Res Gestae

A part of these were inhabited by the Scordisci,[*](In the time of Ammianus included in Pannonia.) who are now widely separated from those same provinces: a people formerly cruel and savage, and, as ancient history declares, accustomed to offer up their prisoners as victims to Bellona and Mars, and from their hollowed skulls greedily to drink human blood. By their savageness the Roman state was often sorely troubled and after many lamentable calamities finally lost a whole army with its commander.[*](The consul of 114 B.C., M. Porcius Cato; Dio, xxvi. 88 (vol. ii. L.C.L.); Florus i. 39, 3 f.; Eutr. iv. 24. Nothing is said of Cato’s death by these writers.)

But, as we now see them, those same places, formed in the shape of a crescent moon, present the appearance of a beautiful theatre. At its western summit are the steep mountains through which the narrow pass of Succi opens, separating Thrace from Dacia.

The left side,[*](This reverses the directions usual on our maps; but it is correct, since he begins at the west.) towards the northern stars, is shut in by the lofty heights of Mount Haemus and the Hister,[*](The Danube.) which, where it washes Roman soil,

On the right, which is the south side, extend the cliffs of Rhodope, and where the morning star rises it is bounded by the strait which flows with an abundance of water from the Euxine, and going on with alternating current to the Aegaean, opens a narrow cleft[*](The Thracian Bosphorus, separating Europe (Thrace) from Asia (Mysia). It has a central surface-current flowing from the Euxine, and a deeper one, and also alongshore currents, flowing towards the Euxine.) between the lands.

But on the eastern corner the land is connected with the frontiers of Macedonia by a steep and narrow pass, which is called Acontisma.[*](Cf. xxvi. 7, 12.) Next to this is the postingstation of Arethusa, in which is to be seen the tomb of Euripides,[*](Pliny, N. H. xxxi. 28.) noted for his lofty tragedies, and Stagira, known as the birthplace of Aristotle, who, as Cicero says,[*](Acad. ii. 38, 119.) poured forth a golden stream.

These regions also were occupied in former times by barbarians, who differed from one another in customs and language. Of these the Odrysae are noted for their savage cruelty beyond all others, being so habituated to the shedding of human blood that when there were no enemies at hand, at their feasts, after a satiety of food and drink they plunged the sword into the bodies of their own countrymen, as if they were those of foreigners.