through which Xerxes, having made a bridge with ships, crossed into Greece: there lies Abydos. Thence, spread out over an open expanse, it is again drawn narrow and forms the Propontis; which presently is confined within five hundred paces, and becomes the Thracian Bosphorus, through which Darius transported his forces. Thence the very broad Pontic gulf, behind it the marshes of the Maeotis; which sea, from the multitude of rivers, is sweeter than the others, and misty and shallower. Whence too it is called 'Pontus,' because it is passable; and there, apart from seals, tunny, and dolphins, it does not tolerate other larger beasts. But just as the earth, though it is one, is called by various names according to its different places, so also this great sea is called by various names according to the regions:
for the Iberian and the Asiatic are named from provinces; from islands come the Balearic, the Sicilian, the Cretan, the Cyprian, the Aegean, the Carpathian. For between Tenedos and Chios there is in the sea a rock rather than an island, which to those viewing it from afar is thought to resemble a she-goat, which the Greeks call AIGA, whence the Aegean Sea is named; so too the Carpathian Sea, between Egypt and Rhodes, from the island Carpathos situated there. From peoples come the Gallic, the Ausonian, the Dalmatian, the Ligurian. From towns, the Argolic, the Corinthian, the Tyrian, the Adriatic. For Adria was a certain city near the Illyrian sea, which gave its name to the Adriatic Sea. From the position of the sky, as the Upper and the Lower, because the east is higher and the west lower; and this is the Tuscan and the Adriatic.
From the memory of a king, as the Ionian. For Io was a king of Greece, whence the Athenians are called Ionians. This sea is also called the Tyrrhenian, either because it washes Tuscia, that is Tyrrhenia, or from the Tyrrhenian sailors, who hurled themselves into this sea. And it is to be known that the Ionian gulf is immense, from Ionia all the way to Sicily, and that its parts are the Adriatic, the Achaean, and the Epirotic. From the character of the inhabitants comes the Euxine, formerly called the Axine (inhospitable). From the misfortunes of men who fell into the sea, as the Hellespont, the Icarian, the Myrtoan. For the Myrtoan Sea is named from the fall of Myrtilus, because he was there hurled down by Oenomaus. But Icarus the Cretan, as the fables tell, seeking the higher regions, when his feathers were loosened by the heat of the sun, gave his name to the sea into which he fell.
Phrixus too, fleeing his stepmother's plots with his sister Helle, boarded a ship bearing the sign of a ram, by which he was delivered. But Helle, his sister, having suffered shipwreck, fell into the sea, and in death gave her name to the Sea of Helle (Hellespont). From the order of its flowing comes the Propontis. For it is called 'Propontus' because it comes before the Pontus. Likewise the Bosphorus, from the crossing or the narrow passages of oxen. The Egyptian sea, moreover, is assigned to Asia, the Gallic to Europe, the African to Libya: as each was nearest to these, so they came into their portions. The 'pelagus' (open sea) is the breadth of the sea without shore or harbor, named with a Greek name APO TOU PLAGIOU, that is, 'from breadth'; whence also 'plagia' (shores), because they are harborless. XVII. ON THE GULFS OF THE SEA.
佛里克索斯（Phrixus）也是如此，他與姊妹赫勒（Helle）一同逃避繼母的陰謀，登上一艘帶有公羊記號的船，因而得救。但他的姊妹赫勒卻遭遇海難，墜入海中，死後將她的名字給了赫勒之海（赫勒斯滂）。以其流動的順序命名的，如普洛滂提斯。因為它被稱為「Propontus」，是因為它位於本都（Pontus）之前。同樣地，博斯普魯斯（Bosphorus）得名於牛的渡口或狹窄的通道。此外，埃及海劃歸亞細亞，高盧海劃歸歐洲，非洲海劃歸利比亞：各處與這些地方最為鄰近，便歸入它們的範圍。所謂「pelagus（外海）」，是指沒有海岸與港口的廣闊海面，其名來自希臘文 APO TOU PLAGIOU，意即「取其寬闊」；因此又稱「plagia（海濱）」，因為它們沒有港口。第十七章 論海灣。
'Gulfs' (sinus) are the larger recesses of the sea, as in the Great Sea the Ionian, and in the Ocean the Caspian, the Indian, the Persian, the Arabian—which is also the Red Sea, and which is reckoned to the Ocean. The Red Sea is so called because it is tinged with rosy waves; yet it does not have such a nature as it seems to display, but the flood is corrupted and stained by the neighboring shores; for all the land that stands around this sea is red and close to the color of blood. And therefore from there the finest vermilion is extracted, and the other colors with which painting is varied. Since, then, the earth has this nature, it is continually washed away by the waves, and whatever is eaten away falls into that color. For this reason also on these shores red gems are found.
For a pebble of this kind, wrapped in such soil, when it has been ground among the sands, has both the color of the earth and of the sea. This sea is split into two gulfs. Of these, the one that is toward the east is called the Persian, because the Persians inhabit its shore. The other is called the Arabian, because it is around Arabia. XVIII. ON TIDES AND STRAITS. The 'tide' (aestus) belongs to the Ocean, the 'strait' (fretus) to both seas. For the tide is the sea's advance or retreat, that is, its restlessness; whence also 'estuaries,' through which the sea alternately both advances and recedes. A 'strait' (fretum) is so called because there the sea always boils; for a strait is a narrow and, as it were, boiling sea, named from the boiling of the waves, like the Gaditanian or the Sicilian; for Varro (On the Latin Language
7,22) says they are called 'freta' as if 'fervida' (boiling), that is, 'ferventia' (seething), and having the motion of boiling. The Strait of Sicily, which is called Rhegium, Sallust writes is so called for the following reason, saying (Histories 4,26) that Sicily was once joined to Italy, and while it was one land, the intervening space was either overwhelmed by waters through its lowness, or torn apart through its narrowness. And thence it is named REGION, because in Greek what is broken off is called by this name. It is a very narrow space, three miles wide, dividing Sicily from Italy, ill-famed for fabulous monsters, where on this side and that Scylla and Charybdis are pointed out. The inhabitants call Scylla a rock overhanging the sea, resembling to those looking from afar the celebrated form.
Whence too the fables gave it a monstrous appearance, as if the form of a woman girt about with dogs' heads, because the waves dashing together there seem to express barkings. Charybdis is so called because it swallows down ships in hidden whirlpools; for it is a sea full of eddies, and thence the shipwrecks torn apart there emerge from the deep. Three times a day it raises up the waves, and three times it swallows them down; for it takes in the waters that it may vomit them, and vomits that it may take them in again. The 'Syrtes' are sandy places in the sea. Sallust (Jugurtha 78,3) says the Syrtes are named from 'dragging' (tractus), because they draw all things to themselves, and cling to one approaching over the shoaly sea. These, moreover, are near to the Egyptian sea, and are mingled with it alike.
'Fords' (vada), on the other hand, are places in the sea or in rivers where men or animals wade on foot, which Virgil (Aeneid 1,111) calls 'shallows' (brevia), and the Greeks BRACHEA. XIX. ON LAKES AND POOLS. There are also certain seas which are not mingled with the waves of the Ocean or of the Great Sea, and are called lakes and pools. A 'lake' (lacus) is a receptacle in which water is retained and not mingled with the waves, such as the Lake of Asphalt (the Dead Sea), such as Lake Benacus and Larius, and the others which the Greeks call LIMNAI, that is, pools. For springs glide down into rivers; rivers run out into straits; a lake stands in its place and does not flow forth. And it is called 'lacus' as if 'a place of water' (aquae locus). The Lake of Asphalt is also called the Dead Sea because it produces nothing living and receives nothing of the kind of living things.
For it has neither fish, nor does it suffer the birds that are accustomed to the waters and delight in the use of diving, but whatever living things you attempt to submerge, however sunk by any device, they at once leap back, and however violently dashed down, they are immediately cast up; nor is it moved by the winds, the bitumen resisting the whirlwinds, by which all the water is made stagnant, nor is it fit for navigation, because all things lacking life sink into the deep, nor does it support any material except what is coated with bitumen. They say that a lighted lamp floats upon it, but when the light is extinguished it sinks. This is also called the Sea of Salt, or the Lake of Asphalt, that is, of bitumen; and it is in Judaea between Jericho and Zoar.
Its length extends as far as Zoar of Arabia, seven hundred and eighty stadia; its breadth is a hundred and fifty stadia, reaching to the vicinity of Sodom. The Lake of Tiberias is named from the town of Tiberias, which Herod once founded in honor of Tiberius Caesar. It is, moreover, in Judaea more healthful than all lakes, and in a certain way more effective for the health of bodies. It has a circuit of a hundred stadia. The Lake of Gennesaret, a very vast lake in Judaea, extends a hundred and forty stadia in length, and spreads out forty in breadth, its waters rippling, generating for itself a breeze not from the winds, but of itself. Whence too it is called 'Gennesar' with a Greek word, as if 'generating a breeze for itself'; and so through its broader expanses the lake is stirred by frequently blowing breezes;
whence too its draught is purer, and sweet and suitable for drinking. Lake Benacus is a lake of Italy in Venetia, from which is born the river Mincius; which lake, by its greatness, imitates the storms of the sea. Lucrinus and Avernus are lakes of Campania. Lucrinus is so called because once, on account of its abundance of fish, it yielded great revenues. Avernus, moreover, is a lake so called because birds could not fly over it there; for formerly it was so surrounded by the density of the forests that the most grievous smell of the sulphurous water exhaling from it through the narrow passages killed with its breath the birds flying over: which thing Augustus Caesar, understanding, made the pleasant places out of the pestilential ones by cutting down the woods. A lake, moreover, is the same as a pool, where a vast body of water gathers.
For it is called 'stagnus' (pool) from the fact that there the water stands (stet) and does not run off. XX. ON THE ABYSS. The 'abyss' is an impenetrable depth of waters, or of caverns of hidden waters, from which springs and rivers proceed; or those which secretly go beneath, whence too it is called 'abyss.' For all waters, or torrents, return through hidden channels to their mother, the abyss. 'Waves' (fluctus) are so called because they are made by blowings (flatibus). For the waters, agitated by the impulse of the winds, billow. 'Water' (aqua) is standing and level without motion. But a 'wave' (unda) is a projecting liquid which is always in motion. Lucretius (2,151): 'the airy waves,' that is, motions, and that body which flows back and forth. For neither is a wave by itself water, but water in a certain motion and agitation, called 'unda' as if from going and returning (ab eundo et redeundo).
因為它之所以稱為「stagnus（池沼）」，是由於那裡的水停留（stet）而不流走。第二十章 論深淵。「深淵（abyssus）」是無法穿透的水的深處，或是隱藏之水的洞穴，泉水與河流由此發出；或是那些暗中在地底流動的水，因此也稱為「深淵」。因為一切的水或急流，都透過隱蔽的水脈回歸它們的母親——深淵。「波浪（fluctus）」之所以如此命名，是因為它們由吹拂（flatibus）而生。因為水受風的推動攪動而起伏。「水（aqua）」是靜止而平坦、無動盪的。但「浪（unda）」是隆起的液體，總是處於動盪之中。盧克萊修（2,151）：「空中的浪」，即動盪，以及那來回起伏的形體。因為浪本身並非水，而是處於某種動盪與攪動中的水，稱為「unda」，彷彿取自來與去（ab eundo et redeundo）。
'Latex' properly is the liquid of a spring; and it is called 'latex' because it lies hidden (lateat) in the veins of the earth. A 'drop' (gutta) is that which stands still; a 'trickle' (stilla) is that which falls. Hence 'stillicidium' (dripping), as if a falling drop (stilla cadens). For 'stiria' is Greek, that is, a drop: from it a diminutive is formed, so that we say 'stilla'; but while it stands, or hangs from roofs or trees, it is as if a glutinous drop (gutta); when it has fallen, it is a 'stilla.' 'Foam' (spuma) is so called from the fact that it is spat out (spuatur); for foam is the filth of the waves; whence too must and the things that are cooked are purged of foam. Hence also 'spittle' (sputum). XXI. ON RIVERS. A 'river' (fluvius) is a perennial running-down of waters, named from flowing continually. Properly, however, 'flumen' is the water itself, 'fluvius' the course of the water. But 'flumen' comes before 'fluvius,' that is, the water before the course.
There are, moreover, two kinds of rivers: one a torrent, the other a living stream. Concerning which Virgil (Aeneid 2,719): 'Until I have washed myself in living water.' A 'torrent' is water coming with force. It is called 'torrent' because it grows with rain and dries up (torrescit) with drought, that is, becomes parched (arescit). Concerning which Pacuvius (13): 'The torrent parches with fiery vapor.' The Greeks gave it a name from winter, we from summer; they from the time in which it grows, we from the time in which it dries up. An 'amnis' is a river garlanded with grove and foliage, and it is called 'amnis' from that very pleasantness (amoenitas). A 'descent' (decursus) is properly the end of a course, whether of waters or of anything whatever. 'Brooks' (rivi) are so called because they are diverted (deriventur) for irrigating, that is, for bringing waters into the fields; for 'to irrigate' (inrigare) is to bring in (inducere).
A 'whirlpool' (gurges) is properly a deep place in a river. A 'well' (puteus) is a dug-out place from which water is drawn, named from drinking (potatio). A 'spring' (fons) is the head of the rising water, as if pouring out (fundens) waters. But certain rivers have received names from their own particular causes, of which some are to be noted that are celebrated as famous in histories. The river Geon (Gihon), going out of Paradise and encircling all Ethiopia, is called by this name because by the increase of its overflowing it waters the land of Egypt; for GE in Greek means 'earth' in Latin. This among the Egyptians is called the Nile, on account of the mud (limus) which it carries, which produces fertility; whence too it is called 'Nilus,' as if NEAN ILUN (new mud): for formerly the Nile was called in Latin 'Melo.'
「深潭（gurges）」本義是河中的深處。「井（puteus）」是挖掘出的、從中汲水之處，得名於飲用（potatio）。「泉（fons）」是湧出之水的源頭，彷彿在傾注（fundens）水。但某些河流因其各自特定的緣由而得名，其中有些值得一提，它們在歷史中以著名而聞名。基訓河（Geon）從樂園流出，環繞整個衣索比亞，之所以有此名，是因為它以泛濫的增長灌溉埃及地；因為希臘文的 GE 意即拉丁文的「土地」。它在埃及人中被稱為尼羅河，是因為它所挾帶的淤泥（limus）產生了肥沃；因此又稱「Nilus」，彷彿是 NEAN ILUN（新的淤泥）：因為尼羅河從前在拉丁文中稱為「Melo」。
It appears, moreover, in the Nilis lake, from which, turned toward the south, it is received into Egypt, where, driven back by the blasts of the north wind, it swells with the waters struggling backward, and causes the inundation of Egypt. The river Ganges, which holy Scripture names Phison, going out of Paradise, proceeds to the regions of India. It is called 'Phison,' that is, 'a throng' (caterva), because it is filled by ten great rivers joined to it and becomes one; but it is called 'Ganges' from Gangarus, a king of India. It is said, moreover, to rise up in the manner of the Nile, and to burst forth over the lands of the East. The river Tigris of Mesopotamia, rising out of Paradise and proceeding against the Assyrians, and after many windings flowing into the Dead Sea.
It is called by this name on account of its swiftness, after the fashion of the beast the tiger (tigris) running with excessive speed. The river Euphrates of Mesopotamia, rising out of Paradise, most abundant in gems, which flows through the middle of Babylonia. This took its name from crops (fruges), or from abundance (ubertas), for in Hebrew 'Ephrata' is interpreted as 'fertility': for it irrigates Mesopotamia in certain places just as the Nile does Alexandria. Sallust, moreover, a most reliable author, asserts (Histories 4,77) that the Tigris and the Euphrates flow from one source in Armenia, which, going by different ways, are divided farther apart, a middle space of many thousands being left between; yet the land which is enclosed by them is called Mesopotamia. From which Jerome (On sites and names
202) observed that the rivers of Paradise are to be understood otherwise. The river Indus is of the East, which is received by the Red Sea. Hystaspes was a most ancient king of the Medes, from whom a river of the East took its name, which is now called Hydaspes. Concerning which Lucan writes. Which, though it is a river of the Persians, is nevertheless said to run down against the east. The river Araris is of the East. Concerning which Virgil (Eclogues 1,63): 'Or the Parthian shall drink of the Arar.' For it runs through Parthia and Assyria. The river Bactrus of the East is said to be named from king Bactrus; from whom also come the Bactriani and their city. The Choaspes is a river of the Persians, called in their tongue because it has a wonderful sweetness of water, so much so that the Persian kings, as long as it flows between the banks of Persia, claimed for themselves cups from it.
From this river some think that the Cydnus, a river of Cilicia, is derived. The Araxes is a river of Armenia, which rises from one mountain with the Euphrates by different caverns, called so because by its rapacity it lays all things low. Whence too, when Alexander wished to cross it, a bridge having been constructed, it flooded with such force that it demolished the bridge. This, at short intervals from the source of the Euphrates, raises its head, and then is borne into the Caspian Sea. The river of Syria which is called Orontes, running down beside the walls of Antioch, which, rising from the sunrise, is hidden in the sea not far from the city; which the ancients called in Latin 'Orontes' from the course of its origin. By the very force of its streams, which are colder, and by the zephyrs constantly blowing there, the whole city is cooled at almost every moment.
The Jordan (Iordanis) is a river of Judaea, named from two springs, of which one is called Ior, the other Dan. These, therefore, being far distant from each other, when they are united into one channel, are thenceforth called Jordan. It rises, moreover, beneath Mount Lebanon, and divides Judaea and Arabia; which, through many windings beside Jericho, flows into the Dead Sea. The Eusis, poured out from the Caucasus mountains, together with many others hurls itself into the Euxine Sea; whence too it is named. The Cydnus is a river of Cilicia, proceeding from Mount Taurus, having a wonderful sweetness of waters, and because whatever is white the Syrians call 'cydnum' in their native tongue. Whence too this name was given to the river, because it swells in summer, when the snows melt; in the remaining seasons of the year it is thin and quiet.
The Hylas is a river of Asia. The Pactolus is a river of Asia, carrying golden sands: concerning which Virgil (Aeneid 10,142): 'And the Pactolus irrigates with gold.' Which, on account of its golden flow, they otherwise call Chrysorrhoas (golden-flowing). The Hermus is a river of Asia which cuts through the Smyrnaean fields, and is itself full of golden waves and sands; from which too Smyrna is named. The Maeander is a winding river of Asia, which, with its recurring banks between Caria and Ionia, is hurled into the gulf that divides Miletus and Priene; and it is called 'Maeander' because it is winding and never runs straight. Concerning which Ovid (Metamorphoses 2,246): 'The Maeander plays in its curving waves.'
Tanus was the first king of the Scythians, from whom the river Tanais (Don) is said to be named, which, coming from the Riphaean forests, separates Europe from Asia, running in the middle between the two parts of the world and flowing into the Pontus. The Inachus is a river of Achaia, watering the Argolic fields, which king Inachus named after himself, who first gave the beginning of the Argive people. There too is the Erymanthus, sent down from Mount Erymanthus. The Padus (Po), a river of Italy, poured out from the ridges of the Alps, rises from three sources; of which one has the name 'Padus,' which, spread out in the manner of a pool, divides the river with its bosom; from which too it is called 'Padus.' This was surnamed by the Greeks 'Eridanus,' after Eridanus the son of the Sun, whom they call Phaethon; who, struck by lightning, was cast down into this same river and extinguished.
It is increased, moreover, at the rising of the Dog Star as the snows melt, and with the accession of thirty rivers is carried down around Ravenna into the Adriatic Sea. The Tiber (Tiberis), a river of Italy, is said to be named from Tiberinus, king of the Albans, who fell into this river, and from his end gave it a name. For formerly it had the ancient name 'Albula' from its color, because it is white with snows. This same is 'Tibris,' which is also 'Tiberis'; but 'Tiberis' is used in everyday speech, 'Tibris' in verse. The Danube (Danubius), a river of Germany, is said to be named from the abundance of snows by which it is chiefly increased. This is the one which in Europe has more fame than all others. The same is also the 'Ister,' because while it goes through countless peoples, it changes both its name and, by encompassing them, gathers greater strength for itself.
It rises from the Germanic ridges and the western parts of the barbarians, proceeding toward the east: it receives sixty rivers into itself, and flows into the Pontus by seven mouths. The Rhone (Rhodanus), a river of Gaul, is surnamed from the town of Rhoda, which colonists of the Rhodians founded; which, urged on with a rapid course, cutting the straits of the Tyrrhenian sea, often causes no small danger to those sailing, while the waves of the sea and the streams of the river contend among themselves. The Rhine (Rhenus) is said to be named from its association with the Rhone, since it rises with the same from one province. It is, moreover, a river of Germany, reckoned among the three greatest rivers of Europe, which directs its courses from the ridge of the Alps all the way into the depths of the Ocean. The Ebro (Iberus), a river which once gave its name to all of Hispania.
The Minho (Mineus), a river of Gallaecia, took its name from the color of the pigment (minium, vermilion) which is found in it in great quantity. The Durius (Douro) is so named by the Greeks, as if 'Doric.' Carthage of Hispania named the river Tagus, from which it rises and proceeds; a river abundant in gold-bearing sands, and for this reason preferred to the other rivers of the Spains. The Baetis (Guadalquivir), a river which also gave its name to the province of Baetica. Concerning which Martial (12,98,1): 'O Baetis, binding your hair with an olive-bearing crown, who tinge golden fleeces in gleaming waters'; because there the wools are tinged with a beautiful color. And 'Baetis' is so called because it runs down over low ground: for the Greeks call the low or sunken 'bitin.'
Certain rivers, moreover, were blocked up in the Flood by the loosened mass of the lands, while certain others, which did not exist before, then burst forth as the channels of the abyss were broken open. XXII. ON FLOODS. A 'flood' (diluvium) is so called because by a disaster of waters it destroys all that it has inundated. The first flood occurred under Noah, when the Almighty, offended by the crimes of men, with the whole world covered and all things destroyed, there was one single expanse of sky and sea. Of which we see the token even to this day in the stones which, in remote mountains, we are wont to behold hardened together with shells and oysters, and often even hollowed out by the waters. The second flood was in Achaia in the times of the patriarch Jacob and of Ogygus, who was the founder and king of Eleusis, and gave his name to the place and the time.
The third flood was in Thessaly in the times of Moses or of Amphictyon, who reigned as the third after Cecrops. In his times an overflowing of waters consumed the greater part of the peoples of Thessaly, a few being delivered through the refuges of the mountains, especially on Mount Parnassus; in whose circuit Deucalion then held sway, who then received and cherished and nourished those fleeing to him by rafts, across the twin ridges of Parnassus. Whence, for this reason, the fables of the Greeks report that the human race was restored by him from stones, on account of the ingrained hardness of men's hearts. But rivers also, when swollen beyond custom by unaccustomed rains, whether in duration or in magnitude, overflow and lay low many things, and these too are called a 'flood.'
It is to be known, moreover, that rivers, when they grow beyond measure, not only bring damage for the present, but also signify certain things to come.