Geography

​Concerning the Mysians mentioned in the epic poems, Apollodorus is right to be called to account, whether he considers these also to be a fiction, when the poet says, “and of the Mysians, hand-to-hand fighters, and the noble Hippemolgi,” or whether he accepts those in Asia. If he accepts those in Asia, he will misinterpret the poet, as has been said before, calling them a fiction on the ground that there are no Mysians in Thrace, contrary to the facts. For even in our own time Aelius Catus translated from the other side of the Ister fifty thousand persons from the Getae, a tribe of the same tongue as the Thracians, into Thrace; and now they live there under the name of Moesi, whether they were indeed formerly so called and changed their name to Mysians in Asia, or, what is more consistent with history and the statement of the poet, they were formerly called Mysians in Thrace. But enough of these matters; I shall return to the subsequent description.

​As for the Getae, let their ancient history be dismissed, but their affairs in our own time have been as follows. Boerebistas, a Getan man, having attained the leadership of the nation, restored his people who had been reduced to a wretched state by frequent wars, and raised them so high by training, sobriety, and obedience to commands, that in a few years he established a great empire and subjected most of the neighboring peoples to the Getae. And he was already formidable even to the Romans, crossing the Ister without fear and plundering Thrace as far as Macedonia and Illyria; and he utterly devastated the Celts who were mingled with the Thracians and Illyrians, and completely wiped out the Boii under Critasirus and the Taurisci. To secure the obedience of the nation, he had as an associate Decaeneus, a sorcerer, who had traveled in Egypt and learned certain signs of prophecy, through which he pretended to speak the divine will; and in a short time he was regarded as a god, just as we said in our account of Zamolxis. And this is a sign of their obedience: for they were persuaded to cut down the vine and to live without wine. Now Boerebistas was overthrown by a conspiracy of certain men before the Romans could send an expedition against him; and those who succeeded to the government divided it into several parts. Indeed, quite recently, when Augustus Caesar sent an expedition against them, they were divided into five parts, whereas at that time they happened to be divided into four. To be sure, such divisions are temporary and vary at different times.

​There has also been another division of the country which has persisted from of old; for some they call Dacians, and others Getae—Getae, those who incline towards the Pontus and the east, and Dacians, those in the opposite direction towards Germany and the sources of the Ister, who, I think, were called Daoi in ancient times. From this fact, the names of servants, Getas and Daos, became common among the Athenians. For this is more plausible than to derive them from the Scythians whom they call Dahae; for the latter are far away around Hyrcania, and it is not likely that slaves would be brought from there to Attica. For people used to name their servants either after the nations from which they were brought, calling them by the same name as those nations, such as Lydus or Syrus, or by the names that were prevalent in those places, such as Manes or Midas for the Phrygian, and Tibios for the Paphlagonian. But the nation, though raised to such power by Boerebistas, was completely humbled by factions and by the Romans; nevertheless, they are still capable even now of sending out forty thousand men.