176
PLINY'S NATURAL HISTORY.
[Book III.
other the Metapinian mouth; the third and largest is called the Massiliotic.[1] There are some authors who state that there was formerly a town called Heraclea[2] at the mouth of the Rhodanus or Rhone.
Beyond this are the Canals[3] leading out of the Rhone, a famous work of Caius Marius, and still distinguished by his name; the Lake of Mastramela[4], the town of Maritima[5] of the Avatici, and, above this, the Stony Plains[6], memorable for the
- ↑ This mouth of the Rhone was much used by the Massilians for the purposes of commerce with the interior of Gaul, and the carriage of the supplies of tin which they obtained thence.
- ↑ The manner in which Pliny here expresses himself shows that he doubts the fact of such a place having even existed; it is mentioned by none of the preceding geographers, and of those who followed him Stephen of Byzantium is the only one who notices it. An inscription was found however in the reign of Charles V. of France, in which it was stated that Ataulphus, king of the Visigoths, selected Heraclea as his place of residence. On the faith of this inscription, Spon and Ducange have placed Heraclea at the modern Saint-Gilles, and other writers at Saint-Remy, where the inscription was found. Unfortunately, however, Messrs. Devic and Vaissette, in their "History of Languedoc," have proved that this inscription is of spurious origin.
- ↑ The "Fossæ Marianæ" are also mentioned by Ptolemy and Solinus; though they differ in the situation which they have respectively assigned them. They were formed by Marius when advancing to dispute the passage of the Rhone with the Cimbri, who had quitted Spain for the purpose of passing the Pyrenees and invading Italy, in the year B.C. 102. There is considerable difficulty in determining their position, but they are supposed to have commenced at the place now called the Camp of Marius, and to have terminated at the eastern mouth of the Rhone near the present Arles.
- ↑ Pliny is the first who mentions the name of this lake, though previous writers had indicated its existence. Strabo informs us that above the mouth of the Rhone there is a large lake that communicates with the sea, and abounds in fish and oysters. Brotier and D'Anville identify it with the present lake of Martigues or of Berre.
- ↑ D'Anville takes this place to be the present town of Martigues; Brotier thinks that it was situate on the spot now called Le Cap d'Œil, near the town of Saint-Chamas; and Bouche, the historian of the Province, places it at Marignane, on the east side of the lake already mentioned.
- ↑ "Campi Lapidei," called by the natives at the present day "La Crau;" probably from the same Celtic root as our word "Crags;" though Bochart derives it from the Hebrew. Æschylus and Hyginus speak of this com-
ville considers the "Lesser" Rhone to have been the "Spanish" mouth of the ancients. In consequence of the overflowings of this river there is great confusion upon this subject.
