Text (translated from the 1590L4Add., 1591German4Add., 1592 Latin, 1595 Latin, 1601 Latin, 1602 German, 1603 Latin, 1606 English, 1608/1612 Italian, 1608/1612 Spanish and Latin editions & 1624 Latin Parergon/1641 Spanish [but with Latin text])
218.1. {1590L4Add{AFRICA PROPRIA, {1606E only{AFRICA properly so called}1606E only}.
218.2. Like that part of Asia which is enclosed by the Euxine Sea {1606E only{Mar Maiore}1606E only}, [the] Archipelago, [the] Midland Sea and the river Euphrates is by the Geographers properly called Asia, so this part of Africa, more than all other provinces of it, has so far always been known by the name of AFRICA PROPRIA. It is also worth noting that in all ancient stories, when Asia or Africa are mentioned in a general or undefined manner, it is these various provinces of those greater continents that are being referred to. The borders of this province of Africa on the West are the river Ampsaga and the Mauretanias, {1606E{the countries of the Moors, their next-door neighbours}1606E}; on the North lies the Midland sea. {1590L4Add., 1592L and later but not 1602G{Aræ Philenorum}1590L4Add., 1592L and later but not 1602G}, a village between it [Carthago] and Cyrenaica is its utmost border in the East; inner Lybia and its deserts confine it in the South.
218.3. This country was once also called ZEVGIS and ZEVGITANA. It comprises within its circumference these {1606E & 1608/1612I only{three}1606E & 1608/1612I only} shires: NVMIDIA (by some named MASSILIA), BYZACIVM and TRIPOLITANA. Diodorus Siculus divides this province into four peoples, the Pni, Libophnices, Libyi and the Numidæ. At the time when the Romans ruled here, and Scipio Æmilianus {1606E only{commanded their legions in these parts}1606E only}, this [part of] Africa was divided into two provinces: the one near Carthage they called OLD AFRICA, that part which contains Numidia NEW AFRICA, as Plinius, Appianus and Dion all report.
218.4. Numidia and Byzacium were under the command of the Consuls, the part where Carthago is located, belonged to the jurisdiction of the Proconsuls, as Sextus Rufus reports. (And this division was made, as Plinius writes, by a certain ditch dug between them). In the first book of Iustinianus' Code, and in the twenty-seventh item of it, you shall find another method of dividing this country, and a very different arrangement of its government by Presidents and lieutenants.
218.5. Numidia has nothing worth remembering, as Plinius says, except the great quantity of Marble found there, called Numibian marble, and the marvellous flocks of Deer and wild beasts which it harbours. Livius, Plinius and Solinus praise it for having the best horsemen to serve in wars of any country whatsoever. They praise as highly the fat soil of Byzacium, which is such that it yields one hundred [grains reaped] for one [sown], and they were probably right. Yes, it has been observed that one bushel of wheat sown has yielded at harvest [time] an increase to one hundred and fifty bushels. The lieutenant of this place sent from this place to Augustus Cæsar, Emperor of Rome, forty ears of corn, sprung and grown from one root and one grain, {1606E only{which seems likely}1606E only}. Also, in a similar manner, they sent to Nero from here three hundred and forty stalks with ears of corn which had grown from one and the same grain.
218.6. {1595L, not in 1602G{To this we may also add [the topic of] the excellence of the soil which is such, as Columella reports, that the farmer, when he has put his seed in the ground, will never look at his fields from sowing time to harvest time, nor meddles with it any more, for scarcely any weed or other such growth which usually obstructs the growth of corn, does here grow of its own accord, except if it is planted or sown by hand}1595L, not in 1602G}. Halicarnassæus also mentions this great fertility of Africa. But Titus, the Emperor of Rome, in one phrase, adequately summarises the wonderful fertility and plenty of all things here, in his Oration written to the seditious and mutinous Jews, where he calls it {1590L4Add, 1592L and later{Altricem orbis terrarum}1590L4Add, 1592L and later}, {1591G4Add, 1602G, 1606E & 1608/1612I only{The nurse of all nations of the world}1591G4Add, 1602G, 1606E & 1608/1612I only}. Yes, and Salvanius, {1595L, not in 1602G{in his seventh book}1595L, not in 1602G} {1590L4Add, 1592L and later{calls it Animam Reipublicæ Romanæ}1590L4Add, 1592L and later}, {1591G4Add, 1602G, 1606E & 1608/1612I only{The soul of the Roman Commonwealth, or political body there}1591G4Add, 1602G, 1606E & 1608/1612I only}.
218.7. {1595L, not in 1602G{You may also read there many other things worth noting in the same place, about the riches, command and power of this country}1595L, not in 1602G}. Herodianus describes it as a country very fertile in people. Polybius in turn recommends it equally highly for its great abundance of cattle, and all [other] sorts of living creatures that it breeds. So in multitude of Horses, Oxen, Sheep and Goats, it far surpasses almost all of the rest of the world. And what is most wonderful of all, it is no strange thing here (as Columella, based on Dionysius, Mago and Varro tells us), to see Mules breed, and bring forth young ones, so that the inhabitants as often see the foals of Mules there as we see [foals of] Mares here.
218.8. {1595L, not in 1602G & 1624LParergon{The same author in the first chapter of his fourth book says that the people are very ingenious and witty}1595L, not in 1602G & 1624LParergon}. Hirtius calls it {1590L4Add, 1592L and later{Gentem insidiosam}1590L4Add, 1592L and later}, {1591G4Add, 1602G, 1606E & 1608/1612I only{A treacherous nation}1591G4Add, 1602G, 1606E & 1608/1612I only}. Maternus calls it {1590L4Add, 1592L & later{Gentem subdolam}1590L4Add, 1592L and later}, {1591G4Add, 1602G, 1606E & 1608/1612I only{A wily and crafty people}1591G4Add, 1602G, 1606E & 1608/1612I only}, so that Vegetus did not hesitate to say That in wiles and wealth the Romans were always inferior to the Africans. Iuvenalis the Poet calls it {1590L4Add, 1592L and later{Causidicorum nutriculam}1590L4Add, 1592L and later}, {1591G4Add, 1602G, 1606E & 1608/1612I only{The nurse of bunglers}1591G4Add, 1602G, 1606E & 1608/1612I only}. Athenæus counts the Carthagenians among those people who take delight in making noise and carousing, and are often drunk. Salvianus in his seventh book De Providentia says that they are generally so inhumane, such drunkards, so deceitful, fraudulent, covetous, treacherous, disloyal, lewd, lecherous and unchaste that he that does not belong to this is surely no African. Finally there is, as he adds there, no kind of wickedness or villainy that they do not embrace.
218.9. All histories mention the unfaithfulness and falseheartedness of this nation, which indeed is such, and they are for the same reason so well-known and familiar, that they acquired a common reputation among all such nations as had any contact or anything to do with them. So much about this [part of] Africa, a land, as the Poets call it, most rich for triumphs, the fortress or castle, as Cicero calls it, {1591G4Add, 1592L and later{of all Provinces}1591G4Add, 1592L & later} {1606E only{belonging to the Roman Empire}1606E only}. The islands adjoined to it in the neighbourhood and belonging to this area which have fame and are better known comprise Melita (1608/1612I has instead{Malta}1608/1612I instead}, Menyx {1608/1612I has instead{Zerbi}1608/1612I instead}, Cosura {1608/1612I has instead{Pantalarea}1608/1612I instead} and Cercina {1608/1612I has instead{Ganelata}1608/1612I instead}, next to some smaller ones, of less importance, about which, as also about the people, rivers, mountains, towns and cities, see this Map of ours.
218.10. That Sardinia, {1606E only{that excellent island which lies over opposite to Genua}1606E only} once belonged to this [part of] Africa is confirmed by Iustinianus in the twenty-seventh chapter of the first book of his Code. But about CARTHAGO, the chief and metropolitan city of this Province, although Salustius says it is far better to say nothing at all about it than to say just a little, yet in spite of that I do not think it amiss also to add something about that [city] in this place. This city was by the Romans called CARTHAGO, by the Greek CARCHEDON. Solinus Polyhistor reports that it was formerly called CARTHADA, which word, he says, in the Phnician language {1606E only{(closely related to Hebrew and Arabic)}1606E only} means {1590L4Add, 1592L and later{Civitatem novam}1590L4Add, 1592L and later}, {1591G4Add, 1602G, 1606E & 1608/1612I only{A new city}1591G4Add, 1602G, 1606E & 1608/1612I only}. {1606E only{And indeed the truth is that [open space, apparently vacant to insert Arabic script] in the Arabic dialect, and [Hebrew lettering] Kariath hadatha, in Syrian means A new city or castle}1606E only}.
218.11. It is for this reason that Stephanus, calls it [Greek lettering, but not in 1608/1612I] Kainopolin, {1590L4Add, 1592L and later{NOVAM VRBEM}1590L4Add, 1592L and later}, {1591G4Add, 1602G, 1606E & 1608/1612I only{The new city}1591G4Add, 1602G, 1606E & 1608/1612I only}. He also calls it OENVSSA, CACABE, and CADMEIA, but for what reason and on which authority I do not know. {1606E only{Cadmeia was perhaps named after the Hebrew [word, in Hebrew lettering] Kedem which in that language, as also in the other oriental languages related to it) means the East, or first and most important, both of which are very appropriate for this city, because the first inhabitants who built it and enclosed it with a huge wall and ditch were Easterners, Cadmonim, or such [people] as came to this city from Kedem, the East.
218.12. Again, in terms of its large size, power, excellent beauty and its lustre, it might deservedly (and indeed it did, as we will demonstrate in what follows) [bear] the name of Cadmia, that is, the chief and principal metropolitan city. And it may be that for the same reason it was also by them called Cacabe, Stellaris, the glittering star, after [empty space, presumably intended for Arabic lettering] Caucabi, a star, after Asteria or Asteris, an island in the Midland sea. [Or after] Asterius, a placename on the island Tenedos, [or after] Astron or Astrum, a river in Troas, issuing from mount Ida, as Pliny writes. Also, the great and excellent city of Argia on Peloponnesos, [as is also the case] with various other places in Greece, which have the same name, all derived from Aster or Astrum, which in the Greek language means A star}1606E only}.
218.13. There are many learned men who think that in the Holy Script this city is called and described by the name of THARSIS. So much about the ancient names and designations of this city, for in subsequent times it has also been called and been described by various other names next to these, as we shall demonstrate later. Yes, and ancient writers have graced it with various honourable titles and epithets, calling it Celsam and Almam, {1606E & 1608/1612I only{The Stately and Honourable city [of] Carthage}1606E & 1608/1612I only}. Apuleius calls it {1590L4Add, 1592L & later{Romani imperij æmulam, terrarum orbis avidam; Provinciæ magistram venerabilem; Africæ Musam clestem; Camnam togatorum}1590L4Add, 1592L and later}; {1591G4Add, 1602G, 1606E & 1608/1612I only{The great envier of the Roman state, and yet striving to attain the whole sovereignty of the world; The honourable mistress of the Province; The heavenly Muse of Africa; The delight and paradise of the gentry of the land}1591G4Add, 1602G, 1606E & 1608/1612I only}.
218.14. By Solinus it is called {1590L4Add, 1592L & later{Alterum post urbem Romam terrarum decus}1590L4Add, 1592L & later}, {1591G4Add, 1602G, 1606E & 1608/1612I only{Next after the excellent city of Rome the only glory of the world}1591G4Add, 1602G, 1606E & 1608/1612I only}. By Ptolemæus, Manilius & Plinius it is called {1590L4Add, 1592L & later{Magna}1590L4Add, 1592L & later}, {1591G4Add, 1602G, 1606E & 1608/1612I only{The great city}1591G4Add, 1602G, 1606E & 1608/1612I only}. By Victor Vticensus & Suidas [it is called] {1590L4Add, 1592L & later{Maxima orbis terrarum}1590L4Add, 1592L & later}, {1591G4Add, 1602G, 1606E & 1608/1612I only{The greatest city of the whole world}1591G4Add, 1602G, 1606E & 1608/1612I only}. And that not without a good reason, for Orosius states that it was twenty miles in circumference within the walls, and almost entirely surrounded by the sea. The abridged [version] by Livius says that it was {not in 1608/1612I{twenty-}not in 1608/1612I}four miles in circumference. Strabo claims it to be in circumference three hundred and sixty furlongs, (Stadia), which amounts to forty-five {1606E only{Italian}1606E only} miles. How true this is I leave to the discretion of the learned Reader to determine.
218.15. This city was situated on a peninsula or semi-island, joined to the continent of Africa by a neckland (Isthmos {1606E only{[is what] the Greek call it)}1606E only}, three miles wide or, as Appianus, the diligent Chorographer of this place has on record, more than 25 furlongs. {1601L{Silius Italicus {1608/1612I & 1624LParergon only{book 15}1608/1612I & 1624LParergon only} writes about it like this, Hæc caput est, non ulla opibus certaverit auri,| Non portu, celsove situ, non dotibus auri,| Vberis, aut agili fabricanda ad tela vigore}1601L} [This is the capital city, and no city could have competed with it in terms of the gold it possesses, or its port, or its elevated location, nor its gold treasures, or fertile soil, or its industriousness in making weapons]. The more famous places in it are Megara, a part of a city of that name, Byrsa, a castle which had a circumference, as Servius has noted, of twenty-two furlongs ([and] in it stood the temples of {1590L4Add, 1592L & later, but not in 1602G{Iuno}1590L4Add, 1592L & later but not in 1602G}, Æsculapius and Belus). The Theatre, {1590L4Add, 1592L and later{[the] Thermæ Gargilianæ}1590L4Add, 1592L & later}, {1595L{and [the] Thermæ Maximianæ}1595L}, {1591G4Add, 1602G, 1606E & 1608/1612I only{certain hot baths}1591G4Add, 1602G, 1606E & 1608/1612I only.}
218.16. [Then] the Delphicum or temple of Apollo, the chapel dedicated to the goddess Memoria, {1590L4Add, 1592L & later but not in 1602G{the Horse-race[track] (Hippodromus)}1590L4Add, 1592L & later but not in 1602G} Basilica Celerinæ, the Church of Theoprepia, Lypsana a certain place called like that, and {1590L4Add, 1592L & later{Via coelestis}1590L4Add, 1592L & later}, {1591G4Add, 1602G, v1606E & 1608/1612I only{the road to Heaven}1591G4Add, 1602G, 1606E & 1608/1612I only}, unless the copy [of the manuscript] is here faulty and corrupt. In the middle of the city there was a grove and in it the temple of Iuno, as the famous Poet Vergilius has left on record. {1595L, not in 1602G{Also the temple of Elisa, as Silius Italicus states}1595L, not in 1602G}. Which places afterwards were built or restored by Iustinianus, the Emperor of Rome, is told in detail by Procopius in his sixth book about the buildings of this Emperor. By him also, if we may believe Balsamon, it was called IVSTINIANA.
218.17. The builders of this city who laid its first foundation were the Phnicians Xorus and Carchedon or, as some others report, Elissa or Dido, the daughter of King Agenor, fifty years after {1590L4Add, 1602G, 1608/1612I & 1624LParergon have instead{before}1590L4Add, 1602G, 1608/1612I & 1624LParergon instead} the destruction of Troy, or seventy-two years before the foundation of the city of Rome, {1590L4Add, 1592L & later, but not in 1602G{as Appianus writes}1590L4Add, 1592L & later}. {1595L{Silius Italicus says that Teucer was the first to lay the foundations of this city}1595L, not in 1602G}. It was built, as Iosephus writes in his argument with Appianus, in the hundredth and fifty-fifth year after the death of Solomon, the glorious king {1606E only{of Israel}1606E only}. The valour and great strength of this city, eminent and famous in foreign wars abroad as it has always been, has often been shaken and overcome at many different times at home.
218.18. Finally, having been in a flourishing state, as most authors confirm, for seven hundred and thirty seven years, it was by the Romans, being an envious enemy of their state and empire, assaulted, battered, taken sacked, utterly spoilt and at last annihilated to dust and ashes. And thus it remained for a period of one hundred and one years, when by the command and order of the Senate it was rebuilt, which [Senate], sending to it certain people to live and dwell there, made it a Roman colony, and this was the first settlement of the Romans that was ever [entirely] populated from Italy.
218.19. It was by Cayus Gracchus called IVNONIA, as has been recorded by Appianus, Solinus and Dion, who also adds that it was later by Augustus Cæsar for a second time made into a Colony, because, when Lepidus had laid waste a large part of it, and had left it destitute and without inhabitants, he in a way seemed to have dissolved its rights and privileges as a Colony. Thus, this city began to flourish again, and under the Roman Emperors became well known again under the name of The second Carthago. As a result, that city, which was formerly famous for its feats of arms and martial prowess, was now, as Martianus writes, as honourable for its worldly felicity and for all kinds of earthly blessings.
218.20. It also enjoyed the benevolence and bountiful magnificence of Emperor Hadrianus, and was then after him called HADRIANOPOLIS, {1606E only{that is, Hadrianus' city,}1606E only} as Spartianus has left on record. {1601L{Also, the Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius graced it much with many sumptuous and stately buildings, as you may read in Pausanias}1601L}. Lampridus writes that, because of the favourable kindness of Emperor Commodus towards this city, it was similarly after him named ALEXANDRIA COMMODIANA TOGATA. But, (because the state of all things under the scope of heaven is inconstant and variable), the same city was according to Herodianus under the Emperor Gordianus taken for the second time by a certain Capellianus, Lieutenant of Mauritiana and spoiled and plundered, around six hundred and eighty years after it had first submitted itself to the command and jurisdiction of the Romans.
218.21. During the reign of Honorius the Emperor it was by treachery taken for the third time, sacked and utterly destroyed by Genserichus, king of the Wandals, in the year four hundred and thirty after the incarnation of CHRIST {1606E only{our Saviour}1606E only}. It suffered similarly because of certain mutinous soldiers under a certain Salomon, a lieutenant of the Maurisij, {1606E only{or Barbary}1606E only}, as Procopius has left on record. From these it was taken by Belisarius, in the year {1606E only{of CHRIST}1606E only} five hundred and thirty eight, in the time of Iustinianus, the Roman Emperor, who ordered it to be repaired and fortified with a strong wall and a deep ditch, who moreover beautified it with many excellent public buildings, of most interesting architecture, such as Cloisters, Galleries, the Theodorian Baths, the gorgeous Church of our Lady, the chief Saint, and others which are listed by the same Procopius.
218.22. After this it remained under the Romans until the time of Heraclius the Emperor, when it was surprised and conquered by the Persians around the year {1606E only{of CHRIST}1606E only} six hundred and nineteen. It was taken, sacked and spoilt by the Egyptians sixty six years after that, as Procopius and others uniformly testify. Nor was this the last misery of this city, for it was [then] spoiled, almost razed to the ground, laid waste, and left without people and void of inhabitants by the Turks {1590L4Add, 1592L and later but not 1602G have instead{Mohammedans}1590L4Add, 1592L and later instead but not 1602G}. It remained like this until the joys of a certain Elmahdi, a Bishop who, {1590L4Add, 1592L and later but not in 1602G{as Iohannes Leo Africanus reports}1590L4Add, 1592L & later but not in 1602G}, gave it to certain people of that country who were so few in number that they did not replenish more than a twentieth part of it.
218.23. {1590L4Add, 1592L & later but not in 1602G{Ioannes Leo {1606E has instead{The same author}1606E instead}, an eyewitness to [the events] about which he wrote, confirms that}1590L4Add, 1592L & later but not in 1602G} of all this greatness and glory, there remains to this day no shred at all, besides some ruins of the walls and part of the Conduit. This is now, these days, the fate and shape of this most excellent city. This is the city which, as Herodianus testifies, in former times was not inferior to Rome in terms of wealth, multitude of people and greatness of form, and which contended long with Alexandria of Egypt for the second rank. Also, this is the city which long ago had such a power that it commanded the entire sea coast of Africa from Aræ Philenorum {1591G4Add & 1602G only{that is, between Carthago and Cyrene}1591G4Add & 1602G only} all along [the coastline] to the Straights of Gibraltar, via which they passed by ship and conquered all of Spain, as high up as the Pyrenee mountains.
218.24. So that Appianus, a serious writer, considers the Empire and command of this city [to be] of equal importance as the power of the far-reaching Greeks, or the wealth and riches of the brave Persians, which can easily be justified on the basis of Strabo and Plinius, {1606E only{two authors with a good reputation}1606E only}. For this man says that this city commanded three hundred cities in Africa alone, and itself contained seventy thousand men [as] daily inhabitants within its walls. Also Scipio, having conquered this city, transported from there to Rome four hundred and seventy thousand pounds of silver in weight, {1608/1612I only{which amounts to four million six hundred thousand scudi}1608/1612I only}.
218.25. Of this city (which as long as it was standing and was its own master, as Trogus reports, was esteemed as a goddess, and in Africa, as Salvianus writes, was considered as another Rome), there now remains no more than the bare name. About the lands of the Africans, from where they came into this area, and who they were, Procopius has written something worth noting in the second book of his History of the Wandals {1590L4Add, 1591G4Add & 1602G have instead{Persians}1590L4Add, 1591G4Add & 1602G instead, the latter two of which end here}. {1595L only, but also in 1624LParergon see § 15{But I read in Silius about this matter: This is the capital, and no city would have been able to compete with it [i.e. with Carthago] as regards possession of gold, as regards its harbour, its elevated location, its golden treasures, fertile soil or its bustle concerning the manufacture of arms}1595L only, but also in 1624LParergon, see § 15}.
218.26. About Heaven-walk, (Via clestis), {1606E only{which we referred to before}1606E only}, I think it is not amiss to speak at some more length here in this place. In Victor Vticensis the following words can be read in all the copies that I ever saw: For nowadays, whenever things are superfluous, they will ignore it at once, as happened with the Theatre of Carthago, the Temple of Memory, and the Walk which they call Heavenly, which they fully razed to the ground. For viam [Road] I have no questions, but the author did write etiam [even], which might refer to ædem [the Temple], (or templum [holy place], as Iulius Capitolinus [one of the supposed authors of Historia Augusta] calls it in Pertinax [Publius Helvius Pertinax, Roman Emperor 192-193 A.D.]), {1606E only{that is, a chapel, temple or church}1606E only}.
218.27. Furthermore, about this Cælestis dea, Heavenly goddess, as Capitolinus in Macrinus and Trebellus Pollio in Celsus tyrannus call her, a goddess specific to Africa, there are here and there different things to be noted in various authors. Ælianus writes that the Egyptians call her Venus Vrania, that is, Heavenly. Venus clestis (which sounds the same) {1590L4Add, 1595L & later{is depicted on an ancient coin}1590L4Add} which I have of Iulia Soëmias}1595L}. St. Augustine in his book De civitate Dei speaks of the Heavenly Virgin (Virgo cælestis) undoubtedly meaning Heavenly goddess, but with that epithet, I suppose, he wanted to distinguish between her and that other goddess, I mean the wanton [one], {1590L4Add, 1592L & later{whom Iulius Firmicus calls Venerem virginem}1590L4Add, 1592L & later}.
218.28. Herodianus calls her Urania, and adds moreover that by the Phnicians she is called Astroarche {1608/1612I only{that is, lady of the stars}1608/1612I only}. Herodotus says that she was called Alilat, and states that this means the Moon. {1590L4Add, 1592L & later{St. Hieronymus in his treatise [directed] against Symmachus writes that the Persians call her Mithra, which is a great variety of names not occurring on coins, all these different names referring, as St. Ambrosius says, to one and the same goddess}1590L4Add, 1592L & later}. Apuleius in {not in 1608/1612I{his sixth book of}not in 1608/1612I} his Golden Ass, claims that all the people of the Eastern countries generally call her Zigia. There is a notable reference to this goddess, this Cælestis Venus, in the eleventh book of the same treatise by Apuleius, in which he calls her both by the name of Regina cæli, The Queen of Heaven, and Syria dea, the Syrian goddess.
218.29. If anyone wants to know more details about the goddesses various and manifold forms or shapes, [and] the great variety of distinct and different names of them, let him have recourse to this author just mentioned, as also to Lucianus' treatise entitled De Dea Syria, by which, if he also takes into consideration certain coins of the Emperors Severus and his son Antonius, he shall understand that in this one idol, almost all divinity of the ancient Gentiles is included. [coins described in § 31 shown here in 1624LParergon]. Philastrius, who wrote about heresies in former times, says that this goddess by certain heretical Jews was called Fortuna cæli, Heavenly fortune. I might easily be tempted to believe that this very same goddess is the idol that Ieremias in the forty-fourth chapter of his Prophecy calls The Queen of heaven, to whom the wicked Israelites offered sacrifice[s] and reverence as to an immortal God. For it was not difficult for these people, prone and inclined as they were to idolatry, to transfer this idol from their nextdoor neighbour Hierapolis in Syria (where Lucianus says this goddess was most religiously worshipped), into their country Palæstina, because the Phnicians transported her from the same Syria over the sea to Carthage, under the leadership and responsibility, as it seems, {1590L4Add, 1592L & later{(and which Herodianus claims to be correct)}1590L4Add, 1592L & later} of Queen Dido, {1606E only{Agenors daughter}1606E only}.{1590L4Add only{Mendum est apud Saluaniû de Prouidentia, vbi Cælesté deum,& Afrorum dæmoné,non deam facit,contra ceteros omnes scriptores}1590L4Add only}.
218.30. Many other things about this goddess might be added here from various other authors, but we will content ourselves here, in the company of Plato, by demonstrating that there were two Venuses, about one of whom, worshipped by the Carthaginians, we have spoken so far, {not in 1606E{and shown on this coin}not in 1606E}, the same, I mean, who was called Dea Syria or Venus Aßyria, {1601L{as Appianus calls her in his first book on hunting}1601L}. {not in 1606E{And in the hope to leave no one in doubt, see here another coin of Philippus Cæsar from a book by Sebastianus Erizzi}not in 1606E}. [In the 1624LParergon edition a coin is shown here of a lady riding a lion and a Greek inscription, see § 31]. {This [goddess], I gather from the sixth book of Apuleius, was the same as Iuno, whom he calls Vecturam leonis, {1606E & 1608/1612I only{The burden or load of the lion}1606E & 1608/1612I only}, and [about] whom they report that [She] loved Carthago more than anything else in the whole world, for here her chariot always stood, and her weapons were here, as the Poet reports about her, on the basis of which I do not question that the city of Carthage was for the same reason also called Iunonia, for thus I find it described by Plutarchus and Solinus. By her chariot I mean the Lion on which she rode, by her weapons [I mean] the thunderbolt [together] with the ensigns of the gods and goddesses who are depicted on those coins just mentioned.
218.31. {1601L{Salvianus in his book De Providentia mentions a Heavenly god (Deus cælestis), another idol of the Africans. Ulpianus [says] the same thing in the passage whoever can be identified as the heirs and to the God of an heir, speaking of Cælestis deus Salinensis Carthagenensis [the Heavenly God of Carthagian Salina]. But this is nothing [pertaining] to this goddess of ours}1601L}. And perhaps, while we intended to speak about Geography, have said too much about this goddess}1590L4Add, 1592L, 1595L & 1624LParergon end here}. [below this text in 1590L4Add, 1592L, 1595L, 1601L, 1603L, 1608/1612I & 1609/1612S/L and in § 29 in 1624LParergon, a row of three small coins, showing from left to right (1) man's head and inscription PIVS AVG. SEVERVS, (2) Goddess riding a lion with inscription INDVLGENTIA AVG. N.CARTH (3) man's head and inscription ANTONIVS PIVS AVG., and below that (in 1624LParergon in § 30), one large coin (4) showing a goddess riding a lion with an inscription [in Greek lettering] © Marcel van den Broecke ©.