2. Chap. 1. (1.)-The Boundaries And Gulfs Of Europe First Set Forth In A General Way.

CHAP. 1. (1.)—THE BOUNDARIES AND GULFS OF EUROPE FIRST SET FORTH IN A GENERAL WAY.

I shall first then speak of Europe, the foster-mother of that people which has conquered all other nations, and itself by far the most beauteous portion of the earth. Indeed, many persons have, not without reason[1], considered it, not as a third part only of the earth, but as equal to all the rest, looking upon the whole of our globe as divided into two parts only, by a line drawn from the river Tanais to the Straits of Gades. The ocean, after pouring the waters of the Atlantic through the inlet which I have here described, and, in its eager progress, overwhelming all the lands which have had to dread its approach, skirts with its winding course the shores of those parts which offer a more effectual resistance, hollowing out the coast of Europe especially into numerous bays, among which there are four Gulfs that are more particularly remarkable. The first of these begins at Calpe, which I have previously mentioned, the most distant mountain of Spain; and bends, describing an immense curve, as far as Locri and the Promontory of Bruttium[2].

1. This was the opinion of Herodotus, but it had been so strenuously combated by Polybius and other writers before the time of Pliny, that it is difficult to imagine how he should countenance it.

2. He probably alludes to Leucopetra, now called Capo dell' Armi. Locri Epizephyrii was a town of Bruttium, situate north of the promontory of Zephyrium, now called Capo di Bruzzano.