XV.] ASCENTS OF MOUNT ARGAEUS. 321
looks that which faces the Tyrrhenian sea and the Lipari islands.
By night bright jets of flame may be seen emerging from the
summit, but in the day-time it is covered by clouds and smoke1.'
The poem of Aetna, which has sometimes been attributed to
Seneca's friend, Lucilius, describes the mountain
almost entirely from the scientific point of view, Of™^oem
and illustrates many of the points which are re-
ferred to in Strabo's narrative; especially the small cone of
eruption in the middle of the great crater8, and the cloud which
rises vertically from it, and is said to ' look down from on high
on the work going on within the vast receptacle8.'
In the account which is given by Strabo of a still higher
mountain than Etna, Mount Argaeus in Cappa- Ascents of
docia (13,150 feet), he seems to imply that it was Mount
ascended for the sake of the view. Speaking of rgaeus<
the city of Mazaca, which was also called ' Eusebeia.by Argaeus/
he remarks, ' It lies beneath Mount Argaeus, which is the highest
mountain of all, and has perpetual snow on its upper parts \ and
those who make the ascent (though but few do so) say that from
these on cloudless days both the seas, that of Pontus and that
of Issus, are visible.' He then proceeds to notice the volcanic
character of the mountain. c At a little distance from the town
there are plains with igneous soil, full of burning hollows for the
distance of many stadia, so that the necessaries of life have to
be brought from afar, and what seems to be an advantage brings
danger in its train; for, whereas there are hardly any trees else-
where in Cappadocia, Argaeus has a belt of oak-forest, so that
wood can be procured close at hand, but there are numerous
fiery spots even in the region below the forest, and other places
have cold water beneath, though neither the fire nor the water
emerge, so that the greater part is covered with verdure; and
1 Strabo, 6. 2. 8.
2 Actn^ v. 182; penitusque os erigit ultra.
8 w* 332—6:
Quamvis caeruleo siccus Jove fulgeat aether
Furpureoque rubens surgat jubar aureus ostro,
Illinc obscura semper caligine nubes
Pigraque defuso circumstupet humida vultu,
Prospectans suhlimis opus vastosque receptus.
T, 21