Читать книгу The Natural History of Pliny (Vol. 1-6) - Pliny the Elder - Страница 196

Table of Contents

The region of Cyrenaica, also called Pentapolis3414, is rendered famous by the oracle of Hammon3415, which is distant 400 miles from the city of Cyrene; also by the Fountain of the Sun3416 there, and five cities in especial, those of Berenice3417, Arsinoë3418, Ptolemais3419, Apollonia3420, and Cyrene3421 itself. Berenice is situate upon the outer promontory that bounds the Syrtis; it was formerly called the city of the Hesperides (previously mentioned3422), according to the fables of the Greeks, which very often change their localities. Not far from the city, and running before it, is the river Lethon, and with it a sacred grove, where the gardens of the Hesperides are said to have formerly stood; this city is distant from Leptis 375 miles. From Berenice to Arsinoë, commonly called Teuchira, is forty-three miles; after which, at a distance of twenty-two, we come to Ptolemais, the ancient name of which was Barce; and at a distance of forty miles from this last the Promontory of Phycus3423, which extends far away into the Cretan Sea, being 350 miles distant from Tænarum3424, the promontory of Laconia, and from Crete 225. After passing this promontory we come to Cyrene, which stands at a distance of eleven miles from the sea. From Phycus to Apollonia3425 is twenty-four miles, and from thence to the Chersonesus3426 eighty-eight; from which to Catabathmos3427 is a distance of 216 miles. The Marmaridæ3428 inhabit this coast, extending from almost the region of Parætonium3429 to the Greater Syrtis; after them the Ararauceles, and then, upon the coasts of the Syrtis, the Nasamones3430, whom the Greeks formerly called Mesammones, from the circumstance of their being located in the very midst of sands3431. The territory of Cyrene, to a distance of fifteen miles from the shore, is said to abound in trees, while for the same distance beyond that district it is only suitable for the cultivation of corn: after which, a tract of land, thirty miles in breadth and 250 in length, is productive of nothing but laser [or silphium3432].

After the Nasamones we come to the dwellings of the Asbystæ and the Macæ3433, and beyond them, at eleven days’ journey to the west of the Greater Syrtis, the Amantes3434, a people also surrounded by sands in every direction. They find water however without any difficulty at a depth mostly of about two cubits, as their district receives the overflow of the waters of Mauritania. They build houses with blocks of salt3435, which they cut out of their mountains just as we do stone. From this nation to the Troglodytæ3436 the distance is seven days’ journey in a south-westerly direction, a people with whom our only intercourse is for the purpose of procuring from them the precious stone which we call the carbuncle, and which is brought from the interior of Æthiopia. Upon the road to this last people, but turning off towards the deserts of Africa, of which we have previously3437 made mention as lying beyond the Lesser Syrtis, is the region of Phazania3438; the nation of Phazanii, belonging to which, as well as the cities of Alele3439 and Cilliba3440, we have subdued by force of arms, as also Cydamus3441, which lies over against Sabrata. After passing these places a range of mountains extends in a prolonged chain from east to west: these have received from our people the name of the Black Mountains3442, either from the appearance which they naturally bear of having been exposed to the action of fire, or else from the fact that they have been scorched by the reflection of the sun’s rays. Beyond it3443 is the desert, and then Talgæ, a city of the Garamantes, and Debris, at which place there is a spring3444, the waters of which, from noon to midnight, are at boiling heat, and then freeze for as many hours until the following noon; Garama too, that most famous capital of the Garamantes; all which places have been subdued by the Roman arms. It was on this occasion that Cornelius Balbus3445 was honoured with a triumph, the only foreigner indeed that was ever honoured with the triumphal chariot, and presented with the rights of a Roman citizen; for, although by birth a native of Gades, the Roman citizenship was granted to him as well as to the elder Balbus3446, his uncle by the father’s side. There is also this remarkable circumstance, that our writers have handed down to us the names of the cities above-mentioned as having been taken by Balbus, and have informed us that on the occasion of his triumph3447, besides Cydamus and Garama3448, there were carried in the procession the names and models of all the other nations and cities, in the following order: the town of Tabudium3449, the nation of Niteris, the town of Nigligemella, the nation or town of Bubeium3450, the nation of Enipi, the town of Thuben, the mountain known as the Black Mountain, Nitibrum, the towns called Rapsa, the nation of Discera3451, the town of Debris3452, the river Nathabur3453, the town of Thapsagum3454, the nation of Nannagi, the town of Boin, the town of Pege3455, the river Dasibari; and then the towns, in the following order, of Baracum, Buluba, Alasit, Galia, Balla, Maxalla3456, Zizama, and Mount Gyri3457, which was preceded by an inscription stating that this was the place where precious stones were produced.

Up to the present time it has been found impracticable to keep open the road that leads to the country of the Garamantes, as the predatory bands of that nation have filled up the wells with sand, which do not require to be dug for to any great depth, if you only have a knowledge of the locality. In the late war3458 however, which, at the beginning of the reign of the Emperor Vespasian, the Romans carried on with the people of Œa, a short cut of only four days’ journey was discovered; this road is known as the “Præter Caput Saxi3459.” The last place in the territory of Cyrenaica is Catabathmos, consisting of a town, and a valley with a sudden and steep descent. The length of Cyrenean Africa, up to this boundary from the Lesser Syrtis, is 1060 miles; and, so far as has been ascertained, it is 8003460 in breadth.