LIGURIANS. 



CHAPTEE LII. 



WHEN Hercules was returning from his toilsome 

 journey to the distant west, driving before him the 

 red cattle of the sunset, he passed along this Cornice 

 or ledge of coast : for so the story runs. The natives 

 tried to rob him of the oxen which he had won from 

 King Geryon. The hero defended himself. The 

 natives avoided coming to close quarters with so 

 terrible a foe : they hurled rocks upon him, and 

 showered stones from every eminence. This is the 

 Ligurian method of warfare 



" Instare jugis et grandia volvere saxa." 



Had not Jupiter succoured the demigod, he must 

 have had the worst of the encounter. And is not the 

 stony plain called "Crau," between Avignon and 

 Marseilles, a witness of the fact ? 



The Ligurian still flings stones : does any one 

 offend him, he stoops to pick one up. Even the 

 ancient heroes sometimes fought in this manner. 

 Perseus, attacked while seated at his marriage feast, 

 snatches a log from the hearth and throws it, though 

 girded with the magic sword of Mercury. And the 

 last effort of Turnus was to seize with hurrying hand 

 a mighty stone and fling it at his foe. The resident 

 on the Riviera becomes an adept at avoiding stones ! 



It cannot be denied that these people are much 



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