Delphi Complete Works of Pliny the Elder

by Pliny the Elder

  Leaving these however, we come to the nation of the Ingævones, the first in Germany; at which we begin to have some information upon which more implicit reliance can be placed. In their country is an immense mountain called Sevo, not less than those of the Riphæan range, and which forms an immense gulf along the shore as far as the Promontory of the Cimbri. This gulf, which has the name of the ‘Codanian,’ is filled with islands; the most famous among which is Scandinavia, of a magnitude as yet unascertained: the only portion of it at all known is inhabited by the nation of the Hilleviones, who dwell in 500 villages, and call it a second world: it is generally supposed that the island of Eningia is of not less magnitude. Some writers state that these regions, as far as the river Vistula, are inhabited by the Sarmati, the Venedi, the Sciri, and the Hirri, and that there is a gulf there known by the name of Cylipenus, at the mouth of which is the island of Latris, after which comes another gulf, that of Lagnus, which borders on the Cimbri. The Cimbrian Promontory, running out into the sea for a great distance, forms a peninsula which bears the name of Cartris. Passing this coast, there are three and twenty islands which have been made known by the Roman arms: the most famous of which is Burcana, called by our people Fabaria, from the resemblance borne by a fruit which grows there spontaneously. There are those also called Glæsaria by our soldiers, from their amber; but by the barbarians they are known as Austeravia and Actania.

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  CHAP. 28.

  GERMANY.

  The whole of the shores of this sea as far as the Scaldis, a river of Germany, is inhabited by nations, the dimensions of whose respective territories it is quite impossible to state, so immensely do the authors differ who have touched upon this subject. The Greek writers and some of our own countrymen have stated the coast of Germany to be 2500 miles in extent, while Agrippa, comprising Rhætia and Noricum in his estimate, makes the length to be 686 miles, and the breadth 148. (14.) The breadth of Rhætia alone however very nearly exceeds that number of miles, and indeed we ought to state that it was only subjugated at about the period of the death of that general; while as for Germany, the whole of it was not thoroughly known to us for many years after his time. If I may be allowed to form a conjecture, the margin of the coast will be found to be not far short of the estimate of the Greek writers, while the distance in a straight line will nearly correspond with that mentioned by Agrippa.

  There are five German races; the Vandili, parts of whom are the Burgundiones, the Varini, the Carini, and the Gutones: the Ingævones, forming a second race, a portion of whom are the Cimbri, the Teutoni, and the tribes of the Chauci. The Istævones, who join up to the Rhine, and to whom the Cimbri belong, are the third race; while the Hermiones, forming a fourth, dwell in the interior, and include the Suevi, the Hermunduri, the Chatti, and the Cherusci: the fifth race is that of the Peucini, who are also the Basternæ, adjoining the Daci previously mentioned. The more famous rivers that flow into the ocean are the Guttalus, the Vistillus or Vistula, the Albis, the Visurgis, the Amisius, the Rhine, and the Mosa. In the interior is the long extent of the Hercynian range, which in grandeur is inferior to none.

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  CHAP. 29. (15.)

  NINETY-SIX ISLANDS OF THE GALLIC OCEAN.

  In the Rhine itself, nearly 100 miles in length, is the most famous island of the Batavi and the Canninefates, as also other islands of the Frisii, the Chauci, the Frisiabones, the Sturii, and the Marsacii, which lie between Helium and Flevum. These are the names of the mouths into which the Rhine divides itself, discharging its waters on the north into the lakes there, and on the west into the river Mosa. At the middle mouth which lies between these two, the river, having but a very small channel, preserves its own name.

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  CHAP. 30. (16.)

  BRITANNIA.

  Opposite to this coast is the island called Britannia, so celebrated in the records of Greece and of our own country. It is situate to the north-west, and, with a large tract of intervening sea, lies opposite to Germany, Gaul, and Spain, by far the greater part of Europe. Its former name was Albion; but at a later period, all the islands, of which we shall just now briefly make mention, were included under the name of “Britanniæ.” This island is distant from Gesoriacum, on the coast of the nation of the Morini, at the spot where the passage across is the shortest, fifty miles. Pytheas and Isidorus say that its circumference is 4875 miles. It is barely thirty years since any extensive knowledge of it was gained by the successes of the Roman arms, and even as yet they have not penetrated beyond the vicinity of the Caledonian forest. Agrippa believes its length to be 800 miles, and its breadth 300; he also thinks that the breadth of Hibernia is the same, but that its length is less by 200 miles. This last island is situate beyond Britannia, the passage across being the shortest from the territory of the Silures, a distance of thirty miles. Of the remaining islands none is said to have a greater circumference than 125 miles. Among these there are the Orcades, forty in number, and situate within a short distance of each other, the seven islands called Acmodæ, the Hæbudes, thirty in number, and, between Hibernia and Britannia, the islands of Mona, Monapia, Ricina, Vectis, Limnus, and Andros. Below it are the islands called Samnis and Axantos, and opposite, scattered in the German Sea, are those known as the Glæsariæ, but which the Greeks have more recently called the Electrides, from the circumstance of their producing electrum or amber. The most remote of all that we find mentioned is Thule, in which, as we have previously stated, there is no night at the summer solstice, when the sun is passing through the sign of Cancer, while on the other hand at the winter solstice there is no day. Some writers are of opinion that this state of things lasts for six whole months together. Timæus the historian says that an island called Mictis is within six days’ sail of Britannia, in which white load is found; and that the Britons sail over to it in boats of osier, covered with sewed hides. There are writers also who make mention of some other islands, Scandia namely, Dumna, Bergos, and, greater than all, Nerigos, from which persons embark for Thule. At one day’s sail from Thule is the frozen ocean, which by some is called the Cronian Sea.

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  CHAP. 31. (17.)

  GALLIA BELGICA.

  The whole of Gaul that is comprehended under the one general name of Comata, is divided into three races of people, which are more especially kept distinct from each other by the following rivers. From the Scaldis to the Sequana it is Belgic Gaul; from the Sequana to the Garumna it is Celtic Gaul or Lugdunensis; and from the Garumna to the promontory of the Pyrenæan range it is Aquitanian Gaul, formerly called Aremorica. Agrippa makes the entire length of the coast of Gaul to be 1800 miles, measured from the Rhine to the Pyrenees: and its length, from the ocean to the mountains of Gebenna and Jura, excluding there from Gallia Narbonensis, he computes at 420 miles, the breadth being 318.

  Beginning at the Scaldis, the parts beyond are inhabited by the Toxandri, who are divided into various peoples with many names; after whom come the Menapii, the Morini, the Oromarsaci, who are adjacent to the burgh which is known as Gesoriacum, the Britanni, the Ambiani, the Bel- lovaci, the Hassi, and, more in the interior, the Catoslugi, the Atrebates, the Nervii, a free people, the Veromandui, the Suæuconi, the Suessiones, a free people, the Ulmanetes, a free people, the Tungri, the Sunuci, the Frisiabones, the Betasi, the Leuci, a free people, the Treveri, who were formerly free, and the Lingones, a federal state, the federal Remi, the Mediomatrici, the Sequani, the Raurici, and the Helvetii. The Roman colonies are Equestris and Rauriaca. The nations of Germany which dwell in this province, near the sources of the Rhine, are the Nemetes, the Triboci, and the Vangiones; nearer again, the Ubii, the Colony of Agrippina, the Cugerni, the Batavi, and the peoples whom we have already mentioned as dwelling on the islands of the Rhine.

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  CHAP. 32. (18.)

  GALLIA LUGDUNENSIS.

  That part of Gaul
which is known as Lugdunensis con- tains the Lexovii, the Vellocasses, the Galeti, the Veneti, the Abrincatui, the Ossismi, and the celebrated river Ligeris, as also a most remarkable peninsula, which extends into the ocean at the extremity of the territory of the Ossismi, the circumference of which is 625 miles, and its breadth at the neck 125. Beyond this are the Nannetes, and in the interior are the Ædui, a federal people, the Carnuti, a federal people, the Boii, the Senones, the Aulerci, both those surnamed Eburovices and those called Cenomanni, the Meldi, a free people, the Parisii, the Tricasses, the An- decavi, the Viducasses, the Bodiocasses, the Venelli, the Cariosvelites, the Diablinti, the Rhedones, the Turones, the Atesui, and the Secusiani, a free people, in whose territory is the colony of Lugdunum.

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  CHAP. 33. (19.)

  GALLIA AQUITANICA.

  In Aquitanica are the Ambilatri, the Anagnutes, the Pictones, the Santoni, a free people, the Bituriges, surnamed Vivisci, the Aquitani, from whom the province derives its name, the Sediboviates, the Convenæ, who together form one town, the Begerri, the Tarbelli Quatuorsignani, the Cocosates Sexsignani, the Venami, the Onobrisates, the Belendi, and then the Pyrenæan range. Below these are the Monesi, the Oscidates a mountain race, the Sibyllates, the Camponi, the Bercorcates, the Pindedunni, the Lassunni, the Vellates, the Tornates, the Consoranni, the Ausci, the Elusates, the Sottiates, the Oscidates Campestres, the Succasses, the Tarusates, the Basabocates, the Vassei, the Sennates, and the Cambolectri Agessinates. Joining up to the Pictones are the Bituriges, a free people, who are also known as the Cubi, and then the Lemovices, the Arverni, a free people, and the Gabales.

  Again, adjoining the province of Narbonensis are the Ruteni, the Cadurci, the Nitiobriges, and the Petrocori, separated by the river Tarnis from the Tolosani. The seas around the coast are the Northern Ocean, flowing up to the mouth of the Rhine, the Britannic Ocean between the Rhine and the Sequana, and, between it and the Pyrenees, the Gallic Ocean. There are many islands belonging to the Veneti, which bear the name of “Veneticæ,” as also in the Aquitanic Gulf, that of Uliarus.

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  CHAP. 34. (20.)

  NEARER SPAIN, ITS COAST ALONG THE GALLIC OCEAN.

  At the Promontory of the Pyrenees Spain begins, more narrow, not only than Gaul, but even than itself in its other parts, as we have previously mentioned, seeing to what an immense extent it is here hemmed in by the ocean on the one side, and by the Iberian Sea on the other. A chain of the Pyrenees, extending from due east to south-west, divides Spain into two parts, the smaller one to the north, the larger to the south. The first coast that presents itself is that of the Nearer Spain, otherwise called Tarraconensis. On leaving the Pyrenees and proceeding along the coast, we meet with the forest ranges of the Vascones, Olarso, the towns of the Varduli, the Morosgi, Menosca, Vesperies, and the Port of Amanus, where now stands the colony of Flaviobriga. We then come to the district of the nine states of the Cantabri, the river Sauga, and the Port of Victoria of the Juliobrigenses, from which place the sources of the Iberus are distant forty miles. We next come to the Port of Blendium, the Orgenomesci, a people of the Cantabri, Vereasueca their port, the country of the As- tures, the town of Noega, and on a peninsula, the Pæsici. Next to these we have, belonging to the jurisdiction of Lucus, after passing the river Navilubio, the Cibarci, the Egovarri, surnamed Namarini, the Iadoni, the Arrotrebæ, the Celtic Promontory, the rivers Florius and Nelo, the Celtici, surnamed Neri, and above them the Tamarici, in whose peninsula are the three altars called Sestianæ, and dedicated to Augustus; the Capori, the town of Noela, the Celtici surnamed Præsamarci, and the Cilen: of the islands, those worthy of mention are Corticata and Aunios. After passing the Cileni, belonging to the jurisdiction of the Bracari, we have the Heleni, the Gravii, and the fortress of Tyde, all of them deriving their origin from the Greeks. Also, the islands called Cicæ, the famous city of Abobrica, the river Minius, four miles wide at its mouth, the Leuni, the Seurbi, and Augusta, a town of the Bracari, above whom lies Gallæcia. We then come to the river Limia, and the river Durius, one of the largest in Spain, and which rises in the district of the Pelendones, passes near Numantia, and through the Arevaci and the Vaccæi, dividing the Vettones from Asturia, the Gallæci from Lusitania, and separating the Turduli from the Bracari. The whole of the region here mentioned from the Pyrenees is full of mines of gold, silver, iron, and lead, both black and white.

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  CHAP. 35. (21.)

  LUSITANIA.

  After passing the Durius, Lusitania begins. We here have the ancient Turdul, the Pæsuri, the river Vaga, the town of Talabrica, the town and river of Æminium, the towns of Conimbrica, Collippo, and Eburobritium. A promontory then advances into the sea in shape of a large horn; by some it has been called Artabrum, by others the Great Promon- tory, while many call it the Promontory of Olisipo, from the city near it. This spot forms a dividing line in the land, the sea, and the heavens. Here ends one side of Spain; and, when we have doubled the promontory, the front of Spain begins. (22.) On one side of it lie the North and the Gallic Ocean, on the other the West and the Atlantic. The length of this promontory has been estimated by some persons at sixty miles, by others at ninety. A considerable number of writers estimate the distance from this spot to the Pyrenees at 1250 miles; and, committing a manifest error, place here the nation of the Artabri, a nation that never was here. For, making a slight change in the name, they have placed at this spot the Arrotrebæ, whom we have previously spoken of as dwelling in front of the Celtic Promontory.

  Mistakes have also been made as to the more celebrated rivers. From the Minius, which we have previously mentioned, according to Varro, the river Æminius is distant 200 miles, which others suppose to be situate elsewhere, and called Limæa. By the ancients it was called the “River of Oblivion,” and it has been made the subject of many fabulous stories. At a distance of 200 miles from the Durius is the Tagus, the Munda lying between them. The Tagus is famous for its golden sands. At a distance of 160 miles from it is the Sacred Promontory, projecting from nearly the very middle of the front of Spain. From this spot to the middle of the Pyrenees, Varro says, is a distance of 1400 miles; while to the Anas, by which we have mentioned Lusitania as being separated from Bætica, is 126 miles, it being 102 more to Gades.

  The peoples are the Celtici, the Turduli, and, about the Tagus, the Vettones. From the river Anas to the Sacred Promontory are the Lusitani. The cities worthy of mention on the coast, beginning from the Tagus, are that of Olisipo, famous for its mares, which conceive from the west wind; Salacia, which is surnamed the Imperial City; Merobrica; and then the Sacred Promontory, with the other known by the name of Cuneus, and the towns of Ossonoba, Balsa, and Myrtili.

  The whole of this province is divided into three jurisdictions, those of Emerita, Pax, and Scalabis. It contains in all forty-six peoples, among whom there are five colonies, one municipal town of Roman citizens, three with the ancient Latin rights, and thirty-six that are tributaries. The colonies are those of Augusta Emerita, situate on the river Anas, Metallinum, Pax, and Norba, surnamed Cæsariana. To this last place of jurisdiction the people of Castra Servilia and Castra Cæcilia resort. The fifth jurisdiction is that of Scalabis, which also has the name of Præsidium Julium. Olisipo, surnamed Felicitas Julia, is a municipal city, whose inhabitants enjoy the rights of Roman citizens. The towns in the enjoyment of the ancient Latin rights are Ebora, which also has the name of Liberalitas Julia, and Myrtili and Salacia, which we have previously mentioned. Those among the tributaries whom it may not be amiss to mention, in addition to those already alluded to among the names of those in Bætica, are the Augustobrigenses, the Ammienses, the Aranditani, the Arabricenses, the Balsenses, the Cesarobricenses, the Caperenses, the Caurenses, the Colarni, the Cibilitani, the Concordienses, the Elbocorii, the Interannienses, the Lan- cienses, the Mirobrigenses, surnamed Celtici, the Medubrigenses, surnamed Plumbarii, the Ocelenses or L
ancienses, the Turduli, also called Barduli, and the Tapori. Agrippa states, that Lusitania, with Asturia and Gallæcia, is 540 miles in length, and 536 in breadth. The provinces of Spain, measured from the two extreme promontories of the Pyrenees, along the sea-line of the entire coast, are thought to be 3922 miles in circumference; while some writers make them to be but 2600.

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  CHAP. 36.

  THE ISLANDS IN THE ATLANTIC OCEAN.

  Opposite to Celtiberia are a number of islands, by the Greeks called Cassiterides, in consequence of their abounding in tin: and, facing the Promontory of the Arrotrebæ, are the six Islands of the Gods, which some persons have called the Fortunate Islands. At the very commencement of Bætica, and twenty-five miles from the mouth of the Straits of Gades, is the island of Gadis, twelve miles long and three broad, as Polybius states in his writings. At its nearest part, it is less than 700 feet distant from the mainland, while in the remaining portion it is distant more than seven miles. Its circuit is fifteen miles, and it has on it a city which enjoys the rights of Roman citizens, and whose people are called the Augustani of the city of Julia Gaditana. On the side which looks towards Spain, at about 100 paces distance, is another long island, three miles wide, on which the original city of Gades stood. By Ephorus and Philistides it is called Erythia, by Timæus and Silenus Aphrodisias, and by the natives the Isle of Juno. Timæus says, that the larger island used to be called Cotinusa, from its olives; the Romans call it Tartessos; the Carthaginians Gadir, that word in the Punic language signifying a hedge. It was called Erythia because the Tyrians, the original an- cestors of the Carthaginians, were said to have come from the Erythræn, or Red Sea. In this island Geryon is by some thought to have dwelt, whose herds were carried off by Hercules. Other persons again think, that his island is another one, opposite to Lusitania, and that it was there formerly called by that name.