Geography

​Some, therefore, say that this country is divided into four parts, as we have said, while others say into five parts. But it is not possible to give an accurate account in these matters because of the changes and the obscurity of the places. For in the case of well-known and famous places, the migrations, the divisions of the country, the changes of names, and any other similar things are well known; for they are talked of by many, and especially by the Greeks. But of those places that are barbarous, remote, small in territory, and divided, the records are neither reliable nor numerous; and all those that are far from the Greeks increase our ignorance. And the Roman writers imitate the Greeks, but not to a great extent; for what they say they transfer from the Greeks, but from themselves they do not contribute much love of knowledge, so that whenever there is a deficiency on the part of the Greeks, there is not much to be supplied by the other writers, especially as most of the names that are most famous are Greek. For indeed, in the first place, Iberia was called by the earlier writers the whole country outside the Rhodanus and the isthmus that is hemmed in by the Galatic gulfs, whereas those of today set the Pyrenees as its boundary, and use “Iberia” and “Hispania” synonymously for the same country; though formerly they called only the portion on this side of the Iberus by that name; and those still earlier called these same people “Igletes,” who occupied no great extent of territory, as Asclepiades of Myrlea says. And the Romans, having called the whole country synonymously both “Iberia” and “Hispania,” called one part of it “the Outer” and the other “the Inner”; but at different times they divide it differently, managing it according to the circumstances of the times.

​At the present time, of the provinces, some having been assigned to the people and the senate, and others to the ruler of the Romans, Baetica belongs to the people, and a praetor is sent to it, having with him a quaestor and a legate; and they have set its boundary towards the east near Castulo. The rest belongs to Caesar; and two legates are sent by him, one of praetorian and the other of consular rank; the praetorian legate, having with him a legate of his own, is to administer justice to the Lusitanians, who live next to Baetica and extend as far as the river Durius and its mouth; for they call this country particularly by this name at present. And here is also Augusta Emerita. The remainder (and this is the largest part of Iberia) is under the consular governor, who has a considerable army of about three legions and three legates, of whom one, with two legions, guards the whole country beyond the Durius to the north, which the earlier writers called Lusitania, but those of today call Callaicia; and adjacent to this are the northern parts along with the Astures and the Cantabrians. And the river Melsus flows through the territory of the Astures, and a little further on is the city Noega, and near it an estuary from the ocean, which boundary separates the Astures from the Cantabrians. The next mountainous region, extending as far as the Pyrenees, is overseen by the second of the legates with the other legion. And the third oversees the interior, and holds together the territories of those who are already spoken of as peaceful, and who have been transformed to civilized life and the Italian type of living in the toga garment. These are the Celtiberians and those who live near the Iberus on both sides, as far as the coastal regions. The governor himself passes the winter in the maritime regions, and especially in Carthago and Tarraco, administering justice, and in summer he goes on circuit, inspecting always some of those places that require correction. There are also procurators of Caesar, men of equestrian rank, who distribute the money to the soldiers for the maintenance of their lives.