DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.6094#0238
SICILY AND MALTA. 215
ruins of this structure have remained un-
covered for so many ages, so near the top
of iEtna, when thousands of places at a
great distance from it, have been repeatedly
buried by its lavas, in a much shorter
time. A proof that few eruptions have
risen so high in the mountain.
Empedocles was a native of Agrigentum,
and is supposed to have died 400 years be-
fore the Christian jera. Perhaps his vanity
more than his philosophy led him to this
elevated iituation ; nay, it is said to have
carried him still much farther :—That he
might be looked upon as a god, and that
the people might suppose he was taken up
to heaven, he is recorded to have thrown
himself headlong into the great gulph of
mount iEtna, never supposmg that his death
could be discovered to mankind ; but the
treacherous mountain threw out his ssip-
pers, which were of brass, and announced
to the world the fate of the philosopher,
P 4 *rac»i
ruins of this structure have remained un-
covered for so many ages, so near the top
of iEtna, when thousands of places at a
great distance from it, have been repeatedly
buried by its lavas, in a much shorter
time. A proof that few eruptions have
risen so high in the mountain.
Empedocles was a native of Agrigentum,
and is supposed to have died 400 years be-
fore the Christian jera. Perhaps his vanity
more than his philosophy led him to this
elevated iituation ; nay, it is said to have
carried him still much farther :—That he
might be looked upon as a god, and that
the people might suppose he was taken up
to heaven, he is recorded to have thrown
himself headlong into the great gulph of
mount iEtna, never supposmg that his death
could be discovered to mankind ; but the
treacherous mountain threw out his ssip-
pers, which were of brass, and announced
to the world the fate of the philosopher,
P 4 *rac»i