Читать книгу The Natural History of Pliny (Vol. 1-6) - Pliny the Elder - Страница 132

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At the Silarus begins the third region of Italy, consisting of the territory of Lucania and Bruttium; here too there have been no few changes of the population. These districts have been possessed by tbe Pelasgi, the Œnotrii, the Itali, the Morgetes, the Siculi, and more especially by people who emigrated from Greece1429, and, last of all, by the Leucani, a people sprung from the Samnites, who took possession under the command of Lucius. We find here the town of Pæstum1430, which received from the Greeks the name of Posidonia, the Gulf of Pæstum1431, the town of Elea, now known as Velia1432, and the Promontory of Palinurum1433, a point at which the land falls inwards and forms a bay1434, the distance across which to the pillar1435 of Rhegium is 100 miles. Next after Palinurum comes the river Melpes1436, then the town of Buxentum1437, called in [Magna] Græcia Pyxus, and the river Laus; there was formerly a town1438 also of the same name.

At this spot begins the coast of Bruttium, and we come to the town of Blanda1439, the river Batum1440, Parthenius, a port of the Phocians, the bay of Vibo1441, the place1442 where Clampetia formerly stood, the town of Temsa1443, called Temese by the Greeks, and Terina founded by the people of Crotona1444, with the extensive Gulf of Terina; more inland, the town of Consentia1445. Situate upon a peninsula1446 is the river Acheron1447, from which the people of Acherontia derive the name of their town; then Hippo, now called Vibo Valentia, the Port of Hercules1448, the river Metaurus1449, the town of Tauroentum1450, the Port of Orestes, and Medma1451. Next, the town of Scyllæum1452, the river Cratæis1453, the mother of Scylla it is said; then the Pillar of Rhegium, the Straits of Sicily, and the two promontories which face each other, Cænys1454 on the Italian, and Pelorus1455 on the Sicilian side, the distance between them being twelve stadia. At a distance thence of twelve miles and a half, we come to Rhegium1456, after which begins Sila1457, a forest of the Apennines, and then the promontory of Leucopetra1458, at a distance of fifteen miles; after which come the Locri1459, who take their surname from the promontory of Zephyrium1460, being distant from the river Silarus 303 miles.

At this spot ends the first1461 great Gulf of Europe; the seas in which bear the following names:—That from which it takes its rise is called the Atlantic, by some the Great Atlantic, the entrance of which is, by the Greeks, called Porthmos, by us the Straits of Gades. After its entrance, as far as it washes the coasts of Spain, it is called the Hispanian Sea, though some give it the name of the Iberian or Balearic1462 Sea. Where it faces the province of Gallia Narbonensis it has the name of the Gallic, and after that, of the Ligurian, Sea. From Liguria to the island of Sicily, it is called the Tuscan Sea, the same which is called by some of the Greeks the Notian1463, by others the Tyrrhenian, while many of our people call it the Lower Sea. Beyond Sicily, as far as the country of the Salentini, it is styled by Polybius the Ausonian Sea. Eratosthenes however gives to the whole expanse that lies between the inlet of the ocean and the island of Sardinia, the name of the Sardoan Sea; thence to Sicily, the Tyrrhenian; thence to Crete, the Sicilian; and beyond that island, the Cretan Sea.