Pompeius Trogus / Justin — Histories, Book 44

Primary-source dossier

The excerpts below are reproduced from the Ictis Anthology — a working paper produced during research for the project. Some of the results were spun off into New Perspectives on the Ictis of Pytheas of Massalia.

Book 44

(Source: http://www.forumromanum.org/literature/justin/english/trans44.html#1)

Chapter 1

“SPAIN, as it forms the boundary of Europe, will also form the conclusion of the present work. This country the ancients first called Iberia, from the river Iberus, and afterwards Hispania, from some person named Hispanus. It lies between Africa and Gaul, and is bounded by the Ocean Strait and the Pyrenees. It is less than either of these countries, but more fruitful than either; for it is neither scorched, like Africa, by a burning sun, nor disturbed, like Gaul, by incessant winds, but, being situate betwixt both, it is rendered, by moderate heat on the one hand, and genial and seasonable showers on the other, fertile in all kinds of fruits of the earth, so that it supplies abundance of everything, not only for its own inhabitants, but for Italy and the city of Rome. From hence, indeed, comes not only great plenty of corn, but of wine, honey, and oil. Its iron is excellent, and its breed of horses swift. Not only is the produce of the surface to be admired, but the abundant riches of the metals hidden beneath it. There is great plenty, too, of flax and hemp¹, and certainly no country is more productive of vermilion. The courses of the rivers are not violent and rapid, so as to be hurtful, but gentle, watering the vineyards and the plains; they are also well stocked with fish from the estuaries of the sea, and most of them are rich in gold, which they carry down with their waters. It is joined to Gaul by one unbroken ridge of the Pyrenees; on every other side it is surrounded by sea. The shape of the country is almost square, except that it grows narrower towards the Pyrenees, the shores contracting in that quarter. The length of the Pyrenees is six hundred miles. The salubrity of the air is the same through the whole of Spain, for its atmosphere is infected with no unwholesome mists from fens. Besides, there are constant breezes from the sea on every side, by which, as they penetrate the whole country, the exhalations from the earth are dispersed, and the greatest health is secured to the inhabitants.”

Chapter 3

“In Lusitania, near the river Tagus, many authors have said that the mares conceive from the effect of the wind; but such stories have had their origin in the fecundity of the mares², and the vast number of herds of horses, which are so numerous, and of such swiftness, in Gallaecia and Lusitania, that they may be thought, not without reason, to have been the offspring of the wind. As for the Gallaecians, they claim for themselves a Greek origin; for they say that Teucer, after the end of the Trojan war, having incurred the hatred of his father on account of the death of his brother Ajax, and not being admitted into his kingdom, retired to Cyprus, where he built a city called Salamis, from the name of his native land; that, some time after, on hearing a report of his father’s death, he returned again to his country, but, being hindered from landing by Eurysaces the son of Ajax, he sailed to the coast of Spain, and took possession of those parts where New Carthage now stands, and, passing from thence to Gallaecia, and fixing his abode there, gave name to the nation. A part of the Gallaecians are called Amphilochi. The country produces abundance of brass and lead³, as well as of vermilion, which has given name to a river near the part in which it is found. It is also very rich in gold, so that they sometimes turn up clods of gold with the plough. In the territory of this people there is a sacred mountain, which it is thought impious to open with any tool of iron, but whenever the earth is rent with lightning, an occurrence common in these parts, it is allowable to pick up the gold that may be laid open, as a gift from the deity of the place. The women manage household affairs, and the culture of the ground; the men attend only to arms, and the pursuit of spoil. Their iron is of an extraordinary quality, but their water is more powerful than the iron itself; for the iron, by being tempered in it, becomes keener; nor is any weapon held in esteem among them which has not been dipped either in the Bilbilis or the Chalybs. From the latter river those who dwell on its banks are called Chalybes, and are said to surpass the rest of the people in the manufacture of steel.”