Page:The geography of Strabo (1854) Volume 2.djvu/361

 B. xni. c. i. 2325. THE TROAD. 353 Sestos is a small but well-fortified place, and is connected with the harbour by a wall of two plethra in extent, and for this reason, and by its situation above the current, it com- mands the passage of the strait. 23. In the Troad, above the territory of Abydos is Astyra, which now belongs to the Abydeni, a city in ruins, but it was formerly an independent place, and had gold-mines, which are now nearly exhausted, like those in Mount Tmolus near the Pactolus. From Abydos to the ^Esepus are, it is said, about 700 stadia, but not so much in sailing in a direct line. 24. Beyond Abydos are the parts about Ilium, the sea- coast as far as Lectum, the places in the Trojan plain, and the country at the foot of Ida, which was subject to ./Eneas. The poet names the Dardanii in two ways, speaking of them as " Dardanii governed by the brave son of Anchises," 1 calling them Dardanii, and also Dardani ; " Troes, and Lycii, and close-fighting Dardani." 2 It is probable that the Dardania, 3 so called by the poet, was anciently situated there ; " Dardanus, the son of cloud-compelling Jupiter, founded Dardania : " at present there is not a vestige of a city. 25. Plato conjectures that, after the deluges, three kinds of communities were established ; the first on the heights of the mountains, consisting of a simple and savage race, who had taken refuge there through dread of the waters, which overflowed the plains ; the second, at the foot of the moun- tains, who regained courage by degrees, as the plains began to dry ; the third, in the plains. But a fourth, and perhaps a fifth, or more communities might be supposed to be formed, the last of which might be on the sea-coast, in the islands, after all fear of deluge was dissipated. Foi as men approached the sea with a greater or less degrt of courage, we should have greater variety in forms government, diversity also in manners and habits, accorf 1 II. ii. 819. 2 II. xv. 425. 3 The ancient Dardania in the interior; a second Dardania was wards built on the sea-coast. 4 II. xx '215. VOL. II. 2 A