BOOK VI.] History of Nature. 141 



of Jupiter Belus continueth there entire. He was the first 

 Discoverer of the Science of the Stars. Nevertheless it is 

 reduced to a Desert, having been exhausted by Seleucia, 

 which standeth near it : and which was for that very purpose 

 built by Nicator within the Fortieth Stone, at the Place of 

 meeting of the New Channel of Euphrates with the Tigris : 

 nevertheless it is named Babylonia, a free State at this Day, 

 of independent Jurisdiction; but they live after the Man- 

 ners of the Macedonians. And by report there are 600,000 

 common Citizens. The Position of the Walls, by report, is 

 in the form of an Eagle spreading out her Wings : and the 

 Soil is the most Fertile in all the East. The Parthians, 

 again, to exhaust this City, built Ctesiphon within the Third 

 Stone from it, in Chalonitis ; which now is the Head 

 of the Kingdom. But when it advanced nothing, King 

 Vologesus founded another Town near it, called Vologeso 

 Certa. There are also in Mesopotamia the Cities Hyp- 

 parenum, a City likewise of the Chaldaeans, and ennobled 

 for Learning, and, as well as Babylon, situated near the 

 River Narraga, which gave the Name to the City. The 

 Persians destroyed the Walls of this Hypparenum. There are 

 also in this Tract the Orcheni, toward the south ; and a Third 

 Sect of the Chaldaeans. Beyond this Region are the Notitae, 

 Orthophantae, and Graeciochantae. Nearchus and Onesi- 

 critus report, That from the Persian Sea to Babylon, by the 

 Voyage up the Euphrates, is 412 Miles. But later Writers 

 count from Seleucia 490 Miles. Juba writeth, that from 

 Babylon to Charax is 175 Miles. Some affirm that beyond 

 Babylon the River Euphrates floweth in one Channel 87 

 Miles, before it is divided to water the Country : its entire 

 Course being 1200 Miles. This variety in Authors is the cause 

 of the Uncertainty of the Measure, considering that even the 

 very Persians agree not about the Dimensions of their 

 Schceni and Parasangae, but have different Measures of them. 

 Where the River Euphrates ceaseth to defend by its own 

 Channel, at the portion approaching the Border of Charax, 

 there is great danger of the Robbers called Attalae, a Nation 

 of the Arabians. Beyond them are the Scenitae. The Arabian 



