MALTA AND SICILY. 
249 
Etna, it has been nearly destroyed by erup¬ 
tions and earthquakes more than once, and 
after such repeated and dreadful disasters, 
we cannot but wonder at the infatuation o? 
the inhabitants in rebuilding the city in the 
same situation, which appears to possess no 
advantage over other parts of the coast, as 
it has no natural harbour. In the year 
121 b.c., it was injured to such an extent, 
that the Romans excused the inhabitants 
from paying tribute for ten years, to enable 
them to recover from their losses; and in 
1169, it was nearly destroyed by an earth¬ 
quake, when fifteen thousand persons 
perished. But the most terrible catas¬ 
trophe of this kind was in the year 1693, 
when the city was reduced to a heap of 
ruins, and eighteen thousand persons were 
buried beneath its walls. Catania also suf¬ 
fered greatly in 1783, by the earthquake 
which destroved Messina. 
