forms the extensive port known as that of Vatrenus, where Claudius Cæsar[1], on his triumph over the Britons, entered the Adriatic in a vessel that deserved rather the name of a vast palace than a ship. This mouth, which was formerly called by some the Eridanian, has been by others styled the Spinetic mouth, from the city of Spina, a very powerful place which formerly stood in the vicinity, if we may form a conclusion from the amount of its treasure deposited at Delphi; it was founded by Diomedes. At this spot the river Vatrenus[2], which flows from the territory of Forum Cornelî, swells the waters of the Padus.
The next mouth to this is that of Caprasia[3], then that of Sagis, and then Volane, formerly called Olane; all of which are situate upon the Flavian Canal[4], which the Tuscans formerly made from Sagis, thus drawing the impetuous stream of the river across into the marshes of the Atriani, which they call the Seven Seas; and upon which is the noble port of Atria[5], a city of the Tuscans, from which place the sea was formerly called the Atriatic, though now the Adriatic.
We next come to the overflowing mouths of Carbonaria, and the Fosses of Philistina[6], by some called Tarta-
- ↑ It was on this occasion that, after a stay of only a few days in Britain, he quitted the island, returned to Rome, and celebrated a splendid triumph. This outlet of the Po has now the name of Po di Primero.
- ↑ Now the Santerno, noted for the sluggishness of its waters.
- ↑ The Ostium Caprasiæ is now called the Porto Interito di Bell'Ochio, the Ostium Sagis the Porto di Magnavacca; Volane, or Volana, is the south main branch of the river. The Ostia Carbonaria, mentioned below, was the north main branch, subdivided into several small branches; and the Fossæ or Fossiones Philistinæ connected the river, by means of the Tartarus, with the Athesis.
- ↑ The reading is doubtful here, and even this, which is perhaps the best, appears to be corrupt; for it is difficult to conceive how all the mouths previously mentioned could have been upon one canal, and besides it would seem that Olane was one of the natural mouths of the river.
- ↑ More generally Adria, from which, as Pliny says, the Adriatic takes its name. Either a Greek, or, what is more probable, as Pliny states, an Etruscan colony, it became the principal emporium of trade with the Adriatic, in consequence of which it was surrounded with canals and other works to facilitate its communications with other rivers. It is still called Adria, and in its vicinity to the south, considerable remains of the ancient city are still to be seen.
- ↑ So called from the Philistæi, said to have been the ancient inhabit-
