Page:An Account of Corsica (1769).djvu/54

44 Pliny the elder hath given us a short, but very accurate account of the geography of Corsica;

'In Ligustico mari est Corsica quam Graeci Cyrnon appellavere, sed Thusco proprior, a septenrione in meridiem projecta, longa passuum CL millia, lata majore ex parte L, circuitu CCCXXII, civitates habet XXXIII et colonias Marianam a Marjo deductam, Aleriam a dictatore Sylla .'

'In the Ligurian sea, but nearer to Tuscany than to Liguria, is Corsica, which the Greeks called Cyrnus. It extendeth from north to south, and is about 150 miles in length, for the most part 50 in breadth, and 322 in circumference. It hath 33 states and two colonies, Mariana founded by Marius, and Aleria founded by the dictator Sylla.’

Of these 33 states, not above five or fix can now be traced; and the colonies are only to be marked by their ruins. But the usual fidelity of Pliny is to be credited in this account. Pomponius Mela describes the situation of Corsica, as does Ptolemy.

Seneca the philosopher hath left us two most horrid pictures of Corsica, very false indeed, but executed with uncommon strength of fancy and expression. Stoick as he was, of a grave and