1.12 History of Nature. [BooK VI. 



Pontus Euxinus. And Eratosthenes setteth down the mea- 

 sure of it as being from East to South, along the Coast of 

 Cadusia and Albania, 5400 Stadia : from thence by the 

 Aratiatici, Amarbi, and Hircanii, to the mouth of the River 

 Zonus, 4800 Stadia : from it to the mouth of the Jaxartes, 

 2400 Stadia: which being put together amount to 1575 

 Miles. Artemidorus counteth less by 25 Miles. Agrippa, in 

 limiting the Circuit of the Caspian Sea, and the Nations 

 around it, and Armenia with them, from the East with the 

 Ocean of the Seres, Westward with the Mountains of Cau- 

 casus, on the South side with the Mountain Taurus, and on 

 the North with the Scythian Ocean, hath written, That the 

 whole, so far as is known, may contain in Length 590 Miles, 

 and 290 in Breadth. There want not others who say, That 

 the whole Circuit of that Sea, from the Strait is 2500 Miles. 

 This throat is very narrow where it bursts forth, but exceed- 

 ingly long : but where it beginneth to enlarge it fetcheth a 

 Compass withlunated Horns, and after the manner of a Scy- 

 thian Bow, as M. Varro saith, it windeth along from its 

 Mouth toward the Lake Moeotis. The first Gulf is called 

 Scythicus ; for the Scythians inhabit on both Sides, and by 

 means of the narrow Straits between have business one with 

 another : for on one side are the Nomades and Sauromatae, 

 with many Names : and on the other, the Abzoae, who have 

 no fewer denominations. At the entry of this Sea on the 

 right hand, the Udini, a People of the Scythians, dwell 

 upon the very point of these Straits : and then along the 

 Coast, the Albani, descended (as they say) from Jason ; 

 where the Sea that lieth before them is called Albanum. 

 This Nation is spread also upon the Mountains of Caucasus 

 to the River Cyrus, and descendeth, as hath been said, to the 

 border of Armenia and Iberia. Above the Maritime Coasts 

 of Albania and the Nation of the Udini, the Sarmatse, called 

 Utidorsi, and Atoderes, are planted : and behind them the 

 Sauromatides, Amazons, already pointed out. The Rivers of 

 Albania, which fall into the Sea, are Cassios and Albanos : 

 and then Carnbises, which hath its Head in the Caucasian 

 Mountains : and soon after Cyrus, which ariseth out of the 



