Hyperborei, People dwelling in the furthest part of the north, and, as some suppose, vnder the north pole called Polus Arcticus. Pomponius Mela writeth, that the countrey is but little, hauing the sunne ouer them, and is fertile of it selfe, the people very iust, liuing longer and more pleasauntlye than other men, alway without businesse & labor knowing neither warre nor debate. Like to this doeth Plinie wryte, lib. 4. cap 12. Solinns sayth, that some men doe appoint thÊ rather to Asia, than to Europs. Dther doe set them meane betweene the Sunne going downe with the Antipodes, (which are people hauing their feete against ours) and the sunne rising with vs. Finally, he sayth they be in Europa, where they haue sixe moneths continnally day, and sixe other moneths continually nighte: the windes there bee alwayes holesome. They know neither sicknesse nor vnquietnesse. Wherefore Strabo writeth lib. 15. that some men affirme that they didde liue a thousande yeares. Festus Pompeius wrate, that they exceeded the life of man; lining aboue an hundred yeares. And therefore were they called Hyperborei, as it were exceeding the common tearme of mans life, and when they be weary and tedious of their life (as Mela and Solinus write) making good cheare with their neighboures, and hauing Garlandes on their heades, they throwe themselues from a certayne rocke into the deepe sea, esteeming that to be the best death & forme of burying.
Lewis and Short: Latin dictionary
Hperbŏrĕi, ōrum, m., = *(uperbo/reoi (-eioi), a fabulous people living at the extreme north, the Hyperboreans, Mel. 1, 2, 4 sq.; 3, 5, 1; Plin. 4, 12, 26, 89; Cic. N. D. 3, 23, 57.—II. Derivv. A. Hper-bŏrĕus, a, um, adj., of or belonging to the Hyperboreans, Hyperborean, poet., also i. q. northern: campi, Hor. C. 2, 20, 16: orae, Verg. G. 3, 196: glacies, id. ib. 4, 517; cf. pruinae, Val. Fl. 8, 210: ursa, Luc. 5, 23: septentrio, Verg. G. 3, 381: Pallene, Ov. M. 15, 356: triumphus (gained over the Catti and Dacii), Mart. 8, 78, 3.—B. Hper-bŏrĕānus, a, um, adj., the same, Hier. ap. Chron. Euseb. ad Ann. 1560.