Chapter XV: Book IV (2)

The fourth great Gulf of Europe begins at the Hellespont and ends at the entrance of the Mæotis[2774]. But in order that the several portions of the Euxine and its coasts may be the better known, we must briefly embrace the form of it in one general view. This vast sea, lying in front of Asia, is shut out from Europe by the projection of the shores of the Chersonesus, and effects an entrance into those countries by a narrow channel only, of the width, as already mentioned, of seven stadia, thus separating Europe from Asia. The entrance of these Straits is called the Hellespont; over it Xerxes, the king of the Persians, constructed a bridge of boats, across which he led his army. A narrow channel extends thence a distance of eighty-six miles, as far as Priapus[2775], a city of Asia, at which Alexander the Great passed over. At this point the sea becomes wider, and after some distance again takes the form of a narrow strait. The wider part is known as the Propontis[2776], the Straits as the Thracian Bosporus[2777], being only half-a-mile in width, at the place where Darius, the father of Xerxes, led his troops across by a bridge. The extremity of this is distant from the Hellespont 239 miles.

We then come to the vast sea called the Euxine, which invades the land as it retreats afar, and the name of which was formerly Axenus[2778]. As the shores bend inwards, this sea with a vast sweep stretches far away, curving on both sides after the manner of a pair of horns, so much so that in shape it bears a distinct resemblance to a Scythian bow[2779]. In the middle of the curve it is joined by the mouth of Lake Mæotis, which is called the Cimmerian[2780] Bosporus, and is two miles and a half in width. Between the two Bospori, the Thracian and the Cimmerian, there is a distance in a straight line, of 500 miles, as Polybius informs us. We learn from Varro and most of the ancient writers, that the circumference of the Euxine is altogether 2150 miles; but to this number Cornelius Nepos adds 350 more; while Artemidorus makes it 2919 miles, Agrippa 2360, and Mucianus 2425. In a similar manner some writers have fixed the length of the European shores of this sea at 1478 miles, others again at 1172. M. Varro gives the measurement as follows:—from the mouth of the Euxine to Apollonia 187 miles, and to Callatis the same distance; thence to the mouth of the Ister 125 miles; to the Borysthenes 250; to Chersonesus[2781], a town of the Heracleotæ, 325; to Panticapæum[2782], by some called Bosporus, at the very extremity of the shores of Europe, 212 miles: the whole of which added together, makes 1337[2783] miles. Agrippa makes the distance from Byzantium to the river Ister 560 miles, and from thence to Panticapæum, 635.

Lake Mæotis, which receives the river Tanais as it flows from the Riphæan Mountains[2784], and forms the extreme boundary between Europe and Asia, is said to be 1406 miles in circumference; which however some writers state at only 1125. From the entrance of this lake to the mouth of the Tanais in a straight line is, it is generally agreed, a distance of 375 miles.

The inhabitants of the coasts of this fourth great Gulf of Europe, as far as Istropolis, have been already[2785] mentioned in our account of Thrace. Passing beyond that spot we come to the mouths of the Ister. This river rises in Germany in the heights of Mount Abnoba[2786], opposite to Rauricum[2787], a town of Gaul, and flows for a course of many miles beyond the Alps and through nations innumerable, under the name of the Danube. Adding immensely to the volume of its waters, at the spot where it first enters Illyricum, it assumes the name of Ister, and, after receiving sixty rivers, nearly one half of which are navigable, rolls into the Euxine by six[2788] vast channels. The first of these is the mouth of Peuce[2789], close to which is the island of Peuce itself, from which the neighbouring channel takes its name; this mouth is swallowed up in a great swamp nineteen miles in length. From the same channel too, above Istropolis, a lake[2790] takes its rise, sixty-three miles in circuit; its name is Halmyris. The second mouth is called Naracu-Stoma[2791]; the third, which is near the island of Sarmatica, is called Calon-Stoma[2792]; the fourth is known as Pseudo-Stomon[2793], with its island called Conopon-Diabasis[2794]; after which come the Boreon-Stoma[2795] and the Psilon-Stoma[2796]. These mouths are each of them so considerable, that for a distance of forty miles, it is said, the saltness of the sea is quite overpowered, and the water found to be fresh.

CHAP. 25.—DACIA, SARMATIA.

On setting out from this spot, all the nations met with are Scythian in general, though various races have occupied the adjacent shores; at one spot the Getæ[2797], by the Romans called Daci; at another the Sarmatæ, by the Greeks called Sauromatæ, and the Hamaxobii[2798] or Aorsi, a branch of them; then again the base-born Scythians and descendants of slaves, or else the Troglodytæ[2799]; and then, after them, the Alani[2800] and the Rhoxalani. The higher[2801] parts again, between the Danube and the Hercynian Forest[2802], as far as the winter quarters of Pannonia at Carnuntum[2803], and the borders of the Germans, are occupied by the Sarmatian Iazyges[2804], who inhabit the level country and the plains, while the Daci, whom they have driven as far as the river Pathissus[2805], inhabit the mountain and forest ranges. On leaving the river Marus[2806], whether it is that or the Duria[2807], that separates them from the Suevi and the kingdom of Vannius[2808], the Basternæ, and, after them, other tribes of the Germans occupy the opposite sides[2809]. Agrippa considers the whole of this region, from the Ister to the ocean, to be 2100 miles in length, and 4400 miles in breadth to the river Vistula in the deserts[2810] of Sarmatia. The name “Scythian” has extended, in every direction, even to the Sarmatæ and the Germans; but this ancient appellation is now only given to those who dwell beyond those nations, and live unknown to nearly all the rest of the world.

CHAP. 26.—SCYTHIA.

Leaving the Ister, we come to the towns of Cremniscos[2811], Æpolium, the mountains of Macrocremnus, and the famous river Tyra[2812], which gives name to a town on the spot where Ophiusa is said formerly to have stood. The Tyragetæ inhabit a large island[2813] situate in this river, which is distant from Pseudostomos, a mouth of the Ister, so called, 130 miles. We then come to the Axiacæ, who take their name from the river Axiaces[2814], and beyond them, the Crobyzi, the river Rhodes[2815], the Sagarian Gulf[2816], and the port of Ordesos[2817]. At a distance of 120 miles from the Tyra is the river Borysthenes[2818], with a lake and a people of similar name, as also a town[2819] in the interior, at a distance of fifteen miles from the sea, the ancient names of which were Olbiopolis and Miletopolis. Again, on the shore is the port of the Achæi, and the island of Achilles[2820], famous for the tomb there of that hero, and, at a distance of 125 miles from it, a peninsula which stretches forth in the shape of a sword, in an oblique direction, and is called, from having been his place of exercise, Dromos Achilleos[2821]: the length of this, according to Agrippa, is eighty miles. The Taurian Scythians and the Siraci[2822] occupy all this tract of country.

At this spot begins a well-wooded district[2823], which has given to the sea that washes its banks the name of the Hylæan Sea; its inhabitants are called Enœchadlæ[2824]. Beyond them is the river Panticapes[2825], which separates the Nomades[2826] and the Georgi, and after it the Acesinus[2827]. Some authors say that the Panticapes flows into the Borysthenes below Olbia[2828]. Others, who are more correct, say that it is the Hypanis[2829]: so great is the mistake made by those who have placed it[2830] in Asia.

The sea runs in here and forms a large gulf[2831], until there is only an intervening space[2832] of five miles between it and the Lake Mæotis, its margin forming the sea-line of extensive tracts of land, and numerous nations; it is known as the Gulf of Carcinites. Here we find the river Pacyris[2833], the towns of Navarum and Carcine[2834], and behind it Lake Buges[2835], which discharges itself by a channel into the sea. This Buges is separated by a ridge of rocks[2836] from Coretus, a gulf in the Lake Mæotis; it receives the rivers Buges[2837], Gerrus[2838], and Hypacaris[2839], which approach it from regions that lie in various directions. For the Gerrus separates the Basilidæ from the Nomades, the Hypacaris flows through the Nomades and the Hylæi, by an artificial channel into Lake Buges, and by its natural one into the Gulf of Coretus: this region bears the name of Scythia Sindice.

At the river Carcinites, Scythia Taurica[2840] begins, which was once covered by the sea, where we now see level plains extended on every side: beyond this the land rises into mountains of great elevation. The peoples here are thirty in number, of which twenty-three dwell in the interior, six of the cities being inhabited by the Orgocyni, the Characeni[2841], the Lagyrani, the Tractari, the Arsilachitæ, and the Caliordi. The Scythotauri possess the range of mountains: on the west they are bounded by the Chersonesus, and on the east by the Scythian Satarchæ[2842]. On the shore, after we leave Carcinites, we find the following towns; Taphræ[2843], situate on the very isthmus of the peninsula, and then Heraclea Chersonesus[2844], to which its freedom has been granted[2845] by the Romans. This place was formerly called Megarice, being the most polished city throughout all these regions, in consequence of its strict preservation of Grecian manners and customs. A wall, five miles in length, surrounds it. Next to this comes the Promontory of Parthenium[2846], the city of the Tauri, Placia, the port of the Symboli[2847], and the Promontory of Criumetopon[2848], opposite to Carambis[2849], a promontory of Asia, which runs out in the middle of the Euxine, leaving an intervening space between them of 170 miles, which circumstance it is in especial that gives to this sea the form of a Scythian bow. After leaving this headland we come to a great number of harbours and lakes of the Tauri[2850]. The town of Theodosia[2851] is distant from Criumetopon 125 miles, and from Chersonesus 165. Beyond it there were, in former times, the towns of Cytæ, Zephyrium, Acræ, Nymphæum, and Dia. Panticapæum[2852], a city of the Milesians, by far the strongest of them all, is still in existence; it lies at the entrance of the Bosporus, and is distant from Theodosia eighty-seven miles and a half, and from the town of Cimmerium, which lies on the other side of the Strait, as we have previously[2853] stated, two miles and a half. Such is the width here of the channel which separates Asia from Europe, and which too, from being generally quite frozen over, allows of a passage on foot. The width of the Cimmerian Bosporus[2854] is twelve miles and a half: it contains the towns of Hermisium[2855], Myrmecium, and, in the interior[2856] of it, the island of Alopece. From the spot called Taphræ[2857], at the extremity of the isthmus, to the mouth of the Bosporus, along the line of the Lake Mæotis, is a distance of 260 miles.

Leaving Taphræ, and going along the mainland, we find in the interior the Auchetæ[2858], in whose country the Hypanis has its rise, as also the Neurœ, in whose district the Borysthenes has its source, the Geloni[2859], the Thyssagetæ, the Budini, the Basilidæ, and the Agathyrsi[2860] with their azure-coloured hair. Above them are the Nomades, and then a nation of Anthropophagi or cannibals. On leaving Lake Buges, above the Lake Mæotis we come to the Sauromatæ and the Essedones[2861]. Along the coast, as far as the river Tanais[2862], are the Mæotæ, from whom the lake derives its name, and the last of all, in the rear of them, the Arimaspi. We then come to the Riphæan[2863] mountains, and the region known by the name of Pterophoros[2864], because of the perpetual fall of snow there, the flakes of which resemble feathers; a part of the world which has been condemned by the decree of nature to lie immersed in thick darkness; suited for nothing but the generation of cold, and to be the asylum of the chilling blasts of the northern winds.

Behind these mountains, and beyond the region of the northern winds, there dwells, if we choose to believe it, a happy race, known as the Hyperborei[2865], a race that lives to an extreme old age, and which has been the subject of many marvellous stories[2866]. At this spot are supposed to be the hinges upon which the world revolves, and the extreme limits of the revolutions of the stars. Here we find light for six months together, given by the sun in one continuous day, who does not, however, as some ignorant persons have asserted, conceal himself from the vernal equinox[2867] to autumn. On the contrary, to these people there is but one rising of the sun for the year, and that at the summer solstice, and but one setting, at the winter solstice. This region, warmed by the rays of the sun, is of a most delightful temperature, and exempt from every noxious blast. The abodes of the natives are the woods and groves; the gods receive their worship singly and in groups, while all discord and every kind of sickness are things utterly unknown. Death comes upon them only when satiated with life; after a career of feasting, in an old age sated with every luxury, they leap from a certain rock there into the sea; and this they deem the most desirable mode of ending existence. Some writers have placed these people, not in Europe, but at the very verge of the shores of Asia, because we find there a people called the Attacori[2868], who greatly resemble them and occupy a very similar locality. Other writers again have placed them midway between the two suns, at the spot where it sets to the Antipodes and rises to us; a thing however that cannot possibly be, in consequence of the vast tract of sea which there intervenes. Those writers who place them nowhere[2869] but under a day which lasts for six months, state that in the morning they sow, at mid-day they reap, at sunset they gather in the fruits of the trees, and during the night conceal themselves in caves. Nor are we at liberty to entertain any doubts as to the existence of this race; so many authors[2870] are there who assert that they were in the habit of sending their first-fruits to Delos to present them to Apollo, whom in especial they worship. Virgins used to carry them, who for many years were held in high veneration, and received the rites of hospitality from the nations that lay on the route; until at last, in consequence of repeated violations of good faith, the Hyperboreans came to the determination to deposit these offerings upon the frontiers of the people who adjoined them, and they in their turn were to convey them on to their neighbours, and so from one to the other, till they should have arrived at Delos. However, this custom, even, in time fell into disuse.

The length of Sarmatia, Scythia, and Taurica, and of the whole of the region which extends from the river Borysthenes, is, according to Agrippa, 980 miles, and its breadth 717. I am of opinion, however, that in this part of the earth all estimates of measurement are exceedingly doubtful.

CHAP. 27.—THE ISLANDS OF THE EUXINE. THE ISLANDS OF THE NORTHERN OCEAN.

But now, in conformity with the plan which I originally proposed, the remaining portions of this gulf must be described. As for its seas, we have already made mention of them.

(13.) The Hellespont has no islands belonging to Europe that are worthy of mention. In the Euxine there are, at a distance of a mile and a half from the European shore, and of fourteen from the mouth of the Strait, the two Cyanæan[2871] islands, by some called the Symplegades[2872], and stated in fabulous story to have run the one against the other; the reason being the circumstance that they are separated by so short an interval, that while to those who enter the Euxine opposite to them they appear to be two distinct islands, but if viewed in a somewhat oblique direction they have the appearance of becoming gradually united into one. On this side of the Ister there is the single island[2873] of the Apolloniates, eighty miles from the Thracian Bosporus; it was from this place that M. Lucullus brought the Capitoline[2874] Apollo. Those islands which are to be found between the mouths of the Ister we have already mentioned[2875]. Before the Borysthenes is Achillea[2876] previously referred to, known also by the names of Leuce and Macaron[2877]. Researches which have been made at the present day place this island at a distance of 140 miles from the Borysthenes, of 120 from Tyra, and of fifty from the island of Peuce. It is about ten miles in circumference. The remaining islands in the Gulf of Carcinites are Cephalonnesos, Rhosphodusa, and Macra. Before we leave the Euxine, we must not omit to notice the opinion expressed by many writers that all the interior[2878] seas take their rise in this one as the principal source, and not at the Straits of Gades. The reason they give for this supposition is not an improbable one—the fact that the tide is always running out of the Euxine and that there is never any ebb.

We must now leave the Euxine to describe the outer portions[2879] of Europe. After passing the Riphæan mountains we have now to follow the shores of the Northern Ocean on the left, until we arrive at Gades. In this direction a great number of islands[2880] are said to exist that have no name; among which there is one which lies opposite to Scythia, mentioned under the name of Raunonia[2881], and said to be at a distance of the day’s sail from the mainland; and upon which, according to Timæus, amber is thrown up by the waves in the spring season. As to the remaining parts of these shores, they are only known from reports of doubtful authority. With reference to the Septentrional[2882] or Northern Ocean; Hecatæus calls it, after we have passed the mouth of the river Parapanisus, where it washes the Scythian shores, the Amalchian sea, the word ‘Amalchian’ signifying in the language of these races, frozen. Philemon again says that it is called Morimarusa or the “Dead Sea” by the Cimbri, as far as the Promontory of Rubeas, beyond which it has the name of the Cronian[2883] Sea. Xenophon of Lampsacus tells us that at a distance of three days’ sail from the shores of Scythia, there is an island of immense size called Baltia[2884], which by Pytheas is called Basilia[2885]. Some islands[2886] called Oönæ are said to be here, the inhabitants of which live on the eggs of birds and oats; and others again upon which human beings are produced with the feet of horses, thence called Hippopodes. Some other islands are also mentioned as those of the Panotii, the people of which have ears of such extraordinary size as to cover the rest of the body, which is otherwise left naked.

Leaving these however, we come to the nation of the Ingævones[2887], the first in Germany; at which we begin to have some information upon which more implicit reliance can be placed. In their country is an immense mountain called Sevo[2888], not less than those of the Riphæan range, and which forms an immense gulf along the shore as far as the Promontory of the Cimbri. This gulf, which has the name of the ‘Codanian,’ is filled with islands; the most famous among which is Scandinavia[2889], of a magnitude as yet unascertained: the only portion of it at all known is inhabited by the nation of the Hilleviones, who dwell in 500 villages, and call it a second world: it is generally supposed that the island of Eningia[2890] is of not less magnitude. Some writers state that these regions, as far as the river Vistula, are inhabited by the Sarmati, the Venedi[2891], the Sciri, and the Hirri[2892], and that there is a gulf there known by the name of Cylipenus[2893], at the mouth of which is the island of Latris, after which comes another gulf, that of Lagnus, which borders on the Cimbri. The Cimbrian Promontory, running out into the sea for a great distance, forms a peninsula which bears the name of Cartris[2894]. Passing this coast, there are three and twenty islands which have been made known by the Roman arms[2895]: the most famous of which is Burcana[2896], called by our people Fabaria, from the resemblance borne[2897] by a fruit which grows there spontaneously. There are those also called Glæsaria[2898] by our soldiers, from their amber; but by the barbarians they are known as Austeravia and Actania.

CHAP. 28.—GERMANY.

The whole of the shores of this sea as far as the Scaldis[2899], a river of Germany, is inhabited by nations, the dimensions of whose respective territories it is quite impossible to state, so immensely do the authors differ who have touched upon this subject. The Greek writers and some of our own countrymen have stated the coast of Germany to be 2500 miles in extent, while Agrippa, comprising Rhætia and Noricum in his estimate, makes the length to be 686[2900] miles, and the breadth 148[2901]. (14.) The breadth of Rhætia alone however very nearly exceeds that number of miles, and indeed we ought to state that it was only subjugated at about the period of the death of that general; while as for Germany, the whole of it was not thoroughly known to us for many years after his time. If I may be allowed to form a conjecture, the margin of the coast will be found to be not far short of the estimate of the Greek writers, while the distance in a straight line will nearly correspond with that mentioned by Agrippa.

There are five German races; the Vandili[2902], parts of whom are the Burgundiones[2903], the Varini[2904], the Carini[2905], and the Gutones[2906]: the Ingævones, forming a second race, a portion of whom are the Cimbri[2907], the Teutoni[2908], and the tribes of the Chauci[2909]. The Istævones[2910], who join up to the Rhine, and to whom the Cimbri[2911] belong, are the third race; while the Hermiones, forming a fourth, dwell in the interior, and include the Suevi[2912], the Hermunduri[2913], the Chatti[2914], and the Cherusci[2915]: the fifth race is that of the Peucini[2916], who are also the Basternæ, adjoining the Daci previously mentioned. The more famous rivers that flow into the ocean are the Guttalus[2917], the Vistillus or Vistula, the Albis[2918], the Visurgis[2919], the Amisius[2920], the Rhine, and the Mosa[2921]. In the interior is the long extent of the Hercynian[2922] range, which in grandeur is inferior to none.

CHAP. 29. (15.)—NINETY-SIX ISLANDS OF THE GALLIC OCEAN.

In the Rhine itself, nearly 100 miles in length, is the most famous island[2923] of the Batavi and the Canninefates, as also other islands of the Frisii[2924], the Chauci, the Frisiabones[2925], the Sturii[2926], and the Marsacii, which lie between Helium[2927] and Flevum[2928]. These are the names of the mouths into which the Rhine divides itself, discharging its waters on the north into the lakes there, and on the west into the river Mosa. At the middle mouth which lies between these two, the river, having but a very small channel, preserves its own name.

CHAP. 30. (16.)—BRITANNIA.

Opposite to this coast is the island called Britannia, so celebrated in the records of Greece[2929] and of our own country. It is situate to the north-west, and, with a large tract of intervening sea, lies opposite to Germany, Gaul, and Spain, by far the greater part of Europe. Its former name was Albion[2930]; but at a later period, all the islands, of which we shall just now briefly make mention, were included under the name of “Britanniæ.” This island is distant from Gesoriacum, on the coast of the nation of the Morini[2931], at the spot where the passage across is the shortest, fifty miles. Pytheas and Isidorus say that its circumference is 4875 miles. It is barely thirty years since any extensive knowledge of it was gained by the successes of the Roman arms, and even as yet they have not penetrated beyond the vicinity of the Caledonian[2932] forest. Agrippa believes its length to be 800 miles, and its breadth 300; he also thinks that the breadth of Hibernia is the same, but that its length is less by 200 miles. This last island is situate beyond Britannia, the passage across being the shortest from the territory of the Silures[2933], a distance of thirty miles. Of the remaining islands none is said to have a greater circumference than 125 miles. Among these there are the Orcades[2934], forty in number, and situate within a short distance of each other, the seven islands called Acmodæ[2935], the Hæbudes, thirty in number, and, between Hibernia and Britannia, the islands of Mona[2936], Monapia[2937], Ricina[2938], Vectis[2939], Limnus[2940], and Andros[2941]. Below it are the islands called Samnis and Axantos[2942], and opposite, scattered in the German Sea, are those known as the Glæsariæ[2943], but which the Greeks have more recently called the Electrides, from the circumstance of their producing _electrum_ or amber. The most remote of all that we find mentioned is Thule[2944], in which, as we have previously stated[2945], there is no night at the summer solstice, when the sun is passing through the sign of Cancer, while on the other hand at the winter solstice there is no day. Some writers are of opinion that this state of things lasts for six whole months together. Timæus the historian says that an island called Mictis[2946] is within six days’ sail of Britannia, in which white lead[2947] is found; and that the Britons sail over to it in boats of osier[2948], covered with sewed hides. There are writers also who make mention of some other islands, Scandia[2949] namely, Dumna, Bergos, and, greater than all, Nerigos, from which persons embark for Thule. At one day’s sail from Thule is the frozen ocean, which by some is called the Cronian Sea.

CHAP. 31. (17.)—GALLIA BELGICA.

The whole of Gaul that is comprehended under the one general name of _Comata_[2950], is divided into three races of people, which are more especially kept distinct from each other by the following rivers. From the Scaldis to the Sequana[2951] it is Belgic Gaul; from the Sequana to the Garumna[2952] it is Celtic Gaul or Lugdunensis[2953]; and from the Garumna to the promontory of the Pyrenæan range it is Aquitanian Gaul, formerly called Aremorica[2954]. Agrippa makes the entire length of the coast of Gaul to be 1800 miles, measured from the Rhine to the Pyrenees: and its length, from the ocean to the mountains of Gebenna and Jura, excluding therefrom Gallia Narbonensis, he computes at 420 miles, the breadth being 318.

Beginning at the Scaldis, the parts beyond[2955] are inhabited by the Toxandri, who are divided into various peoples with many names; after whom come the Menapii[2956], the Morini[2957], the Oromarsaci[2958], who are adjacent to the burgh which is known as Gesoriacum[2959], the Britanni[2960], the Ambiani[2961], the Bellovaci[2962], the Hassi[2963], and, more in the interior, the Catoslugi[2964], the Atrebates[2965], the Nervii[2966], a free people, the Veromandui[2967], the Suæuconi[2968], the Suessiones[2969], a free people, the Ulmanetes[2970], a free people, the Tungri[2971], the Sunuci[2972], the Frisiabones[2973], the Betasi[2974], the Leuci[2975], a free people, the Treveri[2976], who were formerly free, and the Lingones[2977], a federal state, the federal Remi[2978], the Mediomatrici[2979], the Sequani[2980], the Raurici[2981], and the Helvetii[2982]. The Roman colonies are Equestris[2983] and Rauriaca[2984]. The nations of Germany which dwell in this province, near the sources of the Rhine, are the Nemetes[2985], the Triboci[2986], and the Vangiones[2987]; nearer again[2988], the Ubii[2989], the Colony[2990] of Agrippina, the Cugerni[2991], the Batavi[2992], and the peoples whom we have already mentioned as dwelling on the islands of the Rhine.

CHAP. 32. (18.)—GALLIA LUGDUNENSIS.

That part of Gaul which is known as Lugdunensis[2993] contains the Lexovii[2994], the Vellocasses[2995], the Galeti[2996], the Veneti[2997], the Abrincatui[2998], the Ossismi[2999], and the celebrated river Ligeris[3000], as also a most remarkable peninsula, which extends into the ocean at the extremity[3001] of the territory of the Ossismi, the circumference of which is 625[3002] miles, and its breadth at the neck 125[3003]. Beyond this are the Nannetes[3004], and in the interior are the Ædui[3005], a federal people, the Carnuti[3006], a federal people, the Boii[3007], the Senones[3008], the Aulerci, both those surnamed Eburovices[3009] and those called Cenomanni[3010], the Meldi[3011], a free people, the Parisii[3012], the Tricasses[3013], the Andecavi[3014], the Viducasses[3015], the Bodiocasses[3016], the Venelli[3017], the Cariosvelites[3018], the Diablinti[3019], the Rhedones[3020], the Turones[3021], the Atesui[3022], and the Secusiani[3023], a free people, in whose territory is the colony of Lugdunum[3024].

CHAP. 33. (19.)—GALLIA AQUITANICA.

In Aquitanica are the Ambilatri[3025], the Anagnutes[3026], the Pictones[3027], the Santoni[3028], a free people, the Bituriges[3029], surnamed Vivisci, the Aquitani[3030], from whom the province derives its name, the Sediboviates[3031], the Convenæ[3032], who together form one town, the Begerri[3033], the Tarbelli Quatuorsignani[3034], the Cocosates Sexsignani[3035], the Venami[3036], the Onobrisates[3037], the Belendi[3038], and then the Pyrenæan range. Below these are the Monesi[3039], the Oscidates[3040] a mountain race, the Sibyllates[3041], the Camponi[3042], the Bercorcates[3043], the Pindedunni[3044], the Lassunni[3045], the Vellates[3046], the Tornates[3047], the Consoranni[3048], the Ausci[3049], the Elusates[3050], the Sottiates[3051], the Oscidates Campestres[3052], the Succasses[3053], the Tarusates[3054], the Basabocates[3055], the Vassei[3056], the Sennates, and the Cambolectri Agessinates[3057]. Joining up to the Pictones are the Bituriges[3058], a free people, who are also known as the Cubi, and then the Lemovices[3059], the Arverni[3060], a free people, and the Gabales[3061].

Again, adjoining the province of Narbonensis are the Ruteni[3062], the Cadurci[3063], the Nitiobriges[3064], and the Petrocori[3065], separated by the river Tarnis from the Tolosani. The seas around the coast are the Northern Ocean, flowing up to the mouth of the Rhine, the Britannic Ocean between the Rhine and the Sequana, and, between it and the Pyrenees, the Gallic Ocean. There are many islands belonging to the Veneti, which bear the name of “Veneticæ[3066],” as also in the Aquitanic Gulf, that of Uliarus[3067].

CHAP. 34. (20.)—NEARER SPAIN, ITS COAST ALONG THE GALLIC OCEAN.

At the Promontory of the Pyrenees Spain begins, more narrow, not only than Gaul, but even than itself[3068] in its other parts, as we have previously mentioned[3069], seeing to what an immense extent it is here hemmed in by the ocean on the one side, and by the Iberian Sea on the other. A chain of the Pyrenees, extending from due east to south-west[3070], divides Spain into two parts, the smaller one to the north, the larger to the south. The first coast that presents itself is that of the Nearer Spain, otherwise called Tarraconensis. On leaving the Pyrenees and proceeding along the coast, we meet with the forest ranges of the Vascones[3071], Olarso[3072], the towns of the Varduli[3073], the Morosgi[3074], Menosca[3075], Vesperies[3076], and the Port of Amanus[3077], where now stands the colony of Flaviobriga. We then come to the district of the nine states of the Cantabri[3078], the river Sauga[3079], and the Port of Victoria of the Juliobrigenses[3080], from which place the sources of the Iberus[3081] are distant forty miles. We next come to the Port of Blendium[3082], the Orgenomesci[3083], a people of the Cantabri, Vereasueca[3084] their port, the country of the Astures[3085], the town of Noega[3086], and on a peninsula[3087], the Pæsici. Next to these we have, belonging to the jurisdiction of Lucus[3088], after passing the river Navilubio[3089], the Cibarci[3090], the Egovarri, surnamed Namarini, the Iadoni, the Arrotrebæ[3091], the Celtic Promontory, the rivers Florius[3092] and Nelo, the Celtici[3093], surnamed Neri, and above them the Tamarici[3094], in whose peninsula[3095] are the three altars called Sestianæ, and dedicated[3096] to Augustus; the Capori[3097], the town of Noela[3098], the Celtici surnamed Præsamarci, and the Cileni[3099]: of the islands, those worthy of mention are Corticata[3100] and Aunios. After passing the Cileni, belonging to the jurisdiction of the Bracari[3101], we have the Heleni[3102], the Gravii[3103], and the fortress of Tyde, all of them deriving their origin from the Greeks. Also, the islands called Cicæ[3104], the famous city of Abobrica[3105], the river Minius[3106], four miles wide at its mouth, the Leuni, the Seurbi[3107], and Augusta[3108], a town of the Bracari, above whom lies Gallæcia. We then come to the river Limia[3109], and the river Durius[3110], one of the largest in Spain, and which rises in the district of the Pelendones[3111], passes near Numantia, and through the Arevaci and the Vaccæi, dividing the Vettones from Asturia, the Gallæci from Lusitania, and separating the Turduli from the Bracari. The whole of the region here mentioned from the Pyrenees is full of mines of gold, silver, iron, and lead, both black and white[3112].

CHAP. 35. (21.)—LUSITANIA.

After passing the Durius, Lusitania[3113] begins. We here have the ancient Turduli[3114], the Pæsuri, the river Vaga[3115], the town of Talabrica, the town and river[3116] of Æminium, the towns of Conimbrica[3117], Collippo[3118], and Eburobritium[3119]. A promontory[3120] then advances into the sea in shape of a large horn; by some it has been called Artabrum[3121], by others the Great Promontory, while many call it the Promontory of Olisipo, from the city[3122] near it. This spot forms a dividing line in the land, the sea, and the heavens. Here ends one side[3123] of Spain; and, when we have doubled the promontory, the front of Spain begins. (22.) On one side of it lie the North and the Gallic Ocean, on the other the West and the Atlantic. The length of this promontory has been estimated by some persons at sixty miles, by others at ninety. A considerable number of writers estimate the distance from this spot to the Pyrenees at 1250 miles; and, committing a manifest error, place here the nation of the Artabri, a nation that never[3124] was here. For, making a slight change in the name, they have placed at this spot the Arrotrebæ, whom we have previously spoken of as dwelling in front of the Celtic Promontory.

Mistakes have also been made as to the more celebrated rivers. From the Minius, which we have previously mentioned, according to Varro, the river Æminius[3125] is distant 200 miles, which others[3126] suppose to be situate elsewhere, and called Limæa. By the ancients it was called the “River of Oblivion,” and it has been made the subject of many fabulous stories. At a distance of 200 miles from the Durius is the Tagus, the Munda[3127] lying between them. The Tagus is famous for its golden sands[3128]. At a distance of 160 miles from it is the Sacred Promontory[3129], projecting from nearly the very middle of the front[3130] of Spain. From this spot to the middle of the Pyrenees, Varro says, is a distance of 1400 miles; while to the Anas, by which we have mentioned[3131] Lusitania as being separated from Bætica, is 126 miles, it being 102 more to Gades.

The peoples are the Celtici, the Turduli, and, about the Tagus, the Vettones[3132]. From the river Anas to the Sacred Promontory[3133] are the Lusitani. The cities worthy of mention on the coast, beginning from the Tagus, are that of Olisipo[3134], famous for its mares, which conceive[3135] from the west wind; Salacia[3136], which is surnamed the Imperial City; Merobrica[3137]; and then the Sacred Promontory, with the other known by the name of Cuneus[3138], and the towns of Ossonoba[3139], Balsa[3140], and Myrtili[3141].

The whole of this province is divided into three jurisdictions, those of Emerita, Pax, and Scalabis. It contains in all forty-six peoples, among whom there are five colonies, one municipal town of Roman citizens, three with the ancient Latin rights, and thirty-six that are tributaries. The colonies are those of Augusta Emerita[3142], situate on the river Anas, Metallinum[3143], Pax[3144], and Norba[3145], surnamed Cæsariana. To this last place of jurisdiction the people of Castra Servilia[3146] and Castra Cæcilia[3147] resort. The fifth jurisdiction is that of Scalabis[3148], which also has the name of Præsidium Julium[3149]. Olisipo, surnamed Felicitas Julia[3150], is a municipal city, whose inhabitants enjoy the rights of Roman citizens. The towns in the enjoyment of the ancient Latin rights are Ebora[3151], which also has the name of Liberalitas Julia[3152], and Myrtili and Salacia, which we have previously mentioned. Those among the tributaries whom it may not be amiss to mention, in addition to those already[3153] alluded to among the names of those in Bætica, are the Augustobrigenses[3154], the Ammienses[3155], the Aranditani, the Arabricenses, the Balsenses, the Cæsarobricenses, the Caperenses[3156], the Caurenses[3157], the Colarni, the Cibilitani, the Concordienses[3158], the Elbocorii, the Interannienses, the Lancienses[3159], the Mirobrigenses, surnamed[3160] Celtici, the Medubrigenses[3161], surnamed Plumbarii, the Ocelenses[3162] or Lancienses, the Turduli, also called Barduli, and the Tapori. Agrippa states, that Lusitania, with Asturia and Gallæcia, is 540 miles in length, and 536 in breadth. The provinces of Spain, measured from the two extreme[3163] promontories of the Pyrenees, along the sea-line of the entire coast, are thought to be 3922 miles in circumference; while some writers make them to be but 2600.

CHAP. 36.—THE ISLANDS IN THE ATLANTIC OCEAN.

Opposite to Celtiberia are a number of islands, by the Greeks called Cassiterides[3164], in consequence of their abounding in tin: and, facing the Promontory[3165] of the Arrotrebæ, are the six Islands of the Gods, which some persons have called the Fortunate Islands[3166]. At the very commencement of Bætica, and twenty-five miles from the mouth of the Straits of Gades, is the island of Gadis, twelve miles long and three broad, as Polybius states in his writings. At its nearest part, it is less than 700 feet[3167] distant from the mainland, while in the remaining portion it is distant more than seven miles. Its circuit is fifteen miles, and it has on it a city which enjoys the rights of Roman citizens[3168], and whose people are called the Augustani of the city of Julia Gaditana. On the side which looks towards Spain, at about 100 paces distance, is another long island, three miles wide, on which the original city of Gades stood. By Ephorus and Philistides it is called Erythia, by Timæus and Silenus Aphrodisias[3169], and by the natives the Isle of Juno. Timæus says, that the larger island used to be called Cotinusa[3170], from its olives; the Romans call it Tartessos[3171]; the Carthaginians Gadir[3172], that word in the Punic language signifying a hedge. It was called Erythia because the Tyrians, the original ancestors of the Carthaginians, were said to have come from the Erythræan, or Red Sea. In this island Geryon is by some thought to have dwelt, whose herds were carried off by Hercules. Other persons again think, that his island is another one, opposite to Lusitania, and that it was there formerly called by that name[3173].

CHAP. 37. (23.)—THE GENERAL MEASUREMENT OF EUROPE.

Having thus made the circuit of Europe, we must now give the complete measurement of it, in order that those who wish to be acquainted with this subject may not feel themselves at a loss. Artemidorus and Isidorus have given its length, from the Tanais to Gades, as 8214 miles. Polybius in his writings has stated the breadth of Europe, in a line from Italy to the ocean, to be 1150 miles. But, even in his day, its magnitude was but little known. The distance of Italy, as we have previously[3174] stated, as for as the Alps, is 1120 miles, from which, through Lugdunum to the British port of the Morini[3175], the direction which Polybius seems to follow, is 1168 miles. But the better ascertained, though greater length, is that taken from the Alps through the Camp of the Legions[3176] in Germany, in a north-westerly direction, to the mouth of the Rhine, being 1543 miles. We shall now have to speak of Africa and Asia.

* * * * *

SUMMARY.—Towns and nations mentioned * * * *. Noted rivers * * * *. Famous mountains * * * *. Islands * * * *. People or towns no longer in existence * * * *. Remarkable events, narratives, and observations * * * *.

* * * * *

ROMAN AUTHORS QUOTED.—Cato the Censor[3177], M. Varro[3178], M. Agrippa[3179], the late Emperor Augustus[3180], Varro Atacinus[3181], Cornelius Nepos[3182], Hyginus[3183], L. Vetus[3184], Mela Pomponius[3185], Licinius Mucianus[3186], Fabricius Tuscus[3187], Ateius Capito[3188], Ateius the Philologist[3189].

FOREIGN AUTHORS QUOTED.—Polybius[3190], Hecatæus[3191], Hellanicus[3192], Damastes[3193], Eudoxus[3194], Dicæarchus[3195], Timosthenes[3196], Eratosthenes[3197], Ephorus[3198], Crates the Grammarian[3199], Serapion[3200] of Antioch, Callimachus[3201], Artemidorus[3202], Apollodorus[3203], Agathocles[3204], Eumachus[3205], Timæus the Sicilian[3206], Myrsilus[3207], Alexander Polyhistor[3208], Thucydides[3209], Dosiades[3210], Anaximander[3211], Philistides Mallotes[3212], Dionysius[3213], Aristides[3214], Callidemus[3215], Menæchmus[3216], Aglaosthenes[3217], Anticlides[3218], Heraclides[3219], Philemon[3220], Xenophon[3221], Pytheas[3222], Isidorus[3223], Philonides[3224], Xenagoras[3225], Astynomus[3226], Staphylus[3227], Aristocritus[3228], Metrodorus[3229], Cleobulus[3230], Posidonius[3231].