Page:The geography of Strabo (1854) Volume 1.djvu/425

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B. VI. C. II. § 5, 6.
SICILY.
411

denominated Amphilochian. He says further, that this river falls into the Achelous, and that the Æas flows to Apollonia[p 1] towards the west. On each side of the island there is an extensive harbour; the extent of the larger one is 80[1] stadia. [Augustus] Cæsar has not only restored this city, but Catana, and likewise Centoripa,[2] which had contributed much towards the overthrow of [Sextus] Pompey. Centoripa is situated above Catana and confines with the mountains of Ætna and the river Giaretta,[p 2] which flows into Catanæa.

5. One of the remaining sides, that stretching from Pachynus to Lilybæum, is entirely deserted; still, it preserves a few traces of the ancient inhabitants, one of whose cities was Camarina.[3] Acragas,[p 3] which was a colony of the Geloi,[4] together with its port and Lilybæum,[p 4] still exist. In fact, these regions, lying opposite to Carthage, have been wasted by the great and protracted wars which have been waged. The remaining and greatest side, although it is by no means densely peopled, is well occupied, for Alæsa,[p 5] Tyndaris,[p 6] the emporium[p 7] of the Ægestani and Cephalœdium,[p 8] are respectable towns. Panormus has received a Roman colony: they say that Ægesta[p 9] was founded by the Greeks who passed over, as we have related when speaking of Italy, with Philoctetes to the Crotoniatis, and were by him sent to Sicily with Ægestus[p 10] the Trojan.

6. In the interior of the island a few inhabitants possess Enna,[p 11] in which there is a temple of Ceres;[5] it is situated on

  1. ↑ The Porto Maggiore of Syracuse is scarcely half so large.
  2. ↑ Centorbe, to the south-west of Ætna. Silius, lib. xiv., mentions it as “Centuripe largoque virens Entella Lyæo.”
  3. ↑ Now Camarana: it was founded 600 years B. C.
  4. ↑ “Apparet Camarina procul, campique Geloi.” Virg. Æn. iii. 701.
  5. ↑ Ovid, in the fourth book of his Fasti, thus alludes to the temple,
    “Grata domus Cereri, multas ea possidet urbes,
    In quibus est culto fertilis Enna solo.”

    From this place we have the adjective Enneus, and the Ennea virgo of Sil., lib. xiv., for Proserpine,

    “Tum rapta præceps Ennea virgine flexit.”

  1. ↑ Pollina.
  2. ↑ The ancient Symæthus. (the lower part of the Simeto)
  3. ↑ Girgenti.
  4. ↑ Marsalla.
  5. ↑ I Bagni.
  6. ↑ S. Maria di Tindaro.
  7. ↑ Castel-à-Mare.
  8. ↑ Cefalù.
  9. ↑ Now ruins at Barbara.
  10. ↑ Also called Acestes.
  11. ↑ Castro-Ioanni.
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