Читать книгу The Natural History of Pliny (Vol. 1-6) - Pliny the Elder - Страница 262

3199 A grammarian of Mallus, in Cilicia. He lived in the time of Ptolemy Philopater, and resided at Pergamus, under the patronage of Eumenes II. and Attalus II. In his grammatical system he made a strong distinction between criticism and grammar, the latter of which sciences he regarded as quite subordinate to the former. Of his learned commentaries on the Iliad and the Odyssey, only a few fragments have come down to us.

3200 See end of B. ii.

3201 Of Cyrene, an Alexandrian grammarian and poet. He flourished at Alexandria, whither Ptolemy Philadelphus had invited him to a place in the Museum. Of his Hymns and Epigrams many are still extant. His Elegies, which were of considerable poetical merit, with the exception of a few fragments, have all perished. Of his numerous other works in prose, not one is extant in an entire state.

3202 See end of B. ii.

3203 Probably Apollodorus of Artemita, in Mesopotamia. It is probably to him that a Treatise on Islands and Cities has been ascribed by Tzetzes, as also a History of the Parthians, and a History of Pontus.

3204 Probably the author of that name, who wrote the History of Cyzicus, is the person here referred to. He is called by Athenæus both a Babylonian and a Cyzican. His work is entirely lost; but it appears to have been extensively read, and is referred to by Cicero and other ancient writers.

3205 Of Neapolis. He wrote a History of Hannibal, and to him has been ascribed a Description of the Universe, of which a fragment still survives.

3206 Of Tauromenium, in Sicily; a celebrated historian, who flourished about the year B.C. 300. He was banished from Sicily by Agathocles, and passed his exile at Athens. He composed a History of Sicily, from the earliest times to the year B.C. 264. The value of his history has been gravely attacked by Polybius; but there is little doubt that it possessed very considerable merit. Of this, and other works of Timæus, only a few fragments survive.

3207 A Greek historian; a native of Lesbos. When he lived is unknown. Dionysius, of Halicarnassus, has borrowed from him a portion of his account of the Pelasgians. He is said to have been the author of the notion that the Tyrrhenians, in consequence of their wanderings after they left their original settlement, got the name of πελαργοὶ, or “storks.” He is supposed to have written a History of Lesbos, as also a work called “Historical Paradoxes.”

3208 See end of B. iii.

3209 See end of B. iii.

3210 Of this author nothing whatever seems to be known.

3211 Of Miletus, born B.C. 610. One of the earliest philosophers of the Ionian school, and said to be a pupil of Thales. Unless Pherecydes of Scyros be an exception, he was the first author of a philosophical treatise in Greek prose. Other writings are ascribed to him by Suidas; but, no doubt, on insufficient grounds. Of his treatise, which seems to have contained summary statements of his opinions, no remains exist.

3212 Of this writer nothing whatever is known, beyond the fact that, from his name, he seems to have been a native of Mallus, in Cilicia.

3213 It seems impossible to say which, out of the vast number of the authors who bore this name, is the one here referred to. It is not improbable that Dionysius of Chalcis, a Greek historian who lived before the Christian era, is meant. He wrote a work on the Foundation of Towns, in five books, which is frequently referred to by the ancients. It is not probable that the author of the Periegesis, or “Description of the World,” is referred to, as that book bears internal marks of having been compiled in the third or fourth century of the Christian era.

3214 Of Miletus. He was the author of the “Milesiaca,” a romance of licentious character, which was translated into Latin by L. Cornelius Sisenna. He is looked upon as the inventor of the Greek romance, and the title of his work is supposed to have given rise to the term Milesian, as applied to works of fiction.

3215 A Greek author, of whom nothing is known, except that Pliny, and after him Solinus, refer to him as the authority for the statement that Eubœa was originally called Chalcis, from the fact of (χαλκὸς) copper being first discovered there.

3216 Probably Menæchmus of Sicyon, who wrote a book on Actors, a History of Alexander the Great, and a book on Sicyon. Suidas says that he flourished in the time of the successors of Alexander.

3217 When he flourished is unknown. He is said by Hyginus to have written a History of the Island of Naxos.

3218 He lived after the time of Alexander the Great; but his age is unknown. He wrote a book, περὶ νόστων, on the returns of the Greeks from their various expeditions, an account of Delos, a History of Alexander the Great, and other works, all of which have perished.

3219 Of Heraclæa, in Pontus. He was a pupil of Plato, and, after him, of Aristotle. His works upon philosophy, history, mathematics, and other subjects, were very numerous; but, unfortunately, they are nearly all of them lost. He wrote a Treatise upon Islands, and another upon the Origin of Cities.

3220 A geographical writer, of whom nothing further is known.

3221 The Greek historian, the disciple of Socrates, deservedly styled the “Attic Bee.” His principal works are the Anabasis, or the History of the Expedition of the younger Cyrus and the Retreat of the Ten Thousand; the Hellenica, or History of Greece, from the time when that of Thucydides ends to the battle of Mantinea, B.C. 362; and the Cyropædia, or Education of Cyrus. The greater portion of his works is now lost.

3222 See end of B. ii.

3223 See end of B. ii.

3224 There were two physicians of this name, one of Catana, in Sicily, the other of Dyrrhachium, in Illyricum, who, like his namesake, was the author of numerous works. It is doubtful, however, whether Pliny here refers to either of those authors.

3225 A Greek historian, quoted by Dionysius of Halicarnassus. If the same person as the father of the historian Nymphis, he must have lived in the early part of the second century B.C. He wrote a work on Islands, and another entitled Χρόνοι, or Chronicles.

3226 A Greek geographer, who seems to have written an account of Cyprus.

3227 He is quoted by Strabo, Athenæus, and the Scholiasts; but all that is known of him is, that he wrote a work on Thessaly, Æolia, Attica, and Arcadia.

3228 He wrote a work relative to Miletus; but nothing further is known of him.

3229 See end of B. ii.

3230 Probably a writer on geography, of whom no particulars are known.

3231 See end of B. ii.

3232 Not reckoning under that appellation the country of Egypt, which was more generally looked upon as forming part of Asia. Josephus informs us that Africa received its name from Ophir, great-grandson of Abraham and his second wife, Keturah.

3233 ‘Castella,’ fortified places, erected for the purpose of defence; not towns formed for the reception of social communities.

3234 The Emperor Caligula, who, in the year 41 A.D., reduced the two Mauritanias to Roman provinces, and had King Ptolemy, the son of Juba, put to death.

3235 Now Cape Spartel. By Scylax it is called Hermæum, and by Ptolemy and Strabo Cote, or Coteis. Pliny means “extreme,” with reference to the sea-line of the Mediterranean, in a direction due west.

3236 Mentioned again by Pliny in B. xxxii. c. 6. Lissa was so called, according to Bochart, from the Hebrew or Phœnician word liss, ‘a lion.’ At the present day there is in this vicinity a headland called the ‘Cape of the Lion.’ Bochart thinks that the name ‘Cotta,’ or ‘Cotte,’ was derived from the Hebrew quothef, a ‘vine-dresser.’

3237 The modern Tangier occupies its site. It was said to have derived its name from Tinge, the wife of Antæus, the giant, who was slain by Hercules. His tomb, which formed a hill, in the shape of a man stretched out at full length, was shown near the town of Tingis to a late period. It was also believed, that whenever a portion of the earth covering the body was taken away, it rained until the hole was filled up again. Sertorius is said to have dug away a portion of the hill; but, on discovering a skeleton sixty cubits in length, he was struck with horror, and had it immediately covered again. Procopius says, that the fortress of this place was built by the Canaanites, who were driven by the Jews out of Palestine.

3238 It has been supposed by Salmasius and others of the learned, that Pliny by mistake here attributes to Claudius the formation of a colony which was really established by either Julius Cæsar or Augustus. It is more probable, however, that Claudius, at a later period, ordered it to be called “Traducta Julia,” or “the removed Colony of Julia,” in remembrance of a colony having proceeded thence to Spain in the time of Julius Cæsar. Claudius himself, as stated in the text, established a colony here.

3239 Its ruins are to be seen at Belonia, or Bolonia, three Spanish miles west of the modern Tarifa.

3240 At this point Pliny begins his description of the western side of Africa.

3241 Now Arzilla, in the territory of Fez. Ptolemy places it at the mouth of the river Zileia. It is also mentioned by Strabo and Antoninus.

3242 Now El Araiche, or Larache, on the river Lucos.

3243 Mentioned again in B. ix. c. 4 and c. 5 of the present Book, where Pliny speaks of them as situate elsewhere. The story of Antæus is further enlarged upon by Solinus, B. xxiv.; Lucan, B. iv. l. 589, et seq.; and Martianus Capella, B. vi.

3244 Now the Lucos.

3245 Hardouin is of opinion, that he here has a hit at Gabinius, a Roman author, who, in his Annals of Mauritania, as we learn from Strabo (B. xvii.), inserted numerous marvellous and incredible stories.

3246 When we find Pliny accusing other writers of credulity, we are strongly reminded of the proverb, ‘Clodius accusat mœchos.’

3247 Or the “Julian Colony on the Plains.” Marcus suggests that the word Babba may possibly have been derived from the Hebrew or Phœnician word beab or beaba, “situate in a thick forest.” Poinsinet takes Babba to be the Beni-Tuedi of modern times. D’Anville thinks that it is Naranja.

3248 There is considerable difficulty about the site of Banasa. Moletius thinks that it is the modern Fanfara, or Pefenfia as Marmol calls it. D’Anville suggests that it may be Old Mahmora, on the coast; but, on the other hand, Ptolemy places it among the inland cities, assigning to it a longitude at some distance from the sea. Pliny also appears to make it inland, and makes its distance from Lixos seventy-five miles, while he makes the mouth of the Subur to be fifty miles from the same place.

3249 From both the Atlantic and the Mediterranean. According to Poinsinet, Volubilis was the synonym of the African name Fez, signifying a ‘band,’ or ‘swathe.’ Mannert conjectures that it is the same as the modern Walili, or Qualili. D’Anville calls it Guulili, and says that there are some remains of antiquity there.

3250 The modern Subu, or Sebou. D’Anville is of opinion that this river has changed a part of its course since the time of Pliny.

3251 Most probably the modern Sallee stands on its site.

3252 Not in reference to the fact of its existence, but the wonderful stories which were told respecting it.

3253 Like others of the ancient writers, Pliny falls into the error of considering Atlas, not as an extensive chain of mountains, but as an isolated mountain, surrounded by sands. With reference to its height, the whole range declines considerably from west to east; the highest summits in Morocco reaching near 13,000 feet, in Tunis not 5000.

3254 Or “Goat-Pans;” probably another name for the Fauni, or Fauns. More usually, there is but one Ægipan mentioned,—the son, according to Hyginus, of Zeus or Jupiter, and a goat,—or of Zeus and Æga, the wife of Pan. As a foundation for one part of the stories here mentioned, Brotier suggests the fact, that as the Kabyles, or mountain tribes, are in the habit of retiring to their dwellings and reposing during the heat of the day, it would not, consequently, be improbable that they would devote the night to their amusements, lighting up fires, and dancing to the music of drums and cymbals.

3255 Under his name we still possess a “Periplus,” or account of a voyage round a part of Libya. The work was originally written in Punic, but what has come down to us is a Greek translation. We fail, however, to discover any means by which to identify him with any one of the many Carthaginians of the same name. Some writers call him king, and others dux, or imperator of the Carthaginians; from which we may infer, that he held the office of suffetes. This expedition has by some been placed as far back as the time of the Trojan war, or of Hesiod, while others again place it as late as the reign of Agathocles. Falconer, Bougainville, and Gail, place the time of Hanno at about B.C. 570, while other critics identify him with Hanno, the father or son of Hamilcar, who was killed at Himera, B.C. 480. Pliny often makes mention of him; more particularly see B. viii. c. 21.

3256 M. Gosselin thinks that the spot here indicated was at the south-western extremity of the Atlas range, and upon the northern frontier of the Desert of Zahara.

3257 Supposed by some geographers to be the same as that now called the Ommirabih, or the Om-Rabya. This is also thought by some to have been the same river as is called by Pliny, in p. 381, by the name of Asana; but the distances do not agree.

3258 Supposed by Gosselin to be the present bay of Al-cazar, on the African coast, in the Straits of Cadiz; though Hardouin takes it to be the κόλπος ἐμπορικὸς, or “Gulf of Commerce,” of Strabo and Ptolemy. By first quoting from one, and then at a tangent from another, Pliny involves this subject in almost inextricable confusion.

3259 Probably the place called Thymiaterion in the Periplus of Hanno.

3260 The present Subu, and the river probably of Sallce, previously mentioned.

3261 The modern Mazagan, according to Gosselin.

3262 Cape Cantin, according to Gosselin; Cape Blanco, according to Marcus.

3263 Probably the Safi, Asafi, or Saffee of the present day.

3264 The river Tensift, which runs close to the city of Morocco, in the interior.

3265 The river Mogador of the present day.

3266 The modern river Sus, or Sous.

3267 The learned Gosselin has aptly remarked, that this cannot be other than an error, and that “ninety-six” is the correct reading, the Gulf of Sainte-Croix being evidently the one here referred to.

3268 Mount Barce seems to be here a name for the Atlas, or Daran chain.

3269 Supposed by Gosselin to be the present Cape Ger.

3270 The river Assa, according to Gosselin. There is also a river Suse placed here in the maps.

3271 These two tribes probably dwelt between the modern Capes Ger and Non.

3272 Marcus believes these to have been the ancestors of the present race of the Touaricks, while the Melanogætuli were the progenitors of the Tibbos, of a darker complexion, and more nearly resembling the negroes in bodily conformation.

3273 Supposed by Gosselin to be the present river Nun, or Non. According to Bochart, this river received its name from the Hebrew or Phœnician word behemoth or bamoth, the name by which Job (xl. 15) calls the crocodile [or rather the hippopotamus]. Bochart, however, with Mannert, Bougainville, De Rennet, and De Heeren, is of opinion, that by this name the modern river Senegal is meant. Marcus is of opinion that it is either the Non or the modern Sobi.

3274 Marcus here observes, that from Cape Alfach, below Cape Non, there are no mountains, but continual wastes of sand, bordering on the sea-shore. Indeed there is no headland, of any considerable height, between Cape Sobi and Cape Bajador.

3275 “The Chariot of the Gods.” Marcus is of opinion that it is the modern Cape Verde; while, on the other hand, Gosselin takes it to be Cape Non. Brotier calls it Cape Ledo.

3276 In B. vi. c. 36, Pliny speaks of this promontory as the “Hesperian Horn,” and says that it is but four days’ sail from the Theon Ochema. Brotier identifies this promontory with the modern Cape Roxo. Marcus is of opinion that it was the same as Cape Non; but there is considerable difficulty in determining its identity.

3277 Alluding to Polybius; though, according to the reading which Sillig has adopted a few lines previously, Agrippa is the last author mentioned. Pliny has here mistaken the meaning of Polybius, who has placed Atlas midway between Carthage, from which he had set out, and the Promontory of Theon Ochema, which he reached.

3278 Ptolemy the son of Juba II. and Cleopatra, was summoned to Rome in the year A.D. 40, by Caligula, and shortly after put to death by him, his riches having excited the emperor’s cupidity. Previously to this, he had been on terms of strict alliance with the Roman people, who had decreed him a toga picta and a sceptre, as a mark of their friendship.

3279 Ivory and citron-wood, or cedar, were used for the making and inlaying of the tables used by the Roman nobility. See B. xiii. c. 23.

3280 Supposed by some geographers to be the modern Wadi-Tensift. It has been also confounded with the Anatis (see note 3171, p. 369); while others again identify it with the Anidus. It is more commonly spelt ‘Asama.’

3281 Or Phuth. It does not appear to have been identified.

3282 The range is still called by the name of Daran.

3283 The same general who afterwards conquered the Britons under Boadicea or Bonduca. While Proprætor in Mauritania under the Emperor Claudius, in the year A.D. 42, he defeated the Mauri who had risen in revolt, and advanced, as Pliny here states, as far as Mount Atlas. It is not known from what point Paulinus made his advance towards the Atlas range. Mannert and Marcus are of opinion that he set out from Sala, the modern Sallee, while Latreille, Malte Brun, and Walkenaer think that his point of departure was the mouth of the river Lixos. Sala was the most southerly town on the western coast of Africa that in the time of Pliny had submitted to the Roman arms.

3284 Some of the editions read ‘Niger’ here. Marcus suggests that that river may have been called ‘Niger’ by the Phœnician or Punic colonists of the western Mauritania, and ‘Ger’ or ‘Gar’ in another quarter. The same writer also suggests that the Sigilmessa was the river to which Paulinus penetrated on his march beyond Atlas.

3285 The Sigilmessa, according to Marmol, flows between several mountains which appear to be of a blackish hue.

3286 Bocchus however, the kinsman of Massinissa, had previously for some time reigned over both the Mauritanias, consisting of Mauritania Tingitana and Mauritania Cæsariana.

3287 See B. xxv. c. 7. 12, and B. xxvi. c. 8.

3288 Extending from the sea to the river Moluga, now called the Molucha and Molochath, or Malva and Malvana.

3289 From whom the Moors of the present day take their name. Marcus observes here, that though Pliny distinguishes the Mauri from the Gætuli, they essentially belonged to the same race and spoke the same language, the so-called Berber, and its dialects, the Schellou and the Schoviah.

3290 ‘Maurusii’ was the Greek name, ‘Mauri’ the Latin, for this people. Marcus suggests that Mauri was a synonym only for the Greek word nomades, ‘wanderers.’

3291 As Marcus observes, Pliny is here greatly in error. On the inroads of Paulinus, the Mauri had retreated into the interior and taken refuge in the deserts of Zahara, whence they had again emerged in the time of the geographer Ptolemy.

3292 From the time of the second Punic War this people had remained in undisputed possession of the country situate between the rivers Molochath or Moluga and Ampsaga, which formed the Cæsarian Mauritania. Ptolemy speaks of finding some remains of them at Siga, a town situate on a river of the same name, and at which King Syphax had formerly resided.

3293 While Pomponius Mela does not make any difference between the Mauri and the Gætuli, Pliny here speaks of them as being essentially different.

3294 Derived, according to Marcus, from the Arabic compound bani-our, ‘child of nakedness,’ as equivalent to the Greek word gymnetes, by which name Pliny and other ancient writers designate the wandering naked races of Western Africa.

3295 The Autololes or, as Ptolemy calls them, the Autololæ, dwelt, it is supposed, on the western coast of Africa, between Cape Cantin and Cape Ger. Their city of Autolala or Autolalæ is one of Ptolemy’s points of astronomical observation, having the longest day thirteen hours and a half, being distant three hours and a half west of Alexandria, and having the sun vertical once a year, at the time of the winter solstice. Reichard takes it for the modern Agulon or Aquilon.

3296 The Æthiopian Daratitæ, Marcus says.

3297 The present Ceuta.

3298 They were so called from the circumstance, Marcus says, of their peaks being so numerous, and so strongly resembling each other. They are now called, according to D’Anville, ‘Gebel Mousa,’ which means “the Mountain of Apes,” an animal by which they are now much frequented, instead of by elephants as in Pliny’s time.

3299 Or Mediterranean.

3300 The modern Bedia, according to Olivarius, the Tasanel, according to Dupinet, and the Alamos or Kerkal, according to Ansart. Marcus says that it is called the Setuan, and is the largest stream on the northern shores of Western Africa.

3301 The modern Gomera according to Hardouin, the Nocor according to Mannert.

3302 The modern Melilla most probably.

3303 The modern Maluia. Antoninus calls it Malva, and Ptolemy Maloua.

3304 Its site is occupied by the modern Aresgol, according to Mariana, Guardia or Sereni according to Dupinet, Ned-Roma according to Mannert and D’Anville, and Tachumbrit according to Shaw. Marcus is inclined to be of the same opinion as the last-mentioned geographer.

3305 Now the city of Malaga.

3306 Mauritania Cæsariensis, or Cæsarian Mauritania, now forming the French province of Algiers.

3307 “Bogudiana;” from Bogud or Bogoas. The last king Bogud was deprived of his kingdom by Bocchus, king of Mauritania Cæsariensis, a warm partisan of Cæsar.

3308 Or the “Great Harbour,” now Arzeu according to D’Anville, and Mars-el-Kebir according to Marcus.

3309 The same river probably as the Malva or Malvana previously mentioned, the word mulucha or malacha coming from the Greek μολόχη, “a marsh mallow,” which malva, as a Latin word, also signifies. See p. 383.

3310 From the Greek word ξένος, “a stranger.” Pomponius Mela and Antoninus call this place Guiza, and Ptolemy Quisa. D’Anville places it on the right side of the river Malvana or Mulucha, and Shaw says that it was situate in the vicinity of the modern town of Oran.

3311 Now Marz-Agolet, or situate in its vicinity, according to Hardouin and Ansart, and the present Arzen, according to Marcus, where numerous remains of antiquity are found.

3312 Now Tenez, according to D’Anville, and Mesgraïm, according to Mannert; with which last opinion Marcus agrees.

3313 Ptolemy and Antoninus place this colony to the east of the Promontory of Apollo, and not the west as Pliny does.

3314 The present Cape Mestagan.

3315 According to Dupinet and Mannert, the modern Tenez occupies its site, Zershell according to Hardouin and Shaw, Vacur according to D’Anville and Ansart, and Algiers according to others. It is suggested by Marcus that the name Iol is derived from the Arabic verb galla, “to be noble” or “famous.” There is no doubt that the magnificent ruins at Zershell are those of Iol, and that its name is an abbreviation of Cæsarea Iol.