A Latin Dossier from the Polyhistor
This Good Works Translation gathers Scythian and steppe-frontier notices from Solinus' Polyhistor, a late antique Latin compilation of geography and marvels.
The dossier is useful beside Herodotus, Strabo, Mela, Pliny, Ammianus, and Ptolemy because Solinus preserves a compact Latin chain of northern geography: Tauric Diana, the Black Sea straits, Getae, Sarmatians, Scythians, the Taurus and Caucasus, the Caspian Gates, Bactria, the Oxus and Iaxartes, the Persian name Sacae, Massagetae, Seres, Hyperboreans, and Parthia's Scythian frontier.
The English below was newly translated by the New Tianmu Anglican Church from the Latin Library text of C. Iulius Solinus, Collectanea rerum mirabilium. Existing English routes were treated as restricted or control material and were not used as the English body.
Translation
Solinus I.101
Apollonides says that in Scythia women are born who are called Bitiae. They have twin pupils in their eyes, and if they look upon someone in anger, they kill him by sight. These women are also found in Sardinia.
Solinus II.11
In this place, Orestes, warned by an oracle, consecrated the image of Scythian Diana, which he had carried away from Taurica before he set out for Argos. Metaurum was settled by the Zanclenses; Metapontum, which is now called Vibo, was founded by the Locrians, as Bocchus explains. Marcus Antonius reports that the Umbrians are descended from the ancient Gauls; and because they survived the rains in the time of the watery disaster, those same people were called Umbrians in Greek.
Solinus XII.1-2
The fourth gulf of Europe begins at the Hellespont and ends at the mouth of Maeotis. All this breadth, which divides Europe from Asia, is squeezed into a strait of seven stadia. This is the Hellespont: here Xerxes crossed by a bridge made from ships. Then a narrow channel stretches toward the Asian city Priapus; here Alexander the Great crossed in his desire to possess the world, and he did possess it. From there the water spreads into a very wide sea, then narrows again into the Propontis; next it is drawn tight into five hundred paces and becomes the Thracian Bosporus, where Darius carried his forces across.
Solinus X.6-16
The Hebrus drains the land of the Odrysae; this river runs between the Priantae, Dolongi, Thyni, Corpili, and other barbarians, and it touches the Cicones. Then comes Haemus, six thousand paces high. On its far side sit the Moesi, Getae, Sarmatians, Scythians, and many nations. The Sithonian people hold the Pontic shore, and Orpheus the prophet, born there, is counted among their leading men; they say he practiced the secrets of sacred rites or song on the promontory Sperchius. Then comes Lake Bistonia. Not far off is the Maronian region, where there was once the town Tirida, the stable of the horses of Diomedes; but time has taken it away, and only the trace of a tower remains.
The place Doriscus was made famous by Xerxes' arrival, because there he reviewed the number of his soldiers. The tomb of Polydorus is shown at Aenus. In the part once held by the Aroteres Scythians, people celebrate the old city Gerania, which the barbarians call Cathizon, from which they say the Pygmies were driven out by cranes.
It is plain that in winter cranes fly very thickly toward the northern region. It is worth remembering how they direct their expeditions. They go under a kind of military sign, and so that the force of the winds may not hinder them on the way to their goal, they swallow sand and ballast themselves by lifting little stones to a measured weight. Then they climb to the highest air, so that from a higher lookout they may measure the lands they seek. One goes before the companies, sure of the route, and corrects the weariness of the flight with a cry that compels the line; when that bird grows hoarse, another takes its place. When they are about to cross the Pontus, they seek the narrows, especially those between Taurica and Paphlagonia, that is, between Carambis and Criumetopon. When they know they have reached mid-channel, they free their feet of the load of pebbles. Sailors have often reported being rained upon by that stony shower. They do not vomit up the sand until they are safe in their resting place. They all care together for the tired, so that if any one fails, all join to lift the weary bird until its strength is restored by rest. Their care on land is no less. At night they divide the watches so that every tenth bird is awake. The sentries hold little weights in their claws; if these happen to fall, the sound exposes sleep. A cry marks what must be guarded against. Their age is shown by their color: they grow black in old age.
Solinus XXXVIII.10-13
Mount Taurus rises first from the Indian sea, and then from the Chelidonian rocks, with the Egyptian and Pamphylian seas between them. It is set on the right against the north, on the left against the southern region, and spreads its face toward the west. It is clear that it wished to join the lands together by piercing the sea, if the deep waters had not resisted and prevented it from stretching out its roots. Indeed, those who test the nature of places prove that it has tried every exit by its headlands: wherever the sea washes it, it pushes forward into promontories. But now it is blocked by the Phoenician gulf, now by the Pontic, sometimes by the Caspian or Hyrcanian; broken again and again by these opposing waters, it bends toward Lake Maeotis and, wearied by many difficulties, fastens itself to the Riphaean ridges.
According to the variety of peoples and languages it is named in many ways: among the Indians, Imaus; then Propanisus; Choatras among the Parthians; afterward Niphates; then Taurus; and where it rises to its greatest height, Caucasus. In the meantime it also takes names from peoples. On the right side it is called Caspian or Hyrcanian, on the left Amazonian, Moschic, Scythic. It has many other names besides these. Where it gapes in cleft ridges it makes gates: first the Armenian, then the Caspian, then the Cilician. It thrusts a summit into Greece, where it is called Ceraunius. From the borders of Cilicia it divides the Asian boundary. As much of it as faces south is heated by the sun; whatever is set against the north is beaten by wind and frost. Where it is wild, it is made savage by many beasts and enormous lions.
Solinus XLIV.1
Paphlagonia is embraced behind by the Galatian frontier. From the promontory Carambis it faces Taurica, and it rises to Mount Cytorus, which stretches for sixty-three miles. It is famous for the place called Enetus, from which, as Cornelius Nepos says, the Paphlagonians crossed into Italy and afterward were called Veneti.
Solinus XLV.1-18
Of all the peoples who border the Pontus, Cappadocia draws farthest inland. On its left side it passes both Armenias and Commagene; on its right it is surrounded by many peoples of Asia. It rises to the ridges of Taurus and toward the sunrise. It passes Lycaonia, Pisidia, and Cilicia. Above the tract of Syrian Antioch it goes on, with another part of its region stretching into Scythia, divided from Greater Armenia by the Euphrates River. Greater Armenia begins where the Panedrian mountains stand. Many cities in Cappadocia are famous; but to withdraw our step from the others, the Halys flows past the colony Archelais, which Claudius Caesar founded; the Lycus waters Neocaesarea; Semiramis founded Melitene. The Cappadocians count Mazaca, set beneath Argaeus, as the mother of cities: Argaeus is high with snowy ridges, and even in the summer torrent it is never without frost; the peoples there believe a god dwells in it.
That land above others is a nurse of horses and very fit for their increase; here I think the nature of horses should be followed out. That horses have judgment has been shown by many proofs, since some have been found that recognized only their first masters and forgot their tameness if ever their accustomed service was changed. They know the enemies of their own side so well that in battles they attack foes with their teeth. Yet this is greater: when the riders they loved are lost, they summon death by hunger. These habits are found in the noblest breed of horses; those of lower breeding have given no proofs of themselves.
So that we may not seem to claim too freely against truth, we will give a frequent example. Alexander the Great's horse was called Bucephalus, either from his fierce appearance, or from a mark branded on his shoulder like a bull's head, or because some threats of little horns protruded from his forehead. Though at other times he was gently ridden by his groom, once he had received the royal saddle he never deigned to carry anyone but his master. There are many proofs of him in battle, by which he carried Alexander safe out of the hardest fights. For this service, when he died in India, the king led his funeral rites and gave him a tomb; he even founded a city in memory of his name and called it Bucephala.
The horse of Gaius Caesar received no one on his back except Caesar. They say his front feet had the form of human feet, as he was represented in this shape before the temple of Venus Genetrix. When the king of the Scythians had been killed in single combat and the victorious opponent wanted to strip him, he was torn apart by the king's horse with kicks and bites. The region of Agrigentum is also full of horse tombs, a gift of final honor, we believe, given for their merits.
Circus spectacles have shown that horses have pleasure: some are stirred to running by songs of flutes, some by dances, some by different colors, and some even by lit torches. Tears prove a horse's affection: when King Nicomedes was killed, his horse ended its life by starvation. When Antiochus defeated the Galatians in battle, he mounted in triumph the horse of a leader named Cintaretus, who had fallen in the line; the horse so despised the bit that it deliberately threw itself down, injuring both itself and the rider in the fall. The circus teams of Claudius Caesar also proved the intelligence of horses: when the driver had been thrown out, the chariot outran its rivals by skill no less than by speed, and after completing the lawful courses stood still of its own accord at the place of the palm, as if asking for the prize of victory. Another time, when a driver named Rutumanna had been thrown out, the team left the race and sprang to the Capitol, and did not stop before it had gone three times around Tarpeian Jupiter.
In this animal kind the males live longer. We have read of a horse that lived seventy years. It is no longer in doubt that they breed into their thirty-third year, since they are even sent after their twentieth to renew the stock. We have also noted that a horse named Opus lasted for common breeding to forty years. The desire of mares is quenched by clipping their manes. In their birth there comes a love charm, which the newborn foals carry on their foreheads, dark in color, like a fig, called hippomanes. If it is snatched away at once, the mother will not offer her udders to the foal to suck. The keener a horse is, and the greater its promise, the more deeply it dips its nostrils when drinking. A male is never brought to war among the Scythians, because females can empty their bladders even while fleeing. Mares also give birth to foals conceived by the winds, but these never draw life beyond three years.
Solinus XLVII.1-2
The Caspian Gates open by a hand-made road eight miles long; their width is barely passable by a wagon. In these narrows there is also this harsh thing: the cut sides of the rocks drip very abundant moisture from melting veins of salt, and when it is bound by the power of heat it forms, as it were, a summer ice. Thus an impassable slime denies approach. Besides this, a tract of twenty-eight miles in every direction from there is dry, thirsty ground, without help. Then, from the first day of spring, snakes from every nation flow together there from all sides. So because danger and difficulty agree, access to the Caspians is denied except in winter.
Solinus XLVIII.1-4
From the Caspians eastward there is a place called Direum, to whose fertility nothing can be compared. The Lapyri, Narici, and Hyrcani sit around it. Near it is Margiana, a region famous for its climate and soil, so much so that in that whole breadth it alone delights in vines. It is enclosed by mountains in the shape of a theater, fifteen hundred stadia in circumference, almost inaccessible because of the troublesome sandy desert spread around it for one hundred and twenty miles in every direction. Alexander the Great admired the pleasantness of this region so much that there he first founded an Alexandria; after it was destroyed by barbarians, Antiochus son of Seleucus restored it and named it Seleucia from the name of his house. The circuit of this city extends over seventy-five stadia. Orodes brought the Romans captured in the disaster of Crassus into it. Alexander had also raised another town among the Caspians, and it was called Heraclea while it lasted; but this too was overthrown by the same peoples, then restored by Antiochus and afterward named Achais, as he preferred.
Solinus XLIX.1-8
The river Oxus rises from Lake Oaxus, whose shores on both sides are occupied by the Bateni and Oxistacae; but the Bactrians hold the chief part. The Bactrians also have their own river, Bactros, and from it the town where they live is called Bactrum. The peoples behind this nation are encircled by the Propanisian ridges; those opposite are bounded by the springs of the Indus; the rest is enclosed by the river Ochus. Beyond these is Panda, a town of the Sogdians, in whose territory Alexander the Great founded a third Alexandria to mark the limits of his journey. This is the place where altars were first set up by Father Liber, afterward by Hercules, then by Semiramis, and finally also by Cyrus, because all of them considered it next to glory to have pushed the limits of their journeys so far.
The whole command of that region, at least from that part of the earth, is cut by the river Laxates. Only the Bactrians call it Laxates; the other Scythians name it Silis. The army of Alexander the Great believed it to be the Tanais. But Demodamas, a general of Seleucus and Antiochus, a sufficiently reliable witness for the truth, crossed this river, went beyond the monuments of all, and discovered that it was different from the Tanais. As a sign of his glory, he gave his name to the place by building altars there to Apollo Didymaeus.
This is the borderland where the Persian frontier joins the Scythians. In their own language the Persians call the Scythians Sacae, and in turn the Scythians call the Persians Chorsaci, and the mountain Caucasus Croucasis, that is, white with snow. Here a very dense crowd of peoples, together with the Parthians, keeps the law of agreement by a discipline uncorrupted from the beginning of the custom. The most celebrated among them are the Massagetae, the Essedones, the Satarchae, and the Apalaei. After these, with the fiercest barbarians lying between, we turn almost unsteadily to what has been determined about the customs of other nations.
Solinus L.1-4
Where the course bends from the Scythian Ocean and the Caspian Sea toward the eastern Ocean, from the beginning of this region there are deep snows, then long deserts, then the Anthropophagi, a very harsh people, and then spaces full of wild beasts, making nearly half the road impassable. A ridge hanging over the sea, which the barbarians call Tabis, makes the end of these difficulties; after it there are still distant wastelands. So along the stretch of that coast, which faces the summer sunrise, the first people known to us after the inhuman places are the Seres. By sprinkling leaves with water they comb the fleeces of trees with the aid of liquid, and by moisture they tame the soft fineness of the down for service. This is silk, admitted for public use to the ruin of severity; luxury first persuaded women, and now even men, to display their bodies rather than clothe them. The Seres themselves are gentle and very peaceful among themselves, but otherwise flee the company of the rest of mortals, to such a degree that they refuse the commerce of other nations. The merchants themselves cross the first river of their land; on its banks there is no exchange of language between the parties, but they estimate the prices of the goods laid out by sight. They hand over their own goods and do not buy ours.
Solinus LI
Next follows the Attacene Gulf and the race of the Attacori. A special privilege supplies them with a marvelous clemency and temperance of air. Hills ward off the harmful breath; set all around with healthy sunlight shut in, they keep pestilent winds away. Therefore, as Amometus affirms, their manner of life is equal to that of the Hyperboreans. Between these people and India, the most knowledgeable writers have placed the Cicones.
Solinus LII.6-7
The greatest rivers in that land are the Ganges and the Indus. Some claim that the Ganges is born from unknown springs and rises in flood like the Nile; others hold that it begins in the Scythian mountains. The Hypanis also is a very noble river, which ended Alexander the Great's march, as the altars placed on its bank prove. The smallest breadth of the Ganges extends eight miles, the greatest twenty; its depth, where it is shallowest, swallows a measure of one hundred feet.
Solinus LV.1-3
All Parthia is enclosed by the Red Sea on the south and by the Hyrcanian water on the north. In it eighteen kingdoms are divided into two parts. The eleven that are called upper begin from the Armenian frontier and the Caspian shore, stretching to the lands of the Scythians, with whom they live in concord. The remaining seven, for so they are called, have the Arii, Carmania, and the Ariani to the east and south, the Medes to the west, and the Hyrcani to the north. Media itself, lying crosswise from the west, embraces both Parthian kingdoms; on the north it is ringed by Armenia; from the east it sees the Caspians, and from the south Persis. Then this tract proceeds all the way to the fortress held by the Magi, named Fidasarcida. There is the tomb of Cyrus.
Solinus LVI.1-3
The head of the Chaldaean people is Babylonia, so famous that because of it the Assyrians and Mesopotamia have passed into the name Babylonia. The city is sixty miles in circumference, surrounded by walls whose height holds two hundred feet and whose width fifty, each foot being three fingers greater than our measure. It is crossed by the Euphrates. There is the temple of Bel, Jupiter, whom even that religion, which believes him a god, says was the inventor of heavenly learning. In rivalry with this city, the Parthians founded Ctesiphon.
Colophon
This Good Works Translation was made from the Latin Library transcription of C. Iulius Solinus, Collectanea rerum mirabilium or Polyhistor. The selected sections were chosen for the Scythian source shelf because they preserve Latin evidence for Scythia, Taurica, the Sacae, Massagetae, Caspian and Bactrian geography, eastern trade, and later Roman frontier imagination.
The local source capture used for this translation is Tulku/Tools/scythian/sources/expansion_bench_2026-05-11/solinus5_latin_library.html. The translated selection is a dossier, not the complete Polyhistor.
Compiled and translated for the Good Works Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.
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Source Text: C. Iulii Solini Collectanea rerum mirabilium
Latin source text from the Latin Library transcription of Solinus' Collectanea rerum mirabilium, presented for verification beside the English translation above.
Solinus I.101
101 Apollonides perhibet in Scythia feminas nasci, quae bitiae uocantur: has in oculis pupillas geminas habere et perimere uisu si forte quem iratae aspexerint. [Hae sunt et in Sardinia.]
Solinus II.11
11 Hoc in loco Orestes oraculo monitus simulacrum Scythicae Dianae, quod de Taurica extulerat, prius quam Argos peteret consecrauit. A Zanclensibus Metaurum locatum, a Locrensibus Metapontum quod nunc Vibo dicitur, Bocchus absoluit. Gallorum ueterum propaginem Vmbros esse M. Antonius refert; hos eosdem, quod tempore aquosae cladis imbribus superfuerint, Vmbrios Graece nominatos.
Solinus XII.1-2
1 Quartus Europae sinus Hellesponto incipit, Maeotis ostio terminatur. Atque omnis haec latitudo, quae Europam Asiamque diuidit, in septem stadiorum angustias stringitur. 2 Hic est Hellespontus: hac Xerxes ponte nauibus facto permeauit. Tenuis deinde euripus porrigitur ad Asiae urbem Priapum, qua magnus Alexander potiundi orbis amore transcendit et potitus est. Inde diffusus aequore patentissimo rursus stringitur in Propontidem; mox in quingentos passus coartatur fitque Bosporos Thracius, qua Darius copias transportauit.
Solinus X.6-16
6 De ritu ista sunt, de locis et populis quae secuntur. Strymonem accolunt dextro latere Denseletae, Bessorum quoque multa nomina ad usque Mestum amnem, qui radices Pangaei circumfluit. 7 Hebrum Odrysarum solum fundit, qui fluuius excurrit inter Priantas Dolongos Thynos Corpilos aliosque barbaros; tangit et Ciconas. Deinde Haemus sex milibus passuum arduus, cuius auersa Moesi Getae Sarmatae Scythae et plurimae insidunt nationes. 8 Ponticum litus Sithonia gens obtinet, quae nato ibi Orpheo uate inter principes iudicatur; quem siue sacrorum siue cantuum secreta in Sperchiuo promunturio agitasse tradunt. Deinde stagnum Bistonium. 9 Nec longe regio Maronia, in qua Tirida oppidum fuit equorum Diomedis stabulum; sed cessit aeuo solumque turris uestigium adhuc durat. 10 Inde non procul urbs Abdera, quam Diomedis soror et condidit et a se sic uocauit, mox Democriti domus physici ac si uerum rimere, ideo nobilior. Hanc Abderam olympiade prima et tricesima senio conlapsam Clazomenii ex Asia ad maiorem faciem restitutam oblitteratis quae praecesserant nomini suo uindicauerunt. 11 Locum Doriscon inlustrem reddidit Xerxis aduentus, quod ibi recoluit militis sui numerum. Polydori tumulum ostendit *Aenus. in parte, quam Aroteres Scythae
Solinus XXXVIII.10-13
10 Mons Taurus ab Indico primum mari surgit, deinde a scopulis Chelidoniis, inter Aegyptium et Pamphylium pelagus, obiectus septemtrioni dextero latere, laeuo meridianae plagae, occidenti obuersus fronte profusa. Palam est terras eum continuare uoluisse penetrato mari, nisi profundis resistentibus extendere radices suas uetaretur. 11 Denique qui periclitantur naturas locorum, temptasse eum omnes exitus promunturiis probant; *etenim quoquouorsum mari adluitur, procedit in prominentias; sed modo intercluditur Phoenicio, modo Pontico sinu, interdum Caspio uel Hyrcano; quibus renitentibus subinde fractus contra Maeotium lacum flectitur multisque difficultatibus fatigatus Ripaeis se iugis adnectit. 12 Pro gentium ac linguarum uarietate plurifariam nominatus, apud Indos *Imaus, mox Propanisus, Choatras apud Parthos, post Niphates, inde Taurus atque ubi in excelsissimam consurgit sublimitatem, Caucasus. Interea etiam a populis appellationem trahit; a dextero latere Caspius dicitur uel Hyrcanus, a laeuo Amazonicus, Moschicus, Scythicus; ad haec uocabula habet alia multa. 13 Vbi dehiscit hiulcis iugis, facit portas, quarum primae sunt Armeniae, tum Caspiae, post Ciliciae. In Graeciam uerticem exerit, ubi Ceraunius praedicatur. A Ciliciae finibus Asiaticum limitem dispescit. Quantus meridiem uidet, sole inaestuat; quicquid septemtrioni oppositum est, uento tunditur et pruina; quo siluestris est, efferatur multis bestiis et leonibus inmanissimis.
Solinus XLIV.1
1 Paphlagoniam limes a tergo Galaticus amplectitur. Ea Paphlagonia Carambi promunturio spectat Tauricam, consurgit Cytoro monte porrecto in spatium trium et sexaginta milium, insignis loco Eneto, a quo, ut Cornelius Nepos perhibet, Paphlagones in Italiam transuecti mox Veneti sunt nominati.
Solinus XLV.1-18
1 Cappadocia gentium uniuersarum quae Pontum accolunt praecipue introuersus recedit. Latere laeuo utrasque Armenias et Commagenen simul transit; dextero plurimis Asiae populis circumfusa. Attollitur ad Tauri iuga et solis ortus. Praeterit Lycaoniam Pisidiam Ciliciam. 2 Vadit super tractum Syriae Antiochiae, parte regionis alterius in Scythiam pertendens, ab Armenia maiore diuisa Euphrate amne; quae Armenia unde Panedri montes sunt auspicatur. 3 Multae in Cappadocia urbes inclitae; uerum ut ab aliis referamus pedem, coloniam Archelaidem, quam deduxit Claudius Caesar, Halys praeterfluit; Neocaesaream Lycus alluit; Melitam Samiramis condidit; 4 Mazacam sub Argaeo sitam Cappadoces matrem urbium numerant: qui Argaeus niualibus iugis arduus ne aestiuo quidem torrente pruinis caret quemque indidem populi habitari deo credunt. 5 Terra illa ante alias altrix equorum et prouentui equino accommodissima est; quorum hoc in loco ingenium reor persequendum. 6 Nam equis inesse iudicium documentis plurimis patefactum est, cum iam aliquot inuenti sunt, qui nonnisi primos dominos recognoscerent, obliti mansuetudinis, si quando mutassent consueta seruitia. Inimicos partis suae norunt adeo, ut inter proelia hostes morsu petant. 7 Sed illud maius est, quod rectoribus perditis quos diligebant arcessunt fame mortem. Verum hi mores in genere equorum praestantissimo reperiuntur: nam qui infra nobilitatem *sati sunt, nulla documenta sua praebuerunt. 8 Sed ne quid uideamur dicendi licentia contra fidem adrogasse, exemplum frequens dabimus. Alexandri Magni equus Bucephalus dictus siue de aspectus toruitate seu ab insigni, quod taurinum caput armo inustum habebat, seu quod de fronte eius quaedam corniculorum minae protuberabant, cum ab equario suo alias etiam molliter sederetur, accepto regio stratu neminem umquam alium praeter dominum uehere dignatus est. 9 Documenta eius in proeliis plura sunt, quibus Alexandrum e durissimis certaminibus sospitem ope sua extulit; quo merito effectum, ut defuncto in India exequias rex duceret et supremis sepulcrum daret, urbem etiam conderet, quam in nominis memoriam Bucephalam nominauit. 10 Equus C. Caesaris nullum praeter Caesarem dorso recepit; cuius primores pedes facie uestigii humani tradunt fuisse, sicut ante Veneris genetricis aedem hac effigie locatus est. 11 Regem Scytharum cum singulari certamine interemptum aduersarius uictor spoliare uellet, ab equo eius calcibus morsuque est lancinatus. Agrigentina etiam regio frequens est equorum sepulcris, quod munus supremitatis meritis datum credimus. 12 Voluptatem his inesse circi spectacula prodiderunt; quidam enim equorum cantibus tibiarum, quidam saltationibus, quidam colorum uarietate, nonnulli etiam accensis facibus ad cursus prouocantur. Affectum equinum lacrimae probant: 13 denique interfecto Nicomede rege equus eius uitam inedia expulit. Cum proelio Antiochus Galatas subegisset, Cintareti nomine ducis, qui in acie ceciderat, equum insiliuit ouaturus isque adeo spreuit lupatos, ut de industria cernuatus ruina pariter et se et equitem adfligeret. 14 Ingenia equorum etiam Claudii Caesaris circenses probauerunt, cum effuso rectore quadrigae currus aemulos non minus astu quam uelocitate praeuerterent et post decursa legitima spatia ad locum palmae sponte consisterent, uelut uictoriae praemium postularent. 15 Excusso quoque auriga, quem Rutumannam nominabant, relicto certamine ad Capitolium quadriga prosiliuit nec ante substitit quam Tarpeium Iouem trina dextratione lustrasset. 16 In huiusce animalis genere aetas longior maribus: legimus sane equum ad annos LXX uixisse. Iam illud non uenit in ambiguum, quod in annum tertium et tricesimum generant, utpote qui etiam post uicesimum mittantur ad subolem reficiendam. Notatum etiam aduertimus Opuntem nomine equum ad gregariam uenerem durasse in annos quadraginta. 17 Equarum libido extinguitur iubis tonsis. In quarum partu amoris nascitur ueneficium, quod in frontibus praeferunt recens editi, furuo colore, caricis simile, hippomanes nominatum; quod si praereptum statim fuerit, nequaquam mater pullo ubera praebet fellitanda. 18 Quo quis acrior fuerit speique maioris, profundius nares mersitat in bibendo. Mas ad bella numquam producitur apud Scythas, eo quod feminae exonerare uesicas etiam in fuga possunt. Edunt equae et uentis conceptos; sed hi numquam ultra triennium aeuum trahunt.
Solinus XLVII.1-2
1 Portae Caspiae panduntur itinere manu facto longo octo milibus passuum; nam latitudo uix est plaustro permeabilis. In his angustiis etiam illud asperum, quod praecisorum laterum saxa liquentibus inter se salis uenis exundant humorem affluentissimum, qui constrictus ui caloris uelut in aestiuam glaciem corporatur: ita labes inuia accessum negat. 2 Praeterea octo et uiginti milium passuum tractus omnis, quoquo inde pergatur humo arida, sine praesidio sitit. Tunc serpentes undique gentium conuenae a uerno statim die illuc confluunt. Ita periculi ac difficultatis concordia ad Caspios nisi hieme accessus negatur.
Solinus XLVIII.1-4
1 A Caspiis ad orientem uersus locus est, quod Direum appellatur, cuius ubertati non est quippiam quod comparari queat. Quem locum circumsident Lapyri, Narici et Hyrcani. 2 Ei proximat Margine regio inclita caeli ac soli commodis, adeo ut in toto illo latifundio uitibus sola gaudeat. In faciem theatralem montibus clauditur, ambitu stadiorum mille quingentorum, paene inaccessa ob incommodum harenosae solitudinis, quae per centum et uiginti milia passuum undiqueuersum circumfusa est. 3 Regionis huius amoenitatem Alexander Magnus usque adeo miratus est, ut ibi primum Alexandriam conderet; quam mox a barbaris excisam Antiochus Seleuci filius reformauit et de nuncupatione domus suae dixit Seleuciam; cuius urbis circuitus diffunditur in stadia septuaginta quinque. In hanc Orodes Romanos captos Crassiana clade deduxit. 4 Et aliud in Caspiis Alexander oppidum excitarat idque Heraclea dictum dum manebat; sed hoc quoque ab iisdem euersum gentibus, deinde ab Antiocho restitutum, ut ille maluit, Achais postmodum nominatum est.
Solinus XLIX.1-8
1 Oxus amnis oritur de lacu Oaxo, cuius oras hinc inde Bateni et Oxistacae accolunt; sed praecipuam partem Bactri tenent. Bactris praeterea est proprius amnis Bactros: unde et oppidum quod incolunt Bactrum. 2 Gentis huius quae pone sunt, Propanisi iugis ambiuntur; quae aduersa, Indi fontibus terminantur; reliqua includit Ochus flumen. 3 Vltra hos Panda oppidum Sogdianorum, in quorum finibus Alexander Magnus tertiam Alexandriam condidit ad contestandos itineris sui terminos. 4 Hic enim locus est, in quo primum a Libero patre, post ab Hercule, deinde a Samiramide, postremo etiam a Cyro arae sunt constitutae, quod proximum gloriae omnes duxerunt illo usque promouisse itineris sui metas. 5 Vniuersi eius ductus dumtaxat ab illa terrarum parte Laxates fluuius secat fines, quem tamen Laxaten soli uocant Bactri; nam alii Scythae Silim nominant. Hunc eundem esse Tanain exercitus Alexandri Magni crediderunt; uerum Demodamas dux Seleuci et Antiochi, satis idoneus uero auctor, transuectus amnem istum, titulos omnium supergressus est aliumque esse quam Tanain deprehendit. 6 Ob cuius gloriae insigne dedit nomini suo, ut altaria ibi strueret Apollini Didymaeo. Hoc est conliminium, in quo limes Persicus Scythis iungitur; quos Scythas Persae lingua sua Sacas dicunt et inuicem Scythae Persas Chorsacos nominant montemque Caucasum Croucasim, id est niuibus candicantem. 7 Densissima hic populorum frequentia cum Parthis legem placiti ab exordio moris incorrupta custodit disciplina: e quibus celeberrimi sunt Massagetae et Essedones, Satarchae et Apalaei. 8 Post quos, immanissimis barbaris interiacentibus, de ritu aliarum nationum paene inconstanter definitum aduertimus.
Solinus L.1-4
1 Qua ab Scythico oceano et mari Caspio in oceanum eoum cursus inflectitur, ab exordio huiusce plagae profundae niues, mox longa deserta, post Anthropophagi gens est asperrima, dein feris spatia obsita ferme dimidiam itineris partem inpenetrabilem reddiderunt. 2 Quarum difficultatum terminum facit iugum mari imminens, quod Tabin barbari dicunt: post quae adhuc longinquae solitudines. Sic in tractu eius orae, quae spectat aestiuum orientem, post inhumanos situs primos hominum Seras cognoscimus, qui aquarum aspergine inundatis frondibus uellera arborum adminiculo depectunt liquoris et lanuginis teneram subtilitatem umore domant ad obsequium. 3 Hoc illud est sericum in usum publicum damno seueritatis admissum et quo ostendere potius corpora quam uestire primo feminis, nunc etiam uiris luxuriae persuasit libido. Seres ipsi quidem mites et inter se quietissimi, alias uero reliquorum mortalium coetus refugiunt, adeo ut ceterarum gentium commercia abnuant. 4 Primum eorum fluuium mercatores ipsi transeunt, in cuius ripis nullo inter partes linguae commercio, sed depositarum rerum pretia oculis aestimantibus sua tradunt, nostra non emunt.
Solinus LI
Sequitur Attacenus sinus et gens hominum Attacorum, quibus temperies praerogatiua miram aeris clementiam subministrat. Arcent sane adflatum noxium colles, qui salubri apricitate undique secluso obiecti prohibent auras pestilentes; atque ideo, ut Amometus adfirmat, par illis et Hyperboreis genus uitae est. Inter hos et Indiam gnarissimi Ciconas locauerunt.
Solinus LII.6-7
6 Maximi in ea amnes Ganges et Indus. Quorum Gangen quidam fontibus incertis nasci et Nili modo exultare contendunt; alii uolunt a Scythicis montibus exoriri. 7 Hypanis etiam ibi nobilissimus fluuius, qui Alexandri Magni iter terminauit, sicuti arae in ripa eius positae probant. Minima Gangis latitudo per octo milia passuum, maxima per uiginti patet; altitudo, ubi uadosissimus est, mensuram centum pedum deuorat.
Solinus LV.1-3
1 Parthia quanta omnis est a meridie Rubrum mare, a septemtrione Hyrcanum salum claudit. Regna in ea duodeuiginti dissecantur in duas partes. Vndecim quae dicuntur superiora incipiunt ab Armenico limite et Caspio litore, porrecta ad terras Scytharum, quibuscum concorditer degunt; 2 reliqua septem inferiora, sic enim uocitant, habent ab ortu *Arios, Carmaniam Arianosque a medio die, Medos ab occidui solis plaga, a septemtrione Hyrcanos. Ipsa autem Media ab occasu transuersa utraque Parthiae regna amplectitur; septemtrione Armenia circumdatur; ab ortu Caspios uidet; a meridie Persidem. Deinde tractus hic procedit usque ad castellum quod Magi obtinent, Fidasarcida nomine; hic Cyri sepulcrum.
Solinus LVI.1-3
1 Chaldaeae gentis caput Babylonia est, tam nobilis, ut propter eam et Assyrii et Mesopotamia in Babyloniae nomen transierint. 2 Vrbs est sexaginta milia passuum circuitu patens, muris circumdata, quorum altitudo ducentos pedes detinet, latitudo quinquaginta, ternis in singulos pedes digitis ultra quam mensura nostra est altioribus. 3 Interluitur Euphrate. Beli ibi Iouis templum, quem inuentorem caelestis disciplinae tradidit etiam ipsa religio, quae deum credit. In aemulationem urbis huius Ctesiphontem Parthi condiderunt.
Source Colophon
Source route: https://www.thelatinlibrary.com/solinus5.html. The underlying work is ancient Latin. The local HTML capture and extracted Latin dossier were saved under Tulku/Tools/scythian/sources/expansion_bench_2026-05-11/ for source inspection.
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