§6.3.5ἡ δʼ ἑξῆς τῶν Ἰαπύγων χώρα παραδόξως ἐστὶν ἀστεία· ἐπιπολῆς γὰρ φαινομένη τραχεῖα εὑρίσκεται βαθύγειος σχιζομένη, ἀνυδροτέρα δʼ οὖσα εὔβοτος οὐδὲν ἧττον καὶ εὔδενδρος ὁρᾶται.
The country of the Iapyges which comes next is wonderfully fine; for though it appears rough on the surface, it is found to have deep soil when ploughed, and although it is rather dry, it is seen to be none the less good for pasturage and well-wooded.
εὐάνδρησε δέ ποτε καὶ τοῦτο σφόδρα τὸ χωρίον σύμπαν καὶ ἔσχε πόλεις τρισκαίδεκα, ἀλλὰ νῦν πλὴν Τάραντος καὶ Βρεντεσίου τἆλλα πολισμάτιά ἐστιν· οὕτως ἐκπεπόνηνται.
This entire region was also once very populous and contained thirteen cities, but now, except for Taras and Brentesion, the others are small towns; so completely have they been worn out.
τοὺς δὲ Σαλεντίνους Κρητῶν ἀποίκους φασίν· ἐνταῦθα δʼ ἐστὶ καὶ τὸ τῆς Ἀθηνᾶς ἱερὸν πλούσιόν ποτε ὑπάρξαν, καὶ ὁ σκόπελος, ὃν καλοῦσιν ἄκραν Ἰαπυγίαν, πολὺς ἐκκείμενος εἰς τὸ πέλαγος καὶ τὰς χειμερινὰς ἀνατολάς, ἐπιστρέφων δέ πως ἐπὶ τὸ Λακίνιον ἀνταῖρον ἀπὸ τῆς ἑσπέρας αὐτῷ καὶ κλεῖον τὸ στόμα τοῦ Ταραντίνου κόλπου πρὸς αὐτόν.
They say that the Salentini are colonists of the Cretans; and here is the temple of Athena, which was once wealthy, and the reef which they call the Iapygian Cape, which projects far into the sea towards the winter sunrise, and bends in a way towards Lacinium, which rises opposite to it from the west and with it closes the mouth of the Tarentine Gulf.
καὶ τὰ Κεραύνια δʼ ὁμοίως ὄρη κλείει πρὸς αὐτὸν τὸ στόμα τοῦ Ἰονίου κόλπου, καὶ ἔστι τὸ δίαρμα ὅσον ἑπτακοσίων σταδίων ἀπʼ αὐτοῦ πρός τε τὰ Κεραύνια καὶ πρὸς τὸ Λακίνιον.
And the Ceraunian Mountains likewise close with it the mouth of the Ionian Gulf, and the crossing from it to both the Ceraunian Mountains and Lacinium is about seven hundred stadia.
περίπλους δʼ ἐκ Τάραντός ἐστιν εἰς Βρεντέσιον μέχρι μὲν Βάριδος πολίχνης ἑξακόσιοι στάδιοι· καλοῦσι δὲ Βᾶριν οἱ νῦν Ὀυερητόν, κεῖται δʼ ἐπὶ τοῖς ἄκροις τῆς Σαλεντίνης, καὶ τὸ πολὺ πεζῇ μᾶλλον ἢ κατὰ πλοῦν εἰς αὐτὴν ἐκ τοῦ Τάραντος εὐμαρὴς ἡ ἄφιξίς ἐστιν.
The coastal voyage from Taras to Brentesion is six hundred stadia as far as the small town of Baris; and those of today call Baris by the name of Uereton, and it lies on the borders of the Salentine territory, and for the most part the arrival there from Taras is easier by land than by sea.
ἔνθεν εἰς τὰ Λευκὰ στάδιοι ὀγδοήκοντα, πολίχνιον καὶ τοῦτο, ἐν ᾧ δείκνυται πηγὴ δυσώδους ὕδατος· μυθεύουσι δʼ ὅτι τοὺς περιλειφθέντας τῶν γιγάντων ἐν τῇ κατὰ Καμπανίαν Φλέγρᾳ Λευτερνίους καλουμένους Ἡρακλῆς ἐξελάσειε, καταφυγόντες δεῦρο ὑπὸ γῆς περισταλεῖεν, ἐκ δὲ ἰχώρων τοιοῦτον ἴσχοι ῥεῦμα ἡ πηγή· διὰ τοῦτο δὲ καὶ τὴν παραλίαν ταύτην Λευτερνίαν προσαγορεύουσιν.
From there to Leuca is eighty stadia, this too being a small town, in which is shown a spring of foul-smelling water; and they mythologize that Heracles banished the survivors of the Giants from the Phlegra in Campania, who were called Leuternii, and that they, having fled here for refuge, were covered up under the earth, and the spring received such a flow from their ichor; and for this reason they also call this coastland Leuternia.
ἐκ δὲ τῶν Λευκῶν εἰς Ὑδροῦντα πολίχνην ἑκατὸν πεντήκοντα· ἐντεῦθεν δʼ εἰς Βρεντέσιον τετρακόσιοι· οἱ δʼ ἴσοι καὶ εἰς Σάσωνα τὴν νῆσον, ἥτις μέση πως ἵδρυται τοῦ διάρματος τοῦ ἐκ τῆς Ἠπείρου πρὸς τὸ Βρεντέσιον· διόπερ οἱ μὴ δυνάμενοι κρατεῖν τῆς εὐθυπλοίας καταίρουσιν ἐν ἀριστερᾷ ἐκ τοῦ Σάσωνος πρὸς τὸν Ὑδροῦντα, ἐντεῦθεν δὲ τηρήσαντες φορὸν πνεῦμα προσέχουσι τοῖς μὲν Βρεντεσίνων λιμέσιν, ἐκβάντες δὲ πεζεύουσι συντομώτερον ἐπὶ Ῥοδιῶν πόλεως Ἑλληνίδος, ἐξ ἧς ἦν ὁ ποιητὴς Ἔννιος.
From Leuca to the small town of Hydrous is one hundred and fifty stadia; and from there to Brentesion is four hundred; and the same distance also to the island of Sason, which is situated about midway in the crossing from Epirus to Brentesion; wherefore those who are unable to hold the direct course put in on the left from Sason towards Hydrous, and from there, having watched for a favorable wind, they make for the harbors of Brentesion, and having disembarked, they travel by land more quickly to the Greek city of Rhodiae, from which the poet Ennius came.
ἔοικεν οὖν χερρονήσῳ τὸ περιπλεόμενον χωρίον ἐκ Τάραντος εἰς Βρεντέσιον· ἡ δʼ ἐκ Βρεντεσίου πεζευομένη ὁδὸς εἰς τὸν Τάραντα, εὐζώνῳ μιᾶς οὖσα ἡμέρας, τὸν ἰσθμὸν ποιεῖ τῆς εἰρημένης χερρονήσου, ἣν Μεσσαπίαν τε καὶ Ἰαπυγίαν καὶ Καλαβρίαν καὶ Σαλεντίνην κοινῶς οἱ πολλοὶ προσαγορεύουσι· τινὲς δὲ διαιροῦσιν, ὡς ἐλέγομεν πρότερον.
Therefore the region sailed around from Taras to Brentesion resembles a peninsula; and the road traveled by land from Brentesion to Taras, being a journey of one day for an active man, forms the isthmus of the said peninsula, which most people call in common Messapia, Iapygia, Calabria, and Salentina; but some divide it, as we said before.