MONTE SAN GIULIANO, a city of Sicily, in the province of Trapani and 12 miles north-east of the town of Trapani, occupies the summit of the mountain from which it takes its name. Rising in the midst of an undulating plain, this magnificent and conspicuous peak (the Eryx of the ancients) has, whether seen from sea or land, such an appearance of altitude that, while it really does not exceed 2464 feet, it has for ages been popularly considered the culminating point of western Sicily, and second only to Mount Etna. By the Phoenicians it was early chosen as the site of a temple, which continued down to the time of the Roman empire to be one of the most celebrated of all the shrines of Venus (Venus Erycina). The ancient city of Eryx, situated lower down the mountain side, disappears from history after the establishment of the Roman power in Sicily,—the inhabitants having probably taken advantage of the protection afforded by the sanctity, fortifications, and garrison of the temple-enclosure. In the modern town, the population of which has recently decreased to about 3000 by the migration of considerable numbers to the plain, the chief points of interest are the cathedral, internally restored in 1865, the castle, which occupies the site of the temple, and the three so-called torri del Balio, which probably represent the propylaea. Remains of Phoenician masonry are still seen on the north side of the town. The great rock-hewn cistern in the garden of the castle is very like one of the cisterns of the Haram at Jerusalem....