Page:The geography of Strabo (1854) Volume 1.djvu/317

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B. IV. C. VI. § 5, 6.
THE ALPS.
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5. After the Vocontii, are the Iconii, the Tricorii, and the Medulli; who inhabit the lofties ridges of the mountains, for they say that some of them have an almost perpendicular ascent of 100 stadia, and a similar descent to the frontiers of Italy. In these high-lands there is a great lake; there are also two springs not far distant from each other; one of these gives rise to the Durance, which flows like a torrent into the Rhone, and to the Durias,[1] which flows in an opposite direction; for it mingles with the Po after having pursued its course through the country of the Salassi[2] into Cisalpine Keltica. From the other source, but much lower down, rises the Po itself, large and rapid, which as it advances becomes still vaster, and at the same time more gentle. As it reaches the plains it increases in breadth, being augmented by numerous [other rivers], and thus it becomes less impetuous in its course, and its current is weakened. Having become the largest river in Europe, with the exception ot the Danube,[p 1] it discharges itself into the Adriatic Sea. The Medulli are situated considerably above the confluence of the Isère and the Rhone.

6. On the opposite side of the mountains, sloping towards Italy, dwell the Taurini,[3] a Ligurian nation, together with certain other Ligurians. What is called the land of Ideonnus[4] and Cottius belongs to these Ligurians. Beyond them and the Po are the Salassi; above whom in the summits [of the Alps] are the Kentrones, the Catoriges, the Veragri, the Nantuatæ,[5] Lake Leman,[p 2] traversed by the Rhone, and the

  1. ↑ There are two rivers of this name which descend from the Alps and discharge themselves into the Po. The Durias which rises near the Durance is the Durias minor of the ancients, and the Doria Riparia of the moderns; this river falls into the Po at Turin.
  2. ↑ Gosselin observes:—The Salassi occupied the country about Aouste, or Aoste. The name of this city is a corruption of Augusta Prætoria Salassorum, which it received in the time of Augustus. The Durias which passes by Aouste is the Durias major, the modern Doria Baltea. Its sources are between the Great Saint Bernard and Mont Blanc.
  3. ↑ Augusta Taurinorum, hodie Turin, was the capital of these people.
  4. ↑ Various conjectures have been hazarded concerning this name, of which there appears to be no other mention.
  5. ↑ The Kentrones occupied la Tarentaise; the Catoriges, the territories of Chorges and Embrun; the Veragri, a part of the Valais south of the Rhone; and the Nantuatæ, Le Chablais.
  1. ↑ The Ister of the classics.
  2. ↑ The Lake of Geneva.
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