BOOK III.] History of Nature. 187 



Seas. It is drawn to Ravenna by a narrow Channel, where 

 it is called Padusa, and in Times past, Messanicus. The 

 next Mouth that he maketh from thence, carrieth the Big- 

 ness of a Harbour, which is named Vatreni : at which Clau- 

 dius Ctesar, as he came triumphant from Britain, entered 

 into Adria, with that Vessel, more like a huge House than a 

 Ship. This Mouth of it was formerly called Eridanum : by 

 others, Spineticum, from the neighbouring City Spinae, built 

 by Diomedes (as some think), with the Treasures of Delphi. 

 There the River Vatrenus, from out of the Territory of 

 Forum Cornelii, increaseth Padus. The next Mouth is 

 Caprasise, then Sagis, then Volane, which before was named 

 Olane. All those Rivers and Trenches, the Thusci were the 

 first to make out of Sagis, carrying the forcible Stream of the 

 River across into the Atrian Ponds, which are called the seven 

 Seas ; and they made the famous Harbour of Atria, a Town 

 of the Thusci ; of which the Atriatic Sea took the Name 

 aforetime ; which now is called Adriaticum. From thence 

 are the full Mouths of Carbonaria, and the Fosses Phylis- 

 tinse, which others call Tartarus ; but all spring out of the 

 overflowing of the Foss Phylistina, with Athesis coming out of 

 the Tridentine Alps, and Togisonus out of the Territory of the 

 Patavini. Part of them made also the next Port Brundulum : 

 like as the two Medoaci and the Foss Clodia, make Edron. 

 With these Padus mingleth itself, and by these it runneth 

 over ; and, as it is said by most Writers, like as in Egypt 

 Nilus maketh that which they call Delta, so it shapeth a 

 triangular Figure between the Alps and the Sea-coast, two 

 Miles in Compass. It is a Shame to borrow from the Greeks 

 the Explanation of Things in Italy : but Metrodorus Scepsius 

 saith, that because about the Head of this River there grow 

 many Pitch Trees, called in the Gallic Language, Pades, 

 therefore it took the Name of Padus. Also, that in the 

 Ligurian Language, the River itself is called Bodincus, 

 which means bottomless. And to approve this Argument, 

 there is a neighbouring Town called Industria, but by an old 

 Name, Bodincomagum ; where beginneth its greatest Depth. 



