Certain critics object to this word "littoris," used here in the sense of "ripa." The question is, whether such an application can be borne out by ancient authorities. To be sure, the substitution of "marginis" for "littoris" would obviate all controversy; but as the objection has been started, and urged with some pertinacity, it may be worth while to consider it. The ordinary meaning of _littus_ is undoubtedly the sea-shore; but it seems quite certain that it is used occasionally in the sense of "ripa." In the 2d Ode of Horace, book 1st, we find: "Vidimus flavum Tiberim, retortis _Littore_ Etrusco violenter undis, Ire dejectum monumenta regis, Templaque Vestæ; Iliæ dum se nimium querenti Jactat ultorem; vagus et sinistrâ Labitur _ripâ_." --meaning, as I conceive, that the waters of the Tiber were thrown back from the Etruscan _shore_, or _right bank_, which was the steep side, so as to flood the left bank, and do all the mischief. If this interpretation be correct, which Gesner supports by the following note, the question is settled by this single passage: "Quod fere malim propter ea quæ sequuntur, _littus ipsius Tiberis_ dextrum, quod spectat Etruriam: unde _retortis undis sinistrâ ripâ_ Romam alluente, _labitur_." Thus, at all events, I have the authority of Gesner's scholarship for "_littus ipsius Tiberis_." There are two other passages in Horace's _Odes_ where "littus" seems to bear a different sense from the sea-shore. The first, book iii. ode 4.: "Insanientem _navita_ Bosporum Tentabo, et arentes arenas Littoris Assyrii _viator_." The next, book iii. ode 17.: "Qui Formiarum moenia dicitur Princeps, et innantem Maricæ Littoribus tenuisse Lirim." Upon which latter Gesner says, that as Marica was a nymph from whom the river received its name,-- "Hinc _patet_ Lirim atque Maricam fuisse _duo unius fluminis nomina_." But I will not insist upon these examples even with the support of Gesner, because Marica _may_ have been a district situate on the sea-shore, and because, in the former passage, "littus Assyrium" _may_ mean the _Syrian_ coast, which is washed by the Mediterranean. But to go to another author, in book x. of Lucan's _Pharsalia_ will be found (line 244.): "Vel quod aquas toties rumpentis _littora_ Nili Assiduè[3] feriunt, coguntque resistere flatus." This seems to be a clear case of the Nile breaking its banks, and is conclusive. Again, in book viii. l. 641.: "Et prior in _Nili_ pervenit _littora_ Cæsar." [Footnote 3: Sc. Zephyri.] And again, "littore Niliaco," book ix. l. 135. Lastly, in Scheller's _Dictionary_, the same meaning is given from the 8th book of Virgil's _Æneid_: "_Viridique in littore_ conspicitur sus;" where, beyond a doubt, is meant "littore" _fluviali_.