Geography

​After Celtic territory beyond the Alps and the tribes that possess this land, we must speak of the Alps themselves and of their inhabitants, and then of the whole of Italy, keeping in our writing the same order as that which the nature of the country gives. Now, the Alps begin not from the harbor of Monoecus, as some have said, but from the same regions from which the Apennine mountains also begin, near Genua, the emporium of the Ligurians, and the so-called Vada of Sabata, which is a marsh; for the Apennine has its beginning from Genua, and the Alps from Sabata; and the distance between Genua and Sabata is two hundred and sixty stadia; and after three hundred and seventy stadia is the town of Albingaunum, and the Ligurians who inhabit it are called Ingauni; and thence to the harbor of Monoecus is four hundred and eighty. In the interval is Albion Intemelium, a town of considerable size, and the inhabitants are called Intemelii. And indeed, from these names they set down a proof that the Alps have their beginning from Sabata; for the Alpine mountains (Alpeia) were formerly called Albia, as well as Alpeina. For even now, the high mountain among the Iapodes, which joins in some way with Ocra and the Alps, is still called Albion, as if the Alps extended as far as this.

​Since, then, of the Ligurians some are Ingauni and others Intemelii, it is reasonable that of their settlements on the sea, the one should be called Albion Intemelium, as it were “Alpine”, and the other more contractedly Albingaunum. Polybius adds to the two mentioned tribes of Ligurians those of the Oxybii and the Decietae. On the whole, all this coast from the harbor of Monoecus as far as Tyrrhenia is continuous and without harbors, except for short bays and anchorages. And the immense precipices of the mountains tower above, leaving a narrow passage next to the sea. The Ligurians inhabit it, living for the most part on livestock, milk, and a barley drink, occupying the districts by the sea and, for the most part, the mountains. They have there a very large amount of timber suitable for shipbuilding and with huge trees, so that the diameter of some in thickness is found to be eight feet; and many, in the variety of their grain, are not inferior to thyine wood for making tables. These, then, they bring down to their emporium, Genua, as well as livestock, hides, and honey, and they take in exchange olive oil and Italian wine; for their own wine is scarce, pitched and harsh. Thence come the horses and mules called “ginnuses”, and Ligurian tunics and sagi; and lyncurium also abounds among them, which some call amber. They do not serve as cavalry to any great extent, but are good heavy infantry and skirmishers; and from the fact of their being bronze-shielded, some infer that they are Greeks.

​The harbor of Monoecus is an anchorage not for large or many ships, having a temple of Hercules called Monoecus; and from the name it seems that the Marseillais coastal voyage extended as far as this; and it is a little more than two hundred stadia distant from Antipolis. From there on, as far as Massalia and a little further, the tribe of the Salyes inhabits the Alps that lie above and some parts of the same coast, mixed with the Greeks. The ancient Greeks called the Salyes Ligurians, and the land which the Massaliotes possess, Ligustica, but later writers call them Celto-Ligurians, and assign to them the plain as far as Avenio and the Rhone, from which, divided into ten parts, they used to send out not only an infantry but also a cavalry force. The Romans subdued these first of the transalpine Celts, after having carried on war with them and with the Ligurians for a long time, because they had blocked the passes into Iberia through the coast. For indeed both by land and by sea they committed robberies, and were so powerful that the road was scarcely passable even for large armies. But after fighting for eighty years, the Romans with difficulty succeeded in having the road left open to a width of twelve stadia for those traveling on public business. Afterwards, however, they subdued them completely and themselves organized their states, having inspired them with fear.