Histories

But in the north of Europe (continent)Europe there is by far the most gold. In this matter again I cannot say with assurance how the gold is produced, but it is said that one-eyed men called Arimaspians steal it from griffins.

But I do not believe this, that there are one-eyed men who have a nature otherwise the same as other men.

The most outlying lands, though, as they enclose and wholly surround all the rest of the world, are likely to have those things which we think the finest and the rarest.

There is a plain in Asia (continent)Asia shut in on all sides by mountains through which there are five passes.[*](All this description appears to be purely imaginative. But “the idea of the chapter” (say How and Wells) “is quite correct; the control of irrigation is in the East one of the prerogatives of government, and great sums are charged for the use of water.”) This plain was once the Chorasmians', being at the boundaries of the Chorasmians, the Hyrcanians, Parthians, Sarangians, and Thamanaei, but since the Persians have held power it has been the king's.

Now from the encircling mountains flows a great river whose name is the Aces. Its stream divides into five channels and formerly watered the lands of the above-mentioned peoples, going to each through a different pass, but since the beginning of the Persian rule