Solinus: DE MIRABILIBUS MUNDI Mommsen 1st edition (1864)

IX. Qui Edonii olim populi quaeque Mygdonia erat terra aut Pierium solum vel Emathium, nunc omne uniformi vocabulo Macedonica res est, et partitiones quae specialiter antea seiugabantur, Macedonum nomini contributae factae sunt corpus unum.

9. The peoples who were once the Edoni, and the land that was Mygdonia, or the soil of Pieria or Emathia—now all, under a uniform appellation, are the Macedonian commonwealth; and the partitions which formerly were separated in particular, having been assigned to the name of the Macedonians, have been made one body.

Igitur Macedoniam praecingit Thracius limes: meridiana Thessaliae Epirotae tenent: a vesperali plaga Dardani sunt et Illyrii: qua septemtrione tunditur Paeonia ac Pelagonia protegitur a Triballis: montanis excessibus aquilonio frigori obiecta. inter ipsam et Thraciam Strymon amnis facit terminum, qui ab Haemi iugis inrigat. verum ut sileam aut Rhodopen Mygdonum montem aut Athon classibus Persicis navigatum continentique abscissum mille quingentorum passuum longitudine, simul de auri venis et argenti, quae optimae in agris Macedonum et plurimae eruuntur, Orestidem dicam.

Accordingly, a Thracian boundary girds Macedonia: on the meridian side the Epirots hold Thessaly: from the western quarter are the Dardani and the Illyrians: where it is battered by the north, Paeonia and Pelagonia are shielded by the Triballi, thrust out by mountain spurs and exposed to Aquilonian cold. Between it and Thrace the river Strymon makes the boundary, which waters down from the ridges of Haemus. But, that I may be silent about either Rhodope, the Mygdonian mountain, or Athos, sailed by Persian fleets and cut off from the continent for a length of 1,500 paces, and likewise about the veins of gold and of silver, which in the fields of the Macedonians are of the best and are extracted in great number, I will speak of Orestis.

populi sunt qui ut Orestae dicerentur inde coeptum. a Mycenis profugus matricida cum abscessus longius destinasset, natum sibi in Emathia parvulum de Hermiona, quam in omnis casus sociam adsciverat, hic mandaverat occulendum. adolevit puer in spiritum regii sanguinis, nomen patris sui referens, occupatoque quidquid est quod procedit in Macedonicum sinum et Hadriaticum salum, terram cui imperitaverat Orestidem dixit.

there are peoples who say that from this it began to be called the Orestae. the matricide, a fugitive from Mycenae, when he had destined a longer withdrawal, having had a little son born to him in Emathia from Hermione, whom he had adopted as a companion for all contingencies, had ordered him to be concealed here. the boy grew up into the spirit of royal blood, recalling the name of his father; and, having occupied whatever there is that projects into the Macedonian gulf and the Adriatic deep, he called the land over which he exercised command Orestis.

admonet Phlegra, ubi antequam oppidum fieret rumor est militia mundi dimicatum cum gigantibus, ut penitus persequamur quantis probationibus imperii indicia divinae expeditionis in hoc saeculo perseveraverint. illic si quando (ut accidit) nimbis torrentes excitantur et aucta aquarum pondera ruptis obicibus valentius se in campos ruunt, eluvione ossa etiam nunc ferunt detegi ad instar quae sunt e corporibus humanis sed modo grandiora, quae ob enormem magnitudinem monstrosi exercitus iactant extitisse, idque adiuvatur argumento saxorum inmanium quibus oppugnandum impetitum caelum crediderunt.

Phlegra puts us in mind, where before a town was made there is a rumor that the militia of the world fought with the giants, so that we may thoroughly pursue by how great proofs of dominion the evidences of the divine expedition have persevered in this age. There, whenever (as happens) cloudbursts rouse torrents and the increased weights of the waters, the barriers having been broken, rush more forcefully into the plains, in the deluge they say bones even now are uncovered, in likeness to those which are from human bodies but only larger, which, on account of their enormous magnitude, they boast belonged to a monstrous army; and this is aided by the argument of immense rocks with which they believed heaven was assailed in an attempt at storming.

Pergam ad residua quae in Thessaliam et Athamaniam contendunt. sunt enim arrectiora quam usquam proceritas montana attolli valet nec est in terris omnibus quod merito ad istas eminentias comparetur, quippe quas solas diluvialis inruptio cum universa obduceret umido situ inaccessas reliquit. durant vestigia non languidae fidei quibus apparet hos locos superstites undosae tempestati fuisse: nam in latebrosis rupium cavaminibus quae fluctuum confligiis tunc adesa sunt, reduviae conchyliorum resederunt et alia multa quae adfatim mari incito expuuntur: ita ut, sint licet facie mediterranea, appareant tamen specie litorali.

I shall proceed to the residues that press toward Thessaly and Athamania. For the mountain tallness rises more erect here than anywhere, nor is there in all the lands anything that can deservedly be compared to these eminences; indeed, these alone the diluvial irruption, when it covered the whole with a humid condition, left inaccessible. Vestiges of no languid credibility endure, by which it is apparent that these places were survivors of the billowy tempest: for in the lurking caverns of the cliffs, which were then gnawed by the clashings of the waves, the offscourings of shellfish have settled, and many other things which in sufficiency are spewed out by a roused sea; so that, although they are inland in face, yet they appear with a littoral aspect.

Nunc de incolis reddam. Emathius qui primus in Emathia occepit principatum, seu quia indago originis eius aevo disperiit seu quia ita res est, genuinus terrae habetur. post hunc in Macedonis exortum Emathiae nomen perstitit: sed Macedo Deucalionis maternus nepos, qui solus cum domus suae familia morti publicae superfuerat, vertit vocamen Macedoniamque a se dixit.

Now I will render about the inhabitants. Emathius, who first in Emathia undertook the principate, whether because the tracing of his origin has perished with time or because so the matter is, is held to be native to the soil. After him, down to the rise of Macedo, the name of Emathia persisted: but Macedo, Deucalion’s maternal grandson, who alone, together with the household of his house, had survived the public death, changed the appellation and called it Macedonia after himself.

Macedonem Caranus insequitur dux Peloponnesiae multitudinis, qui iuxta responsum dictum deo, ubi caprarium pecus resedisse adverterat urbem condidit quam dixit Aegas, in qua sepeliri reges mos erat: nec alter excellentium virorum bustis apud Macedonas priscos dabatur locus.

Caranus, leader of a Peloponnesian multitude, succeeds Macedon; according to the oracle-response spoken by the god, when he had noticed that a goatherd’s flock had settled, he founded a city which he called Aegas, in which it was the custom for kings to be buried: nor was any other place granted for the tombs of distinguished men among the ancient Macedonians.

Succedit Carano Perdicca, secunda et vicesima olympiade, primus in Macedonia rex nominatus. cui Alexander Amyntae filius dives habitus, nec inmerito: ita enim affluenter successus eius proficiebant, ut ante omnes Apollini Delphos, Iovi Elidem statuas aureas dono miserit. voluptati aurium indulgentissime deditus: sicut plurimos qui fidibus sciebant, dum vivit, in usum oblectamenti donis tenuit liberalibus, inter quos et Pindarum lyricum.

Perdiccas succeeds Caranus, in the twenty-second Olympiad, the first to be named king in Macedonia. Under him, Alexander, son of Amyntas, was held wealthy—and not undeservedly: for his successes advanced so abundantly that, before all others, he sent as a gift golden statues to Apollo at Delphi and to Jupiter at Elis. Most indulgently devoted to the pleasure of the ears, he kept, so long as he lived, very many who were skilled with the lyre for the use of entertainment by liberal gifts, among whom also the lyric Pindar.

ab hoc Archelaus regnum excepit, prudens rei bellicae, navalium etiam commentor proeliorum. hic Archelaus in tantum litterarum mire amator fuit ut Euripidi tragico consiliorum summam concrederet: cuius suprema non contentus prosequi sumptu funeris, crinem tonsus est et maerorem quem animo conceperat vultu publicavit. idem Pythias et Olympiacas palmas quadrigis adeptus, Graeco potius animo quam regali gloriam illam prae se tulit.

From him Archelaus received the kingdom, prudent in the art of war, and even a contriver of naval battles. This Archelaus was so wondrous a lover of letters that he entrusted the sum of his counsels to Euripides the tragedian: and, not content to attend his last rites with the expense of the funeral, he had his hair shorn and made public on his face the mourning that he had conceived in his mind. The same man, having won Pythian and Olympic palms with four-horse chariots, bore that glory with a Greek spirit rather than a regal one.

Post Archelaum Macedonica res dissensione iactata in Amyntae regno stetit, cui tres liberi: sed Alexander patri succedit. quo exempto, Perdiccae primo data copia amplissimae potestatis indupiscundae. qui obiens hereditarium regnum fratri Philippo reliquit, quem captum oculo dextro apud Mothonam supra diximus; cuius debilitatis omen praecesserat: nam cum nuptias ageret, acciti tibicines carmen cyclopium quasi de colludio concinuisse traduntur.

After Archelaus the Macedonian state, tossed by dissension, stood firm in the reign of Amyntas, who had three children: but Alexander succeeds his father. On his removal, at first a chance was given to Perdiccas of obtaining the most ample power. He, departing, left the hereditary kingdom to his brother Philip, whom, as we said above, was deprived of his right eye at Mothona; an omen of which disability had preceded: for when he was celebrating his wedding, the flute-players, having been summoned, are said to have performed a Cyclopean song, as if by collusion.

hic Philippus Magnum procreat, quamlibet Olympias Alexandri mater nobiliorem ei patrem adquirere adfectaverit, cum se coitu draconis consatam adfirmaret. ita tamen et ipse egit ut deo genitus crederetur. peragravit orbem, rectoribus Aristotele et Callisthene usus, subegit Asiam Armeniam Hiberiam Albaniam Cappadociam Syriam Aegyptum: Taurum Caucasumque transgressus est: Bactros domuit: Medis et Persis imperavit: cepit Indiam, emensus omnia quae Liber et Hercules accesserant.

This Philip begot the Great, although Olympias, Alexander’s mother, endeavored to acquire for him a more noble father, since she asserted that she had been conceived by the intercourse of a dragon. Nevertheless he also conducted himself in such a way that he was believed to be begotten of a god. He traversed the world, employing as directors Aristotle and Callisthenes; he subdued Asia, Armenia, Iberia, Albania, Cappadocia, Syria, Egypt; he crossed the Taurus and the Caucasus; he tamed Bactria; he held dominion over the Medes and the Persians; he took India, having passed through all the regions which Liber and Hercules had approached.

forma supra hominem augustiore, cervice celsa, laetis oculis et inlustribus, malis ad gratiam rubescentibus, reliquis corporis non sine maiestate quadam decoris. victor omnium vino et ira victus: sicut morbo vinulentiae apud Babylonem humiliore quam vixerat fortuna exemptus est. post quem qui fuerunt magis ad segetem Romanae gloriae quam ad hereditatem tanti nominis ortos invenimus.

with a form more august than a man’s, a lofty neck, glad and illustrious eyes, cheeks blushing to grace, the rest of the body’s beauty not without a certain majesty. conqueror of all, conquered by wine and wrath: just so, by the disease of drunkenness at Babylon, he was removed from life by a fortune more humble than that in which he had lived. after whom those who came we find to have arisen more for the harvest of Roman glory than for the inheritance of so great a name.

Macedonia lapidem gignit quem paeanitem vocant. hunc eundem et concipere et parere et parturientibus opitulari fama prodiga est. circa Tiresiae sepulcrum plurimus invenitur.

Macedonia produces a stone which they call Paeanite. A prodigal report declares that this same stone both conceives and gives birth, and that it assists women in childbirth. Around the tomb of Tiresias it is found most plentifully.

X. Nunc in Thraciam locus pergere et ad validissimas Europae gentes vela obvertere. quas qui sedulo experiri velint, non difficulter deprehendent Thracibus barbaris inesse contemptum vitae ex quadam naturali sapientiae disciplina. concordant omnes ad interitum voluntarium, dum nonnulli eorum putant obeuntium animas reverti, alii non extingui, sed beatas magis fieri.

10. Now it is time to proceed into Thrace and to turn our sails toward the most powerful gentes of Europe. Those who should diligently experience them will not with difficulty discover that in the barbarian Thracians there exists a contempt of life, from a certain natural discipline of sapience. They all agree upon voluntary death, while some of them think that the souls of those departing return, others that they are not extinguished, but rather become blessed.

apud plurimos luctuosa sunt puerperia, denique recens natum fletu parens, excipit: contraversum laeta sunt funera adeo ut exemptos gaudiis prosequantur. uxorum numero se viri iactant et honoris loco iudicant multiplex matrimonium. quae feminae tenaces sunt pudicitiae, insiliunt defunctorum rogos coniugum et, quod maximum insigne ducunt castitatis, praecipites in flammas eunt.

Among very many, puerpery is lugubrious; indeed the parent receives the newborn with weeping. Conversely, funerals are joyous, to such a degree that they escort those taken away with rejoicings. Men vaunt themselves on the number of wives and judge manifold matrimony to be a mark of honor. The women who are tenacious of pudicity leap upon the pyres of their deceased husbands and, what they deem the greatest badge of chastity, go headlong into the flames.

nupturae non parentum arbitrio transeunt ad maritos, sed quae prae aliis specie valent subhastari volunt et licentia taxationis admissa non moribus nubunt, sed praemiis: quas formae premit dedecus, dotibus emunt quibus coniungantur. uterque sexus epulantes focos ambiunt, herbarum quas habent semine ignibus superiacto, cuius nidore perculsi pro laetitia habent imitari ebrietatem sensibus sauciatis.

Brides-to-be do not pass to husbands by the arbitration of parents, but those who prevail before others in appearance wish to be put up at auction; and, the license of valuation admitted, they wed not by mores but by payments: those whom the disgrace of their form presses buy, with dowries, those to whom they may be joined. Each sex, banqueting, goes around the hearths, the seed of the herbs they have having been cast upon the fires; struck by the reek of this, they count it for joy to imitate ebriety, their senses wounded.

De ritu ista sunt, de locis et populis quae secuntur. Strymonem accolunt dextro latere Denseletae, Bessorum quoque multa nomina ad usque Mestum amnem, qui radices Pangaei circumfluit. Hebrum Odrysarum solum fundit, qui fluvius excurrit inter Priantas Dolongos Thynos Corpilos aliosque barbaros: tangit et Ciconas.

As to the rite, so much; as to the places and peoples, what follows. On the right side of the Strymon dwell the Denseletae, and many names of the Bessi up to the river Mestus, which flows around the roots of Pangaeus. The Hebrus drains the land of the Odrysae, which river runs between the Priantae, Dolongi, Thyni, Corpili, and other barbarians: it also touches the Cicones.

deinde Haemus sex milibus passuum arduus, cuius aversa Moesiagetae Sarmatae Scythae et plurimae insidunt nationes. Ponticum litus, Sithonia gens obtinet, quae nato ibi Orpheo vale inter principes iudicatur: quem sive sacrorum sive cantuum secreta in Sperchivo promunturio agitasse tradunt. deinde stagnum Bistonium.

then the Haemus, steep for six miles, on whose far side the Moesiagetae, the Sarmatians, the Scythians, and very many nations occupy. The Pontic shore the Sithonian people holds, which, since Orpheus was born there, is adjudged in high esteem among princes: whom they hand down to have practiced the secrets either of rites or of songs on the Sperchian promontory. then the Bistonian lake.

nec longe regio Maronia, in qua Tirida oppidum fuit equorum Diomedis stabulum: sed cessit aevo solumque turris vestigium adhuc durat.

and not far away the region Maronia, in which the town Tirida was the stable of the horses of Diomedes: but it has yielded to age, and only the trace of a tower still endures.

Inde non procul urbs Abdera, quam Diomedis soror et condidit et a se sic vocavit, mox Democriti domus physici ac si verum rimere ideo nobilior. hanc Abderam olympiade prima et tricesima senio conlapsam Clazomenii ex Asia ad maiorem faciem restitutam, oblitteratis quae praecesserant, nomini suo vindicaverunt.

Then not far from there is the city Abdera, which the sister of Diomedes both founded and thus named after herself, later the home of Democritus the physicist and therefore more renowned, as if to pry into the truth. This Abdera, having collapsed with age in the 31st Olympiad, the Clazomenians from Asia, after it had been restored to a greater form and the things that had preceded had been effaced, claimed for their own name.

Locum Doriscon inlustrem reddidit Xerxis adventus, quod ibi recoluit militis sui numerum. Polydori tumulum ostendit Aenus. in parte, quam Aroteres Scythae tenuerunt, celebrant quondam urbem Geraniam (Cathizon vocant barbari), unde a gruibus Pygmaeos ferunt pulsos.

Xerxes’ arrival made the place Doriscon illustrious, because there he reviewed the number of his soldiers. The Aenus points out the tomb of Polydorus. in the part which the Aroteres Scythians held, they celebrate a once-famous city, Gerania (the barbarians call it Cathizon), whence they say the Pygmies were driven by cranes.

manifestum sane est in septemtrionalem plagam hieme grues frequentissimas convolare. nec piguerit meminisse quatenus expeditiones suas dirigant. sub quodam militiae eunt signo, et ne pergentibus ad destinata vis flatuum renitatur, harenas devorant sublatisque lapillulis ad moderatam gravitatem saburrantur.

It is certainly manifest that in winter the cranes fly in very great numbers to the septentrional quarter. Nor will it be irksome to remember whither they direct their expeditions. They go under a kind of military sign, and, lest the force of the blasts resist them as they proceed to their destined places, they swallow sand and, with little pebbles taken up, they take on ballast to a moderate weight.

tunc contendunt in altissima, ut de excelsiori specula metentur quas petant terras. fidens meatu praeit catervas, volatus desidiam castigat voceque cogit agmen: ea ubi obraucata est succedit alia. Pontum transiturae angustias captant, et quidem eas (nam promptum est oculis deprehendere) quae inter Tauricam sunt et Paphlagoniam, id est inter Carambim et Criumetopon.

then they contend into the very highest, so that from a more exalted watchtower they may mete out what lands they aim for. Confident in its course, the leader goes before the bands, chastises the sloth of the flight, and with its voice marshals the column: when that one is made hoarse, another succeeds. About to cross the Pontus, they seize the narrows—and indeed those (for it is easy to apprehend with the eyes) which are between Taurica and Paphlagonia, that is, between Carambis and Criumetopon.

cum contra medium alveum adventasse se sciunt scrupulorum sarcina pedes liberant. ita nautae prodiderunt conpluti saepe ex illo casu imbre saxatili. harenas non prius revomunt quam securae sedis suae fuerint.

when they know that they have come to the mid-channel, they free their feet from the burden of pebbles. thus sailors have reported that many times they have been drenched by a stony shower from that fall. they do not vomit back up the sands before they have reached their own secure seat.

concors cura omnium pro fatigatis, adeo ut si qua defecerit congruant universae lassatasque sustollant usque dum vires otio recuperentur. nec in terra cura segnior. excubias nocte dividunt ut exsomnis sit decima quaeque.

The concordant care of all is for the fatigued, to such a degree that if any one has failed, all together concur and uplift the wearied until strength is recovered by leisure. Nor on land is the care more sluggish. They divide the watches by night, so that every tenth is sleepless.

vigiles ponduscula digitis amplectuntur, quae si forte exciderint somnum coarguant. quod cavendum erit clangor indicat. aetatem in illis prodit color: nigrescunt senectute.

the watchmen clasp little weights with their fingers, which, if by chance they fall, arraign sleep. the clangor indicates what must be guarded against. their age is betrayed in them by color: they blacken with senescence.

Veniamus ad promunturium Ceras Chryseon Byzantio oppido nobile, antea Lygos dictum, quod a Dyrrhachio abest septingentis undecim milibus passuum: tantum enim patet inter Hadriaticum mare et Propontidem. in Ceniensi regione non longe a Flaviopoli colonia Bizye oppidum, quondam area Terei regis, invisum hirundinibus et deinceps alitibus illis inaccessum: quamquam et Thebas, quod illa moenia saepius capta sint, negentur subire. nam inter cetera habere illas quiddam praescium inde noscitur, quod lapsura non petunt culmina et aspernantur peritura quoquo modo tecta.

Let us come to the promontory the Golden Horn, famous at the town of Byzantium, previously called Lygos, which is 711 miles distant from Dyrrhachium: for so far does it extend between the Adriatic Sea and the Propontis. In the Ceniensian region, not far from the colony Flaviopolis, the town Bizye, once the court of King Tereus, is hateful to swallows and thereafter inaccessible to those birds: although Thebes too, because those walls have been more often captured, they are said to refuse to enter. For, among other things, it is known that they have something prescient, namely, that they do not seek rooftops that are about to fall, and they spurn roofs destined to perish in whatever way.

minime certe a diris avibus impetuntur nec umquam praeda sunt ut sacrae. cibos non sumunt resistentes, sed in aere capiunt escas et hauriunt.

By no means, certainly, are they attacked by dire birds, nor are they ever prey, as being sacred. They do not take their food while standing still, but in the air they seize their morsels and draw them in.

Alter isthmos in Thracia est similibus angustiis et pari latitudine arti maris. huius litora urbes utrimque secus ostentant. Propontidis oram insignit Pactye, Melanes sinum Cardia: quae quod in cordis faciem sita sit, dicta Cardia est.

Another isthmus is in Thrace, with similar narrows and with the sea confined to equal breadth. Its shores display cities on either side along their length. The shore of the Propontis is marked out by Pactye, the Gulf of Melas by Cardia: which, because it is situated in the shape of a heart, is called Cardia.

ille autem magnus Hellespontus stringitur in stadia septem, quibus ab Europa Asiaticam plagam vindicat. hic quoque urbes duae: Abydos Asiae est, Sestos Europae. Deinde contraria inter se promunturia: Mastusia Chersonesi, ubi finitur Europae sinus tertius, Sigeum Asiae, in quo tumulus est Cynossema dictus Hecubae sepulcrum et turris Protesilai delubro data.

but the great Hellespont is narrowed to seven stadia, by which it vindicates the Asiatic region from Europe. here too two cities: Abydos is Asia’s, Sestos Europe’s. then promontories opposite each other: Mastusia of the Chersonese, where the third bay of Europe ends; Sigeum of Asia, in which there is a tumulus called Cynossema, the sepulcher of Hecuba, and a tower of Protesilaus dedicated to a sanctuary.

finibus Thraciae a septemtrione Hister obtenditur, ab oriente Pontus ac Propontis, a meridie Aegaeum mare.

at the borders of Thrace the Hister (Danube) extends on the north, on the east the Pontus and the Propontis, on the south the Aegean Sea.

XI. Inter Tenedum et Chium, qua Aegaeus sinus panditur, ab dextera Antandrum navigantibus saxum est (hoc enim verius quam insula meruit cognominari): id quoniam visentibus procul caprae simile creditur, quam Graeci aega nuncupant, Aegaeus sinus dictus. a Phalario Corcyrae promunturio ad navis effigiem scopulus eminet, in quem transfiguratam Ulixis navem crediderunt. Cytherae, quae a Malea abest quinque milibus passuum, Porphyris antea nomen fuit.

11. Between Tenedos and Chios, where the Aegaean gulf opens out, on the right for those sailing from Antandros there is a rock (for this has more truly deserved to be surnamed a rock than an island): and because to those viewing it from afar it is believed to resemble a she-goat, which the Greeks call aega, the Aegaean gulf has been so named. From the Phalarian promontory of Corcyra a reef projects in the likeness of a ship, into which they believed Ulysses’ ship was transfigured. Cythera, which is distant from Malea by 5 miles, formerly had the name Porphyris.

Pronius est Cretam dicere quam absolvere, in quo mari iaceat. ita enim circumflui illius nomina Graeci permiscuerunt, ut dum aliis alia inferunt, paene oblimaverint universa. quanta potest tamen in designando operam locabimus, ne quid haereat sub ancipiti.

It is easier to name Crete than to settle in what sea it lies. For the Greeks have so commingled the names of the waters that flow around it, that while they lay this name on some parts and that on others, they have almost muddied the whole. Nevertheless, we shall expend as much effort as we can in delineating it, so that nothing may stick under ambiguity.

inter ortum porrigitur et occasum tractu longissimo, hinc Graecia illinc Cyrenis obiacentibus. a septentrione Aegaeis et suis aestibus verberatur, id est Creticis: ab austro Libycis undis perfunditur et Aegyptiis, non stipata C urbibus, sicut perhibent qui prodige lingua largiti sunt, sed magnis et ambitiosis oppidis, quorum principatus est penes Gortynam, Cydoneam, Gnoson, Therapnas, Cylisson. Dosiades eam a Crete nympha Hesperidis filia, Anaximander a Crete rege Curetum, Crates Aeriam prius dictam, mox Curetum, nonnulli etiam a temperie caeli Macaronneson appellatam prodiderunt.

it stretches between east and west in a very long tract, with Greece on this side and Cyrene lying opposite on that. From the north it is beaten by the Aegean and by its own swells, that is, the Cretan; from the south it is drenched by Libyan and Egyptian waves, not packed with 100 cities, as those who have been prodigal with their tongue assert, but with great and ambitious towns, whose primacy belongs to Gortyna, Cydonea, Gnosus, Therapnas, Cylissus. Dosiades reported it [to be named] from Crete, a nymph, daughter of Hesperis; Anaximander, from Crete, king of the Curetes; Crates [said it was] formerly called Aeria, then of the Curetes; some also have transmitted that from the temperateness of the sky it was called Macaronneson.

prima potuit remis et sagittis, prima litteris iura fixit. Pyrrhicho repertore equestres turmas prima docuit lascivas vertigines implicare, ex qua disciplina bellicae rei usus datus. studium.

she was the first to be able with oars and with arrows; she first fixed laws in letters. with the Pyrrhic as inventor, she first taught the cavalry squadrons to entwine playful whirls, from which discipline an application to the business of war was given. zeal.

musicum inde coeptum, cum Idaei dactyli modulos crepitu ac tinnitu aeris deprehensos in versificum ordinem transtulissent. albet iugis montium Dictynnaei et Cadisti, qui ita excandescunt ut eminus navigantes magis putent nubila. praeter ceteros Ida est qui ante solis ortum solem videt.

From there the musical art took its beginning, when the Idaean Dactyls transferred the measures, caught from the clatter and the ringing of bronze, into a versific order. The ridges of the mountains Dictynnaeus and Cadistus gleam white, which blaze so that those sailing from afar think them rather clouds. Above the rest is Ida, which sees the sun before the rising of the sun.

Varro in opere quod de litoralibus est etiam suis temporibus adfirmat sepulcrum Iovis ibi visitatum.

Varro, in the work which is about the littorals, also affirms that in his own times the sepulcher of Jupiter was visited there.

Cretes Dianam religiosissime venerantur, Britomartem gentiliter nominantes, quod sermone nostro sonat virginem dulcem. aedem numinis praeterquam nudus vestigia nullus licito ingreditur. ca aedes ostentat manus Daedali.

The Cretans most religiously venerate Diana, calling her by the gentile/native name Britomartis, which in our speech sounds “sweet virgin.” the temple of the divinity no one lawfully enters except barefoot. that temple displays the handiwork of Daedalus.

Gortynam amnis Lenaeus praeterfluit, quo Europam tauri dorso Gortynii ferunt vectitatam. iidem Gortynii et Adymnum colunt Europae fratrem: ita enim memorant. videtur hic et occurrit, sed die iam vesperato augustiore se facie visendum offerens.

The river Lenaeus flows past Gortyna, by which the Gortynians report that Europa was conveyed on the bull’s back. The same Gortynians also worship Adymnus, the brother of Europa: for thus they recount. He is seen here and comes to meet, but when the day is now toward evening, offering himself to be seen with a more august visage.

Gnosii Minervam civem deam numerant, primumque apud se fruges satas audacter cum Atticis contendunt.

The Gnossians reckon Minerva a citizen-goddess, and they boldly contend with the Attics that the first crops were sown among them.

Ager Creticus silvestrium caprarum copiosus est, cervo eget. lupos vulpes aliaque quadrupedum noxia nusquam educat. serpens nulla, larga vitis, mira soli indulgentia, arborarii proventus abundantes: nam in huius tantum insulae parte repullulant caesae cupressi.

The Cretan land is copious in wild goats, it lacks deer. it nowhere rears wolves, foxes, and other noxious quadrupeds. no serpent, the vine is bountiful, a wondrous indulgence of the soil, arboreal yields abundant: for only in this part of the island do felled cypresses sprout again.

herba alimos dicitur: ea admorsa diurnam famem prohibet: proinde et haec Cretica est. phalangio araneae genus est: si nisum quaeras, nulla vis corporis: si potestatem, ictum hominem veneno interficit. lapis quoque Idaeus dactylus dicitur insulae isti familiaris, coloris ferrei, humano pollici similis.

a herb is called alimos: when chewed it wards off daytime hunger: accordingly this too is Cretan. the phalangium is a kind of spider: if you look for exertion, there is no strength of body: if for power, by its bite it kills a man with venom. also the Idaean stone called dactyl is said to be familiar to that island, of iron color, similar to a human thumb.

avem noctuam Creta non habet et si invehatur emoritur.

Crete does not have the owl, and if it is brought in, it dies.

Carystos aquas calentes habet (Ellopias vocant) et carystias aves quae flammas inpune involant: carbasa etiam quae inter ignes valent. Chatcis eadem habita est apud priscos, ut Callidemus auctor est, aere ibi primum reperto. Titanas in ea antiquissime regnasse ostendunt ritus religionum: Briareo enim rem divinam Carystii faciunt, sicut Aegaeoni Chalcidienses: nam omnis ferme Euboea Titanum fuit regnum.

Carystus has hot waters (they call them Ellopias) and Carystian birds which fly into flames with impunity: canvas also which is strong among fires. Chalcis was likewise regarded among the ancients, as Callidemus is authority, bronze having been first discovered there. The rites of the religions show that the Titans ruled there in the most ancient times: for the Carystians perform the divine rite for Briareus, just as the Chalcidians for Aegaeon: for almost all Euboea was the kingdom of the Titans.

Cycladas autumant inde dictas, quod licet spatiis longioribus a Delo proiectae, in orbem tamen circa Delum sitae sunt, et orbem cyclon Graii loquuntur. Chios Homeri tumulo ceteras antecedit.

They assert that the Cyclades are named from this, because, although projected at longer intervals from Delos, nevertheless they are situated in a circle around Delos, and the Greeks call the circle “kyklon.” Chios surpasses the rest by the tomb of Homer.

Meminisse hoc loco, par est post primum diluvium Ogygi temporibus notatum, cum novem et amplius mensibus diem continua nox inumbrasset, Delon ante omnes terras radiis solis inluminatam, sortitamque ex eo nomen, quod prima reddita foret visibus. inter Ogygum sane et Deucalionem medium aevum DC annis datur. eadem est Ortygia quae clarissima in Cycladum numero multifarie traditur: nunc Asteria a cultu Apollinis: nunc a venatibus Lagia vel Cynetho: Pyrpile etiam, quoniam et ignitabula ibi et ignis inventa sunt.

It is fitting in this place to remember, recorded in the times of Ogyges after the first deluge, that when for nine months and more a continuous night had overshadowed the day, Delos, before all lands, was illuminated by the rays of the sun, and, having from that been allotted her name, because she was the first restored to sight. between Ogyges, to be sure, and Deucalion the intervening age is given as 600 years. The same is Ortygia, which is handed down in many ways as most illustrious in the number of the Cyclades: now Asteria from the cult of Apollo: now from venery Lagia or Cynetho: also Pyrpile, since both fire-kindlers and fire were found there.

In hac primum visae coturnices aves, quas ortygas Graeci vocant. has easdem in Latonae tutela aestimant constitutas. nec semper apparent: adveniendi habent tempora aestate depulsa.

In this place quails were first seen, birds which the Greeks call ortygas. They deem these same birds to have been set under the guardianship of Latona. Nor do they always appear: they have times of arriving when summer has been driven away.

cum maria tranant, impetus differunt et metu spatii longioris vires suas nutriunt tarditate. ubi terram persentiscunt, coeunt catervatim, deinde globatae vehementius properant. quae festinatio plerumque exitium portat navigantibus: accidit enim noctibus ut vela incidant et praeponderatis sinibus alveos mergant.

when they traverse the seas, they defer their impulse and, from fear of the longer space, nourish their forces by tardity; when they thoroughly sense land, they gather by troops, then, globed together, they hasten more vehemently. this hastening for the most part brings ruin to sailors: for it happens at night that they fall upon the sails, and, the bellies being over-weighted, they sink the hulls.

austro numquam exeunt, nam metuunt vim flatus tumidioris. plurimum se aquilonibus credunt, ut corpora pinguiuscula atque eo tarda facilius provehat siccior et vehementior spiritus. ortygometra dicitur quae gregem ductitat: eam terrae proximantem accipiter speculatus rapit ac propterea opera est universis ut sollicitent ducem generis externi, per quam frustrentur prima discrimina.

they never set out with the South Wind, for they fear the force of the more swollen blast. they entrust themselves for the most part to the North Winds, so that the drier and more vehement breath may more easily carry forward their rather plump, and thereby slow, bodies. the one called the Ortygometra is said to lead the flock: a hawk, having kept watch, snatches her as she draws near to land; and therefore there is effort among all to solicit a leader of an alien kind, through whom they may frustrate the first perils.

cibos gratissimos habent semina venenorum, quam ob causam eas damnavere prudentium mensae. solum hoc animal praeter hominem morbum patitur comitialem.

they hold as most pleasing foods the seeds of poisons, for which cause the tables of the prudent have condemned them. this animal alone, besides man, suffers the comitial disease (epilepsy).

Euboea tam modico aestu dividua est a Boeotiae continente, ut dubitandum sit an numerari inter insulas debeat: nam latae quam vocant terrae ponte iungitur et per fabricam brevissimae machinae aditur pede. Cenaeo promunturio vadit in septentrionem, duobus aliis in meridiem extenditur: quorum Geraestos spectat Atticam, Caphereus prominet in Hellespontum. ubi post Ilii excidium Argivam classem vel Minervae ira vel quod certior prodit memoria, sidus Arcturi gravibus adfecit casibus.

Euboea is parted by so slight a tide from the Boeotian continent that it is to be doubted whether it ought to be numbered among the islands: for it is joined by the bridge of the “Broadland,” as they call it, and by the construction of a very short machine it is approached on foot. With the promontory of Cenaeum it goes toward the north, with two others it extends into the south: of which Geraestus looks toward Attica, Caphereus juts out into the Hellespont. There, after the destruction of Ilium, the Argive fleet, either by the wrath of Minerva or, as a more certain memory puts forth, by the star of Arcturus, was afflicted with grievous misfortunes.

Marmore Paros nobilis, Abdelo oppido frequentissima: prius tamen Minoia quam Paros dicta: nam subacta a Minoe, quoad in Creticis mansit legibus, Minoiam loquebantur. praeter marmor dat et sardam lapidem, qui marmore quidem praestat, inter gemmas vero vilissimus ducitur. Naxon a Delo duodeviginti milia passuum separant, in qua Strongyle oppidum: sed Naxos Dionysias quam Naxos prius dicta, vel quod hospita Libero patri vel quod fertilitate vitium vincat ceteras.

Paros is noble for marble, most frequented at the town of Abdelo: formerly, however, it was called Minoia rather than Paros: for, having been subdued by Minos, so long as it remained under Cretan laws, they called it Minoia. Besides marble it also yields the sard stone, which indeed excels marble, but among gems is reckoned the cheapest. Naxos is separated from Delos by 18 miles, in which is the town Strongyle: but Naxos was formerly called Dionysias rather than Naxos, either because it was a host to Father Liber or because by the fertility of its vines it surpasses the others.

sunt praeterea Cyclades plurimae, sed in supra dictis praecipuum est quod memoriae debeatur. de Sporadibus est Icaros quae Icario, mari nomen dedit. haec inter Samum et Myconum procurrentibus saxis inhospita ac nullis sinibus portuosa ob inhumana litorum infamis est.

there are, moreover, very many Cyclades, but among those above-mentioned the chief thing is what is owed to memory. Of the Sporades is Icaros, which gave its name to the Icarian Sea. This island, between Samos and Myconos, with rocks jutting forward, is inhospitable and, with no inlets, harborless, infamous on account of the inhuman shores.

vult ergo Varro Icarum Cretem ibi interisse naufragio, et de exitu hominis inpositum nomen loco. nam in Samo nihil nobilius quam Pythagoras civis, qui mox offensus fastu tyrannico, relicta domo patria Bruto consule qui reges urbe exegit, Italiam advectus est.

Varro therefore holds that Icarus perished there in Crete by shipwreck, and that from the exit of the man the name was imposed upon the place. For in Samos nothing is more noble than Pythagoras the citizen, who soon, offended by tyrannical fastus, having left his native home, in the consulship of Brutus, who drove the kings from the city, was carried over to Italy.

Melos, quam Callimachus Memallida dixit, omnium insularum rotundissima est iuxta Aeoliam. nam Carpathus, a qua Carpathium sinum dicimus. numquam ita caelum nubilum est ut in sole Rhodos non sit.

Melos, which Callimachus called “Memallida,” is the most round of all the islands next to Aeolia. for Carpathus, from which we name the Carpathian gulf. it is never so cloudy a sky that Rhodes is not in the sun.

Lemnii Vulcanum colunt, ideo in Lemno metropolis Hephaestia. praeterea oppidum Myrina, in cuius forum mons Athos in Macedonia umbram iacit. quod non frustra inter miracula notaverunt, cum Athos a Lemno VI et LXXX milibus passuum separetur.

The Lemnians worship Vulcan; therefore on Lemnos the metropolis is Hephaestia. Besides, there is the town Myrina, into whose forum Mount Athos in Macedonia casts a shadow. This they have not without cause noted among the marvels, since Athos is separated from Lemnos by 86 miles.

est sane Athos sublimis adeo ut altior aestimetur quam unde imbres cadunt. quae opinio in eo fidem concipit, quod in aris quas cacumine sustinet numquam cineres eluuntur nec quidquam ex aggeribus suis perdunt, sed quo relicti cumulo permanent. in summo eo oppidum Acroton fuit, in quo dimidio longior quam in aliis terris incolentium aetas prorogabatur: ideo inde homines macrobios Graeci, nostri appellavere longaevos.

Athos is indeed so lofty that it is reckoned higher than the level whence rains fall. This opinion takes credence from the fact that on the altars which it supports on its summit the ashes are never washed away, nor do they lose anything from their own mounds, but remain where they were left in their heap. On its very top there was a town, Acroton, in which the age of the inhabitants was prolonged by a half beyond that in other lands: therefore men from there the Greeks called “macrobiōi,” our people “longaevi.”

XII. Quartus Europae sinus Hellesponto incipit, Maeotis ostio terminatur. atque omnis haec latitudo quae Europam Asiamque dividit, in septem stadiorum angustias stringitur. hic est Hellespontus: hac Xerxes ponte navibus facto permeavit.

12. The fourth bay of Europe begins at the Hellespont, and is ended at the mouth of the Maeotis. And this whole breadth which divides Europe and Asia is compressed into a narrowness of seven stadia. This is the Hellespont: by this Xerxes, a bridge having been made with ships, passed over.

tenuis deinde euripus porrigitur ad Asiae urbem Priapum, qua magnus Alexander potiundi orbis amore transcendit et potitus est. inde diffusus aequore patentissimo rursus stringitur in Propontidem: mox in quingentos passus coartatur fitque Bosporos Thracius, qua Darius copias transportavit.

A slender strait then stretches to the Asian city Priapus, where Alexander the Great, from a love of possessing the world, crossed over and took possession. Thence, having spread out into a very open sea, it is again narrowed into the Propontis; soon it is contracted to 500 paces and becomes the Thracian Bosporus, where Darius transported his forces.

Haec profunda delphinas plurimos habent, in quibus causae miraculi multiformes. ante omnia nihil velocius habent maria, sic ut plerumque salientes transvolent vela navium. quoquo eant coniuges evagantur.

These depths have very many dolphins, in which the causes of marvel are multiform. before all, the seas have nothing swifter, so that often, leaping, they fly across the sails of ships. wherever they may go, their consorts roam.

catulos edunt: decimus mensis maturum facit partum: lucinam aestivus dies solvit: uberibus fetus alunt: teneros in faucibus receptant: invalidos aliquantisper prosecuntur. in tricesimum annum vivunt, quod exploratum est in experimentum caudis amputatis. ora non quo ceterae belvae loco habent sed ferme in ventribus.

they bear whelps: the tenth month makes the delivery mature: a summer day brings on the birth: they nourish the offspring at the teats: they receive the tender ones into their throats: they escort the weak for a while. they live into the thirtieth year, which has been ascertained by the experiment of amputated tails. they have their mouths not in the place where other beasts have them but almost in the belly.

contra naturam aquatilium soli linguas movent. aculeatae sunt pinnae dorsuales: cum ira subiacet inhorrescunt: cum animi conquieverint, quibusdam receptaculis operiuntur. spirare eos in aquis negant et vitales auras nonnisi in aere supero recuperare.

contrary to the nature of aquatics, they alone move their tongues. the dorsal fins are spiny; when anger underlies, they bristle; when their spirit has grown quiet, they are covered by certain receptacles. they deny their breathing in the waters, and that they recover the vital airs only in the upper air.

pro voce gemitus est similis humano. certum habent vocabulum quo accepto vocantes secuntur: nam proprie simones nominantur. voces hominum aquilonis flatu celerius hauriunt: contra austro spirante auditus obstruuntur.

Instead of a voice, a groan is similar to that of a human: they have a fixed vocable which, when received, they follow those calling: for properly they are named simones. They draw in the voices of men more swiftly with the blast of the north wind: contrariwise, when the south wind is blowing, their hearing is obstructed.

mulcentur musica: gaudent cantibus tibiarum: ubicumque symphonia est gregibus adventant. divo Augusto principe in Campania delphinem puer fragmentis panis primo inexit, et in tantum consuetudo valuit, ut alendum se etiam manui ipsius crederet. mox cum profluxisset puerilis audacia, intra spatia eum Lucrini lacus vectitavit: unde effectum, ut a Baiano litore equitantem puerum Puteolos usque veheret.

They are soothed by music; they rejoice in the songs of pipes; wherever there is symphony, they come up in flocks. Under the Deified Augustus as princeps in Campania, a boy at first enticed a dolphin with fragments of bread, and the consuetude prevailed to such a degree that it even entrusted itself to his very hand for feeding. Soon, when boyish audacity had flowed forth, he gave him rides within the spaces of the Lucrine Lake; whence it came about that from the Baian shore he would carry the boy, riding as on horseback, all the way to Puteoli.

hoc per annos plurimos tamdiu gestum, donec assiduo spectaculo desineret miraculum esse quod gerebatur. sed ubi obiit puer, sub oculis publicis desiderio eius delphin interiit. pigeret hoc adseverare, ni Maecenatis et Fabiani multorumque praeterea esset litteris conprehensum.

This went on for very many years, until by the constant spectacle what was being carried on ceased to be a miracle. But when the boy died, before the public eyes the dolphin perished from longing for him. I would be reluctant to assert this, were it not contained in the letters of Maecenas and Fabianus, and of many others besides.

in Africano mox litore apud Hipponem Diarrhyton delphin ab Hipponensibus pastus est tractandumque se praebuit, impositos quoque frequenter gestitavit. nec populi tantum manibus acta res est: nam etiam pro consule Africae Flavianus ipse cum contigit, unguentis etiam delibuit: qua odoris novitate obsopitus aliquantisper pro exanimi iactatus est multisque mensibus descivit a solita conversatione. apud Iasum urbem Babylonem puerum delphinus adamavit, quem dum post adsueta conludia recedentem inpatientius sequitur, harenis invectus haesit.

on the African littoral soon, at Hippo Diarrhyton, a dolphin was fed by the people of Hippo and presented itself to be handled, and it often eagerly carried those set upon it. nor was the matter conducted only by the hands of the populace: for even Flavianus himself, proconsul of Africa, when he made contact, even anointed it with unguents; by the novelty of that odor, lulled to sleep for a little while, it was tossed as if lifeless, and for many months it withdrew from its accustomed conversation. at the city of Iasus a dolphin fell in love with a boy Babylon; whom, while he more impatiently followed as he was withdrawing after their accustomed sport, being borne onto the sands he stuck fast.

Alexander magnus amorem illum numinis fuisse interpretatus praefecit puerum Neptuni sacerdotio. iuxta eandem urbem, ut Hegesidemus auctor est, alium puerum Hermian nomine per maria similiter insidentem cum undosior fluctus necavisset, delphin ad terram revexit et velut fateretur reatum, paenitentiam suam morte multavit nec reverti voluit amplius in profunda. suppetunt et alia exempla, ut Arionem transeamus, cuius exitum annalium conprobavit fides.

Alexander the Great, interpreting that love to have been of the numen, appointed the boy to the priesthood of Neptune. Near the same city, as Hegesidemus is author, when another boy, Hermias by name, similarly sitting astride through the seas had been drowned by a more surging billow, the dolphin carried him back to land and, as though confessing his guilt, mulcted his penitence by death, nor was willing any more to return into the deep. Other examples are at hand too—so that we may pass over Arion, whose end the trustworthiness of the annals has confirmed.

ad haec si quando lasciviunt novi fetus, a maioribus datur adultior custos, quo magistro discant eludere impetus incursantium belvarum: quamquam ibi praeter phocas rara belva est. plurimus thynnus in Ponto, nec alibi paene fetificant: nusquam enim citius adolescunt, scilicet ob aquas dulciores. ingrediuntur veris tempore.

To these points add that whenever the new offspring frolic, a more adult guardian is assigned by the elders, under whose tutelage they learn to elude the impetus of incursing beasts; although there, besides seals, a beast is rare. The tunny is most abundant in the Pontus, and scarcely anywhere else do they breed; for nowhere do they mature more quickly, evidently on account of the sweeter waters. They enter in the season of spring.

intrant dextero litore, laevo exeunt: hoc inde accidere credunt quod dexteris oculis acutius cernant quam sinistris.

they enter by the right-hand shore, they go out by the left: they believe this happens because they discern more acutely with the right eyes than with the left.

XIII. Hister Germanicis iugis oritur, effusus monte qui Rauracos Galliae aspectat. sexaginta amnes in se recipit ferme omnes navigabiles. septem ostiis Pontum influit: quorum primum Peuce, secundum Naracustoma, tertium Calonstoma, quartum Pseudostoma; nam Borionstoma ac deinde Spilonstoma languidiora sunt ceteris, septimum vero pigrum ac palustri specie non habet quod amni comparetur.

13. The Hister rises from the Germanic ridges, issuing from a mountain which looks toward the Rauraci of Gaul. It receives 60 rivers into itself, almost all navigable. By 7 mouths it flows into the Pontus: of which the first is Peuce, the second Naracustoma, the third Calonstoma, the fourth Pseudostoma; for Borionstoma, and then Spilonstoma, are more languid than the rest, while the seventh, sluggish and with a marshy aspect, has nothing that can be compared to a river.

priora quattuor ita magna sunt ut per longitudinem quadraginta milium passuum non misceantur aequori dulcemque haustum incorrupto detineant sapore.

the first four are so great that over a length of forty miles they are not mingled with the sea, and they retain a sweet draught with its flavor unspoiled.

Per universum Pontum fiber plurimus, quem alio vocabulo dicunt castorem. lytris similis est, animal morsu potentissimum, adeo ut cum hominem invasit, conventum dentium non prius laxet quam concrepuisse persenserit fracta ossa. testiculi eius adpetuntur in usum medellarum: idcirco cum urgeri se intellegit, ne captus prosit, ipse geminos suos devorat.

Throughout the whole Pontus the beaver is very plentiful, which by another term they call castor. It is similar to otters, an animal most powerful in its bite, to such a degree that, when it has attacked a man, it does not loosen the lock of its teeth until it has perceived, by the cracking, that the bones have been broken. Its testicles are sought for use in medicines; therefore, when it realizes itself to be hard pressed, lest it be of use if captured, it devours its own pair.

Mittit Pontus et gemmas quas a patria Ponticas dicimus genere diverso: aliae aureas, aliae sanguineas habent stellas, et hae quidem inter sacras habentur: nam quae ostentationi potius quam usui deliguntur, non guttis aspersae sunt, sed longis colorum ductibus liniuntur.

Pontus sends also gems which, from their homeland, we call Pontic, of diverse kind: some have golden, others sanguine stars, and these indeed are held among the sacred: for those chosen for ostentation rather than for use are not sprinkled with drops, but are marked with long strokes of colors.

XIV. Hypanis oritur inter Auchetas Scythicorum amnium princeps, purus et haustu saluberrimus, usque dum Callipidum terminis inferatur, ubi fons Exampaeus infamis est amara scaturrigine: qui Exampaeus liquido admixtus fluori amnem vitio suo vertit, adeo ut dissimilis sibi in maria condatur. ita inter gentium opiniones fama de Hypane discordat: qui in principiis cum norunt, praedicant, qui in fine experti sunt, non iniuria execrantur.

14. The Hypanis rises among the Auchetae, the chief of the Scythian rivers, pure and most salubrious to the draught, until it is carried within the boundaries of the Callipidae, where the spring Exampaeus is infamous for its bitter gush: this Exampaeus, when admixed with the liquid flow, turns the river by its own taint, to such a degree that, unlike itself, it is swallowed into the seas. Thus among the opinions of nations the report about the Hypanis is discordant: those who have known it at its beginnings proclaim it; those who have experienced it at the end, not unjustly execrate it.

XV. Apud Neuros nascitur Borysthenes flumen, in quo pisces egregii saporis et quibus ossa nulla sunt nec aliud quam cartilagines tenerrimae. verum Neuri, ut accepimus, statis temporibus in lupos transfigurantur: deinde exacto spatio, quod huic sorti adtributum est, in pristinam faciem revertuntur. populis istis deus Mars est: pro simulacris enses coluntur: homines victimas habent.

15. Among the Neuri the river Borysthenes is born, in which there are fish of excellent savor and which have no bones, but nothing other than very tender cartilages. However, the Neuri, as we have received, at stated times are transfigured into wolves; then, when the span assigned to this lot has elapsed, they revert to their pristine appearance. For those peoples the god is Mars: in place of images swords are worshiped: they have men as victims.

ossibus adolent ignes focorum. Geloni ad hos proximant. de hostium cutibus et sibi indumenta faciunt et equis suis tegmina.

they burn the hearth-fires with bones. The Geloni are adjacent to these. From the skins of enemies they make garments for themselves and coverings for their horses.

Gelonis Agathyrsi conlimitantur, caerulo picti, fucatis in caerulum crinibus, nec hoc sine differentia: nam quanto quis anteit, tanto propensiore nota tinguitur, ut sit indicium humilitatis minus pingi.

Conterminous with the Geloni are the Agathyrsi, painted in cerulean, with their hair dyed cerulean; nor is this without distinction: for the more a man excels, by so much the more conspicuous a mark he is dyed with, so that to be less painted is an indication of lowliness.

Post Anthropophagi, quibus execrandi cibi sunt humana viscera: quem morem impiae gentis adiacentium terrarum prodit tristissima solitudo, quas ob nefarium ritum finitimae nationes profugae reliquerunt. ea causa est, ut usque ad mare quod Tabin vocant per longitudinem eius orae quae aestivo orienti obiacet, sine homine terra sit et inmensa deserta, quoad perveniatur ad Seras. Chalybes et Dahae in parte Asiaticae Scythiae crudelitate ab inmanissimis nihil discrepant.

After the Anthropophagi, whose execrable food is human entrails: the most sorrowful solitude of the adjacent lands betrays this custom of the impious nation, which, on account of the nefarious rite, the neighboring peoples, as fugitives, abandoned. This is the cause, that as far as the sea which they call Tabin, along the length of that shore which faces the summer rising, the land is without man and an immense desert, until one reaches the Seres. The Chalybes and the Dahae, in the Asiatic part of Scythia, differ in cruelty not at all from the most savage.

at Albani in ora agentes, qui posteros se Iasonis credi volunt, albo crine nascuntur, canitiem habent auspicium capillorum: ergo capitis color genti nomen dedit. glauca oculis inest pupula: ideo nocte plus quam die cernunt.

but the Albani living on the coast, who wish to be believed the descendants of Jason, are born with white hair; they have hoariness as the auspice of their hair: therefore the color of the head has given the nation its name. a glaucous pupil is in their eyes: therefore they see more by night than by day.

Apud hos populos nati canes feris anteponuntur, frangunt tauros, leones premunt, detinent quicquid obiectum est: ex quibus causis meruerunt etiam annalibus tradi. legimus petenti Indiam Alexandro a rege Albaniae duos missos, quorum alter sues sibi et ursos oblatos usque eo sprevit, ut offensus degeneri praeda, ignavo similis diu accubaret: quem per ignorantiam velut inertem Alexander extingui imperavit. alter vero monitu eorum qui donum prosecuti fuerant leonem missum necavit: mox viso elephanto notabiliter exultans, belvam primum astu fatigavit, deinde cum summo spectantium horrore terrae adflixit.

Among these peoples, dogs born are preferred to wild beasts; they break bulls, they press lions, they hold fast whatever is set before them: for which reasons they have even deserved to be handed down in the annals. we read that, as Alexander was seeking India, two dogs were sent by the king of Albania, one of whom spurned the swine to him and bears offered to such a degree that, offended by degenerate prey, like a sluggard he lay about for a long time: whom Alexander, through ignorance, ordered to be put to death as if inert. the other, however, at the monition of those who had escorted the gift, killed the lion that had been sent: soon, on seeing an elephant, exulting notably, he first by craft wearied the beast, then, to the utmost horror of the spectators, dashed it to the ground.

hoc genus canes crescunt ad formam amplissimam, terrificis latratibus ultra rugitus insonantes. haec sunt de canibus Albanis: reliqua communia universis. dominos aequaliter omnes canes diligunt, sicut exemplis patet.

This breed of dogs grows to a most ample stature, resounding with terrifying barks that go beyond roars. These are the things about the Alban dogs: the remaining points are common to all. All dogs love their masters equally, as is evident from examples.

in Epiro denique domini percussorem in coetu agnitum latratu canis prodidit. Iasone Lycio, interfecto canis ipsius aspernatus cibum inedia obiit. Lysimachi regis canis flammae se iniecit accenso rogo domini et pariter igni absumptus est.

In Epirus, finally, a dog by its barking betrayed in an assembly the assassin of its master, once recognized. Jason the Lycian having been slain, his dog, spurning food, died by fasting. The dog of King Lysimachus hurled itself into the flames when its master’s pyre was kindled, and was likewise consumed by the fire.

Garamantum regem CC canes ab exilio reduxerunt proeliati adversus resistentes. Colophonii et Castabalenses canibus in bella ductis primas acies instruebant. Ap. Iunio P. Sicinio cos.

Two hundred dogs brought the king of the Garamantes back from exile, having fought against those resisting. The Colophonians and the Castabalans, with dogs led into wars, used to array the foremost battle-lines. Under Appius Junius and Publius Sicinius, consuls.

damnatum dominum canis, cum abigi non posset, comitatus in carcerem, mox percussum ululatu prosecutus est: cumque ex miseratione populi Romani potestas ei cibi fieret, ad os defuncti escam tulit: ultimo deiectum in Tiberim cadaver adnatans sustentare conatus. canes soli nomina sua recognoscunt, itinerum meminerunt. Indi coitus tempore in saltibus religant canes feminas, ut cum his tigrides coeant, quarum ex primis conceptibus ob nimiam feritatem inutiles partus iudicant, itidem secundos, tertios educant.

The dog, since he could not be driven away, accompanied his condemned master into prison, and soon, when he was struck down, attended him with ululation; and when, through the compassion of the Roman people, permission of food was granted to him, he brought food to the mouth of the deceased; lastly, when the corpse was cast down into the Tiber, swimming up he tried to support it. Dogs alone recognize their own names; they remember journeys. The Indians, at the time of mating, tie up female dogs in the woodland glades, so that tigers may mate with them; of these, from the first conceptions, on account of excessive ferocity, they judge the litters useless; likewise they rear the second and the third.

Aegyptii canes e Nilo numquam nisi currentes lambitant, dum a crocodilis insidias cavent.

Egyptian dogs lap from the Nile only when running, while they guard against the ambushes of crocodiles.

Inter Anthropophagos in Asiatica parte numerantur Essedones qui et ipsi nefandis funestantur inter se cibis. Essedonum mos est parentum funera prosequi cantibus et proximorum corrogatis coetibus corpora ipsa dentibus lancinare ac pecudum mixta carnibus dapes facere: capitum etiam ossa auro incincta in poculorum tradere ministerium.

Among the Anthropophagi in the Asiatic part are counted the Essedones, who themselves also are defiled among themselves with nefarious foods. It is the custom of the Essedones to accompany the funerals of their parents with songs, and, the gatherings of their nearest convoked, to lacerate the bodies themselves with their teeth and to make banquets with the flesh mixed with that of cattle: the bones of the heads too, encircled with gold, they hand over to the service of cups.

Scythotauri pro hostiis caedunt advenas. Nomades pabula secuntur. Georgi in Europa siti agros exercent.

The Scythotauri slaughter strangers as sacrificial victims. Nomads follow fodder. The Georgi, situated in Europe, cultivate fields.

Asiatae perinde in Europa siti neque mirantur aliena neque sua diligunt. Satarchae usu auri argentique damnato, in aeternum se a publica avaritia vindicarunt. Scytharum interius habitantium asperior ritus est: specus incolunt.

Asiatics likewise, situated in Europe, neither marvel at what is alien nor cherish their own. The Satarchae, with the use of gold and silver condemned, have vindicated themselves forever from public avarice. Of the Scythians dwelling farther inland the rite is harsher: they inhabit caves.

pocula non ut Essedones, sed de inimicorum capitibus moliuntur: amant proelia: interemptorum cruorem e vulneribus ipsis bibunt: numero caedium honor crescit, quarum expertem esse apud eos probrum est: haustu mutui sanguinis foedus sanciunt non suo tantum more sed Medorum quoque usurpata disciplina. bello denique, quod gestum est olympiade nona et quadragesima, anno post Ilium captum sexcentesimo quarto, inter Alyatten Lydum et Astyagen Mediae regem, hoc pacto firmata sunt iura pacis. Colchorum urbem Dioscuriadem Amphitus et Cercius aurigae Castoris et Pollucis condiderunt, a quibus Heniochorum gens exorta est.

they do not, like the Essedones, but they fashion drinking-cups from the heads of enemies: they love battles: they drink the gore of the slain from the very wounds themselves: honor grows with the number of killings, to be lacking in which is a disgrace among them: by a draught of mutual blood they sanction a treaty, not by their own custom only but with a discipline also borrowed from the Medes. finally, in the war which was waged in the forty-ninth Olympiad, in the 604th year after Troy was captured, between Alyattes the Lydian and Astyages, king of Media, the rights of peace were confirmed in this way. the city of the Colchians, Dioscurias, was founded by Amphitus and Cercius, charioteers of Castor and Pollux, from whom the nation of the Heniochi arose.

Ultra Sauromatas in Asia sitos, qui Mithridati latebram et quibus originem Medi dederunt, confines sunt Thali his nationibus quas ab oriente contingunt Caspii maris fauces: quae fauces mirum in modum maciantur imbribus, crescunt aestibus. Heniochorum montes Araxen, Moschorum Phasidem fundunt. sed Araxes brevibus intervallis ab Euphratis ortu caput tollit ac deinde in Caspium fertur mare.

Beyond the Sauromatae situated in Asia, who gave Mithridates a hiding-place, and to whom the Medes gave their origin, the Thali are contiguous to those nations which the straits of the Caspian Sea touch from the east: which straits, in a wondrous manner, are narrowed by rains and grow with surges. The mountains of the Heniochi pour forth the Araxes, those of the Moschi the Phasis. But the Araxes, at short intervals from the rise of the Euphrates, lifts its head and then is borne into the Caspian Sea.

Arimaspi circa Gesclithron positi uniocula gens est. ultra hos et Riphaeum iugum regio est assiduis obsessa nivibus: Pterophoron dicunt, quippe casus continuantium pruinarum quiddam ibi exprimit simile pinnarum. damnata pars mundi et a rerum natura in nubem aeternae caliginis mersa ipsisque prorsus aquilonis conceptaculis rigentissima.

The Arimaspi, situated around Gesclithron, are a one-eyed nation. Beyond them and the Riphaean ridge there is a region beset by assiduous snows: they call it Pterophoron, for the fall of continuous hoarfrost there produces something like feathers. A damned part of the world, and by Nature sunk into a cloud of eternal gloom, and utterly ice-bound by the very receptacles of the North Wind.

sola terrarum non novit vices temporum nec de caelo aliud accipit quam hiemem sempiternam.

alone among the lands, it does not know the vicissitudes of the seasons, nor does it receive from the sky anything other than sempiternal winter.

In Asiatica Scythia terrae sunt locupletes, inhabitabiles tamen: nam cum auro et gemmis affluant, grypes tenent universa, alites ferocissimi et ultra omnem rabiem saevientes. quorum inmanitate obsistente ad venas divites accessus rarus est: quippe visos discerpunt, velut geniti ad plectendam avaritiae temeritatem. Arimaspi cum his dimicant ut intercipiant lapides, quorum non aspernabimur persequi qualitatem.

In Asiatic Scythia the lands are wealthy, yet uninhabitable: for, although they abound with gold and gems, griffins hold the whole, winged creatures most ferocious and raging beyond all frenzy. Their savagery opposing, access to the rich veins is rare: indeed they tear to pieces those they see, as though born to chastise the temerity of avarice. The Arimaspians fight with these to intercept the stones, whose quality we shall not disdain to pursue.

smaragdis hic locus patria est, quibus tertiam inter lapides dignitatem Theophrastus dedit: nam licet sint et Aegyptii et Chalcedonii et Medici et Laconici, praecipuus est honos Scythicis. nihil his iucundius, nihil utilius vident oculi. in primis virent ultra aquaticum gramen, ultra amnicas herbas: deinde obtutus fatigatos coloris reficiunt lenitate, nam visus quos alterius gemmae fulgor retuderit smaragdi recreant.

Here is the native land of smaragds (emeralds), to which Theophrastus gave the third dignity among stones: for although there are Egyptian, Chalcedonian, Median, and Laconian ones, the chief honor belongs to the Scythian. The eyes see nothing more pleasant, nothing more useful than these. First, they are green beyond watery grass, beyond riverbank herbs; then they refresh wearied gazes by the gentleness of their color, for the eyesight which the brilliance of another gem has blunted, smaragds restore.

nec aliam ob causam placuit ut non sculperentur, ne offensum decus imaginum, lacunis corrumperetur: quamquam qui verus est difficulter vulneretur. probantur hoc pacto, si aspectus transmittant: si cum globosi sunt proxima sibi inficiant aere repercusso, aut cum concavi sunt inspectantium facies aemulentur: si neque umbra neque lucernis neque sole mutentur. optimos tamen sortiuntur situs quibus planities resupina est et extenta.

nor for any other cause did it please that they not be sculpted, lest the offended decor of the images be spoiled by lacunae; although the true one is with difficulty wounded. they are proved in this way: if they transmit the gaze; if, when they are globular, they dye the things nearest to them with a reflected bronze; or, when they are concave, they emulate the faces of the onlookers; if they are changed neither by shade, nor by lamps, nor by the sun. nevertheless, they obtain the best settings in which the plane is supine and outstretched.

inveniuntur etesiis flantibus: tunc enim detecto solo facillime internitent: nam etesiae plurimum harenas movent. alii minus nobiles in commissuris saxorum vel in metallis aerariis apparent, quos chalcosmaragdos nuncupant. vitiosi eorum intrinsecus quasdam sordes habent, vel plumbo vel capillamentis vel etiam sali similes.

they are found when the Etesian winds are blowing: for then, with the soil uncovered, they flash from within most easily; for the Etesian winds move the sands exceedingly. others, less noble, appear in the joints of rocks or in copper mines, which they call chalc-emeralds. the defective ones among them have certain impurities within, resembling either lead, or little hairs, or even salt.

laudantur austeri. mero et viridi proficiunt oleo, quamvis natura inbuantur. et cyaneus e Scythia est, optimus si caerulo coruscabit.

The austere ones are praised. They profit by pure and green oil, although they are imbued by nature. And the cyaneus is from Scythia, best if it will coruscate with cerulean.

cuius gnari in marem et feminam genus dividunt: feminis nitor purus est, mares punctulis ad gratiam interlucentibus auratilis pulviculus variat.

those knowledgeable about it divide the kind into male and female: in the females the luster is pure; the males are variegated by a golden little dust, with tiny points interlucent to grace.

Istic et crystallus, quem licet pars maior Europae et particula Asiae subministret, pretiosissimum tamen Scythia edit. multus ad pocula destinatur, quamlibet nihil aliud quam frigidum pati possit. sexangulus invenitur.

There too is crystal, which, although the greater part of Europe and a portion of Asia supply, nevertheless Scythia produces as the most precious. Much is destined for cups, although it can suffer nothing other than cold. It is found six-angled.

ll qui eligunt purissimum captant, ne quid rufum, ne nubilum vel spumis obsitum arceat perspicuitatem: tunc ne duritia iusto propensior obnoxium fragilitati magis faciat. putant glaciem coire et in crystallum corporari: sed frustra: nam si ita foret, nec Alabanda Asiae nec Cypros insula hanc materiam procrearent, quibus admodum calor iugis est. Livia Augusti ad magnitudinem CL librarum inter Capitolina donaria crystallum dedicavit.

Those who choose aim at the most pure, so that nothing reddish, nothing cloudy, or overlaid with foams may bar perspicuity; then, lest hardness, more inclined than is just, make it more liable to fragility. They think ice coalesces and is embodied into crystal—but in vain; for if it were so, neither Alabanda of Asia nor the island of Cyprus, in which the heat is exceedingly continual, would produce this material. Livia, wife of Augustus, dedicated a crystal among the Capitoline donations of a magnitude of 150 pounds.

XVI. Fabulae erant Hyperborei et rumor irritus, si quae illine ad nos usque fluxerunt, temere forent credita: sed cum probissimi auctores et satis vero idonei sententias pares faciant, nullus falsum reformidet. de Hyperboreis rem loquemur. li incolunt pone Pterophoron, quem ultra aquilonem accepimus iacere.

16. The Hyperboreans were tales and an idle rumor; if any reports have flowed from there all the way to us, they would have been believed rashly: but since most upright authors, sufficiently suitable to truth, make their opinions concordant, let no one dread falsehood. We will speak the matter concerning the Hyperboreans. They inhabit beyond the Pterophorus, which we have received lies beyond the north wind.

gens beatissima. eam Asiae quidam magis quam Europae dederunt. alii statuunt mediam inter utrumque solem, antipodum occidentem et nostrum renascentem: quod aspernatur ratio, tam vasto mari duos orbes interfluente.

A most blessed people. Some have assigned it to Asia rather than to Europe. Others place it midway between the two suns—the setting of the antipodes and our own rising—which reason rejects, with so vast a sea flowing between two orbs.

sunt igitur in Europa. apud quos mundi cardines esse credunt et extimos siderum ambitus, semestrem lucem, aversum una tantum die solem: quamquam existant qui putent non cotidie ibi solem ut nobis, sed vernali aequinoctio exoriri, autumnali occidere: ita sex mensibus infinitum diem, sex aliis continuam esse noctem. de caelo magna clementia: aurae spirant salubriter: nihil noxium flatus habent.

therefore they are in Europe. among whom they believe are the pivots of the world and the outermost orbits of the stars, a half‑year light, the sun turned away for only a single day: although there are those who think that the sun does not rise there daily as for us, but rises at the vernal equinox, sets at the autumnal: thus for six months an infinite day, for the other six a continuous night. as to the sky, great clemency: the breezes blow healthfully: the blasts have nothing noxious.

domus sunt nemora vel luci: in diem victum arbores sumministrant. discordiam nesciunt: aegritudine non inquietantur: ad innocentiam omnibus aequale votum. mortem accersunt et voluntario interitu castigant obeundi tarditatem: quos satias vitae tenet, epulati delibutique de rupe nota praecipitem casum in maria destinant: hoc sepulturae genus optimum arbitrantur.

Their homes are forests or sacred groves: the trees supply sustenance for the day. They know not discord; they are not disquieted by sickness; toward innocence there is an equal vow in all. They summon death, and by a voluntary death they castigate the tardiness of undergoing it: those whom a satiety of life holds, having feasted and been anointed, from a well-known cliff aim a headlong plunge into the seas; they judge this the best kind of sepulture.

aiunt etiam solitos per virgines probatissimas primitiva frugum Apollini Delio missitare: verum hae quoniam perfidia hospitum non inlibatae revenissent, devotionis quam peregre prosequebantur pontificium mox intra fines suos receperunt.

They say also that they were wont to send the first-fruits of their grain to Delian Apollo by the agency of most proven virgins; but since these, through the perfidy of their hosts, had not returned unsullied, they soon took back within their own borders the pontifical service of the devotion which they had been prosecuting abroad.

XVII. Altera in Asia gens est ad initium orientis aestivi, ubi deficiunt Riphaeorum montium iuga. Hyperboreis similes dicunt Arimphaeos. et ipsi gaudent frondentibus arbustorum: bacas edunt.

17. Another nation in Asia is at the commencement of the summer rising of the sun, where the ridges of the Rhipaean mountains fail. They say the Arimphaei are similar to the Hyperboreans. And they themselves delight in the leafy growths of the shrubs: they eat berries.

iuxta viros ac feminas taedet crinium: uterque sexus comas tondent. amant quietem, non amant laedere. sacri habentur attrectarique eos etiam a ferocissimis nationibus nefas ducitur.

alike for men and women, hair is wearisome: each sex shears its locks. they love quiet, they do not love to harm. they are held sacred, and to touch them is deemed unlawful even by the most ferocious nations.

quicumque periculum a suis metuit, si ad Arimphaeos transfugerit tutus est, velut asylo tegatur. ultra hos Cimmerii et gens Amazonum porrecta ad Caspium mare, quod dilapsum per Asiaticae plagae terga Scythicum inrumpit Oceanum.

whoever fears danger from his own people, if he flees over to the Arimphaei he is safe, as if he were sheltered by an asylum. beyond these are the Cimmerians and the nation of the Amazons, extended to the Caspian Sea, which, having spilled along the back of the Asiatic region, bursts into the Scythian Ocean.

Magnis deinde spatiis intercedentibus ostia Oxi fluminis Hyrcani habent, gens silvis aspera, copiosa inmanibus feris, feta tigribus. quod bestiarum genus insignes maculis notae et pernicitas memorabile reddiderunt. fulvo nitent: hoc fulvum nigrantibus segmentis interundatum varietate adprime decet.

Then, with great spaces intervening, the Hyrcanians possess the mouths of the river Oxus, a people rough with forests, copious in monstrous beasts, teeming with tigers. Which kind of beasts the spots that mark them and their swiftness have rendered memorable. They shine with a tawny hue: this tawny, rippled with blackish segments, is pre-eminently becoming for its variety.

pedum motum nescio velocitas an pervicacia magis adiuvet. nihil tam longum est quod non brevi pene-trent: nihil adeo antecedit, ut non ilico adsequantur. ac maxime potentia earum probatur, cum maternis curis incitantur, cum catulorum insistunt raptoribus: succedant sibi equites licet et astu quantolibet amoliri praedam velint, ni in praesidio maria fuerint, frustra est ausum omne.

I do not know whether velocity or pervicacity aids the motion of their feet more. Nothing is so long that they do not in a short time penetrate it: nothing so far ahead that they do not straightway overtake it. And their power is most of all proved when they are stirred by maternal cares, when they press upon the abductors of their cubs: although horsemen may relieve one another and wish by however great stratagem to carry off the booty, unless the seas be in their safeguard, every attempt is in vain.

notantur frequentissime, si quando latrones suos renavigantes vident, in litore irrita rabie cernuari, velut propriam tarditatem voluntaria castigantes ruina. quamquam de fetu universo vix unus queat subtrahi.

they are most frequently noted, whenever they see their plunderers sailing back, to pitch headlong on the shore in ineffectual rage, as if chastising their own tardity by a voluntary ruin. although from the entire litter scarcely a single one can be carried off.

Pantherae quoque numerosae sunt in Hyrcania, minutis orbiculis superpictae, ita ut oculatis ex fulvo circulis vel caerula vel alba distinguatur tergi supellex. tradunt odore earum et contemplatione armenta mire adfici atque ubi eas persentiscant properato convenire nec terreri nisi sola oris torvitate: quam ob causam pantherae absconditis capitibus quae corporis reliqua sunt spectanda praebent, ut greges stupidos in obtutum populentur secura vastatione. sed Hyrcani, ut hominibus intemptatum nihil est, frequentius eas veneno quam ferro necant.

Panthers too are numerous in Hyrcania, over-painted with minute little circles, such that, with eye-like circles from tawny rings, the furnishing of the back is distinguished as either cerulean or white. They relate that by their odor and by contemplation of them the herds are wondrously affected, and, when they thoroughly sense them, they come together with haste, nor are they terrified save by the grimness of the face alone: for which cause the panthers, with their heads concealed, present the remaining parts of the body to be looked at, so that they may plunder the stupefied herds into the gaze with a secure ravaging. But the Hyrcanians—since nothing is unattempted by men—kill them more frequently with poison than with iron.

aconito carnes inlinunt atque ita per compita spargunt semitarum: quas ubi esae sunt, fauces angina obsidentur. ideo gramini nomen pardaliacen dederunt. sed pantherae adversus hoc virus excrementa humana devorant et suopte ingenio pesti resistunt.

they smear meats with aconite and so scatter them at the crossroads of footpaths; and when these have been eaten, the throats are beset by angina. therefore they gave to the grass the name “pardaliacon.” but the panthers, against this venom, devour human excrements and by their own contrivance resist the pest.

lenta illis vivacitas, adeo ut eiectis interaneis mortem diu differant. in his silvestribus et pardi sunt, secundum a pantheris genus, noti satis nec latius exequendi: quorum adulteris coitibus degenerantur partus leaenarum et leones quidem procreantur, sed ignobiles.

they have a slow, tenacious vitality, to such a degree that, even with their entrails cast out, they defer death for a long time. among these wild creatures there are pards as well, a second genus after the panthers, well enough known and not to be pursued more broadly: by whose adulterous couplings the offspring of lionesses are degenerated, and lions indeed are begotten, but ignoble.

XVIII. Quoniam in Ponticis rebus sumus, non erit omittendum unde mediterranea maria caput tollant. existimant enim quidam sinus istos a Gaditano freto nasci, nec aliam esse originem quam eliquia inrumpentis Oceani: cuius spiritu pervadente apud aliquot mediterranea litora sicut in Italiae parte fieri accessus vel recessus. qui contrarium sentiunt, omnem illum fluorem aiunt a Ponticis faucibus inundare, idque fulciunt argumento non inani, quod aestus e Ponto profluus numquam reciprocetur.

18. Since we are on Pontic matters, it should not be omitted whence the inland seas raise their head. For some think those coves are born from the Gaditanian strait, and that there is no other origin than the effluence of the Ocean breaking in; as its breath pervades, along several inland shores, advances and recessions occur, as happens in a part of Italy. Those who feel the contrary say that all that current floods in from the Pontic throats, and they support this with a not empty argument, that the tide flowing out from the Pontus is never reciprocated.

XIX. Insula Apollonitarum octoginta milibus passuum abest a Bosporo Thracio citra Histrum sita, ex qua M. Lucullus Apollinem Capitolinum nobis extulit. ante Borysthenem Achillis insula est cum aede sacra, quam aedem nulla ingreditur ales: et quae forte advolaverit, raptim fugam properat. Oceanum septemtrionalem ex ea parte, qua a Propanisso amne Scythia adluitur, Hecataeus Amalcium appellat, quod gentis illius lingua significat congelatum.

19. The island of the Apollonitae is eighty miles distant from the Thracian Bosporus, situated on this side of the Hister, from which M. Lucullus carried off for us the Capitoline Apollo. Before the Borysthenes there is the island of Achilles with a sacred temple, which temple no bird enters; and any that by chance flies toward it hastens swiftly away in flight. The northern Ocean, on that side where Scythia is washed by the river Propanissus, Hecataeus calls Amalcium, which in the tongue of that nation signifies “frozen.”

Philemon a Cimbris ad promunturium Rubeas Morimarusam dicit vocari, hoc est mortuum mare: ultra Rubeas quicquid est Cronium nominat.

Philemon says that by the Cimbri up to the promontory Rubeae it is called Morimarusa, that is, the dead sea: beyond the Rubeae, whatever there is, he names the Cronian.

Mare autem Caspium ex altero Ponti latere ultra Massagetas et Apalaeos Scythas esse in Asiatica plaga dulce Alexandro Magno probatum est, mox Pompeio Magno, qui bello Mithridatico, sicut commilito eius Varro tradit, ipsis haustibus periclitari fidem voluit. id evenire produnt e numero fluminum, quorum tanta copia ibi confluit ut naturam maris vertant. non omiserim quod per idem tempus eidem Magno licuit ex India diebus octo ad Bactros usque Dalierum flumen, quo influit Oxum amnem, pervenire, deinde mare Caspium, inde per Caspium ad Cyri amnis penetrare fluentum, qui Armeniae et Hiberiae fines interluit.

The Caspian Sea, moreover, on the other side of the Pontus, beyond the Massagetae and the Apalaean Scythians, to be in the Asiatic region fresh, was proved by Alexander the Great, and later by Pompey the Great, who in the Mithridatic war, as his fellow-soldier Varro relates, wished to test the truth by draughts themselves. They report this comes about from the number of rivers, of which so great a supply flows together there that they change the nature of the sea. I will not omit that at about the same time it was permitted to that same Great man to reach from India in eight days as far as the Bactrians, up to the river of the Daliers, into which the river Oxus flows, then the Caspian Sea, and thence through the Caspian to penetrate to the current of the river Cyrus, which washes between the borders of Armenia and Iberia.

itaque a Cyro diebus non amplius quinque itinere terreno subvectis navibus ad alveum Phasidis pertendit: per cuius excursus in Pontum usque Indos advehi liquido probatum est. auctor est Xenophon Lampsacenus a litore Scytharum in insulam Abalciam triduo navigari: eius magnitudinem inmensam et paene similem continenti: nec longe Oaeones separari, quas qui habitent vivant ovis avium marinarum et avenis vulgo nascentibus: perinde alias propter constitutas aeque insulas, quarum Hippopodes indigenae humana usque ad vestigium forma in equinos pedes desinunt: esse et Phanesiorum, quorum aures adeo in effusam magnitudinem dilatentur, ut reliqua viscerum illis contegant nec amiculum aliud sit quam ut membra membranis aurium vestiant.

and so from the Cyrus, with the ships transported by an overland journey in no more than five days, he made for the channel of the Phasis: through whose outflow into the Pontus it has been clearly proved that Indians are conveyed. The authority is Xenophon of Lampsacus, that from the shore of the Scythians one sails in three days to the island Abalcia: its size immense and almost like the continent: and not far off the Oaeones are separated, those who inhabit which live on the eggs of sea-birds and on oats commonly growing: likewise other islands set near by, whose natives, the Hippopodes, their human form down to the very sole ends in equine feet: and that there are also Phanesii, whose ears are dilated to such a poured-out magnitude that they cover the rest of the body, nor is there any other garment than to clothe their limbs with the membranes of the ears.

Antequam digrediamur a Scythia, religio est praeterire quaenam peculiares sint ferae Scythiae. cervi plurimi in hac terra: igitur cervos persequemur. mares generis huiusce cum statum tempus venerem incitavit, saeviunt rabie libidinis.

Before we depart from Scythia, it is a religious scruple to pass over what beasts are peculiar to Scythia. deer are very many in this land: therefore we shall pursue deer. the males of this kind, when the fixed season has incited Venus (desire), rage with the frenzy of libido.

feminae licet prius conserantur, non concipiunt ante Arcturi sidus. nec qualibet partus suos educant. teneros studio occulunt et absconditos inter profunda fruticum vel herbarum pedum verbere castigant ad latendum.

although the females may be mated earlier, they do not conceive before the star of Arcturus. nor do they rear their offspring just anywhere. they zealously conceal the tender ones, and, once hidden amid the depths of shrubs or of grasses, they chastise them with the lash of their feet to induce them to lie hidden.

cum maturuit ad fugam robur, exercitio docent cursus et adsuescunt salire per abrupta. acceptis canum latratibus, secundo vento vias dirigunt, ut odor cum ipsis recedat. mirantur sibilum, fistularum: rectis auribus acutissime audiunt, submissis nihil.

when the strength has matured for flight, by exercise they teach them running and accustom them to leap over abrupt places. once they have caught the barking of dogs, with a following wind they direct their ways, so that the odor withdraws with them. they marvel at a whistle, at the piping of pipes: with ears erect they hear most acutely, with them lowered, nothing.

stupent omnia: propterea facilius obvios se praebent sagittantibus. si maria tranent, non aspectu petunt litora, sed olfactu: infirmos ponunt in ultimo et lassorum capita clunibus per vices sustinent. e cornibus quod dextrum fuerit efficacius est ad medellam.

everything startles them; therefore they more readily present themselves to archers as encounters. if they cross seas, they do not seek the shores by sight, but by smell: they place the weak at the rear, and by turns support the heads of the weary with their haunches. from their horns, the one that has been on the right is more efficacious for remedy.

si fugare angues gestias, utrum velis ures, quae ustrina praeterea nidore vitium aperit ac detegit, si cui inest morbus comitialis. pro aetate ramos augent. id incrementum in sexennes perseverat: deinceps numerosiora non possunt fieri cornua, possunt crassiora: quae quidem castratis numquam crescunt nec tamen decidunt.

if you are eager to drive away serpents, burn them, whichever you wish; and the burning of them, moreover, by its reek opens and uncovers the defect, if anyone has the comitial disease (epilepsy). they augment branches in proportion to age. this increase persists for six years; thereafter the horns cannot become more numerous, but they can become thicker: in the castrated, indeed, they never grow, nor yet do they fall off.

dentes monstrant senectutem, cum aut pauci inveniuntur aut nulli. serpentem hauriunt et spiritu narium extrahunt de latebris cavernarum. dictamnum ipsi prodiderunt, dum eo pasti excutiunt accepta tela.

Teeth demonstrate old age, when either few are found or none. They draw in the serpent and, by the breath of their nostrils, draw it out from the hiding-places of caverns. They themselves disclosed dittany (dictamnum), since, having fed on it, they shake out the missiles they had received.

herbam quoque quam cinarem vocant contra noxia edunt gramina. adversus venena mirificum est innulei coagulum occisi in matris suae, utero. patuit numquam eos febrescere, quam ob causam confecta ex medullis eorum unguina sedant calores hominum languentium.

They also eat the herb which they call cynara against noxious grasses. Against venoms the rennet of a fawn, killed in its mother’s uterus, is wonder-working. It has been apparent that they never grow feverish, for which reason unguents compounded from their marrow calm the heats of languishing humans.

legimus plurimos matutinis diebus cervinam carnem degustare solitos sine febribus longaevos fuisse: quod demum proderit si uno vulnere fuerint interempti. ad dinoscendam vivacitatem Alexander Magnus torques plurimis cervis innexuit, qui post annum centesimum capti necdum senii indicium praeferebant.

we read that very many were accustomed on morning days to taste cervine flesh and, without fevers, had been long-lived: which, however, will profit only if they have been dispatched by a single wound. To discern longevity, Alexander the Great fastened torques upon very many deer, who, captured after the 100th year, were not yet exhibiting an indication of senility.

Eadem paene specie sunt quos tragelaphos dicunt, sed non alibi quam circa Phasidem apparent: tantum quod illi villosos habent armos et menta promissis hirta barbis.

They are almost of the same appearance as those whom they call tragelaphs, but they appear nowhere except around the Phasis: only that those have shaggy shoulders and chins rough with let-down bristly beards.

XX. Mons Saevo ipse ingens nec Riphaeis minor collibus initium Germaniae facit. Inguaeones tenent, a quibus primis post Scythas nomen Germanicum consurgit. dives virum terra, frequens populis numerosis et inmanibus.

20. Mount Saevo itself, huge and not lesser than the Riphaean hills, makes the beginning of Germany. The Inguaeones hold it, from whom, first after the Scythians, the Germanic name arises. A land rich in men, teeming with peoples, numerous and immense.

extenditur inter Hercynium saltum et rupes Sarmatarum. ubi incipit Danuvio, ubi desinit Rheno perfunditur. de internis eius partibus Alba Guthalus Vistla amnes latissimi praecipitant in Oceanum.

it extends between the Hercynian forest and the crags of the Sarmatians. where it begins it is bathed by the Danube, where it ends by the Rhine. from its inner parts the very broad rivers Alba, Guthalus, and Vistla plunge into the Ocean.

Saltus Hercynius aves gignit quarum pennae per obscurum emicant et interlucent, quamvis obtenta nox denset tenebras. unde homines loci illius plerumque nocturnos excursus sic destinant, ut illis utantur ad praesidium itineris dirigendi, praeiactisque per opaca callium rationem viae moderentur indicio plumarum refulgentium. in hoc tractu sane et in omni septentrionis plaga visontes frequentissimi, qui bovis feri similes, saetosi colla, iubas horridi, ultra tauros pernicitate, capti adsuescere manu nesciunt.

The Hercynian Forest breeds birds whose feathers flash out and shine through the obscurity, although, when night is drawn over, it thickens the darkness. Whence the men of that place for the most part arrange nocturnal excursions thus, that they use them as a safeguard for directing their journey, and, the feathers cast ahead through the dark places of the paths, they regulate the plan of the way by the indication of the gleaming plumes. In this tract, to be sure, and in every region of the north, wisents are very frequent—like the wild ox, with bristly necks, shaggy in their manes—surpassing bulls in celerity, and, when captured, they do not become accustomed to the hand.

sunt et uri, quos inperitum vulgus vocat bubalos, cum bubali paene ad cervinam faciem in Africa procreentur. istis porro quos uros dicimus taurina cornua in tantum modum protenduntur, ut dempta ob insignem capacitatem inter regias mensas potuum gerula fiant. est et alce mulis conparanda, adeo propenso labro superiore, ut nisi recedens in posteriora vestigia pasci non queat.

There are also uri, which the unlearned common crowd calls bubali, although bubali are produced in Africa with a face almost deer-like. Moreover, in those which we call uros the taurine horns are extended to such a degree that, when removed, on account of their remarkable capacity, they become bearers of drinks among royal tables. There is also the alce, comparable to mules, with an upper lip so greatly overhanging that it cannot graze unless, retreating, it steps back into its hind footprints.

Gangavia insula e regione Germaniae mittit animal quale alce, sed cuius suffragines ut elephantis flecti nequeunt: propterea non cubat cum dormiendum est, tamen somnulentam arbor sustinet, quae prope casuram secatur, ut fera dum adsuetis fulmentis innititur faciat ruinam. ita capitur: alioqui difficile est eam mancipari: nam in illo rigore poplitum inconprehensibili fuga pollet. de Germanicis insulis Gangavia maxima est, sed nihil in ea magnum praeter ipsam.

The island Gangavia, over against Germany, sends forth an animal like an elk, but whose hock-joints, as in elephants, cannot be bent: therefore it does not lie down when there is sleeping to be done; yet a tree supports it when somnolent, which is cut so as to be about to fall, so that the beast, while it leans upon its accustomed props, brings about a collapse. Thus it is captured: otherwise it is difficult to make it a possession; for in that rigidity of the knees it prevails by inapprehensible flight. Of the Germanic islands Gangavia is the greatest, but there is nothing great in it except itself.

Nam Glaesaria dat crystallum, dat et sucinum: quod sucinum Germani gentiliter vocant glaesum. qualitas materiae istius summatim antea, Germanico autem Caesare omnes Germaniae oras scrutante conperta: arbor est pinei generis, cuius mediale autumni tempore sucino lacrimat. sucum esse arboris de nominis capessas qualitate: pinum vero, unde sit gignitum, si usseris, odor indicabit.

For Glaesaria gives crystal, and gives amber too: which amber the Germans, in their native tongue, call glaesum. The quality of this material was briefly set forth above, but was ascertained when Germanicus Caesar scrutinized all the shores of Germany: it is a tree of the pine kind, whose inner part, at the season of autumn, weeps with amber. That it is the sap of a tree you may gather from the character of the name; and the pine, moreover, from which it has been engendered, if you burn it, the odor will indicate.

pretium operae est scire longius, ne Padanae silvae credantur lapidem flevisse. hanc speciem in Illyricum barbari intulerunt: quae cum per Pannonica commercia usu ad Transpadanos homines foret devoluta, quod ibi primum nostri viderant, ibi etiam natam putaverunt. munere Neronis principis adparatus omnis sucino inornatus est: nec difficulter, cum per idem tempus tredecim milia librarum rex Germaniae donum ei miserit.

It is worth the effort to know further, lest the Padan forests be believed to have wept a stone. The barbarians brought this kind into Illyricum: which, when through Pannonian commerce in practice it had been carried down to the Transpadane people, because our people had first seen it there, they also thought it had been produced there. At a munus of Nero the princeps the entire apparatus was adorned with amber: nor was this difficult, since at the same time the king of Germany sent to him as a gift 13,000 pounds.

rude primum nascitur et corticosum, deinde incoctum adipe lactentis suis expolitur ad quem videmus nitorem. pro facie habet nomina: melleum dicitur et Falernum, utrumque de similitudine aut vini aut utique mellis. in aperto est quod rapiat folia, quod trahat paleas: quod vero medeatur multis vitalium incommodis, medentium docuit disciplina.

At first it is born rude and corticated; then, steeped with the fat of a suckling pig, it is polished to the luster we see. It has names according to its appearance: it is called honey-colored and Falernian, both from a likeness either to wine or, at any rate, to honey. It is evident in the open that it snatches up leaves and draws straw; but that it remedies many ailments of the vital parts, the discipline of the physicians has taught.

India habet sucinum, sed Germania plurimum optimumque. quoniam ad insulam Glaesariam veneramus, a sucino coeptum.

India has amber, but Germany has the most and the best. Since we have come to the island Glaesaria, let us begin with amber.

Nam in Germaniae continentibus gallaica reperitur, quam gemmam Arabicis anteponunt: vincit enim gratia. Arabes quidem dicunt non alibi eam deprehendi quam in nidis avium quas melancoryphos vocant: quod nullus recepit, cum apud Germaniae populos quamvis rara in saxis tamen appareat. honore et pretio ad smaragdos viret pallidum.

For on the mainland of Germany a gallaica is found, a gem which they set before the Arabian ones: for it prevails in grace. The Arabs indeed say that it is discovered nowhere else than in the nests of birds which they call melancoryphos: which no one has accepted, since among the peoples of Germany, although rare, it nevertheless appears in the rocks. In honor and in price, next to emeralds, it is green, pale.

nihil iucundius aurum decet. cerauniorum porro genera diversa sunt. Germanicum candidum est: splendet tamen caerulo et si sub divo habeas fulgorem rapit siderum.

Nothing more pleasing suits gold. Moreover, the kinds of ceraunia (thunder-stones) are diverse. The German kind is bright-white: yet it shines with a cerulean hue, and if you hold it beneath the open sky it snatches the brilliance of the stars.

XXI. Galliae inter Rhenum et Pyrenaeum, item inter Oceanum et montes Cebennam ac Iuris porriguntur, praepinguibus glebis accommodae proventibus fructuariis, pleraeque consitae vitibus et arbustis, omni ad usum animantium fetu beatissimae, riguae aquis fluminum et fontium, sed fontaneis interdum sacris et vaporantibus. infamantur ritu incolarum, qui ut aiunt (veri enim periculum non ad me recipio) iniuria religionis humanis litant hostiis. ex isto sinu quoquo orbis velis exeas: in Hispanias et in Italiam terra marique: in Africam mari tantum: si Thracia sit petenda, excipit ager Raeticus optimus et ferax, inde Noricus frigidus et parcius fructuosus, tum Pannonia viro fortis et solo laeta, deinde Moesiae, quas maiores nostri iure Cereris horreum nominabant.

21. The Gauls stretch between the Rhine and the Pyrenees, likewise between the Ocean and the mountains Cevenna and Jura, with very rich clods, suited to fruit-bearing yields, mostly planted with vines and orchards, most blessed in the breeding of all animals for use, watered by the waters of rivers and springs, but with spring-waters sometimes sacred and steaming. They are ill-famed for the rite of the inhabitants, who, as they say (for I do not take upon myself the hazard of the truth), by an outrage to religion propitiate with human victims. From this gulf, to whatever quarter of the world you may wish to sail out: to the Spains and to Italy by land and sea; to Africa by sea only; if Thrace is to be sought, there receives you the Raetian land, excellent and fertile, then the Noric, cold and more sparingly fruitful, then Pannonia, strong in men and glad in its soil, next the Moesias, which our forefathers rightly called the granary of Ceres.

in quarum parte quae Pontica est apparet herba, qua inficitur oleum quod vocant Medicum: hoc ad incendium excitatum si obruere aqua gestias, ardet magis nec alio sopitur quam iactu pulveris.

in the part of which is Pontic there appears an herb, with which is imbued the oil which they call Medicum; if you are eager to overwhelm with water a fire kindled by this, it burns the more, and is not quenched by anything other than the casting of dust.

XXII. Finis erat orbis ora Gallici litoris, nisi Brittania insula non qualibet amplitudine nomen paene orbis alterius mereretur: octingenta enim et amplius milia passuum longa detinet, ita ut eam in Calidonicum usque angulum metiamur. in quo recessu Ulixem Calidoniae adpulsum manifestat ara Graecis litteris scripta [votum].

22. The end of the world would have been the shore of the Gallic littoral, were it not that the island of Britain, of no ordinary amplitude, would almost merit the name of another world: for it holds a length of eight hundred and more miles, so that we measure it all the way to the Caledonian angle. in which recess an altar inscribed with Greek letters makes manifest that Ulysses, having come ashore in Caledonia, [vow].

Multis insulis nec ignobilis circumdatur. quarum Hibernia ei proximat magnitudine, inhumana incolarum ritu aspero, alias ita pabulosa, ut pecua, nisi interdum a pastibus arceantur, ad periculum agat satias. illic nullus anguis, avis rara, gens inhospita et bellicosa.

It is surrounded by many islands not undistinguished. Of these, Ireland comes next to it in size, with the inhuman, harsh manner of its inhabitants; otherwise so pasture-rich that the cattle, unless at times they are kept back from grazing, are driven by satiety into peril. There is no serpent there, birds are rare, a people inhospitable and bellicose.

sanguine interemptorum hausto prius victores vultus suos oblinunt. fas ac nefas eodem loco ducunt. apes nusquam: advectum inde pulverem seu lapillos si quis sparserit inter alvearia, examina favos deserent.

having first drained the blood of the slain, the victors smear their own faces. they reckon right and wrong (fas and nefas) in the same place. bees are nowhere. if anyone scatter dust or little stones conveyed thence among the hives, the swarms will abandon the honeycombs.

sed mare quod inter hanc et Brittaniam interluit undosum inquietumque toto in anno nonnisi pauculis diebus est navigabile idque in centum viginti milia passuum latitudinis diffundi qui fidem ad verum ratiocinati sunt aestimarunt. Siluram quoque insulam ab ora quam gens Brittana Dumnonii tenent turbidum fretum distinguit. cuius homines etiamnunc custodiunt morem vetustum: nummum refutant: dant res et accipiunt: mutationibus necessaria potius quam pretiis parant: deos percolunt: scientiam futurorum pariter viri ac feminae ostentant.

but the sea which flows between this and Britain is billowy and restless, and throughout the whole year is navigable only on a very few days; and those who have reasoned credibly to the truth have estimated that it spreads to a breadth of 120 miles. The island Silura, too, is distinguished from the shore which the British nation, the Dumnonii, hold by a turbid strait. whose people even now keep an ancient custom: they reject coin: they give things and receive: by exchanges they procure necessities rather than by prices: they cultivate the gods: the knowledge of things to come both men and women alike display.

at Tanatus insula adspiratur freto Gallico, a Brittaniae continente aestuario tenui separata, felix frumentariis campis et gleba uberi, nec tantum sibi verum et aliis salubris locis: nam cum ipsa nullo serpatur angue, asportata inde terra quoquo gentium invecta sit angues necat.

But the island Tanatus is fanned by the Gallic strait, separated from Britain’s mainland by a narrow estuary, blessed with grain-bearing fields and a fertile clod, and salubrious not only for itself but for other places as well: for, since it is traversed by no snake, soil carried from there, wherever among the nations it is conveyed, kills snakes.

Multae et aliae circa Brittaniam insulae, e quibus Thyle ultima, in qua aestivo solstitio sole de cancri sidere faciente transitum nox nulla: brumali solstitio perinde nullus dies. ultra Thylen accipimus pigrum et concretum mare.

Many other islands also around Britain, of which Thule is the farthest, in which at the summer solstice, with the sun making its transit from the sign of Cancer, there is no night; at the brumal solstice likewise no day. Beyond Thule we receive report of a sluggish and congealed sea.

Circuitus Brittaniae quadragies octies septuaginta quinque milia sunt. in quo spatio magna et multa flumina, fontes calidi opiparo exculti apparatu ad usus mortalium: quibus fontibus praesul est Minervae numen, in cuius aede perpetui ignes numquam canescunt in favillas, sed ubi ignis tabuit vertit in globos saxeos. praeterea, ut taceam metallorum largam variamque copiam quibus Brittaniae solum undique generum pollet venis locupletibus, gagates hic plurimus optimusque est lapis: si decorem requiras, nigrogemmeus: si naturam, aqua ardet, oleo restinguitur: si potestatem, attritu calefactus adplicita detinet atque sucinum.

The circuit of Britain amounts to forty‑eight times seventy‑five thousand. in which expanse there are great and many rivers, hot springs adorned with sumptuous apparatus for the uses of mortals: over which fountains the numen of Minerva is the prelate, in whose temple perpetual fires never grow hoary into cinders, but when the fire has melted away it turns into stony globes. furthermore, to say nothing of the abundant and manifold supply of metals, with whose rich veins on every side the soil of Britain excels in kinds, here the gagates stone is very plentiful and best: if you seek its comeliness, it is black‑gemlike; if its nature, in water it burns, by oil it is extinguished; if its power, when heated by rubbing it holds fast things applied, and so does amber.

regionem partim tenent barbari, quibus per artifices plagarum figuras iam inde a pueris variae animalium effigies incorporantur, inscriptisque visceribus hominis incremento pigmenti notae crescunt: nec quicquam mage patientiae loco nationes ferae ducunt, quam ut per memores cicatrices plurimum fuci artus bibant.

part of the region is held by barbarians, among whom, through artificers of wound-figures, from boyhood various effigies of animals are incorporated; and, the flesh of the man being inscribed, with the increment of the pigment the marks grow: nor do the savage nations deem anything more as a token of patience/endurance than that, through memorial scars, their limbs drink in a very great amount of dye.