Geography

​Those of the Volcae who are called Tectosages dwell near the Pyrenees, and they also touch on a small part of the northern side of the Cemmenus, and occupy a land rich in gold. They seem also once to have held dominion and to have been so abundant in men that, when a sedition broke out, they drove out a great multitude from among themselves from their own home; and that others from other nations joined them; and that of these were those who occupied Phrygia, which borders on Cappadocia and the Paphlagonians. Of this, indeed, we have as evidence those who even now are called Tectosages. For while there are three nations, one of them, that around the city of Ancyra, is called Tectosages, while the remaining two are the Trocmi and the Tolistobogii; and that these migrated from Celtica is shown by their relationship with the Tectosages, but from what regions they set out we cannot say; for we have no record of any Trocmi or Tolistobogii living now outside the Alps, or in them, or within them. It is probable, however, that they became extinct because of the massive emigrations, as happens in the case of several other nations; since some say that even the famous Brennus, who marched against Delphi, was a Prausan; but we cannot say where on earth the Prausi dwelt before. And they say that the Tectosages also took part in the expedition to Delphi, and that the treasures found among them by Caepio, the general of the Romans, in the city of Tolosa, were a part of those riches, but that the people added to them also from their own homes, dedicating them and appeasing the god; and that because Caepio touched them, he ended his life in misfortunes, being banished by his country as a temple-robber, and leaving as successors his daughters, who, as Timagenes has said, happened to be forced into prostitution and perished miserably. But the account of Poseidonius is more plausible; for he says that the treasures found in Tolosa amounted to somewhere about fifteen thousand talents, some laid up in temples and others in sacred lakes, not fashioned into any manufacture, but uncoined gold and silver; and that the temple in Delphi was at that time already empty of such things, having been plundered by the Phocians during the Sacred War; and even if anything was left, it was divided among many; and it is not probable that they saved themselves and returned to their own home, having fared miserably after their departure from Delphi and having been scattered to different parts on account of dissension. But, as he and several others have said, the country, being rich in gold and inhabited by superstitious people who lived in no expensive manner, had treasures in many places; and the lakes especially afforded them safety, into which they let down masses of silver or even of gold. At any rate, the Romans, having conquered the places, sold the lakes by public auction, and many of those who bought them found solid silver mills. And in Tolosa the temple also was holy, being highly revered by the inhabitants of the surrounding country, and for this reason the treasures accumulated because many dedicated them and no one dared to touch them.