abled them to fecure their liberty and independence, and afterwards to procure political importance. The forming of cities into communities, corporarions or bodies politic, as they were called, and granting them the privilege of municipal jurifdiction, without depending on the great lords to whom they had formerly been fubject, was from Italy foon propagated over the reft of Europe.

The Italians first established a commerce with the caft by the ports of Egypt and the Red Sea; and then with the countries. in the north of Europe, particularly with Hamburg, Lubec, and other cities along the Baltic. These cities had entered into a league, called the HANSEATIC LEAGUE, for the protection of trade from pirates, by whom those feas were infefted. Na vigation was then fo imperfect, that a voyage between Italy and the Baltic could not be performed in one fummer. For that reafon certain towns in Flanders were pitched upon, particularly BRUGES, as ftaples, where the Italian merchants, then called LOMBARDS, brought the productions of India, together with the manufactures of Italy, and exchanged them for the more bulky, but not lefs useful productions of the north. By the invention of the mariner's compafs, according to fome, by Flavius of Amalphi, A. D. 1302, navigation was rendered more expeditious and fecure.

The happy effects of granting freedom to the inhabitants of cities, foon induced fovereigns, and their great vaffals, to grant the fame privilege to that part of the people which refided in the country. In confequence of this diffufion of liberty, a more equal method of distributing juftice came to be introduced. The right which individuals claimed, of waging war against one another, was checked; the ridiculous custom of deciding differences by judicial combat, and fire ordeal, as it was termed, was abolished; the power of the nobility was fubjected to that of the fovereign; law began to be ftudied as a science; and war ceafed to be the only object of attention to men of rank. A copy of Juftinian's Pandects, called the Corpus Juris, was accidentally difcovered at Amalphi, 1137, which, in a fhort time, revived the knowledge of the Roman law over all Europe. In confequence of these im provements, a greater politenefs and civility of manners began. to prevail. This change was greatly promoted by the fingular inftitution of chivalry, which took place after the holy war, but chiefly by the progrefs of fcience and the cul

tivation of literature.

Hifiorg

Hiftory of the Kingdom of NAPLES.

THE "HE fouth of Italy, now called the KINGDOM OF NAPLES, has undergone many revolutions. Upon the invasion of the northern nations, it fhared the fame fate with the rest of Italy. In the end of the tenth century, it was conquered by the Saracens. They foon after were driven out by the Normans under the fons of TANCRED. Their fucceffors poffeffed the kingdom of Naples for feveral ages, together with the island of Sicily; both which they called the kingdom of the Two Sicilies. Under them it became a flourishing state. Roger I. A. D. 1130, first introduced the culture of filk from Greece into his dominions, from which it was foon communicated to the rest of Italy, and other parts of Europe.

By the influence of the Pope, Naples and Sicily came into the power of the French, under CHARLES Duke of Anjou, who vanquished and put to death CONRADIN, the last of the Norman race, A. D. 1265. But the Sicilians were fo difgufted at their new mafters, that they cut them all off on Easter day, A.D. 1282. This massacre was called the Sicilian Vefpers, because the first stroke of the bell which fummoned the people to prayers the preceding evening, ferved as a fignal to the confpirators. From this time Sicily remained fubject to the kings of Arragon, whofe protection they folicited. The House of Anjou, however, with a few interruptions and tragical revolutions, continued to hold the crown of Naples, till the Spaniards drove them out, 1504, chiefly by the abilities of GONSALVO de Cordova, called the Great Captain; when it was annexed to the crown of Spain, which governed it by a viceroy. The oppreffive government of the Spaniards, particularly in impofing taxes, gave rife to a famous revolt, headed by MASIONELLO, a poor fisherman, aged twenty-four, which at firft was attended with furprising fuccefs. But he was at laft killed at the head of his own mob, 1647.

Naples and Sicily continued with Spain till the year 1706, when Charles, afterwards Emperor, took poffeffion of it. But after various treaties, and much bloodfhed, it was finally ceded. to Spain, 1736. The prefent king of Naples and Sicily is Ferdinand IV. third fon to the king of Spain.

SICILY.

SICILY.

ICILY is an ifland in the Mediterranean fea, adjoining to the fouthern extremity of Italy, extending from 36° 35' to 38° 25' north, latitude, and from 12° 50′ to 16° 5' eaft longitude from London. Its greateft length is 210 miles, its breadth 133, and its circumference 600. Pofidonius made its circumference 4400 ftadia, or 550 miles, Strab. vi. 266.; Diodorus Siculus, 4360 ftadia, v. 1. On account of its fertility, it was esteemed one of the granaries of the Roman empire, HORREUM reipublicæ, v. frumentarium SUBSIDIUM, Cic. Manil. 12. in Verr. iii. et annonæ SUBSIDIUM, Liv. xxvi. 40. xxvii. 5. ; Sil. xiv. 23.

SICILIA was alfo called SICANIA, Sil. xiv. 33, &c. and TRIQUETRA, Horat. Sat. ii. 6. 55.; Sil. v. 490. or TRINACRIA, Virg. Æn. iii. 440. 582. vel TRINACRIS, Ovid. Faft. iv. 419. v. 346. from its triangular form, Plin. iii. 8. Tribus hac excurrit in aquora linguis, Ovid. Met. xiii. 724.

The three promontories or capes of Sicily are,

PELORIS, idis, Pelorias, -iadis, Pelorus, or -um, now Cape Peloro or Torre del Faro, from a tower and light-house erected on it, on the north point towards Italy; PACHYNUS, now Cape Paffaro, on the fouth; and LILYBAUM, now Cape Boëo, on the weft, Ovid. Faft. iv. 479. Met. xiii. 725.

Senec.

Sicily is feparated from Italy by the Fretum Siculum, or Straits of Melfina, called alfo the FARÓ, fifteen miles long, Plin. iii. 8. f. 14. and in fome places fo narrow, that the bárking of dogs and the crowing of cocks is faid to be diftinctly heard from the one fide to the other. Sil. xiv. 20. This ftrait is thought by fome to have been formed by an earthquake breaking the isthmus which joined Sicily with the main land, and the Tuscan and Ionian feas rushing in, Ovid. Met. xv. 290. Plin. iii. 8. ; ad Marc. 17.; Sil. xiv. 12. See p. 175. On the right fide, that is, on the fide of Italy, is SCYLLA, a dangerous rock; on the left, i. e. on the fide of Sicily, CHARYBDIS, a whirlpool, faid to fwallow up fhips, and upon the return of the tide to throw them up again in broken pieces, Virg. Æn. iii. 420.; Ovid. Met. vii. 63. xiii. 730.; Pont. iv. 10 25. Remed. amor. 740.; Senec. ep. 79. The fituation of Scylla is afcertained, jee p. 174. but the moderns are not agreed about that of Charybdis. The poets reprefent them as nearly oppofite; hence the proverbial faying about a person

who,

who, wishing to avoid one danger, falls into another, Incidit in Scyllam, dum vult vitare Charybdim; hence alfo Seneca calls this ftrait fretum fabulofum, i. e. celebrated of exaggerated in fable, p. 45. & 79. ad. Marc. 17.

Cape Peloro is a long fandy neck of land advancing into the Tufcon fea, within a mile and an half of the Calabrian coaft, which is here very abrupt and lofty. This ifthmus fhuts up the traits to the eye, fo that the tower and light-house appear to be on the Italian fide of the water; hence Et angufti rarefcent clauftra Pelori, Virg. Æn. iii. 4. 11. It is fo difficult to navi gate through the entrance of the Faro, that pilots are always ready to put to fea as foon as a veffel is feen in the offing. Charybdis is fuppofed by Mr. Swinburne to have been at the isthmus of cape Peloro; feveral miles north of Messina, where it is commonly fuppofed to have been, from Strabo, vi. 268, and where there is ftill a kind of whirlpool, although no wife anfwering to. the defcription given of Charybdis by the ancient poets. Thucydides alfo feems to place it at the entrance of the straits, and afcribes it to their narrownefs, and to the concourse of the Tufcan and Sicilian feas, iv. 24.

MESSANA or Messina is the first town fouth of Pelorus. Its ancient name was ZANCLE, from the refemblance of its port to the form of a fickle, Thucydid. vi. 4. It got its prefent name from a colony of Meffenians from Peloponnefus, who took poffeffion of it, Strab. vi. 268. The inhabitants were called MESSANENSES, but afterwards MAMERTINI, from the foldiers of that people, who treacherously made themfelves mafters of the town, fee p. 234. whence Mefiana is called by Cicero civitas MAMERTINA, Verr. ii. 5. iii. 6. The Mamertines, being hard preffed by Hiero king of Syracufe, and by the Carthaginians, applied to the Romans for affiftance; who, wishing to extend their conquefts beyond Italy, gladly laid hold of this pretext for engaging in war with the Carthaginians, and made Meffana their head-quarters in Sicily during their long ftruggle with that people, Liv. epit. xvi. xxix. 7. 9.; hence this city became great and opulent. Since the fall of the Roman empire it has undergone various viciffitudes of fortune. It was almost entirely deftroyed by the dreadful earthquake in 1783.

Several miles fouth of the ftraits is the promontory Drepănum, and fouth of it the town TAUROMENIUM, Flin. iii. 8. now Taormina, in an elevated fituation, on the extremity of mount Taurus; commanding one of the grandeft profpects in the world; containing only about 3000 inhabitants. Here are the remains of a noble ancient theatre, placed between two high rocks, whence there is a full view both of Etna and the S

plains.

plains. On a neighbouring point of mount Taurus stood Naxus, the first colony of the Greeks in the island, built about 700 years before Chrift, and destroyed by Dionyfius, Diodor. xiv. 16. Near this the river ONOBALA, mentioned by Appian, bell. civ. v. 1161, now Cantara, empties itself into a beautiful bay. South of this is the river Afines, now called Freddo, from the coldness of its water; and Acis, now Aci, Jaci, or Chiaci, running rapidly from mount Etna, Ovid. Faf. iv. 468.; Sil.

xiv. 222.

Next is the city CATANA or Catăna, v. Catăne, Sil. xiv. 197. at the foot of Mount Etna, by the eruptions of which it has been feveral times overwhelmed *.

The last and most dreadful overthrow of this city was in 1693. It has fince been rebuilt in a very fplendid manner, and contains about 30,000 inhabitants, a confiderable number of whom appertains to the university, the only one in the island, and the nursery of all the lawyers. A stream, called Amenānus, now Guidicello, iffuing from Etna, runs through the city, which fometimes becomes dry for feveral years, and then begins to flow again, Strab. v. 240.; Ovid. Met. xv. 279. This intermiffion is fuppofed to depend on the different repletion and evacuation of the repofitories of water in the cavities of Etna.

In the way between Taormina and Catana, through the woody part of Ætna, is an old chefnut tree of enormons fize, the circumference of whofe trunk is one hundred and ninetyfix feet; others make it two hundred and four feet. The whole of this coaft is in a great measure formed by the lava of mount Etna, which is of a much harder confiftence than that of Vefuvius. One of the most tremendous fpectacles in nature, is the conflict between a large ftream of lava, feveral miles broad and of immenfe depth, and the waters of the sea. The noife produced is faid to be more dreadful than the loudest thunder+.

At a fmall distance from the fhore are three rocks of lava, which Pliny calls the rocks of the Cyclops, iii. 8. a name by which they are ftill diftinguifhed. A ftream of lava, in the fixteenth century, formed a harbour for the people of Catana; but by a fubfequent eruption it was filled up in 1669.

In one of thefe eruptions the filial affection of two brothers, Anapias and Amphi nonus, is celebrated, who refcued their parents at the hazard of their lives, Strab. vi. 269.; Senec. benef. iii. 37. vi. 36.; Val. Max. v, 4. ext. 4. called pii fratres, Sil.

xiv. 197.

The ftream of lava in 1669 was four miles broad and fifty feet deep. It at first moved at the rate of feven miles in one day, but afterwards it took four days to travel fifteen miles. It overwhelmed great part of Catana, and drove back the fea a confi. derable way from the shore,

South