Читать книгу The Natural History of Pliny (Vol. 1-6) - Pliny the Elder - Страница 142

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The eighth region is bounded by Ariminum, the Padus, and the Apennines. Upon the coast we have the river Crustumium1827, and the colony of Ariminum1828, with the rivers Ariminus and Aprusa. Next comes the river Rubico1829, once the boundary of Italy, and after it the Sapis1830, the Vitis, and the Anemo, and then, Ravenna, a town of the Sabines1831, with the river Bedesis, 105 miles from Ancona; and, not far from the sea, Butrium1832, a town of the Umbri. In the interior there are the colonies of Bononia1833, formerly called Felsina, when it was the chief place of Etruria1834, Brixillum1835, Mutina1836, Parma1837, and Placentia1838. There are also the towns of Cæsena1839, Claterna, Forum Clodî1840, Forum Livî, Forum Popilî, Forum Truentinorum1841, Forum Cornelî, Forum Licinî, the Faventini1842, the Fidentini1843, the Otesini, the Padinates1844, the Regienses1845, who take their name from Lepidus, the Solonates1846, the Saltus Galliani1847, surnamed Aquinates, the Tannetani1848, the Veliates1849, who were anciently surnamed Regiates, and the Urbanates1850. In this district the Boii1851 have disappeared, of whom there were 112 tribes according to Cato; as also the Senones, who captured Rome.

(16.) The Padus1852 descends from the bosom of Mount Vesulus, one of the most elevated points of the chain of the Alps, in the territories of the Ligurian Vagienni1853, and rises at its source in a manner that well merits an inspection by the curious; after which it hides itself in a subterranean channel until it rises again in the country of the Forovibienses. It is inferior in fame to none whatever among the rivers, being known to the Greeks as the Eridanus and famous as the scene of the punishment of Phaëton1854. At the rising of the Dog-star it is swollen by the melted snows; but, though it proves more furious in its course to the adjoining fields than to the vessels that are upon it, still it takes care to carry away no portion of its banks, and when it recedes, renders them additionally fertile. Its length from its source is 300 miles, to which we must add eighty-eight for its sinuosities; and it receives from the Apennines and Alps not only several navigable rivers, but immense lakes as well, which discharge themselves into its waters, thus conveying altogether as many as thirty streams into the Adriatic Sea.

Of these the best known are the following—flowing from the range of the Apennines, the Jactus, the Tanarus1855, the Trebia which passes Placentia, the Tarus, the Incia, the Gabellus, the Scultenna, and the Rhenus: from the chain of the Alps, the Stura1856, the Orgus, the two Duriæ, the Sessites, the Ticinus, the Lambrus, the Addua, the Ollius, and the Mincius. There is no river known to receive a larger increase than this in so short a space; so much so indeed that it is impelled onwards by this vast body of water, and, invading the land1857, forms deep channels in its course: hence it is that, although a portion of its stream is drawn off by rivers and canals between Ravenna and Altinum, for a space of 120 miles, still, at the spot where it discharges the vast body of its waters, it is said to form seven seas.

By the Augustan Canal the Padus is carried to Ravenna, at which place it is called the Padusa1858, having formerly borne the name of Messanicus. The nearest mouth to this spot forms the extensive port known as that of Vatrenus, where Claudius Cæsar1859, on his triumph over the Britons, entered the Adriatic in a vessel that deserved rather the name of a vast palace than a ship. This mouth, which was formerly called by some the Eridanian, has been by others styled the Spinetic mouth, from the city of Spina, a very powerful place which formerly stood in the vicinity, if we may form a conclusion from the amount of its treasure deposited at Delphi; it was founded by Diomedes. At this spot the river Vatrenus1860, which flows from the territory of Forum Cornelî, swells the waters of the Padus.

The next mouth to this is that of Caprasia1861, then that of Sagis, and then Volane, formerly called Olane; all of which are situate upon the Flavian Canal1862, which the Tuscans formerly made from Sagis, thus drawing the impetuous stream of the river across into the marshes of the Atriani, which they call the Seven Seas; and upon which is the noble port of Atria1863, a city of the Tuscans, from which place the sea was formerly called the Atriatic, though now the Adriatic.

We next come to the overflowing mouths of Carbonaria, and the Fosses of Philistina1864, by some called Tartarus1865, all of which originate in the overflow of the waters in the Philistinian Canal, swollen by the streams of the Atesis, descending from the Tridentine Alps, and of the Togisonus1866, flowing from the territory of the Patavini. A portion of them also forms the adjoining port of Brundulum1867, in the same manner as Edron1868 is formed by the two rivers Meduacus and the Clodian Canal. With the waters of these streams the Padus unites, and with them discharges itself into the sea, forming, according to most writers, between the Alps and the sea-shore a triangular figure, 2000 stadia in circumference, not unlike the Delta formed by the Nile in Egypt. I feel somewhat ashamed to have to borrow from the Greeks any statement in reference to Italy; Metrodorus of Scepsos, however, informs us that this river has obtained its name of Padus from the fact, that about its source there are great numbers of pine-trees, which in the Gallic language are called “padi.” In the tongue of the Ligurians this river is called “Bodincus,” which signifies “the bottomless.” This derivation is in some measure supported by the fact that near this river there is the town of Industria1869, of which the ancient name was Bodincomagum, and where the river begins to be of greater depth than in other parts.