There is classical authority for a happy variety of names in describing Spain--“Hesperia,” “Iberia,” “Hispania:” Tum sibi Callaïco Brutus cognomen in hoste Fecit, et Hispanam sanguine tinxit humum. Ov. _Fast._ vi. 461. Herculis ritu, modò dictus, ô plebs, Morte venalem petiisse laurum Cæsar, Hispanâ repetit Penates Victor ab orâ Horat. _Carm._ iii. 14. Spain was anciently divided into Hispania _Ulterior_ and _Citerior_. The former comprehended Bætica, the present Andalucía, and Lusitania nearly corresponding to what is now called Portugal. Hispania Citerior comprised all the rest of the Peninsula. The name “Hesperia” was more commonly applied by the ancient poets to the Italian Peninsula than to the Spanish. Thus Virgil (in addition to the passage above cited): Et sæpe Hesperiam, sæpe Itala regna vocare. * * Sed quis ad Hesperiæ venturos littora Teucros Crederet? _Æn._ iii. 185. The preponderance of authority is clearly in favour of designating Spain as “Iberia” or “Hispania,” and generally confining “Hesperia” to Italy. Ovid has a very charming nymph named Hesperie, no connection, however, of the Hesperides, of whom the most famous was that Arethusa whose fountain-streamlet is so celebrated, and whose enchanting name has been tastefully introduced into the nomenclature of the British Navy. Ovid’s Hesperie, the daughter of Cebrenis, was loved and persecuted by the Trojan hero Æsacos, whose discovery of her is thus exquisitely described: Aspicit Hesperien patriâ Cebrenida ripâ, Injectos humeris siccantem sole capillos. Visa fugit Nymphe! Ov. _Met._ xi. 769. A very amusing and somewhat malicious mistake was recently witnessed at one of our English Universities. A prize was offered for a composition on “_Hesperiæ mala luctuosæ_.” Spain was manifestly intended. But the wags spreading all manner of doubts and difficulties, the “Dons” were obliged to come out with a public notice, intimating that “the gentlemen had better confine themselves to the Spanish Peninsula!” Cantabria, which is the scene of this poem, was likewise the scene of some of Augustus’s victories. His policy seems to have been here as successful as his generalship. “Domuit autem, partim ductu, partim auspiciis suis Cantabriam.” (Sueton. _cap._ 20.) But the Cantabrians, then as now unformed for subjugation, rebelled again the moment Augustus returned to Rome. Augustus, however, paid them a second visit, and appears to have quieted them in Roman fashion, this being the last of his warlike exploits: “Hic finis Augusto bellicorum certaminum fuit: idem rebellandi finis Hispaniæ.” (Luc. Flor. _lib._ iv. c. 12.) It was the proud distinction of the Cantabrian in the ancient world to be indomitable, a character very significantly assigned to him in Horace’s well known line: