The discovery of this and some other islands made a report that they rose out of the Sea: _in Asia Delos emersit, & Hiera, & Anaphe, & Rhodus_, saith [213] _Ammianus_: and [214] _Pliny_; _claræ jampridem insulæ, Delos & Rhodos memoriæ produntur enatæ, postea minores, ultra Melon Anaphe, inter Lemnum & Hellespontum Nea, inter Lebedum & Teon Halone_, &c. _Diodorus_ [215] tells us also, that the seven islands called _Æolides_, between _Italy_ and _Sicily_, were desert and uninhabited 'till _Lipparus_ and _Æolus_, a little before the _Trojan_ war, went thither from _Italy_, and peopled them: and that _Malta_ and _Gaulus_ or _Gaudus_ on the other side of _Sicily_, were first peopled by _Phœnicians_; and so was _Madera_ without the _Straits_: and _Homer_ writes that _Ulysses_ found the Island _Ogygia_ covered with wood, and uninhabited, except by _Calypso_ and her maids, who lived in a cave without houses; and it is not likely that _Great Britain_ and _Ireland_ could be peopled before navigation was propagated beyond the _Straits_. The _Sicaneans_ were reputed the first inhabitants of _Sicily_, they built little Villages or Towns upon hills, and every Town had its own King; and by this means they spread over the country, before they formed themselves into larger governments with a common King: _Philistus_ [216] saith that _they were transplanted into _Sicily_ from the River _Sicanus_ in _Spain__; and _Dionysius_ [217], that _they were a _Spanish_ people who fled from the _Ligures_ in _Italy__; he means the _Ligures_ [218] who opposed _Hercules_ when he returned from his expedition against _Geryon_ in _Spain_, and endeavoured to pass the _Alps_ out of _Gaul_ into _Italy_. _Hercules_ that year got into _Italy_, and made some conquests there, and founded the city _Croton_; and [219] after winter, upon the arrival of his fleet from _Erythra_ in _Spain_, sailed to _Sicily_, and there left the _Sicani_: for _it was his custom to recruit his army with conquered people, and after they had assisted him in making new conquests to reward them with new seats_: this was the _Egyptian Hercules_, who had a potent fleet, and in the days of _Solomon_ sailed to the _Straits_, and according to his custom set up pillars there, and conquered _Geryon_, and returned back by _Italy_ and _Sicily_ to _Egypt_, and was by the ancient _Gauls_ called _Ogmius_, and by _Egyptians_ [220] _Nilus_: for _Erythra_ and the country of _Geryon_ were without the _Straits_. _Dionysius_ [221] represents this _Hercules_ contemporary to _Evander_.