Hercŭlis Columnæ

, two lofty mountains, situate one on the most southern extremities of Spain, and the other on the opposite part of Africa. They were called by the ancients Abyla and Calpe . They are reckoned the boundaries of the labours of Hercules, and according to ancient tradition they were joined together till they were severed by the arm of the hero, and a communication opened between the Mediterranean and Atlantic seas. Dionysius Periegetes. — Silius Italic us , bk. 1 , li. 142 .— Mela , bk. 1 , ch. 5 ; bk. 2 , ch. 6 .— Pliny , bk. 3 , ch. 1 .――Monœci Portus, now Monaco , a port town of Genoa. Tacitus , Histories , bk. 3 , ch. 52 .— Lucan , bk. 1 , li. 405 .— Virgil , Æneid , bk. 6 , li. 830 .――Labronis vel Liburni Portus, a seaport town, now Leghorn .――Promontorium, a cape at the bottom of Italy, on the Ionian sea, now Spartivento .――Insulæ, two islands near Sardinia. Pliny , bk. 3 , ch. 7 .――Portus, a seaport of the Brutii, on the western coast.――Lucus, a wood in Germany sacred to Hercules. Tacitus , Annals , bk. 2 , ch. 12 .――A small island on the coast of Spain, called also Scombraria , from the tunny fish ( Scombres ) caught there. Strabo , bk. 3 .