1.

There remains to be described that part of Europe included between the Danube and the sea which surrounds it, beginning from the inner recess of the Adriatic, and extending to the Sacred mouth of the Danube.

This part contains Greece, Macedonia, Epirus, and the people who live above them, extending to the Danube and to the two seas (the Adriatic and the Euxine Sea) on each side. On the Adriatic are the Illyrians; on the Euxine Sea, as far as the Propontis2751 and Hellespont, are the Thracians, and the Scythian or Keltic tribes intermixed with them. We must begin from the Danube, and treat of the countries which follow next in order to those already described, that is to say, the parts contiguous to Italy, the Alps, the Germans, the Dacians, and the Getæ.

These may be divided into two parts. For the mountains of Illyria, Pæonia, and Thrace, may be considered as forming, as it were, a single line, parallel to the Danube, and extending from the Adriatic to the Euxine. To the north of this line is the country included between the Danube and the mountains. To the south is Greece and the barbarous tract contiguous to these mountains.

Near the Euxine Sea is Mount Hæmus,2752 the largest and the highest of the mountains in that quarter, and divides Thrace nearly in the middle. According to Polybius, both seas may be seen from this mountain; but he is mistaken, for the distance to the Adriatic is considerable, and many things obstruct the view.

Almost the whole of Ardia2753 lies near the Adriatic, Pæonia is in the middle, and all this country consists of elevated ground. On the side towards Thrace, it is bounded by Rhodope,2754 a mountain next in height to Hæmus; on the other side to the north is Illyria, and the country of the Autariatæ,2755 and Dardania.2756

I shall first describe Illyria, which approaches close to the Danube, and to the Alps which lie between Italy and Germany, [Pg 482]
[CAS. 314] taking their commencement from the lake in the territory of the Vindelici, Rhæti, and Helvetii.2757