Geography

​The shape of this province is somewhat like a parallelogram, bounded on the west by the Pyrenees and on the north by the Cevennes; as for the remaining sides, the southern is formed by the sea between the Pyrenees and Massalia, and the eastern partly by the Alps and partly by the intervening distance taken in a straight line with them between the Alps and the foothills of the Cevennes which slope down to the Rhodanus and make a right angle with the aforementioned straight line from the Alps. To the southern side, in addition to the described shape, is attached the adjacent coastline which is held by the Massaliotes and the Salyes as far as the Ligurians, towards the parts facing Italy and the river Varus. This river is, as I said before, the boundary between Narbonitis and Italy; in summer it is small, but in winter it widens up to seven stadia. From here, then, the coastline extends to the temple of the Pyrenean Aphrodite; and this is the boundary between this province and Iberia; though some declare the place where the trophies of Pompey stand to be the boundary between Iberia and Celtica. From there to Narbo it is sixty-three miles, and from there to Nemausus eighty-eight, and from Nemausus through Ugernum and Tarusco to the warm waters called Aquae Sextiae, which are near Massalia, fifty-three, and from there to Antipolis and the river Varus seventy-three, so that the total becomes two hundred and seventy-seven miles. But some have recorded the distance from the Aphrodision to the Varus as two thousand six hundred stadia, and others add two hundred more; for there is no agreement about the distances. On the other route, which runs through the territory of the Vocontii and that of Cottius, the road from Nemausus is common as far as Ugernum and Tarusco; but from there, through the Druentia and Caballio to the boundaries of the Vocontii and the beginning of the ascent of the Alps, it is sixty-three miles; and again from there to the other boundaries of the Vocontii towards the land of Cottius, to the village of Ebrodunum, ninety-nine miles (one short of a hundred); and then as many more through the village of Brigantium and Scingomagus and the passage over the Alps to Ocelum, the limit of the land of Cottius; the territory from Scingomagus onward is already called Italy; and from there to Ocelum it is twenty-eight miles.

​Massalia is a foundation of the Phocaeans, and is situated on a rocky place; its harbor lies beneath a theater-shaped rock that faces south. It is well fortified, as is the entire city, which is of considerable size. On the citadel are established the Ephesion and the temple of Delphinian Apollo; the latter is common to all Ionians, while the Ephesion is the temple of Ephesian Artemis. For they say that when the Phocaeans were setting sail from their homeland, an oracle was given to them to take a guide for their voyage from Ephesian Artemis; having therefore put in at Ephesus, they inquired in what way they might obtain what was commanded by the goddess. Now, to Aristarche, one of the most honorable women, the goddess stood by her in a dream and commanded her to sail away with the Phocaeans, taking with her a copy of the sacred images; when this was done and the colony had reached its end, they founded the temple and honored Aristarche in an exceptional manner by appointing her priestess; and in all their colonial cities they honor this goddess among the first, and preserve the same design of the wooden image and the same other customs as are established in the mother city.