Res Gestae

Accordingly, since the occasion seems to demand it, let us touch briefly on matters Egyptian, of which I discoursed at length in connection with the history of the emperors Hadrian and Severus,[*](In lost books.) telling for the most part what I myself had seen.

The Egyptian nation is the most ancient of all, except that in antiquity it vies with the Scythians.[*](Cf. Justinus, ii. 1, 5.) It is bounded on the south[*](The account of Ammianus is very confused and inexact.) by the Greater Syrtes, the promontories Phycus and Borion, by the Garamantes[*](A nomadic people of Libya.) and various other nations. Where it looks directly east it extends to Elephantine and Meroë, cities of the Aethiopians, to the Catadupi[*](At the cataracts of the Nile.) and the Red Sea, and to the Scenitic Arabs, whom we now call the

Now it will be in place to touch briefly on the most helpful of all rivers, the Nile, which Homer calls the Aegyptus,[*](Cf. Odyss. iv. 477. On the Nile and its floods, see Hdt. ii. 19, 20; Diod. Sic. i. 36; Strabo, xvii. 1, 5; Pliny, N.H. v. 51 ff.) and then to describe other remarkable things to be found in those lands.

The origin of the sources of the Nile (so at least I am wont to think) will be unknown also to future ages, as it has been up to the present. But, since the poets’ tales and dissenting geographers give varying accounts of this unknown subject, I shall succinctly set forth such of their views as in my opinion approach the truth.

Some natural philosophers affirm that in the tracts lying beneath the north, when the cold winters freeze everything, great masses of snow are congealed; that afterwards when these are melted by the heat of the blazing sun, they form clouds filled with flowing moisture, which are then driven towards the south by the Etesian winds,[*](Periodic winds which blow yearly in the dog-days, according to Colum. xi. 2, 56, from August 1 to 30; cf. Pliny, N.H. ii. 124; xviii. 270 f. The Prodromoi, forerunners, mentioned below in section 7, begin eight days earlier.) and when melted by the excessive warmth, are believed to cause the rich overflow of the Nile.

Others assert that it is by the Aethiopian rains, which are said to fall in abundance in those regions in the season of torrid heat, that its floods are raised at the appointed season of the year; but both these reasons seem to

Another, more widespread opinion is, that when the Prodromoi blow and after them the Etesians for forty-five consecutive days, since they drive back the course of the river and check its speed, it swells with overflowing waves; and while the contrary wind blows against it, it increases more and more, since on the one side the force of the wind hurls it back and on the other the flow of its perennial springs forces it onward; and rising high it covers everything, and hiding the ground, over the low-lying plains it has the appearance of a sea.

But King Juba,[*](The one whom Julius Caesar led in triumph; Octavian later made him his friend and restored his kingdom to him; Pliny, N.H. v. 16.) relying upon the testimony of Punic books, thinks that the Nile rises in a mountain situated in Mauritania and looking down upon the ocean, and he says that this is proved by the fact that in those marshes[*](Those from which the river flows. ) are found fishes, plants, and animals like those of the Nile.

But the river, flowing through the regions of Aethiopia, and going under various names, which many nations have given it in its course over the earth, swelling with its rich flood, comes to the cataracts, which are steep rocks, from which it plunges headlong rather than flows; for which reason the Ati, who formerly lived nearby, since their hearing was impaired by the continual roar, were forced to change their abode to a quieter spot.

Flowing more gently from there, through seven

Rising, then, in the quarter which has been mentioned, it passes from the marshes[*](Ammianus seems to accept King Juba’s opinion; cf. section 8, above.) as far as the cataracts and forms many islands, some of which (it is said) extend over such wide-spread spaces that the stream hardly leaves each of them behind on the third day.

Of these two are famous, namely Meroë and Delta, the latter clearly so-called from the form of the triangular letter.[*](Greek δ (inverted on our maps).) But when the sun has begun to ride through the sign of the Crab, the river increases until it passes into the Balance[*](That is, from the summer solstice until the autumnal equinox.) ; then, flowing at high water for a hundred days, the river becomes smaller, and as the weight of its waters decreases, it shows the plains that before were navigable for boats now suitable for riders on horseback.

However, too great a rise of the Nile is as harmful to the crops as too small a one is unfruitful. For if it soaks the land for too long a time with an excess of water, it delays the cultivation of the fields; but if the rise is too small, it threatens a bad harvest. No landowner has ever wished for a higher rise than sixteen cubits. But if there is a more moderate rise, seeds sown on a

Egypt abounds also in many animals, some of which are terrestrial, some aquatic; and there are others which live both on land and in the water, and hence are called amphibious. And on the dry plains roebucks feed and antelopes and spinturnicia,[*](A kind of monkey.) laughable for their utter ugliness, and other monsters, which it is not worth while to enumerate.

Now among aquatic animals crocodiles abound everywhere in that region, a destructive four-footed monster, a curse to the land, accustomed to both elements. It has no tongue, and moves only its upper jaw; its teeth are arranged like those of a comb, and whatever it meets it persistently attacks with destructive bites. It produces its young from eggs resembling those of geese.

And, if besides the claws with which it is armed it also had thumbs, its strength would be great enough to overturn even ships; for it sometimes attains a length of eighteen cubits. At night it remains quiet in the water; in the daytime it suns itself on land, trusting to its hide, which is so strong that its mail-clad back can hardly be pierced by the bolts of artillery.

Now, savage as these same beasts always are, during the seven festal days on which the priests at Memphis celebrate the birthday of the Nile, as if by a kind of military truce they lay aside all their

Besides those that lose their lives through accident, some are destroyed by creatures resembling dolphins, which are found in that same river and with sawlike dorsal fins tear the crocodiles’ soft bellies; and others die in the following manner.

The trochilus, a little bird, as it looks for bits of food, flutters and plays about the crocodile as it lies outstretched, and pleasantly tickling its cheeks, makes its way as far as its throat. Seeing this going on, a water rat, a kind of ichneumon, enters the opening of the crocodile’s mouth, to which the bird has shown the way, and after lacerating its belly and tearing its vitals to pieces, forces its way out.[*](As a matter of fact, the ichneumon destroys only the eggs of the crocodile; cf. Diod. Sic. i. 35, 7; Solinus, 32, 25, agrees with Ammianus, and in 32, 26, tells of the destruction of crocodiles by dolphins with sharp dorsal fins.)

Yet daring as this monster is towards those who run from it, when it sees that it has a daring opponent it is most timorous. It has sharper sight when on land, and during the four winter months it is said to take no food.