The Natural History of Pliny, Volume 1 (of 6)Pliny, the Elder
History
The Natural History of Pliny, Volume 1 (of 6)
Pliny, the Elder
Natural history -- Pre-Linnean works
At the Promontory of the Pyrenees Spain begins, more narrow, not only
than Gaul, but even than itself[3068] in its other parts, as we have
previously mentioned[3069], 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[3070], 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[3071], Olarso[3072], the towns of
the Varduli[3073], the Morosgi[3074], Menosca[3075], Vesperies[3076],
and the Port of Amanus[3077], where now stands the colony of
Flaviobriga. We then come to the district of the nine states of the
Cantabri[3078], the river Sauga[3079], and the Port of Victoria of the
Juliobrigenses[3080], from which place the sources of the Iberus[3081]
are distant forty miles. We next come to the Port of Blendium[3082],
the Orgenomesci[3083], a people of the Cantabri, Vereasueca[3084]
their port, the country of the Astures[3085], the town of
Noega[3086], and on a peninsula[3087], the Pæsici. Next to these we
have, belonging to the jurisdiction of Lucus[3088], after passing
the river Navilubio[3089], the Cibarci[3090], the Egovarri, surnamed
Namarini, the Iadoni, the Arrotrebæ[3091], the Celtic Promontory,
the rivers Florius[3092] and Nelo, the Celtici[3093], surnamed Neri,
and above them the Tamarici[3094], in whose peninsula[3095] are the
three altars called Sestianæ, and dedicated[3096] to Augustus; the
Capori[3097], the town of Noela[3098], the Celtici surnamed Præsamarci,
and the Cileni[3099]: of the islands, those worthy of mention are
Corticata[3100] and Aunios. After passing the Cileni, belonging to
the jurisdiction of the Bracari[3101], we have the Heleni[3102], the
Gravii[3103], and the fortress of Tyde, all of them deriving their
origin from the Greeks. Also, the islands called Cicæ[3104], the
famous city of Abobrica[3105], the river Minius[3106], four miles wide
at its mouth, the Leuni, the Seurbi[3107], and Augusta[3108], a town
of the Bracari, above whom lies Gallæcia. We then come to the river
Limia[3109], and the river Durius[3110], one of the largest in Spain,
and which rises in the district of the Pelendones[3111], 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[3112].
CHAP. 35. (21.)—LUSITANIA.
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