was subject to them is not free from question, but it is certain
that their territory comprised the celebrated mineral and va-
pour baths known by the names of Thermae Selinuntiae, Acquse
Selinuntiae, and Thermae Colonise, situated near the coast, about
twenty miles eastward of Selinus, and which, besides the repu-
tation of their medicinal virtues, enjoy the fame of having ex-
ercised the skill of the renowned Daedalus to adapt them for
public use'.

With all these advantages, Selinus itself was subject to a
great evil, in the insalubrity of the air, which committed an-
nually dreadful ravages among the population, till the science of
Empedocles liberated the city from so dire a scourge. The
Agrigentine philosopher discovered the cause of the evil, and
applied its remedy by effecting a current to the stagnant waters
of the neighbouring marshes5. The citizens, in gratitude to
their deliverer, paid him divine honours1.

The piety of the Selinuntians towards the gods is attested by

1 Diod. Sic. lib. iv. 78. Strabo, lib. vi. Plin. lib. in. 8.

Tbesc baths arc known in modem times by the name of the Baths of Sciacca, and are still
much resorted to. The mineral baths arc situated close to the town of Sciacca; the va-
pour batlis arc on the summit of <t mountain called St. Calogcro, between two and three
miles from the town. The vapour issuts from artificial caverns, in the recesses of which
arc seats cut in the rock : these caverns and seats arc shewn by the hermits who keep
the hospital as the works of Dredalus. The number of patients who annually take the
benefit of tbesc batlis is computed at 1500.

1 Laert. in Emp. Sec also the Abate ^cilia's very clever work, " Memoria sulla Vita e
Filosofia d'Empedocle."

' Some of the ancient coins of Selinus, representing the river Hypsa sacrificing, and on
the reverse a quadriga, are supposed to allude to this event. Sec " Sicilian vcteres nummi".
Tab. i,xv. and Buiniannus, in Tab. an,