VALE OF TEMPE. 370 
in four places : one at Gonnus in the mouth of chap. 
IX 
the defile ; a second at Condylos, an impregnable ' 
fortress ; a third near Lapathus, at a place called 
Charax; and a fourth in the very military way 
itself, in the middle of the strait,'^ where the road 
was so narrow, that there was hardly room 
enough to admit the passage of a single beast 
of burden, and "where ten men with ease 
would be able to defend the pass." As for the 
descriptions given of Tempe by Pliny and by pimy and 
JEliariy they agree as to the geographical features "*"' 
of the place, but do not possess, altogether, the 
force, and fidelity, and copious brevity of Livy. 
Of the two, as that of Pliny is the most concise, 
if we subjoin what he has said, it will be sufii- 
cient*: no future traveller will then be at any 
loss to reconcile the appearance of this dejile 
altenim Condylon castello inexpugnabili : tertlum circa Lnpatfiunkt, 
quam Characa appellant: quartum, vi^ irsi, qua et media et angtt*^ 
tissima vallis est, imposilum ; quam vel decern armatis tueri facile est." 
Ibid. 
(5) " Et ante cunctos claritate Peneus, ortus juxta Gomphos ; interque 
Ossam et Olympum nemorosa convalle defluens quingentis stadiis, diraidio 
cgus spatio navigabilis. In eo cursu Tempe vocantur v. mill, pass, longi- 
tudine, et ferme sesquijugeri latitudine, ultra visum hominis attoUentibus 
se dextera Ixyaque leniter convexis jugis, intus sua luce viridantc allabitur 
FerCeus, viridis calculo, amoenus circa ripas gramine, canorus avium con- 
centu." Plinii Hist. Nat. lib. iv. c. S. torn. I. p. 212. L. Bat. 1 CSJ. 
