Kitap 23
6.17
In these regions there is also to be seen a cleft in the earth,Cf. Lucr. vi. 756 ff. from which rises a deadly exhalation, which with its foul odour destroys every living creature that comes near it. If this pestilential stuff, rising from a kind of deep well, should spread out widely from its opening before rising on high, it would by its fetid odour have made the surrounding country a desert.
6.18
A similar opening was formerly to be seen (as some say) at Hierapolis in Phrygia. And from this also a noxious vapour with a penetrating stench came forth and was destructive to whatever came near it, excepting only eunuchs; and the reason for this may be left to natural philosophers to determine.Cf. Dio. lxviii. 27, 3; Pliny, N.H. ii. 208.
6.19
Also at the temple of Jupiter Asbamaeus in Cappadocia, where that famous philosopher ApolloniusThis self-styled philosopher, of Tyana in Cappadocia, was famous for his belief in his magic or supernatural powers. He lived in the first century A.D. His Life, by Philostratus, has come down to us; see Philostratus, L.C.L., i. Introd. is said to have been born near the town of Tyana, a spring may be seen, flowing from a pool, which now is filled with an abundance of water, and again sucks itself back, and so never swells beyond its banks.See Philost. vita Apoll. i. 6 (L.C.L., i. 15).
