The Roman History of Ammianus Marcellinus Part 40

58. There are also cities in that country, many of them on the border of different rivers, the best of which are Chatra, Charte, Alicodra, Astacea, Menapila, and Bactra itself, which has given its name both to the region and to the people.

59. At the foot of the mountains lie a people called the Sogdians, in whose country are two rivers navigable for large vessels, the Araxates and the Dymas, which, flowing among the hills and through the valleys into the open plain, form the extensive Oxian marsh. In this district the most celebrated towns are Alexandria, Cyreschata, and Drepsa the metropolis.

60. Bordering on these are the Sacae, a fierce nation dwelling in a gloomy-looking district, only fit for cattle, and on that account dest.i.tute of cities. They are at the foot of Mount Ascanimia and Mount Comedus, along the bottom of which, and by a town called the Stone Tower, is the long road much frequented by merchants which leads to China.

61. Around the glens at the bottom of the Imanian and Tapurian mountains, and within the Persian frontier, is a tribe of Scythians, bordering on the Asiatic Sarmatians, and touching the furthest side of the Allemanni, who, like dwellers in a secluded spot, and made for solitude, are scattered over the regions at long distances from one another, and live on hard and poor food.

62. And various tribes inhabit these districts, which, as I am hastening to other topics, I think superfluous to enumerate. But this is worth knowing, that among these tribes, which are almost unapproachable on account of their excessive ferocity, there are some races of gentle and devout men, as the Jaxartae and the Galactophagi, whom Homer mentions in his verses:--

G?a?t?f????, ????te, d??a??t?t?? ?????p??.[147]

63. Among the many rivers which flow through this land, either uniting at last with larger streams, or proceeding straight to the sea, the most celebrated are the Roemnus, the Jaxartes, and the Talicus. There are but three cities there of any note, Aspabota, Chauriana, and Saga.

64. Beyond the districts of the two Scythias, on the eastern side, is a ring of mountains which surround Serica, a country considerable both for its extent and the fertility of its soil. This tribe on their western side border on the Scythians, on the north and the east they look towards snowy deserts; towards the south they extend as far as India and the Ganges. The best known of its mountains are Annib, Nazavicium, Asmira, Emodon, and Opurocarra.

65. The plain, which descends very suddenly from the hills, and is of considerable extent, is watered by two famous rivers, the OEchardes and the Bautis, which is less rapid than the other. The character too of the different districts is very varied. One is extensive and level, the other is on a gentle slope, and therefore very fertile in corn, and cattle, and trees.

66. The most fertile part of the country is inhabited by various tribes, of which the Alitrophagi, the Annibi, the Sisyges, and the Chardi lie to the north, exposed to the frost; towards the east are the Rabannae, the Asmirae, and the Essedones, the most powerful of all, who are joined on the west by the Athagorae, and the As.p.a.carae; and on the south by the Betae, who live on the highest slopes of the mountains. Though they have not many cities they have some of great size and wealth; the most beautiful and renowned of which are Asmira, Essedon, Asparata, and Sera.

67. The Seres themselves live quietly, always avoiding arms and battles; and as ease is pleasant to moderate and quiet men, they give trouble to none of their neighbours. Their climate is agreeable and healthy; the sky serene, the breezes gentle and delicious. They have numbers of shining groves, the trees of which through continued watering produce a crop like the fleece of a sheep, which the natives make into a delicate wool, and spin into a kind of fine cloth, formerly confined to the use of the n.o.bles, but now procurable by the lowest of the people without distinction.

68. The natives themselves are the most frugal of men, cultivating a peaceful life, and shunning the society of other men. And when strangers cross their river to buy their cloth, or any other of their merchandise, they interchange no conversation, but settle the price of the articles wanted by nods and signs; and they are so moderate that, while selling their own produce, they never buy any foreign wares.

69. Beyond the Seres, towards the north, live the Ariani; their land is intersected by a navigable river called the Arias, which forms a huge lake known by the same name. This district of Asia is full of towns, the most ill.u.s.trious of which are Bitaxa, Sarmatina, Sotera, Nisibis, and Alexandria, from which last down the river to the Caspian Sea is a distance of fifteen hundred furlongs.

70. Close to their border, living on the slopes of the mountains, are the Paropanisatae, looking on the east towards India, and on the west towards Mount Caucasus. Their princ.i.p.al river is Ortogordomaris, which rises in Bactria. They have some cities, the princ.i.p.al being Agazaca, Naulibus, and Ortopana, from which if you coast along the sh.o.r.e to the borders of Media which are nearest to the Caspian gates, the distance is two thousand two hundred furlongs.

71. Next to them, among the hills, are the Drangiani, whose chief river is the Arabis, so called because it rises in Arabia; and their two princ.i.p.al towns are Prophthasia and Aniaspe, both wealthy and well known.

72. Next to them is Arachosia, which on the right extends as far as India. It is abundantly watered by a river much smaller than the Indus, that greatest of rivers, which gives its name to the surrounding regions; in fact their river flows out of the Indus, and pa.s.ses on till it forms the marsh known as Arachotoscrene. Its leading cities are Alexandria, Arbaca, and Choaspa.

73. In the most inland districts of Persia is Gedrosia; which on its right touches the frontier of India, and is fertilized by several rivers, of which the greatest is the Artabius. There the Barbitani mountains end, and from their lowest parts rise several rivers which fall into the Indus, losing their own names in the greatness of that superior stream. They have several islands, and their princ.i.p.al cities are Sedratyra and Gynaecon.

74. We need not detail minutely every portion of the sea-coast on the extremity of Persia, as it would lead us into too long a digression. It will suffice to say that the sea which stretches from the Caspian mountains along the northern side to the straits above mentioned, is nine thousand furlongs in extent; the southern frontier, from the mouth of the Nile to the beginning of Carmania, is fourteen thousand furlongs.

75. In these varied districts of different languages, the races of men are as different as the places. But to describe their persons and customs in general terms, they are nearly all slight in figure, swarthy or rather of a pale livid complexion; fierce-looking, with goat-like eyes, and eyebrows arched in a semicircle and joined, with handsome beards, and long hair. They at all times, even at banquets and festivals, wear swords; a custom which that excellent author Thucydides tells us the Athenians were the first of the Greeks to lay aside.

76. They are generally amazingly addicted to amatory pleasures; each man scarcely contenting himself with a mult.i.tude of concubines: from unnatural vices they are free. Each man marries many or few wives, as he can afford them, so that natural affection is lost among them because of the numerous objects of their licence. They are frugal in their banquets, avoiding immoderate indulgence and especially hard drinking, as they would the plague.

77. Nor, except at the king's table, have they any settled time for dining, but each man's stomach serves as his sun-dial; nor does any one eat after he is satisfied.

78. They are marvellously temperate and cautious, so that when sometimes marching among the gardens and vineyards of enemies, they neither desire nor touch anything, from fear of poison or witchcraft.

79. They perform all the secret functions of nature with the most scrupulous secrecy and modesty.

80. But they are so loose in their gait, and move with such correct ease and freedom, that you would think them effeminate, though they are most vigorous warriors; still they are rather crafty than bold, and are most formidable at a distance. They abound in empty words, and speak wildly and fiercely; they talk big, are proud, unmanageable, and threatening alike in prosperity and adversity; they are cunning, arrogant, and cruel, exercising the power of life and death over their slaves, and all low-born plebeians. They flay men alive, both piecemeal, and by stripping off the whole skin. No servant while waiting on them, or standing at their table, may gape, speak, or spit, so that their mouths are completely shut.

81. Their laws are remarkably severe: the most stringent are against ingrat.i.tude and against deserters; some too are abominable, inasmuch as for the crime of one man they condemn all his relations.

82. But as those only are appointed judges who are men of proved experience and uprightness, and of such wisdom as to stand in no need of advice, they laugh at our custom of sometimes appointing men of eloquence and skill in public jurisprudence as guides to ignorant judges. The story that one judge was compelled to sit on the skin of another, who had been condemned for his injustice, is either an ancient fable, or else, if ever there was such a custom, it has become obsolete.

83. In military system and discipline, by continual exercises in the business of the camp, and the adoption of the various manoeuvres which they have learnt from us, they have become formidable even to the greatest armies; they trust chiefly to the valour of their cavalry, in which all their n.o.bles and rich men serve. Their infantry are armed like mirmillos,[148] and are as obedient as grooms; and they always follow the cavalry like a band condemned to everlasting slavery, never receiving either pay or gratuity. This nation, besides those whom it has permanently subdued, has also compelled many others to go under the yoke; so brave is it and so skilful in all warlike exercises, that it would be invincible were it not continually weakened by civil and by foreign wars.

84. Most of them wear garments brilliant with various colours, so completely enveloping the body that even though they leave the bosoms and sides of their robes open so as to flutter in the wind, still from their shoes to their head no part of their person is exposed. After conquering Croesus and subduing Lydia, they learnt also to wear golden armlets and necklaces, and jewels, especially pearls, of which they had great quant.i.ties.

85. It only remains for me to say a few words about the origin of this stone. Among the Indians and Persians pearls are found in strong white sea-sh.e.l.ls, being created at a regular time by the admixture of dew. For the sh.e.l.ls, desiring as it were a kind of copulation, open so as to receive moisture from the nocturnal aspersion. Then becoming big they produce little pearls in triplets, or pairs, or unions, which are so called because the sh.e.l.ls when scaled often produce only single pearls, which then are larger.

86. And a proof that this produce arises from and is nourished by some aerial derivation rather than by any fattening power in the sea, is that the drops of morning dew when infused into them make the stones bright and round; while the evening dew makes them crooked and red, and sometimes spotted. They become either small or large in proportion to the quality of the moisture which they imbibe, and other circ.u.mstances.

When they are shaken, as is often the case by thunder, the sh.e.l.ls either become empty, or produce only weak pearls, or such as never come to maturity.

87. Fishing for them is difficult and dangerous, and this circ.u.mstance increases their value; because, on account of the snares of the fishermen they are said to avoid the sh.o.r.es most frequented by them, and hide around rocks which are difficult of access and the hiding places of sharks.

88. We are not ignorant that the same species of jewel is also produced and collected in the remote parts of the British sea; though of an inferior value.

[138] The book containing this account is lost.

[139] From ?????, to conquer.

[140] As the Greek epigram has it--

??? ?a??? ?a? p??t?? ae?f?e?sa?s? ?e?e?????

?a?t?? ?pe????, p???p???? pe??????.

_Thus translated in Bohn's 'Greek Anthology,' p. 25_:--

Him, who reversed the laws great Nature gave, Sail'd o'er the continent and walk'd the wave, Three hundred spears from Sparta's iron plain Have stopp'd. Oh blush, ye mountains and thou main!

[141] The probability is that all these names are corrupt. Ammia.n.u.s's ignorance of the relative bearings of countries makes it difficult to decide what they ought to be. If the proper reading of the last name be, as Valesius thinks, Sarbaletes, that is the name given by Ptolemy to a part of the Red Sea. A French translator of the last century considers the Gulf of Armenia a portion of the Caspian Sea.

[142] The Ebro.

[143] The Guadalquivir.

[144] Ammia.n.u.s seems to distinguish between the Hyrcanian and Caspian Sea, which are only different names for the same sea or inland lake.

[145] A name not very unlike Nejid, to this day the most celebrated Arab breed.

[146] There is evidently some corruption here; there is no such Greek word as Machagistia.

[147] Il. xiii. 10.

[148] A kind of gladiator.

BOOK XXIV.