Pomponius Mela: DE CHOROGRAPHIA

[1] Dicta est ora Nostri maris, dictae insulae quas amplectitur. Restat ille circuitus quem initio diximus cingit oceanus. Ingens infinitumque pelagus it magnis aestibus concitum, ita enim motus eius adpellant, modo inundat campos modo late nudat ac refugit, non alios aliosque invicem neque alternis accessibus nunc in hos nunc in illos toto impetu versum, sed ubi in omnia litora, quamvis diversa sint, terrarum insularumque ex medio pariter effusum est, rursus ab illis colligitur in medium et in semet ipsum redit, tanta vi semper inmissum, ut vasta etiam flumina retro agat, et aut terrestria deprehendat animalia aut marina destituat.

[1] The shore of Our sea has been described, and the islands which it embraces have been described. There remains that circuit which, as we said at the beginning, the Ocean girds. A vast and infinite sea goes, stirred by great tides (for thus they call its motions): now it inundates the fields, now it widely denudes them and recedes—not turned with alternate accesses now against these, now against those, one and then another in turn, but when from the middle it is effused equally upon all the shores, however diverse they are, of the lands and the islands, again from them it is collected into the middle and returns into itself, always sent in with such force that it even drives mighty rivers backward, and either apprehends terrestrial animals or leaves marine creatures stranded.

[2] Neque adhuc satis cognitum est, anhelitune id suo mundus efficiat, retractamque cum spiritu regerat undam undique, si, ut doctioribus placet, unum animal est, an sint depressi aliqui specus, quo reciprocata maria residant, atque unde se rursus exuberantia adtollant, an luna causas tantis meatibus praebeat. At ortus certe eius occasusque variantur neque eodem adsidue tempore, sed ut illa surgit ac demergitur ita recedere atque adventare conperimus.

[2] Nor is it yet sufficiently known whether the world brings this about by its own breath, and, with its spirit, governs from every side the wave drawn back—if, as it pleases the more learned, it is one animal—or whether there are some sunken caverns, into which the seas, reciprocated, subside, and whence, in exuberance, they lift themselves again; or whether the moon supplies the causes for such meatus. But certainly her risings and settings vary, and not at the same continual time; rather, as she rises and submerges, so we find it to recede and to come in.

[3] Huc egressos sequentesque ea quae exeuntibus dextra sunt, aequor Atlanticum et ora Baeticae frontis excipit, quae nisi quod semel iterumque paululum in semet abducitur usque ad fluvium Anam paene recta est. Turduli et Bastuli habitant.

[3] Those who have gone out to this point, and who follow the things that are on the right-hand side for those going out, are received by the Atlantic expanse and the shore of the Baetican front, which, except that once and again it is drawn back a little into itself, is almost straight as far as the river Anas. The Turduli and the Bastuli inhabit.

[4] In proximo sinu portus est quem Gaditanum, et lucus quem Oleastrum adpellant, tum castellum Ebora in litore et procul a litore Hasta colonia. Extra Iunonis ara templumque est, in ipso mari monumentum Caepionis scopulo magis quam insulae impositum. Baetis ex Tarraconensi regione demissus per hanc fere mediam diu sicut nascitur uno amne decurrit, post ubi non longe a mari grandem lacum fecit, quasi ex novo fonte geminus exoritur, quantusque simplici alveo venerat tantus singulis effluit.

[4] In the next bay there is a port which they call the Gaditanian, and a grove which they call the Oleaster, then the castellum Ebora on the shore, and far from the shore Hasta, a colony. Offshore there are the Altar of Juno and a temple; in the very sea is the monument of Caepio, set upon a crag rather than upon an island. The Baetis, sent down from the Tarraconensian region, runs down for a long way through almost the middle of this, with a single river just as it is born; afterwards, when not far from the sea it has made a large lake, it rises as twin as if from a new spring, and as great as it had come in a simple channel, so great it flows out by separate ones.

Tum sinus alter usque ad finem provinciae inflectitur, eumque parva oppida Olintigi, Onolappa contingunt. at Lusitania trans Anam, qua mare Atlanticum spectat, primum ingenti impetu in altum abit, dein resistit ac se magis etiam quam Baetica abducit.

Then another bay bends all the way to the end of the province, and small towns Olintigi and Onolappa touch it. But Lusitania across the Anas, where it looks toward the Atlantic Sea, first goes out into the deep with a huge impetus, then it halts and draws itself away even more than Baetica.

[5] Qua prominet bis in semet recepto mari in tria promunturia dispergitur: Anae proximum, quia lata sede procurrens paulatim se ac sua latera fastigat, Cuneus ager dicitur, sequens Sacrum vocant, Magnum quod ulterius est, in Cuneo sunt Myrtili, Balsa, Ossonoba, in Sacro Caetobriga et Portus Hannibalis, in Magno Ebora.

[5] Where it projects, with the sea twice received into itself, it is scattered into three promontories: the one nearest to the Anas, because, advancing with a broad seat, it gradually tapers itself and its flanks, is called the Cuneus district, the next they call the Sacred, the Great is the one that is farther out, in the Cuneus are Myrtili, Balsa, Ossonoba, in the Sacred Caetobriga and the Port of Hannibal, in the Great Ebora.

[6] Sinus intersunt: et est in proximo Salacia, in altero Ulisippo et Tagi ostium, amnis gemmas aurumque generantis. Ab his promunturiis in illam partem quae recessit, ingens flexus aperitur, in eoque sunt Turduli veteres Turdulorumque oppida, amnes autem in medium fere ultimi promunturii latus effluens Munda, et radices eiusdem adluens Durius. Frons illa aliquamdiu rectam ripam habet, dein modico flexu accepto mox paululum eminet, tum reducta iterum iterumque recto margine iacens ad promunturium quod Celticum vocamus extenditur.

[6] Inlets lie between: and in the nearer is Salacia, in the other Ulisippo and the mouth of the Tagus, a river generating gems and gold. From these promontories, toward that part which has drawn back, a vast flexure opens, and in it are the Old Turduli and the towns of the Turduli; the rivers, moreover, are the Munda, outflowing into almost the middle of the side of the farthest promontory, and the Durius, laving the roots of the same. That front for some time has a straight bank, then, a modest flexure having been admitted, soon projects a little, then, drawn back, lying again and again with a straight margin, it extends to the promontory which we call Celtic.

[7] Totam Celtici colunt, sed a Durio ad flexum Grovi, fluuntque per eos Avo, Celadus, Nebis, Minius et cui oblivionis cognomen est Limia. Flexus ipse Lambriacam urbem amplexus recipit fluvios Laeron et Ullam. Partem quae prominet Praesamarchi habitant, perque eos Tamaris et Sars flumina non longe orta decurrunt, Tamaris secundum Ebora portum, Sars iuxta turrem Augusti titulo memorabilem.

[7] The Celtici inhabit the whole, but from the Durius to the bend the Grovi; and through them flow the Avo, the Celadus, the Nebis, the Minius, and the Limia, to which the cognomen of oblivion belongs. The bend itself, embracing the city Lambriaca, receives the rivers Laeron and Ulla. The part which projects is inhabited by the Praesamarchi, and through them the rivers Tamaris and Sars, not far from their sources, run down—Tamaris alongside the port of Ebora, Sars near the tower of Augustus, memorable for its title.

Cetera super Tamarici Nerique incolunt in eo tractu ultimi. Hactenus enim ad occidentem versa litora pertinent.

The rest dwell beyond the Tamarici and the Neri, the farthest in that tract. For up to this point the shores turned toward the west pertain.

[8] Deinde ad septentriones toto latere terra convertitur a Celtico promunturio ad Pyrenaeum usque. Perpetua eius ora, nisi ubi modici recessus ac parva promunturia sunt, ad Cantabros paene recta est.

[8] Then toward the north the land turns with its whole flank from the Celtic promontory as far as the Pyrenees. Its continuous shore, except where there are slight recesses and small promontories, is almost straight along the Cantabri.

[9] In ea primum Artabri sunt etiamnum Celticae gentis, deinde Astyres. In Artabris sinus ore angusto admissum mare non angusto ambitu excipiens Adrobricam urbem et quattuor amnium ostia incingit: duo etiam inter accolentis ignobilia sunt, per alia Ducanaris exit et Libyca. In Astyrum litore Noega est oppidum, et tres arae quas Sestianas vocant in paene insula sedent et sunt Augusti nomine sacrae inlustrantque terras ante ignobiles.

[9] In it first are the Artabri, still of the Celtic race, then the Astyres. Among the Artabri there is a bay which, receiving the sea admitted by a narrow mouth, with a not-narrow circuit encircles the city Adrobrica and the mouths of four rivers: two also are obscure among the local inhabitants, through the others the Ducanaris and the Libyca go out. On the shore of the Astyres there is the town Noega, and the three altars which they call Sestian sit on a peninsula and are sacred in the name of Augustus, and they illumine lands formerly obscure.

[10] At ab eo flumine quod Saliam vocant incipiunt orae paulatim recedere, et latae adhuc Hispaniae magis magisque spatia contrahere, usque adeo semet terris angustantibus, ut earum

[10] But from that river which they call the Salia the coasts begin gradually to recede, and the spaces of Spain, hitherto broad, to contract more and more, with the lands so narrowing themselves that of them

[rerum] spatium inter duo maria dimidio minus sit qua Galliam tangunt quam ubi ad occidentem litus exporrigunt.

[of things] the space between the two seas is by half less where they touch Gaul than where they extend the shore to the Occident.

[11] Tractum Cantabri et Vardulli tenent: Cantabrorum aliquot populi amnesque sunt sed quorum nomina nostro ore concipi nequeant. Per eundi et Salaenos Saunium, per Autrigones et Orgenomescos Namnasa descendit, et Devales Tritino Bellunte cingit, et Decium Aturia Sonans Sauso et Magrada. Vardulli una gens hinc ad Pyrenaei iugi promunturium pertinens cludit Hispanias.

[11] The Cantabri and the Vardulli hold the tract: there are several peoples and rivers of the Cantabri, but whose names cannot be conceived by our mouth. Through the Eundi and the Salaeni the Saunium [flows], through the Autrigones and the Orgenomescos the Namnasa descends, and it girds the Devales with Tritino Bellunte, and the Decium with the Aturia, the Sounding Sauso, and the Magrada. The Vardulli, one nation reaching from here to the promontory of the Pyrenaean ridge, shuts in the Spains.

[12] Sequitur Galliae latus alterum, cuius ora primo nihil progressa in altum mox tantundem paene in pelagus excedens quantum retro Hispania abscesserat, Cantabricis fit adversa terris, et grandi circuitu adflexa ad occidentem litus advertit. Tunc ad septentriones conversa iterum longo rectoque tractu ad ripas Rheni amnis expanditur.

[12] There follows the other side of Gaul, whose coast, at first advancing nothing into the deep, soon, jutting out into the pelagic almost by as much as Spain had withdrawn backward, becomes opposite to the Cantabrian lands, and, bent in a great circuit, turns its shore toward the west. Then, turned toward the north, again in a long and straight tract it is spread out to the banks of the river Rhine.

[13] Terra est frumenti praecipue ac pabuli ferax et amoena lucis inmanibus. Quidquid ex satis frigoris inpatiens est aegre nec ubique alit, salubris, et noxio genere animalium minime frequens.

[13] The land is especially fertile in grain and fodder, and pleasant with immense groves. Whatever is quite impatient of cold it scarcely, and not everywhere, nourishes; it is healthful, and least frequented by a noxious kind of animals.

[14] Gentes superbae superstitiosae aliquando etiam immanes adeo, ut hominem optimam et gratissimam diis victimam crederent. Manent vestigia feritatis iam abolitae, atque ut ab ultimis caedibus temperant, ita nihilominus, ubi devotos altaribus admovere, delibant. Habent tamen et facundiam suam magistrosque sapientiae druidas.

[14] The gentes, proud, superstitious, at times even so inhuman that they believed a human to be the best and most gratifying victim to the gods. The vestiges of ferity now abolished remain; and just as they refrain from ultimate slaughters, so nonetheless, when they bring the devoted to the altars, they taste them. Yet they have also their own facundity and, as masters of wisdom, the Druids.

[15] Hi terrae mundique magnitudinem et formam, motus caeli ac siderum et quid dii velint, scire profitentur. Docent multa nobilissimos gentis clam et diu, vicenis annis, aut in specu aut in abditis saltibus. Vnum ex his quae praecipiunt in vulgus effluxit, videlicet ut forent ad bella meliores, aeternas esse animas vitamque alteram ad manes.

[15] These profess to know the magnitude and the form of the earth and of the world, the motions of the sky and of the stars, and what the gods will. They teach many things to the most noble of the people secretly and for a long time, for twenty years, either in a cave or in hidden glades. One of the things which they prescribe has leaked out to the common crowd, namely, so that they may be better for wars, that souls are eternal and that there is another life to the Manes.

Itaque cum mortuis cremant ac defodiunt apta viventibus. Olim negotiorum ratio etiam et exactio crediti deferebatur ad inferos, erantque qui se in rogos suorum velut una victuri libenter inmitterent. Regio quam incolunt omnis Comata Gallia.

And so, with the dead they burn and inter things suitable for the living. Formerly, the reckoning of business and even the exaction of credit was carried down to the infernal regions, and there were those who gladly cast themselves onto the pyres of their own, as though about to live on together with them. The region which they inhabit is the whole of Gallia Comata.

Populorum tria summa nomina sunt, terminanturque fluviis ingentibus. Namque a Pyrenaeo ad Garunnam Aquitani, ab eo ad Sequanam Celtae, inde ad Rhenum pertinent Belgae. Aquitanorum clarissimi sunt Ausci, Celtarum Haedui, Belgarum Treveri, urbesque opulentissimae in Treveris Augusta, in Haeduis Augustodunum, in Auscis Eliumberrum.

There are three chief names of peoples, and they are bounded by enormous rivers. For from the Pyrenees to the Garonne are the Aquitanians, from that to the Seine the Celts, thence to the Rhine pertain the Belgae. Of the Aquitanians the most renowned are the Ausci, of the Celts the Haedui, of the Belgae the Treveri, and the most opulent cities are: among the Treveri, Augusta; among the Haedui, Augustodunum; among the Ausci, Eliumberrum.

[16] Garunna ex Pyrenaeo monte delapsus, nisi cum hiberno imbre aut solutis nivibus intumuit, diu vadosus et vix navigabilis fertur. At ubi obvius oceani exaestuantis accessibus adauctus est, isdemque retro remeantibus suas illiusque aquas agit, aliquantum plenior, et quanto magis procedit eo latior fit, ad postremum magni freti similis; nec maiora tantum navigia tolerat, verum more etiam pelagi saevientis exsurgens iactat navigantes atrociter, utique si alio ventus alio unda praecipitat.

[16] The Garonne, having descended from the Pyrenaean mountain, unless it has swelled with winter rain or with the snows melted, is for a long way shallow and scarcely navigable. But when, met by the inrushes of the swelling ocean, it has been augmented, and with these same returning backward it drives its own waters and those of that one, it becomes somewhat fuller, and the farther it proceeds the broader it grows, at last like a great strait; nor does it only endure larger vessels, but, rising also in the manner of a raging sea, it tosses those sailing atrociously, especially if the wind drives one way and the wave another.

[17] In eo est insula Antros nomine, quam pendere et adtolli aquis increscentibus ideo incolae existimant, quia cum videantur editiora quis obiacet, ubi se fluctus implevit, illa operit, haec ut prius tantum ambitur, et quod ea quibus ante ripae collesque ne cernerentur obstiterant, tunc velut ex loco superiore perspicua sunt.

[17] In it is an island by the name Antros, which the inhabitants think hangs and is lifted up as the waters increase, for this reason: because, although what lies opposite seems loftier, when the flood has filled in, it covers those, while this, as before, is only surrounded; and the things which had previously stood in the way so that the banks and hills were not seen are then, as if from a higher place, perspicuous.

[18] Ab Garunnae exitu latus illud incipit terrae procurrentis in pelagus et ora Cantabricis adversa litoribus, aliis populis media eius habitantibus, ab Santonis ad Ossismos usque deflexa. Ab illis enim iterum ad septentriones frons litorum respicit, pertinetque ad ultimos Gallicarum gentium Morinos, nec portu quem Gesoriacum vocant quidquam notius habet.

[18] From the outlet of the Garonne that flank of the land projecting into the sea begins, and a shore facing the Cantabrian coasts, with other peoples inhabiting its middle, bent from the Santones as far as the Ossismi. From them, indeed, the front of the shores again looks toward the North, and it extends to the Morini, the outermost of the Gallic nations, nor has it anything more notable than the port which they call Gesoriacum.

[19] Rhenus Alpibus decidens prope a capite duos lacus efficit Venetum et Acronum. Mox diu solidus et certo alveo lapsus haud procul a mari huc et illuc dispergitur, sed ad sinistram amnis etiamnum et donec effluat Rhenus, ad dextram primo angustus et sui similis, post ripis longe ac late recedentibus iam non amnis sed ingens lacus ubi campos implevit Flevo dicitur, eiusdemque nominis insulam amplexus fit iterum artior iterumque fluvius emittitur.

[19] The Rhine, descending from the Alps, near its head makes two lakes, the Venetus and the Acronus. Soon, after a long while continuous and gliding in a fixed channel, not far from the sea it is dispersed here and there; but to the left a river still, and so until the Rhine flows out; to the right, at first narrow and like itself, afterward, with the banks receding far and wide, now not a river but a vast lake where it has filled the plains, it is called Flevo, and having embraced an island of the same name it becomes narrower again and again a river is sent forth.

[20] Germania hinc ripis eius usque ad Alpes, a meridie ipsis Alpibus, ab oriente Sarmaticarum confinio gentium, qua septentrionem spectat oceanico litore obducta est.

[20] Germany, on this side by its banks as far as the Alps, on the south by the Alps themselves, on the east by the frontier of the Sarmatian peoples, where it faces the north is covered by an oceanic shore.

[21] Qui habitant immanes sunt animis atque corporibus, et ad insitam feritatem vaste utraque exercent, bellando animos, corpora adsuetudine laborum maxime frigoris. Nudi agunt antequam puberes sint, et longissima apud eos pueritia est. Viri sagis velantur aut libris arborum, quamvis saeva hieme.

[21] Those who inhabit are immense in spirit and in body, and, in accordance with their inborn ferity, they exercise both vastly: their spirits by warring, their bodies by habituation to labors, most of all to cold. They go naked before they are pubescent, and among them boyhood is very long. The men are covered with cloaks or with the bark of trees, even in savage winter.

[22] Nandi non patientia tantum illis, studium etiam est. Bella cum finitimis gerunt, causas eorum ex libidine arcessunt, neque inperitandi prolatandique quae possident, nam ne illa quidem enixe colunt, sed ut circa ipsos quae iacent vasta sint.

[22] For swimming, they have not only endurance but zeal as well. They wage wars with their neighbors, and they fetch the causes of them from libido, not in order to exercise dominion and to extend the things they possess—for they do not even cultivate those with earnest effort—but so that the things lying around them may be laid waste.

[23] Ius in viribus habent, adeo ut ne latrocinii quidem pudeat, tantum hospitibus boni, mitesque supplicibus. Victu ita asperi incultique, ut cruda etiam carne vescantur aut recenti, aut cum rigentem in ipsis pecudum ferarumque coriis, manibus pedibusque subigendo renovarunt.

[23] They have right in their strength, to such a degree that they are not even ashamed of brigandage, only good to guests, and gentle to suppliants. In diet they are thus harsh and uncultivated, that they feed even on raw flesh, either fresh, or when, stiff upon the very hides of their cattle and of wild beasts, they have renewed it by kneading it with their hands and feet.

[24] Terra ipsa multis inpedita fluminibus, multis montibus aspera et magna ex parte silvis ac paludibus invia. Paludium Suesia, Metia et Melsyagum maximae, silvarum Hercynia et aliquot sunt, quae nomen habent, sed illa dierum sexaginta iter occupans, ut maior aliis ita notior.

[24] The land itself is impeded by many rivers, rough with many mountains, and for a great part roadless through forests and marshes. Of the marshes the Suesia, Metia, and Melsyagum are the greatest; of the forests the Hercynia and several others are those which have a name, but that one, taking up a journey of sixty days, as it is greater than the others, so it is more well-known.

[25] Montium altissimi Taunus et Retico, nisi quorum nomina vix est eloqui ore Romano. Amnium in alias gentes exeuntium Danuvius et Rhodanus, in Rhenum Moenis et Lupia, in oceanum Amissis, Visurgis et Albis clarissimi.

[25] Of the mountains, the loftiest are the Taunus and the Rhaetian—save those whose names a Roman mouth can scarcely articulate. Of the rivers flowing out into other peoples, the Danube and the Rhone; into the Rhine, the Main and the Lippe; into the ocean, the Ems, the Weser, and the Elbe, the most renowned.

[26] Super Albim Codanus ingens sinus magnis parvisque insulis refertus est. Hac re mare quod gremio litorum accipitur nusquam late patet nec usquam mari simile, verum aquis passim interfluentibus ac saepe transgressis vagum atque diffusum facie amnium spargitur; qua litora adtingit, ripis contentum insularum non longe distantibus et ubique paene tantundem, it angustum et par freto, curvansque se subinde longo supercilio inflexum est.

[26] Beyond the Elbe, the vast Codanian gulf is stuffed with great and small islands. Because of this, the sea which is received in the bosom of the shores nowhere lies open widely nor anywhere is like the sea, but, with waters everywhere interflowing and often transgressing, wandering and diffused, it is scattered with the appearance of rivers; where it touches the shores, confined by the banks, with the islands not far distant and almost everywhere to just the same extent, it goes narrow and like to a strait, and, curving itself from time to time with a long “brow,” is bent inward.

[27] In eo sunt Cimbri et Teutoni, ultra ultimi Germaniae Hermiones.

[27] In it are the Cimbri and the Teutoni; beyond, the Hermiones, the farthest of Germany.

[28] Sarmatia intus quam ad mare latior, ab his quae secuntur Vistula amne discreta, qua retro abit usque ad Histrum flumen inmittitur. Gens habitu armisque Parthicae proxima, verum ut caeli asperioris ita ingenii.

[28] Sarmatia, broader inland than toward the sea, is separated from those that follow by the Vistula river; along which, as it goes back, it is inserted as far as the river Hister. A people in habit and in arms closest to the Parthian, but, as of a harsher climate, so of disposition.

[29] Non se urbibus tenent et ne statis quidem sedibus. Vt invitavere pabula, ut cedens ut sequens hostis exegit, ita res opesque secum trahens semper castra habitant; bellatrix libera indomita et usque eo inmanis atque atrox, ut feminae etiam bella cum viris ineant; atque ut habiles sint, natis statim dextra aduritur mamma. Inde expedita in ictus manus quae exseritur, virile fit pectus.

[29] They do not hold themselves by cities, nor even by fixed seats. As pastures have invited, as a retreating or a pursuing enemy has driven, so, dragging their property and wealth with them, they always inhabit camp; warlike, free, indomitable, and to such a point monstrous and atrocious that even the women enter wars together with the men; and, that they may be fit, for the newborn the right breast is cauterized straightway. Thence the hand which is thrust out for strokes is unencumbered, the chest becomes virile.

[30] Arcus tendere equitare venari puellaria pensa sunt; ferire hostem adultarum stipendium est, adeo ut non percussisse pro flagitio habeatur, sitque eis poenae virginitas.

[30] To bend bows, to ride, to hunt are maidenly tasks; to strike the foe is the stipend of adult women, to such a degree that not to have struck is held as a scandal, and virginity is for them a penalty.

[31] Inde Asiae confinia, nisi ubi perpetuae hiemes sedent et intolerabilis rigor, Scythici populi incolunt, fere omnes et in unum Belcae adpellati. In Asiatico litore primi Hyperborei super aquilonem Riphaeosque montes sub ipso siderum cardine iacent; ubi sol non cotidie ut nobis sed primum verno aequinoctio exortus, autumnali demum occidit; ideo sex mensibus dies et totidem aliis nox usque continua est.

[31] From there, the confines of Asia—except where perpetual winters settle and intolerable rigor—are inhabited by Scythic peoples, almost all and collectively appellated Belcae. On the Asiatic littoral the first are the Hyperboreans, lying beyond the North Wind and the Riphaean mountains, beneath the very pole (hinge) of the stars; where the sun not daily as for us, but first rises at the vernal equinox and at last sets at the autumnal; therefore for six months there is day, and for just as many others, night continuous throughout.

[32] Terra angusta aprica per se fertilis. Cultores iustissimi et diutius quam ulli mortalium et beatius vivunt. Quippe festo semper otio laeti non bella novere non iurgia, sacris operati maxime Apollinis, quorum primitias Delon misisse initio per virgines suas, deinde per populos subinde tradentes ulterioribus, moremque eum diu et donec vitio gentium temeratus est servasse referuntur.

[32] The land, narrow and sunny, is fertile of itself. The cultivators are most just and live longer and more blessedly than any of mortals. Indeed, glad in perpetual festal leisure, they know not wars nor quarrels, being engaged in sacred rites, especially of Apollo; they are reported to have sent their first-fruits to Delos at the beginning through their own virgins, then through peoples in succession handing them on to those farther on, and to have kept that custom for a long time, until it was desecrated by the vice of nations.

Habitant lucos silvasque, et ubi eos vivendi satietas magis quam taedium cepit, hilares redimiti sertis semet ipsi in pelagus ex certa rupe praecipitant.

They inhabit groves and woods, and when a satiation of living rather than tedium has seized them, cheerful, wreathed with garlands, they themselves plunge headlong into the sea from a certain cliff.

[33] Id eis funus eximium est. Mare Caspium ut angusto ita longo etiam freto primum terras quasi fluvius inrumpit, atque ubi recto alveo influxit, in tres sinus diffunditur: contra os ipsum in Hyrcanium, ad sinistram in Scythicum, ad dextram in eum quem proprie totius nomine Caspium adpellant; omne atrox saevum sine portibus, procellis undique expositum, ac beluis magis quam cetera refertum et ideo minus navigabile. Ad introeuntium dextram Scythae Nomades freti litoribus insident.

[33] That is to them an exceptional funeral. The Caspian Sea, with a strait as narrow as it is also long, first bursts into the lands like a river, and when it has flowed in by a straight channel, it spreads into three bays: opposite the mouth itself into the Hyrcanian, to the left into the Scythian, to the right into that which they properly call, by the name of the whole, the Caspian; all of it grim and savage, without harbors, exposed on all sides to storms, and crammed with beasts more than the rest, and therefore less navigable. On the right of those entering, Scythian Nomads occupy the shores of the strait.

[34] Intus sunt ad Caspium sinum Caspii et Amazones sed quas Sauromatidas adpellant, ad Hyrcanium Albani et Moschi et Hyrcani, in Scythico Amardi et Pestici et iam ad fretum Derbices. Multi in eo sinu magni parvique amnes fluunt, sed qui famam habeat ex Ceraunis montibus uno alveo descendit, duobus exit in Caspium.

[34] Within, by the Caspian gulf are the Caspii and the Amazons, but whom they call the Sauromatidae; by the Hyrcanian the Albani and the Moschi and the Hyrcani; in the Scythian the Amardi and the Pestici, and now toward the strait, the Derbices. Many great and small rivers flow into that gulf, but the one which has fame descends from the Ceraunian mountains by a single channel; by two it issues into the Caspian.

[35] Araxes Tauri latere demissus, quoad campos Armeniae secat, labitur placidus et silens, neque in utram partem eat, quamquam intuearis, manifestus; cum in asperiora devenit, hinc atque illinc rupibus pressus, et quanto angustior tanto magis pernix frangit se subinde ad opposita cautium, atque ob id ingenti cum murmure sonansque devolvitur, adeo citus, ut qua ex praecipiti in subiecta casurus est, non declinet statim undam, sed ultra quam canalem habet evehat, plus iugeri spatio sublimis et aquis pendentibus semet ipse sine alveo ferens; deinde ubi incurvus arcuatoque amne descendit, fit tranquillus, iterumque per campos tacitus et vix fluens in id litus elabitur. Cyrus et Cambyses ex radicibus Coraxici montis vicinis fontibus editi

[35] The Araxes, sent down from the flank of Taurus, so long as it cuts through the plains of Armenia, glides placid and silent, nor, although you look, is it manifest to which side it goes; when it comes down into rougher places, pressed on this side and that by cliffs, and the narrower, by so much the more nimble, it keeps breaking itself against the opposing rocks, and on that account, with enormous murmur and sounding, it rolls down, so swift that, where from a precipice it is about to fall into the subjacent parts, it does not at once bend its wave, but carries it beyond the canal it has, for the space of more than a iugerum, raised aloft and with the waters hanging, bearing itself without a riverbed; then, when curved and with an arched stream it descends, it becomes tranquil, and again through the plains, silent and scarcely flowing, it slips away onto that shore. The Cyrus and the Cambyses, brought forth from the roots of Mount Coraxicus from neighboring springs

[et] in diversa abeunt, perque Hiberas et Hyrcanos diu et multum distantibus alveis defluunt, post non longe a mari eodem lacu accepti in Hyrcanium sinum uno ore perveniunt.

[and] they go away into different directions, and through the Iberians and the Hyrcanians they flow down for a long time and far with channels far apart; afterward, not far from the sea, received into the same lake, they reach the Hyrcanian gulf with one mouth.

[36] Iaxartes et Oxos per deserta Scythiae ex Sugdianorum regionibus in Scythicum exeunt, ille suo fonte grandis, hic incursu aliorum grandior, et aliquamdiu ad occasum ab oriente occurrens iuxta Dahas primum inflectitur, cursuque ad septentrionem converso inter Amardos et Pesticos os aperit. Silvae alia quoque dira animalia verum et tigres ferunt utique Hyrcaniae, saevum ferarum genus et usque eo pernix, ut illis longe quoque praegressum equitem consequi nec tantum semel sed aliquotiens etiam cursu unde coeperit subinde repetito solitum et facile sit. Causa ex eo est, quod ubi ille interceptos earum catulos citus coepit avehere, et rabiem adpropinquantium astu frustraturus unum de pluribus omisit, hae proiectum excipiunt et ad cubilia sua referunt, rursumque et saepius remeant atque idem efficiunt, donec ad frequentiora quam adire audeant profugus raptor evadat.

[36] The Iaxartes and the Oxus, through the deserts of Scythia from the regions of the Sogdians, go out into the Scythian Sea, the former great from its own source, the latter greater by the incursion of others; and for some time running toward the west, coming from the east, it first bends near the Dahae, and with its course turned to the north opens its mouth between the Amardi and the Pestici. The forests also bear other dire animals—indeed even tigers, especially in Hyrcania—a savage kind of wild beasts and so nimble that it is usual and easy for them to overtake a horseman even far ahead, and not only once but even several times, with the run repeatedly resumed from the point where it began. The cause is from this: when the man, having quickly begun to carry off their intercepted cubs, intending by astuteness to frustrate the rabidity of those drawing near, drops one from among several, these females catch the one thrown down and carry it back to their lairs, and again and more often they return and do the same, until the fugitive ravisher escapes to places more frequented than they dare to enter.

[37] Vltra Caspium sinum quidnam esset, ambiguum aliquamdiu fuit, idemne oceanus an tellus infesta frigoribus sine ambitu ac sine fine proiecta.

[37] Beyond the Caspian gulf what indeed there was was for some time ambiguous, whether it was the same Ocean or a land infested with frosts, projected without circuit and without end.

[38] Sed praeter physicos Homerumque qui universum orbem mari circumfusum esse dixerunt, Cornelius Nepos ut recentior, auctoritate sic certior; testem autem rei Quintum Metellum Celerem adicit, eumque ita rettulisse commemorat: cum Galliae pro consule praeesset, Indos quosdam a rege Botorum dono sibi datos; unde in eas terras devenissent requirendo cognosse, vi tempestatium ex Indicis aequoribus abreptos, emensosque quae intererant, tandem in Germaniae litora exisse. Restat ergo pelagus, sed reliqua lateris eiusdem adsiduo gelu durantur et ideo deserta sunt.

[38] But besides the natural philosophers and Homer, who said that the entire orb is circumfused by the sea, Cornelius Nepos, as being more recent, is thus more certain in authority; moreover he adds as a witness of the matter Quintus Metellus Celer, and records that he reported thus: when he was presiding as proconsul over Gaul, certain Indians had been given to him as a gift by the king of the Boti; by inquiring he had learned whence they had come into those lands, that by the violence of storms they had been carried off from the Indian waters, and had passed over what lay between, and at last had made landfall upon the shores of Germany. Therefore the pelagic sea remains, but the remaining stretches of that same side are hardened by continual frost and are therefore deserted.

[39] His oris quas angulo Baeticae adhuc usque perstrinximus multae ignobiles insulae et sine nominibus etiam adiacent, sed earum quas praeterire non libeat Gades fretum adtingit, eaque angusto spatio et veluti flumine a continenti abscissa qua terris propior est paene rectam ripam agit, qua oceanum spectat duobus promunturiis evecta in altum, medium litus abducit, et fert in altero cornu eiusdem nominis urbem opulentam, in altero templum Aegyptii Herculis, conditoribus religione vetustate opibus inlustre. Tyrii constituere; cur sanctum sit, ossa eius ibi sita efficiunt; annorum quis manet ab Iliaca tempestate principia sunt; opes tempus aluit. In Lusitania Erythia est quam Geryonae habitatam accepimus, aliaeque sine certis nominibus; adeo agri fertiles, ut cum semel sata frumenta sint, subinde recidivis seminibus segetem novantibus, septem minime, interdum plures etiam messes ferant.

[39] Along these shores, which at the corner of Baetica we have up to this point just skimmed, many ignoble islands and even without names lie adjacent; but among those which one would not wish to pass by, Gades touches the strait, and it, cut off from the continent by a narrow space and as if by a river, where it is nearer to the lands it makes a nearly straight bank, whereas where it looks toward the Ocean, raised into the deep with two promontories, it draws back the middle shoreline, and bears on one horn a city of the same name, opulent, on the other a temple of the Egyptian Hercules, illustrious for its founders, religion, antiquity, and resources. The Tyrians established it; why it is sacred, his bones placed there bring it about; as for the tally of years that abides, its beginnings are from the Iliac tempest; time has fostered its wealth. In Lusitania is Erythia, which we have received as inhabited by Geryon, and others without fixed names; so fertile are the fields that, when once the grain has been sown, thereafter, with recurring seeds renewing the crop, they yield at the least seven, sometimes even more, harvests.

In Celticis aliquot sunt, quas quia plumbo abundant uno omnes nomine Cassiteridas adpellant.

In the Celtic parts there are several, which, because they abound in lead, they all call by one name the Cassiterides.

[40] Sena in Britannico mari Ossismicis adversa litoribus, Gallici numinis oraculo insignis est, cuius antistites perpetua virginitate sanctae numero novem esse traduntur: Gallizenas vocant, putantque ingeniis singularibus praeditas maria ac ventos concitare carminibus, seque in quae velint animalia vertere, sanare quae apud alios insanabilia sunt, scire ventura et praedicare, sed nonnisi dedita navigantibus, et in id tantum, ut se consulerent profectis.

[40] Sena in the Britannic Sea, opposite the Osismian shores, is distinguished by an oracle of a Gallic numen, whose priestesses, hallowed by perpetual virginity, are said to be nine in number: they call them the Gallizenae, and think them endowed with singular ingenia—to stir up seas and winds by chants, to turn themselves into whatever animals they wish, to heal things which among others are insanable, to know things to come and to foretell—but only devoted to seafarers, and for this alone: that they might be consulted by those setting out.

[41] Britannia qualis sit qualesque progeneret, mox certiora et magis explorata dicentur. Quippe tamdiu clausam aperit ecce principum maximus, nec indomitarum modo ante se verum ignotarum quoque gentium victor, propriarum rerum fidem ut bello affectavit, ita triumpho declaraturus portat. ceterum ut adhuc habuimus, inter septentrionem occidentemque proiecta grandi angulo Rheni ostia prospicit, dein obliqua retro latera abstrahit, altero Galliam altero Germaniam spectans, tum rursus perpetuo margine directi litoris ab tergore abducta iterum se in diversos angulos cuneat triquetra et Siciliae maxime similis, plana ingens fecunda, verum iis quae pecora quam homines benignius alant.

[41] What Britain is like and what sorts it brings forth, soon things more certain and more thoroughly explored will be told. For behold, the greatest of princes opens what had been shut for so long, a victor not only over peoples untamed before him but also unknown, and he carries the proof of his own enterprises—having tested it in war, so to declare it in triumph. But as we have had it up to now: projected between the north and the west, with a large angle it faces the mouths of the Rhine; then it draws back its slanting sides to the rear, looking with the one toward Gaul and with the other toward Germany; then again, with the continuous edge of a straight shoreline drawn away from the back, it wedges itself once more into different angles, three-cornered and very similar to Sicily, level, vast, fertile—indeed in those things which more kindly nourish flocks than men.

[42] Fert nemora saltusque, ac praegrandia flumina, alternis motibus modo in pelagus modo retro fluentia et quaedam gemmas margaritasque generantia. Fert populos regesque populorum, sed sunt inculti omnes, atque ut longius a continenti absunt ita magis aliarum opum ignari, tantum pecore ac finibus dites, - incertum ob decorem an quid aliud - vitro corpora infecti.

[42] It bears woodlands and forest-pastures, and very large rivers, with alternating motions now flowing into the open sea, now back again, and certain ones producing gems and pearls. It bears peoples and kings of peoples, but all are uncultivated, and the farther they are from the continent, the more they are ignorant of other wealth, rich only in herds and in lands, - uncertain whether for adornment or something else - their bodies stained with woad.

[43] Causas tamen bellorum et bella contrahunt ac se frequenter invicem infestant, maxime inperitandi cupidine studioque ea prolatandi quae possident. Dimicant non equitatu modo aut pedite, verum et bigis et curribus Gallice armatis: covinnos vocant, quorum falcatis axibus utuntur. super Britanniam Iuverna est paene par spatio, sed utrimque aequali tractu litorum oblonga, caeli ad maturanda semina iniqui, verum adeo luxuriosa herbis non laetis modo sed etiam dulcibus, ut se exigua parte diei pecora impleant, et nisi pabulo prohibeantur, diutius pasta dissiliant. Cultores eius inconditi sunt et omnium virtutium ignari quam aliae gentes

[43] Nevertheless they draw together causes of wars and wars themselves and frequently harrass one another in turn, chiefly from a lust for commanding and a zeal for extending the things they possess. They fight not only with cavalry or infantry, but also with two-horse chariots and with chariots armed in the Gallic manner: they call them covinni, and they use their scythed axles. Beyond Britain lies Iuverna, almost equal in extent, but oblong with the shorelines stretching evenly on both sides, a sky unfriendly for ripening seeds, yet so luxuriant in grasses not only lush but even sweet, that the herds fill themselves in a small part of the day, and, unless they are kept from fodder, having grazed longer they would burst. Its cultivators are rough-hewn and ignorant of all virtues than other peoples.

[aliquatenus tamen gnari], pietatis admodum expertes.

[to some extent, however, knowing], very much devoid of piety.

[44] Triginta sunt Orcades angustis inter se diductae spatiis, septem Haemodae contra Germaniam vectae. In illo sinu quem Codanum diximus ex iis Scadinavia, quam adhuc Teutoni tenent, et ut fecunditate alias ita magnitudine antestat.

[44] There are thirty Orcades, separated from one another by narrow spaces, and seven Haemodae borne opposite Germany. In that bay which we have called the Codanus, among them is Scadinavia, which the Teutons still hold, and, as it surpasses others in fecundity, so also in magnitude.

[45] Quae Sarmatis adversa sunt ob alternos accessus recursusque pelagi, et quod spatia quis distant modo operiuntur undis modo nuda sunt, alias insulae videntur alias una et continens terra.

[45] Those which are opposite the Sarmatians, on account of the alternate advances and recessions of the sea, and because the spaces by which they are separated are now covered by the waves, now are bare, at one time seem islands, at another one and continuous land.

[46] In his esse Oeonas, qui ovis avium palustrium et avenis tantum alantur, esse equinis pedibus Hippopodas et Panotios, quibus magnae aures et ad ambiendum corpus omne patulae - nudis alioquin - pro veste sint, praeterquam quod fabulis traditur, auctores etiam - quos sequi non pigeat - invenio.

[46] Among these are the Oeones, who are nourished only by the eggs of marsh-birds and by oats; there are the Hippopods with equine feet, and the Panotii, for whom great ears, broad to encompass the whole body — otherwise they are naked — serve in place of clothing; besides what is handed down by fables, I find this also authorities — whom it is no shame to follow.

[47] Thyle Belcarum litori adposita est, Grais et nostris celebrata carminibus. In ea, quod ibi sol longe occasurus exsurgit, breves utique noctes sunt, sed per hiemem sicut aliubi obscurae, aestate lucidae, quod per id tempus iam se altius evehens, quamquam ipse non cernatur, vicino tamen splendore proxima inlustrat, per solstitium vero nullae, quod tum iam manifestior non fulgorem modo sed sui quoque partem maximam ostentat.

[47] Thule is set adjacent to the shore of the Belgae, celebrated in Greek and in our own songs. In it, because there the sun, destined to set far away, rises up, the nights are assuredly short; yet in winter, as elsewhere, they are dark, in summer bright, because at that season, now lifting itself higher, although it itself is not discerned, nevertheless with its neighboring splendor it illuminates what is nearest; but at the solstice, in truth, there are none, because then, more manifest, it displays not only its effulgence but also the greatest part of itself.

[48] Talge in Caspio mari sine cultu fertilis, omni fruge ac fructibus abundans, sed vicini populi quae gignuntur adtingere nefas et pro sacrilegio habent, diis parata existimantes diisque servanda. Aliquot et illis oris quas desertas diximus aeque desertae adiacent, quas sine propriis nominibus Scythicas vocant.

[48] Talge in the Caspian Sea is fertile without cultivation, abounding in every grain and in fruits; but the neighboring peoples hold it a taboo and as sacrilege to touch the things that are produced, esteeming them prepared for the gods and to be kept for the gods. Several equally deserted islands also lie adjacent to those shores which we have called deserted, which, without proper names, they call Scythian.

[49] Ab his in Eoum mare cursus inflectitur, inque oram terrae spectantis orientem. Pertinet haec a Scythico promunturio ad Colida primum ob nives invia, deinde ob inmanitatem habitantium inculta. Scythae sunt Androphagoe et Sacae, distincti regione, quia feris scatet, inhabitabili.

[49] From these, the course is bent into the Eastern sea, and along the shore of the land facing the east. This extends from the Scythian promontory to Colida—at first impassable because of snows, then uncultivated because of the savagery of the inhabitants. The Scythians here are the Androphagi and the Sacae, distinguished by region, since it teems with wild beasts and is uninhabitable.

[50] Vasta deinde iterum loca beluae infestant, usque ad montem mari inminentem nomine Tabim. Longe ab eo Taurus adtollitur. Seres intersunt, genus plenum iustitiae, et commercio quod rebus in solitudine relictis absens peragit notissimum.

[50] Then again vast places are infested by beasts, up to a mountain overhanging the sea named Tabim. Far from it the Taurus rises. The Seres are between, a race full of justice, and most well-known for commerce which, with goods left in solitude, they transact while absent.

[51] India non Eoo tantum adposita pelago, sed et ei quod ad meridiem spectans Indicum diximus, et hinc Tauri iugis, ab occidente Indo finita tantum spatium litoris occupat, quantum per sexaginta dies noctesque velificantibus cursus est; ita multum a nostris abducta regionibus, ut in aliqua parte eius neuter septentrio adpareat, aliterque quam in aliis oris umbrae rerum ad meridiem iaceant.

[51] India, placed not only beside the Eastern sea, but also by that which, looking toward the south, we have called the Indian, and on this side by the ridges of Taurus, bounded on the west by the Indus, occupies only so much extent of shoreline as is a course of sixty days and nights for those under sail; thus far withdrawn from our regions that in some part of it neither of the Septentrions appears, and the shadows of things lie toward the south otherwise than on other shores.

[52] Ceterum fertilis, et vario genere hominum aliorumque animalium scatet. Alit formicas non minores maximis canibus, quas more gryporum aurum penitus egestum cum summa pernicie adtingentium custodire commemorant; immanes et serpentes alit, qui et elephantos morsu atque ambitu corporis adficiant; tam pinguis alicubi et tam feracis soli, ut in eo mella frondibus defluant, lanas silvae ferant, harundinum fissa internodia veluti navigia binos et quaedam ternos etiam vehant.

[52] Moreover it is fertile, and teems with a varied kind of men and of other animals. It nourishes ants no smaller than the largest dogs, which they recount guard gold, dug out from the depths, in the manner of gryphons, with the utmost peril to those who attempt to touch it; and it nourishes immense serpents, which even afflict elephants by bite and by the encircling of their body. Somewhere the soil is so rich and so fecund, that honey flows down from the leaves upon it, the forests bear wools, and the split internodes of reeds, as if little ships, carry two, and some even three.

[53] Cultorum habitus moresque dissimiles. Lino alii vestiuntur aut lanis quas diximus, alii avium ferarumque pellibus; pars nudi agunt, pars tantum obscena velati; alii humiles parvique, alii ita proceri et corpore ingentes, ut elephantis etiam et ibi maximis sicut nos equis facile atque habiliter utantur.

[53] The garb of the inhabitants and their mores are dissimilar. Some are clothed with linen or with the wools which we have mentioned, others with the pelts of birds and wild beasts; a part go naked, a part with only their obscene parts veiled; others are lowly and small, others so tall and huge in body that they use elephants—even there the largest—as easily and adroitly as we use horses.

[54] Quidam nullum animal occidere, nulla carne vesci optimum existimant, quosdam tantum pisces alunt. Quidam proximos parentes priusquam annis aut aegritudine in maciem eant velut hostias caedunt, caesorumque visceribus epulari fas et maxime pium est.

[54] Some esteem it best to kill no animal and to feed on no flesh; others sustain themselves on fish only. Some cut down their nearest parents, as if sacrificial victims, before they go into leanness through years or sickness; and to feast upon the viscera of those slain is held lawful and most pious.

[55] At ubi senectus aut morbus incessit, procul a ceteris abeunt mortemque in solitudine nihil anxii exspectant. Prudentiores et quibus ars studiumque sapientiae contingit non exspectant eam, sed ingerendo semet ignibus laeti et cum gloria arcessunt.

[55] But when old age or disease has set in, they go far from the others and await death in solitude, anxious about nothing. The more prudent, and those to whom the art and the study of wisdom falls, do not await it, but, by casting themselves into fires, they summon it gladly and with glory.

[56] Vrbium quas incolunt - sunt autem plurimae - Nysa est clarissima et maxima, montium Meros Iovi sacer. Famam hinc praecipuam habent; in illa genitum, in huius specu Liberum arbitrantur esse nutritum, unde Graecis auctoribus ut femori Iovis insitum dicerent aut materia ingessit aut error.

[56] Of the cities which they inhabit — and they are very many — Nysa is the most illustrious and the greatest; of the mountains, Meros is sacred to Jove. From this they have especial renown; they reckon that in the former Liber was begotten, and in the cave of the latter he was nurtured, whence, for Greek authors, either the subject-matter furnished or error made them say that he was engrafted into the thigh of Jove.

[57] Oras tenent a Tamo ad Gangen Palibotri, a Gange ad Colida, nisi ubi magis quam ut habitetur exaestuat, atrae gentes et quodammodo Aethiopes. Ab Colide ad Indum recta sunt litora, timidique populi et marinis opibus adfatim dites.

[57] The Palibothri hold the shores from Tamo to the Ganges; from the Ganges to the Colida, except where it seethes beyond the point of being inhabited, are black peoples and, as it were, Ethiopians. From the Colide to the Indus the shores are straight, and the peoples are timorous and abundantly wealthy in marine resources.

[58] Tamus promunturium est, quod Taurus adtollit, Colis alter ae partis angulus initiumque lateris ad meridiem versi, Ganges et Indus amnes. Ille multis fontibus in Haemode monte conceptus, simul unum alveum fecit, fit omnium maximus et alicubi latius, qua angustissime fluit decem milia passuum patens, in septem ora dispergitur.

[58] Tamus is a promontory, which the Taurus uplifts; Colis is the other angle of the astern part; and the beginning of the side turned toward the south are the rivers Ganges and Indus. The former, conceived from many springs on Mount Haemus, as soon as it has made one channel becomes the greatest of all and in some places broader—where it flows most narrowly stretching ten thousand paces— and it is dispersed into seven mouths.

[59] Indus ex monte Propaniso exortus et alia quidem flumina admittit, sed clarissima Cophen, Acesinum, Hydaspen, conceptamque pluribus alveis undam lato spatio trahit. Hinc paene Gangen magnitudine exaequat. Post ubi saepe aliquot magnis flexibus cinxit iugum ingens, iterum rectus solidusque descendit, donec ad laevam dextramque se diducens duobus ostiis longe distantibus exeat.

[59] The Indus, arisen from Mount Propanisus, does indeed admit other rivers, but the most renowned are the Cophen, the Acesinus, and the Hydaspes, and it carries the water, gathered into several channels, through a broad expanse. From here it nearly equals the Ganges in magnitude. Afterward, where with many great flexures it has often encircled a huge ridge, it again descends straight and solid, until, dividing itself to the left and to the right, it issues by two mouths far distant from one another.

[60] Ad Tamum insula est Chryse, ad Gangen Argyre: altera aurei soli - ita veteres tradidere - altera argentei, atque ut maxime videtur, aut ex re nomen aut ex vocabulo fabula est. Taprobane aut grandis admodum insula aut prima pars orbis alterius. Id parcius dicitur, sed quia habitatur nec quisquam circum eam isse traditur, prope verum est.

[60] At Tamus there is the island Chryse, at the Ganges, Argyre: the one of golden soil - thus the ancients handed down - the other of silver; and, as it most seems, either from the reality comes the name, or from the name comes the fable. Taprobane is either a very large island or the first part of another world. This is said more sparingly, but because it is inhabited and no one is recorded to have gone around it, it is nearly true.

[61] Contra Indi ostia illa sunt quae vocant Solis adeo inhabitabilia, ut ingressos vis circumfusi aeris exanimet confestim, et inter ipsa ostia Patalene regio, ob aestus intolerabilis alicubi cultoribus egens. inde ad principia Rubri maris pertinet ipsa invia atque deserta; humus cineri magis fit quam pulveri similis, ideoque per eam rara et non grandia flumina emanant, quorum Tuberonem et Arusacen notissima accepimus.

[61] Over against the mouths of the Indus are those places which they call “of the Sun,” so uninhabitable that the force of the surrounding air immediately renders breathless those who enter; and among the mouths themselves is the region Patalene, in some parts lacking inhabitants because of intolerable heat. from there pertains to the beginnings of the Red Sea, itself pathless and deserted; the soil becomes more like ashes than dust, and therefore through it few and not large rivers flow forth, of which Tuberon and Arusaces we have received as the most well-known.

[62] Rubrum mare Graeci, sive quia eius coloris est sive quod ibi Erythras regnavit Erythran thalassan appellant: procellosum asperum mare, profundum et magnorum animalium magis quam cetera capax. Primo recedentis oras aequabiliter impellit, et ut non iret interius, aliquantum patens sinus erat. Sed quas ripas inflexerat bis inrumpit, duosque iterum sinus aperit:

[62] The Greeks call it the Erythraean thalassa, whether because it is of that color or because Erythras ruled there: a stormy, rough sea, deep and more capacious of great animals than the others. At first, in its receding, it presses the shores evenly, and, so that it might not go farther inland, there was a bay lying open to some extent. But the banks which it had curved it breaks through twice, and opens two bays again:

[63] Persicus vocatur dictis regionibus propior, Arabicus ulterior. Persicus qua mare accipit utrimque rectis lateribus grande ostium quasi cervice conplectitur, dein terris in omnem partem vaste et aequa portione cedentibus magno litorum orbe pelagus incingens reddit formam capitis humani. Arabici et os artius et latitudo minor est, maior aliquanto recessus et multo magis longa latera.

[63] The nearer to the regions spoken of is called the Persian, the farther the Arabian. The Persian, where it receives the sea, with straight sides on both flanks, embraces a large mouth as if with a neck; then, as the lands recede vastly and in equal proportion in every direction, encircling the deep with a great ring of shores, it gives the form of a human head. The Arabian’s mouth is both narrower and its breadth smaller, its recess somewhat greater, and its sides much longer.

Init penitus introrsusque, dum Aegyptum paene et montem Arabiae Casium adtingat, quodam fastigio minus ac minus latus, et quo magis penetrat angustior.

It enters deep and inward, until it almost attains Egypt and Mount Casius of Arabia, with a certain tapering becoming less and less broad, and the more it penetrates, the narrower.

[64] Ab his quae diximus ad sinum Persicum, nisi ubi Chelonophagi morantur, deserta sunt. In ipso Carmanii navigantium dextera positi sine veste ac fruge, sine pecore ac sedibus piscium cute se velant, carne vescuntur, praeter capita toto corpore hirsuti. Interiora Cedrosi, dehinc Persae habitant.

[64] From these places we have mentioned up to the Persian gulf, except where the Chelonophagi dwell, it is desert. On the Carmanian coast itself, set on the right hand of the navigantium, they are without clothing and grain, without cattle and fixed abodes; they veil themselves with the skin of fishes, they feed on flesh, shaggy over the whole body except for the heads. Farther inland the Cedrosi dwell, and after them the Persians.

[65] Saetis per Carmanios, supra Sandis et Corios effluunt. In parte quae pelagi ostio adversa est Babyloniorum fines Chaldaeorumque sunt, et duo clari amnes Tigris Persidi propior, ulterior Euphrates.

[65] The Saetis flows through the Carmanians; higher up the Sandis and the Corius issue. In the part which is opposite the mouth of the sea are the borders of the Babylonians and of the Chaldaeans, and two renowned rivers: the Tigris, nearer to Persis, the farther the Euphrates.

[66] Tigris ut natus est ita descendens usque in litora permeat. Euphrates immani ore aperto non exit tantum unde oritur, sed et vaste quoque decidit, nec secat continuo agros, late diffusus in stagna, diu sedentibus aquis piger et sine alveo patulus, post ubi marginem rupit vere fluvius, acceptisque ripis celer et fremens per Armenios et Cappadocas occidentem petit, ni Taurus obstet in nostra maria venturus.

[66] The Tigris, as it is born, so descending permeates all the way to the shores. The Euphrates, with an immense mouth opened, not only does not go forth straightway from where it springs, but also falls away on a vast scale, nor does it continuously cut through the fields; widely diffused into pools, with the waters long sitting, it is sluggish and wide-gaping without a channel; afterwards, when it has broken the margin, truly a river, and having accepted banks, swift and roaring it seeks the Occident through the Armenians and Cappadocians, were not Taurus to obstruct, about to come into our seas.

[67] Inde ad meridiem avertitur, et primum Syros tunc Arabas ingressus non perdurat in pelagus, verum ingens modo et navigabilis, inde tenuis rivus despectus emoritur, et nusquam manifesto exitu effluit ut alii amnes sed deficit.

[67] Thence it turns aside to the south, and, having entered first the Syrians, then the Arabs, it does not persist into the open sea, but for a time is immense and navigable; then, a tenuous rivulet, despised, it dies away, and nowhere with a manifest exit does it outflow as other rivers do, but fails.

[68] Alterum latus ambit plaga, quae inter utrumque pelagus excurrit. Arabia dicitur, cognomen Eudaemon, angusta, verum cinnami et turis aliorumque odorum maxime ferax. Maiorem Sabaei tenent partem, ostio proximam et Carmaniis contrariam Macae.

[68] The other flank is encompassed by the region which runs out between either sea. It is called Arabia, cognomen Eudaemon, narrow, but very fertile in cinnamon and frankincense and other odors. The Sabaeans hold the greater part, the Macae that nearest the mouth and lying opposite the Carmanians.

Frontem quae inter ostia ostenditur silvae cautesque exasperant. Aliquot sunt in medio insulae sitae, Ogyris quod in ea Erythrae regis monimentum est magis clara quam ceterae.

The frontage which is shown between the mouths is made rough by woods and crags. Several islands are situated in mid-sea, Ogyris, because the monument of King Erythras is in it, being more renowned than the rest.

[69] Alterum sinum undique Arabes incingunt. Ab ea parte quae introeuntibus dextra est urbes sunt Charra et Arabia et Gadanus, in altera ab intimo angulo prima Berenice inter Heroopoliticum et Strobilum, deinde inter promunturia Maenorenon et Coloba Philoteris et Ptolemais, ultra Arsinoe et alia Berenice, tum silva quae hebenum odoresque generat, et manu factus amnis, ideoque referendus quod ex Nili alveo dioryge adductus.

[69] The Arabs encircle the other bay on all sides. From that side which is to those entering the right-hand there are cities Charra and Arabia and Gadanus; on the other, from the inmost angle, the first is Berenice between the Heroopoliticum and the Strobilum; then, between the promontories Maenorenon and Coloba, Philoteris and Ptolemais; beyond, Arsinoe and another Berenice; then a forest which generates ebony and odors, and a man-made river, and for that reason to be mentioned, because it is led from the channel of the Nile by a canal cut through.

[70] Extra sinum, verum in flexu tamen etiamnum Rubri maris pars bestiis infesta ideoque deserta est, partem Panchai habitant, hi quos ex facto quia serpentibus vescuntur Ophiophagos vocant. Fuere interius Pygmaei, minutum genus et quod pro satis frugibus contra grues dimicando defecit.

[70] Outside the gulf, yet still in the bend of the Red Sea, a part is infested by beasts and therefore deserted; the Panchai inhabit a part of it—these, from this fact, because they feed on serpents, they call the Ophiophagi. Further inland there were Pygmies, a minute race, which, fighting against cranes to secure enough crops, perished.

[71] Sunt multa volucrum multa serpentium genera: de serpentibus memorandi maxime, quos parvos admodum et veneni praesentis certo anni tempore ex limo concretarum paludium emergere, in magno examine volantes Aegyptum tendere, atque in ipso introitu finium ab avibus quas ibidas appellant adverso agmine excipi pugnaque confici traditum est.

[71] There are many genera of birds, many of serpents: of serpents the most to be commemorated are those, very small and of present venom, which at a certain time of the year emerge from the slime of marshes congealed, flying in a great swarm they make for Egypt, and at the very entry of the borders they are intercepted by birds which they call ibises, met by an opposing line and finished in battle, it has been handed down.

[72] De volucribus praecipue referenda Phoenix, semper unica; non enim coitu concipitur partuve generatur, sed ubi quingentorum annorum aevo perpetua duravit, super exaggeratam variis odoribus struem sibi ipsa incubat solviturque;

[72] Of the birds the Phoenix is to be related especially, always single; for it is not conceived by coitus nor generated by parturition, but when it has endured continuously to an age of five hundred years, upon a pile heaped up with various odors it broods for itself and is dissolved;

[73] dein putrescentium membrorum tabe concrescens ipsa se concipit atque ex se rursus renascitur. Cum adolevit, ossa pristini corporis inclusa murra Aegyptum exportat et in urbe quam Solis adpellant flagrantibus arae bustis inferens memorando funere consecrat. Ipsum promunturium quo id mare cluditur Aceraunis saltibus invium est.

[73] then, coalescing from the rot of the putrescing members, by that wasting she conceives herself and from herself again is reborn. When she has grown up, she exports to Egypt the bones of the former body enclosed in myrrh, and in the city which they call the City of the Sun, bringing them to the blazing pyres of the altar, she consecrates them with a memorable funeral. The very promontory by which that sea is shut in is impassable with Acroceraunian defiles.

[74] Aethiopes ultra sedent; Meroen habent terram, quam Nilus primo ambitu amplexus insulam facit: pars quia vitae spatium dimidio fere quam nos longius agunt Macrobii, pars quia ex Aegypto advenere dicti Automoles: pulchri forma et qui corporis viriumque veneratores veluti optimarum alii virtutium.

[74] The Ethiopians dwell farther beyond; they have the land Meroë, which the Nile, having embraced in its first circuit, makes into an island: some, because they pass a span of life almost by a half longer than we, are the Macrobii; some, because they came from Egypt, are called the Automoli: beautiful in form, and venerators of the body and of strengths, as though these were among the best virtues.

[75] Illis mos est cui potissimum pareant specie ac viribus legere. Apud hos plus auri quam aeris est: ideo quod minus est pretiosius censent. Aere exornantur, auro vincla sontium fabricant.

[75] They have the custom of choosing, by appearance and by strengths, whom they should most obey. Among them there is more gold than bronze: therefore they consider the scarcer to be more precious. With bronze they are adorned, with gold they fabricate the chains of the guilty.

[76] Est locus adparatis epulis semper refertus: quia ut libet vesci volentibus licet, Heliu trapezan adpellant, et quae passim adposita sunt adfirmant innasci subinde divinitus.

[76] There is a place always crammed with prepared banquets: because it is permitted for those who wish to eat as it pleases, they call it Heliu trapezan, and they affirm that the things set out everywhere are continually engendered divinely.

[77] Est lacus quo perfusa corpora quasi uncta pernitent: bibitur idem; adeo est liquidus et ad sustinenda quae incidunt aut inmittuntur infirmus, ut folia etiam proximis decisa frondibus non innatantia ferat sed pessum et penitus accipiat. Sunt et saevissimae ferae omni colore varii lycaones et quales accepimus sphinges.

[77] There is a lake by which bodies, when drenched, shine as if anointed: the same is drunk; so liquid is it, and so weak for sustaining things that fall in or are cast in, that even leaves cut from the nearest foliage it does not carry afloat, but takes them downward and wholly receives them. There are also most savage wild beasts, lycaons variegated in every color, and sphinxes such as we have received report of.

[78] Sunt mirae aves cornutae tragopanes et equinis auribus pegasi. Ceterum oras ad eurum sequentibus nihil memorabile occurrit. Vasta omnia vastis praecisa montibus ripae potius sunt quam litora.

[78] There are wondrous birds, horned tragopans, and pegasi with equine ears. But for those following the coasts toward the Eurus, nothing memorable occurs. All things are vast, cut sheer by vast mountains; they are banks rather than shores.

Inde ingens et sine cultoribus tractus. Dubium aliquandiu fuit, essetne ultra pelagus caperetne terra circuitum an exhausto fluctu sine fine se Africa extenderet:

Thence a huge tract without cultivators. For some time it was doubtful whether there was beyond the sea, whether the land took a circuit, or whether, with the flood exhausted, Africa extended itself without end:

[79] verum et

[79] but indeed also

[si] Hanno Carthaginiensis exploratum missus a suis, cum per oceani ostium exisset magnam partem eius circumvectus, non se mari sed commeatu defecisse memoratu rettulerat, et Eudoxus quidam avorum nostrorum temporibus cum Lathyrum regem Alexandriae profugeret, Arabico sinu egressus per hoc pelagus, ut Nepos adfirmat, Gades usque pervectus est:

[if] Hanno the Carthaginian, sent by his own people to explore, when he had gone out through the mouth of the Ocean and had sailed around a great part of it, reported—a thing worth remembering—that it was not the sea but his supplies that had failed him, and a certain Eudoxus, in the times of our forefathers, when he was fleeing from King Lathyrus of Alexandria, having gone out from the Arabian Gulf, through this sea, as Nepos affirms, was borne as far as Gades:

[80] ideo eius orae notae sunt aliqua. Sunt autem trans ea quae deserta modo diximus muti populi et quibus pro eloquio nutus est, alii sine sono linguae, alii sine linguis, alii labris etiam cohaerentibus, nisi quod sub naribus etiam fistula est per quam bibere avenis, et cum incessit libido vescendi, grana singula frugum passim nascentium absorbere dicuntur. Sunt quibus ante adventum Eudoxi adeo ignotus ignis fuit adeoque visus mirum in modum placuit, ut amplecti etiam flammas et ardentia sinu abdere donec noceret maxime libuerit.

[80] therefore some things of that coast are known. Moreover, beyond those tracts which we have just called deserts, there are mute peoples, and for whom in place of eloquence a nod serves: some without the sound of a tongue, others without tongues, others with their lips even cohering, except that beneath the nostrils there is also a pipe through which to drink with reeds; and when the libido of feeding sets in, they are said to swallow single grains of crops nascent everywhere. There are those to whom, before the advent of Eudoxus, fire was so unknown, and the sight of it so wondrously pleasing, that they most especially wished even to embrace the flames and to hide burning things in the bosom until it hurt.

[81] Super eos grandis litoris flexus grandem insulam includit, in qua tantum feminas esse narrant toto corpore hirsutas et sine coitu marum sua sponte fecundas, adeo asperis efferisque moribus, ut quaedam contineri ne reluctentur vix vinculis possint.

[81] Beyond them a great flexure of the littoral encloses a great island, in which they report there to be only females, hirsute over the whole body and fecund of their own accord without coition with males, so harsh and feral in their manners that some can scarcely be contained by bonds from struggling.

[82] Hoc Hanno rettulit et quia detracta occisis coria pertulerat, fides habita est. Vltra hunc sinum mons altus, ut Graeci vocant Theon , perpetuis ignibus flagrat.

[82] Hanno reported this, and because he had brought the hides stripped from the slain, credit was given. Beyond this bay a high mountain, as the Greeks call it Theon , blazes with perpetual fires.

[83] Vltra montem viret collis longo tractu longis litoribus obductus, unde visuntur patentes magis campi quam ut perspici possint panum Satyrorumque. hinc opinio causae fidem cepit, quod cum in his nihil culti sit, nullae habitantium sedes, nulla vestigia, solitudo in diem vasta et silentium vastius, nocte crebri ignes micant et veluti castra late iacentia ostenduntur, crepant cymbala et tympana, audiunturque tibiae sonantes maius humanis.

[83] Beyond the mountain a hill is green in a long expanse, overspread by long shores, whence patent fields are seen rather than that the pans and Satyrs can be made out. hence an opinion gained credence for the cause, because in these parts there is nothing cultivated, no dwellings of inhabitants, no traces, solitude vast by day and a vaster silence; at night frequent fires flash and, as if, camps lying far and wide are displayed, cymbals and drums rattle, and pipes are heard sounding greater than human.

[84] Tunc rursus Aethiopes, nec iam dites quos diximus, nec ita corporibus similes, sed minores incultique sunt et nomine Hesperio. in horum finibus fons est quem Nili esse aliqua credibile est: Nuchul ab incolis dicitur, et videri potest non alio nomine adpellari sed a barbaro ore corruptus. Alit et pyrum et minora quidem eiusdem tamen generis animalia. Aliis amnibus in oceanum vergentibus solus in mediam regionem et ad orientem abit, et quonam exeat, incertum est.

[84] Then again Ethiopians, and now no longer wealthy as we said, nor so similar in bodies, but smaller and uncultivated, and by the name Hesperio. In the borders of these there is a spring which it is in some way credible to be the Nile’s: it is called Nuchul by the inhabitants, and it can be seen not to be called by another name, but to be corrupted from a barbarian mouth. It also nourishes pyrus and, indeed smaller, yet animals of the same kind. While the other rivers incline into the Ocean, it alone goes into the middle region and toward the east, and where it issues is uncertain.

Inde colligitur Nilum hoc fonte conceptum actumque aliquandiu per invia et ideo ignotum, iterum se ubi adiri possit ostendere; ceterum spatio quo absconditur effici, ut hic alio cedere, ille aliunde videatur exsurgere.

From this it is inferred that the Nile, conceived from this spring and driven for some time through trackless places and therefore unknown, again shows itself where it can be approached; moreover, by the span during which it is concealed it is effected that here it seems to yield to another, there to rise from elsewhere.

[85] Catoblepas non grandis fera, verum grande et praegrave caput aegre sustinens, atque ob id in terram plurimum ore conversa apud hos gignitur, ob vim singularem magis etiam referenda, quod cum impetu morsuque nihil umquam saeviat, oculos eius vidisse mortiferum.

[85] The Catoblepas is not a large wild beast, but, bearing with difficulty a great and very heavy head, and on that account turned for the most part toward the earth with its mouth, is begotten among these; to be recorded all the more on account of its singular puissance, because, though it never rages in onrush or with its bite, it is deadly to have seen its eyes.

[86] Contra eosdem sunt insulae Gorgades, domus ut aiunt aliquando Gorgonum. Ipsae terrae promunturio cui Hesperu ceras nomen est finiuntur.

[86] Over against these same people are the islands Gorgades, the home, as they say, once of the Gorgons. These lands themselves are bounded by a promontory whose name is Hesperu Ceras.

[87] Inde incipit frons illa quae in occidentem vergens mari Atlantico adluitur. Prima eius Aethiopes tenent, media nulli; nam aut exusta sunt aut harenis obducta aut infesta serpentibus. Exustis insulae adpositae sunt quas Hesperidas tenuisse memoratur.

[87] From there begins that front which, inclining toward the west, is washed by the Atlantic Sea. The first part of it the Ethiopians hold; the middle, no one—for it is either burnt out, or overlaid with sands, or infested with serpents. Adjacent to the burnt tracts are islands which the Hesperides are remembered to have held.

In harenis mons est Atlas, de se consurgens, verum incisis undique rupibus praeceps, invius, et quo magis surgit exilior, qui quod altius quam conspici potest usque in nubila erigitur, caelum et sidera non tangere modo vertice sed sustinere quoque dictus est. Contra Fortunatae insulae abundant sua sponte genitis, et subinde aliis super alia innascentibus nihil sollicitos alunt, beatius quam aliae urbes excultae. Vna singulari duorum fontium ingenio maxime insignis: alterum qui gustavere risu solvuntur in mortem; ita adfectis remedium est ex altero bibere.

In the sands there is Mount Atlas, rising of itself, yet with crags cut on every side, precipitous, pathless, and the higher it rises the slenderer; which, since it is lifted higher than can be beheld, up into the clouds, is said not only to touch the sky and the stars with its summit but even to sustain them. Opposite, the Fortunate Isles abound in things born of their own accord, and with others ever and anon sprouting up upon others, they nourish men carefree, more blessedly than other cultivated cities. One is most remarkable for the singular ingenious nature of two fountains: those who have tasted of the one are dissolved in laughter unto death; for those thus affected the remedy is to drink from the other.

[88] Ab eo tractu quem ferae infestant proximi sunt Himantopodes inflexi lentis cruribus, quos serpere potius quam ingredi referunt, dein Pharusii, aliquando tendente ad Hesperidas Hercule dites, nunc inculti, et nisi quod pecore aluntur admodum inopes.

[88] From that tract which wild beasts infest, next are the Himantopodes, bent with pliant legs, whom they report to creep rather than to go; then the Pharusii, once—when Hercules was tending toward the Hesperides—wealthy, now uncultivated, and, save that they are sustained by livestock, exceedingly indigent.

[89] Hinc iam laetiores agri amoenique saltus citro terebintho ebore abundant. Nigritarum Gaetulorumque passim vagantium ne litora quidem infecunda sunt, purpura et murice efficacissimis ad tinguendum, et ubique quod tinxere clarissimum.

[89] From here now the fields are more luxuriant and the pleasant forest-pastures abound in citrus-wood, terebinth, and ivory. Among the Nigritae and the Gaetulians wandering everywhere, not even the shores are unfruitful, thanks to purple and murex most efficacious for dyeing, and everywhere what purple and murex have dyed is most brilliant.

[90] Reliqua est ora Mauretaniae exterior, et in finem sui fastigantis se Africae novissimus angulus, isdem opibus sed minus dives. Ceterum solo etiam ditior et adeo est fertilis, ut frugum genera non cum serantur modo benignissime procreet, sed quaedam profundat etiam non sata.

[90] The remaining shore is that of Outer Mauretania, and Africa’s very last angle, tapering to its own end, with the same resources but less opulent. Yet it is richer in soil and so fertile that it produces kinds of crops most bounteously not only when they are sown, but even pours forth some that are not sown.

[91] Hic Antaeus regnasse dicitur et signum quoque fabulae clarum prorsus ostenditur collis modicus resupini hominis imagine iacentis, illius ut incolae ferunt tumulus: unde ubi aliqua pars eruta est solent imbres spargi, et donec effossa repleantur eveniunt.

[91] Here Antaeus is said to have reigned, and a sign of the fable as well, altogether clear, is shown—a modest hill lying in the likeness of a supine man, his tomb, as the inhabitants report: whence, whenever some part is dug out, showers are wont to be scattered, and they occur until the things dug out are refilled.

[92] Hominum pars silvas frequentant, minus quam quos modo diximus vagi, pars in urbibus agunt, quarum ut inter parvas opulentissimae habentur procul a mari Gilda, Volubilis, Banasa, propius autem Sala et Lixos flumini Lixo proxima. Vltra est colonia et fluvius Gna et unde initium fecimus Ampelusia in Nostrum iam fretum vergens promontorium, operis huius atque Atlantici litoris terminus.

[92] A portion of the people resort to the forests, less roving than those whom we just mentioned; a portion live in cities, of which, as among small ones, the most opulent are held to be, far from the sea, Gilda, Volubilis, Banasa, but nearer, Sala and Lixos, the last being closest to the river Lixus. Beyond is a colony and the river Gna, and, whence we made our beginning, Ampelusia, a promontory now inclining toward Our Strait, the terminus of this work and of the Atlantic shore.