Page:The geography of Strabo (1854) Volume 2.djvu/291

 B. xii. c. ii. 9. CAPPADOCIA. 283 inhabitants, because it does not flow from an elevated situation. It spreads abroad in marshes and lakes, and in the summer- time corrupts the air round the city. A valuable stone quarry is rendered almost useless by it. For there are ex- tensive beds of stone, from which the Mazaceni obtain an abundant supply of materials for building, but the slabs, be- ing covered with water, are not easily detached by the work- men. These are the marshes which in every part are subject to take fire. Ariarathes the king filled in some narrow channels by which the Melas entered the Halys, and converted the neigh- bouring plain into a wide lake. There he selected some small islands like the Cyclades, where he passed his time in boyish and frivolous diversions. The barrier, however, was broken down all at once, and the waters again flowed abroad and swelled the Halys, which swept away a large part of the Cap- padocian territory, and destroyed many buildings and planta- tions ; it also damaged a considerable part of the country of the Galatians, who occupy Phrygia. In compensation for this injury he paid a fine of three hundred talents to the in- habitants, who had referred the matter to the decision of the Romans. The same was the case at Herpa ; for he there obstructed the stream of the Carmalas, and, on the bursting of the dyke, the water damaged some of the places in the Cilician territories about Mallus ; he was obliged to make compensation to those who had sustained injury. 9. Although the territory of the Mazaceni is destitute in many respects of natural advantages, it seems to have been preferred by the kings as a place of residence, because it was nearest the centre of those districts which supplied timber, stone for building, and fodder, of which a very large quantity was required for the subsistence of their cattle. Their city was almost a camp. The security of their persons and trea- sure 1 depended upon the protection afforded by numerous fortresses, some of which belonged to the king, others to their friends. Mazaca is distant from Pontus 2 about 800 stadia to the south, and from the Euphrates a little less than double that distance ; from the Cilician Gates and the camp of Cyrus, a rwv, the reading proposed by Kramer. 2 i. e. the kingdom of Pontus.