Chapter 36

1993Puteoli.

1994Seneca, in describing the Crypta Neapolitana, as it was then called, gives an exaggerated account of the sombre horrors of the place. Perhaps in his time the apertures had become obstructed, which was evidently not the case at the time when Strabo, or the authority whom he follows, visited the place.

1995Hercolano, or Herculaneum, by Cicero (to Atticus, vii. 3) called Herculanum. It is probable that the subversion of this town was not sudden, but progressive, since Seneca mentions a partial demolition which it sustained from an earthquake. (Nat. Quæst.vi. 1.) So many books have been written on the antiquities and works of art discovered in Herculaneum, that the subject need not be enlarged upon here.

1996Several inscriptions in Oscan, and Etruscan, characters have been discovered in the ruins of Herculaneum. Lanzi, (tom. iii.,)—Romanelli Viaggio a Pompei ed Ercolano.

1997Pompeii.

1998The ancient Sarnus.

1999These Pelasgi were established among the Tyrrhenians.

2000It is believed that the Samnites possessed both places, 310,B. C.

2001The Romans must have been masters of these cities 272,B. C.(Livy, Epit. xiv.)

2002Nola resisted, under the able direction of Marcellus, all the efforts of Hannibal after the battle of Cannæ. A remarkable inscription in Oscan characters relative to this town is explained by Lanzi, (tom. iii. 612,) its name is there written NUFLA. See Cramer’s Ancient Italy, vol. ii. p. 211.

2003Nocera de’ Pagani.

2004Sorrento.

2005Punta della Campanella.

2006The Sirenusæ were three small rocks detached from the land, and celebrated as the islands of the Sirens; they are now called Galli. See Holsten. Adnot. p. 248; Romanelli, tom. iii. p. 619. Virgil, Æn. v. 864, describes them as,Jamque adeo scopulos advecta subibat;Difficiles quondam, multorumque ossibus albos.It had been decreed that the Sirens should live only till some one hearing their song should pass on unmoved, and Orpheus, who accompanied the Argonauts, having surpassed the Sirens, and led on the ship, they cast themselves into the sea, and were metamorphosed into these rocks.

Jamque adeo scopulos advecta subibat;Difficiles quondam, multorumque ossibus albos.

Jamque adeo scopulos advecta subibat;

Difficiles quondam, multorumque ossibus albos.

It had been decreed that the Sirens should live only till some one hearing their song should pass on unmoved, and Orpheus, who accompanied the Argonauts, having surpassed the Sirens, and led on the ship, they cast themselves into the sea, and were metamorphosed into these rocks.

2007The bay of Naples.

2008Punta di Miseno.

2009Procida.

2010Ischia.

2011It appears that Hiero the First is here alluded to; he ascended the throne 478 years before the Christian era.

2012The volcanos of Sicily, Lipari, Pithecussæ,orIschia, and Mount Vesuvius. See Humboldt (Cosmos i. 238,note).

2013We, in common with the French translators and Siebenkees, have adopted the νήσους found in the MS. of Peter Bembo, and some others cited by Casaubon.

2014Pindar Pyth. Od. i. 32; Conf. Pindar. Olymp. Od. iv. 2.

2015This writer flourished about 264 years before the Christian era.

2016Epopeus mons, now sometimes called Epomeo, but more commonly Monte San Nicolo.

2017The waters at the source Olmitello, in the southern part of the island, are the most efficacious for this disease.

2018Capri.

2019Teano.

2020Galazze. We have not hesitated to read Callateria, with all MSS. Kramer has printed Καλατία in text. Numismatic writers ascribe to this, and not the Samnite Calatia, the coins with the head of Jupiter on the obverse, and the legend, KALAT, and KALATI, in retrograde Oscan characters on the reverse. Mionnet. Med. Ant. Suppl. vol. i. p. 232; Sestini, Monet. Vet. p. 13.

2021S. Maria di Goti, near to Forchia Caudina.

2022Benevento.

2023Nova Capua.

2024Volturno.

2025The text has μεδίμνου; but we adopted μυὸς, the word proposed by most of the Greek editors; Valerius Maximus, Pliny, and Frontinus all agreeing in the statement, that it was a rat which fetched this enormous price.

2026Calvi.

2027Castel di Sessola, near Maddaloni.

2028Holstenius says that the ruins of Atella are still to be seen near S. Arpino,orS. Elpidio, about two miles beyond Aversa.

2029Now Nola. It was one of the most ancient and important cities of Campania; though situated in an open plain, it resisted all the efforts of Hannibal after the battle of Cannæ. Here Augustus expired, in the same room in which his father Octavius had breathed his last.

2030Nocera.

2031Acerra near the source of the Agno, the ancient Clanius.

2032Avella Vecchia.

2033Such was Nola, which our author in his sixth book evidently places in the territory of the Samnites.

2034Bojano.

2035Isernia.

2036The ruins of Telesia are to be seen about a mile from the modern Telese. Allifæ was between Telesia and Venafrum.

2037Benevento.

2038Venosa. The coins of Venusia have on the reverse the inscription VE., and an eagle resting on a thunderbolt. On the obverse, a head of Jupiter, and sometimes of Bacchus. Sestini, Monet. Vet. p. 15. The Antiquitates Venusinæ and the Iter Venusinum were published at Naples in the last century.

2039Casaubon conjectures that in place of the τῷ ἔτει τούτῳ, we should read τῷ ἔαρι τούτῳ, or, the productions of thespring: and it certainly would seem that Strabo is here describing what the Latins called aver sacrum. An ancient historian, speaking of the occurrence mentioned by Strabo, says, “Quondam Sabini feruntur vovisse, si res communis melioribus locis constitisset, sever sacrumfacturos.” Sisenn. Hist. lib. iv. ap. Non. Marcell. De doctor. indag. ed. 1683, fol. 2531. Festus, Sext. P. Fest. De verb. sign. F. ed. 1699, p. 478, seems to have mentioned the same thing.

2040The animals and fruits are intended.

2041Devoted to Mars.

2042Or little Sabines.

2043From Pitane, a place in Laconia.

2044B. C.216.

2045211B. C.

2046B. C.59.

2047We concur with Kramer in considering that the words μέχρι Φρεντανῶν, which occur immediately after Σαυνῖτιν, have been interpolated.

2048The Gulf of Salerno.

2049Pesti.

2050This city must have been founded nearly 540 yearsB. C., for Herodotus says that the Phocæans were chiefly induced to settle on the shores of Œnotria by the advice of a citizen of Posidonia, and they founded Velia in the reign of Cyrus. B. i. 164.

2051442B. C.

2052B. C.274.

2053Apparently the Fiume Salso.

2054Pesti.

2055Vietri.

2056Pompeii.

2057Nocera.

2058The ancient Silaris.

2059We are inclined to read Leucania with Du Theil. The Paris manuscript, No. 1393, reads κανίαν.

2060Pliny, in his Natural History, (lib. ii. § 106,) has confirmed Strabo’s account. It appears from Cluvier that the people who inhabit the banks of the Silaro are not acquainted with any circumstances which might corroborate the statement. (Cluvier, Ital. Ant. lib. iv. c. 14.)

2061AboutB. C.201.

2062The ancient Silaris.

2063Pesti.

2064It is now called Licosa, and sometimes Isola piana; several vestiges of buildings were discovered on the island in 1696. Antonin. della Lucan. p. ii. disc. 8.

2065Capo della Licosa.

2066Punta della Campanella.

2067Golfo di Salerno.

2068Strabo here cites the historian Antiochus, but it is surprising that he does not rather cite the writer from whom Antiochus seems to have borrowed this account, we mean Herodotus, who relates it (lib. i. § 164). But Strabo, probably, looking upon Herodotus as a collector of fables, chose rather to yield to the authority of Antiochus, who had written very accurate memoirs upon Italy, and who was, likewise, himself a very ancient author, (Dion. Halicarn. Antiq. Rom. lib. i. § 12,) and flourished about 420 years before the Christian era.

2069Or Velia, founded 532B. C., mentioned by Horace, Epist. I. xv. 1, “Quæ sit hyems Veliæ, quod cœlum, Vala, Salerni.”

2070The modern Alento.

2071Now unknown.

2072Pliny affirms that these two islands were called, the one Pontia, the other Ischia; “Contra Veliam Pontia et Ischia, utræque uno nomine Œnotrides, argumentum possessæ ab Œnotriis Italiæ.” Hist. Nat. lib. iii. § 13. If this reading be not faulty, Pliny will have placed in the latitude, of which our author is now giving a description, a small island bearing the same name,Pontia, as the island lying off Cape Misenum.

2073The Buxentum of the Latins.

2074471 years before the Christian era.

2075Gulf of Policastro.

2076Now the river Laino.

2077Called Laino in the time of Cluverius. Lib. iv. cap. 14.

2078Upon this coast.

2079Founded about the year 510B. C.

2080About the year 390 before the Christian era.

2081i. e. the Gulf of Tarentum.

2082Strabo seems here to distinguish the Chones from the Œnotri, and the Œnotri from the Greeks. According to Cluvier (Ital. Antiq. cap. 16, p. 1323) here was a double error: “not only (says he) Aristotle, but Antiochus, according to Strabo’s own testimony, positively affirmed that the Chones and Œnotri were one and the same nation, and Dionysius of Halicarnassius (Antiq. Roman. lib. i. § 11) makes no doubt that the Œnotri were of Greek origin.” But Mazochi justifies the distinction between the Chones and the Œnotri, and shows cause to doubt that the Œnotri were of Greek origin.

2083ἐκβεβαρβαρῶσθαι. We think with Mazochi (Prodrom. ad Heracl. pseph. diatrib. 2, cap. 7, sect. 2) that, by the above word, Strabo probably expressed that, at the time when he wrote, Tarentum, Rheggio, and Naples were the only cities founded by the Greeks in Italy, which, although become Roman, retained the language, laws, and usages of their mother country.

2084It has been well observed by Cramer in his Ancient Italy, that Strabo confused this Petilia of the Leucani with another better known of the Bruttii, the foundation of which was attributed to Philoctetes. It is observed by Antonini that Strabo contradicts himself, by ascribing to Philoctetes the origin of a town in Leucania, for he states a few lines further on that that hero occupied a part of the coast near Crotona, which was in the territory of the Bruttii. Strabo’s account, however, of the existence of a Leucanian Petilia is confirmed by many inscriptions of early date. The ruins of the town remain on the Monte della Stella. Antonin. della Lucan. p. i. disc. 8. Romanelli, tom. i. p. 350.

2085According to some judicious antiquaries, the site of Chone is located at Casabuona, near Strongoli.

2086Trapani del Monte.

2087The ruins of this city, which was anciently called also Egesta, Acesta, and Segesta, may be seen at Barbara, in the valley of Mazzara.

2088Kramer, following the suggestion of Xylander, has printed Γρουμεντὸν. I am inclined, however, to think that Πουμεντὸν, the reading of Manuscripts, is correct. According to Barrio, it occupied the situation of Gerenza, on the right bank of the Nieto.

2089Verzine on the Nieto. (Barr. lib. iv. cap. 18. Maraf. lib. iii. c. 18.)

2090Calasarna is supposed by the Calabrian topographers to accord with the site of Campania.

2091Venosa, situated about 15 miles south of the Aufidus. It was a colony of importance before the war against Pyrrhus. After the disaster at Cannæ, it afforded a retreat to Varro and the few who escaped that signal overthrow. Horace was born there in the year of the city 688. About six miles from Venosa, on the site named Palazzo, was the Fons Bandusiæ. (Chaupy, Des c. de la maison de Camp. d’Horace, tom. iii. p. 538.)

2092Cluvier thought that we should read Θουριανὴ instead of Ταυριανὴ.

2093Laos, now Lao.

2094Torre di Mare.

2095Golfo di S. Eufemia.

2096Golfo di Squillace. Scylletium was once a Greek city of note, communicating its name to the gulf. Servius observes that the Athenians who founded the colony were returning from Africa. There was a Greek inscription found in 1791 relative to the Λαμπαδηδρομία, which seems to confirm the tradition of the Athenian origin of Scylletium. It was the birth-place of Cassiodorus.

2097Σίλαρις. The Silaro, which, divides Lucania from Campania, takes its rise in the Apennines, in a district which formerly belonged to the Hirpini; and after receiving the Tanager, now Negro, and the Calor, now Calore, falls into the Gulf of Salerno. Silius Italicus (viii. 582) states that this river possessed the property of incrusting twigs with a calcareous deposit:“Nunc Silarus quos nutrit aquis, quo gurgite traduntDuritiem lapidum mersis inolescere ramis.”At its mouth was a haven named Portus Albernus.

“Nunc Silarus quos nutrit aquis, quo gurgite traduntDuritiem lapidum mersis inolescere ramis.”

“Nunc Silarus quos nutrit aquis, quo gurgite tradunt

Duritiem lapidum mersis inolescere ramis.”

At its mouth was a haven named Portus Albernus.

2098Torre di Mare.

2099Cirella.

2100This measure, upon our charts, is 330 Olympic stadia. Gosselin.

2101Golfo di Squillace.

2102The Golfo di S. Eufemia.

2103ἐξετάραξεν ἅπαντας πρὸς ἅπαντας. Lit. “He stirred up every body against every body.” It is conceived that the hostilities of the Bruttii were fomented by Dion in order to prevent the tyrant Dionysius from deriving any aid from his Leucanian allies. The advancement of the Bruttii to independence is computed by Diodorus Siculus to have taken place about 397 years after the foundation of Rome, that is, 356 before the Christian era.

2104The situation of Temesa has not yet been fully determined. Cluverius fixes it about ten miles south of Amantea, near Torre Loppa. Romanelli observes, however, that Cluverius has not allowed for the difference between the ancient and modern computation of distance. To rectify this oversight, he makes choice of Torre del piano del Casale, nearly two miles north of Torre Loppa, as the locality of this ancient site. The silver coins of Temesa are scarce. They have the Greek epigraph, ΤΕΜ.

2105After the second Punic war it was colonized by the Romans, who called it Tempsa,B. C.195.

2106We concur with Kramer in approving the proposition of Groskurd to understand the words ἐκεῖνον μὲν οὖν διὰ πολλοῦ as having been originally written in the text immediately before ἐπικεῖσθαι αὐτοῖς.

2107They had been compelled to sacrifice a virgin annually in order to appease his disturbed spirit.

2108Borgo di Tamasso.

2109These words in parenthesis seem to have been interpolated by the transcribers of our author. Both Temesa and Tamassus were rich in metal, but the spelling of the name in Homer is more in accordance with Temesa than Tamassus, and other poets have alluded to it, as Ovid. Met. xv. 706,“Evincitque fretum, Siculique angusta Pelori,Hippotadæque domos regis, Temesesque metalla.”And Fast. v. 441,“... Temesæaque concrepat æra.”And Statius, Silv. i. 42,“Et cui se toties Temese dedit hausta metallis.”

“Evincitque fretum, Siculique angusta Pelori,Hippotadæque domos regis, Temesesque metalla.”

“Evincitque fretum, Siculique angusta Pelori,

Hippotadæque domos regis, Temesesque metalla.”

And Fast. v. 441,

“... Temesæaque concrepat æra.”

And Statius, Silv. i. 42,

“Et cui se toties Temese dedit hausta metallis.”

2110Odyssey i. 184.

2111Nocera.

2112Hannibal took refuge in Calabria about 209 years before the Christian era.

2113Cosenza, near the source of the Crathis, now Crati, represents Cosentia. It was taken by Hannibal after the surrender of Petilia, but towards the end of the war the Romans regained it.

2114Αἰακίδη, προφύλαξο μολεῖν Ἀχερούσιον ὕδωρΠανδοσίην θ’, ὅθι τοι θάνατος πεπρωμένος ἐστί.Son of Æacus, beware of approaching the Acherusian water and Pandosia, where death is destined for thee.

Αἰακίδη, προφύλαξο μολεῖν Ἀχερούσιον ὕδωρΠανδοσίην θ’, ὅθι τοι θάνατος πεπρωμένος ἐστί.

Αἰακίδη, προφύλαξο μολεῖν Ἀχερούσιον ὕδωρ

Πανδοσίην θ’, ὅθι τοι θάνατος πεπρωμένος ἐστί.

Son of Æacus, beware of approaching the Acherusian water and Pandosia, where death is destined for thee.

2115AboutB. C.330.

2116Commentators generally agree that this is the Pandosia memorable for the defeat and death of Alexander, king of Epirus. The early Calabrian antiquaries have placed it at Castel Franco. D’Anville, in his map, lays it down near Lao and Cirella. Modern investigators have sought its ruins near Mendocino, between Cosenza and the sea, a hill with three summits having been remarked there, which answers to the fatal height pointed out by the oracle,Πανδοσία τρικόλωνε, πολύν ποτε λαὸν ὀλέσσεις·together with a rivulet, Maresanto or Arconti; which last name recalls the Acheron denounced by another prediction, as so inauspicious to the Molossian king. Scylax, in his Periplus, seems to place Pandosia, together with Clampetia and Terina, near the western coast.

Πανδοσία τρικόλωνε, πολύν ποτε λαὸν ὀλέσσεις·

together with a rivulet, Maresanto or Arconti; which last name recalls the Acheron denounced by another prediction, as so inauspicious to the Molossian king. Scylax, in his Periplus, seems to place Pandosia, together with Clampetia and Terina, near the western coast.

2117Afterwards Vibo Valentia, now Monte-Leone.

2118Surnamed the Epizephyrii. Heyne supposes this took placeB. C.388.

2119B. C.193.

2120There was a temple erected to Proserpine in these meadows, and a building called “Amalthæa’s horn,” raised by Gelon of Syracuse.

2121The present harbour of Bivona.

2122He reigned fromB. C.317 toB. C.289.

2123Now Le Formicole. The promontory named Capo Vaticano seems to have been anciently known under the same appellation.

2124Medma, or Mesma, was situated on the right bank of the river Mesima, which seems to retain traces of the name of the ancient city. Antiquaries report that its ruins are seen between Nicotera and the river Mesima. The epigraph on the coins of this city is generally ΜΕΣΜΑ, or ΜΕΣΜΑΙΩΝ, and in a single instance ΜΕΔΑΜΑ.

2125That is, the Epizephyrian Locrians.

2126Cluverius considers this to be the modern Bagnara.

2127The ancient river Metaurus is now also called Marro, and sometimes Petrace. It was noted for the excellence of the thunny fish caught at its mouth.

2128Metaurum. The site of this place is supposed to accord with that of the town of Gioja.

2129Homer, Odyssey, lib. x.

Back to Index Next