Latin Texts & Translations

A third Gulf is divided into two smaller ones, those of the two Syrtes ^[Note], which are rendered perilous by the shallows

of their quicksands and the ebb and flow of the sea. Polybius states the distance from Carthage to the Lesser Syrtis, the one which is nearest to it, to be 300 miles. The inlet to it he also states to be 100 miles across, and its circumference 300. There is also a way ^[Note] to it by land, to find which we must employ the guidance of the stars and cross deserts which present nothing but sand and serpents. After passing these we come to forests filled with vast multitudes of wild beasts and elephants, then desert wastes ^[Note], and beyond them the Garamantes ^[Note], distant twelve days' journey from the Augylæ ^[Note]. Above the Garamantes was formerly the na-

tion of the Psylli ^[Note], and above them again the Lake of Lycomedes ^[Note], surrounded with deserts. The Augylæ themselves are situate almost midway between Æthiopia which faces the west ^[Note], and the region which lies between ^[Note] the two Syrtes, at an equal distance from both. The distance along the coast that lies between the two Syrtes is 250 miles. On it are found the city of Œa ^[Note], the river Cinyps ^[Note], and the country of that name, the towns of Neapolis ^[Note], Graphara ^[Note], and Abrotonum ^[Note], and the second, surnamed the Greater, Leptis ^[Note].

We next come to the Greater Syrtis, 625 miles in circumference, and at the entrance 312 miles in width; next after which dwells the nation of the Cisippades. At the bottom of this gulf was the coast of the Lotophagi, whom some writers have called the Alachroæ ^[Note], extending as far as the Altars of the Philæni ^[Note]; these Altars are formed of heaps

of sand. On passing these, not far from the shore there is a vast swamp ^[Note] which receives the river Triton ^[Note] and from it takes its name: by Callimachus it is called Pallantias ^[Note], and is said by him to be on the nearer side of the Lesser Syrtis; many other writers however place it between the two Syrtes. The promontory which bounds the Greater Syrtis has the name of Borion ^[Note]; beyond it is the province of Cyrene.

Africa, from the river Ampsaga to this limit, includes 516 peoples, who are subject to the Roman sway, of which six are colonies; among them Uthina ^[Note] and Tuburbi ^[Note], besides those already mentioned. The towns enjoying the rights of Roman citizens are fifteen in number, of which I shall mention, as lying in the interior, those of Assuræ ^[Note], Abutucum, Aborium, Canopicum ^[Note], Cilma ^[Note], Simithium, Thunusidium, Tuburnicum, Tynidrumum, Tibiga, the two towns called Ucita, the Greater and the Lesser, and vaga. There is also one town with Latin rights, Uzalita by name, and one town of tributaries, Castra Cornelia ^[Note]. The free towns are thirty in number, among which we may mention, in the interior, those of Acholla ^[Note], Aggarita, Avina, Abzirita, Cano-

pita, Melizita, Matera, Salaphita, Tusdrita ^[Note], Tiphica, Tunica ^[Note], Theuda, Tagasta ^[Note], Tiga ^[Note], Ulusubrita, a second Vaga, Visa, and Zama ^[Note]. Of the remaining number, most of them should be called, in strictness, not only cities, but nations even; such for instance as the Natabudes, the Capsitani ^[Note], the Musulami, the Sabarbares, the Massyli ^[Note], the Nisives, the Vamacures, the Cinithi, the Musuni, the Marchubii ^[Note], and the whole of Gætulia ^[Note], as far as the river Nigris ^[Note], which separates Africa proper from Æthiopia.