Fortūnātæ insulæ

, islands at the west of Mauri tan i a in the Atlantic sea. They are supposed to be the Canary isles of the moderns, thought to be only two in number, at a little distance one from the other, and 10,000 stadia from the shores of Libya. They were represented as the seats of the ble ed, where the souls of the virtuous were placed after death. The air was wholesome and temperate, and the earth produced an immense number of various fruits without the labours of men. When they had been described to Sertorius in the most enchanting colours, that celebrated general expre ed a wish to retire thither, and to remove himself from the noise of the world, and the dangers of war. Strabo , bk. 1 .— Plutarch , Sertorius .— Horace , bk. 4 , ode 8, li. 27 ; epode 16.— Pliny , bk. 6 , chs. 31 & 32.