Читать книгу The Natural History of Pliny (Vol. 1-6) - Pliny the Elder - Страница 206

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Beyond Idumæa and Samaria, Judæa extends far and wide. That part of it which joins up to Syria3638 is called Galilæa, while that which is nearest to Arabia and Egypt bears the name of Peræa3639. This last is thickly covered with rugged mountains, and is separated from the rest of Judæa by the river Jordanes. The remaining part of Judæa is divided into ten Toparchies, which we will mention in the following order:—That of Hiericus3640, covered with groves of palm-trees, and watered by numerous springs, and those of Emmaüs3641, Lydda3642, Joppe, Acrabatena3643, Gophna3644, Thamna3645, Bethleptephene3646, Orina3647, in which formerly stood Hierosolyma3648, by far the most famous city, not of Judæa only, but of the East, and Herodium3649, with a celebrated town of the same name.

(15.) The river Jordanes3650 rises from the spring of Panias3651, which has given its surname to Cæsarea, of which we shall have occasion to speak3652. This is a delightful stream, and, so far as the situation of the localities will allow of, winds along3653 in its course and lingers among the dwellers upon its banks. With the greatest reluctance, as it were, it moves onward towards Asphaltites3654, a lake of a gloomy and unpropitious nature, by which it is at last swallowed up, and its bepraised waters are lost sight of on being mingled with the pestilential streams of the lake. For this reason it is that, as soon as ever the valleys through which it runs afford it the opportunity, it discharges itself into a lake, by many writers known as Genesara3655, sixteen miles in length and six wide; which is skirted by the pleasant towns of Julias3656 and Hippo3657 on the east, of Tarichea3658 on the south (a name which is by many persons given to the lake itself), and of Tiberias3659 on the west, the hot springs3660 of which are so conducive to the restoration of health.

(16.) Asphaltites3661 produces nothing whatever except bitumen, to which indeed it owes its name. The bodies of animals will not sink3662 in its waters, and even those of bulls and camels float there. In length it exceeds 100 miles being at its greatest breadth twenty-five, and at its smallest six. Arabia of the Nomades3663 faces it on the east, and Machærus on the south3664, at one time, next to Hierosolyma, the most strongly fortified place in Judæa. On the same side lies Callirrhoë3665, a warm spring, remarkable for its medicinal qualities, and which, by its name, indicates the celebrity its waters have gained.

(17.) Lying on the west of Asphaltites, and sufficiently distant to escape its noxious exhalations, are the Esseni3666, a people that live apart from the world, and marvellous beyond all others throughout the whole earth, for they have no women among them; to sexual desire they are strangers; money they have none; the palm-trees are their only companions. Day after day, however, their numbers are fully recruited by multitudes of strangers that resort to them, driven thither to adopt their usages by the tempests of fortune, and wearied with the miseries of life. Thus it is, that through thousands of ages, incredible to relate, this people eternally prolongs its existence, without a single birth taking place there; so fruitful a source of population to it is that weariness of life which is felt by others. Below this people was formerly the town of Engadda3667, second only to Hierosolyma in the fertility of its soil and its groves of palm-trees; now, like it, it is another heap of ashes. Next to it we come to Masada3668, a fortress on a rock, not far from Lake Asphaltites. Thus much concerning Judæa.