The History of Rome

the mighty republic whose origin and history we have undertaken to relate, is separated from the great European continent by the mountain-range of the Alps, and extends about five hundred miles in a south-eastern direction into the Mediterranean sea. The part of this sea between Italy and the Hellenic peninsula was named the Adriatic or Upper Sea (Mare Superum), that on the west toward the Iberian peninsula the Tyrrhenian or Lower Sea (Mare Inferum). A mountain-range, the Apennines, commences at the Alps on the north-western extremity of Italy, and runs along it nearly to its termination, sending out branches on either side to the sea, between which lie valleys and plains generally of extreme fertility. The great plain in the north, extending in an unbroken level from the Alps to the Apennines and the sea, and watered by the Po (Padus) and Now called the Plain of the Po (La Pianura del Po). other streams, is the richest in Europe ; and that of Campania on the west coast yields to it in extent rather than in fertility. The rivers which descend to water these plains and valleys are numerous; and many of them, such as the Po, the Adige (Atesis), the Arno, and the Tiber, are navigable. The mountains of Italy are composed internally of granite, which is covered with formations of primary and secondary limestone, abounding in minerals, and in ancient times remarkably prolific of copper. The white marble of Carrara on the west coast is not...