CHAP. 109. (105.)—OF NAPHTHA.
Naphtha is a substance of a similar nature[703] (it is so called about Babylon, and in the territory of the Astaceni, in Parthia[704]), flowing like liquid bitumen. It has a great affinity to fire, which instantly darts on it wherever it is seen[705]. It is said, that in this way it was that Medea burned Jason’s mistress; her crown having taken fire, when she approached the altar for the purpose of sacrificing[706].
CHAP. 110. (106.)—PLACES WHICH ARE ALWAYS BURNING.
Among the wonders of mountains there is Ætna, which always burns in the night[707], and for so long a period has always had materials for combustion, being in the winter buried in snow, and having the ashes which it has ejected covered with frost. Nor is it in this mountain alone that nature rages, threatening to consume the earth[708]; in Phaselis, the mountain Chimæra burns, and indeed with a continual flame, day and night[709]. Ctesias of Cnidos informs us, that this fire is kindled by water, while it is extinguished by earth and by hay[710]. In the same country of Lycia, the mountains of Hephæstius, when touched with a flaming torch[711], burn so violently, that even the stones in the river and the sand burn, while actually in the water: this fire is also increased by rain. If a person makes furrows in the ground with a stick which has been kindled at this fire, it is said that a stream of flame will follow it. The summit of Cophantus, in Bactria[712], burns during the night; and this is the case in Media and at Sittacene[713], on the borders of Persia; likewise in Susa, at the White Tower, from fifteen apertures[714], the greatest of which also burns in the daytime. The plain of Babylon throws up flame from a place like a fish-pond[715], an acre in extent. Near Hesperium, a mountain of the Æthiopians[716], the fields shine in the night-time like stars; the same thing takes place in the territory of the Megalopolitani. This fire, however, is internal[717], mild, and not burning the foliage of a dense wood which is over it[718]. There is also the crater of Nymphæum[719], which is always burning, in the neighbourhood of a cold fountain, and which, according to Theopompus, presages direful calamities to the inhabitants of Apollonia[720]. It is increased by rain[721], and it throws out bitumen, which, becoming mixed with the fountain, renders it unfit to be tasted; it is, at other times, the weakest of all the bitumens. But what are these compared to other wonders? Hiera, one of the Æolian isles, in the middle of the sea, near Italy, together with the sea itself, during the Social war, burned for several days[722], until expiation was made, by a deputation from the senate. There is a hill in Æthiopia called Θεῶν ὄχημα[723], which burns with the greatest violence, throwing out flame that consumes everything, like the sun[724]. In so many places, and with so many fires, does nature burn the earth!
CHAP. 111. (107.)—WONDERS OF FIRE ALONE.
But since this one element is of so prolific a nature as to produce itself, and to increase from the smallest spark, what must we suppose will be the effect of all those funeral piles of the earth[725]? What must be the nature of that thing, which, in all parts of the world, supplies this most greedy voracity without destroying itself? To these fires must be added those innumerable stars and the great sun itself. There are also the fires made by men[726], those which are innate in certain kinds of stones, those produced by the friction of wood[727], and those in the clouds, which give rise to lightning. It really exceeds all other wonders, that one single day should pass in which everything is not consumed, especially when we reflect, that concave mirrors placed opposite to the sun’s rays produce flame more readily than any other kind of fire; and that numerous small but natural fires abound everywhere. In Nymphæum there issues from a rock a fire which is kindled by rain; it also issues from the waters of the Scantia[728]. This indeed is a feeble flame, since it passes off, remaining only a short time on any body to which it is applied: an ash tree, which overshadows this fiery spring, remains always green[729]. In the territory of Mutina fire issues from the ground on the days that are consecrated to Vulcan[730]. It is stated by some authors, that if a burning body falls on the fields below Aricia[731], the ground is set on fire; and that the stones in the territory of the Sabines and of the Sidicini[732], if they be oiled, burn with flame. In Egnatia[733], a town of Salentinum, there is a sacred stone, upon which, when wood is placed, flame immediately bursts forth. In the altar of Juno Lacinia[734], which is in the open air, the ashes remain unmoved, although the winds may be blowing from all quarters.
It appears also that there are sudden fires both in waters and even in the human body; that the whole of Lake Thrasymenus was on fire[735]; that when Servius Tullius, while a child, was sleeping, flame darted out from his head[736]; and Valerius Antias informs us, that the same flame appeared about L. Marcius, when he was pronouncing the funeral oration over the Scipios, who were killed in Spain; and exhorting the soldiers to avenge their death. I shall presently mention more facts of this nature, and in a more distinct manner; in this place these wonders are mixed up with other subjects. But my mind, having carried me beyond the mere interpretation of nature, is anxious to lead, as it were by the hand, the thoughts of my readers over the whole globe.
CHAP. 112. (108.)—THE DIMENSIONS OF THE EARTH.
Our part of the earth, of which I propose to give an account, floating as it were in the ocean which surrounds it (as I have mentioned above[737]), stretches out to the greatest extent from east to west, viz. from India to the Pillars consecrated to Hercules at Gades, being a distance of 8568 miles[738], according to the statement of Artemidorus[739], or according to that of Isidorus[740], 9818 miles. Artemidorus adds to this 491 miles, from Gades, going round by the Sacred Promontory, to the promontory of Artabrum[741], which is the most projecting part of Spain.
This measurement may be taken in two directions. From the Ganges, at its mouth, where it discharges itself into the Eastern ocean, passing through India and Parthyene, to Myriandrus[742], a city of Syria, in the bay of Issus, is a distance of 5215 miles[743]. Thence, going directly by sea, by the island of Cyprus, Patara in Lycia, Rhodes, and Astypalæa, islands in the Carpathian sea, by Tænarum in Laconia, Lilybæum in Sicily and Calaris in Sardinia, is 2103 miles. Thence to Glades is 1250 miles, making the whole distance from the Eastern ocean 8568 miles[744].