Geography

​And as for the wandering of the Greeks among the barbarian nations, one might consider the cause to be their being divided into small parts and lordships having no connection with one another because of their self-will, so that as a result of this they were weak against those who attacked from without. And this self-will was especially intense among the Iberians, who acquired in addition a natural craftiness and lack of simplicity; for they became aggressive and robber-like in their lives, venturing on small enterprises, but not attempting great ones because of their not establishing great forces and alliances. For if they had been willing to shield one another, it would not have been possible for the Carthaginians to come and conquer most of them with ease, nor still earlier for the Tyrians, and then for the Celts who are now called Celtiberians and Berones, nor later for the robber Viriathus and Sertorius, and any others who desired greater dominion. And the Romans, because of fighting against the Iberians part by part, according to each of these lordships, continued for a long time, conquering now some and now others, until they got them all under their control in about the two hundredth year, or even later. But I shall return to my description.

​After Abdera, then, is New Carthage, a foundation of Hasdrubal, who succeeded Barca the father of Hannibal, by far the most powerful of the cities in these parts; for it is both secure and adorned with a well-constructed wall, harbors, a lagoon, and the silver mines, of which we have spoken. And both here and in the neighboring places there is much fish-salting; and this is a very great market for the things from the sea to the people in the interior, and for the things from there to all those outside. The coastline from here to the Hebrus has at about the middle of the distance the river Sucro and its mouth, and a city of the same name; and it flows from the mountain continuous with the ridge lying above Malaca and the places around Carthage; it is fordable on foot, and in a way parallel to the Hebrus, but is a short distance from Carthage or the Hebrus. Now between the Sucro and Carthage there are three small towns of the Massaliotes, not very far from the river; and of these the best known is Hemeroscopium, which has on its promontory a temple of Ephesian Artemis held in high honor, which Sertorius used as a base of operations on the sea. For it is secure and suited for piracy, and visible from afar to those sailing towards it; and it is called Dianium, which is equivalent to Artemisium, having fine iron mines nearby, and the small islands of Planesia and Plumbaria, and a lagoon lying above it, which has a circumference of four hundred stadia. Then there is the Island of Heracles, now close to Carthage, which they call Scombraria from the mackerels caught there, from which the best garum is prepared; and it is distant twenty-four stadia from Carthage. And going again to the other side of the Sucro, towards the mouth of the Hebrus, there is Saguntum, a foundation of the Zacynthians, which Hannibal destroyed, contrary to the agreements with the Romans, and thereby kindled the second war for them against the Carthaginians. And nearby are the cities of Cherronesus, Oleastron, and Cartalias; and right at the crossing of the Hebrus is the settlement of Dertossa. And the Hebrus flows from the Cantabrians, having its sources there, towards the south through a wide plain, parallel to the Pyrenees mountains.