thought to be itself the native land of the sun, the claims of
Rhodes to that honour being outdone.... It enjoys a translucent
air, but withal so temperate, that its winters are sunny and its
summers cool, and life passes there without sorrow, since hostile
seasons are feared by none. Hence, too, man himself is here freer
of soul than elsewhere, for this temperateness of the climate
prevails in all things.... Assuredly for the body to imbibe muddy
waters is a different thing from sucking in the transparency of a
sweet fountain. Even so the vigour of the mind is repressed when
it is clogged by a heavy atmosphere. Nature itself hath made us
subject to these influences.... clouds make us feel sad, and
again a bright day fills us with joy.... At the foot of the
Moscian Mount we hollowed out the bowels of the rock, and
tastefully introduced therein the eddying waves of Nereus. Here a
troop of fishes sporting in free captivity refreshes all minds
with delight, and charms all eyes with admiration. They run
greedily to the hand of man, and, before they become his food,
seek dainties from him.

He described the town as rich in vineyards and olive woods,
cornfields and villas.

He awarded the palm of beauty to Como and its lake, and although he
wrote in the clumsy language of a decaying literature, this
sixth-century sketch still strikes us as surprisingly complete and
artistic in feeling:

Como, with its precipitous mountains and its vast expanse of
lake, seems placed there for the defence of the Province of
Liguria; and yet again, it is so beautiful, that one would think