mentioned by our author in this part of his work, are alluded to by
Ovid, in his beautiful abstract of the Pythagorean doctrine, Metam. xv.
_passim_.
[582] See Aristotle, Meteor. ii. 8, and Strabo, i. For some account of
the places mentioned in this chapter the reader may consult the notes
of Hardouin _in loco_.
[583] Poinsinet, as I conceive correctly, makes the following clause
the commencement of the next chapter.
[584] See Ovid, Metam. xv. 293-295; also the remarks of Hardouin in
Lemaire, i. 418.
[585] “Spatium intelligit, fretumve, quo Sicilia nunc ab Italia
dispescitur.” Hardouin in Lemaire, i. 419.
[586] See Strabo, ix.
[587] “Spiracula.”
[588] “Busta urbium.”
[589] “Suboriens,” as M. Alexandre explains it, “renascens;” Lemaire,
i. 420.
[590] “Scrobibus;” “aut quum terra fossis excavatur, ut in Pomptina
palude, aut per naturales hiatus.” Alexandre in Lemaire, i. 420.
[591] This circumstance is mentioned by Seneca, Nat. Quæst. vi. 28,
as occurring “pluribus Italiæ locis;” it may be ascribed to the
exhalations from volcanos being raised up into the atmosphere. It does
not appear that there is, at present, any cavern in Mount Soracte which
emits mephitic vapours. But the circumstance of Soracte being regarded
sacred to Apollo, as we learn from our author, vii. 2, and from Virgil,
Æn. xi. 785, may lead us to conjecture that something of the kind may
formerly have existed there.
[592] The author may probably refer to the well-known Grotto del Cane,
where, in consequence of a stratum of carbonic acid gas, which occupies
the lower part of the cave only, dogs and other animals, whose mouths
are near the ground, are instantly suffocated.
[593] Celebrated in the well-known lines of Virgil, Æn. vii. 563 _et
seq._, as the “sævi spiracula Ditis.”
[594] Apuleius gives us an account of this place from his own
observation; De Mundo, § 729. See also Strabo, xii.
[595] See Aristotle, De Mundo, cap. iv.
[596] “Ad ingressum ambulantium, et equorum cursus, terræ quoque
tremere sentiuntur in Brabantino agro, quæ Belgii pars, et circa S.
Audomari fanum.” Hardouin in Lemaire, i. 421, 422.
[597] See Seneca, Nat. Quæst. iii. 25.
[598] Martial speaks of the marshy nature of the Cæcuban district,
xiii. 115. Most of the places mentioned in this chapter are illustrated
by the remarks of Hardouin; Lemaire, i. 422, 423.
[599] “Saltuares.” In some of the MSS. the term here employed is
Saliares, or Saltares; but in all the editions which I am in the habit
of consulting, it is Saltuares.
[600] There is, no doubt, some truth in these accounts of floating
islands, although, as we may presume, much exaggerated. There are
frequently small portions of land detached from the edges of lakes, by
floods or rapid currents, held together and rendered buoyant by a mass
of roots and vegetable matter. In the lake of Keswick, in the county
of Cumberland, there are two small floating islands, of a few yards in
circumference, which are moved about by the wind or by currents; they
appear to consist, principally, of a mass of vegetable fibres.
[601] It has been observed, that there are certain places where bodies
remain for a long time without undergoing decomposition; it depends
principally upon a dry and cool condition of the air, such as is
occasionally found in vaults and natural caverns. See the remarks of
Alexandre in Lemaire, i. 424.
[602] We may conceive of a large mass of rock being so balanced upon
the fine point of another rock, as to be moved by the slightest touch;
but, that if it be pushed with any force, it may be thrown upon a plane
surface, and will then remain immovable.
[603] Perhaps the author may refer to some kind of earth, possessed
of absorbent or astringent properties, like the Terra Sigillata or
Armenian Bole of the old Pharmacopœias.
[604] A σὰρξ, caro, and φάγω, edo. We may conceive this stone to have
contained a portion of an acrid ingredient, perhaps of an alkaline
nature, which, in some degree, might produce the effect here described.
It does not appear that the material of which the stone coffins are
composed, to which this name has been applied, the workmanship of which
is so much an object of admiration, are any of them possessed of this
property.
[605] Alexandre remarks on this statement, “Montes istæ videntur
originem dedisse fabulæ quæ in Arabicis Noctibus legitur ...;” Lemaire,
i. 425. Fouché, indeed, observes, that there are mountains composed
principally of natural loadstone, which might sensibly attract a shoe
containing iron nails. Ajasson, ii. 386. But I conceive that we have no
evidence of the existence of the magnetic iron pyrites having ever been
found in sufficient quantity to produce any sensible effect of the kind
here described.
[606] We may remark generally, that of the “miracula” related in this
chapter, the greatest part are entirely without foundation, and the
remainder much exaggerated.
[607] “Mundo;” the heavens or visible firmament, to which the stars and
planets appear to be connected, so as to be moved along with it.
[608] “Ancillante;” “Credas ancillari sidus, et indulgere mari, ut non
ab eadem parte, qua pridie, pastum ex oceano hauriat.” Hardouin in
Lemaire, i. 427.
[609] Not depending on the time of the rising and setting of the sun
or the latitude of the place, but determinate portions of the diurnal
period.
[610] By a conjectural variation of a letter, viz. by substituting
“eos” for “eas,” Dalechamp has, as he conceives, rendered this passage
more clear; the alteration is adopted by Lemaire.
[611] “In iisdem ortus occasusque operibus;” “Eodem modo utrinque
orientibus occidentibusque sideribus,” as interpreted by Alexandre in
Lemaire, i. 428.
[612] It is scarcely necessary to remark, that both the alleged fact
and the supposed cause are incorrect. And this is the case with what
our author says in the next sentence, respecting the period of eight
years, and the hundred revolutions of the moon.
[613] “Solis annuis causis.” The circumstances connected with the
revolution of the sun, acting as causes of the period and height of the
tides, in addition to the effect of the moon.
[614] “Inanes;” “Depressiores ac minus tumentes.” Hardouin in Lemaire,
i. 429.
[615] According to the remark of Alexandre, “Uno die et dimidio altero,
36 circiter horis, in Gallia.” Lemaire, i. 429.
[616] Alexandre remarks on this passage, “Variat pro locis hoc
intervallum a nullo fere temporis momento ad undecim horas et amplius;”
Lemaire, i. 429.
[617] Our author has already referred to Pytheas, in the 77th chapter
of this book.
[618] It is scarcely necessary to remark, that the space here
mentioned, which is nearly 120 feet, is far greater than the actual
fact.
[619] “Ditioni paret;” “Lunæ solisque efficientiæ, quæ ciet æstum.”
Hardouin in Lemaire, i. 430.
[620] The effect here described could not have depended upon the tides,
but upon some current, either affecting the whole of the Mediterranean,
or certain parts of it. See the remarks of Hardouin in Lemaire.
[621] Pliny naturally adopted the erroneous opinions respecting the
state of the blood-vessels, and the cause of the pulse, which were
universally maintained by the ancients.
[622] The name of Euripus is generally applied to the strait between
Bœotia and Eubœa, but our author here extends it to that between Italy
and Sicily. A peculiarity in the tide of this strait is referred to by
Cicero, De Nat. Deor. iii. 24.
[623] “Æstus idem triduo in mense consistit.” “Consistentia, sive
mediocritas aquarum non solum septima die sentitur, sed et octava, ac
nona durat,” as Hardouin explains this passage, Lemaire, i. 431.
[624] Now called the Guadalquivir.
[625] The modern Seville.
[626] This circumstance is noticed by most of the ancients, as by
Aristotle, Meteor. ii. 1; by Seneca, Nat. Quæst. iv. 2; and by Strabo.
It has, however, no relation to the tide, but depends upon the quantity
of water transmitted into the Euxine by the numerous large rivers that
empty themselves into it.
[627] It has been suggested, with some plausibility, that the greater
height of the tides at this period will cause a greater quantity of
matter to be cast on shore. This circumstance is referred to by Seneca,
Nat. Quæst. iii. 26; and by Strabo.
[628] Alexandre observes on this supposed fact, “Algarum molles
quædam species intelligendæ sunt, quæ convolutæ et marcidæ in littus
ejiciuntur.” Lemaire, i. 432.
[629] It may cause some surprise to find that such an opinion has been
entertained even in modern times; but more correct observation has
shown it to be without foundation. Lemaire.
[630] “Spiritus sidus;” “Quod vitalem humorem ac spiritus in corporibus
rebusque omnibus varie temperet.” Hardouin in Lemaire, i. 433.
[631] “Terras saturet;” as Alexandre interprets it, “succo impleat;”
Lemaire.
[632] This circumstance is alluded to by Cicero, De Divin. ii. 33, and
by Horace, Sat. ii. 4, 30. It is difficult to conceive how an opinion
so totally unfounded, and so easy to refute, should have obtained
general credence.
[633] Lib. xviii. chap. 75.
[634] Aristotle, Meteor. ii. 1, remarks, that as the sun is continually
evaporating the water of the sea, it must eventually be entirely
dried up. But we have reason to believe, that all the water which is
evaporated by the solar heat, or any other natural process, is again
deposited in the form of rain or dew.
[635] “Terræ sudor;” according to Aristotle, Meteor. ii. 4: this
opinion was adopted by some of the ancients.
[636] The commentators discuss at considerable length the relative
merits of the three hypotheses here proposed, to account for the
saltness of the ocean; all of which are equally unfounded. See Hardouin
in Lemaire, i. 434, 435. Aristotle’s opinion on this subject is
contained in his Meteor.
[637] It is not easy to ascertain the origin of the very general
opinion respecting the peculiar physical action of the moon. The
alleged facts are, for the most part, without foundation, and I am
not aware of any circumstance which could, originally, have made them
a part of the popular creed of so many nations, ancient as well as
modern. Perhaps some of the effects which have been ascribed to the
specific action of the moon, may be explained by the lower temperature
and greater dampness of the air, during the absence of the sun.
[638] There appears to be some doubt respecting the history of the
person here referred to: according to the account of Hardouin, Fabianus
was a naturalist, who enjoyed a high reputation; he lived in the time
of Tiberius: see Lemaire, i. 188.
[639] This would be a depth of 3125 yards, not very far short of two
miles; see Adam’s Rom. Antiq. p. 503.
[640] “Βαθέα Ponti;” Aristotle refers to this as one of those parts
where the sea is unfathomable; Meteor. i. 13.
[641] A distance of nearly nine and a half miles.
[642] The specific gravity of sea water varies from 1·0269 to 1·0285.
The saline contents of the water of the English Channel are stated to
be 27 grs. in 1000. Turner’s Chem. p. 1289, 1290.
[643] The modern names of the rivers and lakes here mentioned are the
Liris, communicating with the Lago di Celano; the Adda, with the Lago
di Como; the Ticino, with the Lago Maggiore; the Mincio, with the Lago
di Guarda; the Oglio, with the Lago di Sero; and the Rhone with the
Lake of Geneva. There may be some foundation for the alleged fact,
because the specific gravity and the temperature of the lake may differ
a little from that of the river which passes through it.
[644] According to Brotier, “fons ille olim nobilissimus, nunc ignobile
est lavacrum, cujus aqua marino sapore inficitur.” He conceives that
there is no actual foundation for this so frequently repeated story;
and conjectures that it originated from the similitude of the names,
the fountain in Sicily and the river in the Peloponnesus being both
named Alpheus. He goes on to mention some examples of springs of fresh
water rising up on the sea-coast; Lemaire, i. 438. The allusion to
the fountain of Arethusa, by Virgil, in the commencement of the 10th
eclogue, is well known to all classical scholars. The lines of Virgil
have been elegantly imitated by Voltaire, in the Henriade, ix. 269, 270.
[645] This is mentioned by Ovid, Met. xv. 273, 274.
[646] This is again referred to by our author, vi. 31; also by Strabo,
and by Seneca, Nat. Quæst. iii. 26.
[647] Pausanias.
[648] The river here referred to is the Tanager, the modern Rio Negro.
See the remarks of Hardouin and Alexandre in Lemaire, i. 439.
[649] From a note in Poinsinet, i. 302, we learn that there has been
some doubt respecting the locality of this river. It is mentioned by
Virgil, Æn. i. 244, and it forms the subject of Heyne’s 7th Excursus,
ii. 124 _et seq._ Virgil also speaks of the Timavus, Ec. viii. 6; and
Heyne, in a note, gives the following description of it: “Timavus in
ora Adriæ, non longe ab Aquileia fluvius ex terra novem fontibus seu
capitibus progressus, brevi cursu, in unum alveum collectus, lato
altoque flumine in mare exit.” i. 127, 128.
[650] This remark is not to be taken in its full extent; the water of
these lakes contains a large quantity of saline and other substances
dissolved in it, and, consequently, has its specific gravity so much
increased, that various substances float on it which sink in pure water.
[651] According to Hardouin, this is now called the Lake of Andoria,
near the town of Casalnuovo; Lemaire, i. 439. Poinsinet calls it
Anduria, i. 303.
[652] The petrifying quality of this river is referred to by Ovid, Met.
xv. 313, 314; Seneca quotes these lines when treating on this subject,
Nat. Quæst. iii. 20.
[653] Aristotle, Strabo, and Silius Italicus, viii. 582, 583, refer to
this property of the Silarus; but, according to Brotier, it does not
appear to be known to the present inhabitants of the district through
which it flows. Lemaire, i. 440.
[654] In a subsequent part of the work, xxxi. 8, our author remarks,
“Reatinis tantum paludibus ungulas jumentorum indurari.” We may presume
that the water contained some saline, earthy or metallic substance,
either in solution, or in a state of minute division, which would
produce these effects. It does not appear that anything of this kind
has been observed by the moderns in this water.
[655] The coral beds with which the Red Sea abounds may have given
rise to this opinion: see the remarks of Alexandre _in loco_. Hardouin
informs us, that this clause respecting the Red Sea is not found in
any of the MSS. Lemaire, i. 441. A similar observation occurs in a
subsequent part of the work, xiii. 48.
[656] There are thermal springs in the Alpine valleys, but not any in
the elevated parts of the Alps themselves.
[657] The volcanic nature of a large portion of the south of Italy
and the neighbouring islands may be regarded as the cause of the warm
springs which are found there.
[658] This river may be supposed to have been principally supplied by
melted snow; it would appear to be colder, because its temperature
would be less elevated than the other streams in the neighbourhood.
[659] The statement, if correct, may be referred to the discharge of a
quantity of inflammable gas from the surface of the water. The fact is
mentioned by Lucretius, vi. 879, 880, and by Mela.
[660] “Quasi alternis requiescens, ac meridians: diem diffindens, ut
Varro loquitur, insititia quiete.” Hardouin in Lemaire, i. 443. He says
that there is a similar kind of fountain in Provence, called Collis
Martiensis.
[661] There has been considerable difference of opinion among
the commentators, both as to the reading of the text and its
interpretation, for which I shall refer to the notes of Poinsinet,
i. 307, of Hardouin and Alexandre, Lemaire, i. 443, and of Richelet,
Ajasson, ii. 402.
[662] We have an account of the Troglodytæ in a subsequent part of the
work, v. 5. The name is generally applied by the ancients to a tribe
of people inhabiting a portion of Æthiopia, and is derived from the
circumstance of their dwellings being composed of caverns; a τρωγλὴ
and δύνω. Alexandre remarks, that the name was occasionally applied
to other tribes, whose habitations were of the same kind; Lemaire, i.
443. They are referred to by Q. Curtius as a tribe of the Æthiopians,
situated to the south of Egypt and extending to the Red Sea, iv. 7.
[663] Q. Curtius gives nearly the same account of this fountain.
[664] The Po derives its water from the torrents of the Alps, and is
therefore much affected by the melting of the snow or the great falls
of rain, which occur at different seasons of the year; but the daily
diminution of the water, as stated by our author, is without foundation.
[665] “Fontem ibi intermittentem frustra quæsivit cl. Le Chevalier,
Voyage de la Troade, t. i. p. 219.” Lemaire, i. 444.
[666] Strabo, in allusion to this circumstance, remarks, that some
persons make it still more wonderful, by supposing that this spring
is connected with the Nile. We learn from Tournefort, that there is a
well of this name in Delos, which he found to contain considerably more
water in January and February than in October, and which is supposed to
be connected with the Nile or the Jordan: this, of course, he regards
as an idle tale. Lemaire.
[667] Hardouin informs us, that these warm springs are called “i bagni
di Monte Falcone,” or “di S. Antonio.” They are situate so very near
the sea, that we may suppose some communication to exist, which may
produce the alleged effect. Lemaire.
[668] According to Hardouin this is the modern Torre di Pitino; he
conceives that the river here mentioned must be the Vomanus. The effect
here described is, to a certain extent, always the case with rivers
which proceed from mountains that are covered with snow. Lemaire, i.
445.
[669] Seneca, Nat. Quæst. iii. 25, makes the same remark: the fact
would seem to be, that in certain districts the cattle are found to
be for the most part white, and in other places black; but we have no
reason to suppose that their colour has any connexion with the water
which they employ.
[670] This is asserted by Aristotle, Hist. Anim. iii. 12. We have a
similar statement made by Ælian respecting the Scamander; viii. 21.
[671] “Annonæ mutationem significans.”
[672] The peculiar nature of the water of the Lyncestis is referred
to by many of the ancients: we may suppose that it was strongly
impregnated with carbonic acid gas. See Ovid, Met. xv. 329-331; also
Aristotle, Meteor. ii. 3, and Seneca, Nat. Quæst. iii. 20.
[673] Vitruvius and Athenæus.
[674] Calenum was a town in Campania; this peculiar property of its
water is referred to by Val. Maximus, i. 8, 18.
[675] Literally, Jovis cultus; as interpreted by Hardouin, “tanquam si
dixeris, divinum Jovis munus hunc fontem esse.” Lemaire, i. 447.
[676] Seneca affirms its poisonous nature; Nat. Quæst. iii. 25.
Q. Curtius refers to a spring in Macedonia of the same name, “quo
pestiferum virus emanat.” x. 10.
[677] There appears to be some uncertainty respecting the locality of
this district; see the remarks of Hardouin, Lemaire, i. 447.
[678] “Hunc fontem describit eximie Plinius jun. lib. iv. epist. ult.
Est ad orientalem Larii lacus plagam, Lago di Como, x mill. pass. a
Como.” Hardouin, Lemaire, i. 448.
[679] Our author, in a subsequent passage, v. 39, speaks of Cydonea,
“cum fonte calido.”
[680] According to Hardouin, i. 448, there is a considerable variation
in the MSS. with respect to this name: he informs us that “Συναὸς urbs
est Magnæ Phrygiæ Ptolemæo, v. 2.”
[681] Tacitus gives an account of this oracle as having been visited by
Germanicus; Ann. ii. 54.
[682] Our author refers to this history in the First book of the
present work.
[683] “Comparatos scilicet cum aëris externi temperie.” Alexandre in
Lemaire, i. 448.
[684] Thin leaves or films of metal have little affinity for water, and
have, generally, bubbles of air attached to them; so that, when placed
upon the water, the fluid is prevented from adhering to them, and thus
they remain on the surface.
[685] Depending not upon their absolute, but their specific gravity.
[686] Being partly supported by the water.
[687] The stone may have floated in consequence of its being full of
pores: these are more quickly filled with water when it is broken into
small pieces. It was probably of the nature of pumice or some other
volcanic product.
[688] This is well known to depend upon the commencement of the
decomposition of some part of the viscera, by which there is an
evolution of gaseous matter.
[689] This is an erroneous statement; it is not easy to ascertain what
was the source of the error.
[690] Rain, as it falls from the clouds, is nearly pure; and rivers, or
receptacles of any kind, that are supplied by it, are considerably more
free from saline impregnations than the generality of springs.
[691] This statement is altogether incorrect.
[692] When salt water freezes, it is disengaged from the saline matter
which it previously held in solution; a greater degree of cold is
therefore required to overcome the attraction of the water for the
salt, and to form the ice, than when pure water is congealed.
[693] “Celerius accendi.” We can scarcely suppose that by this term
our author intended to express the actual burning or inflaming of the
water, which is its literal and ordinary meaning. This, however, would
appear to be the opinion of Hardouin and Alexandre; Lemaire, i. 449.
Holland translates it, “made hot and set a-seething,” i. 46; Poinsinet,
“s’échauffe le plus vîte,” i. 313; and Ajasson, “plus prompte à
s’échauffer,” ii. 217.
[694] The temperature of the ocean, in consequence of its great
mass and the easy diffusion and mixture of its various parts, may
be conceived to be longer in becoming raised or depressed than any
particular portion of the land, where contemporary observations may be
made.
[695] The evaporation that is going on during the heats of summer, and
the heavy rains which in many countries fall during the autumn, may
produce the effects here described, in confined seas or inlets.
[696] The statement is true to a certain extent, as is proved by the
well-known experiments of Franklin and others; but the degree of the
effect is considerably exaggerated. See the observations of Hardouin,
Brotier, and Alexandre; Lemaire, i. 450, 451.
[697] In the Mediterranean the warm vapours rising from the water and
its shores may melt the snow as it descends; but this is not the case
in the parts of the main ocean which approach either to the Arctic or
the Antarctic regions.
[698] The theory of springs is well understood, as depending upon
the water tending to rise to its original level, so as to produce an
equilibrium of pressure.
[699] When we consider the great extent of the base of Ætna, and that
the crater is in the form of an inverted cone, we shall perceive that
there is ample space for the existence of springs in the lower part of
the mountain, without their coming in contact with the heated lava.
[700] Samosata is situated on the Euphrates, in the north of Syria.
[701] The Petroleum or Bitumen of the modern chemists; it is a tarry
substance, more or less fluid, which has probably been produced by
carbonaceous matter, as affected by heat or decomposition, below the
surface of the earth. Our author has exaggerated its properties and
action upon other bodies.
[702] Respecting the transaction here mentioned, I shall refer to the
note of Hardouin, Lemaire, i. 452.
[703] The substance here mentioned may be considered as not differing
essentially from the Maltha of the last chapter, except in being of a
more fluid consistence.
[704] The Astaceni are supposed to have inhabited a district near the
sources of the Indus, probably corresponding to the modern Cabul.
[705] We may conceive of a quantity of inflammable vapour on the
surface of the naphtha, which might, in some degree, produce the effect
here described.
[706] Horace, in one of his Epodes, where he refers to the magical arts
of Medea, says, that it was a cloak, “palla,” which was sent to Creüsa;
v. 65. So far as there is any foundation for the story, we may suppose
that some part of her dress had been impregnated with an inflammable
substance, which took fire when she approached the blazing altar.
[707] When the volcanos are less active the flame is visible in the
night only.
[708] The observations of modern travellers and geologists have proved,
that the number of extinct volcanos is considerably greater than those
now in action.
[709] Chimæra was a volcano in Lycia, not far from the Xanthus; the
circumstance of its summit emitting flame, while its sides were the
resort of various savage animals, probably gave rise to the fabulous
story of the Centaur of this name, a ferocious monster who was
continually vomiting forth flame.
[710] The word in the text is “fœnum”; Hardouin suggests that the
meaning of the author may have been litter, or the refuse of stables.
Lemaire, i. 454.
[711] The emission of a gas, which may be kindled by the application of
flame, is a phænomenon of no very rare occurrence; but the effects are,
no doubt, much exaggerated. See the remarks of Alexandre in Lemaire, i.
454.
[712] The country of the Bactrians was a district to the S.E. of the
Caspian Sea, and to the north of the sources of the Indus, nearly
corresponding to the modern Bucharia.
[713] There would appear to be some uncertainty as to the locality of
this place: our author derived his statement from the writer of the
treatise de Mirab. Auscult.
[714] “Caminis.”
[715] Probably the crater of a former volcano.
[716] This mountain, as well as the Θεῶν ὄχημα mentioned below, has
been supposed to be situated on the west of Africa, near Sierra Leone,
or Cape Verd; but, as I conceive, without sufficient authority. See
Alexandre in Lemaire, i. 455.
[717] “Internus.” “In interiore nemore abditus.” Hardouin in Lemaire,
i. 455.
[718] If this account be not altogether fabulous, the appearance here
described may be, perhaps, referred to the combustion of an inflammable
gas which does not acquire a very high temperature.
[719] We have an account of this place in Strabo, vii. 310. Our author
has already referred to it in the 96th chapter of this book, as a pool
or lake, containing floating islands; and he again speaks of it in the
next chapter.
[720] We have an account of this volcano in Ælian, Var. Hist. xiii. 16.
It would appear, however, that it had ceased to emit flame previous to
the calamitous events of which it was supposed to be the harbinger.
[721] This circumstance is mentioned by Dion Cassius, xli. 174. We may
conceive that a sudden influx of water might force up an unusually
large quantity of the bitumen.
[722] We have a full account of this circumstance in Strabo, vi. 277.
[723] “Currum deorum Latine licet interpretari.” Hardouin in Lemaire,
i. 456.
[724] “torrentesque solis ardoribus flammas egerit;” perhaps the author
may mean, that the fires of the volcano assist those of the sun in
parching the surface of the ground.
[725] “Tot rogis terræ?” in reference to the remark in a former
chapter, “natura terras cremat.”
[726] “Humani ignes,” according to Hardouin, “Hi nostri ignes, quos
vitæ usus requirit, ut Tullius ait de Nat. Deor. ii. 67;” Lemaire, i.
457.
[727] This is the mode which many savage tribes employ for exciting
flame.
[728] It is not known whether the Scantia was a river or a lake, or
where it was situated; see Alexandre in Lemaire, i. 457.
[729] This may have been owing to the emission of an inflammable gas
which burns at a comparatively low temperature, as was observed on a
former occasion.
[730] These are said by Columella, xi. 3, to occur in August; the
statement as to the fire occurring on these particular days we may
presume is erroneous.
[731] Aricia was a town in Campania, near the modern Lake of Nemi:
this place, as well as the other places mentioned by our author, were
probably of volcanic origin.
[732] Sidicinum was a town in Campania, also called Teanum; probably
the modern Teano.
[733] Egnatia was a town in Calabria, on the coast of the Adriatic: the
circumstance mentioned by our author is ridiculed by Horace, in his
well-known lines, Sat. i. 5, 97; but it is not improbable that there
may be some foundation for it.
[734] This circumstance is referred to by Val. Maximus, i. 8, 18. The
altar was probably in the neighbourhood of the Lacinian Promontory,
at the S.W. extremity of the Bay of Tarentum, the modern Capo delle
Colonne.
[735] This may be referred to the inflammable vapours mentioned above,
unless we regard the whole narrative as fabulous.
[736] See Livy, i. 39, and Val. Maximus, i. 6. 2. Although it would
be rash to pronounce this occurrence and the following anecdotes
respecting Marcius to be absolutely impossible, we must regard them as
highly improbable, and resting upon very insufficient evidence.
[737] In the 66th chapter of this book.
[738] In the estimate of distances I have given the numbers as they
occur in the text of Lemaire, although, in many cases, there is
considerable doubt as to their accuracy. See the observations of
Hardouin and Alexandre in Lemaire, i. 460.
[739] Artemidorus was an Ephesian, who wrote on geography; see
Hardouin’s Index Auct., Lemaire, i. 167.
[740] Isidorus was a native of Nicæa; he appears to have been a writer
on various topics in natural history, but not much estimated; see
Hardouin’s Index Auct., in Lemaire, i. 194.
[741] The modern Cape St. Vincent and Cape Finisterre.
[742] This was a city on the Sinus Issicus, the present Gulf of Aiasso,
situated, according to Brotier, between the sites of the modern towns
of Scanderoon and Rosos. See Lemaire, i. 461.
[743] Respecting this and the other distances mentioned in this
chapter, I may refer the reader to the remarks of Hardouin in Lemaire,
i. 461.
[744] It is scarcely necessary to remark, that the calculations of our
author do not indicate the real distance between the extreme points of
the habitable parts of the globe, as known to the ancients, but the
number of miles which must be passed over by a traveller, in going from
place to place; in the first instance, a considerable part of the way
by sea, and, in the second, almost entirely by land.
[745] It appears to be difficult to ascertain the identity of the place
here mentioned; I may refer to the remarks of Hardouin and Brotier in
Lemaire, i. 464.
[746] The same remarks may be made upon this and the following numbers
as upon those in the former paragraph; for further information I shall
refer my readers to the notes of Hardouin, Brotier, and Alexandre, in
Lemaire, i. 465-468.
[747] There is great uncertainty respecting the locality of the Thule
of the ancients; there was, in fact, nothing known respecting the
locality or identity of any of the places approaching to the Arctic
circle; the name appears to have been vaguely applied to some country
lying to the north of the habitable parts of Europe. In note [522], p. 109,
I have already had occasion to offer some remarks on the locality of
Thule. Our author speaks of Thule in two subsequent parts of his work,
iv. 30 and vi. 39.
[748] It is probable, that these supposed “immense islands,” if they
were not entirely imaginary, were the countries of Sweden and Norway,
the southern extremities alone of which had been visited by the
ancients.
[749] Strabo, ii.; Vitruvius, i. 6; Macrobius, in Somn. Scip. ii. 20.
[750] Our author has previously referred to Eratosthenes, in the 76th
chapter of this book.
[751] Our author has referred to Hipparchus, in the 9th chapter of this
book.
[752] “Aliter, inquit, et cautius multo Dionysodorus est audiendus, qui
miraculo solo nititur, quam Hipparchus et Eratosthenes, qui geometricis
nituntur principiis.” Hardouin in Lemaire, i. 469. Nothing further is
known of Dionysodorus; see Hardouin’s Index Auct. in Lemaire, i. 123.
[753] Marcus Terentius Varro. He was born B.C. 116, espoused the cause
of Pompey against Cæsar, and served as his lieutenant in Spain. He
afterwards became reconciled to Cæsar, and died in the year B.C. 26.
He is said to have written 500 volumes, but nearly all his works are
lost (destroyed, it is said, by order of Pope Gregory VII.). His only
remains are a Treatise on Agriculture, a Treatise on the Latin Tongue,
and the fragments of a work called _Analogia_.
[754] C. Sulpicius Gallus was Consul in the year 166 B.C. He wrote a
Roman History, and a work on the Eclipses of the Sun and Moon.
[755] Titus Vespasianus, the Emperor, to whom Pliny dedicates his work.
His poem is mentioned in c. 22 of this Book. See pages 1, 2, and 55 of
the present volume.
[756] It is most probable that Quintus Ælius Pætus Tubero is here
meant. He was son-in-law, and, according to Cicero, nephew of Æmilius
Paulus, and Consul in the year B.C. 167. There are two other persons
found mentioned of the name of Q. Ælius Tubero.
[757] The freedman and amanuensis of Cicero. He was a man of great
learning, and was supposed to have invented short-hand. He also wrote a
Life of Cicero.
[758] Lucius Calpurnius Piso Frugi. He was Consul in the year B.C. 133,
and was a stout opponent of the Gracchi. He wrote Annals of the History
of Rome from the earliest periods.
[759] Livy, the well-known Roman historian.
[760] He was the intimate friend of Cicero, and wrote Chronicles or
Annals, in three books, a Life of Cicero, and some other historical
works. A work still exists, called “Lives of Eminent Commanders,” which
is ascribed sometimes to him and sometimes to one Æmilius Probus, a
writer of the reign of Theodosius. The latter probably abridged the
original work of Nepos.
[761] Statius Sebosus. He is mentioned by Cicero as the friend of
Catulus. He wrote a work called the “Periplus,” and another on the
Wonders of India.
[762] A Roman historian and lawyer, who flourished about B.C. 124. He
wrote a Book of Annals, in which was contained a valuable account of
the Second Punic war. This work was epitomized by Brutus and held in
high estimation by the Emperor Adrian.
[763] Fabianus Papirius, a Roman rhetorician and naturalist, whose
works are highly commended by Pliny and Seneca. He wrote a History of
Animals, and a book on Natural Causes.
[764] Quintus Valerius Antias. He flourished about B.C. 80, and wrote
the Annals of Rome, down to the time of Sylla.
[765] Marcus Licinius Crassus Mucianus. He was instrumental in raising
the Emperor Vespasian to the throne, and was Consul in the years A.D.
52, 70, and 74. He published three Books of Epistles, and a History in
eleven Books, which appears to have treated chiefly of Eastern affairs.
[766] Aulus Cæcina. He was sent into exile by Cæsar, joined the
Pompeians in Africa, and was taken prisoner by Cæsar, but his life
was spared. Cicero wrote several letters to him, and commends his
abilities. His work appears to have been on Divination as practised by
the Etrurians.
[767] He appears to have been a diviner or soothsayer of Etruria, and
to have written a work on Etruscan prodigies.
[768] He also wrote a work on Etruscan divination, but it does not
appear that any thing further is known of him.
[769] Sergius Paulus. He is also mentioned in the Index to the 18th
Book. Nothing further seems to be known of him.
[770] The greatest, with the exception of Aristotle, of the Greek
Philosophers, and the disciple of Socrates.
[771] A native of Nicæa in Bithynia, who flourished B.C. 160. He
is called the “Father” of Astronomy. He wrote a Commentary on the
Phænomena of Aratus and Eudoxus, which is still extant. His works,
including those on the Lunar Month and the Fixed Stars, have not come
down to us. His Catalogue of the Stars is preserved in the Almagest of
Ptolemy.
[772] Timæus of Locri in Italy, a Pythagorean philosopher, said to have
been the instructor of Plato. He wrote a work on Mathematics. A work
“On the Soul of the World and of Nature,” which is still extant, has
been ascribed to him, but on doubtful grounds.
[773] An astronomer and peripatetic philosopher of Alexandria. He was
employed by Julius Cæsar to superintend his revision of the Calendar.
It is supposed that he wrote a work on the Celestial Revolutions, and a
Commentary on the works of Aristotle.
[774] A priest, mathematician, and astrologer of Egypt. A Letter on
the Astrological Sciences, written by him to King Necepsos, is said to
be extant in the Royal Library at Vienna, as also a work called the
“Organum Astrologicum,” dedicated to the same king. Juvenal seems to
use his name as a common term for an astrologer.
[775] He is mentioned by Julius Firmicus as “a most just emperor of
Egypt, and a very good astronomer.” A work by him is quoted by Galen in
his tenth Book on Simples, but it was most probably of spurious origin.
[776] “Pythagoricis” here may either mean the works of the followers
of Pythagoras of Samos, or the books which were written by that
philosopher. Pliny, in Books 19, 20, and 24, speaks of several writings
of Pythagoras, and Diogenes Laertius mentions others; but it is more
generally supposed that he wrote nothing, and that everything that
passed by his name in ancient times was spurious.
[777] A Stoic philosopher of Apamea in Syria. He was the instructor
of Cicero, and the friend of Pompey. He wrote works on history,
divination, the tides, and the nature of the gods. Some fragments only
have survived.
[778] Of Miletus, was born B.C. 610, and was the successor of Thales,
the founder of the Ionian school of philosophy. He is said to have
first taught the obliquity of the ecliptic and the use of the gnomon.
[779] A philosopher of Rhodes or Byzantium. Seneca says that he boasted
of having studied astronomy among the Chaldeans. He is mentioned by
Varro and Columella as having written on rural matters, and is praised
by Censorinus.
[780] Of Alexandria, the great geometrician, and instructor of Ptolemy
I. He was the founder of the mathematical school of Alexandria.
[781] He was a Greek by birth, and lived in the time of Nero. He is
extolled by Tacitus, B. 14, for his superlative wisdom, beyond which
nothing is known of him.
[782] Of Cnidus, an astronomer and legislator who flourished B.C. 366.
He was a friend and disciple of Plato, and said to have been the first
who taught in Greece the motions of the planets. His works on astronomy
and geometry are lost, but his Phænomena have been preserved by Aratus,
who turned his prose into verse.
[783] Born at Abdera in Thrace, about B.C. 460. He was one of the
founders of the atomic theory, and looked upon peace of mind as
the _summum bonum_ of mortals. He wrote works on the nature and
organization of the world, on physics, on contagious maladies, on the
chameleon, and on other subjects.
[784] A Grecian astronomer. A work of his, called “Apotelesmatica,” is
said to be preserved in the Imperial Library at Vienna.
[785] An astrologer of Rhodes, patronized by Augustus and Tiberius. He
wrote a work on Stones, and a History of Egypt. Tacitus, in his Annals,
B. vi., speaks highly of his skill in astrology.
[786] A geographer of Antioch, and an opponent of the views of
Eratosthenes. Cicero declares that he himself was unable to understand
a thousandth part of his work.
[787] A Peripatetic philosopher and geographer, of Messina in Sicily.
He studied under Aristotle and wrote several works, the principal of
which was an account of the history, geography, and moral and religious
condition of Greece. A few fragments only are extant.
[788] Of Syracuse, the most famous mathematician of antiquity, born
B.C. 287. A few only of his works have come down to us, published at
Oxford in 1792, by Torelli.
[789] Born either at Astypalæa or Ægina. He was chief pilot of the
fleet of Alexander during the descent of the Indus and the voyage to
the Persian Gulf. He wrote a work called the “Alexandropædia,” or
Education of Alexander. In his description of what he saw in India,
many fables and falsehoods are said to have been interwoven, so much
so that the work (which is now lost) is said to have resembled a fable
more than a history.
[790] Of Cyrene, born B.C. 276. He was invited from Athens by Ptolemy
Euergetes, to become keeper of the library at Alexandria. He was a man
of most extensive erudition, as an astronomer, geographer, philosopher,
historian and grammarian. All of his writings have perished, with the
exception of a few fragments on geographical subjects.
[791] Of Massilia, now Marseilles, a celebrated navigator who
flourished about the time of Alexander the Great. In his voyages he
visited Britain and Thule, of which he probably gave some account
in his work “On the Ocean.” He has been wrongfully accused of
falsehood by Strabo. Another work written by him was his “Periplus,”
or ‘Circumnavigation’ from Gades to the Tanais, probably, in this
instance, the Elbe.
[792] Of Halicarnassus, the father of Grecian history; born B.C. 484.
Besides his great work which has come down to us, he is supposed to
have written a history of Arabia.
[793] Probably the most learned of the Greek philosophers. His works
were exceedingly numerous, and those which have survived to us treat
of natural history, metaphysics, physical science, ethics, logic, and
general literature.
[794] A native of Cnidus in Caria, and private physician to Artaxerxes
Mnemon, having been made prisoner by him at the battle of Cunaxa. He
wrote a History of Persia in 23 books, which, with the exception of
a small abridgement by Photius and a few fragments, is now lost. He
also wrote a book on India. He was much censured, probably without
sufficient reason, for the credulity displayed in his works.
[795] Of Ephesus, a geographer, who lived about B.C. 100. He wrote a
Periplus, and a work on Geography; a few fragments only of abridgements
of these have survived.
[796] Of Charax in Parthia, of which country he wrote an account which
still exists. He flourished in the reign of Augustus.
[797] Of Chios, a celebrated historian, and disciple of the orator
Isocrates. His principal works were a History of Greece, and a Life of
Philip of Macedon, father of Alexander the Great.
[798] Now the Straits of Gibraltar.
[799] This is said more especially in reference to the western parts
of Asia, the only portion which was perfectly known to the ancients.
His meaning is, that Asia as a portion of the globe does not lie so far
north as Europe, nor so far south as Africa.
[800] Now the Don. It was usually looked upon as the boundary between
Europe and Asia. Pliny’s meaning seems to be, that the Tanais divides
Asia from Europe, and the Nile, Asia from Africa, the more especially
as the part to the west of the Nile was sometimes considered as
belonging to Asia. It has been however suggested that he intends to
assign these rivers as the extreme eastern boundaries of the internal
or Mediterranean sea.
[801] At no spot are the Straits less than ten miles in width; although
D’Anville makes the width to be little less than five miles. This
passage of our author is probably in a corrupt state.
[802] This probably stood near the site of the town of Tarifa of the
present day.
[803] Probably the point called ‘Punta del Sainar’ at the present day.
[804] Now called Ximiera, Jebel-el-Mina, or Monte del Hacho.
[805] The Rock of Gibraltar.
[806] The fable was that they originally formed one mountain, which was
torn asunder by Hercules, or as Pliny says, “dug through.”
[807] This was the opinion of Herodotus, but it had been so strenuously
combated by Polybius and other writers before the time of Pliny, that
it is difficult to imagine how he should countenance it.
[808] He probably alludes to Leucopetra, now called Capo dell’ Armi.
Locri Epizephyrii was a town of Bruttium, situate north of the
promontory of Zephyrium, now called Capo di Bruzzano.
[809] So called from the Bætis, now the Guadalquivir or Great River.
[810] The situation of this town is not known, but it is supposed to
have been about five leagues from the present city of Mujacar, or
Moxacar. It was situate on the Sinus Urgitanus.
[811] So called from the city of Tarraco, on the site of the present
Tarragona.
[812] Corresponding nearly in extent with the present kingdom of
Portugal.
[813] Now Gaudiana, a corruption of the Arabic Wadi Ana, “the river
Ana.”
[814] According to Hardouin this place is the modern town of Montiel,
but Pinet and D’Anville make it the same as Alhambra.
[815] According to modern writers it conceals itself in this manner for
a distance of fifteen miles.
[816] From the Balearic Channel to the Gulf of Gascony or Bay of Biscay.
[817] Probably the Sierra Nevada is meant by this name; Hardouin
considers it the same as the Sierra de los Vertientes.
[818] Probably the Sierra Morena.
[819] The Monte de Toledo.
[820] The Sierra de las Asturias.
[821] The present Cadiz. It was originally a Phœnician colony.
[822] Now Cordova.
[823] Now Ecija.
[824] Now Seville.
[825] The _Roman_ colonies or colonies “civium Romanorum” are those
here meant. The colonists in such case enjoyed all the rights of
Roman citizens, the town in which they lived being founded under the
supervision of the Roman magistracy.
[826] “Municipia.” These were towns in conquered countries which were
_not_ founded by the Romans, but whose inhabitants retained their
original institutions, at the same time receiving certain of the rights
of Roman citizens; most frequently, immunity to a greater or less
degree from payment of tribute.
[827] “Latium;” also called “Jus Latii” and “Latinitas.” This was the
name given to those circumscribed or limited rights as Roman citizens
which were at first bestowed upon the conquered states of Italy,
before the time of the Social War. Indeed the _Latinus_ held a kind of
intermediate state between the _Civis Romanus_ with all his rights, and
the _peregrinus_ or foreigner with all his disabilities. These Latin
rights were afterwards extended to the people of other countries, but
retained their original name.
[828] The free towns were those, the inhabitants of which were at
liberty to enjoy their ancient institutions and modes of internal
government, though at the same time they enjoyed none of the privileges
of Roman citizens.
[829] “Fœderati civitates;” the inhabitants of which were called
‘fœderati’ or ‘socii.’ They were in alliance with the Romans, but in
some cases paid them tribute in the same manner as the ‘stipendiaria’
next mentioned. In some instances they also enjoyed the Latin rights.
[830] From the numerous creeks or æstuaries with which the coast is
here indented. Commentators are at a loss for the site of the town of
Onoba (or Ossonoba according to some readings). D’Anville considers it
to be the same with the present town of Moguer; other commentators have
suggested Gibraleon, and the vicinity of Palos.
[831] The Odiel and the Tinto; the Urium being supposed to be the same
with the Tinto of the present day.
[832] Some readings have “Hareni montes,” and others “Arenæ montes,”
the “mountains of sand.” There is no doubt that the sandy heights or
downs on this coast are here meant, which are called at the present day
“Dunes” by the French, and by the natives “Arenas gordas.”
[833] Probably the line of sea-shore between Roia and the city of
Cadiz, skirting the Bay of Cadiz. Hardouin however thinks that the
coast between the Guadalquivir and the Guadalete is meant, now occupied
in part by the town of San Lucar de Barameda.
[834] In the Fourth Book, c. 36.
[835] The present Cape Trafalgar.
[836] Hardouin says that the present Vejer is the place meant, while
others have suggested Puerto de Santa Maria, or Cantillana. Others
again identify it with Bejer de la Frontera, though that place probably
lies too far inland. The Roman ruins near Porto Barbato were probably
its site.
[837] Hardouin and other commentators suggest that the site of the
present Tarifa is here meant; it is more probable however that
D’Anville is right in suggesting the now deserted town of Bolonia.
[838] Probably the present Tarifa.
[839] The exact site of Carteia is unknown; but it is generally
supposed to have stood upon the bay which opens out of the straits on
the west of the Rock of Gibraltar, now called the Bay of Algesiras or
Gibraltar; and upon the hill at the head of the bay of El Rocadillo,
about half-way between Algesiras and Gibraltar.
[840] We learn also from Strabo, that Tartessus was the same place as
Carteia; it is not improbable that the former was pretty nearly the
Phœnician name of the place, and the latter a Roman corruption of it,
and that in it originated the ‘Tarshish’ of Scripture, an appellation
apparently given to the whole of the southern part of the Spanish
peninsula. Probably the Greeks preserved the appellation of the place
more in conformity with the original Phœnician name.
[841] By the “inland sea” Pliny means the Mediterranean, in
contradistinction to the Atlantic Ocean without the Straits of Cadiz.
[842] The ruins of this place, probably, are still to be seen on the
east bank of the river Guadiaro, here alluded to.
[843] With its river flowing by it. This place is probably the present
Marbella, situate on the Rio Verde.
[844] Probably the present Castillo de Torremolinos, or else Castillo
de Fuengirola.
[845] The present city of Malaga. Hardouin thinks that the river
Guadalquivirejo is here meant, but as that is some miles distant from
the city, it is more probable that Guadalmedina, which is much nearer
to it, is the stream alluded to.
[846] Not improbably Velez Malaga, upon a river of the same name.
Hardouin thinks that the place is the modern Torrox on the Fiu Frio,
and D’Anville the present city of Almunecar, on the Rio Verde.
[847] Most probably the present Almunecar, but it is uncertain.
D’Anville says the present Torre de Banas; others have suggested the
town of Motril.
[848] Now Salobrena.
[849] Either the present Adra or Abdera: it is uncertain which.
[850] Probably the present Mujacar. D’Anville suggests Almeria.
[851] Also called Bastitani, a mixed race, partly Iberian and partly
Phœnician.
[852] The Greek Λύσσα, “frantic rage” or “madness.” The etymologies
here suggested are puerile in the extreme.
[853] Plutarch, quoting from the Twelfth Book of the Iberica of
Sosthenes, tells us that, “After Bacchus had conquered Iberia [the
present Spain], he left Pan to act as his deputy, and he changed its
name and called the country _Pania_, after himself, which afterwards
became corrupted into _Spania_.”
[854] He alludes to the expedition of Hercules into Spain, of which
Diodorus Siculus makes mention; also his courtship of the nymph
Pyrene, the daughter of Bebryx, who was buried by him on the Pyrenæan
mountains, which thence derived their name.
[855] It is unknown where this town was situate; Hardouin and D’Anville
think it was on the site of the present village of San Thome, once an
episcopal see, now removed to Jaen. The people of Mentisa, mentioned in
c. 4, were probably inhabitants of a different place. D’Anville in his
map has two Mentisas, one ‘Oretana,’ the other ‘Bastitana.’
[856] According to D’Anville, the place now called Toia.
[857] Now the Segura.
[858] ‘Nova’ or ‘New’ Carthage, so called from having been originally
founded by a colony of Carthaginians B.C. 242. It was situate a little
to the west of the Saturni Promontorium, or Promontory of Palos. It was
taken by Scipio Africanus the elder B.C. 210.
[859] The present Lorca.
[860] This place is even now called by the inhabitants Sepulcro de
Scipion. Cneius Cornelius Scipio Calvus, after the defeat of his
brother P. Cornelius Scipio, in the year B.C. 211, by the forces of
Asdrubal and Mago, fled to a tower at this spot, which was set fire to
by the troops of Asdrubal, and he perished in the flames.
[861] So called from the town of Ossigi afterwards mentioned.
[862] It is unknown where this place stood; Medina Sidonia has been
suggested.
[863] Probably the present Fuentes del Rey, between Andujar and Jaen,
according to Pinet.
[864] D’Anville suggests that this is the present Arjona; but more
probably it was the village of Arjonilla, two leagues south of Andujar.
Gruter has an inscription found here, “MUNIC. ALBENSE URGANON.”
[865] There were five cities of this name in Spain. Hardouin thinks
that this is the modern Alcala la Real, between Granada and Cordova.
[866] Most probably the modern Sierra de Elvira, though some writers
have suggested the city of Granada.
[867] Probably near the modern Montilla. Hardouin takes it to be the
present Granada.
[868] Poinsinet thinks that this is the present Ecija, but other
writers take it to be Alhama, between Granada and Malaga.
[869] Perhaps the present Archidona. Some writers have suggested the
modern Faventia and Velez.
[870] Probably near the present Puente de Don Gonzalo, on the banks of
the Rio Genil.
[871] Probably near Aguilar on the river Cabra; or else the present
Teba, between Osuna and Antequera.
[872] Agla the Less.
[873] Probably the present Cabra. The sites of the two preceding towns
are not known.
[874] “The Encampment in the Vineyards.” Probably this was the same as
the Castra Postumiana mentioned by Hirtius in his Book on the Spanish
War as being four miles from Attegua. It appears to be the present
Castro, or Castro el Rio, situate on the banks of the river Guadajoz.
[875] In some readings “Episibrium.” Probably the present Espeja.
[876] Its present site is unknown.
[877] According to D’Anville, the present Puente de Pinos, six leagues
north of Granada. Others take it to be Illora, south of Alcala la Real.
[878] The present Huesca, according to Hardouin; more probably,
however, Huector, on the banks of the river Genil.
[879] Perhaps Escusar, five leagues from Granada. But according to some
it is the same as Truelo or Eruelo.
[880] Called Ucubis by Hirtius. Morales suggests that it is Sierra la
Ronda, but Pinet says Stoponda.
[881] The sites of this and the preceding place are unknown.
[882] In relation to the ‘conventus juridicus,’ we may here observe
that under the Roman sway, in order to facilitate the administration of
justice, a province was divided into a number of districts or circuits,
each of which was so called, as also ‘forum’ or ‘jurisdictio’. At
certain times of the year fixed by the proconsul or chief magistrate,
the people assembled in the chief town of the district (whence the name
‘conventus’), upon which judges were selected to try the causes of
litigant parties.
[883] Probably near the town at the present day called Espelui. Strabo,
in Book iii., tells us that Laconian institutions and customs were
prevalent in some parts of Spain.
[884] This place was ravaged by fire and levelled with the ground by
the troops of Scipio, in consequence of the vigorous defence they had
made, and the losses they had caused to the Roman army. It probably
stood about four miles from the present city of Baeza.
[885] The sites of this place and the next are unknown.
[886] Most probably the present town of Porcuna. Ubeda or Ubedos has
also been suggested.
[887] The present town of Montoro.
[888] Now Alcoorrucen, near Perabad.
[889] Ansart suggests that the reading is not Sacili of the Martiales,
but Onoba of the Martiales, to distinguish it from Onoba Æstuaria,
previously mentioned. It is not improbable that the place was so called
from the Martian or Martial legion having originally colonized it. The
site of Onoba is unknown.
[890] Cordova was so called from the great number of patricians, who
were among the original colonists, when it was founded by Marcellus.
To the present day it is noted for the pride of its nobles. The Great
Captain Gonzalo de Cordova used to say, that “other towns might be
better to live in, but there was none better to be born in.” It was the
birth-place of Lucan and the two Senecas.
[891] The site of these two places is unknown at the present day.
[892] Now called by the similar name of Genil or Xenil.
[893] Perhaps the present Alcolea.
[894] Perhaps the Cantillana of the present day: there is, however, the
greatest uncertainty as to the sites of these places.
[895] According to Hardouin, the modern city of Penaflor: D’Anville
places it about two leagues thence, and near the city of Lora.
[896] Now Sevilla la Vieja, or Old Seville; called by the lower classes
Santi-pone.
[897] Now Seville. This colony was founded by Julius Cæsar, and also
bore the name of Julia Romula.
[898] Or north side of the river.
[899] Probably on the site of the present Alcala del Rio.
[900] ‘The [good] genius of Julius,’ probably meaning Cæsar. Nothing
seems to be known of its site.
[901] Caura may be the present Coria, a town three leagues from Seville.
[902] Probably the Rio Guadalete.
[903] Either the present Sebrija, or in the vicinity of the city of San
Lucar.
[904] Probably the present Bonania.
[905] Probably between Trebujena and the city of Xeres. It was the
usual place of meeting for the people of the territory of Gades; and
its importance may be judged from its appellation ‘Regia’ or ‘royal,’
and its numerous coins. Its ruins are still to be seen on a hill there.
[906] It is not improbable that this was the present city of Xeres.
Some geographers however take it to be that of Medina Sidonia, and look
upon Xeres as the site of the ancient Asta.
[907] Now Ecija. It stood on the plain of the Bætis, some distance
south of the river, on its tributary the Singulis or Xenil.
[908] The site of this place is unknown. It probably obtained its name
from being a colony of one of the legions, the 7th, 10th, 13th or 14th;
which were called ‘geminæ’ or ‘gemellæ,’ from being composed of the men
of two legions originally.
[909] “The Valour of Julius.” Sanson places it not far from Miragenil.
[910] “The Fame of Julius.” Perhaps the present Olivera, or else Teba,
six leagues to the south of Estepa.
[911] The present city of Ossuna. “Genua Urbanorum” would seem to
mean “the knees of the citizens.” Though all the MSS. agree in this
reading, it probably is an error for “gemina Urbanorum,” and it may
have been a colony of one of the legions called ‘geminæ’ or ‘gemellæ,’
as previously mentioned. The other part of its appellation may possibly
have originated in the fact of its first inhabitants being all natives
of the city of Rome.
[912] The use of the word _fuit_, ‘was,’ implies that the place had
been destroyed. Cneius Pompeius, the eldest son of Pompey the Great,
was defeated at Munda, in the year B.C. 45, and the town destroyed.
Pompey escaped from the battle, but was taken a short time after and
put to death. The site of the ancient town is very generally supposed
to be the modern village of Monda, S.W. of Malaga, and about three
leagues from the sea. It is more probable however that it was in the
vicinity of Cordova, and there are ruins of ancient walls and towers
between Martos, Alcandete, Espejo and Baena, which are supposed to
denote its site.
[913] Now Alameda; eight leagues from the other Astiji or Ecija.
[914] Now Estepa, six leagues from Ecija.
[915] Perhaps Mancloua, between the towns of Ecija and Carmona; the
sites of all the other places here mentioned appear to be quite unknown.
[916] Sanson supposes the Alostigi to have inhabited the territory near
Almagia, between Malaga and Antiqueira.
[917] The Celtici are supposed to have inhabited the country between
the Guadiana and Guadalquivir, the eastern parts of Alentejo and the
west of Estremadura, as far as the city of Badajoz.
[918] Probably part of Estremadura, and the vicinity of Badajoz in an
easterly direction.
[919] The exact meaning of this passage is somewhat obscure, but he
probably means to say that the Celtici have an identity of sacred
rites, language, and names of towns with the Celtiberians; though it
had become the usage in Bætica more generally to distinguish the towns
by their Roman names.
[920] “The Fame of Julius.” Its site is not known.
[921] “The Concord of Julius.” Probably the same as the modern Valera
la Vega, near Frejenal.
[922] Probably meaning “Restored by Julius.” Nothing is known of its
site.
[923] According to an authority quoted by Hardouin, this may possibly
be Medina de las Torres.
[924] Probably Constantina in Andalusia, to the north of Penaflor.
[925] The tribe or nation of the Tereses are supposed to have dwelt in
the vicinity of the modern San Nicolo del Puerto.
[926] Calentum was their town; probably the present Cazalla near
Alaniz. This place will be found mentioned by Pliny in B. xxxv. c. 14.
[927] The ruins two leagues north of Ronda la Vieja are supposed to be
those of this place. There are the remains of an aqueduct and theatre,
and numerous coins are found here.
[928] Probably the present Ronda la Vieja.
[929] Identified by inscriptions with the present Aroche. The sites of
several of the following places are unknown.
[930] The Azuaga of modern times; but, according to Hardouin, Argallen.
[931] According to Hardouin this was on the site of the modern Fuente
de la Ovejuna, fourteen leagues from Cordova.
[932] This has been identified by inscriptions with the modern Villa de
Capilla.
[933] According to Hardouin, the modern Almaden de la Plata.
[934] Probably the same as the modern Monte Major.
[935] The ruins of this place are probably those seen at Carixa, near
Bornos, in the vicinity of Seville.
[936] According to Hardouin, the same as the modern Las Cabezas, not
far from Lebrija.
[937] The sites of these two towns are unknown. Bæsippo, Barbesula and
Callet have been already mentioned.
[938] The ruins of Saguntia are to be seen between Arcos and Xeres
della Frontera, on the river Guadalete; they bear their ancient name
under the form of Cigonza. Mela, B. iii. c. 1, says that Oleastro was a
grove near the Bay of Cadiz. Brana was probably the same place that is
mentioned by Ptolemy under the name of Urbona.
[939] We may here mention for the more correct information of the
reader that the Roman mile consisted of 1000 paces, each pace being
five English feet. Hence its length was 1618 English yards (taking
the Roman foot at 11·6496 English inches), or 142 yards less than the
English statute mile.
[940] Nova Carthago, or New Carthage.
[941] Now Cazlona, on the confines of New Castile and the kingdom of
Granada. It was a place of great importance, and the chief town of the
Oretani. Himilce, the rich wife of Hannibal, was a native of this place.
[942] This was the ‘porticus Octaviæ,’ which, having been commenced by
his sister Octavia, the wife of Marcellus and Antony, was completed
by Augustus. It lay between the Circus Flaminius and the Theatre of
Marcellus, occupying the site of the former portico, which had been
built by Q. Cæcilius Metellus, and enclosing the two temples of Juno
and of Jupiter Stator. It contained a public library, in which the
Senate often met, and it was in this probably that the map or plan,
mentioned by Pliny, was deposited. It also contained a great number of
statues, paintings, and other works of art, which, with the library,
were destroyed by fire in the reign of Titus.
[943] Nova Carthago or New Carthage, now Carthagena.
[944] Now Zaragoza or Saragossa, on the right bank of the river
Ebro. Its original name was Salduba, but it was changed in honour of
Augustus, who colonized it after the Cantabrian war, B.C. 25.
[945] This was the most remote place of any consideration in
Celtiberia, on the west. Its ruins are still to be seen on the summit
of a hill surrounded with rocks, forming a natural wall between Corunna
del Conde and Pennalda de Castro.
[946] This was Asturica Augusta, the chief city of the nation of the
Astures, and situate on one of the tributaries of the Astura, now
Esta. On its site is situate the present Astorga: its ruins are very
extensive.
[947] Now Lugo.
[948] Or Bracara Augusta, now Braga. Among the ruins of the ancient
city there are the remains of an aqueduct and amphitheatre.
[949] Probably the present town of Vera near Muxacra.
[950] The “Promontory of Saturn,” now Cabo de Palos.
[951] D’Anville takes this place to be the port of Vacur; if so, the
distance from Cape Palos is exactly 170 miles.
[952] Now Segura.
[953] The modern town of Elche was probably built from the ruins of
this place.
[954] Now called the Gulf of Alicant.
[955] With the Arabian _El_ prefixed, this has formed the name of the
famous port of Alicant.
[956] Now Denia, a thriving town.
[957] Now called the Xucar.
[958] Now called Albufera.
[959] The present city of Valencia.
[960] Or Turia, now the Guadalaviar.
[961] Or Saguntus, famed for the fidelity of its inhabitants to the
Roman cause: after a siege of nine months, rather than submit to the
Carthaginians under Hannibal, they set fire to their town and perished
in the flames, B.C. 219. It was rebuilt eight years afterwards and
made a Roman colony. The ruins of the ancient town, which was said to
have been originally founded by Greeks from Zacynthus, are still to be
seen, and the ancient walls (_muri veteres_) give name to the present
Murviedro, which is built on its site.
[962] Now the Murviedro, which flows past the city of that name and the
town of Segorbe.
[963] Dertosa, the present Tortosa, is supposed to have been inhabited
by them.
[964] Now the Ebro.
[965] Hardouin places this on the site of the modern Fuente de Ivero.
The Ebro takes its rise in the Val de Vieso.
[966] According to D’Anville, the present Logrono. At present the
Ebro only becomes navigable at Tudela, 216 miles from the sea. Other
writers, however, take Varia to be the present Valtierra, near Tudela.
[967] Or the Subur, now the Francoli. It flows into the sea at the port
of Tarraco, now Tarragona.
[968] The more ancient commentators think that Carthago Vetus, or the
colony of Old Carthage (now Carta la Vieja), is here alluded to, but
more probably it is Carthago Nova that is meant.
[969] On the Subi, previously mentioned; now called Villa Nova.
[970] Now the Llobregat.
[971] Their territory was situate around the present Gulf of Ampurias.
[972] Their chief cities were Gerunda, the present Gerona, and Ausa or
Vicus Ausæ, now Vic d’Osona.
[973] In the country beyond Gerona.
[974] Living in the upper valley of the river Sicoris or Segre, which
still retains, from them, the name of Cerdague.
[975] The people of the modern Navarre and Guipuzcoa.
[976] In the later writers Barcelo, now Barcelona. It was said to have
been originally founded by Hercules, and afterwards rebuilt by Hamilcar
Barcas, who gave it the name of his family. Its name as a Roman colony
was Colonia Faventia Julia Augusta Pia Barcino. The modern city stands
somewhat to the east of the ancient one.
[977] The modern Badalona, two leagues from Barcelona.
[978] On the sea-shore,—the present Pineda.
[979] Now the Tordera.
[980] The modern city of Blanos stands on its site.
[981] Probably the present Ter or Tet.
[982] The modern Ampurias. We learn from Strabo that a wall divided the
town of the Greeks from that of the old inhabitants. It was the usual
landing-place for travellers from Gaul. It was originally colonized by
the Phocæans from Massilia or Marseilles.
[983] Hardouin says that the Ticher or Tichis is the same with the
modern Ter, but in such case Pliny would have mentioned it before
coming to Emporiæ. Its present name however does not appear to be
accurately known.
[984] A promontory extending from the Pyrenæan chain, on which a temple
of Venus was situate. It is now called Cabo de Cruz. The distance
mentioned by Pliny is probably too great.
[985] The people of the present Tortosa.
[986] Probably not the same people as the Edetani, in whose district
Saguntum and Valencia were situate.
[987] The people of Gerunda or Gerona.
[988] They are nowhere else mentioned. Ukert supposes that their city
stood in the district between the Sicoris and Nucaria.
[989] Their city was Tiara Julia.
[990] The people of Aquæ Calidæ or the ‘Hot Springs,’ called at the
present day Caldes, four leagues from the city of Barcelona.
[991] Ptolemy places Bæcula between Ausa and Gerunda.
[992] The people of the present Belchite.
[993] The people of the present Xelsa, on the Ebro.
[994] The inhabitants of Calagurris, now Calahorra, a city of the
Vascones, on the banks of the Ebro. They remained faithful to Sertorius
to the last, and after slaughtering their wives and children and eating
their flesh, their city was taken and destroyed; which event put an end
to the Sertorian war. It was called “Nassica,” in contradistinction
to Calagurris Fibularia, which is afterwards mentioned by Pliny. The
latter is mentioned by Cæsar as forming one community with Osca (now
Huesca), and was probably the present Loarre, though some writers take
the first-named Calagurris to be that place, and the latter one to be
the present Calahorra.
[995] The people of Ilerda, the present Lerida, on the Sicoris or
Segre. It is memorable for its siege by Cæsar, when the Pompeian
forces under Afranius and Petreius had retired thither. It was a most
flourishing city, though in the times of the later Roman emperors it
had fallen into decay.
[996] The people of the present Huesca.
[997] The inhabitants of Turiazo, the present Tarazona, five leagues
south of Tudela.
[998] The people of Cascantum, the present town of Cascante in Navarre.
[999] The people of Ergavica. Its ruins, at the confluence of the
Guadiela and Tagus, are still to be seen, and are called Santaver. By
some writers this place is considered to be the same as the modern
Fraga, on the river Cinca, five leagues from Lerida.
[1000] The people of Graccuris. Its former name of Ilurcis was changed
in honour of Sempronius Gracchus, who placed new settlers there after
the conquest of Celtiberia. It is supposed to be the same as the modern
Agreda, four leagues from Tarazona.
[1001] The people of Leonica, probably the modern Alcaniz, on the river
Guadalope, in Arragon.
[1002] The people of Tarraga, the present Tarrega, nine leagues east of
Lerida, in Catalonia.
[1003] The people of Arcobriga, now Los Arcos, in Navarre, five leagues
south of Estella.
[1004] Perhaps the same as the Andosini, a people mentioned by
Polybius, B. iii. c. 35, as situate between the Iberus and the
Pyrenees. There is a small town of Navarre called Androilla.
[1005] The people probably of the site now occupied by Huarte Araquil,
six leagues to the west of Pampeluna.
[1006] Probably the same as the Bursaones of Livy, the Bursavolenses
of Hirtius, and the Bursadenses of Ptolemy. Their exact locality is
unknown.
[1007] Mention has been made of Calagurris Fibularensis or Fibulicensis
under Calagurris Nassica: see p. 168.
[1008] The people of Complutum, the modern Alcala de Henares, on the
river Henares, six leagues to the east of Madrid. It is not quite
certain whether it stood on the exact site of Alcala, or on the hill of
Zulema, on the other side of the Henares.
[1009] The town of Cares, adjoining the more modern one of Puente la
Reyna, probably marks their site.
[1010] Probably so called from the river Cinga, the modern Cinca: or
they may have given their name thereto.
[1011] The people probably of the present Mediana on the Ebro, six
leagues below Zaragoza.
[1012] Their town was Larnum, situate on a river of the same name. It
was probably the present Torderas, situate on the river of that name.
[1013] Of this people nothing appears to be known. In the old editions
the next people mentioned are the “Ispalenses,” but since the time of
Hardouin, they have been generally omitted, as wrongly introduced,
and as utterly unknown. Spanish coins have however been more recently
discovered with the name ‘Sblaie’ or ‘Splaie,’ inscribed in Celtiberian
characters, and numismatists are of opinion that they indicate the name
of the town of this people, which in Latin would be Ispala. This at all
events is the opinion of M. de Sauley.
[1014] The people of the present town of Lumbier in Navarre, called by
its inhabitants Irumberri.
[1015] The people of the present city of Pampeluna.
[1016] Carthago Nova, or New Carthage.
[1017] The colony of Acci was called Colonia Julia Gemella Accitana.
The town of Acci or Accis was on the site of the present Guadix el
Viejo, between Granada and Baza. It was colonized by the third and
sixth legions under Julius or Augustus, from which it obtained the name
of ‘Gemella,’ the origin of which name is previously mentioned, p. 161.
[1018] The ruins of this place are supposed to be those seen at
Lebazuza or Lezuza, not far from the city of Cuença.
[1019] The “jus Italicum” or “Italiæ,” “Italian rights” or
“privileges,” differed from the “jus Latinum.” It was granted to
provincial towns which were especially favoured by the magistracy of
Rome, and consisted of exemption from taxes, a municipal constitution,
after the manner of the Italian towns, and many other rights and
exemptions.
[1020] According to Hardouin, the people of the town formerly called
Saliotis, now Cazorla. They are called “Cæsari venales,” from the
circumstance of their territory having been purchased by Cæsar.—Castulo
or Cazlona has been previously mentioned.
[1021] The people of Sætabis, now Xativa in Valencia. This town was
famous for its manufacture of fine table-napkins, to which reference
is made by Pliny at the beginning of his Introduction addressed to
Titus, in his quotation from the lament of Catullus on the loss of his
table-napkins which his friends had filched from him. See p. 1 of the
present volume.
[1022] According to some writers, the present Cuença was the ancient
Valeria; but perhaps it was situate at the present village of Valera la
Vieja, or Old Valeria, eight leagues south of Cuença.
[1023] The people of Alaba, not far from the present town of Ergavica.
[1024] They were so called from their town of Basti, now Baza, on the
river Guadalentin in Granada.
[1025] Their town was probably the present Consuegra, twelve leagues
from the city of Toledo.
[1026] So called from the promontory Dianium or Artemisium, named from
a temple of Diana there situate, and having in its vicinity a town
of the same name. The present town of Denia still retains nearly the
original name. Its lake, now called Albufera de Valencia, has been
previously mentioned, p. 166.
[1027] The modern Yniesta marks the site of their town.
[1028] The people probably of Eliocroca, now Lorca, on the high road,
from Carthago Nova to Castulo.
[1029] There were two places of the name of Mentesa, one in the
district of the Oritani, and the other in that of the Bastitani or
Bastuli.
[1030] Ptolemy, B. ii., mentions a city of this nation, called ‘Oretum
Germanorum.’ It has been supposed that it was the present Calatrava,
five leagues from Ciudad Real.
[1031] Supposed to be in the vicinity of the present Calatajud.
[1032] The present Toledo.
[1033] Their town is supposed to have stood on the site of the present
Murcia.
[1034] Now Coruña del Conde.
[1035] The people of the present Alava on the Ebro.—A small town there
still bears the name of Alvana.
[1036] This nation is not mentioned elsewhere. Possibly they are the
Murbogi, mentioned by Ptolemy.
[1037] Their town Segisamon was either the present Veyzama in
Guipuzcoa, or, more probably, Sasamon, eight leagues north-west of
Burgos.
[1038] The people of Carissa, on the site of the present Carixa near
Seville.
[1039] Strabo assigns the Numantini to the Arevacæ, and not the
Pelendones. The ruins of the city of Numantia were still to be seen
at Puente Garray near the city of Soria, in Hardouin’s time, the 17th
century.
[1040] D’Anville places their city, Intercatia, at the place called
Villa nueva de Azuague, forty miles from the present Astorga; others
again make it to have been sixty miles from that place.
[1041] Their town was on the site of the modern city of Palencia, on
the river Carion.
[1042] The people of Cauca, the present Coca, situate between Segovia
and Valladolid, on the river Eresma.
[1043] This was the chief city of the Cantabri. It has been already
mentioned, but we may add that it stood near the sources of the Ebro,
on the eminence of Retortillo, south of Reynosa. Five stones still mark
the boundaries which divided the territory from that of the Fourth
Legio.
[1044] Supposed to be the present Briviesca; the site of Tritium does
not appear to be known, but it has been suggested that it was near
Najara, in the vicinity of Logrono.
[1045] It does not appear to be certain whether the Areva was the
present Ucero, or the Arlanzon, which flows near Valladolid.
[1046] The modern Siguenza.
[1047] Now El Burgo d’Osma, in the province of Soria.
[1048] This must not be mistaken for the modern Segovia, between Madrid
and Valladolid: it was a small town in the vicinity of Numantia.
[1049] Probably the present Lerma, on the river Arlanza.
[1050] The people of Asturica Augusta, now Astorga, in the province of
Leon. The ruins of this fine city are said still to give a perfect idea
of a fortified Roman town.
[1051] Their chief city stood on the site of the present Cigarrosa,
or San Estevan de Val de Orres. Its ruins are still to be seen, and a
Roman bridge, the people preserving a tradition that an old town once
stood there called Guigurra.
[1052] The people of Lance or Lancia, probably the present Lollanco or
Mansilla; though Oviedo has been suggested. This however may be the
Ovetum mentioned by Pliny in B. xxxiv. c. 17.
[1053] Mentioned by Pliny in B. xix. c. 2, as famous for their flax.
Their locality near the coast does not appear to be exactly known. The
Pæsici previously mentioned were situate on the peninsula of Cabo de
Penas.
[1054] Now the city of Lugo in Gallicia.
[1055] The people of Bracara Augusta, now Braga. Among the ruins of
the ancient city are the remains of an aqueduct and an amphitheatre.
This people probably derived their name from their fashion of wearing
braccæ, “breeches” or “trowsers,” like their neighbours of Gallia
Braccata. The exact localities of the various other tribes here
mentioned do not appear to be exactly known.
[1056] Our author is mistaken here, even making allowance for the
shortness of the Roman mile (1618 yards), as the length is only 470
miles. Coastwise it is 620.
[1057] Now Oyarzun. It is also mentioned in B. iv. c. 34.
[1058] He is also in error here; for, taken in a straight line, this
distance is but 210 miles.
[1059] The distance is about 560 miles.
[1060] It may be worth while here to take some notice of the mineral
productions of Spain in modern times, from which we shall be able to
form a more accurate judgement as to the correctness of the statement
here made by Pliny. Grains of gold are still to be found in the rivers
Tagus and Douro; but there is not found sufficient of the precious
metal to pay for the search. Silver is found in the mines of the Guadal
canal. Copper and lead are to be found in abundance. There is a mine
of plumbago four leagues from Ronda; and tin is found in Gallicia. In
every province there are iron mines, those in Biscay being the most
remarkable. Lodestone is found in Seville, cobalt on the Pyrenees,
quicksilver and cinnabar at Almaden, arsenic in Asturias, and coal in
Asturias and Arragon. There are salt-mines at Mingrilla and Cardona;
alum is found in Arragon, antimony at Alcaraz. On the Sierra Morena,
and in Gallicia, there is saltpetre in numerous localities; amber in
Asturias and Valencia, and sulphur in Murcia, Arragon, and Seville.
Pipe-clay of a peculiar quality is found in the vicinity of Andujar.
Gypsum and marble are found in great abundance, and stone for budding
purposes, of the best quality. Amethysts, white cornelians, rubies,
agates, garnets, and rock crystals, with other precious stones, are
also found in abundance and of the finest quality.
[1061] Transparent stone. Further mention is made of it by Pliny in B.
xxxv. c. 45.
[1062] Or Mediterranean.
[1063] From the chief city Narbo Martius, and later Narbona, now
Narbonne, situate on the river Atax, now Aude. It was made a Roman
colony by the Consul Q. Martius B.C. 118, and from him received its
surname. It was the residence of the Roman governor of the province and
a place of great commercial importance. There are scarcely any remains
of the ancient city, but some vestiges of the canal, by which it was
connected with the sea at twelve miles’ distance.
[1064] From the linen breeches which the inhabitants wore, a fashion
which was not adopted by the Romans till the time of the Emperors.
Severus wore them, but the use of them was restricted by Honorius.
[1065] Still called the ‘Var.’ It divides France from Nice, a province
of Sardinia.
[1066] Now the Cevennes. They lie as much to the west as the north of
Gallia Narbonensis.
[1067] The range of the Jura, north of the Lake of Geneva.
[1068] Inhabiting the former Comté de Roussillon, or Département des
Pyrénées Orientales. They were said to have been originally a Bebrycian
or Thracian colony.
[1069] Probably the inhabitants of the present Conserans, on the west
of the Département de l’Arriége.
[1070] Probably the Tech, and the Verdouble, which falls into the Gly.
[1071] Probably the present Elne, on the Tech.
[1072] The present Castel Roussillon.
[1073] The Aude of the present day.
[1074] The bodies of water now called Etangs de Bages et de Sigean.
[1075] Now the Herault.
[1076] Now called the Lez, near the city of Montpellier.
[1077] Now called Etangs de Leucate, de Sigean, de Gruissan, de
Vendres, de Thau, de Maguelonne, de Perols, de Mauguio, du Repausset;
Marais d’Escamandre, de Lermitane et de la Souteyrane, and numerous
others.
[1078] Now the town of Agde. Strabo also informs us that this place was
founded by the Massilians.
[1079] This people seems to have inhabited the eastern parts of the
departments of l’Arriége and the Haute Garonne, that of Aude, the south
of that of Tarn, and of that of Herault, except the arrondissement of
Montpellier.
[1080] Dalechamp takes this to be Foz les Martigues; but the locality
is doubtful. Most probably this is the same place that is mentioned by
Strabo as Rhoë, in conjunction with the town of Agathe or Agde, and the
Rodanusia of Stephen of Byzantium, who places it in the district of
Massilia or Marseilles.
[1081] Now the Rhone.
[1082] Now the Lake of Geneva.
[1083] The modern Saone.
[1084] Now the rivers Isère and Durance.
[1085] Most probably from Libici, a town in the south of Gaul, of which
there are coins in existence, but nothing else seems to be known. At
the present day there are four mouths of the Rhone, the most westerly
of which is called the “Dead” Rhone; the next the “Lesser” Rhone; the
third the “Old” Rhone; and the fourth simply the Rhone. D’Anville
considers the “Lesser” Rhone to have been the “Spanish” mouth of the
ancients. In consequence of the overflowings of this river there is
great confusion upon this subject.
[1086] This mouth of the Rhone was much used by the Massilians for the
purposes of commerce with the interior of Gaul, and the carriage of the
supplies of tin which they obtained thence.
[1087] The manner in which Pliny here expresses himself shows that he
doubts the fact of such a place having even existed; it is mentioned
by none of the preceding geographers, and of those who followed him
Stephen of Byzantium is the only one who notices it. An inscription was
found however in the reign of Charles V. of France, in which it was
stated that Ataulphus, king of the Visigoths, selected Heraclea as his
place of residence. On the faith of this inscription, Spon and Ducange
have placed Heraclea at the modern Saint-Gilles, and other writers at
Saint-Remy, where the inscription was found. Unfortunately, however,
Messrs. Devic and Vaissette, in their “History of Languedoc,” have
proved that this inscription is of spurious origin.
[1088] The “Fossæ Marianæ” are also mentioned by Ptolemy and Solinus;
though they differ in the situation which they have respectively
assigned them. They were formed by Marius when advancing to dispute the
passage of the Rhone with the Cimbri, who had quitted Spain for the
purpose of passing the Pyrenees and invading Italy, in the year B.C.
102. There is considerable difficulty in determining their position,
but they are supposed to have commenced at the place now called the
Camp of Marius, and to have terminated at the eastern mouth of the
Rhone near the present Arles.
[1089] Pliny is the first who mentions the name of this lake, though
previous writers had indicated its existence. Strabo informs us that
above the mouth of the Rhone there is a large lake that communicates
with the sea, and abounds in fish and oysters. Brotier and D’Anville
identify it with the present lake of Martigues or of Berre.
[1090] D’Anville takes this place to be the present town of Martigues;
Brotier thinks that it was situate on the spot now called Le Cap
d’Œil, near the town of Saint-Chamas; and Bouche, the historian of the
Province, places it at Marignane, on the east side of the lake already
mentioned.
[1091] “Campi Lapidei,” called by the natives at the present day “La
Crau;” probably from the same Celtic root as our word “Crags;” though
Bochart derives it from the Hebrew. Æschylus and Hyginus speak of this
combat of Hercules, and Mela relates that being engaged in a mortal
struggle with Albion and Geryon, the sons of Neptune, he invoked the
aid of Jupiter, on which a shower of stones fell from the heavens and
destroyed his antagonists. Those on this plain are said to be the
remains of the stony shower. It is supposed by the scientific that
many of these stones are aërolites, and that tradition has ingeniously
adapted this story to their real origin. The vicinity of Tunbridge
Wells presents a somewhat similar appearance.
[1092] The people probably of the site of the present isle of Camargue.
[1093] They probably inhabited the district south of the Durance,
between it and the Rhone.
[1094] They inhabited the country in which the present Avignon, Orange,
Cavaillon, and perhaps Carpentras are situate.
[1095] They are thought by Hardouin to have dwelt in the vicinity of
the present town of Talard in the department of the Hautes Alpes.
[1096] They inhabited the eastern part of the departments of the Drôme
and the Vaucluse.
[1097] Their territory comprehended the southern part of the department
of the Ain, the department of the Isère, the canton of Geneva, and part
of Savoy.
[1098] It was said to have been colonized from Phocæa, a town of Ionia
in Asia Minor. Lucan in his Third Book more than once falls into the
error of supposing that it was colonized from Phocis in Greece.
[1099] We learn from Justin, B. xliii., that this privilege, as well as
others, and a seat at the public shows, were granted to the Massilians
by the Roman Senate, in return for their sympathy and assistance after
the city had been taken and plundered by the Gauls.
[1100] According to D’Anville the present Cap de l’Aigre, though
Mannert takes it to be the Cap de la Croisette.
[1101] D’Anville takes this to be the same as the present Port de la
Ciotat.
[1102] Probably occupying the south-east of the department of the Var.
It is supposed by Hardouin that the village of Ramatuelle, near the
coast, south of the Gulf of Grimaud, represents the ancient name; and
D’Anville and other writers are of the same opinion.
[1103] Probably the country around the modern Brignole and Draguignan
was inhabited by them.
[1104] They inhabited Verignon and Barjols in the southern part of the
department of the Var.
[1105] D’Anville takes this to be the place called Agaï, between Frejus
and La Napoule: but in so doing he disregards the order in which they
are given by Pliny.
[1106] “The Forum of Julius.” Now Frejus. As its name implies, it was
a colony of the Eighth Legion. It was probably called ‘Pacensis,’
on some occasion when peace had happily been made with the original
inhabitants, and ‘Classica’ from the fleet being stationed there by
Augustus.
[1107] Still known as the Argens, from the silvery appearance of the
water. It has choked up the harbour with sand, in which probably the
ships of Augustus rode at anchor.
[1108] They inhabited the coast, in the vicinity of the modern Cannes.
[1109] They are supposed to have inhabited the country of Grasse, in
the south-east of the department of the Var.
[1110] According to Ptolemy they had for their capital the town of
Salinæ; which some take to be the modern Saluces, others Castellane,
and others again Seillans, according to Holstein and D’Anville.
[1111] D’Anville thinks that they lived in the valley of Queyras, in
the department of the Hautes Alpes, having a town of the same name.
[1112] The Adunicates are supposed by Hardouin to have inhabited the
department of the Basses Alpes, between the towns of Senez and Digne.
[1113] The modern Antibes. Mount Cema is the present Monte-Cemelione.
[1114] “Arelate of the Sixth Legion,” a military colony; now the city
of Arles. It is first mentioned by Cæsar, who had some ships built
there for the siege of Massilia or Marseilles. It was made a military
colony in the time of Augustus.
[1115] “Beterræ of the Seventh Legion.” The modern town of Beziers.
[1116] “Arausio of the Second Legion,” now Orange, a town in the
department of Vaucluse.
[1117] Now Valence, in the department of the Drôme.
[1118] Now Vienne, in the department of the Isère.
[1119] Aix, in the department of the Bouches du Rhône.
[1120] Avignon, in the Vaucluse.
[1121] Apt, in the department of Vaucluse.
[1122] Riez, in the department of the Basses Alpes.
[1123] The modern Alps, near Viviers, is probably built on the site of
this town. The text shows that it was different from Augusta, probably
the Alba Augusta mentioned by Ptolemy, though D’Anville supposes them
to have been the same place.
[1124] Some writers take this place to be the present
Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux, in the department of the Drôme.
[1125] Probably so called from its lofty position, and supposed by
D’Anville to have been situate on the modern Mont Ventoux, or “Windy
Mountain.” Other writers place it at La Croix Haute, near the city of
Avignon.
[1126] There is a village in the department of the Var, six leagues
from Toulon, called Bormes, not improbably from these people.
[1127] The modern Cavaillon, in the department of the Vaucluse.
[1128] Now Carcassone, in the department of the Aude.
[1129] Probably Saint Tibéry, on the river Hérault.
[1130] Now Carpentras. Ptolemy also makes mention of the Memini.
[1131] Probably situate on the river Cœnus of Ptolemy, between the
eastern mouth of the Rhone and Massilia. Probably the name in Pliny
should be “Cœnienses.”
[1132] Walckenaer places this people in the vicinity of Cambo, in the
arrondissement of Bayonne, in the department of the Basses Pyrenees.
[1133] In names similar to this, as Festus remarks, “Forum” has the
meaning of “Market;” much as that word is used as a compound in our
names, such as Market Drayton, &c. Bouche thinks that by this place is
meant the modern Le Canet: but D’Anville takes it to be Gonfaron, a
corruption, he thinks, of Voconfaron from the Latin name.
[1134] The site of Glanum was about a mile to the south of the village
of Saint Remi, between Cavaillon and Arles. On the spot there are the
remains of a Roman mausoleum and a triumphal arch.
[1135] The people of Luteva, now Lodève, in the department of the
Hérault.
[1136] “The people of Forum Neronis,” which place has been supposed
by some to have been the same with Carpentoracte: D’Anville supposes
Forcalquier to have been Forum Neronis, while Walckenaer takes Momas
to have been that place. From the text it would appear to have been
identical with Luteva.
[1137] The modern Nismes, which in its ruins contains abundant marks
of its ancient splendour. The family of the Antonines came from this
place. The remains of its aqueduct still survive, containing three rows
of arches, one above the other, and 180 feet in height.
[1138] The people of the present Pézenas, in the department of the
Hérault.
[1139] Their chief town is supposed to have been Albiga, now Albi, in
the department of Tarn.
[1140] The inhabitants of the present Senez in the Basses Alpes.
De la Saussaye says that their coins read ‘Samnagenses,’ and not
‘Sanagenses,’ and that they inhabited Senas, a town in the vicinity of
Aix.
[1141] Their chief town was Tolosa, now Toulouse, in the department of
the Haute-Garonne.
[1142] They probably lived in the vicinity of the present Montauban, in
the department of the Tarn et Garonne.
[1143] Probably the inhabitants of the site of the modern town of
Tarascon. There is, however, considerable doubt as to these two names.
[1144] Poinsinet thinks that they occupied Vabres, a place situate in
the south of the department of Aveyron.
[1145] Now Vaison, in the department of Vaucluse.
[1146] “The Grove of Augustus.” This town appears to have been
overflowed by the river Druma, which formed a lake on its site. Its
remains were still to be seen in the lake in modern times, and from it
the town on the margin of the lake takes its name of Le Luc.
[1147] Under the name “formula” Pliny perhaps alludes to the official
list of the Roman government, which he had consulted for the purposes
of accuracy.
[1148] Bouche places the site of this people at the village of Avançon,
between Chorges and Gap, in the department of the Hautes Alpes.
[1149] The present town of Digne, in the department of the Basses Alpes.
[1150] It is not known from what points these measurements of our
author are taken.
[1151] The modern names of these localities will form the subject of
consideration when we proceed, in c. 7, to a more minute description of
Italy.
[1152] This passage is somewhat confused, and may possibly be in a
corrupt state. He here speaks of the Apennine Alps. By the “lunata
juga” he means the two promontories or capes, which extend east and
west respectively.
[1153] This seems to be the meaning of “alumna,” and not “nurse” or
“foster-mother,” as Ajasson’s translation has it. Pliny probably
implies by this antithesis that Rome has been “twice blessed,” in
receiving the bounties of all nations of the world, and in being able
to bestow a commensurate return. Compared with this idea, “at once the
nurse and mother of the world” would be tame indeed!
[1154] By adding its deified emperors to the number of its divinities.
After what Pliny has said in his Second Book, this looks very much like
pure adulation.
[1155] Or “Great Greece.” This is a poor and frivolous argument used
by Pliny in support of his laudations of Italy, seeing that in all
probability it was not the people of Greece who gave this name to
certain cities founded by Greek colonists on the Tarentine Gulf, in the
south of Italy; but either the Italian tribes, who in their simplicity
admired their splendour and magnificence, or else the colonists
themselves, who, in using the name, showed that they clung with
fondness to the remembrance of their mother-country; while at the same
time the epithet betrayed some vanity and ostentation in wishing thus
to show their superiority to the people of their mother-country.
[1156] The comparison of its shape to an oak leaf seems rather
fanciful; more common-place observers have compared it to a boot: by
the top (cacumen) he seems to mean the southern part of Calabria about
Brundisium and Tarentum; which, to a person facing the south, would
incline to the coast of Epirus on the left hand.
[1157] The ‘Parma’ or shield here alluded to, would be one shaped like
a crescent, with the exception that the inner or concave side would be
formed of two crescents, the extremities of which join at the central
projection. He says that Cocinthos (now Capo di Stilo) would in such
case form the central projection, while Lacinium (now Capo delle
Colonne) would form the horn at the extreme right, and Leucopetra (now
Capo dell’ Armi) the horn on the extreme left.
[1158] The Tuscan or Etrurian sea, and the Adriatic.
[1159] The Varus, as already mentioned, was in Gallia Narbonensis,
while the Arsia, now the Arsa, is a small river of Istria, which became
the boundary between Italy and Illyricum, when Istria was annexed by
order of Augustus to the former country. It flows into the Flanaticus
Sinus, now Golfo di Quarnero, on the eastern coast of Istria, beyond
the town of Castel Nuovo, formerly Nesactium.
[1160] Now the Pescara.
[1161] Now Palo, a city on the coast of Etruria, eighteen miles from
Portus Augusti, at the mouth of the Tiber.
[1162] This distance is overstated: the circuit is in reality about
2500 miles.
[1163] For instance, from Pola to Ravenna, and from Iadera to Ancona.
[1164] Sardinia is in no part nearer to Italy than 140 miles.
[1165] Issa, now Lissa, is an island of the Adriatic, off the coast of
Liburnia; it is not less than eighty miles distant from the nearest
part of the coast of Italy.
[1166] That is to say, the south, which was so called by the Romans:
the meaning being that Italy extends in a south-easterly direction.
[1167] Italy was divided by Augustus into eleven districts; the ninth
of which nearly corresponded to the former republic of Genoa.
[1168] The modern Nizza of the Italians, or Nice of the French.
[1169] Now the Paglione.
[1170] Livy mentions four of these tribes, the Celelates, the
Cerdiciates, the Apuani, and the Friniates.
[1171] Or “Long-haired.” Lucan, B. i. l. 442, 3, refers to this
characteristic of the Alpine Ligurians:
Et nunc tonse Ligur, quondam per colla decora
Crinibus effusis toti prælate Comatæ.
[1172] It is probably the ruins of this place that are to be seen at
the present day at Cimiez in the vicinity of Nice.
[1173] The modern Monaco.
[1174] These tribes have been already mentioned in c. 5, as belonging
to the province of Gallia Narbonensis.
[1175] It is supposed that they dwelt near the present Vinadio in
Piedmont.
[1176] It is supposed that they inhabited the vicinity of the present
town of Chorges, between Embrun and Gap.
[1177] They probably dwelt near the modern town of Montserrat.
[1178] They probably dwelt near the modern Biela, eight leagues from
Verceil in Piedmont.
[1179] Some writers place them near the modern city of Casale.
[1180] Their locality is supposed by some writers to be near the
present Cortemiglia, five leagues from the town of Alba.
[1181] Now the Roya, flowing between very high banks.—Lucan, B. ii. l.
422, speaks of the Rutuba as “Cavus,” “flowing in deep cavities.”
[1182] Probably the present Vintimiglia.
[1183] The modern Arozia.
[1184] The present town of Albenga.—Livy, B. xxix. c. 5, calls the
inhabitants Albingauni.
[1185] Now called Vaï or Ve, and Savona.
[1186] The modern Bisagna, which waters Genua, the modern Genoa.
[1187] Now the Lavagna, which also washes Genoa.
[1188] “The Port of the Dolphin;” now Porto Fino.
[1189] Probably the ruins called those of Tregesa or Trigoso are those
of Tigullia.
[1190] Now Sestri di Levante.
[1191] The modern Magra.
[1192] Of which they were considered as a chain, and called the
Apennine Alps.
[1193] Now the Po.
[1194] According to D’Anville, now Castel Arqua.
[1195] Now Tortona. It was a city of importance, and there are
considerable ruins still in existence.
[1196] The modern Voghera, upon the river Staffora.
[1197] Probably the present Verrua.
[1198] Called by the Ligurians Bodincomagus, by the Romans Industria.
Its remains are to be found at Monteù di Po, a few miles below
Chevasso, on the right bank of the river.
[1199] The modern Pollenza, a small town on the river Tenaro near Alba.
[1200] Its site has been placed at Chieri near Turin, and at Carrù
on the Tanaro, a few miles south of Bene, which is perhaps the most
probable.
[1201] The modern Valenza.
[1202] Placed by D’Anville at Vico near Mondovi, and by other writers
at Carmagnole and Saluzzo: but Durandi has shown that the ruins still
to be seen near Bene in Piedmont are those of Augusta Vagiennorum. Bene
is supposed to be a corruption of Bagienna, the name of the town in the
middle ages. The name of the Vagienni also probably survives in that of
Viozenna, an obscure place in that vicinity.
[1203] Still called Alba; a town near the northern foot of the
Apennines. It probably had its appellation from Cn. Pompeius Strabo,
the father of Pompey the Great, who conferred many privileges on the
Cisalpine Gauls. It was the birth-place of the Emperor Helvius Pertinax.
[1204] The modern Aste.
[1205] The modern Acqui, so called from its mineral springs. It is
again mentioned by Pliny in B. XXXI. Numerous remains of the ancient
town have been discovered.
[1206] Ansart observes that this measurement is nearly correct.
[1207] For an account of this see Herodotus, B. i. c. 94, Tacitus, Ann.
B. iv. c. 55, and Velleius Paterculus, B. i. c. 1. These writers all
agree as to the fact of the migration of a colony of Lydians under the
conduct of Tyrrhenus to the part of Italy afterwards called Etruria.
This subject however, as well as the migrations of the Pelasgi, is
involved in the greatest obscurity.
[1208] From the Greek verb θύειν “to sacrifice,” he implies:—from
their custom of frequently sacrificing, says Servius, on the Xth Book
of the Æneid. Dionysius of Halicarnassus says that they were from
their frequent sacrifices called θυόσκοοι. These are probably fanciful
derivations; but there is no doubt that the people of Etruria were
for several centuries the instructors of the Romans in the arts of
sacrifice, augury, and divination.
[1209] The ruins of Luna, which was destroyed by the Normans in the
middle ages, are still visible on the banks of the Magra. The modern
name of the port is Golfo della Spezzia.
[1210] The modern city of Lucca has its site and name.—Livy, B. xli.
c. 13, informs us that this colony was founded in the year of the city
576, during the Consulship of Claudius Pulcher and Sempronius Gracchus.
[1211] The modern city of Pisa. See Virgil, B. x. l. 179, as to the
origin of this place.
[1212] The modern Serchio.
[1213] Now the Arno.
[1214] The people of Pisa or Pisæ, a city of Elis in the Peloponnesus.
[1215] Now Vadi, a small village on the sea-shore.
[1216] Still called the Cecina. It entered the Tyrrhenian sea, near the
port of Vada Volaterrana just mentioned.
[1217] The present Piombino is supposed to have arisen from the ruins
of this place.
[1218] Now the Bruno.
[1219] The modern Ombrone.
[1220] Now known as Telamone Vecchio.
[1221] There are ruins near lake Orbitello, which bear the name of
Cosa; Ansedonia was said to have risen from its ruins, and in its turn
fallen to decay.
[1222] Two localities have been mentioned as the site of Graviscæ, at
both of which there are ancient remains: one on the right bank of the
Marta, about a mile from its mouth, and the other on the sea-coast at
a spot called Santo Clementino or Le Saline, a mile south of the mouth
of the Marta. Probably the latter are the remains of Graviscæ, although
Dennis (Etruria, i. pp. 387-395) inclines to be in favour of the former.
[1223] The modern Torre Chiaruccia, five miles south of Civita Vecchia.
[1224] The modern Torre di Santa Severa.
[1225] Now the Vaccina.
[1226] The remains of this once powerful city are marked by the village
of Cervetri or Old Cære. According to Strabo it received its name from
the Greek word χαῖρε “hail!” with which the inhabitants saluted the
Tyrrhenian or Lydian invaders. It was to this place that the Romans
sent their most precious sacred relics when their city was taken by the
Gauls. Its most interesting remains are the sepulchres, of which an
account is given in Dennis’s Etruria.
[1227] Its remains are to be seen in the vicinity of the modern village
of Palo.
[1228] Its site is supposed to have been at the spot now called the
Torre di Maccarese, midway between Palo and Porto, and at the mouth of
the river Arone. Its situation was marshy and unhealthy.
[1229] This exceeds the real distance, which is about 230 miles.
[1230] The site of the Etruscan Falerii or Falisci is probably occupied
by the present Civita Castellana; while that of the Roman city of the
same name, at a distance of four miles, is marked by a single house and
the ruins of a church, called Santa Maria di Falleri. The ancient city
was captured by the Romans under Camillus.
[1231] In his book of “Origines,” which is now lost.
[1232] “The Grove of Feronia.” The town was so called from the grove
of that Sabine goddess there situate. In the early times of Rome there
was a great resort to this spot not only for religious purposes, but
for those of trade as well. Its traces are still to be seen at the
village of Saint Orestes, near the south-east extremity of the hill
there, which is still called Felonica. This is in southern Etruria,
but Ptolemy mentions another place of the same name in the north-west
extremity of Etruria, between the Arnus and the Macra.
[1233] The people of the spot now called Siena, in Tuscany.
[1234] Now Sutri, on the river Pozollo.
[1235] The people of Arretium, one of the most powerful cities of
Etruria. The three tribes or peoples here mentioned probably did
not occupy distinct towns, but constituted separate communities or
municipal bodies, being distinct colonies or bodies of settlers. The
Julienses were the colonists settled there by Augustus. The Fidentes
had probably settled at an earlier period. The modern Arezzo has
risen on the remains of the Roman city, while the remains of the
Etruscan city are pointed out on an elevated spot called Poggio di
San Cornellio, two or three miles south-east of Arezzo. Many valuable
relics of antiquity have been discovered here. The family of Mæcenas
sprang from this place.
[1236] The people of Aquæ Tauri, a watering-place of Etruria, situate
about three miles north of the present Civita Vecchia, and now called
Bagni di Ferrata. The baths are described by Rutilius in his Itinerary,
who calls them Tauri Thermæ (the Bull’s Baths), and ascribes their name
to the fact of their having been accidentally discovered by a bull.
[1237] The people of Blera, on the site of the modern village of Bieda,
about twelve miles south of Viterbo. Numerous remains of Etruscan
antiquity have been found here.—See Dennis’s Etruria, vol. i. pp.
260-272.
[1238] The people of Cortona, a powerful city of Etruria, which is
still known by the same name. It was probably in the number of the
cities of Etruria that were ravaged by Sylla, and then recolonized by
him. Numerous remains of Etruscan antiquity have been discovered there.