Book 17
1.52
HerodotusHerod. ii. 28, who, however, seems to doubt the veracity of his informant. and other writers trifle very much when they introduce into their histories the marvellous, like (an interlude of) music and song, or some melody; for example, in asserting that the sources of the Nile are near the numerous islands, at Syene and Elephantina, and that at this spot the river has an unfathomable depth. In the Nile there are many islands scattered about, some of which are entirely covered, others in part only, at the time of the rise of the waters. The very elevated parts are irrigated by means of screw-pumps.
1.53
Egypt was from the first disposed to peace, from having resources within itself, and because it was difficult of access to strangers. It was also protected on the north by a harbourless coast and the Egyptian Sea; on the east and west by the desert mountains of Libya and Arabia, as I have said before.Above, § 8. The remaining parts towards the south are occupied by Troglodytae, Blemmyes, Nubae, and Megabari, Ethiopians above Syene. These are nomades, and not numerous nor warlike, but accounted so by the ancients, because frequently, like robbers, they attacked defenceless persons. Neither are the Ethiopians, who extend towards the south and Meroë, numerous nor collected in a body; for they inhabit a long, narrow, and winding tract of land on the riverside, such as we have before described; nor are they well prepared either for war or the pursuit of any other mode of life.
