BOOK III. viii. 86-89 



528 miles. In former times it was attached to the 

 southern part of Italy, but later it was separated 

 from it by an overflow of the sea, forming a strait 

 15 miles long and l^ miles wide at the Royal 

 Pillar; this monument of the formation of the ga]i 

 is the origin of the Greek name of the town situated 

 on the Itahan coast, Rhegium." In these Straits 

 is the rock of Scylla and also the whirlpool of 

 CharA'bdis, both notoriously treacherous. Sicily 

 itself is triangular in shape, its points being the 

 promontory mentioned before * named Pelorimi, 

 pointing towards Italy, opposite Scylla, Pachynum'^ 

 towards Greece, the Morea being 440 miles away, 

 and Lilybaeum towards Africa, at a distance of 180 

 miles from the Promontoiy of Mercury '^ and 190 

 from Cape Carbonara in Sardinia. The following are 

 the distances of these promontories from one another 

 and the length of the coast hnes : frora Pelorum 

 to Pachynum by land is 186 miles, from Pachynum 

 to Lilybaeum 200 miles, and from Lilybaeum to 

 Pelorum 142 miles. 



Sicily contains five colonies and sixty-three cities cireuit of 

 and states. Starting from Pelorum, on the coast facing '^"'^* ' 

 the lonian Sea is the town of Messina, whose denizens 

 called Mamertines have the Roman citizenship, 

 the promontor}'^ of Trapani, the colony of Taormina, 

 formerly Naxos, the river Alcantara, and Mount 

 Etna with its wonderful displays of fire at night : 

 the circuit of its crater measures 2| miles ; the 

 hot ashes reach as far as Taormina and Catania, 

 and the noise to Madonia and Monte di Mele. 

 Then come the three Rocks of the Cyclopes, the 

 Harbour of Ulysses, the colony of Catania, and the 

 rivers Symaethum and Terias. Inland are the 



65 



