304 PLINT's NATTJEi-L HISTOET. [Book IV. 



Thus is Thrace bounded by the Ister on the north, by the 

 Euxine, and the Propontis^ on the east, and by the -^gean 

 Sea on the south ; on the coast of which, after lea\-ing the 

 Strymon, we come in turn to Apollonia^, (Esyma^, Neapolis"* 

 and Dates. In the interior is the colony of Philippi*, 

 distant from Dyrrhachium 325 miles; also* Scotussa^ the 

 city of Topiris, the mouth of the river Meatus^, Mount 

 Pangseus, Heraclea^, Olynthos^ Abdera^", a free city, the 

 people of the Bistones" and their Lake. Here was formerly 

 the city of Tirida, which struck such terror with its stables 

 of the horses'^ of Diomedes. At the present day we find 

 here Dicaea^^, Ismaron", the place where Parthenion stood, 

 Phalesina, and Maronea^", formerly called Orthagorea. We 



tioned dwelt about the mouth of the Ister, or Danube, and were a 

 different people from those of Sithonia, in Clialcidice, referred to in a 

 previous note. * The Sea of Marmora. 



2 It is difficidt to conceive which place of this name is here alluded to, 

 as there seem to have been four places on this coast so called, and all 

 mentioned by PUny in the present Book. 



3 Called -^syma by Homer ; between the rivers Strymon and Nestus, 

 * Now called Kavallo, on the Strymonic Gulf. The site of Datos 



appears to be unknown. 



5 Now called FiHba, or Felibejik, on a height of Mount Pangseus, on 

 the river Gangites, between the Nestus and the Strymon, It was founded 

 by Pliihp, on the site of the ancient town of Crenides, in the vicinity of 

 the gold mines. Here Augustus and Antony defeated Brutus and Cassius, 

 B.C. 42 ; and here the Apostle Paul first preached the Gospel in Europe, 

 A.D. 53, See Acts xvi, 12, 



^ Its site seems unknown, but it is evidently a different place from 

 that mentioned in the last Chapter. 



7 Also called Mestus. ® Sintica, previously mentioned. 



^ Now Aco Mamas, at the head of the Toronaic Gulf, It was the 

 most important Greek city on the coast of Macedon, It was taken and 

 destroyed by Philip, b.c, 347, and its inhabitants sold as slaves. Mecy- 

 bema, already mentioned, was used as its sea-port. 



^^ On the coast, and east of the river Nestus. Its people were pro- 

 verbial for their stupidity, though it produced the philosophers Demo- 

 critus, Protagoras, and Anaxarchus. No traces of its site are to be 

 found. 



" Now called the Lagos Burn. The name of the Bistones is some- 

 times used by the poets for that of the Tliracians in general, 



^' Or mares rather. Diomedes was the son of Ares, or Mars, and king 

 of the Bistones. He was slain by Hercules. 



13 By some identified with the modem Cumu, by others with Bauron. 



1^ Or Ismarus, at the foot of Mount Ismarus. ^^ Now Marogna. 



