Kitap 15
1.36
At the confluence of the Ganges and of another river (the ErannoboasHiranjavahu.) is situated (the city) Palibothra, in length 80, and in breadth 15 stadia. It is in the shape of a parallelogram, surrounded by a wooden wall pierced with openings through which arrows may be discharged. In front is a ditch, which serves the purpose of defence and of a sewer for the city. The people in whose country the city is situated are the most distinguished of all the tribes, and are called Prasii. The king, besides his family name, has the surname of Palibothrus, as the king to whom Megasthenes was sent on an embassy had the name of Sandrocottus.B. ii. c. i. § 9.
1.36
Such also is the custom among the Parthians; for all have the name Arsacae,B. xvi. c. i. § 28. although each has his peculiar name of Orodes, Phraates, or some other appellation.
1.37
All the country on the other side of the Hypanis is allowed to be very fertile, but we have no accurate knowledge of it. Either through ignorance or from its remote situation, everything relative to it is exaggerated or partakes of the wonderful. As, for example, the stories of myrmeces (or ants),Herodotus iii. 102. The marmot? which dig up gold; of animals and men with peculiar shapes, and possessing extraordinary faculties; of the longevity of the Seres, whose lives exceed the age of two hundred years. They speak also of an aristocratical form of government, consisting of five hundred counsellors, each of whom furnishes the state with an elephant.
