[2] Lugdunum itself, situated on1 a hill, at the confluence of the Saone2 and the Rhone, belongs to the Romans. It is the most populous city after Narbonne. It carries on a great commerce, and the Roman prefects here coin both gold and silver money. Before this city, at the confluence of the rivers, is situated the temple dedicated by all the Galatæ in common to Cæsar Augustus. The altar is splendid, and has inscribed on it the names of sixty people, and images of them, one for each, and also another great altar.3 This is the principal city of the nation of the Segusiani who lie between the Rhone and the Doubs.4 The other nations who extend to the Rhine, are bounded in part by the Doubs, and in part by the Saone. These two rivers, as said before, descend from the Alps, and, falling into one stream, flow into the Rhone. There is likewise another river which has its sources in the Alps, and is named the Seine.5 It flows parallel with the Rhine, through a nation bearing the same name as itself,6 and so into the ocean. The Sequani are bounded on the east by the Rhine, and on the opposite side by the Saone. It is from them that the Romans procure the finest salted-pork. Between the Doubs and Saone dwells the nation of the Ædui, who possess the city of Cabyllinum,7 situated on the Saone and the fortress of Bibracte.8 The Ædui9 are said to be related to the Romans, and they were the first to enter into friendship and alliance with them. On the other side of the Saone dwell the Sequani, who have for long been at enmity with the Romans and Ædui, having frequently allied themselves with the Germans in their incursions into Italy. It was then that they proved their strength, for united to them the Germans were powerful, but when separated, weak. As for the Ædui, their alliance with the Romans naturally rendered them the enemies of the Sequani,10 but the enmity was increased by their contests concerning the river which divides them, each nation claiming the Saone exclusively for themselves, and likewise the tolls on vessels passing. However, at the present time, the whole of it is under the dominion of the Romans.
1 MSS. read ὑπὸ, ‘under,’ we have not hesitated to translate it ἐπὶ, like the Italian, French, and German versions; although Kramer remarks ‘paulo audacius,’ of Coray's reading ἐπὶ in the Greek.
3 Kramer says that ἄλλος is manifestly corrupt.—I have ventured to translate it another altar.
4 Kramer concurs with Falconer and Gosselin in understanding this passage to have been originally between the Rhone and the Loire.
6 The Sequani.
7 Châlons-sur-Saone.
8 Autun, according to Gosselin. Beurect, according to Ferrarius.
9 Cæsar, Tacitus, and other writers, also speak of this relationship of the Ædui with the Romans.
10 Lit. ‘As for the Ædui on these accounts indeed.’
The Geography of Strabo. Literally translated, with notes, in three volumes. London. George Bell & Sons. 1903.
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