τῆς τοῦ φιλοσόφου πραγματείας εἶναι νομίζομεν, εἴπερ ἄλλην τινά, καὶ τὴν γεωγραφικήν, ἣν νῦν προῃρήμεθα ἐπισκοπεῖν. ὅτι δʼ οὐ φαύλως νομίζομεν ἐκ πολλῶν δῆλον· οἵ τε γὰρ πρῶτοι θαρρήσαντες αὐτῆς ἅψασθαι τοιοῦτοί τινες ὑπῆρξαν, Ὅμηρός τε καὶ Ἀναξίμανδρος ὁ Μιλήσιος καὶ Ἑκαταῖος, ὁ πολίτης αὐτοῦ, καθὼς καὶ Ἐρατοσθένης φησί· καὶ Δημόκριτος δὲ καὶ Εὔδοξος καὶ Δικαίαρχος καὶ Ἔφορος καὶ ἄλλοι πλείους· ἔτι δὲ οἱ μετὰ τούτους, Ἐρατοσθένης τε καὶ Πολύβιος καὶ Ποσειδώνιος, ἄνδρες φιλόσοφοι. ἥ τε πολυμάθεια, διʼ ἧς μόνης ἐφικέσθαι τοῦδε τοῦ ἔργου δυνατόν, οὐκ ἄλλου τινός ἐστιν ἢ τοῦ τὰ θεῖα καὶ τὰ ἀνθρώπεια ἐπιβλέποντος, ὧνπερ τὴν φιλοσοφίαν ἐπιστήμην φασίν. ὡς δʼ αὕτως καὶ ἡ ὠφέλεια ποικίλη τις οὖσα, ἡ μὲν πρὸς τὰ πολιτικὰ καὶ τὰς ἡγεμονικὰς πράξεις, ἡ δὲ πρὸς ἐπιστήμην τῶν τε οὐρανίων καὶ τῶν ἐπὶ γῆς καὶ θαλάττης ζῴων καὶ φυτῶν καὶ καρπῶν καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ὅσα ἰδεῖν παρʼ ἑκάστοις ἔστι, τὸν αὐτὸν ὑπογράφει ἄνδρα, τὸν φροντίζοντα τῆς περὶ τὸν βίον τέχνης καὶ εὐδαιμονίας.
IF the scientific investigation of any subject be the proper avocation of the philosopher, Geography, the science of which we propose to treat, is certainly entitled to a high place; and this is evident from many considerations. They who first ventured to handle the matter were distinguished men. Homer, Anaximander the Milesian, and Hecataeus, (his fellow-citizen according to Eratosthenes,) Democritus, Eudoxus, Dicaearchus, Ephorus, with many others, and after these Erastosthenes, Polybius, and Posidonius, all of them philosophers.
Nor is the great learning, through which alone this subject can be approached, possessed by any but a person acquainted with both human and divine things, and these attainments constitute what is called philosophy. In addition to its vast importance in regard to social life, and the art of government, Geography unfolds to us the celestial phenomena, acquaints us with the occupants of the land and ocean, and the vegetation, fruits, and peculiarities of the various quarters of the earth, a knowledge of which marks him who cultivates it as a man earnest in the great problem of life and happiness.
Ἀναλαβόντες δὲ καθʼ ἕκαστον ἐπισκοπῶμεν τῶν εἰρημένων ἔτι μᾶλλον. καὶ πρῶτον ὅτι ὀρθῶς ὑπειλήφαμεν καὶ ἡμεῖς καὶ οἱ πρὸ ἡμῶν, ὧν ἐστι καὶ Ἵππαρχος, ἀρχηγέτην εἶναι τῆς γεωγραφικῆς ἐμπειρίας Ὅμηρον, ὃς οὐ μόνον ἐν τῇ κατὰ τὴν ποίησιν ἀρετῇ πάντας ὑπερβέβληται τοὺς πάλαι καὶ τοὺς ὕστερον, ἀλλὰ σχεδόν τι καὶ τῇ κατὰ τὸν βίον ἐμπειρίᾳ τὸν πολιτικόν, ἀφʼ ἧς οὐ μόνον περὶ τὰς πράξεις ἐσπούδασεν ἐκεῖνος, ὅπως ὅτι πλείστας γνοίη καὶ παραδώσει τοῖς ὕστερον ἐσομένοις, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰ περὶ τοὺς τόπους τούς τε καθʼ ἕκαστα καὶ τοὺς κατὰ σύμπασαν τὴν οἰκουμένην γῆν τε καὶ θάλατταν· οὐ γὰρ ἂν μέχρι τῶν ἐσχάτων αὐτῆς περάτων ἀφίκετο τῇ μνήμῃ κύκλῳ περιιών.
Admitting this, let us examine more in detail the points we have advanced.
And first, [we maintain,] that both we and our predecessors, amongst whom is Hipparchus, do justly regard Homer as the founder of geographical science, for he not only excelled all, ancient as well as modern, in the sublimity of his poetry, but also in his experience of social life. Thus it was that he not only exerted himself to become familiar with as many historic facts as possible, and transmit them to posterity, but also with the various regions of the inhabited land and sea, some intimately, others in a more general manner. For otherwise he would not have reached the utmost limits of the earth, traversing it in his imagination.
καὶ πρῶτον μὲν τῷ ὠκεανῷ περίκλυστον, ὥσπερ ἔστιν, ἀπέφαινεν αὐτήν· ἔπειτα δὲ τῶν χωρίων τὰ μὲν ὠνόμαζε τὰ δὲ ὑπῃνίττετο τεκμηρίοις τισί, Λιβύην μὲν καὶ Αἰθιοπίαν καὶ Σιδονίους καὶ Ἐρεμβούς, οὓς εἰκὸς λέγειν Τρωγλοδύτας Ἄραβας, ῥητῶς λέγων, τοὺς δὲ πρὸς ταῖς ἀνατολαῖς καὶ δύσεσιν αἰνιττόμενος ἐκ τοῦ τῷ ὠκεανῷ κλύζεσθαι· ἐντεῦθεν γὰρ ἀνίσχοντα ποιεῖ τὸν ἥλιον καὶ δυόμενον εἰς τοῦτον, ὡς δʼ αὕτως καὶ τὰ ἄστρα καὶ τοὺς ἀστέρας λελουμένους ἐξ ὠκεανοῦ λέγει.
First, he stated that the earth was entirely encompassed by the ocean, as in truth it is; afterwards he described the countries, specifying some by name, others more generally by various indications, explicitly defining Libya, Ethiopia, the Sidonians, and the Erembi (by which latter are probably intended the Troglodyte Arabians); and alluding to those farther east and west as the lands washed by the ocean, for in ocean he believed both the sun and constellations to rise and set. Now from the gently-swelling flood profound / The sun arising, with his earliest rays, / In his ascent to heaven smote on the fields. / And now the radiant sun in ocean sank, / Dragging night after him o’er all the earth. / The stars also he describes as bathed in the ocean.
τῶν δʼ ἑσπερίων ἀνδρῶν καὶ τὴν εὐδαιμονίαν ἐμφανίζει καὶ τὴν εὐκρασίαν τοῦ περιέχοντος, πεπυσμένος, ὡς ἔοικε, τὸν Ἰβηρικὸν πλοῦτον, ἐφʼ ὃν καὶ Ἡρακλῆς ἐστράτευσε καὶ οἱ Φοίνικες ὕστερον, οἵπερ καὶ κατέσχον τὴν πλείστην ἀρχήν, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα Ῥωμαῖοι· ἐνταῦθα γὰρ αἱ τοῦ ζεφύρου πνοαί, ἐνταῦθα δὲ καὶ τὸ Ἠλύσιον ποιεῖ πεδίον ὁ ποιητής, εἰς ὃ πεμφθήσεσθαί φησι τὸν Μενέλαον ὑπὸ τῶν θεῶν ἀλλά σʼ ἐς Ἠλύσιον πεδίον καὶ πείρατα γαίης ἀθάνατοι πέμψουσιν, ὅθι ξανθὸς Ῥαδάμανθυς, τῇ περ ῥηίστη βιοτὴ πέλει· οὐ νιφετός, οὔτʼ ἂρ χειμὼν πολύς, ἀλλʼ αἰεὶ ζεφύροιο λιγὺ πνείοντας ἀήτας ὠκεανὸς ἀνίησι.
He portrays the happiness of the people of the West, and the salubrity of their climate, having no doubt heard of the abundance of Iberia, which had attracted the arms of Hercules, afterwards of the Phoenicians, who acquired there an extended rule, and finally of the Romans. There the airs of Zephyr breathe, there the poet feigned the fields of Elysium, when he tells us Menelaus was sent thither by the gods:— Thee the gods / Have destined to the blest Elysian isles, / Earth’s utmost boundaries. Rhadamanthus there / For ever reigns, and there the human kind / Enjoy the easiest life; no snow is there, / No biting winter, and no drenching shower, / But Zephyr always gently from the sea / Breathes on them, to refresh the happy race. /
καὶ αἱ τῶν μακάρων δὲ νῆσοι πρὸ τῆς Μαυρουσίας εἰσὶ τῆς ἐσχάτης πρὸς δύσιν, καθʼ ὃ μέρος συντρέχει καὶ τῆς Ἰβηρίας τὸ ταύτῃ πέρας· ἐκ δὲ τοῦ ὀνόματος δῆλον ὅτι καὶ ταύτας ἐνόμιζον εὐδαίμονας διὰ τὸ πλησιάζειν τοιούτοις χωρίοις.
The Isles of the Blest are on the extreme west of Maurusia, near where its shore runs parallel to the opposite coast of Spain; and it is clear he considered these regions also Blest, from their contiguity to the Islands.
Ἀλλὰ μὴν ὅτι γε καὶ οἱ Αἰθίοπες ἐπὶ τῷ ὠκεανῷ ἔσχατοι, δηλοῖ· ὅτι μὲν ἔσχατοι Αἰθίοπες, τοὶ διχθὰ δεδαίαται, ἔσχατοι ἀνδρῶν. οὐδὲ τοῦ διχθὰ δεδαίαται φαύλως λεγομένου, ὡς δειχθήσεται ὕστερον· ὅτι δʼ ἐπὶ τῷ ὠκεανῷ Ζεὺς γὰρ ἐς ὠκεανὸν μετʼ ἀμύμονας Αἰθιοπῆας χθιζὸς ἔβη μετὰ δαῖτα. ὅτι δὲ καὶ ἡ πρὸς ταῖς ἄρκτοις ἐσχατιὰ παρωκεανῖτίς ἐστιν, οὕτως ᾐνίξατο εἰπὼν περὶ τῆς ἄρκτου οἴη δʼ ἄμμορός ἐστι λοετρῶν ὠκεανοῖο. διὰ μὲν γὰρ τῆς ἄρκτου καὶ τῆς ἁμάξης τὸν ἀρκτικὸν δηλοῖ· οὐ γὰρ ἂν τοσούτων ἀστέρων ἐν τῷ αὐτῷ χωρίῳ περιφερομένων τῷ ἀεὶ φανερῷ οἴην ἄμμορον εἶπε λοετρῶν ὠκεανοῖο. ὥστʼ οὐκ εὖ ἀπειρίαν αὐτοῦ καταγινώσκουσιν, ὡς μίαν ἄρκτον ἀντὶ δυεῖν εἰδότος· οὐδὲ γὰρ εἰκὸς ἦν πω τὴν ἑτέραν ἠστροθετῆσθαι, ἀλλʼ ἀφʼ οὗ οἱ Φοίνικες ἐσημειώσαντο καὶ ἐχρῶντο πρὸς τὸν πλοῦν παρελθεῖν καὶ εἰς τοὺς Ἕλληνας τὴν διάταξιν ταύτην, ὥσπερ καὶ τὸν Βερενίκης πλόκαμον καὶ τὸν Κάνωβον ἐχθὲς καὶ πρώην κατωνομασμένον, πολλοὺς δʼ ἔτι νῦν ἀνωνύμους ὄντας, καθάπερ καὶ Ἄρατός φησιν. οὐδὲ Κράτης οὖν ὀρθῶς γράφει οἶος δʼ ἄμμορός ἐστι λοετρῶν, φεύγων τὰ μὴ φευκτά. βελτίων δʼ Ἡράκλειτος καὶ ὁμηρικώτερος, ὁμοίως ἀντὶ τοῦ ἀρκτικοῦ τὴν ἄρκτον ὀνομάζων ἠοῦς καὶ ἑσπέρης τέρματα ἡ ἄρκτος, καὶ ἀντίον τῆς ἄρκτου οὖρος αἰθρίου Διός. ὁ γὰρ ἀρκτικός ἐστι δύσεως καὶ ἀνατολῆς ὅρος, οὐχ ἡ ἄρκτος. διὰ μὲν δὴ τῆς ἄρκτου, ἣν καὶ ἅμαξαν καλεῖ καὶ τὸν Ὠρίωνα δοκεύειν φησί, τὸν ἀρκτικὸν δηλοῖ, διὰ δὲ τοῦ ὠκεανοῦ τὸν ὁρίζοντα, εἰς ὃν καὶ ἐξ οὗ τὰς δύσεις καὶ τὰς ἀνατολὰς ποιεῖται. εἰπὼν δὲ αὐτοῦ στρέφεσθαι καὶ ἀμοιρεῖν τοῦ ὠκεανοῦ οἶδεν ὅτι κατὰ σημεῖον τὸ ἀρκτικώτατον τοῦ ὁρίζοντος γίνεται ὁ ἀρκτικός. ἀκολούθως δὴ τούτῳ τὸ ποιητικὸν ἁρμόσαντες τὸν μὲν ὁρίζοντα ὀφείλομεν δέχεσθαι τὸν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς οἰκείως τῷ ὠκεανῷ, τὸν δʼ ἀρκτικὸν τῆς γῆς ἁπτόμενον ὡς ἂν πρὸς αἴσθησιν κατὰ τὸ ἀρκτικώτατον τῆς οἰκήσεως σημεῖον· ὥστε καὶ τοῦτο τὸ μέρος τῆς γῆς κλύζοιτʼ ἂν τῷ ὠκεανῷ κατʼ αὐτόν. καὶ τοὺς ἀνθρώπους δὲ οἶδε τοὺς προσβόρρους μάλιστα, οὓς ὀνομαστὶ μὲν οὐ δηλοῖ (οὐδὲ γὰρ νῦν που κοινὸν αὐτοῖς ὄνομα κεῖται πᾶσι), τῇ διαίτῃ δὲ φράζει, νομάδας αὐτοὺς ὑπογράφων καὶ ἀγαυοὺς ἱππημολγοὺς γαλακτοφάγους ἀβίους τε.
He tells us also, that the Ethiopians are far removed, and bounded by the ocean: far removed,— The Ethiopians, utmost of mankind, / These eastward situate, those toward the west. / Nor was he mistaken in calling them separated into two divisions, as we shall presently show: and next to the ocean,— For to the banks of the Oceanus, / Where Ethiopia holds a feast to Jove, / He journey’d yesterday. / Speaking of the Bear, he implies that the most northern part of the earth is bounded by the ocean: Only star of these denied / To slake his beams in Ocean’s briny baths. / Now, by the Bear and the Wain, he means the Arctic Circle; otherwise he would never have said, It alone is deprived of the baths of the ocean, when such an infinity of stars is to be seen continually revolving in that part of the hemisphere. Let no one any longer blame his ignorance for being merely acquainted with one Bear, when there are two. It is probable that the second was not considered a constellation until, on the Phoenicians specially designating it, and employing it in navigation, it became known as one to the Greeks. Such is the case with the Hair of Berenice, and Canopus, whose names are but of yesterday; and, as Aratus remarks, there are numbers which have not yet received any designation. Crates, therefore, is mistaken when, endeavouring to amend what is correct, he reads the verse thus: οἷος δ’ ἄμμορός ἐστι λοετρῶν, / replacing οἴη by οἶς, with a view to make the adjective agree with the Arctic Circle, which is masculine; instead of the Arctic Constellation, which is feminine. The expression of Heraclitus is far more preferable and Homeric, who thus figuratively describes the Arctic Circle as the Bear,—The Bear is the limit of the dawn and of the evening, and from the region of the Bear we have fine weather. Now it is not the constellation of the Bear, but the Arctic Circle, which is the limit of the rising and the setting stars.
By the Bear, then, which he elsewhere calls the Wain, and describes as pursuing Orion, Homer means us to understand the Arctic Circle; and by the ocean, that horizon into which, and out of which, the stars rise and set. When he says that the Bear turns round and is deprived of the ocean, he was aware that the Arctic Circle [always] extended to the sign opposite the most northern point of the horizon. Adapting the words of the poet to this view, by that part of the earth nearest to the ocean we must understand the horizon, and by the Arctic Circle that which extends to the signs which seem to our senses to touch in succession the most northern point of the horizon. Thus, according to him, this portion of the earth is washed by the ocean. With the nations of the North he was well acquainted, although he does not mention them by name, and indeed at the present day there is no regular title by which they are all distinguished. He informs us of their mode of life, describing them as wanderers, noble milkers of mares, living on cheese, and without wealth.
καὶ ἄλλως δʼ ἐμφαίνει τὸ κύκλῳ περικεῖσθαι τῇ γῇ τὸν ὠκεανόν, ὅταν οὕτω φῇ ἡ Ἥρα εἶμι γὰρ ὀψομένη πολυφόρβου πείρατα γαίης Ὠκεανόν τε θεῶν γένεσιν. τοῖς γὰρ πέρασι πᾶσι συνήθη λέγει τὸν ὠκεανόν, τὰ δὲ πέρατα κύκλῳ περίκειται. ἔν τε τῇ ὁπλοποιίᾳ τῆς Ἀχιλλέως ἀσπίδος κύκλῳ περιτίθησι τὸν ὠκεανὸν ἐπὶ τῆς ἴτυος. ἔχεται δὲ τῆς αὐτῆς φιλοπραγμοσύνης καὶ τὸ μὴ ἀγνοεῖν τὰ περὶ τὰς πλημμυρίδας τοῦ ὠκεανοῦ καὶ τὰς ἀμπώτεις ἀψορρόου ὠκεανοῖο, λέγοντα καί τρὶς μὲν γάρ τʼ ἀνίησιν ἐπʼ ἤματι, τρὶς δʼ ἀναροιβδεῖ. καὶ γὰρ εἰ μὴ τρὶς ἀλλὰ δίς, τάχα τῆς ἱστορίας παραπεσόντος ἢ τῆς γραφῆς διημαρτημένης, ἀλλʼ ἥ γε προαίρεσις τοιαύτη. καὶ τὸ ἐξ ἀκαλαρρείταο δὲ ἔχει τινὰ ἔμφασιν τῆς πλημμυρίδος, ἐχούσης τὴν ἐπίβασιν πραεῖαν καὶ οὐ τελέως ῥοώδη. Ποσειδώνιος δὲ καὶ ἐκ τοῦ σκοπέλους λέγειν τοτὲ μὲν καλυπτομένους τοτὲ δὲ γυμνουμένους καὶ ἐκ τοῦ ποταμὸν φάναι τὸν ὠκεανὸν εἰκάζει τὸ ῥοῶδες αὐτοῦ τὸ περὶ τὰς πλημμυρίδας ἐμφανίζεσθαι. τὸ μὲν οὖν πρῶτον εὖ, τὸ δὲ δεύτερον οὐκ ἔχει λόγον· οὔτε γὰρ ποταμίῳ ῥεύματι ἔοικεν ἡ τῆς πλημμυρίδος ἐπίβασις, πολὺ δὲ μᾶλλον ἡ ἀναχώρησις οὐ τοιαύτη, ὅ τε τοῦ Κράτητος λόγος διδάσκει τι πιθανώτερον. βαθύρρουν μὲν γὰρ καὶ ἄψορρον λέγει, ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ ποταμὸν τὸν ὅλον ὠκεανόν· λέγει δὲ καὶ μέρος τοῦ ὠκεανοῦ τι ποταμὸν καὶ ποταμοῖο ῥόον, οὐ τοῦ ὅλου ἀλλὰ τοῦ μέρους, ὅταν οὕτω φῇ αὐτὰρ ἐπεὶ ποταμοῖο λίπεν ῥόον ὠκεανοῖο νηῦς, ἀπὸ δʼ ἵκετο κῦμα θαλάσσης εὐρυπόροιο. οὐ γὰρ τὸν ὅλον, ἀλλὰ τὸν ἐν τῷ ὠκεανῷ τοῦ ποταμοῦ ῥόον μέρος ὄντα τοῦ ὠκεανοῦ, ὅν φησιν ὁ Κράτης ἀνάχυσίν τινα καὶ κόλπον ἐπὶ τὸν νότιον πόλον ἀπὸ τοῦ χειμερινοῦ τροπικοῦ διήκοντα. τοῦτον γὰρ δύναιτʼ ἄν τις ἐκλιπὼν ἔτι εἶναι ἐν τῷ ὠκεανῷ, τὸν δὲ ὅλον ἐκλιπόντα ἔτι εἶναι ἐν τῷ ὅλῳ οὐχ οἷόν τε. Ὅμηρος δέ γε οὕτω φησί ποταμοῖο λίπεν ῥόον, ἀπὸ δʼ ἵκετο κῦμα θαλάσσης, ἥτις οὐκ ἄλλη τίς ἐστιν ἀλλὰ ὠκεανός. γίνεται οὖν, ἐὰν ἄλλως δέχῃ, ἐκβὰς ἐκ τοῦ ὠκεανοῦ ἦλθεν εἰς τὸν ὠκεανόν. ἀλλὰ ταῦτα μὲν μακροτέρας ἐστὶ διαίτης.
In the following speech of Juno, he states that the ocean surrounds the earth. For to the green earth’s utmost bounds I go, / To visit there the parent of the gods, / Oceanus. /
Does he not here assert that ocean bounds all its extremities, and does it not surround these extremities? Again, in the Hoplopoeia, he places the ocean in a circle round the border of Achilles’ shield. Another proof of the extent of his knowledge, is his acquaintance with the ebb and flow of the sea, calling it the ebbing ocean. Again, Each day she thrice disgorges, and again / Thrice drinks, insatiate, the deluge down. / The assertion of thrice, instead of twice, is either an error of the author, or a blunder of the scribe, but the phenomenon is the same, and the expression soft-flowing, has reference to the flood-tide, which has a gentle swell, and does not flow with a full rush. Posidonius believes that where Homer describes the rocks as at one time covered with the waves, and at another left bare, and when he compares the ocean to a river, he alludes to the flow of the ocean. The first supposition is correct, but for the second there is no ground; inasmuch as there can be no comparison between the flow, much less the ebb of the sea, and the current of a river. There is more probability in the explanation of Crates, that Homer describes the whole ocean as deep-flowing, ebbing, and also calls it a river, and that he also describes a part of the ocean as a river, and the flow of a river; and that he is speaking of a part, and not the whole, when he thus writes:— When down the smooth Oceanus impell’d / By prosperous gales, my galley, once again, / Cleaving the billows of the spacious deep, / Had reach’d the Aeaean isle. / He does not, however, mean the whole, but the flow of the river in the ocean, which forms but a part of the ocean. Crates says, he speaks of an estuary or gulf, extending from the winter tropic towards the south pole. Now any one quitting this, might still be in the ocean; but for a person to leave the whole and still to be in the whole, is an impossibility. But Homer says, that leaving the flow of the river, the ship entered on the waves of the sea, which is the same as the ocean. If you take it otherwise you make him say, that departing from the ocean he came to the ocean. But this requires further discussion.
̔́οτι δὲ ἡ οἰκουμένη νῆσός ἐστι πρῶτον μὲν ἐκ τῆς αἰσθήσεως καὶ τῆς πείρας ληπτέον. πανταχῆ γάρ, ὁπουποτοῦν ἐφικτὸν γέγονεν ἀνθρώποις ἐπὶ τὰ ἔσχατα τῆς γῆς προελθεῖν, εὑρίσκεται θάλαττα, ἣν δὴ καλοῦμεν ὠκεανόν. καὶ ὅπου δὲ τῇ αἰσθήσει λαβεῖν οὐχ ὑπῆρξεν, ὁ λόγος δείκνυσι. τὸ μὲν γὰρ ἑωθινὸν πλευρόν, τὸ κατὰ τοὺς Ἰνδούς, καὶ τὸ ἑσπέριον, τὸ κατὰ τοὺς Ἴβηρας καὶ τοὺς Μαυρουσίους, περιπλεῖται πᾶν ἐπὶ πολὺ τοῦ τε νοτίου μέρους καὶ τοῦ βορείου· τὸ δὲ λειπόμενον ἄπλουν ἡμῖν μέχρι νῦν τῷ μὴ συμμῖξαι μηδένας ἀλλήλοις τῶν ἀντιπεριπλεόντων οὐ πολύ, εἴ τις συντίθησιν ἐκ τῶν παραλλήλων διαστημάτων τῶν ἐφικτῶν ἡμῖν. οὐκ εἰκὸς δὲ διθάλαττον εἶναι τὸ πέλαγος τὸ Ἀτλαντικόν, ἰσθμοῖς διειργόμενον οὕτω στενοῖς τοῖς κωλύουσι τὸν περίπλουν, ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον σύρρουν καὶ συνεχές· οἵ τε γὰρ περιπλεῖν ἐγχειρήσαντες, εἶτα ἀναστρέψαντες, οὐχ ὑπὸ ἠπείρου τινὸς ἀντιπιπτούσης καὶ κωλυούσης τὸν ἐπέκεινα πλοῦν ἀνακρουσθῆναι φασίν, ἀλλὰ ὑπὸ ἀπορίας καὶ ἐρημίας, οὐδὲν ἧττον τῆς θαλάττης ἐχούσης τὸν πόρον. τοῖς τε πάθεσι τοῦ ὠκεανοῦ τοῖς περὶ τὰς ἀμπώτεις καὶ τὰς πλημμυρίδας ὁμολογεῖ τοῦτο μᾶλλον· πάντη γοῦν ὁ αὐτὸς τρόπος τῶν τε μεταβολῶν ὑπάρχει καὶ τῶν αὐξήσεων καὶ μειώσεων, ἣ οὐ πολὺ παραλλάττων, ὡς ἂν ἐπὶ ἑνὸς πελάγους τῆς κινήσεως ἀποδιδομένης καὶ ἀπὸ μιᾶς αἰτίας.
Perception and experience alike inform us, that the earth we inhabit is an island: since wherever men have approached the termination of the land, the sea, which we designate ocean, has been met with: and reason assures us of the similarity of those places which our senses have not been permitted to survey. For in the east the land occupied by the Indians, and in the west by the Iberians and Maurusians, is wholly encompassed [by water], and so is the greater part on the south and north. And as to what remains as yet unexplored by us, because navigators, sailing from opposite points, have not hitherto fallen in with each other, it is not much, as any one may see who will compare the distances between those places with which we are already acquainted. Nor is it likely that the Atlantic Ocean is divided into two seas by narrow isthmuses so placed as to prevent circumnavigation: how much more probable that it is confluent and uninterrupted! Those who have returned from an attempt to circumnavigate the earth, do not say they have been prevented from continuing their voyage by any opposing continent, for the sea remained perfectly open, but through want of resolution, and the scarcity of provision. This theory too accords better with the ebb and flow of the ocean, for the phenomenon, both in the increase and diminution, is every where identical, or at all events has but little difference, as if produced by the agitation of one sea, and resulting from one cause.
̔́ιππαρχος δʼ οὐ πιθανός ἐστιν ἀντιλέγων τῇ δόξῃ ταύτῃ, ὡς οὔθʼ ὁμοιοπαθοῦντος τοῦ ὠκεανοῦ παντελῶς οὔτʼ, εἰ δοθείη τοῦτο, ἀκολουθοῦντος αὐτῷ τοῦ σύρρουν εἶναι πᾶν τὸ κύκλῳ πέλαγος τὸ Ἀτλαντικόν, πρὸς τὸ μὴ ὁμοιοπαθεῖν μάρτυρι χρώμενος Σελεύκῳ τῷ Βαβυλωνίῳ. ἡμεῖς δὲ τὸν μὲν πλείω λόγον περὶ τοῦ ὠκεανοῦ καὶ τῶν πλημμυρίδων εἰς Ποσειδώνιον ἀναβαλλόμεθα καὶ Ἀθηνόδωρον, ἱκανῶς * διακρατήσαντας τὸν περὶ τούτων λόγον· πρὸς δὲ τὰ νῦν ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον λέγομεν, ὅτι πρός τε τὴν ὁμοιοπάθειαν οὕτω βέλτιον νομίσαι, τά τε οὐράνια συνέχοιτʼ ἂν κρεῖττον ταῖς ἐντεῦθεν ἀναθυμιάσεσιν, εἰ πλεῖον εἴη τὸ ὑγρὸν περικεχυμένον.
We must not credit Hipparchus, who combats this opinion, denying that the ocean is every where similarly affected; or that even if it were, it would not follow that the Atlantic flowed in a circle, and thus continually returned into itself. Seleucus, the Babylonian, is his authority for this assertion. For a further investigation of the ocean and its tides we refer to Posidonius and Athenodorus, who have fully discussed this subject: we will now only remark that this view agrees better with the uniformity of the phenomenon; and that the greater the amount of moisture surrounding the earth, the easier would the heavenly bodies be supplied with vapours from thence.
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