Text, translated from the 1584 Latin 3rd Add./1584 Latin, 1584 German 3rd Add., 1585 French 3rd Add./1587 French, 1592 Latin, 1595 Latin, 1601 Latin, 1602 German, 1603 Latin, 1606 English, 1608/1612 Italian, 1609/1612 Spanish/Latin & 1624 Latin Parergon/1641 Spanish [but text in Latin] editions:
211.1. {1584L3Add/1584L{SICILIA {1592L, not in 1602G & 1608/1612I{Or TRINACRIA}1592L, not in 1602G & 1608/1612I}.
211.2. It is a general opinion in all antiquity that this was formerly a peninsula {1606E only{or half-island}1606E only}, joined {not in 1584G3Add & 1602G{to Italy}not in 1584G3Add & 1602G} {not in 1585F3Add/1587F{as a part of Brutum}not in 1585F3Add/1587F} {1585F3Add/1587F & 1606E only{in Calabria}1585F3Add/1587F & 1606E only} near Rhegium {1585F3Add/1587F & 1606E only(Rhezzo)1585F3Add/1587F & 1606E only}, and later was separated from it {1606E only{by violence of a tempest}1606E only} {not in 1584G3Add, 1585F3Add/1587F & 1602G{(and from that accident Rhegium took its name)}not in 1584G3Add, 1585F3Add/1587F & 1602G}. But when or at what time this division took place, there is no recollection of that, in any writer. Strabo, Plinius and Dionysius write that it was caused by an earth quake or chasm. {1592L, not in 1602G{Silius {1595L{and Cassiodorus}1595L} think it was caused by a surge of the sea}1592L, not in 1602G}.
211.3. They who take recourse to fables, attribute the cause of it to Neptune (as Eusthatius states) who with his trident separated it from the mainland to favour Iocastus, the son of Æolus, and thus made into an island which before was a peninsula so that he might more safely inhabit it. Diodorus Siculus on the authority of Hesiodus ascribes it to Orion, who, so that he might be compared to Hercules, by cutting through the mountains, first opened the Sicilian straights {1585F3Add/1587F only{now called El faro de Messina}1585F3Add/1587F only}, as Hercules did for Cadiz or Gaditano {1606E instead{Gibraltar}1606E instead}. Therefore, Trinacria quondam| Italiæ pars vna fuit; sed pontus & æstus| Mutauere situm, rupit confinia Nereus| Victor, & abscissos interluit æquore montes &c. {1584G3Add, 1585F3Add/1587F, 1602G & 1608/1612I only{Trinacria was once a part of Italy, but through the violence of the sea the connection was broken, {not in 1584G3Add & 1602G{and Nereus became victorious}not in 1584G3Add & 1602G}, as he parted the mountains and cut them off by water, etc.}1584G3Add, 1585F3Add/1587F, 1602G & 1608/1612I only}. They who judge the islands of the Mediterranean sea according to their size make this one out to be the largest, as [do] Eusthatius and Strabo, who states that this [island] not only excels above the others in size, but also in quality of its soil.
211.4. As regards the form of this island, Pomponius Mela says it is like that Capital letter of the Greeks called Delta {shown as the Greek capital delta in editions 1584G3Add, 1602G and 1608/1612I only}. All ancient writers are in general agreement that the whole island was consacrated to Ceres and {not in 1584G3Add & 1602G{Libera, that is,}not in 1584G3Add & 1602G} Proserpina. To Ceres it was dedicated because she prescribed laws and was the first to teach the planting and sowing of corn. To Proserpina not so much because she was taken from there forcefully by Pluto, but because Pluto {not in 1585F3Add/1587F{(which Plutarchus and Diodorus report as the truth)}not in 1585F3Add/1587F}, as she first uncovered herself to be seen by him, gave it to her as a present, which kind of gift the Greek call anacalypteria [the unveiling]{1585F3Add/1587F instead{he presented her with such gifts as which the bridegroom and his friends give to the bride when she has unveiled her face for the first time and shows it to the men}1585F3Add/1587F instead}{1608/1612I instead{as a present from the bridegroom to the bride at the time of the wedding}1608/1612I instead}.
211.5. About the fertility and richness of this area there is testimony, written by Cicero in his second oration to Verres, where he says that Marcus Cato called it The granary and storehouse of the Roman commonwealth, and the nurse of the people. The same Cicero adds that it was not only the storehouse of the people of Rome, but was also considered as a well-furnished treasury, for without any costs on our part, he says, it has usually clothed and lavishly furnished our greatest armies with leather, apparel and corn.
211.6. Strabo in his sixth book reports roughly the same about it. Whatever Sicilia produces, says Solinus, either by the kind temperature, or by the labour and industry of man, is considered to be equal to those things that are esteemed best, except that some produce is overgrown by saffron, (Crocus Centuripinus){1608/1612I instead{Centupurino}1608/1612I instead}. {1592L, not in 1602G{Aristoteles in his Admiranda writes that around Pelorus {1606E only{(Cabo de la torre del Faro)}1606E only} saffron grows in such abundance that any man may load it and carry it away by whole cart loads}1592L}. {1595L{But Dioscorides states that that which grows around Centuripinum {1608/1612I instead{Centupurino}1608/1612I instead}{1606E only{(a town now called Centorvi)}1606E only} is much weaker, and of less strength than that which grows in other places}1595L, not in 1602G}{1608/1612I instead{than that of the land of Centorbe in Sicily}1608/1612I instead}.
211.7. Diodorus Siculus adds that in the area of Leontin and in various other places on this island, wheat grows by itself. That this island was made a province of the Romans before any other foreign nation has been recorded amongst others by Cicero and Diodorus. {Not in 1585F3Add/1587F{Martianus shows that there were on it 5 {1606E has instead{6}1606E instead} settlements and 66 {1606E has instead{60}1606E instead} cities. {1595L, not in 1602G{Pintianus, in the 8th chapter of Plinius' 3rd book finds 73 free settlements and cities}1595L, not in 1602G}. Silius in his 14th {1584L3Add, 1584L, 1584G3Add & 1602G have instead{4th}1584L3Add, 1584L, 1584G3Add & 1602G instead} book {not in 1584G3Add & 1602G{and Ovidius in various places list the names of many of them,}not in 1584G3Add & 1602G} but our present map shows many more}not in 1585F3Add/1587F}.
211.8. All histories and fables agree unanimously that it was in the beginning possessed by Giants, Læstrigones, Anthropophagi and Cyclopes, [all of them] barbarous and uncivil. Yet, Thucydides says that these savage people lived only in one place on the island. Afterwards the Sicani, a people from Spain, so called after the river Sicanus (or, as Solinus and Berosus claim, after their king Sicanus) possessed it, driven out of their country as they were by the Ligures {1585F3Add/1587F instead{Genevois}1585F3Add/1587F instead}. {Not in 1584G3Add{That these Sicani did not grow up on this island {not in 1585F3Add/1587F{(though some think they did)}not in 1585F3Add/1587F} is asserted by Thucydides and Diodorus}not in 1584G3Add}. After these, it was named SICANIA. {not in 1585F3Add/1587F{Then the Elymi and some of the Phocenses settled here.
211.9. After them came the Phryges, driven from Troy as Pausanias thinks, and the Morgetes, expelled from Italy by the Oenotri, as Strabo writes. {1595L, not in 1602G{In Convivalibus Quæst. by Plutarchus and in the 2nd book of De Manibus by Iulius Pollux {1608/1612I only{in his second book about demons in hell}1608/1612I only} I read that the Dores once inhabited it}1595L, not in 1602G}. Finally, it was entirely conquered by the Siculi, a people from Italy, overthrown and expelled by the Opici, and it was by them that [the island] was called SICILIA, whereas before that it was known by the name TRINACRIA, as Dionysius writes, or [as] TRINACRIS, as Ovidius [has it], or TRINACRIA and TRIQUETRA, as Plinius reports, after its triangular form.
211.10. After which the Romans {not in 1584G3Add & 1602G{on their coins}not in 1584G3Add & 1602G} used to depict this area by three legs, joined together at the upper end {1606E only{(not much unlike those arms of the Earl of Darby, I think)}1606E only}. Lycophron {1606E only{for the same reason}1606E only} gives it the epithet TRICERVIX, [three-necked], and Pindarus in a similar manner calls it TRICUSPES, [three-pointed]. Homerus, {1606E only{the prince of poets}1606E only}, names it CYCLOPUM TERRA, [the land of the Cyclopes] after its inhabitants, since at his time it may not yet have had a proper name}not in 1585F3Add/1587F}.
211.11. {1592L, not in 1602G{Iulius Firmicus says that the Siculi, the people of this island, are sharp and of nimble wit}1592L}. {1595L{Quintilianus in the 6th book of his Oratoriar. says that they are lascivious, and verbose}1595L, not in 1602G}. Besides many famous deeds performed by these people in peace as well as in war, there are also many other things which have made this island very renowned such as: the birth of Ceres, the ravishing of Proserpina, the Giant Enceladus, the {1606E only{wonderful}1606E only} mathematician Archimedes, the {1606E only{famous}1606E only} geometrician Euclides, the {1606E only{accurate}1606E only} historian Diodorus, the {1606E{deep}1606E} philosopher Empedocles, the ingenious architecture of Dædalus, the tomb of Sibylla of Cumana, Syracuse, {not in 1585F3Add & 1587F{the famous tetrapolis, or as Strabo says, pentapolis}not in 1585F3Add & 1587F} {1606E only{(one city made out of 4 or 5 cities, like London, considering Westminster and Southwark may be said to be a tripolis)}1606E only}, the fountain Arethusa, mount Ætna, lake Palicus, Scylla and Charybdis {1585F3Add/1587F only{now Scylla garofaro}1585F3Add/1587F only} and the notorious harlot Lais.
211.12. Besides [all this, there are] many miracles and wonderful works of nature, about which you may read in Solinus, {1595L, not in 1602G{in Trogus' fourth book, in Antigonus' De Mirabililibus and in Achilles Statius' 2nd book of Love}1595L, not in 1602G}. The same as regards statues, costly images of art, which are described by Cicero in his orations to Verres. {1592L, not in 1602G{Athenæus highly recommends the Sicilian cheese, doves and various sorts of garments. Antigonus writes that the Cactos (a kind of thorny plants) grow on this island, {1595L{and nowhere else, as Theophrastes says}1595L}. If a stag treads on it and punctures its foot, its bones will yield no sound}1592L}, showing that these thorns are of no use.
211.13. {1595L{Here also, as Plinius says, is found the Smaragd, {1606E only{a kind of precious stone, of great value in those days}1606E only}. In the sea, according to the same author, Coral is found. Iulius Pollux writes that this island at first had no hares, but that these were brought in by Anaxila Rheginus}1595L, not in 1602G}. The Sicilian sea which beats on the East side of this island, is also called Ausonium mare, and it is the deepest [part of the Mediterranean sea], as Strabo testifies}1585F3Add/1587F end here}. There is another island in this sea, near to Peloponnesos [also] called Sicilia, as Stephanus reports.
211.14. But the isle of Naxus {1606E only{(now called Nicsia) in the Ægean [sea] or Archipelago according to Plinius}1606E only} was at one time named Sicilia minor, {1606E & 1608/1612I only{Sicilia the lesser}1606E & 1608/1612I only}. {not in 1584G3Add & 1602G{Pausanias also speaks of a Sicilia [as] a small hill, not far from Athens in Greece}not in 1584G3Add & 1602G}. Moreover, there is a place on the Palatine hill of Rome with that name, near the Capitolinum temple {1606E instead{as Capitolinus has recorded in his life of Perlinax the Emperor}1606E only}{1608/1612I has instead{close to the Capitolinum}1608/1612I instead}. But these are bye matters.
211.15. Various proverbs have originated here, as Siculissare, {1606E only{said of someone who is sullen or touchy}1606E only}. Siculum mare, {1606E only{the Sicilian sea, meaning that which is dangerous}1606E only}. Siculus miles, {1606E only{A Sicilian soldier, that is, a mercenary or stipendary}1606E only}. Siculæ gerræ {1608/1612I only{very large shields}1608/1612I only} and Incidit in Scyllam cupiens vitare charybdim, [that is:] {1606E & 1608/1612I only{He falls on the rocks who tries to avoid the quick-sands}1608/1612I only}, spoken of him who, desiring to escape one danger, meets a worse one}1606E only}. But of these matters you may read in {1606E only{Chiliades}1606E only} {1584G3Add & 1602G instead{Adagijs}1584G3Add & 1602G instead}{1608/1612I instead{where he has collected proverbs in a large book}1608/1612I instead} (by) Erasmus}1584L3/1584LAdd, 1584G3Add, 1592L, 1595L, 1601L, 1602G, 1603L, 1606E, 1608/1612I, 1609/1612S/L & 1624L/1641S end here}.