Transcriber’s Notes:—
Italic text is denoted _thus_.
The spelling, hyphenation, punctuation and accentuation are as the
original, except for apparent typographical errors which have been
corrected.
Further notes can be found at the end of the book.
THE
NATURAL HISTORY
OF
PLINY.
TRANSLATED,
WITH COPIOUS NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS
BY THE LATE
JOHN BOSTOCK, M.D., F.R.S.,
AND
H. T. RILEY, Esq., B.A.,
LATE SCHOLAR OF CLARE HALL, CAMBRIDGE.
VOL. II.
LONDON:
HENRY G. BOHN, YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN.
MDCCCLV.
J. BILLING,
PRINTER AND STEREOTYPER,
WOKING, SURREY.
CONTENTS.
OF THE SECOND VOLUME.
BOOK VI.
AN ACCOUNT OF COUNTRIES, NATIONS, SEAS, TOWNS, HAVENS, MOUNTAINS,
RIVERS, DISTANCES, AND PEOPLES WHO NOW EXIST, OR FORMERLY
EXISTED.
Chap. Page
1. The Euxine and the Maryandini 1
2. Paphlagonia 3
3. Cappadocia 6
4. The region of Themiscyra, and the nations therein 8
5. The region of Colica, the nations of the Achæi, and other
nations in the same parts 11
6. The Cimmerian Bosporus 13
7. Lake Mæotis and the adjoining nations 14
8. The situation of Cappadocia 16
9. The Lesser and the Greater Armenia 17
10. The rivers Cyrus and Araxes 18
11. Albania, Iberia, and the adjoining nations 20
12. The passes of the Caucasus 21
13. The islands of the Euxine 22
14. Nations in the vicinity of the Scythian Ocean 23
15. The Caspian and Hyrcanian Sea 24
16. Adiabene 27
17. Media and the Caspian Gates 28
18. Nations situate around the Hyrcanian Sea 30
19. The nations of Scythia and the countries on the Eastern
Ocean 33
20. The Seres 35
21. The nations of India 38
22. The Ganges 43
23. The Indus 46
24. Taprobane 51
25. The Ariani and the adjoining nations 56
26. Voyages to India 60
27. Carmania 66
28. The Persian and the Arabian Gulfs _ib._
29. The Parthian Empire 68
30. Mesopotamia 70
31. The Tigris 75
32. Arabia 82
33. The Gulfs of the Red Sea 91
34. Troglodytice 93
35. Æthiopia 97
36. Islands of the Æthiopian Sea 105
37. The Fortunate Islands 107
38. The comparative distances of places on the face of the
earth 108
39. Division of the earth into parallels and shadows of equal
length 110
BOOK VII.
MAN, HIS BIRTH, HIS ORGANIZATION, AND THE INVENTION OF THE ARTS.
1. Man 117
2. The wonderful forms of different nations 122
3. Marvellous births 135
4. The generation of man; the unusual duration of pregnancy;
instances of it from seven to twelve months 139
5. Indications of the sex of the child during the pregnancy
of the mother 141
6. Monstrous births 142
7. Of those who have been cut out of the womb 143
8. Who were called Vopisci 144
9. The conception and generation of man _ib._
10. Striking instances of resemblance 145
11. What men are suited for generation. Instances of very
numerous offspring 148
12. At what age generation ceases 150
13. Remarkable circumstances connected with the menstrual
discharge _ib._
14. The theory of generation 153
15. Some account of the teeth, and some facts concerning
infants _ib._
16. Examples of unusual size 155
17. Children remarkable for their precocity 158
18. Some remarkable properties of the body _ib._
19. Instances of extraordinary strength 160
20. Instances of remarkable agility 161
21. Instances of acuteness of sight 162
22. Instances of remarkable acuteness of hearing 163
23. Instances of endurance of pain 164
24. Memory _ib._
25. Vigour of mind 166
26. Clemency and greatness of mind _ib._
27. Heroic exploits 167
28. Union in the same person of three of the highest
qualities with the greatest purity 169
29. Instances of extreme courage 170
30. Men of remarkable genius 173
31. Men who have been remarkable for wisdom 174
32. Precepts the most useful in life 178
33. Divination 179
34. The man who was pronounced to be the most excellent _ib._
35. The most chaste matrons 180
36. Instances of the highest degree of affection _ib._
37. Names of men who have excelled in the arts, astrology,
grammar, and medicine 182
38. Geometry and architecture 183
39. Painting; engraving on bronze, marble, and ivory;
carving 184
40. Slaves for which a high price has been given 185
41. Supreme happiness 186
42. Rare instances of good fortune continuing in the same
family 187
43. Remarkable example of vicissitudes 189
44. Remarkable examples of honours _ib._
45. Ten very fortunate circumstances which have happened to
the same person 191
46. The misfortunes of Augustus 195
47. Men whom the gods have pronounced to be the most happy 199
48. The man whom the gods ordered to be worshipped during his
life-time; a remarkable flash of lightning _ib._
49. The greatest length of life 200
50. The variety of destinies at the birth of man 203
51. Various instances of diseases 206
52. Death 208
53. Persons who have come to life again after being laid out
for burial 210
54. Instances of sudden death 213
55. Burial 217
56. The Manes, or departed spirits of the soul 218
57. The inventors of various things 219
58. The things about which mankind first of all agreed. The
ancient letters 236
59. When barbers were first employed _ib._
60. When the first time-pieces were made 237
BOOK VIII.
THE NATURE OF THE TERRESTRIAL ANIMALS.
1. Elephants; their capacity 244
2. When elephants were first put into harness 245
3. The docility of the elephant 246
4. Wonderful things which have been done by the elephant 247
5. The instinct of wild animals in perceiving danger 248
6. When elephants were first seen in Italy 251
7. The combats of elephants 252
8. The way in which elephants are caught 255
9. The method by which they are tamed 256
10. The birth of the elephant, and other particulars
respecting it 257
11. In what countries the elephant is found; the antipathy
of the elephant and the dragon 259
12. The sagacity of these animals 260
13. Dragons 261
14. Serpents of remarkable size _ib._
15. The animals of Scythia; the bison 262
16. The animals of the north; the elk, the achlis, and the
bonasus 263
17. Lions; how they are produced 264
18. The different species of lions 266
19. The peculiar character of the lion 267
20. Who it was that first introduced combats of lions at
Rome, and who has brought together the greatest number
of lions for that purpose 269
21. Wonderful feats performed by lions 270
22. A man recognized and saved by a dragon 273
23. Panthers 274
24. The decree of the Senate, and laws respecting African
animals; who first brought them to Rome, and who
brought the greatest number of them _ib._
25. Tigers: when first seen at Rome; their nature 275
26. Camels; the different kinds 276
27. The cameleopard; when it was first seen at Rome 277
28. The chama, and the cepus _ib._
29. The rhinoceros 278
30. The lynx, the sphinx, the crocotta, and the monkey _ib._
31. The terrestrial animals of India 280
32. The animals of Æthiopia; a wild beast which kills with
its eye 281
33. The serpents called basilisks 282
34. Wolves; the origin of the story of Versipellis _ib._
35. Different kinds of serpents 284
36. The ichneumon 287
37. The crocodile _ib._
38. The scincus 288
39. The hippopotamus 290
40. Who first exhibited the hippopotamus and the crocodile
at Rome _ib._
41. The medicinal remedies which have been borrowed from
animals 291
42. Prognostics of danger derived from animals 294
43. Nations that have been exterminated by animals 295
44. The hyæna 296
45. The crocotta; the mantichora _ib._
46. Wild asses 297
47. Beavers; amphibious animals; otters _ib._
48. Bramble-frogs 298
49. The sea-calf; beavers; lizards _ib._
50. Stags 299
51. The chameleon 302
52. Other animals which change colour; the tarandus, the
lycaon, and the thos 304
53. The porcupine 305
54. Bears and their cubs _ib._
55. The mice of Pontus and of the Alps 308
56. Hedgehogs _ib._
57. The leontophonus, and the lynx 310
58. Badgers and squirrels _ib._
59. Vipers and snails 311
60. Lizards 312
61. The qualities of the dog; examples of its attachment to
its master; nations which have kept dogs for the
purposes of war _ib._
62. The generation of the dog 316
63. Remedies against canine madness _ib._
64. The nature of the horse 317
65. The disposition of the horse; remarkable facts concerning
chariot horses 319
66. The generation of the horse 320
67. Mares impregnated by the wind 322
68. The ass; its generation _ib._
69. The nature of mules, and of other beasts of burden 324
70. Oxen; their generation 326
71. The Egyptian Apis 330
72. Sheep, and their propagation 331
73. The different kinds of wool, and their colours 333
74. Different kinds of cloth 336
75. The different shapes of sheep; the musmon 338
76. Goats, and their propagation 339
77. The hog 342
78. The wild boar; who was the first to establish parks for
wild animals 344
79. Animals in a half-wild state 346
80. Apes 347
81. The different species of hares 348
82. Animals which are tamed in part only 350
83. Places in which certain animals are not to be found 352
84. Animals which injure strangers only, as also animals
which injure the natives of the country only, and where
they are found 353
BOOK IX.
THE NATURAL HISTORY OF FISHES.
1. Why the largest animals are found in the sea 358
2. The sea monsters of the Indian Ocean 359
3. The largest animals that are found in each ocean 361
4. The forms of the Tritons and Nereids. The forms of
sea-elephants 362
5. The balæna and the orca 365
6. Whether fishes respire, and whether they sleep 367
7. Dolphins 369
8. Human beings who have been beloved by dolphins 371
9. Places where dolphins help men to fish 374
10. Other wonderful things relating to dolphins 376
11. The tursio 377
12. Turtles; the various kinds of turtles, and how they are
caught _ib._
13. Who first invented the art of cutting tortoise-shell 379
14. Distribution of aquatic animals into various species _ib._
15. Those which are covered with hair, or have none, and
how they bring forth. Sea-calves, or phocæ 380
16. How many kinds of fish there are 381
17. Which of the fishes are of the largest size 382
18. Tunnies, cordyla, and pelamides, and the various parts
of them that are salted. Melandrya, apolecti, and cybia 385
19. The aurias and the scomber 386
20. Fishes which are never found in the Euxine; those which
enter it and return 387
21. Why fishes leap above the surface of the water 390
22. That auguries are derived from fishes 391
23. What kinds of fishes have no males _ib._
24. Fishes which have a stone in the head; those which keep
themselves concealed during winter; and those which are
not taken in winter, except upon stated days 392
25. Fishes which conceal themselves during the summer; those
which are influenced by the stars 396
26. The mullet 397
27. The acipenser 398
28. The lupus, the asellus 399
29. The scarus, the mustela 400
30. The various kinds of mullets, and the sargus that attends
them 401
31. Enormous prices of some fish 403
32. That the same kinds are not everywhere equally esteemed 404
33. Gills and scales 405
34. Fishes which have a voice.—Fishes without gills 406
35. Fishes which come on land; the proper time for catching
fish _ib._
36. Classification of fishes, according to the shape of the
body 407
37. The fins of fish, and their mode of swimming 408
38. Eels 409
39. The murena _ib._
40. Various kinds of flat fish 411
41. The echeneis, and its uses in enchantments 412
42. Fishes which change their colour 414
43. Fishes which fly above the water—the sea-swallow—the
fish that shines in the night—the horned fish—the
sea-dragon 415
44. Fishes which have no blood.—Fishes known as soft fish 416
45. The sæpia, the loligo, the scallop 417
46. The polypus _ib._
47. The nautilus, or sailing polypus 419
48. The various kinds of polypi; their shrewdness _ib._
49. The sailing nauplius 422
50. Sea-animals which are enclosed with a crust; the
cray-fish 423
51. The various kinds of crabs; the pinnotheres, the sea
urchin, cockles, and scallops 424
52. Various kinds of shell-fish 428
53. What numerous appliances of luxury are found in the sea 429
54. Pearls; how they are produced, and where 430
55. How pearls are found 433
56. The various kinds of pearls 434
57. Remarkable facts connected with pearls—their nature 436
58. Instances of the use of pearls 437
59. How pearls first came into use at Rome 440
60. The nature of the murex and the purple 441
61. The different kinds of purples 443
62. How wools are dyed with the juices of the purple 445
63. When purple was first used at Rome; when the laticlave
vestment and the prætexta were first worn 447
64. Fabrics called conchyliated 448
65. The amethyst, the Tyrian, the hysginian, and the crimson
tints 449
66. The pinna, and the pinnotheres 450
67. The sensitiveness of water-animals; the torpedo, the
pastinaca, the scolopendra, the glanis, and the
ram-fish 451
68. Bodies which have a third nature, that of the animal and
vegetable combined—the sea-nettle 453
69. Sponges; the various kinds of them, and where they are
produced: proofs that they are gifted with life by
nature 454
70. Dog-fish 456
71. Fishes which are enclosed in a stony shell—sea-animals
which have no sensation—other animals which live in
the mud 458
72. Venomous sea-animals 459
73. The maladies of fishes 460
74. The generation of fishes 461
75. Fishes which are both oviparous and viviparous 465
76. Fishes the belly of which opens in spawning, and then
closes again 466
77. Fishes which have a womb; those which impregnate
themselves _ib._
78. The longest lives known amongst fishes 467
79. The first person that formed artificial oyster-beds _ib._
80. Who was the first inventor of preserves for other fish 469
81. Who invented preserves for murenæ _ib._
82. Who invented preserves for sea-snails 470
83. Land-fishes 471
84. The mice of the Nile 472
85. How the fish called the anthias is taken 473
86. Sea-stars 474
87. The marvellous properties of the dactylus 475
88. The antipathies and sympathies that exist between aquatic
animals _ib._
BOOK X.
THE NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.
1. The ostrich 478
2. The phœnix 479
3. The different kinds of eagles 481
4. The natural characteristics of the eagle 484
5. When the eagle was first used as the standard of the Roman
legions 485
6. An eagle which precipitated itself on the funeral pile of
a girl 486
7. The vulture _ib._
8. The birds called sangualis and immusulus 487
9. Hawks. The buteo _ib._
10. In what places hawks and men pursue the chase in company
with each other 488
11. The only bird that is killed by those of its own kind.—A
bird that lays only one egg 489
12. The kite 490
13. The classification of birds _ib._
14. Crows. Birds of ill omen. At what seasons they are not
inauspicious _ib._
15. The raven 491
16. The horned owl 492
17. Birds, the race of which is extinct, or of which all
knowledge has been lost _ib._
18. Birds which are born with the tail first 493
19. The owlet 494
20. The wood-pecker of Mars _ib._
21. Birds which have hooked talons 495
22. The peacock _ib._
23. Who was the first to kill the peacock for food. Who first
taught the art of cramming them 496
24. The dunghill cock _ib._
25. How cocks are castrated. A cock that once spoke 498
26. The goose _ib._
27. Who first taught us to use the liver of the goose for food 499
28. The Commagenian medicament 500
29. The chenalopex, the cheneros, the tetrao, and the otis _ib._
30. Cranes 501
31. Storks 502
32. Swans _ib._
33. Foreign birds which visit us; the quail, the glottis, the
cychramus, and the otus 503
34. Swallows 505
35. Birds which take their departure from us, and whither
they go; the thrush, the blackbird, and the
starling—birds which lose their feathers during their
retirement—the turtle-dove and the ring-dove—the flight
of starlings and swallows _ib._
36. Birds which remain with us throughout the year; birds
which remain with us only six or three months;
whitwalls and hoopoes 506
37. The Memnonides _ib._
38. The Meleagrides 507
39. The Seleucides _ib._
40. The ibis _ib._
41. Places in which certain birds are never found _ib._
42. The various kinds of birds which afford omens by their
note. Birds which change their colour and their voice 509
43. The nightingale _ib._
44. The melancoryphus, the erithacus, and the phœnicurus 511
45. The œnanthe, the chlorion, the blackbird, and the ibis _ib._
46. The times of incubation of birds 512
47. The halcyones: the halcyon days that are favourable to
navigation _ib._
48. Other kinds of aquatic birds 513
49. The instinctive cleverness displayed by birds in the
construction of their nests. The wonderful works of
the swallow. The bank-swallow _ib._
50. The acanthyllis and other birds 515
51. The merops—partridges 516
52. Pigeons 517
53. Wonderful things done by them; prices at which they
have been sold 519
54. Different modes of flight and progression in birds 520
55. The birds called apodes or cypseli 521
56. Respecting the food of birds—the caprimulgus, the platea _ib._
57. The instincts of birds—the carduelis, the taurus, the
anthus 522
58. Birds which speak—the parrot _ib._
59. The pie which feeds on acorns 523
60. A sedition that arose among the Roman people, in
consequence of a raven speaking 524
61. The birds of Diomedes 526
62. Animals that can learn nothing _ib._
63. The mode of drinking with birds. The porphyrio 527
64. The hæmatopous _ib._
65. The food of birds _ib._
66. The pelican _ib._
67. Foreign birds: the phalerides, the pheasant, and the
numidicæ 528
68. The phœnicopterus, the attagen, the phalacrocorax, the
pyrrhocorax, and the lagopus _ib._
69. The new birds. The vipio 529
70. Fabulous birds 530
71. Who first invented the art of cramming poultry: why the
first Censors forbade this practice 531
72. Who first invented aviaries. The dish of Æsopus _ib._
73. The generation of birds: other oviparous animals 532
74. The various kinds of eggs, and their nature _ib._
75. Defects in brood-hens, and their remedies 535
76. An augury derived from eggs by an empress _ib._
77. The best kinds of fowls 536
78. The diseases of fowls, and their remedies 537
79. When birds lay, and how many eggs. The various kinds of
herons _ib._
80. What eggs are called hypenemia, and what cynosura. How
eggs are best kept 539
81. The only winged animal that is viviparous, and nurtures
its young with its milk 540
82. Terrestrial animals that are oviparous. Various kinds of
serpents _ib._
83. Generation of all kinds of terrestrial animals _ib._
84. The position of animals in the uterus 544
85. Animals whose origin is still unknown _ib._
86. Salamanders 545
87. Animals which are born of beings that have not been born
themselves—animals which are born themselves, but are
not reproductive—animals which are of neither sex 546
88. The senses of animals—that all have the senses of touch
and taste—those which are more remarkable for their
sight, smell, or hearing—moles—whether oysters have the
sense of hearing _ib._
89. Which fishes have the best hearing 547
90. Which fishes have the finest sense of smell. _ib._
91. Diversities in the feeding of animals 548
92. Animals which live on poisons _ib._
93. Animals which live on earth—animals which will not die of
hunger or thirst 549
94. Diversities in the drinking of animals 550
95. Antipathies of animals. Proofs that they are sensible of
friendship and other affections _ib._
96. Instances of affection shown by serpents 552
97. The sleep of animals _ib._
98. What animals are subject to dreams 553
NATURAL HISTORY OF PLINY.
BOOK VI.
AN ACCOUNT OF COUNTRIES, NATIONS, SEAS, TOWNS, HAVENS, MOUNTAINS,
RIVERS, DISTANCES, AND PEOPLES WHO NOW EXIST, OR FORMERLY EXISTED.
CHAP. 1. (1.)—THE EUXINE AND THE MARYANDINI.
The Euxine[1] Sea, which in former times had the name of Axenus,[2]
from the savage and inhospitable character of the nations living on
its borders, by a peculiar whim of nature, which is continually giving
way before the greedy inroads of the sea, lies between Europe and
Asia. It was not enough for the ocean to have surrounded the earth,
and then deprived us of a considerable portion of it, thus rendering
still greater its uninhabitable proportion; it was not enough for it to
have forced a passage through the mountains, to have torn away Calpe
from Africa, and to have swallowed up a much larger space than it left
untouched; it was not enough for it to have poured its tide into the
Propontis through the Hellespont, after swallowing up still more of the
dry land—for beyond the Bosporus, as well, it opens with its insatiate
appetite upon another space of immense extent, until the Mæotian
lakes[3] unite their ravening waters with it as it ranges far and wide.
That all this has taken place in spite, as it were, of the earth,
is manifested by the existence of so many straits and such numbers
of narrow passages formed against the will of nature—that of the
Hellespont,[4] being only eight hundred and seventy-five paces in
width, while at the two Bospori[5] the passage across may be effected
by oxen[6] swimming, a fact from which they have both derived their
name. And then besides,[7] although they are thus severed, there
are certain points on which these coasts stand in the relation of
brotherhood towards each other—the singing of birds and the barking
of dogs on the one side can be heard on the other, and an intercourse
can be maintained between these two worlds by the medium even of the
human voice,[8] if the winds should not happen to carry away the sound
thereof.
The length of the borders of the Euxine from the Bosporus to the Lake
Mæotis has been reckoned by some writers at fourteen hundred and
thirty-eight miles; Eratosthenes, however, says that it is one hundred
less. According to Agrippa, the distance from Chalcedon to the Phasis
is one thousand miles, and from that river to the Cimmerian Bosporus
three hundred and sixty. We will here give in a general form the
distances as they have been ascertained in our own times; for our arms
have even penetrated to the very mouth of the Cimmerian Straits.
After passing the mouth of the Bosporus we come to the river Rhebas,[9]
by some writers called the Rhesus. We next come to Psillis,[10] the
port of Calpas,[11] and the Sagaris,[12] a famous river, which rises
in Phrygia and receives the waters of other rivers of vast magnitude,
among which are the Tembrogius[13] and the Gallus,[14] the last of
which is by many called the Sangarius. After leaving the Sagaris
the Gulf of the Mariandyni[15] begins, and we come to the town of
Heraclea,[16] on the river Lycus;[17] this place is distant from the
mouth of the Euxine two hundred miles. The sea-port of Acone[18] comes
next, which has a fearful notoriety for its aconite or wolf’s-bane,
a deadly poison, and then the cavern of Acherusia,[19] the rivers
Pædopides, Callichorus, and Sonautes, the town of Tium,[20] distant
from Heraclea thirty-eight miles, and the river Billis.
CHAP. 2. (2.)—PAPHLAGONIA.
Beyond this river begins the nation of Paphlagonia,[21] by some writers
called Pylæmenia;[22] it is closed in behind by the country of Galatia.
In it are Mastya,[23] a town founded by the Milesians, and then
Cromna,[24] at which spot Cornelius Nepos also places the Heneti,[25]
from whom he would have us believe that the Veneti of Italy, who
have a similar name, are descended. The city also of Sesamon, now
called Amastris,[26] Mount Cytorus,[27] distant sixty-three miles
from Tium, the towns of Cimolis[28] and Stephane,[29] and the river
Parthenius.[30] The promontory of Carambis,[31] which extends a great
distance into the sea, is distant from the mouth of the Euxine three
hundred and twenty-five miles, or, according to some writers, three
hundred and fifty, being the same distance from the Cimmerian Bosporus,
or, as some persons think, only three hundred and twelve miles. There
was formerly also a town of the same name, and another near it called
Armene; we now find there the colony of Sinope,[32] distant from Mount
Cytorus one hundred and sixty-four miles. We then come to the river
Evarchus,[33] and after that a people of the Cappadocians, the towns
of Gaziura[34] and Gazelum,[35] the river Halys,[36] which runs from
the foot of Mount Taurus through Cataonia and Cappadocia, the towns of
Gangre[37] and Carusa,[38] the free town of Amisus,[39] distant from
Sinope one hundred and thirty miles, and a gulf of the same name, of
such vast extent[40] as to make Asia assume the form of a peninsula,
the isthmus of which is only some two hundred[41] miles in breadth,
or a little more, across to the gulf of Issus in Cilicia. In all this
district there are, it is said, only three races that can rightly be
termed Greeks, the Dorians, the Ionians, and the Æolians, all the
rest being of barbarian origin.[42] To Amisus was joined the town of
Eupatoria,[43] founded by Mithridates: after his defeat they were both
included under the name of Pompeiopolis.
CHAP. 3. (3.)—CAPPADOCIA.
Cappadocia[44] has in the interior Archelais,[45] a colony founded by
Claudius Cæsar, and past which the river Halys flows; also the towns
of Comana,[46] watered by the Sarus, Neocæsarea,[47] by the Lycus,[48]
and Amasia,[49] in the region of Gazacene, washed by the Iris. In
Colopene it has Sebastia and Sebastopolis;[50] these are insignificant
places, but still equal in importance to those just mentioned. In its
remaining districts there is Melita,[51] founded by Semiramis, and
not far from the Euphrates, Diocæsarea,[52] Tyana,[53] Castabala,[54]
Magnopolis,[55] Zela,[56] and at the foot of Mount Argæus[57] Mazaca,
now called Cæsarea.[58] That part of Cappadocia which lies stretched
out before the Greater Armenia is called Melitene, before Commagene
Cataonia, before Phrygia Garsauritis, Sargarausene,[59] and Cammanene,
before Galatia Morimene, where their territories are divided by the
river Cappadox,[60] from which this people have taken their name;
they were formerly known as the Leucosyri.[61] From Neocæsarea above
mentioned, the lesser Armenia is separated by the river Lycus. In the
interior also there is the famous river Ceraunus,[62] and on the coast
beyond the town of Amisus, the town and river of Chadisia,[63] and the
town of Lycastum,[64] after which the region of Themiscyra[65] begins.
CHAP. 4.—THE REGION OF THEMISCYRA, AND THE NATIONS THEREIN.
The river Iris brings down to the sea the waters of the Lycus. In
the interior is the city of Ziela,[66] famous for the defeat of
Triarius[67] and the victory of C. Cæsar.[68] Upon the coast there
is the river Thermodon, which rises at the fortified place called
Phanarœa,[69] and flows past the foot of Mount Amazonius.[70] There
was formerly a town of the same name as the river, and five others
in all, Amazonium, Themiscyra, Sotira, Amasia, and Comana,[71] now
only a Manteium. (4.) We find here the nations of the Genetæ,[72]
the Chalybes,[73] the town of Cotyorum,[74] the nations of the
Tibareni and the Mossyni, who make marks upon their bodies,[75] the
people called Macrocephali,[76] the town of Cerasus,[77] the port
of Chordule, the nations called the Bechires[78] and the Buzeri, the
river Melas,[79] the people called the Macrones, and Sidene with its
river Sidenus,[80] by which the town of Polemonium[81] is washed, at
a distance from Amisus of one hundred and twenty miles. We next come
to the rivers Iasonius[82] and Melanthius,[83] and, at a distance of
eighty miles from Amisus, the town of Pharnacea,[84] the fortress
and river of Tripolis;[85] the fortress and river of Philocalia, the
fortress of Liviopolis, but not upon a river, and, at a distance of
one hundred miles from Pharnacea, the free city of Trapezus,[86] shut
in by a mountain of vast size. Beyond this town is the nation of the
Armenochalybes[87] and the Greater Armenia, at a distance of thirty
miles. On the coast, before Trapezus, flows the river Pyxites, and
beyond it is the nation of the Sanni[88] Heniochi. Next comes the river
Absarus,[89] with a fortress of the same name at its mouth, distant
from Trapezus one hundred and forty miles.
At the back of the mountains of this district is Iberia, while on
the coast are the Heniochi, the Ampreutæ,[90] the Lazi, the rivers
Acampsis,[91] Isis,[92] Mogrus, and Bathys,[93] the nations of the
Colchi, the town of Matium,[94] the river Heracleum and the promontory
of the same name,[95] and the Phasis,[96] the most celebrated river of
Pontus. This river rises among the Moschi, and is navigable for the
largest vessels a distance of thirty-eight miles and a half, and for
small ones very much higher up; it is crossed by one hundred and twenty
bridges. It formerly had many cities of note on its banks, the more
famous of which were Tyndaris, Circæum, Cygnus, and Phasis[97] at its
mouth. But the most celebrated of them all was Æa, fifteen miles[98]
distant from the sea, where the Hippos and the Cyaneos,[99] rivers of
vast size, flow into it from opposite directions. At the present day
its only place of note is Surium, which derives its name from the
river which flows at that spot into the Phasis, and up to which place
the Phasis is navigable for large vessels, as we have already[100]
mentioned. It receives also some other rivers, wonderful for their
number and magnitude, and among them the Glaucus.[101] At the mouth
of the Phasis, at a distance of seventy miles from Absarus, are some
islands, which, however, have no name. After passing this, we come
to another river, the Charieis,[102] and the nation of the Salæ, by
the ancients called Phthirophagi,[103] as also Suani.[104] The river
Chobus[105] flows from the Caucasus through the country of the Suani.
The river Rhoas comes next, then the region of Ecrectice, the rivers
Singames,[106] Tarsuras,[107] Astelephus,[108] Chrysorrhoas, the
nation of the Absilæ, the castle of Sebastopolis,[109] one hundred
miles distant from Phasis, the nation of the Sannigæ, the town of
Cygnus,[110] and the river and town of Penius.[111] We then come to the
tribes of the Heniochi,[112] who are distinguished by numerous names.
CHAP. 5. (5.)—THE REGION OF COLICA, THE NATIONS OF THE ACHÆI, AND OTHER
NATIONS IN THE SAME PARTS.
Below this lies the region of Pontus known as Colica,[113] in
which the mountain chain of Caucasus bends away towards the Riphæan
mountains, as we have previously[114] mentioned; one side running down
towards the Euxine and the Lake Mæotis, the other towards the Caspian
and the Hyrcanian sea. The remaining portion of these shores is peopled
by savage nations, the Melanchlæni,[115] and the Coraxi, who formerly
dwelt in Dioscurias,[116] near the river Anthemus, now deserted, but
once a famous city; so much so, indeed, that we learn from Timosthenes,
that three hundred nations, all of different languages, were in the
habit of resorting to it, and in later times we had there one hundred
and thirty interpreters for the purpose of transacting business. There
are some authors who are of opinion that this place was built by
Amphitus and Telchius, the charioteers[117] of Castor and Pollux, from
whom it is generally understood that the nation of the Heniochi sprang.
After passing Dioscurias we come to the town of Heracleium,[118]
seventy miles distant from Sebastopolis, and then the Achæi,[119] the
Mardi,[120] and the Cercetæ,[121] and, behind them, the Cerri and the
Cephalotomi.[122] In the innermost part[123] of this district there
was Pityus,[124] a city of very considerable opulence, but destroyed
by the Heniochi: behind it are the Epageritæ, a people of Sarmatian
origin, dwelling upon the range of the Caucasus, and beyond them, the
Sauromatæ. It was with these people that Mithridates[125] took refuge
in the reign of the Emperor Claudius: and from him we learn that the
Thalli[126] join up to them, a people who border on the eastern side
upon the mouth[127] of the Caspian sea: he tells us also that at the
reflux the channel is dry there. Upon the coast of the Euxine, near the
country of the Cercetæ, is the river Icarusa,[128] with the town and
river of Hierus, distant from Heracleium one hundred and thirty-six
miles. Next to this, is the promontory of Cruni, after passing which,
we find the Toretæ upon a lofty ridge of mountains. The city of
Sindos[129] is distant from Hierus sixty-seven miles and a half; after
passing which, we come to the river Setheries. (6.) From thence to the
entrance of the Cimmerian Bosporus the distance is eighty-eight miles
and a half.
CHAP. 6.—THE CIMMERIAN BOSPORUS.
The length of the peninsula[130] which projects between the Euxine
and Lake Mæotis, is not more than sixty-seven miles and a half, and
the width across never less than two jugera:[131] it has the name of
Eion.[132] The shores of the Bosporus then take a curve both on the
side of Europe and of Asia, thus forming the Mæotis. The towns at the
entrance of the Bosporus are, first Hermonassa,[133] next Cepi,[134]
founded by the Milesians, and then Stratoclia and Phanagoria,[135] and
the almost deserted town of Apaturos,[136] and, at the extremity of the
mouth, Cimmerium,[137] which was formerly called Cerberion. (7.) We
then come to Lake Mæotis, which has been already mentioned[138] in the
description of Europe.
CHAP. 7.—LAKE MÆOTIS AND THE ADJOINING NATIONS.
After passing Cimmerium, the coast[139] is inhabited by the Mæotici,
the Vali, the Serbi,[140] the Arrechi, the Zingi, and the Psessi. We
then come to the river Tanais,[141] which discharges itself into the
sea by two mouths, and the banks of which are inhabited by the Sarmatæ,
the descendants of the Medi, it is said, a people divided into numerous
tribes. The first of these are the Sauromatæ Gynæcocratumeni,[142]
the husbands of the Amazons. Next to them are the Ævazæ,[143] the
Coitæ,[144] the Cicimeni, the Messeniani, the Costobocci, the Choatræ,
the Zigæ,[145] the Dandarii, the Thyssagetæ, and the Iyrcæ,[146] as
far as certain rugged deserts and densely wooded vallies, beyond
which again are the Arimphæi,[147] who extend as far as the Riphæan
Mountains.[148] The Scythians call the river Tanais by the name of
Silis, and the Mæotis the Temarunda, meaning the “mother of the sea.”
There is[149] a city also at the mouth of the Tanais. The neighbouring
country was inhabited first by the Carians, then by the Clazomenii and
Mæones, and after them by the Panticapenses.[150]
There are some writers who state that there are the following nations
dwelling around the Mæotis, as far as the Ceraunian mountains;[151]
at a short distance from the shore, the Napitæ, and beyond them, the
Essedones, who join up to the Colchians, and dwell upon the summits of
the mountains: after these again, the Camacæ, the Orani, the Autacæ,
the Mazacasi, the Cantiocæ, the Agamathæ, the Pici, the Rimosoli, the
Acascomarci, and, upon the ridges of the Caucasus, the Itacalæ, the
Imadochi, the Rami, the Anclacæ, the Tydii, the Carastasei, and the
Anthiandæ. The river Lagoüs runs from the Cathæan[152] mountains, and
into it flows the Opharus. Upon it are the tribes of the Cauthadæ, and
the Opharitæ. Next to these are the rivers Menotharus and Imityes,
which flow from the Cissian mountains, among the peoples called the
Acdei, the Carnæ, the Oscardei, the Accisi, the Gabri, the Gogari, and,
around the source of the Imityes, the Imityi, and the Apatræi. Some
writers say that the Auchetæ, the Athernei, and the Asampatæ, Scythian
tribes, have made inroads upon this territory, and have destroyed the
Tanaitæ and the Inapæi to a man. Others again represent the Ocharius
as running through the Cantici and the Sapæi, and the Tanais as
passing through the territories of the Sarcharcei, the Herticei, the
Spondolici, the Synhietæ, the Anasi, the Issi, the Catetæ, the Tagoræ,
the Caroni, the Neripi, the Agandei, the Mandarei, the Satarchei, and
the Spalei.
CHAP. 8. (8.)—THE SITUATION OF CAPPADOCIA.
We have now gone over the coast which borders upon the Inner[153] Sea,
and have enumerated the various nations that dwell thereon; let us now
turn to those vast tracts of land which lie further in the interior.
I do not deny that in my description I shall differ very materially
from the ancient writers, but still it is one that has been compiled
with the most anxious research, from a full examination into the events
which have transpired of late in these countries under the command of
Domitius Corbulo,[154] and from information received either from kings
who have been sent thence to Rome, as suppliants for our mercy, or else
the sons of kings who have visited us in the character of hostages.
We will begin then with the nation of the Cappadocians.
Of all the countries of Pontus, this[155] extends the greatest distance
into the interior.[156] On the left[157] it leaves behind the Lesser
and the Greater Armenia, as well as Commagene, and on the right all the
nations of the province of Asia which we have previously described.
Spreading over numerous peoples, it rises rapidly in elevation in an
easterly direction towards the range of Taurus. Then passing Lycaonia,
Pisidia, and Cilicia, it advances above the district of Antiochia, the
portion of it known as Cataonia extending as far as Cyrrhestica, which
forms part of that district. The length of Asia[158] here is twelve
hundred and fifty miles, its breadth six hundred and forty.[159]
CHAP. 9. (9.)—THE LESSER AND THE GREATER ARMENIA.
Greater Armenia,[160] beginning at the mountains known as the
Paryadres,[161] is separated, as we have already stated,[162] from
Cappadocia by the river Euphrates, and, where that river turns off[163]
in its course, from Mesopotamia, by the no less famous river Tigris.
Both of these rivers take their rise in Armenia, which also forms the
commencement of Mesopotamia, a tract of country which lies between
these streams; the intervening space between them being occupied by the
Arabian Orei.[164] It thus extends its frontier as far as Adiabene, at
which point it is stopped short by a chain of mountains which takes a
cross direction; whereupon the province extends in width to the left,
crossing the course of the Araxes,[165] as far as the river Cyrus;[166]
while in length it reaches as far as the Lesser Armenia,[167] from
which it is separated by the river Absarus, which flows into the
Euxine, and by the mountains known as the Paryadres, in which the
Absarus takes its rise.
CHAP. 10.—THE RIVERS CYRUS AND ARAXES.
The river Cyrus[168] takes its rise in the mountains of the Heniochi,
by some writers called the Coraxici; the Araxes rises in the same
mountains as the river Euphrates, at a distance from it of six miles
only;[169] and after being increased by the waters of the Usis, falls
itself, as many authors have supposed, into the Cyrus, by which it is
carried into the Caspian Sea.
The more famous towns in Lesser Armenia are Cæsarea,[170] Aza,[171]
and Nicopolis;[172] in the Greater Arsamosata,[173] which lies near
the Euphrates, Carcathiocerta[174] upon the Tigris, Tigranocerta[175]
which stands on an elevated site, and, on a plain adjoining the river
Araxes, Artaxata.[176] According to Aufidius, the circumference of
the whole of Armenia is five thousand miles, while Claudius Cæsar
makes the length, from Dascusa[177] to the borders of the Caspian Sea,
thirteen[178] hundred miles, and the breadth, from Tigranocerta to
Iberia,[179] half that distance. It is a well-known fact, that this
country is divided into prefectures, called “Strategies,” some of which
singly formed a kingdom in former times; they are one hundred and
twenty in number, with barbarous and uncouth names.[180] On the east,
it is bounded, though not immediately, by the Ceraunian Mountains and
the district of Adiabene. The space that intervenes is occupied by the
Sopheni, beyond whom is the chain of mountains,[181] and then beyond
them the inhabitants of Adiabene. Dwelling in the valleys adjoining to
Armenia are the Menobardi and the Moscheni. The Tigris and inaccessible
mountains surround Adiabene. To the left[182] of it is the territory
of the Medi, and in the distance is seen the Caspian Sea; which, as
we shall state in the proper place, receives its waters from the
ocean,[183] and is wholly surrounded by the Caucasian Mountains. The
inhabitants upon the confines of Armenia shall now be treated of.
CHAP. 11. (10.)—ALBANIA, IBERIA, AND THE ADJOINING NATIONS.
The whole plain which extends away from the river Cyrus is inhabited
by the nation of the Albani,[184] and, after them,[185] by that of the
Iberi,[186] who are separated from them by the river Alazon,[187] which
flows into the Cyrus from the Caucasian chain. The chief cities are
Cabalaca,[188] in Albania, Harmastis,[189] near a river[190] of Iberia,
and Neoris; there is the region also of Thasie, and that of Triare,
extending as far as the mountains known as the Paryadres. Beyond
these[191] are the deserts of Colchios, on the side of which that
looks towards the Ceraunian Mountains dwell the Armenochalybes;[192]
and there is the country of the Moschi, extending to the river Iberus,
which flows into the Cyrus; below them are the Sacassani, and after
them the Macrones, upon the river Absarus. Such is the manner in which
the plains and low country are parcelled out. Again, after passing the
confines of Albania, the wild tribes of the Silvi inhabit the face of
the mountains, below them those of the Lubieni, and after them the
Diduri and the Sodii.
CHAP. 12. (11.)—THE PASSES OF THE CAUCASUS.
After passing the last, we come to the Gates of Caucasus,[193] by many
persons most erroneously called the Caspian Passes; a vast work of
nature, which has suddenly wrenched asunder in this place a chain of
mountains. At this spot are gates barred up with beams shod with iron,
while beneath the middle there runs a stream which emits a most fetid
odour; on this side of it is a rock, defended by a fortress, the name
of which is Cumania,[194] erected for the purpose of preventing the
passage of the innumerable tribes that lie beyond. Here, then, we may
see the habitable world severed into two parts by a pair of gates;
they are just opposite to Harmastis, a town of the Iberi.
Beyond the Gates of Caucasus, in the Gordyæan Mountains, the Valli and
the Suani, uncivilized tribes, are found; still, however, they work the
mines of gold there. Beyond these nations, and extending as far away as
Pontus, are numerous nations of the Heniochi, and, after them, of the
Achæi. Such is the present state of one of the most famous tracts upon
the face of the earth.
Some writers have stated that the distance between the Euxine and the
Caspian Sea is not more than three hundred and seventy-five miles;
Cornelius Nepos makes it only two hundred and fifty. Within such
straits is Asia pent up in this second instance[195] by the agency
of the sea! Claudius Cæsar has informed us that from the Cimmerian
Bosporus to the Caspian Sea is a distance of only one hundred and
fifty[196] miles, and that Nicator Seleucus[197] contemplated cutting
through this isthmus just at the time when he was slain by Ptolemy
Ceraunus. It is a well-known fact that the distance from the Gates of
Caucasus to the shores of the Euxine is two hundred miles.
CHAP. 13. (12.)—THE ISLANDS OF THE EUXINE.
The islands of the Euxine are the Planctæ or Cyaneæ,[198] otherwise
called Symplegades, and Apollonia, surnamed Thynias,[199] to
distinguish it from the island of that name[200] in Europe; it is
four miles in circumference, and one mile distant from the mainland.
Opposite to Pharnacea[201] is Chalceritis, to which the Greeks have
given the name of Aria,[202] and consecrated it to Mars; here, they
say, there were birds that used to attack strangers with blows of their
wings.
CHAP. 14. (13.)—NATIONS IN THE VICINITY OF THE SCYTHIAN OCEAN.
Having now stated all that bears reference to the interior of Asia,
let us cross in imagination the Riphæan[203] Mountains, and traverse
the shores of the ocean to the right. On three sides does this ocean
wash the coasts of Asia, as the Scythian Ocean on the north, the
Eastern Ocean on the east, and the Indian Ocean on the south; and it
is again divided into various names, derived from the numerous gulfs
which it forms, and the nations which dwell upon its shores. A great
part of Asia, however, which lies exposed to the north, through the
noxious effects of those freezing climates, consists of nothing but
vast deserts. From the extreme north north-east to the point[204] where
the sun rises in the summer, it is the country of the Scythians. Still
further than them, and beyond[205] the point where north north-east
begins, some writers have placed the Hyperborei, who are said,
indeed, by the majority to be a people of Europe.[206] After passing
this point,[207] the first place that is known is Lytarmis,[208] a
promontory of Celtica, and next to it the river Carambucis,[209] where
the chain of the Riphæan Mountains terminates, and with it the extreme
rigour of the climate; here, too, we have heard of a certain people
being situate, called the Arimphæi,[210] a race not much unlike the
Hyperborei.[211] Their habitations are the groves, and the berries
their diet; long hair is held to be disgraceful by the women as well
as the men, and they are mild in their manners. Hence it is that they
are reported to be a sacred[212] race, and are never molested even by
the savage tribes which border upon them, and not only they, but such
other persons as well as may have fled to them for refuge. Beyond these
we come straight to the Scythians, the Cimmerii, the Cisianthi, the
Georgi, and a nation of Amazons.[213] These last extend to the Caspian
and Hyrcanian Sea.[214]
CHAP. 15.—THE CASPIAN AND HYRCANIAN SEA.
Bursting through, this sea makes a passage from the Scythian Ocean into
the back of Asia,[215] receiving various names from the nations which
dwell upon its banks, the two most famous of which are the Caspian and
the Hyrcanian races. Clitarchus is of opinion that the Caspian Sea is
not less in area than the Euxine. Eratosthenes gives the measure of
it on the south-east, along the coast of Cadusia[216] and Albania, as
five thousand four hundred stadia; thence, through the territories of
the Anariaci, the Amardi, and the Hyrcani, to the mouth of the river
Zonus he makes four thousand eight hundred stadia, and thence to the
mouth of the Jaxartes[217] two thousand four hundred; which makes in
all a distance of one thousand five hundred and seventy-five miles.
Artemidorus, however, makes this sum smaller by twenty-five miles.
Agrippa bounds the Caspian Sea and the nations around it, including
Armenia, on the east by the Ocean of the Seres,[218] on the west by
the chain of the Caucasus, on the south by that of Taurus, and on the
north by the Scythian Ocean; and he states it, so far as its extent is
known, to be four hundred and eighty miles in length, and two hundred
and ninety in breadth. There are not wanting, however, some authors
who state that its whole circumference, from the Straits,[219] is two
thousand five hundred miles.
Its waters make their way into this sea by a very narrow mouth,[220]
but of considerable length; and where it begins to enlarge, it curves
obliquely with horns in the form of a crescent, just as though it would
make a descent from its mouth into Lake Mæotis, resembling a sickle
in shape, as M. Varro says. The first[221] of its gulfs is called the
Scythian Gulf; it is inhabited on both sides, by the Scythians, who
hold communication with each other across the Straits,[222] the Nomades
being on one side, together with the Sauromatæ, divided into tribes
with numerous names, and on the other, the Abzoæ, who are also divided
into an equal number. At the entrance, on the right hand side,[223]
dwell the Udini, a Scythian tribe, at the very angle of the mouth. Then
along[224] the coast there are the Albani, the descendants of Jason,
it is said; that part of the sea which lies in front of them, bears
the name of ‘Albanian.’ This nation, which lies along the Caucasian
chain, comes down, as we have previously stated,[225] as far as the
river Cyrus, which forms the boundary of Armenia and Iberia. Above the
maritime coast of Albania and the nation of the Udini, the Sarmatæ, the
Utidorsi, and the Aroteres stretch along its shores, and in their rear
the Sauromatian Amazons, already spoken of.[226]
The rivers which run through Albania in their course to the sea are the
Casius[227] and the Albanus,[228] and then the Cambyses,[229] which
rises in the Caucasian mountains, and next to it the Cyrus, rising in
those of the Coraxici, as already mentioned.[230] Agrippa states that
the whole of this coast, inaccessible from rocks of an immense height,
is four hundred and twenty-five miles in length, beginning from the
river Casius. After we pass the mouth of the Cyrus, it begins to be
called the ‘Caspian Sea;’ the Caspii being a people who dwell upon its
shores.
In this place it may be as well to correct an error into which many
persons have fallen, and even those who lately took part with Corbulo
in the Armenian war. The Gates of Iberia, which we have mentioned[231]
as the Caucasian, they have spoken of as being called the ‘Caspian,’
and the coloured plans which have been sent from those parts to Rome
have that name written upon them. The menaced expedition, too, that was
contemplated by the Emperor Nero, was said to be designed to extend as
far as the Caspian Gates, whereas it was really intended for those
which lead through Iberia into the territory of the Sarmatæ; there
being hardly any possibility of approach to the Caspian Sea, by reason
of the close juxtaposition of the mountains there. There are, however,
other Caspian Gates, which join up to the Caspian tribes; but these can
only be distinguished from a perusal of the narrative of those who took
part in the expedition of Alexander the Great.
CHAP. 16.—ADIABENE.
The kingdom of the Persians, by which we now understand that of
Parthia, is elevated upon the Caucasian chain between two seas, the
Persian and the Hyrcanian. To the Greater Armenia, which in the front
slopes towards Commagene, is joined Sophene, which lies upon the
descent[232] on both sides thereof, and next to it is Adiabene, the
most advanced frontier of Assyria; a part of which is Arbelitis,[233]
where Alexander conquered Darius, and which joins up to Syria. The
whole of this country was called Mygdonia by the Macedonians, on
account of the resemblance it bore to Mygdonia[234] in Europe. Its
cities are Alexandria,[235] and Antiochia, also called Nisibis;[236]
this last place is distant from Artaxata seven hundred and fifty miles.
There was also in former times Ninus,[237] a most renowned city, on the
banks of the Tigris, with an aspect towards the west. Adjoining the
other front of Greater Armenia, which runs down towards the Caspian
Sea, we find Atropatene,[238] which is separated from Otene, a region
of Armenia, by the river Araxes; Gazæ[239] is its chief city, distant
from Artaxata four hundred and fifty miles, and the same from Ecbatana
in Media, to which country Atropatene belongs.
CHAP. 17. (14.)—MEDIA AND THE CASPIAN GATES.
Ecbatana,[240] the capital of Media, was built[241] by king Seleucus,
at a distance from Great Seleucia of seven hundred and fifty miles, and
twenty miles from the Caspian Gates. The remaining towns of the Medians
are Phazaca, Aganzaga, and Apamea,[242] surnamed Rhagiane. The reason
of these passes receiving the name of “Gates,” is the same that has
been stated above.[243] The chain of mountains is suddenly broken by a
passage of such extreme narrowness that, for a distance of eight miles,
a single chariot can barely find room to move along: the whole of this
pass has been formed by artificial means. Both on the right hand and
the left are overhanging rocks, which look as though they had been
exposed to the action of fire; and there is a tract of country, quite
destitute of water, twenty-eight miles in extent. This narrow pass,
too, is rendered still more difficult by a liquid salt which oozes from
the rocks, and uniting in a single stream, makes its way along the
pass. Besides this, it is frequented by such multitudes of serpents,
that the passage is quite impracticable except in winter.
(15.) Joining up to Adiabene are the people formerly known as the
‘Carduchi,’ now the Cordueni,[244] in front of whom the river Tigris
flows: and next to them are the Pratitæ, entitled the _Par Odon_,[245]
who hold possession of the Caspian Gates.[246] On the other side[247]
of these gates we come to the deserts[248] of Parthia and the mountain
chain of Cithenus; and after that, the most pleasant locality of all
Parthia, Choara[249] by name. Here were two cities of the Parthians,
built in former times for their protection against the people of Media,
Calliope,[250] and Issatis, the last of which stood formerly[251] on a
rock. Hecatompylos,[252] the capital of Parthia, is distant from the
Caspian Gates one hundred and thirty-three miles. In such an effectual
manner is the kingdom of Parthia shut out by these passes. After
leaving these gates we find the nation of the Caspii, extending as
far as the shores of the Caspian, a race which has given its name to
these gates as well as to the sea: on the left there is a mountainous
district. Turning back[253] from this nation to the river Cyrus, the
distance is said to be two hundred and twenty miles; but if we go from
that river as far down as the Caspian Gates, the distance is seven
hundred[254] miles. In the itineraries of Alexander the Great these
gates were made the central or turning point in his expeditions; the
distance from the Caspian Gates to the frontier of India being there
set down as fifteen thousand six hundred and eighty[255] stadia, to the
city of Bactra,[256] commonly called Zariaspa, three thousand seven
hundred, and thence to the river Jaxartes[257] five thousand stadia.
CHAP. 18. (16.)—NATIONS SITUATE AROUND THE HYRCANIAN SEA.
Lying to the east of the Caspii is the region known as Apavortene,[258]
in which there is a place noted for its singular fertility, called
Dareium.[259] We then come to the nations of the Tapyri,[260] the
Anariaci, the Staures, and the Hyrcani, past whose shores and beyond
the river Sideris[261] the Caspian begins to take the name of the
‘Hyrcanian’ Sea: on this side of that stream are also the rivers
Maxeras and Strato; all of them take their rise in the Caucasian chain.
Next comes the district of Margiane,[262] so remarkable for its sunny
climate. It is the only spot in all these regions that produces the
vine, being shut in on every side by verdant and refreshing hills.
This district is fifteen hundred stadia in circumference, but is
rendered remarkably difficult of access by sandy deserts, which extend
a distance of one hundred and twenty miles: it lies opposite to the
country of Parthia, and in it Alexander founded the city of Alexandria.
This place having been destroyed by the barbarians, Antiochus,[263] the
son of Seleucus, rebuilt it on the same site as a Syrian city.[264]
For, seeing that it was watered by the Margus,[265] which passes
through it, and is afterwards divided into a number of streams for the
irrigation of the district of Zothale, he restored it, but preferred
giving it the name of Antiochia.[266] The circumference of this city
is seventy stadia: it was to this place that Orodes conducted such of
the Romans as had survived the defeat of Crassus. From the mountain
heights of this district, along the range of Caucasus, the savage race
of the Mardi, a free people, extends as far as the Bactri.[267] Below
the district inhabited by them, we find the nations of the Orciani,
the Commori, the Berdrigæ, the Harmatotropi,[268] the Citomaræ, the
Comani, the Marucæi, and the Mandruani. The rivers here are the Mandrus
and the Chindrus.[269] Beyond the nations already mentioned, are the
Chorasmii,[270] the Candari,[271] the Attasini, the Paricani, the
Sarangæ, the Marotiani, the Aorsi,[272] the Gaëli, by the Greek writers
called Cadusii,[273] the Matiani, the city of Heraclea,[274] which was
founded by Alexander, but was afterwards destroyed, and rebuilt by
Antiochus, and by him called Achaïs; the Derbices also,[275] through
the middle of whose territory the river Oxus[276] runs, after rising in
Lake Oxus,[277] the Syrmatæ, the Oxydracæ, the Heniochi, the Bateni,
the Saraparæ, and the Bactri, whose chief city is Zariaspe, which
afterwards received the name of Bactra, from the river[278] there.
This last nation lies at the back of Mount Paropanisus,[279] over
against the sources of the river Indus, and is bounded by the river
Ochus.[280] Beyond it are the Sogdiani,[281] the town of Panda, and,
at the very extremity of their territory, Alexandria,[282] founded by
Alexander the Great. At this spot are the altars which were raised by
Hercules and Father Liber, as also by Cyrus, Semiramis, and Alexander;
for the expeditions of all these conquerors stopped short at this
region, bounded as it is by the river Jaxartes, by the Scythians known
as the Silis, and by Alexander and his officers supposed to have been
the Tanais. This river was crossed by Demodamas, a general of kings
Seleucus and Antiochus, and whose account more particularly we have
here followed. He also consecrated certain altars here to Apollo
Didymæus.[283]
CHAP. 19. (17.)—THE NATIONS OF SCYTHIA AND THE COUNTRIES ON THE EASTERN
OCEAN.
Beyond this river are the peoples of Scythia. The Persians have called
them by the general name of Sacæ,[284] which properly belongs to only
the nearest nation of them. The more ancient writers give them the
name of Aramii. The Scythians themselves give the name of “Chorsari”
to the Persians, and they call Mount Caucasus Graucasis, which means
“white with snow.” The multitude of these Scythian nations is quite
innumerable: in their life and habits they much resemble the people of
Parthia. The tribes among them that are better known are the Sacæ, the
Massagetæ,[285] the Dahæ,[286] the Essedones,[287] the Ariacæ,[288]
the Rhymmici, the Pæsici, the Amardi,[289] the Histi, the Edones, the
Camæ, the Camacæ, the Euchatæ,[290] the Cotieri, the Anthusiani, the
Psacæ, the Arimaspi,[291] the Antacati, the Chroasai, and the Œtei;
among them the Napæi[292] are said to have been destroyed by the
Palæi. The rivers in their country that are the best known, are the
Mandragæus and the Carpasus. Indeed upon no subject that I know of
are there greater discrepancies among writers, from the circumstance,
I suppose, of these nations being so extremely numerous, and of such
migratory habits. Alexander the Great has left it stated that the
water of this sea[293] is fresh, and M. Varro informs us, that some of
it, of a similar character, was brought to Pompey, when holding the
chief command in the Mithridatic war in its vicinity; the salt,[294]
no doubt, being overpowered by the volume of water discharged by the
rivers which flow into it. He adds also, that under the direction of
Pompey, it was ascertained that it is seven days’ journey from India to
the river Icarus,[295] in the country of the Bactri, which discharges
itself into the Oxus, and that the merchandize of India being conveyed
from it[296] through the Caspian Sea into the Cyrus, may be brought
by land to Phasis in Pontus, in five days at most. There are numerous
islands throughout the whole of the Caspian sea: the only one that is
well known is that of Tazata.[297]
CHAP. 20.—THE SERES.
After we have passed the Caspian Sea and the Scythian Ocean, our course
takes an easterly direction, such being the turn here taken by the
line of the coast. The first portion[298] of these shores, after we
pass the Scythian Promontory, is totally uninhabitable, owing to the
snow, and the regions adjoining are uncultivated, in consequence of the
savage state of the nations which dwell there. Here are the abodes of
the Scythian Anthropophagi,[299] who feed on human flesh. Hence it is
that all around them consists of vast deserts, inhabited by multitudes
of wild beasts, which are continually lying in wait, ready to fall
upon human beings just as savage as themselves. After leaving these,
we again come to a nation of the Scythians, and then again to desert
tracts tenanted by wild beasts, until we reach a chain of mountains
which runs up to the sea, and bears the name of Tabis.[300] It is
not, however, before we have traversed very nearly one half of the
coast that looks towards the north-east, that we find it occupied by
inhabitants.
The first people that are known of here are the Seres,[301] so famous
for the wool that is found in their forests.[302] After steeping it in
water, they comb off a white down that adheres to the leaves; and then
to the females of our part of the world they give the twofold task[303]
of unravelling their textures, and of weaving the threads afresh. So
manifold is the labour, and so distant are the regions which are thus
ransacked to supply a dress through which our ladies may in public
display[304] their charms. The Seres are of inoffensive manners, but,
bearing a strong resemblance therein to all savage nations, they shun
all intercourse with the rest of mankind, and await the approach[305]
of those who wish to traffic with them. The first river that is known
in their territory is the Psitharas,[306] next to that the Cambari,
and the third the Laros; after which we come to the Promontory of
Chryse,[307] the Gulf of Cynaba, the river Atianos, and the nation of
the Attacori on the gulf of that name, a people protected by their
sunny hills from all noxious blasts, and living in a climate of the
same temperature as that of the Hyperborei. Amometus has written a work
entirely devoted to the history of these people, just as Hecatæus has
done in his treatise on the Hyperborei. After the Attacori, we find
the nations of the Phruri and the Tochari, and, in the interior, the
Casiri, a people of India, who look toward the Scythians, and feed on
human flesh. Here are also numerous wandering Nomad tribes of India.
There are some authors who state that in a north-easterly direction
these nations touch upon the Cicones[308] and the Brysari.
CHAP. 21.—THE NATIONS OF INDIA.
But we come now to nations as to which there is a more general
agreement among writers. Where the chain of Emodus[309] rises, the
nations of India begin, which borders not only on the Eastern sea,
but on the Southern as well, which we have already mentioned[310] as
being called the Indian Ocean. That part which faces the east runs in
a straight line a distance of eighteen hundred and seventy-five miles
until it comes to a bend, at which the Indian Ocean begins. Here it
takes a turn to the south, and continues to run in that direction a
distance of two thousand four hundred and seventy-five miles, according
to Eratosthenes, as far as the river Indus, the boundary of India on
the west.[311] Many authors have represented the entire length of the
Indian coast as being forty days’ and nights’ sail, and as being,
from north to south, two thousand eight hundred and fifty miles.
Agrippa states its length to be three thousand three hundred miles,
and its breadth, two thousand three hundred. Posidonius has given its
measurement as lying from north-east to south-east, placing it opposite
to Gaul, of which country he has given the measurement as lying from
north-west to south-west; making the whole of India to lie due west of
Gaul. Hence, as he has shewn by undoubted proofs, India lying opposite
to Gaul must be refreshed by the blowing of that wind,[312] and derive
its salubrity therefrom.
In this region, the appearance of the heavens is totally changed, and
quite different is the rising of the stars; there are two summers in
the year, and two harvests, while the winter intervenes between them
during the time that the Etesian[313] winds are blowing: during our
winter too, they enjoy light breezes, and their seas are navigable. In
this country there are nations and cities which would be found to be
quite innumerable, if a person should attempt to enumerate them. For
it has been explored not only by the arms of Alexander the Great and
of the kings who succeeded him, by Seleucus and Antiochus, who sailed
round even to the Caspian and Hyrcanian Sea, and by Patrocles,[314]
the admiral of their fleet, but has been treated of by several other
Greek writers who resided at the courts of Indian kings, such, for
instance, as Megasthenes, and by Dionysius, who was sent thither by
Philadelphus, expressly for the purpose: all of whom have enlarged upon
the power and vast resources of these nations. Still, however, there is
no possibility of being rigorously exact, so different are the accounts
given, and often of a nature so incredible. The followers of Alexander
the Great have stated in their writings, that there were no less than
five thousand cities in that portion of India which they vanquished by
force of arms, not one of which was smaller than that of Cos;[315] that
its nations were eight in number, that India forms one-third of the
whole earth, and that its populations are innumerable—a thing which is
certainly far from improbable, seeing that the Indians are nearly the
only race of people who have never migrated from their own territories.
From the time of Father Liber[316] to that of Alexander the Great,
one hundred and fifty-three kings of India are reckoned, extending
over a period of six thousand four hundred and fifty-one years and
three months. The vast extent of their rivers is quite marvellous; it
is stated that on no one day did Alexander the Great sail less than
six hundred stadia[317] on the Indus, and still was unable to reach
its mouth in less than five months and some few days: and yet it is a
well-known fact that this river is not so large as the Ganges.[318]
Seneca, one of our fellow-countrymen, who has written a treatise[319]
upon the subject of India, has given its rivers as sixty-five in
number, and its nations as one hundred and eighteen. The difficulty
too would be quite as great, if we were to attempt to enumerate its
mountains. The chains of Emaüs, of Emodus, of Paropanisus, and of
Caucasus, are all connected, the one with the other; and from their
foot, the country of India runs down in the form of a vast plain,
bearing a very considerable resemblance to that of Egypt.
However, that we may come to a better understanding relative to the
description of these regions, we will follow in the track of Alexander
the Great. Diognetus and Bæton, whose duty it was to ascertain the
distances and length of his expeditions, have written that from the
Caspian Gates to Hecatompylon, the city of the Parthians, the distance
is the number of miles which we have already[320] stated; and that
from thence to Alexandria,[321] of the Arii, which city was founded by
the same king, the distance is five hundred and seventy-five miles;
from thence to Prophthasia,[322] the city of the Drangæ, one hundred
and ninety-nine; from thence to the city of the Arachosii,[323] five
hundred and sixty-five; from thence to Ortospanum,[324] one hundred
and seventy-five; and from thence to the city built by Alexander,[325]
fifty, miles. In some copies, however, the numbers are found
differently stated; and we find this last city even placed at the very
foot of Mount Caucasus! From this place to the river Cophes[326] and
Peucolaitis, a city of India, is two hundred and thirty-seven miles;
from thence to the river Indus and the city of Taxilla[327] sixty; from
thence to the famous river Hydaspes[328] one hundred and twenty; and
from thence to the Hypasis,[329] a river no less famous, two hundred
and ninety miles, and three hundred and ninety paces. This last was
the extreme limit of the expedition of Alexander, though he crossed
the river and dedicated certain altars[330] on the opposite side. The
dispatches written by order of that king fully agree with the distances
above stated.
The remaining distances beyond the above point were ascertained on the
expedition of Seleucus Nicator. They are, to the river Sydrus,[331]
one hundred and sixty-eight miles; to the river Jomanes, the same;
some copies, however, add to this last distance five miles; thence
to the Ganges, one hundred and twelve miles; to Rhodapha, five
hundred and sixty-nine—though, according to some writers, this last
distance is only three hundred and twenty-five miles; to the town
of Calinipaxa,[332] one hundred and sixty-seven, according to some,
two hundred and sixty-five; thence to the confluence of the river
Jomanes[333] and Ganges, six hundred and twenty-five; most writers,
however, add thirteen miles to this last distance; thence to the city
of Palibothra,[334] four hundred and twenty-five—and thence to the
mouth of the Ganges, six hundred and thirty-seven miles and a half.
The nations whom it may be not altogether inopportune to mention,
after passing the Emodian Mountains, a cross range of which is called
“Imaus,” a word which, in the language of the natives, signifies
“snowy,”[335] are the Isari, the Cosyri, the Izi, and, upon the chain
of mountains, the Chisiotosagi, with numerous peoples, which have the
surname of Brachmanæ,[336] among whom are the Maccocalingæ. There are
also the rivers Prinas and Cainas,[337] which last flows into the
Ganges, both of them navigable streams. The nation of the Calingæ[338]
comes nearest to the sea, and above them are the Mandei and the
Malli.[339] In the territory of the last-named people is a mountain
called Mallus: the boundary of this region is the river Ganges.
CHAP. 22. (18.)—THE GANGES.
Some writers have stated that this river, like the Nile, takes its
rise from unknown sources,[340] and, in a similar manner, waters
the neighbouring territory; others, again, say that it rises in the
mountains of Scythia. They state also that nineteen rivers discharge
their waters into it; those among them that are navigable, besides
the rivers already mentioned,[341] are the Condochates,[342] the
Erannoboas,[343] the Cosoagus,[344] and the Sonus. Other writers again
say that it bursts forth at its very source with a loud noise, hurling
itself over rocks and precipices; and that after it has reached the
plains, its waters become more tranquil, and it pauses for a time in
a certain lake, after which it flows gently on. They say also that it
is eight miles in breadth, where it is the very narrowest, and one
hundred stadia where it is but moderately wide, and that it is nowhere
less than twenty paces in depth. The last nation situate on the banks
of the Ganges is that of the Gangarides[345] Calingæ; the city where
their king dwells has the name of Protalis.[346]
(19.) This king has sixty thousand foot-soldiers, one thousand horse,
and seven hundred elephants, always caparisoned ready for battle. The
people of the more civilized nations of India are divided into several
classes.[347] One of these classes till the earth, another attends to
military affairs, others again are occupied in mercantile pursuits,
while the wisest and the most wealthy among them have the management
of the affairs of state—act as judges, and give counsel to the king.
The fifth class,[348] entirely devoting themselves to the pursuit of
wisdom, which in these countries is almost held in the same veneration
as religion, always[349] end their life by a voluntary death upon
the lighted pile. In addition to these, there is a class[350] in a
half-savage state, and doomed to endless labour; by means of their
exertions, all the classes previously mentioned are supported. It is
their duty to hunt[351] the elephant, and to tame him when captured;
for it is by the aid of these animals that they plough; by these
animals they are conveyed from place to place; these in especial they
look upon as constituting their flocks and herds; by their aid they
wage their wars, and fight in defence of their territories. Strength,
age, and size, are the points usually considered in making choice of
these animals.
In the Ganges there is an island of very considerable size, inhabited
by a single nation; it is called Modogalinga.[352] Beyond the Ganges
are situate the Modubæ, the Molindæ, the Uberæ, with a magnificent
city of the same name, the Modresi, the Preti, the Caloæ, the Sasuri,
the Passalæ, the Colobæ, the Orumcolæ, the Abali, and the Thalutæ. The
king of the last-named people has fifty thousand foot-soldiers, four
thousand horse, and four hundred armed elephants. We next come to a
still more powerful nation, the Andaræ,[353] who dwell in numerous
villages, as well as thirty cities fortified with walls and towers.
They furnish for their king one hundred thousand foot, two thousand
horse, and a thousand elephants. The country of the Dardæ[354] is the
most productive of gold, that of the Setæ of silver.
But more famous and more powerful than any nation, not only in these
regions, but throughout almost the whole of India, are the Prasii,
who dwell in a city of vast extent and of remarkable opulence, called
Palibothra;[355] from which circumstance some writers have given to the
people themselves the name of Palibothri, and, indeed, to the whole
tract of country between the Ganges and the Indus. These people keep on
daily pay in their king’s service an army, consisting of six hundred
thousand foot, thirty thousand horse, and nine thousand elephants,
from which we may easily form a conjecture as to the vast extent of
their resources. Behind these people, and lying still more in the
interior, are the Monedes, and the Suari,[356] among whom is a mountain
known as Maleus, upon which the shadow falls to the north in winter,
and to the south in summer, six months alternately. In this district
the Constellation of the Greater Bear[357] is seen at only one period
in the year, and then but for fifteen days, according to what Bæton
states. Megasthenes, however, informs us that the same is the case also
in many other localities of India. The South Pole is by the Indians
called Diamasa.
The river Jomanes runs into the Ganges through the territory of the
Palibothri, between the cities of Methora[358] and Chrysobora.[359]
In the regions which lie to the south[360] of the Ganges, the people
are tinted by the heat of the sun, so much so as to be quite coloured,
but yet not burnt black, like the Æthiopians. The nearer[361] they
approach the Indus, the deeper their colour, a proof of the heat of the
climate. After leaving the nation of the Prasii, we immediately come
to the Indus; in the mountains of the Prasii a race of Pygmies is said
to exist. Artemidorus says that between these two rivers there is a
distance of two thousand one hundred miles.
CHAP. 23. (20.)—THE INDUS.
The Indus, called Sindis by the natives, rises in that branch of the
Caucasian range which bears the name of Paropanisus,[362] and runs in
an easterly direction, receiving in its course the waters of nineteen
rivers. The most famous of these are the Hydaspes,[363] into which four
other rivers have already discharged themselves, the Cantaba,[364]
which receives three other rivers, the Acesinus, and the Hypasis,[365]
which last two are navigable themselves. Still however, so moderate, as
it were, do the waters of this river show themselves in their course,
that it is never more than fifty stadia in width, nor does it ever
exceed fifteen paces in depth. Of two islands, which it forms in its
course, the one, which is known as Prasiane, is of very considerable
size; the other, which is smaller, is called Patale. According to the
accounts given by the most moderate writers, this river is navigable
for a distance of twelve hundred and fifty miles, and after following
the sun’s course to the west, in some degree, discharges itself into
the ocean. I will here give the distances of various places situate on
the coast to the mouth of this river, in a general way, just as I find
them stated, although they none of them tally with each other.
From the mouth of the Ganges to the Promontory of the Calingi and the
town of Dandaguda,[366] is six hundred and twenty-five miles; from
thence to Tropina twelve hundred and twenty-five; from thence to the
promontory of Perimula, where is held the most celebrated mart in all
India, seven hundred and fifty, and from thence to the city of Patala,
in the island just mentioned, six hundred and twenty miles.
The mountain races between the Indus and the Jomanes are the Cesi,[367]
the Cetriboni, who dwell in the woods, and after them the Megallæ,
whose king possesses five hundred elephants, and an army of horse
and foot, the numbers of which are unknown; then the Chrysei, the
Parasangæ, and the Asmagi,[368] whose territory is infested by wild
tigers; these people keep in arms thirty thousand foot, three
hundred elephants, and eight hundred horse. They are bounded by the
river Indus, and encircled by a range of mountains and deserts for a
distance of six hundred and twenty-five miles. Below these deserts
are the Dari and the Suræ, and then deserts again for one hundred and
eighty-seven miles, sands in general encircling these spots just as
islands are surrounded by the sea. Below these deserts, again, are
the Maltecoræ, the Singæ, the Marohæ, the Rarungæ, and the Morontes.
These last peoples, who possess the mountains throughout the whole
range of country as far as the shores of the ocean, are free, and
independent of all kings, and hold numerous cities upon the declivities
of the mountains. After them come the Nareæ,[369] who are bounded by
Capitalia, the most lofty of all the Indian peaks: the inhabitants
who dwell on the other side of it have extensive mines of gold and
silver. After these again are the Oratæ, whose king possesses only
ten elephants, but a large army of foot; next come the Suarataratæ,
who live under the rule of a king as well, but breed no elephants, as
they depend solely on their horse and foot; then the Odonbeores, the
Arabastræ, and the Horacæ, which last inhabit a fine city fortified by
trenches cut in the marshes. It is quite impossible to approach the
city, except by the bridge, as the water in the trenches is full of
crocodiles, an animal most insatiate for human flesh. There is another
city also in their territory, which has been greatly extolled, Automula
by name, situate on the sea-shore, a famous mart, lying at the point
of confluence of five rivers: their king possesses sixteen hundred
elephants, one hundred and fifty thousand foot, and five thousand
horse. The king of the Charmæ is a less opulent potentate; he has
only sixty elephants and some small remains of his former strength.
After these we come to the nation of the Pandæ,[370] the only one
throughout all India which is ruled by women. It is said that Hercules
had but one child of the female sex, for which reason she was his
especial favourite, and he bestowed upon her the principal one of these
kingdoms. The sovereigns who derive their origin from this female,
rule over three hundred towns, and have an army of one hundred and
fifty thousand foot, and five hundred elephants. After passing through
this list of three hundred cities, we come to the Darangæ,[371] the
Posingæ, the Butæ, the Gogaræi, the Umbræ, the Nereæ, the Brancosi, the
Nobundæ, the Cocondæ, the Nesei, the Palatitæ, the Salobriasæ, and the
Olostræ, who reach up to the island of Patala, from the extremity of
whose shores to the Caspian Gates it is a distance of nineteen hundred
and twenty-five miles.
After passing this island, the other side of the Indus is occupied, as
we know by clear and undoubted proofs, by the Athoæ, the Bolingæ, the
Gallitalutæ, the Dimuri, the Megari, the Ardabæ, the Mesæ, and after
them, the Uri and the Silæ; beyond which last there are desert tracts,
extending a distance of two hundred and fifty miles. After passing
these nations, we come to the Organagæ, the Abortæ, the Bassuertæ, and,
after these last, deserts similar to those previously mentioned. We
then come to the peoples of the Sorofages, the Arbæ, the Marogomatræ,
the Umbrittæ, of whom there are twelve nations, each with two cities,
and the Asini, a people who dwell in three cities, their capital
being Bucephala,[372] which was founded around the tomb of the horse
belonging to king Alexander, which bore that name. Above these peoples
there are some mountain tribes, which lie at the foot of Caucasus, the
Soseadæ and the Sondræ, and, after passing the Indus and going down
its stream, the Samarabriæ, the Sambraceni, the Bisambritæ, the Orsi,
the Anixeni, and the Taxilæ, with a famous city,[373] which lies on a
low but level plain, the general name of the district being Amenda:
there are four nations here, the Peucolaitæ,[374] the Arsagalitæ, the
Geretæ, and the Assoï.
The greater part of the geographers, in fact, do not look upon India
as bounded by the river Indus, but add to it the four Satrapies
of the Gedrosi,[375] the Arachotæ,[376] the Arii,[377] and the
Paropanisidæ,[378] the river Cophes[379] thus forming the extreme
boundary of India. All these territories, however, according to other
writers, are reckoned as belonging to the country of the Arii. (21.)
Many writers, too, place in India the city of Nysa,[380] and the
mountain of Merus, sacred to Father Bacchus; in which circumstance[381]
originated the story that he sprang from the thigh of Jupiter. They
also place here the nation of the Astacani, whose country abounds
in the vine, the laurel, the box-tree, and all the fruits which are
produced in Greece. As to those wonderful and almost fabulous stories
which are related about the fertility of the soil, and the various
kinds of fruits and trees, as well as wild beasts, and birds, and other
sorts of animals, they shall be mentioned each in its proper place, in
a future portion of this work. I shall also very shortly have to make
some further mention of the four Satrapies, it being at present my wish
to hasten to a description of the island of Taprobane.
But first there are some other islands of which we must make mention.
Patala,[382] as we have already stated, lies at the mouth of the Indus:
it is of a triangular figure, and is two hundred and twenty miles
in breadth. Beyond the mouth of the Indus are the islands of Chryse
and Argyre,[383] abounding in metals, I believe; but as to what some
persons have stated, that their soil consists of gold and silver, I am
not so willing to give a ready credence to that. After passing these
islands we come to Crocala,[384] twenty miles in breadth, and then,
at twelve miles’ distance from it, Bibraga,[385] abounding in oysters
and other shell-fish. At eight miles’ distance from Bibraga we find
Toralliba, and many others of no note.
CHAP. 24. (22.)—TAPROBANE.
Taprobane,[386] under the name of the “land of the Antichthones,”[387]
was long looked upon as another world: the age and the arms of
Alexander the Great were the first to give satisfactory proof that it
is an island. Onesicritus, the commander of his fleet, has informed
us that the elephants of this island are larger, and better adapted
for warfare than those of India; and from Megasthenes we learn that
it is divided by a river, that the inhabitants have the name of
Palæogoni,[388] and that their country is more productive of gold and
pearls of great size than even India. Eratosthenes has also given the
dimensions of this island, as being seven thousand stadia in length,
and five thousand in breadth: he states also that there are no cities,
but villages to the number of seven hundred.[389] It begins at the
Eastern sea, and lies extended opposite to India, east and west. This
island was in former times supposed to be twenty days’ sail from the
country of the Prasii,[390] but in later times, whereas the navigation
was formerly confined to vessels constructed of papyrus with the tackle
peculiar to the Nile, the distance has been estimated at no more
than seven days’[391] sail, in reference to the speed which can be
attained by vessels of our construction. The sea that lies between the
island and the mainland is full of shallows, not more than six paces
in depth; but in certain channels it is of such extraordinary depth,
that no anchor has ever found a bottom. For this reason it is that the
vessels are constructed with prows at either end; so that there may
be no necessity for tacking while navigating these channels, which
are extremely narrow. The tonnage of these vessels is three thousand
amphoræ.[392] In traversing their seas, the people of Taprobane take
no observations of the stars, and indeed the Greater Bear[393] is not
visible to them; but they carry birds out to sea, which they let go
from time to time, and so follow their course as they make for the
land. They devote only four months in the year to the pursuits of
navigation, and are particularly careful not to trust themselves on
the sea during the next hundred days after our summer solstice, for in
those seas it is at that time the middle of winter.
Thus much we learn from the ancient writers; it has fallen to our lot,
however, to obtain a still more accurate knowledge of these people; for
during the reign of the Emperor Claudius, an embassy came from even
this distant island to Rome. The circumstances under which this took
place were as follow: Annius Plocamus had farmed from the treasury the
revenues arising from the Red Sea. A certain freedman of his, while
sailing around Arabia, was carried away by a gale from the north beyond
the coast of Carmania. In the course of fifteen days he had drifted to
Hippuros, a port of Taprobane, where he was most kindly and hospitably
received by the king; and having, after a study of six months, become
well acquainted with the language, was enabled to answer all his
enquiries relative to the Romans and their emperor. But of all that he
heard, the king was more particularly struck with surprise at our rigid
notions of justice, on ascertaining that among the money found on the
captive, the denarii were all of equal weight, although the different
figures on them plainly showed that they had been struck in the reigns
of several emperors. By this circumstance in especial, the king was
prompted to form an alliance with the Romans, and accordingly sent to
Rome an embassy, consisting of four persons, the chief of whom was
Rachias.[394]
From these persons we learned that in Taprobane there are five hundred
towns, and that there is a harbour that lies facing the south, and
adjoining the city of Palæsimundus,[395] the most famous city in the
isle, the king’s place of residence, and containing a population of
two hundred thousand. They also informed us that in the interior there
is a lake called Megisba, three hundred and seventy-five miles in
circumference, and containing islands which are fertile, though for
pasturage only. In this lake they informed us two rivers take their
rise, one of which, called Palæsimundus, flows into the harbour near
the city of that name, by three channels, the narrowest of which is
five stadia in width, the largest fifteen; while the other, Cydara by
name, takes a direction northward, towards the Indian coast. We learned
also that the nearest point of the Indian coast is a promontory
known as Coliacum,[396] distant from the island four days’ sail, and
that midway between them lies the island of the Sun. They stated also
that those seas are of a deep green tint; besides which, there are
numerous trees growing at the bottom, so much so, that the rudders of
the vessels frequently break off portions of their foliage.[397] They
were much astonished at the constellations which are visible to us,
the Greater Bear and the Pleiades,[398] as though they had now beheld
a new expanse of the heavens; and they declared that in their country
the moon can only be seen above the horizon[399] from the eighth to
its sixteenth day. They also stated that Canopus, a large bright
star, gives light to them by night. But what surprised them more than
anything, was that the shadow of their bodies was thrown towards our
hemisphere[400] and not theirs, and that the sun arose on the left hand
and set on the right, and not in the opposite direction.[401] They
also informed us that the side of their island which lies opposite to
India is ten thousand stadia in length, and runs in a south-easterly
direction—that beyond the Emodian Mountains they look towards[402]
the Seræ, whose acquaintance they had also made in the pursuits of
commerce; that the father of Rachias had frequently visited their
country, and that the Seræ always came to meet them on their arrival.
These people, they said, exceeded the ordinary human height, had
flaxen hair, and blue eyes, and made an uncouth sort of noise by
way of talking, having no language of their own for the purpose of
communicating their thoughts. The rest of their information[403] was of
a similar nature to that communicated by our merchants. It was to the
effect that the merchandize on sale was left by them upon the opposite
bank of a river on their coast, and it was then removed by the natives,
if they thought proper to deal on terms of exchange. On no grounds
ought luxury with greater reason to be detested by us, than if we only
transport our thoughts to these scenes, and then reflect, what are its
demands, to what distant spots it sends in order to satisfy them, and
for how mean and how unworthy an end!
But yet Taprobane even, isolated as it is by nature from the rest of
the world, is not exempt from our vices. Gold and silver are held in
esteem even there. They have a marble which resembles tortoise-shell
in appearance; this, as well as their pearls and precious stones,
is highly valued; all our luxuries in fact, those even of the most
exquisite nature, are there carried to the very highest pitch. They
asserted that their wealth is much greater than ours, but admitted that
we know better than they how to obtain real enjoyment from opulence.
In this island no slavery exists; they do not prolong their sleep to
day-break, nor indeed during any part of the day; their buildings are
only of a moderate height from the ground; the price of corn is always
the same; they have no courts of law and no litigation. Hercules is the
deity whom they worship; and their king is chosen by the people, an
aged man always, distinguished for his mild and clement disposition,
and without children. If after he has been elected king, he happens to
become the father of children, his abdication is the consequence; this
is done that there may be no danger of the sovereign power becoming
hereditary. Thirty advisers are provided for him by the people, and it
is only by the advice of the majority of them that any man is condemned
to capital punishment. Even then, the person so condemned has a right
of appealing to the people, in which case a jury consisting of seventy
persons is appointed. Should these acquit the accused, the thirty
counsellors are no longer held in any estimation, but are visited with
the greatest disgrace. The king wears the costume of Father Liber,[404]
while the rest of the people dress like the natives of Arabia. The
king, if he is found guilty of any offence, is condemned to death;
but no one slays him; all turn their backs upon him, and refuse to
hold any communication or even discourse with him. Their festivals
are celebrated[405] with the chase, the most valued sports being the
pursuit of the tiger and the elephant. The lands are carefully tilled;
the vine is not cultivated there, but of other fruits there is great
abundance. They take great delight in fishing, and especially in
catching turtles; beneath the shells[406] of which whole families find
an abode, of such vast size are they to be found. These people look
upon a hundred years as a comparatively short life. Thus much have we
learned respecting Taprobane.
CHAP. 25.—THE ARIANI AND THE ADJOINING NATIONS.
We will now proceed to give some further particulars relative to the
four Satrapies, of which we have postponed further mention[407] till
the present occasion.
(23). After passing the nations in the vicinity of the Indus, we
come to the mountain districts. The territory of Capisene formerly
had a city, called Capisa,[408] which was destroyed by Cyrus.
Arachosia[409] has a river and a city of the same name; the city
was built by Semiramis; by some writers it is called Cophen. The
river Erymanthus[410] flows past Parabeste,[411] which belongs to
the Arachosii. Writers make the Dexendrusi come next, forming the
boundary of the Arachotæ on the southern side, and of the Paropanisadæ
on the north. The city of Cartana[412] lies at the foot of Caucasus;
in later times it has been called Tetragonis.[413] This region lies
over against that of the Bactri, who come next, and whose chief city
is Alexandria,[414] so called from the name of its founder. We then
come to the Syndraci,[415] the Dangalæ,[416] the Parapinæ,[417]
the Catuces, and the Mazi: and then at the foot of Caucasus, to the
Cadrusi, whose town[418] was built by Alexander.
Below all these countries, is the line of coast which we come to
after leaving the Indus. Ariana[419] is a region parched by the
sun and surrounded by deserts; still, however, as the face of the
country is every here and there diversified with well-shaded spots,
it finds communities grouped together to cultivate it, and more
especially around the two rivers, known as the Tonberos[420] and the
Arosapes.[421] There is also the town of Artacoana,[422] and the
river Arius,[423] which flows past Alexandria,[424] a city founded by
Alexander; this place is thirty stadia in extent. Much more beautiful
than it, as well as of much greater antiquity, is Artacabane,[425]
fortified a second time by Antiochus, and fifty stadia in breadth.
We then come to the nation of the Dorisdorsigi, and the rivers
Pharnaracotis,[426] and Ophradus; and then to Prophthasia,[427] a city
of the Zaraspades, the Drangæ,[428] the Evergetæ,[429] the Zarangæ,
and the Gedrusi;[430] the towns of Pucolis, Lyphorta, the desert of
the Methorgi,[431] the river Manais,[432] the nation of the Acutri,
the river Eorum, the nation of the Orbi, the Pomanus, a navigable
river in the territories of the Pandares, the Apirus in the country of
the Suari, with a good harbour at its mouth, the city of Condigramma,
and the river Cophes;[433] into which last flow the navigable streams
of the Saddaros,[434] the Parospus, and the Sodanus. Some writers
will also have it that Daritis[435] forms part of Ariana, and give
the length of them both as nineteen hundred and fifty miles, and the
breadth one half of that[436] of India. Others again have spread the
Gedrusi and the Pasires over an extent of one hundred and thirty-eight
miles, and place next to them the Ichthyophagi Oritæ,[437] a people who
speak a language peculiar to themselves, and not the Indian dialect,
extending over a space of two hundred miles. Alexander forbade the
whole of the Ichthyophagi[438] to live any longer on fish. Next after
these the writers have placed extensive deserts, and then Carmania,
Persia, and Arabia.
CHAP. 26.—VOYAGES TO INDIA.
But before we enter into any details respecting these countries, it
will be as well to mention what Onesicritus[439] has stated, who
commanded the fleet of Alexander, and sailed from India[440] into the
heart of Persia, and what has been more recently related by Juba;
after which I shall speak of the route along these seas which has been
discovered in later years and is followed at the present day. The
journal of the voyage of Onesicritus and Nearchus has neither the names
of the stations, nor yet the distances set down in it; and, first of
all, it is not sufficiently explained where Xylenepolis was, and near
what river, a place founded by Alexander, and from which, upon setting
out, they took their departure. Still, however, the following places
are mentioned by them, which are worthy of our notice. The town of
Arbis, founded by Nearchus on the occasion of this voyage; the river
Nabrus,[441] navigable for vessels, and opposite to it an island, at
a distance of seventy stadia; Alexandria, built by Leonnatus[442] by
order of Alexander in the territories of this people; Argenus, with a
very convenient harbour; the river Tonberos,[443] a navigable stream,
around whose banks are the Pasiræ; then come the Ichthyophagi, who
extend over so large a tract of coast that it took thirty days[444]
to sail past their territory; and an island known by the names of the
“Island of the Sun”[445] and the “Bed of the Nymphs,” the earth of
which is red, and in which every animal instantly dies; the cause of
which, however, has not been ascertained.[446] Next to these is the
nation of the Ori, and then the Hyctanis,[447] a river of Carmania,
with an excellent harbour at its mouth, and producing gold; at this
spot the writers state that for the first time they caught sight of the
Great Bear.[448] The star Arcturus too, they tell us, was not to be
seen here every night, and never, when it was seen, during the whole of
it. Up to this spot extended the empire of the Achæmenidæ,[449] and in
these districts are to be found mines of copper, iron, arsenic, and red
lead.
They next came to the Promontory of Carmania,[450] from which the
distance across to the opposite coast, where the Macæ, a nation of
Arabia, dwell, is fifty miles; and then to three islands, of which that
of Oracla[451] is alone inhabited, being the only one supplied with
fresh water; it is distant from the mainland twenty-five miles; quite
in the Gulf, and facing Persia, there are four other islands. About
these islands sea-serpents[452] were seen swimming towards them, twenty
cubits in length, which struck the fleet with great alarm. They then
came to the island of Athothradus, and those called the Gauratæ, upon
which dwells the nation of the Gyani; the river Hyperis,[453] which
discharges itself midway into the Persian Gulf, and is navigable for
merchant ships; the river Sitiogagus, from which to Pasargadæ[454] is
seven days’ sail; a navigable river known as the Phristimus, and an
island without a name; and then the river Granis,[455] navigable for
vessels of small burden, and flowing through Susiane; the Deximontani,
a people who manufacture bitumen, dwell on its right bank. The river
Zarotis comes next, difficult of entrance at its mouth, except by those
who are well acquainted with it; and then two small islands; after
which the fleet sailed through shallows which looked very much like a
marsh, but were rendered navigable by certain channels which had been
cut there. They then arrived at the mouth of the Euphrates, and from
thence passed into a lake which is formed by the rivers Eulæus[456] and
Tigris, in the vicinity of Charax,[457] after which they arrived at
Susa,[458] on the river Tigris. Here, after a voyage of three months,
they found Alexander celebrating a festival, seven months after he had
left them at Patale.[459] Such was the voyage performed by the fleet of
Alexander.
In later times it has been considered a well-ascertained fact that the
voyage from Syagrus,[460] the Promontory of Arabia, to Patale, reckoned
at thirteen hundred and thirty-five miles, can be performed most
advantageously with the aid of a westerly wind, which is there known
by the name of Hippalus.
The age that followed pointed out a shorter route, and a safer one, to
those who might happen to sail from the same promontory for Sigerus, a
port of India; and for a long time this route was followed, until at
last a still shorter cut was discovered by a merchant, and the thirst
for gain brought India even still nearer to us. At the present day
voyages are made to India every year: and companies of archers are
carried on board the vessels, as those seas are greatly infested with
pirates.