176 pliky's NATUEAL HISTORT. [Book III. 



other tlie Metapinian mouth ; the third and largest is called 

 the Massiliotic\ There are some authors who state that there 

 was formerly a town called Heraclea^ at the mouth of the 

 E-hodanus or Rhone. 



Beyond this are the Canals' leading out of the Rhone, a 

 famous work of Caius Marius, and still distinguished by his 

 name ; the Lake of Mastramela"*, the town of Maritima* of the 

 Avatici, and, above this, the Stony Plains^, memorable for the 



ville considers the " Lesser" Ehone to have been the " Spanish" mouth 

 of the ancients. In consequence of the overflowings of this river there is 

 great confusion upon this subject. 



^ This mouth of the Khone was much used by the Massilians for the 

 purposes of commerce with the interior of Gaul, and the carriage of the 

 suppUes of tin which they obtained thence. 



2 The manner in which PUny here expresses himself shows that he 

 doubts the fact of such a place having even existed ; it is mentioned by 

 none of the preceding geographers, and of those who followed him Stephen 

 of Byzantium is the only one who notices it. An inscription was found 

 however in the reign of Charles V. of France, in which it was stated that 

 Ataulphus, king of the Visigoths, selected Heraclea as his place of resi- 

 dence. On the faith of this inscription, Spon and Ducange have placed 

 Heraclea at the modem Saint-GiUes, and other writers at Saint-Remy, 

 where the inscription was foimd. Unfortunately, however, Messrs. Devic 

 and Vaissette, in their "History of Languedoc," have proved that this 

 inscription is of spurious origin. 



^ The " Fossae Marianse" are also mentioned by Ptolemy and Solinus ; 

 though they differ in the situation which they have respectively assigned 

 them. They were formed by Marius when advancing to dispute the 

 passage of the Rhone with the Cimbri, who had quitted Spain for the 

 purpose of passing the Pyrenees and invading Italy, in the year B.C. 102. 

 There is considerable difficulty in determining their position, but they 

 are supposed to have commenced at the place now called the Camp of 

 Marius, and to have terminated at the eastern mouth of the Rhone near 

 the present Aries. 



* Pliny is the first who mentions the name of this lake, though pre- 

 vious writers had indicated its existence. Strabo informs us that above 

 the mouth of the Rhone there is a large lake that communicates with the 

 sea, and abounds in fish and oysters. Brotier and DAnviUe identify it 

 with the present lake of Martigues or of Berre. 



5 D' AnvLJle takes tliis place to be the present town of Martigues ; Bro- 

 tier thinks that it was situate on the spot now called Le Cap d'(Eil, near 

 the town of Saint-Chamas ; and Bouche, the historian of the Province, 

 places it at Marignane, on the east side of the lake already mentioned. 



^ "Campi Lapidei," called by the natives at the present day "LaCrau;" 

 probably from the same Celtic root as our word "Crags ;" though Bochart 

 derives it from the Hebrew. JEschylus and Hyginus speak of this com* 



