"Far o'er Riphean hills, where Borcas reigns, "He undivided flows, through various plains; "But, when thro' Thrace, and Scythian clime, he glides, "In two broad streams his rapid flood divides." Fawkes. Thus, we find Apollonius supposes the Danube to rise in the Riphaan mountains.—Wherever they were; it appears, that even the best informed of the Greeks, at a period long subsequent, indeed, to the Argonautic expedition, had but a very imperfect acquaintance with the course of the Danube, or the precise place where it springs.This was the case, palpably, with Herodotus, one of their most inquisitive and judicious writers.-He says, that the Danube is supposed to spring from amongst the Celta; and the place of its source is said to be named Pyrene.-(Euterpe, 33.)-So that, if he knew the true position of its source, he must have meant to include the inhabitants of the west of Europe, generally, under the denomination of Celta.-He appears to have had a very indistinct idea, of the tract between the Adriatic sea and the Danube.-The Eneti (Heneti or Veneti) are by him said, to border on the Adriatic; and the Sigyne to have extended to their neighbourhood; but the context, as it stands, appears to be contradictory; for the Sigyna are said to lie beyond the Danube, and yet to extend almost to the Eneti, on the Adriatic. On this part of the subject, it may be material to observe, that Apollonius differs considerably, from the more ancient narrators of the story of the expedition; for instance, from Onomacritus, who published his work, under the name of Orpheus; and who, most probably, only had collected and pieced together, the real venerable fragments of that early bard, hierophant, and adyenturers; venturers; as Macpherson did, in our own times, with respect to Ossian. This deviation, in the course ascribed to the navigators, and in many circumstances of the voyage, from what is pointed out, in the truly Orphic remains and fables, must have proceeded from the preference, which Apollonius, who was a man highly learned, and perfectly acquainted with all the different works on this interesting subject, gave to the narratives of later writers, as Nymphis, Pherecydes, Herodorus, and others. It is observable, that Apollonius perfectly corresponds, in the course which he attributes to the Argonauts, with Apollonorust the Athenian, a writer of high antiquity and credit, who differs, however, from Apollonius, in one or two other particulars.-The Orphic accounts, on the other hand,‡ bring these adventurers into the Palus Maotis, (now the sea of Zabach,) and thence, through a narrow and dangerous strait, on which border the Nomades, the Sauromata, the Geloni, the Brydini, the Melanchlani, the Arimaspians, and other Scythian tribes, to the Northern ocean, which extends to the pole, and the regions of the Hyperboreans and Cimmerians.-To hold this course, they must be supposed, to have past near the present site of Azoph; and to have sailed on the Tanais, now the Don. With respect to the origin, which Apollonius assigns to the Danube, deriving it from the Riphean hills; I would venture, but with much diffidence, to hazard a conjecture, that, by Riphaan hills, in this place, the poet really meant the vast chain-the Carpathian moun tains. Many rivers flow from these hills, which fall * See Rennell's geography of Herodetus, p. 55, 56. + See translation of an extract from Apollodorus. See translation of an extract from Orpheus. into -The Tibis into the Danube, and augment its course.cus, or Tiest-the Tiaranthus, or Ott-the Araxes, or Siret the Parata, or Pruth.-Now, if we grant, that by the Riphean hills are really meant the Carpathian mountains; and, that the ancients were in the habit of confounding with the Danube those rivers, which fall into and augment his stream; and wrote and spoke under the influence of this error, of predicating of the principal, what was true only, and descriptive, of the accessory; we may be able to explain, in a plausible manner, how these fallacious accounts came to originate, respecting the source of the Danube. I proceed, now, to consider another part of the geographical statement of Apollonius, namely, that the Argonauts, from the Ionian sea, as he calls it, sailed up the Po, and thence past into the Rhone, which, according to him, communicates with the Po: that they then proceeded on the Rhone, which, as he asserts, has two branches, with one of which it meets the Ionian sea; and through the other flows into the Ligustic sea, or gulf of Genoa; in its progress inundating the country, and spreading into a number of marshy shallows and stormy lakes, dangerous, in winter, to the navigator #66 197 Δυσχείμεροι. That the Argonauts sailed on this latter part of the Rhone, until they came out in the Ligustic sea, or gulf of Genoa, somewhere in sight of the Stachades or Hieres islands.-We may account for this strange narrative, on the same principles of error, which have already been stated, with respect to the Danube. With a reference to these principles, let us attend the progress of the Po, which, rising from mount Tiso, near the valley of the Po, in the marquisate of Saluces, in Piedmont, takes its course, in a serpentine form, from west to east: the Po, after it has past the valley, from it called the valley of the Po, irrigates the Montferrat, VOL. III. N - Montferrat, and the duchy of Milan, rolls between Cremona, and the Parmesan-traverses the duchy of Mantua-enters the states of the Church, and discharges itself, by a number of embouchures, into the Adriatic sea. That this great river passes through a country, which is eminently watered, by a multitude of streams, intersecting each other, in every direction, so that they form a perfect labyrinth of waters; is manifest, to any one, who consults the maps of that part of Italy. -This river, in its course, receives into its channel a great number of other considerable rivers, which, again, are augmented, as they flow, by a crowd of tributary streams. These are the Chiuson, which joins the Po, near the valley of the Po-the Orco-the Doria Baltea -the Sessia-the Tanaro-the Gogna-the Navilio the Scrivia-the Tesino-the Olona-the Sambro-the Adda-the Trebbia-the Taro-the Oglio-the Mincio -the Secchia-the Tartaro-the Panaro, &c.-This is a tolerably numerous list of considerable streams, all which communicate directly with the Po, independant of smaller streams, which he receives.—Thus, we see, what a number of streams communicate, either directly or indirectly, with the Po, while it is travelling from its source, to the duchy of Ferrara, and the Comachio; where it joins the Adriatic. This circumstance is to be coupled, with the ignorance of the ancient Greeks, respecting the interior of Italy, with which they were little, if at all, acquainted; as may be collected, from the dreadful stories, of giants, enchanters, monsters, and cannibals, which they fabricated, respecting the coasts of Italy, and their inhabitants. If they were thus ignorant, even of the sea-coasts of Italy, and related so many fables concerning it, we must conclude, that being, of course, still more ignorant of every particular, respecting the inland region, their accounts must have been wild wild and erroneous, when they attempted to describe them. The confusion, which necessarily results from a similitude of names, must, also, as I have said, be taken into account. In fact, that part of Italy, which stretches between the gulf of Genoa, and the head of the Adriatic sea, or gulf of Venice, is intersected and watered, perhaps above any other part of the known world, with rivers, which traverse it, in every direction. This, allowing for the amplifications and misrepresentations of travellers, and the disguise of names, might have supplied some sort of groundwork, for the superstructure of fabulous or erroneous geography, which we find detailed in Apollonius. -Our poet, also, talks of a number of marshes, and spreading lakes, whose waters are agitated by storms: this part of his account perfectly tallies, with what we know to be true, respecting the part of Italy of which I speak. There are a number of lakes, which stretch, in a sort of chain, through the north of Italy. Such are the lakes of Bregentz, Lago Maggiore, Lago Lugano, the lake of Como, Lago di Garda, the lake of the Mincio, in which Mantua stands.- -These lakes, either actually or nearly communicate with the rivers, that join the Po-the Lago di Como itself, becomes a regular river, in the Adda. From the Lago Maggiore flows the Tesina, which, together with the Oglio, and, as I have said, almost all the rivers of this region, loses itself in the Po. At the same time, the Po spreads into extensive marshes and shallows, in the Comacchio. If we look at the shores of the gulf of Genoa, the country of Nice, the marquisate of Final, and the Rimiera; we observe there a great number of rivers, falling into the sea.-Now, it is highly probable, that the ancient Greeks, with the very superficial, and, as I may call it, mere coast knowledge, which they had obtained, concerning N 2 |