151 



BOOK III. 



AN ACCOTTNT OF COUNTRIES, NATIONS, SEAS, TOWNS, 

 HAVENS, MOUNTAINS, RIYERS, DISTANCES, AND PEO- 

 PLES WHO NOW EXIST OR FORMERLY EXISTED. 



INTEODUCTION. 



Thus far have I treated of the position and the wonders of 

 the earth, of the waters, the stars, and the proportion of 

 the universe and its dimensions. I shall now proceed to 

 describe its individual parts ; although indeed we may with 

 reason look upon the task as of an infinite nature, and one 

 not to be rashly commenced upon without incurring censure. 

 And yet, on the other hand, there is nothing which ought less 

 to require an apology, if it is only considered how far from 

 surprising it is that a mere mortal cannot be acquainted 

 with everything. I shall therefore not follow any single 

 author, but shall employ, in relation to each subject, such 

 writers as I shall look upon as most worthy of credit. For, 

 indeed, it is the characteristic of nearly all of them, that 

 they display the greatest care and accuracy in the descrip- 

 tion of the countries in which they respectively flourished ; 

 so that by doing this, I shall neither have to blame nor con- 

 tradict any one. 



The names of the different places will here be simply 

 given, and as briefly as possible ; the account of their cele- 

 brity, and the events which have given rise thereto, being 

 deferred *o a more appropriate occasion; for it must be 

 remembei-ed that I am here speaking of the earth as a whole, 

 and I wish to be understood as using the names without any 

 reference whatever to their celebrity, and as though the 

 places themselves were in their infancy, and had not as yet 

 acquired any fame through great events. The name is men- 

 tioned, it is true, but only as forming a part of the world 

 and the system of the universe. 



The whole globe is divided into three parts, Europe, Asia, 



and Africa. Our description commences where the sun sets 



and at the Straits of Grades \ where the Atlantic ocean, bursting 



1 Now the Straits of Gibraltao*. ] 



