10. It is but just too that Apollodorus should give some explanation respecting the Mysians mentioned in the Epic poems of Homer, whether he takes them to be but people of his feigning, when the poet says,
“Of the close-fighting Mysians and the illustrious Hippemolgi,”[2665]
or would he regard them as the Mysians of Asia? Now if he should declare that he considers them to be those of Asia, he will misinterpret the poet, as has been before observed; but if he should say they were but an invention, as there were no Mysians in Thrace, he will be guilty of a palpable misstatement, for even in our own times Ælius Catus has removed from the opposite side of the Danube into Thrace fifty thousand Getæ, who speak a language cognate with the Thracian. They still inhabit the very spot, and pass by the name of Mœsi. Whether those of former times were so designated, and had their name slightly varied in Asia, or, as is more suitable to history and the poet’s expression, those in Thrace were at the first called Mysians,[2666] is not certain. But enough of this; we must now return to our geography.
11. Let us pass over the early history of the Getæ, and occupy ourselves with their actual condition. Bœrebistas, one of the Getæ, having taken the command of his tribe, reanimated the men who were disheartened by frequent wars, and raised them to such a degree of training, sobriety, and a habit of obedience to orders, that he established a powerful dominion within a few years, and brought most of the neighbouring states into subjection to the Getæ. He at length became formidable even to the Romans, fearlessly crossing the Danube, and laying waste Thrace as far as Macedonia and Illyria; he also subdued the Kelts who live among the Thracians and Illyrians, and thoroughly annihilated the Boii who were subject to Critasirus and the Taurisci. In order to maintain the obedience of his subjects, he availed himself of the assistance of Decæneus a sorcerer,[2667] who had travelled in Egypt, and who, by predictions he had learnt to draw from certain natural signs, was enabled to assume the character of an oracle, and was almost held in the veneration of a god, as we have related when noticing Zamolxis.[2668] As an instance of their implicit obedience, we may relate that they were persuaded to root up their vines and live without wine. However, Bœrebistas was murdered in a sedition before the Romans sent an army against him. Those who succeeded to his government divided it into several states. Lately, when Augustus Cæsar sent an army against them, they were divided into five states, at another time they were four, for such divisions are but temporary in duration, and variable in their extent.
12. There was, from ancient times, another division of these people which still exists; thus, some they call Dacians and others Getæ: the Getæ extend towards the Euxine and the east, but the Dacians are situated on the opposite side towards Germany and the sources of the Danube,[2669] whom I consider to have been called Daci from a very early period. Whence also amongst the Attics the names of Getæ and Davi were customary for slaves. This at least is more probable than to consider them as taken from the Scythians who are named Daæ,[2670] for they live far beyond Hyrcania,[2671] and it is not likely that slaves would be brought all that way into Attica. It was usual with them to call their slaves after the name of the nation from whence they were brought, as Lydus and Syrus,[2672] or else by a name much in use in their own country, as, for a Phrygian, Manes or Midas; for a Paphlagonian, Tibius. The nation which was raised to so much power by Bœrebistas has since been completely reduced by civil dissensions and contests with the Romans; however, they are still able to set out 40,000 men armed for the wars.
13. The river Maros[2673] flows through their country into the Danube,[2674] on which the Romans transported their military stores; for thus they termed the upper part of that river from its sources to the cataracts, which flows chiefly through the country of the Dacians, but the part below that point which flows through the country of the Getæ as far as the Black Sea, they call the Ister.[2675] The Dacians speak the same language as the Getæ. The Getæ are best known among the Greeks on account of the frequent wandering expeditions they make on both sides of the Danube, and their being mixed among the Thracians and Mysians. The like is the case with regard to the nation of the Triballi, a Thracian people; for they have received many refugees on occasions when their more powerful neighbours have driven out the weaker, for from time to time the Scythians of the opposite side of the river, and the Bastarnæ, and the Sarmatians,[2676] become victorious, and those who are driven out cross over and some of them take up their residence either in the islands of the river or in Thrace, while on the other side the inhabitants are distressed by the Illyrians. At one time when the Getæ and the Dacians had increased to the greatest numbers, they were able to set on foot an army of two hundred thousand men, but now they are reduced to about forty thousand men, and are even likely to become subject to the Romans; still they are not yet quite under their sway on account of their trust in the Germans, who are enemies to the Romans.
14. Between [the Getæ and] the Black Sea, from the Danube to the Dniester,[2677] lies the desert of the Getæ.[2678] It is entirely a plain and destitute of water. It was there that Darius the son of Hystaspes, at the time he crossed the Danube, was in danger of being cut off with his whole army for want of water; this he found out before it was too late, and returned. At a subsequent period, when Lysimachus was waging war against the Getæ and their king Dromichætes, he not only incurred the risk,[2679] but he fell into the hands of the enemy; but his life was spared by the courtesy of the barbarian, as I have before related.
15. Near the mouths of the Danube is the large island called Peuce.[2680] This the Bastarnæ possessed, and were hence called Peucini. There are also other islands much smaller, some above this, and others nearer the sea. The Danube has seven mouths, the largest is called the Sacred Mouth,[2681] the passage by which to Peuce is 120 stadia.[2682] At the lower part of this island Darius made his bridge. It might likewise have been constructed at the upper part. This is the first mouth on the left-hand side as you sail into the Black Sea; the rest are passed while sailing along towards the Dniester; the seventh mouth is distant from this first mouth about 300 stadia. These mouths form several islands. The first three mouths next after the Sacred Mouth are but small, the remainder are much less than it, but greater than any of the three. Ephorus states that the Danube has five mouths. From hence to the Dniester,[2683] which is a navigable river, there are 900 stadia.[2684] In the district intervening there are two great lakes; one is open to the sea, and is used as a harbour,[2685] the other has no outlet.
16. At the mouth of the Dniester there is a tower called the Tower of Neoptolemus, and a village called Herm[=o]nax.[2686] As you sail up the river 140 stadia, there are cities on both sides; the one is Niconia,[2687] and that on the left Ophiussa.[2688] Those who dwell on the spot say that the city is but 120 stadia up the river. The island of Leuce[2689] is distant from the river’s mouth a course of 500 stadia; it is quite in the sea, and is sacred to Achilles.
17. Next is the Dnieper,[2690] a river navigable to the distance of 600[2691] stadia, and near to it another river, the Bog,[2692] and an island[2693] lying before the mouth of the Dnieper, which possesses a haven. After sailing up the Borysthenes[2694] 200 stadia, you come to the city of like name with the river, which is likewise called Olbia;[2695] it is a great emporium and a foundation of the Milesians. Of the region lying inland from the coast we have described between the Dnieper and the Danube, the first portion is the Desert of the Getæ, then comes the Tyregetæ, after them the Jazyges Sarmatæ, and the Basilii, who are also called Urgi.[2696] Most of these people are nomades. However, a few of them pay attention to agriculture. These are said to inhabit the banks of the Danube, frequently even on both sides of the river. In the inland the Bastarnæ dwell, and confine with the Tyregetæ and the Germans; indeed, they may almost be said to be of the German stock. They are divided into many tribes, as some are called Atmoni, some Sidones, those who inhabit the island Peuce[2697] in the Danube, Peucini, and the most northern, Roxolani.[2698] These latter depasture the plains lying between the Don[2699] and the Dnieper. Indeed the whole of the northern regions with which we are acquainted, from Germany to the Caspian, is an extended plain. Whether any dwell still farther than the Roxolani is unknown to us. However, the Roxolani fought against the generals of Mithridates Eupator. Their leader was Tasius. They came as allies of Palacus, the son of Scilurus, and were considered good soldiers, but against the serried and well-armed phalanx every barbarous and light-armed tribe is ineffective. Thus they, although numbering fifty thousand men, could not withstand the six thousand arrayed by Diophantus, the general of Mithridates, but were almost all cut to pieces. They make use of helmets and breastplates made of untanned ox-hide. They bear wicker shields; and as weapons, lances, the bow, and the sword, such as most of the other barbarians do. The woollen tents of the nomades are fixed upon their chariots, in which they pass their lives. Their herds are scattered round their tents, and they live on the milk, the cheese, and the meat which they supply. They shift their quarters ever in search of pasture, changing the places they have exhausted for others full of grass. In the winter they encamp in the marshes near the Palus Mæotis,[2700] and in the summer on the plains.