Greek Texts & Translations

though not in such large quantities. The same writer, speak- ing of the extent and height of the Alps, compares with them the largest mountains of Greece, such as Taygetum, ^note Lycaeum, ^note Parnassus, ^note Olympus, ^note Pelion, ^note Ossa, ^note and of Thrace, as the Haemus, Rhodope, and Dunax, saying that an active person might almost ascend any of these in a single day, and go round them in the same time, whereas five days would not be sufficient to ascend the Alps, while their length along the plains extends 2200 stadia. ^note He only names four passes over the mountains, one through Liguria close to the Tyrrhenian Sea, ^note a second through the country of the Taurini, ^note by which Hannibal passed, a third through the country of the Salassi, ^note and a fourth through that of the Rhaeti, ^note all of them precipitous. In these mountains, he says, there are numerous lakes; three large ones, the first of which is Benacus, ^note 500 stadia in length and 130 in breadth, the river Mincio flows from it. The second is the Verbanus, ^note 400 stadia [in length], and in breadth smaller than the preceding;