Page:The geography of Strabo (1854) Volume 1.djvu/264

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
250
STRABO.
CASAUB. 166.

but designate one portion of it Ulterior, and the other Citerior. However, at different periods they have divided it differently, according to its political aspect at various times.

20. At the present time some of the provinces having been assigned to the people and senate of the Romans, and the others to the emperor, Bætica appertains to the people, and a prætor has been sent into the country, having under him a quæstor and a lieutenant. Its eastern boundary has been fixed near to Castlon.[p 1] The remainder belongs to the emperor, who deputes two lieutenants, a prætor, and a consul. The prætor with a lieutenant administers justice amongst the Lusitanians, who are situated next Bætica, and extend as far as the outlets of the river Douro, for at the present time this district is called Lusitania by the inhabitants. Here is [the city of] Augusta Emerita.[p 2] What remains, which is [indeed] the greater part of Iberia, is governed by the consul, who has under him a respectable force, consisting of about three legions, with three lieutenants, one of whom with two legions guards the whole country north of the Douro, the inhabitants of which formerly were styled Lusitanians, but are now called Gallicians. The northern mountains, together with the Asturian and Cantabrian, border on these. The river Melsus[1] flows through the country of the Asturians, and at a little distance is the city of Noïga,[2] close to an estuary formed by the ocean, which separates the Asturians from the Cantabrians. The second lieutenant with the remaining legion governs the adjoining district as far as the Pyrenees. The third oversees the midland district, and governs the cities inhabited by the togati, whom we have before alluded to as inclined to peace, and who have adopted the refined manners and mode of life of the Italians, together with the toga. These are the Keltiberians, and those who dwell on either side of the Ebro, as far as the sea-coast. The consul passes the winter in the maritime districts, mostly administering justice

  1. ↑ Caslona.
  2. ↑ Merida.
  1. ↑ Casaubon supposes that this is the river Ptolemy names Merus. Lopez, Geograf. de Estrabon, lib. iii. p. 232, thinks it the Narcea.
  2. ↑ Pomponius Mela and Pliny coincide with Strabo in making this city belong to the Asturians; Ptolemy however describes it under the name of Noega Ucesia as pertaining to the Cantabrians. Some say it corresponds to the present Navia, others to Pravia. Groskurd reckons it Gajon, or Navia, or Santander.
This article is issued from Wikisource. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.