Chapter IV…

Chapter IV

1. After having commenced with the nations about the Alps, and the Apennine mountains which are near to these, we proceeded from thence and passed through that portion of the hither country lying between the Tyrrhenian Sea and the Apennine mountains, which incline towards the Adriatic, as far as the Samnites and the Campani. We will now return again, and describe the mountaineers, and those who dwell at the foot of the mountains; whether on the coast of the Adriatic, or in the interior. Thus, we must recommence from the boundaries of Keltica.[1915]

2. After the cities of the Ombrici, which are comprised between Ariminum[1916] and Ancona, comes Picenum. The Picentini proceeded originally from the land of the Sabini. A woodpecker led the way for their chieftains, and from this bird they have taken their name, it being called in their language Picus, and is regarded as sacred to Mars. They inhabit the plains extending from the mountains to the sea; the length of their country considerably exceeds its breadth; the soil is every where good, but better fitted for the cultivation of fruits than grain. Its breadth, from the mountains to the sea varies in different parts. But its length; from the river Æsis[1917] to Castrum,[1918] sailing round the coast, is 800 stadia. Of its cities, Ancona is of Grecian origin, having been founded by the Syracusans who fled from the tyranny of Dionysius. It is situated upon a cape, which bending round towards the north forms a harbour; and it abounds in wine and wheat. Near to it is the city of Auxumon,[1919] at a little distance from the sea. After it are Septempeda,[1920] Pneuentia,[1921] Potentia,[1922] and Firmum Picenum,[1923] with its port of Castellum.[1924] Beyond, is the temple of Cupra,[1925] built and dedicated by the Tyrrheni to Juno, who is named by them Cupra; and after it the river Tronto,[1926] [CAS. 241] with a city of the same name.[1927] Beyond this is Castrum Novum,[1928] and the river Piomba,[1929] flowing from the city of Adria,[1930] and having [at its mouth] the naval station of Adria, which bears the same name as itself. In the interior is [the city of Adria] itself and Asculum Picenum,[1931] a very strong position, upon which is built a wall: the mountains which surround it are not accessible to armies.[1932] Above Picenum are the Vestini,[1933] the Marsi,[1934] the Peligni,[1935] the Marucini,[1936] and the Frentani,[1937] a Samnitic nation possessing the hill-country, and extending almost to the sea. All these nations are small, but extremely brave, and have frequently given the Romans proofs of their valour, first as enemies, afterwards as allies; and finally, having demanded the liberty and rights of citizens, and being denied, they revolted and kindled the Marsian war.[1938] They decreed that Corfinium,[1939] the metropolis of the Peligni, should be the capital for all the Italians instead of Rome: made it their place d’armes, and new-named it Italica. Then, having convoked deputies from all the people friendly to their design, they created consuls[1940] and prætors, and maintained the war for two[1941] years, until they had obtained the rights for which they struggled. The war was named the Marsian[1942] war, because that nation commenced the insurrection, and particularly on account of Pompædius.[1943] These nations live generally in villages, nevertheless they are possessed of certain cities, some of which are at some little distance from the sea, as Corfinium, Sulmo,[1944] Maruvium,[1945] and Teatea[1946] the metropolis of the Marrucini. Others are on the coast, as Aternum[1947] on the Picentine boundary, so named from the river [Aternus], which separates the Vestini from the Marrucini. This river flows from the territory of Amiternum and through the Vestini, leaving on its right the Marrucini, who lie above the Peligni, [at the place where the river] is crossed by a bridge. The city, which bears the same name, (viz. Aternum,) belongs to the Vestini, but its port is used in common both by the Peligni and the Marrucini. The bridge I have mentioned is about 24 stadia from Corfinium. After Aternum is Orton,[1948] a naval arsenal of the Frentani, and Buca,[1949] which belongs to the same people, and is conterminous with the Apulian Teanum.[1950] †Ortonium[1951] is situated in the territory of the Frentani. It is rocky, and inhabited by banditti, who construct their dwellings of the wrecks of ships, and lead [CAS. 242] otherwise a savage life.† Between Orton and Aternum is the river Sagrus,[1952] which separates the Frentani from the Peligni. From Picenum to the Apuli, named by the Greeks the Daunii,[1953] sailing round the coast, is a distance of about 490[1954] stadia.

3. Next in order after Latium is Campania, which extends along the [Tyrrhenian] Sea; above it is Samnium, in the interior, extending as far as the Frentani and Daunii; and beyond are the Daunii, and the other nations as far as the Strait of Sicily. We shall in the first place speak of Campania. From Sinuessa[1955] to Misenum[1956] the coast forms a vast gulf; beyond this is another gulf still larger, which they name the Crater.[1957] It is enclosed by the two promontories of Misenum and the Athenæum.[1958] It is along the shores of these [two gulfs] that the whole of Campania is situated. This plain is fertile above all others, and entirely surrounded by fruitful hills and the mountains of the Samnites and Osci. Antiochus says that this country was formerly inhabited by the Opici, and that these were called Ausones. Polybius appears to consider these as two people, for he says that the Opici and Ausones inhabit the country around the Crater.[1959] Others, however, state that it was originally inhabited by Opici and Ausones, but was afterwards seized on by a nation of the Osci, who were driven out by the Cumæi, and these again by the Tyrrheni. Thus the possession of the plain was much disputed on account of its great fertility. [They add that the Tyrrheni] built there twelve cities, and named the metropolis Capua. But luxury having made them effeminate, in the same way that they had formerly been driven from the banks of the Po, they were now forced to abandon this country to the Samnites; who in their turn fell before the Romans. One proof of the fertility of this country is, that it produces the finest corn. I allude to the grain from which a groat is made superior to all kinds of rice, and to almost all other farinacious food. They say that some of the plains are cropped all the year round; twice with rye, the third time with panic, and occasionally a fourth time with vegetables. It is likewise from hence that the Romans procure their finest wines, the Falernian, the Statanian, and the Calenian. That of Surrentum[1960] is now esteemed equal to these, it having been lately discovered that it can be kept to ripen. In addition to this, the whole country round Venafrum, bordering on the plains, is rich in olives.

4. The maritime cities [of Campania], after Sinuessa, are Liternum,[1961] where is the sepulchral monument of the first of the two Scipios, surnamed Africanus; it was here that he passed the last days of his life, having abandoned public affairs in disgust at the intrigues of certain opponents. A river of the same name[1962] flows by this city. In like manner the Vulturnus bears the same name as the city[1963] founded on it, which comes next in order: this river flows through Venafrum[1964] and the midst of Campania. After these [cities] comes Cumæ,[1965] the most ancient settlement[1966] of the Chalcidenses and Cumæans, for it is the oldest of all [the Greek cities] in Sicily or Italy. The leaders of the expedition, Hippocles the Cumæan and Megasthenes of Chalcis, having mutually agreed that one of the nations should have the management of the colony, and the other the honour of conferring upon it its own name. Hence at the present day it is named Cumæ, while at the same time it is said to have been founded by the Chalcidenses. At first this city was highly prosperous, as well as the Phlegræan[1967] plain, which mythology has made the scene of the adventures of the giants, for no other reason, as it appears, than because the fertility of the country had given rise to battles for its possession. Afterwards, however, the Campanians becoming masters[1968] of the city, inflicted much injustice on the [CAS. 243] inhabitants, and even violated their wives. Still, however, there remain numerous traces of the Grecian taste, their temples, and their laws. Some are of opinion that Cumæ was so called from τὰ κύματα, the waves, the sea-coast near it being rocky and exposed. These people have excellent fisheries. On the shores of this gulf there is a scrubby forest, extending over numerous acres of parched and sandy land. This they call the Gallinarian[1969] wood. It was there that the admirals of Sextus Pompeius assembled their gangs of pirates, at the time when he drew Sicily into revolt.[1970]

5. Near to Cumæ is the promontory of Misenum,[1971] and between them is the Acherusian Lake,[1972] which is a muddy estuary of the sea. Having doubled Misenum, you come to a harbour at the very foot of the promontory. After this the shore runs inland, forming a deeply indented bay, on which are Baïæ and the hot springs, much used, both as a fashionable watering-place, and for the cure of diseases. Contiguous to Baïæ is the Lucrine Lake,[1973] and within this the Lake Avernus,[1974] which converts into a peninsula the land stretching from the maritime district, situated between it and Cumæ, as far as Cape Misenum, for there is only an isthmus of a few stadia, across which a subterraneous road is cut [from the head of the gulf of Avernus] to Cumæ and the sea [shore] on which it stands. Former writers, mingling fable with history, have applied to Avernus the expressions of Homer in his Invocation of Departed Spirits,[1975] and relate that here formerly was an oracle of the dead,[1976] and that it was to this place that Ulysses came. However, this gulf of Avernus is deep even near the shore, with an excellent entrance, and is both as to its size and nature a harbour; but it is not used, on account of the Lucrine Gulf which lies before it, and is both large and somewhat shallow. The Avernus is surrounded with steep hills which encompass the whole of it, with the exception of the entrance. These hills, now so beautifully cultivated were formerly covered with wild forests, gigantic and impenetrable, which overshadowed the gulf, imparting a feeling of superstitious awe. The inhabitants affirm that birds, flying over the lake, fall into the water,[1977] being stifled by the vapours rising from it, a phenomenon of all Plutonian[1978] localities. They believed, in fact, that this place was a Plutonium, around which the Kimmerians used to dwell, and those who sailed into the place made sacrifice and propitiatory offerings to the infernal deities, as they were instructed by the priests who ministered at the place. There is here a spring of water near to the sea fit for drinking, from which, however, every one abstained, as they supposed it to be water from the Styx: [they thought likewise] that the oracle of the dead was situated some where here; and the hot springs near to the Acherusian Lake indicated the proximity of Pyriphlegethon. Ephorus, peopling this place with Kimmerii, tells us that they dwell in under-ground habitations, named by them Argillæ, and that these communicate with one another by means of certain subterranean passages; and that they conduct strangers through them to the oracle, which is built far below the surface of the earth. They live on the mines together with the profits accruing from the oracle, and grants made to them by the king [of the country]. It was a traditional custom for the servants of the oracle never to behold the sun, and only to quit their caverns at night. It was on this account that the poet said,

“On them the Sun Deigns not to look with his beam-darting eye.”[1979]

At last, however, these men were exterminated by one of the kings, the oracle having deceived him; but [adds Ephorus] the oracle is still in existence, though removed to another [CAS. 245] place. Such were the myths related by our ancestors. But now that the wood surrounding the Avernus has been cut down by Agrippa, the lands built upon, and a subterranean passage cut from Avernus to Cumæ, all these appear fables. Perhaps[1980] Cocceius, who made this subterranean passage,[1981] wished to follow the practice of the Kimmerians we have already described, or fancied that it was natural to this place that its roads should be made under-ground.

6. The Lucrine gulf extends in breadth as far as Baïæ; it is separated from the sea by a bank eight stadia in length, and the breadth of a carriage-way; this they say was constructed by Hercules when he drove away the oxen of Geryon. But as the wave covered its surface in stormy weather, rendering it difficult to pass on foot, Agrippa has repaired it. Small vessels can put into it, but it is useless as a harbour.[1982] It contains abundant oyster-beds. Some take this to be the Acherusian Lake, while Artemidorus confounds it with Avernus. They say that Baïæ took its name from Baïus one of the companions of Ulysses, and Misenum from Misenus. Beyond is the strand and city of Dicæarchia. Formerly it was nothing but a naval station of the Cumæi. It was built on an eminence. But at the time of the war with Hannibal, the Romans established a colony there, and changed its name into Puteoli,[1983] [an appellation derived] from its wells; or, according to others, from the stench of its waters, the whole district from hence to Baïæ and Cumæ being full of sulphur, fire, and hot-springs. Some too are of opinion that it was on this account [that the country about] Cumæ was named Phlegra, and that the fables of the giants struck down by thunderbolts owe their origin to these eruptions of fire and water. This city has become a place of extensive commerce, having artificially constructed harbours, which were much facilitated by the facile nature of the sand, which contains much gypsum, and will cement and consolidate thoroughly. For mixing this sand with chalk-stones they construct moles in the sea, thus forming bays along the open coast, in which the largest transport ships may safely ride. Immediately above the city lies the Forum-Vulcani,[1984] a plain surrounded with hills which seem to be on fire, having in many parts mouths emitting smoke, frequently accompanied by a terrible rumbling noise; the plain itself is full of drifted sulphur.

7. After Dicæarchia is Neapolis,[1985] [founded[1986] originally] by the Cumæi, but afterwards being peopled by Chalcidians, and certain Pithecussæans and Athenians,[1987] it was on this account denominated Naples.[1988] Here is pointed out the tomb of [CAS. 246] Parthenope, one of the sirens, and a gymnastic sport is celebrated by command of an oracle. In course of time the inhabitants, having disagreed amongst themselves, admitted certain Campanians; thus being forced to regard in the light of friends those most inimical to them, since their friends were hostile. This is proved by the names of their demarchi, the earlier of which are Grecian, but the latter a mixture of Campanian with the Grecian names. Many traces of Grecian institution are still preserved, the gymnasia, the ephebeia,[1989] the fratriæ,[1990] and the Grecian names of people who are Roman citizens. At the present time they celebrate, every fifth year, public games for music and gymnastic exercises during many days, which rival the most famous games of Greece. There is here a subterranean passage, similar to that at Cumæ,[1991] extending for many stadia along the mountain,[1992] between Dicæarchia[1993] and Neapolis: it is sufficiently broad to let carriages pass each other, and light is admitted from the surface of the mountain, by means of numerous apertures cut through a great depth.[1994] Naples also has hot springs and baths not at all inferior in quality to those at Baïæ, but much less frequented, for another city has arisen there, not less than Dicæarchia, one palace after another having been built. Naples still preserves the Grecian mode of life, owing to those who retire hither from Rome for the sake of repose, after a life of labour from childhood, and to those whose age or weakness demands relaxation. Besides these, Romans who find attractions in this style of life, and observe the numbers of persons dwelling there, are attracted by the place, and make it their abode.

8. Following this is the fortress of Heraclæum,[1995] built upon a promontory which projects out into the sea, and which, on account of the prevalence of the south-west wind, is a very healthy spot. The Osci[1996] originally possessed both this and Pompeia,[1997] which is next to it, by which the river Sarno[1998] flows; afterwards the Tyrrheni and Pelasgi,[1999] and then the Samnites[2000] obtained possession of them, and the last[2001] in their turn were driven from these regions. Pompeia is the port for Nola,[2002] Nuceria,[2003] and Acerræ, which bears the same name as the city near to Cremona. It is built on the river Sarno, by which merchandise is received and exported. Above these places is Mount Vesuvius, which is covered with very beautiful fields, excepting its summit, a great part of which is level, but wholly sterile. It appears ash-coloured to the eye, cavernous hollows appear formed of blackened stones, looking as if they had been subjected to the action of fire. From this we may infer that the place was formerly in a burning state with live craters, which however became extinguished on the failing of the fuel. Perhaps this [volcano] may have been the cause of the fertility of the surrounding country, the same as occurs in Catana, where they say that that portion which has been covered with ashes thrown up by the fires of Ætna is most excellent for the vine. The land about Vesuvius contains fat, and a soil which has been subjected to fire, and is very strong and productive of fruit: when this fat superabounds, it is apt, like all sulphurous substances, to take fire, but being dried up by evaporation, extinguished, and pulverized, it becomes a productive earth. Adjoining [CAS. 247] Pompeia is Surrentum,[2004] [a city] of the Campanians, from whence the Athenæum,[2005] called by some the promontory of the Sirenusæ, projects [into the sea]; upon its summit is the temple of Minerva, founded by Ulysses. From hence to the island of Capreas the passage is short; after doubling the promontory you encounter various desert and rocky little islands, which are called the Sirenusæ.[2006] On the side towards Surrentum there is shown a temple with the ancient offerings of those who held this place in veneration. Here is the end of the bay named Crater,[2007] which is bounded by the two promontories of Misenum[2008] and the Athenæum, both looking towards the south. The whole is adorned by the cities we have described, by villas, and plantations, so close together that to the eye they appear but one city.

9. In front of Misenum lies the island of Prochyta,[2009] which has been rent from the Pithecussæ.[2010] Pithecussæ was peopled by a colony of Eretrians and Chalcidians, which was very prosperous on account of the fertility of the soil and the productive gold-mines; however, they abandoned the island on account of civil dissensions, and were ultimately driven out by earthquakes, and eruptions of fire, sea, and hot waters. It was on account of these eruptions, to which the island is subject, that the colonists sent by Hiero,[2011] the king of Syracuse, abandoned the island, together with the town which they had built, when it was taken possession of by the Neapolitans. This explains the myth concerning Typhon, who, they say, lies beneath the island, and when he turns himself, causes flames and water to rush forth, and sometimes even small islands to rise in the sea, containing springs of hot water. Pindar throws more credibility into the myth, by making it comformable to the actual phenomena, for the whole strait from Cumæa to Sicily is subigneous, and below the sea has certain galleries which form a communication between [the volcanos[2012] of the islands[2013]] and those of the mainland. He shows that Ætna is on this account of the nature described by all, and also the Lipari Islands, with the regions around Dicæarchia, Neapolis, Baïæ, and the Pithecussæ. And mindful hereof, [Pindar] says that Typhon lies under the whole of this space.

“Now indeed the sea-girt shores beyond Cumæ, and Sicily, press on his shaggy breast.”[2014]

Timæus,[2015] who remarks that many paradoxical accounts were related by the ancients concerning the Pithecussæ, states, nevertheless, that a little before his time, Mount Epomeus,[2016] in the middle of the island, being shaken by an earthquake, vomited forth fire; and that the land between it and the coast was driven out into the sea. That the powdered soil, after being whirled on high, was poured down again upon the island in a whirlwind. That the sea retired from it to a distance of three stadia, but after remaining so for a short time it returned, and inundated the island, thus extinguishing the fire. And that the inhabitants of the continent fled at the noise, from the sea-coast, into the interior of Campania. It seems that the hot-springs[2017] here are a remedy for those afflicted with gravel. Capreæ[2018] anciently possessed two small cities, afterwards but one. The Neapolitans possessed this island, but having lost Pithecussæ in war, they received it again from Cæsar Augustus, giving him in exchange Capreæ. This [island] having thus become the property of that prince, he [CAS. 248] has ornamented it with numerous edifices. Such then are the maritime cities of Campania, and the islands lying opposite to it.

10. In the interior is the metropolis, Capua, being, as the etymon of the name signifies, the head; for in regard to it all the other cities appear small, excepting Teanum-Sidicinum,[2019] which is a very considerable place. This city lies on the Via Appia, as also the others which lead from hence to Brundusium, [viz.] Callateria,[2020] Caudium,[2021] and Beneventum.[2022] On the side of Rome is Casilinum,[2023] situated on the river Vulturnus.[2024] Here 540 men of Præneste sustained against Hannibal in the height of his power so desperate a siege, that by reason of the famine, a rat[2025] was sold for two hundred drachmæ, the seller dying [of hunger], but the purchaser being saved. Hannibal observing some of them sowing turnip-seed near to the wall, admired, as well he might, the patient courage of these men, who hoped to hold out in the mean while, until these turnips should be ready for food. However, we are assured that they all survived, with the exception of a few who perished either by famine or in war.

11. In addition to those just spoken of, there are these Campanian cities which we have already mentioned, viz. Cales,[2026] and Teanum-Sidicinum, the limits of which are respectively marked out by the two temples of Fortune situated on either side of the Via Latina. Besides these are Suessula,[2027] Atella,[2028] Nola,[2029] Nuceria,[2030] Acerræ,[2031] Abella,[2032] with other smaller settlements, some of which are said to be Samnite.[2033] The Samnites, by making incursions into Latium as far as Ardea, and afterwards devastating Campania itself, greatly extended their power. The Campanians, being otherwise accustomed to a despotic government, yielded ready obedience to their commands. At the present day they have been almost entirely exterminated by the various Roman generals, and last of all by Sulla, who was absolute master of the republic. He, after having by numerous battles extinguished the Italian revolt, observing that the Samnites, almost without exception, remained in one body, and with one sole intention, so that they had even marched upon Rome itself, gave them battle under the walls, and as he had issued orders to make no prisoners, many of them were cut to pieces on the field, while the remainder, said to be about three or four thousand men, who threw down their arms, were led off to the Villa Publica in the Campus Martius, and there shut in; three days after soldiers were sent in who massacred the whole; and when [Sulla] drew up his conscription list, he did not rest satisfied until he had destroyed, or driven from Italy, every one who bore a Samnite name. To those who reproached him for this animosity, he replied that he had learned by experience that not a single Roman could rest in peace so long as any of the Samnites survived. Thus their cities have now dwindled into villages, some indeed being entirely deserted, as Boianum,[2034] Æsernia,[2035] Panna, Telesia[2036] adjoining Venafrum, and others similar, none of which can be looked upon as cities; but in a country so renowned and powerful as Italy, we thought proper to mention places even of second-rate importance. [We should add that] Beneventum[2037] and Venusia[2038] are still prosperous.

12. The following is the tradition concerning the [origin of the] Samnites. The Sabines having been engaged for [CAS. 250] a long period in war with the Ombrici, made a vow, common with some of the Grecian nations, that they would consecrate to the gods the productions of the year.[2039] They were victorious, and accordingly of the productions,[2040] the one kind were sacrificed, the other consecrated. However, in a time of scarcity, some one remarked, that they ought likewise to have consecrated the children. This then they did, and the children born at that period were called the sons of Mars.[2041] When these had grown up to manhood, they were sent forth, a bull leading the way, to found a colony. The bull lay down to rest in a place belonging to the Opici; a people dwelling in villages. These they drove out, and established themselves in the place. The bull, according to the direction of the diviners, they sacrificed to Mars, who had given him to them as a leader. It seems to have been in allusion to this that their parents called them by the diminutive form of Sabelli.[2042] The name of Samnites, or, as the Greeks call them, Saunites, originated in another cause. It is also said that certain Lacedæmonians came to dwell amongst them, and that this is the reason of their affection for the Greeks, and that certain of them are called Pitanatæ.[2043] The whole of this, however, appears to be a mere fabrication of the Tarentini, interested in flattering and conciliating to themselves a neighbouring people, so powerful as to be able, on a time, to bring into the field a force of eighty thousand foot-soldiers, and eight thousand cavalry. There is said to be a law amongst the Samnites, excellent in itself, and calculated to excite to virtue. It is not lawful for fathers to give away their daughters to whomsoever they may please; but every year ten of the most virtuous young women, and ten of the most virtuous young men, are selected; of these the most excellent young man is married to the most excellent young woman, the second to the second, and so on in order. Should he who receives this reward, afterwards change and become wicked, he is dishonoured, and the wife who had been given is taken away from him. Beyond are the Hirpini, who are also Samnites: their name they take from the wolf, which conducted their colony; a wolf being called by the Samnites hirpos: these people border on the Leucani in the interior. So much for the Samnites.

13. The fertility of their country has been productive to the Campanians of as much evil as good. Their luxury ran to such a height, that they would invite to supper, in order to exhibit pairs of fighting gladiators, the exact number of pairs being regulated according to the distinction of the guests. When, on their voluntary submission to Hannibal, they received his soldiers into winter quarters,[2044] the pleasures [of the place] rendered the men so effeminate, that Hannibal said, although conqueror, that he was in danger of the enemy, since his soldiers were returned to him women, and no longer men. When the Romans obtained the mastery,[2045] they inflicted on them numerous ills, and ended by distributing their land by lot.[2046] At the present day they are living in prosperity, and on friendly terms with the [Roman] colonists, and preserve their ancient reputation, both in respect to the size of their city and the numbers of their population. Beyond Campania and the Samnites,[2047] and upon the Tyrrhenian Sea, dwells the nation of the Picentini. This is a small off-shoot from the Picentini who dwell near the Adriatic, and was transplanted by the Romans to the Posidoniate Gulf,[2048] now called the Gulf of Pæstum. The city of Posidonia, which is built about the middle of the gulf, is called Pæstum.[2049] The Sybarites [when they founded the city[2050]] built the fortifications close upon the sea, but the inhabitants removed higher up. In after time[2051] the Leucani seized upon the city, but in their turn were deprived of it by the Romans.[2052] It is rendered unhealthy by a river[2053] [CAS. 251] which overflows the marshy districts in the neighbourhood. Between the Sirenussæ and Posidonia[2054] is Marcina,[2055] a city founded by the Tyrrheni, but inhabited by the Samnites. [To go] from thence into Pompæa,[2056] through Nuceria,[2057] [you cross] an isthmus of not more than 120 stadia. The Picentes extend as far as the river Silaro,[2058] which separates their country on this side from ancient Leucania.[2059] The water of this river is reported to possess the singular property of petrifying any plant thrown into it, preserving at the same time both the colour and form.[2060] Picentia was formerly the capital of the Picentes; but they now dwell in villages, having been ejected by the Romans[2061] for taking part with Hannibal. Also, instead of doing military service, it has been decreed that they shall be the public daily couriers and letter-carriers; [a penalty] which for the same cause has been likewise inflicted on the Leucani and Bruttii. To keep them in check, the Romans fortified Salernum, which is a little above the sea. The distance from the Sirenussæ to the Silaro is 260 stadia.

VI. ITALY

SUMMARY.

The Sixth Book contains the remainder of Italy, and the regions within the Adriatic, as far as Macedonia; likewise a description of Apulia, Calabria, the country by the Ionian Gulf, together with the adjacent islands, from Sicily to the Ceraunian mountains, and on the other side as far as Carthage, and the small islands lying near to it.

Chapter I

1. After the mouth of the Silaro,[2062] is Leucania, and the temple of Argive Juno, founded by Jason. Near to this, within 50 stadia, is Posidonia.[2063] Sailing thence, towards the high sea, is the island of Leucosia,[2064] at a little distance from the mainland. It bears the name of one of the Sirens, who according to the mythology was cast up here, after having been precipitated with her companions into the deep. The promontory[2065] of the island projects opposite the Sirenussæ,[2066] forming the bay of Posidonium.[2067] After having made this cape there is another contiguous bay, on which is built the city which the Phocæans called Hyela when they founded it, but others Ela from a certain fountain. People in the present day call it Elea. It is here that Parmenides and Zeno, the Pythagorean philosophers, were born. And it is my opinion that through the instrumentality of those men, as well as by previous good management, the government of that place was well arranged, so that they successfully resisted the Leucani and the Posidoniatæ, notwithstanding the smallness of their district and the inferiority of their numbers. They are [CAS. 252] compelled, therefore, on account of the barrenness of the soil, to apply to maritime trade chiefly, to employ themselves in the salting of fish, and in such other occupations. Antiochus[2068] says that when Phocea was taken by Harpagus, the general of Cyrus, those who had the means embarked with their families, and sailed under the conduct of Creontiades, first to Cyrnos and Marseilles, but having been driven thence, they founded Elea;[2069] the name of which some say is derived from the river Elees.[2070] The city is distant about two hundred stadia from Posidonia. After this city is the promontory of Palinurus. But in front of the Eleatis are the Œnotrides, two islands[2071] having good anchorage.[2072] And beyond Palinurus are the promontory, harbour, and river of Pyxus;[2073] the three having the same name. This colony was founded[2074] by Micythus, then governor of Messina in Sicily; but those who were located here, except a few, abandoned the place. After Pyxus are the gulf,[2075] the river,[2076] and the city[2077] of Laüs. This, the last[2078] city of the Leucani, situate a little above the sea, is a colony[2079] of the Sybarites, and is distant from Elea 400 stadia. The whole circuit of Leucania, by sea is 650 stadia. Near to Laüs is seen the tomb of Draco, one of the companions of Ulysses, and the oracular response, given to the Italian Greeks, alludes to him:

“Some day, around the Dragon’s stony tomb, A mighty multitude shall meet their doom.”

For the Greeks of Italy, enticed by this prophecy, marched against Laüs and were defeated by the Leucani.[2080]

2. Such, along the shores of the Tyrrhenian Sea, are the possessions of the Leucani, which at first did not reach to the other sea;[2081] the Greeks who dwelt on the Gulf of Tarentum possessed it. But before the coming of the Greeks there were no Leucani, the Chones[2082] and Œnotri possessed these territories. But when the Samnites had greatly increased, and expelled the Chones and Œnotri, and driven the Leucani into this region, while the Greeks possessed the sea-coast on both sides as far as the straits, the Greeks and the Barbarians maintained a lengthened contest. The tyrants of Sicily, and afterwards the Carthaginians, at one time making war against the Romans, for the acquisition of Sicily, and at another, for Italy itself, utterly wasted all these regions. The Greeks, however, succeeded in depriving the ancient inhabitants of a great portion of the midland country, beginning even as early as the Trojan war; they increased in power, and extent of territory, to such a degree, that they called this region and Sicily, the Magna Græcia. But now the whole region, except Tarentum, Rhegium, and Neapolis, has become barbarian,[2083] and belongs partly to the Leucani and Bruttii, partly to the Campani; to these, however, only in name, but truly to the Romans; for these people have become Roman. However, it is incumbent on one who is treating of [CAS. 253] universal geography, to speak both of things as they now are, and of some of those that have been, and especially when they are important. Of the Leucani, who border upon the Tuscan Sea, mention has already been made; those who possess the midland regions dwell above the Gulf of Tarentum, but these, as well as the Bruttii, and the Samnites themselves, the progenitors of both, have been so maltreated [by the Romans], that it is difficult to determine the boundaries of each people. The reason of this is, that there no longer remains separately any of the institutions common to these nations; and their peculiarities of language, of military and civil costume, and such particulars, have passed away; besides, even their places of abode, considered separately and apart, possess nothing worthy of observation.

3. We will narrate in a general manner what we have gathered concerning the Leucani, who dwell in the interior, without too much care in distinguishing them from their neighbours, the Samnites. Petilia[2084] is considered as the metropolis of the Leucani, and is still well peopled. It owes its foundation to Philoctetes, who was compelled to quit Melibœa on account of civil dissensions. Its position is so strong, that the Samnites were formerly obliged to construct forts around it for the defence of their territory. The ancient Crimissa, situated near these places, was also founded by Philoctetes. Apollodorus, in his description of the ships [of the Greeks], narrates concerning Philoctetes, that, according to certain writers, this prince having disembarked in the district of Crotona, settled on the promontory of Crimissa, and built the city of Chone[2085] above it, from which the inhabitants were called Chones; and that certain colonists being sent by him into Sicily, to the neighbourhood of Eryx,[2086] with Ægestus the Trojan, founded Ægesta.[2087] In the inland districts are also Grumentum,[2088] Vertinæ,[2089] Calasarna,[2090] and other small villages, reaching as far as Venusia,[2091] a city of some importance. This, however, I consider to be a Samnite city, as are also those which are next met with on going into Campania. Above the Thurii lies the district called Tauriana.[2092] The Leucani are of Samnite origin. Having vanquished the Posidoniates and their allies, they took possession of their cities. At one time the institutions of the Leucani were democratic, but during the wars a king was elected by those who were possessed of chief authority: at the present time they are Roman.

4. The Bruttii occupy the remainder of the coast as far as the Strait of Sicily, extending about 1350 stadia. Antiochus, in his treatise on Italy, says that this district, which he intended to describe, was called Italy, but that previously it had been called Œnotria. The boundary which he assigns to it on the Tyrrhenian Sea, is the river Lao,[2093] and on the Sea of Sicily Metapontium, the former of which we have given as the boundary of the Bruttii. He describes Tarentum, which is next to Metapontium,[2094] as beyond Italy, calling it Iapygian. He also relates that, at a more ancient period, those who dwelt on this side the isthmus, which lies next the Strait of Sicily, were the only people who were called Œnotrians and Italians. The isthmus is 160 stadia across between the two gulfs, namely, that of Hipponium,[2095] which Antiochus called Napitinus, and [CAS. 255] that of Scylletium.[2096] The circumnavigation of the peninsula, which is comprised between this isthmus and the strait, is 2000 stadia. He says that afterwards the names of Italy and of the Œnotrians were extended as far as Metapontium and the Siritis; the Chones, a people of Œnotrian descent, and highly civilized, inhabited these districts, and called their country Chone. However, this author has written in a very loose and old-fashioned manner, without giving any definite boundaries to the Leucani and Bruttii. Now Leucania is situated on the Tyrrhenian and Sicilian Seas, extending on one coast from the Silaro[2097] to the river Lao, and on the other from Metapontium[2098] to Thurii. Along the continent it stretches from the country of the Samnites, as far as the isthmus between Thurii and Cerilli,[2099] near the Lao. This isthmus is 300 stadia[2100] across. Beyond are the Bruttii, who dwell on the peninsula; in this is included another peninsula, which is bounded by the isthmus between Scylletium[2101] and the Hipponiate gulf.[2102] The nation received its appellation from the Leucani, for they call runaways Bruttii, and they say that formerly they ran away from them when employed as shepherds, and that afterwards their independence was established through the weakness [of the Leucani], when Dion [of Syracuse] was prosecuting a war against [the younger] Dionysius, and fomented hostilities amongst all.[2103] This is all we shall remark as to the Leucani and Bruttii.

5. From the Lao the first city is the Temesa[2104] of the Bruttii, which at present is called Tempsa. It was founded by the Ausonians; afterwards the Ætolians, under the command of Thoas, gained possession of it. These were expelled by the Bruttii; Hannibal and the Romans have overthrown the Bruttii.[2105] In the vicinity of Temesa is the Heroum of Polites, one of the companions of Ulysses. It is surrounded by a thick grove of wild olives. He was treacherously slain by the barbarians, and became in consequence very wrathful, and his shade so tormented the inhabitants that they submitted to pay him a tribute, according to the direction of a certain oracle. Thus it became a proverb amongst them, “Let no one offend the hero of Temesa,” for they said that [for a long time he[2106]] had tormented them. But when the Epizephyrian Locrians took the city, they feign that Euthymus the pugilist went out against him, and having overcome him in fight, constrained him to free the inhabitants from tribute.[2107] They say that the poet intended this Temesa, and not the Tamassus[2108] in Cyprus, (for it is said that the words are suitable to either,[2109]) when he sings,

“in quest of brass To Temesa.”[2110]

[CAS. 256] and certain copper-mines are pointed out near to the place, which are now exhausted. Contiguous to it is Terina,[2111] which Hannibal destroyed, when he found he could no longer retain it; at the time when he took refuge in the country of the Bruttii.[2112] Next in order comes Cosentia,[2113] the metropolis of the Bruttii. A little above it is Pandosia, which is strongly fortified, before which Alexander the Molossian king was overthrown. This prince was led astray by the oracle of Dodona, which commanded him to avoid Acheron and Pandosia;[2114] for places with names like these being pointed out in Thesprotia, caused him to lose his life[2115] here. The position has three summits, and the river Acheron flows by it. He was also mistaken in another oracle,

“O Pandosia, thou three-topp’d hill, Hereafter many people thou shalt kill;”

for he thought that it foreshowed the destruction of his enemies, and not of his own people. They say that Pandosia[2116] was formerly the residence of the Œnotrian kings. After Cosentia is Hipponium,[2117] founded by the Locrians.[2118] The Romans took it from the Bruttii, who were in possession of it at a subsequent period, and changed the name into Vibo-Valentia.[2119] And because the meadows in its vicinity are luxuriant and full of flowers, it is supposed that Proserpine came over from Sicily to gather them, and from thence the custom among women of this city, to gather flowers and plait garlands, prevailed to such an extent, that they now think it shameful to wear purchased garlands at the festivals.[2120] It also possesses a harbour[2121] made by Agathocles,[2122] the tyrant of Sicily, when he was in possession of the town. On sailing hence to the Portus Herculis,[2123] we come to the point where the headlands of Italy, as they stretch towards the Strait [of Sicily], begin to turn westward. In this voyage we pass Medma,[2124] a city of the same Locrians,[2125] which bears the name of a copious fountain, and possessing at a short distance a naval station, called Emporium.[2126] Very nigh is the river Metauro,[2127] as also a naval station bearing the same name.[2128] The Lipari Isles lie off this coast; they are distant 200 stadia from the strait. They say that they are the islands of Æolus, of whom the poet makes [CAS. 257] mention in the Odyssey.[2129] They are seven in number, and are all easily distinguished both from Sicily and the coast of the continent about Medma. We will speak of them in particular when we describe Sicily. After the river Metaurus, there is another Metaurus.[2130] Next in order is Scyllæum, an elevated cliff nearly surrounded by the sea. But connected with the mainland by a low isthmus easily accessible on either side, which Anaxilaus, the tyrant of Rhegium, fortified against the Tyrrheni, and formed a commodious haven, and thus prevented the pirates from passing through the strait. Next to the Scyllæan promontory was that of Cænys, distant from Medma 250 stadia. It is the last headland, and forms the narrowest part of the Strait [of Sicily], being opposite to Cape Pelorus on the Sicilian side, which is one of the three points which give to that island the form of a triangle. Its aspect is towards the rising of the sun in summer, whilst that of Cænys looks towards the west. Indeed they both seem to have diverged from the general line of coast in order to stand out opposite each other.[2131] From Cænys to the Posidonium[2132] [and] the Columna Rheginorum,[2133] the narrow part of the strait stretches as much as 6 stadia, the shortest passage across the strait is a little more. From the Columna [Rheginorum] to Rhegium, where the strait begins to widen, is a hundred [stadia] as you advance in a direction towards the exterior and eastern sea, which is called the sea of Sicily.

6. Rhegium[2134] was founded by certain Chalcidenses, who, as they say, were decimated as an offering to Apollo in a time of scarcity, by order of an oracle, and afterwards removed hither from Delphi, taking with them certain others from home. As Antiochus says, the Zanclæans sent for the Chalcidenses, and appointed Antimnestus chief over them. Certain fugitives of the Messenians of Peloponnesus accompanied this colony, who had been compelled to fly by those who refused to give satisfaction to the Lacedæmonians for the violation[2135] of the virgins at Limnæ, whom they had abused when attending the religious festival, and had slain those who assisted them. However when the fugitives had removed to Macistus, they sent to the oracle complaining against Apollo and Diana for suffering these things to happen notwithstanding they so greatly honoured them, and inquiring how the devoted might be saved. Apollo commanded to send them with the Chalcidenses to Rhegium, and to be grateful, therefore, to his sister Diana for that they were not lost but saved, as they should not be destroyed with their country, which would be annihilated shortly after by the Spartans.[2136] They acted in accordance with the oracle, and thus it was that the rulers of the Rhegini were all of Messenian race until the time of Anaxilaus.

Antiochus asserts that anciently the whole of this district was inhabited by Sicilians and Morgetes; and that they [CAS. 258] afterwards passed into Sicily when they were expelled by the Œnotri. Some say that Morgantium[2137] thus received its name from the Morgetes. But the city of the Rhegini became very powerful, and possessed many dependent settlements. It has always been a bulwark for us against the island [of Sicily], and, indeed, has recently served to that purpose when Sextus Pompeius alienated Sicily.[2138] It was called Rhegium either, as Æschylus says, because of the convulsion which had taken place in this region; for Sicily was broken from the continent by earthquakes,

“Whence it is called Rhegium.”[2139]

Others,[2140] as well as he, have affirmed the same thing, and adduce as an evidence that which is observed about Ætna, and the appearances seen in other parts of Sicily, the Lipari and neighbouring islands, and even in the Pithecussæ, with the whole coast beyond them, which prove that it was not unlikely that this convulsion had taken place. But now these mouths being opened, through which the fire is drawn up, and the ardent masses and water poured out, they say that the land in the neighbourhood of the Strait of Sicily rarely suffers from the effects of earthquakes; but formerly all the passages to the surface being blocked up, the fire which was smouldering beneath the earth, together with the vapour, occasioned terrible earthquakes, and the regions, being disturbed by the force of the pent-up winds, sometimes gave way, and being rent received the sea, which flowed in from either side; and thus were formed both this strait and the sea which surrounds the other islands in the neighbourhood. For Prochyta[2141] and the Pithecussæ, as well as Capreæ, Leucosia, the Sirenes, and the Œnotrides, are but so many detached fragments from the continent, but other islands have risen from the bottom of the sea, a circumstance which frequently occurs in many places; for it is more reasonable to think that the islands in the midst of the sea have been raised up from the bottom, and that those which lie off headlands and are separated merely by a strait were broken off from them. Still it is beside our purpose to investigate thoroughly whether the name were given to the city for these causes, or whether it were named by the Samnites from the Latin word regium, which signifies royal, on account of its importance,[2142] for their chieftains participated in the privileges of citizenship with the Romans, and generally used the Latin language. But Dionysius (the elder), having been treated with contempt by them, destroyed the illustrious city which had founded many towns and produced many distinguished characters, whether statesmen or men of letters,[2143] for when he sought a consort from their city, they offered him the hangman’s daughter;[2144] but his son (Dionysius the younger) partly restored it,[2145] and called it Phœbia. During the war with Pyrrhus, a body of Campanians destroyed most of the citizens against the faith of treaties,[2146] and a little [CAS. 259] before the Marsic or social war, earthquakes destroyed most of the towns;[2147] but after Augustus Cæsar had driven Sextus Pompeius out of Sicily, when he saw that the city was deficient of inhabitants, he appointed certain of those who accompanied the expedition to reside there, and it is now tolerably well peopled.[2148]

7. Sailing 50 stadia from Rhegium towards the east, we meet the cape called Leucopetra, from the colour of the rock, where they say the range of the Apennines terminates.[2149] Further on is Heraclæum.[2150] It is the last promontory, and looks towards the south; for presently on doubling it the course takes a south-western direction as far as the promontory of Iapygia,[2151] then it runs towards the north more and more, and towards the west along the Ionian gulf. After the Herculeum Promontorium is the headland of Locris, which is called Zephyrium,[2152] possessing a haven exposed to the west winds, whence is derived its name. Then is the state of the Locri Epizephyrii, a colony of Locrians transported by Evanthes from the Crissæan gulf, shortly after the foundation of Crotona and Syracuse.[2153] Ephorus was not correct in stating that they were a colony of the Locri Opuntii.[2154] They remained at first during three or four years at Cape Zephyrium; afterwards they removed their city, with the assistance of certain Syracusans who dwelt amongst them. There is also a fountain called Locria in the place where the Locri first took up their abode. From Rhegium to the Locri there are 600 stadia. The city is built on a height, which they call Esopis.[2155]

8. The Locri are believed to have been the first who committed their laws to writing, but after they had enjoyed the advantage of these good laws for a very considerable time, Dionysius [the younger], having been expelled[2156] from Syracuse, found means to abuse them in a most abominable manner, for he, entering into a private chamber where certain young brides had been adorned for their nuptials, violated them; he also gathered the most beautiful virgins to his revels, and having liberated doves with uncut wings, commanded the young women to chase them round the apartment in a state of perfect nudity, while on some he bound sandals of unequal height, one being high and the other low, in order to make their appearance in the pursuit the more unseemly. However he paid dearly for this, for having returned to Sicily to resume his government, the Locri overpowered the guard he had left in their city, freed themselves, and obtained possession of his wife and children; there were two of his daughters, and his second son who had already attained the age of manhood; the eldest, however, called Apollocrates, accompanied his father in the expedition. And although Dionysius himself entreated them earnestly, as did also the Tarentines, to deliver the prisoners for whatever ransom they should name, they remained inexorable, and endured a siege and the wasting of their country, that they might vent their rage on his daughters. After having exposed them to the most shameful [CAS. 260] outrages, they strangled them, burnt their bodies, pounded their bones, and cast them into the sea.[2157] Ephorus in speaking of the written law of the Locri, which Zaleucus had most judiciously selected from the Cretan, Lacedæmonian, and Areopagite codes, says that Zaleucus was the first to establish this principle, that whereas formerly lawgivers had left it to the judges to award the punishments for the several offences, he established a certain penalty in his laws, thinking that the minds of the judges would not be led to attach the same penalties for the same transgressions, which course he considered expedient. He praises him also for having simplified the law of contracts. [He says also] that the Thurians, being desirous to improve [the code of Zaleucus] more than the Locri had done, became more celebrated, but were less judicious.[2158] For that state is not regulated by the best government, where they guard against all manner of deceit by their laws, but that wherein they abide by laws simply framed. Plato also has observed that where there are many laws, there will be law-suits and evil lives, in the same way as, where there are many physicians, there it is likely there is much sickness.

9. There is a certain singular circumstance, respecting grasshoppers, worthy of note. The river Alece[2159] divides Rhegium from Locris, flowing through a deep ravine; those which are in the territory of the Locrians sing, but those on the other side are silent; and it is thought probable that this is caused by the region being woody, and their membranes being softened by dew do not produce sound; but those on the Locrian side being sunned, are dry and horny, so that the sound is easily produced by them. The statue of Eunomus the harper having a grasshopper seated on his harp is shown at Locri. Timæus says, that this Eunomus was once contending at the Pythian games and disputed with Aristo of Rhegium for the prize, and that Aristo declared that the people of Delphi ought to take part with him, because his ancestors were consecrated to the god, and sent out to found the colony; but Eunomus said that they could have no claim to contend for melody with any one, because that among them even the grasshoppers, who are the most gifted of all creatures, were mute. Nevertheless Aristo was applauded, and had hopes of obtaining the victory, but Eunomus was declared victorious, and dedicated the said statue in his country, because that at the contest one of the chords of his harp having broken, a grasshopper taking his stand on it supplied the sound. Above these towns the Bruttii possess the interior, and there is the city Mamertium,[2160] and the forest which they call Sila, which produces the best or Bruttian pitch.[2161] It yields fine trees, and is well watered, extending over a length of 700 stadia.

10. After the Locri is the [river] Sagras,[2162] in the feminine gender, on which is situated the altar of the Dioscuri, near which ten thousand Locrians, with a small body of Rhegians gained a victory over 130,000 Crotoniatæ, whence they say arose the proverb applied to incredulous people, “It is more true than the victory of the Sagras.” Some people add to the mysterious account, that it was announced the same day at the Olympic games to the people there assembled, and this speedy news was found perfectly correct. They say that this mischance was so unfortunate an event to the Crotoniatæ, that after it they did not long remain as a nation, on account [CAS. 261] of the number of citizens who fell in the battle. After the Sagras is Caulonia, which was at first called Aulonia, from the αὐλὼν, or valley, in which it was situated; but it is deserted, for its former possessors were driven out by the barbarians,[2163] and have taken refuge in Sicily, and there founded [another] Caulonia.[2164] After this is Scylletium,[2165] a colony of the Athenians, who set out under Menestheus;[2166] it is now called Scylacium.[2167] Dionysius [the elder] allotted a portion of it to the Locri, whilst it was in the possession of the Crotoniatæ.[2168] The Scylleticus Sinus received its name from this city. It together with the Hipponiates Sinus forms the isthmus which we have mentioned above.[2169] Dionysius[2170] undertook to build a wall across the isthmus, at the time he was carrying on war against the Leucani, assigning as a pretext that it would afford security to the inhabitants of the peninsula from the inroads of the barbarians dwelling beyond it; but in truth his intention was to cut off the communication of the Greeks with each other, and to have the greater power over those who dwelt within the peninsula, but those who dwelt without[2171] assembled and prevented the undertaking.

11. After Scylletium is the region of Crotona, and the Iapygum tria Promontoria,[2172] and after these the Lacinium,[2173] sacred to Juno, formerly rich and filled with many offerings. But the distances have not been accurately stated. We can only say that in a general way Polybius reckons 2300[2174] stadia from the strait[2175] to Lacinium,[2176] and 700 stadia from Lacinium to the Iapygian promontory. They call this the entrance of the Gulf of Taranto. The extent of the gulf is considerable, being 240 miles along the shore. As the chorographer says ... of 380 ... to a light person, Artemidorus: wanting also by so many ... of the breadth of the mouth of the gulf.[2177] Its aspect looks towards the rising of the sun in winter.[2178] It commenced from Lacinium, for presently on doubling the cape you come to where the Greek cities formerly stood; now they no longer exist, with the exception of Tarentum. But on account of the estimation in which certain of them were held, it is worth while to speak of them somewhat in detail.

12. The first is Crotona, 150 stadia from Lacinium and the river [CAS. 262] Esaro;[2179] there is also a haven[2180] there, and another river Nieto,[2181] the name whereof is said to be derived from the following circumstance—they say that certain of the Greeks who had wandered from the fleet which had besieged Troy, having arrived in this place, disembarked to take a survey of the country, and that the Trojan women who accompanied them in the fleet, having observed the absence of the men, and being wearied with a toilsome voyage, set fire to the fleet, so that they were compelled to abide, when they saw, in addition [to the loss of their ships], that the soil was very fertile. Many others arriving soon after, and being desirous to live near their fellow-countrymen, founded several settlements. Most of them derived their names from the Trojans, and the river Nieto received its appellation from the destruction[2182] [of the ships]. But Antiochus relates that an oracle having commanded the Greeks to found Crotona, Myscellus went forth to view the place, and having seen Sybaris already built on a neighbouring river of the same name, thought it better, and returned to the god to ask if he might be permitted to settle in that, instead of the other; but that the oracle answered, applying to him an epithet noticing his defective stature, (for Myscellus was somewhat crook-backed,)

“O short-backed Myscellus, whilst seeking somewhat else of thyself, Thou pursuest only misfortune: it is right to accept that which is proffered to thee:”[2183]

and that he returned and built Crotona, wherein he was assisted by Archias,[2184] the founder of Syracuse, who happened to touch at Crotona by chance, as he was proceeding to the colony of the Syracusans. The Iapyges possessed Crotona before this time,[2185] as Ephorus relates. The city cultivated martial discipline and athletic exercises to a great extent, and in one of the Olympic games all the seven wrestlers, who obtained the palm in the stadium, were Crotoniatæ; whence, it seems, the saying arose that the last wrestler of Crotona was the first of the other Greeks, and hence they say also is the origin of the expression, “more salubrious than Crotona,” as instancing a place which had something to show, in the number of wrestlers which it produced, as a proof of its salubrity and the robust frame of body which it was capable of rearing. Thus it had many victors in the Olympic games, although it cannot be reckoned to have been long inhabited on account of the vast destruction of its citizens, who fell at the battle of the Sagras. Its celebrity too was not a little spread by the number of Pythagoreans who resided there, and Milo,[2186] who was the most renowned of wrestlers, and lived in terms of intimacy with Pythagoras, who abode long in this city. They relate that at a banquet of the philosophers, when one of the pillars in the hall gave way, Milo sustained the ceiling while they all escaped, and afterwards saved himself. It is likely that, trusting to the same strength, he met his fate as related by some, for whilst making his way through a thick wood, he strayed considerably out of the path, when finding a great log with wedges in it, he thrust both his hands and feet into the fissure, intending to split it completely, but was only able to force it enough to let the wedges fall out, when the gaping log presently closed on him, and he, being taken as in a snare, was devoured by wild beasts.

13. Beyond this, at the distance of 200 stadia, is situated Sybaris,[2187] a colony settled by the Achæans, between the two [CAS. 263] rivers Crati[2188] and Sybaris.[2189] Its founder was Is....[2190] the Helicean.[2191] So great was the prosperity enjoyed by this city anciently, that it held dominion over four neighbouring people and twenty-five towns; in the war with the Crotoniatæ it brought into the field 300,000 men, and occupied a circuit of 50 stadia on the Crati. But on account of the arrogance and turbulence of its citizens, it was deprived of all its prosperity by the Crotoniatæ in 70[2192] days, who took the city, and turning the waters of the river [Crati], overwhelmed it with an inundation.[2193] Some time after, a few who had escaped came together and inhabited the site of their former city, but in time they were dispossessed by the Athenians[2194] and other Greeks, who came and settled amongst them, but they despised and subjugated them, and removed the city to a neighbouring place, calling its name Thurii, from a fountain of that name. The water of the river Sybaris has the peculiar property of making the horses which drink it shy,[2195] for which reason they keep their horses away from the river. The Crati turns the hair of those who bathe in it yellow, and sometimes white, but has been found salutary for the cure of many disorders. Thurii, after having flourished for a long time, became a continual prey to the aggressions of the Leucani,[2196] and afterwards the Tarentini troubling them, they appealed to the Romans for succour, who, in course of time, sent a colony[2197] when it was nearly deserted, and changed the name of the city to Copiæ.[2198]

14. After Thurii is Lagaria,[2199] a garrison fort; it was originally settled by Epeius[2200] and the Phocenses; hence is derived the Lagaritan wine, sweet and delicate, and much recommended by the physicians, as is likewise the Thurian wine, which is reckoned among the best. Then comes the city of Heraclea,[2201] a little way from the sea, and two navigable rivers, the Agri[2202] and the Sinno,[2203] on which was the city Siris, founded by a Trojan colony, but in course of time, when Heraclea was peopled with the citizens of Siris by the Tarentini, it became the harbour of Heraclea. Its distance from Heraclea was 24 stadia, and from Thurii about 330.[2204] They point out the statue of the Trojan Minerva, which is erected there, as a proof of its colonization by the Trojans. They also relate as a miracle how the statue closed its eyes when the suppliants, who had fled for sanctuary to her shrine, were dragged away by the Ionians after they had taken the city;[2205] they say that these Ionians came to settle here, when they fled from the yoke of the Lydians, and took the town of the Trojans[2206] by force, calling its name Polieum. They show, too, at the present time [CAS. 264] the statue that closes its eyes. It must, however, require a good courage, not to assert that it appeared to have closed its eyes, as that at Troy turned away its eyes from beholding the violence offered to Cassandra, but to show it in the act of winking:—but it is much more daring to make so many statues of the Minerva rescued from Ilium, as those who describe them affirm, for there is a Minerva said to be Trojan in the sense of having been rescued from that city, not only at Siris, but at Rome, at Lavinium, and at Luceria. The scene, too, of the daring of the Trojan female captives is assigned to many different places and appears incredible, although it is by no means impossible. There are some who say that Siris, and also that Sybaris on the Trionto,[2207] were founded by the Rhodians. Antiochus says that the site of Siris having become the subject of a contention between the Tarentini and the Thurii, on that occasion commanded by Cleandridas the general who had been banished from Lacedæmon, the two people came to a composition, and agreed to inhabit it in common, but that the colony[2208] should be considered as Tarentine; however, at a subsequent period both the name and the locality were changed, and it was called Heraclea.[2209]

15. Next in order is Metapontium,[2210] at a distance of 140 stadia from the sea-port of Heraclea. It is said to be a settlement of the Pylians at the time of their return from Ilium under Nestor; their success in agriculture was so great, that it is said they offered at Delphi a golden harvest:[2211] they adduce, as a proof of this foundation, the offerings of the dead sacrificed periodically to the Neleïdæ;[2212] but it was destroyed by the Samnites.[2213] Antiochus says that certain Achæans, who had been sent for by the Achæans of Sybaris, settled in this place when it had been desolated; he adds that these were sent for on account of the hatred of the Achæans to the Tarentini, who had originally migrated from Laconia, in order to prevent their seizing upon the place which lay adjacent to them. Of the two cities, viz. Metapontium which was situated the nearer, [and Siris the further,[2214]] from Tarentum, the new comers preferred to occupy Metapontium. This choice was suggested by the Sybarites, because, if they should make good their settlement there, they would also possess Siris, but if they were to turn to Siris, Metapontium would be annexed to the territory of the Tarentines which was conterminous. But after being engaged in war with the Tarentini and the Œnotrians, who dwelt beyond them, they came to an agreement, securing to them a portion of land, which should constitute the boundary between Italy, as it then existed, and Iapygia. This, too, is the locality which tradition assigns to the adventures of Metapontus and the captive Melanippe, and her son Bœotus. But Antiochus is of opinion that the city Metapontium was originally called Metabum, and that its name was altered at a subsequent period; and that Melanippe was not entertained here but at Dius, and thinks that the heroum of Metabus as well as the testimony of the poet Asius, who says that

“The beautiful Melanippe, in the halls of Dius, bare Bœotus,”

afford sufficient proof that Melanippe was led to Dius and not to Metabum. Ephorus says that Daulius, the tyrant of Crissa[2215] near Delphi, was the founder of Metapontium. There is, however, another tradition, that Leucippus was sent by the Achæans to help to found the colony, and having asked permission of the Tarentini to have the place for a day and a night, would not give it up, replying by day to those who [CAS. 265] asked it of him, that he had asked and obtained it till the following night, and when asked by night, he said that he held it till the coming day.

Next adjoining is Tarentum and Iapygia, which we will describe when we shall have first gone through the islands which lie off Italy, according to our original purpose; for we have always given the adjacent islands with every nation we have hitherto described, and since we have gone through Œnotria, which only, the people of ancient times named Italy, we feel justified in keeping to the same arrangement, and shall pass on to Sicily and the surrounding islands.

Chapter II

1. Sicily is triangular in form, and on this account was at first called Trinacria, but afterwards the name was softened and it was changed into Thrinacia.[2216] Three low headlands bound the figure: Pelorias is the name of that towards Cænys and the Columna Rheginorum which forms the strait; Pachynus[2217] is that which stretches towards the east, and is washed by the Sea of Sicily, looking towards the Peloponnesus and in the direction of the passage to Crete; the third is Lilybæum,[2218] and is next to Africa, looking towards that region and the setting of the sun in winter.[2219] Of the sides which these three headlands bound, two are somewhat concave, while the third is slightly convex, it runs from Lilybæum to Pelorias, and is the longest, being, as Posidonius has said, 1700 stadia adding further twenty. Of the others, that extending to Pachynus from Lilybæum is the longer, while the shortest faces the Strait and Italy, extending from Pelorias to Pachynus, being about 1120 or 1130 stadia. Posidonius shows that the circumference is 4400 stadia, but in the Chorography the distances are declared to exceed the above numbers, being severally reckoned in miles. Thus from Cape Pelorias to Mylæ,[2220] 25 miles; from Mylæ to Tyndaris,[2221] 25; thence to Agathyrnum,[2222] 30; from Agathyrnum to Alæsa,[2223] 30; from Alæsa to Cephalœdium,[2224] 30; these are but insignificant places; from Cephalœdium to the river Himera,[2225] which runs through the midst of Sicily, 18; from thence to Panormus,[2226] 35; [thence] to the Emporium[2227] of the Ægestani, 32; leaving to Lilybæum[2228] a distance of 38; thence having doubled the Cape and coasting the adjacent side to Heracleum,[2229] 75; and to the Emporium[2230] of the Agrigentini, 20; and to[2231] [CAS. 266] Camarina,[2232] another 20; then to Pachynus, 50; thence again along the third side to Syracuse, 36;[2233] from Syracuse to Catana, 60; then to Tauromenium,[2234] 33; thence to Messana, 30.[2235] Thus on foot[2236] from Pachynus to Pelorias we have 168 [miles], and from Messana[2237] to [Cape] Lilybæum, on the Via Valeria,[2238] we have 235[2239] [miles]. Some have estimated the circuit in a more simple way, as Ephorus, who says that the compass of the island by sea takes five days and nights. Posidonius attempts to determine the situation of the island by climata,[2240] and places Pelorias to the north, Lilybæum to the south, and Pachynus to the east. We however consider that of necessity all climata are set out in the manner of a parallelogram, but that districts portrayed as triangles, and especially such triangles as are scalene,[2241] and whereof no one side lies parallel to a side of the parallelogram, cannot in any way be assimilated to climata on account of their obliquity. However, we must allow, that in treating of Sicily, Pelorias, which lies to the south of Italy, may well be called the most northern of the three angles, so that we say that the line which joins it[2242] to Pachynus faces the east but looks towards the north.[2243] Now this line [of coast] will make the side next the Strait [of Messina], and it must have a slight inclination towards the winter sunrise;[2244] for thus the shore slightly changes its direction as you travel from Catana towards Syracuse and Pachynus. Now the transit from Pachynus to the mouth of the Alpheus[2245] is 4000 stadia. But when Artemidorus says that from Pachynus to Tænarum[2246] it is 4600, and from the Alpheus to the Pamisus is 1130 stadia,[2247] he appears to me to lie open to the objection of having given distances which do not accord with the 4000 stadia from Pachynus to the Alpheus. The line run from Pachynus to Lilybæum (which is much to the west of Pelorias) is considerably diverged from the south towards the west, having at the same time an aspect looking towards the east and towards the south.[2248] On one side it is washed by the sea of Sicily, and on the other by the Libyan Sea, extending from Carthage to the Syrtes. The shortest run is 1500 stadia from Lilybæum to the coast of Africa about Carthage; and, according to report, a certain very sharp-sighted person,[2249] placed on a watch-tower, announced to the Carthaginians besieged in Lilybæum the number of the ships which were leaving Carthage. And from Lilybæum to Pelorias the side must necessarily incline towards the east, and look in a direction towards the west and north, having Italy to the north, and the Tyrrhenian Sea with the islands of Æolus to the west.[2250]

2. The cities situated on the side which forms the Strait are, first Messana, then Tauromenium,[2251] Catana, and Syracuse; between Catana and Syracuse were the ruined cities Naxos[2252] and Megara,[2253] situated where the rivers descending from Ætna fall into the sea, and afford good accommodation for shipping. Here is also the promontory of Xiphonia. They say that Ephorus founded these first cities of the Greeks in Sicily in [CAS. 267] the tenth generation from the Trojan war. For those who preceded him were so terrified by the piratical customs of the Tyrrheni, and the ferocity of the savages of the neighbourhood, that they did not even venture to resort thither for the purposes of commerce. Theocles the Athenian, however, having been driven to Sicily by storms, observed both the weakness of the inhabitants and the excellence of the soil. On his return home, he was unable to persuade the Athenians to make any attempt, but he collected a numerous band of Chalcidians in Eubœa, with some Ionians and Dorians, whereof the most part were Megarenses, and sailed. The Chalcidians founded Naxos, and the Dorians Megara, which was at first called Hybla. These cities no longer exist, but the name of Hybla survives on account of the Hyblæan honey.

3. The first of the cities which at present remain on the aforesaid side is Messana, built at the head of the gulf of Pelorias, which is curved very considerably towards the east, and forms a bay. The passage across to Rhegium[2254] is 60 stadia, but the distance to the Columna Rheginorum is much less. It was from a colony of the Messenians of the Peloponnesus that it was named Messana, having been originally called Zancle, on account of the great inequality of the coast (for anything irregular was termed ζάγκλιον).[2255] It was originally founded by the people of Naxos near Catana. Afterwards the Mamertini, a tribe of Campanians, took possession of it.[2256] The Romans, in the war in Sicily against the Carthaginians, used it as an arsenal.[2257] Still more recently,[2258] Sextus Pompeius assembled his fleet in it, to contend against Augustus Cæsar; and when he relinquished the island, he took ship from thence.[2259] Charybdis[2260] is pointed out at a short distance from the city in the Strait, an immense gulf, into which the back currents of the Strait frequently impel ships, carrying them down with a whirl and the violence of the eddy. When they are swallowed down and shattered, the wrecks are cast by the stream on the shore of Tauromenia,[2261] which they call, on account of this kind of accumulation, the dunghill.[2262] So greatly have the Mamertini prevailed over the Messenians, that they have by degrees wrested the city from them. The inhabitants generally are rather called Mamertini than Messenians. The district abounds in wine, which we do not call Messenian, but Mamertinian: it vies with the best produced in Italy.[2263] The city is well peopled, but Catana is more populous, which has been colonized by the Romans.[2264] Tauromenium is less populous than either. Catana was founded by people from Naxos, and Tauromenium by the Zanclæans of Hybla,[2265] but Catana was deprived of its original inhabitants when Hiero, the tyrant of Syracuse, introduced others, and called it by the name of Ætna instead of Catana. It is of this that Pindar says he was the founder, when he sings,

“Thou understandest what I say, O father, that bearest the same name with the splendid holy sacrifices, thou founder of Ætna.”[2266]

But on the death of Hiero,[2267] the Catanæans returned and expelled the new inhabitants, and demolished the mausoleum of the tyrant. The Ætnæans, compelled to retire,[2268] established themselves on a hilly district of Ætna, called Innesa,[2269] and called the place Ætna. It is distant from Catana about 80 stadia. They still acknowledged Hiero as their founder.

Ætna lies the highest of any part of Catana, and participates the most in the inconveniences occasioned by the mouths of the volcano, for the streams of lava flowing down in Catanæa[2270] pass through it first. It was here that Amphinomus [CAS. 269] and Anapias set the example of filial piety so greatly celebrated, for they, seizing their parents, carried them on their shoulders[2271] to a place of safety from the impending ruin; for whenever, as Posidonius relates, there is an eruption of the mountain the fields of the Catanæans are buried to a great depth. However, after the burning ashes have occasioned a temporary damage, they fertilize the country for future seasons, and render the soil good for the vine and very strong for other produce, the neighbouring districts not being equally adapted to the produce of wine. They say that the roots which the districts covered with these ashes produce, are so good for fattening sheep, that they are sometimes suffocated, wherefore they bleed them in the ear every four or five days,[2272] in the same way as we have related a like practice at Erythia. When the stream of lava cools[2273] it covers the surface of the earth with stone to a considerable depth, so that those who wish to uncover the original surface are obliged to hew away the stone as in a quarry. For the stone is liquefied in the craters and then thrown up. That which is cast forth from the top is like a black moist clay and flows down the hill-sides, then congealing it becomes mill-stone, preserving the same colour it had while fluid. The ashes of the stones which are burnt are like what would be produced by wood, and as rue thrives on wood ashes, so there is probably some quality in the ashes of Ætna which is appropriate to the vine.

4. Archias, sailing from Corinth, founded Syracuse about the same period[2274] that Naxos and Megara were built. They say that Myscellus and Archias having repaired to Delphi at the same time to consult the oracle, the god demanded whether they would choose wealth or health, when Archias preferred wealth and Myscellus health, upon which the oracle assigned Syracuse to the former to found, and Crotona to the latter. And certainly, in like manner as it fell out that the Crotoniatæ should inhabit a state so notable for salubrity as we have described,[2275] so such great riches have accrued to the Syracusans that their name has been embodied in the proverb applied to those who have too great wealth, viz. that they have not yet attained to a tithe of the riches of the Syracusans. While Archias was on his voyage to Sicily, he left Chersicrates, a chief of the race of the Heracleidæ,[2276] with a part of the expedition to settle the island now called Corcyra,[2277] but anciently called Scheria, and he, having expelled the Liburni who possessed it, established his colony in the island. Archias, pursuing his route, met with certain Dorians at Zephyrium,[2278] come from Sicily, and who had quitted the company of those who had founded Megara; these he took with him, and in conjunction with them founded Syracuse. The city flourished on account of the fertility[2279] of the country and the convenience of the harbours, the citizens became great rulers; while under tyrants themselves, they domineered over the other states [of Sicily], and when freed from despotism, they set at liberty such as had been enslaved by the barbarians: of these barbarians some were the aboriginal inhabitants of the island, while others had come across from the continent. The Greeks suffered none of the barbarians to approach the shore, although they were not able to expel them entirely from the interior, for the Siculi, Sicani,[2280] Morgetes, and some others,[2281] still inhabit the island to the present day, amongst whom also were the Iberians, who, as Ephorus relates, were [CAS. 270] the first of the barbarians that are considered to have been settlers in Sicily. It seems probable that Morgantium[2282] was founded by the Morgetes. Formerly it was a city, but now it is not. When the Carthaginians[2283] endeavoured to gain possession of the island they continually harassed both the Greeks and the barbarians, but the Syracusans withstood them; at a later period the Romans expelled the Carthaginians and took Syracuse after a long siege.[2284] And [Sextus] Pompeius, having destroyed Syracuse in the same way as he had done by the other cities,[2285] Augustus Cæsar in our own times sent thither a colony, and to a great extent restored it to its former importance, for anciently it consisted of five towns[2286] enclosed by a wall of 180[2287] stadia, but there being no great need that it should fill this extensive circle, he thought it expedient to fortify in a better way the thickly inhabited portion lying next the island of Ortygia, the circumference of which by itself equals that of an important city. Ortygia is connected to the mainland by a bridge, and [boasts of] the fountain Arethusa, which springs in such abundance as to form a river at once, and flows into the sea. They say that it is the river Alpheus[2288] which rises in the Peloponnesus, and that it flows through the land beneath the sea[2289] to the place where the Arethusa rises and flows into the sea. Some such proofs as these are given in support of the fact. A certain chalice having fallen into the river at Olympia was cast up by the springs of Arethusa; the fountain too is troubled by the sacrifices of oxen at Olympia. And Pindar, following such reports, thus sings,

“Ortygia, revered place of reappearing[2290] of the Alpheus, The offset of renowned Syracuse.”[2291]

Timæus[2292] the historian advances these accounts in like manner with Pindar. Undoubtedly if before reaching the sea the Alpheus were to fall into some chasm,[2293] there would be a probability that it continued its course from thence to Sicily, preserving its potable water unmixed with the sea; but since the mouth of the river manifestly falls into the sea, and there does not appear any opening in the bed of the sea there, which would be capable of imbibing the waters of the river, (although even if there were they could not remain perfectly fresh, still it might be possible to retain much of the character of fresh water, if they were presently to be swallowed down into a passage running below the earth which forms the bed of the sea,) it is altogether impossible; and this the water of Arethusa clearly proves, being perfectly fit for beverage; but [CAS. 271] that the flow of the river should remain compact through so long a course, not mixing with the sea until it should fall into the fancied channel, is entirely visionary; for we can scarcely credit it of the Rhone, the body of the waters of which remains compact during its passage through the lake, and preserves a visible course, but in that instance both the distance is short and the lake is not agitated by waves like the sea, but in this case of the Alpheus,[2294] where there are great storms and the waters are tossed with violence, the supposition is by no means worthy of attention. The fable of the chalice being carried over is likewise a mere fabrication, for it is not calculated for transfer, nor is it by any means probable it should be washed away so far, nor yet by such difficult passages. Many rivers, however, and in many parts of the world, flow beneath the earth, but none for so great a distance.—Still, although there may be no impossibility in this circumstance, yet the above-mentioned accounts are altogether impossible, and almost as absurd as the fable related of the Inachus: this river, as Sophocles[2295] feigns,

“Flowing from the heights of Pindus and Lacmus, passes from the country of the Perrhœbi[2296] to that of the Amphilochi[2297] and the Acarnanians, and mingles its waters with the Achelous:”[2298]

and further on [he says],

“Thence to Argos, cutting through the waves, it comes to the territory of Lyrceius.”

Those who would have the river Inopus to be a branch of the Nile flowing to Delos, exaggerate this kind of marvel to the utmost. Zoïlus the rhetorician, in his Eulogium of the people of Tenedos, says that the river Alpheus flows from Tenedos: yet this is the man who blames Homer for fabulous writing. Ibycus also says that the Asopus, a river of Sicyon,[2299] flows from Phrygia. Hecatæus is more rational, who says that the Inachus of the Amphilochi, which flows from Mount Lacmus, from whence also the Æas[2300] descends, was distinct from the river of like name in Argolis, and was so named after Amphilochus, from whom likewise the city of Argos was denominated Amphilochian. He says further, that this river falls into the Achelous, and that the Æas flows to Apollonia[2301] towards the west. On each side of the island there is an extensive harbour; the extent of the larger one is 80[2302] stadia. [Augustus] Cæsar has not only restored this city, but Catana, and likewise Centoripa,[2303] which had contributed much towards the overthrow of [Sextus] Pompey. Centoripa is situated above Catana and confines with the mountains of Ætna and the river Giaretta,[2304] which flows into Catanæa.

5. One of the remaining sides, that stretching from Pachynus to Lilybæum, is entirely deserted; still it preserves a few traces of the ancient inhabitants, one of whose cities was Camarina.[2305] Acragas,[2306] which was a colony of the Geloi,[2307] together with its port and Lilybæum,[2308] still exist. In fact, these regions, lying opposite to Carthage, have been wasted by the great and protracted wars which have been waged. The remaining and greatest side, although it is by no means densely peopled, is well occupied, for Alæsa,[2309] Tyndaris,[2310] the emporium[2311] of the Ægestani and Cephalœdium,[2312] are respectable towns. Panormus has received a Roman colony: they say that Ægesta[2313] was founded by the Greeks who passed over, as we have related when speaking of Italy, with Philoctetes to the Crotoniatis, and were by him sent to Sicily with Ægestus[2314] the Trojan.

6. In the interior of the island a few inhabitants possess Enna,[2315] in which there is a temple of Ceres;[2316] it is situated on [CAS. 272] a hill, and surrounded by spacious tablelands well adapted for tillage. The fugitive slaves, who placed themselves under the leading of Eunus,[2317] and sustained in this city a long siege, scarcely being reduced by the Romans, occasioned much damage to the city. The Catanæi, Tauromenitæ, and many others, suffered, much in like manner. †Eryx,[2318] a very lofty mountain, is also inhabited. It possesses a temple of Venus, which is very much esteemed; in former times it was well filled with women sacred to the goddess, whom the inhabitants of Sicily, and also many others, offered in accomplishment of their vows; but now, both is the neighbourhood much thinner of inhabitants, and the temple not near so well supplied with priestesses and female attendants.[2319] There is also an establishment of this goddess at Rome called the temple of Venus Erycina, just before the Colline Gate; in addition to the temple it has a portico well worthy of notice.† The other settlement and most of the interior have been left to the shepherds for pasturage; for we do not know that Himera is yet inhabited,[2320] or Gela,[2321] or Callipolis, or Selinus, or Eubœa, or many other places; of these the Zanclæi of Mylæ[2322] founded Himera,[2323] the people of Naxos, Callipolis,[2324] the Megaræans of Sicily,[2325] Selinus,[2326] and the Leontini[2327] Eubœa.[2328] Many too of the cities of the aboriginal inhabitants[2329] have been destroyed, as Camici, the kingdom of Cocalus, at whose house Minos is reported to have been treacherously cut off. The Romans therefore, considering the deserted condition of the country, and having got possession both of the hills and the most part of the plains, have given them over to horse-breeders, herdsmen, and shepherds, by whom the island has frequently been brought into great perils. First of all the shepherds, taking to pillage here and there in different places, and afterwards assembling in numbers and forcibly taking settlements; for instance, as those under the command of Eunus[2330] seized upon Enna.[2331] And quite recently, during the time that we were at Rome, a certain Selurus, called the son of Ætna, was sent up to that city. He had been the captain of a band of robbers, and had for a long time infested the country round Ætna, committing frequent depredations. We saw him torn to pieces by wild beasts in the forum after a contest of gladiators: he had been set upon a platform fashioned to represent Mount Ætna, which being suddenly unfastened and falling, he was precipitated amongst certain cages of wild beasts, which had also been slightly constructed under the platform for the occasion.

7. The fertility of the country is so generally extolled by every one, as nothing inferior to Italy, that there is a question as to what we should say of it. Indeed, for wheat, honey, saffron, and some other commodities, it even surpasses that country. In addition to this, its proximity renders the island like a part of Italy itself, so that it supplies the Roman market with produce both commodiously and without trouble. Indeed they call it the granary of Rome, for all the produce of the island is carried thither, except a few things required for home consumption. It consists not only of the fruits of the earth, but of cattle, skins, wool, and the like. Posidonius says that Syracuse and Eryx are situated on the sea like two citadels, and that Enna in the midst, between Syracuse and Eryx, commands the surrounding plains. †The[2332] whole [CAS. 273] territory of the Leontini, which was possessed by the people of Naxos settled in Sicily, suffered much, for they always shared in the misfortunes of Syracuse, but not always in its prosperity.†

8. Near to Centoripa is the town we have a little before mentioned, Ætna, which serves as a place for travellers about to ascend Mount Ætna, to halt and refresh themselves for the expedition. For here commences the region in which is situated the summit of the mountain. The districts above are barren and covered with ashes, which are surmounted by the snows in winter: all below it however is filled with woods and plantations of all kinds. It seems that the summits of the mountain take many changes by the ravages of the fire, which sometimes is brought together into one crater, and at another is divided; at one time again it heaves forth streams of lava, and at another flames and thick smoke: at other times again ejecting red-hot masses of fire-stone. In such violent commotions as these the subterraneous passages must necessarily undergo a corresponding change, and at times the orifices on the surface around be considerably increased. Some who have very recently ascended the mountain, reported[2333] to us, that they found at the top an even plain of about 20 stadia in circumference, enclosed by an overhanging ridge of ashes about the height of a wall, so that those who are desirous of proceeding further are obliged to leap down into the plain. They noticed in the midst of it a mound; it was ash-coloured, as was likewise the plain in appearance. Above the mound a column of cloud reared itself in a perpendicular line to the height of 200 stadia, and remained motionless (there being no air stirring at the time); it resembled smoke. Two of the party resolutely attempted to proceed further across this plain, but, finding the sand very hot and sinking very deep in it, they turned back, without however being able to make any more particular observations, as to what we have described, than those who beheld from a greater distance. They were, however, of opinion, from the observations they were able to make, that much exaggeration pervades the accounts we have of the volcano, and especially the tale about Empedocles, that he leaped into the crater, and left as a vestige of his folly one of the brazen sandals which he wore, it being found outside at a short distance from the lip of the crater, with the appearance of having been cast up by the violence of the flame; for neither is the place approachable nor even visible, nor yet was it likely that any thing could be cast in thither, on account of the contrary current of the vapours and other matters cast up from the lower parts of the mountain, and also on account of the overpowering excess of heat, which would most likely meet any one long before approaching the mouth of the crater; and if eventually any thing should be cast down, it would be totally decomposed before it were cast up again, what manner of form soever it might have had at first. And again, although it is not unreasonable to suppose that the force of the vapour and fire is occasionally slackened for want of a continual supply of fuel, still we are not to conclude that it is ever possible for a man to approach it in the presence of so great an opposing power. Ætna more especially commands the shore along the Strait and Catana, but it also overlooks the sea that washes Tyrrhenia and the Lipari Islands. By night a glowing light appears on its summit, but in the day-time it is enveloped with smoke and thick darkness.

9. The Nebrodes mountains[2334] take their rise opposite[2335] to Ætna; they are not so lofty as Ætna, but extend over a much greater surface. The whole island is hollow under ground, and full of rivers and fire like the bed of the Tyrrhenian Sea,[2336] as far as Cumæa, as we before described.[2337] For there are hot springs in many places in the island, some of which are saline, as those named Selinuntia[2338] and the springs at Himera, while those at Ægesta[2339] are fresh. Near to Acragas[2340] there are certain lakes,[2341] the waters of which taste like the sea, but their [CAS. 274] properties are very different, for if those who do not know how to swim plunge into them, they are not covered over by them, but float on the surface like pieces of wood.

The Palici[2342] possess craters which cast up water in a jet, having the appearance of a dome, and then receive it back again into the same place it rose from. The cavern near Mataurum[2343] has within it a considerable channel, with a river flowing through it under ground for a long distance, and afterwards emerging to the surface as does the El-Asi[2344] in Syria, which, after descending into the chasm between Apameia and Antioch, which they call Charybdis, rises again to the surface at the distance of about 40 stadia. Much the same circumstances are remarked of the Tigris[2345] in Mesopotamia, and the Nile in Africa,[2346] a little before[2347] its most notorious springs. The water in the neighbourhood of the city of Stymphalus, having passed under ground about 200 stadia, gives rise to the river Erasinus[2348] in Argia;[2349] and again, the waters which are ingulfed with a low roaring sound near Asea[2350] in Arcadia, after a long course, spring forth with such copiousness as to form the Eurotas and the Alpheus,[2351] whence has arisen a fable extensively credited, that if a certain charm is uttered over each of two crowns on their being cast into the stream where the two rivers flow in a common channel, each crown will make its appearance in its respective river according to the charm. As for what we might add with reference to the Timao,[2352] it has already been particularized.

10. Phænomena, similar to these, and such as take place throughout Sicily,[2353] are witnessed in the Lipari Islands, and especially in Lipari itself.—These islands are seven in number, the chief of which is Lipari, a colony of the Cnidians.[2354] It is nearest to Sicily after Thermessa.[2355] It was originally named Meligunis. It was possessed of a fleet, and for a considerable time repelled the incursions of the Tyrrheni.[2356] The islands now called Liparæan were subject to it, some call them the islands of Æolus. The citizens were so successful as to make frequent offerings of the spoils taken in war to the temple of Apollo at Delphi.[2357] It possesses a fertile soil,[2358] [CAS. 275] and mines[2359] of alum easy to be wrought, hot springs,[2360] and craters. [Thermessa] is, as it were, situated between this and Sicily; it is now designated as Hiera, or sacred to Vulcan; it is entirely rocky, and desert, and volcanic. In it are three craters, and the flames which issue from the largest are accompanied with burning masses of lava, which have already obstructed a considerable portion of the strait [between Thermessa and the island Lipari]; repeated observations have led to the belief that the flames of the volcanos, both in this island and at Mount Ætna, are stimulated by the winds[2361] as they rise; and when the winds are lulled, the flames also subside; nor is this without reason, for if the winds are both originally produced and kept up by the vapours arising from the sea, those who witness these phenomena will not be surprised, if the fire should be excited in some such way, by the like aliment and circumstances. Polybius tells us that one of the three craters of the island has partly fallen down, while the larger of the two that remain has a lip, the circumference of which is five stadia, and the diameter nearly 50 feet,[2362] and its elevation about a stadium from the level of the sea, which may be seen at the base in calm weather; but if we are to credit this, we may as well attend to what has been reported concerning Empedocles. [Polybius] also says, that “when the south wind is to blow, a thick cloud lies stretched round the island, so that one cannot see even as far as Sicily in the distance; but when there is to be a north wind, the clear flames ascend to a great height above the said crater, and great rumblings are heard; while for the west wind effects are produced about half way between these two. The other craters are similarly affected, but their exhalations are not so violent. Indeed, it is possible to foretell what wind will blow three days beforehand, from the degree of intensity of the rumbling, and also from the part whence the exhalations, flames, and smoky blazes issue. It is said indeed that some of the inhabitants of the Lipari Islands, at times when there has been so great a calm that no ship could sail out of port, have predicted what wind would blow, and have not been mistaken.” From hence indeed that which seems to be the most fabulous invention of the poet, appears not to have been written without some foundation, and he appears to have merely used an allegorical style, while guided by the truth, when he says that Æolus is the steward of the winds;[2363] however, we have formerly said enough as to this.[2364] We will now return to the point whence we digressed.

11. We have noticed the islands of Lipari and Thermessa. As for Strongyle,[2365] it takes its name from its form.[2366] Like the other two, it is subigneous, but is deficient in the force of the flames which are emitted, while their brightness is greater. It is here they say that Æolus resided.[2367] The fourth is Didyma; this island also is named from its form.[2368] Of the others, [the fifth and sixth] are [CAS. 276] Ericussa[2369] and Phœnicussa;[2370] they are called from the plants which they produce, and are given up to pasture. The seventh [island] is called Euonymus;[2371] it is the farthest in the sea and barren. It is called Euonymus because it lies the most to the left when you sail from the island of Lipari to Sicily,[2372] and many times flames of fire have been seen to rise to the surface, and play upon the sea round the islands: these flames rush with violence from the cavities at the bottom of the sea,[2373] and force for themselves a passage to the open air. Posidonius says, that at a time so recent as to be almost within his recollection, about the summer solstice and at break of day, between Hiera and Euonymus, the sea was observed to be suddenly raised aloft, and to abide some time raised in a compact mass and then to subside. Some ventured to approach that part in their ships; they observed the fish dead and driven by the current, but being distressed by the heat and foul smell, were compelled to turn back. One of the boats which had approached nearest lost some of her crew, and was scarcely able to reach Lipari with the rest, and they had fits like an epileptic person, at one time fainting and giddy, and at another returning to their senses; and many days afterwards a mud or clay was observed rising in the sea, and in many parts the flames issued, and smoke and smoky blazes; afterwards it congealed and became a rock like mill-stones. Titus Flaminius,[2374] who then commanded in Sicily, despatched to the senate [of Rome] a full account of the phenomenon; the senate sent and offered sacrifices to the infernal and marine divinities both in the little island [which had thus been formed] and the Lipari Islands. Now the chorographer reckons that from Ericodes to Phœnicodes are 10 miles, from thence to Didyma 30, from thence to the northernmost point[2375] of Lipari 29, and from thence to Sicily 19, while from Strongyle are 16.[2376] Melita[2377] lies before[2378] Pachynus; from thence come the little dogs called Maltese;[2379] so does also Gaudus,[2380] both of them are situated about 88 miles distant from that promontory. Cossura[2381] is situated before Cape Lilybæum, and opposite the Carthaginian city Aspis, which they call [in Latin] Clypea, it is situated in the midst of the space which lies between those [CAS. 277] two places, and is distant from each the number of miles last given.[2382] Ægimurus also and other little islands lie off Sicily and Africa. So much for the islands.

Chapter III

1. Having previously passed over the regions of ancient Italy as far as Metapontium, we must now proceed to describe the rest. After it Iapygia[2383] comes next in order; the Greeks call it Messapia, but the inhabitants, dividing it into cantons, call one the Salentini,[2384] that in the neighbourhood of the Cape[2385] Iapygia, and another the Calabri;[2386] above these towards the north lie the Peucetii,[2387] and those who are called Daunii[2388] in the Greek language, but the inhabitants call the whole region beyond the Calabri, Apulia. Some of these people are called Pœdicli,[2389] especially the Peucetii. Messapia forms a peninsula; the isthmus extending from Brentesium[2390] to Tarentum, which bounds it, being 310 stadia, and the circumnavigation round the Iapygian promontory[2391] about [one thousand][2392] four hundred. [Tarentum[2393]] is distant from Metapontium[2394] about two hundred and [twenty[2393]] stadia. The course to it by sea runs in an easterly direction. The Gulf of Tarentum is for the most part destitute of a port, but here there is a spacious and commodious [harbour[2395]], closed in by a great bridge. It is 100 stadia[2396] in circuit. This port, at the head of its basin which recedes most inland, forms, with the exterior sea, an isthmus which connects the peninsula with the land. The city is situated upon this peninsula. The neck of land is so low that ships are easily hauled over it from either side. The site of the city likewise is extremely low; the ground, however, rises slightly towards the citadel. The old wall of the city has an immense circuit, but now the portion towards the isthmus is deserted, but that standing near the mouth of the harbour, where the citadel is situated, still subsists, and contains a considerable city. It possesses a noble gymnasium and a spacious forum, in which there is set up a brazen colossus of Jupiter, the largest that ever was, with the exception of that of Rhodes. The citadel is situated between the forum and the entrance of the harbour, it still preserves some slight relics of its ancient magnificence [CAS. 278] and gifts, but the chief of them were destroyed either by the Carthaginians[2397] when they took the city, or by the Romans[2398] when they took it by force and sacked it. Amongst other booty taken on this occasion[2399] was the brazen colossus of Hercules, the work of Lysippus, now in the Capitol, which was dedicated as an offering by Fabius Maximus, who took the city.

2. Antiochus, speaking of the foundation of this city, says that after the Messenian war[2400] such of the Lacedæmonians as did not join the army were sentenced to be slaves, and denominated Helots; and that such as were born during the period of the war they termed Partheniæ, and decreed to be base: but these not bearing the reproach, (for they were many,) conspired against the free citizens,[2401] but the chief magistrates, becoming acquainted with the existence of the plot, employed certain persons, who, by feigning friendship to the cause, should be able to give some intelligence of the nature of it. Of this number was Phalanthus, who was apparently the chief leader of them, but who was not quite pleased with those who had been named to conduct their deliberations.[2402] It was agreed that at the Hyacinthine games, celebrated in the temple of Amyclæ, just at the conclusion of the contest, and when Phalanthus should put on his helmet,[2403] they should make a simultaneous attack. The free citizens[2401] were distinguishable from others by their hair. They, having been secretly warned as to the arrangements made for the signal of Phalanthus, just as the chief contest came off, a herald came forward and proclaimed, “Let not Phalanthus put on his helmet.” The conspirators perceiving that the plot was disclosed, some fled, and others supplicated mercy. When the chief magistrates had bid them not to fear, they committed them to prison, but sent Phalanthus to inquire after a new settlement. He received from the oracle the following response,

“To thee Satyrium[2404] I have given, and the rich country of Tarentum to inhabit, and thou shalt become a scourge to the Iapygians.”

The Partheniæ accordingly accompanied Phalanthus to their destination, and the barbarians and Cretans,[2405] who already possessed the country, received them kindly. They say that these Cretans were the party who sailed with Minos to Sicily, and that after his death, which took place at Camici,[2406] in the palace of Cocalus, they took ship and set sail from Sicily, but in their voyage they were cast by tempest on this coast, some of whom, afterwards coasting the Adriatic on foot, reached Macedonia, and were called Bottiæi.[2407] They further add, that all the people who reach as far as Daunia were called Iapygians, from Iapyx, who was born to Dædalus by a Cretan woman, and became a chief leader of the Cretans. The city Tarentum was named from a certain hero.[2408]

3. Ephorus gives the following account of the foundation. The Lacedæmonians waged war against the Messenians, who had murdered their king, Teleclus,[2409] when he visited Messene to offer sacrifice. They took an oath that they would not return home before they had destroyed Messene, or should be [CAS. 279] all slain. They left only the youngest and oldest of the citizens to keep their own country. After this, in the tenth [year] of the war, the Lacedæmonian matrons assembled and deputed certain women to remonstrate with the citizens, and show them that they were carrying on the war with the Messenians on very disadvantageous terms, for they, abiding in their own country, procreated children, while the Lacedæmonians, leaving their wives in a state like widowhood, remained away in the war; and to expose the great peril there was of the depopulation of their country. The Lacedæmonians, being both desirous of observing their oath, and taking into consideration the representations of their wives, sent a deputation of the most vigorous, and, at the same time, most juvenile of the army, whom they considered, in a manner, not to have participated in the oath, because they had been but children when they accompanied their elders to the war, and charged them all to company with all the maidens, reckoning that by that means they would bear the more children; which having been accordingly obeyed, the children who were born were denominated Partheniæ. Messene was taken after a war of nineteen years, as Tyrtæus says,

“The fathers of our fathers, armed for war, Possessing ever patient courage, fought at Messene For nineteen years with unremitting toil. Till on the twentieth, leaving their rich soil, The enemy forsook the towering heights of Ithome.”[2410]

Thus then did they destroy Messenia, but returning home, they neglected to honour the Partheniæ like other youths, and treated them as though they had been born out of wedlock. The Partheniæ, leaguing with the Helots, conspired against the Lacedæmonians, and agreed to raise a Laconic felt hat[2411] in the market-place as a signal for the commencement of hostilities. Some of the Helots betrayed the plot, but the government found it difficult to resist them by force, for they were many, and all unanimous, and looked upon each other as brothers; those in authority therefore commanded such as were appointed to raise the signal, to depart out of the market-place; when they therefore perceived that their plot was disclosed they desisted, and the Lacedæmonians persuaded them, through the instrumentality of their fathers, to leave the country and colonize: and advised them, if they should get possession of a convenient place, to abide in it, but if not, they promised that a fifth part of Messenia should be divided amongst them on their return. So they departed and found the Greeks carrying on hostilities against the barbarians, and taking part in the perils of the war, they obtained possession of Tarentum, which they colonized.

4. At one time, when the government of the Tarentines had assumed a democratic form, they rose to great importance; for they possessed the greatest fleet of any state in those parts, and could bring into the field an army of 30,000 foot and 3000 horse, exclusive of a select body of 1000 cavalry called Hipparchi.[2412] They likewise encouraged the Pythagorean philosophy, and Archytas, who for a long time presided over the government of their state, gave it his special support.[2413] But at a later period their luxury, which was produced by their prosperity, increased to that degree that their general holidays or festivals exceeded in number the days of the year; and hence arose an inefficient government, and as one proof of their unstatesmanlike acts we may adduce their employment of foreign generals; for they sent for Alexander,[2414] king of the Molossi, to come and assist them against the Messapii and Leucani. They had before that employed Archidamus, the son of Agesilaus;[2415] afterwards they called in Cleonymus[2416] and Agathocles,[2417] and later, when they rose against the Romans, Pyrrhus.[2418] They were not able even to retain the respect of those whom they had invited, but rather merited their disgust. Alexander [of Epirus] was so displeased with them that he endeavoured to remove the seat of the general council of the Greek states in Italy, which was accustomed to assemble at Heraclea, a city of the Tarentines, to a city of the Thurii; and he commanded that some place on the river Acalandrus,[2419] [CAS. 281] commodious for their meetings, should be properly fortified for their reception.—And indeed they say that the misfortune[2420] of that prince was chiefly due to a want of good feeling on their part. They were deprived of their liberty during the wars[2421] of Hannibal, but have since received a Roman colony,[2422] and now live in peace and are in a more prosperous state than ever. They also engaged in war with the Messapii concerning Heraclea, when they counted the kings of the Daunii and of the Peucetii as allies.[2423]

5. The remainder of the country of the Iapygii is very fair, notwithstanding unfavourable appearances; for although, for the most part, it appears rugged, yet when it is broken up the soil is found to be deep; and although it lacks water, yet it appears well-suited for pasture, and is furnished with trees. At one time it was thickly inhabited throughout its whole extent, and possessed thirteen cities, but now it is so depopulated that, with the exception of Tarentum and Brentesium,[2424] they only deserve the name of hamlets. They say that the Salentini are a colony of Cretans. Here is the temple of Minerva,[2425] which formerly was rich, and the rock called Acra Iapygia,[2426] which juts out far into the sea towards the rising of the sun in winter,[2427] and turning, as it were, towards Cape Lacinium, which lies opposite to it on the west, it closes the entrance of the Gulf of Tarentum, as on the other side, the Ceraunian Mountains, together with the said Cape, close the entrance of the Ionian Gulf, the run across is about 700 stadia from that,[2428] both to the Ceraunian Mountains and to Cape Lacinium.[2429] In coasting along the shore from Tarentum to Brentesium there are 600 stadia as far as the little city of Baris, which is at the present time called Veretum,[2430] and is situated on the extremities of the Salentine territory; the approach to it from Tarentum is much easier on foot[2431] than by sea. Thence to Leuca are 80 stadia; this too is but a small village, in which there is shown a well of fetid water, and the legend runs, that when Hercules drove out the last of the giants from Phlegra in Campania, who were called Leuternians, some fled and were buried here, and that from their blood a spring issues to supply the well; on this account likewise the coast is called the Leuternian coast.[2432] From Leuca to Hydrus,[2433] a small town, 150 stadia. From thence to Brentesium 400, and the like distance also [from Hydrus] to the island Saso,[2434] which is situated almost in the midst of the course from Epirus to Brentesium; and therefore when vessels are unable to obtain a direct passage they run to the left from Saso to Hydrus, and thence watching for a favourable wind they steer towards the haven of Brentesium, or the passengers disembarking proceed on foot by a shorter way through Rudiæ, a Grecian city, where the poet Ennius was born.[2435] The district which we have followed by sea from [CAS. 282] Tarentum to Brentesium is like a peninsula. The road by land from Brentesium to Tarentum is but a day’s journey for a light person on foot, it constitutes the isthmus of the said peninsula, which people in general call Messapia, Iapygia, Calabria, or Salentinum, without being at all particular; but some, as we have said before, do make a distinction. Thus have we described the towns on the sea-coast.

6. In the inland are Rudiæ and Lupiæ, and at a short distance from the sea Aletia;[2436] about the middle of the isthmus is Uria,[2437] in which is still shown the palace of a certain famous nobleman.[2438] As Hyria[2439] is described by Herodotus as situated in Iapygia, and as founded by the Cretans who strayed from the fleet of Minos while sailing to Sicily;[2440] we must suppose that he meant either this place [Uria] or Veretum. It is said that a colony of Cretans settled in Brentesium,[2441] but the tradition varies; some say they were those who came with Theseus from Cnossus;[2442] others, that they were some out of Sicily who had come with Iapyx; they agree however in saying that they did not abide there, but went thence to Bottiæa. At a later period, when the state was under the government of a monarch, it lost a large portion of its territories, which was taken by the Lacedæmonians who came over under Phalanthus; notwithstanding this the Brundusians received him when he was expelled from Tarentum, and honoured him with a splendid tomb at his death. They possess a district of superior fertility to that of the Tarentines; for its soil is light, still it is fruitful, and its honey and wools are amongst the most esteemed; further, the harbour of Brentesium is superior to that of Tarentum, for many havens are protected by the single entrance,[2443] and rendered perfectly smooth, many bays [or reaches] being formed within it, so that it resembles in fashion the antlers of a stag, whence its name, for the place, together with the city, is exceedingly like the head of a stag, and in the Messapian language the stag’s head is called Brentesium; while the port of Tarentum is not entirely safe, both on account of its lying very open, and of certain shallows near its head.

7. Further, the course for passengers from Greece and Asia is most direct to Brentesium, and in fact all who are journeying to Rome disembark here. Hence there are two ways to Rome; one, which is only walked by mules, through the Peucetii, who are called Pœdicli, the Daunii, and the Samnites, as far as Beneventum, on which road is the city Egnatia,[2444] then Celia,[2445] Netium,[2446] Canusium,[2447] and Herdonia.[2448] That through Tarentum is a little to the left, it runs about a day’s journey round for one traversing the whole distance; it is called the Appian Way, and is more of a carriage road than the other. On it stands the city Uria,[2449] and Venusia;[2450] the one [Uria] between Tarentum and Brentesium, the other on the confines of the Samnites and Lucani. Both the roads from Brentesium run into one near Beneventum and Campania, and thence to Rome it receives the name of Appian, and runs through Caudium,[2451] Calatia,[2452] Capua,[2453] and Casilinum,[2454] to Sinuessa.[2455] The way from thence to Rome has been already described.—The whole length of the Appian Way from Rome to Brentesium is 360 miles.

There is a third way from Rhegium, through the Bruttii, Lucani, and Samnites, along the chain of the Apennines, into [CAS. 283] Campania, where it joins the Appian Way;[2456] it is longer than those from Brentesium by about three or four days’ journey.

8. From Brentesium the sea is traversed by two passages to the opposite coast, one crossing to the Ceraunian[2457] Mountains and the adjacent coasts of the Epirus and Greece, the other to Epidamnus,[2458] which is the longer[2459] of the two, being 1800[2460] stadia. Still this is habitually traversed, on account of the situation of the city [Epidamnus] being convenient for the nations of Illyria and Macedonia. As we coast along the shore of the Adriatic from Brentesium we come to the city Egnatia,[2461] it is the general place to stop at for those travelling to Barium,[2462] as well by land as by sea. The run is made when the wind blows from the south. The territory of the Peucetii extends as far as this along the coast, in the interior of the land it reaches as far as Silvium.[2463] It is throughout rugged and mountainous, and chiefly occupied by the Apennine mountains. It is thought to have been colonized by a party of Arcadians. The distance from Brentesium to Barium is about 700 stadia. [Tarentum] is about equally distant from both.[2464] The Daunii inhabit the adjoining district, then the Apuli as far as the Phrentani. As the inhabitants of the district, except in ancient times, have never been particular in speaking of the Peucetii or Daunii precisely, and as the whole of this country is now called Apulia, the boundaries of these nations are necessarily but ill defined: wherefore we ourselves shall not be very exact in treating of them.

9. From Barium to the river Ofanto,[2465] on which the Canusitæ have established an emporium, there are 400[2466] stadia. The course up the river to the emporium is 90 [stadia]. Near it is Salapia,[2467] the port of the Argyrippeni. For the two cities, Canusium and Argyrippa, are situated at no great distance from the sea, and in the midst of a plain; at one time they were the most important cities of the Greeks of Italy, as is manifest from the circumference of their walls, but now they have fallen off. One of them was originally called Argos Hippium, then Argyrippa, and then again Arpi. They are said to have been both founded by Diomed, and both the plain of Diomed and many other things are shown in these districts as evidence of his having possessed them. Such were the ancient offerings in the temple of Minerva, at Luceria.[2468] That was an ancient city of the Daunii, but now it is of no account. Again, in the neighbouring sea there are two islands called the Diomedean islands, one of which is inhabited, but the other, they say, is desert: in the latter it is fabled that Diomed disappeared from the earth, and that his companions were transformed into birds,[2469] and indeed the fable goes so far as to prolong their race to the present time, saying that they are tame, and lead a sort of human life, both in respect of food, and their readiness to approach men of gentle manners, and to shun the evil and wanton. We have already noticed[2470] what is currently reported amongst the Heneti concerning this hero [Diomed] and the honours decreed to him by custom. It is thought also that Sipus[2471] was a settlement founded by Diomed, [CAS. 284] it is distant from Salapia about 140 stadia, and was called by the Greeks Sepius, from the numbers of cuttle fish[2472] thrown up by the sea along its shore. Between Salapia and Sipus is a navigable river, and a considerable estuary; by both of these channels the merchandise, and wheat especially, of Sipus is conveyed to the sea. Two heroa or shrines are shown on a hill of Daunia, called Drium, one on the very brow of the hill sacred to Calchas, those who are about to inquire of the oracle offer a black ram to him, and sleep upon the fleece, the other below near the foot of the hill is dedicated to Podalirius, it is about a hundred stadia distant from the sea; from this hill also flows a stream,[2473] which is a potent cure for all manner of diseases among cattle.[2474] The promontory of Garganum[2475] running into the sea, juts out from this bay about 300 stadia.[2476] As you turn the point you perceive the town of Urium,[2477] while off the headland are seen the Diomedean islands. All this coast produces everything in great abundance, it is exceedingly well adapted for horses and sheep, and the wool is finer than that of Tarentum, but less glossy. The district is mild on account of the cup-like situation of the plains. There are some who report that Diomed attempted to cut a canal to the sea, but being sent for to return home, where he died, left it incomplete, as well as other undertakings. This is one account of him: another makes him abide here till the end of his days; a third is the fable I have already noticed, that he vanished in the island [of Teutria], and one might reckon as a fourth that of the Heneti,[2478] for they somehow make out that he finished his career among them, as they assert his apotheosis. The distances I have thus given are laid down in accordance with those of Artemidorus.

10. The chorographer indeed gives only 165 miles from Brentesium[2479] to Garganum, but Artemidorus makes them more.[2480] Thence to Ancona, the first says there are 254 miles, whilst Artemidorus has given but 1250 stadia to the Fiumesino,[2481] near to Ancona, which is much shorter. Polybius says that from Iapygia the distance has been laid down in miles, and that there are 562 miles thence to the town of Sila,[2482] thence to Aquileia 178. These geographers do not agree as to the length to be assigned to the line of the sea-coast of Illyria, run from the Ceraunian Mountains[2483] to the head[2484] of the Adriatic, some of them stating it to be above 6000 [stadia], and making it longer than the opposite coast [of Italy], while it is much shorter.[2485] Indeed they all generally differ among themselves in stating distances, as we often have occasion to remark. Wherever it is possible to discriminate we set forth what appears to us to be correct, but where it is impossible to come to any safe conclusion we think it our duty to publish their several assertions. However, when we have no data furnished by them, it must not be wondered at, if we should leave some points untouched in treating of such and so vast a subject as we have undertaken. We would not indeed omit any of the important particulars, but trifling circumstances, even when they are noted, are of little advantage, and when taken no heed of, are not missed, nor does their omission at all impair the whole work, or, if it does, at most not much.

[CAS. 285] 11. Immediately beyond the Garganum comes a deep bay.[2486] Those who dwell round it call themselves Apuli,[2487] they speak the same language as the Daunii and Peucetii, and at the present time resemble them in every other particular; however it is likely that they were formerly distinct, since their names completely differ from those of the others. In ancient times the whole of this country was flourishing, but Hannibal and the wars which subsequently occurred have wasted it. Here too was fought the battle of Cannæ, where there was so great a slaughter of the Roman forces and their allies.[2488] Near this gulf there is a lake,[2489] and above the lake in the interior is the Apulian Teanum,[2490] having a like name with that of the Sidicini.[2491] It is between this and the neighbourhood of Dicæarchia[2492] that the breadth of Italy is so contracted as to form an isthmus of less than 1000 stadia from sea to sea.[2493] Leaving the lake we sail next to Buca,[2494] and the country of the Frentani. There are 200 stadia from the lake both to Buca and to the Garganum. The remainder of the towns in the vicinity of Buca have been before described.[2495]

Chapter IV

1. So great indeed is Italy, and much as we have described it; we will now advert to the chief of the many things that have been described, which have conduced to raise the Romans to so great a height of prosperity. One point is its insular position, by which it is securely guarded, the seas forming a natural protection around it with the exception of a very inconsiderable frontier, which too is fortified by almost impassable mountains. A second is, that there are but few harbours, and those few capacious and admirably situated. These are of great service both for enterprises against foreign places, and also in case of invasions undertaken against the country, and the reception of abundant merchandise. And a third, that it is situated so as to possess many advantages of atmosphere and temperature of climate, in which both animals and plants, and in fact all things available for sustaining life, may be accommodated with every variety both of mild and severe temperature; its length stretches in a direction north and south. Sicily, which is extensive, may be looked upon as an addition to its length, for we cannot consider it in any other light than as a part of it. The salubrity or severity of the atmosphere of different countries, is estimated by the amount of cold or heat, or the degrees of temperature between those extremes; in this way we shall find that Italy, which is situated in the medium of both the extremes, and having so great a length, largely participates in a salubrious atmosphere, and that in many respects. This advantage is still secured to it in another way, for the chain of the Apennines extending through its whole length, and leaving on each side plains and fruitful hills, there is no district which does not participate in the advantages of the best productions both of hill and plain. We must also enumerate the magnitude and number of its rivers and lakes, and the springs of hot and cold waters supplied by nature in various localities for the restoration of health; and in addition to these, its great wealth in mines of all the metals, abundance of timber, and excellent food both for man and for beasts of all kinds. Italy, likewise, being situated in the very midst of the greatest nations, I allude to Greece and the best provinces of Asia, is naturally in a [CAS. 286] position to gain the ascendency, since she excels the circumjacent countries both in the valour of her population and in extent of territory, and by being in proximity to them seems to have been ordained to bring them into subjection without difficulty.

2. If, in addition to our description of Italy, a few words should be summarily added about the Romans who have possessed themselves of it, and prepared it as a centre from whence to enforce their universal dominion, we would offer the following.—The Romans, after the foundation of their state, discreetly existed as a kingdom for many years, till Tarquin, the last [Roman king], abused his power, when they expelled him, and established a mixed form of government, being a modification both of the monarchical and aristocratical systems; they admitted both the Sabines[2496] and Latins[2497] into their alliance, but as neither they nor the other neighbouring states continued to act with good faith towards them at all times, they were under the necessity of aggrandizing themselves by the dismemberment of their neighbours.[2498] Having thus, by degrees, arrived at a state of considerable importance, it chanced that they lost their city suddenly, contrary to the expectation of all men, and again recovered the same contrary to all expectation.[2499] This took place, according to Polybius, in the nineteenth year after the naval engagement of Ægos-potami,[2500] about the time of the conclusion of the peace of Antalcidas.[2501] Having escaped these misfortunes, the Romans first reduced all the Latins[2502] to complete obedience, they then subdued the Tyrrheni,[2503] and stayed the Kelts, who border the Po, from their too frequent and licentious forays; then the Samnites, and after them they conquered the Tarentines and Pyrrhus,[2504] and presently after the remainder of what is now considered as Italy, with the exception of the districts on the Po. While these still remained a subject of dispute they passed over into Sicily,[2505] and having wrested that island from the Carthaginians[2506] they returned to complete the conquest of the people dwelling along the Po. While this war was still in hand Hannibal entered Italy,[2507] thus the second war against the Carthaginians ensued, and after a very short interval the third, in which Carthage was demolished.[2508] At the same time the Romans became masters of Africa,[2509] and of such portions of Spain as they won from the Carthaginians. Both the Greeks and the Macedonians, and the nations of Asia who dwelt on the hither side of the river Kizil-Irmak[2510] and the Taurus, took part in these struggles with the Carthaginians: over these Antiochus[2511] was king, and Philip and Perseus,[2512] these therefore the Romans found themselves obliged to subdue. The people likewise of Illyria and Thrace, who were next neighbours to the Greeks and Macedonians, at this time commenced the war with the Romans that never ceased, until the subjugation of all the people who inhabit the countries on the hither side of the Danube[2513] and the Kizil-Irmak[2510] had been effected. The Iberians, and Kelts, and all the rest who are subject to the Romans, shared a similar fate, for the Romans never rested in the subjugation of the land to their sway until they had entirely overthrown it: in the first instance they took Numantia,[2514] and subdued Viriathus,[2515] and afterwards vanquished Sertorius,[2516] and last of all the Cantabrians,[2517] who were brought to subjection by Augustus Cæsar.[2518] Likewise the whole of Gaul both within and beyond the Alps with Liguria were annexed at first by a partial occupation, but subsequently divus Cæsar and then Augustus subdued them completely in open war, so that now[2519] the Romans direct their expeditions against the Germans from these countries as the most convenient rendezvous, and have already adorned their own country with several triumphs over them. Also in Africa all that did not belong to the Carthaginians has been left to the charge of kings owning dependence on the Roman state, while such as have attempted to assert their independence have been overpowered. At the present moment both Maurusia and much of the rest [CAS. 288] of Africa have fallen to the portion of Juba[2520] on account of his good will and friendship towards the Romans. The like things have taken place in Asia. At first it was governed by kings who were dependent on the Romans, and afterwards when their several lines of succession failed, as of that of the kings Attalus,[2521] the kings of the Syrians,[2522] the Paphlagonians,[2523] Cappadocians,[2524] and Egyptians,[2525] [or] when they revolted and were subsequently deposed, as it happened in the case of Mithridates Eupator, and Cleopatra of Egypt, the whole of their territories within the Phasis[2526] and the Euphrates,[2527] with the exception of some tribes of Arabs, were brought completely under the dominion of the Romans and the dynasties set up by them. The Armenians and the people who lie beyond Colchis, both the Albani and Iberians, require nothing more than that Roman governors should be sent among them, and they would be easily ruled; their attempted insurrections are merely the consequence of the want of attention from the Romans, who are so much occupied elsewhere: the like may be asserted of those who dwell beyond the Danube,[2528] and inhabit the banks of the Euxine, excepting only those who dwell on the Bosphorus[2529] and the Nomades;[2530] of these the former are in subjection to the Romans, and the latter are unprofitable for commerce on account of their wandering life, and only require to be watched. The rest of the countries [of Asia] are chiefly inhabited by Scenites[2531] and Nomades who dwell at a great distance. The Parthians indeed border on them and are very powerful, but they have yielded so far to the superiority of the Romans and our emperors, that they have not only sent back[2532] to Rome the trophies which they had at a still more distant period taken from the Romans, but Phraates has even sent his sons and his sons’ sons to Augustus Cæsar, as hostages, assiduously courting his friendship:[2533] indeed the [Parthians] of the present time frequently send for a king from hence,[2534] and are almost on the point of relinquishing all power to the Romans. We now see Italy, which has frequently been torn by civil war even since it came under the dominion of the Romans, nay, even Rome herself, restrained from rushing headlong into confusion and destruction by the excellence of her form of government and the ability of her emperors. Indeed it were hard to administer the affairs of so great an empire otherwise than by committing them to one man as a father.[2535] For it would never have been in the power of the Romans and their allies to attain to a state of such perfect peace, and the enjoyment of such abundant prosperity, as Augustus Cæsar afforded them from the time that he took upon himself the absolute authority; and which his son Tiberius, who has succeeded him, still maintains, who takes his father for a pattern in his government and ordinances. And in their turn his sons, Germanicus and Drusus,[2536] who are exercising the functions of government under their father, take him for their model.

Book VII

GERMANY.—THE CIMBRI, GETÆ, DACI.—MOUTHS OF THE DANUBE.—THE TAURICA CHERSONESUS, ILLYRICUM, HUNGARY, EPIRUS, DODONA, MACEDONIA, THRACE.—THE HELLESPONT.

SUMMARY.

In the Seventh Book Strabo describes the remaining portions of Europe. That on the east is the country beyond the Rhine, as far as the Don[2537] and the mouth of the Sea of Azof;[2538] and on the south, that which the Danube[2539] bounds, lying between the Adriatic and the left shores of the Euxine, as far as Greece and the Sea of Marmora,[2540] including the whole of Macedonia.

Chapter I

1. We have described Spain and the Keltic nations, together with Italy and the islands adjacent, and must now speak of the remaining portions of Europe, dividing it in the best way we can. That which remains is, on the east, all the country beyond the Rhine, as far as the Don and the mouth of the Sea of Azof; and, on the south, that which the Danube bounds, lying between the Adriatic and the left shores of the Euxine, as far as Greece and the Sea of Marmora, for the Danube, which is the largest of the rivers of Europe, divides the whole territory of which we have spoken, into two portions. This river from its commencement flows southwards, then, making a sudden turn, continues its course from west to east, which [terminates] in the Euxine Sea. It takes its rise in the western confines of Germany, not far from the head of the Adriatic, being distant from it about 1000 stadia,[2541] and falls into the Euxine near the mouths of the Dniester[2542] and the Dnieper,[2543] inclining a little towards the north. Thus the countries beyond the Rhine and Keltica are situated to the north of the Danube, and are occupied by the Galatic and German tribes, as far as the territory of the Bastarnæ,[2544] the Tyregetæ,[2545] and the river Dnieper; so also is the country situated between the Dnieper, the Don, and the mouth of the Sea of Azof, which on one side stretches back as far as the [Northern] Ocean,[2546] and on another is washed by the Euxine. To the south of the Danube are situated the people of Illyria and Thrace, and mixed with them certain tribes of Kelts and other races, extending as far as Greece.

We will first speak of those nations to the north of the Danube, for their history is less involved than that of the tribes situated on the other side of the river.

2. Next after the Keltic nations come the Germans who inhabit the country to the east beyond the Rhine; and these differ but little from the Keltic race, except in their being more fierce, of a larger stature, and more ruddy in countenance; but in every other respect, their figure, their customs and manners of life, are such as we have related of the Kelts.[2547] The Romans therefore, I think, have very appositely applied to them the name “Germani,” as signifying genuine; for in the Latin language Germani signifies genuine.[2548]

3. The first division of this country is the land extending along the Rhine from its source to its embouchure. Indeed, the valley of that river extends nearly as far as the whole breadth of Germany on the west. Of the people who occupied this country, some have been transplanted by the Romans into Keltica, the others have retired to the interior, as the Marsi;[2549] there are but few remaining, and some portion of them [CAS. 290] are Sicambri;[2550] next to the inhabitants of this valley succeeds the tribe dwelling between the Rhine and the river Elbe,[2551] which river flows towards the ocean in a direction nearly parallel with the Rhine, and traversing a country of no less extent. There are also between these other navigable rivers, such as the Ems,[2552] on which Drusus defeated the Bructeri[2553] in a naval engagement; all likewise flowing from south to north, and falling into the ocean; for the whole country rises towards the south, and forms a ridge of mountains near the Alps, which extends eastward as though it were a continuation of the Alps;[2554] and some have even so described it, as well on account of its position as because it produces the same system of vegetation; nevertheless, the altitude of this ridge in no part equals that of the Alps. Here is situated the Hercynian Wood,[2555] and the tribes of the Suevi,[2556] some of whom inhabit the forest, as do likewise some of the Quadi.[2557] Among these latter people is situated Bujæmum, the royal city of Marobodus, whither he has assembled many strangers and many of the Marcomanni, a kindred nation with his own. This Marobodus, from a private station, raised himself to the administration of affairs after his return from Rome. For he went to that city while a youth, and was patronized by Augustus. After he came home, he acquired the sovereignty of his country, and added to the people I have enumerated, the Luji,[2558] a powerful nation, and the Zumi,[2559] and the Gutones[2560] and Mugilones and Sibini, besides the Semnones, another considerable tribe of the Suevi. As I have previously stated, a portion of the Suevi dwells within the Forest, while another portion occupies the territory beyond, on the frontiers of the Getæ; wherefore the nation of the Suevi is the most considerable, as it extends from the Rhine as far as the Elbe, and even a part of them, as the Hermonduri and the Langobardi, inhabit the country beyond the Elbe; but at the present time these tribes, having been defeated, have retired entirely beyond the Elbe. All these nations easily change their abode, on account of the scantiness of provisions, and because they neither cultivate the lands nor accumulate wealth, but dwell in miserable huts, and satisfy their wants from day to day, the most part of their food being supplied by the herd, as amongst the nomade races, and in imitation of them they transfer their households in waggons, wandering with their cattle to any place which may appear most advantageous. There are many other smaller German tribes, as the Cherusci, Chatti, Gamabrivi,[2561] Chattuarii, and next the ocean the Sicambri, Chaubi,[2562] Bructeri,[2563] Cimbri, Cauci, Caulci, Campsiani,[2564] and many others.

In the same direction with the Ems,[2565] the Weser[2566] and the river Lippe[2567] take their course, the latter, distant about 600 stadia from the Rhine, flows through the territory of the Lesser Bructeri. And there is also the river Sala,[2568] between which and the Rhine Drusus Germanicus died, whilst in the midst of his victories. He not only subdued the greater part of the German tribes, but also the islands on the coast he passed along, one amongst which is Byrchanis,[2569] which he took by siege.

4. All these nations became known through their wars with [CAS. 291] the Romans, at one time submitting, at another revolting and quitting their habitations; and we should have become acquainted with a greater number of their tribes, if Augustus had permitted his generals to pass the Elbe, in pursuit of those who had fled thither; but he considered the war on hand would be more easily brought to a conclusion, if he left the people on the other side of the Elbe unmolested, and not by attacking provoke them to make common cause with his enemies.

The Sicambri inhabiting the country next the Rhine were the first to commence the war, under the conduct of their leader, Melon; other nations afterwards followed their example, at one time being victorious, at another defeated, and again recommencing hostilities, without regard to hostages or the faith of treaties. Against these people mistrust was the surest defence; for those who were trusted effected the most mischief. For example, the Cherusci, and those who were subject to them, amongst whom three Roman legions with their general, Quintilius Varus, perished by ambush, in violation of the truce; nevertheless all have received punishment for this perfidy, which furnished to Germanicus the Younger the opportunity of a most brilliant triumph, he leading publicly as his captives the most illustrious persons, both men and women, amongst whom were Segimuntus,[2570] the son of Segestes, the chief of the Cherusci, and his sister, named Thusnelda, the wife of Armenius, who led on the Cherusci when they treacherously attacked Quintilius Varus, and even to this day continues the war; likewise his son Thumelicus, a boy three years old, as also Sesithacus, the son of Segimerus,[2571] chief of the Cherusci, and his wife Rhamis, the daughter of Ucromirus,[2572] chief of the Chatti,[2573] and Deudorix, the son of Bætorix, the brother of Melon, of the nation of the Sicambri; but Segestes, the father-in-law of Armenius, from the commencement opposed the designs of his son-in-law, and taking advantage of a favourable opportunity, went over to the Roman camp and witnessed the triumphal procession over those who were dearest to him, he being held in honour by the Romans. There was also led in triumph Libes the priest of the Chatti, and many other prisoners of the various vanquished nations, the Cathylci and the Ampsani, the Bructeri, the Usipi, the Cherusci, the Chatti, the Chattuarii, the Landi,[2574] the Tubattii.[2575]

The Rhine is distant from the Elbe about 3000 stadia, if one could travel in a direct line; but we are compelled to go a circuitous route, on account of the windings of the marshes and the woods.

5. The Hercynian Forest[2576] is extremely dense, and overgrown with very large trees, covering an immense circuit of country, fortified by nature. In the midst of it is situated the region well suited for habitation, of which we have spoken. Near this forest are the sources of the Danube and the Rhine, and the lake[2577] situated between these, together with the marshes formed by the Rhine. The circuit of the lake is more than 300[2578] stadia, and the distance across about 200. In this lake is an island which served Tiberius as an arsenal, in the naval war with the Vindelici. This lake is south of the sources of the Danube and the Hercynian Forest, so that in passing from Keltica[2579] to the forest, one has first to cross the lake, then the Danube, and afterwards by a more passable country, and over elevated plains, you approach the forest. When Tiberius had proceeded but one day’s journey from the lake, he came in sight of the sources of the Danube.[2580]

The territory of the Rhæti[2581] borders some portion of this lake, but the greater part of the shores belong to the Helvetii[2582] [CAS. 292] and Vindelici,[2583] [the Norici come next after the Vindelici in an easterly direction,][2584] and the desert of the Boii.[2585] The nations as far as the Pannonians,[2586] but more especially the Helvetii and Vindelici, inhabit high table lands. The Rhæti and the Norici,[2587] verging towards Italy, extend over the very summits of the Alps; the former confining with the Insubri,[2588] the latter the Carni,[2589] and the districts about Aquileia. There is likewise another great forest, named Gabreta, on this side the territory of the Suevi, while beyond them lies the Hercynian Wood, which also is in their possession.

Chapter II

1. Some of the accounts which we receive respecting the Cimbri are not worthy of credit, while others seem likely enough: for instance, no one could accept the reason given for their wandering life and piracy, that, dwelling on a peninsula, they were driven out of their settlements by a very high tide;[2590] for they still to this day possess the country which they had in former times, and have sent as a present to Augustus the caldron held most sacred by them, supplicating his friendship, and an amnesty for past offences; and having obtained their request, they returned home. Indeed, it would have been ridiculous for them to have departed from their country in a pet, on account of a natural and constant phenomenon, which recurs twice every day. It is likewise evidently a fiction, that there ever occurred an overwhelming flood-tide, for the ocean, in the influences of this kind which it experiences, receives a certain settled and periodical increase and decrease.[2591] Neither is it true, as has been related,[2592] that the Cimbri take arms against the flood-tides, or that the Kelts, as an exercise of their intrepidity, suffer their houses to be washed away by them, and afterwards rebuild them; and that a greater number of them perish by water than by war, as Ephorus relates. For the regular order the flood-tides observe, and the notoriety of the extent of the country subject to inundation by them, could never have given occasion for such absurd actions. For the tide flowing twice every day, how could any one think for an instant that it was not a natural and harmless phenomenon, and that it occurs not only on their coasts, but on all others bordering on the ocean? Is not this quite incredible? Neither is Clitarchus to be trusted,[2593] when he says that their cavalry, on seeing the sea flowing in, rode off at full speed, and yet scarcely escaped by flight from being overtaken by the flood; for we know, by experience, that the tide does not come in with such impetuosity, but that the sea advances stealthily by slow degrees. And we should think, besides, that a phenomenon of daily occurrence, which would naturally strike the ear of such as [CAS. 293] approached it, before even they could see it with their eyes, could not by any means terrify them so as to put them to flight, as if they had been surprised by some unexpected catastrophe.

2. For such fables as these, Posidonius justly blames these writers, and not inaptly conjectures that the Cimbri, on account of their wandering life and habits of piracy, might have made an expedition as far as the countries around the Palus Mæotis, and that from them has been derived the name of the Cimmerian Bosphorus, or what we should more correctly denominate the Cimbrian Bosphorus, for the Greeks call the Cimbri Cimmerii.

He likewise tells us that the Boii formerly inhabited the Hercynian Forest, and that the Cimbri, having made an incursion into those parts, were repulsed by them, and driven towards the Danube, and the country occupied by the Scordisci, a Galatic tribe, and from thence to the Tauristæ, or Taurisci, a people likewise of Galatic origin, and farther to the Helvetii, who were at that time a rich and peaceful people; but, perceiving that the wealth of these freebooters far exceeded their own, the Helvetii, and more especially the Tigureni and the Toygeni, associated themselves with their expeditions. But both the Cimbri and their auxiliaries were vanquished by the Romans, the one part when they crossed the Alps and came down upon Italy, the others on the other side of the Alps.

3. It is reported that the Cimbri had a peculiar custom. They were accompanied in their expeditions by their wives; these were followed by hoary-headed priestesses,[2594] clad in white, with cloaks of carbasus[2595] fastened on with clasps, girt with brazen girdles, and bare-footed. These individuals, bearing drawn swords, went to meet the captives throughout the camp, and, having crowned them, led them to a brazen vessel containing about 20 amphoræ, and placed on a raised platform, which one of the priestesses having ascended, and holding the prisoner above the vessel, cut his throat; then, from the manner in which the blood flowed into the vessel, some drew certain divinations; while others, having opened the corpse, and inspected the entrails, prophesied victory to their army. In battle too they beat skins stretched on the wicker sides of chariots, which produces a stunning noise.

4. As we have before stated, the northernmost of the Germans inhabit a country bordering on the ocean; but we are only acquainted with those situated between the mouths of the Rhine and the Elbe, of which the Sicambri[2596] and Cimbri[2597] are the most generally known: those dwelling along the coast[2598] beyond the Elbe are entirely unknown to us; for none of the ancients with whom I am acquainted have prosecuted this voyage towards the east as far as the mouths of the Caspian Sea, neither have the Romans as yet sailed coastwise beyond the Elbe, nor has any one travelling on foot penetrated farther into this country. But it is evident, by the climates and the parallels of distances, that in following a longitudinal course towards the east we must come to the countries near the Dnieper, and the regions on the north side of the Euxine. But as for any particulars as to Germany beyond the Elbe, or of the countries which lie beyond it in order, whether we should call them the Bastarnæ, as most geographers suppose, or whether other nations intervene, such as the Jazyges,[2599] or the Roxolani,[2600] or any others of the tribes dwelling in waggons, it is not easy to give any account. Neither can we say whether these nations extend as far as the [Northern] Ocean, along the whole distance, or whether [between them and the Ocean] there are countries rendered unfit for habitation by the cold or by any other cause; or whether men of a different race are situated between the sea and the most eastern of the Germans.

The same uncertainty prevails with regard to the other [CAS. 294] nations[2601] of the north, for we know neither the Bastarnæ nor the Sauromatæ;[2602] nor, in a word, any of those tribes situate above the Euxine: we are ignorant as to what distance they lie from the Atlantic,[2603] or even whether they extend as far as that sea.

Chapter III

1. As to the southern part of Germany beyond the Elbe, the country which adjoins the bank of that river is now occupied by the Suevi. Next lies the country of the Getæ, at first narrow, its southern side extends along the Danube, and the opposite side along the mountains of the Hercynian Forest, even including part of those mountains, it then becomes broader towards the north, and extends as far as the Tyregetæ; however, we are unable to declare its boundaries with accuracy; and it is on account of our ignorance of these places that those who relate fables of the Riphæan mountains and the Hyperboreans have received credit; as also that which Pytheas of Marseilles has forged concerning the countries bordering on the Northern Ocean, making use of his acquaintance with astronomy and mathematics to fabricate his false narration: let us therefore pass over them; as also what Sophocles, speaking of Orithya in one of his tragedies, says, that she, being snatched by the north wind, was carried

“Over the whole ocean, to the extremities of the earth, Even to the place where night received its birth, Where the opposite side of the heavens is beheld, And where is situated the ancient garden of Phœbus.”

This is of no value to our present inquiry, but must be omitted, as Socrates has done in the Phædrus of Plato. We will relate only what we have learnt from ancient accounts, and the reports made in our times.

2. The Greeks indeed considered the Getæ to be Thracians. They occupied either bank of the Danube, as also did the Mysians, likewise a Thracian people, now called the Mœsi, from whom are descended the Mysians, settled between the Lydians, the Phrygians, and the inhabitants of the Troad. Even the Phrygians themselves are the same as the Briges, a people of Thrace, as also are the Mygdones, the Bebryces, the Mædobithyni, the Bithyni, the Thyni, and, as I consider, also are the Mariandyni. All these people quitted Europe entirely, the Mysians alone remaining. Posidonius appears to me to have rightly conjectured that it is the Mysians of Europe (or as I should say of Thrace) that Homer designates when he says,

“and his glorious eyes Averting, on the land look’d down remote Of the horse-breeding Thracians, of the bold Close-fighting Mysian race....”[2604]

For if any one should understand them as the Mysians of Asia, the expression of the poet would not be fitting. For this would be, that having turned his eyes from the Trojans towards the land of the Thracians, he beheld at the same time the land of the Mysians, situated not far off from where he was, but conterminous with the Troad, rather behind it and on either side, but separated from Thrace by the breadth of the Hellespont.[2605] This would be to confound the continents, and at the same time to disregard the form of the poet’s expression. For “to turn his eyes again,” is more especially to turn them behind him; but he who extends his vision from the Trojans to the people either behind them, or on either side of them, stretches his sight to a greater distance, but not in the least behind him. And this also is introduced as a proof of this very thing, that Homer classes with these the Hippemolgi,[2606] the Galactophagi,[2607] and the Abii,[2608] who are the Scythian Hamaxœci[2609] and Sarmatians; for at this day, all these nations, as well as the Bastarnæ, are mixed with the Thracians, more especially with those beyond the Danube, and some even with [CAS. 296] the Thracians on this side the Danube; also amongst these are the Keltic tribes of the Boii, Scordisci, and Taurisci. Some, indeed, call the Scordisci the Scordistæ, and give to the Taurisci the names of Ligurisci[2610] and Tauristæ.

3. Posidonius relates that the Mysians religiously abstain from eating any thing that had life, and consequently, from cattle; but that they lived in a quiet way on honey, milk, and cheese; wherefore they are considered a religious people, and called Capnobatæ.[2611] He adds, that there are amongst the Thracians some who live without wives, and who are known by the name of Ctistæ. These are considered sacred and worthy of honour, and live in great freedom. [He pretends] that the poet comprehends the whole of these people when he says,

“and where abide, On milk sustain’d, and blest with length of days, The Hippemolgi, justest of mankind.”[2612]

These he designates as “without life,” more particularly on account of their living without wives, considering their solitary state as but a half life; in the same way as he likewise designates the house of Protesilaus “imperfect,” on account of the bereavement of his widow; in the same manner he applies to the Mysians the epithet of “close-fighting,” on account of their being invincible, like good warriors. [Finally, Posidonius pretends] that in the thirteenth[2613] book of the Iliad we ought to substitute for “the close-fighting Mysians,” [“the close-fighting Mœsi.”]

4. Nevertheless it would perhaps be superfluous to change the text [of Homer], which has stood the test of so many years. For it appears more probable to suppose that the people were anciently called Mysians, but that their name is now altered. Further, any one would suppose that the Abii[2614] were no more so named from being unmarried than from their being houseless,[2615] or their dwelling in waggons. In fact, as injustice is ordinarily committed in matters relative to bonds for money and the acquisition of wealth, it would be natural that the people living so frugally on such small property should be called [by Homer] the justest of mankind: and the more so as the philosophers who place justice next to moderation, aim at independence of others and frugality as amongst the most desirable objects of attainment; from which however some, having passed the bounds of moderation, have wandered into a cynical mode of life.[2616] But [the words of the poet] sanction no such assertion of the Thracians, and the Getæ in particular, that they live without wives. But see what Menander says of these people, not out of his own imagination, as it should seem, but deriving it from history.

“All the Thracians truly, and especially above all others we Getæ, (for I myself glory in being descended from this race,) are not very chaste.”

And a little after he gives examples of their rage for women.

“For there is no one among us who marries fewer than ten or eleven wives, and some have twelve, or even more.[2617] If any one loses his life who has only married four or five wives, he is lamented by us as unfortunate, and one deprived of the pleasures of Hymen.”

Such a one would be accounted as unmarried amongst them. These things are likewise confirmed by the evidence of other historians. And it is not likely that the same people should regard as an unhappy life that which is passed without the enjoyment of many women, and at the same time regard as a dignified and holy life that which is passed in celibacy without any women. But that those living without wives should be considered holy, and termed Capnobatæ, is entirely opposed to our received opinions; for all agree in regarding women as the authors of devotion to the gods, and it is they [CAS. 297] who induce the men by their example to a more attentive worship of the gods, and to the observance of feast-days and supplications; for scarcely is there found a man living by himself who pays any regard to such matters. And again attend to the words of the same poet when he speaks in one of his characters, bringing in a man disgusted with the expenses[2618] of the sacrifices of the women.

“The gods weary us indeed, but especially our married men, who are always obliged to celebrate some feast.”

And his Misogynes, complaining of the same things, exclaims,

“We sacrificed five times a day, while seven female slaves ranged in a circle played on the cymbals, and others raised their suppliant cries.”

It would therefore seem absurd to suppose that only those among the Getæ who remained without wives were considered pious, but that the care of worshipping the Supreme Being is great among this nation is not to be doubted, after what Posidonius has related, “and they even abstain from animal food from religious motives,” as likewise on account of the testimony of other historians.

5. For it is said that one of the nation of the Getæ, named Zamolxis,[2619] had served Pythagoras, and had acquired with this philosopher some astronomical knowledge, in addition to what he had learned from the Egyptians, amongst whom he had travelled. He returned to his own country, and was highly esteemed both by the chief rulers and the people, on account of his predictions of astronomical phenomena, and eventually persuaded the king to unite him in the government, as an organ of the will of the gods. At first he was chosen a priest of the divinity most revered by the Getæ, but afterwards was esteemed as a god, and having retired into a district of caverns, inaccessible and unfrequented by other men, he there passed his life, rarely communicating with anybody except the king and his ministers. The king himself assisted him to play his part, seeing that his subjects obeyed him more readily than formerly, as promulgating his ordinances with the counsel of the gods. This custom even continues to our time; for there is always found some one of this character who assists the king in his counsels, and is styled a god by the Getæ. The mountain likewise [where Zamolxis retired] is held sacred, and is thus distinguished, being named Cogæonus,[2620] as well as the river which flows by it; and at the time when Byrebistus, against whom divus Cæsar prepared an expedition, reigned over the Getæ, Decæneus held that honour: likewise the Pythagorean precept to abstain from animal food, which was originally introduced by Zamolxis, is still observed to a great extent.

6. Any one may well entertain such questions as these touching the localities mentioned by the poet [Homer], and with regard to the Mysians and the illustrious Hippemolgi: but what Apollodorus has advanced in his preface to the Catalogue of Ships in the Second Book [of the Iliad] is by no means to be adopted. For he praises the opinions of Eratosthenes, who says that Homer and the rest of the ancients were well versed in every thing that related to Greece, but were in a state of considerable ignorance as to places at a distance, in consequence of the impossibility of their making long journeys by land or voyages by sea. In support of this he asserts,[2621] that Homer designated Aulis as ‘rocky,’ as indeed it is; Eteonus as ‘mountainous and woody,’ Thisbe as ‘abounding in doves,’ Haliartus as ‘grassy;’ but that neither Homer nor the others were familiar with localities far off; for although there are forty rivers which discharge themselves into the Black Sea,[2622] he makes no mention whatever even of the most considerable, as the Danube,[2623] the Don,[2624] the Dnieper,[2625] the Bog,[2626] the Phasz,[2627] the Termeh,[2628] the Kizil-Irmak,[2629] nor does [CAS. 298] he even allude to the Scythians, but makes up fables about certain illustrious Hippemolgi, Galactophagi, and Abii. He had become acquainted with the Paphlagonians of the interior from the relations of such as had penetrated into those regions on foot, but he was perfectly unacquainted with the sea-coasts of the country; which indeed was likely enough, for that sea was in his time closed to navigation, and known by the name of Pontus Axenus [or the Inhospitable] on account of the severity of the storms to which it was subject, as well as of the savage disposition of the nations who inhabited its shores, but more especially of the Scythian hordes,[2630] who made a practice of sacrificing strangers, devouring their flesh, and using their skulls for drinking-cups; although at a subsequent period, when the Ionians had established cities along its shores, it was called by the name of Pontus Euxinus [or the Hospitable]. He was likewise in ignorance as to the natural peculiarities of Egypt and Libya,[2631] as the risings of the Nile, and the alluvial deposits, which he no where notices, nor yet the isthmus [of Suez] which separates the Red Sea from the Egyptian Sea;[2632] nor yet does he relate any particulars of Arabia, Ethiopia, or the Ocean, unless we should agree with the philosopher Zeno in altering the Homeric line as follows,

“I came to the Ethiopians, the Sidonians, and the Arabians.”[2633]

Indeed we ought not to be surprised at meeting with this in Homer, for those who have lived at a more recent period than he did, have been ignorant of many things, and have told strange tales. Hesiod has talked of Hemicynes,[2634] Megalocephali, and Pygmies; Alcman of Steganopodes; Æschylus of Cynocephali, Sternophthalmi, and Monommati, (they say it is in his Prometheus,) and ten thousand other absurdities. From these he proceeds to censure the writers who talk of the Riphæan Mountains[2635] and Mount Ogyium,[2636] and the dwelling of the Gorgons[2637] and the Hesperides,[2638] the land of Meropis[2639] mentioned by Theopompus, Cimmeris,[2640] a city mentioned in Hecatæus, the land of Panchæa[2641] mentioned by Euhemerus, and the river-stones formed of sand mentioned by Aristotle,[2642] which were dissolved by rain-showers. Further, that there exists in Africa a city of Bacchus which no one can find twice. He likewise reproves those who assert that the wanderings of Ulysses mentioned in Homer were in the neighbourhood of Sicily, for again, if we should say that the wanderings did take place in those parts, we should have to confess that the poet transferred them to the ocean for the sake of making his account the more romantic. Some allowance might be made for others, but no manner of excuse can be put forward for Callimachus, who pretends to the character of a critic, and yet supposes that Gaudus was the island of Calypso, and identifies Scheria with Corcyra.[2643] Other writers he blames for misstatements as to Gerena,[2644] Acacesium,[2645] and [CAS. 299] the Demus[2646] in Ithaca, Pelethronium[2647] in Pelium, and the Glaucopium at Athens.[2648] With these and a few similar trifling observations, most of which he has drawn from Eratosthenes, whose inaccuracy we have before shown, he breaks off. However, we frankly acknowledge, both with respect to him [Apollodorus] and Eratosthenes, that the moderns are better informed on geography than the ancients: but to strain the subject beyond measure, as they do, especially when they inculpate Homer, seems to me as if it gave a fair occasion to any one to find fault, and to say by way of recrimination, that they reproach the poet for the very things of which they themselves are ignorant. As for the rest of their observations, particular mention is made of some of them in the places where they occur, and of others in the General Introduction.

7. It has been our wish, while discoursing of the Thracians, and

“the bold Close-fighting Mysian race, and where abide, On milk sustain’d, and blest with length of days, The Hippemolgi, justest of mankind,”[2649]

to compare what we have advanced with the remarks of Posidonius and the other critics. Now, in the first place, they have universally proved the very contrary of the allegations which they had undertaken to maintain; for where they undertook to show that amongst the ancients there was a greater amount of ignorance as to places far from Greece than there was among the moderns, they have proved the very contrary, and that not only with regard to the countries more remote, but even with respect to Greece itself; but, as I have said before, let the other matters remain in abeyance while we consider carefully the subject now before us. Thus they say that it was through ignorance Homer and the ancients omitted to speak of the Scythians, and their cruelty to strangers, whom they sacrificed, devoured their flesh, and afterwards made use of their skulls as drinking-cups, for which barbarities the sea was termed the Axine,[2650] or inhospitable; but in place of these they imagined fables as to illustrious Hippemolgi, Galactophagi, and Abii, the most just of mankind, who never existed any where in this world. But how came it that they named the sea the Axenus, if they were so ignorant of the barbarism of that region, or of those savages who were the most barbarous on earth? But these undoubtedly are the Scythians! Or in the early times were not those who dwelt beyond the Mysians, and Thracians, and Getæ, Hippemolgi, (or milkers of mares,) Galactophagi, and Abii? Nay rather, they exist at this very day, being called Hamaxœci and Nomades, living on the herd, milk and cheese, and especially on cheese made of mare’s milk, and being ignorant how to lay up treasure or deal in merchandise, except the simple barter of one commodity for another. How then can it be said that the poet [Homer] knew nothing of the Scythians, since he doubtless designates some of them by the names of Hippemolgi and Galactophagi? And that the men of that [CAS. 300] time called these people Hippemolgi even Hesiod is a witness in the words which Eratosthenes has quoted:

“He went and saw the Ethiopians, the Ligurians,[2651] and the Scythians, milkers of mares.”

And when we consider the amount of fraud connected with trading speculations even amongst ourselves, what ground have we to wonder that Homer should have designated as the justest and most noble those who had but few commercial and monetary transactions, and with the exception of their swords and drinking-cups, possessed all things in common, and especially their wives and children, who were cared for by the whole community according to the system of Plato. Æschylus too seems to plead the poet’s cause, when he says,

“But the Scythians, governed by good laws, and feeding on cheese of mares’ milk.”

And this is still the opinion entertained of them by the Greeks; for we esteem them the most sincere, the least deceitful of any people, and much more frugal and self-relying than ourselves. And yet the manner of life customary among us has spread almost every where, and brought about a change for the worse, effeminacy, luxury, and over-great refinement, inducing extortion in ten thousand different ways; and doubtless much of this corruption has penetrated even into the countries of the nomades, as well as those of the other barbarians; for having once learnt how to navigate the sea, they have become depraved, committing piracy and murdering strangers; and holding intercourse with many different nations, they have imitated both their extravagance and their dishonest traffic, which may indeed appear to promote civility of manners, but do doubtless corrupt the morals and lead to dissimulation, in place of the genuine sincerity we have before noticed.

8. Those however who lived before our time, and more especially those who lived near to the times of Homer, were such as he describes them, and so they were esteemed to be by the Greeks. Take for instance what Herodotus relates concerning the king[2652] of the Scythians, against whom Darius waged war, and especially the answer he sent [to the messenger of Darius]. Take again what Chrysippus relates of the kings of the Bosphorus, [Satyrus[2653] and] Leuco. The letters of the Persians are full of the sincerity I have described; so likewise are the memorials of the Egyptians, Babylonians, and Indians. It was on this account that both Anacharsis and Abaris, and certain others of the same class, gained so great a reputation among the Greeks; for we may well believe they displayed their national characteristics of affability of manner, simplicity, and love of justice. But what occasion is there for me to speak of such as belonged to the times of old? for Alexander [the Great], the son of Philip, in his campaign against the Thracians beyond Mount Hæmus,[2654] is said to have penetrated as far as this in an incursion into the country of the Triballi, and observed that they occupied the territory as far as the Danube and the island Peuce,[2655] which is in it, and that the Getæ possessed the country beyond that river; however, he was unable to pass into the island for want of a sufficient number of ships, and because Syrmus, the king of the Triballi, who had taken refuge in that place, resisted the undertaking: but Alexander crossed over into the country of the Getæ and took their city, after which he returned home in haste, carrying with him presents from those nations, and also from Syrmus. Ptolemy, the son of Lagus, relates that in this campaign the Kelts who dwell on the Adriatic[2656] came to Alexander for the purpose of making a treaty of friendship and mutual hospitality, and that the king received them in a friendly way, and asked them, while drinking, what might be the chief object of their dread, supposing that they would say it was he; but that they replied, it was no man, only they felt some alarm lest the heavens should on some occasion or other [CAS. 302] fall on them, but that they valued the friendship of such a man as him above every thing. These examples sufficiently manifest the open sincerity of the barbarians, both of the one who would not suffer Alexander to land on the island, but nevertheless sent presents and concluded a treaty of friendship with him, and also of those who asserted that they feared no man, but that they valued the friendship of great men above every price.

In like manner Dromichætes, who was king of the Getæ in the times of the successors of Alexander, having taken captive Lysimachus, who had come to wage war against him, showed him his poverty and that of his people, and likewise their great frugality, bade him not to make war on such, but rather seek them as friends; after which he received him as a guest, made a treaty of friendship, and suffered him to depart.[2657] [*And Plato, in his Republic,[2658] considers that the neighbourhood of the sea ought to be shunned as being productive of vice, and that those who would enjoy a well-governed city, should plant it very far from the sea, and not near it.*][2659]

9. Ephorus, in the fourth book of his History, which is entitled “Of Europe,” having gone over Europe as far as the Scythians, concludes by saying that there is great difference in the manner of life both of the Sauromatæ and the other Scythians, for while some of them are exceedingly morose, and are indeed cannibals, others abstain even from the flesh of animals. Other historians, he observes, descant upon their ferocity, knowing that the terrible and the wonderful always excite attention; but they ought also to relate the better features of these people, and point to them as a pattern; for his part, he declares he will speak of those who excel in the justness of their actions, as there are some of the nomade Scythians who subsist on mares’ milk, and excel all men in their justice, these are mentioned by the poets: as Homer, where he says that Jupiter beheld the land

“Of the Galactophagi and Abii, justest of mankind;”[2660]

and Hesiod, in his poem entitled “Travels round the World,” who says that Phineus was taken by the Harpies

“To the land of the Galactophagi, who have their dwellings in waggons.”

Ephorus then proceeds to state the causes of their justice, because they are frugal in their mode of life, not hoarders of wealth, and just towards each other; they possess everything in common, both their women, their children, and the whole of their kin; thus when they come into collision with other nations, they are irresistible and unconquered, having no cause for which they need endure slavery. He then cites Chœrilus, who in his “Passage of the Bridge of Boats,” which Darius[2661] had made, says,

“And the sheep-feeding Sacæ, a people of Scythian race, but they inhabited Wheat-producing Asia: truly they were a colony of the nomades, A righteous race.”

And again Ephorus declares of Anacharsis, whom he designates as “The Wise,” that he was sprung from that race; and that he was reckoned as one of the Seven Sages, on account of his pre-eminent moderation and knowledge. He asserts too that he was the inventor of the bellows, the double-fluked anchor, and the potter’s wheel.[2662] I merely state this, although I know very well that Ephorus is not at all times to be relied on, especially when speaking of Anacharsis; (for how can the wheel be his invention, with which Homer, who is anterior to him, was acquainted; [who says],

“as when, before his wheel Seated, the potter twirls it with both hands,” &c.;[2663])

[CAS. 303] for I wish to show by these references, that there was a general impression among both the ancients and moderns with regard to the nomades, that some were very far removed from the rest of mankind, that they subsisted on milk, and were very frugal,[2664] and the most just of men, and that all this was not the mere invention of Homer.

10. It is but just too that Apollodorus should give some explanation respecting the Mysians mentioned in the Epic poems of Homer, whether he takes them to be but people of his feigning, when the poet says,

“Of the close-fighting Mysians and the illustrious Hippemolgi,”[2665]

or would he regard them as the Mysians of Asia? Now if he should declare that he considers them to be those of Asia, he will misinterpret the poet, as has been before observed; but if he should say they were but an invention, as there were no Mysians in Thrace, he will be guilty of a palpable misstatement, for even in our own times Ælius Catus has removed from the opposite side of the Danube into Thrace fifty thousand Getæ, who speak a language cognate with the Thracian. They still inhabit the very spot, and pass by the name of Mœsi. Whether those of former times were so designated, and had their name slightly varied in Asia, or, as is more suitable to history and the poet’s expression, those in Thrace were at the first called Mysians,[2666] is not certain. But enough of this; we must now return to our geography.

11. Let us pass over the early history of the Getæ, and occupy ourselves with their actual condition. Bœrebistas, one of the Getæ, having taken the command of his tribe, reanimated the men who were disheartened by frequent wars, and raised them to such a degree of training, sobriety, and a habit of obedience to orders, that he established a powerful dominion within a few years, and brought most of the neighbouring states into subjection to the Getæ. He at length became formidable even to the Romans, fearlessly crossing the Danube, and laying waste Thrace as far as Macedonia and Illyria; he also subdued the Kelts who live among the Thracians and Illyrians, and thoroughly annihilated the Boii who were subject to Critasirus and the Taurisci. In order to maintain the obedience of his subjects, he availed himself of the assistance of Decæneus a sorcerer,[2667] who had travelled in Egypt, and who, by predictions he had learnt to draw from certain natural signs, was enabled to assume the character of an oracle, and was almost held in the veneration of a god, as we have related when noticing Zamolxis.[2668] As an instance of their implicit obedience, we may relate that they were persuaded to root up their vines and live without wine. However, Bœrebistas was murdered in a sedition before the Romans sent an army against him. Those who succeeded to his government divided it into several states. Lately, when Augustus Cæsar sent an army against them, they were divided into five states, at another time they were four, for such divisions are but temporary in duration, and variable in their extent.

12. There was, from ancient times, another division of these people which still exists; thus, some they call Dacians and others Getæ: the Getæ extend towards the Euxine and the east, but the Dacians are situated on the opposite side towards Germany and the sources of the Danube,[2669] whom I consider to have been called Daci from a very early period. Whence also amongst the Attics the names of Getæ and Davi were customary for slaves. This at least is more probable than to consider them as taken from the Scythians who are named Daæ,[2670] for they live far beyond Hyrcania,[2671] and it is not likely that slaves would be brought all that way into Attica. It was usual with them to call their slaves after the name of the nation from whence they were brought, as Lydus and Syrus,[2672] or else by a name much in use in their own country, as, for a Phrygian, Manes or Midas; for a Paphlagonian, Tibius. The nation which was raised to so much power by Bœrebistas has since been completely reduced by [CAS. 304] civil dissensions and contests with the Romans; however, they are still able to set out 40,000 men armed for the wars.

13. The river Maros[2673] flows through their country into the Danube,[2674] on which the Romans transported their military stores; for thus they termed the upper part of that river from its sources to the cataracts, which flows chiefly through the country of the Dacians, but the part below that point which flows through the country of the Getæ as far as the Black Sea, they call the Ister.[2675] The Dacians speak the same language as the Getæ. The Getæ are best known among the Greeks on account of the frequent wandering expeditions they make on both sides of the Danube, and their being mixed among the Thracians and Mysians. The like is the case with regard to the nation of the Triballi, a Thracian people; for they have received many refugees on occasions when their more powerful neighbours have driven out the weaker, for from time to time the Scythians of the opposite side of the river, and the Bastarnæ, and the Sarmatians,[2676] become victorious, and those who are driven out cross over and some of them take up their residence either in the islands of the river or in Thrace, while on the other side the inhabitants are distressed by the Illyrians. At one time when the Getæ and the Dacians had increased to the greatest numbers, they were able to set on foot an army of two hundred thousand men, but now they are reduced to about forty thousand men, and are even likely to become subject to the Romans; still they are not yet quite under their sway on account of their trust in the Germans, who are enemies to the Romans.

14. Between [the Getæ and] the Black Sea, from the Danube to the Dniester,[2677] lies the desert of the Getæ.[2678] It is entirely a plain and destitute of water. It was there that Darius the son of Hystaspes, at the time he crossed the Danube, was in danger of being cut off with his whole army for want of water; this he found out before it was too late, and returned. At a subsequent period, when Lysimachus was waging war against the Getæ and their king Dromichætes, he not only incurred the risk,[2679] but he fell into the hands of the enemy; but his life was spared by the courtesy of the barbarian, as I have before related.

15. Near the mouths of the Danube is the large island called Peuce.[2680] This the Bastarnæ possessed, and were hence called Peucini. There are also other islands much smaller, some above this, and others nearer the sea. The Danube has seven mouths, the largest is called the Sacred Mouth,[2681] the passage by which to Peuce is 120 stadia.[2682] At the lower part of this island Darius made his bridge. It might likewise have been constructed at the upper part. This is the first mouth on the left-hand side as you sail into the Black Sea; the rest are passed while sailing along towards the Dniester; the seventh mouth is distant from this first mouth about 300 stadia. These mouths form several islands. The first three mouths next after the Sacred Mouth are but small, the remainder are much less than it, but greater than any of the three. Ephorus states that the Danube has five mouths. From hence to the Dniester,[2683] which is a navigable river, there are 900 stadia.[2684] In the district intervening there are two great lakes; one is open to the sea, and is used as a harbour,[2685] the other has no outlet.

16. At the mouth of the Dniester there is a tower called the Tower of Neoptolemus, and a village called Hermōnax.[2686] As you sail up the river 140 stadia, there are cities on both sides; the one is Niconia,[2687] and that on the left Ophiussa.[2688] Those who dwell on the spot say that the city is but 120 stadia [CAS. 306] up the river. The island of Leuce[2689] is distant from the river’s mouth a course of 500 stadia; it is quite in the sea, and is sacred to Achilles.

17. Next is the Dnieper,[2690] a river navigable to the distance of 600[2691] stadia, and near to it another river, the Bog,[2692] and an island[2693] lying before the mouth of the Dnieper, which possesses a haven. After sailing up the Borysthenes[2694] 200 stadia, you come to the city of like name with the river, which is likewise called Olbia;[2695] it is a great emporium and a foundation of the Milesians. Of the region lying inland from the coast we have described between the Dnieper and the Danube, the first portion is the Desert of the Getæ, then comes the Tyregetæ, after them the Jazyges Sarmatæ, and the Basilii, who are also called Urgi.[2696] Most of these people are nomades. However, a few of them pay attention to agriculture. These are said to inhabit the banks of the Danube, frequently even on both sides of the river. In the inland the Bastarnæ dwell, and confine with the Tyregetæ and the Germans; indeed, they may almost be said to be of the German stock. They are divided into many tribes, as some are called Atmoni, some Sidones, those who inhabit the island Peuce[2697] in the Danube, Peucini, and the most northern, Roxolani.[2698] These latter depasture the plains lying between the Don[2699] and the Dnieper. Indeed the whole of the northern regions with which we are acquainted, from Germany to the Caspian, is an extended plain. Whether any dwell still farther than the Roxolani is unknown to us. However, the Roxolani fought against the generals of Mithridates Eupator. Their leader was Tasius. They came as allies of Palacus, the son of Scilurus, and were considered good soldiers, but against the serried and well-armed phalanx every barbarous and light-armed tribe is ineffective. Thus they, although numbering fifty thousand men, could not withstand the six thousand arrayed by Diophantus, the general of Mithridates, but were almost all cut to pieces. They make use of helmets and breastplates made of untanned ox-hide. They bear wicker shields; and as weapons, lances, the bow, and the sword, such as most of the other barbarians do. The woollen tents of the nomades are fixed upon their chariots, in which they pass their lives. Their herds are scattered round their tents, and they live on the milk, the cheese, and the meat which they supply. They shift their quarters ever in search of pasture, changing the places they have exhausted for others full of grass. In the winter they encamp in the marshes near the Palus Mæotis,[2700] and in the summer on the plains.

18. The whole of this country, which reaches to the sea-coast extending from the Dnieper[2701] to the Palus Mæotis, is subject to severe winters; so also are the most northern of the districts bordering on the sea, as the mouth of the Palus Mæotis, and farther that of the Dnieper and the head of the Gulf of Tamyraca, or Carcinites,[2702] which washes the isthmus[2703] of the Magna Chersonesus. The intense cold of the districts inhabited, notwithstanding their being plains, is manifest, for they rear no asses, as that animal is too susceptible of cold; some of their oxen are without horns by nature, of the others they file off the horns, as a part most susceptible of injury from cold. Their horses are diminutive and their sheep large. Their brazen vessels are split with the frosts, and their contents frozen into a solid mass. However, the rigour of the frosts may be best illustrated by the phænomena which are [CAS. 307] common in the neighbourhood of the embouchure of the Palus Mæotis;[2704] for the passage from Panticapæum,[2705] across to Phanagoria,[2706] is at times performed in waggons, thus being both a sea passage[2707] and an overland route [as the season may determine]. There are also fish which are taken in the ice by means of a round net called a gangama, and especially a kind of sturgeon called antacæus,[2708] nearly the size of a dolphin. It is related that Neoptolemus, the general of Mithridates,[2709] defeated the barbarians during summer-time in a naval engagement in this very strait, and during the winter in a cavalry action. They say that about the Bosphorus the vine is hidden away in the earth in winter, great mounds of mould being piled over it [to preserve it from the frost]. They also report that the heats are excessive, [this may be accounted for in several ways,] perhaps men’s bodies not being accustomed to them, feel them the more; perhaps the plains are at that time unrefreshed by winds; or perhaps the thickness of the air is heated to a great degree, similar to the way in which the misty air is affected in times when a parhelion is observed.

It appears that Ateas,[2710] who carried on war against Philip,[2711] the son of Amyntas, had the rule over most of the barbarians of these parts.

19. After the island[2712] situated opposite the mouth of the Dnieper, in sailing towards the east, we arrive at the cape of the Course of Achilles.[2713] The district is quite bare, notwithstanding that it is termed a wood. It is sacred to Achilles. Then we arrive at the Course of Achilles, a low peninsula; for it is a certain tongue of land about a thousand stadia in length, running out towards the east, and its width is but two stadia[2714] in the broadest part, and but four plethra[2715] in the narrowest. It is distant from the mainland, which runs out on both sides of the neck, about 60 stadia. It is sandy, but water is obtainable by digging. About the midst of the Course of Achilles[2716] is the neck of the isthmus [joining it to the mainland]. It is about 40 stadia in breadth, and terminates in a headland which they call Tamyraca.[2717] This possesses an anchorage opposite the mainland. Next comes the Gulf Carcinites, which is of considerable extent, reaching towards the north[2718] about 1000 stadia. Some affirm that it is three times that distance to the head of the gulf ... are called Taphrii. They likewise call the Gulf Carcinites the Gulf Tamyraca, the same as the headland.

Chapter IV

1. At the bottom of the bay (Carcinites) commences the isthmus[2719] which separates the lake called Sapra, [or the Putrid Lake,] from the sea; it is 40 stadia in width, and forms the [CAS. 308] Tauric or Scythian Chersonese.[2720] This, according to some, is 360 stadia across. The Putrid Lake[2721] is said to extend 4000 stadia (in circumference), and forms part of the [Palus] Mæotis on its western side, with which it communicates by a large opening. It abounds in marshy tracts, and is scarcely navigable with “sewn”[2722] boats. The shallower parts are soon uncovered, and again covered with water, by the force of the wind; but the marsh will not bear boats of a deeper draught. In the bay are three small islands; and in sailing along the coast, some shallows are met with, and rocks which rise above water.

2. On the left in sailing out of the bay [Carcinites] there is a small town and another harbour[2723] belonging to the people of the Chersonese; for in coasting along the bay, there projects towards the south a large promontory, which is a part of the great Chersonese. Upon it stands a city of the Heracleotæ, who are a colony from Heraclea[2724] in the Euxine; it bears the same name, Chersonesus, as the territory. It is distant from the Dniester,[2725] in following the coast, 4400 stadia. In this city is a temple of the Virgin, some goddess,[2726] after whom the promontory, which is in front of the city, at the distance of 100 stadia, is called Parthenium. It has a shrine of the goddess and a statue. Between the city[2727] and the promontory are three harbours; next is the old city Chersonesus in ruins; then follows a harbour with a narrow entrance. It was called Symbolon Limen, or Signal Harbour; and here principally was carried on a system of piracy against those who took refuge in the ports. This, together with another harbour, called Ctenus,[2728] forms an isthmus of 40 stadia in extent. This isthmus locks in the Smaller Chersonesus, which we said was a part of the Great Chersonesus, having on it a city of the same name.

3. It was formerly governed by its own laws, but after it was ravaged by barbarous nations, the inhabitants were obliged to elect as their protector, Mithridates Eupator, who was anxious to direct his forces against the barbarians who lived above the isthmus, and occupied the country as far as the Dnieper and the Adriatic, and thus to prepare himself against war with the Romans. Mithridates, with these views, readily despatched an expedition into the Chersonesus, and carried on war at the same time against the Scythians, Scilurus, and the sons of Scilurus, namely, Palacus and his brothers, whom Posidonius reckons to have been fifty, and Apollonides eighty, in number. By the subjugation of these enemies he became at once master of the Bosporus, which Pairisades, who held the command of it, voluntarily surrendered. From that time to the present the city of the Chersonitæ has been subject to the princes of the Bosporus.

Ctenus is equally distant from the city of the Chersonitæ, and from Symbolon Limen. From Symbolon Limen the Tauric coast extends 1000 stadia to the city Theodosia.[2729] The coast is rugged and mountainous, and during the prevalence of the north winds, tempestuous. From this coast a promontory projects far into the sea, and stretches out southwards towards Paphlagonia, and the city Amastris. It is called Criu-metopon, or Ram’s Head. Opposite to it is [CAS. 309] Carambis,[2730] the promontory of the Paphlagonians. Criu-metopon and Carambis together form a strait compressed between them, and divide the Euxine into two parts. Carambis is distant from the city of the Chersonesus 2500 stadia, and from Criu-metopon much less; for many persons who have sailed through the strait say, that they saw both promontories at once.[2731]

In the mountainous district of the Tauri there is a hill called Trapezus,[2732] of the same name as the city,[2733] which is near Tibarania and Colchis. There is another hill also, the Kimmerium,[2734] in the same mountainous district, for the Kimmerii were once sovereigns of the Bosporus, and hence the whole of the strait at the mouth of the [Palus] Mæotis is called the Kimmerian Bosporus.

4. After leaving the above-mentioned mountainous district, is the city Theodosia, situated on a plain; the soil is fertile, and there is a harbour capable of containing a hundred vessels. This formerly was the boundary of the territory of the Bosporians and of the Tauri. Then follows a fertile country extending to Panticapæum,[2735] the capital of the Bosporians, which is situated at the mouth of the Palus Mæotis.[2736] Between Theodosia[2737] and Panticapæum there is a tract of about 530 stadia in extent. The whole country is corn-producing; there are villages in it, and a city called Nymphæum, with a good harbour.

Panticapæum is a hill inhabited all round for a circuit of 20 stadia. To the east it has a harbour, and docks capable of containing about thirty vessels; there is also an acropolis. It was founded by the Milesians. Both this place and the neighbouring settlements on each side of the mouth of the Palus Mæotis were for a long period under the monarchical dynasty of Leucon, and Satyrus, and Pairisades, till the latter surrendered the sovereignty to Mithridates. They had the name of tyrants, although most of them were moderate and just in their government, from the time of Pairisades and Leucon. Pairisades was accounted even a god. The last sovereign, whose name was also Pairisades, being unable to resist the barbarians, by whom great and unusual tributes were exacted, surrendered the kingdom into the hands of Mithridates. After him it became subject to the Romans. The greater portion of it is situated in Europe, but a part of it is also situated in Asia.

5. The mouth of the [Palus] Mæotis is called the Kimmerian Bosporus. The entrance, which at the broadest part is about 70 stadia across, where there is a passage from the neighbourhood[2738] of Panticapæum to Phanagoria, the nearest city in Asia. The [Palus] Mæotis closes in an arm of the sea which is much narrower. This arm of the sea and the Don[2739] separate Europe from Asia. Then the Don flows from the north opposite into the lake, and into the Kimmerian Bosporus. It discharges itself into the lake by two mouths,[2740] which are distant from each other about 60 stadia. There is also a city of the same name as the river; and next to Panticapæum it is the largest mart belonging to the barbarians.

On sailing into the Kimmerian Bosporus,[2741] on the left hand is Myrmecium,[2742] a small city, 20 stadia from Panticapæum, and 40 stadia from Parthenium;[2743] it is a village where is the narrowest entrance into the lake, about 20 stadia in breadth; opposite to it is a village situated in Asia, called Achilleum. Thence to the Don, and to the island at its mouths, is a voyage in a direct line of 2200 stadia. The distance is somewhat greater if the voyage is performed along the coast of Asia, but taking the left-hand side, (in which direction the isthmus of the Chersonese is fallen in with,) the distance is more than tripled. This latter course is along the desert shore of Europe, but the [CAS. 311] Asiatic side is not without inhabitants. The whole circumference of the lake is 9000 stadia.

The Great Chersonesus resembles Peloponnesus both in figure and size. The kings of the Bosporus possess it, but the whole country has been devastated by continual wars. They formerly possessed a small tract only at the mouth of the [Palus] Mæotis near Panticapæum, extending as far as Theodosia. The largest part of the territory, as far as the isthmus and the Gulf Carcinites, was in possession of the Tauri, a Scythian nation. The whole of this country, comprehending also a portion on the other side of the isthmus as far as the Dnieper, was called Little Scythia. In consequence of the number of people who passed from thence across the Dniester and the Danube, and settled there, no small part of that country also bore the name of Little Scythia. The Thracians surrendered a part of it to superior force, and a part was abandoned on account of the bad quality of the ground, a large portion of which is marshy.

6. Except the mountainous tract of the Chersonesus on the sea-coast, extending as far as Theodosia, all the rest consist of plains, the soil of which is rich, and remarkably fertile in corn. It yields thirty-fold, when turned up by the most ordinary implements of husbandry. The tribute paid to Mithridates by the inhabitants, including that from the neighbourhood of Sindace in Asia, amounted to 180,000 medimni of corn, and 200 talents of silver. The Greeks in former times imported from this country corn, and the cured fish of Palus Mæotis. Leucon is said to have sent to the Athenians 2,100,000 medimni of corn from Theodosia.[2744]

The name of Georgi, or husbandmen, was appropriately given to these people, to distinguish them from the nations situated above them, who are nomades, and live upon the flesh of horses and other animals, on cheese of mares’ milk, milk, and sour milk. The latter, prepared in a peculiar manner, is a delicacy.[2745] Hence the poet designates all the nations in that quarter as Galactophagi, milk-eaters.

The nomades are more disposed to war than to robbery. The occasion of their contests was to enforce the payment of tribute. They permit those to have land who are willing to cultivate it. In return for the use of the land, they are satisfied with receiving a settled and moderate tribute, not such as will furnish superfluities, but the daily necessaries of life. If this tribute is not paid, the nomades declare war. Hence the poet calls these people both just, and miserable, (Abii,)[2746] for if the tribute is regularly paid, they do not have recourse to war. Payment is not made by those, who have confidence in their ability to repel attacks with ease, and to prevent the incursion of their enemies. This course was pursued, as Hypsicrates relates, by Asander, who fortified on the isthmus of the Chersonesus, at the Palus Mæotis, a space of 360 stadia, and erected towers at the distance of every 10 stadia.[2747]

The Georgi (husbandmen) are considered to be more civilized and mild in their manners than the other tribes in this quarter, but they are addicted to gain. They navigate the sea, and do not abstain from piracy, nor from similar acts of injustice and rapacity.

7. Besides the places in the Chersonesus already enumerated, there are the fortresses Palacium, and Chabum, and Neapolis,[2748] which Scilurus and his sons constructed, from which they sallied out against the generals of Mithridates.

There was also a fortress called Eupatorium, built by Diophantus, one of the generals of Mithridates.[2749]

[CAS. 312] There is a promontory, distant about 15 stadia from the wall of Chersonesus, which forms a large bay, which bends towards the city. Above this bay is a sea-lake, where there are salt pits. Here was the harbour Ctenus. The generals of the king, in order to strengthen their means of resistance in case of siege, stationed a garrison on the above-mentioned promontory, which was further protected by a fortification. The mouth of the Gulf was closed by an embankment which extended to the city, and was easily traversed on foot. The garrison and the city were thus united. The Scythians were afterwards easily repulsed. They attacked that part of the wall built across the isthmus which touches upon Ctenus, and filled the ditch with straw. The kind of bridge thus formed by day, was burnt at night by the king’s generals, who continued their resistance and defeated the enemy. At present the whole country is subject to whomsoever the Romans may appoint as king of the Bosporus.

8. It is a custom peculiar to all the Scythian and Sarmatian tribes, to castrate their horses, in order to make them more tractable, for although they are small, yet they are spirited, and difficult to manage. Stags and wild boars are hunted in the marshes, and wild asses and roes[2750] in the plains. It is a peculiarity of this country, that no eagles are to be found in it. Among the quadrupeds there is an animal called Colus, in size between a deer and a ram; it is white, and swifter in speed than either of those animals. It draws up water into the head through the nostrils; from this store it can supply itself for several days, and live without inconvenience in places destitute of water.

Such is the nature of the whole of the country beyond the Danube, lying between the Rhine and the Don, and extending as far as the Pontic Sea and the Palus Mæotis.

Chapter V

1. There remains to be described that part of Europe included between the Danube and the sea which surrounds it, beginning from the inner recess of the Adriatic, and extending to the Sacred mouth of the Danube.

This part contains Greece, Macedonia, Epirus, and the people who live above them, extending to the Danube and to the two seas (the Adriatic and the Euxine Sea) on each side. On the Adriatic are the Illyrians; on the Euxine Sea, as far as the Propontis[2751] and Hellespont, are the Thracians, and the Scythian or Keltic tribes intermixed with them. We must begin from the Danube, and treat of the countries which follow next in order to those already described, that is to say, the parts contiguous to Italy, the Alps, the Germans, the Dacians, and the Getæ.

These may be divided into two parts. For the mountains of Illyria, Pæonia, and Thrace, may be considered as forming, as it were, a single line, parallel to the Danube, and extending from the Adriatic to the Euxine. To the north of this line is the country included between the Danube and the mountains. To the south is Greece and the barbarous tract contiguous to these mountains.

Near the Euxine Sea is Mount Hæmus,[2752] the largest and the highest of the mountains in that quarter, and divides Thrace nearly in the middle. According to Polybius, both seas may be seen from this mountain; but he is mistaken, for the distance to the Adriatic is considerable, and many things obstruct the view.

Almost the whole of Ardia[2753] lies near the Adriatic, Pæonia is in the middle, and all this country consists of elevated ground. On the side towards Thrace, it is bounded by Rhodope,[2754] a mountain next in height to Hæmus; on the other side to the north is Illyria, and the country of the Autariatæ,[2755] and Dardania.[2756]

I shall first describe Illyria, which approaches close to the Danube, and to the Alps which lie between Italy and Germany, [CAS. 314] taking their commencement from the lake in the territory of the Vindelici, Rhæti, and Helvetii.[2757]

2. The Daci depopulated a part of this country in their wars with the Boii and Taurisci, Keltic tribes whose chief was Critasirus. The Daci claimed the country, although it was separated from them by the river Parisus,[2758] which flows from the mountains to the Danube, near the Galatæ Scordisci, a people who lived intermixed with the Illyrian and the Thracian tribes. The Illyrians were destroyed by the Daci, while the Scordisci were frequently their allies.

The rest of the country as far as Segestica,[2759] and the Danube, towards the north and east, is occupied by Pannonii, but they extend farther in an opposite direction. The city Segestica, belonging to the Pannonii, is situated at the confluence of several rivers, all of which are navigable. It is in a convenient situation for carrying on war against the Daci, for it lies at the foot of the Alps, which extend to the Iapodes,[2760] a mixed Keltic and Illyrian tribe. Thence also flow the rivers by which is conveyed to Segestica a great quantity of merchandise, and among the rest, commodities from Italy. The distance from Aquileia to Nauportus,[2761] a settlement of the Taurisci, across the mountain Ocra,[2762] is 350, or, according to some writers, 500 stadia. Merchandise is transported to Nauportus in waggons. The Ocra is the lowest part of the Alps, which extend from Rhætica to the Iapodes, where the mountains rise again, and are called Albii. From Tergeste,[2763] a village of the Carni,[2764] there is a pass across and through the Ocra to a marsh called Lugeum.[2765] A river, the Corcoras, flows near Nauportus, and conveys the merchandise from that place. It discharges itself into the Save, and this latter river into the Drave; the Drave again into the Noarus at Segestica. Here the Noarus, having received the Colapis[2766] as it descends in its full stream from the mountain Albius through the Iapodes, enters the Danube among the Scordisci. The navigation on the rivers is in general towards the north. The journey from Tergeste to the Danube is about 1200 stadia. Near Segestica is Siscia, a strong-hold, and Sirmium, both situated on the road to Italy.

3. The Breuci, Andizetii, Ditiones, Peirustæ, Mazæi, Daisitiatæ, whose chief was Baton, and other small obscure communities, which extend to Dalmatia, and almost to the Ardiæi to the south, are Pannonians. The whole mountainous tract from the recess of the Adriatic bay to the Rhizonic gulf,[2767] and to the territory of the Ardiæi, intervening between the sea and Pannonia, forms the coast of Illyria.

Here perhaps we ought to begin an uninterrupted account of these places, after a short repetition.

In describing Italy we said, that the Istri were the first nation on the Illyrian coast, contiguous to Italy and to the Carni, and that the present government had advanced the limits of Italy to Pola,[2768] a city of Istria. These limits are distant about 800 stadia from the recess of the bay. It is the same distance from the promontory in front of Pola to Ancon,[2769] keeping Henetica[2770] on the right hand. The whole voyage along the coast of Istria is 1300 stadia.

4. Next is the voyage along the coast of the Iapodes, 1000 stadia in extent. The Iapodes are situated on Mount Albius, which is the termination of the Alps, and is of very great height. They reach in one direction to the Pannonii and the Danube, and in another to the Adriatic. They are a warlike people, but were completely subdued by Augustus. Their cities are Metulum, Arupinum, Monetium, Vendum.[2771] The country is poor, and the inhabitants live chiefly upon spelt and millet.[2772] Their armour is after the Keltic fashion. Their bodies are punctured, like those of the other Illyrian and Thracian people.

[CAS. 315] After the coast of the Iapodes follows that of Liburnia, exceeding the former by 500 stadia. On this coast is Scardon,[2773] a Liburnian city, and a river,[2774] which is navigable for vessels of burden as far as the Dalmatæ.

5. Islands are scattered along the whole of the above-mentioned coast; among them are the Apsyrtides, where Medea is said to have killed her brother Apsyrtus, who was pursuing her.

Near the Iapodes is Cyrictica,[2775] then the Liburnian islands, about forty in number; other islands follow, of which the best known are Issa, Tragurium, founded by Isseans; Pharos, formerly Paros, founded by Parians, the birth-place of Demetrius, the Pharian; then the coast of the Dalmatæ and their naval arsenal, Salon.[2776] This nation was for a long time at war with the Romans. They had fifty considerable settlements, some of which were in the rank of cities, as Salon, Priomon, Ninias, and the old and new Sinotium. Augustus burnt them down. There is also Andetrium, a strong fortress, and Dalmatium, a large city, of the same name as the nation. Scipio Nasica greatly reduced its size, and converted the plain into a pasture for sheep, on account of the disposition of the people to rob and pillage.

It is a custom peculiar to the Dalmatæ to make a partition of their lands every eighth year. They do not use money, which is a peculiarity also when compared with the habits of the other inhabitants of this coast; but this is common among many other tribes of barbarians.

The mountain Adrion divides Dalmatia into two parts, one of which is on the sea, the other forms the opposite side of the mountain. Then follow the river Naron, and the people in the neighbourhood, the Daorizi, Ardiæi, and Pleræi.[2777] Near the former lies the island Black Corcyra,[2778] on which is a city founded by the Cnidians. Near the Ardiæi is Pharos, formerly called Paros, for it was founded by Parians.

6. Later writers call the Ardiæi, Vardæi.[2779] The Romans drove them into the interior from the sea-coast, which was infested by their piracies, and compelled them to cultivate the ground; but as the country was rugged and barren, and not adapted to husbandry, the nation was entirely ruined and nearly extinguished. The same happened to other neighbouring nations. People formerly very powerful are extinct, or were reduced to the lowest condition, as the Boii and Scordisci among the Galatæ; the Autariatæ, Ardiæi, and Dardanii, among the Illyrians; and the Triballi among the Thracians. They first declined in consequence of disputes amongst themselves, but were finally prostrated by wars with the Macedonians and Romans.

7. After the termination of the coast of the Ardiæi and Pleræi is the bay of the Rhizæi, a city Rhizon,[2780] other small towns, and the river Drilon,[2781] which may be navigated up its stream towards the east as far as Dardanica. This country is situated close to the Macedonian and Pæonian nations, towards the south, as also the Autariatæ and the Dasaretii are in parts contiguous to one another [and to the Autariatæ].[2782] To the Dardaniatæ belong the Galabrii,[2783] in whose territory is an ancient city; and the Thunatæ, who approach on the east close to the Mædi,[2784] a Thracian tribe.

The Dardanii are entirely a savage people, so much so that they dig caves beneath dung heaps, in which they dwell; yet they are fond of music, and are much occupied in playing upon pipes and on stringed instruments. They inhabit the inland parts of the country, and we shall mention them again in another place.

8. After the bay of Rhizon[2785] is Lissus,[2786] a city, Acrolissus,[2787] and Epidamnus, the present Dyrrhachium,[2788] founded by Corcyræans, and bearing the name of the peninsula on which it [CAS. 316] is situated. Then follow the rivers Apsus[2789] and the Aous,[2790] on the banks of which is situated Apollonia,[2791] a city governed by excellent laws. It was founded by Corinthians and Corcyræans, and is distant from the river 10, and from the sea 60, stadia. Hecatæus calls the Aous, Aïas, and says that from the same place, or rather from the same sources about Lacmus,[2792] the Inachus flows southward, to Argos,[2793] and the Aïas westward, into the Adriatic.

In the territory of the Apolloniatæ there is what is called a Nymphæum. It is a rock which emits fire. Below it are springs flowing with hot water and asphaltus. The earth containing the asphaltus is probably in a state of combustion. The asphaltus is dug out of a neighbouring hill; the parts excavated are replaced by fresh earth, which after a time are converted into asphaltus. This account is given by Posidonius, who says also, that the ampelitis, an asphaltic earth found in the Pierian Seleucia,[2794] is a remedy for the lice which infest the vine. If the vine is smeared with this earth mixed with oil, the insects are killed before they ascend from the root to the branches. This earth, but it required for use a larger quantity of oil, he says was found at Rhodes also, while he held there the office of Prytanes.

Next to Apollonia is Bylliace (Bullis) and Oricum,[2795] with its naval arsenal, Panormus, and the Ceraunian mountains, which form the commencement of the entrance of the Ionian and Adriatic Gulfs.

9. The mouth is common to both; but this difference is to be observed, that the name Ionian[2796] is applied to the first part of the gulf only, and Adriatic to the interior sea up to the farthest end, but the name Adriatic is now applied to the whole sea. According to Theopompus, the name Ionian was derived from a chief (Ionius) of that country, a native of Issa; and the name Adriatic from a river, Adrias.[2797]

From the Liburni to the Ceraunian mountains is a distance of a little more than 2000 stadia. But Theopompus says, that it is six days’ sail from the farthest recess of the bay, but a journey of thirty days by land along the length of Illyria. This appears to me an exaggeration, but he makes many incredible statements. Among other instances, he pretends that there is a subterraneous passage between the Adriatic and the Ægean Seas, grounding his opinion on the discovery of Chian and Thasian pottery in the river Naron.[2798] The two seas, he says, may be seen from some pretended mountain. He describes the Liburnian islands as occupying a position so extensive as to form a circle of 500 stadia. According to him, the Danube discharges itself by one of its mouths into the Adriatic.[2799] Similar mistakes are to be found in Eratosthenes, which Polybius, when speaking of him and other writers, describes as having their origin in vulgar error.[2800]

10. On the coast of Illyria, along its whole extent, and in the neighbouring islands, there are numerous excellent harbours, contrary to what occurs on the opposite Italian coast, where there are none. As in Italy, however, the climate is warm, and the soil productive of fruits; olives also and vines grow readily, except in some few excessively rugged places. Although Illyria possesses these advantages, it was formerly neglected, through ignorance, perhaps, of its fertility; but it was principally avoided on account of the savage manners of the inhabitants, and their piratical habits.

The region situated above the sea-coast is mountainous, cold, and at times covered with snow. The northern part is still colder, so that vines are rarely to be met with either in the hills or in the plains lower down. These mountain-plains are in the possession of the Pannonians, and extend towards the south as far as the Dalmatians and Ardiæi. They terminate towards the north at the Ister, and approach towards [CAS. 317] the east close to the Scordisci, who live near the Macedonian and Thracian mountains.

11. The Autariatæ were the most populous and the bravest tribe of the Illyrians. Formerly, there were continual disputes between them and the Ardiæi respecting the salt which was spontaneously formed on the confines of their respective territories, in the spring season, from water which flows through a valley. The salt concreted five days after the water was drawn and deposited in reservoirs. The right of collecting salt was, by agreement, to be exercised alternately by each party, but the compact was broken and war was the consequence. After the Autariatæ had subdued the Triballi, a people whose territory extended a journey of fifteen days, from the Agrianæ to the Danube, they became masters of the Thracians and Illyrians. The Autariatæ were first conquered by the Scordisci, and afterwards by the Romans, who overpowered the Scordisci, for a long time a powerful nation.

12. This people inhabited the country on the banks of the Danube, and were divided into two tribes, the Great and the Little Scordisci.[2801] The former occupied the space between two rivers, which empty themselves into the Danube, the Noarus,[2802] which runs beside Segestica, and the Margus, or, as some call it, Bargus. The Little Scordisci lived beyond this river close to the Triballi and Mysi.[2803] The Scordisci possessed some of the islands also. They increased so much in strength and numbers as to advance even to the Illyrian, Pæonian, and Thracian confines. Most of the islands on the Danube fell into their hands, and they possessed the cities Heorta and Capedunum.[2804]

Next to the territory of the Scordisci, lying along the banks of the Danube, is the country of the Triballi and Mysi, whom we have before mentioned; we have also spoken of the marshes[2805] of the Lesser Scythia on this side the Danube. This nation, and the Crobyzi, and the nation called Troglodytæ, live above the districts in which are situated Callatis, Tomis, and Ister.[2806] Next are the people about the Mount Hæmus, and those who live at its foot, extending as far as the Pontus, Coralli, and Bessi, and some tribes of Mædi and of Dantheletæ. All these nations are very much addicted to robbery. The Bessi possess far the greatest part of Mount Hæmus, and are called Robbers from their mode of life as freebooters. Some of them live in huts and lead a life of hardship. They extend close to Rhodope, the Pæones, and to the Illyrian nations; to the Autariatæ also, and the Dardanians. Between these and the Ardiæi are the Dasaretii, Hybrianes, and other obscure nations, whose numbers the Scordisci were continually reducing, until they had made the country a desert, full of impassable forests, which extended several days’ journey.

Chapter VI

1. Of the country situated between the Danube and the mountains on each side of Pæonia, there remains to be described the Pontic coast, which reaches from the Sacred mouth of the Danube to the mountainous district about Hæmus, and to the mouth of the Pontus at Byzantium. As in describing the Illyrian coast we had proceeded as far as the Ceraunian mountains, which, although they stretch beyond the mountainous district of Illyria, yet constitute a sort of proper boundary, we determined by means of these mountains the limits of the nations in the inland parts, considering, that such separating lines would be better marks both for our present and future use; so here also the coast, although it may fall beyond the mountainous line, will still end at a proper kind of limit, the mouth of the Pontus, which will be useful both for our present and our future descriptions.

If we set out from the Sacred mouth of the Danube, having on the right hand the continuous line of coast, we find at the [CAS. 319] distance of 500 stadia, Ister,[2807] a small town founded by Milesians; then Tomis,[2808] another small town, at the distance of 250 stadia; then Callatis,[2809] a city, a colony of the Heracleotæ, at 280 stadia; then, at 1300 stadia, Apollonia,[2810] a colony of Milesians, having the greater part of the buildings upon a small island, where is a temple of Apollo, whence Marcus Lucullus took the Colossus of Apollo, the work of Calamides, and dedicated it as a sacred offering in the Capitol. In the intermediate distance between Callatis and Apollonia, is Bizone, a great part of which was swallowed up by an earthquake; Cruni;[2811] Odessus,[2812] a colony of Milesians; and Naulochus, a small town of the Mesembriani. Next follows the mountain Hæmus,[2813] extending to the sea in this quarter; then Mesembria,[2814] a colony of the Megarenses, formerly called Menabria, or city of Mena, Menas being the name of the founder, and bria,[2815] signifying in the Thracian tongue, city. Thus the city of Selys is called Selybria, and Ænus once had the name of Poltyobria. Then follows Anchiale,[2816] a small town of the Apolloniatæ, and Apollonia itself.

On this coast is the promontory Tirizis, a place naturally strong, which Lysimachus formerly used as a treasury. Again, from Apollonia to the Cyaneæ are about 1500 stadia. In this interval are Thynias, a tract belonging to the Apolloniatæ, Phinopolis, and Andriace,[2817] which are contiguous to Salmydessus. This coast is without inhabitants and rocky, without harbours, stretching far towards the north, and extending as far as the Cyaneæ, about 700 stadia. Those who are wrecked on this coast are plundered by the Asti, a Thracian tribe who live above it.

The Cyaneæ[2818] are two small islands at the mouth of the Pontus, one lying near Europe, the other near Asia, and are separated by a channel of about 20 stadia. This is the measure of the distance between the temple of the Byzantines and the temple of the Chalcedonians, where is the narrowest part of the mouth of the Euxine Sea. For proceeding onwards 10 stadia there is a promontory, which reduces the strait to 5 stadia; the strait afterwards opens to a greater width, and begins to form the Propontis.

2. From the promontory, then, that reduces the strait to 5 stadia, to the Port under the Fig-tree, as it is called, are 35 stadia; thence to the Horn of the Byzantines, 5 stadia. This Horn, close to the walls of Byzantium, is a bay, extending westwards 60 stadia, and resembling a stag’s horn, for it is divided into a great many bays, like so many branches. The Pelamides[2819] resort to these bays, and are easily taken, on account of their great number, and the force of the current, which drives them together in a body; and also on account of the narrowness of the bays, which is such that they are caught even by the hand. These fish are bred in the marshes of the Mæotis. When they have attained a little size and strength, they rush through the mouth in shoals, and are carried along the Asiatic coast as far as Trapezus and Pharnacia. It is here that the fishery begins, but it is not carried on to any considerable extent, because the fish are not of a proper size at this place. When they get as far as Sinope, they are in better season for the fishery, and for the purpose of salting. But when they have reached and passed the Cyaneæ, a white rock projects from the Chalcedonian shore, which alarms the fish, so that they immediately turn away to the opposite coast. There they are caught by the stream, and the nature of the places being such as to divert the current of the sea in that part towards Byzantium, and the Horn near it, the fish are impelled thither in a body, and afford to the Byzantines, and to the Roman people, a large revenue. The Chalcedonians, however, although situated near, and on the opposite side, have no share of this supply, because the Pelamides do not approach their harbours.

After the foundation of Chalcedon, Apollo is said to have [CAS. 320] enjoined the founders of Byzantium, in answer to their inquiries, to build their city opposite to the Blind, applying this name to the Chalcedonians, who, although they were the first persons to arrive in these parts, had omitted to take possession of the opposite side, which afforded such great resources of wealth, and chose the barren coast.

We have continued our description to Byzantium, because this celebrated city,[2820] by its proximity to the mouth of the Euxine Sea, forms a better-known and more remarkable termination of an account of the coast from the Danube than any other.

Above Byzantium is the nation of the Asti, in whose territory is the city Calybe, which Philip the son of Amyntas made a settlement for criminals.