Book 7
2.4
As we have before stated, the northernmost of the Germans inhabit a country bordering on the ocean; but we are only acquainted with those situated between the mouths of the Rhine and the Elbe, of which the SicambriThe Sicambri, or Sugambri, dwelt to the south of the Lippe. and CimbriThe Cimbri occupied Jutland, the ancient Cimbrica Chersonesus. are the most generally known: those dwelling along the coastThe shores of the Baltic. beyond the Elbe are entirely unknown to us; for none of the ancients with whom I am acquainted have prosecuted this voyage towards the east as far as the mouths of the Caspian Sea, neither have the Romans as yet sailed coastwise beyond the Elbe, nor has any one travelling on foot penetrated farther into this country. But it is evident, by the climates and the parallels of distances, that in following a longitudinal course towards the east we must come to the countries near the Dnieper, and the regions on the north side of the Euxine. But as for any particulars as to Germany beyond the Elbe, or of the countries which lie beyond it in order, whether we should call them the Bastarnae, as most geographers suppose, or whether other nations intervene, such as the Jazyges,Gossellin places the Jazyges in the southern districts of the Ukraine, between the Dniester and the Sea of Azoff. or the Roxolani,Gossellin considers that the name of Russia is derived from these Roxolani. or any others of the tribes dwelling in waggons, it is not easy to give any account. Neither can we say whether these nations extend as far as the [Northern] Ocean, along the whole distance, or whether [between them and the Ocean] there are countries rendered unfit for habitation by the cold or by any other cause; or whether men of a different race are situated between the sea and the most eastern of the Germans.
