Page:The geography of Strabo (1854) Volume 1.djvu/430

 416 STRABO. CASAUB. 275. properties are very different, for if those who do not know how to swim plunge into them, they are not covered over by them, but float on the surface like pieces of wood, The Palici 1 possess craters which cast up water in a jet, having the appearance of a dome, and then receive it back again into the same place it rose from. The cavern near Mataurum 2 has within it a considerable channel, with a river flowing through it under ground for a long distance, and afterwards emerging to the surface as does the El-Asi 3 in Syria, which, after descending into the chasm between Apa- meia and Antioch, which they call Charybdis, rises again to the surface at the distance of about 40 stadia. Much the same circumstances are remarked of the Tigris 4 in Mesopo- tamia, and the Nile in Africa, 5 a little before 6 its most noto- rious springs. The water in the neighbourhood of the city of Stymphalus, having passed under ground about 200 stadia, gives rise to the river Erasmus 7 in Argia; 8 and again, the waters which are ingulfed with a low roaring sound near Asea 9 in Arcadia, after a long course, spring forth with such 1 The place dedicated to these avengers of perjury is frequently located near Mineo and Palagonia ; others, thinking to gain the support of Virgil's testimony, place it near Paterno, much farther north, between Catana and Centorbi, and not far from the banks of the Giaretta, the ancient Symagthus. 3 Cluvier supposes this cavern must have been near Mazarum [Mazara]. The river named Mazarus by the ancients, runs through a rocky district, abounding in stone quarries. It is possible that this river, much hemmed in throughout its course, might have anciently flowed beneath some of these massive rocks. 3 Orontes. 4 According to Pliny, Hist. Nat. lib. vi. 31, torn. i. p. 333, the Tigris is ingulfed on reaching a branch of Mount Taurus, at a place called Zoroanda, which M. D'Anville identifies with the modern Hazour. 5 Ai/3vr; in Strabo. 6 Kramer here persists in reading Trpo, and rejects OTTO : we have en- deavoured to translate it with Kramer, but the French translation of 1809 renders it, a little below its sources. 7 A river of Argolis : see book viii. Casaub. pp. 371 and 389. 8 Argolis. 9 This ancient city was found in ruins by Pausanias, who says (Ar- cadic. or book viii. cap. 44, p. 691) "that at less than 20 stadia distant from the Athenaeum are found the ruins of Asea, as well as the hill on which the citadel of the town was built, which was surrounded by walls, the vestiges of which still remain. About 5 stadia from Asea, and not far from the main road, is the source of the Alpheus, and, quite close,