ADDITIONAL NOTES. XXV
The Alpine pass which Polybius traversed in the wake of
Hannibal has not yet been identified. It was probably the Mt
Genevre route, or one of the tracks across the ridge of Mt Cenis.
P. 219,1. ii. The site of Tigranocerta
The indications of Strabo and Tacitus, who locate Tigranocerta
to the south of the-Tigris, cannot be brought into accord with the
narrative of Plutarch, who states that Lucullus, advancing from
Melitene, crossed both the Euphrates and the Tigris before he set
siege to the city. Since Plutarch's account was almost certainly
derived from Sallust, it deserves preference. See Rice Holmes,
The Roman Republic^ vol. 3, pp. 409-425, or H. A. Ormerod,
Cam6. Anc. Hist., vol. 9, pp. 366, 367.
P. 225. Madeira
The Madeira islands were first discovered by Carthaginian seamen
c. 500 B.C. (Diodorus, 5. 19, 20). But they do not appear to have
received regular visits from any ancient seafaring people.
P. 226. The Canaries
It may be taken for granted that this group of islands was
known to the Carthaginians, for some of them are ordinarily
visible from the mainland of West Africa. But even aft^r Juba's
voyage of discovery they had no permanent population in ancient
times.
The name of ' Fortunate Isles/ by which later writers of antiquity
described the Canaries and the Madeira group indiscriminately,
was not conferred upon them from any general knowledge of their
amenities, but because they were identified with the legendary
'Isles of the Blest/ which had been located in the far west since
the time of Hesiod (Works and Dayst 11 169-172) and Pindar
(Olympta, 2. 68 ff.).
P. 229. Caesar's conquest of Gaul
The extent to which Caesar's campaigns in Gaul extended the
geographical knowledge of that country at Rome may be gauged
by a remark of Cicero (De Pravinciis Consularibus, §22), that
every day brought news to him of names previously unknown.