# The Geography of Strabo/Book 3

WS Note: the sections can be linked, ex.The Geography of Strabo/Book 3 links to section 5 of Chapter III.
Chapters: I – II – III – IV – V
SPAIN.
CHAPTER I.
1. HAVING thus given a general view of Geography, it will now be proper to describe each separate country in detail, as we engaged to do. We fancy that the method which we have adopted in the division of our subject, up to this point, has been correct; and we now re-commence with Europe and the various countries into which it is divided, on the same principles as formerly, and induced by the same reasons.
2. The first division of this continent towards the west is Iberia, as we before stated. The greater part of this country is but little fitted for habitation; consisting chiefly of mountains, woods, and plains covered with a light meagre soil, the irrigation of which is likewise uncertain. The part next the north, which borders on the ocean, is extremely cold, and besides its rugged character, has no communication or intercourse with other [countries], and thus to dwell there is attended with peculiar hardship. Such is the character of this portion; on the other hand, almost the whole of the south is fertile, especially what is beyond the Pillars [of Hercules]. This however will be shown more in detail, but we must first describe the figure and extent [of the country].
3. In shape it resembles a hide stretched out in length from west to east, the forepart towards the east, its breadth being from north to south. Its length is about 6000 stadia; the greatest breadth is 5000; while there are parts considerably less ​than 3000, particularly in the vicinity of the Pyrenees, which form the eastern side. This chain of mountains stretches without interruption from north to south, and divides Keltica from Iberia. The breadth both of Keltica and Iberia is irregular, the narrowest part in both of them from the Mediterranean to the [Atlantic] Ocean being near the Pyrenees, particularly on either side of that chain; this gives rise to gulfs both on the side of the Ocean, and also of the Mediterranean; the largest of these are denominated the Keltic or Galatic Gulfs, and they render the [Keltic] Isthmus narrower than that of Iberia. The Pyrenees form the eastern side of Iberia, and the Mediterranean the southern from the Pyrenees to the Pillars of Hercules, thence the exterior [ocean] as far as the Sacred Promontory. The third or western side runs nearly parallel to the Pyrenees from the Sacred Promontory to the promontory of the Artabri, called [Cape] Nerium. The fourth side extends hence to the northern extremity of the Pyrenees.
4. We will now commence our detailed account, beginning from the Sacred Promontory. This is the most westem point not only of Europe, but of the whole habitable earth. For the habitable earth is bounded to the west by two continents, namely, the extremities of Europe and Libya, which are inhabited respectively by the Iberians and the Maurusians. But the Iberian extremity, at the promontory we have mentioned, juts out beyond the other as much as 1500 stadia. The region adjacent to this cape they call in the Latin tongue ​Cuneum, which signifies a wedge. The promontory which projects into the sea, Artemidorus (who states that he has himself been at the place) compares to a ship; three little islands, [he says,] each having a small harbour, contribute to give it this form; the former island resembling the beak of the ship, and the two latter the beams on each side of the ship’s bows. [He adds] that there is no temple of Hercules shown there, as Ephorus falsely states, nor yet any altar [to him] nor to any other divinity; but in many parts there are three or four stones placed together, which are turned by all travellers who arrive there, in accordance with a certain local custom, and are changed in position by such as turn them incorrectly. It is not lawful to offer sacrifice there, nor yet to approach the place during the night, for it is said that then the gods take up their abode at the place. Those who go thither to view it stay at a neighbouring village over-night, and proceed to the place on the morrow, carrying water with them, as there is none to be procured there.
5. It is quite possible that these things are so, and we ought not to disbelieve them. Not so however with regard to the other common and vulgar reports; for Posidonius tells us the common people say that in the countries next the ocean the sun appears larger as he sets, and makes a noise resembling the sound of hot metal in cold water, as though the sea were hissing as the sun was submerged in its depths. The statement [of Artemidorus] is also false, that night follows immediately on the setting of the sun: it does not follow immediately, although certainly the interval is short, as in other great seas. For when he sets behind mountains the agency of the false light continues the day for a long period; over the sea the twilight is shorter, still darkness does not immediately supervene. The same thing may be remarked in large plains. The image of the sun is enlarged on the seas at its rising as well as at its setting, because at these times a larger mass of ​exhalations rises from the humid element; and the eye looking through these exhalations, sees images refracted into larger forms, as observed through tubes. The same thing happens when the setting sun or moon is seen through a dry and thin cloud, when those bodies likewise appear reddish. Posidonius tells us that, having himself passed thirty days at Gades, during which time he carefully observed the setting of the sun, he is convinced of the falsity of Artemidorus’s account. This latter writer tells us, that at the time of its setting the sun appears a hundred times larger than its ordinary size, and that night immediately succeeds. If we attend to his account, we cannot believe that he himself remarked this phenomenon at the Sacred Promontory, for he tells us that no one can approach during the night; therefore they cannot approach at sunset, since night immediately supervenes thereupon. Neither did he observe it from any other part of the coast washed by the ocean, for Gades is upon the ocean, and both Posidonius and many others testify that there such is not the case.
6. The sea-coast next the Sacred Promontory forms on one side the commencement of the western coast of Spain as far as the outlet of the river Tagus; and on the other forms the southern coast as far as the outlet of another river, named the Guadiana. Both of these rivers descend from the eastern parts [of Spain]; but the former, which is much larger than the other, pursues a straight course towards the west, while the Guadiana bends its course towards the south. They enclose an extent of country peopled for the most part by Kelts and ​certain Lusitanians, whom the Romans caused to settle here from the opposite side of the Tagus. Higher up, the country is inhabited by the Carpetani, the Oretani, and a large number of Vettones. This district is moderately fertile, but that which is beyond it to the east and south, does not give place in superiority to any part of the habitable earth with which it may be compared, in the excellence of its productions both of land and sea. This is the country through which the river Guadalquiver flows. This river takes its rise from the same paths as the Guadiana and the Tagus, and is between these two in size. Like the Guadiana, the commencement of its course flows towards the west, but it afterwards turns to the south, and discharges itself at the same side of the coast as that river.
From this river the country has received the name of Bætica; it is called Turdetania by the inhabitants, who are themselves denominated Turdetani, and Turduli. Some think these two names refer to one nation, while others believe that they designate two distinct people. Of this latter opinion is Polybius, who imagines that the Turduli dwell more to the north than the Turdetani. At the present day however there does not appear to be any distinction between them. These people are esteemed to be the most intelligent of all the Iberians; they have an alphabet, and possess ancient writings, poems, and metrical laws six thousand years old as they say. The other Iberians are likewise furnished with an alphabet, although not of the same form, nor do they speak the same language. Their country, which is on this side the ​Guadiana, extends eastward as far as Oretania, and southward along the sea-coast from the outlets of the Guadiana to the Pillars [of Hercules]. But it is necessary that I should enter into further particulars concerning this and the neighbouring places, in order to illustrate their excellence and fertility.
7. Between this coast, where the Guadalquiver and Guadiana discharge themselves, and the extremities of Maurusia, the Atlantic Ocean forms the strait at the Pillars [of Hercules] by which it is connected with the Mediterranean. Here is situated Calpe, the mountain of the Iberians who are denominated Bastetani, by others Bastuli. Its circumference is not large, but it is so high and steep as to resemble an island in the distance. Sailing from the Mediterranean into the Atlantic, it is left on the right hand. At a distance of 40 stadia from this [mountain] is the considerable and ancient city of Carteia, formerly a marine arsenal of the Iberians. Some assert that it was founded by Hercules; of this number is Timosthenes, who tells us it was anciently called Heraclæa, and that vast walls and ship-sheds are still shown.
8. Next to these is Mellaria, where they make salted provisions. After this the city and river of Belo. Here the merchandise and salted provisions for Tingis in Maurusia are principally shipped. There was a city named Zelis near to Tingis, but the Romans transferred it to the opposite coast [of Spain], and having placed there in addition some of the inhabitants of Tingis, and sent over also some of their own people, they then gave to the city the name of Julia Joza. Beyond this is Gadeira, an island separated from Turdetania by a narrow strait, and distant from Calpe about 750 stadia, or, as others say, 800. This island has nothing to distinguish it above others, but owing to the boldness of its people in ​their expeditions by sea, and their friendship with the Romans, has attained to that pitch of good fortune, that although situated at the farthest extremities of the earth, it possesses a greater celebrity than any other island. But we will describe it when we come to speak of the other islands.
CHAPTER II.
1. TURDETANIA lies above the coast on this side the Guadiana, and is intersected by the river Guadalquiver. It is bounded on the west and north by the river Guadiana; on the east by certain of the Carpetani and the Oretani; on the south by those of the Bastetani who inhabit the narrow slip of coast between Calpe and Gadeira, and by the sea beyond as far as the Guadiana. The Bastetani whom I have mentioned, together with the people on the other side the Guadiana, and many of the places adjacent, belong to Turdetania. The size of this country in its length and breadth does not exceed two thousand stadia, still it contains a vast number of towns; two hundred, it is said. Those best known are situated on the rivers, estuaries, and sea; but the two which have acquired the greatest name and importance are Corduba, founded by Marcellus, and the city of the Gaditanians. The latter for its naval importance, and its alliance with the Romans; and the former on account of its fertility and extent, a considerable portion of the Guadalquiver flowing by it; in addition to this it has been from its commencement inhabited by picked men, whether natives or Romans; and it was the first colony planted by the Romans in these parts.
After this city and that of the Gaditanians, Hispalis is the most noted. This also is a Roman colony. Commerce is still ​carried on here, although at the present moment the city or Bætis though not so finely built, is outshining it, on account of the honour it has received from the soldiers of Cæsar taking up their quarters there.
2. After these are Italica, and Ilipa, situated on the Guadalquiver; farther on are Astygis, Carmo, and Obulco; and besides these Munda, Ategua, Urso, Tukkis, Julia, and Ægua, where the sons of Pompey were defeated. None of these places are far from Corduba. Munda is in some sort regarded as the metropolis of the whole district. This place is distant from Carteia 1400 stadia, and it was here that Cnæus fled after his defeat, and sailing thence landed on a rocky height overlooking the sea, where he was murdered. His brother Sextus, having escaped from Corduba, after carrying on the war for a short time in Spain, caused a revolt in Sicily. Flying thence into Asia he was seized at Miletus by the generals of Antony, and executed. Amongst the Kelts the most famous place is Conistorgis. Upon the estuaries is Asta, in which the Gaditani mostly hold their assemblies; it is opposite the sea-port of the island, at a distance of not more than 100 stadia.
3. A vast number of people dwell along the Guadalquiver; and you may sail up it almost 1200 stadia from the sea to Corduba, and the places a little higher up. The banks and little islets of this river are cultivated with the greatest diligence. ​The eye is also delighted with groves and gardens, which in this district are met with in the highest perfection. As far as Ispalis, which is a distance of not less than 500 stadia, the river is navigable for ships of considerable size; but for the cities higher up, as far as Ilipas, smaller vessels are employed, and thence to Corduba river-boats. These are now constructed of planks joined together, but they were formerly made out of a single trunk. Above this to Castlon the river is no longer navigable. A chain of mountains, rich in metal, runs parallel to the Guadalquiver, approaching the river sometimes more, sometimes less, towards the north.
There is much silver found in the parts about Ilipas and Sisapo, both in that which is called the old town and the new. There are copper and gold about the Cotinæ. These mountains are on the left as you sail up the river; on the right there is a vast and elevated plain fertile, full of large trees, and containing excellent pasturage. The Guadiana is likewise navigable, but not for vessels equally large, nor yet so far up. It is also bordered by mountains containing metal, and extends as far as the Tagus. Districts which contain metals must, of necessity, be rugged and poor, as indeed are those adjoining Carpetania, and still more those next the Keltiberians. The same is the case with Bæturia, the plains of which, bordering on the Guadiana, are arid.
4. Turdetania, on the other hand, is marvellously fertile, and abounds in every species of produce. The value of its productions is doubled by means of exportation, the surplus products finding a ready sale amongst the numerous ship-owners. This results from its rivers and estuaries, which, as we have said, resemble rivers, and by which you may sail from the sea to the inland towns, not only in small, but even in large-sized skiffs. For the whole country above the coast, and situated between the Sacred Promontory and the Pillars, consists of an extended plain. Here in many places are hollows running inland from the sea, which resemble moderately-sized ravines or the beds of rivers, and extend ​for many stadia. These are filled by the approach of the sea at high tide, and may be navigated as easily, or even more so than rivers. They are navigated much the same as rivers; the sea, meeting with no obstacle, enters like the flow of a river at flood-tide. The sea comes in here with greater force than in the other places; for being forced from the wide ocean into the narrow strait, formed by the coast of Maurusia and Iberia, it experiences recoils, and thus is borne full into the retiring parts of the land. Some of these shallows are left dry as the tide ebbs, while others are never destitute of water; others again contain islands, of this kind are the estuaries between the Sacred Promontory and the Pillars, where the tide comes in with more violence than at other places. Such a tide is of considerable advantage to sailors, since it makes the estuaries both fuller and more spacious, frequently swelling them to a breadth of eight stadia, so that the whole land, so to speak, is rendered navigable, thus giving wonderful facility both for the export and import of merchandise. Nevertheless there is some inconvenience. For in the navigation of the rivers, the sailors run considerable danger both in ascending and descending, owing to the violence with which the flood-tide encounters the current of the stream as it flows down. The ebb-tides are likewise the cause of much damage in these estuaries, for resulting as they do from the same cause as the flood-tides, they are frequently so rapid as to leave the vessel on dry land; and herds in passing over to the islands that are in these estuaries are sometimes drowned [in the passage] and sometimes surprised in the islands, and endeavouring to cross back again to the continent, are unable, and perish in the attempt. They say that certain of the cattle, having narrowly observed what takes place, wait till the sea has retired, and then cross over to the main-land.
5. The men [of the country], being well acquainted with the nature of these places, and that the estuaries would very well answer the same purpose as rivers, founded cities and other settlements along them the same as along rivers. Of this number are Asta, Nebrissa, Onoba, Ossonoba, Mænoba, ​besides many others. The canals which have been cut in various directions are also found usefull in the traffic which is carried on between place and place, both amongst the people themselves and with foreigners. The conflux of water at the flood-tides is also valuable, as rendering navigable the isthmuses which separate the different pieces of water, thus making it possible to ferry over from the rivers into the estuaries, and from the estuaries into the rivers. Their trade is wholly carried on with Italy and Rome. The navigation is excellent as far as the Pillars, (excepting perhaps some little difficulties at the Strait,) and equally so on the Mediterranean, where the voyages are very calm, especially to those who keep the high seas. This is a great advantage to merchant-vessels. The winds on the high seas blow regularly; and peace reigns there now, the pirates having been put down, so that in every respect the voyage is facile. Posidonius tells us he observed the singular phenomenon in his journey from Iberia, that in this sea, as far as the Gulf of Sardinia, the south-east winds blow periodically. And on this account he strove in vain for three whole months to reach Italy, being driven about by the winds against the Gymnesian islands, Sardinia, and the opposite coasts of Libya.
6. Large quantities of corn and wine are exported from Turdetania, besides much oil, which is of the first quality; also wax, honey, pitch, large quantities of the kermesberry and vermilion not inferior to that of Sinope. The country furnishes the timber for their shipbuilding. They have likewise mineral salt, and not a few salt streams. A considerable quantity of salted fish is exported, not only from hence, but also from the remainder of the coast beyond the Pillars, equal to that of Pontus. Formerly they exported large quantities of garments, but they now send the [unmanufactured] wool, which is superior even to that of ​the Coraxi, and remarkable for its beauty. Rams for the purpose of covering fetch a talent. The stuffs manufactured by the Saltiatæ are of incomparable texture. There is a superabundance of cattle, and a great variety of game: while, on the other hand, of destructive animals there are scarcely any, with the exception of certain little hares which burrow in the ground, and are called by some leberides. These creatures destroy both seeds and trees by gnawing their roots. They are met with throughout almost the whole of Iberia, and extend to Marseilles, infesting likewise the islands. It is said that formerly the inhabitants of the Gymnesian islands, sent a deputation to the Romans soliciting that a new land might be given them, as they were quite driven out of their country by these animals, being no longer able to stand against their vast multitudes. It is possible that people should be obliged to have recourse to such an expedient for help in waging war in so great an extremity, which however but seldom happens, and is a plague produced by some pestilential state of the atmosphere, which at other times has produced serpents and rats in like abundance; but for the ordinary increase of these little hares, many ways of hunting have been devised, amongst others by wild cats from Africa, trained for the purpose. Having muzzled these, they turn them into the holes, when they either drag out the animals they find there with their claws, or compel them to fly to the surface of the earth, where they are taken by people standing by for that purpose. The large amount of the exports from Turdetania is evinced by the size and number of their ships. Merchant-vessels of the greatest size sail thence to Dicæarchia and ​Ostia, a Roman port; they are in number nearly equal to those which arrive from Libya.
7. Such is the wealth of the inland part of Turdetania, and its maritime portions are found fully to equal it in the richness of their sea-productions. In fact, oysters and every variety of shell-fish, remarkable both for their number and size, are found along the whole of the exterior sea, but here in particular. It is probable that the flow and ebb tides, which are particularly strong here, contribute both to their quantity and size, on account of the great number of pools and standing waters which they form. The same is the case with regard to all kinds of cetacea, narwhals, whales, and physeteri, which when they blow [up the water from their snouts] appear to observers from a distance to resemble a cloud shaped like a column. The congers are quite monstrous, far surpassing in size those of our [sea]; so are the lampreys, and many other fish of the same kind. It is said that in Carteia there are kerukæ and cuttle-fish which would contain as much as ten cotylæ. In the parts more exterior there are lampreys and congers weighing 80 minæ, and polypes a talent, also teuthidæ two cubits in length, with other fish in proportion. Shoals of rich fat thunny are driven hither from the sea-coast beyond. They feed on the fruit of a species of stunted oak, which grows at the bottom of the sea, and produces very large acorns. The same oaks grow in large numbers throughout the land of Iberia, their roots are of the same size as those of the full-grown oak, although the tree itself never attains the height of a low shrub. So great is the quantity of fruit which it produces, that at the season when they are ripe, the whole coast on either side of the Pillars is covered with acorns which have been thrown up by the tides; the quantity however ​is always less on this side the Pillars [than on the other]. Polybius states that these acorns are ejected [by the sea] as far as [the shores of] Latium, unless, he adds, Sardo and the neighbouring districts also produce them. The thunny-fish become gradually thinner, owing to the failure of their food, as they approach the Pillars from the outer sea. This fish, in fact, may be regarded as a kind of sea-hog, being fond of the acorn, and growing marvellously fat upon it; and whenever acorns are abundant, thunny-fish are abundant likewise.
8. Of the various riches of the aforenamed country, not the least is its wealth in metals: this every one will particularly esteem and admire. Of metals, in fact, the whole country of the Iberians is full, although it is not equally fertile and flourishing throughout, especially in those parts where the metals most abound. It is seldom that any place is blessed with both these advantages, and likewise seldom that the different kinds of metals abound in one small territory. Turdetania, however, and the surrounding districts surpass so entirely in this respect, that however you may wish, words cannot convey their excellence. Gold, silver, copper, and iron, equal in amount and of similar quality, not having been hitherto discovered in any other part of the world. Gold is not only dug from the mines, but likewise collected; sand containing gold being washed down the rivers and torrents. It is frequently met with in arid districts, but here the gold is not visible to the sight, whereas in those which are overflowed the grains of gold are seen glittering. On this account they cause water to flow over the arid places in order to make the grains shine; they also dig pits, and make use of other contrivances for washing the sand, and separating the gold from it; so that at the present day more gold is procured by washing than by digging it from the mines. The Galatæ affirm that the mines along the Kemmenus mountains and their side of the Pyrenees are superior; but most people prefer those on this side. They say that sometimes amongst the ​grains of gold lumps have been found weighing half a pound, these they call palæ; they need but little refining. They also say that in splitting open stones they find small lumps, resembling paps. And that when they have melted the gold, and purified it by means of a kind of aluminous earth, the residue left is electrum. This, which contains a mixture of silver and gold, being again subjected to the fire, the silver is separated and the gold left [pure]; for this metal is easily dissipated and fat, and on this account gold is most easily melted by straw, the flame of which is soft, and bearing a similarity [to the gold], causes it easily to dissolve: whereas coal, besides wasting a great deal, melts it too much by reason of its vehemence, and carries it off [in vapour]. In the beds of the rivers the sand is either collected and washed in boats close by, or else a pit is dug to which the earth is carried and there washed. The furnaces for silver are constructed lofty, in order that the vapour, which is dense and pestilent, may be raised and carried off. Certain of the copper mines are called gold mines, which would seem to show that formerly gold was dug from them.
9. Posidonius, in praising the amount and excellence of the metals, cannot refrain from his accustomed rhetoric, and becomes quite enthusiastic in exaggeration. He tells us we are not to disbelieve the fable, that formerly the forests having been set on fire, the earth, which was loaded with silver and gold, melted, and threw up these metals to the surface, forasmuch as every mountain and wooded hill seemed to be heaped up with money by a lavish fortune. Altogether (he remarks) any one seeing these places, could only describe them as the inexhaustible treasuries of nature, or the unfailing exchequer of some potentate; for not only, he tells us, is this land rich itself, but riches abound beneath it. So that amongst these people the subterraneous regions should not be regarded as the realms of Pluto, but of Plutus. Such is the flourished style in which he speaks on this subject, that you would fancy ​his turgid language had been dug from a mine itself. Discoursing on the diligence of the miners, he applies to them the remark [of Demetrius] of Phalaris, who, speaking of the silver mines of Attica, said that the men there dug with as much energy as if they thought they could grub up Plutus himself. He compares with these the activity and diligence of the Turdetani, who are in the habit of cutting tortuous and deep tunnels, and draining the streams which they frequently encounter by means ot Egyptian screws. As for the rest, they are quite different from the Attic miners, whose mining (he remarks) may be justly compared to that enigma, What I have taken up I have not kept, and what I have got I have thrown away. Whereas the Turdetanians make a good profit, since a fourth part of the ore which they extract from the copper mines is [pure] copper, while from the silver mines one person has taken as much as a Eubœan talent. He says that tin is not found upon the surface, as authors commonly relate, but that it is dug up; and that it is produced both in places among the barbarians who dwell beyond the Lusitanians and in the islands Cassiterides; and that from the Britannic Islands it is carried to Marseilles. Amongst the Artabri, who are the last of the Lusitanians towards the north and west, he tells us that the earth is powdered with silver, tin, and white gold, that is, mixed with silver, the earth having been brought down by the rivers: this the women scrape up with spades, and wash in sieves, woven after the fashion of baskets. Such is the ​substance of what [Posidonius] tells us concerning the mines [of Iberia].
10. Polybius, speaking of the silver mines of New Carthage, tells us that they are extremely large, distant from the city about 20 stadia, and occupy a circuit of 400 stadia, that there are 40,000 men regularly engaged in them, and that they yield daily to the Roman people [a revenue of] 25,000 drachmæ. The rest of the process I pass over, as it is too long, but as for the silver ore collected, he tells us that it is broken up, and sifted through sieves over water; that what remains is to be again broken, and the water having been strained off, it is to be sifted and broken a third time. The dregs which remain after the fifth time are to be melted, and the lead being poured off, the silver is obtained pure. These silver mines still exist; however they are no longer the property of the state, neither these nor those elsewhere, but are possessed by private individuals. The gold mines, on the contrary, nearly all belong to the state. Both at Castlon and other places there are singular lead mines worked. They contain a small proportion of silver, but not sufficient to pay for the expense of refining.
11. Not far from Castlon is the mountain in which they report that the [river] Guadalquiver takes its rise. They call it silver mountain on account of the silver mines which it contains. Polybius asserts that both the Guadiana and this river have their sources in Keltiberia, notwithstanding they are separated from each other by a distance of 900 stadia; [this we are to attribute to] the Keltiberians having increased in power, and having consequently conferred their name on the surrounding country. It appears the ancients knew the Guadalquiver under the name of the Tartessus, and Gades with the neighbouring islands under that of Erythia; and it is thought that we should understand in this sense the words of Stesichorus concerning the pastoral poet Geryon, that he was born ​“almost opposite to the renowned Erythia, in a rocky cave near to the abundant springs of the silver-bedded river Tartessus.” They say that on the piece of land enclosed between the two outlets of this river there formerly stood a city, named like the river Tartessus, and that the district was called Tartessis, which the Turduli now inhabit. Eratosthenes likewise tells us that the [country] near to Calpe was called Tartessis, and also Erythia the Fortunate Island. This Artemidorus contradicts, and says that it is as false as his other statements, that the Sacred Promontory is distant from Gades five days’ sail, when in fact they are [distant from each other] not more than 1700 stadia. Likewise that the tide ceased at this point, whereas it passes round the whole circuit of the habitable earth. That it is easier to pass from the northern parts of Iberia into Keltica, than to proceed thither by sea; with many other things which he asserted on the faith of that charlatan Pytheas.
Now, since it is evident that night is ominous, and near to Hades, and Hades to Tartarus, it seems probable that [Homer], having heard of Tartessus, took thence the name of Tartarus to distinguish the farthest of the places beneath the earth, also embellishing it with fable in virtue of the poetic licence. In the same way, knowing that the Cimmerians dwelt in northern and dismal territories near to the Bosphorus, he located them ​in the vicinity of Hades; perhaps also on account of the common hatred of the Ionians against this people. For they say that in the time of Homer, or a little before, the Cimmerians made an incursion as far as Æolia and Ionia. Always drawing his fables from certain real facts, his Planetæ are modelled on the Cyaneæ. He describes them as dangerous rocks, as they tell us the Cyaneæan rocks are, [and] on which account [in fact] they are called Symplegades. He adds to this [the account of] Jason’s navigating through the midst of them. The Straits of the Pillars and Sicily, likewise, suggested to him the fable of the Planetæ. Thus, even according to the worst comments, from the fiction of Tartarus any one might gather that Homer was acquainted with the regions about Tartessus.
Similar to these are the fables related by later poets; such, for instance, as the expeditions after the oxen of Geryon, and the ​golden apples of the Hesperides, the Islands of the Blessed they speak of, which we know are still pointed out to us not far distant from the extremities of Maurusia, and opposite to Gades.
14. I repeat that the Phœnicians were the discoverers [of these countries], for they possessed the better part of Iberia and Libya before the time of Homer, and continued masters of those places until their empire was overthrown by the Romans. This also is an evidence of the wealth of Iberia: in the expedition of the Carthaginians under Barcas, they found, according to historians, that the people of Turdetania used silver goblets and casks. One might guess too that it was on account of this great opulence that the men of the country, and their chiefs in particular, were styled long-lived. Wherefore Anacreon thus sings,
“Neither would I desire the horn of Amalthea, nor to reign over Tartessus one hundred and fifty years.”
Herodotus too has preserved the name of the king, whom he calls Arganthonius. The passage of Anacreon must therefore either be understood [of this king], or some other like him; or else more generally thus, “nor to reign for a lengthened period in Tartessus.” Some writers are of opinion that Tartessus is the present Carteia.
15. The Turdetani not only enjoy a salubrious climate, but their manners are polished and urbane, as also are those of the people of Keltica, by reason of their vicinity [to the Turdetani], or, according to Polybius, on account of their ​being of the same stock, but not to so great a degree, for they live for the most part scattered in villages. The Turdetani, on the other hand, especially those who dwell about the Guadalquiver, have so entirely adopted the Roman mode of life, as even to have forgotten their own language. They have for the most part become Latins, and received Roman colonists; so that a short time only is wanted before they will be all Romans. The very names of many of the towns at present, such as Pax Augusta amongst the Keltici, Augusta-Emerita amongst the Turduli, Cæsar-Augusta amongst the Keltiberians and certain other colonies, are proof of the change of manners I have spoken of. Those of the Iberians who adopt these new modes of life are styled togati. Amongst their number are the Keltiberians, who formerly were regarded as the most uncivilized of them all. So much for these.
CHAPTER III.
1. STARTING again from the Sacred Promontory, and continuing along the other side of the coast, we come to the gulf near the Tagus, afterwards Cape Barbarium, and near to this the outlets of the Tagus, which may be reached by sailing in a straight course for a distance of 10 stadia. Here are estuaries, one of them more than 400 stadia from the said tower, on a part of which Laccæa is situated. The breadth of the mouth of the Tagus is about 20 stadia, its depth is so great as to be capable of navigation by vessels of the greatest burden. At the flood-tide the Tagus forms two estuaries in the ​plains which lie above it, so that the plain is inundated and rendered navigable for a distance of 150 stadia. In the upper estuary an island is formed about 30 stadia in length, and nearly equal in breadth, which is fertile, and has excellent vines. The island lies near to Moro, a city happily situated on a mountain close to the river, and about 500 stadia from the sea. The country surrounding it is very fine, and the ascent [of the Tagus] for a considerable way practicable for vessels of a large size, the remainder is performed in riverboats. Above Moro it is navigable for a yet longer distance. Brutus, surnamed the Gallician, made use of this city as a military station, when fighting against the Lusitanians, whom he subdued. On the sides of the river he fortified Olysipo, in order that the passage up the river and the carriage of necessaries might be preserved unimpeded. These therefore are the finest cities near the Tagus. The river contains much fish, and is full of oysters. It takes its rise amongst the Keltiberians, and flows through the [country of the] Vettones, Carpetani, and Lusitani, towards the west; to a certain distance it runs parallel with the Guadiana and Guadalquiver, but parts from them as they decline towards the southern coast.
2. Of those who dwell above the aforesaid mountains, the Oretani are the most southern, extending in part as far as the sea-coast on this side the Pillars. Next these towards the north are the Carpetani, then the Vettones and Vaccæi, through whose [country] the Douro flows as it passes Acontia, a city of the Vaccæi. The Gallicians are the last, and inhabit for the most part a mountainous country: on this account they were the most difficult to subdue, and furnished his surname to the conqueror of the Lusitanians; in fact at the present day the greater part of the Lusitanians are beginning to call themselves Gallicians. The finest cities of Oretania are Castulo and Oria.
3. North of the Tagus is Lusitania, the principal of the nations of Iberia, and the one which has most frequently encountered the arms of the Romans. On the southern side ​this country is bounded by the Tagus, on the west and north by the ocean, on the east by the well-known nations of the Carpetani, the Vettones, the Vaccæi, the Gallicians, and by others not worthy to be mentioned on account of their insignificance and obscurity. On the other hand, certain historians of the present day give the name of Lusitanians to all of these nations.
To the east the Gallicians border on the nation of the Asturians and Keltiberians, the others [border] on the Keltiberians. In length Lusitania is 3000 stadia; its breadth, which is comprised between the eastern side and the opposite sea-coast, is much less. The eastern part is mountainous and rugged, while the country beyond, as far as the sea, consists entirely of plains, with the exception of a few inconsiderable mountains. On this account Posidonius remarks that Aristotle was not correct in supposing that the ebb and flow of the tide was occasioned by the sea-coast of Iberia and Maurusia. For Aristotle asserted that the tides of the sea were caused by the extremities of the land being mountainous and rugged, and therefore both receiving the wave violently and also casting it back. Whereas Posidonius truly remarks that they are for the most part low and sandy.
4. The country which we are describing is fertile, and irrigated by rivers both large and small, all of which flow from the eastern parts parallel with the Tagus: most of them are navigable and full of gold dust. After the Tagus, the most noted rivers are the Mondego and the Vouga, which are navigable but for a short distance. After these is the Douro, which flows from afar by Numantia, and many other colonies of the Keltiberians and Vaccæi; it is capable of being navigated in large vessels for a distance of nearly 800 stadia. Besides these there are other rivers, after which is the [river] of Lethe, which some call the Limæa, others the Belio, it likewise rises amongst the Keltiberians and Vaccæi. After ​this is the Bænis, (some call it the Minius,) by far the largest river of Lusitania, being navigable for a distance of 800 stadia. Posidonius says this too rises amongst the Cantabrians. An island lies before its outlet, and two moles affording anchorage for vessels. A natural advantage [of this country] well deserving of commendation is, that the banks of the rivers are so lofty as to be capable of containing the entire of the water raised by the high tides of the sea, without either being overfilled, or overflowing the plains. This was the limit of Brutu’s expedition. Beyond there are many other rivers parallel to those I have named.
5. The Artabri are the last of the people [on this coast]. They inhabit the promontory called Nerium, which is the boundary [of Iberia] on its western and northern sides. Around it dwell the Keltici, a kindred race to those who are situated along the Guadiana. They say that these latter, together with the Turduli, having undertaken an expedition thither, quarrelled after they had crossed the river Lima, and, besides the sedition, their leader having also died, they remained scattered there, and from this circumstance the river was called the Lethe. The Artabri have besides many cities established round the Gulf, which mariners and those familiar with the places designate as the Port of the Artabri. At the present day the Artabri are denominated the Arotrebæ. About thirty different nations occupy the country between the Tagus and the Artabri. Notwithstanding the fertility of the country in corn, cattle, gold, silver, and ​numerous other similar productions, the majority of its inhabitants, neglecting to gain their subsistence from the ground, passed their lives in pillage and continual warfare, both between themselves and their neighbours, whom they used to cross the Tagus [to plunder]. To this the Romans at length put a stop by subduing them, and changing many of their cities into villages, besides colonizing some of them better. The mountaineers, as was natural, were the first to commence this lawless mode of life: for living but scantily, and possessing little, they coveted the goods of others, who being obliged to repulse them, of necessity relinquished their proper employments, and instead of pursuing agriculture took up arms. Thus it happened that their country, being neglected, became barren notwithstanding its natural advantages, and inhabited by bandits.
6. The Lusitanians are reported to be clever in laying ambushes, sharp, swift of foot, light, and easily disciplined as soldiers. The small shield they make use of is two feet in diameter, its outer surface concave, and suspended by leather thongs; it neither has rings nor handles. They have in addition a poignard or dagger. Their corselets are for the most part made of linen; a few have chain-coats and helmets with triple crests, but the others use helmets composed of sinews. The infantry wear greaves, each man is furnished with a number of javelins; some also use spears pointed with brass. They report that some of those who dwell near to the river Douro imitate the Lacedæmonians in anointing their bodies with oil, using hot air-baths made of heated stones, bathing in cold water, and taking but one tidy and frugal meal a day. The Lusitanians are frequent in the performance of sacrifice; they examine the entrails, but without cutting them out of the body; they also examine the veins of the side, and practise augury by the touch. They likewise divine by the entrails of captive enemies, whom they first cover with a military cloak, and when stricken under the entrails by the haruspex, they draw their first auguries from the fall [of the ​victim]. They cut off the right hands of their prisoners, and consecrate them to the gods.
“To sacrifice a hundred of every [species].”
They practise gymnastic exercises, both as heavy-armed soldiers, and cavalry, also boxing, running, skirmishing, and fighting in bands. For two-thirds of the year the mountaineers feed on the acorn, which they dry, bruise, and afterwards grind and make into a kind of bread, which may be stored up for a long period. They also use beer; wine is very scarce, and what is made they speedily consume in feasting with their relatives. In place of oil they use butter. Their meals they take sitting, on seats put around the walls, and they take place on these according to their age and rank. The supper is carried round, and whilst drinking they dance to the sound to the flute and trumpet, springing up and sinking upon the knees.
In Bastetania the women dance promiscuously with the men, each holding the other’s hand. They all dress in black, the majority of them in cloaks called saga, in which they sleep on beds of straw. They make use of wooden vessels like the Kelts. The women wear dresses and embroidered garments. Instead of money, those who dwell far in the interior exchange merchandise, or give pieces of silver cut off ​from plates of that metal. Those condemned to death are executed by stoning; parricides are put to death without the frontiers or the cities. They marry according to the customs of the Greeks. Their sick they expose upon the highways, in the same way as the Egyptians did anciently, in the hope that some one who has experienced the malady may be able to give them advice. Up to the time of [the expedition of] Brutus they made use of vessels constructed of skins for crossing the lagoons formed by the tides; they now have them formed out of the single trunk of a tree, but these are scarce. Their salt is purple, but becomes white by pounding. The life of the mountaineers is such as I have described, I mean those bordering the northern side of Iberia, the Gallicians, the Asturians, and the Cantabrians, as far as the Vascons and the Pyrenees. The mode of life amongst all these is similar. But I am reluctant to fill my page with their names, and would fain escape the disagreeable task of writing them, unless perchance the Pleutauri, the Bardyetæ, the Allotriges, and other names still worse and more out of the way than these might be grateful to the ear of some one.
8. The rough and savage manners of these people is not alone owing to their wars, but likewise to their isolated position, it being a long distance to reach them, whether by sea or land. Thus the difficulty of communication has deprived ​them both of generosity of manners and of courtesy. At the present time, however, they suffer less from this both on account of their being at peace and the intermixture of Romans. Wherever these [influences] are not so much experienced people are harsher and more savage. It is probable that this ruggedness of character is increased by the barrenness of the mountains and some of the places which they inhabit. At the present day, as I have remarked, all warfare is put an end to, Augustus Cæsar having subdued the Cantabrians and the neighbouring nations, amongst whom the system of pillage was mainly carried on in our day. So that at the present time, instead of plundering the allies of the Romans, the Coniaci and those who dwell by the sources of the Ebro, with the exception of the Tuisi, bear arms for the Romans. Tiberius, who succeeded Augustus Cæsar, carried out his intention of placing a military force of three legions in these parts, by which means he has not only preserved peace, but introduced amongst some of them a civil polity.
CHAPTER IV.
1. WHAT remains [to be described] of Iberia, is the sea-coast of the Mediterranean from the Pillars to the Pyrenees, and the whole of the inland country which lies above. The breadth of this is irregular, its length a little above 4000 stadia. It has been remarked that the sea-coast is above 2000 stadia, and they say that from Mount Calpe, which is near the Pillars, to New Carthage, there are 2200 stadia. This coast is inhabited by the Bastetani, also called the Bastuli, and in part by the Oretani. Thence to the Ebro the distance is nearly as great. This [region] is inhabited by the Edetani. On this side the Ebro to the Pyrenees and the Trophies of Pompey there are 1600 stadia. It is peopled by ​a small portion of the Edetani, and the rest by a people named the Indicetes, divided into four cantons.
2. Commencing our particular description from Calpe, there is [first] the mountain-chain of Bastetania and the Oretani. This is covered with thick woods and gigantic trees, and separates the sea-coast from the interior. In many places it also contains gold and other mines. The first city along the coast is Malaca, which is about as far distant from Calpe as Calpe is from Gades. It is a market for the nomade tribes from the opposite coast, and there are great stores of salt-fish there. Some suppose it to be the same as Mænaca, which tradition reports to be the farthest west of the cities of the Phocæi; but this is not the case, for Mænaca, which was situated at a greater distance from Calpe, is in ruins, and preserves traces of having been a Grecian city, whereas Malaca is nearer, and Phœnician in its configuration. Next in order is the city of the Exitani, from which the salted fish bearing that name takes its appellation.
3. After these comes Abdera, founded likewise by the Phœnicians. Above these places, in the mountains, the city of Ulyssea is shown, containing a temple to Minerva, according to the testimony of Posidonius, Artemidorus, and Asclepiades the Myrlean, a man who taught literature in Turdetania, and published a description of the nations dwelling there. He says that in temple of Minerva were hung up spears and prows of vessels, monuments of the wanderings ​of Ulysses. That some of those who followed Teucer in his expedition settled among the Gallicians; and that two cities were there, the one called Hellenes, the other Amphilochi; but Amphilochus having died, his followers wandered into the interior. He adds, that it is said, that some of the followers of Hercules, and certain also of the inhabitants of Messene, settled in Iberia. Both he and others assert that a portion of Cantabria was occupied by Laconians. Here is the city named Opsicella, founded by Ocela, who passed into Italy with Antenor and his children. Some believe the account of the merchants of Gades, asserted by Artemidorus, that in Libya there are people living above Maurusia, near to the Western Ethiopians, named Lotophagi, because they feed on the leaves and root of the lotus without wanting to ​drink; for they possess [no drink], being without water. These people they say extend as far as the regions above Cyrene. There are others also called Lotophagi, who inhabit Meninx, one of the islands situated opposite the Lesser Syrtes.
4. No one should be surprised that the poet, in his fiction descriptive of the wanderings of Ulysses, should have located the majority of the scenes which he narrates without the Pillars, in the Atlantic. For historical events of a similar character did actually occur near to the places, so that the other circumstances which he feigned did not make his fiction incredible; nor [should anyone be surprised] if certain persons, putting faith in the historical accuracy and extensive knowledge of the poet, should have attempted to explain the poem of Homer on scientific principles; a proceeding undertaken by Crates of Mallos, and some others. On the other hand, there have been those who have treated the undertaking of Homer so contemptuously, as not only to deny any such knowledge to the poet, as though he were a ditcher or reaper, but have stigmatized as fools those who commented on his writings. And not one either of the grammarians, or of those skilled in the mathematics, has dared to undertake their defence, or to set right any mistakes in what they have advanced, or any thing else; although it seems to me possible both to prove correct much that they have said, and also to set right other points, especially where they have been misled by putting faith in Pytheas, who was ignorant of the countries situated along the ocean, both to the west and north. But we must let these matters pass, as they require a particular and lengthened discussion.
5. The settlement of the Grecians amongst these barbarous nations may be regarded as the result of the division of these latter into small tribes and sovereignties, having on account of their moroseness no union amongst themselves, and therefore powerless against attacks from without. This moroseness is remarkably prevalent amongst the Iberians, who are ​besides crafty in their manner, devoid of sincerity, insidious, and predatory in their mode of life; they are bold in little adventures, but never undertake any thing of magnitude, inasmuch as they have never formed any extended power or confederacy. If they had had but the will to assist each other, neither could the Carthaginians by making an incursion have so easily deprived them of the greater part of their country, nor before them the Tyrians, then the Kelts, now called the Keltiberians and Berones, nor after these the brigand Viriathus, and Sertorius, nor any others who desired power. On this account the Romans, having carried the war into Iberia, lost much time by reason of the number of different sovereignties, having to conquer first one, then another; in fact, it occupied nearly two centuries, or even longer, before they had subdued the whole.—I return to my description.
6. After Abdera is New Carthage, founded by Asdrubal, who succeeded Barcas, the father of Hannibal. It is by far the most powerful city of this country, being impregnable, and furnished with a noble wall, harbours, and a lake, besides the silver mines already mentioned. The places in the vicinity have an abundance of salted fish, and it is besides the great emporium of the sea merchandise for the interior, and likewise for the merchandise from the interior for exportation. About midway along the coast between this city and the Ebro, we meet with the outlet of the river Xucar, and a city bearing the same name. It rises in a mountain belonging to the chain which overlooks Malaca, and the regions around Carthage, and may be forded on foot; it is nearly parallel to the Ebro, but not quite so far distant from Carthage as from the Ebro. Between the Xucar and Carthage are three small towns of the people of Marseilles, not far from the river. Of these the best known is Hemeroscopium. On the promontory there is a temple to Diana of Ephesus, held in great veneration. Sertorius used it as an arsenal, convenient to the sea, both on account of its being fortified and fitted for piratical uses, and because it is visible from a great distance ​to vessels approaching. It is called Dianium, from Diana. Near to it are some fine iron-works, and two small islands, Planesia and Plumbaria, with a sea water lake lying above, of 400 stadia in circumference. Next is the island of Hercules, near to Carthage, and called Scombraria, on account of the mackerel taken there, from which the finest garum is made. It is distant 24 stadia from Carthage. On the other side of the Xucar, going towards the outlet of the Ebro, is Saguntum, founded by the Zacynthians. The destruction of this city by Hannibal, contrary to his treaties with the Romans, kindled the second Punic war. Near to it are the cities of Cherronesus, Oleastrum, and Cartalia, and the colony of Dertossa, on the very passage of the Ebro. The Ebro takes its source amongst the Cantabrians; it flows through an extended plain towards the south, running parallel with the Pyrenees.
7. The first city between the windings of the Ebro and the extremities of the Pyrenees, near to where the Trophies of Pompey are erected, is Tarraco; it has no harbour, but is situated on a bay, and possessed of many other advantages. At the present day it is as well peopled as Carthage; for it is admirably suited for the stay of the prefects, and is as it were the metropolis, not only of [the country lying] on this side the Ebro, but also of a great part of what lies beyond. The near vicinity of the Gymnesian Islands, and Ebusus, which are all of considerable importance, are sufficient to inform one of the felicitous position of the city. Eratosthenes tells us that it has a road-stead, but Artemidorus contradicts this, and affirms that it scarcely possesses an anchorage.
8. The whole coast from the Pillars up to this place wants harbours, but all the way from here to Emporium, the countries of the Leëtani, the Lartolætæ, and others, are both furnished with excellent harbours and fertile. Emporium was founded by the people of Marseilles, and is about 4000 stadia ​distant from the Pyrenees, and the confines of Iberia and Keltica. This is a very fine region, and possesses good ports. Here also is Rhodope, a small town of the Emporitæ, but some say it was founded by the Rhodians. Both here and in Emporium they reverence the Ephesian Diana. The cause of this we will explain when we come to speak of Massalia. In former times the Emporitæ dwelt on a small island opposite, now called the old city, but at the present day they inhabit the mainland. The city is double, being divided by a wall, for in past times some of the Indiceti dwelt close by, who, although they had a separate polity to themselves, desired, for the sake of safety, to be shut in by a common enclosure with the Grecians; but at the same time that this enclosure should be two-fold, being divided through its middle by a wall. In time, however, they came to have but one government, a mixture of Barbarian and Grecian laws; a result which has taken place in many other [states].
9. A river flows near to it, which has its sources in the Pyrenees; its outlet forms a port for the Emporitæ, who are skilful workers in flax. Of the interior of their country some parts are fertile, others covered with spartum, a rush which flourishes in marshes, and is entirely useless: they call this the Junc Plain. There are some who inhabit the Pyrenean mountains as far as the Trophies of Pompey, on the route which leads from Italy into Ulterior Iberia, and particularly into Bætica. This road runs sometimes close to the sea, sometimes at a distance therefrom, particularly in the western parts. From the Trophies of Pompey it leads to Tarraco, through the Junc Plain, the Betteres, and the plain called in the Latin tongue [the plain] of Marathon, on account ​of the quantity of fennel growing there. From Tarraco [the road runs] towards the passage of the Ebro at the city of Dertossa; from thence having traversed the city of Saguntum, and Setabis, it follows a course more and more distant from the sea, till it approaches the Plain of Spartarium, which signifies the Plain of Rushes. This is a vast arid plain, producing the species of rush from which cords are made, and which are exported to all parts, but particularly to Italy. Formerly the road passed on through the midst of the plain, and [the city of] Egelastæ, which was both difficult and long, but they have now constructed a new road close to the sea, which merely touches upon the Plain of Rushes, and leads to the same places as the former, [viz.] Castlon, and Obulco, through which runs the road to Corduba and Gades, the two greatest emporia of Iberia. Obulco is distant about 300 stadia from Corduba. Historians report that Cæsar came from Rome to Obulco, and to his army there, within the space of twenty-seven days, when about to fight the battle of Munda.
10. Such is the whole sea-coast from the Pillars to the confines of the Iberians and Kelts. The interior of the country lying above, and included between the mountains of the Pyrenees and the northern side [of Iberia], as far as the Astures, is principally divided by two mountain chains; the one of these is parallel to the Pyrenees, and takes its commencement from the country of the Cantabri, terminating at the Mediterranean. This is called the Idubeda. The second, springing from the middle [of this first], runs towards the west, inclining however to the south and the sea-coast towards the Pillars. At the commencement it consists of bare hills, but after traversing the Plain of Spartarium, falls in with the forest lying above Carthage, and the regions round Malaca. It is named Orospeda. The river Ebro flows between the Pyrenees and Idubeda, and parallel to both these mountains. It is fed by the rivers and other waters carried down ​from [the mountains]. Situated on the Ebro is the city of Cæsar Augusta, and the colony of Celsa, where there is a stone bridge across the river. This country is inhabited by many nations, the best known being that of the Jaccetani. Commencing at the foot of the Pyrenees, it widens out into the plains, and reaches to the districts around Ilerda and Osca, [cities] of the Ilergetes not far distant from the Ebro. It was in these cities, and in Calaguris, a city of the Gascons, as well as those of Tarraco and Hemeroscopium, situated on the coast, that Sertorius sustained the last efforts of the war, after being ejected from the country of the Keltiberians. He died at Osca, and it was near to Ilerda that Afranius and Petreius, Pompey’s generals, were afterwards defeated by divus Cæsar. Ilerda is distant 160 stadia from the Ebro, which is on its west, about 460 from Tarraco, which is on the south, and 540 from Osca, which lies to the north. Passing through these places from Tarraco to the extremities of the Vascons who dwell by the ocean, near Pompelon and the city of Œaso situated on the ocean, the route extends 2400 stadia, to the very frontiers of Aquitaine and Iberia. It was in the country of the Jaccetani that Sertorius fought against Pompey, and here afterwards Sextus, Pompey’s son, fought against the generals of Cæsar. The nation of the Vascons, in which is Pompelon, or Pompey’s city, lies north of Jaccetania.
11. The side of the Pyrenees next Iberia is covered with forests containing numerous kinds of trees and evergreens, whilst the side next Keltica is bare: in the midst [the mountains] enclose valleys admirably fitted for the habitation of ​man. These are mainly possessed by the Kerretani, a people of the Iberians. The hams they cure are excellent, fully equal to those of the Cantabrians, and they realize no inconsiderable profit to the inhabitants.
12. Immediately after passing Idubeda, you enter on Keltiberia, a large and irregular country. It is for the most part rugged, and watered by rivers, being traversed by the Guadiana, the Tagus, and many other of the rivers which flow into the western sea, but have their sources in Keltiberia. Of their number is the Douro, which flows by Numantia and Serguntia. The Guadalquiver rises in Orospeda, and after passing through Oretania, enters Bœtica. The Berones inhabit the districts north of the Keltiberians, and are neighbours of the Conish Cantabrians. They likewise had their origin in the Keltic expedition. Their city is Varia, situated near to the passage of the Ebro. They are adjacent to the Bardyitæ, now called the Bardyli. To the west [of the Keltiberians] are certain of the Astures, Gallicians, and Vaccæi, besides Vettones and Carpetani. On the south are the Oretani, and the other inhabitants of Orospeda, both Bastetani and Edetani, and to the east is Idubeda.
13. Of the four divisions into which the Keltiberians are separated, the most powerful are the Aruaci, situated to the east and south, near to the Carpetani and the sources of the Tagus. Their most renowned city is Numantia. They showed their valour in the war of twenty years, waged by the Keltiberians against the Romans; for many armies of the Romans, together with their generals, were destroyed; and in the end the Numantians, besieged within their city, endured the famine with constancy, till, reduced to a very small number, they were compelled to surrender the place. The Lusones are also situated to the east, and likewise border on the sources of the Tagus. Segeda and Pallantia are cities of the ​Aruaci. Numantia is distant from Cæsar Augusta, situated as we have said upon the Ebro, about 800 stadia. Near to Segobriga and Bilbilis, likewise cities of the Keltiberians, was fought the battle between Metellus and Sertorius. Polybius, describing the people and countries of the Vaccæi and Keltiberians, enumerates Segesama and Intercatia amongst their other cities. Posidonius tells us that Marcus Marcellus exacted of Keltiberia a tribute of 600 talents, which proves that the Keltiberians were a numerous and wealthy people, notwithstanding the little fertility of their country. Polybius narrates that Tiberius Gracchus destroyed 300 cities of the Keltiberians. This Posidonius ridicules, and asserts that to flatter Gracchus, Polybius described as cities the towers such as are exhibited in the triumphal processions. This is not incredible; for both generals and historians easily fall into this species of deception, by exaggerating their doings. Those who assert that Iberia contained more than a thousand cities, seem to me to have been carried away in a similar manner, and to have denominated as cities what were merely large villages; since, from its very nature, this country is incapable of maintaining so many cities, on account of its sterility, wildness, and its out-of-the-way position. Nor, with the exception of those who dwell along the shores of the Mediterranean, is any such statement confirmed by the mode of life or actions of the inhabitants. The inhabitants of the villages, who constitute the majority of the Iberians, are quite uncivilized. Even the cities cannot very easily refine the manners [of their inhabitants], as the neighbouring woods are full of robbers, waiting only an opportunity to inflict injury on the citizens.
14. Beyond the Keltiberians to the south are the inhabitants ​of Orospeda and the country about the Xucar, the Sidetani, [who extend] as far as Carthage, and the Bastetani and Oretani, [who extend] almost as far as Malaca.
15. All the Iberians, so to speak, were peltastæ, furnished with light arms for the purposes of robbery, and, as we described the Lusitanians, using the javelin, the sling, and the sword. They have some cavalry interspersed amongst the foot soldiers, the horses are trained to traverse the mountains, and to sink down on their knees at the word of command, in case of necessity. Iberia produces abundance of antelopes and wild horses. In many places the lakes are stocked. They have fowl, swans, and birds of similar kind, and vast numbers of bustards. Beavers are found in the rivers, but the castor does not possess the same virtue as that from the Euxine, the drug from that place having peculiar properties of its own, as is the case in many other instances. Thus Posidonius tells us that the Cyprian copper alone produces the cadmian stone, copperas-water, and oxide of copper. He likewise informs us of the singular fact, that in Iberia the crows are not black; and that the horses of Keltiberia which are spotted, lose that colour when they pass into Ulterior Iberia. He compares them to the Parthian horses, for indeed they are superior to all other breeds, both in fleetness and their ease in speedy travelling.
16. Iberia produced a large quantity of roots used in dyeing. In olives, vines, figs, and every kind of similar fruit trees, the Iberian coast next the Mediterranean abounds, they are likewise plentiful beyond. Of the coasts next the ocean, that towards the north is destitute of them, on account of the cold, and the remaining portion generally on account of the apathy of the men, and because they do not lead a civilized life, but pass their days in poverty, only acting on the animal ​impulse, and living most corruptly. They do not attend to ease or luxury, unless any one considers it can add to the happiness of their lives to wash themselves and their wives in stale urine kept in tanks, and to rinse their teeth with it, which they say is the custom both with the Cantabrians and their neighbours. This practice, as well as that of sleeping on the ground, is common both among the Iberians and Kelts. Some say that the Gallicians are atheists, but that the Keltiberians, and their neighbours to the north, [sacrifice] to a nameless god, every full moon, at night, before their doors, the whole family passing the night in dancing and festival. The Vettones, the first time they came to a Roman camp, and saw certain of the officers walking up and down the roads for the mere pleasure of walking, supposed that they were mad, and offered to show them the way to their tents. For they thought, when not fighting, one should remain quietly seated at ease.
17. What Artemidorus relates concerning the adornment of certain of their women, must likewise be attributed to their barbarous customs. He says that they wear iron collars having crows fixed to them which bend over the head, and fall forward considerably over the forehead. When they wish they draw their veil over these crows, so as to shade the whole face: this they consider an ornament. Others wear a tympanium surrounding the occiput, and fitting tight to the head as far as the ears, turning over [and increasing] little by little in height and breadth. Others again make bald the front of the head, in order to display the forehead to greater advantage. Some twist their flowing hair round a small style, a foot high, and afterwards cover it with a black veil. Of singularities like these many have been observed and recorded as to all the Iberian nations in common, but ​particularly those towards the north, not only concerning their bravery, but likewise their cruelty and brutal madness. For in the war against the Cantabrians, mothers have slain their children sooner than suffer them to be captured; and a young boy, having obtained a sword, slew, at the command of his father, both his parents and brothers, who had been made prisoners and were bound, and a woman those who had been taken together with her. A man being invited by a party of drunken [soldiers] to their feast, threw himself into a fire. These feelings are common both to the Keltic, Thracian, and Scythian nations, as well as the valour not only of their men, but likewise of their women. These till the ground, and after parturition, having put their husbands instead of themselves to bed, they wait upon them. Frequently in their employment they wash and swathe their infants, sitting down by some stream. Posidonius tells us that in Liguria, his host Charmoleon, a man who came from Marseilles, related to him, that having hired some men and women to dig his land, one of the women was seized with the pains of labour, and going to a little distance from where they were at work, she brought forth, and returned immediately to her work, for fear she might lose her pay. He observed that she was evidently working in considerable pain, but was not aware of the cause till towards evening, when he ascertained it, and sent her away, having given her her wages. She then carried her infant to a small spring, and having washed it, wrapped it up in as good swaddling clothes as she could get, and made the best of her way home.
​19. Some, as I have said, state that this country is separated into four divisions; others, into five. It is not easy to state any thing precisely on these points, both on account of the changes which the places have undergone, and by reason of their obscurity. In well-known and notable countries both the migrations are known, and the divisions of the land, and the changes of their names, and every thing else of the same kind. Such matters being the common topics with everybody, and especially with the Greeks, who are more talkative than any other people. But in barbarous and out-of-the-way countries, and such as are cut up into small divisions, and lie scattered, the remembrance of such occurrences is not nearly so certain, nor yet so full. If these countries are far removed from the Greeks [our] ignorance is increased. For although the Roman historians imitate the Greeks, they fall far short of them. What they relate is taken from the Greeks, very little being the result of their own ardour in acquiring information. So that whenever any thing has been omitted by the former there is not much supplied by the latter. Add to this, that the names most celebrated are generally Grecian. Formerly the name of Iberia was given to the whole country between the Rhone and the isthmus formed by the two Galatic gulfs; whereas now they make the Pyrenees its boundary and call it indifferently Iberia or Hispania; others have restricted Iberia to the country on this side the Ebro. Still earlier it bore the name of the Igletes, who inhabited but a small district, according to Asclepiades the Myrlean. The Romans call the whole indifferently Iberia and Hispania, ​but designate one portion of it Ulterior, and the other Citerior. However, at different periods they have divided it differently, according to its political aspect at various times.
20. At the present time some of the provinces having been assigned to the people and senate of the Romans, and the others to the emperor, Bætica appertains to the people, and a prætor has been sent into the country, having under him a quæstor and a lieutenant. Its eastern boundary has been fixed near to Castlon. The remainder belongs to the emperor, who deputes two lieutenants, a prætor, and a consul. The prætor with a lieutenant administers justice amongst the Lusitanians, who are situated next Bætica, and extend as far as the outlets of the river Douro, for at the present time this district is called Lusitania by the inhabitants. Here is [the city of] Augusta Emerita. What remains, which is [indeed] the greater part of Iberia, is governed by the consul, who has under him a respectable force, consisting of about three legions, with three lieutenants, one of whom with two legions guards the whole country north of the Douro, the inhabitants of which formerly were styled Lusitanians, but are now called Gallicians. The northern mountains, together with the Asturian and Cantabrian, border on these. The river Melsus flows through the country of the Asturians, and at a little distance is the city of Noïga, close to an estuary formed by the ocean, which separates the Asturians from the Cantabrians. The second lieutenant with the remaining legion governs the adjoining district as far as the Pyrenees. The third oversees the midland district, and governs the cities inhabited by the togati, whom we have before alluded to as inclined to peace, and who have adopted the refined manners and mode of life of the Italians, together with the toga. These are the Keltiberians, and those who dwell on either side of the Ebro, as far as the sea-coast. The consul passes the winter in the maritime districts, mostly administering justice ​either in [the city of] Carthage, or Tarraco. During the summer he travels through the country, observing whatever may need reform. There are also the procurators of the emperor, men of the equestrian rank, who distribute the pay to the soldiers for their maintenance.
CHAPTER V.
1. OF the islands which are situated in front of Iberia, two named the Pityussæ, and two the Gymnasiæ, (also called the Baleares,) are situated on the sea-coast between Tarraco and [the river] Xucar, on which Saguntum is built. The Pityussæ are situated farther in the high seas and more to the west than the Gymnasiæ. One of the Pityussæ is called Ebusus, having a city of the same name. This island is 400 stadia in circumference, and nearly equal in its breadth and length. The other, [named] Ophiussa, is situated near to this, but is desert, and much smaller. The larger of the Gymnasiæ contains two cities, Palma, and Polentia; the latter lying towards the east, the former towards the west. The length of this island is scarcely less than 600 stadia, its breadth 200; although Artemidorus asserts it is twice this size both in breadth and length. The smaller island is about [2]70 stadia distant from Polentia; in size it is far surpassed by the larger island, but in excellence it is by no means inferior, for both of them are very fertile, and furnished with harbours. At the mouths of these however there are rocks rising but a little out of the water, which renders attention necessary in entering them. The fertility of these places inclines the inhabitants to peace, as also the people of Ebusus. But certain ​malefactors, though few in number, having associated with the pirates in those seas, they all got a bad name, and Metellus, surnamed Balearicus, marched against them. He it was who built the cities. But owing to the great fertility of the country, these people have always had enemies plotting against them. Although naturally disposed to peace, they bear the reputation of being most excellent slingers, which art they have been proficient in since the time that the Phœnicians possessed the islands. It is said that these were the first who introduced amongst the men [of the Baleares] the custom of wearing tunics with wide borders. They were accustomed to go into battle naked, having a shield covered with goat skin in their hand, and a javelin hardened by fire at the point, very rarely with an iron tip, and wearing round the head three slings of black rush, hair, or sinew. The long sling they use for hitting at far distances, the short one for near marks, and the middle one for those between. From childhood they were so thoroughly practised in the use of slings, that bread was never distributed to the children till they had won it by the sling. On this account Metellus, when he was approaching the islands, spread pelts over the decks, as a shelter from the slings. He introduced [into the country] 3000 Roman colonists from Spain.
2. In addition to the fruitfulness of the land, noxious animals are rarely to be met with. Even the rabbits, they say, were not indigenous, but that a male and female having been introduced by some one from the opposite continent, from thence the whole stock sprung, which formerly was so great a nuisance that even houses and trees were overturned, [being undermined] by their warrens, and the inhabitants ​were compelled, as we have related, to resort for refuge to the Romans. However, at the present day the facility with which these animals are taken, prevents them from doing injury, consequently those who possess land cultivate it with advantage. These [islands] are on this side of what are called the Pillars of Hercules.
3. Near to them, are two small islands, one of which is called the Island of Juno; some call these the Pillars. Beyond the Pillars is Gades, concerning which all that we have hitherto remarked is, that it is distant from Calpe about 750 stadia, and is situated near to the outlet of the Guadalquiver. Notwithstanding there is much can be said about it. For its inhabitants equip the greatest number of ships, and the largest in size, both for our sea, and the exterior [ocean], although the island they inhabit is by no means large, nor yet do they possess much of the mainland, nor are masters of other islands. They dwell for the most part on the sea, only a few staying at home or passing their time in Rome. Still, in amount of population, their city does not seem to be surpassed by any with the exception of Rome. I have heard that in a census taken within our own times, there were enumerated five hundred citizens of Gades of the equestrian order, a number equalled by none of the Italian cities excepting that of the Patavini. However, notwithstanding their vast number, its inhabitants possess an island, in length not much above 100 stadia, and in some places only one stadium in breadth. Originally the city in which they dwelt was extremely small, but Balbus the Gaditanian, who received the honours of a ​triumph, added another to it which they call the New Town. These two form the city of Didyme, which is not above twenty stadia in circumference. In it, however, they are not pressed for room, because few live at home, the majority passing their lives on the sea, some too dwelling on the opposite continent, and particularly on a little island adjacent on account of its excellence. They have such a liking for this place as almost to have made it a rival city to Didyme. However, few in comparison inhabit either this or the sea-port which Balbus constructed for them on the opposite continent. Their city is situated in the western parts of the island. Near to it is the temple of Saturn, which terminates [Gades to the west], and is opposite the smaller island. The temple of Hercules is on the other side, to the east, where the island approaches nearest to the mainland, being only separated therefrom by a strait of a stadium [in breadth]. They say that this temple is twelve miles from the city, thus making the number of miles and the number of [Hercules’] labours equal; but this is too great, being almost equal to the length of the island. Now the length of the island runs from west to east.
4. Pherecydes appears to have given to Gades the name of Erythia, the locality of the myths concerning Geryon: others suppose it to have been the island situated near to this city, and separated from it by a strait of merely one stadium. This they do on account of the excellence of its pasturage. ​For the milk of the cattle which feed there does not yield any whey, and they are obliged to mix it with large quantities of water when they make cheese on account of its richness. After fifty days the beasts [pasturing there] would be choked unless they were let blood. The pasturage of the country is dry, but it fattens wonderfully: and it is thought that from this the myth concerning the oxen of Geryon took its rise. The whole sea-shore however is possessed in common.
“This is no longer Peloponnesus, but Ionia;”
“This is Peloponnesus, not Ionia.”
6. It is probable that the places themselves took the same name [as the monuments], especially after time had destroyed the boundary marks which had been placed there. For instance, at the present day the altars of the Philæni no longer exist, but the place itself bears that designation. Similarly they say that in India neither the pillars of Hercules or Bacchus are to be seen, nevertheless certain localities being described and pointed out to the Macedonians, they believed that those places were the pillars in which they discovered any trace either of the adventures of Bacchus or Hercules. In the instance before us, it is not improbable that they who first [visited these regions], set up boundary marks fashioned by the hand of man, such as altars, towers, and pillars, in the most remarkable situations, to indicate the farthest distance they had reached, (and straits, the surrounding mountains, and little islands, are indubitably the most remarkable situations for pointing out the termination or commencement of places,) and that after these human monuments had decayed, their names descended to the places [where they had stood]; whether that were the little islands or the capes forming the strait. This latter point it would not be easy now to determine; the name would suit either place, as they both bear some resemblance to pillars; I say bear some resemblance, because they are placed in such situations as might well indicate boundaries. Now this strait is styled a mouth, as well as many others, but the mouth is at the beginning to those sailing into the strait, and to those who are quitting it at the end. The little islands at the mouth having a contour easy to describe, and being remarkable, one might not improperly compare to pillars. In like manner the mountains overlooking the strait are prominent, ​resembling columns or pillars. So too Pindar might very justly have said, “The Gaditanian Gates,” if he had in mind the pillars at the mouth; for these mouths are very similar to gates. On the other hand, Gades is not in a position to indicate an extremity, but is situated about the middle of a long coast forming a kind of gulf. The supposition that the pillars of the temple of Hercules in Gades are intended, appears to me still less probable. It seems most likely that the name was originally conferred not by merchants, but generals, its celebrity afterwards became universal, as was the case with the Indian pillars. Besides, the inscription recorded refutes this idea, since it contains no religious dedication, but a mere list of expenses; whereas the pillars of Hercules should have been a record of the hero’s wonderful deeds, not of Phœnician expenditure.
7. Polybius relates that there is a spring within the temple of Hercules at Gades, having a descent of a few steps to fresh water, which is affected in a manner the reverse of the sea-tides, subsiding at the flow of the tide, and springing at the ebb. He assigns as the cause of this phenomenon, that air rises from the interior to the surface of the earth; when this surface is covered by the waves, at the rising of the sea, the air is deprived of its ordinary vents, and returns to the interior, stopping up the passages of the spring, and causing a want of water, but when the surface is again laid bare, the air having a direct exit liberates the channels which feed the spring, so that it gushes freely. Artemidorus rejects this explanation, and substitutes one of his own, recording at the same time the opinion of the historian Silanus; but neither one or other of their views seems to me worth relating, since both he and Silanus were ignorant in regard to these matters. Posidonius asserts that the entire account is false, and adds that there are two wells in the temple of Hercules, and a third in the city. That the smaller of the two in the temple of Hercules, if drawn from frequently, will become for a time exhausted, but that on ceasing to draw from it, it fills again: while in regard to the larger, it may be drawn from during the whole day; that it is true it becomes lower, like all other wells, but that it fills again during the night when drawing ceases. [He adds] that the ebb tide frequently happening to occur during the period of its re-filling, gave rise ​to the groundless belief of the inhabitants as to its being affected in an opposite manner [to the tides of the ocean]. However it is not only related by him that it is a commonly believed fact, but we have received it from tradition as much referred to amongst paradoxes. We have likewise heard that there are wells both within the city and also in the gardens without, but that on account of the inferiority of this water, tanks are generally constructed throughout the city for the supply of water: whether likewise any of these reservoirs give any signs of being affected in an opposite manner to the tides, we know not. If such be the case, the causes thereof should be received as amongst phenomena hard to be explained. It is likely that Polybius may have assigned the proper reason; but it is also likely that certain of the channels of the springs being damped outside become relaxed, and so let the water run out into the surrounding land, instead of forcing it along its ancient passage to the spring; and there will of course be moisture when the tide overflows. But if, as Athenodorus asserts, the ebb and flow resemble the inspiration and expiration of the breath, it is possible that some of the currents of water which naturally have an efflux on to the surface of the earth, through various channels, the mouths of which we denominate springs and fountains, are by other channels drawn towards the depths of the sea, and raise it, so as to produce a flood-tide; when the expiration is sufficient, they leave off the course in which they are then flowing, and again revert to their former direction, when that again takes a change.
8. I cannot tell how it is that Posidonius, who describes the Phœnicians as sagacious in other things, should here attribute ​to them folly rather than shrewdness. The sun completes his revolution in the space of a day and night, being a portion of the time beneath the earth, and a portion of the time shining upon it. Now he asserts that the motion of the sea corresponds with the revolution of the heavenly bodies, and experiences a diurnal, monthly, and annual change, in strict accordance with the changes of the moon. For [he continues] when the moon is elevated one sign of the zodiac above the horizon, the sea begins sensibly to swell and cover the shores, until she has attained her meridian; but when that satellite begins to decline, the sea again retires by degrees, until the moon wants merely one sign of the zodiac from setting; it then remains stationary until the moon has set, and also descended one sign of the zodiac below the horizon, when it again rises until she has attained her meridian below the earth; it then retires again until the moon is within one sign of the zodiac of her rising above the horizon, when it remains stationary until the moon has risen one sign of the zodiac above the earth, and then begins to rise as before. Such he describes to be the diurnal revolution. In respect to the monthly revolution, [he says] that the spring-tides occur at the time of the new moon, when they decrease until the first quarter; they then increase until full moon, when they again decrease until the last quarter, after which they increase till the new moon; [he adds] that these increases ought to be understood both of their duration and speed. In regard to the annual revolution, he says that he learned from the statements of the Gaditanians, that both the ebb and flow tides were at their extremes at the summer solstice: and that hence he conjectured that they decreased until the [autumnal] equinox; then increased till the winter solstice; then decreased again until the vernal equinox; and [finally] increased until the summer solstice. But since these revolutions occur twice in the four-and-twenty hours, the sea rising twice and receding twice, and that regularly every day and night, how is it that the filling and failing of the well do not frequently occur during the ebb and flow of the tide? or if it be allowed that this does often occur, why does it not do so in the same proportion? and if it does so in the same proportion, how comes it that the Gaditanians are not ​competent to observe what is of daily occurrence, while they are nevertheless competent to the observing of revolutions which occur but once in the year. That Posidonius himself credited these reports is evident from his own conjecture respecting the decrease and increase [of the sea] from solstice to solstice. However, it is not likely, being an observant people, that they should be ignorant of what actually occurred, whilst giving credit to imaginary phenomena.
9. Posidonius tells us that Seleucus, a native of the country next the Erythræan Sea. states that the regularity and irregularity of the ebb and flow of the sea follow the different positions of the moon in the zodiac; that when she is in the equinoctial signs the tides are regular, but that when she is in the signs next the tropics, the tides are irregular both in their height and force; and that for the remaining signs the irregularity is greater or less, according as they are more or less removed from the signs before mentioned. Posidonius adds, that during the summer solstice and whilst the moon was full, he himself passed many days in the temple of Hercules at Gades, but could not observe anything of these annual irregularities. However, about the new moon of the same month he observed at Ilipa a great change in the reflux of the water of the Guadalquiver as compared with previous flood-tides, in which the water did not rise half as high as the banks, and that then the water poured in so copiously, that the soldiers there dipped their supply without difficulty, although Ilipa is about 700 stadia from the sea. He says, that the plains next the sea were covered by the tides to a distance of 30 stadia, and to such a depth as to form islands, while the basement of the temple in the enclosure dedicated to Hercules, and the top of the mole in front of the harbour of Gades, were not covered higher than 10 cubits, as observed by actual soundings; but if any one should add the double of that for the occasional risings of the tide which occur, [neither] thus would he be able to estimate the violence with which the full force of the high tide rushes over the plains. Posidonius informs us that this violence [of the tide] is common to all the coasts of Spain on the Atlantic, but what he ​relates concerning the Ebro is unusual and peculiar to itself, for he says that it sometimes overflows after continued north winds, although there may have been neither rains nor snows. The cause of this [he supposes] to be the lake through which the Ebro flows, its waters being driven by the winds into the current of the river.
10. The same writer mentions a tree at Gades, which had boughs reaching to the ground; its sword-shaped leaves often measuring a cubit long, and four fingers broad. Also that about Carthagena there was a tree whose thorns produced a bark from which most beautiful stuffs were woven. As for the tree [he saw] at Gades, we ourselves have observed a similar in Egypt, so far as the inclination of the boughs is concerned, but with a differently shaped leaf, and producing no fruit, which according to him the other did. In Cappadocia there are stuffs made from thorns, but it is not a tree which produces the thorn from which the bark is taken, but a low plant; he also tells us of a tree at Gades, from which if a branch be broken off a milk will flow, and if the root be cut a red fluid runs. Thus much for Gades.
11. The Cassiterides are ten in number, and lie near each other in the ocean towards the north from the haven of the Artabri. One of them is desert, but the others are inhabited by men in black cloaks, clad in tunics reaching to the feet, girt about the breast, and walking with staves, thus resembling the Furies we see in tragic representations. They subsist by their cattle, leading for the most part a wandering life. Of the metals they have tin and lead; which with skins they barter with the merchants for earthenware, salt, and brazen vessels. Formerly the Phœnicians alone carried on this traffic from Gades, concealing the passage from every one; and when the Romans followed a certain ​ship-master, that they also might find the market, the ship-master of jealousy purposely ran his vessel upon a shoal, leading on those who followed him into the same destructive disaster; he himself escaped by means of a fragment of the ship, and received from the state the value of the cargo he had lost. The Romans nevertheless by frequent efforts discovered the passage, and as soon as Publius Crassus, passing over to them, perceived that the metals were dug out at a little depth, and that the men were peaceably disposed, he declared it to those who already wished to traffic in this sea for profit, although the passage was longer than that to Britain. Thus far concerning Iberia and the adjacent islands.
* ↑ The neck, &c.
* ↑ The Pyrenees, on the contrary, range from east to west, with a slight inclination towards the north. This error gives occasion to several of the mistakes made by Strabo respecting the course of certain of the rivers in France.
* ↑ Gosselin remarks that the distance between S. Jean de Luz and Tarragona, is rather less than that between Bayonne and Narbonne.
* ↑ Cape St. Vincent is about 1600 stadia west of Cape Spartel in Africa. Strabo imagined that beyond this cape the African coast inclined to the south-east. In reality it advances eleven degrees and a half farther west to Cape Verd, which is 8° 29′ west of Cape St. Vincent.
* ↑ Herodotus is the first who speaks of a people of Iberia, to whom he gives the name of Κυνήσιοι or Κύνητες: he describes them as inhabiting the most western part of Europe, beyond the Pillars of Hercules.
* ↑ This passage of Strabo relative to the rocking-stones has occasioned much perplexity to the critics. We have attempted to render the Greek words as near as possible. Many curious facts relative to rocking and amber stones have been collected by Jabez Allies, F. S. A., in his work on the Antiquities of Worcestershire, now in the press.
* ↑ We extract the following notice on this passage from Humboldt (Cosmos, vol. iii. 54, Bohn’s edition). “This passage has recently been pronounced corrupt, (Kramer i. 211,) and δἰ ὑάλων (through glass spheres) substituted for δἰ αὐλῶν (Schneider, Eclog. Phys. ii. 273). The magnifying power of hollow glass spheres, filled with water, (Seneca i. 6,) was, indeed, as familiar to the ancients as the action of burning glasses or crystals, (Aristoph. Nub. v. 765,) and that of Nero’s emerald (Plin. xxxvii. 5); but these spheres most assuredly could not have been employed as astronomical measuring instruments. (Compare Cosmos i. p. 619.) Solar altitudes taken through thin light clouds, or through volcanic vapours, exhibit no trace of the influence of refraction.”
* ↑ Ἄνας.
* ↑ The Tagus, the Guadiana, and the Guadalquiver, pursue a course nearly parallel to each other, and all incline towards the south before discharging themselves into the sea; the inclination of the Tagus is not equal to that of the other rivers.
* ↑ Lusitania occupied the greater part of the present kingdom of Portugal. It was from the countries north of the Tagus that the Romans caused certain of the inhabitants to emigrate to the south side of that river.
* ↑ The Carpetani occupied a portion of New Castile, where the cities of Madrid, Toledo, &c. are now situated.
* ↑ These people inhabited the southern portions of New Castile, now occupied by the cities of Calatrava, Ciudad-real, Alcaraz, &c. They also possessed a part of the Sierra-Morena.
* ↑ The Vettones inhabited that part of Estremadura, where the cities of Alcantara, Truxillo, &c. are now situated.
* ↑ The course of the Guadiana is longer than that of the Guadalquiver.
* ↑ The mountainous country in which the Guadalquiver takes its source.
* ↑ This Timosthenes was the admiral of Ptolemy II. Strabo mentions him repeatedly.
* ↑ The place on which this town formerly stood is now designated Val de Vacca.
* ↑ Called by Pliny and Ptolemy Julia Transducta. It appears to have been situated at the western entrance of the Bay of Gibraltar, at the place now called Al-Gesira.
* ↑ An Athenian king, who led the Athenians against Troy. The port of Menestheus is now Puerto Sta. Maria.
* ↑ At or near the port of Menestheus, just mentioned.
* ↑ Quintus Servilius Cæpio, a famous Roman general. Vide lib. iv. c. i. § 13.
* ↑ This city is not to be confounded with others of the same name in Spain.
* ↑ Strabo is the only writer who speaks of this temple of Phosphorus. It was no doubt a temple to Diana, who was named Ἄρτεμις Φωσφόρος. This temple, according to the Spanish authors quoted by Lopez in his translation of Strabo, corresponds to the present San-Lucar de Barrameda.
* ↑ Strabo here gives the Latin Lucem dubiam in Greek characters, Λοῦκεμ δουβίαν.
* ↑ The Guadiana at the present day has but one mouth.
* ↑ Cordova, situated on the Guadalquiver in Andalusia. We do not know whether it were founded by the Marcellus who was prætor in Thither Iberia, and created consul in the year of Rome 601, or Marcellus who joined Pompey′s party against Cæsar. This city served for the winter quarters of the Romans, who during summer made war on the inhabitants of the western and northern parts of Spain. It was the native place of the two Senecas and Lucan, and the chief emporium of Iberia. We may form some idea of the amount of its population from the number of those who perished when taken by Cæsar, as narrated by Hirtius, Spanish War, § 34. But the period in which Cordova′s glory was at its zenith was during the empire of the Moors, in the eighth, ninth, and tenth centuries, when it numbered 300,000 inhabitants.
* ↑ Seville. This city was surnamed Julia Romulensis. It was founded by Cæsar, and regarded as the second city of the province, although, as we see, in the time of Strabo it was only third-rate.
* ↑ Strabo is the only writer who mentions this city of Bætis. Casaubon and others are inclined to the opinion that the MSS. are corrupted, and that formerly another name stood here.
* ↑ This city, the native place of the emperors Trajan and Adrian, and the poet Silius Italicus, was founded by Publius Scipio in the second Punic war, who placed here the soldiers incapacitated from the performance of military service. It is supposed to correspond to Sevilla la Vieja, about a league distant from Seville.
* ↑ The Ilipa Ilia of Pliny and Illipula Magna of Ptolemy. Its exact position is not determined.
* ↑ Hodie Martos, Pliny gave it the surname of Augusta Gemella.
* ↑ The Itucci of Pliny, to which he gives the surname Virtus Julia.
* ↑ We should probably read 430.
* ↑ Kramer, using the criticism of Lachmann, observes that this is a misreading for Midaium, and that a like mistake occurs in Appian.
* ↑ Furnius and Titius.
* ↑ About the spot where this city is supposed to have stood, between Xerez and Tribugena, there is still a place called Mesa de Asta.
* ↑ Strabo uses ὸλκάσιν ἀξιολόγοις, but the English hulk would not bear the same import in this place as the Greek.
* ↑ Cotillas, or perhaps Constantina near Almaden.
* ↑ Experience does not seem to warrant this conclusion.
* ↑ The text here is evidently corrupt, but it is not easy to determine to what extent the overflow reached at the time Strabo wrote.
* ↑ In his third book, Strabo, speaking of Campania, regards the oil of Venafrum as superior to any other. In this he agrees with Pliny, who places in the second class the oils of Bætica and Istria. Pausanias considers these two oils, both for beauty of colour and excellence of flavour, inferior to that produced at Tithorea in Phocis, and which was sent to Rome for the service of the emperor’s table.
* ↑ Coccus tinctorius, used to dye scarlet.
* ↑ Sinoub, still a Turkish city of importance.
* ↑ A people inhabiting the western parts of the Caucasus.
* ↑ This name occurs only in Strabo: of the various conjectures which have been hazarded on the subject, one of the most probable seems to be that we should read Saltigetæ, a people of Bastetania, mentioned by Ptolemy.
* ↑ These were evidently rabbits.
* ↑ According to Pliny, (lib. viii. c. 55,) this deputation was sent to Augustus to demand of him a military force, apparently for the purpose of assisting the inhabitants in destroying the rabbits. The same writer has brought together a variety of instances in which cities have been abandoned or destroyed through similar causes. Vide lib. viii. c. 29. The inhabitants of Abdera in Thrace were forced to quit their city on account of the rats and frogs, and settled on the frontiers of Macedonia. (Justin. lib. xv. c. 2.)
* ↑ Ferrets.
* ↑ We have here followed Gosselin’s suggestion of λιμνασίαν instead of γυμνασίαν, the reading of MSS.
* ↑ A kind of whale, mentioned also by Aristotle, but which does not seem to have been identified.
* ↑ A kind of shell-fish with a wreathed shell, which might be used as a sort of trumpet. It is mentioned by Aristotle.
* ↑ The cotyla held about three-fourths of a pint.
* ↑ This weight equalled 15 oz. 83¾ grs.
* ↑ The Euboic or Attic talent, which is here meant, equalled almost 57 lb.
* ↑ A kind of cuttle-fish or squid.
* ↑ The mineral riches of Spain are lauded in equal terms by Herodotus, Aristotle, Pliny, and many other writers. We can only remark, that at the present day the mineral wealth of that country scarcely justifies such descriptions.
* ↑ Pliny, (lib. xxxiii. c. 4,) writing on the same subject, says, “Inveniuntur ita massæ; nec non in puteis etiam denas excedentes libras. Palacras Hispani, alii palacranas, iidem quod minutum est balucem vocant.”
* ↑ This passage is evidently corrupt, nor do any of the readings which have been proposed seem to clear up the difficulties which it presents.
* ↑ Archimedes’ Screw. It was called the Egyptian screw because invented by Archimedes when in Egypt, and also because it was much employed by the Egyptians in raising water from the Nile for the irrigation of their lands.
* ↑ We read τὸ δὲ λοιπὸν, according to Kramer’s suggestion.
* ↑ The following is the enigma alluded to. We have extracted it from Mackenzie’s Translation of the Life of Homer, attributed to Herodotus of Halicarnassus. While the sailors and the towns-people of the Isle of Ios (Nio) were speaking with Homer, some fishermen’s children ran their vessel on shore, and descending to the sands, addressed these words to the assembled persons: “Hear us, strangers, explain our riddle if ye can.” Then some of those who were present ordered them to speak. “We leave,” say they, “what we take, and we carry with us that we cannot take.” No one being able to solve the enigma, they thus expounded it. “Having had an unproductive fishery,” say they in explanation, “we sat down on the sand, and being annoyed by the vermin, left the fish we had taken on the shore, taking with us the vermin we could not catch.”
* ↑ These people inhabited the province of Gallicia in Spain.
* ↑ These 900 stadia are equal to from 25 to 26 leagues, which is exactly the distance from the sources of the Guadalquiver near to Cazorla to the lagoons named Ojos de Guadiana, adjacent to Villa-Harta.
* ↑ A Greek poet born at Himera in Sicily, and who flourished about B. C. 570: he lived in the time of Phalaris, and was contemporary with Sappho, Alcæus, and Pittacus.
* ↑ This is exactly the distance from Cadiz to Cape St. Vincent, following the coasts. It is from 48 to 49 leagues.
* ↑ The bright light of the sun fell into the ocean, drawing dark night over the fruitful earth. Iliad viii. 485.
* ↑ Wandering rocks.
* ↑ Entwining or conflicting rocks. Euripides, Medea, verse 2, gives them the title of Symplegades.
* ↑ A proverbial expression by which the Greeks described a victory equally prejudicial to the victors and the vanquished.
* ↑ But still it would be disgraceful to remain here so long, and to return home without fitting booty. Iliad ii. 298.
* ↑ We should probably here read Menestheus.
* ↑ But the immortals will send you to the Elysian plain, and the boundaries of the earth, where is auburn-haired Rhadamanthus; there of a truth is the most easy life for men. There is nor snow nor long winter, nor ever a shower, but ever does the ocean send forth the gently blowing breezes of the west wind to refresh men. Odyssey iv. 563.
* ↑ There then I beheld Minos, the illustrious son of Jove, having a golden sceptre, giving laws to the dead. Odyssey xi. 567. Bohn’s edition.
* ↑ Hamilcar, the father of Hannibal.
* ↑ We have preferred, in common with the French translation, and the manuscript cited by Xylander, to read φιάλαις, instead of φάτναις, thinking it probable that Strabo referred in the first instance to the drinking vessels, and afterwards to the wine barrels, as being made of silver.
* ↑ Herodotus, who wrote about a century after the time of Anacreon, expressly tells us that Arganthonius reigned during eighty years, and lived one hundred and twenty (l. i. c. 163). Cicero, Valerius Maximus, and Pliny report the same, apparently on the testimony of Herodotus. Lucian, Phlegon, and Appian however state the life of Arganthonius at one hundred and fifty years; and what is remarkable, the two former, Lucian and Phlegon, cite as their authority Anacreon and Herodotus. Pliny, citing Anacreon, has taken the reign of one hundred and fifty years, mentioned by the poet, as a life of that duration. The passage of Strabo is evidently changed from its original form.
* ↑ Of the number are Pomponius Mela and Pliny.
* ↑ That is, been admitted to all the privileges of Roman citizenship. Pliny tells us that in Bætica alone there were thirty cities enjoying this distinction.
* ↑ Beja in Alentejo: others, with less show of probability, say Badajoz the capital of Estremadura.
* ↑ Coray reads two hundred and ten stadia, Groskurd and the French translators adopt 200; but the whole passage is so manifestly corrupt, that it scarcely seemed safe to hazard the correction.
* ↑ The text is here very corrupt, and the explanations of the editors and translators unsatisfactory.
* ↑ Literally towards the sunset at the equinox.
* ↑ This city is not mentioned elsewhere in Strabo.
* ↑ μυρίων καὶ τρισχιλίων, in text, but plainly the result of some error.
* ↑ We have followed the suggestion of Kramer in the rendering of this passage, the Greek text being evidently corrupt.
* ↑ A city situated near Soria in Old Castile.
* ↑ Xylander and many of the commentators propose to read Ὀβλιουιῶνα, or Oblivion, in place of Βελιῶνα. The conjecture seems extremely probable.
* ↑ The Minho is far surpassed in size, both by the Duero and the Tagus.
* ↑ The text here is evidently incorrect. In the first place, the καὶ αὐτὸν, which we have rendered this too, evidently sustained some relation, no longer subsisting, to what preceded; and in the second, the sources of the Minho were not in Cantabria, but Gallicia.
* ↑ Strabo here appears to confound the mouth of the Minho with a small bay about five leagues distant, near to the city of Bayona in Gallicia, and before which there is still the small island of Bayona.
* ↑ Or the river of Oblivion, apparently because they forgot to return to their own country.
* ↑ A few of the MSS. read fifty, which number seems to be countenanced by the statement of Pliny, that forty-six nations inhabited Lusitania: but then the limits he set to the country were more extended than those allowed by Strabo.
* ↑ The κούφος of the text signifies also a volatile disposition.
* ↑ Some part of the sentence seems here to be wanting. It probably contained a description of the kind of sword made use of.
* ↑ This reminds one of the glibs the Irish used to wear down to a recent period.
* ↑ This passage is not found in any of the odes of Pindar now remaining.
* ↑ The French translators observe, that we should probably understand this passage as follows, They exercise themselves as light-armed infantry, heavy-armed infantry, cavalry, &c.
* ↑ Xenophon describes this, or one very similar, as the Persian dance: Τέλος δὲ τὸ Περσικὸν ὠρχεῖτο, κροτῶν τὰς πέλτας καὶ ὤκλαζε, καὶ ἐξανίστατο. “Last of all he danced the Persian dance, clashing his bucklers, and in dancing fell on his knees, then sprang up again.” Xen. Anab. b. vi. c. I, 10.
* ↑ This is said to distinguish them from their neighbours, the inhabitants of Majorca and Minorca, whose peculiar marriage ceremonies are thus described by Diodorus Siculus, lib. v. c. 18: Παράδοξον δέ τι καὶ κατὰ τοὺς γάμους νόμιμον παῤ αὐτοῖς ἐστιν· ἐν γὰρ ταῖς κατὰ τοὺς γάμους εὐωχίαις, οἰκείων τε καὶ φίλων κατὰ τὴν ἡλικίαν ὁ πρῶτος ἀεὶ καὶ ὁ δεύτερος, καὶ οἱ λοιποὶ κατὰ τὸ ἑξῆς, μίσγονται ταῖς νύμφαις ἀνὰ μέρος, ἐσχάτου τοῦ νυμφίου τυγχάνοντος ταύτης τῆς τιμῆς.
* ↑ The mention of Egyptians here seems surprising, inasmuch as no writer appears to have recorded this as one of their customs. Of the Assyrians it is stated, both by Herodotus, i. 197, and also by Strabo himself, xvi. cap. i. 746. It seems therefore most probable that Assyrians are intended, Egyptians being merely an error of the transcriber.
* ↑ Inhabitants of Biscay.
* ↑ People of Navarre.
* ↑ Who the Pleutauri were, we do not know. The Bardyetæ appear to be the same people whom Strabo afterwards speaks of as Bardyiti, or Bardyali, who occupied a narrow slip of land between the east of Alava and the west of Navarre. The Allotriges Casaubon supposes to be the same as the Autrigones, who occupied the coast from Laredo to the Gulf of Bilboa.
* ↑ Inhabitants of Biscay.
* ↑ Iberus.
* ↑ πλὴν Τουίσοι: these words are manifestly corrupt, but none of the various conjectural readings seem at all probable.
* ↑ From the Pillars to the Sacred Promontory, or Cape St. Vincent.
* ↑ Viz. from Carthagena.
* ↑ Pomponius Mela gives this city the name of Hexi, or Ex, according to another reading; Pliny names it Sexi, with the surname of Firmum Julium; and Ptolemy, Sex. This is merely a difference relative to the aspiration of the word, which was sometimes omitted, at other times expressed by the letters H or S indifferently.
* ↑ Mentioned by Pliny, Athenæus, Galen, and also by Martial, lib. vii. Epigramm. 78,Cum Saxetani ponatur cauda lacerti;  Et bene si cœnas, conchis inuncta tibi est; Sumen, aprum, leporem, boletos, ostrea, mullos,  Mittis; habes nec cor, Papile, nec genium.
* ↑ Asclepiades of Myrlea, a city of Bithynia, was a grammarian, and disciple of the celebrated grammarian, Apollonius. According to Suidas he taught literature at Rome, under Pompey the Great. And it is probable that it was with Pompey he afterwards passed into Spain.
* ↑ Teucer, the son of Telamon, king of the island of Salamis, being driven out of the country by his father, founded in Cyprus the city of Salamis. Justin adds, that after the death of his father he returned to the island of Salamis; but being prevented by the son of Ajax, his brother, from debarking, he went into Iberia, and took up his abode on the spot where Carthagena was afterwards built: that subsequently he removed into the country of the Gallicians, and settled amongst them.
* ↑ The Hellenes derived their name from Hellen the son of Deucalion and Pyrrha. This name, which at first designated only a small people of Thessaly, became afterwards the general appellation of the inhabitants of the whole of Greece.
* ↑ Amphilochus, on his return from Troy, founded with Mopsus the city of Mallos in Cilicia. He afterwards retired to Argps, but not being contented there he rejoined Mopsus, who however would no longer divide with him the government of their common colony. This dispute resulted in a remarkable combat, which cost the life of both. (Compare Strabo, l. xiv. c. 4.) Sophocles and other tragic poets have taken advantage of this tradition. Herodotus likewise speaks of the voyages of Amphilochus into Cilicia, and of the city of Posideïum which he founded there, but he tells us nothing of his death. Thucydides merely says that Amphilochus on his return home after the Trojan war, being discontented with his compatriots, founded in the Gulf of Ambracia a city which he named after his fatherland, Argos. None of these traditions mention a voyage to Iberia.
* ↑ Siebenkees suspects that this name should be read Ocella. The Ocelenses in Lusitania are commended by Pliny.
* ↑ Some MSS. read Opsicella.
* ↑ Strabo, or rather Artemidorus, seems to have confused the two kinds of lotus mentioned by the ancients. That whereof they ate the roots and the grain is the lotus of the Nile, and a plant of the species nymphæa. The lotus alluded to in this instance is a shrub, (the rhamnus lotus of Linnæus,) named seedra by the inhabitants of Barbary, with whom the fruit is an article of food. Herodotus mentions both kinds, (lib. ii. c. 92, and iv. c. 177,) and Polybius describes the second, as an eye-witness.
* ↑ A celebrated stoic philosopher and grammarian contemporary with Aristarchus. He was of Mallos, a city of Cilicia, and surnamed the Critic and the Homeric, on account of the corrections, explanations, and remarks which he composed in the books on the poems of Homer.
* ↑ Sertorius, on the return of Sylla to Rome, took refuge in Spain, where he put himself at the head of the Romans who had revolted against the republic; he was assassinated by one of his officers.
* ↑ That is, the ancient name, Sucro.
* ↑ A sauce so named from the garus, a small fish, from which originally it was prepared. Afterwards it was made with mackerel and other fish. Vide Pliny l. xxxi. c. 7, 8.
* ↑ New Carthage, or Carthagena, is intended.
* ↑ Sent from Rome.
* ↑ The text is here manifestly corrupt. Various other numbers, from 4 to 400, have been conjectured as the true reading. Gosselin and Groskurd are in favour of 200.
* ↑ Sic text. Siebenkees and Coray propose to read Ῥόδος, and Casaubon also Ῥόδη; now Rosas.
* ↑ Probably the river Fluvia, the Alba of the ancients.
* ↑ Iberia, or Spain, was anciently divided into two grand divisions, to which the Romans gave the names of Citerior and Ulterior Iberia. Augustus subdivided this latter into the two provinces of Bætica and Lusitania, giving the name of Tarraco to Citerior Iberia. Nevertheless the ancient names of Citerior and Ulterior continued in use long after this division.
* ↑ We are not exactly acquainted with this place, it is probably Vidreras; though others suppose it to be Colonia Sagerra.
* ↑ The cordage of the famous vessel built by Hiero of Syracuse was formed from the spartum of Iberia. Vid. Athenæus, lib. v. p. 206.
* ↑ Fought against Pompey.
* ↑ The mountains of Burgos and Cuenca, the Sierras of Oca, Lorenzo, and Moncayo.
* ↑ They occupied the northern half of Catalonia.
* ↑ ὑπὸ Καίσαρος τοῦ Θεοῦ, by the deified Cæsar. We have adopted the Latin divus as the most suitable epithet for the emperor in an English version.
* ↑ Gosselin here labours to reconcile these distances with the actual topography of those parts, but it is useless to attempt to make all the loose statements furnished by Strabo tally with the exact distances of the places he mentions by supposing the stadia to be so continually varied.
* ↑ Gosselin is of opinion that this Œaso is not Ojarço near Fontarabia, but thinks it probable that Ea near Cape Machicaco is the site where it stood. See wikipedia article Oiasso.
* ↑ People of Biscay.
* ↑ The ruins of Numantia are seen a little to the north of Soria.
* ↑ Probably the small village of Varea, about half a league from Logroño; D’Anville supposes it to be Logroño itself.
* ↑ Aliter Bardyali.
* ↑ Kramer has altered the text into Ἐδητανῶν, all MSS. having διττανῶν. There is little doubt they are the same people mentioned in section 14 as Sidetani.
* ↑ Allusion is here made to the custom of the Roman generals, who caused to be carried at their triumphs, representations in painting or sculpture, not only of the kings or generals of the enemy, who had been slain, but likewise of the forts, cities, mountains, lakes, rivers, and even seas, conquered from the enemy. This usage explains the words of Cicero, “portari in triumpho Massiliam vidimus.” Appian, on occasion of the triumph of Scipio, says, Πύργοι τε παραφέρονται μιμήματα τῶν εἰλημμένων πόλεων.
* ↑ The same people as the Edetani, mentioned in section 12.
* ↑ At the present day the best castor comes from Russia, but the greater part of that found in shops is the produce of Canada. It is denominated a stimulant and antispasmodic. Formerly it was much used in spasmodic diseases, as hysteria and epilepsy. It is now considered almost inert, and is seldom employed. After this description, it is scarcely necessary to warn the reader against the vulgar error of confusing castor with castor oil, which is extracted from the seeds of the Ricinus communis or castor oil plant, a shrub growing in the West Indies.
* ↑ Apuleius, Catullus, and Diodorus Siculus all speak of this singular custom.
* ↑ A note in the French edition says, “This surprise of the Vettones is nothing extraordinary. Amongst all barbarous nations, savages especially, the promenade is an unknown exercise. When roused by necessity or passion, they will even kill themselves with fatigue; at other times they remain in the most perfect inaction. The first thing which strikes a Turk on coming to any of the polished nations of Europe, is to see men promenading without any other aim but that of pleasure or health.”
* ↑ Head-dress shaped like a drum.
* ↑ At the present day in Bilboa, the capital of Biscay, the women work far more than the men; they load and unload vessels, and carry on their heads burden which require two men to place there.
* ↑ We must remark that so far from the dowry given by men to their wives being an evidence of civilization, it is a custom common amongst barbarous people, and indicative of nothing so much as the despotic power of the man over the wife. These dowries were generally a sum of money from the husband to the father of his intended, on the payment of which he acquired the same power over her as over a slave. Aristotle, speaking of the ancient Greeks, tells us expressly that they bought their wives, (Polit. ii. c. 8,) and observing that amongst barbarous nations women were always regarded in the same light as slaves, he cites the example of the Cyclopes, who exercised, according to Homer, sovereign authority over their families (Odyss. l. ix. 114). This custom was so well established amongst the Greeks at the time of the poet, that he does not hesitate to introduce it amongst the gods (Odyss. viii. 318). It was not unknown among the Jews, and Strabo, in his fifteenth book, tells us that the Indians bought their wives.
* ↑ Cæsar and Athenæus attribute this custom to the Gauls, and Valerius Maximus to the Keltiberians. Those men who attached themselves to the interests of any prince or famous personage, and who espoused all his quarrels, even devoting themselves to death on his account, are named by Athenæus σιλοδοῦροι, and by Cæsar soldurii. Speaking of 600 soldiers devoted in this manner to a Gaulish prince, named Adcantuannus, Cæsar (l. iii. c. 22) says, “Sibi mortem consciscant; neque adhuc hominum memoria repertus est quisquam, qui, eo interfecto cujus se amicitiæ devovisset, mori recusaret.” Plutarch tells us that Sertorius had in his suite many thousand Iberians devoted to him. The following epitaph of these men, who, after the death of Sertorius, sacrificed themselves, being unwilling to survive him, was extracted by Swinburne from the Annals of Catalonia.Hic multæ quæ se manibus Q. Sertorii turmæ, et terræ Mortalium omnium parenti Devovere, dum, eo sublato, Superesse tæderet, et fortiter Pugnando invicem cecidere, Morte ad præsens optata jacent. Valete posteri. For the appalling means they adopted to hold out the city of Calaguris to the last, see Valerius Maximus, lib. vii. cap. vi.
* ↑ The country between the Ebro and the Pyrenees.
* ↑ These Igletes are the same which Stephen of Byzantium names Gletes, and by an error of the copyist Tletes. Herodotus places them between the Cynetæ, and the Tartessians, and Theopompus in the neighbourhood of the Tartessians. The position between the Ebro and the Pyrenees, which Asclepiades the Myrlean thus gives them, supports the opinion of those who reckon that Rosas was founded by the Rhodians, and that the people of Marseilles did not settle there till afterwards; it is more than probable that the Igletes were nothing more than Ignetes or Gnetes of the Isle of Rhodes.
* ↑ Casaubon supposes that this is the river Ptolemy names Merus. Lopez, Geograf. de Estrabon, lib. iii. p. 232, thinks it the Narcea.
* ↑ Pomponius Mela and Pliny coincide with Strabo in making this city belong to the Asturians; Ptolemy however describes it under the name of Noega Ucesia as pertaining to the Cantabrians. Some say it corresponds to the present Navia, others to Pravia. Groskurd reckons it Gajon, or Navia, or Santander.
* ↑ Gosselin observes that the greatest length of Majorca is 14 leagues and a half; its breadth at the narrowest part 8 leagues; and adds, that by confounding stadia of unequal value, Strabo makes Majorca a long narrow island, whereas in fact its form approaches nearer to that of a square.
* ↑ Viz. the Phœnicians.
* ↑ Immediately after the word μελαγκραΐνας, which we have translated black rush, the text of our geographer runs on as follows: “resembling the schœnus, a species of rush from which cords are made. Philetas in his Mercury [says] ‘he was covered with a vile and filthy tunic, and about his wretched loins was bound a strip of black rush, as if he had been girt with a mere schœnus.’” It is evident that this passage is the scholium of some ancient grammarian, and we have followed the example of the French editors in inserting it in a note, as it is a great impediment in the middle of Strabo’s description of the equipment of the island warriors.
* ↑ “Cibum puer a matre non accipit, nisi quem, ipsa monstrante, percussit.” Florus, lib. iii. c. 8. The same thing is stated by Lycophron, v. 637, and Diodorus Siculus, l. v. c. 18.
* ↑ This mouth of the Guadalquiver, opposite Cadiz, no longer exists.
* ↑ “The length of the island of Leon, at the extremity of which the city of Cadiz is situated, is about 9500 toises, which are equivalent to 100 Olympic stadia.” Gosselin.
* ↑ L. Cornelius Balbus was a native of Cadiz, and descended from an illustrious family in that town. His original name probably bore some resemblance in sound to the Latin Balbus. Cadiz being one of the federate cities, supported the Romans in their war against Sertorius in Spain, and Balbus thus had an opportunity for distinguishing himself. He served under the Roman generals Q. Mettellus Pius, C. Memmius, and Pompey, and was present at the battles of Turia and Sucro. He distinguished himself so much throughout the war, that Pompey conferred the Roman citizenship upon him, his brother, and his brother’s sons; and this act of Pompey was ratified by the law of the consuls, Cn. Cornelius Lentulus and L. Gellius, B. C. 72. It was probably in honour of these consuls that Balbus took the Gentile name of the one, and the prænomen of the other. It was for this Balbus that Cicero made the defence which has come down to us. The reason which induced Strabo to notice, as something remarkable, that Balbus had received the honours of a triumph, we learn from Pliny, who, noticing the victories which he had gained over the Garamantes and other nations of Africa, tells us he was the only person of foreign extraction who had ever received the honour of a triumph. “Omnia armis Romanis superata et a Cornelio Balbo triumphata, uni huic omnium externo curru et Quiritium jure donato.” Plin. lib. v. c. 5. Solinus likewise says of him, (cap. xxix. p. 54,) “Primus sane de externis, utpote Gadibus genitus accessit ad gloriam nominis triumphalis.”
* ↑ This word signifies “The Twins.”
* ↑ Gosselin says, the temple of Saturn appears to have stood on the site of the present church of S. Sebastian, and that of Hercules at the other extremity of the island on the site of St. Peter’s.
* ↑ Groskurd supposes that we should here read, “[certain citizens of Cadiz have appropriated to themselves possessions in the interior of the island,] but the whole sea-shore is inhabited in common,” that is, by shepherds who pastured the grounds in common.
* ↑ Gosselin shows that we ought to read 500 stadia in this place.
* ↑ The Ape-mountain near Ceuta.
* ↑ The text is corrupt, but it is needless to go through all the emendations proposed.
* ↑ This passage of Pindar has not come down to us.
* ↑ Ψεῦσμα Φοινικικόν, a proverbial mode of speaking, having its origin in the bad faith of the Phœnicians [fides Punica].
* ↑ Strabo, in his 17th book, gives a different locality to these altars.
* ↑ These were twelve altars, of fifty cubits each, erected to the twelve gods. Vide Diodorus Siculus, l. xvii. c. 95.
* ↑ The text is ἐν τοῖς παραδόξοις, which Gosselin renders, “Les ouvrages qui traitent des choses merveilleuses.”
* ↑ Strabo’s argument is here so weak, that one can hardly believe it can have ever been seriously made use of.
* ↑ This method of explaining the ebb and flow of the sea, by comparing it to the respiration of animals, is not so extraordinary, when we remember that it was the opinion of many philosophers that the universe was itself an animal. Pomponius Mela, (De Situ Orbis, lib. iii. c. 1,) speaking of the tides, says, “Neque adhuc satis cognitum est, anhelitune suo id mundus efficiat, retractamque cum spiritu regerat undam undique, si, ut doctioribus placet, unum (lege universum) animal est; an sint depressi aliqui specus, quo reciprocata maria residant, atque unde se rursus exuberantia attollant: an luna causas tantis meatibus præbeat.”
* ↑ Thirty degrees.
* ↑ Some MSS. read 50 stadia.
* ↑ This is the sense of the text, πᾶσαν τὴν κύκλῳ παρωκεανῖτιν.
* ↑ We are not aware that the Ebro passes through any lake.
* ↑ This is probably a description of the appearance of the Druids. Tacitus, (Ann. lib. xiv. 30,) speaking of the consternation into which the Druids of Anglesey threw the Roman soldiers who had disembarked there, says, “Druidæque circum, preces diras, sublatis ad cœlum manibus, fundentes, novitate adspectus perculere milites, ut, quasi hærentibus membris, immobile corpus vulneribus præberent.” Immediately before these words he thus describes the women, “Stabat pro litore diversa acies, densa armis virisque, intercursantibus feminis in modum furiarum, quæ veste ferali, crinibus dejectis, faces præferebant.
* ↑ Viz. that the Cassiterides are farther removed from the coasts of Spain than the rest of the southern coasts of England.
Cite error: <ref> tags exist for a group named "p", but no corresponding <references group="p"/> tag was found Cite error: <ref> tags exist for a group named "g", but no corresponding <references group="g"/> tag was found
Cite error: <ref> tags exist for a group named "p", but no corresponding <references group="p"/> tag was found Cite error: <ref> tags exist for a group named "g", but no corresponding <references group="g"/> tag was found
Cite error: <ref> tags exist for a group named "p", but no corresponding <references group="p"/> tag was found Cite error: <ref> tags exist for a group named "g", but no corresponding <references group="g"/> tag was found
Cite error: <ref> tags exist for a group named "p", but no corresponding <references group="p"/> tag was found Cite error: <ref> tags exist for a group named "g", but no corresponding <references group="g"/> tag was found