Letter 79 — On the Rewards of Scientific Discovery (§3)

“There is a well-known place in Lycia—called by the inhabitants “Hephaestion”—where the ground is full of holes in many places and is surrounded by a harmless fire, which does no injury to the plants that grow there. Hence the place is fertile and luxuriant with growth, because the flames do not scorch but merely shine with a force that is mild and feeble.”