1802. ] 
tion which every one feels for the publi- 
cation of the manufcripts found at Her- 
culaneum. Of the original number, which 
confifted of from, five to fix hundred, two 
or three only have been unrolled*; the 
reft are. fhamefully neglected: and yet they 
are the moft valuable of any difcoveries 
which have already been made or can be 
expected. This neghgence, which would 
have altonifhed the Goths, is the more 
incomprehenfible, as Naples contains a 
fufficient number, both of idle Monks to 
unrol thefe manufcripts, and of learned 
men to decypher and publifh them. 
If you go to Rhegium by land, you 
will traverfe the ancient country of the 
,Lucani and the Brutii.. If you fhould 
meet with any Greek medals, I beg you 
will take them, and you may give for 
them two or thrée times their weight, if 
they are of either gold or filver. 
Thofe in bronze, with the word BPET- 
TION, were ftruck by the Brutii; thofe 
of the Lucani,AOYKANQN,are more {carce. 
i know of no antiquities at Reggio+; 
but filver medals are here to be met with, 
bearing the Greek name of the city, 
RECT (Regi), or RECINON (Rheginon.) 
Mefina contains few or no antiqu!- 
ties. The ancient filver medals with the 
name AANCLEf, are rather fcarce, and 
werth from ten to twelve times their 
weight. : 
M. le Baron de Riedezel mentions a 
cabinet of medals, which is in the poffef- 
fion of M. le Prince de Sperlinga: thefe 
collections are to be found in many towns 
in Sicily. If you meet with any I re- 
queft you will inquire, without appearing 
too eager about them, whether the poflef- 
* Thefe manufcripts, according to the 
cuitom of the ancients, were in large rolls, 
and though burnt by the lava which buried 
the famous city of Herculaneum, were yet, 
when difcovered, not fo completely deftroyed 
but that, with very great care, they could 
be unrolled, and being placed on a light 
ground, the characters became legible,— 
( Editor’s Note.) 
+ Jof. Morifano publifhed, in 1770, ten 
infcriptions found in Rhegium, but they 
afford little information, and are not very 
ancient. 
{¢ This town bore the name of Zanell, 
before the Meflenians, driven from Pelo- 
ponnefus by the Lacedzmonians, -eftablith- 
ed themfelves there. M. Schiavo has pub- 
lifhed fome infcriptions found in this city. 
In {peaking of the Ancient Meffina we fhould 
always fay, in conformity with the Doric 
pronunciation, and with the orthography of 
the medals, Meffang. 
Infirudtions by the Abbé Barthelemy to WM. Houel. 507 
for is willing to difpofe of them ; what 
price he requires, aud whether he will 
give a catalogue df the collection, In the 
event of his not chufing to fell them, it 
would be ufeful to have a catalogue, 
merely of the gold and fiiver medals of the 
different kings ,and towns of Sicily. IE 
you cannot procure this catalogue, [I 
fhall be content with a general account of - 
the principal medals of thefe kings and 
towns. 
The towns of Miletium, Tinaria, 
Himera, and the Thermz of Himera, 
which centains fome warm-baths, for- 
merly occupied the coaft from Meffina to 
Palermo. If you fhould land on this coaft, 
ard the peafants fhould offer you any 
medals, of any kind of metal, I beg you 
wil take them, provided they are Greek. 
alermo—In this city you will fee Doc- 
tor Tardia, to whom I lately fent fome 
corrections and additions taken from a 
manu(cript in the King’s Library, for the 
new edition which he is preparing of the 
Ancient Conftitutions of Sicily*. I have 
alfo fent to him a note of the medals 
which are deficient in the King’s Cabinet. 
You will oblige me by taking charge of 
any which he may commit to your care. 
The Jefuits of Palermo had a fucceflion 
of Sicilian medals. What is become of 
them? | i 
Segefia — Baron'de Riedezel, after 
having teft Palermo, arrived at the Ruins 
of Segefta, which confift merely of the re- 
mains of a very ancient Temple of the 
Doric Order. M. Dorville has given a 
drawing of this Temple +, but he has not 
informed us of the dimenfions of its vari- 
ous parts, as Defgodets has done of the 
Antiquities of Rome, arid the Englith of 
thofe of Palmyra, of Balbec, and of 
Greece. Your draughtfman might dedicate 
a,day to the taking the exact dimenfions 
as well of the general outline as of the fe- 
parate parts of this building. 
In addition to thefe remains of anti- 
quity, Fazello { pretends, that there is 
in the town itfelf an old temple, at pre- 
fent confecrated to the Blefled Virgin. 
Some medals of Segelta bear Greek ins 
{criptions: thefe, when of filver, are worth 
* Barthelemy fent alfo fome extracts from 
Novarii, upon Sicily, refpeéting the hiftory 
of that ifland, which the learned Cauffin exe 
tracted at his requeft, and which have been 
printed in the £* Recueil des écrivains 
Arabes,”’ publithed at Palermo in 1790, by 
M. Gregorio. , 
+ Sicula, tom. r, page 54. 
t De Rebus Siculis, lib. vii, page 142. 
. rocuring 
j 
+ 
i i ee eee ae 
