to this country by the poets; but these designations are not properly
applicable; for Hespéria was a general name for all the countries
lying to the west of Greece, and the other two names really belonged
to particular districts.

3. The northern boundary of Italy, in its full extent, is the chain of
the Alps, which forms a kind of crescent, with the convex side towards
Gaul. The various branches of these mountains had distinct names; the
most remarkable were, the Maritime Alps, extending from the Ligurian
sea to Mount Vésulus, _Veso_; the Collian, Graian, Penine, Rhoetian,
Tridentine, Carnic, and Julian Alps, which nearly complete the
crescent; the Euganean, Venetian, and Pannonian Alps, that extend the
chain to the east.

4. The political divisions of Italy have been frequently altered, but
it may be considered as naturally divided into Northern, Central, and
Southern Italy.

The principal divisions of Northern Italy were Ligu'ria and Cisalpine
Gaul.

5. Only one half of Liguria was accounted part of Italy; the remainder
was included in Gaul. The Ligurians originally possessed the entire
line of sea-coast from the Pyrennees to the Tiber, and the mountainous
district now called _Piedmont_; but before the historic age a great
part of their territory was wrested from them by the Iberians, the
Celts, and the Tuscans, until their limits were contracted nearly to
those of the present district attached to Genoa. Their chief cities
were Genúa, _Genoa_; Nicoe'a, _Nice_, founded by a colony from
Marseilles; and As'ta, _Asti_. The Ligurians were one of the last