§12.4.6καὶ τὸν Αἴσηπον δὲ τῶν Μυσῶν ὅριον παραδίδωσιν αὐτὸς ὁ ποιητής· τὴν γὰρ ὑπὲρ τοῦ Ἰλίου παρώρειαν τῆς Τροίας καταλέξας τὴν ὑπʼ Αἰνείᾳ ἣν Δαρδανίαν ἐκάλεσε, τίθησιν ἐφεξῆς πρὸς ἄρκτον καὶ τὴν Λυκίαν τὴν ὑπὸ Πανδάρῳ ἐν ᾗ ἡ Ζέλεια· καὶ φησίν
"
οἳ δὲ Ζέλειαν ἔναιον ὑπαὶ πόδα νείατον Ἴδης,
ἀφνειοί, πίνοντες ὕδωρ μέλαν Αἰσήποιο
Τρῶες. "
τῇ δὲ Ζελείᾳ ὑποπέπτωκε πρὸς θαλάττῃ ἐπίταδε τοῦ Αἰσήπου τὸ τῆς Ἀδραστείας πεδίον καὶ Τήρεια καὶ ἡ Πιτύα καὶ καθόλου ἡ νῦν Κυζικηνὴ ἡ πρὸς Πριάπῳ ἣν ἐφεξῆς καταλέγει, εἶτα ἀνακάμπτει πάλιν ἐπὶ τὰ πρὸς ἕω μέρη καὶ τὰ ἐπέκεινα, ὥστε ἐμφαίνει τὴν μέχρι Αἰσήπου πέρας ἡγούμενος τῆς Τρῳάδος τὸ ἀρκτικὸν καὶ ἑῷον.
And the poet himself also delivers the Aesepus as a boundary of the Mysians; for after listing the foothills of Troy above Ilium which was under Aeneas, which he called Dardania, he places next towards the north the Lycia under Pandarus, in which is Zeleia; and he says: "And those who dwelt in Zeleia beneath the nethermost foot of Ida, wealthy men, drinking the dark water of Aesepus, Trojans." Below Zeleia, towards the sea, on this side of the Aesepus, lies the plain of Adrasteia, and Thereia, and Pitya, and in general the present Cyzicene territory near Priapus, which he lists next; then he turns back again to the eastern parts and those beyond, so that he shows that he considers the northern and eastern limit of the Troad to extend as far as the Aesepus.
ἀλλὰ μὴν μετά γε τὴν Τρῳάδα ἡ Μυσία ἐστὶ καὶ ὁ Ὄλυμπος.
However, after the Troad comes Mysia and Olympus.
ἡ μὲν οὖν παλαιὰ μνήμη τοιαύτην τινὰ ὑπαγορεύει τὴν τῶν ἐθνῶν θέσιν.
Therefore, the ancient memory suggests some such disposition of the nations.
αἱ δὲ νῦν μεταβολαὶ τὰ πολλὰ ἐξήλλαξαν, ἄλλοτʼ ἄλλων ἐπικρατούντων καὶ τὰ μὲν συγχεόντων τὰ δὲ διασπώντων.
But the present changes have altered most things, with different peoples prevailing at different times, confusing some things and dispersing others.
καὶ γὰρ Φρύγες ἐπεκράτησαν καὶ Μυσοὶ μετὰ τὴν Τροίας ἅλωσιν, εἶθʼ ὕστερον Λυδοὶ καὶ μετʼ ἐκείνων Αἰολεῖς καὶ Ἴωνες, ἔπειτα Πέρσαι καὶ Μακεδόνες, τελευταῖοι δὲ Ῥωμαῖοι, ἐφʼ ὧν ἤδη καὶ τὰς διαλέκτους καὶ τὰ ὀνόματα ἀποβεβλήκασιν οἱ πλεῖστοι, γεγονότος ἑτέρου τινὸς μερισμοῦ τῆς χώρας, οὗ μᾶλλον φροντίσαι δεῖ τὰ νῦν οἷʼ ἔστι λέγοντας, τῇ δὲ ἀρχαιολογίᾳ μετρίως προσέχοντας.
For the Phrygians and Mysians prevailed after the capture of Troy, then later the Lydians, and with them the Aeolians and Ionians, then the Persians and Macedonians, and finally the Romans, under whom most of them have by now lost both their dialects and their names, another division of the country having taken place, which one who describes things as they are now must care for more, while paying moderate attention to antiquity.
§12.4.7ἐν δὲ τῇ μεσογαίᾳ τῆς Βιθυνίας τό τε Βιθύνιον ἔστιν ὑπερκείμενον τοῦ Τιείου καὶ ἔχον τὴν περὶ Σάλωνα χώραν ἀρίστην βουβοσίοις, ὅθεν ἐστὶν ὁ Σαλωνίτης τυρός, καὶ Νίκαια ἡ μητρόπολις τῆς Βιθυνίας ἐπὶ τῇ Ἀσκανίᾳ λίμνῃ (περίκειται δὲ κύκλῳ πεδίον μέγα καὶ σφόδρα εὔδαιμον, οὐ πάνυ δὲ ὑγιεινὸν τοῦ θέρους), κτίσμα Ἀντιγόνου μὲν πρῶτον τοῦ Φιλίππου, ὃς αὐτὴν Ἀντιγόνειαν προσεῖπεν, εἶτα Λυσιμάχου, ὃς ἀπὸ τῆς γυναικὸς μετωνόμασε Νίκαιαν· ἦν δʼ αὕτη θυγάτηρ Ἀντιπάτρου.
In the interior of Bithynia is Bithynium, which lies above Tieium and possesses the territory around Salona, which is excellent for cattle pastures, whence comes the Salonite cheese; and Nicaea, the metropolis of Bithynia, situated on the Ascania lake (around it lies a large and very fertile plain, but not entirely healthy in summer), a foundation first of Antigonus the son of Philip, who called it Antigoneia, and then of Lysimachus, who renamed it Nicaea after his wife, who was the daughter of Antipater.
ἔστι δὲ τῆς πόλεως ἑκκαιδεκαστάδιος ὁ περίβολος ἐν τετραγώνῳ σχήματι· ἔστι δὲ καὶ τετράπυλος ἐν πεδίῳ κείμενος ἐρρυμοτομημένος πρὸς ὀρθὰς γωνίας, ὥστʼ ἀφʼ ἑνὸς λίθου κατὰ μέσον ἱδρυμένου τὸ γυμνάσιον τὰς τέτταρας ὁρᾶσθαι πύλας.
The circuit of the city is sixteen stadia in a square shape; and it is also four-gated, situated in a plain, laid out in straight streets at right angles, so that from a single stone set in the middle of the gymnasium all four gates can be seen.
μικρὸν δʼ ὑπὲρ τῆς Ἀσκανίας λίμνης Ὀτροία πολίχνη, πρὸς τοῖς ὅροις ἤδη τῆς Βιθυνίας τοῖς πρὸς ἕω· εἰκάζουσι δʼ ἀπὸ Ὀτρέως Ὀτροίαν καλεῖσθαι.
A little above the Ascania lake is the small town of Otroia, near the eastern borders of Bithynia; they conjecture that it is called Otroia after Otreus.
§12.4.8ὅτι δʼ ἦν κατοικία Μυσῶν ἡ Βιθυνία πρῶτον μαρτυρήσει Σκύλαξ ὁ Καρυανδεὺς φήσας περιοικεῖν τὴν Ἀσκανίαν λίμνην Φρύγας καὶ Μυσούς, ἔπειτα Διονύσιος ὁ τὰς κτίσεις συγγράψας, ὃς τὰ κατὰ Χαλκηδόνα καὶ Βυζάντιον στενά, ἃ νῦν Θρᾴκιος Βόσπορος καλεῖται, πρότερόν φησι Μύσιον Βόσπορον προσαγορεύεσθαι·
And that Bithynia was first a settlement of Mysians, Scylax of Caryanda will first bear witness, saying that Phrygians and Mysians dwell around the Ascania lake; next, Dionysius who wrote on foundations, who says that the straits near Chalcedon and Byzantium, which are now called the Thracian Bosporus, were formerly called the Mysian Bosporus.
τοῦτο δʼ ἄν τις καὶ τοῦ Θρᾷκας εἶναι τοὺς Μυσοὺς μαρτύριον θείη·
And this one might also put forward as proof that the Mysians were Thracians.
ὅ τε Εὐφορίων
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Μυσοῖο παρʼ ὕδασιν Ἀσκανίοιο
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λέγων, καὶ ὁ Αἰτωλὸς Ἀλέξανδρος
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οἳ καὶ ἐπʼ Ἀσκανίων δώματʼ ἔχουσι ῥοῶν
λίμνης Ἀσκανίης ἐπὶ χείλεσιν, ἔνθα Δολίων
υἱὸς Σιληνοῦ νάσσατο καὶ Μελίης
"
τὸ αὐτὸ ἐκμαρτυροῦσιν, οὐδαμοῦ τῆς Ἀσκανίας λίμνης εὑρισκομένης ἀλλʼ ἐνταῦθα μόνον.
Euphorion, saying, "by the waters of the Mysian Ascanius," and Alexander the Aetolian, saying, "who also have their dwellings on the Ascanian streams, on the shores of the Ascania lake, where Dolion, son of Silenus and Melia, settled," bear witness to the same, since the Ascania lake is found nowhere else but here.
§12.4.9ἄνδρες δʼ ἀξιόλογοι κατὰ παιδείαν γεγόνασιν ἐν τῇ Βιθυνίᾳ Ξενοκράτης τε ὁ φιλόσοφος καὶ Διονύσιος ὁ διαλεκτικὸς καὶ Ἵππαρχος καὶ Θεοδόσιος καὶ οἱ παῖδες αὐτοῦ μαθηματικοὶ Κλεοχάρης τε ῥήτωρ ὅ Μυρλεανὸς Ἀσκληπιάδης ἰατρός ὁ Προυσιεύς.
And noteworthy men for their learning have arisen in Bithynia: Xenocrates the philosopher, Dionysius the dialectician, Hipparchus, Theodosius and his sons, who were mathematicians, Cleochares the rhetorician of Myrlea, and Asclepiades the physician of Prusias.
§12.4.10πρὸς νότον δʼ εἰσὶ τοῖς Βιθυνοῖς οἱ περὶ τὸν Ὄλυμπον Μυσοὶ (οὓς Ὀλυμπηνοὺς καλοῦσί τινες, οἱ δʼ Ἑλλησποντίους) καὶ ἡ ἐφʼ Ἑλλησπόντῳ Φρυγία, τοῖς δὲ Παφλαγόσι Γαλάται· ἀμφοτέρων τε τούτων ἔτι πρὸς νότον ἡ μεγάλη Φρυγία καὶ Λυκαονία μέχρι τοῦ Ταύρου τοῦ Κιλικίου καὶ τοῦ Πισιδικοῦ.
To the south of the Bithynians are the Mysians around Olympus (whom some call Olympeni, and others Hellespontii) and Hellespontine Phrygia, and to the south of the Paphlagonians are the Galatians; and still further to the south of both of these is Greater Phrygia and Lycaonia, extending as far as the Cilician and Pisidian Taurus.
ἐπεὶ δὲ τὰ τῇ Παφλαγονίᾳ συνεχῆ παράκειται τῷ Πόντῳ καὶ τῇ Καππαδοκίᾳ καὶ τοῖς ἤδη περιωδευμένοις ἔθνεσιν, οἰκεῖον ἂν εἴη τὰ τούτοις γειτονοῦντα μέρη προσαποδοῦναι πρῶτον, ἔπειτα τοὺς ἑξῆς τόπους παραδεῖξαι.
Since the territory contiguous to Paphlagonia lies adjacent to the Pontus, to Cappadocia, and to the nations already described, it would be appropriate first to describe the parts neighboring these, and then to show the places that follow in order.