§34.10.1Πολύβιος δʼ ἐν τῇ τετάρτῃ καὶ τριακοστῇ τῶν Ἱστοριῶν μετὰ τὴν Πυρήνην φησὶν ἕως τοῦ Νάρβωνος ποταμοῦ πεδίον εἶναι, διʼ οὗ φέρεσθαι ποταμοὺς Ἰλλέβεριν καὶ Ῥόσκυνον, ῥέοντας παρὰ πόλεις ὁμωνύμους, κατοικουμένας ὑπὸ Κελτῶν.
Polybius, in the thirty-fourth book of his Histories, says that after the Pyrenees, as far as the river Narbo, there is a plain through which flow the rivers Illeberis and Roscynus, running past homonymous cities inhabited by Celts.
§34.10.2ἐν οὖν τῷ πεδίῳ τούτῳ εἶναι τοὺς λεγομένους ἰχθῦς ὀρυκτούς. §34.10.3εἶναι δὲ τὸ πεδίον λεπτόγειον καὶ πολλὴν ἄγρωστιν ἔχον πεφυκυῖαν· ὑπὸ δὲ ταύτην διάμμου τῆς γῆς οὔσης ἐπὶ δύο καὶ τρεῖς πήχεις, ὑπορρεῖν τὸ πλαζόμενον ἀπὸ τῶν ποταμῶν ὕδωρ, §34.10.4μεθʼ οὗ ἰχθύες κατὰ τὰς παρεκχύσεις ὑποτρέχοντες ὑπὸ τὴν γῆν χάριν τῆς τροφῆς — φιληδοῦσι γὰρ τῇ τῆς ἀγρώστεως ῥίζῃ — πεποιήκασι πᾶν τὸ πεδίον πλῆρες ἰχθύων ὑπογείων, οὓς ἀνορύττοντες λαμβάνουσιν. —
Now in this plain, he says, are the so-called "dug-up fish." The plain has a thin soil and has much wild grass growing on it; and beneath this, as the earth is sandy to a depth of two or three cubits, the water that strays from the rivers flows underground, with which the fish, running under the earth during the overflows for the sake of food—for they delight in the root of the wild grass—have made the whole plain full of underground fish, which people catch by digging them up.
§34.10.5περὶ δὲ τῶν τοῦ Ῥοδανοῦ στομάτων Πολύβιος ἐπιτιμᾷ Τιμαίῳ, φήσας εἶναι μὴ πεντάστομον, ἀλλὰ δίστομον. —
Concerning the mouths of the Rhone, Polybius censures Timaeus, saying that it does not have five mouths, but two.
§34.10.6ὁ δὲ Λίγηρ μεταξὺ Πικτόνων τε καὶ Ναμνιτῶν ἐκβάλλει.
The Loire empties between the Pictones and the Namnetes.
πρότερον δὲ Κορβιλὼν ὑπῆρχεν ἐμπόριον ἐπὶ τούτῳ τῷ ποταμῷ, περὶ ἧς εἴρηκε Πολύβιος, μνησθεὶς τῶν ὑπὸ Πυθέου μυθολογηθέντων, §34.10.7ὅτι Μασσαλιωτῶν μὲν τῶν συμμιξάντων Σκιπίωνι οὐδεὶς εἶχε λέγειν οὐδὲν μνήμης ἄξιον, ἐρωτηθεὶς ὑπὸ τοῦ Σκιπίωνος περὶ τῆς Βρετταννικῆς, οὐδὲ τῶν ἐκ Νάρβωνος οὐδὲ τῶν ἐκ Κορβιλῶνος, αἵπερ ἦσαν ἄρισται πόλεις τῶν ταύτῃ, Πυθέας δʼ ἐθάρρησε τοσαῦτα ψεύσασθαι. —
Formerly, Corbilo was a trading-center on this river, concerning which Polybius has spoken, mentioning the mythical stories told by Pytheas, namely that of the Massaliotes who met Scipio, no one had anything worthy of mention to say when questioned by Scipio about Britain, nor did any of those from Narbo or from Corbilo, which were the best cities in those parts, yet Pytheas had the audacity to tell so many lies.
§34.10.8φησὶ δὲ Πολύβιος καὶ ἰδιόμορφόν τι γεννᾶσθαι ζῷον ἐν αὐταῖς, ἐλαφοειδὲς τὸ σχῆμα πλὴν αὐχένος καὶ τριχώματος, ταῦτα δʼ ἐοικέναι κάπρῳ· §34.10.9ὑπὸ δὲ τῷ γενείῳ πυρῆνα ἴσχειν ὅσον σπιθαμιαῖον ἀκρόκομον, πωλικῆς κέρκου τὸ πάχος. —
And Polybius says that a certain strangely-shaped animal is also produced in them, resembling a deer in shape except for the neck and hair, which resemble those of a wild boar; and under its chin it has a lump about a span long, hairy at the tip, of the thickness of a colt's tail.
§34.10.10ἔτι φησὶ Πολύβιος ἐφʼ ἑαυτοῦ κατʼ Ἀκυληίαν μάλιστα ἐν τοῖς Ταυρίσκοις τοῖς Νωρικοῖς εὑρεθῆναι χρυσεῖον οὕτως εὐφυὲς ὥστʼ ἐπὶ δύο πόδας ἀποσύραντι τὴν ἐπιπολῆς γῆν εὐθὺς ὀρυκτὸν εὑρίσκεσθαι χρυσόν.
Further, Polybius says that in his own time, near Aquileia, especially among the Norican Taurisci, a gold mine was found so exceptionally rich that if one cleared away the surface soil for only two feet, dug-up gold was immediately found.
§34.10.11τὸ δʼ ὄρυγμα μὴ πλειόνων ὑπάρχειν ἢ πεντεκαίδεκα ποδῶν.
The excavation did not exceed fifteen feet.
§34.10.12εἶναι δὲ τοῦ χρυσοῦ τὸν μὲν αὐτόθεν καθαρόν, κυάμου μέγεθος ἢ θέρμου, τοῦ ὀγδόου μέρους μόνον ἀφεψηθέντος, τὸν δὲ δεῖσθαι μὲν χωνείας πλείονος, σφόδρα δὲ λυσιτελοῦς.
And of the gold, some was pure straight from the ground, of the size of a broad bean or a lupin, needing only an eighth part to be melted away in refining, while the other part required more melting, but was extremely profitable.
§34.10.13συνεργασαμένων δὲ τοῖς βαρβαροῖς τῶν Ἰταλιωτῶν ἐν διμήνῳ, παραχρῆμα τὸ χρυσίον εὐωνότερον γενέσθαι τῷ τρίτῳ μέρει καθʼ ὅλην τὴν Ἰταλίαν.
When the Italians worked together with the barbarians for two months, the gold immediately became a third cheaper throughout all Italy.
§34.10.14αἰσθομένους δὲ τοὺς Ταυρίσκους μονοπωλεῖν ἐκβαλόντας τοὺς συνεργαζομένους. —
But the Taurisci, realizing this, expelled their fellow-workers and monopolized it.
§34.10.15ὁ δʼ αὐτὸς ἀνὴρ περὶ τοῦ μεγέθους τῶν Ἄλπεων καὶ τοῦ ὕψους λέγων παραβάλλει τὰ ἐν τοῖς Ἕλλησιν ὄρη τὰ μέγιστα, τὸ Ταΰγετον, τὸ Λύκαιον, Παρνασσόν, Ὄλυμπον, Πήλιον, Ὄσσαν, ἐν δὲ Θρᾴκῃ Αἷμον, Ῥοδόπην, Δούνακα.
The same man, speaking of the size and height of the Alps, compares the largest mountains among the Greeks: Taygetus, Lycaeus, Parnassus, Olympus, Pelion, Ossa, and in Thrace, Haemus, Rhodope, and Dunax.
§34.10.16καί φησιν ὅτι τούτων μὲν ἕκαστον μικροῦ δεῖν αὐθημερὸν εὐζώνοις ἀναβῆναι δυνατόν, αὐθημερὸν δὲ καὶ περιελθεῖν, §34.10.17τὰς δʼ Ἄλπεις οὐδʼ ἂν πεμπταῖος ἀναβαίη τις· τὸ δὲ μῆκός ἐστι δισχιλίων καὶ διακοσίων σταδίων τὸ παρῆκον παρὰ τὰ πεδία.
And he says that each of these can be ascended by active men almost on the same day, and can be gone around on the same day, but one could not ascend the Alps even on the fifth day; and their length is two thousand two hundred stadia, extending along the plains.
§34.10.18τέτταρας δʼ ὑπερβάσεις ὀνομάζει μόνον, διὰ Λιγύων μὲν τὴν ἔγγιστα τῷ Τυρρηνικῷ πελάγει, εἶτα τὴν διὰ Ταυρίνων, ἣν Ἀννίβας διῆλθεν, εἶτα τὴν διὰ Σαλασσῶν, τετάρτην δὲ τὴν διὰ Ῥαιτῶν, ἁπάσας κρημνώδεις.
He names only four passes: the one through the Ligurians, closest to the Tyrrhenian Sea, then the one through the Taurini, which Hannibal crossed, then the one through the Salassi, and fourth, the one through the Raeti, all of them precipitous.
§34.10.19λίμνας δὲ εἶναί φησιν ἐν τοῖς ὄρεσι πλείους μέν, τρεῖς δὲ μεγάλας, ὧν ἡ μὲν Βήνακος ἔχει μῆκος πεντακοσίων σταδίων, πλάτος δὲ ἑκατὸν τριάκοντα, ἐκρεῖ δὲ ποταμὸς Μίγκιος· §34.10.20ἡ δʼ ἑξῆς Λάριος τετρακοσίων, πλάτος δὲ στενωτέρα τῆς πρότερον, ἐξίησι δὲ ποταμὸν τὸν Ἀδούαν· §34.10.21τρίτη δὲ Οὐερβανὸς μῆκος ἐγγὺς τριακοσίων σταδίων, πλάτος δὲ τριάκοντα, ποταμὸν δὲ ἐξίησι μέγαν Τίκινον.
And he says there are many lakes in the mountains, but three large ones, of which Benacus has a length of five hundred stadia and a width of one hundred and thirty, and from it flows the river Mincius; the next, Larius, has a length of four hundred, but in width is narrower than the former, and discharges the river Addua; and the third, Verbanus, has a length of nearly three hundred stadia and a width of thirty, and discharges a large river, the Ticinus.
πάντες δʼ εἰς τὸν Πάδον συρρέουσι.
All of these flow together into the Padus.