4.

The first parts of this coast are those about Epidamnus and Apollonia. From Apollonia to Macedonia is the Egnatian Way; its direction is towards the east, and the distance is measured by pillars at every mile, as far as Cypselus2830 and the river Hebrus.2831 The whole distance is 535 miles. But reckoning, as the generality of persons reckon, a mile at eight stadia, there may be 4280 stadia. And according to Polybius, who adds two plethra, that is, the third of a stadium, to every eight stadia, we must add 178 stadia more, a third part of the number of miles.2832 A traveller from Apollonia,2833 and a traveller from Epidamnus,2834 on the same road, meet midway between the two cities. The whole is called the Egnatian Way. The first part of it is called the road to Candavia, which is an Illyrian mountain. It passes through Lychnidus,2835 a city, and Pylon, a place which separates Illyria from Macedonia. Thence its direction is beside Barnus through Heracleia, the Lyncestæ, and the Eordi, to Edessa2836 and Pella,2837 as far as Thessalonica.2838 Polybius says, that this is a distance of 267 miles. In travelling this road from the neighbourhood of Epidamnus and Apollonia, on the right hand are the Epirotic nations situated on the coast of the Sicilian Sea, and extending as far as the Gulf of Ambracia;2839 on the left are the Illyrian mountains, which we have before described, and the nations that live near them, extending as far as Macedonia and the Pæones.

[Pg 496]
[CAS. 323] From the Gulf of Ambracia the places next in order, inclining to the east, and extending opposite to Peloponnesus, belong to Greece; they terminate at the Ægean Sea, leaving the whole of Peloponnesus on the right hand.

The country, from the commencement of the Macedonian and Pæonian mountains, as far as the river Strymon,2840 is inhabited by Macedonians, and Pæones, and some of the Thracian mountain tribes. But all the country on the other side the Strymon, as far as the mouth of the Euxine Sea, and Mount Hæmus,2841 belong to the Thracians, except the coast, which is occupied by Greeks, some of whom are settled on the Propontis,2842 others on the Hellespont and on the Gulf Melas,2843 and others on the Ægean Sea.

The Ægean Sea waters two sides of Greece; first, the eastern side, extending from the promontory Sunium2844 to the north as far as the Thermæan Gulf, and Thessalonica, a Macedonian city, which has, at present, the largest population in these parts. Then the southern side, which is a part of Macedonia, extending from Thessalonica to the Strymon. Some writers assign the coast from the Strymon as far as Nestus2845 to Macedonia. For Philip showed the greatest solicitude to obtain, and at length appropriated it to himself. He raised a very large revenue from the mines, and from other sources which the richness of the country afforded.

From Sunium to the Peloponnesus are the Myrtoan, the Cretan, and the Libyan Seas, together with the Gulfs, as far as the Sicilian Sea, which consist of the Gulfs of Ambracia, of Corinth, and of Crissa.