[2337] Ἴσως γὰρ δή τινες ἐπιζητήσουσι, πῶς ... οὐδὲν ἐπὶ πλεῖον εἰρήκαμεν ... περὶ τῶν Βρεττανικῶν νήσων, καὶ τῆς τοῦ καττιτέρου κατασκευῆς, ἔτι δὲ τῶν ἀργυρείων καὶ χρυσείων τῶν κατὰ τὴν Ἰβηρίαν, &c. (iii, 57, §§ 3-4).
[2338] See E. H. Bunbury, Hist. of Anc. Geogr., i, 1879, p. 12.
[2339] Hist. of Anc. Geogr., p. 38.
[2340] L’Anthr., x, 1899, p. 401. Cf. H. d’Arbois de Jubainville, Les premiers habitants de l’Europe, i, 1889, pp. 45-6.
[2341] Engl. Hist. Review, xix, 1904, p. 140, note.
[2342] Bibl. Hist., v. 22, § 2.—Κομίζουσιν εἴς τινα νῆσον προκειμένην τῆς Πρεττανικῆς, ὀνομαζομένην δὲ Ἴκτιν· κατὰ γὰρ τὰς ἀμπώτεις ἀναξηραμένου τοῦ μεταξὺ τόπου, ταῖς ἁμάξαις εἰς ταύτην κομίζουσι δαψιλῆ τὸν καττίτερον. Ἐντεῦθεν δ’ οἱ ἔμποροι παρὰ τῶν ἐγχωρίων ὠνοῦνται καὶ διακομίζουσιν εἰς τὴν Γαλατίαν· τὸ δὲ τελευταῖον πεζῇ διὰ τῆς Γαλατίας πορευθέντες ἡμέρας ὡς τριάκοντα κατάγουσιν ἐπὶ τῶν ἵππων τὰ φορτία πρὸς τὴν ἐκβολὴν τοῦ Ῥοδανοῦ ποταμοῦ.
[2343] See K. Müllenhoff, Deutsche Altertumskunde, i, 1890, pp. 471-2; H. Berger, Gesch. der wissenschaftlichen Erdkunde der Griechen, iii, 1891, pp. 34-5; and Pauly’s Real-Encyclopädie, iii, part i, 1897, p. 860. Müllenhoff justly remarks that the account which Diodorus gives in v, 22 of the mode in which the tin trade was conducted must have been derived from an eye-witness; and that of all the ancient writers Pytheas was the only one who saw with his own eyes what went on at Ictis. Professor Ridgeway assumes that Diodorus’s account of Ictis was borrowed from Posidonius; but the descriptions which Elton (Origins of Eng. Hist., 1890, pp. 30-1, 34-5, 92) and Professor Rhys (Celtic Britain, 1904, pp. 45-6) have published of the visit of Posidonius to Britain are purely imaginary; for there is absolutely no evidence that he ever crossed the Channel. Elton refers to a passage in the Solutiones of Priscian of Lydia, a writer of the sixth century (quaest. vi, p. 571 of F. Dübner’s edition), which proves nothing about Posidonius. See J. Bake, Posidonii Rhodii reliquiae doctrinae, 1810; Fragm. hist. Graec., ed. C. Müller, iii, 1849, pp. 245-96; R. Scheppig, De Posidonio, 1869, p. 7; Rev. celt., vii, 1886, p. 378; and M. Dubois, Examen de la géogr. de Strabon, 1891, p. 327.
[2344] Professor Rhys (Celtic Britain, 1904, p. 45) says that, according to Diodorus, the tin was brought ‘to the outlet of the Rhone, that is to say, to the meeting of the Rhone and the Saone’, &c. But πρὸς τὴν ἐκβολὴν τοῦ Ῥοδανοῦ ποταμοῦ can only mean ‘to the mouth of the Rhône’. Ἐκβολή sometimes means the issue of a river from a mountainous country: it cannot mean that part of a river where it is joined by an affluent; and I doubt whether the professor would seriously maintain that ‘the outlet of the Rhône’ is at Lyons.
[2345] v, 38, § 5.—Πολὺς δὲ καὶ ἐκ τῆς Πρεττανικῆς νήσου διακομίζεται πρὸς τὴν κατ’ ἀντικρὺ κειμένην Γαλατίαν, καὶ διὰ τῆς μεσογείου Κελτικῆς ἐφ’ ἵππων ὑπὸ τῶν ἐμπόρων ἄγεται παρά τε τοὺς Μασσαλιώτας καὶ εἰς τὴν ὀνομαζομένην πόλιν Ναρβῶνα.
[2346] Nat. Hist., iv, 16(30), § 104.—Timaeus historicus a Britannia introrsum sex dierum navigatione abesse dicit insulam Mictim in qua candidum plumbum proveniat; ad eam Britannos vitilibus navigiis corio circumsutis navigare. E. H. Bunbury (Hist. of Anc. Geogr., i, 1879, p. 603, n. 9) remarks that ‘it is impossible to say what sense we are to attach to the word “introrsus”, upon which the interpretation of the whole passage, in a geographical sense, depends’. I shall show presently (p. 505, infra) that only one sense which is not nonsense can be attributed to introrsum.