Oceani,[122] ab ortu solis declivem latitudinem,[123] quem locum
Katabathmon incolae appellant. Mare saevum, importuosum, ager frugum
fertilis, bonus pecori, arbore infecundus, coelo terraque penuria
aquarum. Genus hominum salubri corpore, velox, patiens laborum; plerosque
senectus dissolvit, nisi qui ferro aut bestiis interiere; nam morbus haud
saepe quemquam superat; ad hoc malefici generis plurima animalia. Sed qui
mortales initio Africam habuerint, quique postea accesserint, aut quomodo
inter se permixti sint, quamquam ab ea fama, quae plerosque obtinet,
diversum est, tamen uti ex libris Punicis, qui regis Hiempsalis
dicebantur, interpretatum nobis est, utique rem sese habere cultores ejus
terrae putant, quam paucissimis dicam.[124] Ceterum fides ejus rei penes
auctores erit.

[119] _Frequentata sunt_, 'they have been frequented.' The participle is
in the neuter, the subjects being both animate and inanimate.
_Asperitas_ refers to the inaccessible nature of mountainous
districts.
[120] Other editions have _in partem tertiam_, and this deviation from
the common mode of speaking (which is to use _pono_ with _in_ and the
ablative) commentators explain by the remark, that the division was
not yet made, but only supposed. But the Latin language knows of no
such distinction.
[121] In the earliest times, before the earth was divided into three
parts, it was rather customary to consider Africa, especially Egypt
and the countries about the Nile, as belonging to Asia. To connect
Africa with Europe could only have been an idea of those who divided
the earth into an eastern and a western half, and did not know the
vast extent of Africa to the south.
[122] _Fretum_, &c.; that is, the Fretum Herculeum, or the Straits of
Gibraltar. It is clear that Sallust wants to state only the northern