greater variety in their appearance than those of the Exterior [Ocean]; the former is also much better known, its climate is more temperate, and more civilized cities and nations are here than there. We are also anxious to be informed where the form of government, the arts, and whatever else ministers to intelligence, produce the greatest results. Interest will always lead us to where the relations of commerce and society are most easily established, and these are advantages to be found where government is administered, or rather where it is well administered. In each of these particulars, as before remarked, Our Sea[760] possesses great advantages, and here therefore we will begin our description. 19. This gulf,[761] as before stated, commences at the Strait of the Pillars; this at its narrowest part is said to be 70 stadia. Having sailed down a distance of 120 stadia, the shores widen considerably, especially to the left, and you behold a vast sea, bounded on the right by the shore of Libya as far as Carthage, and on the opposite side by those of Iberia and Keltica as far as Narbonne and Marseilles, thence by the Ligurian,[762] and finally by the Italian coast to the Strait of Sicily. The eastern side of this sea is formed by Sicily and the straits on either side of it. That next Italy being 7 stadia [in breadth], and that next Carthage 1500 stadia. The line drawn from the Pillars to the lesser strait of 7 stadia, forms part of the line to Rhodes and the Taurus, and intersects the sea under discussion about its middle; this line is said to be 12,000 stadia, which is accordingly the length of the sea. Its greatest breadth is about 5000 stadia, and extends from the Galatic Gulf, between Marseilles and Narbonne, to the opposite coast of Libya. The portion of the sea which washes Libya is called the Libyan Sea; that surrounding the land opposite is designated by the respective names of the Iberian, the Ligurian,[763] and the Sardinian Seas, while the remaining portion as far as Sicily is named the Tyrrhenian Sea.[764] All along the coast between the Tyrrhenian and Ligurian Seas, there are numerous islands, the largest of which are Sardinia and Cyrnus,[765] always excepting Sicily, which is larger and more fertile than any of our islands. The remainder are much smaller. Of this number are, in the high sea, Pandataria[766] and Pontia,[767] and close to the shore Æthalia,[768] Planasia,[769] Pithecussa,[770] Prochyta,[771] Capriæ,[772] Leucosia,[773] and many others. On the other[774] side of the Ligurian shore, and along the rest of the coast as far as the Pillars, there are but few islands; the Gymnasiæ[775] and Ebusus[776] are of this number. There are likewise but few islands along the coasts of Libya and Sicily. We may mention however Cossura,[777] Ægimurus,[778] and the Lipari Islands, likewise called the Islands of Æolus.