Batman vppon Bartholome his booke De proprietatibus rerum, newly corrected, enlarged and amended: with such additions as are requisite, vnto euery seuerall booke: taken foorth of the most approued authors, the like heretofore not translated in English. Profitable for all estates, as well for the benefite of the mind as the bodie. 1582.

Of Sicilia, chap. 152.

Sicilia was sometime called Scicania, & had that name of Sicanus the king, and was afterward called Sicilia, & had that name of Siculus the brother of Italus: and this land was in old time called Trina∣cria, for thrée furlongs that be there, & be called Pelorum, Patheum, & Libeum, for Trinacria is Grée••e, and is to saye, three square, for it is diuided thrée squares. This land is departed from Italy with a little sea, & is afore the sea Affricum. The land beareth well fruit & is rich of gold, and full of dens, chins, and caues, & is ful of wind and of brimstone. And ther bur∣neth the heat of the mount Ethna. In the sea therof is Scilia & Caribdis, in which shiue be swallowed, or sinke, or be bro∣ken. This was the country of Ciclopes, & afterward nourisher of Tyrants: And it beareth well, corne, and is eared & sowen with séed first of all lands: The chiefe ci∣tie thereof is Siracusa: there is a wel A∣racusa, and the riuer Albius, that nouri∣sheth horse: Therein was first found the Iland of Comedia. In the riuer of Agath in Sicilia was the stone Achates first found: And in y^e sea of Sicilia is white co∣rall ingendered, and salt that is called A∣grigentine, a wonderfull manner salt: for it melteth in fire & sparkleth in water: al this lande about conteineth the space of three thousand furlongs.

Also Salustius saith, that Sicilia ioyned to Italy somtime: but y^e space that now is betwéene, was broken & consumed with strength of the sea. Huc vsque Isi. lib. 25. ca, de Insulis: ther al these forsayd things be rehearsed, & Plinius telleth the same.

(* 1.1Sicilia a noble Ile, first called Trina∣cria. afterward Sicania, & at y^e last Sici∣lia, it is in forme 3. cornard, & therefore hath y^e name of Trinacria: the one corner called Pachinus, extendeth toward y^e part of Gréece, which was called Peleponensi∣us, now Morea: the second corner called Pelorus lieth toward Italy: the third cal∣led Lilyhens, it extedeth toward Affrica, of the which Pelarus, excéedeth in the temperance of y^e earth, for with no wet there, may be any nure: nor by any drieth dust. This Ile containeth in circuite (as Solinus writeth, (3000. furlongs

which is of Italian miles .373. as Dio∣dorus Syculus writeth .4360. But Plini∣us sayth, that the thrée corners be distant from Pelorus, to Pachinus by land .165. miles: from thence to Lilybeum .200. miles: from thence to Pelorus 170. miles, and sayth also, that Agrippa affir∣med it, to bée in circuit .618. miles, which doe not agrée with Solinus nor Diodo∣rus, which may happen to be by the di∣uersitie of furlongs called sir Latine Sta∣dia. The fertilitye of this Ile in all graine, beautie of medowes, delicatenesse of waters colde and hot, mountaines and caues myraculous, and other things ther excéeding notable, many Authours haue written and wondered at, both Gréekes, and Latines. D. Cooper in The∣saurus.

Notes

• * 1.1

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