y
a late formation. The "river" was in reality a canal, extending from
Appii Forum to Terracina.

[42] Chap. iii. 15.

[43] Silverius was Pope 536-537 A.D.

XII

As one sails from the ocean into the Mediterranean at Gadira, the land
on the left, as was stated in the preceding narrative,[44] is named
Europe, while the land opposite to this is called Libya, and, farther
on, Asia. Now as to the region beyond Libya[45] I am unable to speak
with accuracy;[46] for it is almost wholly destitute of men, and for
this reason the first source of the Nile, which they say flows from
that land toward Egypt, is quite unknown. But Europe at its very
beginning is exceedingly like the Peloponnesus, and fronts the sea on
either side. And the land which is first toward the ocean and the west
is named Spain, extending as far as the alps of the Pyrenees range. For
the men of this country are accustomed to call a narrow, shut-in pass
"alps." And the land from there on as far as the boundaries of Liguria
is called Gaul. And in that place other alps separate the Gauls and the
Ligurians. Gaul, however, is much broader than Spain, and naturally so,
because Europe, beginning with a narrow peninsula, gradually widens as
one advances until it attains an extraordinary breadth. And this land is
bounded by water on either side, being washed on the north by the ocean,
and having on the south the sea called the Tuscan Sea. And in Gaul there
flow numerous rivers, among which are the Rhone and the Rhine. But the
course of these two being in opposite directions, the one empties into
the Tuscan Sea, while the Rhine empties into the ocean. And there are
many lakes[47] in that region, and this is where the Germans lived of
old, a barbarous nation, not of much consequence in the beginning, who
are now called Franks. Next to these lived the Arborychi,[48] who,
together with all the rest of Gaul, and, indeed, Spain also, were
subjects of the Romans from of old. And beyond them toward the east were
settled the Thuringian barbarians, Augustus, the first emperor, having
given them this country.[49] And the Burgundians lived not far from them
toward the south,[50] and the Suevi[51] also lived beyond the
Thuringians, and the Alamani,[52] powerful nations. All these were
settled there as independent peoples in earlier times.

But as time went on, the Visigoths forced their way into the Roman
empire and seized all Spain and the portion of Gaul lying beyond