BOOK III. I. 7-8 



divides it in two, stands first aniony the whole of the 

 provinces in the richness of its cultivation and in a 

 sort of peculiar fertility and brilliance of vegetation. 

 It comprises four jurisdictions, those of Cadiz, 

 Cordova, Ecija and Seville. Its to^vns number in 

 all 175, of which 9 are colonies, 10 municipaUties of 

 Roman citizens, 27 towns granted early Latin 

 rights, 6 free towns, 3 bound by treaty to Rome and 

 120 paying tribute. Worthy of mention in this 

 district, or easily expressed in Latin, are : on the 

 ocean coast beginning at the river Guadiana, the 

 town Ossonoba, surnamed Aestuaria, at the con- 

 fluence of the Luxia and the Urium " ; the Hareni 

 Mountains ; the river Guadalquivir ; the winding 

 bay of the Coast of Curum, opposite to which is 

 Cadiz, to be described * among the islands ; the 

 Promontory of Juno "^ ; Port \'aesippo ; the town of 

 Baelo ; Mellaria, the strait entering from the 

 Atlantic ; Carteia, called by the Greeks Tartesos ; 

 Gibraltar. Next, on the coast inside the straits, 

 are : the town of Barbesula with its river ; ditto 

 Salduba ; the town of Suel ; Malaga with its river, 

 one of the treaty towns. Then comes Maenuba 

 with its river ; Firmum Juhum surnamed Sexum ; 

 Sel ; Abdara ; Murgi, which is the boundary of 

 Baetica. The whole of this coast was thought by 

 Marcus Agrippa to be of Carthaginian origin; but 

 beyond the Guadiana and facing the Atlantic Ocean 

 is the territory of the Bastuli and TurduH. Marcus 

 Varro records that the whole of Spain was pene- 

 trated by invasions of Hiberi, Persians, Phoenicians, 

 Celts and Carthaginians ; for he says that it was the 

 sport (lusus) of Father Liber, or the frenzy (Xvcra-a) 

 of those who revelled with him, that gave its name to 



