Page:The geography of Strabo (1854) Volume 1.djvu/289

 B. iv. c. i. 9. GAUL. THE NARBONNAISE. 275 even when quite close. On this account the people of Mar- seilles, who wished by all means to inhabit the country, set up towers as beacons ; they have even erected a temple to Diaiia ofEphesus on a piece of thejand, which the mouths of the rixfijs haveJ[onnje^Lintp_anislaiid. Above the outlets of the Rhone is a salt-lake wluclTtney call Stomalimne. 1 It abounds in shell and other fish. There are some who enumerate this amongst the mouths of the Rhone, especially those who say that it has seven 2 mouths. But in this they are quite mis- taken ; for there is a mountain between, which separates the lake from the river. Such then is the disposition and extent of the coast from the Pyrenees to Marseilles. 9. The [coast] which extends from this lasJL.city] to the river Var, and theJLigunans who dwell near it, contains the Massilian cities of Tauroentium, 3 Olbia, 4 Antipolis, 5 Nicsea,^ and the sea-port of Augustus Caesar, called Forum Julium, 7 which is situated between Olbia and Antipolis, and distant from Marseilles about 600 stadia. The Var is between Anti- polis and Nicasa ; distant from the one about 20 stadia, from the other about 60 ; so that according to the boundary now marked Nicpea belongs to Italy, although it is a city of the peo- ple^ of Marseilles, for they built 'these cities [as a defence] against the barbarians who dwelt higher up the country, in order to maintain the sea free, as the barbarians possessed the land. For this [region] is mountainous and fortified by nature, leaving however a considerable extent of plain country near Marseilles ; but as you proceed towards the east the country is so hemmed in by the mountains, as scarcely to leave a sufficient road for passage by the sea-shore. The former districts are inhabited by the Salyes, 8 the latter by the Ligurians, who border on Italy, of whom we shall speak afterwards. It should here be mentioned, that although Antipolis is situated in the Narbonnaise, and Nicaea in Italy, this latter is de- pendent on Marseilles, anct Torms part of that province ; while 1 Now 1'etang de Berre or de Martigyes. 2 The French editors propose to read here five mouths, thus referring to the opinion of Timseus. This, Kramer observes, Strabo probably in- tended to do. Still, as there were some who were of opinion the Rhone has seven mouths, as appears from Apoll. Rhod. Argonaut, iv. 634, he did not venture to touch the text. 3 Taurenti. * Eoube. 5 Antibes. fi Nice. " Frejus. 8 Inhabitants of Provence. "* T 2