CHAPTER XIV.

HISTORY OF SICILY.

SECTION I.-Geographical Outline.

THE fertile island of Sicily was known by various names to the ancients. It was called Triquet'ra, or Trinac'ra, from its triangular shape; Sicania and Sicilia from the Sic'ani and Sic'uli, Italian hordes who peopled a great part of the country. Its three extreme promontories were named Pelórum (Faro), Pachy'num (Passaro), and Lilybæ'um (Bocco); the first of these faces Italy, the second Greece, and the third Africa. From the narrowness of the strait opposite Pelorum, it has been supposed that Sicily was broken off from Italy by some convulsion of nature; and the Greek city Rhégium, which stood on the Italian side of the strait, derives its name from this common opinion.* The strait is remarkable for the rapidity of its current, and for the rock Scylla, and whirlpool Charyb'dis, the passage between which was accounted very dangerous. These places are frequently described by the Latin poets. Ovid thus alludes to the opinion of Italy having been joined to Sicily near the city of Zan'cle, or Messana :

"So Zan'cle to the Italian earth was tied,

And men once walked, where ships at anchor ride;
Till Neptune overlooked the narrow way,

And in disdain poured in the conquering sea."

The most remarkable cities on the eastern coast of Sicily were Zan'cle, or Messána (Messina), deriving its first name from the old Sicilian word Zan'clos signifying a reaping-hook, to which its curved shore bears some fanciful resemblance; and its second from the Messenian exiles, who conquered the city: Tauromin'ium (Taormina), on the river Tauromin'ius (Cantara), near which was the coast called Cop'ria, or "the dunghill," from the number of wrecks cast upon it by the whirlpool of Charyb'dis: Cat'ana, a Chalcidian colony on the river Aménes (Judicello): Morgan'tium, a city of the Italian Sic'uli, near the mouth of the Sigma'thus (La Jaretta): Leontíni, a flourishing Chalcidian colony: Hybʻla, celebrated for its honey, founded by the Sicanians, and subsequently colonized by the Megarians: and Syracuse, the ancient capital of the island.

Syracuse contained within its walls, which were eighteen miles in circumference, four very considerable cities united into one, like Lon• From phyvoμ, to break.

don, Westminister, Southwark, and Lambeth. Acradína, the largest of the four, contained the principal public buildings, such as the Prytanéum, the palace of justice, and the temple of Jupiter Olympius. Ty'che, which stood between Acradína and the hill Epip'olæ, contained the Gymnasium for the exercise of youth, and several temples, especially one dedicated to Fortune, from which this division of the city derived its name. The third quarter, called Orty'gia, was an island, connected with the other parts by a bridge; it contained two beautiful temples, one sacred to Diana, and the other to Minerva, the tutelary deities of Syracuse. Neapolis, or the new city, was the latest erected: it contained the temples of Céres and Proserpine, and the statue of Apollo Temen'ites, celebrated by Cicero as the most valuable monument of Syra

cuse.

Near Syracuse was a steep hill named Epip'olæ, defended in the later ages by a fort called Lab'dalon. On this hill was the famous prison called Latom'iæ, on account of its being partly excavated from the living rock. It was a cave one hundred and twenty-five paces long and twenty feet broad, constructed by order of Dionys'ius the tyrant, who imprisoned there those whom he suspected of being opposed to his usurpation. A winding tube, constructed on the model of the human ear, ascended from the cavern to a private apartment, where the tyrant used to sit and listen to the conversation of his unhappy captives.

The celebrated fountain of Arethúsa, now dried up, arose in the island of Orty'gia. The poets fabled that the Al'pheus, a river of E'lis, in the Peloponnésus, rolled its waters either through or under the waters of the sea, without mixing with them, as far as the fountain of Arethúsa; which gave occasion to the following lines of Virgil:

Thy sacred succor, Arethúsa, bring,
To crown my labor; 'tis the last I sing;
So may thy silver streams beneath the tide,
Unmixed with briny seas, securely glide!

On the African side of Sicily stood Camarína, between the rivers O'anus (Frascolari) and Hip'paris (Camarana): it was anciently a very wealthy city; but its inhabitants having drained a marsh by which the city was protected, the enemies found easy access, and destroyed it; hence Ne moveas Camarinam, "Remove not Camarina," has passed into a proverb. Following the line of coast westward, we meet Géla (Terra Nova), now in ruins, and Ag'ragas or Agrigen'tum (Girgenti), between the rivers Ag'ragas (San Biaggio) and Hyp'sa (Drago). It was anciently the rival of Syracuse: and we may judge of its former strength and splendor from the following description given of it by the historian Polybius: "It exceeds most of the Sicilian cities in strength, beauty, and situation, and magnificent edifices. Though erected at the distance of eighteen hundred furlongs from the sea, it can conveniently import all kinds of provision and munitions of war. From its natural strength, increased judiciously by fortifications, it is one of the most impregnable places in the island. Its walls are built upon a rock, rendered inaccessible by art. The river, from which the city takes its name, protects it on the south, and it is covered by the Hyp'sa on the • From rúx", fortune. † From Maas, a stone, and repvw, to cut.

west; on the east it it is defended by a fortress, built on the brink of a precipice, which serves instead of a ditch." The citadel, called Om'phale, which stood at the mouth of the Agʻragas, was more ancient than the city itself.

The other cities on the African side were Mínoa Heracléa (Castel Bianco), deriving its first name from a Cretan, and its second from a Lacedæmonian colony, on the banks of the Haly'cus (Platani); and Selínus (Terra delle Pulci), on the river Selínus (Madiuni), founded by a colony from Megʻara.

On the coast opposite Italy were the cities Lilybæ'um (Marsala), celebrated in ancient times for its excellent harbor; Drep'anum (Trapani), deriving its name from a fancied resemblance of its coast to a scythe E'ryx (Trepano del Monte), on a mountain of the same name; Seges'ta, or Eges'ta, now in ruins, supposed to have been founded by a Trojan colony, who named the streams that watered their territory the Scaman'der and the Sim'ois, in memory of the rivers of their native land; the former of these is now Il fiume di San Bartolomeo, the latter a rivulet without a name; Panor'mus (Palermo), the present capital of Sicily, originally founded by the Phoenicians, between the Oróthus (Amiraglio) and the Leutherus (Baiaria). In the neighborhood of Panor'mus was a mountain fortress called E'reta (Monte Pelegrino): Himæ'ra, Alæ'sa, and Agathyr'na, are now in ruins.

In the interior of the country were Ad'ranum (Aderno), near the foot of Mount Etna; En'na (Castro Janni), sacred to Ceres; and En'gyum (Mandania), near the springs of the Alæ'sus (Casonia).

The most remarkable natural object in Sicily is the celebrated volcano of the lofty Mount Etna, covered with eternal snows, though ever burning. It has been described by Sil'ius Italicus :

"Its lofty summits, wondrous to be told,
Display bright flames amid the ice and cold;
Above, its rocks, with flames incessant glow,
Though bound in icy fetters far below;
The peak is claimed by winter as its throne,

While glowing ashes o'er its snows are shown."

The fire which continually burns in the bowels of the mountain made the poets place here the forges of Vulcan and his Cyclopean attendants, and the prison of the giants who rebelled against Jupiter. This fiction is beautifully related by Virgil, in his description of the mountain :

"The port capacious, and secure from wind,
Is to the foot of thund'ring Ætna joined.
By turns a pitchy cloud she rolls on high;
By turns hot embers from her entrails fly,

And flakes of mountain-flames that lick the sky.

Oft from her bowels massy rocks are thrown,

And shivered by their force come piecemeal down.
Oft liquid lakes of burning sulphur flow,
Fed from the fiery springs that burn below.
Enceladus, they say, transfixed by Jove,

With blasted limbs came trembling from above;

• From ¿peravov, a scythe.

And when he fell, the avenging father drew
This flaming hill, and on his body threw ;

As often as he turns his weary sides,

He shakes the solid isle, and smoke the heavens hides."

The Æolian or Vulcanian islands lie off the north coast of Sicily, in the Tuscan sea. The most remarkable are Lip'ara (Lipari) and Stronyg'læ (Stromboli). North of Cape Lilyba'um were the islands called 'gates, or Æ'gades: they are three in number; Phorbanʼtia (Levanzo), Egúsa (Favignano), and Héra (Maretino).

SECTION II.-Historical Notices of the ancient Inhabitants of Sicily.

CHRONOLOGY UNCERTAIN.

THE Cyclopians and Læstrigons are said to have been the first inhabitants of Sicily. It is impossible to trace their origin; we only know that their settlements were in the vicinity of Mount Etna. Their inhumanity toward strangers, and the flames of Etna, were the source of many popular fables and poetic fictions. It was said that the Cy'clops were giants; that they had but one eye, placed in the centre of their forehead; that they fed on human flesh; and that they were employed by Vulcan to forge the thunderbolts of Jove.

Next in antiquity were the Sicanians, probably an Italian horde driven southward by the pressure of the Pelas'gi, though many ancient writers assert that they came from Spain. They finally settled in the western part of the island, and were said to have joined the Trojan exiles in building E'ryx and Egésta.

After the Sic'ani had been for some ages exclusive masters of the island, the Sic'uli, an ancient people of Ausónia, crossed the strait; and having defeated the Sicanians in a sanguinary engagement, confined them in a narrow territory, and changed the name of the island from Sicánia to Sicily. Some centuries after this revolution, Greek colonies began to settle on the Sicilian coast; the principal states that founded settlements in the island were Chal'cis in Eubœ'a, Meg'ara, Corinth, the Dorians from Rhodes and Creté, and the Messenians, driven from their native country by the Spartans. To these may be added two Italian colonies, the Morgétes and the Mamertines.

The Sic'uli were first united under one head by a king named Æ'olus, whose age is uncertain. Their most renowned sovereign was Deucétius, who engaged in a long war with the Syracusans; but having been frequently defeated, he was forced to surrender himself to their mercy. With unusual clemency, the Syracusans granted him liberty and life, and assigned a pension for his support, on condition of his living in the territories of their parent city, Corinth. Having removed this formidable rival, the Syracusans reduced the whole country of the Sic'uli, stormed their chief city, Triquet'ra, and levelled it to the ground. When the Athenians invaded Sicily under the command of Nic'ias, they were joined by the Sic'uli, who gave them very effective assistance. They likewise aided the Carthaginians in their first attempts to gain possession of the island. Having been subsequently induced to join the Syracusans, they were disgracefully betrayed to the

Carthaginians by the tyrant Dionys'ius, and were forced to bear a cruel yoke, until their independence was restored by Timóleon.

SECTION III.-The History of Syracuse.

FROM B. C. 735 To B. c. 212.

SYRACUSE was founded by a Corinthian colony (B. c. 735), under the guidance of Archytas, a nobleman of rank, compelled to quit his native country by some political dispute. Its form of government for two centuries and a half was republican; and though, during this period, the state does not appear to have risen to any considerable height of power, yet the Syracusans founded the colonies of A'cræ, Cas'menæ, and Camarína. An aristocratic faction having cruelly oppressed the citizens, the populace at length combined to throw off the yoke, and drove the tyrannical nobles into exile (B. c. 485). They fled to Géla, then ruled by Gélon, an able and ambitious usurper, who had recently become sovereign of his country. Gélon levied an army, and, accompanied by the exiles, marched to Syracuse, of which he easily made himself master.

Under the administration of its new master the city rose rapidly in wealth and importance, while Gélon himself acquired so much fame by repeated victories over the Carthaginians, that the Athenians and Spartans, then menaced by the Persian invasion, earnestly sought his assistance. Gélon demanded to be appointed captain-general of the confederate Greeks; a stipulation to which the Athenians and Spartans returned a stern refusal; and before any further steps could be taken, he learned that Xerxes had engaged the Carthaginians to attack the Greek colonies in Sicily and Italy, while he invaded the parent state. After spending three years in making preparations, the Spartans sent against Sicily an immense armament, under the command of Hamil'car, said to consist of three hundred thousand men, two thousand ships of war, and three thousand vessels of burden. Having effected a landing, Hamil'car laid siege to Himéra, then ruled by Théron, the father-in-law of Gélon. The king of Syracuse, though unable to muster more than fifty thousand men at this sudden emergency, marched with all expedition to raise the siege. On his road he had the good fortune to intercept a messenger from the Selinuntines to the Carthaginian general, promising to send him a stipulated body of cavalry on an appointed day. Gélon led an equal number of his horse to the Carthaginian camp at the specified time, and having gained unsuspected admission, so disconcerted the enemy by a sudden attack, that the whole host was thrown into confusion, and the Syracusans won an easy victory. Hamil'car was slain, and his mighty army all but annihilated. Carthage humbly sought peace, which was generously granted by the conqueror. During the brief remainder of his reign, Gélon strenuously exerted himself for the benefit of his subjects; and though no one can justify the means by which he acquired supremacy, there are few who will not pardon his original error on account of the use he made of his power. His subjects, after his death, honored him as a demigod.

Híero I. succeeded his brother Gélon (B. c. 477); his administration was more brilliant than useful; he protected the arts and sciences; but