1. The second portion of northern Asia begins from the Caspian Sea,
where the first terminates. This sea is called also the Hyrcanian Sea.
We must first speak of this sea, and of the nations that live near its
shores.
It is a bay extending from the Ocean to the south. At its commencement
it is very narrow; as it advances further inwards, and particularly
towards the extremity, it widens to the extent of about 500 stadia. The
voyage from the entrance [CAS. 507] to the extremity may exceed that a
little, the entrance approaching very near the uninhabited regions.
Eratosthenes says that the navigation of this sea was known to the
Greeks, that the part of the voyage along the coast of the Albanians and
Cadusïi[971] comprised 5400 stadia; and the part along the country of
the Anariaci, Mardi, [or Amardi,] and Hyrcani, as far as the mouth of
the river Oxus,[972] 4800 stadia, and thence to the Iaxartes[973] 2400
stadia.
But with respect to the places situated in this portion of Asia, and to
those lying so far removed from our own country, we must not understand
the accounts of writers in too literal a sense, particularly with regard
to distances.
2. Upon sailing into the Caspian, on the right hand, contiguous to the
Europeans, Scythians and Sarmatians occupy the country between the
Tanaïs and this sea; they are chiefly Nomades, or shepherd tribes, of
whom I have already spoken. On the left hand are the Eastern Scythian
Nomades, who extend as far as the Eastern sea, and India.
The ancient Greek historians called all the nations towards the north by
the common name of Scythians, and Kelto-Scythians. Writers still more
ancient than these called the nations living above the Euxine, Danube,
and Adriatic, Hyperboreans, Sauromatæ, and Arimaspi.[974] But in
speaking of the nations on the other side the Caspian Sea, they called
some Sacæ,[975] others Massagetæ. They were unable to give any exact
account of them, although they relate the history of the war of Cyrus
with the Massagetæ. Concerning these nations no one has ascertained the
truth, and the ancient histories of Persia, Media, and Syria have not
obtained much credit on account of the credulity of the writers and
their love of fable.
3. For these authors, having observed that those who professedly were
writers of fables obtained repute and success, supposed that they also
should make their writings agreeable, if, under the form of history,
they related what they had never seen nor heard, (not at least from
eye-witnesses,) and had no other object than to please and surprise the
reader. A person would more readily believe the stories of the heroes in
Hesiod, Homer, and in the tragic poets, than Ctesias, Herodotus,
Hellanicus, and writers of this kind.
4. We cannot easily credit the generality of the historians of
Alexander, for they practise deception with a view to enhance the glory
of Alexander; the expedition also was directed to the extremities of
Asia, at a great distance from our country, and it is difficult to
ascertain or detect the truth or falsehood of what is remote. The
dominion of the Romans and of the Parthians has added very much to
former discoveries, and the writers who speak of these people describe
nations and places, where certain actions were performed, in a manner
more likely to produce belief than preceding historians, for they had
better opportunities of personal observation.