JE T N 



iE T N 



verv confiftonL with his condiift towards Boniface. J^uius 

 affiduo\illy cultivated the alliance of the Huns. Whilft 

 he rofidcd in their tents, as an hoftage or an exile, he had 

 familiarly convcrfed with Attila liimfelf, and the two aii- 

 tagonifts were connefted by a perfonal and military triend- 

 fliip, which was afterwards conhrmed by gifts ar^d eni 

 baifies. Thus a numerous armv of Huns and Alani, whom 

 jEtius had attached to his perfon, was employed in the de- 

 fence of Caul. He etlablifhed a treaty with Geaicric, 

 which averted the Vandals from the phnuler of Italy. He re- 

 llored the authority of the empire in Spain and Gaul, and 

 compelled the Franks and Suevi, after vanquifliinrr them in 

 the field, to become ufeful allies. He afterwards concluded 

 a peace with Theodoric, king of the Viligoths, who inha- 

 bited the fouthern ])rovinces of Gaul; after a ilgnal defeat, 

 in which ^ooo Goths fell near the walls of Narbonne ; and 

 .ffitins and Theodoric, in mutual alliance, gave battle to 

 the innumerable holl of Attila, encamped before Orleans, 

 and compelled them to raile tlie fiege. On the plains of C!ia- 

 lons, where the valiant Theodoric fell, yEtius, aided by 

 the intrepid Torifmond, obtained a viftory over the Huns, 

 and obliged Attila to retreat. When Attila invaded Italy, 

 his prudence and courage fen'ed to harrafs and retard the 

 march of the invader ; nor did he ever appear more truly 

 great, than at the time when his conduct was fufpeded 

 by a timid and diilruftful fovereign, and blamed by an igno- 

 rant and ungrateful people. At length the emperor jealous 

 of his merit, and fearing his wealth, power, and popularity, 

 put him to death in 454 with his own hand, under a pre- 

 tence, encouraged by the malicious infinuations of Hera- 

 clius the eunuch, that he had permitted the invafion of the 

 Huns, after Attila's defeat, and that he was afpiring to the 

 empire ; and thus phinged his fword in the breail of a ge- 

 neral who had faved his empire. Thus fell the bell: general 

 of his age, the terroi of Attila, and the bulwark of the 

 weftern provinces, fays Sidonius, by the hand of the great- 

 eft coward in the whole empire. By this aft he con- 

 verted the public contempt into deep and univerfal ab- 

 horrence. Such fentiments, fays Gibbon (Hill. vol. vi. 

 p. 139), feldom pervade the walls of a palace ; yet the em- 

 peror was confounded by the honeft reply of a Roman, 

 whofe approbation he had not difdained to folicit : " I am 

 ignorant. Sir, of your motives or provocations. 1 only 

 know, that you have afted hkeaman who cuts off his right 

 hand with his left." The memorable letter, entitled the 

 groans of the Britoiu, was addreOed to iEtius, A. D. 449, 

 ivhowas then conful the third time. " We know not, fay 

 thty, even which way to flee : chafed by the barbarians to 

 the fea, and forced back by the fea upon the barbarians, 

 we have only left us the choice of two deaths, eitlier to 

 periQi by the fword, or to be fwallowed up by the waves." 

 Rome was then threatened by Attila, and the Britons re- 

 ceived no afl'illance. Anc. Un, Hift. v. xiv. p. 417. Gib- 

 bon's Hill. vol. vi. 



jETNA, in Geography, the higheft moimtain in Sicily. 

 In the Itineraries it is called ^/^;«rt, and fuppofed to be 

 derived from aifev, to burn. Bochart (Geog. Sac. 1. i, 

 c. xxviii. apud oper. torn. i. p. ^26. Ed. Villem.) deduces 

 the name from f^JinK' Mnma, fignifying either ^ furnace., 

 or darknefs ; and he cites feveral authorities from the poets 

 •that favour both the one and the other of thefe etymologies. 

 The inhabitants of the ifland call it Monte GiMlo, or by con- 

 traftion Mongiheilo, i.e. Mount of Mounts. This mountain, 

 which has been famous for both its bulk and volcanic erup- 

 tions for many ages, is fituated in dis eaftern part of Sicily, 

 called Val di Demoni, or Demona, from a notion that the 

 Buroerous caverns of JEtna ave inhabited by dxmons, and 



Vol. I. 



other wicked and mifenible beings. N. hit. 37" 40'. E. 

 long. 15°. 



'i'he fire, which is continually burning in the bowels of 

 this mountain, led the poets to place here the forges of the 

 Cyclops, under the direftion of Vulcan, and the prifon of 

 the giants who rebelled againft Jupiter. Upon this 

 fuppofition they erefted a temple to Vulcan upon the 

 hill, in which was kept, as wc are informed by vElian (dc 

 Animal. 1. xi. c. iii. torn. ii. p. 608. 1, a pei-jxtual fire, as in 

 the temple of Vclla ; this clement being a fynibol of that 

 deity. 



The ^figure of this mountain is a kind of obttife, truncated 

 cone, extended at the bafe, and terminating in a bifurcated 

 vertex, which conliib of two eminences at a confiderablc 

 dillaiice from each other. 



\\'ith regard to the formation of JEtna, M. De BuflTon is 

 of opinion that, on account of its licight and immenfe bulk, 

 it ought to be confidered as one of the primitive mountains, 

 coeval with the earth itfelf ; and that it vomited flames foon 

 after the creation ; but that, on the fubfiding of the waters 

 which covered the face of the earth, it ceafed to burn, 

 bccaufe there was not a fufficient quantity of fluid feu- pro. 

 dueing an effervefcence with its mineral contents. After a 

 long lapfe of ages, the Straits of Gibraltar were burft open, 

 and the ocean mixed with the Mediterranean Sea ; and a 

 fimilar rupture of the Bofpliorus furniftied an additional fup- 

 ply of water, and thus it deluged the land between Sicily 

 and Italy, and approached the bafis of ^tna. In confe- 

 quence of this event, the mountain began to emit flames 

 anew, which at different inteiTals, and with various degrees 

 of force, it has continued to do until the prefent time. 

 From Homer's filence with refpeft to the eruption of this 

 mountain, we -may jullly infer, that it did not burn in his 

 days ; and therefore the lirll known eruptions of ^tna mull 

 be dated after his age. Other writers, who have not 

 adopted the whole of Buffon's hypothefis, maintain, that 

 yttna exifted as a mountain before it became a volcano. 

 Dolomieu, cited by Mr. Kinvan ( Irhh Tranf. vol. vi. 

 p. 306), found immenfe heaps of fea-lhclls in the north-eaft 

 flanks of this mountain, at the height of near 2000 feet 

 above the furface of the fea. Hence he concludes, that this 

 volcano exift;ed as a mountain before it was uncovered by the 

 fea. He adds, that at the height of about 2400 feet, there 

 are regular ftrata of grey clay filled with marine fliells ; and 

 thefe ilrata muft have been depolited while the mountain 

 was progrefiivcly formed under the fea. He further affirms, 

 that in fome parts of this mountain, the calcareous ftrata 

 exift under tlve lava. Count Borch alfo, in his Letters on 

 Sicily and Malta, informs us, that the original ttone of 

 which jEtna confifts, is granite mixed with jafper, neither 

 of which is lava ; and he fays, that it abounds in mines of 

 lead and copper, which are never found entire in lava. 

 This geologift pretends, that JE\.n^ is at ieaft 8000 years 

 old ; '"id this high antiquity he infers from the layers of 

 vegetable earth, which he difcovered betwixt diflcrent beds 

 of lava. Canon Recupero, who had been employed in 

 writing the hiftoiy of Mount iEtna, has alfo difcovered a 

 ilratnm of lava, which, in his opinion, flowed from the 

 mountain in the time of the lecond Punic war, or about 

 2000 years ago. This ftratum, he fays, is not yet covered 

 with foil fufficient for producing either corn or vines. It 

 requires, then, about 2000 years to convert a ftratum of 

 lava into a fertile field. But in digging n pit near Jaci, in 

 the neighbourhood of jEtna, he diicovered feven diilinct 

 layers of lava, moft of which were covered with a thick bed 

 of rich earth ; and as the eruption which formed the lowclt 

 of thefe lavas, flowed from the mountain at Ieaft 14000 

 T t ycRii 



