The Geography of Strabo, Volume 1 (of 3): Literally Translated, with NotesStrabo
History
The Geography of Strabo, Volume 1 (of 3): Literally Translated, with Notes
Strabo
Geography -- Early works to 1800
opinion the celebrity of the Kelts induced the Grecians to confer that
name on the whole of the Galatæ; the vicinity of the Massilians may also
have had something to do with it.[1407]
CHAPTER II.
1. We must now speak of the Aquitani and the fourteen Galatic nations
pertaining to them, situated between the Garonne and the Loire, some of
which extend to the river Rhone and the plains of the Narbonnaise.
Generally speaking, the Aquitani may be said to differ from the Galatic
race, both as to form of body and language, resembling more nearly the
Iberians. They are bounded by the Garonne, and dwell between this river
and the Pyrenees. There are above twenty nations which bear the name of
Aquitani, small and obscure, the major part of them dwelling by the
ocean, and the remainder in the interior and by the extremities of the
Cevennes, as far as the Tectosages. This district, however, being too
small, they added to it the territory between the Garonne and the Loire.
These rivers are nearly parallel with the Pyrenees, and form with them
two parallelograms, bounded on the remaining sides by the ocean and the
mountains of the Cevennes.[1408] Both of these rivers are navigable for
a distance of about 2000 stadia.[1409] The Garonne, after being
augmented by three other rivers,[1410] discharges itself into the
[ocean] between the [country] of the Bituriges, surnamed the
Vivisci,[1411] and that of the Santoni;[1412] both of them Gallic
nations.
The Bituriges are the only foreign people who dwell among the Aquitani
without forming a part of them. Their emporium is Burdegala,[1413]
situated on a creek formed by the outlets of the river. The Loire
discharges itself between the Pictones and the Namnetæ.[1414] Formerly
there was an emporium on this river named Corbilon, mentioned by
Polybius when speaking of the fictions of Pytheas. “The Marseillese,
[says he,] when interrogated by Scipio[1415] at their meeting, had
nothing to tell about Britain worth mentioning, nor yet had the people
of the Narbonnaise, nor those of Corbilon; notwithstanding these were
the two principal cities of the district, Pytheas alone dared to forge
so many lies [concerning that island].” Mediolanium[1416] is the capital
of the Santoni. The part of Aquitaine next the ocean is for the most
part sandy and meagre, producing millet, but barren of all other fruits.
Here is the gulf which, with that on the coast of Narbonne, forms the
isthmus. Both these gulfs[1417] go by the name of the Galatic gulf. The
former gulf belongs to the Tarbelli.[1418] These people possess the
richest gold mines; masses of gold as big as the fist can contain, and
requiring hardly any purifying, [CAS. 190] being found in diggings
scarcely beneath the surface of the earth, the remainder consisting
of dust and lumps, which likewise require but little working. In the
interior and mountainous parts [of Aquitaine] the soil is superior;
for instance, in the district near the Pyrenees belonging to the
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