CHAP. 22. (18.)—THE TENTH REGION OF ITALY.
We now come to the tenth region of Italy, situate on the Adriatic Sea. In this district are Venetia1884, the river Silis1885, rising in the Tarvisanian1886 mountains, the town of Altinum1887, the river Liquentia rising in the mountains of Opitergium1888, and a port with the same name, the colony of Concordia1889; the rivers and harbours of Romatinum1890, the greater and less Tiliaventum1891, the Anaxum1892, into which the Varamus flows, the Alsa1893, and the Natiso with the Turrus, which flow past the colony of Aquileia1894 at a distance of fifteen miles from the sea. This is the country of the Carni1895, and adjoining to it is that of the Iapydes, the river Timavus1896, the fortress of Pucinum1897, famous for its wines, the Gulf of Tergeste1898, and the colony of that name, thirty-three miles from Aquileia. Six miles beyond this place lies the river Formio1899, 189 miles distant from Ravenna, the ancient boundary1900 of enlarged Italy, and now the frontier of Istria. That this region takes its name from the river Ister which flows from the Danube, also called the Ister, into the Adriatic opposite the mouth of the Padus, and that the sea which lies between them is rendered fresh by their waters running from opposite directions, has been erroneously asserted by many, and among them by Nepos even, who dwelt upon the banks of the Padus. For it is the fact that no river which runs from the Danube discharges itself into the Adriatic. They have been misled, I think, by the circumstance that the ship Argo came down some river into the Adriatic sea, not far from Tergeste; but what river that was is now unknown. The most careful writers say that the ship was carried across the Alps on men’s shoulders, having passed along the Ister, then along the Savus, and so from Nauportus1901, which place, lying between Æmona1902 and the Alps, from that circumstance derives its name.