Melpis

MELPIS or MELFIS (ὁ Μέλπις: Melfa), a small river of Latium, falling into the Liris (Garigliano), about 4 miles below its junction with the Trerus (Sacco). It crossed the Via Latina about 4 miles from Aquinum, though Strabo erroneously speaks of it as flowing by that city. It is a still greater mistake that he calls it a great river (ποταμὸς μέγας, Strab. 5. p. 237), for it is in reality a very inconsiderable stream: but the text of Strabo is, in this passage, very corrupt, and perhaps the error is not that of the author. The name appears in the Tabula, under the corrupt form Melfel, for which we should probably read Ad Melpem. (Tab. Pent. )