[725] “Tot rogis terræ?” in reference to the remark in a former chapter, “natura terras cremat.”
[726] “Humani ignes,” according to Hardouin, “Hi nostri ignes, quos vitæ usus requirit, ut Tullius ait de Nat. Deor. ii. 67;” Lemaire, i. 457.
[727] This is the mode which many savage tribes employ for exciting flame.
[728] It is not known whether the Scantia was a river or a lake, or where it was situated; see Alexandre in Lemaire, i. 457.
[729] This may have been owing to the emission of an inflammable gas which burns at a comparatively low temperature, as was observed on a former occasion.
[730] These are said by Columella, xi. 3, to occur in August; the statement as to the fire occurring on these particular days we may presume is erroneous.
[731] Aricia was a town in Campania, near the modern Lake of Nemi: this place, as well as the other places mentioned by our author, were probably of volcanic origin.
[732] Sidicinum was a town in Campania, also called Teanum; probably the modern Teano.
[733] Egnatia was a town in Calabria, on the coast of the Adriatic: the circumstance mentioned by our author is ridiculed by Horace, in his well-known lines, Sat. i. 5, 97; but it is not improbable that there may be some foundation for it.
[734] This circumstance is referred to by Val. Maximus, i. 8, 18. The altar was probably in the neighbourhood of the Lacinian Promontory, at the S.W. extremity of the Bay of Tarentum, the modern Capo delle Colonne.