From Benioleet I went to the north-eastward, in hopes of finding some remains of Talata, Tenadassa, and Syddemis, which were in the chain of communication with the stations of the Syrtis, Cydamus, and the Tritonis; but I met with only a few dilapidated towers, and some uninteresting ruins, which from the situation were probably those of Mespe. Thence we crossed the Messellata hills, and near the centre of one of the ramifications observed three slight eminences, which I am inclined to think must have been the Tumuli of the Graces of ancient geographers, though, but for the coincidence of the number, I should scarcely have remarked them. They are about 340 feet in height, and nearly five miles from the coast, thus differing in distance from the ancient account of 200 stadia; but as the Cinyphus actually rises here, the early manuscripts may have suffered from bad copyists.
The Cinyphus is now called the Wadie Khàhan, or weak river, in allusion to its sluggish course in summer, though it is still, to a little distance inland, a considerable stream, for this part of the world. Its shrubby banks render the lower part of it extremely picturesque, while both they and the sedgy marshes it has formed towards Tabia point abound with game of all descriptions. Near the high road from Sahal to Zeliten, the river contracts at once: here stood an ancient bridge, of which vestiges remain; and adjacent is a tolerable subterraneous aqueduct, running in the direction of Leptis, with a ventilating aperture, at intervals of about forty yards.
FOOTNOTES:
[1]This is the opinion of Captain Smyth, who examined the remains of Leptis Magna with attention (in the year 1817); and who has obligingly favoured us with the plans and account of it which are given at the end of the chapter.
[2]Nam Leptitani jam inde a principio belli Jugurthini ad Bestiam Consulem et postea Romam miserant, amicitiam, societatemque rogatum. Dein, ubi ea impetrata fuere semper boni, fidelesque mansere; et cuncta a Bestia, Albino, Metelloque imperata gnavitur fecerant.—(Bell. Jugurth. § 77.)
[3]At Gizerichus alia moliri non desiit. Nam, præter Carthaginem, Africæ urbes nudavit omnes . . .—(Procop. Hist. Vandal. à Grotio, Lib. 1. p. 17.)
[4]Questa città (Leptis M.) fu edificata da Romani con mura alte di pietre grosse: la quale fu due volte rovinata da Macomettani, e delle sue pietre e colonne fu edificata Tripoli.—(5ta. parte, p. 72.)
Leo here alludes to the restoration of the city, and not to its first erection by the Phœnicians.
[5]Bacchi (Solomonis frater erat) filios duos regendis Africæ partibus misit Imperator; Pentapoli Cyrum, natu majorem, Tripoli Sergium.—(Procopius, Hist. Vandal, Lib. 2. p. 119.)
[6]Solomon, the uncle of Sergius, was intrusted with the command of the army by Belisarius, when that general left the African coast, and governed with the title of Exarch. After his death at Tebeste, Sergius was appointed by the Emperor Justinian to succeed him, and rendered himself odious by his profligacy and cruelties.—(See Procopius, Hist. Vandal., Lib. 2.)