Note 055 Of odd particulars, I learn from Malaterra, that the Arabs had introduced into Sicily the use of camels (l. i. c. 33) and of carrier- pigeons, (c. 42;) and that the bite of the tarantula provokes a windy disposition, quae per anum inhoneste crepitando emergit; a symptom most ridiculously felt by the whole Norman army in their camp near Palermo, (c. 36.) I shall add an etymology not unworthy of the xith century: Messana is divided from Messis, the place from whence the harvests of the isle were sent in tribute to Rome, (l. ii. c. 1.)]

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The History Of The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire —Fall In The East —Chapter 56