Page:The geography of Strabo (1854) Volume 1.djvu/468

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454
STRABO.
CASAUB. 296.

the Thracians on this side the Danube; also amongst these are the Keltic tribes of the Boii, Scordisci, and Taurisci. Some, indeed, call the Scordisci the Scordistæ, and give to the Taurisci the names of Ligurisci[1] and Tauristæ.

3. Posidonius relates that the Mysians religiously abstain from eating any thing that had life, and consequently, from cattle; but that they lived in a quiet way on honey, milk, and cheese; wherefore they are considered a religious people, and called Capnobatæ.[2] He adds, that there are amongst the Thracians some who live without wives, and who are known by the name of Ctistæ. These are considered sacred and worthy of honour, and live in great freedom. [He pretends] that the poet comprehends the whole of these people when he says,

“and where abide,
On milk sustain’d, and blest with length of days,
The Hippemolgi, justest of mankind.”[3]

These he designates as “without life,” more particularly on account of their living without wives, considering their solitary state as but a half life; in the same way as he likewise designates the house of Protesilaus “imperfect,” on account of the bereavement of his widow; in the same manner he applies to the Mysians the epithet of “close-fighting,” on account of their being invincible, like good warriors. [Finally, Posidonius pretends] that in the thirteenth[4] book of the Iliad we ought to substitute for “the close-fighting Mysians,” [“the close-fighting Mœsi.”]

4. Nevertheless it would perhaps be superfluous to change the text [of Homer], which has stood the test of so many years. For it appears more probable to suppose that the people were anciently called Mysians, but that their name is now altered. Further, any one would suppose that the Abii[5] were no more so named from being unmarried than from their being houseless,[6] or their dwelling in waggons.

  1. ↑ Perhaps Teurisci.
  2. ↑ A note in the French translation suggests that Capnobatæ has some connexion with the practice of intoxication by inhaling smoke, and of using the vapour of linseed, burned upon red-hot stones, as a bath. See Herodot. book i. chap. 202; book iv. chap. 75.
  3. ↑ And the illustrious Hippemolgi, milk-nourished, simple in living and most just men. Iliad xiii. 5.
  4. ↑ δεκάτῳ, text: but there is no doubt it should be the thirteenth.
  5. ↑ People without life.
  6. ↑ The Greek is ἀνεστίους, literally “without hearths.”
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