Geography

​To speak briefly, the southernmost point of our sea is the innermost part of the Great Syrtis, and next to this, Alexandria in Egypt and the mouths of the Nile, while the northernmost is that of the Borysthenes; and if one were to add Lake Maeotis to the sea (for it is, as it were, a part of it), that of the Tanais; the westernmost is the strait near the Pillars, and the easternmost is the said innermost part near Dioscurias; but Eratosthenes incorrectly says it is the Issic Gulf. For it is situated on the same meridian as Amisus and Themiscyra; and if you wish, include also Sidene as far as Pharnacia. From these parts toward the east, the voyage to Dioscurias is more than three thousand stadia, as will become more evident from the detailed circumnavigation. Such, then, is our sea.

​We must also outline the lands encompassing it, starting from the same parts from which we also outlined the sea. Now, as one sails into the strait near the Pillars, on the right is Libya as far as the stream of the Nile, and on the left, opposite to it, is Europe as far as the Tanais; and both terminate at Asia. We must begin with Europe, because it is both multi-formed and by nature most suited for the virtue of men and for constitutions, and has shared most of its own goods with others, since the whole of it is habitable, except for a small part uninhabitable on account of cold. This latter borders on the Hamaxoeci around the Tanais, Lake Maeotis, and the Borysthenes. Of the habitable part, that which is very wintry and mountainous is by nature poorly inhabited; but when it receives good administrators, even the parts poorly and robber-like inhabited are civilized, just as the Greeks, possessing mountains and rocks, lived beautifully because of their foresight regarding political matters, arts, and other understanding concerning life; and the Romans, having taken over many nations that were savage by nature because of their territories being either rugged, harbourless, cold, or for some other reason difficult to inhabit, connected those who had no intercourse with one another and taught the wilder ones to live politically. And as much of it as is in a level and temperate climate has nature as an ally towards these things; since that which is in a fertile country is entirely peaceful, while that which is in a barren country is warlike and manly, and these races receive certain benefits from one another; for the one helps with arms, and the other with crops, arts, and moral training. The damages to one another are also clear if they do not help; and the violence of those who have arms has a certain advantage, unless it is mastered by multitude. Indeed, there is also something naturally suited to this in this continent; for the whole is variegated with plains and mountains, so that everywhere both the agricultural, the political, and the warlike lie adjacent; and the other, that which is proper to peace, is greater, so that this rules over the whole, with the leaders also contributing, the Greeks formerly, and the Macedonians and Romans later. On this account, it is also most self-sufficient for war; for it has an abundant warlike multitude, and those who work the land, and those who keep the cities together. It also excels in this, because it yields the best crops and those necessary for life, and all useful metals; but frankincense and precious stones it imports from without, of which the life of those who are in want is no worse than that of those who have them in abundance. In the same way, it provides an abundance of many cattle, but a scarcity of wild beasts. Such in general is this continent in its nature.