BOOK III. AN ACCOUNT OF COUNTRIES, NATIONS, SEAS, TOWNS, HAVENS, MOUNTAINS, RIVERS, DISTANCES, AND PEOPLES WHO NOW EXIST OR FORMERLY EXISTED.
INTRODUCTION.
Thus far have I treated of the position and the wonders of
the earth, of the waters, the stars, and the proportion of
the universe and its dimensions. I shall now proceed to
describe its individual parts; although indeed we may with
reason look upon the task as of an infinite nature, and one
not to be rashly commenced upon without incurring censure.
And yet, on the other hand, there is nothing which ought less
to require an apology, if it is only considered how far from
surprising it is that a mere mortal cannot be acquainted
with everything. I shall therefore not follow any single
author, but shall employ, in relation to each subject, such
writers as I shall look upon as most worthy of credit. For,
indeed, it is the characteristic of nearly all of them, that
they display the greatest care and accuracy in the description of the countries in which they respectively flourished;
so that by doing this, I shall neither have to blame nor contradict any one.
The names of the different places will here be simply
given, and as briefly as possible; the account of their celebrity, and the events which have given rise thereto, being
deferred to a more appropriate occasion; for it must be
remembered that I am here speaking of the earth as a whole,
and I wish to be understood as using the names without any
reference whatever to their celebrity, and as though the
places themselves were in their infancy, and had not as yet
acquired any fame through great events. The name is men-
tioned, it is true, but only as forming a part of the world
and the system of the universe.
The whole globe is divided into three parts, Europe, Asia,
and Africa. Our description commences where the sun sets
and at the Straits of Gades
1, where the Atlantic ocean, bursting
in, is poured forth into the inland seas. As it makes its
entrance from that side, Africa is on the right hand and
Europe on the left; Asia lies between them
2; the boundaries
being the rivers Tanais
3 and Nile. The Straits of the ocean,
of which I have just spoken, extend fifteen miles in length and
five
4 in breadth, measured from the village of Mellaria
5 in
Spain to the Album Promontorium
6 or White Promontory in
Africa, as we learn from Turranius Gracilis, who was born in
that vicinity. Titus Livius and Cornelius Nepos however
have stated the breadth, where it is least, to be seven miles,
and where greatest, ten; from so small a mouth as this does
so immense an expanse of water open upon us! Nor is our
astonishment diminished by the fact of its being of great
depth; for, instead of that, there are numerous breakers and
shoals, white with foam, to strike the mariner with alarm.
From this circumstance it is, that many have called this spot
the threshold of The Inland Sea.
At the narrowest part of the Straits, there are mountains
placed to form barriers to the entrance on either side,
Abyla
7 in Africa, and Calpe
8 in Europe, the boundaries
formerly of the labours of Hercules
9. Hence it is that the
inhabitants have called them the Columns of that god; they
also believe that they were dug through by him; upon which
the sea, which was before excluded, gained admission, and
so changed the face of nature.
CHAP. 1. (1.)—THE BOUNDARIES AND GULFS OF EUROPE FIRST SET FORTH IN A GENERAL WAY.
I shall first then speak of Europe, the foster-mother of that
people which has conquered all other nations, and itself by
far the most beauteous portion of the earth. Indeed, many
persons have, not without reason
10, considered it, not as a
third part only of the earth, but as equal to all the rest,
looking upon the whole of our globe as divided into two
parts only, by a line drawn from the river Tanais to the
Straits of Gades. The ocean, after pouring the waters of the
Atlantic through the inlet which I have here described, and,
in its eager progress, overwhelming all the lands which have
had to dread its approach, skirts with its winding course the
shores of those parts which offer a more effectual resistance,
hollowing out the coast of Europe especially into numerous
bays, among which there are four Gulfs that are more particularly remarkable. The first of these begins at Calpe, which
I have previously mentioned, the most distant mountain of
Spain; and bends, describing an immense curve, as far as
Locri and the Promontory of Bruttium
11.
CHAP. 2.—OF SPAIN GENERALLY.
The first land situate upon this Gulf is that which is called
the Farther Spain or Bætica
12; next to which, beginning at
the frontier town of Urgi
13, is the Nearer, or Tarraconensian
14
Spain, extending as far as the chain of the Pyrenees. The
Farther Spain is divided lengthwise into two provinces,
Lusitania
15 and Bætica, the former stretching along the
northern side of the latter, and being divided from it by the
river Ana
16.
The source of this river is in the district of Laminium
17, in
the Nearer Spain. It first spreads out into a number of
small lakes, and then again contracts itself into a narrow
channel, or entirely disappears under ground
18, and after
frequently disappearing and again coming to light, finally dis-
charges itself into the Atlantic Ocean. Tarraconensian Spain
lies on one side, contiguous to the Pyrenees, running down-
wards along the sides of that chain, and, stretching across from
the Iberian Sea to the Gallic ocean
19, is separated from Bætica
and Lusitania by Mount Solorius
20, the chains of the Oretani
21
and the Carpetani
22, and that of the Astures
23.
CHAP. 3.—OF BÆTICA.
Bætica, so called from the river which divides it in the
middle, excels all the other provinces in the richness of its
cultivation and the peculiar fertility and beauty of its vegetation.
It consists of four jurisdictions, those of Gades
24, of Corduba
25, of Astigi
26, and of Hispali
27. The total number of
its towns is 175; of these nine are colonies
28, and eight muni-
cipal towns
29; twenty-nine have been long since presented with
the old Latin rights
30; six are free towns
31, three federate
32,
and 120 tributary.
In this district, the things that more especially deserve notice, or are more easily explained in the Latin tongue, are the
following, beginning at the river Ana, along the line of the seashore; the town of Onoba, surnamed Æstuaria
33; the rivers
Luxia and Urium
34, flowing through this territory between
the Ana and the Bætis; the Marian
35 Mountains; the river
Bætis; the coast of Corum
36, with its winding bay; opposite
to which is Gades, of which we shall have occasion to speak
among the islands
37. Next comes the Promontory of Juno
38,
and the port of Bæsippo
39; the towns of Bœlo
40 and Mellaria
41,
at which latter begin the Straits of the Atlantic; Carteia
42,
called by the Greeks Tartessos
43; and the mountain of Calpe.
Along the coast of the inland sea
44 is the town of Barbesula
45
with its river; also Salduba
46; the town of Suel
47; and then
Malaca
48, with its river, one of the federate towns. Next to this
comes Mænoba
49, with its river; then Sexifirmum
50, surnamed
Julium; Selambina
51; Abdera
52; and Murci
53, which is at the
boundary of Bætica. M. Agrippa supposed that all this
coast was peopled by colonists of Punic origin. Beyond the
Anas, and facing the Atlantic, is the country of the Bastuli
54
and the Turditani. M. Varro informs us, that the Iberians,
the Persians, the Phœnicians, the Celts, and the Carthaginians spread themselves over the whole of Spain; that the
name "Lusitania" is derived from the games (
lusus) of
Father Bacchus, or the fury (
lyssa55) of his frantic attendants,
and that Pan
56 was the governor of the whole of it. But the
traditions respecting Hercules
57 and Pyrene, as well as Saturn,
I conceive to be fabulous in the highest degree.
The Bætis does not rise, as some writers have asserted,
near the town of Mentisa
58, in the province of Tarraco, but
in the Tugiensian Forest
59; and near it rises the river Tader
60,
which waters the territory of Carthage
61. At Ilorcum
62 it
turns away from the Funeral Pile
63 of Scipio; then taking a
sweep to the left, it falls into the Atlantic Ocean, giving its
name to this province: at its source it is but small, though
during its course it receives many other streams, which it deprives as well of their waters as their renown. It first enters
Bætica in Ossigita-nia
64, and glides gently, with a smooth
current, past many towns situate on either side of its banks.
Between this river and the sea-shore the most celebrated
places inland are Segida
65, also surnamed Augurina; Julia
66,
called Fidentia; Urgao
67 or Alba, Ebora
68 or Cerealis, Iliberri
69 or Liberini, Ilipula
70 or Laus, Artigi
71 or Julienses,
Vesci
72 or Faventia, Singili
73, Attegua
74, Arialdunum, Agla
Minor
75, Bæbro
76, Castra Vinaria
77, Cisimbrium
78, Hippo
Nova or New Hippo
79, Ilurco
80, Osca
81, Escua
82, Sucubo
83, Nuditanum, Old Tuati
84; all which towns are in that part of Bastitania which extends towards the sea, but in the jurisdiction
85 of
Corduba. In the neighbourhood of the river itself is Ossigi
86,
also surnamed Laconicum, Iliturgi
87 or Forum Julium, Ipasturgi
88 or Triumphale, Setia, and, fourteen miles inland,
Obulco
89, which is also called Pontificense.
Next to these comes Epora
90, a federate town, Sacili
91
Martialium, and Onoba
92. On the right bank is Corduba,
a Roman colony, surnamed Patricia
93; here the Bætis first
becomes navigable. There are also the towns of Carbula
and Detunda
94, and the river Singulis
95, which falls into the
Bætis on the same side.
The towns in the jurisdiction of Hispalis are the following:
Celti, Arua
96, Canama
97, Evia, Ilipa
98, surnamed Illa, and Italica
99. On the left of the river is the colony of Hispalis
100 named
Romuliensis, and, on the opposite side
101, the town of Osset
102,
surnamed Julia Constantia, Vergentum, or Juli Genius
103,
Orippo, Caura
104, Siarum, and the river Menoba
105, which
enters the Bætis on its right bank. Between the æstuaries
of the Bætis lie the towns of Nebrissa
106, surnamed Veneria,
and of Colobona
107. The colonies are, Asta
108, which is also
called Regia, and, more inland, that of Asido
109, surnamed
Cæsariana.
The river Singulis, discharging itself into the Bætis at the
place already mentioned, washes the colony of Astigi
110, sur-
named Augusta Firma, at which place it becomes navigable.
The other colonies in this jurisdiction which are exempt from
tribute are Tucci, surnamed Augusta Gemella
111, Itucci called
Virtus Julia
112, Attubi or Claritas Julia
113, Urso
114 or Genua Urbanorum; and among them in former times Munda
115, which was
taken with the son of Pompey. The free towns are Old Astigi
116 and Ostippo
117; the tributary towns are Callet, Callecula,
Castra Gemina, the Lesser Ilipula, Merucra, Sacrana, Obulcula
118, and Oningis. As you move away from the sea-coast,
near where the river Menoba is navigable, you find, at no
great distance, the Alontigiceli and the Alostigi
119.
The country which extends from the Bætis to the river
Anas, beyond the districts already described, is called Bæturia, and is divided into two parts and the same number of
nations; the Celtici
120, who border upon Lusitania, in the ju-
risdiction of Hispalis, and the Turduli, who dwell on the
verge
121 of Lusitania and Tarraconensis, and are under the
protection of the laws of Corduba. It is evident that the
Celtici have sprung from the Celtiberi, and have come from
Lusitania, from their religious rites, their language, and the
names of their towns, which in Bætica are distinguished by
the following epithets
122, which have been given to them.
Seria has received the surname of Fama Julia
123, Nertobriga that of Concordia Julia
124, Segida that of Restituta
Julia
125, and Contributa
126 that of Julia. What is now Curiga
was formerly Ucultuniacum, Constantia Julia
127 was Laconimurgis, the present Fortunales were the Tereses
128, and the
Emanici were the Callenses
129. Besides these, there are in
Celtica the towns of Acinippo
130, Arunda
131, Aruci
132, Turobriga, Lastigi, Salpesa, Sæpone, and Serippo.
The other Bæturia, which we have mentioned, is inhabited
by the Turduli, and, in the jurisdiction of Corduba, has some
towns which are by no means inconsiderable; Arsa
133,
Mellaria
134, Mirobriga
135, and Sisapo
136, in the district of
Osintias.
To the jurisdiction of Gades belongs Regina, with Roman
citizens; and Læpia, Ulia
137, Carisa
138 surnamed Aurelia, Urgia
139
or Castrum Julium, likewise called Cæsaris Salutariensis,
all of which enjoy the Latian rights. The tributary towns
are Besaro, Belippo
140, Barbesula, Lacippo, Bæsippo, Callet,
Cappacum, Oleastro, Ituci, Brana, Lacibi, Saguntia
141, and
Audorisæ.
M. Agrippa has also stated the whole length of this province to be 475 miles
142, and its breadth 257; but this was at
a time when its boundaries extended to Carthage
143, a circumstance which has often caused great errors in calculations;
which are generally the result either of changes effected in the
limits of provinces, or of the fact that in the reckoning of distances the length of the miles has been arbitrarily increased or
diminished. In some parts too the sea has been long making
encroachments upon the land, and in others again the shores
have advanced; while the course of rivers in this place has
become more serpentine, in that more direct. And then,
besides, some writers begin their measurements at one place,
and some at another, and so proceed in different directions;
and hence the result is, that no two accounts agree.
(2.) At the present day the length of Bætica, from the
town of Castulo
144, on its frontier, to Gades is 250 miles, and
from Murci, which lies on the sea-coast, twenty-five miles
more. The breadth, measured from the coast of Carteia, is
234 miles. Who is there that can entertain the belief that
Agrippa, a man of such extraordinary diligence, and one who
bestowed so much care on his subject, when he proposed to
place before the eyes of the world a survey of that world, could
be guilty of such a mistake as this, and that too when seconded
by the late emperor the divine Augustus ? For it was that
emperor who completed the Portico
145 which had been begun
by his sister, and in which the survey was to be kept, in conformity with the plan and descriptions of M. Agrippa.
CHAP. 4. (3.)—OF NEARER SPAIN.
The ancient form of the Nearer Spain, like that of many
other provinces, is somewhat changed, since the time when
Pompey the Great, upon the trophies which he erected in
the Pyrenees, testified that 877 towns, from the Alps to the
borders of the Farther Spain, had been reduced to subjection
by him. The whole province is now divided into seven jurisdictions, those of Carthage
146, of Tarraco, of Cæsar Augusta
147, of
Clunia
148, of Asturica
149, of Lucus
150, and of the Bracari
151. To these
are to be added the islands, which will be described on
another occasion, as also 293 states which are dependent on
others; besides which the province contains 179 towns. Of
these, twelve are colonies, thirteen, towns with the rights of
Roman citizens, eighteen with the old Latian rights, one
confederate, and 135 tributary.
The first people that we come to on the coast are the
Bastuli; after whom, proceeding according to the order which
I shall follow, as we go inland, there are the Mentesani, the
Oretani, and the Carpetani on the Tagus, and next to
them the Vaccæi, the Vectones, and the Celtiberian Arevaci.
The towns nearest to the coast are Urci, and Barea
152 included
in Bætica, the district of Mavitania, next to it Deitania, and
then Contestania, and the colony of Carthago Nova; from
the Promontory of which, known as the Promontorium Saturni
153, to the city of Cæsarea
154 in Mauritania, the passage is
a distance of 187 miles. The remaining objects worthy of
mention on the coast are the river Tader
155, and the free colony
of Ilici
156, whence the Ilicitanian Gulf
157 derives its name; to
this colony the Icositani are subordinate.
We next have Lucentum
158, holding Latian rights; Dianium
159,
a tributary town; the river Sucro
160, and in former times a
town of the same name, forming the frontier of Contestania.
Next is the district of Edetania, with the delightful expanse
of a lake
161 before it, and extending backward to Celtiberia.
Valentia
162, a colony, is situate three miles from the sea, after
which comes the river Turium
BOOK VII.
MAN, HIS BIRTH, HIS ORGANIZATION, AND THE INVENTION OF THE ARTS.
