7.

The first city between the windings of the Ebro and the extremities of the Pyrenees, near to where the Trophies of Pompey are erected, is Tarraco;1194 it has no harbour, but is situated on a bay, and possessed of many other advantages. At the present day it is as well peopled as Carthage;1195 for it is admirably suited for the stay of the prefects,1196 and is as it were the metropolis, not only of [the country lying] on this side the Ebro, but also of a great part of what lies beyond. The near vicinity of the Gymnesian Islands,1197 and Ebusus,1198 which are all of considerable importance, are sufficient to inform one of the felicitous position of the city. Eratosthenes tells us that it has a roadstead, but Artemidorus contradicts this, and affirms that it scarcely possesses an anchorage.