Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 2.djvu/341

 1082 HISPAKIA. eipiaf 29 with the Latin fnmchiae (Laiio aaiUiqui' tua donatd)^ 6 free {libertate donata), 7 allied (yb«- dere doruUa), 120 ttipendtaricL (Plin. iii. 1. s. 3). (3). LusiTANiA had for the head-qnarterB of its 3 cooTentns, the cities of Embrita Auauarx, Paz JuuA, and Sgalabis; at which justice was ad- ministered to the peoples of 46 towns, inclading 5 cohniaej 1 munieipium dvium Romanorvm^ 3 with the Latin ^nchise {Latii antigui)f and 36 itipei^- diaria. (Plin. zsi. s. 35.) Farther particulars, including the names of the chief of the towns here counted up, are given under Baetica, Lusitamia, and TARRACONENSia 6. Changei after Augtatus. ~^ Vespasian re- warded the Spaniards for the readiness with which they espoused his cause bj conferrinjr the Jus Latii on all the cities of the peninsula. (Tac. Hiat. iii. 53, 70; Plin. iii. 3. s. 4 ; coins of Vespasian, with the epigraph Hispania, ap. Eckhel, vol. vi. p. 338.) Long before the new arrangement of the pro- vinces under Constantine, the subdivision of Tarra- conensis had b^un by the erection of Gallaecia and AsTURLA into a Ptovinda Caesaris under the Antonines, perhaps even under Hadrian. (Orelli, Inter, Na 77.) Under Gonstantine, Spain, with its islands, and with the part of Africa which included the ancient Mauretania, now reckoned to Spain, was divided into the 7 provinces of Baetica, Lusitakia, Galtaecia, Tarraconensis, Carthaoiniensis, Insulae Balbares, and Tikoitaka, which had for their respective capitals, Hispalis, EmbritA| Bracara, Cabsarauousta, Carthago Nova, Palma, and Tingis. Of these 7 provinces the first 3 were governed bj ConsukSf the other 4 bj Praesidea; and all were subject to the Vicarina Jliapaniarumj as the deputy of the Praefectua Prae- torio GdUiae. (S. Rufus, Brev. 5 ; Not Dig. Occ. c. 20; Backing, Annot ad N. D, vol. ii. p. 458, where much interesting matter is collected ; Zosim. ii. 32, 33; Cod. Theod. L. v. ct Ixi.) Entirely in- dependent of the Vicarius Hispaniae were 3 military govemora {comitea, Cod. Theod. L. iv. L. iii. &c). 7. To complete this summary of the political geo- graphy of Spain, we subjoin a tabular list, from Ukert (vol. ii. pt. 1. p. 322), of the Peoplea and Viatricta of the Several Provincea, as enumerated by the principal ancient authorities :—• [See next page.] V. DBscBipmrB Gbographt roR thb Timb OF THE Roman Ehpirb. 1. PoaiHon and general form. — In the period which has passed under our review, it has been seen that two leading facts respecting Spain had been established from the earliest period of his> torical research; namely, that it was the western- most country of Europe*, and that it was not (as some of the poets seem to have fancied) an island, but had its Mediterranean shore continuous with that of LiouRiA. Of its actual separation from Libya there never was a doubt, even among the poets, the known world, according to the views of the ancient historians and geographers, from Herodotus down to Ptolemy, all of whom believed the W. coast of Africa to fall off to the SE. either at once from the Straits, or from a point opposite to the Sacred Promontory. [Libya.] Of course, we speak here of the mainland, excepting the Fortukatab In- s[7i<AB and the semi-fiUmlous Atlantis. HISPANLA. though they look back in imagimtkn to a tine when the separation was effect^ by saperhnicaa power. [Hercuus Column ae.] The euly kasm- ledge of the Straits led necessarily to some katmr- ledge of the ocean which lies beyood tbem [At- LANTICUM Mabb]; and we have seen that, at a very eariy period, the (Greeks were aoqnainted with the Atlantic coast as ftr as the Sacred Cape (C S. Vineent'). The campaigns io Lusitama gave them a general idea of tlie W. coast ; and the Can- tabrian War, in which the fleet of Angnstoa, for tbs firat time, sailed along the N. ooasti united its e?i> denoe with the knowledge abeady obtained of the S. of Gaul, to complete the true notion of the general form of the country, as it is well described by Arnold :— ** The Spanish penhtaula, joined to the main body of Europe by the isthmus of the Pyieoees, may be likened to one of the round bastion towen which stand out from the walls of an old fortified town, lofty at once and massy." (Arnold, HUiory of Bomej vol. iii. p. 391.) This passage is quoted for the sake of the striking form in which it puts the general idea of the object ; but we may ventore to improve the details, by observing, that a moden p<4ggonal bastion might be a better image, and that the iathmua of the peninsula b more accurately de- scribed by an ancient geogra^^er than by the modera histoi'ian, as ** the isthmus "—not of the P grei aee a — but, with reference to its narrowest part, *^ hemmed in lietween the two Gallic gulfe ** (Strabo, as already quoted*); and it is within this isthmus that the Pyrenees rise, like gigantic lines of fortificatiau, to cover the whole peninsula which lies beyond them. (Gomp. Strab. ii. p. 127; Agathem. ii. p. 36.) These general views were held by the geognpben under the Roman empire, but with some interesiiag differences as to details. They all describe the ooontiy as narrowest at the Pyrenees, and gradually wids* ing out from thence. Mela makes its width at the Pyrenees half as much as at the W. coast; Strabo, io the proportion of 3 to 5. Strabo compares it to the hide of a beast, having the neck turned towaids the £., and by it joined on to Gaul (KcAruc^: Strab. it p. 127, iii. pp. 137, 138, oomp. ii. pp. 1 19, 120 ; Dioa. Per. 287 ; Eusth. ad DiwuPer. 285 ; MeU, ii 6, iii. 1 ; Plin. iii. 8. s. 4). It should be home in mind that Strabo regarded the peninsula as a four-aided figora, of which the K side was formed by the Pyrmeca^ which he believed to lie N. and S. parallel to the Rhine; fiiom their extremities the N. coast nn oat to the Pr. Kbrium (C Fiwierrey, and the S. but, apart from the general rsquiremeDt of miante accuracy in descriptive geography, the point is really an im)x>rtant one. The chain of the Pyrenees is not, as people often think, perfectly oontinooos finom sea to sea. Beginning, on the E^ at C. de Crem, above the gmifofRoMU^ it maintains an onbrakeB line, penetrable only by difficult mountain passes^ till it ALMOST touches the bay of Biscay; but^ instead of acknaUy readiing the sea, the main chain continues its westward course, parallel to the N. coast, only throwing off lateral spun to the coast, and thus leaving a pass which has* proved in aSk ages the vulnerable p^nt in the line. Indeed, if the actual chain were to be insisted on as the N. boond- ary of Spain, the whole line of coast, including Gti' pusgooj Biacag, Santandery the Aahsriaa^ tnd pan of GaUicia, would bekmg phgaieaUg to Fraiioe. [See further, under Ptbbnabi M.]
 * This involved its being the W.-most country of
 * This correction may appear trifling to