Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/689

 I'KOVINCIA. Lyon, and the country south of Lyon. The part of the Provincia soutli of Lyon is a valley between the Alps on the east and the Cevennes on the west, which becomes wider as we advance south. On the east side the lower Alps and the Alpine valleys cover a large part of the country. On the west, the Ce- vennes and the lower ranges connected with them leave a very narrow tract between the Rhone and the mountains till we come to the latitude of ,1 vignon and Niines. The southern part of the Khone valley between Massilia and the Pyrenees contains a large extent of level country. The southern part of this great valley is more Italian than Gallic in position, climate, and products. The Rhone, which cuts it into two parts, has numerous branches wjiich join it from the Alps ; but the mountain streams which flow into it from the Ceoennes are few [Riiodanus]. The rivers of the Provincia west of the Rhone flow from the Cevennes and from the Pyrenees into the Mediterranean. They are all comparatively small. The Classius of Avienus is probably the Caulazon, so far as we can conclude from the name ; the Ledus is the Lez, which flows by Montpelller ; the Arauris (Ilerault) flows past Agathe {Ayde); the Libria or Liria may be the Livrun [Libkia] ; the Obris or Orbis (Orfie); the Narbo or Atax (Aicde), which passes Narhonne ; the Ruscino or Tetis {Tet), and the Tichis (Tecli), which enters the Jlediterranean a few miles north of Portus Veneris {^Poi-t Vendre). lietween the Var and the Rhone there are very few streams, for the form of the surface is such that nearly all the drainage runs into the Rhone. There is the Argenteus (Argens), and a few insignificant .streams between the Argenteus and the delta of the Rhone. The extreme western part of the Provincia com- prehends a portion of the basin of the Garonne, for Toulouse is on this river. The valley of the Avde between the Cevennes and the Pyrenees forms an easy approach from the Mediterranean to the waters of the Garonne and to the Atlantic, — a circumstance which facilitated the commerce between the Medi- terranean and the Atlantic, and made this a com- mercial route at a very early period. [Narbo.] The coast from the Pyrenaeum Promontorium to a point a few miles south of Massilia furms a great bay called the Gallicus Sinus : it is generally flat, and in matiy places it is lined by marshes and lakes. This part of the coast contains the Delta of the Rhone. East of Massilia the country is hilly and dry. The port of Massilia is naturally a poor place. East of it is the port of Telo Martius ( Touloii), and a few other ports of little value. ]Iela's remark (ii. 5) is true: " On the shore of the Provincia there aie some places with some names; but there are few cities, oecause there are few ports and all the coast is exposed to the Auster and the Africus." There are a few small islands along the eastern coast, the Stoechades, Planasia, Leron, and other rocky islets. The dimensions of the Provincia, according to Agrip- pu's measurement, are said to be 270 M. P. in length and 248 M. P. in breadth. But we neither know how the measures were taken, nor whether the numbers in Pliny's text (iii. 4) are correct. How- ever we learn that this, like many other parts of the empire, was surveyed and measured under Agrippa's orders. The length of the coast of Narboncnsis is above 260 miles. The direct distance from Toulouse to the mouth of the Var is near 300 miles; and from tlie junction of the Ehoue and the Suotie, the direct vol,. II. PROVINCIA. 673 distance to the sea measured along a meridian is about 180 miles. But these measures give only an imperfect idea of the area of the country, because the outline is irregular. Strabo (iv. pp. 178, 179) has preserved a measurement which has followed a Roman road from the Pyrenees to the Var. The distance from the temple of Aphrodite at the Py- renees to Narbo is 63 Roman miles ; thence to Nemausus 88 ; from Nemausus through Ugernum and Tarasco to the warm springs called Sextiae (Aquae Sextiae), which are near Massilia, 53 ; and thence to Antipolis and to the Varus, 73 ; the whole making 277 miles. Some reckon, he says, from the Ajihrodisium to the Varus 2600 stadia, and son;e add 200 more, for they do not agree about the distance. Two thou.sand sis hundred stadia are 325 Roman miles. When Strabo wrote, the distance along the road from Narbo to the Var was not measured, or he did not know it. The other great road which he describes is a road through the Vocontii and the territory of Cottius : " As far as Ugernum and Tarasco the road from Ne- mausus is the same as the route just described ; but from Tarasco to the borders of the Vocontii over the Druentia and through Caballio {Cavaillon on the Durance) is 63 miles; and again, from Caballio to the other limit of the Vocontii toward the land of Cottius to the village Epebrodunum (Embrodunum, Eiuhrun') is 99 miles; then 99 more through tiie village IJrigantium {Brianqon) and Scincomagus and the ])assage of the Alpes (the pass of ^iont Genevre) to Ocelum [Ocelu.m], the limit of the land of Cottius; the country from Scincomagus is reckoned a part of Italy, and from there to Ocelum is 27 miles." He says in another place (iv. p. 187) that this road through the Vocontii is the shorter, but though the other road along the Massiliotic coast and the Ligurian territory is longer, the passes over the hills into Italy are easier, for the mountains in those parts sink lower. These were the two great roads in the Provincia. There was a road in the west from Narbo through Carcaso to Tolosa. There was also a road from Arelate {Aries) at the bifurcation of the Rhone northward on the east side of the Rhone, through Avenio, Arausio, Valentia, and Vienna ( Vienne), to Lugdunum : this was one of Agrippa's roads (Strab. iv. p. 208). There was no road on the opjiosite side of the river, or no great road, the land on that side not being well adapted for the construction of a road. There were other roads over the Alps. There was a road from Lugdunum and Vienna up the valley of the Isara {here) to the Alpis Graia (Little St. Bernard), which in the time of Augustus was nmdi used (Strab. iv. p. 208) ; and there was the road from Augusta Praetoria (Aosla) in Italy over the Great St. Bernard to Octodurus (Martigny) and Penni- lucus, at the east end of the Lake of Geneva; and thence into the country of the Helvetii. Within the limits of Narboiiensis there is every variety of surface and climate, Alpine mouiitain.s and Alpine valleys, sterile rocky tracts and fertile plains, winter for nine months in the year and sum- mer for as many months. Pliny says of it: '• Agro- rum cultu, virorura morunKjue dignatione, ainplitu- dine opum, mdli jiroviuciarum jiostfereiida breviter- que Italia verius ([uam provincia." (Pliny, iii. 4.) The climate is only mild in the south ]jart and in the lowlands. As we descend the Rhone a difler- ence is felt. About Arausio {Orange) tlie olive ajipears, a tree that marks a warm climate. " All