Pliny
The Natural History
Translated with Copious Notes and Illustrations by the late
John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S. and H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A., Late Scholar of Clare Hall, Cambridge
Published by Henry G. Bohn, York Street, Covent Garden, London, 1855
The chapter numbers do not correspond with more recent translations of Pliny, therefore I have used only the book number and chapter title with each excerpt and have appended the current Loeb references in parentheses. All footnotes for these excerpts are from the nineteenth century translation.
Excerpt from Natural History, Book VI – Chapter: The Nations of India.
(Refer to Book VI. 57 - 62 in Loeb edition..)
In this region, the appearance of the heavens is totally changed, and quite different is the rising of the stars; there are two summers in the year, and two harvests, while the winter intervenes between them during the time that the Etesian winds are blowing: during our winter too, they enjoy light breezes and their seas are navigable. In this country there are nations and cities which would be found to be quite innumerable, if a person should attempt to enumerate them. For it has been explored not only by the arms of Alexander the Great and of the kings who succeeded him, by Seleucus and Antiochus, who sailed round even to the Caspian and Hyrcanian Sea, and by Patrocles, the admiral of their fleet, but has been treated of by several other Greek writers who resided in the courts of Indian kings, such, for instance, as Megasthenes, and by Dionysius, who was sent thither by Philadelphus, expressly for the purpose: all of whom have enlarged upon the power and vast resources of these nations. Still, however, there is no possibility by being rigorously exact, so different are the accounts given, and often of a nature so incredible. The followers of Alexander the Great have stated in their writings, that there were no less than five thousand cities in that portion of India which they vanquished by force of arms, not one of which was smaller than that of Cos; that its nations were eight in number, that India forms one third of the whole earth, and that its populations are innumerable – a thing which is certainly far from improbable, seeing that the Indians are nearly the only race of people who have never migrated from their own territories. From the time of Father Liber* to that of Alexander the Great, one hundred and fifty-three kings of India are reckoned, extending over a period of six thousand four hundred and fifty-one years and three months. The vast extent of their rivers is quite marvelous; it is stated that on no one day did Alexander the Great sail less than six hundred stadia on the Indus, and still was unable to reach its mouth in less than five months and some few days: and yet it is a well-known fact that this river is not so large as the Ganges. Seneca, one of our fellow-countrymen, who has written a treatise upon the subject of India, has given its rivers as sixty-five in number, and its nations as one hundred and eighteen. The difficulty too would be quite as great, if we were to attempt to enumerate its mountains. The chains of Emaus, of Emodus, of Paropanisus, and of Caucasus, are all connected, the one with the other; and from their foot, the country of India runs down in the form of a vast plain, bearing a very considerable resemblance to that of Egypt.
*Or Bacchus (Dionysus).
However, that we may come to a better understanding relative to the description of these regions, we will follow in the track of Alexander the Great. Diognetus and Baeton, whose duty it was to ascertain the distances and length of his expeditions, have written that from the Caspian Gates to Hecatompylon, the city of the Parthians, the distance is the number of miles we have already stated; and that from thence to Alexandria, of the Ariim which city was founded by the same king, the distance is five hundred and seventy-five miles; from thence to Prophthasia, the city of the Drangae, one hundred and ninety-nine; from thence to the city of the Arachosii, five hundred and sixty-five, from thence to Ortospanum, one hundred and seventy-five; and from thence to the city built by Alexander, fifty miles. In some copies, however, the numbers are found differently stated; and we find this last city even placed at the very foot of Mount Caucasus! From this place to the river Cophes and Peucolaitis, a city of India, is two hundred and thirty-seven miles; from thence to the river Indus and the city of Taxilla sixty; from thence to the famous river Hydaspes one hundred and twenty; and from thence to the Hypasis, a river no less famous, two hundred and ninety miles, and three hundred and ninety paces. This last was the extreme limit of the expedition of Alexander, though he crossed the river and dedicated certain altars* on the opposite side. The dispatches written by order of that king fully agree with the distances above stated.
*See the chapter, Nations situate around the Hyrcanian sea. The altars there spoken of, as consecrated by Alexander the Great, appear to have been erected in Sogdiana, whereas those here mentioned were dedicated in the Indian territory.
Excerpt from Natural History, Book VI – Chapter: The Indus.
(Refer to Book VI. 77 -78 in Loeb edition..)
We then come to the peoples of the Sorofages, the Arbae, the Marogomatrae, the Umbrittae, of whom there are twelve nations, each with two cities, and the Asini, a people who dwell in three cities, their capital being Bucephala,* which was founded around the tomb of the horse belonging to king Alexander, which bore that name.
*Built on the Hydaspes by Alexander after his victory over Porus, B.C. 326, at the spot where he celebrated charger Bucephalus, who had expired during the battle from fatigue and old age, or from wounds. The exact site of this place is not known, but the probabilities appear in favour of Jhelum, at which place is the usual passage of the river, or else of Jellapoor, about sixteen miles lower down.