ae 
appeared in the Neighbourhood of Syracufe. 245 
_ pleafant foever many parts of it deferve to be confidered as a 
winter and even vernal refidence for ftrangers; yet, in other 
feafons, and particularly for vifitors from colder countries, it 
muft be in moft parts unfalutary, in others certainly fatal, 
and, in fome, not to be Jong continued in, with impunity, 
by the inhabitants themfelves. And, as this remark refers 
wholly to ordinary years and cea dante, it will afford 
fome ground for eftimating the effects of one of the moft un- 
healthy fituations in the country, in the fickly feafon of the 
-year, with a conftitution of the atmofphere favourable to 
epidemic difeafes, on an army of foreigners, tumultaous and 
ill-accommodated, worn down with fatigue, or finking in 
defpondency.—With this refleGtion imprefied on the mind, 
we may now proceed to a defcription of the city of Syracufe, 
and the country iramediately adjacent, as they exifted in an- 
cient times, occafionally fupplying iluftrations from the ac- 
counts of modern travellers. 
The once beautiful city of Syracufe confifted of five prin- 
cipal divifions, traces of all which are ftill difcernible. 1. The 
ifle Ortygia, Nafos, or Nafon: 2. Achradina: 3. Tyche, or 
Tycha: 4. Neapolis, or the new city: and, 5. Epipolz * 
Ortygia, enclofed by the two ports—the great port on the 
weft and the little port on the eaft, and conneéted with the 
continent by a bridge—is of an oblong form, and about two 
miles in circumference t. Here the original fettlemment com- 
menced, and this was always confidered as the wealthieft and 
moft defirable part of Syracufe. It was the ancient refidence 
of the kings ; and, in the time of Cicero, ftill contained the 
houfe of Hiero. It was ornamented with various public 
buildings, particularly the temples of Diana and Minerva; 
and, in part, watered by the poetic fountain of Arethufa. As 
the population increafed, the found, which divided Ortygia 
from the Continent, was filled up, and the ifle converted into 
a peninfulat. Carlos ILI. of Spain removed the earth by 
which they were united ; and Ortygia is again an ifland, and 
connected with, the Continent, as formerly, by a bridge §. 
* Cicero in Ver. Aét. II. Lib. iv. § 118. De Non, p. 304. et iene 
Swinbarnt, Vol. If. p. 309. + De Non. Swinburne. 
_.¢ De Non. Swinburne, § Brydone’s Tour, Letter xiii. 1 
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