ACIS, a river of Sicily, celebrated by the poets, running from a very cold spring, in the woody and shady foot of Mount Ætna, for the space of a mile eastward into the sea, along green and pleasant banks, with the speed of an arrow, from which it takes its name. Its waters are now impregnated with sulphureous vapours, though formerly they were celebrated for their sweetness and salubrity, and were held sacred by the Sicilian shepherds:
Quique per Ætnas Acis petit æquora fines,
Et dulci gratam Nereida perluit unda. SIL. ITAL.
It is now called Il Fiume Fredda, Acì, loci, or Chìaci, according to the different Sicilian dialects: Antonine calls it Acius. It is also the name of a hamlet at the mouth of the Acis.