Chap. 21.] ACCOU>'T OF COUNTRIES, ETC. 413 schoeni^ in width, from the territory of the Commageni* on the right, and it admits of a bridge being thrown across it, even where it forces a passage through tiie range of Taurus. At CLaudiopolis^, in Cappadocia, it takes an easterly direc- tion ; and here, for the first time in this contest, Taurus turns it out of its course ; though conquered before, and rent asunder by its channel, the mountain-chain now gains the victory in another way, and, breaking its career, com- pels it to take a southerly direction. Thus is this warfare of nature equally waged, — the river proceeding onward to the destination which it intends to reach, and the mountains forbidding it to proceed by the path which it originally intended. After passing the Cataracts*, the river again becomes navigable ; and, at a distance of forty miles from thence, is Samosata^, the capital of Commagene. CHAP. 21. SYRIA UPON THE EUPHRATES. Arabia, above mentioned, has the cities of Edessa^, for- merly called Antiochia, and, from the name of its fountain, Callirhoe'^, and Carrhae^, memorable for the defeat of Crassus ^ The lengtli of the schoenus has been mentioned bj our author in C. 11 of the present Book. M. Saigey makes the Persian parasang to be very nearly the same length as the schoenus of Phny. 2 Commagene was a district in the north of Syria, bounded by the Euphrates on the east, by Cihcia on the west, and by Auianus on the north. Its capital was Samosata. 3 The place here spoken of by Pliny is probably the same mentioned by Ptolemy as in Cataonia, one of the provinces of Cappadocia. Ac- cording to Parisot, the site of the place is called at the prest-nt day •KaClaudie.'
- Salmasius has confounded these cataracts with those of Naehour, or
Elegia, previously mentioned. It is evident, however, that they are not the same. 5 Now called Someisat. In literary liistory, it is celebrated as beiiig the birtli-place of the satirist Lucian. IS'otliing remains of it but a lieap of ruins, on an artificial mound. 6 In the cHstrict of Osrhoene, in the northern part of MesojKitumia. It was situate on the Syrtus, now the Daisan, a small tributary oi' the Euphrates. Phny speaks rather loosely when ho ])lace!» it in Arabia. It is supposed that it bore the name of Antiochia during the reign of the Syrian king, Antiochus IV. The modern town of Orl'alior rut'ali is supposed to represent its site. ^ "The beautiful stream." It is generally supposed that this was another name of Edessa. Supposed to be the llaran, or Charan, of the Uld Testament. It
