Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 1, 1890.djvu/97

Rh The statement about Publius Crassus is of course not from Posidonius, but is added by Strabo himself. There can be little doubt that this Roman is none other but Cæsar’s famous lieutenant who conquered all Aquitania (Cæsar, B. G., iii, 11-20). He is all the more likely to have passed into Northern Spain, inasmuch as the people of that region had given great assistance to the Aquitani in their struggle against him (B. G., iii, 23). Without doubt he was fully aware of the mineral wealth of that country, as is shown by Cæsar’s remark (iii, 21) on their skill in defending cities, in consequence of their having numerous copper mines and other works in that region. As is plain from Strabo’s words, the Romans already knew how to reach the tin islands by sea, coasting round from the Mediterranean and up from Gades on the old Phœnician track. Crassus, then, by opening up a far shorter route, that of a short sea voyage from the Cassiterides to the coast of Gaul (possibly to the Garonne), at once