Ηδη γαρ πάσης μεν επέδραμον οίδμα θάλασσης
Ηδη δ' ηπειρων σκολιόν πορον.
Αυτών εκ μακαρων αντάξιος είη αμοιβη.
Upon the banks of the great river Ind,
The southern Scuthæ dwell: which river pays
Its watery tribute to that mighty sea,
Styled Erythrean. Far remov'd its source,
Amid the stormy cliffs of 46 Caucasus :
Descending hence through many a winding vale,
It separates vast nations. To the west
The Oritæ live, and Aribes: and then
The Aracotii fam'd for linen geer.
Next the Satraïdæ; and those who dwell
Beneath the shade of Mount Parpanisus,
Styled Arieni. No kind glebe they own,
But a waste sandy soil, replete with thorn.
Yet are they rich: yet doth the land supply
Wealth without measure.
Here the coral grows,
46 Mount Caucasus in India was different from the mountain so called upon the Euxine: there were more than one of this name. The poet Dionysius makes the Tanais take its rise in Caucasus:
'Το δ' ητοι πηγαι μεν εν ὄρεσι Καυκασιοισι. ν. 663. The Tanais and the Indus cannot be supposed to have the same
Ruddy and smooth: here too are veins of gold;
And in the quarries deep the sapphire's found,
The sapphire, vying with the empyreal blue.
To the east a lovely country wide extends,
India; whose borders the wide ocean bounds,
On this the sun new rising from the main
Smiles pleased, and sheds his early orient beam.
The inhabitants are swart; and in their looks
Betray the tints of the dark hyacinth,
With moisture still abounding: hence their heads
Are ever furnish'd with the sleekest hair.
Various their functions: some the rock explore,
And from the mine extract the latent gold.
Some labour at the woof, with cunning skill,
And manufacture linen: others shape,
And polish, ivory with the nicest care :
Many retire to rivers shoal; and plunge
To seek the beryl flaming in its bed,
Or glittering diamond. Oft the jasper's found
Green, but diaphanous: the topaz too,
Of ray serene and pleasing: last of all
The lovely Amethyst, in which combine
All the mild shades of purple. The rich soil,
Washed by a thousand rivers from all sides
Pours on the natives wealth without controul.
Here mighty meadows, stretch'd out wide, produce
Herbs of all species, trees of every leaf.
The succulent grass, styled cenchrus, here abounds,
And yields redundant pasture. High above
Wave the tall groves of Erythrean 47 cane,
Sweet to the sense and grateful.
Nor is this region by one people held :
Various the nations under different names,
That rove the banks of Ganges and of Ind.
Lo, where the streams of Acasine pour,
And in their course the stubborn rock pervade
To join the Hydaspes! here the Dardans dwell;
Above whose seat the river Cophes rolls.
The sons of 48 Saba here retir'd of old :
And hard by them the Toxili appear,
Join'd to the Scodri: next a savage cast,
Yelep'd Peucanian. Then a noble race,
Who style themselves Gargaridæ, and shew
To Dionusos a peculiar care.
Near a fair stream their happy lot is fallen,
47 Ad v. 1127. Eustathius of these canes or reeds: a καλαμων τη έψησει γλυκείαι.--καλαμοι ποιεσι μελι, μελισσων μη
48 Ad v. 1141. Genes. c. 10. v. 7. And the sons of Chus, Saba, and Havilah, and Sabtah, &c.
People of this name lay also to the west of the Indus, towards the extreme part of Persis.
Πρωτα Σαβαι, μετα τας δε Πασαργάδαι. Perieg. v. 1069. Upon which passage Eustathius observes, Ησαν δε και εθνος Θρακικον Σαβοι.
The same poet mentions a people of this name in Arabia. τε, και αγχιγυοι Κλεταβηναι. ν. 959.
Where the swift Hypanis and Megarsus speed
From Mount Hemodus to Gangetic shores,
Fraught as they run with the rich seeds of gold.
Not far from hence, but near the southern main,
The limits of the country Colis reach,
By others Colchis nam'd. Here towering steep,
The rock Aornon rises high in view,
Een to the mid-air region: not a bird
Of boldest pinion wings this subtile clime.
There is moreover, wonderful to tell,
In the rich region, which the Ganges laves,
A pass esteem'd most sacred: this of old
Bacchus is said, in wrathful mood, distress'd,
To have travers'd, when he fled: what time he
changed
The soft Nebrides for a shield of brass;
And for the Thyrsus, bound with ivy round,
He couch'd the pointed spear. Then first were
The zones and fillets, which his comrades wore,
And the soft pliant vine-twigs, moving round
In serpentine direction, chang'd to asps.
These facts lay long unheeded: but in time
The natives quickened paid memorial due;
And call the road Nusaia to this day.
Soon as the lovely region was subdued
By the God's prowess, glorying down he came
From Mount Hemodus to the circling sea.
There on the strand two obelisks he reared,
High and conspicuous, at the world's extreme.
To enumerate all, who rove this wide domain
Surpasses human pow'r: the Gods can tell,
The Gods alone: for nothing's hid from Heaven.
Let it suffice, if I their worth declare.
These were the first great founders in the world,
Founders of cities and of mighty 50 states:
Who shew'd a path through seas, before unknown;
And when doubt reign'd and dark uncertainty,
49 Ad v. 1164. He mentions these obelisks or pillars in another place, v. 623.
Ενθα τε και ςηλαι θηβαιγενεος Διονυσε
Ετασιν πυματοιο παρα ῥουν ωκεανοιο ;
Ινδων ὑσατιοισιν εν ερεσιν ενθα τε Γαγγης
Λευκον ὕδωρ Νυσσαιον επι πλαταμωνα κυλινδεί.
At India's verge extreme, on hills remote,
Where the proud Ganges pours the sacred stream
Nusean call'd, and joins the southern wave,
Beneath a grove of stately plane arise
The lofty pillars of this arc-born God.
The poet confounds Dionusus with Bacchus, as many others have done.
OnCayers is Arc-born: it alludes to the Patriarc's preservation and second birth in the arc. The Greeks interpreted this, born at Thebes. Hence Dionusus was made a native of Boeotia.
50 Dionysius seems in this passage to speak of the Gods: but those, who by the antients were styled Gods, were the Alavato, Aaiμoves, Hrada, the heads of the Cuthite family, who performed what is here mentioned.
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