610 
A. 
youths, Aiiipliiiioni US and Anapis, rushed into the midst of the flames, 
and rescued their aged parents, at the imminent hazard of their own 
Jives : a deed of filial piet}' and genuine heroism, which the Catanians 
rewarded by the consecration of a temple to their memory. 
The third eruption, mentioned by Thucydides, or the fourth in the 
series of authentic history, occurred E. c. 425, in the. eighty-eighth 
Olympiad, and desolated part of the Catanian territory. 
The fifth eruption occurred in the consulship of Sergius Fulvius 
Flaccus and Quintus Calpurnius Piso, nearly 133 years before the 
Christian era. It is to be regretted that Julius Obsequius and Oro- 
sius, by whom it is recorded, have not transniitted any details 
respecting it. 
In the consulship of Lucius ^milius Lepidiis, and Lucius Aurelius 
Orestes, about b. C. 125, iEtna poured forth such a torrent of fire, 
that the adjoining sea is represented as absolutely hot, and immense 
numbers of fishes were destroyed. One historian declares, that the 
inhabitants of the isles of Lipari ate so many of those fishes as to 
occasion a distemper, which proved generally fatal. 
Orosius states, that four years after the preceding eruption, the 
city of Catania was desolated by another equally tremendous ; the 
roofs of the houses w ere demolished by the burning ashes, and so 
dreadful was the desolation, that the Romans exempted the inhabit- 
ants from all taxes for the space of ten years, to afford them an oppor- 
tunity for repairing the damages they had sustained. 
Livy mentions an eruption of iLtna just previous to the death 
of Caesar, in the forty-third year before Christ. It was not very con- 
siderable in itself, but acquired importance from being afterwards con- 
sidered as an omen of Caesar’s death. 
An eruption happened in the year 40 of the Christian era, on the 
night in which the emperor fled from Messina, wliere he was at the 
time. This is mentioned by Suetonius, in the Life of Caligula. 
According to Carrera, there was an eruption of Mount .^tna, A. D. 
253. The same author records another in the year 420. 
Jeoffrey of Viterbo, in his Chronicle, mentions an eruption in 812, 
in the reign of Charlemagne. 
The next was of a more tremendous nature, and of more disastrous 
consequences. It occurred on the fourth of February, in the year 
1169. About day-break there w'as an earthquake in Sicily, which 
was felt on the opposite side of the strait, as far as Reggio. The 
ridge of the mountains on the side nearest to Torvasino was obviously 
desolated, Catania was reduced to ruins, and upwards of fifteen thou- 
sand of its inhabitants perished. The roof of the church of St. 
Agatha fell in, and the bishop was killed ; several castles were 
destroyed ; new rivers burst forth, and ancient ones disappeared. 
The clear spring of Arethusa, whose waters were so celebrated, 
became muddy and brackish ; and the fountain of Ajo, after ceasing 
for two hours, gushed out more copiously than before ; its w'aters 
assuming a blood colour, which they retained for an hour. A remark-s- 
able phenomenon took place at Messina, where the sea retired to a 
considerable distance beyond its ordinary limits, but returning, it soon 
after advanced to tlie city walls, and rushed into the streets. Multi- 
