ODESSA. 
383 
already been sufficiently delineated; but there chap. 
is a third point of opposition, in which a Russian ' . — 
may be viewed, more amusing than either of between a 
these; namely, when he is contrasted with a 
Greek. The situation of Odessa is not very Greekm 
remote from the spot where, eighteen centuries 
ago, similar comparisons served to amuse Ovid, 
during his melancholy exile. He found upon 
either side of the Danube a different race of men. 
Towards the south were the Getce, whose origin 
was the same as that of the Greeks, and whose 
mode of speech he describes as still retaining 
corrupted traces of the Greek language. Upon 
the north were the Sarmatians, the progenitors 
of the Russians. According to his account, 
however, both to the Getce and Sarmatce belonged 
the same 
“ Vox fera, trux vultus, verissima Martis imago : 
Non coma, non ullA barba resecta manu 1 .” 
Perhaps we are not authorized in considering 
the modern Greeks as legitimate descendants ot 
the Getce. Be that as it may, the former are 
found at this day, negotiating with as ferocious 
a people upon the Euxine coast as Ovid himself 
selected for the originals of his picture of the 
Barbarians upon the Ister; and the two people 
(1) Ovid. Trist. lib. v. Eleg. VII. 
