Note 2131 — Chapter I

According to Pliny, these two promontories were separated by an interval of twelve stadia, or a mile and a half, which accords with the statement of Polybius. Thucydides, however, allows about two miles and a half, which he considers to be the utmost possible distance. Topographers are divided as to the exact point of the Italian coast which answers to Cape Cænys. The Calabrian geographers say the Punta del Pezzo, called also Coda del Volpe, in which opinion Cluverius and D’Anville coincide, but Holstenius contends for the Torre del Cavallo, which the French translators seem to favour. In fact, that may be the narrowest point, still it does not answer so well to Strabo’s description of the figure and bearing of Cape Cænys as the Punta del Pezzo.