Text, one version only, translated from the 1584 Latin 3rd Add., 1584 Latin, 1584 German 3rd Add., 1585 French 3rd Add., 1587 French, 1588 Spanish, 1592 Latin, 1595 Latin, 1598 French, 1601 Latin, 1602 German, 1602 Spanish, 1603 Latin, 1606 English, 1608/1612 Italian, 1609/1612 Latin and the 1609/1612/1641 Spanish edition:
159.1. {1584L3Add{ROMANIA, {1585F3Add/1587F, 1598F & 1606E only{anciently called THRACIA}1585F3Add/1587F, 1598F & 1606E only}.
159.2. That country which they now call ROMANIA was by the ancients called THRACIA. It was a large and wide province, having on its East Pontus Euxinus [the Black sea] }{1585F3Add/1587F, 1598F & 1606E only{(the Italians call it Mar Maiore}1585F3Add/1587F & 1598F only}, Propontis {1585F3Add/1587F & 1598F only{or Mar de St. Georgius}1585F3Add/1587F & 1598F only} {1606E only{(Mar di Marmora, the Greek Maurothalassa, the Turks, as Busbequius says Cardenis, the black sea, as these nations all mean to say)}1606E only}, on its South Mare Ægeum {1585F3Add/1587F, 1598F & 1608/1612I only{which the Italians call Archipelago}1585F3Add/1587F, 1598F & 1608/1612I only}{1606E only{(the Turks call it Acdenis, the white sea Archipelago)}1606E only}, on its West Macedonia and Pannonia {1584G3Add & 1602G only{or Austria}1584G3Add & 1602G only}, [and] on its North mount Hæmus ({1585F3Add/1587F, 1598F & 1606E only{Monte Argentaro)}1585F3Add/1587F, 1598F & 1606E only} and the two Moesias, {1585F3Add/1587F & 1598F only{which we now call Servia & Bosnia, Bulgaria & Walachia}1585F3Add/1587F & 1598F only}. Its air is not very kind, nor its soil very fertile, and except for those places bordering on the sea, it is barren and cold.
159.3. Ptolemæus divides it into 13 {1595L, 1601L, 1602S, 1603L, 1608/1612I & 1609/1612/1641S instead{14}1595L, 1601L, 1602S, 1603L & 1608/1612I & 1609/161/1641S instead} shires, namely these: {1595L, not in 1602G{Danthletica}1595L, not in 1602G}, Bennica, Bessica, Cænica, Cletica, Corpialica, Drosica, Mædica, Samaica, {not in 1608/1612I{Sapaica}not in 1608/1612I}, Sardica, Sellitica, Urbana and Usdesica. The later writers have divided it into these six provinces: Europa, Hæmimontum, Msia Secunda (which is the same as Moesia Inferior {1585F3Add/1587F & 1598F only{we call it Bulgaria & Walachia}1585F3Add/1587F & 1598F only}), Rhodope, Scythia and Thracia proper. Recently it has been called by one name only, [viz.] Romania which it still retains. Yet, near Byzantium {1585F3Add/1587F & 1598F only{which we call Constantinopel, the Turcs call it Stambol}1585F3Add/1587F & 1598F only} I understand the Turks call it Galatia, where also at this day you find the city of Galata which we call Pera, and which the old historiographers called Cornu Bizantium, {1606E only{the horn of Constantinople}1606E only}.
159.4. The famous mountains of this country are Hæmus {1585F3Add/1587F, 1598F & 1606E only{(Monte Argentano}1585F3Add/1587F & 1598F only} {1606E only{or Catena mundi, the chain of the world is what the Italians call it. The Turks call it Balkan, the Slavonians Cumoviza)}1606E only}, [then] Rhodope, {1585F3Add/1587F, 1598F & 1606E only{(Valeza}1585F3Add/1587F & 1598F only}{1606E only{or Czernaniwerti they now call it)}1606E only}, Orbelus {1585F3Add/1587F, 1598F & 1606E only{(or Karopnitze)}1585F3Add/1587F, 1598F & 1606E only}, Pangæus {1585F3Add/1587F, 1598F & 1606E only{(Malaca or Castagna)}1585F3Add/1587F, 1598F & 1606E only} and various others of less importance. Its rivers are the Hebrus {1585F3Add/1587F, 1598F & 1606E only{(Marisa or Ibar)}1585F3Add/1587F, 1598F & 1606E only}, Nessus {1585F3Add/1587F, 1598F & 1606E only{(Nesto or Mestro, the Turks call it Charasilu)}1585F3Add/1587F, 1598F & 1606E only}, Melas {1585F3Add/1587F, 1598F & 1606E only{(now Lameta or Larissa)}1585F3Add/1587F, 1598F & 1606E only} and the Strymon {1585F3Add/1587F & 1598F only{nowadays called Marmaria or Stromona}1585F3Add/1587F & 1598F only}, as some think, although others rather judge this last one to be a river of Macedonia.
159.5. Its famous cities are Abdera {1606E only{(now Asperosa as Niger thinks, or Polystylo as Sophianus says, or Astrizza, as Nardus states)}1606E only}, Apollonia, Phinopolis, {not in 1588S{Philippolis, the two Nicopolis, Hadrianopolis}not in 1588S} {1606E only{on the river Hæmus, Nicopolis on the river Nessus,(the Turks call it Endrem as Busbechius writes, or Edernay as Postellus teaches us)}1606E only}, Selybria, Debeltus, Heraclea, Lysimachia {1606E only{(Hexamili)}1606E only} and Byzantium, famous throughout the ages, so named after Byza who first built it. Afterwards, it was enlarged and fortified by emperor Constantinus, and after him it was called Constantinople but now more corruptly and shortly Stambol [incorrect etymology].
159.6. This is now, as it used to be for a long time, the most famous and honourable city of this whole country, next to Hadrianople (Andernopoli it is commonly called) and Sophia, and others of less importance. This country has also adjoined to it a neck-land or peninsula which they call {not in 1606E{Chersonesus}not in 1606E} [or] the fore-land of Thrace. Here is Callipolis and Sesto {1585F3Add/1587F & 1598F only{which the Turcs call Bogazossar}1585F3Add/1587F & 1598F only}, famous for the love of Leander. {1595L, not in 1598F & 1602G{David Chytræus in his Chronicle of Saxony has various things worth noting about the provinces on this map}1595L, not in 1598F & 1602G}.
159.7. The islands in the Archipelago (mare Ægæum) near Thracia {1606E instead{Romania}1606E instead} are Samothracia, {1584L{commonly called Samandrachi}1584L} and Thalassia as Ptolemæus calls it, others name it Tasso {not in 1606E{and it still preserves traces of that in its present name, for modern writers call it Tasso}not in 1606E}. In Propontis {1585F3Add/1587F, 1598F & 1606E only{or Mar di Marmora}1585F3Add/1587F, 1598F & 1606E only} we find PRÆCONNESVS, or Elaphonnesus, which some have named Neuris. Now the Turks and Greeks call it Marmora, {1606E only{from which that sea took its name}1606E only}. In the {not in 1585F3Add/1587F, 1588S, 1602S & 1609/1612/1641S{Bosphorus}not in 1588S} {1606E only{(the Romans call it Stretto di Constantinopoli, {1588S, 1602S & 1609/1612/1641S only{the straits of Constantinople}1588S, 1602S & 1609/1612/1641S only}, {1606E only{the Greek Laimon, the Turks Bogazin)}1606E only} are the Insulæ CYANEÆ {1606E only{(which Strabo calls Symplegades, {1585F3Add/1587F, 1598F & 1606E only{now Pavonare}1585F3Add/1587F, 1598F & 1606E only} or Iarcazes)}1606E only}, often mentioned in the writings of the ancient poets, who in their [typical] manner first pretended that they floated on the water and were movable, and were only fixed by the sailing of the Argonauts.
159.8. Next to the old geographers Ptolemæus, Strabo, Plinius and Pomponius Mela who have written about this country, the modern writers are not to be neglected either, especially Wolfgang Lazius in his commentaries on Greece, and Bellonius' Observations. Petrus Gyllius has most interestingly and diligently described the city of Constantinople which city, one might say, was by providence {1608/1612I instead{by some fatal idea}1608/1612I instead} ordained to be the head of many kingdoms, and has for some time been called New Rome, and at this day Romania, so that the famous poet {1595L, not in 1602G{Tibullus}1595L, not in 1602G}{1608/1612I has instead{Catullus}1608/1612I instead} seems to have spoken not without just cause, and through a kind of divine inspiration, when he said ROMA TVVM NOMEN TERRIS FATALE REGENDIS}1584L3Add & 1584L end here}, {1584G3Add, 1585F3Add, 1587F, 1588S, 1598F, 1602G, 1602S, 1606E, 1608/1612I & 1609/1612/1641S only{Rome, your name means that you should command the world}1584G3Add, 1585F3Add/1587F, 1588S, 1598F, 1602G, 1602S & 1609/1612/1641S end here; 1606E & 1608/1612I only}. 1601L{And in the judgement of Romulus, {1592L{the Gods would have it VT ROMA SIT CAPVT ORBIS TERRARVM, {1606E & 1608/1612I only{That Rome should be the head of all the world}1606E & 1608/1612I only}, {as Livius has recorded in the first book}1592L, 1595L, 1601L, 1603L, 1609/1612L end here} {1606E only{of his Decades}1606E only, which ends here}.
159.9. {1608/1612I only, in smaller font: Marcus Antonius Pigafetta, a nobleman from Venice, has of all written best about Thracia in an entire book, printed in London in the Italian language, in which he describes a journey from Ulm to Vienna, then via the Danube from there to Belgrado and about the columns of the famous bridge built by Traianus, and finally all the way to the city of Constantinopel}1608/1612I only which ends here}.