Campi, from the Læstrigones, a barbarous antient people, who, as well as the Cyclopes, inhabited Sicily. The wine of this region is celebrated by Horace. coast were the Leontini, now Lentini. river Anapus, and the far-famed city of

On the Below was the

Syracusa, still

called Siracusa. It was taken by Marcellus, the Roman Prætor, in the second Punic war, B. C. 212, A. U. C. 542; and was also the scene of the memorable defeat of the Athenians, so finely related by Thucydides, in his seventh book of the Peloponnesian war. The ports of Syracuse lay at the South, below the town. The lesser port was formed by the town and the North side of the little island Ortygia, in which was the fountain Arethusa; the greater port, in which was the mouth of the river Anapus, was formed by the Southern side of the island and a bay reaching to the promontory called Plemmyrium, in the recess of which promontory was a castle. That part of the town called Acradina was nearest the shore, and its Southern extremity formed one side of the little port. The South Western side of the city lying towards the Anapus, and separated from it by some marshy ground, was called Neapolis, between which and Acradina was Tyche, and above Neapolis was Epipolæ. Its whole circuit was 180 stadia, above 22 English miles. This description may be of service in reading Thucydides. Below Syracuse is Helorum, the vestiges of which are called Muri Ucci; the adjacent country was so beautiful as to be called the Helorian Tempe. The extreme Southern point of Sicily is the promontory'

* Quanquam nec Calabræ mella ferunt apes,

Nec Læstrigonia Bacchus in amphora
Languescit mihi.

Hor. Od. III. 16.

of Pachynum, now Passaro. Ascending along the Southern shore of Sicily is Camarina, antiently called Hyperia, so often celebrated by Pindar; it is still called Camarana: above it is Gela, near the modern Terra Nova, and the Campi Geloi. The river Himera separated the Syracusan from the Carthaginian dependencies in Sicily. West of the Himera is the city of Agrigentum, or Agragas as it is called by the Greeks, so often celebrated by Pindar, now called Girgenti. Still West were the Thermæ Selinuntiæ, and Selinus itself, a splendid Syracusan, colony. From Selinus the shore bends upwards to the Western promontory of Lilyboum, which is nearly opposite Carthage, and still preserves its old name in Boeo; but the city of Lilyboum is now called Marsala. North of Lilyboeum is Drepanum, now Trapani, and Mount Eryx, celebrated for its temple of Venus, hence called Erycina. Within land was the Trojan colony of Segeste, or Egesta. Off the coast of Mount Eryx are the Ægades or Ægates Insulæ, celebrated for the famous victory' gained by the Romans under Lutatius Catulus over the Carthaginians, which ended the first Punic war, B. C. 242, A. U. C. 512. Proceeding along the Northern coast, we find Panormus, now the capital of Sicily under the name of Palermo. East of it was the city Himera, on another and smaller river of that name; it is now called Termini, from the Thermæ, or warm baths, which were in its vicinity. Towards the Eastern promontory of Pelorum

* Sive tu mavis Erycina ridens.

*

was the city of Tyndaris, which preserves its name, and Myle, now Milazzo, between which place and a station called Naulochus, the fleet of Sextus Pompeius was defeated by that of the Triumvir Octavius, B. C. 36, A. U. C. 718. In the interior of the country, and nearly in its centre, was the celebrated plain of Enna, from which Proserpine was carried away by Pluto to the shades below. (See Ovid Met. V. 341.) It is now called Castro Janni, or Giovanni.

Each of the promontories of Sicily had a celebrated temple. At Pelorum was that of Neptune; at Pachynum that of Apollo; and near Lilyboum that of Venus, on Mount Eryx. The antients fabled that the giant Typhoeus was buried under Sicily, Pelorum and Pachinum being placed on each arm, Lilyboum on his feet, and Ætna on his head, and that the earthquakes and eruptions of Ætna were caused by his attempts to move. *

* Vasta giganteis injecta est insula membris
Trinacris; et magnis subjectum molibus urget
Etherias ausum sperare Typhoea sedes.
Nititur ille quidem, pugnatque resurgere sæpe;
Dextra sed Ausonio manus est subjecta Peloro:
Læva, Pachyne, tibi: Lilyboo crura premuntur ;
Degravat Ætna caput : sub qua resupinus arenas
Ejectat, flammamque fero vomit ore Typhoeus.
Sæpe remoliri luctatur pondera terræ,

Oppidaque et magnos evolvere corpore montes;
Inde tremit tellus.

Ovid Met. V. 346.

North of Sicily are some volcanic islands, called the Insulæ Æoliæ *, Vulcaniæ †, et Liparææ, from Æolus and Vulcan, who were supposed to have their dwellings here, and Lipara, the principal island. Here were the forges of Vulcan, described by the poets, particularly by Homer and Virgil. Below Sicily were the islands of Melite, now Malta, and Gaulos, or Gozo, adjacent to it.

North West of Sicily are the two Islands of Corsica and Sardinia. The former lies under Liguria, and was peopled by the Ligurians, and colonized by the Carthaginians, from whom it was taken by the Romans, B. C. 231, A. U. C. 523. It was celebrated for its yew trees, which gave a poisonous quality to the honey. The Greeks called it Cyrnos. It had two colonies, Mariana planted by Marius, and Aleria by Sylla. On the North Western coast was the Casalus Sinus, thought to be Calvi, and on the opposite side, above Mariana, Mantinorum Oppidum, now Bastia. About the middle of the Western side was Uranium, now Ajaccio, said to have

* Nimborum in patriam, loca fœta furentibus Austris,
Eoliam venit, hic vasto rex Æolus antro
Luctantes ventos tempestatesque sonoras
Imperio premit, et vinclis et carcere frænat.

+ Insula Sicanium juxta latus Eoliamque
Erigitur Liparen, spumantibus ardua saxis:

Virg. Æn. I. 51.

Virg. Æn. VIII. 416.

Sic mea Cyrnæas fugiant examina taxos.

been founded by Eurysaces, the son of Ajax. Below Corsica is Sardinia, called by the Greeks Íchnusa *, from its fancied resemblance to the print of a foot. It derived its name from Sardus, the son of Hercules, chief of an African colony planted there. It was taken by the Romans with Corsica. The air of Sardinia was considered very unwholesome, and the quantity of wormwood and bitter herbs it produced, particularly a species of ranunculus, was proverbial. † As the features were contracted by the taste of these, the expression Sardous risus, a Sardonic smile, was used to signify a malevolent grin. The principal town was Caralis, now Cagliari.

Recent events have given celebrity to the little island of Ilva, now Elba, lying between the extreme Northern point of Corsica and Etruria.

* The adjacent countries have been generally assimilated to some well-known form. Italy to a boot; Sicily, by the antients, to a triangle, hence called Triquetra, by the moderns, to the less philosophic form of a shoulder of mutton; Corsica to a heart.

+ Immo ego Sardois videor tibi amarior herbis.

Virg. Ecl. VII. 41.