Solinus: DE MIRABILIBUS MUNDI Mommsen 1st edition (1864)
Solinus•DE MIRABILIBUS MUNDI Mommsen 1st edition (1864)
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XXXV. Iudaea inlustris est aquis, sed natura non eadem aquarum omnium. Iordanis amnis eximiae suavitatis, Paneade fonte dimissus, regiones praeterfluit amoenissimas; mox in Asphaltitem lacum mersus stagno corrumpitur. qui Asphaltites gignit bitumen, animal non habet, nihil in eo mergi potest: tauri etiam camelique inpune ibi fluitant.
35. Judea is illustrious for its waters, but the nature is not the same of all the waters. The river Jordan, of exceptional sweetness, sent forth from the Paneas spring, flows past most delightful regions; soon, plunged into the Asphaltite lake, it is corrupted by the stagnant pool. The Asphaltite lake produces bitumen, has no animals, and nothing can be submerged in it: even bulls and camels float there without harm.
In hac terra balsamum nascitur, quae silva intra terminos viginti iugerum usque ad victoriam nostram fuit: at cum Iudaea potiti sumus, ita luci illi propagati sunt, ut iam nobis latissimi colles sudent balsama. similes vitibus stirpes habent: malleolis digeruntur, rastris nitescunt, aqua gaudent, amant amputari, tenacibus foliis sempiterno inumbrantur. lignum caudicis attrectatum ferro sine mora moritur: ea propter aut vitro aut cultellulis osseis, sed in sola cortice artifici plaga vulneratur, e qua eximiae suavitatis gutta manat.
In this land balsam grows, a grove which within the bounds of twenty iugera endured up to our victory: but when we gained possession of Judea, those groves were so extended that now the very broad hills sweat balsam for us. They have stocks similar to vines: they are propagated by cuttings, they thrive under the rake, they delight in water, they love to be pruned, they are shaded by tenacious leaves in everlasting fashion. The wood of the trunk, if touched by iron, dies without delay: on that account either with glass or with little knives of bone, but only in the bark, an artful stroke is made to wound, from which a drop of surpassing sweetness flows.
Longo ab Hierosolymis recessu tristis sinus panditur, quem de caelo tactum testatur humus nigra et in cinerem soluta. ibi duo oppida, Sodomum nominatum alterum, alterum Gomorrum, apud quae pomum quod gignitur, habeat licet speciem maturitatis, mandi tamen non potest: nam fuliginem intrinsecus favillaciam ambitio tantum extimae cutis cohibet, quae vel levi pressa tactu fumum exhalat et fatiscit in vagum pulverem.
At a long remove from Jerusalem a melancholy bay is spread open, which the earth, black and loosened into ash, bears witness to have been struck from heaven. There are two towns there, the one named Sodom, the other Gomorrah; near which the fruit that is produced, although it has the appearance of maturity, nevertheless cannot be eaten: for the soot within, an ashy cinder, is held together only by the encircling of the outermost skin, which, pressed even by a light touch, exhales smoke and falls apart into wandering powder.
Interiora Iudaeae occidentem quae contuentur Esseni tenent, qui memorabili disciplina recesserunt a ritu gentium universarum, maiestatis ut reor providentia ad hunc morem destinati. nulla ibi femina: venere se penitus abdicaverunt. pecuniam nesciunt.
The Essenes hold the interior parts of Judaea that look toward the West, who by a memorable discipline have withdrawn from the rite of all nations, by the providence of Majesty, as I reckon, destined to this custom. No woman there: they have utterly abdicated themselves from venery. They are unacquainted with money.
to which, although very many from all sides of the nations hasten, none is admitted, unless the pledge of chastity and the merit of innocence attend him: for he who is guilty even of a light fault, although he should wish with utmost effort to obtain entrance, is driven away by divine agency. thus, through the immense span of ages—incredible to say—there is an eternal nation with childbearing ceasing. Engada was a town below the Essenes, but it has been razed.
XXXVI. Transeo Damascum Philadelphiam Rhaphanam. Scythopoli primos incolas et auctorem dabo. Liber pater cum humo nutricem tradidisset, condidit hoc oppidum, ut sepulturae titulum etiam urbis moenibus ampliaret.
36. I pass over Damascus, Philadelphia, Raphana. For Scythopolis I will give the first inhabitants and the founder. Father Liber, when he had consigned the nurse to the soil, founded this town, so that he might amplify the title of the sepulture even with the walls of a city.
the inhabitants were lacking: from his companions he chose Scythians, whom, in order to strengthen their spirit for prompt resistance to violence, he rewarded by bestowing the name of the place. In Seleucia there is another Mount Cassius, near Antioch, from whose summit already at the fourth watch the globe of the sun is seen; and with a brief turning of the body, as the rays dissipate the gloom, there night and here day are discerned. Such is the lookout from Cassius, that you see the light before the day takes its auspices.
XXXVII. Euphraten fundit Armenia maior, ortu supra Zimam sub radicibus montis, quem Catopen accolae nominant, Scythis proximo. hic receptis in se aliquot amnibus convalescit et stipatus convenis aquis luctatur cum montis Tauri obiectu, quem apud Elegeam scindit, resistat licet duodecim milium passuum latitudine: longisque excursibus dextera Commagenem, Arabiam laeva relinquit: deinde praelabens plurimas gentes Babyloniam quondam Chaldacorum caput dividit. Mesopotamiam opimat inundationis annuae excessibus, ad instar Aegyptii amnis terras contegens, invecta soli fecunditate, iisdem ferme temporibus quibus Nilus exit, sole scilicet in parte cancri vigesima constituto: tenuatur cum iam leone decurso ad extima virginis curricula facit transitum.
37. Greater Armenia pours forth the Euphrates, arising above Zima under the roots of the mountain which the inhabitants name Catopen, next to the Scythians. Here, having received several rivers into itself, it grows strong, and, packed with converging waters, it wrestles with the obstacle of Mount Taurus, which it cleaves near Elegea, although it resists with a breadth of 12 miles: and in long excursions, on the right it leaves Commagene, on the left Arabia: then, gliding past very many peoples, it divides Babylonia, once the head of the Chaldaeans. It enriches Mesopotamia by the excesses of the annual inundation, covering the lands after the manner of the Egyptian river, with fertility brought in upon the soil, at nearly the same times at which the Nile issues forth, namely with the sun positioned in the 20th part of Cancer: it is thinned when, Leo already run through, it makes the passage to the farthest courses of Virgo.
which the gnomonists contend happens to similar parallels, which the equality of the normal line makes equal in the position of the lands. whence it appears that these two rivers, constituted according to the modulus of the same perpendicular, although they remain in different regions, have the same causes of increment.
at first it flows sluggishly, not by its own name: but when it has entered the borders of the Medes, it is at once called Tigris; for thus the Medes name an arrow. it flows into the lake Aretisa, which sustains all weights: the fishes of which never mingle themselves with the channel of the Tigris, just as neither do the fishes of the river pass into the pool of Aretisa, through which it goes, unlike in color and with a winged course. soon, with the Taurus resisting, it plunges into a deep cavern, and, gliding beneath it, on its other side near Zomada it bursts forth, dragging along sedge and very much refuse with it.
Quaecumque Euphraten bibunt gentes, diverso nitent lapide. zmilanthis in ipso alveo legitur, gemma ad imaginem marmoris Proconnensis nisi quod in medio umbilico lapidis istius glauci velut oculi pupula internitet. sagada a Chaldaeis ad nos usque fluxit, haud facilis repertu, ni ut perhibent ipsa se capessendam daret: namque ingenita spiritus efficacia supermeantes naves e profundo petit et carinis ita tenaciter adcorporatur, ut nisi abrasa parte ligni aegre separetur.
Whatever nations drink of the Euphrates gleam with a different stone. The zmilanthis is gathered in the very riverbed, a gem in the likeness of Proconnesian marble, except that in the middle boss of this glaucous stone there glitters, as it were, the pupil of an eye. The sagada has come down to us from the Chaldaeans, not easy to find, unless, as they say, it itself offers itself to be taken: for by an inborn efficacy of spirit it seeks from the depths the ships passing above, and so tenaciously fastens itself to the keels that, unless a portion of the wood be scraped off, it is scarcely separated.
That sagada among the Chaldaeans, on account of the effects which they know from it, is held in a principal place; to others it is more pleasing for its grace, most pleasantly verdant. Myrrhites is familiar to the Parthians. If you judge this by sight, it is the color of myrrh and has nothing that would affect; if you explore it deeply and by attrition incite it to heat, it breathes the sweetness of nard.
In Perside lapidum tanta copia est tantaque diversitas, ut longum paene sit ipsis vocabulis inmorari. mithridax sole percussa coloribus micat variis. tecolithos nucleo olivae similis spernitur cum videtur, sed remediis bonus vincit aliorum pulchritudinem: solutus quippe et haustus pulsis calculis renium dolores ac vesicae levat.
In Persia there is such a copiousness of stones and such a diversity that it is almost too long to linger over the names themselves. The mithridax, when struck by the sun, glitters with various colors. The tecolithos, similar to an olive’s kernel, is disdained when seen, but, being good in remedies, it surpasses the pulchritude of others: for, dissolved and drunk, with the calculi driven out, it relieves the pains of the kidneys and of the bladder.
hammochrysos, with sands intermixed with gold, has little squares now of leaf, now of powder. the aetite is tawny and, in a rounded formation, holds enclosed within it another stone, whose crepitation is sonorous when it is moved: although the most learned say that the tinkling is made not by an internal scruple (pebble), but by a spirit. Zoroaster prefers this aetite before all and attributes to it the greatest power.
It is found either in the eagle’s nests or on the shores of the Ocean: in Persia, however, it is very plentiful. Worn tied on, it defends the hope of the womb from abortive fluxes. Pyrites is dusky and does not allow itself to be held too vehemently; and if ever it is pressed by a tighter hand, it singes the fingers.
the same, if mixed with water and ground, smells of wine and, what in that odor is marvelous, resists ebriety. the glossopetra falls from the sky at waning moons, like a human tongue, of no moderate power, as the magi relate, who think lunar motions are excited from it. the gem of the Sun is intensely incandescent to the appearance of a shining star, and casts rutilant rays from itself.
The Hair of Venus shines in black, displaying in its inner conduits the likeness of red hairs. Selenite is translucent with a shining white and honey-like glow, containing the image of the moon, which they report, according to the course of that star itself, each day either to be diminished or increased. Meconites expresses poppies.
XXXVIII. Ciliciam, qua de agitur, si ut nunc est loquamur, derogasse videbimur fidei vetustatis: si terminos sequimur quos habuit olim, absonum est a contemplatione rerum praesentium. ergo inter utramque culpam factu optimum est amborum temporum statum persequi.
38. Cilicia, which is the matter at hand, if we speak as it now is, we will seem to have derogated from the credit of antiquity; if we follow the boundaries which it once had, it is incongruous with the contemplation of present things. therefore, between either fault, the best thing to do is to pursue the state of both times.
Cilicia antea usque ad Pelusium Aegypti pertinebat Lydis Medis Armeniis Pamphylia Cappadocia sub imperio Cilicum constitutis: mox ab Assyriis subacta in breviorem modum scripta est. plurima iacet campo, sinu lato recipiens mare Issicum, a tergo montium Tauri et Amani iugis clausa. a Cilice nomen trahit, quem aetas pristina paene ultra aevum memoriae abscondit.
Cilicia formerly extended as far as Pelusium of Egypt, with the Lydians, Medes, Armenians, Pamphylia, and Cappadocia established under the dominion of the Cilicians: soon, having been subdued by the Assyrians, it was recorded in a shorter form. For the most part it lies on plain ground, receiving the Issic sea in a wide gulf, shut in at the back by the ridges of the mountains Taurus and Amanus. It draws its name from Cilix, whom an earlier age has almost hidden beyond the span of memory.
This Cydnus, some have handed down, is precipitated from Taurus, others that it is derived from the channel of the Choaspes. The Choaspes is so sweet that the Persian kings, so long as it flows between the banks of Persia, claimed cups from it for themselves alone, and when it was necessary to travel abroad, they would carry its waters with them. From that parent the Cydnus draws a marvelous sweetness.
Whatever is white the Syrians in their native tongue call “cydnum”: whence to this river the name has been given. It swells in spring when the snows are loosened; in the remaining times of the year it is thin and quiet. Around Corycus of Cilicia there is crocus in the greatest quantity and the best: let Sicily supply, let Cyrene supply, and let Lycia too supply, this is first: it breathes more fragrantly, it is of a more golden color, by the help of its juice it more quickly makes progress toward healing.
Ibi Corycos oppidum est et specus, qui montem inpositum mari a summo cavat vertice, patulus hiatu amplissimo: nam deiectis lateribus in terrae profundum nemoroso orbe amplectitur mediam inanitatem, virens introrsus lucis pendentibus. descensus in eum per duo milia et quingentos passus non sine largo die, hinc inde fontium adsidua scaturrigine. ubi perventum ad ima primi sinus, alter rursus specus panditur.
There is there the town of Corycos and a cavern, which hollows a mountain set upon the sea from its topmost vertex, wide-open with a most ample gape: for, the sides having been cast down, into the depth of the earth with a wooded orb it embraces a central emptiness, green within, with hanging groves. The descent into it is for 2,500 paces, not without generous daylight, here and there with the continual bubbling of springs. When one has come to the lowest parts of the first recess, another cavern opens anew.
Mons Taurus ab Indico primum mari surgit, deinde a scopulis Chelidoniis, inter Aegyptium et Pamphylium pelagus, obiectus septemtrioni dextero latere, laevo meridianae plagae, occidenti obversus fronte profusa. palam est terras eum continuare voluisse penetrato mari, nisi profundis resistentibus extendere radices suas vetaretur. denique qui periclitantur naturas locorum, temptasse eum omnes exitus promunturiis probant: etenim quoquovorsum mari adluitur, procedit in prominentias: sed modo intercluditur Phoenicio, modo Pontico sinu, interdum Caspio vel Hyrcano: quibus renitentibus subinde fractus contra Maeotium lacum flectitur multisque difficultatibus fatigatus Ripaeis se iugis adnectit.
Mount Taurus rises first from the Indian sea, then from the Chelidonian cliffs, between the Egyptian and Pamphylian sea, thrown opposite to the north on its right side, on its left to the meridional region, facing the west with an outpoured front. It is plain that it wished to continue the lands by having pierced the sea, were it not forbidden to extend its roots by the depths resisting. Finally, those who make trial of the natures of places prove that it tried all exits with promontories: for indeed to whatever side it is laved by the sea, it advances into prominences: but now it is shut off by the Phoenician, now by the Pontic gulf, at times by the Caspian or Hyrcanian: with these resisting, again and again broken, it bends toward Lake Maeotis, and, wearied by many difficulties, it fastens itself to the Riphaean ridges.
named in many ways according to the variety of nations and languages: among the Indians, Imaus; then Propanisus; Choatras among the Parthians; after that Niphates; thence Taurus; and where it rises into the most exalted sublimity, Caucasus. Meanwhile it also draws an appellation from the peoples: on the right side it is called Caspian or Hyrcanian, on the left Amazonian, Moschian, Scythian; in addition to these appellations it has many others. Where it splits open with yawning ridges, it makes gates, of which the first are the Armenian, then the Caspian, after that the Cilician.
it thrusts a summit into Greece, where it is proclaimed Ceraunius. From the borders of Cilicia it dissevers the Asiatic boundary. Insofar as it looks toward the south, it swelters with the sun; whatever is set against the Septentrion is beaten by wind and frost; where it is wooded, it runs wild with many beasts and is most monstrous in lions.
XXXIX. Quod in Campania Vesubius, in Sicilia Aetna, hoc in Lycia mons Chimaera est: hic mons nocturnis aestibus fumidum exhalat. et quoniam natura ibidem subest ignea, Vulcano urbem proximam Lycii dicaverunt, quam de vocabulo sui nominis Hephaestiam vocant. Olympus quoque inter alia ibi oppidum fuit nobile, sed intercidit: nunc castellum est, infra quod aquae Regiae ob insigne fluoris spectaculo sunt visentibus.
39. That which in Campania is Vesuvius, in Sicily Etna, this in Lycia is Mount Chimaera: this mountain exhales smoke with nocturnal heats. And since a fiery nature lies beneath there, the Lycians dedicated the nearest city to Vulcan, which, from the term of his own name, they call Hephaestia. Olympus too, among other places, there was a noble town, but it perished: now it is a castle, below which the Royal Waters, on account of the remarkable flow, are a spectacle to those who visit.
XXXX. Sequitur Asia: sed non eam Asiam loquor, quae in toto orbis divortio terminos amnes habet ab Aegyptio mari Nilum, a Maeotio lacu Tanaim: verum eam quae a Telmesso Lyciae incipit, unde etiam Carpathius auspicatur sinus. eam igitur Asiam ab oriente Lycia includit et Phrygia, ab occidente Aegaea litora, a meridie mare Aegyptium, Paphlagonia a septemtrione.
40. Asia follows: but I do not speak of that Asia which, in the whole division of the world, has boundary rivers—the Nile from the Egyptian sea, the Tanais from the Maeotian lake—but rather that which begins from Telmessus of Lycia, whence also the Carpathian gulf takes its beginning. That Asia, then, is enclosed on the east by Lycia and Phrygia, on the west by the Aegean shores, on the south by the Egyptian sea, on the north by Paphlagonia.
Ephesus in ea urbs clarissima est: Epheso decus templum Dianae, Amazonum fabrica, adeo magnificum, ut Xerxes , cum omnia Asiatica templa igni daret, huic uni pepercerit. sed haec Xerxis clementia sacras aedes non diu a malo vindicavit: namque Herostratus, ut nomen memoria sceleris extenderet, incendium nobilis fabricae manu sua struxit, sicut ipse fassas est, voto adipiscendae famae latioris. notatur ergo eadem die conflagravisse templum Ephesi, qua Alexander Magnus Pellae natus est.
Ephesus in it is the most illustrious city: the adornment of Ephesus is the temple of Diana, a work of the Amazons, so magnificent that Xerxes , when he was giving all the Asiatic temples to fire, spared this one alone. But this clemency of Xerxes did not for long protect the sacred halls from harm: for Herostratus, in order to extend his name by the memory of his crime, set the noble structure on fire with his own hand, as he himself confessed, with a vow to attain a broader fame. It is noted, therefore, that the temple at Ephesus burned down on the same day on which Alexander the Great was born at Pella.
When thereafter the Ephesians were restoring it to a more august cult, the architect Dinocrates presided over the work: this same Dinocrates we have set forth above as having, by Alexander’s order, laid out Alexandria in Egypt. Moreover, nowhere in the whole orbit of the world has it been evident that there are such assiduous earthquakes and such frequent submersions of cities as in Asia; the Asiatic disasters made it clear, as when, under Tiberius as princeps, 12 cities at once perished in a single ruin.
Asiam excipit Phrygia, in qua Celaenae, quae antiquato priore nomine in Apameam transiere, oppidum a rege Seleuco postmodum constitutum. istic Marsyas ortus, istic et sepultus: unde qui proximat fluvius, Marsyas dicitur: nam sacrilegi certaminis factum et audaces in deum tibias testatur non procul vallis, quae eventum gestae rei signat et ab Apamea decem milibus passuum separata Aulocrene usque adhuc dicitur. ex arce huiusce oppidi Maeander amnis caput tollit, qui recurrentibus ripis flexuosus inter Cariam et Ioniam praecipitat in sinum qui Miletum dividit et Prienam.
Phrygia succeeds Asia, in which are Celaenae, which, with the earlier name antiquated, passed into Apamea, a town established afterward by King Seleucus. There Marsyas was born, there also buried: whence the river that is nearest is called Marsyas; for a valley not far off attests the deed of the sacrilegious contest and the pipes daring against the god, which marks the outcome of the thing done and, separated from Apamea by 10 miles, is even to this day called Aulocrene. From the citadel of this town the river Maeander lifts its head, which, with recurving banks, sinuous, plunges down between Caria and Ionia into the gulf which separates Miletus and Priene.
Phrygia itself lies above the Troad, on the north side contiguous with Galatia, on the south conterminous with Lycaonia, Pisidia, and Mygdonia. The same, on the east, is near to Lydia; on the north, to Moesia; to Caria, on the side where it is midday. The mountain of Lydia, Tmolus, is most flourishing in crocus; the river Pactolus, which, on account of its gold-bearing flow, they otherwise call Chrysorrhoas.
In these places there is born an animal which they call the bonacon, which has a bull’s head and thereafter the whole body, only the mane is equine: its horns, however, are so with manifold bendings curling back upon themselves that, if anyone runs into them, he is not wounded. But whatever defense the forehead denies to that monster, the belly supplies: for when it turns to flight, with a flood of its swift belly it expels dung along the length of three iugera, the heat of which scorches whatever it touches: thus by a noxious evacuation it drives off its pursuers.
Miletos Ioniae caput, Cadmi olim domus, sed eius, qui primus invenit prosae orationis disciplinam. non longe Ephesum Colophon civitas, nobilis oraculo Clarii Apollinis. unde haud procul Mimas surgit, cuius vertices de nubilis supervolantibus futurae tempestatis significant qualitatem.
Miletus, the head of Ionia, once the home of Cadmus—but of him who first discovered the discipline of prose oration. not far from Ephesus is the city of Colophon, renowned for the oracle of the Clarian Apollo. whence, not far off, Mimas rises, whose summits, from the clouds flying over, signal the quality of the future weather.
Sipylus takes the chief place of Maeonia, formerly called Tantalis, and, in memory of that name, assigned to Niobe’s bereavements. The Meles flows around Smyrna, a river easily preeminent among the rivers of Asia. The river Hermus, for its part, cuts the Smyrnaean fields; rising at Dorylaeum in Phrygia, it divides Phrygia from Caria.
Antiquity believed that this Hermus too swelled with golden billows. Zmyrna, from which it especially shines, was the fatherland of Homer the bard, who was 272 years after Ilium was taken, while Agrippa Silvius, son of Tiberinus, was reigning at Alba, in the 160th year before the City was founded. Between him and the poet Hesiod, who died at the outset of the first Olympiad, 138 years intervened.
on the Rhoetean shore the Athenians and the Mytilenaeans, at the tomb of the Thessalian leader Achilles, founded the town Achillion, which all but perished: then, with about forty stadia interposed, on the other horn of the same shore, in honor of Ajax of Salamis, the Rhodians built another town, to which the Aeantian name was given.
At iuxta Ilium Memnonis stat sepulcrum, ad quod sempiterno ex Aethiopia catervatim aves advolant, quas Ilienses Memnonias vocant. Cremutius auctor est has easdem anno quinto in Aethiopia catervatim coire et undiqueversum, quo usquam gentium sint, ad regiam Memnonis convenire. mediterranea quae sunt supra Troadis partem Teuthrania tenet regio, quae prima Moesorum fuit patria.
But near Ilium there stands the sepulcher of Memnon, to which from Ethiopia birds fly in flocks perpetually, whom the Ilians call Memnonian. Cremutius is the authority that these same birds every fifth year gather in flocks in Ethiopia and, from every side, wherever among the nations they may be, come together at the palace of Memnon. the inland parts that lie above a portion of the Troad are held by the region Teuthrania, which was the first homeland of the Moesians.
Per omnem Asiam chamaeleon plurimus, animal quadrupes, facie qua lacertae, nisi crura recta et longiora. ventri iungerentur: prolixa cauda eademque in vertiginem torta: hamati ungues subtili aduncitate: incessus piger et fere idem qui testudinum motus: corpus asperum cute, qualem in crocodilis deprehendimus: subducti oculi et recessu concavo introrsum recepti, quos numquam nictatione obnubit, visum denique non circumlatis pupulis, sed obtutu rigidi orbis intentat. hiatus eius aeternus ac sine ullius usus ministerio: quippe cum neque cibum capiat neque potu alatur nec alimento alio quam haustu aeris vivat.
Through all Asia the chameleon is very abundant, a quadruped animal, in appearance like a lizard, except that the legs are straight and longer, joined to the belly: a long tail and this likewise twisted into a whorl: hooked claws with a fine curvature: a sluggish gait and almost the same as the motion of tortoises: a body rough with a skin such as we detect in crocodiles: eyes drawn up and, by a hollow recess, received inward, which it never veils by nictation, and finally it directs its sight not with pupils turned about, but with the fixed gaze of a rigid orb. Its gape is perpetual and without the ministry of any use: since it neither takes food nor is nourished by drink, nor lives by any other aliment than the draught of air.
its color is various and mutable from moment to moment, such that to whatever thing it has joined itself, it becomes of the same color as it. There are two colors which it is not able to feign, red and white; the others it easily counterfeits. The body is almost without flesh, the vital parts without a spleen, and only in the little heart is a very small amount of blood detected.
it lies hidden in winter, is brought forth in spring. It is assailable by the raven, by whom, when it has been slain, it slays its victor: for if the bird should eat even a small portion from it, at once it dies; but the raven has a safeguard, nature stretching forth a hand for remedy: for when it understands itself afflicted, by taking a laurel leaf it recovers health.
Pythonos come in Asia locus est campis patentibus, ubi primo adventus sui tempore ciconiae advolant et eam quae ultima advenerit lancinant universae. aves istas ferunt linguas non habere, verum sonum quo crepitant oris potius quam vocis esse. eximia illis inest pietas: etenim quantum temporis inpenderint fetibus educandis, tantum et ipsae a pullis suis invicem aluntur: ita enim inpense nidos fovent, ut incubitus adsiduitate plumas exuant.
Pythonos Kome in Asia is a place on wide-open plains, where at the first time of their arrival storks fly in, and all together they tear to pieces the one which has arrived last. They report that these birds do not have tongues, but that the sound with which they crepitate is rather of the mouth than of the voice. Exceptional pietas abides in them: for as much time as they have expended on rearing their offspring, by so much in turn they themselves are nourished by their chicks: for they so earnestly warm their nests that, through the assiduity of brooding, they shed their feathers.
XXXXI. Galatiam primis saeculis priscae Gallorum gentes occupaverunt Tolostobogi Veturi Ambitoti, quae vocabula adhuc permanent: quamvis Galatia unde dicta sit, ipso sonat nomine.
41. Galatia in the earliest ages was occupied by the ancient peoples of the Gauls—the Tolostobogi, the Veturi, the Ambitoti—names which still remain; although whence Galatia is named is declared by the very sound of the name itself.
XXXXII. Bithynia in Ponti exordio ad partem solis orientis adversa Thraciae, opulenta ac dives urbium, a fontibus Sagari fluminis primos fines habet: ante Bebrycia dicta, deinde Mygdonia, mox a Bithyno rege Bithynia. in ea Prusiadem urbem et adluit Hylas flumen et perspergit Hylas lacus, in quo resedisse credunt delicias Herculi, Hylan puerum, Nymphis rapinam: in cuius memoriam usque adhuc sollemni cursitatione lacum populus circumit et Hylan voce clamant. in Bithyno quoque agro Libyssa locus Nicomediae proximus, sepulcro Hannibalis famae datus: li qui post Carthaginense iudicium transfuga ad regem Antiochum, dein post Antiochi apud Thermopylas pugnatam malam pugnam fractumque regem fortunae vicibus in hospitium Prusiae devolutus, ne traderetur T. Quintio ob hanc causam in Bithyniam misso captivusque Romam veniret, veneni mali poculo animam expulit.
42. Bithynia, at the beginning of the Pontus, facing Thrace on the side of the rising sun, opulent and wealthy in cities, has its first borders from the springs of the river Sagaris: formerly called Bebrycia, then Mygdonia, soon after, from King Bithynus, Bithynia. In it, the city Prusias, and the river Hylas washes it and the lake Hylas bedews it, in which they believe that the delight of Hercules, the boy Hylas—prey of the Nymphs—came to rest: in whose memory even to this day the people encircle the lake with a solemn coursing and call out Hylas by name. In the Bithynian countryside too, the place Libyssa, very near to Nicomedia, has been given to fame by the tomb of Hannibal: he who, after the Carthaginian judgment, as a defector to King Antiochus, then, after Antiochus’s bad battle fought at Thermopylae and the king broken, by the vicissitudes of fortune was rolled down into the hospitality of Prusias; lest he be handed over to T. Quintius, sent into Bithynia for this cause, and come captive to Rome, he expelled his life by a cup of evil poison.
XXXXIII. In ora Pontica post Bospori fauces et Rhesum amnem portumque Calpas Sagaris fluvius ortus in Phrygia dictusque a plerisque Sagarius exordium facit Mariandyni sinus, in quo oppidum Heraclea adpositum Lyco flumini: et Acone portus, qui proventu matorum graminum usque eo celebris est, ut noxias herbas aconita illinc nominemus. proximus inde Acherusius specus, quem foraminis caeci profundo ad usque inferna aiunt pertendere.
43. On the Pontic shore, after the jaws of the Bosporus and the river Rhesus and the harbor Calpas, the river Sagaris, sprung in Phrygia and by most called Sagarius, makes the beginning of the Mariandynian gulf, in which the town Heraclea is set beside the river Lycus: and the harbor Acone, which is so celebrated for the yield of ripe grasses that from there we name the noxious herbs aconites. Next from there is the Acherusian cave, which they say extends by the depth of a blind opening all the way to the lower world.
XXXXIV. Paphlagoniam limes a tergo Galaticus amplectitur. ea Paphlagonia Carambi promunturio spectat Tauricam, consurgit Cytoro monte porrecto in spatium trium et sexaginta milium, insignis loco Eneto: a quo, ut Cornelius Nepos perhibet, Paphlagones in Italiam transvecti mox Veneti sunt nominati. plurimas in ea regione urbes Milesii condiderunt, Eupatoriam Mithridates: quo subacto a Pompeio Pompeiopolis est dicta.
44. Paphlagonia is embraced from behind by the Galatic frontier. That Paphlagonia, with the promontory of Carambis, faces Taurica, and rises with Mount Cytorus extended to a span of sixty-three miles, distinguished by the place Enete: from which, as Cornelius Nepos avers, Paphlagonians conveyed into Italy were soon named the Veneti. Very many cities in that region the Milesians founded, Eupatoria Mithridates [founded]: which, he being subjugated by Pompey, was called Pompeiopolis.
XXXXV. Cappadocia gentium universarum quae Pontum accolunt praecipue introversus recedit. latere laevo utrasque Armenias et Commagenen simul transit: dextero plurimis Asiae populis circumfusa. attollitur ad Tauri iuga et solis ortus.
45. Cappadocia, among all the peoples who dwell along the Pontus, recedes most inward. On its left flank it passes by both Armenias and Commagene together; on its right it is encompassed by very many peoples of Asia. It rises toward the ridges of Taurus and toward the sunrise.
it passes by Lycaonia, Pisidia, Cilicia. it goes over the tract of Syria of Antioch, with part of the other region reaching toward Scythia, divided from Greater Armenia by the river Euphrates: which Armenia takes its inception from where the Panedri mountains are. many famed cities are in Cappadocia: but, to draw back the foot from the others, the Halys flows past the colony Archelaïs, which Claudius Caesar led out; the Lycus bathes Neocaesarea; Melita was founded by Semiramis; Mazaca, situated beneath Argaeus, the Cappadocians count the mother of cities: which Argaeus, steep with snowy ridges, does not lack rime even in the summer’s scorching, and the peoples there believe that it is inhabited by a god.
Terra illa ante alias altrix equorum et proventui equino accommodissima est: quorum hoc in loco ingenium reor persequendum. nam equis inesse iudicium documentis plurimis patefactum est, cum iam aliquot inventi sunt, qui nonnisi Primos dominos recognoscerent, obliti mansuetudinis, si quando mutassent consueta servitia. inimicos partis suae norunt adeo, ut inter proelia hostes morsu petant.
That land, before others, is a nurse of horses and most well-suited to equine produce: of whom I think in this place their nature should be pursued. For that judgment resides in horses has been laid open by very many proofs, since already several have been found who recognized none save their First masters, forgetful of gentleness if ever they had changed their accustomed service. They know the enemies of their own party to such a degree that, amid battles, they attack foes with a bite.
but the greater thing is this: with the handlers whom they cherished lost, they summon death by starvation. yet these manners are found in the most preeminent breed of horses; for those bred below nobility have furnished no documentary proofs of their own. but lest we seem, by a license of speaking, to have arrogated anything against credence, we will give a well-attested example.
Alexander the Great’s horse, called Bucephalus, whether from the grimness of his aspect, or from an insignia, because he had a bull’s head branded on his shoulder, or because from his forehead certain protuberances like little horns threatened forth, though at other times he was even gently mounted by his equerry, once he had received the royal caparison, deigned never to carry anyone other than his master. The documents of his valor in battles are many, by which he bore Alexander safe out of the hardest contests by his own aid: by which merit it came about that, when he died in India, the king led the exequies and at the last rites bestowed a tomb, and even founded a city, which in memory of his name he named Bucephala. The horse of Gaius Caesar received no one upon his back except Caesar: they hand down that his forefeet had the appearance of a human footprint, just as he was placed with this effigy before the temple of Venus Genetrix.
when the king of the Scythians had been slain in single combat and his adversary, the victor, wished to despoil him, he was lacerated by the king’s horse with hooves and bite. The Agrigentine region too is frequent with horses’ sepulchers, which we believe to be a gift of last honors granted on their merits. The spectacles of the circus have betrayed that there is delight in these creatures: for certain horses are provoked to the course by the songs of the pipes, some by dances, some by a variety of colors, and some even, when torches are kindled, to run their races.
Equine affection is proven by tears: finally, when King Nicomedes had been slain, his horse forced out life by starvation. When in battle Antiochus had subdued the Gauls, being about to celebrate an ovation he leapt onto the horse of the leader named Cintaretus, who had fallen in the battle-line; and that horse so despised the wolf-toothed bits that, deliberately pitching headlong, by the crash he dashed down both himself and his rider alike. The dispositions of horses were also proven in the circus-games of Claudius Caesar, when, their driver having been thrown out, the quadrigae outstripped their rivals no less by craft than by speed, and, after the lawful laps had been run, of their own accord halted at the place of the palm, as though demanding the prize of victory.
With the charioteer also shaken out, whom they called Rutumannas, the four-horse chariot sprang forth to the Capitol, nor did it halt before it had encircled Tarpeian Jove with a triple right-hand turning. In this kind of animal the life-span is longer in the males: we indeed read that a horse lived to 70 years. Now this does not come into doubt, that they beget up to the 33rd year, since indeed even after the 20th they are sent to replenish the offspring.
we have also noted that a horse by the name Opuntes endured for common venery up to forty years. the libido of mares is extinguished with their manes shorn. in their parturition a love-charm is born, which the newly delivered display on their foreheads, of swarthy color, like to sedge, named hippomanes: and if it is snatched away immediately, by no means does the mother offer her udder to the foal to be suckled.
The more keen anyone is and of greater hope, the more deeply he dips his nostrils in drinking. The male is never brought out to wars among the Scythians, for the females can empty their bladders even in flight. Mares also bear young conceived by the winds; but these never prolong their life beyond three years.
XXXXVI. Assyriorum initium Adiabene facit: in cuius parte Arbelitis regio est, quem locum victoria Alexandri Magni non sinit praeteriri. nam ibi copias Darii fudit, ipsum subegit expugnatisque eius castris in reliquo apparatu regis repperit scrinium unguentis refertum, unde primum Romana luxuria fecit ingressum ad odores peregrinos. aliquantisper tamen virtute veterum ab hac vitiorum inlecebra defensi sumus atque adeo in tempus censorum P. Licinii Crassi et C. Iulii Caesaris: qui edixerunt anno urbis conditae quingentesimo sexagesimo quinto, ne quis unguenta inveheret peregrina.
46. Assyria begins at Adiabene: in a part of which is the region of Arbela, a place which the victory of Alexander the Great does not allow to be passed over. For there he routed the forces of Darius, subdued the man himself, and, his camp having been stormed, he found among the remaining equipment of the king a casket stuffed with unguents, whence Roman luxury first made its entry to foreign odors. For some time, however, by the virtue of the ancients we were defended from this enticement of vices, and indeed down to the time of the censors P. Licinius Crassus and C. Julius Caesar, who proclaimed, in the 565th year from the founding of the City, that no one should import foreign unguents.
Hos terrarum ductus excipit Media, cuius arbor inclaruit etiam carminibus Mantuanis. ingens ipsa et cui tale ferme quale unedonibus folium est tantum eo differt, quod spinulentis fastigiis hispida turgescat. malum inimicum venenis: sapore asperum et amaritudinis merae: odoris autem fragrantia plus quam iucundum longeque sensibile.
These tracts of the earth are taken up next by Media, whose tree became illustrious even in Mantuan songs. Huge it is itself, and its leaf is almost such as that on the unedo-trees, only it differs in this, that it swells rough, bristling with spiny tips. Its apple is an enemy to poisons: in taste harsh and of mere bitterness: but the fragrance of its odor is more than pleasant and perceptible from far away.
but indeed so great an abundance of fruits is in it, that the yield is always weighed down by its burden: for immediately, as soon as its fruits have fallen by ripeness, others swell forth, and so little is the delay to opulence that the fruits fall before being born. other nations too have wished to usurp those groves for themselves by the industry of transferring the germ, but the benefit granted to the soil of Media could not be borrowed by another land, nature resisting.
XXXXVII. Portae Caspiae panduntur itinere manu facto longo octo milibus passuum: nam latitudo vix est plaustro permeabilis. in his angustiis etiam illud asperum, quod praecisorum laterum saxa liquentibus inter se salis venis exundant humorem affluentissimum, qui constrictus vi caloris velut in aestivam glaciem corporatur: ita labes invia accessum negat. praeterea octo et viginti milium passuum tractus omnis, quoquo inde pergitur humo arida, sine praesidio sitit.
47. The Caspian Gates are opened by a road made by hand, eight miles long: for the width is scarcely passable by a wagon. In these narrows there is also this rough feature: the rocks of the cut sides, with veins of salt flowing between them, gush forth a most affluent moisture, which, compressed by the force of heat, is solidified as though into summer ice; thus a trackless slick denies access. Moreover, for a stretch of twenty-eight miles, whichever way one goes from there, the ground, dry soil, thirsts without succor.
XXXXVIII. A Caspiis ad orientem versus locus est, quod Direum appellatur, cuius ubertati non est quippiam quod comparari queat. quem locum circumsident Lapyri, Naricli et Hyrcani. ei proximat Margine regio inclita caeli ac soli commodis, adeo ut in toto illo latifundio vitibus sola gaudeat.
48. From the Caspians toward the east there is a place which is called Direum, to whose fertility there is nothing that can be compared. This place is encircled by the Lapyri, the Naricli, and the Hyrcani. Adjoining it is the region of Margiana, renowned for the advantages of climate and soil, to such a degree that, in that whole wide latifundium, it alone rejoices in vines.
It is enclosed by mountains in a theatrical shape, with a circuit of 1,500 stadia, almost inaccessible on account of the inconvenience of a sandy solitude, which for 120,000 paces is circumfused on every side. Alexander the Great so admired the pleasantness of this region that there he first founded an Alexandria; which, soon after being razed by barbarians, Antiochus, son of Seleucus, restored and, from the denomination of his house, called Seleucia; the circuit of which city spreads to 75 stadia. Into this city Orodes led the Romans captured in the disaster of Crassus.
XXXXIX. Oxus amnis oritur de lacu Oaxo, cuius oras hinc inde Bateni et Oxistacae accolunt: sed praecipuam partem Bactri tenent. Bactris praeterea est proprius amnis Bactros: unde et oppidum quod incolunt Bactrum. gentis huius quae pone sunt, Propanisi iugis ambiuntur: quae adversa, Indi fontibus terminantur: reliqua includit Ochus flumen.
49. The river Oxus arises from Lake Oaxus, whose shores on this side and that are inhabited by the Bateni and the Oxistacae; but the Bactri hold the principal part. Moreover, Bactria has its own proper river, the Bactros, whence also the town which they inhabit, Bactrum. Those of this nation who are behind are surrounded by the ridges of the Propanisus; those opposite are bounded by the sources of the Indus; the rest are enclosed by the river Ochus.
beyond these, Panda, a town of the Sogdians, within whose borders Alexander the Great founded the third Alexandria, to attest the termini of his journey. For this is the place in which altars were first set up by Father Liber, then by Hercules, then by Semiramis, and finally also by Cyrus, because all deemed it nearest to glory to have advanced the bounds of their journey thus far.
Universi eius ductus dumtaxat ab illa terrarum parte Laxates fluvius secat fines, quem tamen Laxatem soli vocant Bactri: nam alii Scythae Silim nominant. hunc eundem esse Tanain exercitus Alexandri Magni crediderunt: verum Demodamas dux Seleuci et Antiochi, satis idoneus vero auctor, transvectus amnem istum, titulos omnium supergressus est aliumque esse quam Tanain deprehendit. ob cuius gloriae insigne dedit nomini suo, ut altaria ibi strueret Apollini Didymaeo.
As for the whole of its course, at least on that side of the earth, the river Laxates cuts the borders; yet the Bactri alone call it Laxates, for other Scythians name it Silis. The armies of Alexander the Great believed this same river to be the Tanais; but Demodamas, general of Seleucus and Antiochus, a sufficiently adequate authority in truth, having crossed that river and gone beyond the inscriptions of them all, discovered it to be other than the Tanais. And, as an insignia of this glory, he bestowed upon his own name that he should there erect altars to Apollo Didymaeus.
This is the conterminous boundary, where the Persian frontier is joined to the Scythians. The Persians in their own tongue call those Scythians the Sacae, and in turn the Scythians name the Persians the Chorsaci, and they call the Caucasus mountain Croucasis, that is, “shining white with snows.” Here, amid the densest concourse of peoples, together with the Parthians, the discipline of a law of compact, uncorrupted from the beginning of the custom, is kept; among whom the most celebrated are the Massagetae and the Essedones, the Satarchae and the Apalaei.
Bactri camelos fortissimos mittunt, licet et Arabia plurimos gignat: verum hoc differunt, quod Arabici bina tubera in dorso habent, singula Bactriani. hi numquam pedes atterunt: sunt enim illis reciprocis quibusdam pulmunculis vestigia carnulenta. unde et contraria est labes ambulantibus nullo favente praesidio ad nisum insistendi.
The Bactrians send out the very strongest camels, although Arabia too begets very many: but they differ in this, that the Arabians have double humps on the back, the Bactrians single ones. These never wear down their feet: for they have fleshy pads with certain reciprocating little bellows. Whence also, conversely, a slip befalls those walking, since there is no favoring support for the effort of standing firm.
they are held for a twofold service: some are suited to bearing burdens, others are swifter: but neither do the former accept weights beyond what is just, nor do the latter wish to go out beyond their accustomed distances. they are so carried away by a desire of procreation that they rage when they seek sexual union. they hate the equine kind.
they even tolerate thirst for four days; but when an occasion of drinking is given, they are filled so much as both to sate their past desires and to profit them for a long time in the future. they take muddy waters, they shun the pure; finally, unless the liquor has been more muddy, they themselves by assiduous trampling stir up the silt, so that it becomes turbid. they last for a hundred years, unless perhaps, when transferred into the unfamiliarity of a foreign, altered air, they contract diseases.
L. Qua ab Scythico oceano et mari Caspio in oceanum eoum cursus inflectitur, ab exordio huiusce plagae profundae nives: mox longa deserta: post Anthropophagi gens est asperrima: dein feris spatia obsita ferme dimidiam itineris partem inpenetrabilem reddiderunt. quarum difficultatum terminum facit iugum mari imminens, quod Tabim barbari dicunt: post quae adhuc longinquae solitudines. sic in tractu eius orae, quae spectat aestivum orientem, post inhumanos situs primos hominum Seras cognoscimus, qui aquarum aspergine inundatis frondibus vellera arborum adminiculo depectunt liquoris et lanuginis teneram subtilitatem humore domant ad obsequium.
50. Where from the Scythian Ocean and the Caspian Sea the course bends into the Eastern Ocean, from the beginning of this tract there are deep snows: soon, long deserts: after that the nation of the Anthropophagi is most harsh: then stretches overgrown with wild beasts have made nearly half the length of the journey impenetrable. The limit of these difficulties is a ridge overhanging the sea, which the barbarians call Tabim: after which there are still far-off solitudes. Thus along the reach of that shore which looks toward the estival rising, after the inhuman tracts the first of men we recognize are the Seres, who, with a sprinkling of waters, the leaves being inundated, comb out the fleeces of the trees with the aid of it, and by moisture tame to compliance the tender subtlety of the sap and the down.
this is that silk admitted to public use to the detriment of austerity; and by it desire has persuaded luxury to display bodies rather than to clothe them, first for women, now even for men. The Seres themselves are indeed mild and most peaceable among themselves, but they shun the assemblies of the rest of mortals, to such a degree that they refuse the commerce of the other nations. Their frontier river the merchants themselves cross; on whose banks, with no commerce of language between the parties, but with eyes appraising the prices of the things set down, they hand over their own goods; they do not buy ours.
LI. Sequitur Attacenus sinus et gens hominum Attacorum, quibus temperies praerogativa miram aeris clementiam subministrat. arcent sane adflatum noxium colles, qui salubri apricitate undique secluso obiecti prohibent auras pestilentes: atque ideo, ut Amometus adfirmat, par illis et Hyperboreis genus vitae est. inter hos et Indiam gnarissimi Ciconas locaverunt.
LI. The Attacene gulf follows, and the nation of the Attaci, to whom the climate, by a prerogative, supplies a wondrous clemency of the air. Indeed, hills ward off the noxious breath, which, set as a screen with healthful sunniness and shutting off on every side, prevent pestilential breezes: and therefore, as Amometus affirms, their manner of life is on a par with that of the Hyperboreans. Between these and India the most knowledgeable have located the Cicones.
LII. A Mediis montibus auspicatur India, a meridiano mari porrecta ad eo, favonii spiritu saluberrima. in anno bis aestatem habet, bis legit frugem, vice hiemis etesias patitur. hanc Posidonius adversam Galliae statuit.
52. India takes its beginning from the Median mountains, stretched from the southern sea to them, most salubrious by the breath of the Favonian wind. In the year it has summer twice, twice it gathers grain, and in place of winter it endures the Etesian winds. Posidonius set this land as opposite to Gaul.
indeed nothing concerning it is doubtful: for what was discovered by the arms of Alexander the Great, and afterwards traversed throughout by the diligence of other kings, has been wholly committed to our knowledge. Megasthenes indeed, having tarried for some time among the Indian kings, wrote on Indian affairs, so as to give to memory the credibility which he had subjected to his eyes. Dionysius likewise, he too sent as a spectator by King Philadelphus, for the sake of testing the truth, disclosed like things.
Tradunt ergo in India fuisse quinque milia oppidorum praecipua capacitate, populorum novem milia. diu etiam credita est tertia pars esse terrarum. nec mirum sit vel de hominum vel de urbium copia, cum soli Indi numquam a natali solo recesserint.
They hand down, therefore, that in India there were five thousand towns of preeminent capacity, and nine thousand peoples. For a long time it was even believed to be a third part of the lands. Nor is it a marvel either concerning the abundance of men or of cities, since the Indians alone have never departed from their native soil.
Father Liber was the first to enter India, inasmuch as he was the first of all to triumph. From him to Alexander the Great there are counted 6,451 years, with more than three months added, the computation being made through the kings, who are discovered to have held the intervening age, 153 in number.
Maximi in ea amnes Ganges et Indus. quorum Gangen quidam fontibus incertis nasci et Nili modo exultare contendunt: alii volunt a Scythicis montibus exoriri. Hypanis etiam ibi nobilissimus fluvius, qui Alexandri Magni iter terminavit, sicuti arae in ripa eius positae probant.
The greatest rivers in it are the Ganges and the Indus. Of these, some maintain that the Ganges is born from uncertain springs and to overflow in the manner of the Nile; others claim that it rises from the Scythian mountains. The Hypanis also there is a most noble river, which ended the march of Alexander the Great, as the altars set on its bank prove.
Gangarides extimus est Indiae populus: cuius rex equites mille, elephantos septingentos, peditum sexaginta milia in apparatu belli habet. Indorum quidam agros exercent, militiam plurimi, merces alii: optimi ditissimique res publicas curant, reddunt iudicia, adsident regibus. quietum ibi eminentissimae sapientiae genus est vita repletos incensis rogis mortem accersere.
The Gangarides are the outermost people of India: whose king has 1,000 horsemen, 700 elephants, 60,000 foot-soldiers in the apparatus of war. Of the Indians, certain men till the fields, very many practice soldiery, others commerce: the best and richest manage commonwealths, render judgments, and sit beside kings. There the most eminent genus of wisdom is a tranquil one, to summon death—when their life is filled to the full—with the pyres set alight.
those who indeed have surrendered themselves to a more ferocious sect and lead a sylvan life hunt elephants, and when these have been thoroughly subdued to mansuetude, they either plow with them or are conveyed by them. in the Ganges there is an island most populous, containing a very great nation, whose king has in arms 50,000 infantry and 4,000 cavalry. indeed all, whoever are endowed with royal power, practice military discipline, not without a very great number of elephants, and also of horsemen and foot-soldiers.
Beyond Palibothra is Mount Maleus, on which the shadows in winter fall toward the north, in summer toward the south, this vicissitude lasting for six months. In that tract the northern stars appear once in the year and not for more than 15 days, as Baeton is authority, who affirms that this happens in very many places of India. Those drawing near to the river Indus, the quarter turned to the south, are parched with heat beyond others: finally, the color of the men betrays the power of the star.
and the city Nysa is assigned to that region, and there is also a mountain sacred to Jove, by the name Meros, in whose cave, the elder Indians affirm, Liber Father was nurtured; from the indication of this word, by a lascivious rumor it is believed that Liber was born from a thigh. outside the mouth of the Indus are two islands, Chryse and Argyre, so abounding in a supply of metals that many have reported them to have golden soils and silver soils.
Moreover, as it has been published in the books of the kings Juba and Archelaus, insofar as the customs of the peoples are dissonant, their attire likewise is most discrepant: some are clothed with linen, others with woolen peploi; part are naked, part have only their obscene parts mantled; very many also are encircled with flexible strips of bark. Certain peoples are so tall that they overleap elephants as if they were horses with the easiest vaulting. To very many it pleases neither to kill an animal nor to feed on meats.
most are sustained only by fishes and live on the sea. there are those who, before their nearest and parents go into wasting from years or sickness, cut them down as if sacrificial victims, and then make the entrails of the slain their banquet: which there they count not as a crime, but as an act of piety. there are also those who, when diseases have settled upon them, go away far from the others into secret places, awaiting death without anxiety.
Astacanorum gens laureis viret silvis, lucis buxeis: vitium vero et arborum universarum, quibus Graecia dulcis est, proventibus copiosissima. philosophos habent Indi (gymnosophistas vocant), qui ab exortu ad usque solis occasum contentis oculis orbem candentissimi sideris contuentur in globo igneo rimantes secreta quaedam harenisque ferventibus perpetem diem alternis pedibus insistunt. ad montem, qui Nulo dicitur, habitant quibus aversae plantae sunt et octoni digiti in plantis singulis.
The nation of the Astacani is verdant with laurel forests, with boxwood groves; but in the vine and in all trees with whose yields Greece is sweet, it is most copious in produce. The Indians have philosophers (they call them gymnosophists), who from the rising up to the setting of the sun, with eyes fixed, behold the orb of the most glowing star, probing certain secrets in the fiery globe; and on the seething sands they stand for the whole day, resting on alternate feet. By the mountain which is called Nulo there dwell those whose soles are turned backward, and who have eight toes on each sole.
Megasthenes writes that across the various mountains of India there are nations with canine heads, armed with claws, clothed in garments of hides, producing, for human speech, no voice, but sounding only with barks and gaping jaws. In Ctesias one reads that certain women there give birth once, and that the newborn at once become gray‑haired. There is, again, another people who in youth are gray, but blacken in old age, enduring beyond the termini of our age.
we read that monocoli also are born there, with single legs and with singular celerity; and when they wish to defend themselves from heat, lying on their backs they are shaded by the magnitude of their own soles. those who dwell at the source of the Ganges, needing no aid for food, live by the odor of wild fruits; and going farther they carry those same things as a safeguard, so that they may be nourished by smell. but if by chance they should draw in a more fetid breath, it is certain that they are struck lifeless.
they report that there is also a nation of women, who conceive at five years of age, but do not protract the span of living beyond the eighth year. there are those who lack necks and have eyes upon their shoulders. there are those who are sylvan, their bodies hirsute, with canine teeth, with a terrifying screech.
among those, however, for whom there is a more exact care for the rule of living, many wives come together into the matrimony of the same man; and when the husband has departed this life, before the most grave judges each pleads her own case on her merits, and she who, as more dutiful than the rest, has prevailed in the sentence of the judges carries off this prize of the palm: that, at her own arbitration, she ascend the pyre of her spouse and give herself as an offering to his last rites: the others live under a mark of disgrace.
Enormitas in serpentibus tanta est, ut cervos et animantium alia ad parem molem tota hauriant: quin etiam oceanum Indicum quantus est penetrent insulasque magno spatio a continenti separatas pabulandi petant gratia. idque ipsum palam est non qualibet magnitudine evenire, ut per tantam sali latitudinem ad loca permeent destinata.
The enormity among serpents is so great that they swallow whole stags and other creatures of comparable bulk; nay, even the Indian Ocean, vast as it is, they penetrate, and they seek islands separated from the continent by a great span for the sake of foraging. And it is manifest that this does not occur at just any magnitude, that they pass across so great a breadth of the salt sea to the appointed places.
Sunt illic multae ac mirabiles bestiae, quarum e multitudine et copia vel particulam persequemur. leucrocota velocitate praecedit feras universas: ipsa asini feri magnitudine, cervi clunibus, pectore ac cruribus leonis, capite melium, bisulca ungula, ore ad usque aures dehiscente, dentium locis osse perpetuo. haec quod ad formam: nam voce loquentium hominum sonos aemulatur.
There are many and marvelous beasts there, of whose multitude and abundance we will pursue even a fraction. The leucrocotta surpasses all wild beasts in speed: it is itself of the size of a wild ass, with the haunches of a stag, the chest and legs of a lion, the head of a badger, a cloven hoof, a mouth gaping up to the ears, and in place of teeth a continuous piece of bone. This as to its form: for in voice it emulates the sounds of speaking humans.
Est et eale, alias ut equus, cauda elephanti, nigro colore, maxillis aprugnis, praeferens cornua ultra cubitalem modum longa ad obsequium cuius velit motus accommodata: neque enim rigent sed moventur, ut usus exigit proeliandi: quorum alterum cum pugnat protendit, alterum replicat, ut si ictu aliquo alterius acumen offenderit, acies succedat alterius. hippopotamis comparatur: et ipsa sane aquis fluminum gaudet.
There is also the eale, in other respects like a horse, with the tail of an elephant, black in color, with aprine jaws, bearing horns longer than a cubit in measure, adapted to the obedience of whatever movement it wills: for they are not rigid but are moved, as the use of battling requires: of which one it stretches out when it fights, the other it folds back, so that, if by some blow the point of the one should be struck, the edge of the other may succeed. It is compared to hippopotami; and it indeed rejoices in the waters of rivers.
Indicis tauris color fulvus est, volucris pernicitas, pilus in contrarium versus, hiatus omne quod caput. hi quoque circumferunt cornua flexibilitate qua volunt, tergi duritia omne telum respuentes, tam inmiti feritate, ut capti animas proiciant furore.
The Indian bulls are fulvous in color, with the swiftness of a bird, the hair turned in the contrary direction, a gape comprising the whole of what is the head. These too carry their horns about with whatever flexibility they wish, spurning every missile by the hardness of the back, with so savage a ferocity that, when captured, they cast away their lives in frenzy.
Mantichora quoque nomine inter haec nascitur, triplici dentium ordine coeunte vicibus alternis, facie hominis, glaucis oculis, sanguineo colore, corpore leonino, cauda velut scorpionis aculeo spiculata, voce tam sibila ut imitetur modulos fistularum tubarumque concinentum. humanas carnes avidissime affectat. pedibus sic viget, saltu sic potest, ut morari eam nec extentissima spatia possint nec obstacula latissima.
The Mantichora likewise is born among these, with a triple order of teeth meeting by alternating turns, the face of a human, glaucous eyes, blood-red in color, a leonine body, a tail spiculated with a barb like a scorpion’s sting, and a voice so sibilant as to imitate the measures of pipes and of trumpets sounding in concert. It most avidly covets human flesh. It is so vigorous in its feet, so powerful in leap, that neither the most extended stretches nor the broadest obstacles can delay it.
Sed atrocissimus est monoceros, monstrum mugitu horrido, equino corpore, elephanti pedibus, cauda suilla, capite cervino. cornu e media fronte eius protenditur splendore mirifico, ad magnitudinem pedum quattuor, ita acutum ut quicquid impetat, facile ictu eius perforetur. vivus non venit in hominum potestatem et interimi quidem potest, capi non potest.
But the most atrocious is the monoceros, a monster with horrid bellowing, with an equine body, the feet of an elephant, a swine’s tail, a cervine head. A horn is extended from the middle of its forehead with wondrous splendor, to a length of four feet, so sharp that whatever it attacks is easily perforated by its stroke. Alive it does not come into the power of men, and indeed it can be slain, it cannot be captured.
Indica maria balaenas habent ultra spatia quattuor iugerum, sed et quos physeteras nuncupant. qui enormes supra molem ingentium columnarun ultra antemnas se navium extollunt haustosque fistulis fluctus ita eructant, ut nimbosa adluvie plerumque deprimant alveos navigantium.
Indian seas have whales beyond the expanse of four iugera, and also those whom they call physeters. These, enormous, raise themselves above the mass of huge columns, higher than the yardarms of ships, and the waves drawn in through pipes they belch forth in such a way that, with a storm-cloud deluge, they often press down and sink the hulls of those sailing.
Sola India mittit avem psittacum colore viridem torque puniceo, cuius rostri tanta duritia est, ut cum e sublimi praecipitat in saxum, nisu se oris excipiat et quodam quasi fundamento utatur extraordinariae firmitatis: caput vero tam valens, ut si quando ad discendum plagis sit admonendus, nam studet ut quod homines loquatur, ferrea clavicula sit verberandus. dum in pullo est atque adeo intra alterum aetatis suae annum quae monstrata sunt et citius discit et retinet tenacius: paulo senior et obliviosus est et indocilis. inter nobiles et ignobiles discretionem digitorum facit numerus: qui praestant, quinos in pedes habent digitos, ceteri ternos.
Only India sends the psittacus bird, green in color, with a scarlet torc, whose rostrum has such hardness that, when it plunges from on high onto rock, by the effort of its mouth it catches itself and uses it as a kind of foundation of extraordinary firmness: its head, moreover, is so strong that, if ever it must be admonished to learn by blows—for it applies itself so as to speak what men speak—it must be beaten with a little iron key. While it is a chick, and indeed within the second year of its age, the things shown it it both learns more quickly and retains more tenaciously; a little older, it is forgetful and not apt to be taught. Between the noble and the ignoble the number of toes makes a distinction: those who excel have five toes on the feet, the rest three.
Indorum nemora in tam proceram sublimantur excelsitatem, ut transiaci ne sagittis quidem possint. pomaria ficus habent, quarum codices in orbem spatio sexaginta passuum extuberantur: ramorum umbrae ambitu bina stadia consumunt: foliorum latitudo formae Amazonicae peltae conparatur: pomum eximiae suavitatis. quae palustria sunt, harundinem creant ita crassam, ut fissis internodiis lembi vice vectitet navigantes.
The groves of the Indians are raised to so tall a height that not even arrows shot across can pass through them. the orchards have fig trees, whose trunks bulge in a ring to a circumference of sixty paces: the shade of the branches, in circuit, takes up two stadia: the breadth of the leaves is compared to the form of an Amazonian pelta: the fruit is of exceptional sweetness. those that are marshy produce reed so thick that, with the internodes split, it conveys those sailing in place of a skiff.
Ibi mons Caucasus, qui maximam orbis partem perpetuis iugis penetrat, fronte qua soli obversus est arbores piperis ostentat, quas ad iuniperi similitudinem diverse fructus edere adseverant. qui paene inmaturi exeunt, dicitur piper longum. quod incorruptum est, piper album: quorum cutem rugosam et torridam calor fecerit, nomen trahunt de colore.
There is the Mount Caucasus, which penetrates a very great part of the world with perpetual ridges; on the face that is turned toward the sun it displays pepper trees, which, in likeness to the juniper, they aver to produce diverse fruits. Those that come forth almost unripe are called long pepper. That which is incorrupt is white pepper; those whose skin heat has made wrinkled and torrid draw their name from the color.
Indicorum lapidum in adamantibus dignitas prima, utpote qui lymphationes abigunt, venenis resistunt, mentium vanos metus pellunt. haec primum de his praedicari oportuit, quae respicere ad utilitatem videbamus: nunc reddemus quae adamantium sint species et quis color cuique. eximius in quodam crystalli genere invenitur, materiae in qua nascitur adaeque similis splendore liquidissimo, in mucronem sexangulum utrimque secus leviter turbinatus nec umquam ultra magnitudinem nuclei Abellani repertus.
Of the stones of India, adamants hold the first rank, inasmuch as they drive away frenzies, resist poisons, and expel the vain fears of minds. It was proper that these things be first proclaimed about them, which we saw to look toward utility: now we will render what the kinds of adamants are and what color belongs to each. The exceptional sort is found in a certain kind of crystal, equally like the material in which it is born, with a most limpid splendor, tapered into a six-angled point, on either side alike, lightly whorled, and never found beyond the size of a hazelnut of Abella.
for both this one and those found in Cyprus can be broken, and most are even perforated by another adamant. but those which we indicated first are neither conquered by iron nor tamed by fire: nevertheless, if they are long macerated in hircine (goat’s) blood—whether warm or fresh—after several hammers have first been broken and anvils shattered, they at length yield and spring apart into little particles. these fragments are sought by engravers (sculptors) for use in inscribing gems of whatever kind.
Between the adamant and the magnet there is a certain hidden discord of nature, to such a degree that, when set close by, it does not allow the magnet to seize iron; or, if the magnet when brought near has drawn the iron, the adamant, as though coveting a kind of prey, snatches it from the magnet and carries it off.
Lychniten perinde fert India, cuius lucis vigorem flagrantia excitat lucernarum, qua ex causa lychniten Graeci vocaverunt. duplex ei facies: aut in purpurae emicat claritatem aut meracius suffunditur cocci rubore, per omne intimum sui, si quidem pura sit, inoffensam admittens perspicuitatem. at si excanduit radiis solis incita vel ad calorem digitorum attritu excitata est, aut palearum cassa aut chartarum fila ad se rapit: contumaciter scalpturis resistens ac si quando insignita est, dum signa exprimit, quasi quodam animali morsu partem cerae retentat.
India likewise bears Lychnites, whose vigor of light the blazing of lamps excites, for which cause the Greeks called it lychnites. It has a double aspect: either it flashes into the brightness of purple, or more unmixedly it is suffused with the redness of kermes through its whole innermost self, if indeed it be pure, admitting unhindered transparency. But if it has become heated, stirred by the rays of the sun, or has been excited to warmth by rubbing with the fingers, it draws to itself either husks of chaff or threads of papers; stubbornly resisting engravings, and if ever it has been inscribed, while it expresses the signs, it retains a part of the wax as if by the bite of a certain animal.
Beryllos in sexangulas formas Indi atterunt, ut hebetem coloris lenitatem angulorum repercussu excitent ad vigorem. beryllorum genus dividitur in speciem multifariam: eximii intervirente glauci et caeruli temperamento quandam praeferunt puri maris gratiam. infra hos sunt chrysoberylli, qui languidius micantes nube aurea circumfunduntur.
The Indians grind beryls into hexagonal forms, so that by the repercussion of the angles they may rouse the dull softness of the color to vigor. The kind of beryls is divided into species in many ways: the exceptional ones, with a glaucous and cerulean temperament intermingling, display a certain grace of the pure sea. Beneath these are the chrysoberyls, which, shining more languidly, are circumfused with a golden cloud.
They have likewise adjudged chrysoprases too, which draw a light mixed from gold and leek‑green, to the genus of beryls. They also approve those “hyacinthizing,” namely, which nearly recall hyacinths. But those which, being like crystal, are obscured by intercurrent hair‑like capillaments (for from this fault is their name), the most knowing in stones have consigned to the plebeian sort.
Indian kings love to fashion this kind of gems into very long cylinders, and, perforated, they suspend them by elephants’ bristles and wear them as necklaces; or more often, with golden bosses inserted at each end, they kindle them to a richer gloss, so that by industry, with metal added on this side and that, they draw a more gleaming light.
LIII. Taprobanem insulam, antequam temeritas humana exquisito penitus mari fidem panderet, diu orbem alterum putaverunt et quidem quem habitare Antichthones crederentur. verum Alexandri Magni virtus ignorantiam publici erroris non tulit ulterius permanere, sed in haec usque secreta propagavit nominis sui gloriam. missus igitur Onesicritus praefectus classis Macedonicae terram istam, quanta esset, quid gigneret, quomodo haberetur, exquisitam notitiae nostrae dedit.
53. The island of Taprobane, before human temerity spread credence over the sea thoroughly searched out, they long supposed to be another world—and indeed one believed to be inhabited by the Antichthones. But the valor of Alexander the Great did not allow the ignorance of the public error to remain any further, but propagated the glory of his name even into these very secrets. Therefore Onesicritus, prefect of the Macedonian fleet, having been sent, gave to our knowledge an exact account of that land: how great it was, what it generated, how it was held.
from the Prasian nation of the Indians the voyage into it was at first of twenty days, but when men proceeded thither in papyrus craft and Nile boats; soon, at the speed of our ships, the journey was made in seven days. a shallow sea lies between, of a depth not more than six fathoms, but in certain channels it is so deepened that no anchors have ever been able to reach the bottom of that deep. there is no observation of the stars in sailing: namely, where the Northern Bears are by no means seen and the Pleiades never appear.
therefore, with no observation for navigation being at hand, so that, as they proceed to the destined place, they may reach it, they carry birds, whose flights, when they seek the land, they have as masters for the governing of the course. No more than four months in the year is navigation carried on.
In Claudii principatum de Taprobane haec tantum noveramus: tunc enim fortuna patefecit scientiae viam latiorem. nam libertus Annii Plocami, qui tunc Rubri maris vectigal administrabat, Arabiam petens, aquilonibus praeter Carmaniam raptus, quinto decimo demum die adpulsus est ad hoc litus portumque advectus qui Hippuros nominatur. sex deinde mensibus sermonem perdoctus admissusque ad conloquia regis quae compererat reportavit.
In the principate of Claudius we knew only this about Taprobane: for then fortune laid open a wider way for science. For the freedman of Annius Plocamus, who at that time was administering the revenue of the Red Sea, while seeking Arabia, carried off by north winds past Carmania, only on the fifteenth day was driven to this shore and brought to a harbor which is named Hippuros. Then, having been thoroughly taught the language for six months and admitted to conversations with the king, he reported what he had ascertained.
that of course the king was astonished at the money which had been seized along with him, because, although it was stamped with unlike faces, nevertheless it had an equal measure of weight: upon the contemplation of this equality, since he more ardently desired Roman friendship, with Rachia as prince he sent legates all the way to us, by whom all things were learned.
Ergo inde homines corporum magnitudine omnes homines antecedunt: crines fuco inbuunt, caeruleis oculis ac truci visu, terrifico sono vocis. quibus inmatura mors est in annos centum aevum trahunt: aliis omnibus annosa aetas et paene ultra humanam extenta fragilitatem. nulli aut ante diem aut per diem somnus.
Therefore, from there the people surpass all men in the magnitude of their bodies: they imbue their hair with dye, with blue eyes and a grim gaze, and a terrifying sound of voice. For those to whom death is untimely, they draw out their span to 100 years; for all the rest, old age is long and stretched almost beyond human frailty. To none is there sleep either before day or in the daytime.
but this is required in him who has no children: for he who has been a father, even if his life be respected, is not admitted to govern; and if perchance while he reigns he has gotten issue, he is stripped of power: and this is most especially guarded, lest the kingdom become hereditary. then, even if the king display the greatest equity, they are unwilling that everything be permitted to him: therefore he receives thirty rectors, lest he judge alone in capital causes: although even so, if the judgment has displeased, an appeal is made to the people, and thus, judges being appointed, seventy pronounce a sentence, to which one must necessarily acquiesce. in dress the king, unlike the others, is clothed with a syrma, such as is the garb with which we see Liber the Father clothed.
but if even he himself is accused in some sin, he is punished with death; not, however, in such a way that he is touched by anyone’s hand, but, by public consensus, with the capacity for all things interdicted to him; even the power of colloquy is denied to the punished. All are devoted to cultivation. They indulge in hunts, nor do they pursue plebeian prey, since only tigers or elephants are sought.
There are shells, in which this kind of stones is sought, which at a certain time of year, with conception luxuriating, thirst for the dew as for a husband, gaping with desire for it; and when especially the lunar sprinklings are melted, with a certain oscitation they draw in the longed-for moisture: thus they conceive and become gravid. According to the quality of the sustenance they render the appearance of the pearls: for if what they have received has been pure, the little orbs of the stones grow white; if turbid, they either languish with pallor or are clouded with rufous. Thus they have their offspring more from the sky than from the sea.
Finally, whenever they catch the seed of the morning air, the pearl becomes brighter; whenever in the evening, it becomes darker; and the more it has imbibed, by so much the more the magnitude of the stones increases. If a coruscation should flash suddenly, they are compressed by untimely fear, and, shut up by sudden dread, they contract abortive defects: for either they become very tiny pebbles or empty. A sense inheres in the shells themselves: they fear that their offspring be stained; and when the day has been heated to incandescence with more blazing rays, lest the stones be discolored by the sun’s heat, they subside into the deep and vindicate themselves from the heat by the surges.
they deny that any have been found beyond a half-ounce. the shells fear the snares of fishermen: whence it is that they mostly hide either among the rocks or among the sea-dogs. they swim in flocks: there is a fixed leader of the swarm: if she be captured, even those that have escaped return into the nets.
Dat et India margaritas, dat et litus Brittannicum: sicut divus Iulius thoracem, quem Veneri genetrici in templo eius dicavit, ex Brittannicis margaritis factum subiecta inscriptione intellegi voluit. Lotliam Paulinam Gaii principis coniugem vulgatum est habuisse tunicam ex margaritis sestertio tunc quadringenties aestimatam: cuius parandae avaritie pater ipsius Manilius spoliatis orientis regionibus offendit C. Caesarem Augusti filium interdictaque amicitia principis veneno interiit. illud quoque expressit vetus diligentia, quod Sullanis primum temporibus Romam inlati sunt uniones.
India too yields pearls, and the British shore as well: just as the divine Julius wished it to be understood, by an inscription set beneath, that the breastplate which he dedicated to Venus Genetrix in her temple was made from British pearls. It has been commonly reported that Lollia Paulina, wife of the princeps Gaius, possessed a tunic of pearls then valued at 40,000,000 sesterces; and in the greed to procure it her father Manilius, after despoiling the regions of the East, offended Gaius Caesar, son of Augustus, and, the friendship of the princeps being forbidden, perished by poison. Ancient diligence also recorded this: that single-pearls (uniones) were first brought to Rome in the times of Sulla.
LIV. Ab insula eus ea, ut consequens, ad continentem: igitur a Taprobane in Indiam revertamur. sed si Indicis urbibus aut nationibus resistamus, egrediemur repromissae concinnitatis modum.
54. From the island, then, as the consequent step, to the mainland: therefore let us return from Taprobane to India. But if we dwell on the Indian cities or nations, we shall overstep the measure of the promised concinnity.
There too is Alexandria, which extends thirty stadia in breadth. There are many others as well, but these among the most eminent. After the Indians, the mountainous regions are held by the Ichthyophagi, whom, once subdued, Alexander the Great forbade to feed on fish; for previously they were sustained in this way.
Ultra hos deserta Carmaniae, Persis deinde atque ita navigatio: in qua Solis insula rubens et omni animantium generi inaccessa, quippe quae nullum non animal inlatum perimat. ex India revertentes ab Hyani Carmaniae flumine septemtriones primum vident. Achaemenidis in hoc tractu sedes fuerunt.
Beyond these are the deserts of Carmania, then Persis, and thus the seafaring: along which lies the island of the Sun, red and inaccessible to every kind of living creature, since it destroys every animal brought in. Those returning from India first see the North from the river Hyani of Carmania. In this tract were the seats of the Achaemenids.
then by way of various ports one arrives at Cottonara, to which they convey pepper in monoxylous skiffs. those seeking India, before the rising of the Dog-star or immediately after the rising, set their ships free in mid-summer; returning, they sail back in the month of December. the favorable wind from India is the Vulturnus; but when one has come into the Red Sea, either the Africus or the Auster carry them.
the extent of India is reported as 850 miles; but of Carmania, 100 miles, a part of which is not without vines. moreover, it has a kind of people who live on no other than tortoise flesh, shaggy all over up to the face, which alone is smooth: the same are clothed with the skins of fishes, surnamed Chelonophagi.
Inrumpit haec litora Rubrum mare idque in duos sinus scinditur. quorum qui ab oriente est Persicus appellatur, quoniam quidem oram illam habitavere Persidis populi, vicies et sexagies centena milia circuitu patens: ex adverso unde Arabia est alter Arabicus vocatur: Oceanum vero qui ibi influit Azanium nominaverunt.
The Red Sea breaks in upon these shores, and it is split into two gulfs. Of these, the one to the east is called the Persian, since indeed the peoples of Persis have inhabited that shore, stretching to eight million paces in circumference: over against it, where Arabia is, the other is called the Arabian: and the Ocean which flows in there they named Azanian.
Carmaniae Persis adnectitur, quae incipit ab insula Aphrodisia variarum opum dives, translata in Parthicum nomen, litore quo occasui obiacet porrecta milia passuum quingenta quinquaginta. oppidum eius nobilissimum Susa, in quo templum Susiae Dianae. a Susis [Carbyle sive] Babitae oppidum centum triginta quinque milibus passuum distat, in quo mortales universi odio auri coemunt hoc genus metalli et abiciunt in terrarum profunda, ne polluti usu eius avaritia corrumpant aequitatem.
Carmania is adjoined to Persis, which begins from the island Aphrodisia, rich in various resources, brought under the Parthian name, with a shore which faces the sunset stretching 550 miles. Its most noble town is Susa, in which is the temple of the Susian Diana. From Susa the town of [Carbyle, or] Babita is distant 135 miles, in which all mortals, out of hatred for gold, buy up this kind of metal and cast it into the depths of the earth, lest, stained by its use, avarice should corrupt equity.
LV. Parthia quanta omnis est a meridie Rubrum mare, a septemtrione Hyrcanum salum claudit. in ea regna duodeviginti dissecantur in duas partes. undecim quae dicuntur superiora incipiunt ab Armenico limite et Caspio litore, porrecta ad terras Scytharum, quibuscum concorditer degunt: reliqua septem inferiora, sic enim vocitant, habent ab ortu Arios , Carmaniam Arianosque a medio die, Medos ab occidui solis plaga, a septemtrione Hyrcanos.
55. Parthia, as a whole, is bounded on the south by the Red Sea, on the north by the Hyrcanian sea. Within it eighteen kingdoms are divided into two parts. The eleven which are called the Upper begin from the Armenian frontier and the Caspian shore, stretching toward the lands of the Scythians, with whom they dwell in concord; the remaining seven, the Lower—as they call them—have to the east the Arii, to the south Carmania and the Arianes, to the region of the setting sun the Medes, to the north the Hyrcanians.
but Media itself, from the west, athwart, embraces both the kingdoms of Parthia: on the north it is surrounded by Armenia: from the east it sees the Caspians: on the south, Persia. then this tract extends as far as the fort which the Magi hold, by the name Fidasarcida: here is the sepulcher of Cyrus.
LVI. Chaldaeae gentis caput Babylonia est, tam nobilis ut propter eam et Assyrii et Mesopotamia in Babyloniae nomen transierint. urbs est sexaginta milia passuum circuitu patens, muris circumdata, quorum altitudo ducentos pedes detinet, latitudo quinquaginta, ternis in singulos pedes digitis ultra quam mensura nostra est altioribus. interluitur Euphrate.
56. The capital of the Chaldaean people is Babylonia, so noble that on account of it both the Assyrians and Mesopotamia have passed into the name of Babylonia. It is a city extending to a circumference of sixty thousand paces, encircled by walls, whose height holds 200 feet, the thickness 50, with each foot higher by three digits for each than our measure is. It is washed through by the Euphrates.
Tempus est ad Oceani oras reverti, represso in Aethiopiam stilo: namque ut Atlanticos aestus occipere ab occidente et Hispania dudum dixeramus, ab bis quoque partibus mundi unde primum Atlantici nomen induat, exprimi par est. pelagus Azanium usque Aethiopum litora promovetur, Aethiopicum ad Massylicum promunturium, unde rursus oceanus Atlanticus.
It is time to return to the shores of the Ocean, the stylus checked upon Aethiopia: for just as we said a while ago that the Atlantic tides begin from the Occident and from Hispania, so too from the two parts of the world from which it first assumes the Atlantic name, it is fitting that it be set forth. the sea is carried forward as far as the Azanian shores of the Aethiopians, the Aethiopic [sea] to the Massylian promontory, whence again the Atlantic Ocean.
Iuba igitur universae partis, quam plurimi propter solis ardorem perviam negaverunt, facta etiam vel gentium vel insularum commemoratione ad confirmandae fidei argumentum, omne illud mare ab India usque Gades voluit intellegi navigabile, cori tamen flatibus, cuius spiritus praeter Arabiam, Aegyptum, Mauretaniam evehere quamvis queant classem, dummodo ab eo promunturio Indiae cursus dirigatur, quod alii Lepten acran, alii Drepanum nominaverunt. addidit etiam stationum loca et spatiorum modum: nam ab Indica prominentia ad Malichu insulam adfirmat esse quindecies centena milia passuum: a Malichu ad Scaeneon ducenta viginti quinque milia: inde ad insulam Adanum centum quinquaginta milia: sic confici ad apertum mare decies octies centena et septuaginta quinque milia. idem opinioni plurimorum, qui solis flagrantia maxima partis istius ferunt humano generi inaccessa, sic reluctatur, ut mercantium ibi transitus infestari ex Arabicis insulis dicat: quas Ascitae habent Arabes.
Juba therefore, of the whole region, which very many denied to be traversable because of the sun’s ardor, having also made a mention either of peoples or of islands as an argument for confirming credibility, wished it to be understood that all that sea from India to Gades is navigable, by the blasts of the Corus, whose breath can carry a fleet past Arabia, Egypt, and Mauretania, provided only that the course be directed from that promontory of India which some have named Lepten acran, others Drepanum. He added also the sites of stations and the measure of the distances: for from the Indian projection to the island Malichu he affirms there are 1,500,000 paces; from Malichu to Scaeneon, 225,000; thence to the island Adanum, 150,000; thus there are completed on the open sea 1,875,000. The same man so struggles against the opinion of the majority, who allege that by the sun’s conflagrations the greatest part of that region is inaccessible to the human race, that he says the passages of merchants there are harried from Arabian islands, which the Ascitae Arabs hold.
to whom a name was given from the circumstance. For upon ox-hide wine-skins they set latticed frames decked with planks, and, conveyed by this kind of raft, they harry passers-by with poisoned arrows. He adds also that sun-scorched Ethiopia is inhabited by the nations of the Troglodytes and the Ichthyophagi: of whom the Troglodytes possess such fleetness that they overtake on foot the wild beasts they chase, while the Ichthyophagi, by swimming, are in the sea no less capable than marine beasts.
Ita exquisito Atlantico mari usque in occasum, etiam Gorgadum meminit insularum. Gorgades insulae, ut accipimus, obversae sunt promunturio quod vocamus Hesperuceras. has incoluerunt Gorgones monstra et sane usque adhuc monstruosa gens habitat.
Thus, the Atlantic Sea having been thoroughly explored as far as the sunset, he also makes mention of the islands of the Gorgades. The Gorgades islands, as we receive it, are set opposite the promontory which we call Hesperuceras. These the Gorgons—monsters—inhabited, and indeed up to this day a monstrous race dwells there.
they are distant from the mainland by a voyage of two days. Finally, Xenophon of Lampsacus reported that Hanno, commander of the Carthaginians, penetrated into them and that there were found there women of winged swiftness; and, of all that appeared, two were captured, with a body so shaggy and rough that, as proof of the thing seen, he hung the skins of the two, for the sake of the marvel, among the votive offerings of Juno, which lasted down to the time of the destruction of Carthage.
Ultra Gorgadas Hesperidum insulae, sicut Sebosus adfirmat, dierum quadraginta navigatione in intimos maris sinus recesserunt. Fortunatas insulas certe contra laevam Mauretaniae accepimus iacere, quas Iuba sub meridie quidem sitas, sed proximas occasui dicit. de harum nominibus expectari magnum non miror, sed infra famam vocabuli res est.
Beyond the Gorgades the islands of the Hesperides, as Sebosus affirms, have withdrawn, by a sailing of forty days, into the inmost recesses of the sea. The Fortunate Islands, to be sure, we have received as lying over against the left-hand side of Mauretania, which Juba says are situated under the south, but nearest to the setting. As to their names, I do not marvel that great things are expected, but the reality is beneath the fame of the name.
in the first of them, whose name is Norion, there are no buildings, nor have there been. the ridges of the mountains grow wet with stagnant pools. giant fennels rise to the magnitude of a tree: of these, those which are black, when pressed, render a most bitter liquor, those which are white disgorge waters even suited for drinking.
a great abundance of birds, fruit-bearing groves, date-bearing palm-groves, much pine-nut, a bountiful honey-harvest, rivers abounding in silurid fish. They also report that the billowy sea spits beasts upon it: then, when those monsters have been wasted away by putrefaction, everything there is infected with a foul odor: and therefore the quality of the islands does not entirely congrue with their appellation.