The recent Roman expedition into Arabia, led by Aelius Gallus, has taught us many of the special characteristics of that region. Augustus Caesar sent this man to explore these regions and the lands of the Ethiopians , seeing as how the Troglodyte country that borders Egypt is next to Arabia, and also that the Arabian gulf that separates the Arabs from the Troglodytes is very narrow, he thought to win these peoples over to himself and subjugate them. There was also another reason. He had heard the report, which was of long standing, that they were very rich, selling perfumes and precious stones for gold and silver, which they never exchanged with outsiders. He hoped, therefore, to deal either with wealthy friends, or to conquer wealthy enemies. He also received encouragement from the Nabataeans, since they were friends and promised to cooperate. 23. With these considerations in mind, Gallus launched his expedition, but the Nabataean governor Syllaios, who had promised to be a guide on the road, to provide necessary supplies, and to assist him in other ways, deceived him He acted treacherously in every way, neither showing a safe route for sailing, nor a safe journey by land, but leading him through trackless regions, or round about routes, or through regions that were destitute of all resources, or along rocky shores or through shallow and rocky waters, and particularly into areas where the flood and ebb tides cause great difficulty. The first mistake that Gallus made was to build long ships, since there was no naval war at hand or to be expected, since the Arabs are not good warriors even on land, but are merchants and traders, and certainly not by sea. But Gallus built no fewer than eighty ships, biremes and triremes and light craft at Cleopatris, which is near the old canal that extends from the Nile. When he learned that he had been deceived, he built one hundred and thirty light craft, on which he set sail with 10,000 infantry, drawn from the romans in Egypt and the allies: there were 500 Jews, and 1,000 Nabataeans with Syllaios. After much suffering and hardship over the course of fifteen days, he reached Leuke Come a large harbor in the land of the Nabataeans. He had lost many boats, crews and all, because of the difficult sailing rather than enemy action. The evil of Syllaios caused this, who said that there was no way for an army to march to Leuke Come overland, even though camel drivers pass back and forth to this place from Petra in safety and ease, and in such numbers that they do not differ from an army. 24 This happened because Obodas the king did not pay much attention to public affairs, and particularly to military affairs (which is typical of Arab kings), placing all effective power in the hands of the governor Syllaios, and because he was plotting in every way, and seeking, as I suspect, to spy out the land along with the Romans, to destroy some of the cities and tribes with the Romans, and to make himself lord of all when the Romans had been destroyed by hunger, exhaustion, disease and all other ills, as many as he could treacherously contrive.
Gallus arrive at Leuke Come, with his army suffering from scurvy and with skeloturbe, native ailments: the former being a disease around the mouth, the other a paralysis of the legs that result from the water and the plants of the region. He was therefore forced to spend the winter and the summer at Leuke Come waiting for the sick to recover. The loads of aromatics are transported out of Leuke Come to Petra , and then to Rhinocoloura, a city on the Egyptian border of Phoenicia, and from there to other peoples, though at this time most of them are taken to Alexandria down the Nile. Spices from Arabia and India are landed at Myos harbor, and then taken by camels to Coptos in the Thebiad, which is joined to the Nile by a canal, and from there to Alexandria.
Gallus again tried to move his army from Leuke Come, and marched through regions of a sort that water had to be carried on camels because of the treachery of the guides; and it therefore took many days to arrive at the land of Aretas, a relative of Obodas. Aretas received them in a friendly way, and gave them gifts, but the treachery of Syllaios also made the passage of this country difficult. It took thirty days to cross territory that afforded only zeia, a few palm trees and butter instead of oil, because there were no roads. The next country that he passed through was that of the Nomads, which is, for the most part, a real desert. It is called Ararene, and its king was Sabos. He spent fifty days crossing this country, which had no roads, until he reached the city of the Negrani, a country that was both peaceful and fertile. The king had fled, and the city was taken immediately, and he arrived at the river six days later. When the barbarians gathered to give battle, tens of thousands were killed and the Romans only lost two men. They used weapons such as bows, spears, swords and slings (though most used a sort of double-headed ax) in an inexperienced way, being utterly unsuited to warfare. Immediately after this Gallus took the city of Asca, which had been abandoned by its king, and went from there to a city called Athrula, and took control of it without a struggle. Placing a garrison there, and arranging for a supply of grain and dates, he moved on to the city of Marsiaba, which belonged to the tribe of the Rhammanitae, who were subjects of Ilasaros. He assaulted and besieged the city for six days, but gave up because of lack of water. He was only two days away from the country that produced the aromatics, as he had heard from captives, but he had used up six months on the road because of bad guides, and he realized the treachery when he turned back and took other routes. For on the ninth day he arrived at Negrana, where the battle had taken place, and on the eleventh day from there, at Hepta Phreata, as the place is called from the seven wells there; and then, moving through peaceful country he arrived at a village called Chaalla, and again at another village called Malotha, which is located near a river, then the road ran though a desert with little water as far as a village called Egra. the village is in the territory of Obodas, and is on the coast. He spent sixty days on the road on his return, although he had used up six months on the outward journey. From there he took the army across to Myos harbor in eleven days, marched by land over to Coptos, and, with all who had been fortunate to survive, arrived at Alexandria. He had lost the rest, not from enemy action, but from disease, exhaustion, famine and the difficulty of the road. It so happened that only seven had died in battle. For these reasons the expedition did not profit us in our knowledge of those regions to any great extent, but it did make a slight contribution. The reason for this was Syllaios, and he paid the price in Rome ; for although he pretended to be our friend, he was convicted for his evil in this matter and for other crimes and beheaded.