κατὰ τούτους δὲ λέγουσι Καρχηδόνιοι κεῖσθαι νῆσον τῇ οὔνομα εἶναι Κύραυιν, μῆκος μὲν διηκοσίων σταδίων, πλάτος δὲ στεινήν, διαβατὸν ἐκ τῆς ἠπείρου, ἐλαιέων τε μεστὴν καὶ ἀμπέλων.
λίμνην δὲ ἐν αὐτῇ εἶναι, ἐκ τῆς αἱ παρθένοι τῶν ἐπιχωρίων πτεροῖσι ὀρνίθων κεχριμένοισι πίσσῃ ἐκ τῆς ἰλύος ψῆγμα ἀναφέρουσι χρυσοῦ. ταῦτα εἰ μὲν ἔστι ἀληθέως οὐκ οἶδα, τὰ δὲ λέγεται γράφω· εἴη δʼ ἂν πᾶν, ὅκου καὶ ἐν Ζακύνθῳ ἐκ λίμνης καὶ ὕδατος πίσσαν ἀναφερομένην αὐτὸς ἐγὼ ὥρων.
εἰσὶ μὲν καὶ πλεῦνες αἱ λίμναι αὐτόθι, ἡ δʼ ὦν μεγίστη αὐτέων ἑβδομήκοντα ποδῶν πάντῃ, βάθος δὲ διόργυιος ἐστί· ἐς ταύτην κοντὸν κατιεῖσι ἐπʼ ἄκρῳ μυρσίνην προσδήσαντες καὶ ἔπειτα ἀναφέρουσι τῇ μυρσίνῃ πίσσαν, ὀδμὴν μὲν ἔχουσαν ἀσφάλτου, τὰ δʼ ἄλλα τῆς Πιερικῆς πίσσης ἀμείνω. ἐσχέουσι δὲ ἐς λάκκον ὀρωρυγμένον ἀγχοῦ τῆς λίμνης. ἐπεὰν δὲ ἀθροίσωσι συχνήν, οὕτω ἐς τοὺς ἀμφορέας ἐκ τοῦ λάκκου καταχέουσι.
ὁ τι δʼ ἂν ἐσπέσῃ ἐς τὴν λίμνην, ὑπὸ γῆν ἰὸν ἀναφαίνεται ἐν τῇ θαλάσσῃ· ἣ δὲ ἀπέχει ὡς τέσσερα στάδια ἀπὸ τῆς λίμνης. οὕτω ὦν καὶ τὰ ἀπὸ τῆς νήσου τῆς ἐπὶ Λιβύῃ κειμένης οἰκότα ἐστὶ ἀληθείῃ.
Opposite these, as the Carthaginians say, there lies an island called Kyrauis, two hundred furlongs in length but narrow, to which one may walk over from the mainland; and it is full of olives and vines. In it they say there is a pool, from which the native girls with birds’ feathers smeared over with pitch bring up gold-dust out of the mud. Whether this is really so I do not know, but I write that which is reported; and nothing is impossible, for even in Zakynthos I saw myself pitch brought up out of a pool of water. There are there several pools, and the largest of them measures seventy feet each way and is two fathoms in depth. Into this they plunge a pole with a myrtle-branch bound to it, and then with the branch of the myrtle they bring up pitch, which has the smell of asphalt, but in other respects it is superior to the pitch of Pieria. This they pour into a pit dug near the pool; and when they have collected a large quantity, then they pour it into the jars from the pit: and whatever thing falls into the pool goes under ground and reappears in the sea, which is distant about four furlongs from the pool. Thus then the report about the island lying near the coast of Libya is also probably enough true.
λέγουσι δὲ καὶ τάδε Καρχηδόνιοι. εἶναι τῆς Λιβύης χῶρόν τε καὶ ἀνθρώπους ἔξω Ἡρακλέων στηλέων κατοικημένους· ἐς τοὺς ἐπεὰν ἀπίκωνται καὶ ἐξέλωνται τὰ φορτία, θέντες αὐτὰ ἐπεξῆς παρὰ τὴν κυματωγήν, ἐσβάντες ἐς τὰ πλοῖα τύφειν καπνόν. τοὺς δʼ ἐπιχωρίους ἰδομένους τὸν καπνὸν ἰέναι ἐπὶ τὴν θάλασσαν καὶ ἔπειτα ἀντὶ τῶν φορτίων χρυσὸν τιθέναι καὶ ἐξαναχωρέειν πρόσω ἀπὸ τῶν φορτίων.
τοὺς δὲ Καρχηδονίους ἐκβάντας σκέπτεσθαι, καὶ ἢν μὲν φαίνηταί σφι ἄξιος ὁ χρυσὸς τῶν φορτίων, ἀνελόμενοι ἀπαλλάσσονται, ἢν δὲ μὴ ἄξιος, ἐσβάντες ὀπίσω ἐς τὰ πλοῖα κατέαται· οἱ δὲ προσελθόντες ἄλλον πρὸς ὦν ἔθηκαν χρυσόν, ἐς οὗ ἂν πείθωσι. ἀδικέειν δὲ οὐδετέρους.
οὔτε γὰρ αὐτοὺς τοῦ χρυσοῦ ἅπτεσθαι πρὶν ἄν σφι ἀπισωθῇ τῇ ἀξίῃ τῶν φορτίων, οὔτʼ ἐκείνους τῶν φορτίων ἅπτεσθαι πρότερον ἢ αὐτοὶ τὸ χρυσίον λάβωσι.
The Carthaginians say also this, namely that there is a place in Libya and men dwelling there, outside the Pillars of Heracles, to whom when they have come and have taken the merchandise forth from their ships, they set it in order along the beach and embark again in their ships, and after that they raise a smoke; and the natives of the country seeing the smoke come to the sea, and then they lay down gold as an equivalent for the merchandise and retire to a distance away from the merchandise. The Carthaginians upon that disembark and examine it, and if the gold is in their opinion sufficient for the value of the merchandise, they take it up and go their way; but if not, they embark again in their ships and sit there; and the others approach and straightway add more gold to the former, until they satisfy them: and they say that neither party wrongs the other; for neither do the Carthaginians lay hands on the gold until it is made equal to the value of their merchandise, nor do the others lay hands on the merchandise until the Carthaginians have taken the gold.
οὗτοι μὲν εἶσὶ τοὺς ἡμεῖς ἔχομεν Λιβύων ὀνομάσαι, καὶ τούτων οἱ πολλοὶ βασιλέος τοῦ Μήδων οὔτε τι νῦν οὔτε τότε ἐφρόντιζον οὐδέν.
τοσόνδε δὲ ἔτι ἔχω εἰπεῖν περὶ τῆς χώρης ταύτης, ὅτι τέσσερα ἔθνεα νέμεται αὐτὴν καὶ οὐ πλέω τούτων, ὅσον ἡμεῖς ἴδμεν, καὶ τὰ μὲν δύο αὐτόχθονα τῶν ἐθνέων τὰ δὲ δύο οὔ, Λίβυες μὲν καὶ Αἰθίοπες αὐτόχθονες, οἳ μὲν τὰ πρὸς βορέω οἳ δὲ τὰ πρὸς νότου τῆς Λιβύης οἰκέοντες, Φοίνικες δὲ καὶ Ἕλληνες ἐπήλυδες.
These are the Libyan tribes whom we are able to name; and of these the greater number neither now pay any regard to the king of the Medes nor did they then. Thus much also I have to say about this land, namely that it is occupied by four races and no more, so far as we know; and of these races two are natives of the soil and the other two not so; for the Libyans and the Ethiopians are natives, the one race dwelling in the Northern parts of Libya and the other in the Southern, while the Phenicians and the Hellenes are strangers.
δοκέει δέ μοι οὐδʼ ἀρετὴν εἶναι τις ἡ Λιβύη σπουδαίη ὥστε ἢ Ἀσίῃ ἢ Εὐρώπῃ παραβληθῆναι, πλὴν Κίνυπος μούνης· τὸ γὰρ δὴ αὐτὸ οὔνομα ἡ γῆ τῷ ποταμῷ ἔχει.
αὕτη δὲ ὁμοίη τῇ ἀρίστῃ γέων Δήμητρος καρπὸν ἐκφέρειν οὐδὲ ἔοικε οὐδὲν τῇ ἄλλῃ Λιβύῃ. μελάγγαιός τε γὰρ ἐστὶ καὶ ἔπυδρος πίδαξι, καὶ οὔτε αὐχμοῦ φροντίζουσα οὐδὲν οὔτε ὄμβρον πλέω πιοῦσα δεδήληται. ὕεται γὰρ δὴ ταῦτα τῆς Λιβύης. τῶν δὲ ἐκφορίων τοῦ καρποῦ ταὐτὰ μέτρα τῇ Βαβυλωνίῃ γῇ κατίσταται. ἀγαθὴ δὲ γῆ καὶ τὴν Εὐεσπερῖται νέμονται·
ἐπʼ ἑκατοστὰ γάρ, ἐπεὰν αὐτὴ ἑωυτῆς ἄριστα ἐνείκῃ, ἐκφέρει, ἣ δὲ ἐν τῆ Κίνυπι ἐπὶ τριηκόσια.
I think moreover that (besides other things) in goodness of soil Libya does not very greatly excel as compared with Asia or Europe, except only the region of Kinyps, for the same name is given to the land as to the river. This region is equal to the best of lands in bringing forth the fruit of Demeter, nor does it at all resemble the rest of Libya; for it has black soil and is watered by springs, and neither has it fear of drought nor is it hurt by drinking too abundantly of rain; for rain there is in this part of Libya. Of the produce of the crops the same measures hold good here as for the Babylonian land. And that is good land also which the Euesperites occupy, for when it bears best it produces a hundred-fold, but the land in the region of Kinyps produces sometimes as much as three-hundred-fold.
ἔχει δὲ καὶ ἡ Κυρηναίη χώρη, ἐοῦσα ὑψηλοτάτη ταύτης τῆς Λιβύης τὴν οἱ νομάδες νέμονται, τρεῖς ὥρας ἐν ἑωυτῇ ἀξίας θώματος. πρῶτα μὲν γὰρ τὰ παραθαλάσσια τῶν καρπῶν ὀργᾷ ἀμᾶσθαι τε καὶ τρυγᾶσθαι· τούτων τε δὴ συγκεκομισμένων τὰ ὑπὲρ τῶν θαλασσιδίων χώρων τὰ μέσα ὀργᾷ συγκομίζεσθαι, τὰ βουνοὺς καλέουσι·
συγκεκόμισται τε οὗτος ὁ μέσος καρπὸς καὶ ὁ ἐν τῇ κατυπερτάτῃ τῆς γῆς πεπαίνεταί τε καὶ ὀργᾷ, ὥστε ἐκπέποται τε καὶ καταβέβρωται ὁ πρῶτος καρπὸς καὶ ὁ τελευταῖος συμπαραγίνεται. οὕτω ἐπʼ ὀκτὼ μῆνας Κυρηναίους ὀπώρη ἐπέχει. ταῦτα μέν νυν ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον εἰρήσθω.
Moreover the land of Kyrene, which is the highest land of the part of Libya which is occupied by nomads, has within its confines three seasons of harvest, at which we may marvel: for the parts by the sea-coasts first have their fruits ripe for reaping and for gathering the vintage; and when these have been gathered in, the parts which lie above the sea-side places, those situated in the middle, which they call the hills, are ripe for the gathering in; and as soon as this middle crop has been gathered in, that in the highest part of the land comes to perfection and is ripe; so that by the time the first crop has been eaten and drunk up, the last is just coming in. Thus the harvest for the Kyrenians lasts eight months. Let so much as has been said suffice for these things.
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