Strabo (1. xvi. p. 780), Pliny the elder (Hist. Natur. 1 vi. c 28, 29), and Dion Cassius (1. liii. p. 723 and 1. Iiv. p. 734), have left us very curious details concerning these wars. The Romans made themselves masters of Mariaba, a city of Arabia Felix, well known to the Orientals (see Abulfeda and the Nubian geography, p. 5). They were arrived within three days' journey of the Spice country, the rich object of their invasion.