9.

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,1366 Olbia,1367 Antipolis,1368 Nicæa,1369 and the sea-port of Augustus Cæsar, called Forum Julium,1370 which is situated between Olbia and Antipolis, and distant from Marseilles about 600 stadia. The Var is between Antipolis and Nicæa; distant from the one about 20 stadia, from the other about 60; so that according to the boundary now marked Nicæa 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,1371 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 Nicæa in Italy, this latter is dependent on Marseilles, and forms part of that province; while [Pg 276]
[CAS. 184] Antipolis is ranked amongst the Italian cities, and freed from the government of the Marseillese by a judgment given against them.