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The Classical Accounts of India c15: VIII. Pliny

The Classical Accounts of India c15

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English

Contents

VIII. Pliny

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Gaius Plinius Secundus (c A D 23-79), better known as the Elder Pliny, was a Roman scholar and the author of *Naturalis historia* (The *Natural History*) which consists of 37 books It deals with geography, ethnography, anthropology, physiology, zoology, and various other subjects He published the first ten books himself about A D. 77, and the rest was published by his nephew after his death

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The extracts that follow are based on the English translations of McCrindle (M-V) and Bostock (*The Natural History of Pliny* translated by John Bostock and H T Riley, London, George Bell and Sons, 1890) There are also English translations in the Loeb Classical Library series

I. Voyages from and to India

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C. 17(19) He (M. Varro) adds that under the direction of Pompey it was ascertained that it was seven days' journey from India to the river Iachrus, which flows into the Oxus, and that people have been conveyed from the Oxus through the Caspian into the Cyrus, and that Indian merchandise can be brought by land to Phasis in Pontus in five days at most.¹

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Book II c.67(67). The same Nepos, when speaking of the northern circumnavigation, relates that to Q Metellus Celer, the colleague of Afranius in the consulship, but then a proconsul in Gaul, a present was given by the King of the Suevi consisting of some Indians who, sailing from India for the purpose of commerce, had been driven by storms into Germany.²

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Book vi c.23(26). The journal of the voyage of Onesicritus and Nearchus has neither the names of the stations nor the distances set down in it;³ and first of all it is not sufficiently explained where and near what river Xylenopolis was—a city founded by Alexander and that from which his expedition started when it left India. Still, the following places mentioned by them are worthy of notice—the town of Arbis, founded by Nearchus in the course of the voyage, and the river Arbis, which is navigable and opposite which lies an island at a distance of 70 stadia; Alexandria built by Leonnatus by Alexander's orders in the territories of the people; Argenuus with a convenient harbour, the river Tonberos, which is navigable, and around its banks the Pasirae; then come the Ichthyophagi. . . . In after times it was considered an undeniable fact that the voyage from Syagrus the promontory (a cape) in Arabia, to Patale reckoned at 1335 miles, can be performed by aid of a west wind which is there called Hippalus. The age that followed pointed out a shorter route that was also safer by making the voyage from the same cape to Sigerus,⁴ a seaport of India; and for a long time this route was followed until one still shorter was discovered by a merchant, and India was brought nearer us through the love of gain. So then at the present day voyages are made to India every year; and companies of archers are carried on board because the Indian seas are infested by pirates.

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* It will not be amiss too, on the present occasion, to set forth the whole of the route from Egypt, which has been stated to us of late, upon information on which reliance may be placed, and is here published for the first time The subject is one well worthy of our notice, seeing that in no year does India drain our empire of less than five hundred and fifty millions of sesterces⁵, giving back her own wares in exchange, which are sold among us at fully one hundred times their prime cost.

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Two miles distant from Alexandria is the town of Juliopolis. The distance then to Coptos, up the Nile, is 308 miles; the voyage is performed, when the Etesian winds are blowing, in twelve days. From Coptos the journey is made with the aid of camels, stations being arranged at intervals for the supply of fresh water The first of these stations is called Hydreuma (watering-place), and is distant 22 miles, the second is situated on a mountain, at a distance of one day's journey from the last; the third is at a second Hydreuma, distant from Coptos 95 miles, the fourth is on a mountain; the next to that is at another Hydreuma, that of Apollo, and is distant from Coptos 184 miles; after which, there is another on a mountain. There is then another station at a place called New Hydreuma, distant from Coptos 230 miles; and next to it there is another, called the old Hydreuma, or the Troglodytic, where a detachment is always on guard, with a caravansary that affords lodging for two thousand persons. This last is distant from New Hydreuma seven miles. After leaving it we come to the city of Berenice, situated upon a harbour of the Red Sea, and distant from Coptos 257 miles. The greater part of this distance is generally travelled by night, on account of the extreme heat, the day being spent at the stations; in consequence of which it takes twelve days to perform the whole journey from Coptos to Berenice.

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Passengers generally set sail at midsummer, before the rising of the Dog-star, or else immediately after, and in about thirty days arrive at Ocelis in Arabia, or else at Cane, in the region which bears frankincense. There is also a third port of Arabia, Muza by name; it is not, however, used by persons on their passage to India, as only those touch at it who deal in incense and the perfumes of Arabia. More in the interior there is a city; the residence of the king there is called Sapphar, and there is another city known by the name of Save. To those who are bound for India, Ocelis is the best place for embarcation. If the wind called Hippalus be blowing, Muziris, the nearest mart of India, can be reached in forty days. It is not a desirable place of call, pirates being in the neighbourhood who occupy a place called Nitrias, and besides it is not well supplied with wares for traffic. Ships besides anchor at a great distance from the shore, and the cargoes have to be landed and shipped by employing boats. At the time I was writing this Caelobothras was the sovereign of that country. Another more convenient harbour of the nation is Neacyndon which is called Becare. There Pandion used to reign, dwelling at a great distance from the mart, in a town in the interior of the country called Modura. The district from which pepper is carried down to Becare in canoes is called Cottonara None of these names of nations, ports, and cities are to be found in any of the former writers—from which it appears that the names (stations) of the places are changed Travellers sail back from India in the beginning of the Egyptian month Tybis—our December—or at all events before the 6th day of the Egyptian month Mechir, that is before the Ides of January. In this way they can go and return the same year. They sail from India with a south-east wind, and on entering the Red Sea catch the south-west or south

II. Position, Boundaries, Physical Characteristics and the Races of India

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Book VI.c. 17(21.) Where the chain of Hemodus rises the communities are settled, and the nations of India, which begin there, adjoin not only the eastern sea but also the southern Ocean. That part which faces the east runs in a straight line to the bend where the Indian Ocean begins, and measures 1875 miles. Then from this bend to the south upto the river Indus, which forms the western boundary of India, the distance, as given by Eratosthenes, is 2475 miles. But many authors have represented the total length of its coast as being a sail of forty days and forty nights, and its length from north to south as being 2850 miles. Agrippa has estimated its length at 3300 miles, and its breadth at 2300. Poseidonios has measured it from north-east to south-east, placing it opposite to Gaul, which he was measuring from north-west to south-west, making the whole of India lie to the west of Gaul. Hence he has shown by undoubted proofts that India being most refreshed by the blowing of the west wind, and have in consequence a salubrious climate. Here the appearance of the heavens is entirely changed, and the stars rise differently; there are two summers in the year, and two harvests having winter between them, while the Etesian winds are prevalent; and during our winter the breezes there are light and the seas navigable. In this country the nations and cities are numberless should one attempt to reckon them all up. It was opened up to our knowledge not only by the arms of Alexander the Great and the kings who succeeded him, Seleucus and Antiochus, as well as by their admiral Petrokles who sailed round even into the Hyrcanian and Caspian seas, but also by certain Greek authors, who resided with Indian kings, such as Megasthenes, and Dionysius who was sent by Philadelphus, and have thus informed us of the power and resources of the Indian nations. However, there is no room for a careful examination of their statements, they are so diverse and incredible. The companions of Alexander the Great have written that in that tract of India, which he subdued, there were 5000 towns, none less than Cos—that its nations were nine in number—that India was the third part of all the world, and that the multitude of its inhabitants was past reckoning. For this there was probably a good reason, since the Indians almost alone among the nations have never emigrated from their own borders Their kings from Father Bacchus down to Alexander the Great are reckoned at 153 over a space of 6451 years and three months. The vast size of their rivers fills the mind with wonder It is recorded that Alexander on no day sailed on the Indus less than 600 stadia, and was unable to reach its mouth in less than five months and a few days, and yet it appears that it is smaller than the Ganges. Seneca, who was our fellow citizen and composed a treatise on India, has given the number of its rivers at 60,⁷ and that of the nations at 118. It would be as great a difficulty should we attempt to enumerate its mountains. The chains of Imavos, Hemodus, Paropanisus, and Caucasus are mutually connected, and from their base the whole country sinks down into a plain of immense extent and bears a great resemblance to Egypt. But that our account of the geography of these regions may be better understood, we shall tread in the steps of Alexander the Great, whose marches were measured by Diognetes and Baeton.

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[After this are given distances from the Caspian Gates to the river Cophes and Peucolaitis, a city of India.]

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VI. 21. 8-23. 11. From thence (i.e. Peucolaitis) to the river Indus and the city of Taxila, 60; from thence to the famous river Hydaspes, 120; from thence to the Hypasis, a river no less famous, 290 miles and 390 paces. This last was the extreme limit of the expedition of Alexander, though he crossed the river and dedicated certain altars on the opposite side The dispatches written by order of that king fully agree with the distances above stated. The remaining distances beyond the above point were ascertained on the expedition of Seleucus Nikator.—168 miles to the Hesidrus, and to the river Jomanes as many (some copies add 5 miles); from thence to the Ganges 112 miles 119 miles to Rhodopha (others give 325 miles for this distance ) To the town Kalinipaxa 167-500 (others give 265) miles Thence to the confluence of the Jomanes and Ganges 625 miles (many add 13 miles), and to the town Palimbothra 425. To the mouth of the Ganges 738 miles.

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The races which we may enumerate without being tedious, from the chain of Emodus, of which a spur is called Imaus (meaning in the native language *snowy*), are the Isari, Cosyri, Izgi, and on the hills the Chisiotosagi, and the Brachmanae, a name comprising many tribes, among which are the Maccocalingae. The river Prinas and the Cainas (which flows into the Ganges) are both navigable The tribes called Calingae are nearest the sea, and higher up are the Mandei, and the Malli in whose country is Mount Mallus, the boundary of all that district being the Ganges.

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(22) This river, according to some, rises from uncertain sources, like the Nile, and inundates similarly the countries lying along its course; others say that it rises on the Scythian mountains. and has nineteen tributaries of which, besides those already mentioned, the Condochates, Erannoboas, Cosoagus, and Sonus are navigable. Others again assert that it issues forth at once with loud roar from its fountain, and after tumbling down a steep and rocky channel is received immediately on reaching the level plains into a lake, whence it flows out with a gentle current, being at the narrowest eight miles, and on the average a hundred stadia, in breadth, and never of less depth than twenty paces (one hundred feet) in the final part of its course, which is through the country of the Gangarides. The royal city of the Calingae is called Parthalis.⁸ Over their king 60,000 foot-soldiers, 1000 horsemen, 700 elephants keep watch and ward in “precinct of war.”⁸a For among the more civilized Indian communities life is spent in a great variety of separate occupations.⁹ Some till the soil, some are soldiers, some traders; the noblest and richest take part in the direction of state affairs, administer justice, and sit in council with the kings. A fifth class devotes itself to the philosophy prevalent in the country, which almost assumes the form of a religion, and the members always put an end to their life by a voluntary death on a burning funeral pile. In addition to these classes there is one half-wild, which is constantly engaged in a task of immense labour, beyond the power of words to describe¹⁰—that of hunting and taming elephants They employ these animals in ploughing and for riding on, and regard them as forming the main part of their stock in cattle. They employ them in war and in fighting for their country In choosing them for war, regard is had to their age, strength. and size

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There is a very large island in the Ganges which is inhabited by a single tribe called Modogalingae Beyond are situated the Modubae, Molindae, the Uberae with a handsome town of the same name, the Galmodroesi, Preti, Calissae, Sasuri, Passalae, Colubae, Orxulae, Abali, Taluctae The king of these keeps under arms 50,000 foot-soldiers, 4000 cavalry, and 400 elephants. Next come the Andarae, a still more powerful race, which possesses numerous villages, and thirty towns defended by walls and towers, and which supplies its king with an army of 100,000 infantry, 2000 cavalry, and 1000 elephants Gold is very abundant among the Dardae, and silver among the Setae

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But the Prasii surpass in power and glory every other people, not only in this quarter, but one may say in all India, their capital being Palibothra, a very large and wealthy city, after which some call the people itself the Palibothri,—nay, even the whole tract along the Ganges. Their king has in his pay a standing army of 600,000 foot-soldiers, 30.000 cavalry, and 9000 elephants; whence may be formed some conjecture as to the vastness of his resources

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After these, but more inland, are the Monedes and Suari, in whose country is Mount Maleus, on which shadows fall towards the north in winter, and towards the south in summer, for six months alternately. Baeton asserts that the north pole in these parts is seen but once in the year, and only for fifteen days; while Megasthenes says that the same thing happens in many parts of India. The south pole is called by the Indians Dramasa. The river Jomanes flows through the Palibothri into the Ganges between the towns Methora and Carisobora. In the parts which lie southward from the Ganges the inhabitants, already swarthy, are deeply coloured by the sun, though not scorched black like the Ethiopians. The nearer they approach the Indus the more plainly does their complexion betray the influence of the sun.

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The Indus skirts the frontiers of the Prasii, whose mountain tracts are said to be inhabited by the Pygmies. Artemidorus sets down the distance between the two rivers at 121 miles.

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(23.) The Indus, called by the inhabitants Sindus, rising on that spur of Mount Caucasus which is called Paropamisus, from sources fronting the sunrise, receives also itself nineteen rivers, of which the most famous are the Hydaspes, which has four tributaries; the Cantabra, which has three; the Acesines and the Hypasis, which are both navigable; but nevertheless, having no very great supply of water, it is nowhere broader than fifty stadia, or deeper than fifteen paces It forms an extremely large island, which is called Prasiane, and a smaller one, called Patale. Its stream, which is navigable, by the lowest estimates, for 1240 miles, turns westward as if following more or less closely the course of the sun, and then falls into the ocean. The measure of the coast line from the mouth of the Ganges to this river I shall set down as it is generally given, though none of the computations agree with each other. From the mouth of the Ganges to Cape Calingon and the town of Dandagula 625 miles; to Tropina 1225; to the cape of Perimula, where there is the greatest emporium of trade in India, 750 miles; to the town in the island of Patala mentioned above, 620 miles.

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The hill-tribes between the Indus and the Iomanes are the Cesi; the Cetriboni, who live in the woods; then the Megallae, whose king is master of five hundred elephants and an army of horse and foot of unknown strength, the Chrysei, the Parasangae, and the Asangae, where tigers abound, noted for their ferocity. The force under arms consists of 30,000 foot, 300 elephants, and 800 horse. These are shut in by the Indus, and are surrounded by a circle of mountains and deserts over a space of 625 miles. Below the deserts are the Dari, the Surae, then deserts again for 187 miles, these deserts encircling the fertile tracts just as the sea encircles islands. Below these deserts we find the Maltecorae, Singhae, Marohae, Rarungae, Moruni. These inhabit the hills which in an unbroken chain run parallel to the shores of the ocean They are free and have no kings, and occupy the mountain heights, whereon they have built many cities. Next follow the Nareae, enclosed by the loftiest of Indian mountains, Capitalia. The inhabitants on the other side of this mountain work extensive mines of gold and silver. Next are the Oraturae, whose king has only ten elephants, though he has a very strong force of infantry. Next again are the Varetatae, subject to a king, who keep no elephants, but trust entirely to their horse and foot. Then the Odomboerae; the Salabastrae; the Horatae, who have a fine city, defended by marshes which serve as a ditch, wherein crocodiles are kept, which, having a great avidity for human flesh, prevent all access to the city except by a bridge And another city of theirs is much admired—Automela, which being seated on the coast at the confluence of five rivers, is a noble emporium of trade. The king is master of 1600 elephants, 150,000 foot, and 5000 cavalry The poorer king of the Charmae has but sixty elephants, and his force otherwise is insignificant Next come the Pandae, the only race in India ruled by women They say that Hercules having but one daughter, who was on that account all the more beloved, endowed her with a noble kingdom Her descendants rule over 300 cities, and command an army of 150,000 foot and 500 elephants. Next, with 300 cities, the Syrieni, Derangae, Posingae, Buzae, Gogiarei, Umbrae, Nereae, Brancosi, Nobundae, Cocondae, Nesei, Pedatrirae, Solobriasae, Olostrae, who adjoin the island Patale, from the furthest shore of which to the Caspian gates the distance is said to be 1925 miles.

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Then next to these towards the Indus come, in an order which is easy to follow, the Amatac, Bolingae, Gallitalutae, Dimuri, Megari, Ordabae, Mesae, after these the Uri and Sileni. Immediately beyond come deserts extending for 250 miles .These being passed, we come to the Organagae, Abaortae, Sibarae, Suertae, and after these to deserts as extensive as the former. Then come the Sarophages, Sorgae, Baraomatae, and the Umbrittae, who consist of twelve tribes, each possessing two cities, and the Aseni, who possess three cities. Their capital is Bucephala, built where Alexander's famous horse of that name was buried. Hillmen follow next, inhabiting the base of Caucasus, the Soleadae, and the Sondrae; and if we cross to the other side of the Indus and follow its course downward we meet the Samarabriae, Sambruceni, Bisambritae, Osii, Antixeni, and the Taxillae with a famous city. Then succeeds a level tract of country known by the general name of Amanda, whereof the tribes are four in number—the Peucolaitae, Arsagalitae, Geretae, Asoi.

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Many writers, however, do not give the river Indus as the western boundary of India, but include within it four satrapies, the Gedrosi, Arachotae, Arii, Paropamisadae, making the river Cophes its furthest limit; though others prefer to consider all these as belonging to the Arii.

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Many writers further include in India even the city Nysa and Mount Merus, sacred to Father Bacchus, whence the origin of the fable that he sprang from the thigh of Jupiter. They include also the Astacani, in whose country the vine grows abundantly, and the laurel, and boxwood, and every kind of fruit-tree found in Greece. The remarkable and almost fabulous accounts which are current regarding the fertility of its soil, and the nature of its fruits and trees, its beasts and birds and other animals, will be set down each in its own place in other parts of this work. A little further on I shall speak of the satrapies, but the island of Taprobane requires my immediate attention.

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But before we come to this island there are others, one being Patale, which, as we have indicated, lies at the mouth of the Indus, triangular in shape, and 220 miles in breadth. Beyond the mouth of the Indus are Chryse and Argyre, rich, as I believe, in metals. For I cannot readily believe, what is asserted by some writers, that their soil is impregnated with gold and silver. At a distance of twenty miles from these lies Crocala, from which, at a distance of twelve miles, is Bibaga, which abounds with oysters and other shell-fish. Next comes Toralliba, nine miles distant from the last-named island, beside many others unworthy of note.

III. Description of Taprobane (Ceylon)

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Book VI. c. 22 (24) Taprobane, under the name of the 'Land of the Antichthones', was long regarded as another world. The age and achievements of Alexander the Great made it clear that it is an island Onesicritus, the commander of his fleet, had stated that its elephants are larger and more bellicose than those of India, and from Megasthenes we learn that it is divided by a river, and that its inhabitants are called Palaeogoni, and that it is more productive of gold and pearls of great size than India itself. Eratosthenes has also given its dimensions as 700 stadia in length and 5000 stadia in breadth, while he states that it has no cities, but villages to the number of seven hundred. It begins at the Eastern Sea, and lies extended over against India east and west. The island in former days, when the voyage to it was made with vessels constucted of papyrus and rigged after the manner of the vessels of the Nile, was thought to be twenty days' sail from the country of the Prasii, but the distance came afterwards to be reckoned at a seven days' sail, according to the rate of speed of our ships. The sea between the island and India is full of shallows not more than six paces in depth, but in some channels so deep that no anchors can find the bottom For this reason ships are built with prows at each end to obviate the necessity of their turning about in channels of extreme narrowness. The tonnage of these vessels is 3000 amphorae.¹¹ In making sea-voyages, the Taprobane mariners make no observations of the stars, and indeed the Greater Bear is not visible to them. but they take birds out to sea with them which they let loose from time to time and follow the direction of their flight as they make for land The season for navigation is limited to four months, and they particularly shun the sea during the hundred days which succeed the summer solstice, for it is then winter in those seas

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So much we have learned from the old writers It has been our lot, however, to obtain a more accurate knowledge of the island, for in the reign of the Emperor Claudius ambassadors came to his court therefrom, and under the following circumstances. A freedman of Annius Plocamus, who had farmed from the treasury the Red Sea revenues, while sailing around Arabia was carried away by gales of wind from the north beyond Carmania. In the course of fifteen days he had been wafted to Hippuri, a port of Taprobane, where he was humanely received and hospitably entertained by the king; and having in six months' time learned the language, he was able to answer the questions he was asked. The king particularly admired the Romans and their emperor as men possessed of an unheard-of love of justice, when he found that among the money taken from the captive the denarii were all of equal weight, although the different images stamped on them showed that they had been coined in the reigns of several emperors. This influenced him most of all to seek an alliance with the Romans, and he accordingly despatched to Rome four ambassadors, of whom the chief was Rachia (i.e Rajah).

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From these it was ascertained that in Taprobane there are 500 towns, and that there is a harbour facing the south, adjacent to the city of Palaesimundus, the most famous city in the island, the king's place of residence and inhabited by a population of 200,000. They stated also that in the interior there is a lake called Megisba 375 miles in circuit, and containing islands which are fertile, but only for pasturage. From this lake, they said, there issued two rivers, one and for what low ends.

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But yet Taprobane even, though isolated by nature from the rest of the world, is not exempt from our vices. Even there gold and silver are held in esteem. They have a marble which resembles tortoiseshell, pearls also and precious stones, and these are all held in high honour. Their articles of luxury surpass our own, and they have them in great abundance They asserted that their wealth is greater than ours, but acknowledged that we excelled them in the art of deriving enjoyment from opulence

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There are no slaves in the island, the inhabitants do not prolong their slumbers till daybreak. nor sleep during the day; their buildings are only of a moderate height from the ground; the price of corn is never enhanced, they have no courts of law and no litigation. Hercules is the God they worship; their king is chosen by the people, and must be an old man, of a gentle disposition and childless, and if after his election he should beget children, he is required to abdicate, lest the throne should become hereditary; thirty counsellors are provided for him by the people, and no one can be condemned to death except by the vote of the majority—the person so condemned has, however, the right of appeal to the people, in which case a jury of seventy persons is appointed; if these should acquit the accused, the thirty counsellors lose all the respect they enjoyed, and are subjected to the uttermost disgrace. The king dresses like Father Bacchus, the people like the Arabs. The king, if he offend in aught, is condemned to death, but no one slays him—all turn their backs upon him, and will not communicate with him in any way, not even by speech. Their festive occasions are spent in hunting, their favourite game being the tiger and the elephant. The land is carefully tilled; the vine is not cultivated, but other fruits are abundant. Great delight is taken in fishing, especially in catching turtles, beneath the shells of which the whole families can be housed, of such vast size are they to be found.¹³ These people look upon a hundred years as but a moderate span of life. Thus much we have learned about Taprobane.

IV. Incidental Notices

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**Book II. c. 73(75).** In the same way they inform us that in the town of Syene, which is 5000 stadia south of Alexandria, no shadow is cast at noon on the day of the solstice, and that a well dug for the purpose of the experiment was completely illuminated, from which it appears that the sun is vertical at that place, and Onesicritus writes that in India this is the case at that time at the river Hypasis ... In the country of the Oretes, a people of India, is the mountain Maleus, near which the shadows in summer are cast to the south and in winter to the north. The stars of the Great Bear are visible there for fifteen days only. In India also, at Patala, a celebrated port, the sun rises on the right hand and the shadows fall to the south. It was observed, while Alexander was staying there the seven stars of the Bear were seen only at the early part of the evening. Onesicritus, one of his generals, states that in those parts of India where there are no shadows the Bear is not seen; these places, he says, are called 'ascia', and time there is not reckoned by hours.

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C. 108(112). One part of the earth ... stretches out to the greatest extent from east to west, that is, from India to the Pillars of Hercules at Gades, being a distance of 8578 miles according to Artemidorus, but according to Isidorus 9818 miles.

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Book VI. c. 16(18). This nation (the Bactrian) lies at the back of the mount Paropanisus over against the sources of the river Indus

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¹ Strabo (XI. VII 3) writes to the same effect Aristobulus says that the Oxus is easy to navigate (a circumstance which both he and Eratosthenes borrow from Patrokles), and that large quantities of Indian merchandise are conveyed by it to the Hyrcanian sea, and are thence transferred into Albania by the Cyrus and through the adjoining countries to the Euxine. From the Cyrus the merchandise was conveyed in four days along a carriage road to the fortress of Sarapana, whence it was carried down the Phasis to the Euxine. See Strabo, XI ii, 17. A passage to the same effect is quoted by Lassen from Fragm Hist Graec, ed C Miller, ii, 411 The Iachrus is supposed to be the Bactrus, which from Bactra (Balkh) joins the Oxus. There may have been an error in the transcription of the name For a discussion of this question, of W W Tarn, *The Greeks in Bactria and India*, pp 488-493, (M-V, 110)

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² Murphy the translator of Tacitus in one of his notes to the *Agricola* remarks thus upon this passage 'The work of Cornelius Nepos has not come down to us, and Pliny, as it seems, has abridged too much The whole tract would have furnished a considerable event in the history of navigation At present, we are left to conjecture whether the Indian adventurers sailed round the Cape of Good Hope, through the Atlantic Ocean, and thence into the northern seas, or whether they made a voyage still more extraordinary, by passing the island of Japan, the Coast of Siberia, Kamchatska, Zembla in the Frozen Ocean and thence round Lapland and Norway, either into the Baltic or the German Ocean It may be proper to mention that about the year 1770, a set of navigators from Japan were driven by tempestuous weather to the northern coast of Siberia, and having landed at Kamchatska were conveyed to Petersburg, and there received by the Empress of Russia with the greatest humanity,' (M-V, 110).

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FOOTNOTES

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² Onesicritus was chief pilot of the fleet with which Nearchus made his famous voyage from the Indus to the head of the Persian Gulf The Journal of this voyage (written by Nearchus) has been preserved by Arrian It contains both the names of the stations and the distances between them, of which some are mentioned in the sequel of Pliny's text, which must here be corrupt This account of Nearchus is given later in this volume

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⁴ Sigerus has been taken to be the same as Melizigera in para 53 of the *Periplus* Many other geographical names in Pliny's account will be found in the same work

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⁵ Equivalent to £1,400 000 Sterling

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⁶ The portion within the two asterisks "It will not be place for embarcation"—is not included in McCrindle's translation and is taken from Bostock's Translation

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⁷ 65, according to Bostock's Translation

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⁸ Bostock translates 'The last nation situated on the banks of the Ganges is that of the Gangaridae Calingae, the city where their king dwells has the name of Protalis", and adds in a footnote against Protalis. "called Parthalis in most of the editions"

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8a Bostock translates "This king has 60 000 foot soldiers, 1000 horse and 700 elephants, always caparisoned, ready for battle'

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⁹ Bostock translates "The people are divided into several classess"

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¹⁰ Bostock translates "by means of their exertions all the classes previously mentioned are supported It is their duty to hunt "

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10a 2100 miles according to Bostock

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10b 'independent of all kings" (Bostock)

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10c Bostock translates "After passing this island, the other side of the Indus is occupied as we know by clear and undoubted proofs, by (the)"

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¹¹ The amount of cargo carried by ancient ships was generally computed by the talent or the amphora, each of which weighed about a fortieth of a ton The largest ships carried 10 000 talents or 250 tons The talent and the amphora each represented a cubic foot of water, and as a Greek or Roman foot measured about 97 of an English foot, the talent and the amphora each weighed very nearly 57 lbs See Torr's Ancient Ships, p 25

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¹² Evidently coral reefs

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¹³ Compare Aelian, *Hist Anim* xvi 18 'In the sea which surrounds the island (Taprobane) tortoises have such enormous shells that these are employed to make roofs of the houses, for a shell being fifteen cubits long can hold a good number of people under it, screening them from the scorching rays of the sun besides affording them a welcome shade'

Cites (7)