Ἰνδική 40.2

40.2

τὴν δὲ Περσίδα γῆν τριχῆ νενεμῆσθαι τῶν ὡρέων λόγος κατέχει. τὸ μὲν αὐτῆς πρὸς τῇ Ἐρυθρῇ θαλάσσῃ οἰκεόμενον ψαμμῶδές τε εἶναι καὶ ἄκαρπον ὑπὸ

The Arosis marks the limit of the possessions of the Persians, and divides them from the Susians. Above the Susians occurs an independent race called the Uxians, whom I have described in my other work (Anab. VII. 15, 3) as robbers. The length of the Persian coast is 4,400 stadia. Persis, according to general report, has three different climates, for that part of it which lies along the Erythraean sea, is sandy and barren from the violence of the heat, while the part which succeeds enjoys a delightful temperature, for there the mountains stretch towards the pole and the North wind, and the region is clothed with verdure and has well-watered meadows, and bears in profusion the vine and every fruit else but the olive, while it blooms with gardens and pleasure parks of all kinds, and is permeated with crystal streams and abounds with lakes, and lake and stream alike are the haunts of every variety of water-fowl, and it is also a good country for horses and other yoke cattle, being rich in pasture, while it is throughout well-wooded and well-stocked with game. The part, however, which lies still further to the North is said to be bleak and cold, and covered with snow, so that, as Nearkhos tells us, certain ambassadors from the Euxine Sea, after a very brief journey, met Alexander marching forward to Persis, whereat Alexander being greatly surprised, they explained to him how very inconsiderable the distance was. I have already stated that the immediate neighbours to the Susians are the Uxians, just as the Mardians, a race of robbers, are next neighbours to the Persians, and the Kossaeans to the Medes. All these tribes Alexander subdued, attacking them in the winter time when their country was, as they imagined, inaccessible. He then founded cities to reclaim them from their wandering life, and encouraged them to till their lands and devote themselves to agriculture. At the same time he appointed magistrates armed with the terrors of the law to prevent them having recourse to violence in the settlement of their quarrels. On weighing from the Arosis the expedition coasted the shores of the Susians. The remainder of the voyage, Nearkhos says, he cannot describe with the same precision; he can but give the names of the stations and the length of the courses, for the coast was full of shoals and beset with breakers which spread far out to sea, and made the approach to land dangerous. The navigation thereafter was of course almost entirely restricted to the open sea. In mentioning their departure from the mouth of the river where they had encamped on the borders of Persis, he states that they took there on board a five days’ supply of water, as the pilots had brought to their notice that none could be procured on the way.