Kitap 6
2.9
The PaliciThe place dedicated to these avengers of perjury is frequently located near Mineo and Palagonia; others, thinking to gain the support of Virgil’s testimony, place it near Paterno, much farther north, between Catana and Centorbi, and not far from the banks of the Giaretta, the ancient Symaethus. possess craters which cast up water in a jet, having the appearance of a dome, and then receive it back again into the same place it rose from. The cavern near MataurumCluvier supposes this cavern must have been near Mazarum [Mazara]. The river named Mazarus by the ancients, runs through a rocky district, abounding in stone quarries. It is possible that this river, much hemmed in throughout its course, might have anciently flowed beneath some of these massive rocks. has within it a considerable channel, with a river flowing through it under ground for a long distance, and afterwards emerging to the surface as does the El-AsiOrontes. in Syria, which, after descending into the chasm between Apameia and Antioch, which they call Charybdis, rises again to the surface at the distance of about 40 stadia. Much the same circumstances are remarked of the TigrisAccording to Pliny, Hist. Nat. lib. vi. § 31, tom. i. p. 333, the Tigris is ingulfed on reaching a branch of Mount Taurus, at a place called Zoroanda, which M. D’Anville identifies with the modern Hazour. in Mesopotamia, and the Nile in Africa,λιβύη in Strabo. a little beforeKramer here persists in reading ποͅὸ, and rejects ἀπὸ we have endeavoured to translate it with Kramer, but the French translation of 1809 renders it, a little below its sources. its most notorious springs. The water in the neighbourhood of the city of Stymphalus, having passed under ground about 200 stadia, gives rise to the river ErasinusA river of Argolis: see book viii. Casaub. pp. 371 and 389. in Argia;Argolis. and again, the waters which are ingulfed with a low roaring sound near AseaThis ancient city was found in ruins by Pausanias, who says (Arcadic or book viii. cap. 44, p. 691) that at less than 20 stadia distant from the Athenaeum are found the ruins of Asea, as well as the hill on which the citadel of the town was built, which was surrounded by walls, the vestiges of which still remain. About 5 stadia from Asea, and not far from the main road, is the source of the Alpheus, and, quite close, even at the edge of the road, that of the Eurotas.... [At a short distance] the two rivers unite and run as one for about 20 stadia; they then both cast themselves into a chasm, and, continuing their under-ground course, they afterwards reappear; one (the Eurotas) in Laconia, the other in the territory of Megalopolis. Such is what Pausanias relates in one place. But when, in this account, he fixes the source of the Alpheus at about 5 stadia from Asea, we must understand him to allude to a second source of the river; for further on (book viii. cap. 54, p. 709) he says distinctly that the main source of the Alpheus is seen near Phylace in Arcadia; then adds that that river, on coming to the district of Tegea, is absorbed under the ground, to re-issue near Asea. in Arcadia, after a long course, spring forth with such copiousness as to form the Eurotas and the Alpheus,See § 4 of this chapter, page 408. whence has arisen a fable extensively credited, that if a certain charm is uttered over each of two crowns on their being cast into the stream where the two rivers flow in a common channel, each crown will make its appearance in its respective river according to the charm. As for what we might add with reference to the Timao,The ancient Timavus. See book v. chap. i. § 8, page 319. it has already been particularized.
