Page:The Natural History of Pliny.djvu/336

 302 pliny's nattjeal histoet. [Book lY. Bisaltae. "We tlien come to the river Strymon^ which takes its rise in Mount Hsemus^ and forms the boundary of Ma cedonia : it is worthy of remark that it first discharges itself into seven lakes before it proceeds onward in its course. Such is Macedonia, which was once the mistress of the world, which once extended^ her career over Asia, Armenia, Iberia, Albania, Cappadocia, Syria, Egypt, Taurus, and Cau- casus, which reduced the whole of the East under her power, and triumphed over the Bactri, the Medes, and the Persians. She too it was who proved the conqueror of India, thus treading in the footsteps of Eather Liber^ and of Hercules ; and this is that same Macedonia, of which our own general Paulus ^milius sold to pillage seventy-two^ cities in one day. So great the difference in her lot resulting from the actions of two^ individuals ! CHAP. 18. (11.) — THEACE ; THE ^GEAIS" SEA. Thrace now follows, divided into fifty strategies^, and to be reckoned among the most powerful nations of Europe. Among its peoples whom we ought not to omit to name are the DenseletsD and the Medi, dwelling upon the right bank of the Strymon, and joining up to the Bisaltse above ^ men- tioned ; on the left there are the Digerri and a number of tribes of the Bessi^ with various names, as far as the river Mestus^", which winds around the foot of Mount Pan- town." A few remains are still to be seen. The bay at the mouth of the Strymon, now Strmna or Kara-Sou, is called the Gulf of Orphano. 1 A Thracian people, extending from the river Strymon on the east to Crestonica on the west. 2 In Mount Scomius namely, one of the Hajmus or Balkan range. 2 Under Alexander the Great. On his death liis empire was torn in pieces by the contentions of his generals. '' In allusion to the legendary accounts of the Indian expeditions of Bacchus and Hercules. ^ On the conquest of Perseus. Plutarch says that these seventy cities were pillaged in one and the same hour. They were thus punished for their support of Perseus. ^ Alexander the Great and Paulus ^mihus. 7 Or prEefectiires, as the Romans called them. ^ In the last Chapter. ^ An extensive tribe occupying the country about the rivers Axius, Strymon, and Nestus or Mestus. ^^ This river is now called the Mesto or Kara-Sou.