“To stand the first in worth, as in command.”[904]
Add to this, that he wrote the history of Pompey. For these reasons he ought to have paid a greater regard to truth.
7. The second portion is that above the Hyrcanian,[905] which we also call the Caspian Sea, extending as far as the Scythians near the Indians.
The third portion is continuous with the above-mentioned isthmus, and consists of the country following next in order to the isthmus and the Caspian Gates,[906] and approaching nearest the parts within the Taurus, and to Europe; these are Media, Armenia, Cappadocia, and the intervening country.[907]
The fourth portion consists of the tract within the Halys,[908] and the parts upon and without the Taurus, which coincide with the peninsula formed by the isthmus,[909] which separates the Euxine and the Cilician Seas. Among the other countries beyond the Taurus we place Indica and Ariana,[910] as far as the nations which extend to the Persian Sea, the Arabian Gulf, and the Nile, and to the Ægyptian and the Issic seas.
CHAPTER II.
1. According to this disposition, the first portion towards the north and the Ocean is inhabited by certain tribes of Scythians, shepherds, (nomades,) and Hamaxœci (or those who live in waggon-houses). Within these tribes live Sarmatians, who also are Scythians, Aorsi,[911] and Siraci, extending as far as the Caucasian Mountains towards the south. Some of these are Nomades, or shepherd tribes, others Scenitæ, (or dwellers in tents,) and Georgi, or tillers of the ground. About the lake Mæotis live the Mæotæ. Close to the sea is the Asiatic portion of the Bosporus and Sindica.[912] Next follow Achæi, Zygi, Heniochi,[913] Cercetæ, and Macropogones (or the long-beards). Above these people are situated the passes of the Phtheirophagi (or Lice-eaters). After the Heniochi is Colchis, lying at the foot of the Caucasian and Moschic mountains. Having assumed the Tanaïs as the boundary of Europe and Asia, we must begin our description in detail from this river.