2(50 



ed a (: fixed point upon the primitive shore, for the 

 building of the city, and that too, on the edge of the 

 coast of that sea, which once washed its walls."* This 

 circumstance, (one that might naturally be supposed by 

 every thinking mind,) rendered highly probable, dis- 

 covers, on the part of the founders of that city, no com- 

 mon degree of sagacity and foresight ; for had there 

 been the commencement of a delta, that was annually 

 increasing by alluvial deposites from the river, it would 

 have betrayed a great want of judgment, in building a 

 city at a point which, in the course of a century or two, 

 must inevitably be left at some distance inland, and 

 from the sea, where their commercial pursuits must 

 naturally centre. 



As soon as the city had assumed a more respectable 

 stand, in point of extent and population, and the busy 

 hum of commerce had engaged the enterprising spirit 

 of its inhabitants, we may date the probable commence- 

 ment of the formation of its delta, and for reasons 

 hereafter. 



Hut what was the rate of its slow and gradual in- 

 crease, during a series of ages, no means are left to 

 ascertain. 



" The most ancient notices," says M. de Prony, 

 " that I have been able to procure respecting the situa- 

 tion of the shores of the Adriatic, at the mouths of the 

 Po, only begin to be precise in the twelfth century." 



At this period, which we will suppose to be more 

 than three thousand years after the founding the city 



* M. de Proney's Researches. 



