§3.5.9φησὶ δʼ οὖν Σέλευκον τὸν ἀπὸ τῆς Ἐρυθρᾶς θαλάττης καὶ ἀνωμαλίαν τινὰ ἐν τούτοις καὶ ὁμαλότητα λέγειν κατὰ τὰς τῶν ζῳδίων διαφοράς· ἐν μὲν γὰρ τοῖς ἰσημερινοῖς ζῳδίοις τῆς σελήνης οὔσης ὁμαλίζειν τὰ πάθη, ἐν δὲ τοῖς τροπικοῖς ἀνωμαλίαν εἶναι καὶ πλήθει καὶ τάχει, τῶν δʼ ἄλλων ἑκάστου κατὰ τοὺς συνεγγισμοὺς εἶναι τὴν ἀναλογίαν.
At any rate, he says that Seleucus of the Erythraean Sea also speaks of a certain irregularity and regularity in these matters according to the differences of the zodiac signs; for when the moon is in the equinoctial signs, the phenomena are regular, but in the solstitial signs there is irregularity both in quantity and speed, while for each of the other signs the proportion is according to their proximity.
αὐτὸς δὲ κατὰ τὰς θερινὰς τροπὰς περὶ τὴν πανσέληνόν φησιν ἐν τῷ Ἡρακλείῳ γενόμενος τῷ ἐν Γαδείροις πλείους ἡμέρας μὴ δύνασθαι συνεῖναι τὰς ἐνιαυσίους διαφοράς.
But he himself says that, having arrived at the Heracleium in Gadeira at the summer solstice about the full moon, he was not able to perceive the annual differences in a stay of several days.
περὶ μέντοι τὴν σύνοδον ἐκείνου τοῦ μηνὸς τηρῆσαι μεγάλην παραλλαγὴν ἐν Ἰλίπᾳ τῆς τοῦ Βαίτιος ἀνακοπῆς παρὰ τὰς ἔμπροσθεν, ἐν αἷς οὐδὲ ἕως ἡμίσους τὰς ὄχθας ἔβρεχε· τότε δʼ ὑπερχεῖσθαι τὸ ὕδωρ ὥσθʼ ὑδρεύεσθαι τοὺς στρατιώτας αὐτόθι (διέχει δʼ Ἰλίπα τῆς θαλάττης περὶ ἑπτακοσίους σταδίους)· τῶν δʼ ἐπὶ θαλάττῃ πεδίων καὶ ἐπὶ τριάκοντα σταδίους εἰς βάθος καλυπτομένων ὑπὸ τῆς πλημμυρίδος, ὥστε καὶ νήσους ἀπολαμβάνεσθαι, τὸ τῆς κρηπῖδος ὕψος τῆς τε τοῦ νεὼ τοῦ ἐν τῷ Ἡρακλείῳ καὶ τῆς τοῦ χώματος, ὃ τοῦ λιμένος πρόκειται τοῦ ἐν Γαδείροις, οὐδʼ ἐπὶ δέκα πήχεις καλυπτόμενον ἀναμετρῆσαί φησι· κἂν προσθῇ δέ τις τὸ διπλάσιον τούτου κατὰ τὰς γενομένας ποτὲ παραυξήσεις, οὕτω παρασχεῖν ἂν τὴν ἔμφασιν, ἣν ἐν τοῖς πεδίοις παρέχεται τὸ μέγεθος τῆς πλημμυρίδος.
However, around the conjunction of that month, he observed a great variation at Ilipa in the backing up of the Baetis compared to the previous times, during which the water did not wet the banks even up to the half; but then the water overflowed so that the soldiers drew water right there (now Ilipa is distant from the sea about seven hundred stadia); and while the plains along the sea were covered by the flood-tide to a depth of even thirty stadia, so that even islands were cut off, he says he measured the height of the quay, both of the temple in the Heracleium and of the mound which lies in front of the harbor in Gadeira, as not being covered even to the extent of ten cubits; and even if one adds double this in view of the extraordinary increases that sometimes occur, only thus would it present the appearance which the magnitude of the flood-tide presents in the plains.
τοῦτο μὲν δὴ τὸ πάθος κοινὸν ἱστορεῖται κατὰ πᾶσαν τὴν κύκλῳ παρωκεανῖτιν, τὸ δὲ τοῦ Ἴβηρος ποταμοῦ καινὸν καὶ ἴδιόν φησιν οὗτος· πλημμυρεῖν γὰρ ἔσθʼ ὅπου καὶ χωρὶς ὄμβρων καὶ χιόνων, ἐπειδὰν τὰ βόρεια πνεύματα πλεονάσῃ, αἰτίαν δʼ εἶναι τὴν λίμνην διʼ ἧς ῥεῖ· συνεκβάλλεσθαι γὰρ τὸ λιμναῖον ὑπὸ τῶν ἀνέμων.
This phenomenon indeed is recorded as common along the entire ocean coast, but he says that the phenomenon of the river Iberus is strange and peculiar; for it floods in some places even without rain and snow when the north winds blow, and the cause is the lake through which it flows; for the lake water is driven out together with the river by the winds.
§3.5.10̔ιστορεῖ δὲ καὶ δένδρον ἐν Γαδείροις ὄζους ἔχον καμπτομένους εἰς ἔδαφος, πολλάκις δὲ φύλλα ξιφοειδῆ πηχυαῖα τὸ μῆκος, πλάτος δὲ τετραδάκτυλα.
And he also records a tree in Gadeira that has branches bent down to the ground, and often sword-like leaves a cubit in length, and four fingers in width.
περὶ δὲ νέαν Καρχηδόνα δένδρον ἐξ ἀκάνθης φλοιὸν ἀφιέναι ἐξ οὗ ὑφάσματα γίνεται κάλλιστα.
And around New Carthage there is a thorny tree from which bark is stripped, from which the most beautiful garments are made.
τῷ μὲν οὖν ἐν Γαδείροις καὶ ἡμεῖς οἴδαμεν ὅμοιον ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ κατὰ τὴν τῶν κλάδων κατάκαμψιν, τοῖς δὲ φύλλοις ἀνόμοιον οὐδὲ καρπὸν ἔχον· τοῦτο δʼ ἔχειν φησί.
Now, I myself also know of a tree in Egypt similar to the one in Gadeira in the bending down of the branches, but dissimilar in the leaves, and not bearing fruit; but he says that the Gadeira tree does bear fruit.
τὰ δʼ ἀκάνθινα ὑφαίνεται καὶ ἐν Καππαδοκίᾳ, φέρει δʼ οὐ δένδρον τὴν ἄκανθαν ἐξ ἧς ὁ φλοιός, ἀλλὰ χαμαίζηλος ἡ βοτάνη.
The thorny fabrics are also woven in Cappadocia, but it is not a tree that bears the thorn from which the bark is obtained, but a low-growing herb.
τῷ δὲ δένδρῳ τῷ ἐν Γαδείροις καὶ τοῦτο προσιστόρηται ὅτι κλάδου μὲν ἀποκλωμένου γάλα ῥεῖ, ῥίζης δὲ τεμνομένης μιλτῶδες ὑγρὸν ἀναφέρεται.
And to the tree in Gadeira this further detail is recorded, that when a branch is broken off, milk flows, and when a root is cut, a cinnabar-like fluid rises up.
τοσαῦτα καὶ περὶ Γαδείρων.
So much for Gadeira.
§3.5.11αἱ δὲ Καττιτερίδες δέκα μέν εἰσι, κεῖνται δʼ ἐγγὺς ἀλλήλων πρὸς ἄρκτον ἀπὸ τοῦ τῶν Ἀρτάβρων λιμένος πελάγιαι· μία δʼ αὐτῶν ἔρημός ἐστι, τὰς δʼ ἄλλας οἰκοῦσιν ἄνθρωποι μελάγχλαινοι, ποδήρεις ἐνδεδυκότες τοὺς χιτῶνας, ἐζωσμένοι περὶ τὰ στέρνα, μετὰ ῥάβδων περιπατοῦντες, ὅμοιοι ταῖς τραγικαῖς Ποιναῖς· ζῶσι δʼ ἀπὸ βοσκημάτων νομαδικῶς τὸ πλέον.
The Cassiterides are ten in number, and they lie near to each other toward the north from the harbor of the Artabrians, out in the open sea; one of them is desert, but the others are inhabited by people who wear black cloaks, clad in tunics that reach to the feet, girt about their breasts, walking with staves, resembling the Furies in tragedy; they live mostly a pastoral life, nomadically.
μέταλλα δὲ ἔχοντες καττιτέρου καὶ μολίβδου κέραμον ἀντὶ τούτων καὶ τῶν δερμάτων διαλλάττονται καὶ ἅλας καὶ χαλκώματα πρὸς τοὺς ἐμπόρους.
Having mines of tin and lead, they exchange these and hides for pottery, salt, and bronze vessels with the merchants.
πρότερον μὲν οὖν Φοίνικες μόνοι τὴν ἐμπορίαν ἔστελλον ταύτην ἐκ τῶν Γαδείρων κρύπτοντες ἅπασι τὸν πλοῦν· τῶν δὲ Ῥωμαίων ἐπακολουθούντων ναυκλήρῳ τινί, ὅπως καὶ αὐτοὶ γνοῖεν τὰ ἐμπόρια, φθόνῳ ὁ ναύκληρος ἑκὼν εἰς τέναγος ἐξέβαλε τὴν ναῦν, ἐπαγαγὼν δʼ εἰς τὸν αὐτὸν ὄλεθρον καὶ τοὺς ἑπομένους αὐτὸς ἐσώθη διὰ ναυαγίου, καὶ ἀπέλαβε δημοσίᾳ τὴν τιμὴν ὧν ἀπέβαλε φορτίων.
In former times, only the Phoenicians carried on this trade from Gadeira, concealing the voyage from everyone; but when the Romans followed a certain shipmaster so that they too might learn the markets, the shipmaster, out of jealousy, voluntarily ran his ship onto a shoal, and having brought those who followed into the same destruction, he himself was saved through the shipwreck, and received from the public treasury the value of the cargo he had lost.
οἱ Ῥωμαῖοι δὲ ὅμως πειρώμενοι πολλάκις ἐξέμαθον τὸν πλοῦν· ἐπειδὴ δὲ καὶ Πόπλιος Κράσσος διαβὰς ἐπʼ αὐτοὺς ἔγνω τὰ μέταλλα ἐκ μικροῦ βάθους ὀρυττόμενα καὶ τοὺς ἄνδρας εἰρηναίους, ἐκ περιουσίας ἤδη τὴν θάλατταν ἐργάζεσθαι ταύτην τοῖς ἐθέλουσιν ἐπέδειξε καίπερ οὖσαν πλείω τῆς διειργούσης τὴν Βρεττανικήν.
The Romans, however, by making many attempts, learned the voyage; and when Publius Crassus also crossed over to them and saw that the metals were dug from a shallow depth and that the men were peaceful, he showed to those who wished that they could now work this sea with ease, although it is wider than the sea which separates Britain.
καὶ περὶ μὲν Ἰβηρίας καὶ τῶν προκειμένων νήσων ταῦτα.
And such is the account of Iberia and the islands lying off it.