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But if we should grant (to Ephorus) that this oblique line is
the direction of the isthmus, most of these places, Cappadocia
in particular, would be included, and (the kingdom of) Pontus, properly so called, which is a part of Cappadocia on the
Euxine; so that if we were to admit the Chalybes to be a
part of the peninsula, with more reason we ought to admit the
Cataonians, the two nations of Cappadocians, and the Lycaonians, whom even he himself has omitted. But why has he
placed in the interior the Chalybes, whom the poet, as we
have shown, calls Halizoni? It would have been better to
divide them, and to place one portion of them on the sea-coast,
and another in the inland parts. The same division ought to
be made of the Cappadocians and Cilicians. But Ephorus
does not even mention the former, and speaks only of the
Cilicians on the sea-coast. The subjects, then, of Antipater of
Derbe, the Homonadeis, and many other tribes contiguous
to the Pisidians,
men, who know not the sea, nor have ever eaten food seasoned with
salt, note
where are they to be placed? Nor does he say whether the
Lydians and the Meonians are two nations or the same nation, or whether they live separately by themselves or are
comprehended in another tribe. For it was impossible for
Ephorus to be ignorant of so celebrated a nation, and does he
not, by passing it over in silence, appear to omit a most important fact?
25
But who are the mixed nations? For we cannot say that he either named or omitted others, besides those already mentioned, whom we should call mixed nations. Nor, indeed, should we say that they were a part of those nations whom he has either mentioned or omitted. For if they were a mixed people, still the majority constituted them either Greeks or Barbarians. We know nothing of a third mixed people. 26
But how (according to Ephorus) are there three tribes of Greeks who inhabit the peninsula? Is it because anciently the Athenians and Ionians were the same people? In that case the Dorians and the Aeolians should be considered as the same nation, and then there would be (only) two tribes (and not three, inhabiting the peninsula). But if, following modern
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Strabo, Geography (English) (XML Header) [genre: prose] [word count] [lemma count] [Str.].