Eustace, John Cretwode: A classical tour through Italy An. MDCCCII (Vol. 3): 3. ed., rev. and enl (London: J. Mawman, 1815)

Ch. III.

THROUGH ITALY.

101

Callimara and Cantena; * and behind them
towers, Mont Alburnus itself with its pointed
summits. A stream called the Solofone (which
may probably be its ancient appellation) flows
under the walls, and by spreading· its -waters
over its low borders, and thus producing· pools
that corrupt in hot weather, continues, as in
ancient times, f to infect the air, and render
Prestum a dano-erous residence in summer. As
o
the heats wrere increasing', and the season of ma-
laria approached, we did not deem it prudent
to prolong our excursion; and we left Prestum
without accomplishing the whole of our object;
which was to examine the ruins of Posidonia,
visit the island of Licoso (the ancient Leucosia,
which, like Naples, takes its name from a Syren)
and the Cape Palinurtis ; to explore the recesses
of Alburnus, and to wander over the vale of
Diano watered by the classic Tanagro.
The ruins of Posidonia which, as I have al-»
ready mentioned, cover the plain that extends
from Prestum to Agropoli, cannot but exhibit, if

* These hills and the neighboring plain were the theatre
of some bloody skirmishes between the Roman armies and
the bands of Spartacus.

t Strabo, Lib. v.