περὶ δὲ τῶν τοῦ Ῥοδανοῦ στομάτων Πολύβιος μὲν ἐπιτιμᾷ Τιμαίῳ φήσας εἶναι μὴ πεντάστομον ἀλλὰ δίστομον· Ἀρτεμίδωρος δὲ τρίστομον λέγει. Μάριος δὲ ὕστερον ὁρῶν τυφλόστομον γινόμενον ἐκ τῆς προσχώσεως καὶ δυσείσβολον καινὴν ἔτεμε διώρυχα, καὶ ταύτῃ δεξάμενος τὸ πλέον τοῦ ποταμοῦ Μασσαλιώταις ἔδωκεν ἀριστεῖον κατὰ τὸν πρὸς Ἄμβρωνας καὶ Τωυγενοὺς πόλεμον· ἐξ οὗ πλοῦτον ἠνέγκαντο πολύν, τέλη πραττόμενοι τοὺς ἀναπλέοντας καὶ τοὺς καταγομένους· ὅμως οὖν ἔτι μένει δυσείσπλοα διά τε τὴν λαβρότητα καὶ τὴν πρόσχωσιν καὶ τὴν ταπεινότητα τῆς χώρας, ὥστε μὴ καθορᾶσθαι μηδʼ ἐγγὺς ἐν ταῖς δυσαερίαις. διόπερ οἱ Μασσαλιῶται πύργους ἀνέστησαν σημεῖα, ἐξοικειούμενοι πάντα τρόπον τὴν χώραν· καὶ δὴ καὶ τῆς Ἐφεσίας Ἀρτέμιδος κἀνταῦθα ἱδρύσαντο ἱερόν, χωρίον ἀπολαβόντες ὃ ποιεῖ νῆσον τὰ στόματα τοῦ ποταμοῦ. ὑπέρκειται δὲ τῶν ἐκβολῶν τοῦ Ῥοδανοῦ λιμνοθάλαττα, καλοῦσι δὲ στομαλίμνην, ὀστράκια δʼ ἔχει πάμπολλα καὶ ἄλλως εὐοψεῖ. ταύτην δʼ ἔνιοι συγκατηρίθμησαν τοῖς στόμασι τοῦ Ῥοδανοῦ, καὶ μάλιστα οἱ φήσαντες ἑπτάστομον αὐτόν, οὔτε τοῦτʼ εὖ λέγοντες οὔτʼ ἐκεῖνο· ὄρος γάρ ἐστι μεταξὺ τὸ διεῖργον ἀπὸ τοῦ ποταμοῦ τὴν λίμνην. ἡ μὲν οὖν ἀπὸ τῆς Πυρήνης ἐπὶ Μασσαλίαν παραλία τοιαύτη καὶ τοσαύτη τις.
As to the mouths of the Rhone, Polybius asserts that there are but two, and blames Timaeus for saying five. Artemidorus says that there are three. Afterwards Marius, observing that the mouth was becoming stopped up and difficult of entrance on account of the deposits of mud, caused a new channel to be dug, which received the greater part of the river into it. This he gave to the people of Marseilles in recompense for their services in the war against the Ambrones and Toygeni. This canal became to them a source of much revenue, as they levied a toll from all those who sailed up or down it: notwithstanding, the entrance [to the river] still continues difficult to navigate, on account of its great impetuosity, its deposits, and the [general] flatness of the country, so that in foul weather you cannot clearly discern the land even when quite close. On this account the people of Marseilles, who wished by all means to inhabit the country, set up towers as beacons; they have even erected a temple to Diana of Ephesus on a piece of the land, which the mouths of the rivers have formed into an island. Above the outlets of the Rhone is a salt-lake which they call Stomalimnè. It abounds in shell and other fish. There are some who enumerate this amongst the mouths of the Rhone, especially those who say that it has seven mouths. But in this they are quite mistaken; for there is a mountain between, which separates the lake from the river. Such then is the disposition and extent of the coast from the Pyrenees to Marseilles.
̔η δʼ ἐπὶ τὸν Ὀυᾶρον ποταμὸν καὶ τοὺς ταύτῃ Δίγυας τάς τε τῶν Μασσαλιωτῶν ἔχει πόλεις Ταυροέντιον καὶ Ὀλβίαν καὶ Ἀντίπολιν καὶ Νίκαιαν καὶ τὸ ναύσταθμον τὸ Καίσαρος τοῦ Σεβαστοῦ, ὃ καλοῦσι Φόρον Ἰούλιον. ἵδρυται δὲ τοῦτο μεταξὺ τῆς Ὀλβίας καὶ τῆς Ἀντιπόλεως, διέχον Μασσαλίας εἰς ἑξακοσίους σταδίους. ὁ δὲ Ὀυᾶρος μέσος ἐστὶ τῆς Ἀντιπόλεως καὶ Νικαίας, τῆς μὲν ὅσον εἴκοσι τῆς δὲ ἑξήκοντα σταδίους διέχων· ὥσθʼ ἡ Νίκαια τῆς Ἰταλίας γίνεται κατὰ τὸν νῦν ἀποδεδειγμένον ὅρον καίπερ οὖσα Μασσαλιωτῶν· ἐπετείχισαν γὰρ τὰ κτίσματα ταῦτα τοῖς ὑπερκειμένοις βαρβάροις οἱ Μασσαλιῶται τήν γε θάλατταν ἐλευθέραν ἔχειν βουλόμενοι, τῆς χώρας ὑπʼ ἐκείνων κρατουμένης· ὀρεινὴ γάρ ἐστι καὶ ἐρυμνή, πρὸς μὲν τῇ Μασσαλίᾳ πλάτος τι μέτριον καταλείπουσα τῶν ἐπιπέδων χωρίων, προϊόντι δὲ ἐπὶ τὴν ἕω παντάπασιν ἀποθλίβουσα πρὸς τὴν θάλατταν καὶ μόλις αὐτὴν πορεύσιμον ἐῶσα τὴν ὁδόν. κατέχουσι δὲ τὰ μὲν πρῶτα Σάλυες, τὰ δὲ τελευταῖα πρὸς τὴν Ἰταλίαν συνάπτοντες Λίγυες, περὶ ὧν λεχθήσεται μετὰ ταῦτα. νυνὶ δὲ τοσοῦτον προσθετέον ὅτι τῆς μὲν Ἀντιπόλεως ἐν τοῖς τῆς Ναρβωνίτιδος μέρεσι κειμένης, τῆς δὲ Νικαίας ἐν τοῖς τῆς Ἰταλίας, ἡ μὲν Νίκαια ὑπὸ τοῖς Μασσαλιώταις μένει καὶ τῆς ἐπαρχίας ἐστίν, ἡ δʼ Ἀντίπολις τῶν Ἰταλιωτίδων ἐξετάζεται, κριθεῖσα πρὸς τοὺς Μασσαλιώτας καὶ ἐλευθερωθεῖσα τῶν παρʼ ἐκείνων προσταγμάτων.
The [coast] which extends from this [last city] to the river Var, and the Ligurians who dwell near it, contains the Massilian cities of Tauroentium, Olbia, Antipolis, Nicaea, and the sea-port of Augustus Caesar, called Forum Julium. which is situated between Olbia and Antipolis, and distant from Marseilles about 600 stadia. The Var is between Antipolis and Nicaea; distant from the one about 20 stadia, from the other about 60; so that according to the boundary now marked Nicaea belongs to Italy, although it is a city of the people of Marseilles, for they built these cities [as a defence] against the barbarians who dwelt higher up the country, in order to maintain the sea free, as the barbarians possessed the land. For this [region] is mountainous and fortified by nature, leaving however a considerable extent of plain country near Marseilles; but as you proceed towards the east the country is so hemmed in by the mountains, as scarcely to leave a sufficient road for passage by the sea-shore. The former districts are inhabited by the Salyes, the latter by the Ligurians, who border on Italy, of whom we shall speak afterwards. It should here be mentioned, that although Antipolis is situated in the Narbonnaise, and Nicaea in Italy, this latter is dependent on Marseilles, and forms part of that province; while Antipolis is ranked amongst the Italian cities, and freed from the government of the Marseillese by a judgment given against them.
πρόκεινται δὲ τῶν στενῶν τούτων ἀπὸ Μασσαλίας ἀρξαμένοις αἱ Στοιχάδες νῆσοι, τρεῖς μὲν ἀξιόλογοι δύο δὲ μικραί· γεωργοῦσι δʼ αὐτὰς Μασσαλιῶται. τὸ δὲ παλαιὸν καὶ φρουρὰν εἶχον ἱδρυμένην αὐτόθι πρὸς τὰς τῶν λῃστηρίων ἐφόδους, εὐποροῦντες καὶ λιμένων. μετὰ δὲ τὰς Στοιχάδας ἡ Πλανασία καὶ Λήρων ἔχουσαι κατοικίας. ἐν δὲ τῇ Λήρωνι καὶ ἡρῷόν ἐστι τὸ τοῦ Λήρωνος· κεῖται δʼ αὕτη πρὸ τῆς Ἀντιπόλεως. ἄλλα δʼ ἐστὶ νησίδια οὐκ ἄξια μνήμης, τὰ μὲν πρὸ τῆς Μασσαλίας αὐτῆς τὰ δὲ πρὸ τῆς ἄλλης τῆς λεχθείσης ᾐόνος. τῶν δὲ λιμένων ὁ μὲν κατὰ τὸν ναύσταθμον ἀξιόλογος καὶ ὁ τῶν Μασσαλιωτῶν, οἱ δʼ ἄλλοι μέτριοι· τούτων δʼ ἐστὶ καὶ ὁ Ὀξύβιος καλούμενος λιμήν, ἐπώνυμος τῶν Ὀξυβίων Λιγύων. περὶ μὲν τῆς παραλίας ταῦτα λέγομεν.
Lying off this narrow pass along the coast, as you commence your journey from Marseilles, are the Stoechades islands. Three of these are considerable, and two small. They are cultivated by the people of Marseilles. Anciently they contained a garrison, placed here to defend them from the attacks of pirates, for they have good ports. After the Stoechades come [the islands of] Planasia and Lero, both of them inhabited. In Lero, which lies opposite to Antipolis, is a temple erected to the hero Lero. There are other small islands not worth mentioning, some of them before Marseilles, others before the rest of the coast which I have been describing. As to the harbours, those of the seaport [of Forum-Julium] and Marseilles are considerable, the others are but middling. Of this latter class is the port Oxybius, so named from the Oxybian Ligurians.—This concludes what we have to say of this coast.
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