Chap. 26.1 ACCOUNT OF COUNTEIES, ETC. 201

brauce is fast fading away. For in this region there were formerly the Labeatae, theEnclerini the Sas»i, the Grabaei-, properly called Illyrii, the Taulantii^, and the Pyrsei. The Promontory of jN^ympha^um on the sea-coast still retains its name"* ; and there is Lissum, a town enjoying the rights of Roman citizens, at a distance from Epidaurum of 100 miles. (23.) At Lissum begins the province of Macedonia'^, the nations of the Parthini^, and behind them the DassaretsD. The mountains of Candavia^ are seventy-eight miles from Dyrrhachium. On the coast lies Denda, a town with the riglits of Eoman citizens, the colony of Epidamuum^ which, on account of its inauspicious name, was by the Romans called D}Trhachium, the river Aous'°, by some called JEas, and Apollonia", formerly a colony of the Corinthians, at a distance of four miles from the sea, in the vicinity of which 1 According to Hardouin, the modem Endero stands on the site of their capital. 2 Grabia, mentioned hj Pouqueville, in his " Voyage de la Gr^ce," seems to retain the name of this tribe. 3 Pouqueville is of opinion that they occupied the district now known as Musache.

• Dalechamp tliiiiks that the two words "Retinet nomen" do not belong

to the text, but have crept in from bemg the gloss of some more recent commentator. They certainly appear to be out of place. This promontory is now called Cabo Rodoni. * The modern Albania. ^ Pouquerille is of opinion that they inhabited the district about the present village of Presa, seven leagues N.E. of Durazzo. 7 From Ptolemy we learn that Lychnidus was their to^^l ; the site of which, according to Pouquevdle, is still pointed out at a spot about four leagues south of Ochrida, on the eastern bank of the Lake of Oclirida. ^ ]S"ow called El Bassan ; though Pouqueville says Tomoros or Do Caulonias. Conmiencing in EpLrus, they sepai'ated Illyricum from Mace- donia. See Lucan's Pliarsalia, 15. vi. 1. 331. 3 The Romans are said to have changed its Greek name Epidamnum, from an idea that it was inauspicious, as implying " dannmni" or " ruin." It has been asserted that they gave it the name of Durrhachiuni or Dyrrlia- cliium, frcm " duinim," rugged, on accoimt of the ruggednoss of its locahty. This however cannot be the case, as the word, like its pre- decessor, is of Greek origin. Its unfortunate name, " E])idamnus," is the subject of several puns and witticisms in that most amusing perhaps of all the plays of Plautus, tlie Menaichmi. It was of Corcyra'an origin, ajid after playing a distinguished part in th.e civil wars bctwcru Ponqiey and Csesar, was granted by Augustus to his veteran troops. The modern Durazzo stands on its site. Now called the Yoioussa. '^ The monastery of Pollina stands on its site. It was founded by