Page:The geography of Strabo (1854) Volume 2.djvu/242

 234 STRABO. CASAUB. 502. the head, made of the hides of wild animals, like the Ibe- rians. To the country of the Albanians belongs Caspiana, and has its name from the Caspian tribe, from whom the sea also has its appellation ; the Caspian tribe is now extinct. The entrance from Iberia into Albania is through the Cam- bysene, a country without water, and rocky, to the river Ala- zonius. The people themselves and their dogs are exces- sively fond of the chase, pursuing it with equal eagerness and skill. 6. Their kings differ from one another ; at present one king governs all the tribes. Formerly each tribe was governed by a king, who spoke the peculiar language of each. They speak six and twenty languages from the want of mutual intercourse and communication with one another. The country produces some venomous reptiles, as scorpions and tarantulas. These tarantulas cause death in some instances by laughter, in others by grief and a longing to return home. 7. The gods they worship are the Sun, Jupiter, and the Moon, but the Moon above the rest. She has a temple near Iberia. The priest is a person who, next to the king, re- ceives the highest honours. He has the government of the sacred land, which is extensive and populous, and authority over the sacred attendants, many of whom are divinely in- spired, and prophesy. Whoever of these persons, being vio- lently possessed, wanders alone in the woods, is seized by the priest, who, having bound him with sacred fetters, maintains him sumptuously during that year. Afterwards he is brought forth at the sacrifice performed in honour of the goddess, and is anointed with fragrant ointment and sacrificed together with other victims. The sacrifice is performed in the following manner. A person, having in his hand a sacred lance, with which it is the custom to sacrifice human victims, advances out of the crowd and pierces the heart through the side, which he does from experience in this office. When the man has fallen, certain prognostications are indicated by the manner of the fall, and these are publicly declared. The body is carried away to a certain spot, and then they all trample upon it, perform- ing this action as a mode of purification of themselves. 8. The Albanians pay the greatest respect to old age, which is not confined to their parents, but is extended to old persons