"The city of Leontium, now Lentini, was founded by a colony of Chalcidians, who came into Sicily under the guidance of Theocles, about the time when Catania was built. Not far from this place are some very fine remains of an ancient structure, of which a view is annexed. Six rows of massy pillars, five in a row, with a corbel on each, supporting long blocks of stone, joined so as to form a huge beam; and broad flat stones extended over these, finished the covering to a spacious reservoir. In one corner a flight of steps led to the bottom. ... Long after the ancient inhabitants of this country were no more, and when the Roman catholic religion had succeeded paganism, this reservoir appears to have been converted into a church, and dedicated to St. Basil. In a large recess on one side, where formerly perhaps Archimedes had erected an hydraulic machine to raise the water, an altarpiece was placed for the celebration of the mass; and paintings of the saints are still to be seen against the walls. Other effigies decorate some of the pillars. There is a smaller recess in the same side, the entrance to which is arched. In each of these recesses we find a sarcophagus hollowed out of the stone." (Mayer, loc. cit.)
