BOOK III. V. 56-59 



of Perseus. Then comes the site of whnt was once 

 Aphrodisium, the colony of Antium, the river and 

 island called Astura, the river Ninfa, the Roman 

 Buhvarks, Circello, once an island surrounded by a 

 boundless sea," if we are to beheve Homer, but now 

 surrounded by a plain. The facts that we are able 

 to pubHsh for the information of the world on this 

 matter are remarkable. Thcophrastus, the first 

 foreigner to write ^Wth special care about the Romans 

 — for Theopompus, before whom nobody mentioned 

 them, merely states that Rome was taken by the 

 Gauls, and CHtarchus, the next after him, only that 

 an embassy was sent to Alexander — Theophrastus, 

 I say, relying on more than rumour, has actually 

 given the measurement of the island of Circello as 

 80 furlongs in the volume that he \\Tote in the 

 archonship of Nicodorus at Athens, which was the 

 440th year ^* of our city. Whatever land therefore 

 has been joined to the island beyond the circum- 

 ference of 10 miles was added to Italy after that 

 year. Another mar\'el not far from Circello is the 

 Pomptine Marsh, a place which Mucianus, who was 

 three times consul, has reported to be the site of 24 

 cities. Then comes the river Aufentum, above which 

 is the town of Tarracina, called Anxur in the dialect 

 of the \^olsci, and the site of Amyclae, or Amynclae, 

 the town destroyed by serpents, then the place 

 called the Grottoes, Lake Fundanus, the port of 

 Gaeta, the town of Formiae, called also Hormiae, 

 the ancient abode, it has been thought, of the Laestry- 

 gones. Beyond this formerly stood the town of 

 Pirae,andstillexists the colony of Minturnae,through 

 which runs the river Liris, once called Clanis ; and 



» 314 B.c. 



45 



