Many of the myths developed by the earlier poets had their home in the immediate neighbourhood, sometimes upon the very sides, of Etna--Demeter seeking Persephone; Acis and Galatea; Polyphemus and the Cyclops. Mr. Symonds tells us that the one-eyed giant Polyphemus was Etna itself, with its one great crater, while the Cyclops were the many minor cones. "Persephone was the patroness of Sicily, because amid the billowy corn-fields of her mother Demeter, and the meadow-flowers she loved in girlhood, are ever found sulphurous ravines, and chasms breathing vapour from the pit of Hades."[7] [7] Sketches in Italy and Greece, p. 201. It is said that both Plato and the Emperor Hadrian ascended Etna in order to witness the sunrise from its summit. The story of "He who to be deemed A god, leaped fondly into Etna flames, Empedokles" is too trite to need repetition. A ruined tower near the head of the Val del Bove, 9,570 feet above the sea, has from time immemorial been called the _Torre del Filosofo_, and is asserted to have been the observatory of Empedokles. Others regard it as the remains of a Roman tower, which was possibly erected on the occasion of Hadrian's ascent of the mountain. During the Middle Ages Etna is frequently alluded to, among others by Dante, Petrarch, Boccaccio, and Cardinal Bembo. The latter gives a description of the mountain in the form of a dialogue, which Ferrara characterises as "_erudito, e grecizzante, ma sensa nervi_." He describes its general appearance, its well-wooded sides, and sterile summit. When he visited the mountain it had two craters about a stone's throw apart; the larger of the two was said to be about three miles in circumference, and it stood somewhat above the other.[8] [8] Petri Bembi DE AETNA. Ad Angelum Chabrielem Liber Impressum Venetiis Aedibus Aldi Romani. Mense Februario anno M.V.D. (1495). In 1541 Fazzello made an ascent of the mountain, which he briefly describes in the fourth chapter of his bulky volume _De Rebus Siculis_.[9] This chapter is entitled "_De Aetna monte et ejus ignibus_;" it contains a short history of the mountain, and some mention of the principal towns which he enumerates in the following order: Catana, Tauromenium, Caltabianco, Linguagrossa, Castroleone, Francavilla, Rocella, Randatio (Randazzo), Bronte, Adrano, Paterno, and Motta. Fazzello speaks of only one crater. [9] Fazzellus T. DE REBUS SICULIS. Panormi, 1558; folio.