effeminacy of its inhabitants, that a Sybarite became a term of reproach for luxurious and dissolute persons. The principal Rivers in Lucania are the Silarus, or Silaro, which rises in the Apennines, and falls into the Mare Tyrrhenum, near Mount Alburnus and Pæstum, the banks of which were much infested by the* gad-fly; the Aciris, or Agri, the Bradanus, or Bradano, and the Sybaris, rise in the Apennines, and flow into the Gulph of Tarentum. South of Lucania are the Bruttii. On the Mare Tyrrhenum is Consentia, now Consenza. Quite on the toe of Italy, on the straight which divides it from Sicily, is Rhegium, now Regio; and on the opposite coast of Italy, on the Ionian Sea, are the Locri Epi-Zephyrii, so called from the promontory of Zephyrium a little below it. Above Locri is Scylacium, now Squillaci, and above it is the promontory of Lacinium †, now called Capo della Colonna, from a column of a celebrated temple of Juno Lacinia still remaining. Above it is Croton, or Crotona, the birth-place of the famous Olympic victor * Est lucos Silari circum ilicibusque virentem Plurimus Alburnum volitans, cui nomen asilo Romanum est, œstron Graii vertere vocantes. Virg. Georg. III. 146. + Hic sinus Herculei, si vera est fama, Tarenti, Cernitur, attollit se Diva Lacinia contra, Caulonisque arces, et navifragum Scylacæum. Virg. Æn. III. 551. See also a beautiful story respecting the painting of Venus by Zeuxis in this temple, related by Cicero, De Invent. II. 1. Milo, and a once flourishing city, and celebrated school of Pythagoreans. Above this is Petilia*, built by Philoctetes, after his return from the Trojan war; and above it Roscianum, now Rosano. The principal Rivers of the Bruttii are the Crathes, or Crati, which rises in the Apennines, not far from Consentia, and falls into the Tarentine bay a little below Sybaris; and the Neæthes, or Neto, which rises in the same vicinity, and falls into the sea above Crotona. The principal Roman Roads were the Via Appia, from Rome to Brundusium; the Flaminia, from Rome to Ariminium; the Aurelia, by the coast of Etruria, to Liguria and Gallia, near Nice; and the Claudia, which branched off from the Flaminia, at the Pons Milvius, near Rome, and, proceeding through the more inland part of Etruria, joined the Via Aurelia at Lucca. The Roads of inferior note were, the Via Latina, which had Alba Longa on the right, Tusculum on the left, and passed over Mons Algidus into Latium. The Labicana, to Præneste, having Labicum on the right, and the Lake Regillus on the left. The Prænestina, to the same city, which passed through Gabii, having Collatia to the left. The Tiburtina or Valeria, which led through Tibur to the Adriatic. The Nomentana which passed over Mons Sacer to Nomentum and Cures, among the Sabini. The Salaria, which passed through Fidenæ, crossed the river Allia, and joined the Nomentana at * Parva, Philocteta subnixa Petilia muro. 15 Virg. En. III, 402. Eretum, between Nomentum and Cures, and passed on to the Adriatic, having at some distance to the left Capena, and the grove of Feronia. The Cassia, which passed between the Flaminia and Claudia, over the little river Cremera, through Veii. The Triumphalis, which joined the Claudia six miles from Rome. The Portuensis and Ostiensis, which led to the Portus Augusti on the North, and Ostia on the South side of the mouth of the Tiber. The Laurentina and Ardeatina led to Laurentum and Ardea, between the Via Ostiensis and Appia. Considerably to the left of the Via Ardeatina, near the Via Appia, was Lanuvium. CHAPTER III. ITALIAN ISLANDS. SICILIA was antiently called Sicania, from the Sicani, a people of Spain, who possessed the island till they were driven to its Western corner by the Siculi, an Italian nation. It was also called Trinacria, from having Tgeis ängai, three celebrated promontories (the island itself being of a triangular shape); Pelorum at the East, adjacent to Italy, Pachynum at the South, and Lilyboum at the West. It was colonized by the Greeks and Carthaginians, and came into the possession of the Romans in the second Punic war. The promontory of Pelorum is now Cape Faro. A little South of this was Messana, more antiently called also Zancle, from the curved form of its harbour, now Messina. Close to this on the Sicilian shore, was Charybdis, and above it, on the Italian shore, Scylla*, the two well-known objects of * Dextrum Scylla latus, lævum implacata Charybdis Sorbet in abruptum fluctus, rursusque sub auras terror to the antient mariners, though now much less formidable. Below it is Tauromenium, now Taormino, and below it Catana, which still retains its name, at the foot of Mount Etna, now called Monte Gibello. The most remarkable poetic descriptions of the eruptions of Ætna are in Pindar Pyth. I. 31, Æschylus Pr. Vinct. 362, and Virgil Æn. III. 571.* Above Catana was the little river Acis, for an account of which see Ovid Met. XIII. 860, and near it the Cyclopum Scopuli, mentioned by Virgil Æn. I. 201. Near Catana was Hybla, celebrated for its beest; and the plains below the river Simæthus, now the Giaretta, were antiently called the Læstrigonii Erigit alternos, et sidera verberat unda. Virg. Æn. III. 420. ·Horrificis juxta tonat Ætna ruinis. + Hyblæis apibus florem depasta salicti. Virg. En. III. 571. |