PART 19
In respect of the seasons and figure of body, the Scythian race, like
the Egyptian, have a uniformity of resemblance, different from all
other nations; they are by no means prolific, and the wild beasts
which are indigenous there are small in size and few in number, for
the country lies under the Northern Bears, and the Rhiphaean mountains,
whence the north wind blows; the sun comes very near to them only
when in the summer solstice, and warms them but for a short period,
and not strongly; and the winds blowing from the hot regions of the
earth do not reach them, or but seldom, and with little force; but
the winds from the north always blow, congealed, as they are, by the
snow, ice, and much water, for these never leave the mountains, which
are thereby rendered uninhabitable. A thick fog covers the plains
during the day, and amidst it they live, so that winter may be said
to be always present with them; or, if they have summer, it is only
for a few days, and the heat is not very strong. Their plains are
high-lying and naked, not crowned with mountains, but extending upwards
under the Northern Bears. The wild beasts there are not large, but
such as can be sheltered underground; for the cold of winter and the
barrenness of the country prevent their growth, and because they have
no covert nor shelter. The changes of the seasons, too, are not great
nor violent, for, in
[p. 37] fact, they change gradually; and therefore their
figures resemble one another, as they all equally use the same food,
and the same clothing summer and winter, respiring a humid and dense
atmosphere, and drinking water from snow and ice; neither do they
make any laborious exertions, for neither body nor mind is capable
of enduring fatigue when the changes of the seasons are not great.
For these reasons their shapes are gross and fleshy, with ill-marked
joints, of a humid temperament, and deficient in tone: the internal
cavities, and especially those of the intestines, are full of humors;
for the belly cannot possibly be dry in such a country, with such
a constitution and in such a climate; but owing to their fat, and
the absence of hairs from their bodies, their shapes resemble one
another, the males being all alike, and so also with the women; for
the seasons being of a uniform temperature, no corruption or deterioration
takes place in the concretion of the semen, unless from some violent
cause, or from disease.
