Kitap 4
2.1
The Bituriges are the only foreign people who dwell among the Aquitani without forming a part of them. Their emporium is Burdegala,Bordeaux. situated on a creek formed by the outlets of the river. The Loire discharges itself between the Pictones and the Namnetae.Poictiers was the capital of the Pictones or Pictavi, and Nantes of the Namnetae. Formerly there was an emporium on this river named Corbilon, mentioned by Polybius when speaking of the fictions of Pytheas. The Marseillese, [says he,] when interrogated by ScipioScipio Aemilianus. at their meeting, had nothing to tell about Britain worth mentioning, nor yet had the people of the Narbonnaise, nor those of Corbilon; notwithstanding these were the two principal cities of the district, Pytheas alone dared to forge so many lies [concerning that island]. MediolaniumSaintes. is the capital of the Santoni. The part of Aquitaine next the ocean is for the most part sandy and meagre, producing millet, but barren of all other fruits. Here is the gulf which, with that on the coast of Narbonne, forms the isthmus. Both these gulfsThe Gulfs of Gascony and Lyons. go by the name of the Galatic gulf. The former gulf belongs to the Tarbelli.The Tarbelli occupied the sea-coast from the Pyrenees to the Lake of Arcachon. These people possess the richest gold mines; masses of gold as big as the fist can contain, and requiring hardly any purifying, being found in diggings scarcely beneath the surface of the earth, the remainder consisting of dust and lumps, which likewise require but little working. In the interior and mountainous parts [of Aquitaine] the soil is superior; for instance, in the district near the Pyrenees belonging to the Convenae,The Canton of Comminges. which name signifies people assembled from different countries to dwell in one place. Here is the city of Lugdunum,St. Bertrand. and the hot springs of the Onesii,Xylander thinks that these Onesii may be identical with the Monesi of Pliny. Gosselin says that the hot springs are probably the baths of Bagnières-sur-l’ Adour. which are most excellent for drinking. The country of the AusciiThe territory of the city of Auch. likewise is fine.
