| Pliny the Elder, Natural History (English) (XML Header) [genre: prose] [word count] [lemma count] [Plin. Nat.]. | ||
| <<Plin. Nat. 3.4 | Plin. Nat. 3.5 (Latin) | >>Plin. Nat. 3.6 |
That part of the Gallias which is washed by the inland sea [Note] is called the province of [Gallia] Narbonensis [Note], having formerly borne the name of Braccata [Note]. It is divided from Italy by the river Varus [Note], and by the range of the Alps, the great safeguards of the Roman Empire. From the remainder of Gaul, on the north, it is separated by the mountains Cebenna [Note] and Jura [Note]. In the cultivation of the soil, the manners and civilization of the inhabitants, and the extent of its wealth, it is surpassed by none of the provinces, and, in short, might be more truthfully described as a part of Italy than as a province. On the coast we have the district of the Sordones [Note], and more inland that of the Consuarani [Note]. The
rivers are the Tecum and the Vernodubrum [Note]. The towns are Illiberis [Note], the scanty remains of what was formerly a great city, and Ruscino [Note], a town with Latian rights. We then come to the river Atax [Note], which flows from the Pyrenees, and passes through the Rubrensian Lake [Note], the town of Narbo Martius, a colony of the tenth legion, twelve miles distant from the sea, and the rivers Arauris [Note] and Liria [Note]. The towns are otherwise but few in number, in consequence of the numerous lakes [Note] which skirt the sea-shore. We have Agatha [Note], formerly belonging to the Massilians, and the district of the Volcæ Tectosages [Note]; and there is the spot where Rhoda [Note], a Rhodian colony, formerly stood, from which the river takes its name of Rhodanus [Note]; a stream by far the most fertilizing of any in either of the Gallias. Descending from the Alps and rushing through lake Lemanus [Note], it carries along with it the sluggish Arar [Note], as well as the torrents of the Isara and the Druentia [Note], no less rapid than itself. Its two smaller mouths are called Libica [Note], one being the Spanish, and the
other the Metapinian mouth; the third and largest is called the Massiliotic [Note]. There are some authors who state that there was formerly a town called Heraclea [Note] at the mouth of the Rhodanus or Rhone.
Beyond this are the Canals [Note] leading out of the Rhone, a famous work of Caius Marius, and still distinguished by his name; the Lake of Mastramela [Note], the town of Maritima [Note] of the Avatici, and, above this, the Stony Plains [Note], memorable for the
battles of Hercules; the district of the Anatilii [Note], and more inland, that of the Desuviates [Note] and the Cavari. Again, close upon the sea, there is that of the Tricorii [Note], and inland, there are the Tricolli [Note], the Vocontii [Note], and the Segovellauni, and, after them, the Allobroges [Note].
On the coast is Massilia, a colony of Phocæan [Note] Greeks, and a federate [Note] city; we then have the Promontory of Zao [Note], the port of Citharista [Note], and the district of the Camatullici [Note]; then the Suelteri [Note], and above them the Verrucini [Note]. Again,
on the coast, we find Athenopolis [Note], belonging to the Massilians, Forum Julii [Note] Octavanorum, a colony, which is also called Pacensis and Classica, the river Argenteus [Note], which flows through it, the district of the Oxubii [Note] and that of the Ligauni [Note]; above whom are the Suetri [Note], the Quariates [Note] and the Adunicates [Note]. On the coast we have Antipolis [Note], a town with Latian rights, the district of the Deciates, and the river Varus, which proceeds from Mount Cema, one of the Alps.
The colonies in the interior are Arelate Sextanorum [Note], Beterræ Septimanorum [Note], and Arausio [Note] Secundanorum; Valentia [Note] in the territory of the Cavari, and Vienna [Note] in that of the Allobroges. The towns that enjoy Latian rights are Aquæ Sextiæ [Note] in the territory of the Saluvii, Avenio [Note] in that of the
Cavari, Apta Julia [Note] in that of the Volgientes, Alebece [Note] in that of the Reii Apollinares, Alba [Note] in that of the Helvi, and Augusta [Note] in that of the Tricastini, Anatilia, Aeria [Note], the Bormanni [Note], the Comaci, Cabellio [Note], Carcasum [Note] in the territory of the Volcæ Tectosages, Cessero [Note], Carpentoracte [Note] in the territory of the Memini, the Cenicenses [Note], the Cambolectri [Note], surnamed the Atlantici, Forum [Note] Voconi, Glanum Livi [Note], the Lutevani [Note], also called the Foroneronienses [Note], Nemausum [Note] in
the territory of the Arecomici, Piscenæ [Note], the Ruteni [Note], the Sanagenses [Note], the Tolosani [Note] in the territory of the Tectosages on the confines of Aquitania, the Tasconi [Note], the Tarusconienses [Note], the Umbranici [Note], Vasio [Note] and Lucus Augusti [Note], the two capitals of the federate state of the Vocontii. There are also nineteen towns of less note, as well as twenty-four belonging to the people of Nemausum. To this list [Note] the Emperor Galba added two tribes dwelling among the Alps, the Avantici [Note] and the Bodiontici, to whom belongs the town of Dinia [Note]. According to Agrippa the length of the province of Gallia Narbonensis is 370 miles, and its breadth 248 [Note].
| Pliny the Elder, Natural History (English) (XML Header) [genre: prose] [word count] [lemma count] [Plin. Nat.]. | ||
| <<Plin. Nat. 3.4 | Plin. Nat. 3.5 (Latin) | >>Plin. Nat. 3.6 |
