BOOK IV. XII. 88-89 



territories respectively are the sources of the Bug 

 and the Dnicper, the Geloni, Thyssagetae, Budini, 

 BasiHdae and Agathyrsi, the last a dark-haired 

 people ; al)ove them are the Nomads and then the 

 Cannibals, and after Lake Buces above the Sea of 

 Azov the Sauromatae and Essedones. Along the 

 coast, as far as the river Don, are the Maeotae from 

 whom the sea receives its name, and last of all in the 

 rear of the Maeotae are the Arimaspi. Then come 

 the Ripaean Mountains " and the region called 

 Pterophorus, because of the feather-hke snow con- 

 tinually falHng there ; it is a part of the world that 

 Hes under the condemnation of nature and is plunged 

 in dense darkness, and occupied only by the work of 

 frost and the chilly hn-king-places of the north wind.* 

 Behind these mountains and beyond the north wind The Hyper- 

 there dweHs (if we can beHeve it) a happy race of ''^^""'" 

 people caHed the Hyperboreans, who Hve to extreme 

 old age and are famous for legendary marvels. Here 

 are beHeved to be the hinges on which the firmament 

 turns and the extreme Hmits of the revolutions of 

 the stars, with six months' dayHght and a single day 

 of the sun in retirement, not as the ignorant have 

 said, fi-om the spring equinox till autumn: for these 

 people the sun rises once in tlie year, at midsummer, 

 and sets once, at midwinter. It is a genial region, 

 with a delightful cHmate and exempt from every 

 harmful blast. The homes of the natives are the 

 woods and groves ; they worship the gods severaHy 

 and in congregations ; all discord and aH sorrow is 

 unknown. Death comes to them only when, owing 

 to satiety of Hfe, after liolding a banquet and anoint- 

 ing their old age with Uixury, they leap from a certain 

 rock into the sea : this mode of burial is the most 



187 



