At this spot begins that blessed country Campania[1300], and in this vale first take their rise those hills clad with vines, the juice of whose grape is extolled by Fame all over the world; the happy spot where, as the ancients used to say, father Liber and Ceres are ever striving for the mastery. Hence the fields of Setia[1301] and of Cæcubum[1302] extend afar, and, next to them those of Falernum[1303] and of Calinum[1304]. As soon as we have passed these, the hills of Massica[1305], of Gaurus[1306], and of Surrentum rise to our view. Next, the level plains of Laborium[1307] are spread out far and wide, where every care is bestowed on cultivating crops of spelt, from which the most delicate fermenty is made. These shores are watered by warm springs[1308], while the seas are distinguished beyond all others for the superlative excellence of their shell and other fish. In no country too has the oil of the olive a more exquisite flavour. This territory, a battle-ground as it were for the gratification of every luxurious pleasure of man, has been held successively by the Osci, the Greeks, the Umbri, the Tusci, and the Campani. On the coast we first meet with the river Savo[1309], the town of Volturnum with a river[1310] of the same name, the town of Liternum[1311], Cumæ[1312], a Chalcidian colony, Misenum[1313], the port of Baiæ[1314], Bauli[1315], the Lucrine Lake[1316], and Lake Avernus, near which there stood formerly a town[1317] of the Cimmerians. We then come to Puteoli[1318], formerly called the colony of Dicæarchia, then the Phlegræan[1319] Plains, and the Marsh of Acherusia[1320] in the vicinity of Cumæ. Again, on the coast we have Neapolis[1321], also a colony of the Chalcidians, and called Parthenope from the tomb there of one of the Sirens, Herculaneum[1322], Pompeii[1323], from which Mount Vesuvius may be seen at no great distance, and which is watered by the river Sarnus[1324]; the territory of Nuceria, and, at the distance of nine miles from the sea, the town of that name[1325], and then Surrentum[1326], with the Promontory of Minerva[1327], formerly the abode of the Sirens. The distance thence by sea to Circeii is seventy-eight miles. This region, beginning at the Tiber, is looked upon as the first of Italy according to the division of Augustus.