M T N 



^ T N 



Ccmentos, pavida coniplcbant pcftora curS, 



Quid molirctur reium iiatura novaiiim. 

 Lib, vi. V. 639, &c. 



Vol. iii. p. 309, &c. F.d. Wakefield. 



For Silius Itnlicus's defcription of TEtna, fee Pimic. 

 lib. xiv. V. 55. 69. p. 697. Ed. DiT.kenb. 



Mr. Oldenburg has enumerated feveral eruptions which 

 happened before his time in the Phil. Tranf. No. 48. 

 Abridgm. vol. ii. p. 386. The firft he mentions is that to 

 which we have already referred ; but the full eruption of 

 which we have any pofitive hiitoiical record is that men- 

 tioned by Diodorus Sicuhis (1. 5. torn. i. p. 335. Ed. 

 Weffel.), though he docs not fpecify th.e precife period 

 when it happcr.ed. This event, however, compelled 

 the Sicaiii to abandon the eaftern parts of Sicily, and to 

 i'ettle in the fouthern parts. This territory was afterwards 

 occupied by the Sicilians, v.ho migrated thither from Italy. 

 Thefircnfi eruption is the firft of three that are recited by 

 Thucydides(Hirt. 1. iii.c. 1 16. p. 237. Ed. Dukeri.) Vvilhout 

 mentioning the exaft date of any one of them. He fays, 

 that from the arrival of the firft Greek colonics that fettled 

 in Sicily, vi':. in the third year of the i itii olympiad, 

 correfponding to the year 733 before the Chriltian -.era (vid. 

 Annales Thuq-d. p. 12), to the thiid year of the 88th 

 olympiad. Ant. Chrift. 425, iEtna, at three different times, 

 difcliarged torrents of fire. This fecond eruption happened 

 2ccordlng to Eufebius (Chronicon. MDXC.) Ant. Clirill. 

 565. The thlrt/ eruption, or the fecond mentioned by 

 ■T^hucydides, happened, as he fays, in the 50th year before 

 the lail ; or as it is ftated (vid. Annales Tliucyd. p. 31. 

 Ed. Weffel.) Ante Chrift. 47J. Olymp. 76^ when Phtedo 

 was archon at Athens. But the Oxford marble refers it to 

 the iff year of the 75th olympiad, Ant. Chrift. 477, when 

 Xantippus was archon at Athens. In the lecond year of 

 this Olympiad, it is faid the Athenians gained their boafted 

 viftoi-y over Xerxes's general, Mardonius, near Platxa. 

 Both the ei-uption of the volcano and the viftor)' of the 

 Athenians are commemorated in an ancient infcription on 

 the marble table above-mentioned. It was at this eruption, 

 as we are told, that two rich brothers, named Amphinomus 

 and Anapis, difregarding their effects, - rulhed into the 

 ilamea and carried oft their aged parents on their backs. 

 It is faid that the fire fparcd thefc youths, whilft others who 

 took the fame road were confumed. Tiie citizens of Cata- 

 nia rccompenfed this aft of filial piety with a temple and 

 divine honours. The heroic deed is reprefented on an an- 

 cient medal, and it is recorded by feveral ancient authors, 

 as Strabo, (tom. i. p. 412.) Silius Italicus, (1. :xiv. verf. 

 cxcvii. p. 703.) Valerius Maxinuis (1. v. c. 4) Paufanias 

 (Phociea. 1. x. p. 867. Ed. Kuhnii) TElian (Fragmenta. Var. 

 Hift. tom. ii. 1054) Seneca, Ariftotle, Claudian, Sollnus, 

 &c. The fintrth eruption, or the third mentioned by Thu- 

 cj'dides, occurred, as we have already hinted, in the 88th 

 olympiad, Aiit. Chrift:. 425. and laid wafte the territory of 

 Catania. Tlie fiflh is dated by Orofuis, in the conltilftiip 

 of Sei"gius Fulvius Flaccus, and Qiiiiitus Calpuinius Pilo, 

 about 133 years before Chrift. Livy (1. liv. c. 12. tom. v. 

 p. 1043. Ed. Dr.ikenb.) mentions an eruption in the 

 confulate of C. Lrelius and Q^ Servilius, Ante Chrift. 

 140, The y7.v/A happened m the 125th year before the 

 Chrift'an xra, and Orofius fays, that a number of fifties 

 were deftrored by it, and that the inhal)itaiits of Lipari 

 fuft'ered exceedingly by eating them. The yj-irH//; eruption, 

 which occiuTcd in the I2lft year before Chrift, detolated 

 Catania to fiich a degree, that the inhabitants were excufed 

 by the Romans trom paying taxes tor 10 years, in order to 

 enab\e them to rejiair the dacnage which they had fuftaioed. 



TIus is m«ntioned by Livy (1. ki. c. 41. torn. vi. p. ii). 

 An r/n'/'Z/i eruption hai)])encd in tlie 43d year before Chriit, 

 not long before the death of Ca-fur, and was afterwards re- 

 garded as an omen of this event. The v'uith eruption i» 

 mentioned by Suetonius, in hi.; life of Caligula (torn. i. p. 

 608. YA. Pitifc.) It happened A. 1). 40, and tenifieJ 

 the emperor fo as to make liim fty precipitately from Mcf- 

 fina. Phis is reckoned the 13th enij;tion by Cluverius in 

 his Sicil. 1.8. ^. 2. Carrera mention^ two eruptions, one 

 in the year 253 and another in 420. The eruption which 

 happened in the reign of Charlemagne, A. D. 812, is re- 

 corded by ( rcoffroy of \'iterbo in his chronicle. In I 1 69, 

 Sicily was difturbed by a violent earthquake, which extend- 

 ed to Reggio on the oppofile fide of the ftrait. Catania 

 was dcftroyed by it, and \ 5,000 perfoas perifticd. On this 

 occafiou old rivers difappeared, and nev/ ones burft out ; 

 and the ridge of ^Etna fell on the fide near Taonnina. The 

 fpriug of Arcthuia became muddy and brackifti; and the 

 fountain of Ajo ceafed to flow for two hours, and then 

 gnftieJ forth more abundantly than before. The fea at 

 Mcffiiia retired far within its ufual limits, and then over- 

 flowed its ordinary banks, and fwallowed up a number of 

 perfons, who had fled to the ftiore for fafety. Corn and 

 trees of all forts were deftroyed, and the fields were coveted 

 with ftones fo as to become unfit for cultivation. From the 

 year 1160, or as fome fay 1157, to 1169, Sicily repeatedly 

 fullered from eaithquakes and eruptions. This was follow, 

 ed by another eruption ia 1181 or 11 84, when ftreams of 

 fire ran down the declivity of the mountain: and in 1329 

 the inhabitants of the mountain and of the whole iftand were 

 alarmed by the commotions and noifes of yEtna, and by the 

 flames and ftones, and other attendants of an eruption, 

 which fucceeded them. On this occafion a new crater Avas 

 opened, and the flaming materials that were difgorged fi-om 

 it overfpread the adjacent fields, deftroyed their buildings, 

 and occafioncd the death of birds and quadrupeds, and of 

 the fifties of the rivers and contiguous parts of the fea. 

 A fpeftator fays, that he could not think Babylon or So- 

 dom was deftroyed with fuch awful feverity. The allies 

 were carried by the wind as far as Malta, and many perfons 

 are faid to have died of tenor. In 13^3, ^tna made an- 

 other terrible explofion, which was fucceeded by that of 

 1 38 1, which extended its ravages to the confines of Catania, 

 and bunit up the olive-yards in the neighbourhood of the 

 city, and again by another in 1444, when the uiountaia 

 fliook and difcharged a quantity of lava, and large rocks 

 were broken off from its fummit and precipitated into the 

 fea. Slight eruptions occurred in 144^! and T447 ; hut the 

 eruption of 1536, after a cefiation of near 100 years, was 

 ver)- dreadful in its appearance and effccls, and lafted for a 

 confiderable time. A thick cloud, tinged with red in the 

 middle, hovered over the fummit of the mountain, which 

 was attended by a ftrong weft wind, and fucceeded by the 

 difcharge of a large quantitv of bui ning materials, that 

 ruftied with the noife and rapidity of a torrent down the 

 eaftern lide of the mountain, and deftroyed buildings and 

 animals tluit lay in its war. A fimilar ilream of liquid 

 fire held its courfc towards the weft, and did great damage. 

 Several chafir.s were opened on the fides of the mountain, 

 from which llreams of ignited matter were thrown up to a 

 great height into the air ; and a learned phyfieiau whofc 

 curiofity. and defire of information led him to examine the 

 eruption, was burnt to aftics bv a volley of burning ILmes. 

 This continued with little intermiflion for a whole year, and 

 terminated by caufing the river Siinetus fnddenly to over- 

 flow its banks, and earn' oif thofe who lived near it with 

 their clfcle snd other property. The country near Paterno 

 U u -2 fuffered 



