Chap, no.] TOLCANOS. 189 



to every solid body which it touches, and moreover, when 

 touched, it follows you, il" you attempt to escape from it. 

 By means of it the people defended their walls against 

 Lucullus, and the soldiers were burned in their armour^ It 

 is even set on fire in water. We learn by experience that 

 it can be extinguished only by earth. 



CHA.P. 109. (105.) — OF NAPHTHl^ 



Naphtha is a substance of a similar nature' (it is so called 

 about Babylon, and in the territory of the Astaceni, in 

 Parthia'), flowing like liquid bitumen. It has a great affi- 

 nity to fire, which instantly darts on it wherever it is seen"*. 

 It is s^id, that in this way it was that Medea burned Ja- 

 son's mistress ; her crown having taken fire, when she ap- 

 proached the altar for the purpose of sacrificing'. 



CHAP. 110. (106.) — PLACES WHICH ABE ALWAYS BUENINO. 



Among the wonders of mountains there is ^tna, which 

 always burns in the night'', and for so long a period has 

 always had materials for combustion, being in the winter 

 buried in snow, and having the ashes which it has ejected 

 covered with frost. Nor is it in this mountain alone that 

 nature rages, threatening to consume the earth'; in Pha- 



face of the earth. Our author has exaggerated its properties and action 

 upon other bodies. 



^ Respecting the transaction here mentioned, I shall refer to the note 

 of Hardouin, Lemaire, i. 452. 



3 The substance here mentioned may be considered as not differing 

 essentially from the Maltha of the last chapter, except in being of a more 

 fluid consistence. 



8 The Astaceni are supposed to have inhabited a district near the 

 sources of the Indus, probably corresponding to the modem Cabul. 



* We may conceive of a quantity of inflammable vapour on the surface 

 of the naphtha, which might, ia some degree, produce the effect here 

 described. 



^ Horace, in one of his Epodes, where he refers to the magical arts of 

 Medea, says, that it was a cloak, " palla," which was sent to Creiisa ; 

 V. 65. So far as there is any foundation for the story, we may suppose 

 that some part of her dress had been impregnated with an inflammable 

 substance, which took fire when she approached the blazing altar. 



® When the volcanos are less active the flame is visible in the night 

 only, 



7 The observations of modem travellers and geologists have proved, 



