nuations o f the hills of the; continent, as the correipondence
of the ftráta interrupted by the fea in later times ihews beyond
a doubt.
I f phyfical proofs, deduced ffotir a diligent inlpeftion o f the
country, add weight to the ' rei'pedable authority o f the ancient
geographers and hiilorical1 poets, notwithftanding the difappro-
bation o f Strabo, Diodorus Siculus, and other writers, o f . leffe®
note ; a vifible and palpable monument o f the divifion o f the
IJler, and o f its double mouth!?, which is found in Goltzius,
máy'-herbará'afford'the Ml" degree' oft force and' evidence. *
Among the méft remarkable ’Greek coins publiihed by that cele-
brated' aútiqüary, thdfe-is1 one which beats two heads turned, in
an oppofite direction, and on the reverte it has an eagle and a
dolphin with the name o f the nation lKTj.55i.11 I have fcen four,
o f thèfe coins,’ hot- all done at the fame time, in. the royal più»
fèum o f Gapadimonte at-Naples. -
The firft who explained this monument,, which- in the prefenf
caféis very valuable, was .Gerard .in his annotations pn
Pomponitti Mela,/ whor- interpreted the two heads as emblems o f
the IJler,. which difcharged- itfelf in .two. different feáf), a o
cording to,thè.opinion ,of the people, by whom, the coin, was-
ihu.ck : Nonius alfo, .the commentator of Golzius, attributed.the
coin, that carries the ; national name of her^uv to the IJiro-
poliiam,,, though the , name itfelf ,/eems rather to.denote the
jilrian- Nation, and not to have, belonged to the lilropoiitan.
commun’ityi.'as,.in-that.cafe;.it wouldhave been-wrote iKrpaaroAiTMn.^
I do
* Goltzius io iCumnì's G’txc. I . 3. O p lT ic b .. 28. N , V II ,
t [ litro, próxima eft' ] 'P/ieres JJIhnCappellmt,. id. fu , ¡¡usque vet eres
nummi apud Gdtziuer. id alibi, in quibus manifejie fcriptum fonici
pro.
I do not think I need to enlarge, further, to magnify this
new proof of the exiilence o f the Iftrian river, or to take, notice
how unreafonable it would be, and o f how bad an exarpple to
maintain, even in contradiction to the ancient coins, that the
divergency of the «Danube has always been fabqlpus, or. its communication
with fome river, that difcharged. itfelf into the Adri-
atick. I know very well, that the illuilrators o f the Iftrian
antiquities believed, that this monument ought to he applied
in another manner: but it cannot;be thought a yvant o f due
deference .to them, if, uniting this, nummary propf to tpe others
drawn from a phyfical obfcrvation o f the province and the
neighbouring countries, I endeavour to let it in a more ..iater-
refting light. The learned efteemers o f ancjen,t .coipsj who
know how much credit is due to them*-and, how.,much advantage.
and perfpicuity the hiftory o f diftant. times has always
derived from them, are in fome meafure bound-to p^rpnize.my
caufe, - .Siiqsv'i VwwnW^v.'d
‘I f the phyfical proofs and conjectures which I have collected,
appear as conclufive to others as they do to me, and conic-,
quently place1 beyond all doubt the COurfe o f an ahcient fiver)
which, palling along the bottom of the hills Ocda and'M/Sio,
as feems molt probable, and traverflng IJlrid1,1 difcharged itfelF
ihto’
pro Ab adverfa parte ’ ’ duo capita adparent febi invicem jueeffdy,
alttro tamen inverfo. fhearunt multi quid fibi velent adverfa ijla Capita. BgfrJj/ite
fiuminis imaginem ejje puto, : .Nam' cum alia fivmem exeant in idem. ; Jafas,.
fere Danubius, vel Ifer, iri divtrfa metria diverfes id contraries exire capitibus
credebatur : nempe in Pontum Euxinum, id in Aireaticum. OJiea vero fiuminum
pajfem capita appellari a Latinis id Greeds licet minus proprit, cum potius fames
adpellari debeant, nodffemum ejl. Ifaac. Vofs. Obferv. ia . Melam. 38.