Philo Judaeus De Aeternitate Mundi 140

1. This is alluded to by Virgil- Haec loca vi quondam, et vastâ convulsa ruinâ Tantum aevi longinqua valet mutare vetustas, Dissiluisse ferunt, quum protenus utraque tellus Una foret: venit medio vi pontus, et undis Hesperium Siculo latus abscidit, arvaque et urbes Litore diductas angusto interluit aestu.-Æn. iii. 419. Or, as it is translated by Dryden, " The Italian shore And fair Sicilia’s coast were one before An earthquake caused the flaw; the roaring tides The passage broke that land from land divides, And where the lands retired the'rushing ocean rides Distinguished by the straits on either hand Now rising cities in long order stand, And fruitful fields; so much can time invade The mouldering work that beauteous nature made."

2. Ῥήγιον, from ῥήγνυμι, " to break."