Bætica, so called from the river which divides it in the middle, excels all the other provinces in the richness of its cultivation and the peculiar fertility and beauty of its vegetation.

It consists of four jurisdictions, those of Gades821, of Corduba822, of Astigi823, and of Hispalis824. The total number of its towns is 175; of these nine are colonies825, and eight municipal towns826; twenty-nine have been long since presented with the old Latin rights827; six are free towns828, three federate829, and 120 tributary.

In this district, the things that more especially deserve notice, or are more easily explained in the Latin tongue, are the following, beginning at the river Ana, along the line of the sea-shore; the town of Onoba, surnamed Æstuaria830; the rivers Luxia and Urium831, flowing through this territory between the Ana and the Bætis; the Marian832 Mountains; the river Bætis; the coast of Corum833, with its winding bay; opposite to which is Gades, of which we shall have occasion to speak among the islands834. Next comes the Promontory of Juno835, and the port of Bæsippo836; the towns of Bœlo837 and Mellaria838, at which latter begin the Straits of the Atlantic; Carteia839, called by the Greeks Tartessos840; and the mountain of Calpe.

Along the coast of the inland sea841 is the town of Barbesula842 with its river; also Salduba843; the town of Suel844; and then Malaca845, with its river, one of the federate towns. Next to this comes Mænoba846, with its river; then Sexifirmum847, surnamed Julium; Selambina848; Abdera849; and Murci850, which is at the boundary of Bætica. M. Agrippa supposed that all this coast was peopled by colonists of Punic origin. Beyond the Anas, and facing the Atlantic, is the country of the Bastuli851 and the Turditani. M. Varro informs us, that the Iberians, the Persians, the Phœnicians, the Celts, and the Carthaginians spread themselves over the whole of Spain; that the name “Lusitania” is derived from the games (lusus) of Father Bacchus, or the fury (lyssa852) of his frantic attendants, and that Pan853 was the governor of the whole of it. But the traditions respecting Hercules854 and Pyrene, as well as Saturn, I conceive to be fabulous in the highest degree.

The Bætis does not rise, as some writers have asserted, near the town of Mentisa855, in the province of Tarraco, but in the Tugiensian Forest856; and near it rises the river Tader857, which waters the territory of Carthage858. At Ilorcum859 it turns away from the Funeral Pile860 of Scipio; then taking a sweep to the left, it falls into the Atlantic Ocean, giving its name to this province: at its source it is but small, though during its course it receives many other streams, which it deprives as well of their waters as their renown. It first enters Bætica in Ossigitania861, and glides gently, with a smooth current, past many towns situate on either side of its banks.

Between this river and the sea-shore the most celebrated places inland are Segida862, also surnamed Augurina; Julia863, called Fidentia; Urgao864 or Alba, Ebora865 or Cerealis, Iliberri866 or Liberini, Ilipula867 or Laus, Artigi868 or Julienses, Vesci869 or Faventia, Singili870, Attegua871, Arialdunum, Agla Minor872, Bæbro873, Castra Vinaria874, Cisimbrium875, Hippo Nova or New Hippo876, Ilurco877, Osca878, Escua879, Sucubo880, Nuditanum, Old Tuati881; all which towns are in that part of Bastitania which extends towards the sea, but in the jurisdiction882 of Corduba. In the neighbourhood of the river itself is Ossigi883, also surnamed Laconicum, Iliturgi884 or Forum Julium, Ipasturgi885 or Triumphale, Setia, and, fourteen miles inland, Obulco886, which is also called Pontificense.

Next to these comes Epora887, a federate town, Sacili888 Martialium, and Onoba889. On the right bank is Corduba, a Roman colony, surnamed Patricia890; here the Bætis first becomes navigable. There are also the towns of Carbula and Detunda891, and the river Singulis892, which falls into the Bætis on the same side.

The towns in the jurisdiction of Hispalis are the following: Celti, Arua893, Canama894, Evia, Ilipa895, surnamed Illa, and Italica896. On the left of the river is the colony of Hispalis897 named Romuliensis, and, on the opposite side898, the town of Osset899, surnamed Julia Constantia, Vergentum, or Julî Genius900, Orippo, Caura901, Siarum, and the river Menoba902, which enters the Bætis on its right bank. Between the æstuaries of the Bætis lie the towns of Nebrissa903, surnamed Veneria, and of Colobona904. The colonies are, Asta905, which is also called Regia, and, more inland, that of Asido906, surnamed Cæsariana.

The river Singulis, discharging itself into the Bætis at the place already mentioned, washes the colony of Astigi907, surnamed Augusta Firma, at which place it becomes navigable. The other colonies in this jurisdiction which are exempt from tribute are Tucci, surnamed Augusta Gemella908, Itucci called Virtus Julia909, Attubi or Claritas Julia910, Urso911 or Genua Urbanorum; and among them in former times Munda912, which was taken with the son of Pompey. The free towns are Old Astigi913 and Ostippo914; the tributary towns are Callet, Callecula, Castra Gemina, the Lesser Ilipula, Merucra, Sacrana, Obulcula915, and Oningis. As you move away from the sea-coast, near where the river Menoba is navigable, you find, at no great distance, the Alontigiceli and the Alostigi916.

The country which extends from the Bætis to the river Anas, beyond the districts already described, is called Bæturia, and is divided into two parts and the same number of nations; the Celtici917, who border upon Lusitania, in the jurisdiction of Hispalis, and the Turduli, who dwell on the verge918 of Lusitania and Tarraconensis, and are under the protection of the laws of Corduba. It is evident that the Celtici have sprung from the Celtiberi, and have come from Lusitania, from their religious rites, their language, and the names of their towns, which in Bætica are distinguished by the following epithets919, which have been given to them. Seria has received the surname of Fama Julia920, Nertobriga that of Concordia Julia921, Segida that of Restituta Julia922, and Contributa923 that of Julia. What is now Curiga was formerly Ucultuniacum, Constantia Julia924 was Laconimurgis, the present Fortunales were the Tereses925, and the Emanici were the Callenses926. Besides these, there are in Celtica the towns of Acinippo927, Arunda928, Aruci929, Turobriga, Lastigi, Salpesa, Sæpone, and Serippo.

The other Bæturia, which we have mentioned, is inhabited by the Turduli, and, in the jurisdiction of Corduba, has some towns which are by no means inconsiderable; Arsa930, Mellaria931, Mirobriga932, and Sisapo933, in the district of Osintias.

To the jurisdiction of Gades belongs Regina, with Roman citizens; and Læpia, Ulia934, Carisa935 surnamed Aurelia, Urgia936 or Castrum Julium, likewise called Cæsaris Salutariensis, all of which enjoy the Latian rights. The tributary towns are Besaro, Belippo937, Barbesula, Lacippo, Bæsippo, Callet, Cappacum, Oleastro, Ituci, Brana, Lacibi, Saguntia938, and Audorisæ.

M. Agrippa has also stated the whole length of this province to be 475 miles939, and its breadth 257; but this was at a time when its boundaries extended to Carthage940, a circumstance which has often caused great errors in calculations; which are generally the result either of changes effected in the limits of provinces, or of the fact that in the reckoning of distances the length of the miles has been arbitrarily increased or diminished. In some parts too the sea has been long making encroachments upon the land, and in others again the shores have advanced; while the course of rivers in this place has become more serpentine, in that more direct. And then, besides, some writers begin their measurements at one place, and some at another, and so proceed in different directions; and hence the result is, that no two accounts agree.

(2.) At the present day the length of Bætica, from the town of Castulo941, on its frontier, to Gades is 250 miles, and from Murci, which lies on the sea-coast, twenty-five miles more. The breadth, measured from the coast of Carteia, is 234 miles. Who is there that can entertain the belief that Agrippa, a man of such extraordinary diligence, and one who bestowed so much care on his subject, when he proposed to place before the eyes of the world a survey of that world, could be guilty of such a mistake as this, and that too when seconded by the late emperor the divine Augustus? For it was that emperor who completed the Portico942 which had been begun by his sister, and in which the survey was to be kept, in conformity with the plan and descriptions of M. Agrippa.