τῆν ἄρκτον, ἵνα Ῥήνου τέ εἰσιν αἱ πηγαὶ καὶ αἱ τοῦ Ἴστρου πλησίον παρὰ τοῖς γείτοσι βαρβάροις· τὰ δὲ ἐκ τῆς ἕω ταῦτα δὴ τὰς Ἄλπεις ὀχυροῦν ἔφαμεν, ἵναπερ ὁ τύραννος τὴν φρουρὰν κατεσκευάσατο. οὕτω δὴ τῆς Ἰταλίας ἁπανταχόθεν ὄρεσὶ [D] τε συνεχομένης λίαν δυσβάτοις καὶ θαλάσσῃ τεναγώδει, ἅτε ἐσρεόντων ποταμῶν μυρίων, οἳ ποιοῦσιν ἕλος προσεοικὸς τοῖς Αἰγυπτίοις ἕλεσι, τὸ ξύμπαν τῆς ἐκείνῃ θαλάττης πέρας βασιλεὺς ὑπὸ σοφίας ἔλαβε καὶ ἐβιάσατο τὴν ἄνοδον. (together with Sarpedon. Shall I therefore shrink from competition as though I could not cite on behalf of the Emperor any such exploit, and must therefore avoid seeming to compare the trivial with the important and things of little account with what deserves more serious consideration, or shall I venture to enter the lists even against an achievement so famous? Now that wall was to protect the beach, and was a palisade such as we are wont to construct, and was completed in less than a morning. But the wall that was on the Alps was an ancient fort, and the usurper used it after his flight, converting it into a defence as strong as though it had been newly built, and he left there an ample garrison of seasoned troops. But he did not himself march all the way there, but remained in the neighbouring city.(331) This is a trading centre of the Italians on the coast, very prosperous and teeming with wealth, since the Mysians and Paeonians and all the Italian inhabitants of the interior procure their merchandise thence. These last used, I think, to be called Heneti in the past, but now that the Romans are in possession of these cities they preserve the original name, but make the trifling addition of one letter at the beginning of the word. Its sign is a single character(332) and they call it “oo,” and they often use it instead of “b,” to serve, I suppose, as a sort of breathing, and to represent some peculiarity of their pronunciation. The nation as a whole is called by this name, but at the time of the founding of the city an eagle from Zeus flew past on the right, and so bestowed on the place the omen derived from the bird.(333) It is situated at the foot of the Alps, which are very high mountains with precipices in them, and they hardly allow room for those who are trying to force their way over the passes to use even a single waggon and a pair of mules. They begin at the sea which we call Ionian, and form a barrier between what is now Italy and the Illyrians and Galatians, and extend as far as the Etruscan sea. For when the Romans conquered the whole of this country, which includes the tribe of the Heneti and some of the Ligurians and a considerable number of Galatians besides, they did not hinder them from retaining their ancient names, but compelled them to acknowledge the dominion of the Italian republic. And, in our day, all the territory that lies within the Alps and is bounded by the Ionian and the Etruscan seas has the honour of being called Italy. On the other side of the Alps, on