Γεωγραφικα 2.5.12

2.5.12

μάλιστα δʼ οἱ νῦν ἄμεινον ἔχοιεν ἄν τι λέγειν περὶ τῶν κατὰ Βρεττανοὺς καὶ Γερμανοὺς καὶ τοὺς περὶ τὸν Ἴστρον τούς τε ἐντὸς καὶ τοὺς ἐκτὸς Γέτας τε καὶ Τυρεγέτας καὶ Βαστάρνας, ἔτι δὲ τοὺς περὶ τὸν Καύκασον, οἷον Ἀλβανοὺς καὶ Ἴβηρας. ἀπήγγελται δʼ ἡμῖν καὶ ὑπὸ τῶν τὰ Παρθικὰ συγγραψάντων, τῶν περὶ Ἀπολλόδωρον τὸν Ἀρτεμιτηνόν, ἃ πολλῶν ἐκεῖνοι μᾶλλον ἀφώρισαν, τὰ περὶ τὴν Ὑρκανίαν καὶ τὴν Βακτριανήν· τῶν τε Ῥωμαίων καὶ εἰς τὴν εὐδαίμονα Ἀραβίαν ἐμβαλόντων μετὰ στρατιᾶς νεωστί, ἧς ἡγεῖτο ἀνὴρ φίλος ἡμῖν καὶ ἑταῖρος Αἴλιος Γάλλος, καὶ τῶν ἐκ τῆς Ἀλεξανδρείας ἐμπόρων στόλοις ἤδη πλεόντων διὰ τοῦ Νείλου καὶ τοῦ Ἀραβίου κόλπου μέχρι τῆς Ἰνδικῆς, πολὺ μᾶλλον καὶ ταῦτα ἔγνωσται τοῖς νῦν ἢ τοῖς πρὸ ἡμῶν. ὅτε γοῦν Γάλλος ἐπῆρχε τῆς Αἰγύπτου, συνόντες αὐτῷ καὶ συναναβάντες μέχρι Συήνης καὶ τῶν Αἰθιοπικῶν ὅρων ἱστοροῦμεν, ὅτι καὶ ἑκατὸν καὶ εἴκοσι νῆες πλέοιεν ἐκ Μυὸς ὅρμου πρὸς τὴν Ἰνδικήν, πρότερον ἐπὶ τῶν Πτολεμαϊκῶν βασιλέων ὀλίγων παντάπασι θαρρούντων πλεῖν καὶ τὸν Ἰνδικὸν ἐμπορεύεσθαι φόρτον.

Writers of the present day can describe with more certainty [than formerly] the Britons, the Germans, and the dwellers on either side of the Danube, the Getae, the Tyrigetae, the Bastarnae, the tribes dwelling by the Caucasus, such as the Albanians and Iberians. We are besides possessed of a description of Hyrcania and Bactriana in the Histories of Parthia written by such men as Apollodorus of Artemita, who leave detailed the boundaries [of those countries] with greater accuracy than other geographers.
The entrance of a Roman army into Arabia Felix under the command of my friend and companion Aelius Gallus, and the traffic of the Alexandrian merchants whose vessels pass up the Nile and Arabian Gulf to India, have rendered us much better acquainted with these countries than our predecessors were. I was with Gallus at the time he was prefect of Egypt, and accompanied him as far as Syene and the frontiers of Ethiopia, and I found that about one hundred and twenty ships sail from Myos-hormos to India, although, in the time of the Ptolemies, scarcely any one would venture on this voyage and the commerce with the Indies.