Italy is so contracted as to form an isthmus of less than 1000 stadia from sea to sea. Leaving the lake we sail next to Buca, and the country of the Frentani. There are 200 stadia from the lake both to Buca and to the Garganum. The remainder of the towns in the vicinity of Buca have been before described.
CHAPTER IV.
1. SO great indeed is Italy, and much as we have described it; we will now advert to the chief of the many things that have been described, which have conduced to raise the Romans to so great a height of prosperity. One point is its insular position, by which it is securely guarded, the seas forming a natural protection around it with the exception of a very inconsiderable frontier, which too is fortified by almost impassable mountains. A second is, that there are but few harbours, and those few capacious and admirably situated. These are of great service both for enterprises against foreign places, and also in case of invasions undertaken against the country, and the reception of abundant merchandise. And a third, that it is situated so as to possess many advantages of atmosphere and temperature of climate, in which both animals and plants, and in fact all things available for sustaining life, may be accommodated with every variety both of mild and severe temperature; its length stretches in a direction north and south. Sicily, which is extensive, may be looked upon as an addition to its length, for we cannot consider it in any other light than as a part of it. The salubrity or severity of the atmosphere of different countries is estimated by the amount of cold or heat, or the degrees of temperature between those extremes; in this way we shall find that Italy, which is situated in the medium of both the extremes, and having so great a length, largely participates in a salubrious atmosphere, and that in many respects. This advantage is still secured to it in another way, for the chain of the Apennines extending through its whole length, and leaving on each side plains and fruitful hills, there is no district which does not participate in the advantages of the best productions both of hill and plain. We must also enumerate the magnitude and number of its rivers and lakes, and the springs of hot and cold waters supplied by nature in various localities for the restoration of health; and in addition to these, its great wealth in mines of all the metals, abundance of timber, and excellent food both for man and for beasts of all kinds. Italy, likewise, being situated in the very midst of the greatest nations, I allude to Greece and the best provinces of Asia, is naturally in a position ​to gain the ascendency, since she excels the circumjacent countries both in the valour of her population and in extent of territory, and by being in proximity to them seems to have been ordained to bring them into subjection without difficulty.
2. If, in addition to our description of Italy, a few words should be summarily added about the Romans who have possessed themselves of it, and prepared it as a centre from whence to enforce their universal dominion, we would offer the following.—The Romans, after the foundation of their state, discreetly existed as a kingdom for many years, till Tarquin, the last [Roman king], abused his power, when they expelled him, and established a mixed form of government, being a modification both of the monarchical and aristocratical systems; they admitted both the Sabines and Latins into their alliance, but as neither they nor the other neighbouring states continued to act with good faith towards them at all times, they were under the necessity of aggrandizing themselves by the dismemberment of their neighbours. Having thus, by degrees, arrived at a state of considerable importance, it chanced that they lost their city suddenly, contrary to the expectation of all men, and again recovered the same contrary to all expectation. This took place, according to Polybius, in the nineteenth year after the naval engagement of Ægos-potami, about the time of the conclusion of the peace of Antalcidas. Having escaped these misfortunes, the Romans first reduced all the Latins to complete obedience, they then subdued the Tyrrheni, and stayed the Kelts, who border the Po, from their too frequent and licentious forays; then the Samnites, and after them they conquered the Tarentines and Pyrrhus, and presently after the remainder of what is now considered as Italy, with the exception of the districts on the Po. While these still remained a subject of dispute they passed over into Sicily, and having wrested that island from the Carthaginians they ​returned to complete the conquest of the people dwelling along the Po. While this war was still in hand Hannibal entered Italy, thus the second war against the Carthaginians ensued, and after a very short interval the third, in which Carthage was demolished. At the same time the Romans became masters of Africa, and of such portions of Spain as they won from the Carthaginians. Both the Greeks and the Macedonians, and the nations of Asia who dwelt on the hither side of the river Kisil-Irmak and the Taurus, took part in these struggles with the Carthaginians: over these Antiochus was king, and Philip and Perseus, these therefore the Romans found themselves obliged to subdue. The people likewise of Illyria and Thrace, who were next neighbours to the Greeks and Macedonians, at this time commenced the war with the Romans that never ceased, until the subjugation of all the people who inhabit the countries on the hither side of the Danube and the Kisil-Irmak had been effected. The Iberians, and Kelts, and all the rest who are subject to the Romans, shared a similar fate, for the Romans never rested in the subjugation of the land to their sway until they had entirely overthrown it: in the first instance they took Numantia, and subdued Viriathus, and afterwards vanquished Sertorius, and last of all the Cantabrians, who were brought to subjection by Augustus Cæsar. Likewise the whole of Gaul both within and beyond the Alps with Liguria were annexed at first by a partial occupation, but subsequently divus Cæsar and then Augustus subdued them completely in open war, so that now the Romans direct their expeditions against the Germans from these countries as the most convenient rendezvous, and have already adorned their own country with several triumphs over them. Also in Africa all that did not belong to the Carthaginians has been left to the charge of kings owning dependence on the Roman state, while such as have attempted to assert their independence have been overpowered. At the present moment both Maurusia and much of the rest ​of Africa have fallen to the portion of Juba, on account of his good will and friendship towards the Romans. The like things have taken place in Asia. At first it was governed by kings who were dependent on the Romans, and afterwards when their several lines of succession failed, as of that of the kings Attalus, the kings of the Syrians, the Paphlagonians, Cappadocians, and Egyptians, [or] when they revolted and were subsequently deposed, as it happened in the case of Mithridates Eupator, and Cleopatra of Egypt, the whole of their territories within the Phasis and the Euphrates, with the exception of some tribes of Arabs, were brought completely under the dominion of the Romans and the dynasties set up by them. The Armenians and the people who lie beyond Colchis, both the Albani and Iberians, require nothing more than that Roman governors should be sent among them, and they would be easily ruled; their attempted insurrections are merely the consequence of the want of attention from the Romans, who are so much occupied elsewhere: the like may be asserted of those who dwell beyond the Danube, and inhabit the banks of the Euxine, excepting only those who dwell on the ​Bosphorus and the Nomades; of these the former are in subjection to the Romans, and the latter are unprofitable for commerce on account of their wandering life, and only require to be watched. The rest of the countries [of Asia] are chiefly inhabited by Scenites and Nomades who dwell at a great distance. The Parthians indeed border on them and are very powerful, but they have yielded so far to the superiority of the Romans and our emperors, that they have not only sent back to Rome the trophies which they had at a still more distant period taken from the Romans, but Phraates has even sent his sons and his sons’ sons to Augustus Cæsar, as hostages, assiduously courting his friendship: indeed the [Parthians] of the present time frequently send for a king from hence, and are almost on the point of relinquishing all power to the Romans. We now see Italy, which has frequently been torn by civil war even since it came under the dominion of the Romans, nay, even Rome herself, restrained from rushing headlong into confusion and destruction by the excellence of her form of government and the ability of her emperors. Indeed it were hard to administer the affairs of so great an empire otherwise than by committing them to one man as a father. For it would never have been in the power of the Romans and their allies to attain to a state of such perfect peace, and the enjoyment of such abundant prosperity, as Augustus Cæsar afforded them from the time that he took upon himself the absolute authority; and which his son Tiberius, who has succeeded him, still maintains, who takes his father for a pattern in his government and ordinances. And in their turn his sons, Germanicus and Drusus, who are exercising the functions of government under their father, take him for their model.
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* ↑ It is now called Licosa, and sometimes Isola piana; several vestiges of buildings were discovered on the island in 1696. Antonin. della Lucan. p. ii. disc. 8.
* ↑ Strabo here cites the historian Antiochus, but it is surprising that he does not rather cite the writer from whom Antiochus seems to have borrowed this account, we mean Herodotus, who relates it (lib. i. § 164). But Strabo, probably, looking upon Herodotus as a collector of fables, chose rather to yield to the authority of Antiochus, who had written very accurate memoirs upon Italy, and who was, likewise, himself a very ancient author, (Dion. Halicarn. Antiq. Rom. lib. i. § 12,) and flourished about 420 years before the Christian era.
* ↑ Or Velia, founded 532 B. C., mentioned by Horace, Epist. I. xv. 1, “Quæ sit hyems Veliæ, quod cœlum, Vala, Salerni.”
* ↑ Pliny affirms that these two islands were called, the one Pontia, the other Ischia; “Contra Veliam Pontia et Ischia, utræque uno nomine Œnotrides, argumentum possessæ ab Œnotriis Italiæ.” Hist. Nat. lib. iii. § 13. If this reading be not faulty, Pliny will have placed in the latitude, of which our author is now giving a description, a small island bearing the same name, Pontia, as the island lying off Cape Misenum.
* ↑ Called Laino in the time of Cluverius. Lib. iv. cap. 14.
* ↑ Founded about the year 510 B. C.
* ↑ About the year 390 before the Christian era.
* ↑ Strabo seems here to distinguish the Chones from the Œnotri, and the Œnotri from the Greeks. According to Cluvier (Ital. Antiq. cap. 16, p. 1323) here was a double error: “not only (says he) Aristotle, but Antiochus, according to Strabo’s own testimony, positively affirmed that the Chones and Œnotri were one and the same nation, and Dionysius of Halicarnassus (Antiq. Roman., lib. i. § 11) makes no doubt that the Œnotri were of Greek origin.” But Mazochi justifies the distinction between the Œones and the Œnotri, and shows cause to doubt that the Œnotri were of Greek origin.
* ↑ ἐκβεβαρβαρῶσθαι. We think with Mazochi (Prodrom. ad Heracl. pseph. diatrib. 2, cap. 7, sect. 2) that, by the above word, Strabo probably expressed that, at the time when he wrote, Tarentum, Rheggio, and Naples were the only cities founded by the Greeks in Italy, which, although become Roman, retained the language, laws, and usages of their mother country.
* ↑ It has been well observed by Cramer in his Ancient Italy, that Strabo confused this Petilia of the Leucani with another better known of the Bruttii, the foundation of which was attributed to Philoctetes. It is observed by Antonini that Strabo contradicts himself, by ascribing to Philoctetes the origin of a town in Leucania, for he states a few lines further on that that hero occupied a part of the coast near Crotona, which was in the territory of the Bruttii. Strabo’s account, however, of the existence of a Leucanian Petilia is confirmed by many inscriptions of early date. The ruins of the town remain on the Monte della Stella. Antonin. della Lucan. p. i. disc. 8. Romanelli, tom. i. p. 350.
* ↑ According to some judicious antiquaries, the site of Chone is located at Casabuona, near Strongoli.
* ↑ The ruins of this city, which was anciently called also Egesta, Acesta, and Segesta, may be seen at Barbara, in the valley of Mazzara.
* ↑ Kramer, following the suggestion of Xylander, has printed Γρουμεντὸν. I am inclined, however, to think that Πουμεντὸν, the reading of Manuscripts, is correct. According to Barrio, it occupied the situation of Gerenza, on the right bank of the Nieto.
* ↑ Verzine on the Nieto. (Barr. lib. iv. cap. 18. Maraf. lib. iii. c. 18.)
* ↑ Calasarna is supposed by the Calabrian topographers to accord with the site of Campania.
* ↑ Venosa, situated about 15 miles south of the Aufidus. It was a colony of importance before the war against Pyrrhus. After the disaster at Cannæ, it afforded a retreat to Varro and the few who escaped that signal overthrow. Horace was born there in the year of the city 688. About six miles from Venosa, on the site named Palazzo, was the Fons Bandusiæ. (Chaupy, Desc. de la maison de Camp. d’Horace, tom. iii. p. 538.)
* ↑ Cluvier thought that we should read Θουριανὴ instead of Ταυριανὴ.
* ↑ Golfo di Squillace. Scylletium was once a Greek city of note, communicating its name to the gulf. Servius observes that the Athenians who founded the colony were returning from Africa. There was a Greek inscription found in 1791 relative to the Λαμπαδηδρομία, which seems to confirm the tradition of the Athenian origin of Scylletium. It was the birth-place of Cassiodorus.
* ↑ Σιλαρις. The Silaro, which divides Lucania from Campania, takes its rise in the Apennines, in a district which formerly belonged to the Hirpini; and after receiving the Tanager, now Negro, and the Calor, now Calore, falls into the Gulf of Salerno. Silius Italicus (viii. 582) states that this river possessed the property of incrusting twigs with a calcareous deposit:“Nunc Silarus quos nutrit aquis, quo gurgite tradunt Duritiem lapidum mersis inolescere ramis.” At its mouth was a haven named Portus Albernus.
* ↑ This measure, upon our charts, is 330 Olympic stadia. Gosselin.
* ↑ ἐξετάραξεν ἅπαντας πρὸς ἅπαντας. Lit. “He stirred up every body against every body.” It is conceived that the hostilities of the Bruttii were fomented by Dion in order to prevent the tyrant Dionysius from deriving any aid from his Leucanian allies. The advancement of the Bruttii to independence is computed by Diodorus Siculus to have taken place about 397 years after the foundation of Rome, that is, 356 before the Christian era.
* ↑ The situation of Temesa has not yet been fully determined. Cluverius fixes it about ten miles south of Amantea, near Torre Loppa. Romanelli observes, however, that Cluverius has not allowed for the difference between the ancient and modern computation of distance. To rectify this oversight, he makes choice of Torre del piano del Casale, nearly two miles north of Torre Loppa, as the locality of this ancient site. The silver coins of Temesa are scarce. They have the Greek epigraph, ΤΕΜ.
* ↑ After the second Punic war it was colonized by the Romans, who called it Tempsa, B. C. 195.
* ↑ We concur with Kramer in approving the proposition of Groskurd to understand the words ἐκεῖνον μὲν οὖν διὰ πολλοῦ as having been originally written in the text immediately before ἐπικεῖσθαι αὐτοῖς.
* ↑ They had been compelled to sacrifice a virgin annually in order to appease his disturbed spirit.
* ↑ These words in parenthesis seem to have been interpolated by the transcribers of our author. Both Temesa and Tamassus were rich in metal, but the spelling of the name in Homer is more in accordance with Temesa than Tamassus, and other poets have alluded to it, as Ovid. Met. xv. 706, “Evincitque fretum, Siculique angusta Pelori, Hippotadæque domos regis, Temesesque metalla.” And Fast. v. 441,“… Temesæaque concrepat æra.” And Statius, Silv. i. 42,“Et cui se toties Temese dedit hausta metallis.”
* ↑ Hannibal took refuge in Calabria about 209 years before the Christian era.
* ↑ Cosenza, near the source of the Crathis, now Crati, represents Cosentia. It was taken by Hannibal after the surrender of Petilia, but towards the end of the war the Romans regained it.
* ↑ Αἰακίδη, προφύλαξο μολεῖν Ἀχερούσιον ὕδωρ Πανδοσίην δ᾽ ὅθι τοι θάνατος πεπρωμένος ἐστί. Son of Æacus, beware of approaching the Acherusian water and Pandosia, where death is destined for thee. (See note)
* ↑ Commentators generally agree that this is the Pandosia memorable for the defeat and death of Alexander, king of Epirus. The early Calabrian antiquaries have placed it at Castel Franco. D’Anville, in his map, lays it down near Lao and Cirella. Modern investigators have sought its ruins near Mendocino, between Cosenza and the sea, a hill with three summits having been remarked there, which answers to the fatal height pointed out by the oracle,Πανδοσία τρικόλωνε, πολύν ποτε λαὸν ὀλέσσεις· together with a rivulet, Maresanto or Arconti; which last name recalls the Acheron denounced by another prediction, as so inauspicious to the Molossian king. Scylax, in his Periplus, seems to place Pandosia, together with Clampetia and Terina, near the western coast.
* ↑ Afterwards Vibo Valentia, now Monte-Leone.
* ↑ Surnamed the Epizephyrii. Heyne supposes this took place B. C. 388.
* ↑ There was a temple erected to Proserpine in these meadows, and a building called “Amalthæa’s horn,” raised by Gelon of Syracuse.
* ↑ He reigned from B. C. 317 to B. C. 289.
* ↑ Now Le Formicole. The promontory named Capo Vaticano seems to have been anciently known under the same appellation.
* ↑ Medma, or Mesma, was situated on the right bank of the river Mesima, which seems to retain traces of the name of the ancient city. Antiquaries report that its ruins are seen between Nicotera and the river Mesima. The epigraph on the coins of this city is generally ΜΕΣΜΑ, or ΜΕΣΜΑΙΩΝ, and in a single instance ΜΕΔΑΜΑ.
* ↑ That is, the Epizephyrian Locrians.
* ↑ Cluverius considers this to be the modern Bagnara.
* ↑ The ancient river Metaurus is now also called Marro, and sometimes Petrace. It was noted for the excellence of the thunny fish caught at its mouth.
* ↑ Metaurum. The site of this place is supposed to accord with that of the town of Gioja.
* ↑ There have been many suggestions for the correction of this passage. Kramer thinks that Cluverius was happy in proposing Ποταμὸς instead of Μέταυρος, and that then the Cratais, now Solano, or Fiume de’ Pesci, would be the river which Strabo intended.
* ↑ According to Pliny, these two promontories were separated by an interval of twelve stadia, or a mile and a half, which accords with the statement of Polybius. Thucydides, however, allows about two miles and a half, which he considers to be the utmost possible distance. Topographers are divided as to the exact point of the Italian coast which answers to Cape Cænys. The Calabrian geographers say the Punta del Pezzo, called also Coda del Volpe, in which opinion Cluverius and D’Anville coincide, but Holstenius contends for the Torre del Cavallo, which the French translators seem to favour. In fact, that may be the narrowest point, still it does not answer so well to Strabo’s description of the figure and bearing of Cape Cænys as the Punta del Pezzo.
* ↑ The temple or altar of Neptune.
* ↑ The Columna Rhegina, as remarked by Cramer, (vol. ii. p. 427,) was probably a pillar set up to mark the consular road leading to the south of Italy. Strabo speaks of it as a small tower (book iii. c. v. § 5, p. 265). In the Itinerary of Antoninus it is simply termed Columna, but in the inscription relative to the Via Aquilia, it is called Statua. The situation of this tower is generally identified with the site of La Catona.
* ↑ Now Reggio, one of the most celebrated and flourishing cities of Magna Grecia, founded about 696 years B. C. Cato affirms that it was once in the possession of the Aurunci. The connexion which subsisted between Rhegium and the Chalcidian colonies in Sicily, induced its inhabitants to take part with the Athenians in their first hostilities against the Syracusans and Locrians. In the great Sicilian expedition, the Rhegians observed a strict neutrality. While the Athenian fleet was moored in their roads, they refused to admit the army within their walls, which therefore encamped near the temple of Diana outside the town. Rhegium subsequently pursued a similar policy, and suffered severely under tyrants, but the Roman senate at length freed the unfortunate citizens.
* ↑ Strabo here alludes to the crime which was perpetrated in the reign of Teleclus, about 811 years before the Christian era. The division of the Messenians into two parties, the one wishing and the other refusing to give satisfaction, lasted about 150 years. See book vi. cap. iii. § 3.
* ↑ It was taken by the Lacedæmonians about B. C. 668.
* ↑ It seems probable that Strabo here refers to Morgantium in Sicily, which had disappeared in his days, and which he mentions in b. vi. c. ii. § 4.
* ↑ Sextus Pompeius, having received from the senate the command of the fleet, B. C. 43, in a short time made himself master of Sicily, which he held till 36.
* ↑ This is a quotation from one of the missing works of Æschylus.
* ↑ Virgil speaks of this great catastrophe, Æn. iii. 414,“Hæc loca, vi quondam et vasta convulsa ruina (Tantum ævi longinqua valet mutare vetustas,) Dissiluisse ferunt: cum protinus utraque tellus Una foret, venit medio vi pontus, et undis Hesperium Siculo latus abscidit: arvaque et urbes Litore diductas angusto interluit æstu.”
* ↑ It appears from the more ancient coins of Rhegium, that the original name was RECION. In these the epigraph is REC. RECI. RECINOS, in characters partaking more of the Oscan than the Greek form; those of more recent date are decidedly Greek, ΡΗΓ. ΡΗΓΙΝΩΝ, being inscribed on them. A note in the French translation shows that the inhabitants of Rhegium did not participate in the rights of Roman citizens till about 90 years before the Christian era.
* ↑ Among these were many followers of Pythagoras, also Theagenes Hippys, Lycus surnamed Butera, and Glaucus, who were historians; Ibicus, Cleomenes, and Lycus the adoptive father of Lycophron, who were poets; Clearchus and Pythagoras, who were sculptors.
* ↑ The Rhegians firmly opposed the designs of this tyrant; and when, under pretence of courting their alliance, he sought a consort from their city, they replied with independent feeling that he might have their hangman’s daughter. (See Diodorus Siculus, xiv. 44.) Had the other states of Magna Grecia displayed the same energy, the ambitious views of this artful prince might have been frustrated; but after the defeat of their forces on the Elleporus, now Callipari, they succumbed, and Rhegium, after a gallant defence which lasted nearly a year, was compelled to yield, about the year 398 B. C. The insulting tyrant sentenced the heroic Phyton, who had commanded the town, to a cruel death, and removed the few inhabitants that remained to Sicily.
* ↑ The defeat of Sextus Pompeius is referred to the year 36 B. C., but there is no precise date mentioned for the establishment of the veteran soldiers in Rhegium, which probably took place about the year 31 B. C.
* ↑ Pliny computes the distance from Rhegium to Cape Leucopetra at 12 miles; there is probably some error in the text, as there is no cape which corresponds with the distance of 50 stadia from Rhegium. A note in the French translation proposes to read 100 instead of 50 stadia. Topographers are not agreed in fixing the situation of the celebrated Leucopetra. D’Anville places it at Capo Pittaro, Grimaldi at the Punta della Saetta, and Cluverius, Holstenius, and Cellarius at the Capo dell’ Armi. This latter opinion seems more compatible with the statement of Pliny, and is also more generally accredited.
* ↑ The Herculeum Promontorium is known in modern geography as Capo Spartivento.
* ↑ The Promontorium Iapygium, or Sallentinum, as it was sometimes called, formed a remarkable feature in the figure of Italy, while the art of navigation was in its infancy. It was a conspicuous land-mark to mariners bound from the ports of Greece to Sicily. The fleets of Athens, after having circumnavigated the Peloponnesus, usually made for Corcyra, whence they steered straight across to the promontory, and then coasted along the south of Italy. It seems from Thucydides (vi. 44) that there was a haven here which afforded a shelter to vessels in tempestuous weather.
* ↑ The one 710, the other 734 years B. C.
* ↑ The opinion of Ephorus seems to be supported by many other writers, and is generally preferred by modern critics.
* ↑ This wicked prince, having been expelled from Syracuse, had found refuge among the Locrians from the storm which threatened his existence; but, depraved as he was degraded, he repaid the kindness of the people, who treated him as their kinsman because his mother Doris had been the daughter of one of their principal citizens, with the basest treachery and ingratitude. He introduced into their city a number of miscreants, and having overpowered the inhabitants, gave loose to all the vicious propensities of his nature.
* ↑ Horrid as is the vengeance which the Locri took on these unfortunate victims of a husband’s and a father’s crimes, it serves to confirm the accounts of the iniquity and barbarity of a prince, whose mean and imbecile conduct at other times sanctions the notion that his intellect was disordered.
* ↑ We could almost wish to read this passage—“rendered them more plausible, but impaired their utility.”
* ↑ Although Strabo ascribes Mamertium to the Bruttii, it is more probable that it was a colony of Campanian mercenaries, deriving their name from Mamers, the Oscan Mars, who served under Agathocles, and other princes of Sicily. The Mamertini were employed by the Romans against Pyrrhus, whom they attacked in the woods and defiles about Rhegium. Barrio (lib. ii. c. 10) and Maraf. lib. iii. c. 25, (f. 222) have identified the site of this ancient town with Martorano, but it seems too distant from Locri and Rhegium to accord with Strabo’s description. Cluverius, D’Anville, and Romanelli place it at Oppido, a bishop’s see above Reggio, and Gerace, where old coins are said to have been discovered. Cramer (vol. ii. p. 439) thinks that the Melæ mentioned by Thucydides may have been identical with Mamertium. Several remains of antiquity exist on the site called Mela, in the vicinity of Oppido.
* ↑ The pix Bruttia is noticed by Pliny, Columella, Dioscorides, and other authorities mentioned by Bochart, Canaan, p. 595. Bochart looks upon the Bruttii as a people known to the Phœnicians at a very remote period.
* ↑ Geographers differ much as to the modern river which corresponds to this stream. Romanelli and Swinburne consider it to be the Alaro.
* ↑ During the war against Pyrrhus, whose cause was espoused by Caulonia, the city was pillaged by the Mamertini, the allies of the Romans. The town was subsequently occupied by the Bruttii, who defended it against the Romans in the second Punic war. Barrio and other Calabrian topographers have fixed its site at Castro Vetere, but Strabo placed it on the left bank of the Sagras, which is inconsistent with their supposition, and it is still a subject of inquiry.
* ↑ Cluvier (Sicil. ant. lib. ii.]) reckons this place was situated between Caltanis and Pietra preccia.
* ↑ Servius observes that these Athenians were returning from Africa, Serv. Æn. iii. 552.
* ↑ Saumaise (Exercit. Plin. p. 47, 57) thinks the true reading should be Scylaceium, or Virgil could not have made the penultimate long.… Attollit se diva Lacinia contra Caulonisque arces, et navifragum Scylaceum. Æn. iii. 652.
* ↑ Pliny seems to attribute to Dionysius the elder the project of cutting not walling off the isthmus: “Itaque Dionysius major intercisam eo loco adjicere Siciliæ voluit.” Hist. Nat. lib. iii. § 15. Grimaldi also is of opinion that the circumstance mentioned by Strabo should be referred to the first years of Dionysius the younger, about B. C. 366–359.
* ↑ By those who dwelt without, Strabo doubtless intended the Crotoniatæ, and their allies.
* ↑ These three capes are now called Capo delle Castella, Capo Rizzuto, and Capo della Nave.
* ↑ Lacinium was about six miles from Crotona. The celebrated temple of Juno derived its name from the promontory. According to Diodorus Siculus, some ascribe its origin to Hercules. (Diod. Sic. iv. 24.) Its ruins are in the early Doric style, with fluted pillars broader at the base than at the capital. It measured about 132 yards in length, and 66 in breadth. Its principal entrance opened to the west.
* ↑ Gosselin follows the opinion that Polybius wrote 1300 stadia.
* ↑ The modern names of Cape Lacinium, viz. Capo delle Colonne and Capo Nao, are derived from the remains of the temple, which is still visible on its summit.
* ↑ The text is here evidently deficient. Groskurd says that Strabo most probably wrote as follows, “As the chorographer says, Artemidorus reckons that [the journey would take 12 days for one travelling on foot], with his girdle on; [but, to one sailing, the distance is 2000 stadia:] leaving at the same time as many [for the mouth, as Polybius has given] for the breadth of the mouth of the gulf.” The French translators, however, have attempted to read the text as follows, “The chorographer makes it 240 miles, and Artemidorus says that it is 380 for a light traveller; a computation in which the breadth of the mouth is not included;” but comment on it in several extensive notes.
* ↑ Groskurd observes, Im Texte καὶ λιμὴν. Besser also, liest man mit Cluv. λίμνη, and translates it “a salt-marsh;” but Cramer, in his description of ancient Italy, observes that the mouth of the river Esaro formed a haven, which, however incommodious compared with those of Tarentum and Brundusium, was long a source of great wealth to Crotona, as we are assured by Polybius, Frag. x. 1.
* ↑ Neæthus. This river was said to derive its name from the circumstance of the captive Trojan women having there set fire to the Grecian fleet.
* ↑ Νέαιθος, from νῆας and αἰθεῖν, “to burn the ships.”
* ↑ There is much obscurity in this oracular response. The various manuscripts offer many readings.
* ↑ A note in the French translation observes that the establishment of Myscellus at Crotona took place about 709 or 703 years B. C., and that Syracuse was founded as early as 735 years B. C.
* ↑ According to some traditions, Crotona was very ancient, and derived its name from the hero Croto. Thus Ovid: “Vixque pererratis quæ spectant littora terris, Invenit Æsarei fatalia fluminis ora: Nec procul hinc tumulum, sub quo sacrata Crotonis Ossa tegebat humus. Jussaque ibi mœnia terra Condidit; et nomen tumulati traxit in urbem.” Ovid. Metam. xv. 53.
* ↑ Milo is said to have carried off the prize for wrestling from the 62nd Olympiad, B. C. 532, and also to have commanded the 100,000 Crotoniatæ who engaged the hostile armies of Sybaris and destroyed their city, about B. C. 509. Diod. Sic. xii. 9, &c.
* ↑ Sybaris was said to have been founded by the people of Trœzene not long after the siege of Troy. Aristot. Politic, lib. v. cap. 3. Solin. viii. But these were subsequently joined by a more numerous colony of Achæans, about B. C. 720. Euseb. Chron. ii.
* ↑ ὁ Κρᾶθις. There was a stream of the same name in Achaia, from whence the Italian Crathis, now Crati, derived its name. The Crathis and Sybaris now join about 14 miles from the sea.
* ↑ Koray objected to the old reading, ὁ Ἰσελικεὺς, and proposed instead Οἰσ… Ἑλικεὺς; Groskurd thought it better to translate it Ihr Erbauer war Is… aus Helike; and Kramer has adopted this latter view, which we have followed.
* ↑ Helice was mentioned, book i. chap. iii. § 18. Ovid, Metam. xv. 293, also speaks of this city, “Si quæras Helicen et Buram Achaïdas urbes, Invenies sub aquis …”
* ↑ The Epitome gives nine days.
* ↑ The events which led to this catastrophe are thus related by Diodorus Siculus: “A democratical party, at the head of which was Telys, having gained the ascendency, expelled 500 of the principal citizens, who sought refuge at Crotona. This city, upon receiving a summons to give up the fugitives, or prepare for war, by the advice of Pythagoras chose the latter. The armies met near the river Triunti, in the territory of Crotona, where the brave citizens gained a complete victory.”
* ↑ At the instigation of Pericles, the Athenians sent out a colony under the command of Lampon and Xenocritus, which arrived about 55 years after the overthrow of Sybaris. Two celebrated characters are named among those who joined this expedition, which was collected from different parts of Greece. These were Herodotus, and Lysias the orator.
* ↑ Compare Ælian. Hist. Anim. ii. 36.
* ↑ Cæsar however calls it Thurii, and designates it a municipal town. Civ. Bell. iii. 22.
* ↑ It is not ascertained whether this leader were the architect of the Horse of Troy.
* ↑ Antiquaries seem agreed in fixing the site of this town at Policoro, about three miles from the mouth of the Agri, where considerable remains are still visible. The city is famous as the seat of the general council of the Greek states, and the celebrated bronze tables on which the learned Mazzocchi bestowed so much labour were discovered near its site. Its coins represent Hercules contending with the lion, and bear the epigraph ΗΡΑ or ΗΡΑΚΛΗΙΩΝ.
* ↑ This accords very well with the distance given in the Itinerary of Antoninus.
* ↑ Kramer reads χώνων in the text. We have followed the opinion of the French translators, who have rendered it “possedée par des Troyens.” MSS. give various readings.
* ↑ Kramer reads ἐπὶ Τεύθραντος; but thinks with Groskurd that ἐπὶ τοῦ Τράεντος, the Traens or modern Trionto, is the true reading.
* ↑ In the time of Pausanias, this city was a heap of ruins, and nothing remained standing but the walls and theatre. Considerable vestiges, situated near the station called Torre di Mare, indicate the site it anciently adorned.
* ↑ θέρος χρυσοῦν. Xylander and others have thought this was a statue representing Summer; others have reckoned that golden sheaves were intended. The coins of Metapontium, which are greatly admired as works of art, have a head of Ceres, and on the reverse an ear of corn. A large sum of these might be justly called a golden harvest.
* ↑ Neleus had twelve sons, eleven of whom were slain by Hercules, while Nestor alone escaped; we must therefore infer from this passage, that rites were celebrated at Metapontium in honour of his brothers.
* ↑ The Greek words might either mean that Metapontium was destroyed or that the sacrifices were abolished. From the succeeding sentence it would be most natural to suppose that Strabo meant to say the city was overthrown.
* ↑ These words are not in the Greek text, but seem to have been accidentally omitted by the transcriber.
* ↑ The ordinary reading is Trinacis, but Kramer found it given Thrinacia in the Vatican Manuscript, No. 482, which seems to suit the rest of the sentence better. Dionysius Perieg. vers. 467, says,Τρινακίη δ᾽ ἐπὶ τῇσιν, ὑπὲρ πέδον Αὐσονιήων Ἐκτέταται. And Homer, Strabo’s great geographical authority, in book xi. of the Odyssey, line 106, terms it Θρινακίῃ νήσῳ. Virgil, Æn. iii. 440, says,“Trinacria fines Italos mittere relicta.”
* ↑ The MSS. of Strabo read Agathyrsum, but the town is more commonly called Agathyrnum. Livy, book xxvi. cap. 40, and Silius Italicus, book xiv. ver. 260, call it Agathyrna. Cluverius considers it to have been situated near S. Marco; others would place it nearer to Capo d’Orlando; while D’Anville is in favour of Agati.
* ↑ I Bagni, or S. Maria de’ Palazzi. Groskurd gives it as Torre di Pittineo by Tusa, or Torre di Tusa. Cicero writes the name without a diphthong, “statim Messana litteras Halesam mittit.” Cic. in Verr. ii. c. 7. Diodorus spells it Αλαισος. Silius Italicus, lib. xiv. ver. 219, makes the penultimate long: “Venit ab amne trahens nomen Gela, venit Halæsa.” And the inscription in Gruter, p. 212, gives the name of the river near it, Αλαισος.
* ↑ Modern critics consider this to be the Fiume-Grande, which takes its rise near Polizzi and the Fiume Salso, the latter flows from a source within a few miles of the Fiume-Grande, and after a course of about 80 miles, falls into the sea near Alicata. The Fiume Salso was also called Himera, and both rivers taken to be one.
* ↑ Probably ruins at the embouchure of the Platani. Groskurd also gives for it Bissenza.
* ↑ At the mouth of the Fiume di Girgenti. Virgil calls Agrigentum by the Greek name, Æn. iii. 703,“Arduus inde Acragas ostentat maxima longe Mœnia, magnanimum quondam generator equorum.”
* ↑ As the distance from Agrigentum to Camarina greatly exceeds another 20 miles, Kramer supposes that the words, “and to Gela, 20,” have been omitted by the copyist.
* ↑ The Paris MS. No. 1393, used by the French translators, has 33; the Paris MS. 1396, and the Medici plut. 28, No. 5, give 20 miles.
* ↑ Gossellin observes, that the distance from Messina to Cape Pelorias, which would complete the circuit of Sicily, is about 9 miles.
* ↑ i. e. by land.
* ↑ An intelligent critic has imagined that this road may have been commenced by M. Valerius Maximus Messala, consul in the year 263, and censor in 253, before the Christian era. D’Orvill. Sic. c. ii. p. 12.
* ↑ We have followed Kramer, who inserts [ διακόσια ] before τριάκοντα.
* ↑ i. e. to give its parallels of latitude and longitude.
* ↑ i. e. wherein all three sides are unequal.
* ↑ Or, lies towards the east, with a northern inclination.
* ↑ A river of the Peloponnesus, now called Ruféa.
* ↑ The French translation gives 1160 stadia.
* ↑ Gossellin observes, that from Pachynus to Lilybæum the coast runs from the south to the north-west, and looks towards the south-west.
* ↑ This person, according to Varro, was named Strabo. See Varr. ap. Plin. Hist. Nat. lib. vii. § 21, page 386.
* ↑ This coast of Sicily rises very little as it advances towards the east, and looks almost continually towards the north, with the exception of a very short space near Lilybæum. The Æolian islands lie to the north.
* ↑ Naxos was not situated between Catana and Syracuse, but was most probably built on the left bank of the Fiume Freddo, the ancient Asines, near Taormina. It is possible that Strabo originally wrote, between Messina and Syracuse. Naxos was founded about 734 B. C., and destroyed by Dionysius the elder about the year 403. Naxos is thought by some to be the modern Schisso.
* ↑ Megara was founded on the right of the Cantaro, the ancient Alabus. It was destroyed about 214 years B. C.
* ↑ Thucydides says ζάγκλιον is a Sicilian word.
* ↑ These wines, although grown in Sicily, were reckoned among the Italian wines. See Athen. Deipnos. lib. i. cap. 21, ed. Schweigh. tom. i. p. 102. And from the time of Julius Cæsar they were classed in the fourth division of the most esteemed wines. See Plin. Hist. Nat. lib. xiv. § 8, No. 4 and § 17.
* ↑ At the same time as Syracuse.
* ↑ A note in the French translation suggests that we should read Sicilians of Hybla. τῶν ἐν Ὕβλῃ Σικελῶν instead of Ζαγκλαίων.
* ↑ Hiero in Greek was Ἱέρων. The line of Pindar in Kramer’s edition is, ξύνες [ ὅ ] τοι λέγω, ζαθέων ἱερῶν ὁμώνυμε πάτερ, κτίστορ Αἴτνας. The words played on are Ἱέρων and ἱερῶν.
* ↑ Cluvier considers that the monastery of Saint Nicolas de Arenis, about 12 modern miles from Catana, is situated about the place to which Strabo here alludes.
* ↑ τὴν Καταναίαν. The spelling of this name, like very many in the present work, was by no means uniform in classic authors. Strabo has generally called it Catana (Κατάνη); Ptolemy, Κατάνη κολώνια; Pliny, lib. iii. cap. 8, Colonia Catina; Pomponius Mela, lib. ii. cap. 7, Catina; Cicero, Catina; and on ancient coins we find ΚΑΤΑΝΑΙΩΝ.
* ↑ This feat was recorded by divers works of art set up in different places: it must have taken place in one of the eruptions, 477, 453, or 427, before the Christian era. The place where they lived was called Campus Piorum.
* ↑ δἰ ἡμερῶν τεσσάρων ἢ πέντε, in Kramer’s text; in his notes he particularizes the readings of the different manuscripts and editions, some reading forty or fifty. He also records his sorrow at having preferred the reading of fifty days to thirty, in the passage relating to the fat beasts of Erythia, book iii. cap. 5, § 4, (page 255).
* ↑ Literally, changes into coagulation.
* ↑ According to other authorities he was descended from Bacchus.
* ↑ Cicero’s Oratio Frumentaria supports this character of the country. Silius Italicus, lib. xiv. vers. 23, thus celebrates the richness of the soil,“Multa solo virtus: jam reddere fœnus aratris, Jam montes umbrare olea, dare nomina Baccho; Nectare Cecropias Hyblæo accendere ceras:” and Florus terms it Terra frugum ferax.
* ↑ Strabo makes a distinct mention of Siculi and Sicani, as if they were different people. Philologists have been much divided as to whether they were not different appellations of the same nation.
* ↑ Such as the Elymi, or Helymi, who occupied the districts bordering on the Belici in the western part of the island.
* ↑ It is probable that Morgantium was situated on the right bank of the Giaretta, below its confluence with the Dattaino, but at some little distance from the sea; at least such is the opinion of Cluverius, in opposition to the views of Sicilian topographers. Sic. Ant. book ii. cap. 7, pp. 325 and 335.
* ↑ The first settlement of the Carthaginians in Sicily was about 560 B. C.
* ↑ They were called Nesos, [the island Ortygia,] Achradina, Tycha, Neapolis, and Epipolæ. Ausonius applies the epithet fourfold,“Quis Catinam sileat? quis quadruplices Syracusas?” Dionysius however fortified Epipolæ with a wall, and joined it to the city.
* ↑ Twenty-two miles four perches English. Swinburne spent two days in examining the extent of the ruins, and was satisfied as to the accuracy of Strabo’s statement.
* ↑ Virgil thus deals with the subject:“Sicanio prætenta sinu jacet insula contra Plemmyrium undosum: nomen dixere priores Ortygiam. Alpheum fama est hue, Elidis amnem, Occultas egisse vias subter mare; qui nunc Ore, Arethusa, tuo Siculis confunditur undis.” Æn. iii. 692.
* ↑ The words of Pindar are,ἄμπνευμα σεμνὸν Ἀλφεοῦ, κλεινᾶν Συρακοσσᾶν θάλος, Ὀρτυγία. The French translators have rendered them,“Terme saint du tourment d’Alphée Bel ornement, de Syracuse Ortygia!” And Groskurd,“Ehrwürdige Ruhstatt Alpheos’, Ruhmzweig Syrakossai’s, o Du Ortygia.” Liddell and Scott call ἀνάπνευμα a resting-place, referring to this passage, but I can see no reason for not allowing to it the signification most suitable to the passage, ἀναπνέω is, “to breathe again,” and, according to the supposition of the ancients, the Alpheus might justly be said to breathe again on appearing at Arethusa, after its passage beneath the bed of the sea from Greece, ἀναπνοὴ also, means “a recovering of breath.”
* ↑ Pindar, Nem. Od. i. vers. 1. See also Bohn’s Classic. Lib. Pindar.
* ↑ Conf. Antig. Caryst. Hist. Mir. cap. 155.
* ↑ According to Strabo himself, book viii. chap. 3, § 12, the Alpheus flows through a subterraneous course before it comes to Olympia; the objection therefore which he here takes, rests only on the circumstance of the river pursuing a visible course all the way to the sea, from the point where the chalice had fallen into it.
* ↑ The play from which this is quoted is not extant.
* ↑ A people of Thessaly.
* ↑ A people of Argos.
* ↑ The Porto Maggiore of Syracuse is scarcely half so large.
* ↑ Centorbe, to the south-west of Ætna. Silius, lib. xiv., mentions it as “Centuripe largoque virens Entella Lyæo.”
* ↑ Now Camarana: it was founded 600 years B. C.
* ↑ “Apparet Camarina procul, campique Geloi.” Virg. Æn. iii. 701.
* ↑ Ovid, in the fourth book of his Fasti, thus alludes to the temple,“Grata domus Cereri, multas ea possidet urbes, In quibus est culto fertilis Enna solo.” From this place we have the adjective Enneus, and the Ennea virgo of Sil., lib. xiv., for Proserpine, “Tum rapta præceps Ennea virgine flexit.” Diodorus Siculus, lib. v. cap. 3, says that there was a fable about the seizure of the virgin [Proserpine] in the meadows near Enna. The locality is very near the town, embellished with violets and all kinds of beautiful flowers. An ancient coin of the place described by Ezech. Spanheim, page 906, is inscribed with the letters MUN. HENNAE. Pliny, lib. iii. cap. 8, writes, “Municipes Hennenses.”
* ↑ The sentence from “Eryx” to “notice,” placed between daggers, seems to have been transposed from the end of § 5; it should immediately succeed the words Ægestus the Trojan.
* ↑ Diodorus Siculus, lib. iv. § 83, tom. i. p. 326, gives a different account of the state of this place at this time.
* ↑ The Carthaginians had destroyed it about 409 years B. C.
* ↑ Some colonists from Rhodes made a settlement here 45 years after the foundation of Syracuse. It was overthrown about 279 years B. C.
* ↑ It is supposed that Callipolis anciently occupied the site of Mascalis.
* ↑ Those who inhabited Hybla Minor. We know that Selinus was in existence 640 B. C., and destroyed 268 B. C.
* ↑ Now ruins called di Pollece on the river Madiuni in the Terra de’ Pulci.
* ↑ The Leontini arrived in Sicily 728 B. C., and founded Leontini, now Lentini.
* ↑ Eubœa was destroyed by the tyrant Gelon, who reigned from 491 to 478 B. C. Eubali, Castellazzio, and a place near the little town of Licodia, not far from the source of the Drillo, have been supposed to be the site of the ancient Eubœa. Siebenkees thinks that the words between daggers at the end of § 7 should follow “Eubœa.”
* ↑ Lit. barbarians.
* ↑ Kramer and Siebenkees consider that the sentence between daggers, from “The” to “prosperity,” has been transferred from its proper place. See note $^{12}$, page 412.
* ↑ The French translators infer from this passage that Strabo had never visited Sicily.
* ↑ Sicilian topographers vary exceedingly in defining the position of these mountains. Groskurd makes them Madonia.
* ↑ See Humboldt, Cosmos, i. 242.
* ↑ Now ruins at Barbara, in the valley of Mazzara.
* ↑ A modern traveller is of opinion that these correspond with certain peculiar marshes near Girgenti, in the midst of the Macaluba mountains, supplied by a spring of salt water. The soil here is chalky, and the mountains abound in a grey and ductile clay. See Monsieur le Commandeur de Dolomieu, Voyage aux iles de Lipari, pp. 165 et seqq.; also Fazell. Decad. i. lib. i. cap. 5, p. 45.
* ↑ The place dedicated to these avengers of perjury is frequently located near Mineo and Palagonia; others, thinking to gain the support of Virgil’s testimony, place it near Paterno, much farther north, between Catana and Centorbi, and not far from the banks of the Giaretta, the ancient Symæthus.
* ↑ Cluvier supposes this cavern must have been near Mazarum [Mazara]. The river named Mazarus by the ancients, runs through a rocky district, abounding in stone quarries. It is possible that this river, much hemmed in throughout its course, might have anciently flowed beneath some of these massive rocks.
* ↑ According to Pliny, Hist. Nat. lib. vi. § 31, tom. i. p. 333, the Tigris is ingulfed on reaching a branch of Mount Taurus, at a place called Zoroanda, which M. D’Anville identifies with the modern Hazour.
* ↑ Kramer here persists in reading πρὸ, and rejects ἀπὸ: we have endeavoured to translate it with Kramer, but the French translation of 1809 renders it, a little below its sources.
* ↑ A river of Argolis; see book viii. Casaub. pp. 371 and 389.
* ↑ This ancient city was found in ruins by Pausanias, who says (Arcadic. or book viii. cap. 44, p. 691) “that at less than 20 stadia distant from the Athenæum are found the ruins of Asea, as well as the hill on which the citadel of the town was built, which was surrounded by walls, the vestiges of which still remain. About 5 stadia from Asea, and not far from the main road, is the source of the Alpheus, and, quite close, even at the edge of the road, that of the Eurotas. … [At a short distance] the two rivers unite and run as one for about 20 stadia; they then both cast themselves into a chasm, and, continuing their under-ground course, they afterwards reappear; one (the Eurotas) in Laconia, the other in the territory of Megalopolis.” Such is what Pausanias relates in one place. But when, in this account, he fixes the source of the Alpheus at about 5 stadia from Asea, we must understand him to allude to a second source of the river; for further on (book viii. cap. 54, p. 709) he says distinctly that the main source of the Alpheus is seen near Phylace in Arcadia; then adds that that river, on coming to the district of Tegea, is absorbed under the ground, to re-issue near Asea.
* ↑ See § 4 of this chapter, page 408.
* ↑ The ancient Timavus. See book v. chap. i. § 8, page 319.
* ↑ The French translation, “en divers endroits de l’Italie.” Some manuscripts read Ἰταλίαν. We have followed Kramer and Groskurd.
* ↑ Thermessa, at present called Vulcano, is doubtless the same mentioned in Pliny’s Nat. Hist. lib. iii. § 14, tom. i. p. 164, as Therasia, by the error of the copyist. Paulus Orosius, lib. iv. cap. 20, says that it rose from the bed of the sea, B. C. 571. It is however certain that it was in existence B. C. 427, confer. Thucyd. lib. iii. § 88, and was for a considerable time called Hiera.
* ↑ See Pausan. Phoc. or lib. x. cap. 16, p. 835.
* ↑ See Pausan. Phoc. or lib. x. cap. 2, p. 824.
* ↑ M. le Comm. de Dolomieu, in his Voyage aux îles de Lipari, ed. 1783, p. 75 et seq., supports the character here given of the fertility of this island, and praises the abundance of delicious fruits it produces.
* ↑ M. le Comm. de Dolomieu considers it probable that the Liparæans obtained this alum by the lixiviation of earths exposed to the acido-sulphurous vapours of their volcanos, pp. 77, 78.
* ↑ These hot springs are not much frequented, although they still exist.
* ↑ See Humboldt, Cosm. i. 242.
* ↑ This is 30 feet in the epitome.
* ↑ Here follow some words which convey no intelligible meaning.—They are written in the margin of some of the manuscripts. Kramer inserts them between asterisks as follows: * ἔστιν ἡ ἐπίστασις τῆς ἐναργείας λέγοιτ᾿ ἄν, … ἐπίσης τε γὰρ ἄμφω πάρεστι, καὶ διαθέσει καὶ τῇ ἐναργείᾳ· ἥ γε ἡδονὴ κοινὸν ἀμφοτέρων * Groskurd thinks the passage might be translated, “[Great, undoubtedly,] is the impression produced by animated energy, [of which] it may be asserted [that it excites in a marked degree both admiration and pleasure]. For both arise equally from graphic representation and animated description. Pleasure at least is common to both.” The following are Groskurd’s own words: Gross allerdings ist der Eindruck kräftiger Lebendigkeit, [von welcher] man behaupten darf, [dass sie vorzüglich sowohl Bewunderung als Vergnügen gewähre]. Denn Beide erfolgen gleichermassen, sowohl durch Darstellung als durch Lebendigkeit; das Vergnügen wenigstens ist Beiden gemein.
* ↑ στρογγύλος means “round.” M. Dolomieu, p. 113, says that the island of Stromboli, seen from a distance, appears like a cone; when, however, it is more particularly examined, it looks like a mountain terminated by two peaks of different heights, and the sides appear disturbed and torn by craters opened in various parts, and streams of lava which have flowed down. It might be about 12 miles in circumference.
* ↑ Most of the ancient authors agree in considering Lipari as the residence of Æolus. See Cluver. Sic. Ant. lib. ii. cap. 14.
* ↑ δίδυμος, “double.” Cluverius identifies this with the island now called Salini. M. Dolomieu says that Didyma is situated to the west of Lipari; it is nearly circular, and contains three mountains placed so as to form a triangle. Two of the mountains are connected at their bases, the third is separated from them by a valley which runs right across the island, so that while sailing at some distance in the sea on the south side it has the appearance of two islands, from which circumstance it took its ancient name of Didyma: its present name, Salini, is derived from salt works there.
* ↑ Ericussa, now called Alicudi or Alicurim, is covered with trees, it is inhabited, but little cultivated. The pasturage is pretty good.
* ↑ Phœnicussa, now Felicudi or Filicurim, abounds in rich pastures; both wheat and the vine are here cultivated.
* ↑ Cluverius, Sic. Ant. lib. ii. p. 414, identifies this island with Lisca-Bianca, to the east of Lipari, but M. le commandeur Dolomieu, Voyage pittoresque de Naples et de Sicile, tom. iv. part ii. chap. 14, considers that it corresponded with the present Panaria, which is about eight times the circumference of Lisca-Bianca. He says the neighbouring islets are but the detached portions of a vast crater now submerged; the denomination, Formocoli or the Little Ants, is aptly illustrative of their minuteness and numbers. The most important are Datolo, Lisca-Nera, Lisca-Bianca, and Basiluzzo. M. Gossellin very justly remarks that it is quite possible the volcanos, which continually burn in the islands of Æolus, may have formed some new one, and gives some good reasons for identifying Didyma with Panaria.
* ↑ Rich. Pocock, Descr. de l’Or., &c. vers. Fr. part iii. chap. 24, tom. vi. p. 327, considers that Strabo meant to say that Euonymus lies most to the left hand as you sail from Sicily to the island of Lipari, and proposes Ustica, the westernmost of the Lipari Islands, as its modern representative.
* ↑ See Humboldt, Cosmos ii. 557.
* ↑ A note in the French translation suggests that, notwithstanding the accord of all manuscripts, we should, doubtless, understand Titus Quinctius Flaminius, prætor in A. U. C. 628, and B. C. 126.
* ↑ πρὸς ἀρκτον, in Kramer’s text. We have followed the example set by the French translators, and approved by Groskurd, who proposes to read πρὸς ἀρκτ[ικὸν ἄκρ]ον. Kramer however justly remarks, that many other things in this passage are exceedingly confused, and remain incapable of conjectural elucidation.
* ↑ From Ericodes, now Alicudi, to Phœnicodes, now Felicudi, the distance given by the chorographer is the same as that set down by Ptolemy, and by far too much for that which, according to our charts, separates Felicudi from Salini, but tallies exactly with that to the island Panaria, so that the evidence, both of the chorographer and Ptolemy, seems to point to Panaria, not to Salini, as the ancient Didyma. Further, the 29 miles given in Strabo’s text as the distance from Didyma to Lipari, are reduced to 19 miles in the chart of Ptolemy, and even this last distance would be much too great for the interval which separates Salini from Lipari, but agrees with the distance from Lipari to Panaria, and seems likewise to confirm the identity of Panaria and Didyma. The 19 miles, from Lipari to Sicily, agree with Ptolemy and our charts. Ptolemy gives the equivalent of 44 miles as the distance between Sicily and Strongyle, while our modern maps confirm his computation. M. Gossellin observes that the 16 miles of the existing text of Strabo must be a transcriber’s error; but the construction of the text might very well allow the distance to be from Didyma to Strongyle, which would be nearly correct.
* ↑ Towards Africa and the south.
* ↑ All other classic authors, both Greek and Latin, give the name of Gaulus to this island; it is the modern Gozzo.
* ↑ This M. Gossellin very satisfactorily proves to be 88.
* ↑ A note in the French translation observes, that the Iapygia of Strabo was confined to the peninsula of Tarentum.
* ↑ The Sallentini, or Salentini, cannot be distinguished with accuracy from the Calabri, as the name is used by several writers in a very extensive sense, and applied to the greater part of Iapygia.
* ↑ The district occupied by the Calabri seems to have been that maritime part of the Iapygian peninsula extending from the ancient Brundusium to the city of Hydruntum, answering nearly to what is now called Terra di Lecce.
* ↑ Dionysius of Halicarnassus derives the name of this people from Peucetius, son of Lycaon, king of Arcadia, but they are generally spoken of in history as barbarians, differing in no essential respect from the Daunii, Iapyges, and other neighbouring nations.
* ↑ A note in the French translation remarks, that Strabo would have done well to add, “and also the Apuli properly so called.” If we follow Strabo’s testimony solely, we may almost describe the bounds of the Peucetii by four lines, viz. 1. From Tarentum to Brindisi. 2. Along the sea-shore from Brindisi to Bari. 3. From Bari to Garagnone or Gorgoglione, the ancient Sylvium, if not even still nearer to Venosa. 4. From Garagnone to Tarentum, constituting what is called in modern geography Terra di Bari.—The following are the limits of the Daunii. 1. From Garagnone to Bari. 2. From Bari to Peschici or to Rodi. 3. Thence to Lucera; and, 4. from Lucera to Garagnone. Thus they occupied a great part of La Puglia, with a portion of the Terra di Bari. With regard to those who, according to Strabo, were properly Apuli, they extended from the neighbourhood of Lucera to Rodi or Peschici, thence to the mouth of the river Fortore, thence to Civitate, (the ancient Teanum Apulum,) which was included, and from Civitate to Lucera; this district would answer to the northern portion of La Puglia, which the Fortore separates from La Capitanata.
* ↑ The name of Pœdiculi was given to the inhabitants of that portion of Peucetia which was more particularly situated on the coast between the Aufidus and the confines of the Calabri. Pliny (iii. 11) states that this particular tribe derived their origin from Illyria.
* ↑ We have followed Groskurd’s example in introducing this thousand. The French translators thought it too hardy to venture, and Kramer was fearful to insert it in his text, but he approves of it in his notes.
* ↑ Manuscripts here have blanks.
* ↑ Or twelve miles and a half. This computation does not agree with modern measurements, which reckon the circuit at sixteen miles. See Swinburne’s Travels, tom. i. sect. 32. Gagliardi, Topogr. di Taranto.
* ↑ It is said the pictures and statues taken on this occasion were nearly as numerous as those found at Syracuse.
* ↑ That which commenced about 743 B. C.
* ↑ I have here translated τοῖς τοῦ δήμου and οἱ τοῦ δήμου by “free citizens.” Several notes have been written on the exact meaning of the words, but I am not satisfied that we understand it properly. It might perhaps mean those appointed to the chief rule of the state by the constitution.
* ↑ There is little doubt that this passage is corrupt.
* ↑ κυνέη, a leathern cap or hat, a helmet, &c. See also page 426.
* ↑ About eight miles to the east or south-east of Taranto, upon the coast, we find a place named Saturo. In this place the country open to the south presents the most agreeable aspect. Sheltered from the north wind, and watered by numerous running streams, it produces the choicest fruits, oranges, citrons, lemons, pomegranates, figs, and all manner of garden produce, with which Taranto is abundantly supplied. Ant. de Ferrar. Galat. de sit. Iapyg. edit. nell. Raccolt. d’Opusc. sc. et philol. tom. vii. p. 80.
* ↑ Mazoch. Prod. ad Heracl. pseph. diatr. ii. cap. 4, sect. 4, page 96, not. 51, considers that we should not make a distinction between these barbarians and Cretans, but that they were identical.
* ↑ According to Sicilian topographers, Camici was the same as the citadel of Acragas [Girgenti].—Cluvier, Sic. Ant. lib. ii. cap. 15, p. 207, is of opinion that Camici occupied the site of Siculiana, on the Fiume delle Canne. D’Anville, Géogr. Anc. tom. i. p. 219, and tom. iii. p. 146, seems to locate Camici at Platanella, on the Fiume di Platani.
* ↑ There are various readings of this name.
* ↑ There is a tradition that Taras was born to Neptune by Satyræa, daughter of Minos.
* ↑ Statius, lib. 4, Theb., thus mentions Ithome,“Planaque Messena, montanaque nutrit Ithome.”
* ↑ See Heyne, Opusc. Acad. tom. ii. p. 223, not. h.
* ↑ He is said to have entertained Plato during his sojourn here. Archytas flourished about the commencement of the fourth century B. C., and was still living in the year 349 B. C.
* ↑ About 332 or 339 B. C. See Heyn. Opusc. Acad. tom. ii. p. 141.
* ↑ Cramer, in his Ancient Italy, has very justly remarked that the name of the small river Calandro, which discharges itself into the sea a little below Capo di Roseto, bears some affinity to the river Acalandrus mentioned by Strabo. However, some have thought it identical with the Salandrella and the Fiume di Roseto, while Cluverius was of opinion that we should here read Κυλίσταρνος instead of Ἀκάλανδρος, and identify it with the modern Racanello.
* ↑ Some suspect this last sentence to be an interpolation; certain it is that there is great difficulty in finding a time to correspond with all the circumstances contained in it. According to M. Heyne, this war must have taken place 474 B. C., but then Heraclea was not founded till 436 B. C. It seems too that the people of Iapygia had kings as late as 480 B. C.
* ↑ Castro. This temple is now changed into the church of Sancta Maria in finibus terræ. See Capmart. de Chaupy, tom. iii. page 529.
* ↑ Capo di Leuca. Pliny, lib. iii. cap. 11, says, Inde promontorium quod Acran Iapygian vocant, quo longissime in maria procurrit Italia. The Promontorium Iapygium, or Sallentinum, presented a conspicuous landmark to mariners sailing from Greece to Sicily. The fleets of Athens, after passing the Peloponnesus, are represented on this passage as usually making for Corcyra, from whence they steered straight across to the promontory, and then coasted along the south of Italy for the remainder of the voyage.
* ↑ See notes to page 393 of this translation.
* ↑ Cramer remarks that Veretum is still represented by the old church of S. Maria di Vereto.
* ↑ That is, on land.
* ↑ Scylax, Peripl. p. 5, speaks of the Leuterni as a really existing people.
* ↑ Now Otranto. Lucan, book v. verse 374, speaking of the little river Idro which runs close to Otranto, says,Et cunctas revocare rates, quas avius Hydrus, Antiquusque Taras, secretaque litora Leucæ. Quas recipit Salapina palus, et subdita Sipus Montibus. And Cicero, writing of the town to Tyro, book xvi. epistle 9, says of his voyage from Cassiope, Inde Austro lenissimo, cœlo sereno, nocte illa et die postero in Italiam ad Hydruntem ludibundi pervenimus. This place was called Hydruntum by Pliny and other authors.
* ↑ Now Saseno, distant 35 minutes from Otranto.
* ↑ We have followed Kramer’s text in calling this place Aletia, several MSS. read Salepia. Cramer, in his description of Ancient Italy, vol ii. p. 316, says, Aletium is naturally supposed to have occupied the site of the church of S. Maria della Lizza.—It was called Ἀλήτιον by Ptolemy.
* ↑ We have followed Kramer’s reading; some MSS. have Θυρέαι, some Θυραῖαι, &c.
* ↑ lit. of a certain one of the nobles.
* ↑ Οὐρία, MSS., but a note in the French translation explains that Strabo was quoting Herodotus from memory. We follow Kramer.
* ↑ Great changes have taken place in this locality since Strabo’s description was drawn.
* ↑ Now Noja; but the identity of this place has been much canvassed.
* ↑ Now Ordona, about twelve miles to the east of Æca, now Troja. Livy records the defeat of the Roman forces at this place in two successive years. Hannibal removed the inhabitants and fired the town, (Livy xxvii. 1,) but it was subsequently repaired, and is noticed by Frontinus as Ardona. Ptolemy and Silius Italicus, viii. 568, mention it as Herdonia —… quosque Obscura inculsis Herdonia misit ab agris.
* ↑ Eustathius explains that those mountains were called Ceraunian from the frequent falling of thunderbolts upon them. Τὰ Κεραύνια ὄρη, οὕτω καλούμενα διὰ τὸ συχνοὺς ἐκεῖ πίπτειν κεραυνούς.
* ↑ It seems as if some words had been skipped in this place, for we should expect to have the distance of the other passage to the Ceraunian Mountains, but Strabo no where mentions it.
* ↑ M. Gossellin seems to think we should here read 800 and not 1800 stadia; but Kramer reckons it improbable. Groskurd concurs essentially with the opinion of M. Gossellin, and translates it something as follows: “for it is 1000, while the former is 800 stadia across.”
* ↑ Silvium was situated on the Appian Way. Holstenius and Pratilli agree in fixing its position at Garagnone, about 15 miles to the south-west of Venosa. Holsten. Adnot. p. 281. Pratilli, Via Appia, l. iv. c. 7.
* ↑ About 310 stadia.
* ↑ The Aufidus, celebrated by Horace, Od. iv. 9,“Ne forte credas interitura, quæ Longe sonantem natus ad Aufidum,  Non ante vulgatas per artes   Verba loquor socianda chordis.”
* ↑ M. Gossellin considers this rather too much, and supposes 315 stadia would be nearer the truth.
* ↑ See book v. c. 1, § 9, p. 320. Ptolemy makes these five, which is the number of the isles of Tremiti at present, if we include in the group three barren rocks, which scarce deserve the name of islands. One was called Diomedea by Pliny, and Tremitus by Tacitus, who states that Augustus appointed it as the prison of his grand-daughter Julia; the second was called Teutria. The largest is at present called Isola San Domino, the other Isola San Nicolo.
* ↑ Siponto, a place in ruins near Manfredonia.
* ↑ Sestini describes a gold coin belonging to this city, on which the emblem of a cuttle fish in Greek, σηπία, is apparent. The legend is Σιπο. Sestini descrizione d’ una Med. p. 16.
* ↑ Lycophron calls this stream by the name of Althænus.
* ↑ Groskurd is of opinion that some words to the following effect have been accidentally lost from this place, viz. “The coast of Daunia forms an extensive bay about these parts.”
* ↑ Now Punta di Viesti. Strabo seems to have considered the whole of the extensive neck of land lying between the bay of Rodi and that of Manfredonia, as the Garganum Promontorium. Lucan, v. 380, thus describes its prominence,Apulus Hadriacas exit Garganus in undas.
* ↑ About 37 miles towards the east.
* ↑ M. Gossellin gives a long note to show that the chorographer and Artemidorus were both correct in the distances they gave, but asserts that Strabo was mistaken as to the length of the stadium used by Artemidorus, and consequently thought he saw a discrepancy between their accounts.
* ↑ We think, with Kramer, that Sena Gallica, now Sinigaglia, was the city Strabo intends.
* ↑ From the Capo della Linguetta, on the coast of Albania.
* ↑ M. Gossellin suggests that Strabo omitted the coast of Istria in his calculations, when he made this observation on the length of the Illyrian shore, and refers to what Strabo will himself state in book vii. chap. v. sections 3, 4, and 9, and to his estimate of 6150 stadia from the Ceraunian Mountains to Iapygia in book ii. chap. iv. § 3, p. 159.
* ↑ Doubtless the bight between the shore, adjacent to Peschici, to the north of Viesti, and the Punta d’ Asinella.
* ↑ A note in the French translation observes that the Apuli, properly so called, could but have occupied the shore of half this bay, for the Fortore falls into it just about the centre, which river was a common boundary between the Apuli and Frentani.
* ↑ Cramer says, the lake which Strabo speaks of as being near Teanum, but without mentioning its name, is called by Pliny Lacus Pontanus, (iii. 11,) now Lago di Lesina.
* ↑ The city of Teanum stood on the right bank of the Fortore, the ancient Frento; its ruins are stated to exist on the site of Civitate, about a mile from the right bank of the Fortore, and ten miles from the sea. Cramer, vol. ii. p. 273.
* ↑ Now Teano, six miles from Sessa, and fifteen from Capua.
* ↑ M. Gossellin observes that from the head of the bay of Naples to the shores bordering the ancient Teanum, there are 80 minutes, or 933 stadia of 700.
* ↑ Romanelli is of opinion that the ruins of Buca exist at the present Penna.
* ↑ The Latins were first subjected in 499 B. C., but not totally subjugated; the Sabines were almost annihilated in the war which happened about 450 B. C.
* ↑ See Polyb. Hist. book i. chap. vi. § 1, edit. Schweigh, tom. i. p. 12.
* ↑ This battle was fought in the year 405 B. C.
* ↑ Antiochus ceded Asia Minor in the year B. C. 189.
* ↑ Perseus was taken in the year B. C. 167.
* ↑ The inhabitants of Biscay.
* ↑ From this expression we may gather that Strabo wrote this 6th Book of his Geography during the life-time of Juba, and, as we shall presently see, about A. D. 18; while he did not compile the 17th Book till after Juba’s death, which must have taken place before A. D. 21. See M. l’Abbé Sevin, Rech. sur la Vie, &c., de Juba, Ac. des Inscr. et Belles-Lettres, vol. iv. Mém. p. 462.
* ↑ Attalus III., king of Pergamus, died 133 B. C., and constituted the Roman people his heir.
* ↑ We may here observe that the Seleucidæ ceased to reign in Syria as early as 83 B. C., when that country, wearied of their sad dissensions, willingly submitted to Tigranes the king of Armenia, but their race was not extinct, and even in the year 64 B. C. when Pompey made the kingdom a Roman province, there were two princes of the Seleucidæ, Antiochus Asiaticus and his brother Seleucus-Cybiosactes, who had an hereditary right to the throne; the latter however died about 54 B. C., and in him terminated the race of the Seleucidæ.
* ↑ The race of the kings of Paphlagonia became extinct about 7 B. C. See M. l’Abbé Belley, Diss. sur l’ère de Germanicopolis, &c. Ac. des Inscr. et Belles-Lettres, vol. xxx. Mém. p. 331.
* ↑ The royal race of Cappadocia failed about 91 B. C.
* ↑ The race of the Lagidæ terminated with Ptolemy Auletes, who died 44 B. C., leaving two daughters, Cleopatra and Arsinoë. Ptolemy Apion died 96 B. C.; he left Cyrene, whereof he was king, to the Roman people.
* ↑ Strabo will relate in book vii. chap. iv. § 4, that after the defeat of Mithridates Eupator they became subject to the Romans.
* ↑ See more as to these people in book vii. chap. iii. § 17.
* ↑ Inhabitants of tents.
* ↑ In the year 20 B. C. See book xvi. chap. i. § 28.
* ↑ Compare Tacitus, Annales, lib. ii. § 1.
* ↑ As Vonones, mentioned by Tacitus in his second book.
* ↑ Compare the words of Tacitus, Annal. lib. i. § 9, Non aliud discordantis patriæ remedium fuisse, quam ut ab uno regeretur.
* ↑ Germanicus was appointed to take charge of the East in A. D. 17, in 18 he took possession of his government, and died in 19. Drusus was in command of the armies of Germany in A. D. 17. Thus we may safely conclude this 6th book of Strabo’s Geography to have been written in A. D. 18.
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