§6.2.9ἀνταίρει δὲ τῇ Αἴτνῃ τὰ Νεβρώδη ὄρη ταπεινότερα μὲν πλάτει δὲ πολὺ παραλλάττοντα.
The Nebrodi Mountains rise opposite to Aetna, being lower indeed, but extending much further in breadth.
ἅπασα δʼ ἡ νῆσος κοίλη κατὰ γῆς ἐστι, ποταμῶν καὶ πυρὸς μεστή, καθάπερ τὸ Τυρρηνικὸν πέλαγος, ὡς εἰρήκαμεν, μέχρι τῆς Κυμαίας.
And the whole island is hollow underground, full of rivers and fire, just as the Tyrrhenian Sea is, as we have said, as far as the territory of Cumae.
θερμῶν γοῦν ὑδάτων ἀναβολὰς κατὰ πολλοὺς ἔχει τόπους ἡ νῆσος, ὧν τὰ μὲν Σελινούντια καὶ τὰ Ἱμεραῖα ἁλμυρά ἐστι, τὰ δὲ Αἰγεσταῖα πότιμα περὶ Ἀκράγαντα δὲ λίμναι τὴν μὲν γεῦσιν ἔχουσαι θαλάττης, τὴν δὲ φύσιν διάφορον· οὐδὲ γὰρ τοῖς ἀκολύμβοις βαπτίζεσθαι συμβαίνει ξύλων τρόπον ἐπιπολάζουσιν.
At any rate, the island has springs of hot water in many places, of which those of Selinus and of Himera are salty, while those of Aegesta are drinkable; and near Acragas are lakes which have indeed the taste of the sea, but a different nature; for even to those who cannot swim it does not happen to sink, but they float like logs.
οἱ Παλικοὶ δὲ κρατῆρας ἔχουσιν ἀναβάλλοντας ὕδωρ εἰς θολοειδὲς ἀναφύσημα καὶ πάλιν εἰς τὸν αὐτὸν δεχομένους μυχόν.
And the Palici have craters which throw up water in a dome-like eruption, and receive it back again into the same depth.
τὸ δὲ περὶ Μάταυρον σπήλαιον ἐντὸς ἔχει σύριγγα εὐμεγέθη καὶ ποταμὸν διʼ αὐτῆς ῥέοντα ἀφανῆ μέχρι πολλοῦ διαστήματος, εἶτʼ ἀνακύπτοντα πρὸς τὴν ἐπιφάνειαν, καθάπερ Ὀρόντης ἐν τῇ Συρίᾳ καταδὺς εἰς τὸ μεταξὺ χάσμα Ἀπαμείας καὶ Ἀντιοχείας, ὃ καλοῦσι Χάρυβδιν, ἀνατέλλει πάλιν ἐν τετταράκοντα σταδίοις· τὰ δὲ παραπλήσια καὶ ὁ Τίγρις ἐν τῇ Μεσοποταμίᾳ καὶ ὁ Νεῖλος ἐν τῇ Λιβύῃ μικρὸν πρὸ τῶν πηγῶν.
The cave near Mataurus contains within it a conduit of great size, and a river flowing through it, which is invisible for a long distance, and then emerges to the surface; just as the Orontes in Syria, having sunk into the chasm between Apameia and Antioch which they call Charybdis, rises again forty stadia further on; and the Tigris in Mesopotamia does much the same, and the Nile in Libya a little before its sources.
τὸ δὲ περὶ Στύμφαλον ὕδωρ ἐπὶ διακοσίους σταδίους ὑπὸ γῆν ἐνεχθὲν ἐν τῇ Ἀργείᾳ τὸν Ἐρασῖνον ἐκδίδωσι ποταμόν, καὶ πάλιν τὸ πρὸς τὴν Ἀρκαδικὴν Ἀσέαν ὑποβρύχιον ὠσθὲν ὀψέ ποτε τόν τʼ Εὐρώταν καὶ τὸν Ἀλφειὸν ἀναδίδωσιν, ὥστε καὶ πεπιστεῦσθαι μυθῶδές τι, ὅτι τῶν ἐπιφημισθέντων στεφάνων ἑκατέρῳ καὶ ῥιφέντων εἰς τὸ κοινὸν ῥεῦμα ἀναφαίνεται κατὰ τὸν ἐπιφημισμὸν ἑκάτερος ἐν τῷ οἰκείῳ ποταμῷ.
And the water near Stymphalus, having been carried underground for two hundred stadia, emerges in the Argolid as the river Erasinus; and again, that near Asea in Arcadia, after being forced underground, eventually gives rise to both the Eurotas and the Alpheius, so that even a certain mythical belief has been credited, that if wreaths dedicated to each of them are thrown into the common stream, each wreath appears, according to its dedication, in its respective river.
εἴρηται δὲ καὶ τὸ λεγόμενον περὶ τοῦ Τιμαύου.
And what is said about the Timavus has also been told.
§6.2.10συγγενῆ δὲ καὶ τούτοις καὶ τοῖς κατὰ τὴν Σικελίαν πάθεσι τὰ περὶ τὰς Λιπαραίων νήσους καὶ αὐτὴν τὴν Λιπάραν δείκνυται.
And the phenomena around the Liparian Islands and Lipara itself are shown to be akin both to these and to those in Sicily.
εἰσὶ δʼ ἑπτὰ μὲν τὸν ἀριθμόν, μεγίστη δὲ ἡ Λιπάρα Κνιδίων ἄποικος ἐγγυτάτω τῆς Σικελίας κειμένη μετά γε τὴν Θέρμεσσαν· ἐκαλεῖτο δὲ πρότερον Μελιγουνίς·
They are seven in number, and Lipara, a colony of the Cnidians, is the largest, lying closest to Sicily, at least after Thermessa; and it was formerly called Meligunis.
ἡγήσατο δὲ καὶ στόλῳ καὶ πρὸς τὰς τῶν Τυρρηνῶν ἐπιδρομὰς πολὺν χρόνον ἀντέσχεν, ὑπηκόους ἔχουσα τὰς νῦν λεγομένας Λιπαραίων νήσους ἃς Αἰόλου τινὲς προσαγορεύουσι.
And she ruled with a fleet, and for a long time held out against the incursions of the Tyrrhenians, having as subjects those islands now called the Liparian Islands, which some call the Islands of Aeolus.
καὶ δὴ καὶ τὸ ἱερὸν τοῦ Ἀπόλλωνος ἐκόσμησε πολλάκις τὸ ἐν Δελφοῖς ἀπὸ τῶν ἀκροθινίων· ἔχει δὲ καὶ τὴν γῆν εὔκαρπον καὶ στυπτηρίας μέταλλον ἐμπρόσοδον καὶ θερμὰ ὕδατα καὶ πυρὸς ἀναπνοάς.
And indeed, she often adorned the temple of Apollo at Delphi from her first-fruits; and she has both a fertile soil, and a profitable mine of alum, and hot springs, and breathing-holes of fire.
ταύτης δὲ μεταξύ πώς ἐστι καὶ τῆς Σικελίας ἣν νῦν ἱερὰν Ἡφαίστου καλοῦσι, πετρώδης πᾶσα καὶ ἔρημος διάπυρος· ἔχει δὲ ἀναπνοὰς τρεῖς ὡς ἂν ἐκ τριῶν κρατήρων.
And between this island and Sicily lies that which they now call the Sacred Isle of Hephaestus, entirely rocky and desert and fiery; and it has three breathing-holes, as if from three craters.
ἐκ δὲ τοῦ μεγίστου καὶ μύδρους αἱ φλόγες ἀναφέρουσιν, οἳ προσκεχώκασιν ἤδη πολὺ μέρος τοῦ πόρου.
And from the largest, the flames also carry up glowing masses of stone, which have already blocked up a large part of the strait.
ἐκ δὲ τῆς τηρήσεως πεπίστευται διότι τοῖς ἀνέμοις συμπαροξύνονται καὶ αἱ φλόγες αἵ τε ἐνταῦθα καὶ αἱ κατὰ τὴν Αἴτνην, παυομένων δὲ παύονται καὶ αἱ φλόγες.
And from observation it has been believed that the flames, both here and those at Aetna, are stimulated along with the winds, and that when the winds cease, the flames also cease.
οὐκ ἄλογον δέ· καὶ γὰρ οἱ ἄνεμοι γεννῶνται καὶ τρέφονται τὴν ἀρχὴν λαβόντες ἀπὸ τῶν ἐκ τῆς θαλάττης ἀναθυμιάσεων, ὥστʼ ἀπὸ συγγενοῦς ὕλης καὶ πάθους καὶ τὸ πῦρ ἐξαπτόμενον οὐκ ἐᾷ θαυμάζειν τοὺς ὁρῶντας ἀμωσγέπως τὰ τοιάδε.
And this is not unreasonable; for the winds also are generated and nourished, taking their beginning from the exhalations from the sea, so that the fire, being kindled from a kindred matter and affection, does not allow those who see such things to wonder in some way.
Πολύβιος δὲ τῶν τριῶν κρατήρων τὸν μὲν κατερρυηκέναι φησὶν ἐκ μέρους, τοὺς δὲ συμμένειν, τὸν δὲ μέγιστον τὸ χεῖλος ἔχειν περιφερὲς ὂν πέντε σταδίων, κατʼ ὀλίγον δὲ συνάγεσθαι εἰς πεντήκοντα ποδῶν διάμετρον· καθʼ οὗ βάθος εἶναι τὸ μέχρι θαλάττης σταδιαῖον, ὥστε καθορᾶν ταῖς νηνεμίαις.
And Polybius says that, of the three craters, one has partially collapsed, while the others remain, and that the largest has a circular lip five stadia in circumference, but gradually narrows to a diameter of fifty feet; down from which the depth as far as the sea is a stadium, so that it can be seen down into during calms.
ἐὰν μὲν οὖν νότος μέλλῃ πνεῖν, ἀχλὺν ὁμιχλώδη καταχεῖσθαι κύκλῳ φησὶ τῆς νησῖδος ὥστε μηδὲ τὴν Σικελίαν ἄπωθεν φαίνεσθαι· ὅταν δὲ βορέας, φλόγας καθαρὰς ἀπὸ τοῦ λεχθέντος κρατῆρος εἰς ὕψος ἐξαίρεσθαι καὶ βρόμους ἐκπέμπεσθαι μείζους· τὸν δὲ ζέφυρον μέσην τινὰ ἔχειν τάξιν.
If, then, the south wind is going to blow, he says that a misty haze pours down around the islet, so that not even Sicily is visible from afar; but when the north wind, pure flames rise high from the said crater, and louder rumblings are emitted; and that the west wind holds a sort of middle position.
τοὺς δʼ ἄλλους κρατῆρας ὁμοειδεῖς μὲν εἶναι, τῇ δὲ βίᾳ λείπεσθαι τῶν ἀναφυσημάτων· ἔκ τε δὴ τῆς διαφορᾶς τῶν βρόμων καὶ ἐκ τοῦ πόθεν ἄρχεται τὰ ἀναφυσήματα καὶ αἱ φλόγες καὶ αἱ λιγνύες προσημαίνεσθαι καὶ τὸν εἰς ἡμέραν τρίτην πάλιν μέλλοντα ἄνεμον πνεῖν· τῶν γοῦν ἐν Λιπάραις γενομένης ἀπλοίας προειπεῖν τινάς φησι τὸν ἐσόμενον καὶ μὴ διαψεύσασθαι.
And the other craters are of similar form, but fall short in the violence of their eruptions; and indeed, from the difference of the rumblings, and from where the eruptions and the flames and the thick smoke begin, the wind which is going to blow again on the third day is also foretold; at any rate, he says that some of those in Lipara, when a state of windboundness occurred, foretold the coming wind, and did not prove false.
ἀφʼ οὗ δὴ τὸ μυθωδέστατον δοκοῦν εἰρῆσθαι τῷ ποιητῇ οὐ μάτην φαίνεσθαι λεχθέν, ἀλλʼ αἰνιξαμένου τὴν ἀλήθειαν, ὅταν φῇ ταμίαν τῶν ἀνέμων τὸν Αἰόλον· περὶ ὧν ἐμνήσθημεν καὶ πρότερον ἱκανῶς.
Whence indeed that which seems most mythical in the poet is shown to have been said not in vain, but that he spoke the truth in riddles when he says that Aeolus is the steward of the winds; concerning which things we have also made sufficient mention before.
ἐπάνιμεν δʼ ἐπὶ τὰ ἑξῆς ἀφʼ ὧν παρεξέβημεν.
But let us return to what follows, from which we digressed.