Geography

​This happened because King Obodas did not care much for public affairs, and especially for those of war (a trait common to all Arab kings), but left everything to the control of his regent Syllaeus. The latter conducted the whole campaign with treachery, seeking, as I believe, to reconnoitre the country and to help the Romans destroy some of its cities and tribes, and then to establish himself as master of all, after they (the Romans) had been ruined by famine, fatigue, disease, and all the other evils he had treacherously prepared. At any rate, Gallus put in at Leuke Kome, when the army was already afflicted with stomacace and scelotyrbe, diseases peculiar to the country, the former showing a kind of paralysis about the mouth, and the latter about the legs, caused by the water and the plants. He was therefore compelled to spend both the summer and the winter there, recovering the sick. Now, from Leuke Kome the cargoes are conveyed to Petra, and thence to Rhinocolura in Phoenicia near Egypt, and thence to the other nations, but at present most of them are carried down the Nile to Alexandria. The merchandise is brought from Arabia and India to Myos Hormos; then it is transported on camels to Coptos in the Thebaid, which lies on a canal of the Nile; thence to Alexandria. Gallus, setting out again with his army from Leuke Kome, marched through such regions that they were forced to carry even water on camels because of the wickedness of the guides. Consequently, after many days he arrived at the land of Aretas, a kinsman of Obodas. Aretas received him friendly and offered gifts, but the treachery of Syllaeus made even that country difficult to traverse; indeed, because of the lack of roads, Gallus spent thirty days in passing through it, which yielded only spelt, a few palms, and butter instead of oil. The next region he traversed belonged to nomads and was for the most part truly a desert; it was called Ararene, and its king was Sabos. And through this land he passed by trackless paths, wasting fifty days, until he reached the city of Negrana and a peaceful and fertile land. The king indeed fled, and the city was taken at the first assault. From there, in six days, he came to the river. When the barbarians joined battle there, about ten thousand of them fell, but of the Romans only two; for they used their weapons without skill, being utterly unwarlike, employing bows, spears, swords, and slings, and most of them double-edged axes. Immediately afterward, he also took the city called Asca, which had been occupied by the king. Thence he came to the city of Athrula, and having mastered it without a struggle, he placed a garrison there, and after securing supplies of grain and palms, he advanced to the city of Mariaba, belonging to the tribe of the Rhammanitae, who were under Ilasarus. For six days, then, he assaulted and besieged it, but because of a lack of water, he desisted. He was only two days’ journey from the spice-bearing country, as was learned from the prisoners. But he had wasted six months on his journeys because of bad guidance. He resolved to return when he realized the treachery too late, and went back by other roads. Indeed, on the ninth day he reached Negrana, where the battle had occurred, and thence on the eleventh day he came to the place called Seven Wells, so named from the circumstance. Thence, passing through a peaceful country, he arrived at the village of Chaalla, and again at another called Malotha, situated on a river. Then the road lay through a desert with few watering places as far as the village of Egra. It belongs to Obodas and lies on the sea. He accomplished the whole return journey in sixty days, whereas he had spent six months on the initial outward journey. From there he transported the army across in eleven days to Myos Hormos, and then, passing over to Coptos, he arrived at Alexandria with those who could be saved; but he had lost the rest, not by enemies, but by disease, fatigue, famine, and the badness of the roads; for in war only seven men happened to perish. For these reasons, this expedition did not benefit much in extending our knowledge of these places, but nevertheless it contributed some small help. Syllaeus, the cause of these things, paid the penalty in Rome; while pretending friendship, he was convicted not only of this villainy but also of other crimes, and was beheaded.