BOOK V. I. 2-5 



Claudius, about which the most marvellous legends 

 are told by the old writers : this was the site of the 

 palace of Antaeus and the scene of his combat with 

 Hercules, and here were the sjardens of the Ladies 

 of the West." As a matter of fact an arm of the sea 

 stretches inland here ^vith a winding channel which, 

 as people nowadays explain the story, had some 

 resemblance to a guardian serpent ; * it embraces 

 within it an island which, although the neighbouring 

 district is considerably elevated, is nevertheless the 

 only portion not flooded by the tides. On the island 

 there also rises an altar of Hercules, but of the 

 famous grove in the story that bore the golden fi*uit 

 nothing else except some wild olive trees. No doubt 

 less wonder may be felt at the portentous falsehoods 

 of Greece put about concerning these serpents and 

 the river Lixus'' by people who reflect that our own 

 countrymen, and these quite recently, have reported 

 Uttle less miraculous stories about the same matters, 

 stating that this city is exceedingly powerful and 

 greater than Great Carthage'' ever was, and more- 

 over that it is situated in a Une with ^ Carthage 

 and at an almost immeasurable distance from 

 Tangier, and all the other details swallowed so 

 greedily by CorneHus Nepos. 



In the interior, 40 miles from Lixus, is another 

 colony of Augustus, Babba, called Julia. On The 

 Plains, and 75 miles further, a third, Banasa, which 

 has the surname of Valentia. Thirty-five miles from 

 Banasa is tlie tovvn of Volubile, whioh is at the same 

 distance from the coasts of the Atlantic and the 

 Mediterranean. On the shore, 50 miles from Lixus, 

 is tlie river Sebou, flowing by the colony of Banasa, 

 a fine river available for naviffation. The same 



