Page:The geography of Strabo (1854) Volume 1.djvu/197

 CHAP. v. 18. INTRODUCTION. 183 and its neighbouring towns : " So completely have they van- ished, that no one who should now visit their sites could say that they had ever been inhabited ! " Still we are gratified by visiting these and similar localities, being desirous of beholding the traces of such celebrated places, and the tombs of famous men. In like manner we should record laws and forms of government no longer in ex- istence, since these are serviceable to have in mind, equally with the remembrance of actions, whether for the sake of imi- tating or avoiding the like. 18. Continuing our former sketch, we now state that the earth which we inhabit contains numerous gulfs, formed by the exterior sea or ocean which surrounds it. Of these there are four principal. The northern, called the Caspian, by others designated the Hyrcanian Sea, the Persian and Ara- bian Gulfs, formed by the [Southern] Sea, the one being nearly opposite to the Caspian, the other to the Euxine ; the fourth, which in size is much more considerable than the others, is called the Internal and Our Sea. 1 It commences in the Avest at the Strait of the Pillars of Hercules, and continues in an easterly direction, but with varying breadth. Farther in, it becomes divided, and terminates in two gulfs ; that on the left being called the Euxine Sea, while the other consists of the seas of Egypt, Pamphylia, and Issus. All these gulfs formed by the exterior sea, have a narrow en- trance ; those of the Arabian Gulf, however, and the Pillars of Hercules are smaller than the rest. 2 The land which surrounds these, as before remarked, consists of three divisions. Of these, the configuration of Europe is the most irregular. Libya, on the contrary, is the most regular ; while Asia holds a middle place between the two. In all of these continents, the regularity or irregularity of form relates merely to the inte- rior coasts ; the exterior, with the exception of the gulfs be- was taken, and razed to its foundations, by Philip of Macedon. Olyn- thus has become famous through the three orations of Demosthenes, urging the Athenians to its succour. 1 The Mediterranean. 2 The entrance to the Arabian Gulf is about six or seven marine leagues, that of the Mediterranean two and three-fourths. The entrance to the Persian Gulf is seven or eight leagues in extent ; while the Caspian, being a lake, has of course no outlet whatever.