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Lucrinus Lacus

1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

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Or Lucrine Lake, a lake of Campania, Italy, about i m. to the N. of Lake Avernus, and only separated from ` the sea (Gulf of Pozzuoli) by a narrow strip of land, traversed by the coast road, Via Herculanea, which runs on an embankment, the construction of which was traditionally attributed to Heracles in Strabo's time - and the modern railway. Its size has been much reduced by the rise of the crater of the Montenuovo in 1538. Its greatest depth is about 15 ft. In Roman days its fisheries were important and were let out by the state 1 Ad Q. Fratr. ii. 9 (11), 13. Both sense and words have been much disputed. The general sense is probably that given by the following restoration, "Lucretii poemata, ut scribis, ita Bunt multis hominibus ingenii multae etiam (MSS. tamen) artis, sed cum ad umbilicum (omitted in MSS.) veneris, virum to putabo, si Sallustii Empedoclea legeris, hominem non putabo." This would concede Lucretius both genius and art, but imply at the same time that he was not easy reading.

to contractors. Its oyster-beds were, as at the present day, renowned; their foundation is attributed to one Sergius Orata, about ioo B.C. It was also in favour as a resort for pleasure excursions from Baiae (cf. Martial i. 63), and its banks were covered with villas, of which the best known was Cicero's Academia, on the E. bank. The remnants of this villa, with the village of Tripergola, disappeared in 1538.

See J. Beloch, Campanien, ed. 2 (Breslau, 1890), 172.