120 Dr Daubeny on the Volcanoes of Central France. 



nuin cristas superjecto favillaruni monte tumulabant." And as 

 Alcimus Avitus was the successor in the See of Vienne to Manier- 

 tus,* to whom Sidonius''s epistle was addressed, the allusions which 

 the former Prelate, in his Rogation Homily, makes to the same 

 fearful catastrophes, would seem to refer to this locality rather than 

 to one more distant. 



I therefore submit to my readers, whether the entire silence of 

 Sidoiiius as to the existence of volcanoes in Auvergne, although his 

 residence was on the borders of the Lake Aidat, which, as we have 

 seen, was caused by an eruption from one of the most modern of 

 those which had desolated the country, is not a strong negative evi- 

 dence of their antiquity, especially when this author dwells, in his 

 poems, on the scenery of his own neighbourhood, and even compares 

 its natural beauties with those of Baise, a spot which he must have 

 known to be in the neighbourhood of a burning mountain. 



How natural would it have been for him, after he had said, with 

 reference to his Baths on the Lake of Aidat, — 



" ^mula Baiano toUuntur culmina cono 



Parque cothui'nato vertice fulget apex," &c.t 



* It may be well to add the extract from Avitus's Rogation Homily, to which 

 the reviewer refers : — 



" Et quidem terrorum teuiporis illius causas multos nostrum recolere scio ; 

 siquidem incendia crcbra, terrw motus assidui, nocturni sonilus, cuidam totius orbis 

 funeri prodir/iosum quoddam bnstualc minitabuntur. Nam populosis hominuin 

 concursibns doniestica sylvestrium ferarum species observabatur, Deus viderit 

 an ludificans oculis, an adducta portentis. Quicquid tamen ex iis diiobusforet, 

 perinde nionstruosum intelligebatur, seu sic veraciter imniania bestiarura corda 

 niansuefieri, seu tarn horribiliter conspectibus territorum falsaj visionis phaii- 

 tasmata posse confingi. Inter ha;c diversa vulgi sententia, dispariunique ordi- 

 num varias opiniones. Alii quod sentiebant dissimulando, quae fletui nolebant 

 dare, casui dabant ; alii spiritu salubriort, abominabilia nova quoque congruis 

 malorum proprietatis significationibus interpretabantur. Quis enim in crebris 

 ignibus, imbre sodomtticos[ non timeret ? Quis tremcntibus dementis, atU decidua 

 culminum, aut disrwpta terrarum imminere non crederet ? Quis videns, certe videre 

 se putans, pavidos naturaliter cervos per angusta portarum usque ad fori lata 

 penetrantes, non imminentem solitudinis sententiam forraidaret ?'' — Alcimi 

 Aviti Homilia de Royationibus, Ed. Sirmond. ii. 90. 



t The following are the lines to which reference is made : — 

 Carmen XVIII. 

 De Bahieis Villce sucb supra lacwm positce. 

 Si quis Avitacum dignaris visere nostrum, 



Non tibi displiceat, si quod habes placeat, 

 ^Emula Baiano tolluntur culmina cono, 



Parque cothurnato vertice fulget apex. 

 Garrula Gauranis plus murniuret unda fluentis 



Contigui collis lapsa supcrcilio. 

 Lucrinum dives stagnum Campania noUet 

 ^Equora si ncstri cerneret ilia lacus. 

 ' Illud puniceis ornatur littus echinis, 



Piscibus in nostris hospes utrumque vides. 

 Si libet, et placido partiris gaudia corde 

 Quisquis ades, Baias tu facis hie animo. 



