Cliap. 9.] ACCOUNT OF COUNTBIES, ETC. 



197 



archia, then the Phlegraean^ Plains, and the Marsh of 

 Acherusia^ in the vicinity of Cumae. 



Again, on the coast we have Neapolis', also a colony of 

 the Chalcidians, and called Parthenope from the tomb there 

 of one of the Sirens, Herculaneum'', Pompeii^ from which 

 Mount Vesuvius may be seen at no great distance, and 

 which is watered by the river Sarnus^- the territory of 

 Nuceria, and, at the distance of nine miles from the sea, the 

 town of that name'', and then Surrentum^, with the Promon- 

 tory of Miherva^ formerly the abode of the Sirens. The 

 distance thence by sea to Circeii is seventy-eight miles. This 



town, which was destroyed by Alaric, Genseric, and Totila, and as many 

 times rebuilt. 



1 Now called Salpatara. This was the name given to the volcanic 

 plain extending from Cmnas to Capua, and supposed to have been once 

 covered with fire ; whence the name, from ^Xeyw, " to bum." 



' Now the Lago di Fusaro. It seems to have had its name from its 

 vicinity to Avemus, tho supposed entrance to the infernal regions. Its 

 banks were, in the later times of the Roman republic, adorned with the 

 villas of the wealthy. 



3 Neapolis, or the " New City," was founded by the Chalcidians of 

 Cumo! on the site of Parthenope, the supposed burial-place of the Siren 

 of that name. It was so called as being only a ' new quarter' of the 

 neighbouring city of Cumse. The modem city of Naples stands nearly 

 on its site. 



* Said to have been founded by Hercules. It was on the occasion of 

 its destruction by an emption of Vesuvius, a.d. 79, that our author un- 

 fortimately met his death, a martyr to his thirst for knowledge. Its 

 closer proximity to Vesuvius caused it to be buried under a more sohd 

 body of materials ejected from the mountain tlian was the case with 

 Pompeii ; which seems to have been suffocated with ashes, while Hercu- 

 laneum was covered with volcanic tufa most probably hardened by the 

 agency of water. A few scattered inhabitants are supposed to have after- 

 wards settled upon the site where it was buried, which for many centu- 

 ries was utterly forgotten, till brought to hght in 1738. Part of the site 

 over the buried town is occupied by the villages of Resina and Portici. 

 The works of art fovmd here far exceed in value and interest those dis- 

 covered at Pompeii. 



5 This seems to have been a town of Oscan origin. The first traces of 

 it were found in 1689, but excavations were not commenced till 1721. 

 It perished in the same eruption of Vesuvius as Herculaneum. 



^ Now the Samo. Its course was changed by the great eruption of 

 Vesuvius previously mentioned. 



' The modem Nocera stands on its site. Pompeii was used as its 

 harbour. 



" Now Sorrento. • Now also called Capo della Minerva. 



