Strabo). Near the Lacinian promontory, Croton, where Pythagoras long resided and taught his doctrines: the birth-place also of the famous wrestler, Milo, hence called Crotoniates. 31 7. On the Adriatic coast of APULIA, after doubling prom. Japygium (C. Leuca), we find Hydrus v. Hydruntum (Otranto), the nearest transit to Greece, but less frequented for that purpose than Brundusi um, which had an excellent harbour and was the terminus of the Via Appia, the great high road from Rome to Greece. Brundusium, and Dyrrhachium on the opposite coast, were the Dover and Calais of the ancient world. This part of the Apulian coast was inhabited by a people called Calăbri, whose town Rudiae was the b. pl. of the poet Ennius, who is hence called by Cicero-Rudius homo,82 and his poetry by Horace Calabrae Pierides.' Next comes the projection of the land occupied by Mt. Gargānus, and its oak forests ('quercēta Gargani.') 8. On the coast of PICENUM Occurs a smaller projection of the land, which, from the form it takes, was likened to the human elbow, ayxwv, and hence the town built on it got the name of Ancon v. Ancōna, (Dalmaticis obnoxia fluctibus Ancon,—Luc. 11.401.) 33 32 9. On the coast of UMBRIA were two towns of note, 1. Sena, to which the epithet Gallica was ad 31 See a curious account of this city and the adjoining Temple of Juno Lacinia in LIV. XXIV. 3. 32 Nunc Rudiae solo memorabile nomen alumno.-SIL. XII. 397. 33 Horace compares the uproar in a Roman theatre to a storm among the woods of Garganus :-EPIST. I. 1. 202 Garganum mugire putes nemus, i. e. saeviente in Theatro 'ignobili vulgo.' ded, as well to denote the fact of its being originally a Gallic settlement, as to distinguish it from Sena Julia, an inland town in Etruria; the former is now Sinigaglia, the latter Sienna; and 2. Ariminum (Rimini), the storming of which was Caesar's first overt act of civil war after crossing the Rubicon. Between those Umbrian towns flows the small river Metaurus, where Asdrubal, the brother of Hannibal, was defeated and slain by the consuls Livius and Nero, A. U. 546, (Livy xxvI. 46-9). 3 34 10, 11. On the coast of GALLIA Cisalpina, south of the Po, stood Ravenna, near which Augustus constructed a station for his fleet on the Mare Superum, as he did at Misēnum, near Naples, to guard the Mare Inferum. Ravenna is now four miles from the sea; and it may be observed, generally, that in the lower course of the Po, the Colmata (i. e. cumulata, successive deposits of soil in the channels of of rivers, in consequence of floods and artificial embankments) has already raised the bed of the river 30 feet above the level of the adjoining plain, (vid. Lalande, Voyage en Italie). North of the Po, lay the districts called Venetia, (on the shore of which is the modern city of VENICE), 34 Quid debeas, O Roma, Neronibus Testis Metaurum flumen et Asdrubal Dixit, et antiquae muros egressa Ravenna Signa movet; jamque ora Padi, portusque relinquit Aestuat, et pronas puppes nunc amne secundo, Deserit, Oceani lunaribus æmula damnis.-CLAUD. VI. C.H. 494. Carnia, and Istria, extending to the little stream Arsia, the Eastern Boundary of Italy. Along this coast, the chief ancient towns were Aquileia, Tergeste, now Trieste, and Pola. ITALIAN ISLANDS OF NOTE. OFF the coast of Etruria, lies Ilva v. Aethalia (Elba), famed of old for the richness of its iron ores, (Insula inexhaustis Chalybum generosa metallis,' Aen. x. 174), and in recent times, as the temporary place of banishment of Napoleon; and not far W. is Corsica, the island where he was born. Off the coast of Campania are the islands of Prochyta (Procida), Inarime (Ischia),35 and on the opposite side of the Bay, Capreae, the retreat of the infamous Tiberius;36 and on the other side of the prom. Minervae, the three rocky islets, Sirenūsae, (vnoidia tpia προκείμενα, ερημα, πετρώδη, Strab.) Directly S. of Corsica is Sardinia, called Ichnūsa by the Greeks, from its supposed resemblance to the impress of the human foot (ixos, vestigium).3 35 Tum sonitu Prochyta alta tremit, durumque cubile Inarime, Jovis imperiis imposta Typhoëo.-AEN. IX. 715. 36 Principis angustâ Caprearum in rupe sedentis Cum grege Chaldaeo.-Juv. x. 95. 37 Sirenum voces et Circae pocula nôsti.-HOR. Ep. 1. vitanda est improba Siren Desidia.-HOR. S. II. 3. 14. 38 Humanae in speciem plantae se magna figurat Insula, Sardoam veteres dixere coloniDives ager frugum.-CLAUDIAN. opimas Sardiniae segetes feracis.-HOR. Od. 1. 31. 4. To the S. E. of Sardinia, near the extremity of Italy, lies the group of volcanic islets called Ins. Aeoliae v. Vulcaniae 39 (Lipari Islands), of which one only, Strongyle (Stromboli), is still active. 40 South of this group, lies SICILIA,1o called also Sicania, Trinacria v. Triquetra Tellus.41 The three promontories, (pia axpa, trina cornua, Ov.), at the three corners of the triangular island were, N. E. Pelōrus, S. E. Pachīnus, and W. Lilyboeum.12 In the Strait, Fretum Siculum, which separates Italy from Sicily, the poets describe a whirlpool called Charybdis, opposite to Scylla, on the Italian side. These were the two bugbears of ancient navigators, between which it was thought so difficult to steer, that in avoiding the one it was hardly possible not to fall a prey to the other. Hence came the proverbial use of the modern line, 'Incidit in Scyllam, qui vult vitare Charybdin.' A little to the 43 E. was the town of Zancle, originally so named 39 Vulcani domus et Vulcania nomine tellus.-AEN. VIII. 422. 40 Haec loca, vi quondam et vastâ convulsa ruinâ, (Tantum aevi longinqua valet mutare vetustas!) Littore diductas angusto interluit aestu.—AEN. III. 414. 41 Terra tribus scopulis vastum procurrit in aequor 42 Trinacris, a positu nomen adepta loci.—Ov. FAST. IV. 419. Ex quibus imbriferos obversa Pachynus ad Austros; 43 - Zancle quoque juncta fuisse Ov. M. XIII. 724. from Çayxan, a sickle," which the form of the harbour suggested, afterwards Messana, now Messina. We next pass Catine v. Catăne, Catania, which has suffered much and repeatedly from the lava of AETNA—the burning mountain, equally famed in fable and in history; and crossing Simaethus, the river of longest course in the Island, we arrive at SYRACUSAE, the renowned metropolis of ancient Sicily. In front of the harbour is the island of Ortygia v. Nasos, and in it the fountain Arethusa, of poetical celebrity. On the coast between Pachynus and Lilyboeum was Agrigentum, or in the Greek form, Acrăgas, the second city in ancient Sicily; an early rival of Carthage, and noted for a Temple of Jupiter, of which some gigantic fragments still remain. The ancient name survives in the modern Girgenti. Between Lilyboeum and Pelorus, on the northern shore of the Island, the notable localities are, Drepănum (Trapani), so called, like Zanclé, from the form of its harbour, (openavn meaning a scythe); Eryx, a Town, and Mountain; the latter surmounted by a Temple of Venus Erycina; and off the shore Aegates insulae, where the Romans gained a naval 45 Dicitur Italiae, donec confinia pontus Abstulit, et media tellurem reppulit unda.— Ov. MET. XV. 290. 44 Quique locus curvae nomina falcis habet.-Ov. F. IV. 474. -Catane, nimium ardenti vicina Typhoëo.-SIL. XIv. 196. * For a locus classicus on Aetna see Virg. Aen. 111. 571–583 ; another on Scylla and Charybdis, ib. 420; and a third on Ortygia, Arethusa, and other localities in Sicily, ib. 692. |