Page:The geography of Strabo (1854) Volume 2.djvu/414

 406 STRABO. CASAUB. 628. historical writings, odes, and poems of other kinds, which very much resemble the style of the ancients. Xanthus, the ancient historian, is said to be a Lydian, but whether of Sardes I do not know. 10. After the Lydians are the Mysians, and a city Phila- delphia, subject to constant earthquakes. The walls of the houses are incessantly opening, and sometimes one, sometimes another, part of the city is experiencing some damage. The majority of people (for few persons live in the city) pass their lives in the country, employing themselves in agriculture and cultivating a good soil. Yet it is surprising that there should be even a few persons so much attached to a place where their dwellings are insecure ; but one may marvel more at those who founded the city. 1 1 . Next is the tract of country called the Catacecaumene, extending 500 stadia in length, and in breadth 400. It is uncertain whether it should be called Mysia or Meonia, for it has both names. The whole country is devoid of trees, ex- cepting vines, from which is obtained the Catacecaumenite wine ; it is not inferior in quality to any of the kinds in re- pute. The surface of the plains is covered with ashes, but the hilly and rocky part is black, as if it were the effect of com- bustion. This, as some persons imagine, was the effect of thunder-bolts and of fiery tempests, nor do they hesitate to make it the scene of the fable of Typhon. Xanthus even says that a certain Arimus was king of these parts. But it is unreasonable to suppose that so large a tract of country was all at once consumed by lightning and fiery meteors ; it is more natural to suppose that the effect was produced by fire generated in the soil, the sources of which are now exhausted. There are to be seen three pits, which are called Physse, or breathing holes, situated at the distance of 40 stadia from each other. Above are rugged hills, which probably consist of masses of matter thrown up by blasts of air (from the pits). That ground of this kind should be well adapted to vines, may be conceived from the nature of the country Catana, 1 which was a mass of cinders, but which now produces excel- lent wine, and in large quantities. Some persons, in allusion to such countries as these, wittily observe that Bacchus is properly called Pyrigenes, or fire-born. 1 Catania.