than to the vessels that are upon it, still it takes care to carry away no portion of its banks, and when it recedes, renders them additionally fertile. Its length from its source is 300 miles, to which we must add eighty-eight for its sinuosities; and it receives from the Apennines and Alps not only several navigable rivers, but immense lakes as well, which discharge themselves into its waters, thus conveying altogether as many as thirty streams into the Adriatic Sea.
Of these the best known are the following — flowing from the range of the Apennines, the Jactus, the Tanarus[1], the Trebia which passes Placentia, the Tarus, the Incia, the Gabellus, the Scultenna, and the Rhenus: from the chain of the Alps, the Stura[2], the Orgus, the two Duriæ, the Sessites, the Ticinus, the Lambrus, the Addua, the Ollius, and the Mincius. There is no river known to receive a larger increase than this in so short a space; so much so indeed that it is impelled onwards by this vast body of water, and, invading the land[3], forms deep channels in its course: hence it is that, although a portion of its stream is drawn off by rivers and canals between Ravenna and Altinum, for a space of 120 miles, still, at the spot where it discharges the vast body of its waters, it is said to form seven seas.
By the Augustan Canal the Padus is carried to Ravenna, at which place it is called the Padusa[4], having formerly borne the name of Messanicus. The nearest mouth to this spot
- ↑ The Tanarus is still called the Tanaro. The Trebia, now the Trebbia, is memorable for the defeat on its banks of the Romans by Hannibal, B.C. 218. The Incia is the modern Enza or Lenza, the Tarus the Taro, the Gabellus the Secchia, the Scultenna the Panaro, and the Rhenus the Reno.
- ↑ The Stura still has the same name; the Orgus is modern Orco. The streams called Duriæ are known as the Dora Baltea and the Dora Riparia; the Sessites is the Sesia, the Ticinus the Tessino, the Lambrus the Lambro, the Addua the Adda, the Ollius the Oglio, and the Mincius the Menzo.
- ↑ This seems to be the meaning of "gravis terræ," unless it signifies "pressing heavily upon the land," and so cutting out channels for its course. He has previously stated that, though rapid, it is not in the habit of carrying away its banks. See a very able article on the question whether the name Eridanus belonged originally to this river or to some other in the north of Europe, in Dr. Smith's Dictionary of Ancient Geography under the word "Eridanus."
- ↑ That is to say, the canal made by Augustus was so called.
