A Complete Good Works Translation from De Chorographia 3.40
Pomponius Mela's short Sena notice is one of the compact Latin witnesses to a Gallic island oracle near the Ossismian coast. It describes nine virgin priestesses called Gallizenae, credited with powers over winds and seas, animal transformation, healing, and prophecy for sailors who came to consult them. The passage is Roman geographical marvel-writing, but it preserves a whole ancient source-unit on a Gallic divine oracle and its attendants.
Translation
Section 40
Sena, in the Britannic sea, facing the shores of the Ossismi, is famous for the oracle of a Gallic divinity. Its priestesses, consecrated by perpetual virginity, are said to be nine in number. They call them Gallizenae, and people think they are endowed with singular powers: to stir up seas and winds by songs, to turn themselves into whatever animals they wish, to heal things that among others are incurable, to know and foretell what is coming. But they do this only for sailors devoted to them, and only for those who have set out for this purpose: to consult them.
Colophon
This page translates Pomponius Mela, De Chorographia 3.40 from Latin for the Celtic continental expansion of the Good Work Library. Mela's account is a Roman geographical notice and marvel report; the translation keeps that frame visible while preserving the complete Sena/Gallizenae source-unit.
Compiled and formatted for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.
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Source Text: Pomponius Mela, De Chorographia 3.40
Latin source text from The Latin Library's text of Pomponius Mela, De Chorographia, Book 3. This page gives Mela's complete Sena notice: an island facing the Ossismian shore, a Gallic divine oracle, and the nine Gallizenae.
Section 40
Sena in Britannico mari Ossismicis adversa litoribus, Gallici numinis oraculo insignis est, cuius antistites perpetua virginitate sanctae numero novem esse traduntur: Gallizenas vocant, putantque ingeniis singularibus praeditas maria ac ventos concitare carminibus, seque in quae velint animalia vertere, sanare quae apud alios insanabilia sunt, scire ventura et praedicare, sed nonnisi dedita navigantibus, et in id tantum, ut se consulerent profectis.
Source Colophon
The Latin source was captured from The Latin Library on 2026-05-13 and inspected on disk at Tulku/Tools/celtic/sources/continental_batch_2026-05-13/pomponius_mela_chorographia_3_latin_library.html. The English translation is a New Tianmu Anglican Church Good Works Translation made from the Latin source.
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