Caius Caesar,
The Son Of Augustus, Going Into Arabia, Found In The Red Sea Certain
Pieces Of The Ships Which Had Gone Thither From Spain.
Long after these days it was usual to pass to India by land.
This was
done by the kings of the Sogdians, the princes of Bactria, and other
famous captains and many merchants, who travelled thither and into
Scythia by land. Marcus Paulus Venetus writes largely of these countries;
and though his book at first was reckoned fabulous, yet what he and
others have reported is now found true, by the experience of travellers,
and merchants who have since been to the same parts.
It is reported that the Romans sent an army by sea to India, against the
great khan of Cathaia, 200 years before the Incarnation; which, passing
through the Straits of Gibraltar, and running to the north-west, found
ten islands opposite to Cape Finisterre; producing large quantities of
tin, which perhaps may have been those afterwards called the Cassiterides.
Being come to 50 degrees of latitude, they found a strait passing to the
west, through which they arrived in India, and gave battle to the king of
Cathaia, after which they returned to Rome. Whether this story may appear
possible or not, true or false, I can only say that I give it as I found
it written in the histories of these times.
In the year 100 after the incarnation of Christ, the emperor Trajan
fitted out a fleet on the rivers Tigris and Euphrates, whence he sailed
to the islands of Zyzara; and passing the straits of Persia, entered
into the ocean, by which he sailed along the coast to India, till he came
to the place where Alexander had been.
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