| Pliny the Elder, Natural History (English) (XML Header) [genre: prose] [word count] [lemma count] [Plin. Nat.]. | ||
| <<Plin. Nat. 5.2 | Plin. Nat. 5.3 (Latin) | >>Plin. Nat. 5.4 |
Beyond the river Tusca begins the region of Zeugitana [Note], and that part which properly bears the name of Africa [Note].
We here find three promontories; the White Promontory [Note], the Promontory of Apoll [Note], facing Sardinia, and that of Mercury [Note], opposite to Sicily. Projecting into the sea these headlands form two gulfs, the first of which bears the name of "Hipponensis" from its proximity to the city called Hippo Dirutus [Note], a corruption of the Greek name Diarrhytus, which it has received from the channels made for irrigation. Adjacent to this place, but at a greater distance from the sea-shore, is Theudalis [Note], a town exempt from tribute. We then come to the Promontory of Apollo, and upon the second gulf, we find Utica [Note], a place enjoying the rights of Roman citizens, and famous for the death of Cato; the river Bagrada [Note], the place called Castra Cornelia [Note], the co-
lony [Note] of Carthage, founded upon the remains of Great Carthage [Note], the colony of Maxula [Note], the towns of Carpi [Note], Misua, and Clypea [Note], the last a free town, on the Promontory of Mercury; also Curubis, a free town [Note], and Neapolis [Note].
Here commences the second division [Note] of Africa properly so called. Those who inhabit Byzacium have the name of Libyphœnices [Note]. Byzacium is the name of a district which is 250 miles in circumference, and is remarkable for its extreme fertility, as the ground returns the seed sown by the husbandman with interest a hundred-fold [Note]. Here are the
free towns of Leptis [Note], Adrumetum [Note], Ruspina [Note], and Thapsus [Note]; and then Thenæ [Note], Macomades [Note], Tacape [Note], and Sabrata [Note] which touches on the Lesser Syrtis; to which spot, from the Ampsaga, the length of Numidia and Africa is 580 miles, and the breadth, so far as it has been ascertained, 200. That portion which we have called Africa is divided into two provinces, the Old and the New; these are separated by a dyke which was made by order of the second Scipio Africanus [Note] and the kings [Note], and extended to Thenæ, which town is distant from Carthage 216 miles.
| Pliny the Elder, Natural History (English) (XML Header) [genre: prose] [word count] [lemma count] [Plin. Nat.]. | ||
| <<Plin. Nat. 5.2 | Plin. Nat. 5.3 (Latin) | >>Plin. Nat. 5.4 |
