The 2nd book is chiefly occupied with some accounts of mathematical geography, and the Author defends against Hipparchus the division of the inhabited world adopted by Eratosthenes into sections. Then follows a criticism of the division of the earth into six zones, as taught by Poseidonius and Polybius. The pretended circumnavigation of Africa by Eudoxus is referred to, as well as some geographical errors of Polybius. He makes observations of his own on the form and size of the earth in general, as well as of the inhabited portion of it, describing the method of representing it on a spherical or plane surface. A short outline is given of seas, countries, and nations; and he concludes with remarks on the system of climates, and on the shadows projected by the sun.

The 3rd book commences with Iberia, and the subject of Europe is continued to the end of the 10th book. His references are the Periplus of Artemidorus, Polybius, and Poseidonius; all three of whom wrote as eye-witnesses. For descriptions and measurement of distances, Artemidorus is chiefly depended upon. The information possessed by Eratosthenes of these countries was meagre and uncertain. For the nations of southern Iberia, he adopts the account of Asclepiades of Myrlea, who had lived and been educated there. Some statements also are borrowed from Roman authors.

The 4th book contains Gallia, according to the four divisions then existing, viz. Gallia Narbonensis, Acquitanensis, Lugdunensis, and the Belgæ; also Britain, with Ierne, and Thule; and lastly, the Alps.

Here Eratosthenes and Ephorus are of little service. His chief guide is Julius Cæsar, whom he frequently quotes verbatim. Polybius is his guide for the Alps. Pytheas is the source of some scanty information respecting Ierne and Thule. Throughout his description he adds accounts obtained at Rome from travellers.

The 5th book commences with a general sketch of Italy, and refers principally to northern Italy. Dividing its history into ancient and modern, his chief reference for the former is Polybius, and for the latter we are indebted to the observations of the author himself, or to accounts received from others. Still the description of Upper Italy is poor and unsatisfactory,

from the author not sufficiently availing himself of Roman resources. Then follows some account of Etruria with its neighbouring islands, Umbria, Samnium, Latium, and Rome, chiefly the result of the author's own researches and observations. The book concludes with some remarks on the inhabitants of the mountainous districts of Samnium and Campania.

The 6th book is a continuation of the same subject. Magna Græcia, Sicily, and the adjacent islands, are noticed, and the author concludes with a short discussion on the extent of the Roman Empire. Descriptions of some places are from his own observations; but the sources whence he takes his other account of Italy and the islands are the works of Polybius, Eratosthenes, Artemidorus, Ephorus, Fabius Pictor, Cæcilius (of Cale Acte in Sicily), and some others, besides an anonymous chorographer, supposed to be a Roman, from the circumstance of his distances being given, not in stadia, but in Roman miles.

The 7th book relates, first, to the people north of the Danube, the Germans, Cimbri, Getæ, Dacians (particularly the European Scythians), and the Crimea; secondly, to the people south of the Danube, viz. those inhabiting Illyricum, Pannonia, Dalmatia, the eastern coast of Thrace to the Euxine, Epirus, Macedonia, Thrace, and the Hellespont. The latter part of this book is not preserved entire in any manuscript, but Kramer has, in his own opinion, succeeded in restoring from the epitomes left to us the greater part of what was wanting. Of Germany, Strabo had tolerable information, but he nowhere states whence it is derived; he may have been partly indebted to Asinius Pollio, whose work he had already examined for the Rhine. For the remaining northern countries, he had Poseidonius and the historians of the Mithridatic war. For the southern countries, he had a lost work of Aristotle on forms of government, Polybius, Poseidonius, and his chief disciples, Theopompus and Ephorus. Incidentally also he quotes Homer and his interpreters, and Philochorus.

The three following books are dedicated to the description of Greece, with the adjacent islands. The 8th comprises the Peloponnesus and its well-known seven provinces, Elis, Mes

senia, Laconia, Argolis, Corinthia with Sicyonia, Achaia, and Arcadia: the 9th, Attica, with Megaris, Boeotia, Phocis, both Locri and Thessaly: the 10th, Eubœa, Ætolia, and Acarnania, with the islands. After a long digression on the subject of the Curetes, the description of Europe closes with some account of Crete and the islands of the Ægean Sea. The design and construction of these three books differ considerably from the preceding. Homer is adopted as the foundation of his geographical descriptions; some things Strabo must have learnt as an eye-witness, but more from vivâ voce communications at Athens or at Corinth. All is interwoven together without any clear line of separation, and the result is some confusion. Athens, Corinth, Argos, and their neighbourhood, were the only parts of Greece our author saw. Heeren, indeed, maintains that he had seen the whole of it, and the Archipelago, but satisfactory proof of this is altogether wanting.

The IIth book commences with the description of the countries separated from Europe by the Tanaïs or Don. Asia is divided by our author (who here follows Eratosthenes) into two parts by the Taurus, which runs in a direction east and west. The northern part of Asia (or this side Taurus) is divided into four parts. The first part comprises the countries lying between the Don, the Sea of Azoff, the Euxine, and the Caspian; the second, the countries east of the Caspian; and the third, the countries south of Caucasus. These three parts of the first or northern division of Asia are contained in the 10th book; the remaining fourth part occupies the 12th, 13th, and 14th books.

The chief authorities for the first part are, besides information obtained from travellers and merchants at Amasia, Herodotus for the Don; Artemidorus and Eratosthenes for distances; Poseidonius and Theophanes of Mitylene, historians, of the Mithridatic war; Metrodorus of Skepsis; Hypsicrates of Amisus; and Cleitarchus for the digression on the Amazons.

For the second part, are principally Patrocles and Aristobulus, historians of the Asiatic campaigns of Alexander. For the third part, or Media and Armenia, are, Dellius, who wrote

a history of the war against the Parthians, in which he had served under Antony; Apollonides of Nicæa, who wrote a Periplus of Europe; and other writers before mentioned.

The 12th book commences with a detailed account of Anatolia, and contains the northern part. It was to have been expected that Strabo would have described most of these countries as an eye-witness, lying, as they do, so near his native country Cappadocia. But this expectation vanishes, when we discover the meagreness of his account. With the exception of Pontus and Cappadocia, he had seen little of the rest, and depends upon historians and oral information. For earlier times, his authorities are Herodotus, Hellanicus, Theopompus, Ephorus, Artemidorus, Apollodorus, and Demetrius of Skepsis; for later times, historians of the wars of Mithridates and Pompey. For the ancient history of the Mysians and Phrygians, he is indebted to the celebrated Lydian historian Xanthus, and Menecrates.

The 13th book contains the description of Anatolia. The greater part of the book is occupied with a dissertation on the Troad. Strabo had travelled over the country himself, but his great authority is Homer and Demetrius of Skepsis, the author of a work in twenty-six books, containing an historical and geographical commentary on that part of the second book of the Iliad, in which the forces of the Trojans are enumerated. A learned digression on the Leleges, Cilices, and Pelasgi, who preceded the Eolians and Ionians in the occupation of the country, is principally taken from Menecrates and Demetrius of Skepsis. The description then turns to the interior, and the account of the Eolian cities is probably due to Poseidonius. Throughout this book are evidences of great care and desire for accuracy.

The 14th book continues with the remainder of Anatolia, and an account of the islands Samos, Chios, Rhodes, and Cyprus. The authorities followed are, on the whole, the same as in the previous book-Herodotus, Thucydides, Ephorus, Artemidorus, Eratosthenes, and Poseidonius; besides Pherecydes of Syros, who wrote on the Ionian migration, and Anaximenes of Lampsacus, the author of a history in Greek of the Milesian colonies. For Caria, he had the historians of Alexander

and an author named Philip, who wrote on the Leleges and Carians. For Cyprus he had Damastes and Eratosthenes.

The 15th and 16th books contain a description of the second portion of Asia, namely, the southern or the other side of Taurus. In the 15th book, Strabo describes India and Persia, the latter in two chief divisions, viz. Ariana or East Persia, and Persis or West Persia. These countries Strabo never saw; his description, therefore, is founded on the authority of travellers and historians. The topography of India is meagre, and limited to a few towns and rivers; but his account of the people of the country is more copious, he being supplied with materials from the historians of Alexander and of the campaigns of Seleucus in India. He looks on Megasthenes, Onesicritus, Deïmachus, and Cleitarchus as fabulous writers: but his confidence rests chiefly on Patrocles, Aristobulus (one of the companions and historians of Alexander), and Nearchus, the chief commander of Alexander's fleet. Artemidorus and Nicolaus of Damascus are occasionally consulted. For Ariana or East Persia, he had for his principal authority Eratosthenes; and for Persia Proper, he had, besides the above authors, Herodotus, Xenophon, and Polycletus of Larissa, an historian of Alexander.

In the 16th book, he describes the westerly half of south Asia, viz. Assyria with Babylonia, Mesopotamia, Syria, Phoenicia, and Palestine, the Persian and Arabian Gulfs, the coast of Ethiopia, and lastly, Arabia. For the three first countries (the old Assyrian kingdom), his chief authorities are, besides some of Alexander's historians, Eratosthenes, Poseidonius, and Herodotus; for the remainder he had, in addition to the same writers, Artemidorus, and probably also Nicolaus of Damascus. The account of Moses and the Jews, Heeren surmises, comes from Poseidonius, but it probably proceeds from oral communication had in Egypt; of these countries our author could describe nothing as an eye-witness, except the northwest of Syria. The accounts of Arabia, the Indian and the Red Seas, are from Agatharchides; and much that he describes of Arabia was obtained from his friends, Elius Gallus and the Stoic, Athenodorus.

The 17th book concludes the work with the description of