BOHN’S CLASSICAL LIBRARY.

PLINY’S

NATURAL HISTORY.

TRANSLATED,

WITH COPIOUS NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS

VOL. I.

LONDON:
HENRY G. BOHN, YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN.
MDCCCLV.

The only translation of Pliny’s Natural History which has hitherto appeared in the English language is that by Philemon Holland, published in the latter part of the reign of Elizabeth. It is no disparagement to Holland’s merits, as a diligent and generally faithful translator, to say that his work is unsuited to the requirements of the nineteenth century.

In the present translation, the principal editions of Pliny have been carefully consulted, and no pains have been spared, as a reference to the Notes will show, to present to the reader the labours of recent Commentators, among whom stands pre-eminent the celebrated Cuvier. It has been a primary object to bring to the illustration of the work whatever was afforded by the progress of knowledge and modern discoveries in science and art. Without ample illustration, Pliny’s valuable work would want much of the interest which belongs to it, and present difficulties scarcely surmountable by any one who has not made the Author his especial study.

In the first two Books, the text of Hardouin, as given in Lemaire’s edition (Paris, 1827), has been followed; in thevi remainder that of Sillig (Gotha, 1851-3), excepting in some few instances, where, for reasons given in the Notes, it has been deemed advisable to depart from it. The first two Books, and portions of others, are the performance of the late Dr. Bostock, who contemplated a translation of the entire work; but, unfortunately for the interests of science, he was not permitted to carry his design into execution.

Upwards of a hundred pages had been printed off before the present Translator entered on his duties; and as they had not the advantage of Dr. Bostock’s superintendence through the press, some trifling oversights have occurred. These are, for the most part, corrected in a short Appendix.

Caius Plinius Secundus was born either at Verona or Novum Comum1, now Como, in Cisalpine Gaul, in the year A.U.C. 776, and A.D. 23. It is supposed that his earlier years were spent in his native province; and that he was still a youth when he removed to Rome, and attended the lectures of the grammarian Apion. It was in about his sixteenth year that he there saw Lollia Paulina2, as in the following she was divorced by Caligula, and it was probably in his twentieth that he witnessed the capture of a large fish at Ostia, by Claudius and his attendants3, and in his twenty-second that he visited Africa4, Egypt, and Greece.

In his twenty-third year Pliny served in Germany under the legatus Pomponius Secundus, whose friendship he soon acquired, and was in consequence promoted to the command of an ala, or troop of cavalry. During his military career he wrote a treatise (now lost) “On the Use of the Javelin by Cavalry,” and travelled over that country5 as far as the shores of the German Ocean, besides visiting Belgic Gaul. In his twenty-ninth year he returned to Rome, and applied himself for a time to forensic pursuits, which however he appears soon to have abandoned. About this time he wrote the life of his friend Pomponius, and an account of the “Wars in Germany,” in twenty books, neither of which are extant. Though employed in writing aviii continuation of the “Roman History” of Aufidius Bassus, from the time of Tiberius, he judiciously suspended its publication during the reign of Nero, who appointed him his procurator in Nearer Spain, and not improbably honoured him with equestrian rank. It was during his sojourn in Spain that the death of his brother-in-law, C. Cæcilius, left his nephew C. Plinius Cæcilius Secundus (the author of the Letters) an orphan; whom immediately upon his return to Rome, A.D. 70, he adopted, receiving him and his widowed mother under his roof.

Having been previously known to Vespasian in the German wars, he was admitted into the number of his most intimate friends, and obtained an appointment at court, the nature of which is not known, but Rezzonico conjectures that it was in connexion with the imperial treasury. Though Pliny was on intimate terms also with Titus, to whom he dedicated his Natural History, there is little ground for the assertion, sometimes made, that he served under him in the Jewish wars. His account of Palestine clearly shows that he had never visited that country. It was at this period that he published his Continuation of the History of Aufidius Bassus.

From the titles which he gives to Titus in the dedicatory preface, it is pretty clear that his Natural History was published A.D. 77, two years before his death.

In A.D. 73 or 74, he had been appointed by Vespasian præfect of the Roman fleet at Misenum, on the western coast of Italy. It was to this elevation that he owed his romantic death, somewhat similar, it has been remarked, to that of Empedocles, who perished in the crater of Mount Ætna. The closing scene of his active life, simultaneously with the destruction of Herculaneum and Pompeii, cannot be better described than in the language employed by his nephew in an Epistle to his friend Tacitus the historian6:—“My uncle was at Misenum, where he was in personal command of the fleet. On the ninth7 day before the calends of September, at about the seventh hour, 1 P.M., my mother, observing the appearance of a cloud of unusual size and shape, mentioned it to him. After reclining in the sun he had taken his cold bath; he had then again lain down and, after a slight repast, applied himself to his studies. Immediately upon hearingix this, he called for his shoes, and ascended a spot from which he could more easily observe this remarkable phænomenon. The cloud was to be seen gradually rising upwards; though, from the great distance, it was uncertain from which of the mountains it arose; it was afterwards, however, ascertained to be Vesuvius. In appearance and shape it strongly resembled a tree; perhaps it was more like a pine than anything else, with a stem of enormous length reaching upwards to the heavens, and then spreading out in a number of branches in every direction. I have little doubt that either it had been carried upwards by a violent gust of wind, and that the wind dying away, it had lost its compactness, or else, that being overcome by its own weight, it had decreased in density and become extended over a large surface: at one moment it was white, at another dingy and spotted, just as it was more or less charged with earth or with ashes.

“To a man so eager as he was in the pursuit of knowledge, this appeared to be a most singular phænomenon, and one that deserved to be viewed more closely; accordingly he gave orders for a light Liburnian vessel to be got ready, and left it at my option to accompany him. To this however I made answer, that I should prefer continuing my studies; and as it so happened, he himself had just given me something to write. Taking his tablets with him, he left the house. The sailors stationed at Retina, alarmed at the imminence of the danger—for the village lay at the foot of the mountain, and the sole escape was by sea—sent to entreat his assistance in rescuing them from this frightful peril. Upon this he instantly changed his plans, and what he had already begun from a desire for knowledge, he determined to carry out as a matter of duty. He had the gallies put to sea at once, and went on board himself, with the intention of rendering assistance, not only to Retina, but to many other places as well; for the whole of this charming coast was thickly populated. Accordingly he made all possible haste towards the spot, from which others were flying, and steered straight onwards into the very midst of the danger: so far indeed was he from every sensation of fear, that he remarked and had noted down every movement and every change that was to be observed in the appearance of this ominous eruption.x The ashes were now falling fast upon the vessels, hotter and more and more thickly the nearer they approached the shore; showers of pumice too, intermingled with black stones, calcined and broken by the action of the flames: the sea suddenly retreated from the shore, where the debris of the mountain rendered landing quite impossible. After hesitating for a moment whether or not to turn back, upon the pilot strongly advising him to do so:—“Fortune favours the bold8,” said he, “conduct me to Pomponianus.” Pomponianus was then at Stabiæ, a place that lay on the other side of the bay, for in those parts the shores are winding, and as they gradually trend away, the sea forms a number of little creeks. At this spot the danger at present was not imminent, but still it could be seen, and as it appeared to be approaching nearer and nearer, Pomponianus had ordered his baggage on board the ships, determined to take to flight, if the wind, which happened to be blowing the other way, should chance to lull. The wind, being in this quarter, was extremely favourable to his passage, and my uncle soon arriving at Stabiæ, embraced his anxious friend, and did his best to restore his courage; and the better to re-assure him by evidence of his own sense of their safety, he requested the servants to conduct him to the bath. After bathing he took his place at table, and dined, and that too in high spirits, or at all events, what equally shows his strength of mind, with every outward appearance of being so. In the mean time vast sheets of flame and large bodies of fire were to be seen arising from Mount Vesuvius; the glare and brilliancy of which were beheld in bolder relief as the shades of night came on apace. My uncle however, in order to calm their fears, persisted in saying that this was only the light given by some villages which had been abandoned by the rustics in their alarm to the flames: after which he retired to rest, and soon fell fast asleep: for his respiration, which with him was heavy and loud, in consequence of his corpulence, was distinctly heard by the servants who were keeping watch at the door of the apartment. The courtyard which led to his apartment had now become filled with cinders and pumice-stones, to such a degree, that if he had remained any longer in the room, it would have been quite impossible for him toxi leave it. On being awoke he immediately arose, and rejoined Pomponianus and the others who had in the meanwhile been sitting up. They then consulted together whether it would be better to remain in the house or take their chance in the open air; as the building was now rocking to and fro from the violent and repeated shocks, while the walls, as though rooted up from their very foundations, seemed to be at one moment carried in this direction, at another in that. Having adopted the latter alternative, they were now alarmed at the showers of light calcined pumice-stones that were falling thick about them, a risk however to which as a choice of evils they had to submit. In taking this step I must remark that, while with my uncle it was reason triumphing over reason, with the rest it was only one fear getting the better of the other. Taking the precaution of placing pillows on their heads, they tied them on with towels, by way of protection against the falling stones and ashes. It was now day in other places, though there it was still night, more dark and more profound than any ordinary night; torches however and various lights in some measure served to dispel the gloom. It was then determined to make for the shore, and to ascertain whether the sea would now admit of their embarking; it was found however to be still too stormy and too boisterous to allow of their making the attempt. Upon this my uncle lay down on a sail which had been spread for him, and more than once asked for some cold water, which he drank; very soon however, they were alarmed by the flames and the sulphurous smell which announced their approach, upon which the others at once took to flight, while my uncle arose leaning upon two of the servants for support. Upon making this effort, he instantly fell to the ground; the dense vapour having, I imagine, stopped the respiration and suffocated him; for his chest was naturally weak and contracted, and often troubled with violent palpitations. When day was at last restored, the third after the closing one of his existence, his body was found untouched and without a wound; there was no change to be perceived in the clothes, and its appearance was rather that of a person asleep than of a corpse. In the meantime my mother and myself were at Misenum—that however has nothing to do with the story, as it was only your wish to know thexii details connected with his death. I shall therefore draw to a conclusion. The only thing that I shall add is the assurance that I have truthfully related all these facts, of which I was either an eye-witness myself, or heard them at the time of their occurrence, a period when they were most likely to be correctly related. You of course will select such points as you may think the most important. For it is one thing to write a letter, another to write history;—one thing to write for a friend, another to write for the public. Farewell.”

Of the mode of life pursued by Pliny, and of the rest of his works, an equally interesting account has been preserved by his nephew, in an Epistle addressed to Macer9. We cannot more appropriately conclude than by presenting this Epistle to the reader:—“I am highly gratified to find that you read the works of my uncle with such a degree of attention as to feel a desire to possess them all, and that with this view you inquire, What are their names? I will perform the duties of an index then: and not content with that, will state in what order they were written: for even that is a kind of information which is by no means undesirable to those who are devoted to literary pursuits. His first composition was a treatise ‘on the use of the Javelin by Cavalry,’ in one Book. This he composed, with equal diligence and ingenuity, while he was in command of a troop of horse. His second work was the ‘Life of Q. Pomponius Secundus,’ in two Books, a person by whom he had been particularly beloved.—These books he composed as a tribute which was justly due to the memory of his deceased friend. His next work was twenty Books on ‘the Wars in Germany,’ in which he has compiled an account of all the wars in which we have been engaged with the people of that country. This he had begun while serving in Germany, having been recommended to do so in a dream. For in his sleep he thought that the figure of Drusus Nero10 stood by him—the same Drusus, who after the most extensive conquests in that country, there met hisxiii death. Commending his memory to Pliny’s attentive care, Drusus conjured him to rescue it from the decaying effect of oblivion. Next to these came his three books entitled ‘The Student’11, divided, on account of their great size, into six volumes. In these he has given instructions for the training of the orator, from the cradle to his entrance on public life. In the latter years of Nero’s reign, he wrote eight books, ‘On Difficulties in the Latin Language12;’ that being a period at which every kind of study, in any way free-spoken or even of elevated style, would have been rendered dangerous by the tyranny that was exercised. His next work was his ‘Continuation of the History of Aufidius Bassus,’ in thirty-one books; after which came his ‘Natural History,’ in thirty-seven books, a work remarkable for its comprehensiveness and erudition, and not less varied than Nature herself. You will wonder how a man so occupied with business could possibly find time to write such a number of volumes, many of them on subjects of a nature so difficult to be treated of. You will be even more astonished when you learn, that for some time he pleaded at the bar as an advocate, that he was only in his fifty-sixth year at the time of his death, and that the time that intervened was equally trenched upon and frittered away by the most weighty duties of business, and the marks of favour shewn him by princes. His genius, however, was truly quite incredible, his zeal indefatigable, and his power of application wonderful in the extreme. At the festival of the Vulcanalia13, he began to sit up to a late hour by candle-light, not for the purpose of consulting14 the stars, but with the object of pursuing his studies; while, in the winter, he would set to work at the seventh hour of the night, or the eighth at the very latest, often indeed at the sixth15. By nature he had the faculty of being able to fall asleep in a moment; indeed, slumber would sometimes overtake him in his studies, and then leave him just as suddenly. Before daybreak, he was in the habit of attending the Emperor Vespasian,—for he, too, was one who made an excellent use of his nights,—and then betook himselfxiv to the duties with which he was charged. On his return home, he devoted all the time which was still remaining to study. Taking an early repast, after the old fashion, light, and easy of digestion, in the summer time, if he had any leisure to spare, he would lie down in the sun-shine, while some book was read to him, he himself making notes and extracts in the meanwhile; for it was his habit never to read anything without making extracts, it being a maxim of his, that there is no book so bad but that some good may be got out of it. After thus enjoying the sunshine, he generally took a cold bath; after which he would sit down to a slight repast, and then take a short nap. On awaking, as though another day had now commenced, he would study till the hour for the evening meal, during which some book was generally read to him, he making comments on it in a cursory manner. I remember, on one occasion, a friend of his interrupting the reader, who had given the wrong pronunciation to some words, and making him go over them again. “You understood him, didn’t you?” said my uncle. “Yes,” said the other. “Why, then, did you make him go over it again? Through this interruption of yours, we have lost more than ten lines.” So thrifty a manager was he of time! In summer he rose from the evening meal by daylight; and, in winter, during the first hour of the night16, just as though there had been some law which made it compulsory on him to do so. This is how he lived in the midst of his employments, and the bustle of the city. When in retirement in the country, the time spent in the bath was the only portion that was not allotted by him to study. When I say in the bath, I mean while he was in the water; for while his body was being scraped with the strigil and rubbed, he either had some book read to him, or else would dictate himself. While upon a journey, as though relieved from every other care, he devoted himself to study, and nothing else. By his side was his secretary, with a book and tablets; and, in the winter time, the secretary’s hands were protected by gloves, that the severity of the weather might not deprive his master for a single moment of his services. It was for this reason also that, when at Rome, he would never move about except in a litter. I remember that onxv one occasion he found fault with me for walking—“You might have avoided losing all those hours,” said he; for he looked upon every moment as lost which was not devoted to study. It was by means of such unremitting industry as this that he completed so many works, and left me 160 volumes of notes17, written extremely small on both sides, which in fact renders the collection doubly voluminous. He himself used to relate, that when he was procurator in Spain, he might have parted with his common-place book to Largius Licinius for 400,000 sesterces; and at that time the collection was not so extensive as afterwards. When you come to think of how much he must have read, of how much he has written, would you not really suppose that he had never been engaged in business, and had never enjoyed the favour of princes? And yet, on the other hand, when you hear what labour he expended upon his studies, does it not almost seem that he has neither written nor read enough? For, in fact, what pursuits are those that would not have been interrupted by occupations such as his? While, again, what is there that such unremitting perseverance as his could not have effected? I am in the habit, therefore, of laughing at it when people call me a studious man,—me who, in comparison with him, am a downright idler; and yet I devote to study as much time as my public engagements on the one hand, and my duties to my friends on the other, will admit of. Who is there, then, out of all those who have devoted their whole life to literature, that ought not, when put in comparison with him, to quite blush at a life that would almost appear to have been devoted to slothfulness and inactivity? But my letter has already exceeded its proper limits, for I had originally intended to write only upon the subject as to which you made inquiry, the books of his composition that he left. I trust, however, that these particulars will prove no less pleasing to you than the writings themselves; and that they will not only induce you to peruse them, but excite you, by a feeling of generous emulation, to produce some work of a similar nature.—Farewell.”

Of all the works written by Pliny, one only, the ‘Historia Naturalis’ has survived to our times. This work, however, xvi is not a ‘Natural History’ in the modern acceptation of the term, but rather a vast Encyclopædia of ancient knowledge and belief upon almost every known subject—“not less varied than Nature herself,” as his nephew says. It comprises, within the compass of thirty-seven books, 20,000 matters of importance, collected from about 2000 volumes (nearly all of which have now perished), the works, as Pliny himself states, of 100 writers of authority; together with a vast number of additional matters unknown to those authorities, and many of them the results of his own experience and observation. Hardouin has drawn up a catalogue of the authors quoted by Pliny; they amount in number to between 400 and 500.

The following is a brief sketch of the plan of this wonderful monument of human industry. After a dedicatory Epistle to Titus, followed by a table of contents of the other Books, which together form the First Book, the author proceeds to give an account of the prevailing notions as to the universe, the earth, the sun, the moon, the stars, and the more remarkable properties of the elements (partes naturæ). He then passes on to a geographical description of the face of the earth as known to the ancients. After the Geography comes what may in strict propriety be termed “Natural History,” including a history of man, replete indeed with marvels, but interesting in the highest degree. Having mentioned at considerable length the land, animals, fishes, birds, and insects, he passes on to Botany, which in its various aspects occupies the larger portion of the work. At the same time, in accordance with his comprehensive plan, this part includes a vast amount of information on numerous subjects, the culture of the cereals and the manufacture of oil, wine, paper (papyrus), and numerous other articles of daily use. After treating at considerable length of Medical Botany, he proceeds to speak of medicaments derived from the human body, from which he branches off into discussions on the history of medicine, and magic, which last he looks upon as an offshoot from the medical art; and he takes this opportunity of touching upon many of the then current superstitions and notions on astrology. He concludes this portion of his work with an account of the medicinal properties of various waters, and of those of fishes and other aquatic animals.xvii He then presents us with a treatise on Mineralogy, in which he has accumulated every possible kind of information relative to the use of gold, silver, bronze, and other metals; a subject which not unnaturally leads him into repeated digressions relative to money, jewels, plate, statues, and statuaries. Mineral pigments next occupy his attention, with many interesting notices of the great painters of Greece; from which he passes on to the various kinds of stone and materials employed in building, and the use of marble for the purposes of sculpture, including a notice of that art and of the most eminent sculptors. The last Book is devoted to an account of gems and precious stones, and concludes with an eulogium on his native country, as alike distinguished for its fertility, its picturesque beauties, and the natural endowments and high destinies of its people.

From the writings of Pliny we gather of course a large amount of information as to his opinions and the constitution of his mind. His credulity, it must be admitted, is great in the extreme; though, singularly enough, he severely taxes the Greeks with the same failing18. Were we not assured from other sources that he was eminently successful in life, was in the enjoyment of opulence, and honoured with the favour and confidence of princes19, the remarks which he frequently makes on human life, in the Seventh Book more especially, would have led us to the conclusion that he was a disappointed man, embittered against his fellow-creatures, and dissatisfied with the terms on which the tenure of life is granted to us. He opens that Book with a preface replete with querulous dissatisfaction and repinings at the lot of man—the only ‘tearful’ animal—he says20. He repines at the helpless and wretched condition of the infant at the moment it is ushered into life, and the numerous pains andxviii vices to which it is doomed to be subject.—Man’s liability to disease is with him a blemish in the economy of nature:—“life,” he says, “this gift of nature, however long it may be, is but too uncertain and too frail; to those even to whom it is most largely granted, it is dealt out with a sparing and niggardly hand, if we only think of eternity21.” As we cannot have life on our own terms, he does not think it worthy of our acceptance, and more than once expresses his opinion that the sooner we are rid of it the better. Sudden death he looks upon as a remarkable phænomenon, but, at the same time, as the greatest blessing that can be granted to us22: and when he mentions cases of resuscitation, it is only to indulge in the querulous complaint, that, “exposed as he is by his birth to the caprices of fortune, man can be certain of nothing; no, not even his own death23.” Though anything but24 an Epicurean, in the modern acceptation of the word, he seems to have held some, at least, of the tenets of Epicurus, in reference to the immortality of the soul. Whether he supposed that the soul, at the moment of death, is resolved into its previous atoms or constituent elements, he does not inform us; but he states it as his belief, that after death the soul has no more existence than it had before birth; that all notions of immortality are a mere delusion25; and that the very idea of a future existence is ridiculous, and spoils that greatest26 blessing of nature—death. He certainly speaks of ghosts or apparitions, seen after death; but these he probably looked upon as exceptional cases, if indeed he believed27 in the stories which he quotes, of which we have no proofs, or rather, indeed, presumptive proofs to the contrary; for some of them he calls “magna28 fabulosetas,” “most fabulous tales.”

In relation to human inventions, it is worthy of remark, xix that he states that the first29 thing in which mankind agreed, was the use of the Ionian alphabet; the second, the practice of shaving30 the beard, and the employment of barbers; and the third, the division of time into hours.

We cannot more appropriately conclude this review of the Life and Works of Pliny, than by quoting the opinions of two of the most eminent philosophers of modern times, Buffon and Cuvier; though the former, it must be admitted, has spoken of him in somewhat too high terms of commendation, and in instituting a comparison between Pliny’s work and those of Aristotle, has placed in juxtaposition the names of two men who, beyond an ardent thirst for knowledge, had no characteristics in common.

“Pliny,” says Buffon31, “has worked upon a plan which is much more extensive than that of Aristotle, and not improbably too extensive. He has made it his object to embrace every subject; indeed he would appear to have taken the measure of Nature, and to have found her too contracted for his expansive genius. His ‘Natural History,’ independently of that of animals, plants, and minerals, includes an account of the heavens and the earth, of medicine, commerce, navigation, the liberal and mechanical arts, the origin of usages and customs, in a word, the history of all the natural sciences and all the arts of human invention. What, too, is still more astonishing, in each of these departments Pliny shows himself equally great. The grandeur of his ideas and the dignity of his style confer an additional lustre on the profoundness of his erudition; not only did he know all that was known in his time, but he was also gifted with that comprehensiveness of view which in some measure multiplies knowledge. He had all that delicacy of perception upon which depend so materially both elegance and taste, and he communicates to his readers that freedom of thought and that boldness of sentiment, which constitute the true germ of philosophy. His work, as varied as Nature herself, always paints her in her most attractive colours. It is, so to say, a compilation from all that had been written before hisxx time: a record of all that was excellent or useful; but this record has in it features so grand, this compilation contains matter grouped in a manner so novel, that it is preferable to most of the original works that treat upon similar subjects.”

The judgment pronounced by Cuvier on Pliny’s work, though somewhat less highly coloured, awards to it a high rank among the most valuable productions of antiquity. “The work of Pliny32,” says he, “is one of the most precious monuments that have come down to us from ancient times, and affords proof of an astonishing amount of erudition in one who was a warrior and a statesman. To appreciate with justice this vast and celebrated composition, it is necessary to regard it in several points of view—with reference to the plan proposed, the facts stated, and the style employed. The plan proposed by the writer is of immense extent—it is his object to write not merely a Natural History in our restricted sense of the term, not an account merely, more or less detailed, of animals, plants, and minerals, but a work which embraces astronomy, physics, geography, agriculture, commerce, medicine, and the fine arts—and all these in addition to natural history properly so called; while at the same time he continually interweaves with his narrative information upon the arts which bear relation to man considered metaphysically, and the history of nations,—so much so indeed, that in many respects this work was the Encyclopædia of its age. It was impossible in running over, however cursorily, such a prodigious number of subjects, that the writer should not have made us acquainted with a multitude of facts, which, while remarkable in themselves, are the more precious from the circumstance that at the present day he is the only author extant who relates them. It is to be regretted however that the manner in which he has collected and grouped this mass of matter, has caused it to lose some portion of its value, from his mixture of fable with truth, and more especially from the difficulty, and in some cases, the impossibility, of discovering exactly of what object33 he is speaking. But if Pliny possesses little merit as a critic, it is far otherwisexxi with his talent as a writer, and the immense treasury which he opens to us of Latin terms and forms of expression: these, from the very abundance of the subjects upon which he treats, render his work one of the richest repositories of the Roman language. Wherever he finds it possible to give expression to general ideas or to philosophical views, his language assumes considerable energy and vivacity, and his thoughts present to us a certain novelty and boldness which tend in a very great degree to relieve the dryness of his enumerations, and, with the majority of his readers, excuse the insufficiency of his scientific indications. He is always noble and serious, full of the love of justice and virtue, detestation of cruelty and baseness, of which he had such frightful instances before his eyes, and contempt for that unbridled luxury which in his time had so deeply corrupted the Roman people. For these great merits Pliny cannot be too highly praised, and despite the faults which we are obliged to admit in him when viewed as a naturalist, we are bound to regard him as one of the most meritorious of the Roman writers, and among those most worthy to be reckoned in the number of the classics who wrote after the reign of Augustus.”

This treatise on Natural History, a novel work in Roman literature, which I have just completed, I have taken the liberty to dedicate to you, most gracious35 Emperor, an appellation peculiarly suitable to you, while, on account of his age, that of great is more appropriate to your Father;—

if I may be allowed to shelter myself under the example of Catullus, my fellow-countryman37, a military term, which you well understand. For he, as you know, when his napkins had been changed38, expressed himself a little harshly, from2 his anxiety to show his friendship for his dear little Veranius and Fabius39. At the same time this my importunity may effect, what you complained of my not having done in another too forward epistle of mine; it will put upon record, and let all the world know, with what kindness you exercise the imperial dignity. You, who have had the honour of a triumph, and of the censorship, have been six times consul, and have shared in the tribunate; and, what is still more honourable, whilst you held them in conjunction with your Father, you have presided over the Equestrian order, and been the Prefect of the Prætorians40: all this you have done for the service of the Republic, and, at the same time, have regarded me as a fellow-soldier and a messmate. Nor has the extent of your prosperity produced any change in you, except that it has given you the power of doing good to the utmost of your wishes. And whilst all these circumstances increase the veneration which other persons feel for you, with respect to myself, they have made me so bold, as to wish to become more familiar. You must, therefore, place this to your own account, and blame yourself for any fault of this kind that I may commit.

But, although I have laid aside my blushes41, I have not gained my object; for you still awe me, and keep me at a distance, by the majesty of your understanding. In no one does the force of eloquence and of tribunitian oratory blaze out more powerfully! With what glowing language do you thunder forth the praises of your Father! How dearly do you love your Brother! How admirable is your talent for poetry! What a fertility of genius do you possess, so as to3 enable you to imitate your Brother42! But who is there that is bold enough to form an estimate on these points, if he is to be judged by you, and, more especially, if you are challenged to do so? For the case of those who merely publish their works is very different from that of those who expressly dedicate them to you. In the former case I might say, Emperor! why do you read these things? They are written only for the common people, for farmers or mechanics, or for those who have nothing else to do; why do you trouble yourself with them? Indeed, when I undertook this work, I did not expect that you would sit in judgement upon me43; I considered your situation much too elevated for you to descend to such an office. Besides, we possess the right of openly rejecting the opinion of men of learning. M. Tullius himself, whose genius is beyond all competition, uses this privilege; and, remarkable as it may appear, employs an advocate in his own defence:—“I do not write for very learned people; I do not wish my works to be read by Manius Persius, but by Junius Congus44.” And if Lucilius, who first introduced the satirical style45, applied such a remark to himself, and if Cicero thought proper to borrow it, and that more especially in his treatise “De Republica,” how much reason have I to do so, who have such a judge to defend myself against! And by this dedication I have deprived myself of the benefit of challenge46; for it is a very different thing whether a person has a judge given him by lot, or whether he voluntarily selects one; and we always make more preparation for an invited guest, than for one that comes in unexpectedly.

4

When the candidates for office, during the heat of the canvass, deposited the fine47 in the hands of Cato, that determined opposer of bribery, rejoicing as he did in his being rejected from what he considered to be foolish honours, they professed to do this out of respect to his integrity; the greatest glory which a man could attain. It was on this occasion that Cicero uttered the noble ejaculation, “How happy are you, Marcus Porcius, of whom no one dares to ask what is dishonourable48!” When L. Scipio Asiaticus appealed to the tribunes, among whom was Gracchus, he expressed full confidence that he should obtain an acquittal, even from a judge who was his enemy. Hence it follows, that he who appoints his own judge must absolutely submit to the decision; this choice is therefore termed an appeal49.

I am well aware, that, placed as you are in the highest station, and gifted with the most splendid eloquence and the most accomplished mind, even those who come to pay their respects to you, do it with a kind of veneration: on this account I ought to be careful that what is dedicated to you should be worthy of you. But the country people, and, indeed, some whole nations offer milk to the Gods50, and those who cannot procure frankincense substitute in its place salted cakes; for the Gods are not dissatisfied when they are worshiped by every one to the best of his ability. But my temerity will appear the greater by the consideration, that these volumes, which I dedicate to you, are of such inferior importance. For they do not admit of the display of genius, nor, indeed, is mine one of the highest order; they admit of no excursions, nor orations, nor discussions, nor of any wonderful adventures, nor any variety of transactions, nor, from the barrenness of the matter, of anything particularly pleasant in the narration, or agreeable to the reader. The nature5 of things, and life as it actually exists, are described in them; and often the lowest department of it; so that, in very many cases, I am obliged to use rude and foreign, or even barbarous terms, and these often require to be introduced by a kind of preface. And, besides this, my road is not a beaten track, nor one which the mind is much disposed to travel over. There is no one among us who has ever attempted it, nor is there any one individual among the Greeks who has treated of all the topics. Most of us seek for nothing but amusement in our studies, while others are fond of subjects that are of excessive subtilty, and completely involved in obscurity. My object is to treat of all those things which the Greeks include in the Encyclopædia51, which, however, are either not generally known or are rendered dubious from our ingenious conceits. And there are other matters which many writers have given so much in detail that we quite loathe them. It is, indeed, no easy task to give novelty to what is old, and authority to what is new; brightness to what is become tarnished, and light to what is obscure; to render what is slighted acceptable, and what is doubtful worthy of our confidence; to give to all a natural manner, and to each its peculiar nature. It is sufficiently honourable and glorious to have been willing even to make the attempt, although it should prove unsuccessful. And, indeed, I am of opinion, that the studies of those are more especially worthy of our regard, who, after having overcome all difficulties, prefer the useful office of assisting others to the mere gratification of giving pleasure; and this is what I have already done in some of my former works. I confess it surprises me, that T. Livius, so celebrated an author as he is, in one of the books of his history of the city from its origin, should begin with this remark, “I have now obtained a sufficient reputation, so that I might put an end to my work, did not my restless mind require to be supported by employment52.” Certainly he ought to have composed this work, not for his own glory, but for that of the Roman name, and6 of the people who were the conquerors of all other nations. It would have been more meritorious to have persevered in his labours from his love of the work, than from the gratification which it afforded himself, and to have accomplished it, not for his own sake, but for that of the Roman people.

I have included in thirty-six53 books 20,000 topics, all worthy of attention, (for, as Domitius Piso54 says, we ought to make not merely books, but valuable collections,) gained by the perusal of about 2000 volumes, of which a few only are in the hands of the studious, on account of the obscurity of the subjects, procured by the careful perusal of 100 select authors55; and to these I have made considerable additions of things, which were either not known to my predecessors, or which have been lately discovered. Nor can I doubt but that there still remain many things which I have omitted; for I am a mere mortal, and one that has many occupations. I have, therefore, been obliged to compose this work at interrupted intervals, indeed during the night, so that you will find that I have not been idle even during this period. The day I devote to you, exactly portioning out my sleep to the necessity of my health, and contenting myself with this reward, that while we are musing56 on these subjects (according to the remark of Varro), we are adding to the length of our lives; for life properly consists in being awake.

In consideration of these circumstances and these difficulties, I dare promise nothing; but you have done me the most essential service in permitting me to dedicate my work to you. Nor does this merely give a sanction to it, but it determines its value; for things are often conceived to be of great value, solely because they are consecrated in temples.

I have given a full account of all your family—your7 Father, yourself, and your Brother, in a history of our own times, beginning where Aufidius Bassus concludes57. You will ask, Where is it? It has been long completed and its accuracy confirmed58; but I have determined to commit the charge of it to my heirs, lest I should have been suspected, during my lifetime, of having been unduly influenced by ambition. By this means I confer an obligation on those who occupy the same ground with myself; and also on posterity, who, I am aware, will contend with me, as I have done with my predecessors.

You may judge of my taste from my having inserted, in the beginning of my book, the names of the authors that I have consulted. For I consider it to be courteous and to indicate an ingenuous modesty, to acknowledge the sources whence we have derived assistance, and not to act as most of those have done whom I have examined. For I must inform you, that in comparing various authors with each other, I have discovered, that some of the most grave and of the latest writers have transcribed, word for word, from former works, without making any acknowledgement; not avowedly rivalling them, in the manner of Virgil, or with the candour of Cicero, who, in his treatise “De Republica59,” professes to coincide in opinion with Plato, and in his Essay on Consolation for his Daughter, says that he follows Crantor, and, in his Offices60, Panæcius; volumes, which, as you well know, ought not merely to be always in our hands, but to be learned by heart. For it is indeed the mark of a perverted mind and a bad disposition, to prefer being caught in8 a theft to returning what we have borrowed, especially when we have acquired capital, by usurious interest61.

The Greeks were wonderfully happy in their titles. One work they called Κηρίον, which means that it was as sweet as a honeycomb; another Κέρας Ἀμαλθείας, or Cornu copiæ, so that you might expect to get even a draught of pigeon’s milk from it62. Then they have their Flowers, their Muses, Magazines, Manuals, Gardens, Pictures, and Sketches63, all of them titles for which a man might be tempted even to forfeit his bail. But when you enter upon the works, O ye Gods and Goddesses! how full of emptiness! Our duller countrymen have merely their Antiquities, or their Examples, or their Arts. I think one of the most humorous of them has his Nocturnal Studies64, a term employed by Bibaculus; a name which he richly deserved65. Varro, indeed, is not much behind him, when he calls one of his satires A Trick and a Half, and another Turning the Tables66. Diodorus was the first among the Greeks who laid aside this trifling manner and named his history The Library67. Apion, the grammarian, indeed—he whom Tiberius Cæsar called the Trumpeter of the World, but would rather seem to be the Bell of the Town-crier68,—supposed that every one to whom he inscribed any work would thence acquire immortality. I do not regret not having given my work a more fanciful title.

That I may not, however, appear to inveigh so completely against the Greeks, I should wish to be considered under the same point of view with those inventors of the arts of9 painting and sculpture, of whom you will find an account in these volumes, whose works, although they are so perfect that we are never satisfied with admiring them, are inscribed with a temporary title69, such as “Apelles, or Polycletus, was doing this;” implying that the work was only commenced and still imperfect, and that the artist might benefit by the criticisms that were made on it and alter any part that required it, if he had not been prevented by death. It is also a great mark of their modesty, that they inscribed their works as if they were the last which they had executed, and as still in hand at the time of their death. I think there are but three works of art which are inscribed positively with the words “such a one executed this;” of these I shall give an account in the proper place. In these cases it appears, that the artist felt the most perfect satisfaction with his work, and hence these pieces have excited the envy of every one.

I, indeed, freely admit, that much may be added to my works; not only to this, but to all which I have published. By this admission I hope to escape from the carping critics70, and I have the more reason to say this, because I hear that there are certain Stoics and Logicians71, and also Epicureans (from the Grammarians72 I expected as much), who are big with something against the little work I published on Grammar73; and that they have been carrying these abortions for ten years together—a longer pregnancy this than the elephant’s74. But I well know, that even a woman once wrote against Theophrastus, a man so eminent for his eloquence that he obtained his name, which signifies the10 Divine speaker75, and that from this circumstance originated the proverb of choosing a tree to hang oneself76.

I cannot refrain from quoting the words of Cato the censor, which are so pertinent to this point. It appears from them, that even Cato, who wrote commentaries on military discipline77, and who had learned the military art under Africanus, or rather under Hannibal (for he could not endure Africanus78, who, when he was his general, had borne away the triumph from him), that Cato, I say, was open to the attacks of such as caught at reputation for themselves by detracting from the merits of others. And what does he say in his book? “I know, that when I shall publish what I have written, there will be many who will do all they can to depreciate it, and, especially, such as are themselves void of all merit; but I let their harangues glide by me.” Nor was the remark of Plancus79 a bad one, when Asinius Pollio80 was said to be preparing an oration against him, which was to be published either by himself or his children, after the death of Plancus, in order that he might not be able to answer it: “It is only ghosts that fight with the dead.” This gave such a blow to the oration, that in the opinion of11 the learned generally, nothing was ever thought more scandalous. Feeling myself, therefore, secure against these vile slanderers81, a name elegantly composed by Cato, to express their slanderous and vile disposition (for what other object have they, but to wrangle and breed quarrels?), I will proceed with my projected work.

And because the public good requires that you should be spared as much as possible from all trouble, I have subjoined to this epistle the contents of each of the following books82, and have used my best endeavours to prevent your being obliged to read them all through. And this, which was done for your benefit, will also serve the same purpose for others, so that any one may search for what he wishes, and may know where to find it. This has been already done among us by Valerius Soranus, in his work which he entitled “On Mysteries83.”

The 1st book is the Preface of the Work, dedicated to Titus Vespasian Cæsar.

The 2nd is on the World, the Elements, and the Heavenly Bodies84.

The 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th books are on Geography, in which is contained an account of the situation of the different countries, the inhabitants, the seas, towns, harbours, mountains, rivers, and dimensions, and the various tribes, some of which still exist and others have disappeared.

The 7th is on Man, and the Inventions of Man.

The 8th on the various kinds of Land Animals.

The 9th on Aquatic Animals.

The 10th on the various kinds of Birds.

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The 11th on Insects.

The 12th on Odoriferous Plants.

The 13th on Exotic Trees.

The 14th on Vines.

The 15th on Fruit Trees.

The 16th on Forest Trees.

The 17th on Plants raised in nurseries or gardens.

The 18th on the nature of Fruits and the Cerealia, and the pursuits of the Husbandman.

The 19th on Flax, Broom85, and Gardening.

The 20th on the Cultivated Plants that are proper for food and for medicine.

The 21st on Flowers and Plants that are used for making Garlands.

The 22nd on Garlands, and Medicines made from Plants.

The 23rd on Medicines made from Wine and from cultivated Trees.

The 24th on Medicines made from Forest Trees.

The 25th on Medicines made from Wild Plants.

The 26th on New Diseases, and Medicines made, for certain Diseases, from Plants.

The 27th on some other Plants and Medicines.

The 28th on Medicines procured from Man and from large Animals.

The 29th on Medical Authors, and on Medicines from other Animals.

The 30th on Magic, and Medicines for certain parts of the Body.

The 31st on Medicines from Aquatic Animals.

The 32nd on the other properties of Aquatic Animals.

The 33rd on Gold and Silver.

The 34th on Copper and Lead, and the workers of Copper.

The 35th on Painting, Colours, and Painters.

The 36th on Marbles and Stones.

The 37th on Gems.

[I have adopted the division of the chapters from Hardouin, as given in the editions of Valpy, Lemaire, Ajasson, and Sillig; the Roman figures, enclosed between brackets, are the numbers of the chapters in Dalechamps, De Laët, Gronovius, Holland, and Poinsinet. The titles of the chapters are nearly the same with those in Valpy, Lemaire, and Ajasson.]

The world86, and whatever that be which we otherwise14 call the heavens87, by the vault of which all things are enclosed,15 we must conceive to be a Deity88, to be eternal, without bounds, neither created, nor subject, at any time, to destruction89. To inquire what is beyond it is no concern of man, nor can the human mind form any conjecture respecting it. It is sacred, eternal, and without bounds, all in all; indeed including everything in itself; finite, yet like what is infinite; the most certain of all things, yet like what is uncertain, externally and internally embracing all things in itself; it is the work of nature, and itself constitutes nature90.

It is madness to harass the mind, as some have done, with attempts to measure the world, and to publish these attempts; or, like others, to argue from what they have made out, that there are innumerable other worlds, and that we must believe there to be so many other natures, or that, if only one nature produced the whole, there will be so many suns and so many moons, and that each of them will have immense trains of other heavenly bodies. As if the same question would not recur at every step of our inquiry, anxious as we must be to arrive at some termination; or, as if this infinity, which we ascribe to nature, the former of all things, cannot be more easily comprehended by one single formation,16 especially when that is so extensive. It is madness, perfect madness, to go out of this world and to search for what is beyond it, as if one who is ignorant of his own dimensions could ascertain the measure of any thing else, or as if the human mind could see what the world itself cannot contain.

That it has the form of a perfect globe we learn from the name which has been uniformly given to it, as well as from numerous natural arguments. For not only does a figure of this kind return everywhere into itself92 and sustain itself, also including itself, requiring no adjustments, not sensible of either end or beginning in any of its parts, and is best fitted for that motion, with which, as will appear hereafter, it is continually turning round; but still more, because we perceive it, by the evidence of the sight, to be, in every part, convex and central, which could not be the case were it of any other figure.

The rising and the setting of the sun clearly prove, that this globe is carried round in the space of twenty-four hours, in an eternal and never-ceasing circuit, and with incredible17 swiftness93. I am not able to say, whether the sound caused by the whirling about of so great a mass be excessive, and, therefore, far beyond what our ears can perceive, nor, indeed, whether the resounding of so many stars, all carried along at the same time and revolving in their orbits, may not produce a kind of delightful harmony of incredible sweetness94. To us, who are in the interior, the world appears to glide silently along, both by day and by night.

Various circumstances in nature prove to us, that there are impressed on the heavens innumerable figures of animals and of all kinds of objects, and that its surface is not perfectly polished like the eggs of birds, as some celebrated authors assert95. For we find that the seeds of all bodies fall down from it, principally into the ocean, and, being mixed together, that a variety of monstrous forms are in this way frequently produced. And, indeed, this is evident to the eye; for, in one part, we have the figure of a wain, in another of a bear, of a bull, and of a letter96; while, in the middle of them, over our heads, there is a white circle97.

(4.) With respect to the name, I am influenced by the unanimous opinions of all nations. For what the Greeks, from its being ornamented, have termed κόσμος, we, from its perfect and complete elegance, have termed mundus. The name cœlum, no doubt, refers to its being engraven, as it18 were, with the stars, as Varro suggests98. In confirmation of this idea we may adduce the Zodiac99, in which are twelve figures of animals; through them it is that the sun has continued its course for so many ages.

I do not find that any one has doubted that there are four elements. The highest of these is supposed to be fire, and hence proceed the eyes of so many glittering stars. The next is that spirit, which both the Greeks and ourselves call by the same name, air102. It is by the force of this vital principle, pervading all things and mingling with all, that the earth, together with the fourth element, water, is balanced in19 the middle of space. These are mutually bound together, the lighter being restrained by the heavier, so that they cannot fly off; while, on the contrary, from the lighter tending upwards, the heavier are so suspended, that they cannot fall down. Thus, by an equal tendency in an opposite direction, each of them remains in its appropriate place, bound together by the never-ceasing revolution of the world, which always turning on itself, the earth falls to the lowest part and is in the middle of the whole, while it remains suspended in the centre103, and, as it were, balancing this centre, in which it is suspended. So that it alone remains immoveable, whilst all things revolve round it, being connected with every other part, whilst they all rest upon it.

(6.) Between this body and the heavens there are suspended, in this aërial spirit, seven stars104, separated by determinate spaces, which, on account of their motion, we call wandering,20 although, in reality, none are less so105. The sun is carried along in the midst of these, a body of great size and power, the ruler, not only of the seasons and of the different climates, but also of the stars themselves and of the heavens106. When we consider his operations, we must regard him as the life, or rather the mind of the universe, the chief regulator and the God of nature; he also lends his light to the other stars107. He is most illustrious and excellent, beholding all things and hearing all things, which, I perceive, is ascribed to him exclusively by the prince of poets, Homer108.

I consider it, therefore, an indication of human weakness to inquire into the figure and form of God. For whatever God be, if there be any other God110, and wherever he exists, he is all sense, all sight, all hearing, all life, all mind111, and all within himself. To believe that there are a number of Gods, derived from the virtues and vices of man112, as Chastity, Concord, Understanding, Hope, Honour, Clemency,21 and Fidelity; or, according to the opinion of Democritus, that there are only two, Punishment and Reward113, indicates still greater folly. Human nature, weak and frail as it is, mindful of its own infirmity, has made these divisions, so that every one might have recourse to that which he supposed himself to stand more particularly in need of114. Hence we find different names employed by different nations; the inferior deities are arranged in classes, and diseases and plagues are deified, in consequence of our anxious wish to propitiate them. It was from this cause that a temple was dedicated to Fever, at the public expense, on the Palatine Hill115, and to Orbona116, near the Temple of the Lares, and that an altar was elected to Good Fortune on the Esquiline. Hence we may understand how it comes to pass that there is a greater population of the Celestials than of human beings, since each individual makes a separate God for himself, adopting his own Juno and his own Genius117. And there are nations who make Gods of certain animals, and even certain obscene things118, which are not to be spoken of, swearing by stinking meats and such like. To suppose that marriages are contracted between the Gods, and that, during so long a period, there should have been no issue22 from them, that some of them should be old and always grey-headed and others young and like children, some of a dark, complexion, winged, lame, produced from eggs, living and dying on alternate days, is sufficiently puerile and foolish. But it is the height of impudence to imagine, that adultery takes place between them, that they have contests and quarrels, and that there are Gods of theft and of various crimes119. To assist man is to be a God; this is the path to eternal glory. This is the path which the Roman nobles formerly pursued, and this is the path which is now pursued by the greatest ruler of our age, Vespasian Augustus, he who has come to the relief of an exhausted empire, as well as by his sons. This was the ancient mode of remunerating those who deserved it, to regard them as Gods120. For the names of all the Gods, as well as of the stars that I have mentioned above121, have been derived from their services to mankind. And with respect to Jupiter and Mercury, and the rest of the celestial nomenclature, who does not admit that they have reference to certain natural phenomena122?

But it is ridiculous to suppose, that the great head of all things, whatever it be, pays any regard to human affairs123.23 Can we believe, or rather can there be any doubt, that it is not polluted by such a disagreeable and complicated office? It is not easy to determine which opinion would be most for the advantage of mankind, since we observe some who have no respect for the Gods, and others who carry it to a scandalous excess. They are slaves to foreign ceremonies; they carry on their fingers the Gods and the monsters whom they worship124; they condemn and they lay great stress on certain kinds of food; they impose on themselves dreadful ordinances, not even sleeping quietly. They do not marry or adopt children, or indeed do anything else, without the sanction of their sacred rites. There are others, on the contrary, who will cheat in the very Capitol, and will forswear themselves even by Jupiter Tonans125, and while these thrive in their crimes, the others torment themselves with their superstitions to no purpose.

Among these discordant opinions mankind have discovered for themselves a kind of intermediate deity, by which our scepticism concerning God is still increased. For all over the world, in all places, and at all times, Fortune is the only god whom every one invokes; she alone is spoken of, she alone is accused and is supposed to be guilty; she alone is in our thoughts, is praised and blamed, and is loaded with reproaches; wavering as she is, conceived by the generality of mankind to be blind, wandering, inconstant, uncertain, variable, and often favouring the unworthy. To her are referred all our losses and all our gains, and in casting up the accounts of mortals she alone balances the two pages of our sheet126. We are so much in the power of chance, that chance itself is considered as a God, and the existence of God becomes doubtful.

But there are others who reject this principle and assign events to the influence of the stars127, and to the laws of our24 nativity; they suppose that God, once for all, issues his decrees and never afterwards interferes. This opinion begins to gain ground, and both the learned and the unlearned vulgar are falling into it. Hence we have the admonitions of thunder, the warnings of oracles, the predictions of soothsayers, and things too trifling to be mentioned, as sneezing and stumbling with the feet reckoned among omens128. The late Emperor Augustus129 relates, that he put the left shoe on the wrong foot, the day when he was near being assaulted by his soldiers130. And such things as these so embarrass improvident mortals, that among all of them this alone is certain, that there is nothing certain, and that there is nothing more proud or more wretched than man. For other animals have no care but to provide for their subsistence, for which the spontaneous kindness of nature is all-sufficient; and this one circumstance renders their lot more especially preferable, that they never think about glory, or money, or ambition, and, above all, that they never reflect on death.

The belief, however, that on these points the Gods superintend human affairs is useful to us, as well as that the punishment of crimes, although sometimes tardy, from the Deity being occupied with such a mass of business, is never entirely remitted, and that the human race was not made the next in rank to himself, in order that they might be degraded like brutes. And indeed this constitutes the great comfort in this imperfect state of man, that even the Deity25 cannot do everything. For he cannot procure death for himself, even if he wished it, which, so numerous are the evils of life, has been granted to man as our chief good. Nor can he make mortals immortal, or recall to life those who are dead; nor can he effect, that he who has once lived shall not have lived, or that he who has enjoyed honours shall not have enjoyed them; nor has he any influence over past events but to cause them to be forgotten. And, if we illustrate the nature of our connexion with God by a less serious argument, he cannot make twice ten not to be twenty, and many other things of this kind. By these considerations the power of Nature is clearly proved, and is shown to be what we call God. It is not foreign to the subject to have digressed into these matters, familiar as they are to every one, from the continual discussions that take place respecting God131.

Let us return from this digression to the other parts of nature. The stars which are described as fixed in the heavens132, are not, as the vulgar suppose, attached each of them to different individuals133, the brighter to the rich, those that are less so to the poor, and the dim to the aged, shining according to the lot of the individual, and separately assigned to mortals; for they have neither come into existence, nor26 do they perish in connexion with particular persons, nor does a falling star indicate that any one is dead. We are not so closely connected with the heavens as that the shining of the stars is affected by our death134. When they are supposed to shoot or fall135, they throw out, by the force of their fire, as if from an excess of nutriment, the superabundance of the humour which they have absorbed, as we observe to take place from the oil in our lamps, when they are burning136. The nature of the celestial bodies is eternal, being interwoven, as it were, with the world, and, by this union, rendering it solid; but they exert their most powerful influence on the earth. This, notwithstanding its subtilty, may be known by the clearness and the magnitude of the effect, as we shall point out in the proper place137. The account of the circles of the heavens will be better understood when we come to speak of the earth, since they have all a reference to it; except what has been discovered respecting the Zodiac, which I shall now detail.

Anaximander the Milesian, in the 58th olympiad138, is said to have been the first who understood its obliquity, and thus opened the road to a correct knowledge of the subject139.27 Afterwards Cleostratus made the signs in it, first marking those of Aries and Sagittarius; Atlas had formed the sphere long before this time140. But now, leaving the further consideration of this subject, we must treat of the bodies that are situated between the earth and the heavens141.

It is certain that the star called Saturn is the highest, and therefore appears the smallest, that he passes through the largest circuit, and that he is at least thirty years in completing it142. The course of all the planets, and among others of the Sun, and the Moon, is in the contrary direction to that of the heavens143, that is towards the left, while the heavens28 are rapidly carried about to the right144. And although, by the stars constantly revolving with immense velocity, they are raised up, and hurried on to the part where they set, yet they are all forced, by a motion of their own, in an opposite direction145; and this is so ordered, lest the air, being always moved in the same direction, by the constant whirling of the heavens, should accumulate into one mass, whereas now it is divided and separated and beaten into small pieces, by the opposite motion of the different stars. Saturn is a star of a cold and rigid nature, while the orbit of Jupiter is much lower, and is carried round in twelve years146. The next star, Mars, which some persons call Hercules147, is of a fiery and burning nature, and from its nearness to the sun is carried round in little less than two years148. In consequence of the excessive heat of this star and the rigidity of Saturn, Jupiter, which is interposed between the two, is tempered by both of them, and is thus rendered salutary. The path of the Sun consists of 360 degrees; but, in order that the shadow may return to the same point of the dial149, we are obliged to add, in each year, five days and the fourth part of a day. On this account an intercalary day is given to every fifth year150, that the period of the seasons may agree with that of the Sun.

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Below the Sun151 revolves the great star called Venus, wandering with an alternate motion152, and, even in its surnames, rivalling the Sun and the Moon. For when it precedes the day and rises in the morning, it receives the name of Lucifer, as if it were another sun, hastening on the day. On the contrary, when it shines in the west, it is named Vesper, as prolonging the light, and performing the office of the moon. Pythagoras, the Samian, was the first who discovered its nature153, about the 62nd olympiad, in the 222nd year of the City154. It excels all the other stars in size, and its brilliancy is so considerable, that it is the only star which produces a shadow by its rays. There has, consequently, been great interest made for its name; some have called it the star of30 Juno155, others of Isis, and others of the Mother of the Gods. By its influence everything in the earth is generated. For, as it rises in either direction, it sprinkles everything with its genial dew, and not only matures the productions of the earth, but stimulates all living things156. It completes the circuit of the zodiac in 348 days, never receding from the sun more than 46 degrees, according to Timæus157.

Similarly circumstanced, but by no means equal in size and in power, next to it, is the star Mercury, by some called Apollo158; it is carried in a lower orbit, and moves in a course which is quicker by nine days, shining sometimes before the rising of the sun, and at other times after its setting, but never going farther from it than 23 degrees159, as we learn from Timæus and Sosigenes160. The nature of these two stars is peculiar, and is not the same with those mentioned above, for those are seen to recede from the sun through one-third or one-fourth part of the heavens, and are often seen opposite to it. They have also other larger circuits, in which they31 make their complete revolutions, as will be described in the account of the great year161.

(9.) But the Moon162, which is the last of the stars, and the one the most connected with the earth, the remedy provided by nature for darkness, excels all the others in its admirable qualities. By the variety of appearances which it assumes, it puzzles the observers, mortified that they should be the most ignorant concerning that star which is the nearest to them. She is always either waxing or waning; sometimes her disc is curved into horns, sometimes it is divided into two equal portions, and at other times it is swelled out into a full orb; sometimes she appears spotted163 and suddenly becomes very bright; she appears very large with her full orb and suddenly becomes invisible; now continuing during all the night, now rising late, and now aiding the light of the sun during a part of the day; becoming eclipsed and yet being visible while she is eclipsed; concealing herself at the end of the month and yet not supposed to be eclipsed164. Sometimes she is low down, sometimes she is high up, and that not according to one uniform course, being at one time raised up32 to the heavens, at other times almost contiguous to the mountains; now elevated in the north, now depressed in the south; all which circumstances having been noticed by Endymion, a report was spread about, that he was in love with the moon165. We are not indeed sufficiently grateful to those, who, with so much labour and care, have enlightened us with this light166; while, so diseased is the human mind, that we take pleasure in writing the annals of blood and slaughter, in order that the crimes of men may be made known to those who are ignorant of the constitution of the world itself.

Being nearest to the axis167, and therefore having the smallest orbit, the Moon passes in twenty-seven days and the one-third part of a day168, through the same space for which Saturn, the highest of the planets, as was stated above, requires thirty years. After remaining for two days in conjunction with the sun, on the thirtieth day she again very slowly emerges to pursue her accustomed course169. I know not whether she ought not to be considered as our instructress in everything that can be known respecting the heavens; as that the year is divided into the twelve divisions of the months, since she follows the sun for the same number of times, until he returns to the commencement of his course; and that her brightness, as well as that of the other stars, is regulated by that of the sun, if indeed they all of them shine by light borrowed from him, such as we see floating about, when it is reflected from the surface of water.33 On this account it is that she dissolves so much moisture, by a gentle and less perfect force, and adds to the quantity of that which the rays of the sun consume170. On this account she appears with an unequal light, because being full only when she is in opposition, on all the remaining days she shows only so much of herself to the earth as she receives light from the sun171. She is not seen in conjunction, because, at that time, she sends back the whole stream of light to the source whence she has derived it. That the stars generally are nourished by the terrestrial moisture is evident, because, when the moon is only half visible she is sometimes seen spotted, her power of absorbing moisture not having been powerful enough; for the spots are nothing else than the dregs of the earth drawn up along with the moisture172. (10.) But her eclipses and those of the sun, the most wonderful of all the phenomena of nature, and which are like prodigies, serve to indicate the magnitude of these bodies and the shadow173 which they cast.

For it is evident that the sun is hid by the intervention174 of the moon, and the moon by the opposition174 of the earth, and that these changes are mutual, the moon, by her interposition174, taking the rays of the sun from the earth, and the earth from the moon. As she advances darkness is suddenly produced, and again the sun is obscured by her shade; for night is nothing more than the shade of the earth. The figure of this shade is like that of a pyramid or an inverted top175; and the moon enters it only near its point, and it does not exceed the height of the moon, for there is no other star which is obscured in the same manner, while a figure of this kind always terminates in a point. The flight of birds, when very lofty, shows that shadows do not extend beyond a certain distance; their limit appears to be the termination of the air and the commencement of the æther. Above the moon everything is pure and full of an eternal light. The stars are visible to us in the night, in the same way that other luminous bodies are seen in the dark. It is from these causes that the moon is eclipsed during the night176. The two kinds of eclipses are not, however, at the stated monthly periods, on account of the obliquity of the zodiac, and the irregularly wandering course of the moon, as stated above; besides that the motions of these stars do not always occur exactly at the same points177.

This kind of reasoning carries the human mind to the heavens, and by contemplating the world as it were from thence, it discloses to us the magnitude of the three greatest bodies in nature178. For the sun could not be entirely concealed from the earth, by the intervention of the moon, if the earth were greater than the moon179. And the vast size of the third body, the sun, is manifest from that of the other two, so that it is not necessary to scrutinize its size, by arguing from its visible appearance, or from any conjectures of the mind; it must be immense, because the shadows of rows of trees, extending for any number of miles, are disposed in right lines180, as if the sun were in the middle of space. Also, because, at the equinox, he is vertical to all the inhabitants of the southern districts at the same time181; also, because the shadows of all the people who live on this side of the tropic fall, at noon, towards the north, and, at sunrise, point to the west. But this could not be the case unless the sun were much greater than the earth; nor, unless it much exceeded Mount Ida in breadth, could he be seen when he rises, passing considerably beyond it to the right and to the left, especially, considering that it is separated by so great an interval182.

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The eclipse of the moon affords an undoubted argument of the sun’s magnitude, as it also does of the small size of the earth183. For there are shadows of three figures, and it is evident, that if the body which produces the shadow be equal to the light, then it will be thrown off in the form of a pillar, and have no termination. If the body be greater than the light, the shadow will be in the form of an inverted cone184 the bottom being the narrowest part, and being, at the same time, of an infinite length. If the body be less than the light, then we shall have the figure of a pyramid185, terminating in a point. Now of this last kind is the shadow which produces the eclipse of the moon, and this is so manifest that there can be no doubt remaining, that the earth is exceeded in magnitude by the sun, a circumstance which is indeed indicated by the silent declaration of nature herself. For why does he recede from us at the winter half of the year186? That by the darkness of the nights the earth may be refreshed, which otherwise would be burned up, as indeed it is in certain parts; so great is his size.

The first among the Romans, who explained to the people at large the cause of the two kinds of eclipses, was Sulpicius Gallus, who was consul along with Marcellus; and37 when he was only a military tribune he relieved the army from great anxiety the day before king Perseus was conquered by Paulus187; for he was brought by the general into a public assembly, in order to predict the eclipse, of which he afterwards gave an account in a separate treatise. Among the Greeks, Thales the Milesian first investigated the subject, in the fourth year of the forty-eighth olympiad, predicting the eclipse of the sun which took place in the reign of Alyattes, in the 170th year of the City188. After them Hipparchus calculated the course of both these stars for the term of 600 years189, including the months, days, and hours, the situation of the different places and the aspects adapted to each of them; all this has been confirmed by experience, and could only be acquired by partaking, as it were, in the councils of nature. These were indeed great men, superior to ordinary mortals, who having discovered the laws of these divine bodies, relieved the miserable mind of man from the fear which he had of eclipses, as foretelling some dreadful38 events or the destruction of the stars. This alarm is freely acknowledged in the sublime strains of Stesichorus and Pindar, as being produced by an eclipse of the sun190. And with respect to the eclipse of the moon, mortals impute it to witchcraft, and therefore endeavour to aid her by producing discordant sounds. In consequence of this kind of terror it was that Nicias, the general of the Athenians, being ignorant of the cause, was afraid to lead out the fleet, and brought great distress on his troops191. Hail to your genius, ye interpreters of heaven! ye who comprehend the nature of things, and who have discovered a mode of reasoning by which ye have conquered both gods and men192! For who is there, in observing these things and seeing the labours193 which the stars are compelled to undergo (since we have chosen to apply this term to them), that would not cheerfully submit to his fate, as one born to die? I shall now, in a brief and summary manner, touch on those points in which we are agreed, giving the reasons where it is necessary to do so; for this is not a work of profound argument, nor is it less wonderful to be able to suggest a probable cause for everything, than to give a complete account of a few of them only.

It is ascertained that the eclipses complete their whole revolution in the space of 223 months194, that the eclipse of the sun takes place only at the conclusion or the commencement of a lunation, which is termed conjunction195,39 while an eclipse of the moon takes place only when she is at the full, and is always a little farther advanced than the preceding eclipse196. Now there are eclipses of both these stars in every year, which take place below the earth, at stated days and hours; and when they are above it197 they are not always visible, sometimes on account of the clouds, but more frequently, from the globe of the earth being opposed to the vault of the heavens198. It was discovered two hundred years ago, by the sagacity of Hipparchus, that the moon is sometimes eclipsed after an interval of five months, and the sun after an interval of seven199; also, that he becomes invisible, while above the horizon, twice in every thirty days, but that this is seen in different places at different times. But the most wonderful circumstance is, that while it is admitted that the moon is darkened by the shadow of the earth, this occurs at one time on its western, and at another time on its eastern side. And farther, that although, after the rising of the sun, that darkening shadow ought to be below the earth, yet it has once happened, that the moon has been eclipsed in the west, while both the luminaries have been above the horizon200. And as to their both being invisible in the space of fifteen days, this very thing happened while the Vespasians were emperors, the father being consul for the third time, and the son for the second201.

It is certain that the moon, having her horns always turned from the sun, when she is waxing, looks towards the east; when she is waning, towards the west. Also, that, from the second day after the change, she adds 47¹⁄₂ minutes202 each day, until she is full, and again decreases at the same rate, and that she always becomes invisible when she is within 14 degrees of the sun. This is an argument of the greater size of the planets than of the moon, since these emerge when they are at the distance of 7 degrees only203. But their altitude causes them to appear much smaller, as we observe that, during the day, the brightness of the sun prevents those bodies from being seen which are fixed in the firmament, although they shine then as well as in the night: that this is the case is proved by eclipses, and by descending into very deep wells.

The three planets, which, as we have said, are situated above the sun205, are visible when they come into conjunction with him. They rise visibly206 in the morning, when they are not more than 11 degrees from the sun207; they are afterwards directed by the contact of his rays208, and when they attain the trine aspect, at the distance of 120 degrees, they take their morning stationary positions209, which are termed primary;41 afterwards, when they are in opposition to the sun, they rise at the distance of 180 degrees from him. And again advancing on the other side to the 120th degree, they attain their evening stations, which are termed secondary, until the sun having arrived within 12 degrees of them, what is called their evening setting becomes no longer visible210. Mars, as being nearer to the sun, feels the influence of his rays in the quadrature, at the distance of 90 degrees, whence that motion receives its name, being termed, from the two risings, respectively the first and the second nonagenarian211. This planet passes from one station to another in six months, or is two months in each sign; the two other planets do not spend more than four months in passing from station to station.

The two inferior planets are, in like manner, concealed in their evening conjunction, and, when they have left the sun, they rise in the morning the same number of degrees distant from him. After having arrived at their point of greatest elongation212, they then follow the sun, and having overtaken42 him at their morning setting, they become invisible and pass beyond him. They then rise in the evening, at the distances which were mentioned above. After this they return back to the sun and are concealed in their evening setting. The star Venus becomes stationary when at its two points of greatest elongation, that of the morning and of the evening, according to their respective risings. The stationary points of Mercury are so very brief, that they cannot be correctly observed.

The above is an account of the aspects and the occultations of the planets, a subject which is rendered very complicated by their motions, and is involved in much that is wonderful; especially, when we observe that they change their size and colour, and that the same stars at one time approach the north, and then go to the south, and are now seen near the earth, and then suddenly approach the heavens. If on this subject I deliver opinions different from my predecessors, I acknowledge that I am indebted for them to those individuals who first pointed out to us the proper mode of inquiry; let no one then ever despair of benefiting future ages.

But these things depend upon many different causes. The first cause is the nature of the circles described by the stars, which the Greeks term apsides213, for we are obliged to use Greek terms. Now each of the planets has its own circle, and this a different one from that of the world214; because the earth is placed in the centre of the heavens, with respect to the two extremities, which are called the poles, and also in43 that of the zodiac, which is situated obliquely between them. And all these things are made evident by the infallible results which we obtain by the use of the compasses215. Hence the apsides of the planets have each of them different centres, and consequently they have different orbits and motions, since it necessarily follows, that the interior apsides are the shortest.

(16.) The apsides which are the highest from the centre of the earth are, for Saturn, when he is in Scorpio, for Jupiter in Virgo, for Mars in Leo, for the Sun in Gemini, for Venus in Sagittarius, and for Mercury in Capricorn, each of them in the middle of these signs; while in the opposite signs, they are the lowest and nearest to the centre of the earth216. Hence it is that they appear to move more slowly when they are carried along the highest circuit; not that their actual motions are accelerated or retarded, these being fixed and determinate for each of them; but because it necessarily follows, that lines drawn from the highest apsis must approach nearer to each other at the centre, like the spokes of a wheel; and that the same motion seems to be at one time greater, and at another time less, according to the distance from the centre.

Another cause of the altitudes of the planets is, that their highest apsides, with relation to their own centres, are in different signs from those mentioned above217. Saturn is in the 20th degree of Libra, Jupiter in the 15th of Cancer, Mars in the 28th of Capricorn, the Sun in the 19th of Aries, Venus in the 27th of Pisces, Mercury in the 15th of Virgo, and the Moon in the 3rd of Taurus.

The third cause of the altitude depends on the form of the heavens, not on that of the orbits; the stars appearing to the eye to mount up and to descend through the depth of the air218. With this cause is connected that which depends44 on the latitude of the planets and the obliquity of the zodiac. It is through this belt that the stars which I have spoken of are carried, nor is there any part of the world habitable, except what lies under it219; the remainder, which is at the poles, being in a wild desert state. The planet Venus alone exceeds it by 2 degrees, which we may suppose to be the cause why some animals are produced even in these desert regions of the earth. The moon also wanders the whole breadth of the zodiac, but never exceeds it. Next to these the planet Mercury moves through the greatest space; yet out of the 12 degrees (for there are so many degrees of latitude in the zodiac220), it does not pass through more than 8, nor does it go equally through these, 2 of them being in the middle of the zodiac, 4 in the upper part, and 2 in the lower part221. Next to these the Sun is carried through the middle of the zodiac, winding unequally through the two parts of his tortuous circuit222. The star Mars occupies the four middle degrees; Jupiter the middle degree and the two above it; Saturn, like the45 sun, occupies two223. The above is an account of the latitudes as they descend to the south or ascend to the north224. Hence it is plain that the generality of persons are mistaken in supposing the third cause of the apparent altitude to depend on the stars rising from the earth and climbing up the heavens. But to refute this opinion it is necessary to consider the subject with very great minuteness, and to embrace all the causes.

It is generally admitted, that the stars225, at the time of their evening setting, are nearest to the earth, both with respect to latitude and altitude226, that they are at the commencement of both at their morning risings, and that they become stationary at the middle points of their latitudes, what are called the ecliptics227. It is, moreover, acknowledged, that their motion is increased when they are in the vicinity of the earth, and diminished when they are removed to a greater altitude228; a point which is most clearly proved by the different altitudes of the moon. There is no doubt that it is also increased at the morning risings229, and that the three superior planets are retarded, as they advance from the first station to the second. And since this is the case, it46 is evident, that the latitudes are increased from the time of their morning risings, since the motions afterwards appear to receive less addition; but they gain their altitude in the first station, since the rate of their motion then begins to diminish230, and the stars to recede.

And the reason of this must be particularly set forth. When the planets are struck by the rays of the sun, in the situation which I have described, i. e. in their quadrature, they are prevented from holding on their straight forward course, and are raised on high by the force of the fire231. This cannot be immediately perceived by the eye, and therefore they seem to be stationary, and hence the term station is derived. Afterwards the violence of the rays increases, and the vapour being beaten back forces them to recede.

This exists in a greater degree in their evening risings, the sun being then turned entirely from them, when they are drawn into the highest apsides; and they are then the least visible, since they are at their greatest altitude and are carried along with the least motion, as much less indeed as this takes place in the highest signs of the apsides. At the time of the evening rising the latitude decreases and becomes less as the motion is diminished, and it does not increase again until they arrive at the second station, when the altitude is also diminished; the sun’s rays then coming from the other side, the same force now therefore propels them towards the earth which before raised them into the heavens, from their former triangular aspect232. So different is the effect whether the rays strike the planets from below or come to them from above. And all these circumstances produce much more effect when they occur in the evening setting. This is the doctrine of the superior planets; that47 of the others is more difficult, and has never been laid down by any one before me233.

I must first state the cause, why the star Venus never recedes from the sun more than 46 degrees, nor Mercury more than 23234, while they frequently return to the sun within this distance235. As they are situated below the sun, they have both of them their apsides turned in the contrary direction; their orbits are as much below the earth as those of the stars above mentioned are above it, and therefore they cannot recede any farther, since the curve of their apsides has no greater longitude236. The extreme parts of their apsides therefore assign the limits to each of them in the same manner, and compensate, as it were, for the small extent of their longitudes, by the great divergence of their latitudes237. It may be asked, why do they not always proceed as far as the 46th and the 23rd degrees respectively? They in reality do so, but the theory fails us here. For it would appear that the apsides are themselves moved, as they never pass over the sun238. When therefore they have arrived at the48 extremities of their orbits on either side, the stars are then supposed to have proceeded to their greatest distance; when they have been a certain number of degrees within their orbits, they are then supposed to return more rapidly, since the extreme point in each is the same. And on this account it is that the direction of their motion appears to be changed. For the superior planets are carried along the most quickly in their evening setting, while these move the most slowly; the former are at their greatest distance from the earth when they move the most slowly, the latter when they move the most quickly. The former are accelerated when nearest to the earth, the latter when at the extremity of the circle; in the former the rapidity of the motion begins to diminish at their morning risings, in the latter it begins to increase; the former are retrograde from their morning to their evening station, while Venus is retrograde from the evening to the morning station. She begins to increase her latitude from her morning rising, her altitude follows the sun from her morning station, her motion being the quickest and her altitude the greatest in her morning setting. Her latitude decreases and her altitude diminishes from her evening rising, she becomes retrograde, and at the same time decreases in her altitude from her evening station.

Again, the star Mercury, in the same way, mounts up in both directions239 from his morning rising, and having followed the sun through a space of 15 degrees, he becomes almost stationary for four days. Presently he diminishes his altitude, and recedes from his evening setting to his morning rising. Mercury and the Moon are the only planets which descend for the same number of days that they ascend. Venus ascends for fifteen days and somewhat more; Saturn and Jupiter descend in twice that number of days, and Mars in four times. So great is the variety of nature! The reason of it is, however, evident; for those planets which are forced up by the vapour of the sun likewise descend with difficulty.

There are many other secrets of nature in these points, as49 well as the laws to which they are subject, which might be mentioned. For example, the planet Mars, whose course is the most difficult to observe241, never becomes stationary when Jupiter is in the trine aspect, very rarely when he is 60 degrees from the sun, which number is one-sixth of the circuit of the heavens242; nor does he ever rise in the same sign with Jupiter, except in Cancer and Leo. The star Mercury seldom has his evening risings in Pisces, but very frequently in Virgo, and his morning risings in Libra; he has also his morning rising in Aquarius, very rarely in Leo. He never becomes retrograde either in Taurus or in Gemini, nor until the 25th degree of Cancer. The Moon makes her double conjunction with the sun in no other sign except Gemini, while Sagittarius is the only sign in which she has sometimes no conjunction at all. The old and the new moon are visible on the same day or night in no other sign except Aries, and indeed it has happened very seldom to any one to have witnessed it. Prom this circumstance it was that the tale of Lynceus’s quick-sightedness originated243. Saturn and Mars are invisible at most for 170 days; Jupiter for 36, or, at the least, for 10 days less than this; Venus for 69, or, at the least, for 52; Mercury for 13, or, at the most, for 18244.

The difference of their colour depends on the difference in their altitudes; for they acquire a resemblance to those planets into the vapour of which they are carried, the orbit of each tinging those that approach it in each direction. A colder planet renders one that approaches it paler, one more hot50 renders it redder, a windy planet gives it a lowering aspect, while the sun, at the union of their apsides, or the extremity of their orbits, completely obscures them. Each of the planets has its peculiar colour245; Saturn is white, Jupiter brilliant, Mars fiery, Lucifer is glowing, Vesper refulgent, Mercury sparkling, the Moon mild; the Sun, when he rises, is blazing, afterwards he becomes radiating. The appearance of the stars, which are fixed in the firmament, is also affected by these causes. At one time we see a dense cluster of stars around the moon, when she is only half-enlightened, and when they are viewed in a serene evening; while, at another time, when the moon is full, there are so few to be seen, that we wonder whither they are fled; and this is also the case when the rays of the sun, or of any of the above-mentioned bodies246, have dazzled our sight. And, indeed, the moon herself is, without doubt, differently affected at different times by the rays of the sun; when she is entering them, the convexity of the heavens247 rendering them more feeble than when they fall upon her more directly248. Hence, when she is at a right angle to the sun, she is half-enlightened; when in the trine aspect, she presents an imperfect orb249, while, in opposition, she is full. Again, when she is waning, she goes through the same gradations, and in the same order, as the three stars that are superior to the sun250.

The Sun himself is in four different states; twice the night51 is equal to the day, in the Spring and in the Autumn, when he is opposed to the centre of the earth251, in the 8th degree of Aries and Libra252. The length of the day and the night is then twice changed, when the day increases in length, from the winter solstice in the 8th degree of Capricorn, and afterwards, when the night increases in length from the summer solstice in the 8th degree of Cancer253. The cause of this inequality is the obliquity of the zodiac, since there is, at every moment of time, an equal portion of the firmament above and below the horizon. But the signs which mount directly upwards, when they rise, retain the light for a longer space, while those that are more oblique pass along more quickly.

It is not generally known, what has been discovered by men who are the most eminent for their learning, in consequence of their assiduous observations of the heavens, that the fires which fall upon the earth, and receive the name of thunder-bolts, proceed from the three superior stars254, but principally from the one which is situated in the middle. It may perhaps depend on the superabundance of moisture from the superior orbit communicating with the heat from the inferior, which are expelled in this manner255; and hence it is commonly said, the thunder-bolts are darted by Jupiter. And as, in burning wood, the burnt part is cast off with a crackling noise, so does the star throw off this celestial fire, bearing the omens of future events, even the part which is52 thrown off not losing its divine operation. And this takes place more particularly when the air is in an unsettled state, either because the moisture which is then collected excites the greatest quantity of fire, or because the air is disturbed, as if by the parturition of the pregnant star.

Many persons have attempted to discover the distance of the stars from the earth, and they have published as the result, that the sun is nineteen times as far from the moon, as the moon herself is from the earth256. Pythagoras, who was a man of a very sagacious mind, computed the distance from the earth to the moon to be 126,000 furlongs, that from her to the sun is double this distance, and that it is three times this distance to the twelve signs257; and this was also the opinion of our countryman, Gallus Sulpicius258.

Pythagoras, employing the terms that are used in music, sometimes names the distance between the Earth and the Moon a tone; from her to Mercury he supposes to be half this space, and about the same from him to Venus. From her to the Sun is a tone and a half; from the Sun to Mars is a tone, the same as from the Earth to the Moon; from him there is half a tone to Jupiter, from Jupiter to Saturn also53 half a tone, and thence a tone and a half to the zodiac. Hence there are seven tones, which he terms the diapason harmony259, meaning the whole compass of the notes. In this, Saturn is said to move in the Doric time, Jupiter in the Phrygian260, and so forth of the rest; but this is a refinement rather amusing than useful.

The stadium is equal to 125 of our Roman paces, or 625 feet261. Posidonius262 supposes that there is a space of not less than 40 stadia around the earth, whence mists263, winds and clouds263 proceed; beyond this he supposes that the air is pure and liquid, consisting of uninterrupted light; from the clouded region to the moon there is a space of 2,000,000 of stadia,54 and thence to the sun of 500,000,000264. It is in consequence of this space that the sun, notwithstanding his immense magnitude, does not burn the earth. Many persons have imagined that the clouds rise to the height of 900 stadia. These points are not completely made out, and are difficult to explain; but we have given the best account of them that has been published, and if we may be allowed, in any degree, to pursue these investigations, there is one infallible geometrical principle, which we cannot reject. Not that we can ascertain the exact dimensions (for to profess to do this would be almost the act of a madman), but that the mind may have some estimate to direct its conjectures. Now it is evident that the orbit through which the sun passes consists of nearly 366 degrees, and that the diameter is always the third part and a little less than the seventh of the circumference265. Then taking the half of this (for the earth is placed in the centre) it will follow, that nearly one-sixth part of the immense space, which the mind conceives as constituting the orbit of the sun round the earth, will compose his altitude. That of the moon will be one-twelfth part, since her course is so much shorter than that of the sun; she is therefore carried along midway between the sun and the earth266. It is astonishing to what an extent the weakness of the mind will proceed, urged on by a little success, as in the above-mentioned instance, to give full scope to its impudence! Thus, having ventured to guess at the space between the sun and the earth, we do the same with respect to the heavens, because he is situated midway between them; so that we may come to know the measure of the whole world in inches. For if the diameter consist of seven parts, there will be twenty-two of the same parts in the circumference; as if we could measure the heavens by a plumb-line!

The Egyptian calculation, which was made out by Petosiris55 and Necepsos, supposes that each degree of the lunar orbit (which, as I have said, is the least) consists of little more than 33 stadia; in the very large orbit of Saturn the number is double; in that of the sun, which, as we have said, is in the middle267, we have the half of the sum of these numbers. And this is indeed a very modest calculation268, since if we add to the orbit of Saturn the distance from him to the zodiac, we shall have an infinite number of degrees269.

A few things still remain to be said concerning the world; for stars are suddenly formed in the heavens themselves; of these there are various kinds.

(25.) The Greeks name these stars comets271; we name them Crinitæ, as if shaggy with bloody locks, and surrounded with bristles like hair. Those stars, which have a mane hanging down from their lower part, like a long beard, are named Pogoniæ272. Those that are named Acontiæ273 vibrate like a dart with a very quick motion. It was one of this kind which the Emperor Titus described in his very excellent poem, as having been seen in his fifth consulship; and this was the last of these bodies which has been observed. When they are short and pointed they are named Xiphiæ274; these are the56 pale kind; they shine like a sword and are without any rays; while we name those Discei275, which, being of an amber colour, in conformity with their name, emit a few rays from their margin only. A kind named Pitheus276 exhibits the figure of a cask, appearing convex and emitting a smoky light. The kind named Cerastias277 has the appearance of a horn; it is like the one which was visible when the Greeks fought at Salamis. Lampadias278 is like a burning torch; Hippias279 is like a horse’s mane; it has a very rapid motion, like a circle revolving on itself. There is also a white comet, with silver hair, so brilliant that it can scarcely be looked at, exhibiting, as it were, the aspect of the Deity in a human form. There are some also that are shaggy, having the appearance of a fleece, surrounded by a kind of crown. There was one, where the appearance of a mane was changed into that of a spear; it happened in the 109th olympiad, in the 398th year of the City280. The shortest time during which any one of them has been observed to be visible is 7 days, the longest 180 days.

Some of them move about in the manner of planets281, others remain stationary. They are almost all of them seen towards the north282, not indeed in any particular portion of it, but57 generally in that white part of it which has obtained the name of the Milky Way. Aristotle informs us that several of them are to be seen at the same time283, but this, as far as I know, has not been observed by any one else; also that they prognosticate high winds and great heat284. They are also visible in the winter months, and about the south pole, but they have no rays proceeding from them. There was a dreadful one observed by the Æthiopians and the Egyptians, to which Typhon, a king of that period, gave his own name; it had a fiery appearance, and was twisted like a spiral; its aspect was hideous, nor was it like a star, but rather like a knot of fire285. Sometimes there are hairs attached to the planets and the other stars. Comets are never seen in the western part of the heavens. It is generally regarded as a terrific star, and one not easily expiated; as was the case with the civil commotions in the consulship of Octavius, and also in the war of Pompey and Cæsar286. And in our own age, about the time when Claudius Cæsar was poisoned and left the Empire to Domitius Nero, and afterwards, while the latter was Emperor287, there was one which was almost constantly seen and was very frightful. It is thought important to notice towards what part it darts its beams, or from what star it receives its influence, what it resembles, and in what places it shines. If it resembles a flute, it portends something58 unfavourable respecting music; if it appears in the parts of the signs referred to the secret members, something respecting lewdness of manners; something respecting wit and learning, if they form a triangular or quadrangular figure with the position of some of the fixed stars; and that some one will be poisoned, if they appear in the head of either the northern or the southern serpent.

Rome is the only place in the whole world where there is a temple dedicated to a comet; it was thought by the late Emperor Augustus to be auspicious to him, from its appearing during the games which he was celebrating in honour of Venus Genetrix, not long after the death of his father Cæsar, in the College which was founded by him288. He expressed his joy in these terms: “During the very time of these games of mine, a hairy star was seen during seven days, in the part of the heavens which is under the Great Bear. It rose about the eleventh hour of the day289, was very bright, and was conspicuous in all parts of the earth. The common people supposed the star to indicate, that the soul of Cæsar was admitted among the immortal Gods; under which designation it was that the star was placed on the bust which was lately consecrated in the forum290.” This is what he proclaimed in public, but, in secret, he rejoiced at this auspicious omen, interpreting it as produced for himself; and, to confess the truth, it really proved a salutary omen for the world at large291.

Some persons suppose that these stars are permanent, and that they move through their proper orbits, but that they are only visible when they recede from the sun. Others suppose that they are produced by an accidental vapour together with the force of fire, and that, from this circumstance, they are liable to be dissipated292.

This same Hipparchus, who can never be sufficiently commended, as one who more especially proved the relation of the stars to man, and that our souls are a portion of heaven, discovered a new star that was produced in his own age, and, by observing its motions on the day in which it shone, he was led to doubt whether it does not often happen, that those stars have motion which we suppose to be fixed. And the same individual attempted, what might seem presumptuous even in a deity, viz. to number the stars for posterity and to express their relations by appropriate names; having previously devised instruments294, by which he might mark the places and the magnitudes of each individual star. In this way it might be easily discovered, not only whether they were destroyed or produced, but whether they changed their relative positions, and likewise, whether they were increased or diminished; the heavens being thus left as an inheritance to any one, who might be found competent to complete his plan.

The faces shine brilliantly, but they are never seen excepting when they are falling296; one of these darted across the 60 heavens, in the sight of all the people, at noon-day, when Germanicus Cæsar was exhibiting a show of gladiators297. There are two kinds of them; those which are called lampades and those which are called bolides, one of which latter was seen during the troubles at Mutina298. They differ from each other in this respect, that the faces produce a long train of light, the fore-part only being on fire; while the bolides, being entirely in a state of combustion, leave a still longer track behind them.

The trabes also, which are named δοκοὶ299, shine in the same manner; one of these was seen at the time when the Lacedæmonians, by being conquered at sea, lost their influence in Greece. An opening sometimes takes place in the firmament, which is named chasma300.

There is a flame of a bloody appearance (and nothing is61 more dreaded by mortals) which falls down upon the earth301, such as was seen in the third year of the 103rd olympiad, when King Philip was disturbing Greece. But my opinion is, that these, like everything else, occur at stated, natural periods, and are not produced, as some persons imagine, from a variety of causes, such as their fine genius may suggest. They have indeed been the precursors of great evils, but I conceive that the evils occurred, not because the prodigies took place, but that these took place because the evils were appointed to occur at that period302. Their cause is obscure in consequence of their rarity, and therefore we are not as well acquainted with them as we are with the rising of the stars, which I have mentioned, and with eclipses and many other things.

Stars are occasionally seen along with the sun, for whole days together, and generally round its orb, like wreaths made of the ears of corn, or circles of various colours303; such as occurred when Augustus, while a very young man, was entering the city, after the death of his father, in order to take upon himself the great name which he assumed304. (29.) The same coronæ occur about the moon and also about the principal stars, which are stationary in the heavens.

A bow appeared round the sun in the consulship of L. Opimius and L. Fabius305, and a circle in that of C. Porcius and M. Acilius. (30.) There was a little circle of a red colour in the consulship of L. Julius and P. Rutilius.

Eclipses of the sun also take place which are portentous and unusually long, such as occurred when Cæsar the Dictator was slain, and in the war against Antony, the sun remained dim for almost a whole year306.

And again, many suns have been seen at the same time307; not above or below the real sun, but in an oblique direction, never near nor opposite to the earth, nor in the night, but either in the east or in the west. They are said to have been seen once at noon in the Bosphorus, and to have continued from morning until sunset. Our ancestors have frequently seen three suns at the same time308, as was the case in the consulship of Sp. Postumius and L. Mucius, of L. Marcius and M. Portius, that of M. Antony and Dolabella, and that of M. Lepidus and L. Plancus. And we have ourselves seen one during the reign of the late Emperor Claudius, when he63 was consul along with Corn. Orfitus. We have no account transmitted to us of more than three having been seen at the same time.

Three moons have also been seen, as was the case in the consulship of Cn. Domitius and C. Fannius; they have generally been named nocturnal suns309.

A bright light has been seen proceeding from the heavens in the night time, as was the case in the consulship of C. Cæcilius and Cn. Papirius, and at many other times, so that there has been a kind of daylight in the night310.

A burning shield darted across at sunset, from west to east, throwing out sparks, in the consulship of L. Valerius and C. Marius312.

We have an account of a spark falling from a star, and increasing as it approached the earth, until it became of the size of the moon, shining as through a cloud313; it afterwards returned into the heavens and was converted into a lampas; this occurred in the consulship of Cn. Octavius and C. Scribonius.64 It was seen by Silanus, the proconsul, and his attendants314.

Stars are seen to move about in various directions, but never without some cause, nor without violent winds proceeding from the same quarter315.

These stars occur both at sea and at land. I have seen, during the night-watches of the soldiers, a luminous appearance, like a star, attached to the javelins on the ramparts. They also settle on the yard-arms and other parts of ships while sailing, producing a kind of vocal sound, like that of birds flitting about. When they occur singly they are mischievous, so as even to sink the vessels, and if they strike on the lower part of the keel, setting them on fire317. When there are two of them they are considered auspicious, and are thought to predict a prosperous voyage, as it is said that they drive away that dreadful and terrific meteor named Helena. On this account their efficacy is ascribed to Castor and Pollux, and they are invoked as gods. They also occasionally shine round the heads of men in the evening318, which is considered65 as predicting something very important. But there is great uncertainty respecting the cause of all these things, and they are concealed in the majesty of nature.

So far I have spoken of the world itself and of the stars. I must now give an account of the other remarkable phænomena of the heavens. For our ancestors have given the name of heavens, or, sometimes, another name, air, to all the seemingly void space, which diffuses around us this vital spirit. It is situated beneath the moon, indeed much lower, as is admitted by every one who has made observations on it, and is composed of a great quantity of air from the upper regions, mixed with a great quantity of terrestrial vapour, the two forming a compound. Hence proceed clouds, thunder and lightning of all kinds; hence also hail, frost, showers, storms and whirlwinds; hence proceed many of the evils incident to mortals, and the mutual contests of the various parts of nature. The force of the stars keeps down all terrestrial things which tend towards the heavens, and the same force attracts to itself those things which do not go there spontaneously. The showers fall, mists rise up, rivers are dried up, hail-storms rush down, the rays of the sun parch the earth, and impel it from all quarters towards the centre. The same rays, still unbroken, dart back again, and carry with them whatever they can take up. Vapour falls from on high and returns again to the same place. Winds arise which contain nothing, but which return loaded with spoils. The breathing of so many animals draws down the spirit from the higher regions; but this tends to go in a contrary direction, and the earth pours out its spirit into the void space of the heavens. Thus nature moving to and fro, as if impelled by some machine319, discord is kindled by the rapid motion of the world. Nor is the contest allowed to cease, for she is continually whirled round and lays open the causes of all things, forming an immense globe about the earth, while she again, from time to time, covers this other firmament66 with clouds320. This is the region of the winds. Here their nature principally originates, as well as the causes of almost all other things321; since most persons ascribe the darting of thunder and lightning to their violence. And to the same cause are assigned the showers of stones, these having been previously taken up by the wind, as well as many other bodies in the same way. On this account we must enter more at large on this subject.

It is obvious that there are causes of the seasons and of other things which have been stated, while there are some things which are casual, or of which the reason has not yet been discovered. For who can doubt that summer and winter, and the annual revolution of the seasons are caused by the motion of the stars322? As therefore the nature of the sun is understood to influence the temperature of the year, so each of the other stars has its specific power, which produces its appropriate effects. Some abound in a fluid retaining its liquid state, others, in the same fluid concreted into hoar frost, compressed into snow, or frozen into hail; some are prolific in winds, some in heat, some in vapours, some in dew, some in cold. But these bodies must not be supposed to be actually of the size which they appear, since the consideration of their immense height clearly proves, that none of them are less than the moon. Each of them exercises its influence over us by its own motions; this is particularly observable with respect to Saturn, which produces a great quantity of rain in its transits. Nor is this power confined to the stars which change their situations, but is found to exist in many of the fixed stars, whenever67 they are impelled by the force of any of the planets, or excited by the impulse of their rays; as we find to be the case with respect to the Suculæ323, which the Greeks, in reference to their rainy nature, have termed the Hyades324. There are also certain events which occur spontaneously, and at stated periods, as the rising of the Kids325. The star Arcturus scarcely ever rises without storms of hail occurring.

Who is there that does not know that the vapour of the sun is kindled by the rising of the Dog-star? The most powerful effects are felt on the earth from this star. When it rises, the seas are troubled, the wines in our cellars ferment, and stagnant waters are set in motion. There is a wild beast, named by the Egyptians Oryx, which, when the star rises, is said to stand opposite to it, to look steadfastly at it, and then to sneeze, as if it were worshiping it326. There is no doubt that dogs, during the whole of this period, are peculiarly disposed to become rabid327.

There is moreover a peculiar influence in the different degrees of certain signs, as in the autumnal equinox, and also in the winter solstice, when we find that a particular star is connected with the state of the weather328. It is not so much the recurrence of showers and storms, as of various circumstances, which act both upon animals and vegetables. Some are planet-struck329, and others, at stated times, are affected in the bowels, the sinews, the head, or the intellect.68 The olive, the white poplar, and the willow turn their leaves round at the summer solstice. The herb pulegium, when dried and hanging up in a house, blossoms on the very day of the winter solstice, and bladders burst in consequence of their being distended with air330. One might wonder at this, did we not observe every day, that the plant named heliotrope always looks towards the setting sun, and is, at all hours, turned towards him, even when he is obscured by clouds331. It is certain that the bodies of oysters and of whelks332, and of shell-fish generally, are increased in size and again diminished by the influence of the moon. Certain accurate observers have found out, that the entrails of the field-mouse333 correspond in number to the moon’s age, and that the very small animal, the ant, feels the power of this luminary, always resting from her labours at the change of the moon. And so much the more disgraceful is our ignorance, as every one acknowledges that the diseases in the eyes of certain beasts of burden increase and diminish according to the age of the moon. But the immensity of the heavens, divided as they are into seventy-two334 constellations, may serve as an excuse. These are the resemblances of certain things, animate and inanimate, into which the learned have divided the heavens. In these they have announced 1600 stars, as being remarkable either for their effects or their appearance; for example, in the tail of the Bull there are seven stars, which are named Vergiliæ335; in his forehead69 are the Suculæ; there is also Bootes, which follows the seven northern stars336.

But I would not deny, that there may exist showers and winds, independent of these causes, since it is certain that an exhalation proceeds from the earth, which is sometimes moist, and at other times, in consequence of the vapours, like dense smoke; and also, that clouds are formed, either from the fluid rising up on high, or from the air being compressed into a fluid337. Their density and their substance is very clearly proved from their intercepting the sun’s rays, which are visible by divers, even in the deepest waters338.

It cannot therefore be denied, that fire proceeding from the stars which are above the clouds, may fall on them, as we frequently observe on serene evenings, and that the air is agitated by the impulse, as darts when they are hurled whiz through the air. And when it arrives at the cloud, a discordant kind of vapour is produced, as when hot iron is plunged into water, and a wreath of smoke is evolved. Hence arise squalls. And if wind or vapour be struggling in the cloud, thunder is discharged; if it bursts out with a flame, there is a thunderbolt; if it be long in forcing out its way, it is simply a flash of lightning339. By the latter the cloud is simply rent, by the former it is shattered. Thunder is produced70 by the stroke given to the condensed air, and hence it is that the fire darts from the chinks of the clouds. It is possible also that the vapour, which has risen from the earth, being repelled by the stars, may produce thunder, when it is pent up in a cloud; nature restraining the sound whilst the vapour is struggling to escape, but when it does escape, the sound bursting forth, as is the case with bladders that are distended with air. It is possible also that the spirit, whatever it be, may be kindled by friction, when it is so violently projected. It is possible that, by the dashing of the two clouds, the lightning may flash out, as is the case when two stones are struck against each other. But all these things appear to be casual. Hence there are thunderbolts which produce no effect, and proceed from no immediate actual cause; by these mountains and seas are struck, and no injury is done. Those which prognosticate future events proceed from on high and from stated causes, and they come from their peculiar stars340.

In like manner I would not deny that winds, or rather sudden gusts, are produced by the arid and dry vapours of the earth; that air may also be exhaled from water, which can neither be condensed into a mist, nor compressed into a cloud; that it may be also driven forward by the impulse of the sun, since by the term ‘wind’ we mean nothing more than a current of air, by whatever means it may be produced341. For we observe winds to proceed from rivers and bays, and from the sea, even when it is tranquil; while others, which are named Altani, rise up from the earth; when they come back from the sea they are named Tropæi, but if they go straight on, Apogæi342.

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(44.) The windings and the numerous peaks of mountains, their ridges, bent into angles or broken into defiles, with the hollow valleys, by their irregular forms, cleaving the air which rebounds from them (which is also the cause why voices are, in many cases, repeated several times in succession), give rise to winds.

(45.) There are certain caves, such as that on the coast of Dalmatia, with a vast perpendicular chasm, into which, if a light weight only be let down, and although the day be calm, a squall issues from it like a whirlwind. The name of the place is Senta. And also, in the province of Cyrenaica, there is a certain rock, said to be sacred to the south wind, which it is profane for a human hand to touch, as the south wind immediately rolls forwards clouds of sand343. There are also, in many houses, artificial cavities, formed in the walls344, which produce currents of air; none of these are without their appropriate cause.

But there is a great difference between a gale and a wind345. The former are uniform and appear to rush forth346; they are felt, not in certain spots only, but over whole countries, not forming breezes or squalls, but violent storms347. Whether they be produced by the constant revolution of the world and the opposite motion of the stars, or whether they both of them depend on the generative spirit of the nature of72 things, wandering, as it were, up and down in her womb, or whether the air be scourged by the irregular strokes of the wandering stars348, or the various projections of their rays, or whether they, each of them, proceed from their own stars, among which are those that are nearest to us, or whether they descend from those that are fixed in the heavens, it is manifest that they are all governed by a law of nature, which is not altogether unknown, although it be not completely ascertained.

(46.) More than twenty old Greek writers have published their observations upon this subject. And this is the more remarkable, seeing that there is so much discord in the world, and that it is divided into different kingdoms, that is into separate members, that there should have been so many who have paid attention to these subjects, which are so difficult to investigate. Especially when we consider the wars and the treachery which everywhere prevail; while pirates, the enemies of the human race, have possession of all the modes of communication, so that, at this time, a person may acquire more correct information about a country from the writings of those who have never been there, than from the inhabitants themselves. Whereas, at this day, in the blessed peace which we enjoy, under a prince who so greatly encourages the advancement of the arts, no new inquiries are set on foot, nor do we even make ourselves thoroughly masters of the discoveries of the ancients. Not that there were greater rewards held out, from the advantages being distributed to a greater number of persons, but that there were more individuals who diligently scrutinized these matters, with no other prospect but that of benefiting posterity. It is that the manners of men are degenerated, not that the advantages are diminished. All the seas, as many as there are, being laid open, and a hospitable reception being given us at every shore, an immense number of people undertake voyages; but it is for the sake of gain, not of science. Nor does their understanding, which is blinded and bent only on avarice, perceive that this very thing might be more safely done by means of science. Seeing, therefore, that there are so many thousands of persons on the seas, I will treat of the73 winds with more minuteness than perhaps might otherwise appear suitable to my undertaking.

The ancients reckoned only four winds (nor indeed does Homer mention more350) corresponding to the four parts of the world; a very poor reason, as we now consider it. The next generation added eight others, but this was too refined and minute a division; the moderns have taken a middle course, and, out of this great number, have added four to the original set. There are, therefore, two in each of the four quarters of the heavens. From the equinoctial rising of the sun351 proceeds Subsolanus352, and, from his brumal rising, Vulturnus353; the former is named by the Greeks Apeliotes354, the latter Eurus. From the south we have Auster, and from the brumal setting of the sun, Africus; these were named Notos74 and Libs. From the equinoctial setting proceeds Favonius355, and from the solstitial setting, Corus356; these were named Zephyrus and Argestes. From the seven stars comes Septemtrio, between which and the solstitial rising we have Aquilo, named Aparctias and Boreas357. By a more minute subdivision we interpose four others, Thrascias, between Septemtrio and the solstitial setting; Cæcias, between Aquilo and the equinoctial rising; and Phœnices, between the brumal rising and the south. And also, at an equal distance from the south and the winter setting, between Libs and Notos, and compounded of the two, is Libonotos. Nor is this all. For some persons have added a wind, which they have named Meses, between Boreas and Cæcias, and one between Eurus and Notos, named Euronotus358.

There are also certain winds peculiar to certain countries, which do not extend beyond certain districts, as Sciron in Attica, deviating a little from Argestes, and not known in the other parts of Greece. In other places it is a little higher on the card and is named Olympias; but all these75 have gone by the name of Argestes. In some places Cæcias is named Hellespontia, and the same is done in other cases. In the province of Narbonne the most noted wind is Circius; it is not inferior to any of the winds in violence, frequently driving the waves before it, to Ostia359, straight across the Ligurian sea. Yet this same wind is unknown in other parts, not even reaching Vienne, a city in the same province; for meeting with a high ridge of hills, just before it arrives at that district, it is checked, although it be the most violent of all the winds. Fabius also asserts, that the south winds never penetrate into Egypt. Hence this law of nature is obvious, that winds have their stated seasons and limits.

The spring opens the seas for the navigators. In the beginning of this season the west winds soften, as it were, the winter sky, the sun having now gained the 25th degree of Aquarius; this is on the sixth day before the Ides of February361. This agrees, for the most part, with all the remarks that I shall subsequently make, only anticipating the period by one day in the intercalary year, and again, preserving the same order in the succeeding lustrum362. After the eighth day before the Calends of March363, Favonius is called by some Chelidonias364, from the swallows making their appearance. The wind, which blows for the space of nine days, from the seventy-first day after the winter solstice365, is sometimes called Ornithias, from the arrival of the birds366. In the contrary direction to Favonius is the wind which we name Subsolanus, and76 this is connected with the rising of the Vergiliæ, in the 25th degree of Taurus, six days before the Ides of May367, which is the time when south winds prevail: these are opposite to Septemtrio. The dog-star rises in the hottest time of the summer, when the sun is entering the first degree of Leo368; this is fifteen days before the Calends of August. The north winds, which are called Prodromi369, precede its rising by about eight days. But in two days after its rising, the same north winds, which are named Etesiæ370, blow more constantly during this period; the vapour from the sun, being increased twofold by the heat of this star, is supposed to render these winds more mild; nor are there any which are more regular. After these the south winds become more frequent, until the appearance of Arcturus371, which rises eleven days before the autumnal equinox. At this time Corus sets in; Corus is an autumnal wind, and is in the opposite direction to Vulturnus. After this, and generally for forty-four days after the equinox, at the setting of the Vergiliæ, the winter commences, which usually happens on the third of the Ides of November372. This is the period of the winter north wind, which is very unlike the summer north wind, and which is in the opposite direction to Africus. For seven days before the winter solstice, and for the same length of time after it, the sea becomes calm, in order that the king-fishers may rear their young; from this circumstance they have obtained the name of the halcyon days373; the rest of the season is winterly374. Yet the77 severity of the storms does not entirely close up the sea. In former times, pirates were compelled, by the fear of death, to rush into death, and to brave the winter ocean; now we are driven to it by avarice375.

Those are the coldest winds which are said to blow from the seven stars, and Corus, which is contiguous to them; these also restrain the others and dispel the clouds. The moist winds are Africus, and, still more, the Auster of Italy. It is said that, in Pontus, Cæcias attracts the clouds. The dry winds are Corus and Vulturnus, especially when they are about to cease blowing. The winds that bring snow are Aquilo and Septemtrio; Septemtrio brings hail, and so does Corus; Auster is sultry, Vulturnus and Zephyrus are warm. These winds are more dry than Subsolanus, and generally those which blow from the north and west are more dry than those which blow from the south and east. Aquilo is the most healthy of them all; Auster is unhealthy, and more so when dry; it is colder, perhaps because it is moist. Animals are supposed to have less appetite for food when this wind is blowing. The Etesiæ generally cease during the night, and spring up at the third hour of the day377. In Spain and in Asia these winds have an easterly direction, in Pontus a northerly, and in other places a southerly direction. They blow also after the winter solstice, when they are called Ornithiæ378, but they are more gentle and continue only for a few days. There are two winds which change their nature with their situation; in Africa Auster is attended with a clear sky, while Aquilo collects the clouds379. Almost all78 winds blow in their turn, so that when one ceases its opposite springs up. When winds which are contiguous succeed each other, they go from left to right, in the direction of the sun. The fourth day of the moon generally determines their direction for the whole of the monthly period380. We are able to sail in opposite directions by means of the same wind, if we have the sails properly set; hence it frequently happens that, in the night, vessels going in different directions run against each other. Auster produces higher winds than Aquilo, because the former blows, as it were, from the bottom of the sea, while the latter blows on the surface; it is therefore after south winds that the most mischievous earthquakes have occurred. Auster is more violent during the night, Aquilo during the day; winds from the east continue longer than from the west. The north winds generally cease blowing on the odd days, and we observe the prevalence of the odd numbers in many other parts of nature; the male winds are therefore regulated by the odd numbers381. The sun sometimes increases and sometimes restrains winds; when rising and setting it increases them; while, when on the meridian, it restrains them during the summer. They are, therefore, generally lulled during the middle of the day and of the night, because they are abated either by excessive cold or heat; winds are also lulled by showers. We generally expect them to come from that quarter where the clouds open and allow the clear sky to be seen. Eudoxus382 supposes that the same succession of changes occurs in them after a period of four years, if we observe their minute revolutions; and this applies not only to winds, but to whatever concerns the state of the weather. He begins his lustrum at the rising of the dog-star, in the intercalary year. So far concerning winds in general.

And now respecting the sudden gusts383, which arising from the exhalations of the earth, as has been said above, and falling down again, being in the mean time covered by a thin film of clouds, exist in a variety of forms. By their wandering about, and rushing down like torrents, in the opinion of some persons, they produce thunder and lightning384. But if they be urged on with greater force and violence, so as to cause the rupture of a dry cloud, they produce a squall385, which is named by the Greeks Ecnephias386. But, if these are compressed, and rolled up more closely together, and then break without any discharge of fire, i. e. without thunder, they produce a squall, which is named Typhon387, or an Ecnephias in a state of agitation. It carries along a portion of the cloud which it has broken off, rolling it and turning it round, aggravating its own destruction by the weight of it, and whirling it from place to place. This is very much dreaded by sailors, as it not only breaks their sail-yards, but the vessels themselves, bending them about in various ways. This may be in a slight degree counteracted by sprinkling it with vinegar, when it comes near us, this substance being of a very cold nature388. This wind, when it rebounds after the stroke, absorbs and carries up whatever it may have seized on.

But if it burst from the cavity of a cloud which is more depressed, but less capacious than what produces a squall, and is accompanied by noise, it is called a whirlwind, and throws down everything which is near it. The same, when it is more burning and rages with greater heat, is called a blasting wind390, scorching and, at the same time, throwing down everything with which it comes in contact. (49.) Typhon never comes from the north, nor have we Ecnephias when it snows, or when there is snow on the ground. If it breaks the clouds, and, at the same time, catches fire or burns, but not until it has left the cloud, it forms a thunder-bolt. It differs from Prester as flame does from fire; the former is diffused in a gust, the latter is condensed with a violent impulse391. The whirlwind, when it rebounds, differs from the tornado in the same manner as a loud noise does from a dash.

The squall differs from both of them in its extent, the clouds being more properly rent asunder than broken into pieces. A black cloud is formed, resembling a great animal, an appearance much dreaded by sailors. It is also called a pillar, when the moisture is so condensed and rigid as to be able to support itself. It is a cloud of the same kind, which, when drawn into a tube, sucks up the water392.

Thunder is rare both in winter and in summer394, but from81 different causes; the air, which is condensed in the winter, is made still more dense by a thicker covering of clouds, while the exhalations from the earth, being all of them rigid and frozen, extinguish whatever fiery vapour it may receive. It is this cause which exempts Scythia and the cold districts round it from thunder. On the other hand, the excessive heat exempts Egypt; the warm and dry vapours of the earth being very seldom condensed, and that only into light clouds. But, in the spring and autumn, thunder is more frequent, the causes which produce summer and winter being, in each season, less efficient. From this cause thunder is more frequent in Italy, the air being more easily set in motion, in consequence of a milder winter and a showery summer, so that it may be said to be always spring or autumn. Also in those parts of Italy which recede from the north and lie towards the south, as in the district round our city, and in Campania, it lightens equally both in winter and in summer, which is not the case in other situations.

We have accounts of many different kinds of thunder-storms. Those which are dry do not burn objects, but dissipate them; while those which are moist do not burn, but blacken them. There is a third kind, which is called bright lightning396, of a very wonderful nature, by which casks are emptied, without the vessels themselves being injured, or there being any other trace left of their operation397. Gold, copper, and silver are melted, while the bags which contain them are not in the least burned, nor even the wax seal much defaced. Marcia, a lady of high rank at Rome, was struck while pregnant; the fœtus was destroyed, while she herself survived without82 suffering any injury398. Among the prognostics which took place at the time of Catiline’s conspiracy, M. Herennius, a magistrate of the borough of Pompeii, was struck by lightning when the sky was without clouds399.

The Tuscan books inform us, that there are nine Gods who discharge thunder-storms, that there are eleven different kinds of them, and that three of them are darted out by Jupiter. Of these the Romans retained only two, ascribing the diurnal kind to Jupiter, and the nocturnal to Summanus401; this latter kind being more rare, in consequence of the heavens being colder, as was mentioned above. The Etrurians also suppose, that those which are named Infernal burst out of the ground; they are produced in the winter and are particularly fierce and direful, as all things are which proceed from the earth, and are not generated by or proceeding from the stars, but from a cause which is near at hand, and of a more disorderly nature. As a proof of this it is said, that all those which proceed from the higher regions strike obliquely, while those which are termed terrestrial strike in a direct line. And because these fall from matter which is nearer to us, they are supposed to proceed from the earth, since they leave no traces of a rebound; this being the effect of a stroke coming not from below, but from an opposite quarter. Those who have searched into the subject83 more minutely suppose, that these come from the planet Saturn, as those that are of a burning nature do from Mars. In this way it was that Volsinium, the most opulent town of the Tuscans, was entirely consumed by lightning402. The first of these strokes that a man receives, after he has come into possession of any property, is termed Familiar403, and is supposed to prognosticate the events of the whole of his life. But it is not generally supposed that they predict events of a private nature for a longer space than ten years, unless they happen at the time of a first marriage or a birth-day; nor that public predictions extend beyond thirty years404, unless with respect to the founding of colonies405.

It is related in our Annals, that by certain sacred rites and imprecations, thunder-storms may be compelled or invoked406. There is an old report in Etruria, that thunder was invoked when the city of Volsinium had its territory laid waste by a monster named Volta407. Thunder was also invoked84 by King Porsenna. And L. Piso408, a very respectable author, states in the first book of his Annals, that this had been frequently done before his time by Numa, and that Tullus Hostilius, imitating him, but not having properly performed the ceremonies, was struck with the lightning409. We have also groves, and altars, and sacred places, and, among the titles of Jupiter, as Stator, Tonans, and Feretrius, we have a Jupiter Elicius410. The opinions entertained on this point are very various, and depend much on the dispositions of different individuals. To believe that we can command nature is the mark of a bold mind, nor is it less the mark of a feeble one to reject her kindness411. Our knowledge has been so far useful to us in the interpretation of thunder, that it enables us to predict what is to happen on a certain day, and we learn either that our fortune is to be entirely changed, or it discloses events which are concealed from us; as is proved by an infinite number of examples, public and private. Wherefore let these things remain, according to the order of nature, to some persons certain, to others doubtful, by some approved, by others condemned. I must not, however, omit the other circumstances connected with them which deserve to be related.

It is certain that the lightning is seen before the thunder is heard, although they both take place at the same time. Nor is this wonderful, since light has a greater velocity than sound. Nature so regulates it, that the stroke and the sound coincide412; the sound is, however, produced by the discharge of the thunder, not by its stroke. But the air is impelled85 quicker than the lightning413, on which account it is that everything is shaken and blown up before it is struck, and that a person is never injured when he has seen the lightning and heard the thunder. Thunder on the left hand is supposed to be lucky, because the east is on the left side of the heavens414. We do not regard so much the mode in which it comes to us, as that in which it leaves us, whether the fire rebounds after the stroke, or whether the current of air returns when the operation is concluded and the fire is consumed. In relation to this object the Etrurians have divided the heavens into sixteen parts415. The first great division is from north to east; the second to the south; the third to the west, and the fourth occupies what remains from west to north. Each of these has been subdivided into four parts, of which the eight on the east have been called the left, and those on the west the right divisions. Those which extend from the west to the north have been considered the most unpropitious. It becomes therefore very important to ascertain from what quarter the thunder proceeds, and in what direction it falls. It is considered a very favourable omen when it returns into the eastern divisions. But it prognosticates the greatest felicity when the thunder proceeds from the first-mentioned part of the heavens and falls back into it; it was an omen of this kind which, as we have heard, was given to Sylla, the Dictator. The remaining quarters of the heavens are less propitious, and also less to be dreaded. There are some kinds of thunder which it is not thought right to speak of, or even to listen to, unless when they have been disclosed to the master of a family or to a parent. But the futility of this observation was detected when the temple of Juno was struck at Rome, during86 the consulship of Scaurus, he who was afterwards the Prince of the Senate416.

It lightens without thunder more frequently in the night than in the day417. Man is the only animal that is not always killed by it, all other animals being killed instantly, nature having granted to him this mark of distinction, while so many other animals excel him in strength. All animals fall down on the opposite side to that which has been struck; man, unless he be thrown down on the parts that are struck, does not expire. Those who are struck directly from above sink down immediately. When a man is struck while he is awake, he is found with his eyes closed; when asleep, with them open. It is not considered proper that a man killed in this way should be burnt on the funeral pile; our religion enjoins us to bury the body in the earth418. No animal is consumed by lightning unless after having been previously killed. The parts of the animal that have been wounded by lightning are colder than the rest of the body.

Among the productions of the earth, thunder never strikes the laurel419, nor does it descend more than five feet into the earth. Those, therefore, who are timid consider the deepest caves as the most safe; or tents made of the skins of the animal called the sea-calf, since this is the only marine animal which is never struck420; as is the case, among birds, with the eagle; on this account it is represented as the bearer of87 this weapon421. In Italy, between Terracina and the temple of Feronia, the people have left off building towers in time of war, every one of them having been destroyed by thunderbolts.

Besides these, we learn from certain monuments, that from the lower part of the atmosphere423 it rained milk and blood, in the consulship of M’ Acilius and C. Porcius, and frequently at other times424. This was the case with respect to flesh, in the consulship of P. Volumnius and Servius Sulpicius, and it is said, that what was not devoured by the birds did not become putrid. It also rained iron among the Lucanians, the year before Crassus was slain by the Parthians, as well as all the Lucanian soldiers, of whom there was a great number in this army. The substance which fell had very much the appearance of sponge425; the augurs warned the people against88 wounds that might come from above. In the consulship of L. Paulus and C. Marcellus it rained wool, round the castle of Carissanum, near which place, a year after, T. Annius Milo was killed. It is recorded, among the transactions of that year, that when he was pleading his own cause, there was a shower of baked tiles.

We have heard, that during the war with the Cimbri, the rattling of arms and the sound of trumpets were heard through the sky, and that the same thing has frequently happened before and since426. Also, that in the third consulship of Marius, armies were seen in the heavens by the Amerini and the Tudertes, encountering each other, as if from the east and west, and that those from the east were repelled427. It is not at all wonderful for the heavens themselves to be in flames428, and it has been more frequently observed when the clouds have taken up a great deal of fire.

The Greeks boast that Anaxagoras430, the Clazomenian, in the second year of the 78th Olympiad, from his knowledge of what relates to the heavens, had predicted, that at a certain89 time, a stone would fall from the sun431. And the thing accordingly happened, in the daytime, in a part of Thrace, at the river Ægos. The stone is now to be seen, a waggon-load in size and of a burnt appearance; there was also a comet shining in the night at that time432. But to believe that this had been predicted would be to admit that the divining powers of Anaxagoras were still more wonderful, and that our knowledge of the nature of things, and indeed every thing else, would be thrown into confusion, were we to suppose either that the sun is itself composed of stone, or that there was even a stone in it; yet there can be no doubt that stones have frequently fallen from the atmosphere. There is a stone, a small one indeed, at this time, in the Gymnasium of Abydos, which on this account is held in veneration, and which the same Anaxagoras predicted would fall in the middle of the earth. There is another at Cassandria, formerly called Potidæa433, which from this circumstance was built in that place. I have myself seen one in the country of the Vocontii434, which had been brought from the fields only a short time before.

What we name Rainbows frequently occur, and are not considered either wonderful or ominous; for they do not predict, with certainty, either rain or fair weather. It is obvious, that the rays of the sun, being projected upon a hollow cloud, the light is thrown back to the sun and is refracted435, and that the variety of colours is produced by a mixture of clouds, air, and fire436. The rainbow is certainly never produced except in the part opposite to the sun, nor even in any other form except that of a semicircle. Nor are they ever formed at night, although Aristotle asserts that they are sometimes seen at that time; he acknowledges, however, that it can only be on the 14th day of the moon437. They are seen in the winter the most frequently, when the days are shortening, after the autumnal equinox438. They are not seen when the days increase again, after the vernal equinox, nor on the longest days, about the summer solstice, but frequently at the winter solstice, when the days are the shortest. When the sun is low they are high, and when the sun is high they are low; they are smaller when in the east or west, but are spread out wider; in the south they are small, but of a greater span. In the summer they are not seen at noon, but after the autumnal equinox at any hour: there are never more than two seen at once.

I do not find that there is any doubt entertained respecting the following points. (60.) Hail is produced by frozen rain, and snow by the same fluid less firmly concreted, and hoar91 by frozen dew439. During the winter snow falls, but not hail; hail itself falls more frequently during the day than the night, and is more quickly melted than snow. There are no mists either in the summer or during the greatest cold of winter. There is neither dew nor hoar formed during great heat or winds, nor unless the night be serene. Fluids are diminished in bulk by being frozen, and, when the ice is melted, we do not obtain the same quantity of fluid as at first440.

(61.) The clouds are varied in their colour and figure according as the fire which they contain is in excess or is absorbed by them.

There are, moreover, certain peculiarities in certain places. In Africa dew falls during the night in summer. In Italy, at Locri, and at the Lake Velinum, there is never a day in which a rainbow is not seen441. At Rhodes and at Syracuse the sky is never so covered with clouds, but that the sun is visible at one time or another; these things, however, will be better detailed in their proper place. So far respecting the air.

Next comes the earth, on which alone of all parts of nature we have bestowed the name that implies maternal veneration. It is appropriated to man as the heavens are to God. She receives us at our birth, nourishes us when born, and ever afterwards supports us; lastly, embracing us in her bosom when we are rejected by the rest of nature, she then covers us with especial tenderness; rendered sacred to us, inasmuch as she renders us sacred, bearing our monuments92 and titles, continuing our names, and extending our memory, in opposition to the shortness of life. In our anger we imprecate her on those who are now no more442, as if we were ignorant that she is the only being who can never be angry with man. The water passes into showers, is concreted into hail, swells into rivers, is precipitated in torrents; the air is condensed into clouds, rages in squalls; but the earth, kind, mild, and indulgent as she is, and always ministering to the wants of mortals, how many things do we compel her to produce spontaneously! What odours and flowers, nutritive juices, forms and colours! With what good faith does she render back all that has been entrusted to her! It is the vital spirit which must bear the blame of producing noxious animals; for the earth is constrained to receive the seeds of them, and to support them when they are produced. The fault lies in the evil nature which generates them. The earth will no longer harbour a serpent after it has attacked any one443, and thus she even demands punishment in the name of those who are indifferent about it themselves444. She pours forth a profusion of medicinal plants, and is always producing something for the use of man. We may even suppose, that it is out of compassion to us that she has ordained certain substances to be poisonous, in order that when we are weary of life, hunger, a mode of death the most foreign to the kind disposition of the earth445, might not consume us by a slow decay, that precipices might not lacerate our mangled bodies, that the unseemly punishment of the halter may not torture us, by stopping the breath of one who seeks93 his own destruction, or that we may not seek our death in the ocean, and become food for our graves, or that our bodies may not be gashed by steel. On this account it is that nature has produced a substance which is very easily taken, and by which life is extinguished, the body remaining undefiled and retaining all its blood, and only causing a degree of thirst. And when it is destroyed by this means, neither bird nor beast will touch the body, but he who has perished by his own hands is reserved for the earth.

But it must be acknowledged, that everything which the earth has produced, as a remedy for our evils, we have converted into the poison of our lives. For do we not use iron, which we cannot do without, for this purpose? But although this cause of mischief has been produced, we ought not to complain; we ought not to be ungrateful to this one part of nature446. How many luxuries and how many insults does she not bear for us! She is cast into the sea, and, in order that we may introduce seas into her bosom, she is washed away by the waves. She is continually tortured for her iron, her timber, stone, fire, corn, and is even much more subservient to our luxuries than to our mere support. What indeed she endures on her surface might be tolerated, but we penetrate also into her bowels, digging out the veins of gold and silver, and the ores of copper and lead; we also search for gems and certain small pebbles, driving our trenches to a great depth. We tear out her entrails in order to extract the gems with which we may load our fingers. How many hands are worn down that one little joint may be ornamented! If the infernal regions really existed, certainly these burrows of avarice and luxury would have penetrated into them. And truly we wonder that this same earth should have produced anything noxious! But, I suppose, the savage beasts protect her and keep off our sacrilegious hands447. For do we not dig among serpents and handle poisonous plants along with those veins of gold? But the Goddess shows herself more propitious to us, inasmuch as all this wealth ends in crimes,94 slaughter, and war, and that, while we drench her with our blood, we cover her with unburied bones; and being covered with these and her anger being thus appeased, she conceals the crimes of mortals448. I consider the ignorance of her nature as one of the evil effects of an ungrateful mind.

Every one agrees that it has the most perfect figure449. We always speak of the ball of the earth, and we admit it to be a globe bounded by the poles. It has not indeed the form of an absolute sphere, from the number of lofty mountains and flat plains; but if the termination of the lines be bounded by a curve450, this would compose a perfect sphere. And this we learn from arguments drawn from the nature of things, although not from the same considerations which we made use of with respect to the heavens. For in these the hollow convexity everywhere bends on itself, and leans upon the earth as its centre. Whereas the earth rises up solid and dense, like something that swells up and is protruded outwards. The heavens bend towards the centre, while the earth goes from the centre, the continual rolling of the heavens about it forcing its immense globe into the form of a sphere451.

On this point there is a great contest between the learned95 and the vulgar. We maintain, that there are men dispersed over every part of the earth, that they stand with their feet turned towards each other, that the vault of the heavens appears alike to all of them, and that they, all of them, appear to tread equally on the middle of the earth. If any one should ask, why those situated opposite to us do not fall, we directly ask in return, whether those on the opposite side do not wonder that we do not fall. But I may make a remark, that will appear plausible even to the most unlearned, that if the earth were of the figure of an unequal globe, like the seed of a pine452, still it may be inhabited in every part.

But of how little moment is this, when we have another miracle rising up to our notice! The earth itself is pendent and does not fall with us; it is doubtful whether this be from the force of the spirit which is contained in the universe453, or whether it would fall, did not nature resist, by allowing of no place where it might fall. For as the seat of fire is nowhere but in fire, nor of water except in water, nor of air except in air, so there is no situation for the earth except in itself, everything else repelling it. It is indeed wonderful that it should form a globe, when there is so much flat surface of the sea and of the plains. And this was the opinion of Dicæarchus, a peculiarly learned man, who measured the heights of mountains, under the direction of the kings, and estimated Pelion, which was the highest, at 1250 paces perpendicular, and considered this as not affecting the round figure of the globe. But this appears to me to be doubtful, as I well know that the summits of some of the Alps rise up by a long space of not less than 50,000 paces454. But what96 the vulgar most strenuously contend against is, to be compelled to believe that the water is forced into a rounded figure455; yet there is nothing more obvious to the sight among the phænomena of nature. For we see everywhere, that drops, when they hang down, assume the form of small globes, and when they are covered with dust, or have the down of leaves spread over them, they are observed to be completely round; and when a cup is filled, the liquid swells up in the middle. But on account of the subtile nature of the fluid and its inherent softness, the fact is more easily ascertained by our reason than by our sight. And it is even more wonderful, that if a very little fluid only be added to a cup when it is full, the superfluous quantity runs over, whereas the contrary happens if we add a solid body, even as much as would weigh 20 denarii. The reason of this is, that what is dropt in raises up the fluid at the top, while what is poured on it slides off from the projecting surface. It is from the same cause456 that the land is not visible from the body of a ship when it may be seen from the mast; and that when a vessel is receding, if any bright object be fixed to the mast, it seems gradually to descend and finally to become invisible. And the ocean, which we admit to be without limits, if it had any other figure, could it cohere and exist without falling, there being no external margin to contain it? And the same wonder still recurs, how is it that the extreme parts of the sea, although it be in the form of a globe, do not fall down? In opposition to which doctrine, the Greeks, to their great joy and glory, were the first to teach us, by their subtile geometry, that this could not happen, even if the seas were flat, and of the figure which they appear to be. For since water always runs from a higher to97 a lower level, and this is admitted to be essential to it, no one ever doubted that the water would accumulate on any shore, as much as its slope would allow it. It is also certain, that the lower anything is, so much the nearer is it to the centre, and that all the lines which are drawn from this point to the water which is the nearest to it, are shorter than those which reach from the beginning of the sea to its extreme parts457. Hence it follows, that all the water, from every part, tends towards the centre, and, because it has this tendency, does not fall.

We must believe, that the great artist, Nature, has so arranged it, that as the arid and dry earth cannot subsist by itself and without moisture, nor, on the other hand, can the water subsist unless it be supported by the earth, they are connected by a mutual union. The earth opens her harbours, while the water pervades the whole earth, within, without, and above; its veins running in all directions, like connecting links, and bursting out on even the highest ridges; where, forced up by the air, and pressed out by the weight of the earth, it shoots forth as from a pipe, and is so far from being in danger of falling, that it bounds up to the highest and most lofty places. Hence the reason is obvious, why the seas are not increased by the daily accession of so many rivers458.

(66.) The earth has, therefore, the whole of its globe girt, on every side, by the sea flowing round it. And this is not a98 point to be investigated by arguments, but what has been ascertained by experience.

The whole of the western ocean is now navigated, from Gades and the Pillars of Hercules, round Spain and Gaul. The greater part of the northern ocean has also been navigated, under the auspices of the Emperor Augustus, his fleet having been carried round Germany to the promontory of the Cimbri459; from which spot they descried an immense sea, or became acquainted with it by report, which extends to the country of the Scythians, and the districts that are chilled by excessive moisture460. On this account it is not at all probable, that the ocean should be deficient in a region where moisture so much abounds. In like manner, towards the east, from the Indian sea, all that part which lies in the same latitude461, and which bends round towards the Caspian462, has been explored by the Macedonian arms, in the reigns of Seleucus and Antiochus, who wished it to be named after themselves, the Seleucian or Antiochian Sea. About the Caspian, too, many parts of the shores of the ocean have been explored, so that nearly the whole of the north has been sailed over in one direction or another. Nor can our argument be much affected by the point that has been so much discussed, respecting the Palus Mæotis, whether it be a bay of the same ocean463, as is, I understand, the opinion of some persons, or whether it be the overflowing of a narrow channel connected with a different ocean464. On the other side of Gades, proceeding from the same western point, a great part of the southern ocean,99 along Mauritania, has now been navigated. Indeed the greater part of this region, as well as of the east, as far as the Arabian Gulf, was surveyed in consequence of Alexander’s victories. When Caius Cæsar, the son of Augustus465, had the conduct of affairs in that country, it is said that they found the remains of Spanish vessels which had been wrecked there. While the power of Carthage was at its height, Hanno published an account of a voyage which he made from Gades to the extremity of Arabia466; Himilco was also sent, about the same time, to explore the remote parts of Europe. Besides, we learn from Corn. Nepos, that one Eudoxus, a contemporary of his467, when he was flying from king Lathyrus, set out from the Arabian Gulf, and was carried as far as Gades468. And long before him, Cælius Antipater469 informs us, that he had seen a person who had sailed from Spain to Æthiopia for the purposes of trade. The same Cornelius Nepos, when speaking of the northern circumnavigation, tells us that Q. Metellus Celer, the colleague of L. Afranius in the consulship, but then a proconsul in Gaul470, had a present made to him by the king of the Suevi, of certain Indians, who sailing from India for the purpose of commerce, had been driven by tempests into Germany471. Thus it appears, that the seas which flow completely100 round the globe, and divide it, as it were, into two parts472, exclude us from one part of it, as there is no way open to it on either side. And as the contemplation of these things is adapted to detect the vanity of mortals, it seems incumbent on me to display, and lay open to our eyes, the whole of it, whatever it be, in which there is nothing which can satisfy the desires of certain individuals.

In the first place, then, it appears, that this should be estimated at half the globe473, as if no portion of this half was encroached upon by the ocean. But surrounding as it does the whole of the land, pouring out and receiving all the other waters, furnishing whatever goes to the clouds, and feeding the stars themselves, so numerous and of such great size as they are, what a great space must we not suppose it to occupy! This vast mass must fill up and occupy an infinite extent. To this we must add that portion of the remainder which the heavens474 take from us. For the globe is divided into five parts475, termed zones, and all that portion is subject to severe cold and perpetual frost which is under the two extremities, about each of the poles, the nearer of which is called the north, and the opposite the south, pole. In all these regions there is perpetual darkness, and, in consequence of the aspect of the milder stars being turned from them, the light is malignant, and only like the whiteness which is produced by hoar frost. The middle of the earth, over which is the orbit of the sun, is parched and burned by the flame, and is consumed by being so near the heat. There are only two of the zones which are temperate, those which lie between the torrid and the frigid zones, and these are separated from each other, in consequence of the scorching heat of the heavenly bodies.101 It appears, therefore, that the heavens take from us three parts of the earth; how much the ocean steals is uncertain.

And with respect to the part which is left us, I do not know whether that is not even in greater danger. This same ocean, insinuating itself, as I have described it, into a number of bays, approaches with its roaring476 so near to the inland seas, that the Arabian Gulf is no more than 115 miles from the Egyptian Sea477, and the Caspian only 375 miles from the Euxine. It also insinuates itself into the numerous seas by which it separates Africa, Europe, and Asia; hence how much space must it occupy? We must also take into account the extent of all the rivers and the marshes, and we must add the lakes and the pools. There are also the mountains, raised up to the heavens, with their precipitous fronts; we must also subtract the forests and the craggy valleys, the wildernesses, and the places, which, from various causes, are desert. The vast quantity which remains of the earth478, or rather, as many persons have considered it, this speck of a world479 (for the earth is no more in regard to the universe), this is the object, the seat of our glory—here we bear our honours, here we exercise our power, here we covet wealth, here we mortals create our disturbances, here we continually carry on our wars, aye, civil wars, even, and unpeople the earth by mutual slaughter. And not to dwell on public feuds, entered into by nations against each other, here it is that we drive away our neighbours, and enclose the land thus seized upon within our own fence480; and yet the man who has most extended his boundary, and has expelled the inhabitants for ever so great a distance, after all, what mighty portion of the earth is he master of? And even when his avarice has been the most completely satisfied, what part of it can he take with him into the grave?

It is evident from undoubted arguments, that the earth is in the middle of the universe481, but it is the most clearly proved by the equality of the days and the nights at the equinox482. It is demonstrated by the quadrant483, which affords the most decisive confirmation of the fact, that unless the earth was in the middle, the days and nights could not be equal; for, at the time of the equinox, the rising and setting of the sun are seen on the same line, and the rising of the sun, at the summer solstice, is on the same line with its setting at the winter solstice; but this could not happen if the earth was not situated in the centre.

The three circles485, which are connected with the above-mentioned zones, distinguish the inequalities of the seasons; these are, the solstitial circle, which proceeds from the part of the Zodiac the highest to us and approaching the nearest to the district of the north; on the other side, the brumal, which is towards the south pole; and the equinoctial, which traverses the middle of the Zodiac.

The cause of the other things which are worthy of our admiration depends on the figure of the earth itself, which, together with all its waters, is proved, by the same arguments, to be a globe. This certainly is the cause why the stars of the northern portion of the heavens never set to us, and why, on the other hand, those in the south never rise, and again, why the latter can never be seen by the former, the globe of the earth rising up and concealing them. The103 Northern Wain is never seen in Troglodytice486, nor in Egypt, which borders on it487; nor can we, in Italy, see the star Canopus488, or Berenice’s Hair489; nor what, under the Emperor Augustus, was named Cæsar’s Throne, although they are, there490, very brilliant stars. The curved form of the earth is so obvious, rising up like a ridge, that Canopus appears to a spectator at Alexandria to rise above the horizon almost the quarter of a sign; the same star at Rhodes appears, as it were, to graze along the earth, while in Pontus it is not seen at all; where the Northern Wain appears considerably elevated. This same constellation cannot be seen at Rhodes, and still less at Alexandria. In Arabia, in the month of November, it is concealed during the first watch of the night, but may be seen during the second491; in Meroë it is seen, for a short time, in the evening, at the solstice, and it is visible at day-break, for a few days before the rising of Arcturus492. These facts have been principally ascertained by the expeditions of navigators; the sea appearing more elevated or depressed in certain parts493; the stars suddenly coming into view, and, as it were, emerging from the water, after having been concealed by the bulging out of the globe494. But the heavens do not, as some suppose, rise higher at one104 pole, otherwise495 its stars would be seen from all parts of the world; they indeed are supposed to be higher by those who are nearest to them, but the stars are sunk below the horizon to those who are more remote. As this pole appears to be elevated to those who are beneath it; so, when we have passed along the convexity of the earth, those stars rise up, which appear elevated to the inhabitants of those other districts; all this, however, could not happen unless the earth had the shape of a globe.

Hence it is that the inhabitants of the east do not see those eclipses of the sun or of the moon which occur in the evening, nor the inhabitants of the west those in the morning, while such as take place at noon are more frequently visible496. We are told, that at the time of the famous victory of Alexander the Great, at Arbela497, the moon was eclipsed at the second hour of the night, while, in Sicily, the moon was rising at the same hour. The eclipse of the sun which occurred the day before the calends of May, in the consulship of Vipstanus and Fonteius498, not many years ago, was seen in Campania between the seventh and eighth hour of the day; the general Corbulo informs us, that it was seen105 in Armenia, between the eleventh and twelfth hour499; thus the curve of the globe both reveals and conceals different objects from the inhabitants of its different parts. If the earth had been flat, everything would have been seen at the same time, from every part of it, and the nights would not have been unequal; while the equal intervals of twelve hours, which are now observed only in the middle of the earth, would in that case have been the same everywhere.

Hence it is that there is not any one night and day the same, in all parts of the earth, at the same time; the intervention of the globe producing night, and its turning round producing day500. This is known by various observations. In Africa and in Spain it is made evident by the Towers of Hannibal501, and in Asia by the beacons, which, in consequence of their dread of pirates, the people erected for their protection; for it has been frequently observed, that the signals, which were lighted at the sixth hour of the day, were seen at the third hour of the night by those who were the most remote502. Philonides, a106 courier of the above-mentioned Alexander, went from Sicyon to Elis, a distance of 1200 stadia, in nine hours, while he seldom returned until the third hour of the night, although the road was down-hill503. The reason is, that, in going, he followed the course of the sun, while on his return, in the opposite direction, he met the sun and left it behind him. For the same reason it is, that those who sail to the west, even on the shortest day, compensate for the difficulty of sailing in the night and go farther504, because they sail in the same direction with the sun.

The same dial-plates505 cannot be used in all places, the shadow of the sun being sensibly different at distances of 300, or at most of 500 stadia506. Hence the shadow of the dial-pin, which is termed the gnomon, at noon and at the summer solstice, in Egypt, is a little more than half the length of the gnomon itself. At the city of Rome it is only ¹⁄₉ less than the gnomon, at Ancona not more than ¹⁄₃₅ less, while in the part of Italy which is called Venetia, at the same hour, the shadow is equal to the length of the gnomon507.

It is likewise said, that in the town of Syene, which is 5000 stadia south of Alexandria508, there is no shadow at noon, on the day of the solstice; and that a well, which was sunk for the purpose of the experiment, is illuminated by the sun in every part. Hence it appears that the sun, in this place, is vertical, and Onesicritus informs us that this is the case, about the same time, in India, at the river Hypasis509. It is well known, that at Berenice, a city of the Troglodytæ, and 4820 stadia beyond that city, in the same country, at the town of Ptolemais, which was built on the Red Sea, when the elephant was first hunted, this same thing takes place for forty-five days before the solstice and for an equal length of time after it, and that during these ninety days the shadows are turned towards the south510. Again, at Meroë, an island in the Nile and the metropolis of the Æthiopians, which is 5000 stadia511 from Syene, there are no shadows at two periods of the year, viz. when the sun is in the 18th degree of Taurus and in the 14th of Leo512. The Oretes, a people of India, have a mountain named Maleus513, near which the shadows in summer108 fall towards the south and in winter towards the north. The seven stars of the Great Bear are visible there for fifteen nights only. In India also, in the celebrated sea-port Patale514, the sun rises to the right hand and the shadows fall towards the south. While Alexander was staying there it was observed, that the seven northern stars were seen only during the early part of the night515. Onesicritus, one of his generals, informs us in his work, that in those places in India where there are no shadows, the seven stars are not visible516; these places, he says, are called “Ascia517,” and the people there do not reckon the time by hours518.

Eratosthenes informs us, that in the whole of Troglodytice, for twice forty-five days in the year, the shadows fall in the contrary direction519.

Hence it follows, that in consequence of the daylight increasing in various degrees, in Meroë the longest day109 consists of twelve æquinoctial hours and eight parts of an hour520, at Alexandria of fourteen hours, in Italy of fifteen, in Britain of seventeen; where the degree of light, which exists in the night, very clearly proves, what the reason of the thing also obliges us to believe, that, during the solstitial period, as the sun approaches to the pole of the world, and his orbit is contracted, the parts of the earth that lie below him have a day of six months long, and a night of equal length when he is removed to the south pole. Pytheas, of Marseilles521, informs us, that this is the case in the island of Thule522, which is six days’ sail from the north of Britain. Some persons also affirm that this is the case in Mona, which is about 200 miles from Camelodunum523, a town of Britain.

Anaximenes the Milesian, the disciple of Anaximander, of whom I have spoken above524, discovered the theory of shadows and what is called the art of dialling, and he was the first who exhibited at Lacedæmon the dial which they call sciothericon525.

The days have been computed by different people in different ways. The Babylonians reckoned from one sunrise to the next; the Athenians from one sunset to the next; the Umbrians from noon to noon; the multitude, universally, from light to darkness; the Roman priests and those who presided over the civil day, also the Egyptians and Hipparchus, from midnight to midnight526. It appears that the interval from one sunrise to the next is less near the solstices than near the equinoxes, because the position of the zodiac is more oblique about its middle part, and more straight near the solstice527.

To these circumstances we must add those that are connected with certain celestial causes. There can be no doubt, that the Æthiopians are scorched by their vicinity to the sun’s heat, and they are born, like persons who have been burned, with the beard and hair frizzled528; while, in the opposite and frozen parts of the earth, there are nations with white skins and long light hair. The latter are savage from the inclemency of the climate, while the former are dull from its variableness529. We learn, from the form of the111 legs, that in the one, the fluids, like vapour, are forced into the upper parts of the body, while in the other, being a gross humour, it is drawn downwards into the lower parts530. In the cold regions savage beasts are produced, and in the others, various forms of animals, and many kinds of birds531. In both situations the body grows tall, in the one case by the force of fire, and in the other by the nutritive moisture.

In the middle of the earth there is a salutary mixture of the two, a tract fruitful in all things, the habits of the body holding a mean between the two, with a proper tempering of colours; the manners of the people are gentle, the intellect clear532, the genius fertile and capable of comprehending every part of nature. They have formed empires, which has never been done by the remote nations; yet these latter have never been subjected by the former, being severed from them and remaining solitary, from the effect produced on them by their savage nature.

According to the doctrine of the Babylonians, earthquakes and clefts of the earth, and occurrences of this kind, are supposed to be produced by the influence of the stars, especially of the three to which they ascribe thunder533; and to be caused by the stars moving with the sun, or being in conjunction with it, and, more particularly, when they are in the quartile aspect534. If we are to credit the report, a112 most admirable and immortal spirit, as it were of a divine nature, should be ascribed to Anaximander the Milesian, who, they say, warned the Lacedæmonians to beware of their city and their houses535. For he predicted that an earthquake was at hand, when both the whole of their city was destroyed and a large portion of Mount Taygetus, which projected in the form of a ship, was broken off, and added farther ruin to the previous destruction. Another prediction is ascribed to Pherecydes, the master of Pythagoras, and this was divine; by a draught of water from a well, he foresaw and predicted that there would be an earthquake in that place536. And if these things be true, how nearly do these individuals approach to the Deity, even during their lifetime! But I leave every one to judge of these matters as he pleases. I certainly conceive the winds to be the cause of earthquakes; for the earth never trembles except when the sea is quite calm, and when the heavens are so tranquil that the birds cannot maintain their flight, all the air which should support them being withdrawn537; nor does it ever happen until after great winds, the gust being pent up, as it were, in the fissures and concealed hollows. For the trembling of the earth resembles thunder in the clouds; nor does the yawning of the earth differ from the bursting of the lightning; the enclosed air struggling and striving to escape538.

The earth is shaken in various ways, and wonderful effects are produced539; in one place the walls of cities being thrown113 down, and in others swallowed up by a deep cleft540; sometimes great masses of earth are heaped up, and rivers forced out, sometimes even flame and hot springs541, and at others the course of rivers is turned. A terrible noise precedes and accompanies the shock542; sometimes a murmuring, like the lowing of cattle, or like human voices, or the clashing of arms. This depends on the substance which receives the sound, and the shape of the caverns or crevices through which it issues; it being more shrill from a narrow opening, more hoarse from one that is curved, producing a loud reverberation from hard bodies, a sound like a boiling fluid543 from moist substances, fluctuating in stagnant water, and roaring when forced against solid bodies. There is, therefore, often the sound without any motion. Nor is it a simple motion, but one that is tremulous and vibratory. The cleft sometimes remains, displaying what it has swallowed up; sometimes concealing it, the mouth being closed and the soil being brought over it, so that no vestige is left; the city being, as it were, devoured, and the tract of country engulfed. Maritime districts are more especially subject to shocks. Nor are mountainous tracts exempt from them; I have found, by my inquiries, that the Alps and the Apennines are frequently shaken. The shocks happen more frequently in the autumn and in the spring, as is the case also with thunder. There are seldom shocks in Gaul and in Egypt; in the latter it depends on the prevalence of summer, in the former, of winter. They also happen more frequently in the night than in the day. The greatest shocks are in the morning and the evening; but they often take place at day-break, and sometimes at noon. They also take place during eclipses of the sun and of the moon, because at that time storms are lulled. They are most frequent when great heat succeeds to showers, or showers succeed to great heat544.

There is no doubt that earthquakes are felt by persons on shipboard, as they are struck by a sudden motion of the waves, without these being raised by any gust of wind. And things that are in the vessels shake as they do in houses, and give notice by their creaking; also the birds, when they settle upon the vessels, are not without their alarms. There is also a sign in the heavens; for, when a shock is near at hand, either in the daytime or a little after sunset, a cloud is stretched out in the clear sky, like a long thin line545. The water in wells is also more turbid than usual, and it emits a disagreeable odour546.

These same places547, however, afford protection, and this is also the case where there is a number of caverns, for they give vent to the confined vapour, a circumstance which has been remarked in certain towns, which have been less shaken where they have been excavated by many sewers. And, in the same town, those parts that are excavated548 are safer than the other parts, as is understood to be the case at Naples in Italy, the part of it which is solid being more liable to injury. Arched buildings are also the most safe, also the angles of walls, the shocks counteracting each other; walls made of brick also suffer less from the shocks549. There is also a great115 difference in the nature of the motions550, where various motions are experienced. It is the safest when it vibrates and causes a creaking in the building, and where it swells and rises upwards, and settles with an alternate motion. It is also harmless when the buildings coming together butt against each other in opposite directions, for the motions counteract each other. A movement like the rolling of waves is dangerous, or when the motion is impelled in one direction. The tremors cease when the vapour bursts out551; but if they do not soon cease, they continue for forty days; generally, indeed, for a longer time: some have lasted even for one or two years.

A great prodigy of the earth, which never happened more than once, I have found mentioned in the books of the Etruscan ceremonies, as having taken place in the district of Mutina, during the consulship of Lucius Martius and Sextus Julius552. Two mountains rushed together, falling upon each other with a very loud crash, and then receding; while in the daytime flame and smoke issued from them; a great crowd of Roman knights, and families of people, and travellers on the Æmilian way, being spectators of it. All the farm-houses were thrown down by the shock, and a great number of animals that were in them were killed; it was in the year before the Social war; and I am in doubt whether this event or the civil commotions were more fatal to the territory of Italy. The prodigy which happened in our own age was no less wonderful; in the last year of the emperor Nero553, as I have related in my history of his times554, when certain fields and olive grounds in the district of Marrucinum, belonging to Vectius Marcellus, a Roman knight, the steward of Nero,116 changed places with each other555, although the public highway was interposed.

Inundations of the sea take place at the same time with earthquakes556; the water being impregnated with the same spirit557, and received into the bosom of the earth which subsides. The greatest earthquake which has occurred in our memory was in the reign of Tiberius558, by which twelve cities of Asia were laid prostrate in one night. They occurred the most frequently during the Punic war, when we had accounts brought to Rome of fifty-seven earthquakes in the space of a single year. It was during this year559 that the Carthaginians and the Romans, who were fighting at the lake Thrasimenus, were neither of them sensible of a very great shock during the battle560. Nor is it an evil merely consisting in the danger which is produced by the motion; it is an equal or a greater evil when it is considered as a prodigy561. The city of Rome never experienced a shock, which was not the forerunner of some great calamity.

The same cause produces an increase of the land; the vapour, when it cannot burst out forcibly lifting up the117 surface562. For the land is not merely produced by what is brought down the rivers, as the islands called Echinades are formed by the river Achelous, and the greater part of Egypt by the Nile, where, according to Homer, it was a day and a night’s journey from the main land to the island of Pharos563; but, in some cases, by the receding of the sea, as, according to the same author, was the case with the Circæan isles564. The same thing also happened in the harbour of Ambracia, for a space of 10,000 paces, and was also said to have taken place for 5000 at the Piræus of Athens565, and likewise at Ephesus, where formerly the sea washed the walls of the temple of Diana. Indeed, if we may believe Herodotus566, the sea came beyond Memphis, as far as the mountains of Æthiopia, and also from the plains of Arabia. The sea also surrounded Ilium and the whole of Teuthrania, and covered the plain through which the Mæander flows567.

Land is sometimes formed in a different manner, rising suddenly out of the sea, as if nature was compensating the earth for its losses568, restoring in one place what she had swallowed up in another.

Delos and Rhodes569, islands which have now been long famous, are recorded to have risen up in this way. More lately there have been some smaller islands formed; Anapha, which is beyond Melos; Nea, between Lemnos and the Hellespont; Halone, between Lebedos and Teos; Thera570 and Therasia, among the Cyclades, in the fourth year of the 135th Olympiad571. And among the same islands, 130 years afterwards, Hiera, also called Automate572, made its appearance; also Thia, at the distance of two stadia from the former, 110 years afterwards, in our own times, when M. Junius Silanus and L. Balbus were consuls, on the 8th of the ides of July573.

(88.) Opposite to us, and near to Italy, among the Æolian isles, an island emerged from the sea; and likewise one near Crete, 2500 paces in extent, and with warm springs in it; another made its appearance in the third year of the 163rd Olympiad574, in the Tuscan gulf, burning with a violent explosion. There is a tradition too that a great number of fishes were floating about the spot, and that those who employed them for food immediately expired. It is said that the Pithecusan isles rose up, in the same way, in the bay of Campania, and that, shortly afterwards, the mountain Epopos, from which flame had suddenly burst forth, was reduced to the level of the neighbouring plain. In the same island, it is said, that a town was sunk in the sea; that in119 consequence of another shock, a lake burst out, and that, by a third, Prochytas was formed into an island, the neighbouring mountains being rolled away from it.

In the ordinary course of things islands are also formed by this means. The sea has torn Sicily from Italy575, Cyprus from Syria, Eubœa from Bœotia576, Atalante and Macris577 from Eubœa, Besbycus from Bithynia, and Leucosia from the promontory of the Sirens.

Again, islands are taken from the sea and added to the main land; Antissa578 to Lesbos, Zephyrium to Halicarnassus, Æthusa to Myndus, Dromiscus and Perne to Miletus, Narthecusa to the promontory of Parthenium. Hybanda, which was formerly an island of Ionia, is now 200 stadia distant from the sea. Syries is now become a part of Ephesus, and, in the same neighbourhood, Derasidas and Sophonia form part of Magnesia; while Epidaurus and Oricum are no longer islands579.

The sea has totally carried off certain lands, and first of120 all, if we are to believe Plato580, for an immense space where the Atlantic ocean is now extended. More lately we see what has been produced by our inland sea; Acarnania has been overwhelmed by the Ambracian gulf, Achaia by the Corinthian, Europe and Asia by the Propontis and Pontus. And besides these, the sea has rent asunder Leucas, Antirrhium, the Hellespont, and the two Bosphori581.

And not to speak of bays and gulfs, the earth feeds on itself; it has devoured the very high mountain of Cybotus, with the town of Curites; also Sipylus in Magnesia582, and formerly, in the same place, a very celebrated city, which was called Tantalis; also the land belonging to the cities Galanis and Gamales in Phœnicia, together with the cities themselves; also Phegium, the most lofty ridge in Æthiopia583. Nor are the shores of the sea more to be depended upon.

The sea near the Palus Mæotis has carried away Pyrrha and Antissa, also Elice and Bura584 in the gulf of Corinth, traces of which places are visible in the ocean. From the121 island Cea it has seized on 30,000 paces, which were suddenly torn off, with many persons on them. In Sicily also the half of the city of Tyndaris, and all the part of Italy which is wanting585; in like manner it carried off Eleusina in Bœotia586.

But let us say no more of earthquakes and of whatever may be regarded as the sepulchres of cities588; let us rather speak of the wonders of the earth than of the crimes of nature. But, by Hercules! the history of the heavens themselves would not be more difficult to relate:—the abundance of metals, so various, so rich, so prolific, rising up589 during so many ages; when, throughout all the world, so much is, every day, destroyed by fire, by waste, by shipwreck, by wars, and by frauds; and while so much is consumed by luxury and by such a number of people:—the figures on gems, so multiplied in their forms; the variously-coloured spots on certain stones, and the whiteness of others, excluding everything except light:—the virtues of medicinal springs, and the perpetual fires bursting out in so many places, for so many ages:—the exhalation of deadly vapours, either emitted from caverns590, or from certain unhealthy districts; some of them fatal to birds alone, as at Soracte, a district near the city591; others to all animals, except to man592, while122 others are so to man also, as in the country of Sinuessa and Puteoli. They are generally called vents, and, by some persons, Charon’s sewers, from their exhaling a deadly vapour. Also at Amsanctum, in the country of the Hirpini, at the temple of Mephitis593, there is a place which kills all those who enter it. And the same takes place at Hierapolis in Asia594, where no one can enter with safety, except the priest of the great Mother of the Gods. In other places there are prophetic caves, where those who are intoxicated with the vapour which rises from them predict future events595, as at the most noble of all oracles, Delphi. In which cases, what mortal is there who can assign any other cause, than the divine power of nature, which is everywhere diffused, and thus bursts forth in various places?

There are certain lands which shake when any one passes over them596; as in the territory of the Gabii, not far from the city of Rome, there are about 200 acres which shake when cavalry passes over it: the same thing takes place at Reate.

(95.) There are certain islands which are always floating597, as in the territory of the Cæcubum598, and of the above-mentioned Reate, of Mutina, and of Statonia. In the lake of Vadimonis and the waters of Cutiliæ there is a dark wood, which is never seen in the same place for a day and a night together. In Lydia, the islands named Calaminæ are not123 only driven about by the wind, but may be even pushed at pleasure from place to place, by poles: many citizens saved themselves by this means in the Mithridatic war. There are some small islands in the Nymphæus, called the Dancers599, because, when choruses are sung, they are moved by the motions of those who beat time. In the great Italian lake of Tarquinii, there are two islands with groves on them, which are driven about by the wind, so as at one time to exhibit the figure of a triangle and at another of a circle; but they never form a square600.

There is at Paphos a celebrated temple of Venus, in a certain court of which it never rains; also at Nea, a town of Troas, in the spot which surrounds the statue of Minerva: in this place also the remains of animals that are sacrificed never putrefy601.

Near Harpasa, a town of Asia, there stands a terrific rock, which may be moved by a single finger; but if it be pushed by the force of the whole body, it resists602. In the Tauric peninsula, in the state of the Parasini, there is a kind of124 earth which cures all wounds603. About Assos, in Troas, a stone is found, by which all bodies are consumed; it is called Sarcophagus604. There are two mountains near the river Indus; the nature of one is to attract iron, of the other to repel it: hence, if there be nails in the shoes, the feet cannot be drawn off the one, or set down on the other605. It has been noticed, that at Locris and Crotona, there has never been a pestilence, nor have they ever suffered from an earthquake; in Lycia there are always forty calm days before an earthquake. In the territory of Argyripa the corn which is sown never springs up. At the altars of Mucius, in the country of the Veii, and about Tusculum, and in the Cimmerian Forest, there are places in which things that are pushed into the ground cannot be pulled out again. The hay which is grown in Crustuminium is noxious on the spot, but elsewhere it is wholesome606.

Much has been said about the nature of waters; but the most wonderful circumstance is the alternate flowing and ebbing of the tides, which exists, indeed, under various forms, but is caused by the sun and the moon. The tide flows twice and ebbs twice between each two risings of the moon,125 always in the space of twenty-four hours. First, the moon rising with the stars607 swells out the tide, and after some time, having gained the summit of the heavens, she declines from the meridian and sets, and the tide subsides. Again, after she has set, and moves in the heavens under the earth, as she approaches the meridian on the opposite side, the tide flows in; after which it recedes until she again rises to us. But the tide of the next day is never at the same time with that of the preceding; as if the planet was in attendance608, greedily drinking up the sea, and continually rising in a different place from what she did the day before. The intervals are, however, equal, being always of six hours; not indeed in respect of any particular day or night or place609, but equinoctial hours, and therefore they are unequal as estimated by the length of common hours, since a greater number of them610 fall on some certain days or nights, and they are never equal everywhere except at the equinox. This is a great, most clear, and even divine proof of the dullness of those, who deny that the stars go below the earth and rise up again, and that nature presents the same face in the same states of their rising and setting611; for the course of the stars is equally obvious in the one case as in the other, producing the same effect as when it is manifest to the sight.

There is a difference in the tides, depending on the moon, of a complicated nature, and, first, as to the period of seven days. For the tides are of moderate height from the new moon to the first quarter; from this time they increase, and are the highest at the full: they then decrease. On the seventh day they are equal to what they were at the first126 quarter, and they again increase from the time that she is at first quarter on the other side. At her conjunction with the sun they are equally high as at the full. When the moon is in the northern hemisphere, and recedes further from the earth, the tides are lower than when, going towards the south, she exercises her influence at a less distance612. After an interval of eight years, and the hundredth revolution of the moon, the periods and the heights of the tides return into the same order as at first, this planet always acting upon them; and all these effects are likewise increased by the annual changes of the sun613, the tides rising up higher at the equinoxes, and more so at the autumnal than at the vernal; while they are lower614 about the winter solstice, and still more so at the summer solstice; not indeed precisely at the points of time which I have mentioned, but a few days after615; for example, not exactly at the full nor at the new moon, but after them; and not immediately when the moon becomes visible or invisible, or has advanced to the middle of her course, but generally about two hours later than the equinoctial hours616; the effect of what is going on in the heavens being felt after a short interval; as we observe with respect to lightning, thunder, and thunderbolts.

But the tides of the ocean cover greater spaces and produce greater inundations than the tides of the other seas; whether it be that the whole of the universe taken together is more full of life than its individual parts, or that the large open space feels more sensibly the power of the planet, as it moves freely about, than when restrained within narrow bounds.127 On which account neither lakes nor rivers are moved in the same manner. Pytheas617 of Massilia informs us, that in Britain the tide rises 80 cubits618. Inland seas are enclosed as in a harbour, but, in some parts of them, there is a more free space which obeys the influence619. Among many other examples, the force of the tide will carry us in three days from Italy to Utica, when the sea is tranquil and there is no impulse from the sails620. But these motions are more felt about the shores than in the deep parts of the seas, as in the body the extremities of the veins feel the pulse, which is the vital spirit, more than the other parts621. And in most estuaries, on account of the unequal rising of the stars in each tract, the tides differ from each other, but this respects the period, not the nature of them; as is the case in the Syrtes.

There are, however, some tides which are of a peculiar nature, as in the Tauromenian Euripus622, where the ebb and flow is more frequent than in other places, and in Eubœa, where it takes place seven times during the day and the night. The tides intermit three times during each month, being the 7th, 8th and 9th day of the moon623. At Gades, which is very near the temple of Hercules, there is a spring128 enclosed like a well, which sometimes rises and falls with the ocean, and, at other times, in both respects contrary to it. In the same place there is another well, which always agrees with the ocean. On the shores of the Bætis624, there is a town where the wells become lower when the tide rises, and fill again when it ebbs; while at other times they remain stationary. The same thing occurs in one well in the town of Hispalis625, while there is nothing peculiar in the other wells. The Euxine always flows into the Propontis, the water never flowing back into the Euxine626.

All seas are purified at the full moon627; some also at stated periods. At Messina and Mylæ a refuse matter, like dung628, is cast up on the shore, whence originated the story of the oxen of the Sun having had their stable at that place. To what has been said above (not to omit anything with which I am acquainted) Aristotle adds, that no animal dies except when the tide is ebbing. The observation has been often made on the ocean of Gaul; but it has only been found true with respect to man629.

Hence we may certainly conjecture, that the moon is not129 unjustly regarded as the star of our life630. This it is that replenishes the earth631; when she approaches it, she fills all bodies, while, when she recedes, she empties them. From this cause it is that shell-fish grow with her increase632, and that those animals which are without blood more particularly experience her influence; also, that the blood of man is increased or diminished in proportion to the quantity of her light; also that the leaves and vegetables generally, as I shall describe in the proper place633, feel her influence, her power penetrating all things.

Fluids are dried up by the heat of the sun; we have therefore regarded it as a masculine star, burning up and absorbing everything634.

Hence it is that the widely-diffused sea is impregnated with the flavour of salt, in consequence of what is sweet and mild being evaporated from it, which the force of fire easily accomplishes; while all the more acrid and thick matter is left behind; on which account the water of the sea is less salt at some depth than at the surface. And this is a more true cause of the acrid flavour, than that the sea is the continued perspiration of the land635, or that the greater part of the dry vapour is mixed with it, or that the nature of the earth is such that it impregnates the waters, and, as it were,130 medicates them636. Among the prodigies which have occurred, there is one which happened when Dionysius, the tyrant of Sicily, was expelled from his kingdom; that, for the space of one day, the water in the harbour became sweet.

(101.) The moon, on the contrary, is said to be a feminine and delicate planet, and also nocturnal; also that it resolves humours and draws them out, but does not carry them off. It is manifest that the carcases of wild beasts are rendered putrid by its beams, that, during sleep, it draws up the accumulated torpor into the head, that it melts ice, and relaxes all things by its moistening spirit637. Thus the changes of nature compensate each other, and are always adequate to their destined purpose; some of them congealing the elements of the stars and others dissolving them. The moon is said to be fed by fresh, and the sun by salt water.

Fabianus638 informs us that the greatest depth of the sea is 15 stadia639. We learn from others, that in the Euxine, opposite to the nation of the Coraxi, at what is called the Depths of the Euxine640, about 300 stadia641 from the main land, the sea is immensely deep, no bottom having been found.

It is very remarkable that fresh water should burst out close to the sea, as from pipes. But there is no end to the wonders that are connected with the nature of waters. Fresh water floats on sea water, no doubt from its being lighter; and therefore sea water, which is of a heavier nature642, supports better what floats upon it. And, in some places, different kinds of fresh water float upon each other; as that of the river which falls into the Fucinus; that of the Addua into the Larius; of the Ticinus into the Verbanus; of the Mincius into the Benacus; of the Ollius into the Sevinus; and of the Rhone into the Leman lake643 (this last being beyond the Alps, the others in Italy): all which rivers passing through the lakes for many miles, generally carry off no more water than they bring with them. The same thing is said to occur in the Orontes, a river of Syria, and in many others.

Some rivers, from a real hatred of the sea, pass under it, as does Arethusa, a fountain of Syracuse, in which the substances are found that are thrown into the Alpheus; which, after flowing by Olympia, is discharged into the sea, on the shore of the Peloponnesus644. The Lycus in Asia645, the Erasinus132 in Argolis, and the Tigris646 in Mesopotamia, sink into the earth and burst out again. Substances which are thrown into the fountain of Æsculapius at Athens647 are cast up at the fountain of Phalerum. The river which sinks into the ground in the plain of Atinum648 comes up again at the distance of twenty miles, and the Timavus does the same in Aquileia649.

In the lake Asphaltites, in Judæa, which produces bitumen, no substance will sink, nor in the lake Arethusa650, in the Greater Armenia: in this lake, although it contains nitre, fish are found. In the country of the Salentini, near the town of Manduria, there is a lake651 full to the brim, the waters of which are never diminished by what is taken out of it, nor increased by what is added. Wood, which is thrown into the river of the Cicones652, or into the lake Velinus in Picenum, becomes coated with a stony crust, while in the Surius, a river of Colchis, the whole substance becomes as hard as stone. In the same manner, in the Silarus653, beyond133 Surrentum, not only twigs which are immersed in it, but likewise leaves are petrified; the water at the same time being proper for drinking. In the stream which runs from the marsh of Reate654 there is a rock, which continues to increase in size, and in the Red Sea olive-trees and green shrubs are produced655.

There are many springs which are remarkable for their warmth. This is the case even among the ridges of the Alps656, and in the sea itself, between Italy and Ænaria, as in the bay of Baiæ, and in the Liris and many other rivers657. There are many places in which fresh water may be procured from the sea, as at the Chelidonian Isles, and at Arados, and in the ocean at Gades. Green plants are produced in the warm springs of Padua, frogs in those of Pisa, and fish in those of Vetulonia in Etruria, which is not far from the sea. In Casinas there is a cold river called Scatebra, which in summer is more full of water658. In this, as in the river Stymphalis, in Arcadia, small water-mice are produced. The fountain of Jupiter in Dodona, although it is as cold as ice, and extinguishes torches that are plunged into it, yet, if they be brought near it, it kindles them again659. This spring always becomes dry at noon, from which circumstance it is called134 Ἀναπαυόμενον660: it then increases and becomes full at midnight, after which it again visibly decreases. In Illyricum there is a cold spring, over which if garments are spread they take fire. The pool of Jupiter Ammon, which is cold during the day, is warm during the night661. In the country of the Troglodytæ662, what they call the Fountain of the Sun, about noon is fresh and very cold; it then gradually grows warm, and, at midnight, becomes hot and saline663.

In the middle of the day, during summer, the source of the Po, as if reposing itself, is always dry664. In the island of Tenedos there is a spring, which, after the summer solstice, is full of water, from the third hour of the night to the sixth665. The fountain Inopus, in the island of Delos, decreases and increases in the same manner as the Nile, and also at the same periods666. There is a small island in the sea, opposite to the river Timavus, containing warm135 springs, which increase and decrease at the same time with the tides of the sea667. In the territory of Pitinum, on the other side of the Apennines, the river Novanus, which during the solstice is quite a torrent, is dry in the winter668.

In Faliscum, all the water which the oxen drink turns them white; in Bœotia, the river Melas turns the sheep black; the Cephissus, which flows out of a lake of the same name, turns them white669; again, the Peneus turns them black, and the Xanthus, near Ilium, makes them red, whence the river derives its name670. In Pontus, the river Astaces waters certain plains, where the mares give black milk, which the people use in diet. In Reate there is a spring called Neminia, which rises up sometimes in one place and sometimes in another, and in this way indicates a change in the produce of the earth671. There is a spring in the harbour of Brundisium that yields water which never becomes putrid at sea. The water of the Lyncestis, which is said to be acidulous, intoxicates like wine672; this is the case also in Paphlagonia673 and in the territory of Calenum674. In the island of Andros, at the temple of Father Bacchus, we are assured by Mucianus, who was thrice consul, that there is a spring, which, on the nones of January, always has the flavour of wine; it is called136 Διὸς Θεοδοσία675. Near Nonacris, in Arcadia, the Styx676, which is not unlike it either in odour or in colour, instantly destroys those who drink it. Also in Librosus, a hill in the country of the Tauri, there are three springs which inevitably produce death, but without pain. In the territory of the Carrinenses in Spain677, two springs burst out close together, the one of which absorbs everything, the other throws them out. In the same country there is another spring, which gives to all the fish the appearance of gold, although, when out of the water, they do not differ in any respect from other fish. In the territory of Como, near the Larian lake, there is a copious spring, which always swells up and subsides again every hour678. In the island of Cydonea679, before Lesbos, there is a warm fountain, which flows only during the spring season. The lake Sinnaus680, in Asia, is impregnated with wormwood, which grows about it. At Colophon, in the cave of the Clarian Apollo, there is a pool, by the drinking of which a power is acquired of uttering wonderful oracles; but the lives of those who drink of it are shortened681. In our own times, during the last years of Nero’s life, we have seen rivers flowing backwards, as I have stated in my history of his times682.

And indeed who can be mistaken as to the fact, that all springs are colder in summer than in winter683, as well as137 these other wonderful operations of nature; that copper and lead sink when in a mass, but float when spread out684; and of things that are equally heavy, some will sink to the bottom, while others will remain on the surface685; that heavy bodies are more easily moved in water686; that a stone from Scyros, although very large, will float, while the same, when broken into small pieces, sinks687; that the body of an animal, newly deprived of life, sinks, but that, when it is swelled out, it floats688; that empty vessels are drawn out of the water with no more ease than those that are full689; that rain-water is more useful for salt-pits than other kinds of water690; that salt cannot be made, unless it is mixed with fresh water691; that salt water freezes with more difficulty692, and is more readily heated693; that the sea is warmer in winter694 and more salt in138 the autumn695; that everything is soothed by oil, and that this is the reason why divers send out small quantities of it from their mouths, because it smoothes any part which is rough696 and transmits the light to them; that snow never falls in the deep part of the sea697; that although water generally has a tendency downwards, fountains rise up698, and that this is the case even at the foot of Ætna699, burning as it does, so as to force out the sand like a ball of flame to the distance of 150 miles?

And now I must give an account of some of the wonders of fire, which is the fourth element of nature; but first those produced by means of water.

In Samosata, a city of Commagene700, there is a pool which discharges an inflammable mud, called Maltha701. It adheres139 to every solid body which it touches, and moreover, when touched, it follows you, if you attempt to escape from it. By means of it the people defended their walls against Lucullus, and the soldiers were burned in their armour702. It is even set on fire in water. We learn by experience that it can be extinguished only by earth.

Naphtha is a substance of a similar nature703 (it is so called about Babylon, and in the territory of the Astaceni, in Parthia704), flowing like liquid bitumen. It has a great affinity to fire, which instantly darts on it wherever it is seen705. It is said, that in this way it was that Medea burned Jason’s mistress; her crown having taken fire, when she approached the altar for the purpose of sacrificing706.

Among the wonders of mountains there is Ætna, which always burns in the night707, and for so long a period has always had materials for combustion, being in the winter buried in snow, and having the ashes which it has ejected covered with frost. Nor is it in this mountain alone that nature rages, threatening to consume the earth708; in Phaselis,140 the mountain Chimæra burns, and indeed with a continual flame, day and night709. Ctesias of Cnidos informs us, that this fire is kindled by water, while it is extinguished by earth and by hay710. In the same country of Lycia, the mountains of Hephæstius, when touched with a flaming torch711, burn so violently, that even the stones in the river and the sand burn, while actually in the water: this fire is also increased by rain. If a person makes furrows in the ground with a stick which has been kindled at this fire, it is said that a stream of flame will follow it. The summit of Cophantus, in Bactria712, burns during the night; and this is the case in Media and at Sittacene713, on the borders of Persia; likewise in Susa, at the White Tower, from fifteen apertures714, the greatest of which also burns in the daytime. The plain of Babylon throws up flame from a place like a fish-pond715, an acre in extent. Near Hesperium, a mountain of the Æthiopians716, the fields shine in the night-time like stars; the same thing takes place in the territory of the Megalopolitani.141 This fire, however, is internal717, mild, and not burning the foliage of a dense wood which is over it718. There is also the crater of Nymphæum719, which is always burning, in the neighbourhood of a cold fountain, and which, according to Theopompus, presages direful calamities to the inhabitants of Apollonia720. It is increased by rain721, and it throws out bitumen, which, becoming mixed with the fountain, renders it unfit to be tasted; it is, at other times, the weakest of all the bitumens. But what are these compared to other wonders? Hiera, one of the Æolian isles, in the middle of the sea, near Italy, together with the sea itself, during the Social war, burned for several days722, until expiation was made, by a deputation from the senate. There is a hill in Æthiopia called Θεῶν ὄχημα723, which burns with the greatest violence, throwing out flame that consumes everything, like the sun724. In so many places, and with so many fires, does nature burn the earth!

But since this one element is of so prolific a nature as to produce itself, and to increase from the smallest spark, what must we suppose will be the effect of all those funeral piles142 of the earth725? What must be the nature of that thing, which, in all parts of the world, supplies this most greedy voracity without destroying itself? To these fires must be added those innumerable stars and the great sun itself. There are also the fires made by men726, those which are innate in certain kinds of stones, those produced by the friction of wood727, and those in the clouds, which give rise to lightning. It really exceeds all other wonders, that one single day should pass in which everything is not consumed, especially when we reflect, that concave mirrors placed opposite to the sun’s rays produce flame more readily than any other kind of fire; and that numerous small but natural fires abound everywhere. In Nymphæum there issues from a rock a fire which is kindled by rain; it also issues from the waters of the Scantia728. This indeed is a feeble flame, since it passes off, remaining only a short time on any body to which it is applied: an ash tree, which overshadows this fiery spring, remains always green729. In the territory of Mutina fire issues from the ground on the days that are consecrated to Vulcan730. It is stated by some authors, that if a burning body falls on the fields below Aricia731, the ground is set on fire; and that the stones in the territory of the Sabines and of the Sidicini732, if they be oiled, burn with flame. In Egnatia733, a143 town of Salentinum, there is a sacred stone, upon which, when wood is placed, flame immediately bursts forth. In the altar of Juno Lacinia734, which is in the open air, the ashes remain unmoved, although the winds may be blowing from all quarters.

It appears also that there are sudden fires both in waters and even in the human body; that the whole of Lake Thrasymenus was on fire735; that when Servius Tullius, while a child, was sleeping, flame darted out from his head736; and Valerius Antias informs us, that the same flame appeared about L. Marcius, when he was pronouncing the funeral oration over the Scipios, who were killed in Spain; and exhorting the soldiers to avenge their death. I shall presently mention more facts of this nature, and in a more distinct manner; in this place these wonders are mixed up with other subjects. But my mind, having carried me beyond the mere interpretation of nature, is anxious to lead, as it were by the hand, the thoughts of my readers over the whole globe.

Our part of the earth, of which I propose to give an account, floating as it were in the ocean which surrounds it (as I have mentioned above737), stretches out to the greatest extent from east to west, viz. from India to the Pillars consecrated to Hercules at Gades, being a distance of 8568 miles738, according to the statement of Artemidorus739, or according144 to that of Isidorus740, 9818 miles. Artemidorus adds to this 491 miles, from Gades, going round by the Sacred Promontory, to the promontory of Artabrum741, which is the most projecting part of Spain.

This measurement may be taken in two directions. From the Ganges, at its mouth, where it discharges itself into the Eastern ocean, passing through India and Parthyene, to Myriandrus742, a city of Syria, in the bay of Issus, is a distance of 5215 miles743. Thence, going directly by sea, by the island of Cyprus, Patara in Lycia, Rhodes, and Astypalæa, islands in the Carpathian sea, by Tænarum in Laconia, Lilybæum in Sicily and Calaris in Sardinia, is 2103 miles. Thence to Glades is 1250 miles, making the whole distance from the Eastern ocean 8568 miles744.

The other way, which is more certain, is chiefly by land. From the Ganges to the Euphrates is 5169 miles; thence to Mazaca, a town in Cappadocia, is 319 miles; thence, through Phrygia and Caria, to Ephesus is 415 miles; from Ephesus, across the Ægean sea to Delos, is 200 miles; to the Isthmus is 212¹⁄₂ miles; thence, first by land and afterwards by the sea of Lechæum and the gulf of Corinth, to Patræ in Peloponnesus, 90 miles; to the promontory of Leucate 87¹⁄₂ miles; as much more to Corcyra; to the Acroceraunian mountains 132¹⁄₂, to Brundisium 87¹⁄₂, and to Rome 360 miles. To the Alps, at the village of Scingomagum745, is 519 miles; through Gaul to Illiberis at the Pyrenees, 927; to the ocean and the145 coast of Spain, 331 miles; across the passage of Gades 7¹⁄₂ miles; which distances, according to the estimate of Artemidorus, make altogether 8945 miles.

The breadth of the earth, from south to north, is commonly supposed to be about one-half only of its length, viz. 4490 miles; hence it is evident how much the heat has stolen from it on one side and the cold on the other: for I do not suppose that the land is actually wanting, or that the earth has not the form of a globe; but that, on each side, the uninhabitable parts have not been discovered. This measure then extends from the coast of the Æthiopian ocean, the most distant part which is habitable, to Meroë, 1000 miles746; thence to Alexandria 1250; to Rhodes 562; to Cnidos 87¹⁄₂; to Cos 25; to Samos 100; to Chios 94; to Mitylene 65; to Tenedos 44; to the promontory of Sigæum 12¹⁄₂; to the entrance of the Euxine 312¹⁄₂; to the promontory of Carambis 350; to the entrance of the Palus Mæotis 312¹⁄₂; and to the mouth of the Tanais 275 miles, which distance, if we went by sea, might be shortened 89 miles. Beyond the Tanais the most diligent authors have not been able to obtain any accurate measurement. Artemidorus supposes that everything beyond is undiscovered, since he confesses that, about the Tanais, the tribes of the Sarmatæ dwell, who extend towards the north pole. Isidorus adds 1250 miles, as the distance to Thule747; but this is mere conjecture. For my part, I believe that the boundaries of Sarmatia really extend to as great a distance as that mentioned above: for if it were not very extensive, how could it contain the innumerable tribes that are always changing their residence? And indeed I consider the uninhabitable portion of the world to be still greater; for it is well known that there are innumerable146 islands lying off the coast of Germany748, which have been only lately discovered.

The above is all that I consider worth relating about the length and the breadth of the earth749. But Eratosthenes750, a man who was peculiarly well skilled in all the more subtle parts of learning, and in this above everything else, and a person whom I perceive to be approved by every one, has stated the whole of this circuit to be 252,000 stadia, which, according to the Roman estimate, makes 31,500 miles. The attempt is presumptuous, but it is supported by such subtle arguments that we cannot refuse our assent. Hipparchus751, whom we must admire, both for the ability with which he controverts Eratosthenes, as well as for his diligence in everything else, has added to the above number not much less than 25,000 stadia.

(109.) Dionysodorus is certainly less worthy of confidence752; but I cannot omit this most remarkable instance of Grecian vanity. He was a native of Melos, and was celebrated for his knowledge of geometry; he died of old age in his native country. His female relations, who inherited his property, attended his funeral, and when they had for several successive days performed the usual rites, they are said to have found in his tomb an epistle written in his own name to those left above; it stated that he had descended from his tomb to the lowest part of the earth, and that it was a distance of 42,000 stadia. There were not wanting certain geometricians, who interpreted this epistle as if it had been sent from the middle of the globe, the point which is at the greatest distance from the surface, and which must necessarily be the centre of the sphere. Hence the estimate has been made that it is 252,000 stadia in circumference.

That harmonical proportion, which compels nature to be always consistent with itself, obliges us to add to the above measure, 12,000 stadia; and this makes the earth one ninety-sixth part of the whole universe.

Summary.—The facts, statements, and observations contained in this Book amount in number to 417.

Roman authors quoted.—M. Varro753, Sulpicius Gallus754, Titus Cæsar755 the Emperor, Q. Tubero756, Tullius Tiro757, L. Piso758, T. Livius759, Cornelius Nepos760, Sebosus761, Cælius Antipater762,148 Fabianus763, Antias764, Mucianus765, Cæcina766, who wrote on the Etruscan discipline, Tarquitius767, who did the same, Julius Aquila768, who also did the same, and Sergius769.

Foreign authors quoted.—Plato770, Hipparchus771, Timæus772, Sosigenes773, Petosiris774, Necepsos775,149 the Pythagorean776 Philosophers, Posidonius777, Anaximander778, Epigenes779 the philosopher who wrote on Gnomonics, Euclid780, Cœranus781 the philosopher, Eudoxus782, Democritus783, Critodemus784, Thrasyllus785, Serapion786, Dicæarchus787, Archimedes788,150 Onesicritus789, Eratosthenes790, Pytheas791, Herodotus792, Aristotle793, Ctesias794, Artemidorus795 of Ephesus, Isidorus796 of Charax, and Theopompus797.

Thus far have I treated of the position and the wonders of the earth, of the waters, the stars, and the proportion of the universe and its dimensions. I shall now proceed to describe its individual parts; although indeed we may with reason look upon the task as of an infinite nature, and one not to be rashly commenced upon without incurring censure. And yet, on the other hand, there is nothing which ought less to require an apology, if it is only considered how far from surprising it is that a mere mortal cannot be acquainted with everything. I shall therefore not follow any single author, but shall employ, in relation to each subject, such writers as I shall look upon as most worthy of credit. For, indeed, it is the characteristic of nearly all of them, that they display the greatest care and accuracy in the description of the countries in which they respectively flourished; so that by doing this, I shall neither have to blame nor contradict any one.

The names of the different places will here be simply given, and as briefly as possible; the account of their celebrity, and the events which have given rise thereto, being deferred to a more appropriate occasion; for it must be remembered that I am here speaking of the earth as a whole, and I wish to be understood as using the names without any reference whatever to their celebrity, and as though the places themselves were in their infancy, and had not as yet acquired any fame through great events. The name is mentioned, it is true, but only as forming a part of the world and the system of the universe.

The whole globe is divided into three parts, Europe, Asia, and Africa. Our description commences where the sun sets and at the Straits of Gades798, where the Atlantic ocean, bursting152 in, is poured forth into the inland seas. As it makes its entrance from that side, Africa is on the right hand and Europe on the left; Asia lies between them799; the boundaries being the rivers Tanais800 and Nile. The Straits of the ocean, of which I have just spoken, extend fifteen miles in length and five801 in breadth, measured from the village of Mellaria802 in Spain to the Album Promontorium803 or White Promontory in Africa, as we learn from Turranius Gracilis, who was born in that vicinity. Titus Livius and Cornelius Nepos however have stated the breadth, where it is least, to be seven miles, and where greatest, ten; from so small a mouth as this does so immense an expanse of water open upon us! Nor is our astonishment diminished by the fact of its being of great depth; for, instead of that, there are numerous breakers and shoals, white with foam, to strike the mariner with alarm. From this circumstance it is, that many have called this spot the threshold of The Inland Sea.

At the narrowest part of the Straits, there are mountains placed to form barriers to the entrance on either side, Abyla804 in Africa, and Calpe805 in Europe, the boundaries formerly of the labours of Hercules806. Hence it is that the inhabitants have called them the Columns of that god; they153 also believe that they were dug through by him; upon which the sea, which was before excluded, gained admission, and so changed the face of nature.

I shall first then speak of Europe, the foster-mother of that people which has conquered all other nations, and itself by far the most beauteous portion of the earth. Indeed, many persons have, not without reason807, considered it, not as a third part only of the earth, but as equal to all the rest, looking upon the whole of our globe as divided into two parts only, by a line drawn from the river Tanais to the Straits of Gades. The ocean, after pouring the waters of the Atlantic through the inlet which I have here described, and, in its eager progress, overwhelming all the lands which have had to dread its approach, skirts with its winding course the shores of those parts which offer a more effectual resistance, hollowing out the coast of Europe especially into numerous bays, among which there are four Gulfs that are more particularly remarkable. The first of these begins at Calpe, which I have previously mentioned, the most distant mountain of Spain; and bends, describing an immense curve, as far as Locri and the Promontory of Bruttium808.

The first land situate upon this Gulf is that which is called the Farther Spain or Bætica809; next to which, beginning at the frontier town of Urgi810, is the Nearer, or Tarraconensian811154 Spain, extending as far as the chain of the Pyrenees. The Farther Spain is divided lengthwise into two provinces, Lusitania812 and Bætica, the former stretching along the northern side of the latter, and being divided from it by the river Ana813.

The source of this river is in the district of Laminium814, in the Nearer Spain. It first spreads out into a number of small lakes, and then again contracts itself into a narrow channel, or entirely disappears under ground815, and after frequently disappearing and again coming to light, finally discharges itself into the Atlantic Ocean. Tarraconensian Spain lies on one side, contiguous to the Pyrenees, running downwards along the sides of that chain, and, stretching across from the Iberian Sea to the Gallic ocean816, is separated from Bætica and Lusitania by Mount Solorius817, the chains of the Oretani818 and the Carpetani819, and that of the Astures820.

Bætica, so called from the river which divides it in the middle, excels all the other provinces in the richness of its cultivation and the peculiar fertility and beauty of its vegetation.

It consists of four jurisdictions, those of Gades821, of Corduba822, of Astigi823, and of Hispalis824. The total number of its towns is 175; of these nine are colonies825, and eight municipal155 towns826; twenty-nine have been long since presented with the old Latin rights827; six are free towns828, three federate829, and 120 tributary.

In this district, the things that more especially deserve notice, or are more easily explained in the Latin tongue, are the following, beginning at the river Ana, along the line of the sea-shore; the town of Onoba, surnamed Æstuaria830; the rivers Luxia and Urium831, flowing through this territory between the Ana and the Bætis; the Marian832 Mountains; the river Bætis; the coast of Corum833, with its winding bay; opposite156 to which is Gades, of which we shall have occasion to speak among the islands834. Next comes the Promontory of Juno835, and the port of Bæsippo836; the towns of Bœlo837 and Mellaria838, at which latter begin the Straits of the Atlantic; Carteia839, called by the Greeks Tartessos840; and the mountain of Calpe.

Along the coast of the inland sea841 is the town of Barbesula842 with its river; also Salduba843; the town of Suel844; and then Malaca845, with its river, one of the federate towns. Next to this comes Mænoba846, with its river; then Sexifirmum847, surnamed157 Julium; Selambina848; Abdera849; and Murci850, which is at the boundary of Bætica. M. Agrippa supposed that all this coast was peopled by colonists of Punic origin. Beyond the Anas, and facing the Atlantic, is the country of the Bastuli851 and the Turditani. M. Varro informs us, that the Iberians, the Persians, the Phœnicians, the Celts, and the Carthaginians spread themselves over the whole of Spain; that the name “Lusitania” is derived from the games (lusus) of Father Bacchus, or the fury (lyssa852) of his frantic attendants, and that Pan853 was the governor of the whole of it. But the traditions respecting Hercules854 and Pyrene, as well as Saturn, I conceive to be fabulous in the highest degree.

The Bætis does not rise, as some writers have asserted, near the town of Mentisa855, in the province of Tarraco, but in the Tugiensian Forest856; and near it rises the river Tader857, which waters the territory of Carthage858. At Ilorcum859 it158 turns away from the Funeral Pile860 of Scipio; then taking a sweep to the left, it falls into the Atlantic Ocean, giving its name to this province: at its source it is but small, though during its course it receives many other streams, which it deprives as well of their waters as their renown. It first enters Bætica in Ossigitania861, and glides gently, with a smooth current, past many towns situate on either side of its banks.

Between this river and the sea-shore the most celebrated places inland are Segida862, also surnamed Augurina; Julia863, called Fidentia; Urgao864 or Alba, Ebora865 or Cerealis, Iliberri866 or Liberini, Ilipula867 or Laus, Artigi868 or Julienses, Vesci869 or Faventia, Singili870, Attegua871, Arialdunum, Agla Minor872, Bæbro873, Castra Vinaria874, Cisimbrium875, Hippo159 Nova or New Hippo876, Ilurco877, Osca878, Escua879, Sucubo880, Nuditanum, Old Tuati881; all which towns are in that part of Bastitania which extends towards the sea, but in the jurisdiction882 of Corduba. In the neighbourhood of the river itself is Ossigi883, also surnamed Laconicum, Iliturgi884 or Forum Julium, Ipasturgi885 or Triumphale, Setia, and, fourteen miles inland, Obulco886, which is also called Pontificense.

Next to these comes Epora887, a federate town, Sacili888 Martialium, and Onoba889. On the right bank is Corduba, a Roman colony, surnamed Patricia890; here the Bætis first becomes navigable. There are also the towns of Carbula160 and Detunda891, and the river Singulis892, which falls into the Bætis on the same side.

The towns in the jurisdiction of Hispalis are the following: Celti, Arua893, Canama894, Evia, Ilipa895, surnamed Illa, and Italica896. On the left of the river is the colony of Hispalis897 named Romuliensis, and, on the opposite side898, the town of Osset899, surnamed Julia Constantia, Vergentum, or Julî Genius900, Orippo, Caura901, Siarum, and the river Menoba902, which enters the Bætis on its right bank. Between the æstuaries of the Bætis lie the towns of Nebrissa903, surnamed Veneria, and of Colobona904. The colonies are, Asta905, which is also called Regia, and, more inland, that of Asido906, surnamed Cæsariana.

The river Singulis, discharging itself into the Bætis at the place already mentioned, washes the colony of Astigi907, surnamed161 Augusta Firma, at which place it becomes navigable. The other colonies in this jurisdiction which are exempt from tribute are Tucci, surnamed Augusta Gemella908, Itucci called Virtus Julia909, Attubi or Claritas Julia910, Urso911 or Genua Urbanorum; and among them in former times Munda912, which was taken with the son of Pompey. The free towns are Old Astigi913 and Ostippo914; the tributary towns are Callet, Callecula, Castra Gemina, the Lesser Ilipula, Merucra, Sacrana, Obulcula915, and Oningis. As you move away from the sea-coast, near where the river Menoba is navigable, you find, at no great distance, the Alontigiceli and the Alostigi916.

The country which extends from the Bætis to the river Anas, beyond the districts already described, is called Bæturia, and is divided into two parts and the same number of nations; the Celtici917, who border upon Lusitania, in the jurisdiction162 of Hispalis, and the Turduli, who dwell on the verge918 of Lusitania and Tarraconensis, and are under the protection of the laws of Corduba. It is evident that the Celtici have sprung from the Celtiberi, and have come from Lusitania, from their religious rites, their language, and the names of their towns, which in Bætica are distinguished by the following epithets919, which have been given to them. Seria has received the surname of Fama Julia920, Nertobriga that of Concordia Julia921, Segida that of Restituta Julia922, and Contributa923 that of Julia. What is now Curiga was formerly Ucultuniacum, Constantia Julia924 was Laconimurgis, the present Fortunales were the Tereses925, and the Emanici were the Callenses926. Besides these, there are in Celtica the towns of Acinippo927, Arunda928, Aruci929, Turobriga, Lastigi, Salpesa, Sæpone, and Serippo.

The other Bæturia, which we have mentioned, is inhabited by the Turduli, and, in the jurisdiction of Corduba, has some towns which are by no means inconsiderable; Arsa930,163 Mellaria931, Mirobriga932, and Sisapo933, in the district of Osintias.

To the jurisdiction of Gades belongs Regina, with Roman citizens; and Læpia, Ulia934, Carisa935 surnamed Aurelia, Urgia936 or Castrum Julium, likewise called Cæsaris Salutariensis, all of which enjoy the Latian rights. The tributary towns are Besaro, Belippo937, Barbesula, Lacippo, Bæsippo, Callet, Cappacum, Oleastro, Ituci, Brana, Lacibi, Saguntia938, and Audorisæ.

M. Agrippa has also stated the whole length of this province to be 475 miles939, and its breadth 257; but this was at a time when its boundaries extended to Carthage940, a circumstance which has often caused great errors in calculations; which are generally the result either of changes effected in the limits of provinces, or of the fact that in the reckoning of distances the length of the miles has been arbitrarily increased or diminished. In some parts too the sea has been long making encroachments upon the land, and in others again the shores have advanced; while the course of rivers in this place has become more serpentine, in that more direct. And then, besides, some writers begin their measurements at one place,164 and some at another, and so proceed in different directions; and hence the result is, that no two accounts agree.

(2.) At the present day the length of Bætica, from the town of Castulo941, on its frontier, to Gades is 250 miles, and from Murci, which lies on the sea-coast, twenty-five miles more. The breadth, measured from the coast of Carteia, is 234 miles. Who is there that can entertain the belief that Agrippa, a man of such extraordinary diligence, and one who bestowed so much care on his subject, when he proposed to place before the eyes of the world a survey of that world, could be guilty of such a mistake as this, and that too when seconded by the late emperor the divine Augustus? For it was that emperor who completed the Portico942 which had been begun by his sister, and in which the survey was to be kept, in conformity with the plan and descriptions of M. Agrippa.

The ancient form of the Nearer Spain, like that of many other provinces, is somewhat changed, since the time when Pompey the Great, upon the trophies which he erected in the Pyrenees, testified that 877 towns, from the Alps to the borders of the Farther Spain, had been reduced to subjection by him. The whole province is now divided into seven jurisdictions, those of Carthage943, of Tarraco, of Cæsar Augusta944, of165 Clunia945, of Asturica946, of Lucus947, and of the Bracari948. To these are to be added the islands, which will be described on another occasion, as also 293 states which are dependent on others; besides which the province contains 179 towns. Of these, twelve are colonies, thirteen, towns with the rights of Roman citizens, eighteen with the old Latian rights, one confederate, and 135 tributary.

The first people that we come to on the coast are the Bastuli; after whom, proceeding according to the order which I shall follow, as we go inland, there are the Mentesani, the Oretani, and the Carpetani on the Tagus, and next to them the Vaccæi, the Vectones, and the Celtiberian Arevaci. The towns nearest to the coast are Urci, and Barea949 included in Bætica, the district of Mavitania, next to it Deitania, and then Contestania, and the colony of Carthago Nova; from the Promontory of which, known as the Promontorium Saturni950, to the city of Cæsarea951 in Mauritania, the passage is a distance of 187 miles. The remaining objects worthy of mention on the coast are the river Tader952, and the free colony of Ilici953, whence the Ilicitanian Gulf954 derives its name; to this colony the Icositani are subordinate.

We next have Lucentum955, holding Latian rights; Dianium956, a tributary town; the river Sucro957, and in former times a town of the same name, forming the frontier of Contestania.166 Next is the district of Edetania, with the delightful expanse of a lake958 before it, and extending backward to Celtiberia. Valentia959, a colony, is situate three miles from the sea, after which comes the river Turium960, and Saguntum961 at the same distance, a town of Roman citizens famous for its fidelity, the river Uduba962, and the district of the Ilergaones963. The Iberus964, a river enriched by its commerce, takes its rise in the country of the Cantabri, not far from the town of Juliobriga965, and flows a distance of 450 miles; 260 of which, from the town of Varia966 namely, it is available for the purposes of navigation. From this river the name of Iberia has been given by the Greeks to the whole of Spain.

Next comes the district of Cossetania, the river Subi967, and the colony of Tarraco, which was built by the Scipios as Carthage968 was by the Carthaginians. Then the district of the Ilergetes, the town of Subur969, and the river Rubricatum970, beyond which begin the Laletani and the Indigetes971. Behind these, in the order in which they will be mentioned,167 going back from the foot of the Pyrenees, are the Ausetani972, the Lacetani973, and along the Pyrenees, the Cerretani974, next to whom are the Vascones975. On the coast is the colony of Barcino976, surnamed Faventia; Bætulo977 and Iluro978, towns with Roman citizens; the river Larnum979, Blandæ980, the river Alba981; Emporiæ982, a city consisting of two parts, one peopled by the original inhabitants, the other by the Greek descendants of the Phocæans; and the river Ticher983. From this to the Venus Pyrenæa984, on the other side of the Promontory, is a distance of forty miles.

I shall now proceed to give an account of the more remarkable things in these several jurisdictions, in addition to those which have been already mentioned. Forty-three different peoples are subject to the jurisdiction of the courts of Tarraco: of these the most famous are—holding the rights of Roman citizens, the Dertusani985 and the Bisgargitani; enjoying Latian rights, the Ausetani, and the Cerretani, both Julian and Augustan, the Edetani986, the Gerundenses987, the168 Gessorienses988, and the Teari989, also called Julienses. Among the tributaries are the Aquicaldenses990, the Onenses, and the Bæculonenses991.

Cæsar Augusta, a free colony, watered by the river Iberus, on the site of the town formerly called Salduba, is situate in the district of Edetania, and is the resort of fifty-five nations. Of these there are, with the rights of Roman citizens, the Bellitani992, the Celsenses993, a former colony, the Calagurritani994, surnamed the Nassici, the Ilerdenses995, of the nation of the Surdaones, near whom is the river Sicoris, the Oscenses996 in the district of Vescitania, and the Turiasonenses997. Of those enjoying the rights of the ancient Latins, there are the Cascantenses998, the Ergavicenses999, the Graccuritani1000,169 the Leonicenses1001, and the Osicerdenses; of federate states, there are the Tarragenses1002; and of tributaries, the Arcobrigenses1003, the Andologenses1004, the Aracelitani1005, the Bursaonenses1006, the Calagurritani1007, who are also surnamed the Fibularenses, the Complutenses1008, the Carenses1009, the Cincenses1010, the Cortonenses, the Damanitani1011, the Larnenses1012, the Lursenses1013, the Lumberitani1014, the Lacetani, the Lubienses, the Pompelonenses1015, and the Segienses.

170

Sixty-five different nations resort to Carthage1016, besides the inhabitants of the islands. Of the Accitanian1017 colony, there are the Gemellenses, and the town of Libisosona1018, surnamed Foroaugustana, to both of which have been granted Italian1019 rights. Of the colony of Salaria1020, there are the people of the following towns, enjoying the rights of ancient Latium: the Castulonenses, also called the Cæsari Venales, the Sætabitani1021 or Augustani, and the Valerienses1022. The best known among the tributaries are the Alabanenses1023, the Bastitani1024, the Consaburrenses1025, the Dianenses1026, the Egelestani1027,171 the Ilorcitani1028, the Laminitani, the Mentesani1029, both those called Oritani and those called Bastuli, and the Oretani who are surnamed Germani1030, the people of Segobriga1031 the capital of Celtiberia, those of Toletum1032 the capital of Carpetania, situate on the river Tagus, and after them the Viatienses and the Virgilienses1033.

To the jurisdiction of Clunia1034 the Varduli contribute fourteen nations, of whom we need only particularize the Albanenses1035, the Turmodigi1036, consisting of four tribes, among which are the Segisamonenses1037 and the Segisamaiulienses. To the same jurisdiction belong the Carietes1038 and the Vennenses with five states, among which are the Velienses. Thither too resort the Pelendones of the Celtiberians, in four different nations, among whom the Numantini1039 were especially famous. Also, among the eighteen states of the Vaccæi, there are the Intercatienses1040, the Pallantini1041, the Lacobrigenses, and the Caucenses1042. But among the seven172 peoples belonging to the Cantabri, Juliobriga1043 is the only place worthy of mention; and of the ten states of the Autrigones, Tritium and Virovesca1044. The river Areva1045 gives its name to the Arevaci; of whom there are six towns, Segontia1046 and Uxama1047, names which are frequently given to other places, as also Segovia1048 and Nova Augusta, Termes1049, and Clunia itself, the frontier of Celtiberia. The remaining portion turns off towards the ocean, being occupied by the Varduli, already mentioned, and the Cantabri.

Next upon these touch the twenty-two nations of the Astures, who are divided into the Augustani1050 and the Transmontani, with the magnificent city of Asturica. Among these we have the Cigurri1051, the Pæsici, the Lancienses1052, and the Zoëlæ1053. The total number of the free population amounts to 240,000 persons.

The jurisdiction of Lucus1054 embraces, besides the Celtici and the Lebuni, sixteen different nations, but little known173 and with barbarous names. The number however of the free population amounts to nearly 166,000.

In a similar manner the twenty-four states of the jurisdiction of the Bracari contain a population of 175,000, among whom, besides the Bracari1055 themselves, we may mention, without wearying the reader, the Bibali, the Cœlerni, the Gallæci, the Hequæsi, the Limici, and the Querquerni.

The length of the Nearer Spain, from the Pyrenees to the frontier of Castulo, is 6071056 miles, and a little more if we follow the line of the coast; while its breadth, from Tarraco to the shore of Olarson1057, is 3071058 miles. From the foot of the Pyrenees, where it is wedged in by the near approach of the two seas, it gradually expands until it touches the Farther Spain, and thereby acquires a width more than double1059.

Nearly the whole of Spain abounds in mines1060 of lead, iron,174 copper, silver, and gold; in the Nearer Spain there is also found lapis specularis1061; in Bætica there is cinnabar. There are also quarries of marble. The Emperor Vespasianus Augustus, while still harassed by the storms that agitated the Roman state, conferred the Latian rights on the whole of Spain. The Pyrenean mountains divide Spain from Gaul, their extremities projecting into the two seas on either side.

That part of the Gallias which is washed by the inland sea1062 is called the province of [Gallia] Narbonensis1063, having formerly borne the name of Braccata1064. It is divided from Italy by the river Varus1065, and by the range of the Alps, the great safeguards of the Roman Empire. From the remainder of Gaul, on the north, it is separated by the mountains Cebenna1066 and Jura1067. In the cultivation of the soil, the manners and civilization of the inhabitants, and the extent of its wealth, it is surpassed by none of the provinces, and, in short, might be more truthfully described as a part of Italy than as a province. On the coast we have the district of the Sordones1068, and more inland that of the Consuarani1069. The175 rivers are the Tecum and the Vernodubrum1070. The towns are Illiberis1071, the scanty remains of what was formerly a great city, and Ruscino1072, a town with Latian rights. We then come to the river Atax1073, which flows from the Pyrenees, and passes through the Rubrensian Lake1074, the town of Narbo Martius, a colony of the tenth legion, twelve miles distant from the sea, and the rivers Arauris1075 and Liria1076. The towns are otherwise but few in number, in consequence of the numerous lakes1077 which skirt the sea-shore. We have Agatha1078, formerly belonging to the Massilians, and the district of the Volcæ Tectosages1079; and there is the spot where Rhoda1080, a Rhodian colony, formerly stood, from which the river takes its name of Rhodanus1081; a stream by far the most fertilizing of any in either of the Gallias. Descending from the Alps and rushing through lake Lemanus1082, it carries along with it the sluggish Arar1083, as well as the torrents of the Isara and the Druentia1084, no less rapid than itself. Its two smaller mouths are called Libica1085, one being the Spanish, and the176 other the Metapinian mouth; the third and largest is called the Massiliotic1086. There are some authors who state that there was formerly a town called Heraclea1087 at the mouth of the Rhodanus or Rhone.

Beyond this are the Canals1088 leading out of the Rhone, a famous work of Caius Marius, and still distinguished by his name; the Lake of Mastramela1089, the town of Maritima1090 of the Avatici, and, above this, the Stony Plains1091, memorable for the177 battles of Hercules; the district of the Anatilii1092, and more inland, that of the Desuviates1093 and the Cavari. Again, close upon the sea, there is that of the Tricorii1094, and inland, there are the Tricolli1095, the Vocontii1096, and the Segovellauni, and, after them, the Allobroges1097.

On the coast is Massilia, a colony of Phocæan1098 Greeks, and a federate1099 city; we then have the Promontory of Zao1100, the port of Citharista1101, and the district of the Camatullici1102; then the Suelteri1103, and above them the Verrucini1104. Again,178 on the coast, we find Athenopolis1105, belonging to the Massilians, Forum Julii1106 Octavanorum, a colony, which is also called Pacensis and Classica, the river Argenteus1107, which flows through it, the district of the Oxubii1108 and that of the Ligauni1109; above whom are the Suetri1110, the Quariates1111 and the Adunicates1112. On the coast we have Antipolis1113, a town with Latian rights, the district of the Deciates, and the river Varus, which proceeds from Mount Cema, one of the Alps.

The colonies in the interior are Arelate Sextanorum1114, Beterræ Septimanorum1115, and Arausio1116 Secundanorum; Valentia1117 in the territory of the Cavari, and Vienna1118 in that of the Allobroges. The towns that enjoy Latian rights are Aquæ Sextiæ1119 in the territory of the Saluvii, Avenio1120 in that of the179 Cavari, Apta Julia1121 in that of the Volgientes, Alebece1122 in that of the Reii Apollinares, Alba1123 in that of the Helvi, and Augusta1124 in that of the Tricastini, Anatilia, Aeria1125, the Bormanni1126, the Comaci, Cabellio1127, Carcasum1128 in the territory of the Volcæ Tectosages, Cessero1129, Carpentoracte1130 in the territory of the Memini, the Cenicenses1131, the Cambolectri1132, surnamed the Atlantici, Forum1133 Voconi, Glanum Livi1134, the Lutevani1135, also called the Foroneronienses1136, Nemausum1137 in180 the territory of the Arecomici, Piscenæ1138, the Ruteni1139, the Sanagenses1140, the Tolosani1141 in the territory of the Tectosages on the confines of Aquitania, the Tasconi1142, the Tarusconienses1143, the Umbranici1144, Vasio1145 and Lucus Augusti1146, the two capitals of the federate state of the Vocontii. There are also nineteen towns of less note, as well as twenty-four belonging to the people of Nemausum. To this list1147 the Emperor Galba added two tribes dwelling among the Alps, the Avantici1148 and the Bodiontici, to whom belongs the town of Dinia1149. According to Agrippa the length of the province of Gallia Narbonensis is 370 miles, and its breadth 2481150.

Next comes Italy, and we begin with the Ligures1151, after181 whom we have Etruria, Umbria, Latium, where the mouths of the Tiber are situate, and Rome, the Capital of the world, sixteen miles distant from the sea. We then come to the coasts of the Volsci and of Campania, and the districts of Picenum, of Lucania, and of Bruttium, where Italy extends the farthest in a southerly direction, and projects into the [two] seas with the chain of the Alps1152, which there forms pretty nearly the shape of a crescent. Leaving Bruttium we come to the coast of [Magna] Græcia, then the Salentini, the Pediculi, the Apuli, the Peligni, the Frentani, the Marrucini, the Vestini, the Sabini, the Picentes, the Galli, the Umbri, the Tusci, the Veneti, the Carni, the Iapydes, the Histri, and the Liburni.

I am by no means unaware that I might be justly accused of ingratitude and indolence, were I to describe thus briefly and in so cursory a manner the land which is at once the foster-child1153 and the parent of all lands; chosen by the providence of the Gods to render even heaven itself more glorious1154, to unite the scattered empires of the earth, to bestow a polish upon men’s manners, to unite the discordant and uncouth dialects of so many different nations by the powerful ties of one common language, to confer the enjoyments of discourse and of civilization upon mankind, to become, in short, the mother-country of all nations of the Earth.

But how shall I commence this undertaking? So vast is the number of celebrated places (what man living could enumerate them all?), and so great the renown attached to each individual nation and subject, that I feel myself quite182 at a loss. The city of Rome alone, which forms a portion of it, a face well worthy of shoulders so beauteous, how large a work would it require for an appropriate description! And then too the coast of Campania, taken singly by itself! so blest with natural beauties and opulence, that it is evident that when nature formed it she took a delight in accumulating all her blessings in a single spot—how am I to do justice to it? And then the climate, with its eternal freshness and so replete with health and vitality, the sereneness of the weather so enchanting, the fields so fertile, the hill sides so sunny, the thickets so free from every danger, the groves so cool and shady, the forests with a vegetation so varying and so luxuriant, the breezes descending from so many a mountain, the fruitfulness of its grain, its vines, and its olives so transcendent; its flocks with fleeces so noble, its bulls with necks so sinewy, its lakes recurring in never-ending succession, its numerous rivers and springs which refresh it with their waters on every side, its seas so many in number, its havens and the bosom of its lands opening everywhere to the commerce of all the world, and as it were eagerly stretching forth into the very midst of the waves, for the purpose of aiding as it were the endeavours of mortals!

For the present I forbear to speak of its genius, its manners, its men, and the nations whom it has conquered by eloquence and force of arms. The very Greeks themselves, a race fond in the extreme of expatiating on their own praises, have amply given judgment in its favour, when they named but a small part of it ‘Magna Græcia1155.’ But we must be content to do on this occasion as we have done in our description of the heavens; we must only touch upon some of these points, and take notice of but a few of its stars. I only beg my readers to bear in mind that I am thus hastening183 on for the purpose of giving a general description of everything that is known to exist throughout the whole earth.

I may premise by observing that this land very much resembles in shape an oak leaf, being much longer than it is broad; towards the top it inclines to the left1156, while it terminates in the form of an Amazonian buckler1157, in which the spot at the central projection is the place called Cocinthos, while it sends forth two horns at the end of its crescent-shaped bays, Leucopetra on the right and Lacinium on the left. It extends in length 1020 miles, if we measure from the foot of the Alps at Prætoria Augusta, through the city of Rome and Capua to the town of Rhegium, which is situate on the shoulder of the Peninsula, just at the bend of the neck as it were. The distance would be much greater if measured to Lacinium, but in that case the line, being drawn obliquely, would incline too much to one side. Its breadth is variable; being 410 miles between the two seas, the Lower and the Upper1158, and the rivers Varus and Arsia1159: at about the middle, and in the vicinity of the city of Rome, from the spot where the river Aternus1160 flows into the Adriatic sea, to the mouth of the Tiber, the distance is 136 miles, and a little less from Castrum-novum on the Adriatic sea to Alsium1161 on the Tuscan; but in no place does it exceed 200 miles in breadth.184 The circuit of the whole, from the Varus to the Arsia, is 3059 miles1162.

As to its distance from the countries that surround it—Istria and Liburnia are, in some places1163, 100 miles from it, and Epirus and Illyricum 50; Africa is less than 200, as we are informed by M. Varro; Sardinia1164 is 120, Sicily 1¹⁄₂, Corsica less than 80, and Issa1165 50. It extends into the two seas towards the southern parts of the heavens, or, to speak with more minute exactness, between the sixth1166 hour and the first hour of the winter solstice.

We will now describe its extent and its different cities; in doing which, it is necessary to premise, that we shall follow the arrangement of the late Emperor Augustus, and adopt the division which he made of the whole of Italy into eleven districts; taking them, however, according to their order on the sea-line, as in so hurried a detail it would not be possible otherwise to describe each city in juxtaposition with the others in its vicinity. And for the same reason, in describing the interior, I shall follow the alphabetical order which has been adopted by that Emperor, pointing out the colonies of which he has made mention in his enumeration. Nor is it a very easy task to trace their situation and origin; for, not to speak of others, the Ingaunian Ligurians have had lands granted to them as many as thirty different times.

To begin then with the river Varus; we have the town of Nicæa1168, founded by the Massilians, the river Paulo1169, the Alps185 and the Alpine tribes, distinguished by various names1170, but more especially the Capillati1171, Cemenelio1172, a town of the state of the Vediantii, the port of Hercules Monæcus1173, and the Ligurian coast. The more celebrated of the Ligurian tribes beyond the Alps are the Salluvii, the Deciates, and the Oxubii1174; on this side of the Alps, the Veneni1175, and the Vagienni, who are derived from the Caturiges1176, the Statielli1177, the Bimbelli1178, the Magelli, the Euburiates, the Casmonates1179, the Veleiates1180, and the peoples whose towns we shall describe as lying near the adjoining coast. The river Rutuba1181, the town of Albium Intemelium1182, the river Merula1183, the town of Albium Ingaunum1184, the port of Vadum Sabatiorum1185, the river Porcifera1186, the town of Genua, the river Feritor1187, the Portus Delphini1188, Tigullia1189, Tegesta1190 of the Tigullii, and the river Macra1191, which is the boundary of Liguria.

186

Extending behind all the before-mentioned places are the Apennines, the most considerable of all the mountains of Italy, the chain of which extends unbroken from the Alps1192 to the Sicilian sea. On the other side of the Apennines, towards the Padus1193, the richest river of Italy, the whole country is adorned with noble towns; Libarna1194, the colony of Dertona1195, Iria1196, Barderate1197, Industria1198, Pollentia1199, Carrea surnamed Potentia1200, Foro Fulvî or Valentinum1201, Augusta1202 of the Vagienni, Alba Pompeia1203, Asta1204, and Aquæ Statiellorum1205. This is the ninth region, according to the arrangement of Augustus. The coast of Liguria extends 211 miles1206, between the rivers Varus and Macra.

Next to this comes the seventh region, in which is Etruria,187 a district which begins at the river Macra, and has often changed its name. At an early period the Umbri were expelled from it by the Pelasgi; and these again by the Lydians, who from a king of theirs1207 were named Tyrrheni, but afterwards, from the rites observed in their sacrifices, were called, in the Greek language1208, Tusci. The first town in Etruria is Luna1209, with a noble harbour, then the colony of Luca1210, at some distance from the sea, and nearer to it again the colony of Pisæ1211, between the rivers Auser1212 and Arnus1213, which owes its origin to Pelops and the Pisans1214, or else to the Teutani, a people of Greece. Next is Vada1215 Volaterrana, then the river Cecinna1216, and Populonium1217 formerly belonging to the Etrurians, the only town they had on this coast. Next to these is the river Prile1218, then the Umbro1219, which is navigable, and where the district of Umbria begins, the port of Telamon1220, Cosa1221 of the Volcientes, founded by the Roman188 people, Graviscæ1222, Castrum novum1223, Pyrgi1224, the river Cæretanus1225, and Cære1226 itself, four miles inland, called Agylla by the Pelasgi who founded it, Alsium1227, Fregenæ1228, and the river Tiber, 2841229 miles from the Macra.

In the interior we have the colonies of Falisci1230, founded by the Argives, according to the account of Cato1231, and surnamed Falisci Etruscorum, Lucus Feroniæ1232, Rusellana, the Senienses1233, and Sutrina1234. The remaining peoples are the189 Arretini1235 Veteres, the Arretini Fidentes, the Arretini Julienses, the Amitinenses, the Aquenses, surnamed Taurini1236, the Blerani1237, the Cortonenses1238, the Capenates1239, the Clusini Novi, the Clusini Veteres1240, the Florentini1241, situate on the stream of the Arnus, Fæsulæ1242, Ferentinum1243, Fescennia1244,190 Hortanum1245, Herbanum1246, Nepeta1247, Novem Pagi1248, the Claudian præfecture of Foroclodium1249, Pistorium1250, Perusia1251, the Suanenses, the Saturnini, formerly called the Aurinini, the Subertani1252, the Statones1253, the Tarquinienses1254, the Tuscanienses1255, the Vetulonienses1256, the Veientani1257, the Vesentini1258, the Volaterrani1259, the Volcentini1260, surnamed Etrusci, and the Volsinienses1261. In the same district the territories of191 Crustumerium1262 and Caletra1263 retain the names of the ancient towns.

The Tiber or Tiberis, formerly called Thybris, and previously Albula1265, flows down from nearly the central part of the chain of the Apennines, in the territory of the Arretini. It is at first small, and only navigable by means of sluices, in which the water is dammed up and then discharged, in the same manner as the Timia1266 and the Glanis, which flow into it; for which purpose it is found necessary to collect the water for nine days, unless there should happen to be a fall of rain. And even then, the Tiber, by reason of its rugged and uneven channel, is really more suitable for navigation by rafts than by vessels, for any great distance. It winds along for a course of 150 miles, passing not far from Tifernum1267, Perusia, and Ocriculum1268, and dividing Etruria from the Umbri1269 and the Sabini1270, and then, at a distance of less than sixteen192 miles from the city, separating the territory of Veii from that of Crustuminum, and afterwards that of the Fidenates and of Latium from Vaticanum.

Below its union with the Glanis from Arretinum the Tiber is swollen by two and forty streams, particularly the Nar1271 and the Anio, which last is also navigable and shuts in Latium at the back; it is also increased by the numerous aqueducts and springs which are conveyed to the City. Here it becomes navigable by vessels of any burden which may come up from the Italian sea; a most tranquil dispenser of the produce of all parts of the earth, and peopled and embellished along its banks with more villas than nearly all the other rivers of the world taken together. And yet there is no river more circumscribed than it, so close are its banks shut in on either side; but still, no resistance does it offer, although its waters frequently rise with great suddenness, and no part is more liable to be swollen than that which runs through the City itself. In such case, however, the Tiber is rather to be looked upon1272 as pregnant with prophetic warnings to us, and in its increase to be considered more as a promoter of religion than a source of devastation.

Latium1273 has preserved its original limits, from the Tiber to Circeii1274, a distance of fifty miles: so slender at the beginning were the roots from which this our Empire sprang. Its inhabitants have been often changed, and different nations have peopled it at different times, the Aborigines,193 the Pelasgi, the Arcades, the Seculi, the Aurunci, the Rutuli, and, beyond Circeii, the Volsci, the Osci, and the Ausones whence the name of Latium came to be extended as far as the river Liris1275.

We will begin with Ostia1276, a colony founded by a king of Rome, the town of Laurentum1277, the grove of Jupiter Indiges1278, the river Numicius1279, and Ardea1280, founded by Danaë, the mother of Perseus. Next come the former site of Aphrodisium1281, the colony of Antium1282, the river and island called Astura1283, the river Nymphæus1284, the Clostra Romana1285, and Circeii1286, formerly an island, and, if we are to believe Homer, surrounded by the open sea, though now by an extensive plain. The circumstances which we are enabled to publish on this subject for the information of the world are very remarkable. Theophrastus, the first foreigner who treated of the affairs of Rome with any degree of accuracy (for Theopompus, before whose time no Greek writer had made mention of us, only194 stated the fact that the city had been taken by the Gauls, and Clitarchus, the next after him, only spoke of the embassy that was sent by the Romans to Alexander)—Theophrastus, I say, following something more than mere rumour, has given the circuit of the island of Circeii as being eighty stadia, in the volume which he wrote during the archonship of Nicodorus at Athens1287, being the 440th year of our city. Whatever land therefore has been annexed to that island beyond the circumference of about ten miles, has been added to Italy since the year previously mentioned.

Another wonderful circumstance too.—Near Circeii are the Pomptine Marshes1288, formerly the site, according to Mucianus, who was thrice consul, of four-and-twenty cities. Next to this comes the river Ufens1289, upon which is the town of Terracina1290, called, in the language of the Volsci, Anxur; the spot too where Amyclæ1291 stood, a town destroyed by serpents. Next is the site of the Grotto1292, Lake Fundanus1293, the port of Caieta1294, and then the town of Formiæ1295, formerly called Hormiæ, the ancient seat of the Læstrygones1296, it is supposed. Beyond this, formerly stood the195 town of Pyræ; and we then come to the colony of Minturnæ1297, which still exists, and is divided1298 by the river Liris, also called the Glanis. The town of Sinuessa1299 is the last in the portion which has been added to Latium; it is said by some that it used to be called Sinope.

At this spot begins that blessed country Campania1300, and in this vale first take their rise those hills clad with vines, the juice of whose grape is extolled by Fame all over the world; the happy spot where, as the ancients used to say, father Liber and Ceres are ever striving for the mastery. Hence the fields of Setia1301 and of Cæcubum1302 extend afar, and, next to them those of Falernum1303 and of Calinum1304. As soon as we have passed these, the hills of Massica1305, of Gaurus1306, and of Surrentum rise to our view. Next, the level plains of Laborium1307 are spread out far and wide, where every care is bestowed on cultivating crops of spelt, from which the most delicate fermenty is made. These shores are watered by warm springs1308, while the seas are distinguished beyond all others for the superlative excellence of their shell and other fish.196 In no country too has the oil of the olive a more exquisite flavour. This territory, a battle-ground as it were for the gratification of every luxurious pleasure of man, has been held successively by the Osci, the Greeks, the Umbri, the Tusci, and the Campani.

On the coast we first meet with the river Savo1309, the town of Volturnum with a river1310 of the same name, the town of Liternum1311, Cumæ1312, a Chalcidian colony, Misenum1313, the port of Baiæ1314, Bauli1315, the Lucrine Lake1316, and Lake Avernus, near which there stood formerly a town1317 of the Cimmerians. We then come to Puteoli1318, formerly called the colony of Dicæarchia,197 then the Phlegræan1319 Plains, and the Marsh of Acherusia1320 in the vicinity of Cumæ.

Again, on the coast we have Neapolis1321, also a colony of the Chalcidians, and called Parthenope from the tomb there of one of the Sirens, Herculaneum1322, Pompeii1323, from which Mount Vesuvius may be seen at no great distance, and which is watered by the river Sarnus1324; the territory of Nuceria, and, at the distance of nine miles from the sea, the town of that name1325, and then Surrentum1326, with the Promontory of Minerva1327, formerly the abode of the Sirens. The distance thence by sea to Circeii is seventy-eight miles. This198 region, beginning at the Tiber, is looked upon as the first of Italy according to the division of Augustus.

Inland there are the following colonies:—Capua1328, so called from its champaign country, Aquinum1329, Suessa1330, Venafrum1331, Sora1332, Teanum surnamed Sidicinum1333, Nola1334; and the towns of Abelia1335, Aricia1336, Alba Longa1337,199 the Acerrani1338, the Allifani1339, the Atinates1340, the Aletrinates1341, the Anagnini1342, the Atellani1343, the Affilani1344, the Arpinates1345, the Auximates1346, the Abellani1347, the Alfaterni (both those who take their names from the Latin, the Hernican and the Labicanian territory), Bovillæ1348, Calatia1349,200 Casinum1350, Calenum1351, Capitulum1352 of the Hernici, the Cereatini1353, surnamed Mariani, the Corani1354, descended from the Trojan Dardanus, the Cubulterini, the Castrimœnienses1355, the Cingulani1356, the Fabienses1357 on the Alban Mount, the Foropopulienses1358 of the Falernian district, the Frusinates1359, the Ferentinates1360, the Freginates1361, the old Frabaterni1362, the new Frabaterni, the Ficolenses1363,201 the Fregellani1364, Forum Appî1365, the Forentani1366, the Gabini1367, the Interamnates Succasini1368, also surnamed Lirinates, the Ilionenses Lavinii1369, the Norbani1370, the Nomentani1371, the Prænestini1372 (whose city was formerly called Stephané), the Privernates1373, the Setini1374, the Signini1375, the Suessulani1376, the202 Telesini1377, the Trebulani, surnamed Balinienses1378, the Trebani1379, the Tusculani1380, the Verulani1381, the Veliterni1382, the Ulubrenses1383, the Urbinates1384, and, last and greater than all, Rome herself, whose other name1385 the hallowed mysteries of the sacred rites forbid us to mention without being guilty of the greatest impiety. After it had been long kept buried in secresy with the strictest fidelity and in respectful and salutary silence, Valerius Soranus dared to divulge it, but soon did he pay the penalty1386 of his rashness.

It will not perhaps be altogether foreign to the purpose, if I here make mention of one peculiar institution of our forefathers which bears especial reference to the inculcation of silence on religious matters. The goddess Angerona1387, to whom sacrifice is offered on the twelfth day before the calends of January [21st December], is represented in her statue as having her mouth bound with a sealed fillet.

Romulus left the city of Rome, if we are to believe those203 who state the very greatest number, having three1388 gates and no more. When the Vespasians were emperors1389 and censors, in the year from its building 826, the circumference of the walls which surrounded it was thirteen miles and two-fifths. Surrounding as it does the Seven Hills, the city is divided into fourteen districts, with 265 cross-roads1390 under the guardianship of the Lares. If a straight line is drawn from the mile-column1391 placed at the entrance of the Forum, to each of the gates, which are at present thirty-seven in number (taking care to count only once the twelve double gates, and to omit the seven old ones, which no longer exist), the result will be [taking them altogether], a straight line of twenty miles and 765 paces1392. But if we draw a straight line from the same mile-column to the very last of the houses, including therein the Prætorian encampment, and follow throughout the line of all the streets, the result will then be something more than seventy miles. Add to these calculations the height of the houses, and then a person may form a fair idea of this city, and will certainly be obliged to admit that there is not a place throughout the whole world that for size can be compared to it. On the204 eastern side it is bounded by the agger of Tarquinius Superbus, a work of surpassing grandeur; for he raised it so high as to be on a level with the walls on the side on which the city lay most exposed to attack from the neighbouring plains. On all the other sides it has been fortified either with lofty walls or steep and precipitous hills1393, but so it is, that its buildings, increasing and extending beyond all bounds, have now united many other cities to it1394.

Besides those previously mentioned, there were formerly in the first region the following famous towns of Latium: Satricum1395, Pometia1396, Scaptia, Politorium1397, Tellene, Tifata, Cænina1398, Ficana1399, Crustumerium, Ameriola1400, Medullum1401, Corniculum1402, Saturnia1403, on the site of the present city of205 Rome, Antipolis1404, now Janiculum, forming part of Rome, Antemnæ1405, Camerium1406, Collatia1407, Amitinum1408, Norbe, Sulmo1409, and, with these, those Alban nations1410 who used to take part in the sacrifices1411 upon the Alban Mount, the Albani, the Æsulani1412, the Accienses, the Abolani,206 the Bubetani1413, the Bolani1414, the Cusuetani, the Coriolani1415, the Fidenates1416, the Foretii, the Hortenses1417, the Latinienses, the Longulani1418, the Manates, the Macrales, the Mutucumenses, the Munienses, the Numinienses, the Olliculani, the Octulani, the Pedani1419, the Polluscini, the Querquetulani, the Sicani, the Sisolenses, the Tolerienses, the Tutienses, the Vimitellarii, the Velienses, the Venetulani, and the Vitellenses. Thus we see, fifty-three peoples of ancient Latium have passed away without leaving any traces of their existence.

In the Campanian territory there was also the town of Stabiæ1420, until the consulship of Cneius Pompeius and L. Cato, when, on the day before the calends of May [30th of April], it was destroyed in the Social War by L. Sulla the legatus, and all that now stands on its site is a single farmhouse. Here also Taurania has ceased to exist, and the remains of Casilinum1421 are fast going to ruin. Besides these,207 we learn from Antias that king L. Tarquinius took Apiolæ1422, a town of the Latins, and with its spoils laid the first foundations of the Capitol. From Surrentum1423 to the river Silarus1424, the former territory of Picentia1425 extends for a distance of thirty miles. This belonged to the Etruscans, and was remarkable for the temple of the Argive Juno, founded by Jason1426. In it was Picentia, a town1427 of the territory of Salernum1428.

At the Silarus begins the third region of Italy, consisting of the territory of Lucania and Bruttium; here too there have been no few changes of the population. These districts208 have been possessed by tbe Pelasgi, the Œnotrii, the Itali, the Morgetes, the Siculi, and more especially by people who emigrated from Greece1429, and, last of all, by the Leucani, a people sprung from the Samnites, who took possession under the command of Lucius. We find here the town of Pæstum1430, which received from the Greeks the name of Posidonia, the Gulf of Pæstum1431, the town of Elea, now known as Velia1432, and the Promontory of Palinurum1433, a point at which the land falls inwards and forms a bay1434, the distance across which to the pillar1435 of Rhegium is 100 miles. Next after Palinurum comes the river Melpes1436, then the town of Buxentum1437, called in [Magna] Græcia Pyxus, and the river Laus; there was formerly a town1438 also of the same name.

At this spot begins the coast of Bruttium, and we come to the town of Blanda1439, the river Batum1440, Parthenius, a port of the Phocians, the bay of Vibo1441, the place1442 where209 Clampetia formerly stood, the town of Temsa1443, called Temese by the Greeks, and Terina founded by the people of Crotona1444, with the extensive Gulf of Terina; more inland, the town of Consentia1445. Situate upon a peninsula1446 is the river Acheron1447, from which the people of Acherontia derive the name of their town; then Hippo, now called Vibo Valentia, the Port of Hercules1448, the river Metaurus1449, the town of Tauroentum1450, the Port of Orestes, and Medma1451. Next, the town of Scyllæum1452, the river Cratæis1453, the mother of Scylla it is said; then the Pillar of Rhegium, the Straits of Sicily, and the two promontories which face each other, Cænys1454 on the Italian, and Pelorus1455 on the Sicilian side, the distance between them being twelve stadia. At a distance thence of twelve miles and a half, we come to Rhegium1456, after which begins Sila1457, a forest of the Apennines, and then the promontory210 of Leucopetra1458, at a distance of fifteen miles; after which come the Locri1459, who take their surname from the promontory of Zephyrium1460, being distant from the river Silarus 303 miles.

At this spot ends the first1461 great Gulf of Europe; the seas in which bear the following names:—That from which it takes its rise is called the Atlantic, by some the Great Atlantic, the entrance of which is, by the Greeks, called Porthmos, by us the Straits of Gades. After its entrance, as far as it washes the coasts of Spain, it is called the Hispanian Sea, though some give it the name of the Iberian or Balearic1462 Sea. Where it faces the province of Gallia Narbonensis it has the name of the Gallic, and after that, of the Ligurian, Sea. From Liguria to the island of Sicily, it is called the Tuscan Sea, the same which is called by some of the Greeks the Notian1463, by others the Tyrrhenian, while many of our people call it the Lower Sea. Beyond Sicily, as far as the country of the Salentini, it is styled by Polybius the Ausonian Sea. Eratosthenes however gives to the whole expanse that lies between the inlet of the ocean and the island of Sardinia, the name of the Sardoan Sea; thence to Sicily, the Tyrrhenian; thence to Crete, the Sicilian; and beyond that island, the Cretan Sea.

The first islands that we meet with in all these seas are211 the two to which the Greeks have given the name of Pityussæ1464, from the pine-tree1465, which they produce. These islands now bear the name of Ebusus, and form a federate state. They are separated by a narrow strait1466 of the sea, and are forty-six1467 miles in extent. They are distant from Dianium1468 700 stadia, Dianium being by land the same distance1469 from New Carthage. At the same distance1470 from the Pityussæ, lie, in the open sea, the two Baleares, and, over against the river Sucro1471, Colubraria1472. The Baleares1473, so formidable in war with their slingers1474, have received from the Greeks the name of Gymnasiæ.

The larger island is 1001475 miles in length, and 475 in circumference. It has the following towns; Palma1476 and Pollentia1477, enjoying the rights of Roman citizens, Cinium1478 and Tucis, with Latin rights: Bocchorum, a federate town, is no longer in existence. At thirty miles’ distance is the212 smaller island, 40 miles in length, and 1501479 in circumference; it contains the states of Jamnon1480, Sanisera, and Magon1481.

In the open sea, at twelve miles’ distance from the larger island, is Capraria1482 with its treacherous coast, so notorious for its numerous shipwrecks; and, opposite to the city of Palma, are the islands known as the Mænariæ1483, Tiquadra1484, and Little Hannibalis1485.

The earth of Ebusus has the effect of driving away serpents, while that of Colubraria produces them; hence the latter spot is dangerous to all persons who have not brought with them some of the earth of Ebusus. The Greeks have given it the name of Ophiusa1486. Ebusus too produces no1487 rabbits to destroy the harvests of the Baleares. There are also about twenty other small islands in this sea, which is full of shoals. Off the coast of Gaul, at the mouth of the Rhodanus, there is Metina1488, and near it the island which is known as Blascon1489, with the three Stœchades, so called by their neighbours the Massilians1490, on account of the regular order in which they are placed; their respective names are Prote1491, Mese1492, also213 called Pomponiana, and Hypæa1493. After these come Sturium1494, Phœnice, Phila, Lero, and, opposite to Antipolis1495, Lerina1496, where there is a remembrance of a town called Vergoanum having once existed.

In the Ligurian Sea, but close to the Tuscan, is Corsica, by the Greeks called Cyrnos, extending, from north to south 150 miles, and for the most part 50 miles in breadth, its circumference being 325. It is 62 miles distant from the Vada Volaterrana1497. It contains thirty-two states, and two colonies, that of Mariana1498, founded by C. Marius, and that of Aleria, founded by the Dictator Sylla. On this side of it is Oglasa1499, and, at a distance of less than sixty miles from Corsica, Planaria1500, so called from its appearance, being nearly level with the sea, and consequently treacherous to mariners.

We next have Urgo1501, a larger island, and Capraria, which the Greeks have called Ægilion1502; then Igilium1503 and Dianium1504, which they have also called Artemisia, both of them opposite the coast of Cosa; also Barpana1505, Mænaria, Columbaria,214 and Venaria. We then come to Ilva1506 with its iron mines, an island 100 miles in circumference, 10 miles distant from Populonium, and called Æthalia by the Greeks: from it the island of Planasia1507 is distant 28 miles. After these, beyond the mouths of the Tiber, and off the coast of Antium, we come to Astura1508, then Palmaria and Sinonia, and, opposite to Formiæ, Pontiæ. In the Gulf of Puteoli are Pandateria1509, and Prochyta, so called, not from the nurse of Æneas, but because it has been poured forth1510 or detached from Ænaria1511, an island which received its name from having been the anchorage of the fleet of Æneas, though called by Homer Inarime1512; it is also called Pithecusa, not, as many have fancied, on account of the multitudes of apes found there, but from its extensive manufactories of pottery. Between Pausilipum1513 and Neapolis lies the island of Megaris1514, and then, at a distance of eight miles from Surrentum, Capreæ1515, famous for the castle of the emperor Tiberius: it is eleven miles in circumference.

Leucothea comes next, and after it, but out of sight, as it lies upon the verge of the African Sea, Sardinia. It is situate somewhat less1516 than eight miles from the nearest point of Corsica, and the Straits between them are even still more reduced by the small islands there situate, called the Cuniculariæ1517, as also those of Phintonis1518 and Fossæ, from which last the Straits themselves have obtained the name of Taphros1519.

(7.) Sardinia extends, upon the east side, a distance of 188 miles, on the west 175, on the south 77, and on the north 125, being 565 miles in circumference. Its promontory of Caralis1520 is distant from Africa 200, and from Gades 1400 miles. Off the promontory of Gordis1521 it has two islands called the Isles of Hercules1522, off that of Sulcis, the island of Enosis1523, and off that of Caralis, Ficaria1524. Some writers place Beleris not far from it, as also Callodis, and the island known as Heras Lutra1525.

The most celebrated peoples of this island are the Ilienses1526, the Balari, and the Corsi; and among its eighteen towns, there are those of the Sulcitani1527, the Valentini1528,216 the Neapolitani1529, the Bosenses1530, the Caralitani1531, who enjoy the rights of Roman citizens, and the Norenses1532. There is also one colony which is called Ad Turrim Libysonis1533. Timæus has called this island Sandaliotis, on account of the similarity of its shape to the sole of a shoe, while Myrtilus has given it the name of Ichnusa1534, from its resemblance to the print of a footstep. Opposite to the Gulf of Pæstum is Leucasia1535, so called from a Siren who is buried there; opposite to Velia are Pontia and Isacia, both known by one name, that of Œnotrides, a proof that Italy was formerly possessed by the Œnotrians. Opposite to Vibo are the little islands called Ithacesiæ1536, from the watch-tower of Ulysses situate there.

But more celebrated than all is Sicily, called Sicania by Thucydides, and by many writers Trinacria or Trinacia, from its triangular appearance. According to Agrippa it is 6181537 miles in circumference. In former times it was a continuation of the territory of Bruttium, but, in consequence of the overflowing of the sea, became severed from it; thus forming a strait of 15 miles in length, and a mile and a half in width in the vicinity of the Pillar of Rhegium. It was from this circumstance of the land being severed asunder that the Greeks gave the name of Rhegium1538 to the town situate on the Italian shore.

In these Straits is the rock of Scylla, as also Charybdis1539, a whirlpool of the sea, both of them noted for their perils. Of this triangle, the promontory, which, as we have already1540217 mentioned, is called Pelorus, faces Scylla and juts out towards Italy, while Pachynum1541 extends in the direction of Greece, Peloponnesus being at a distance from it of 440 miles, and Lilybæum1542, towards Africa, being distant 180 miles from the promontory of Mercury1543, and from that of Caralis in Sardinia 190. These promontories and sides are situate at the following distances from each other: by land it is 186 miles from Pelorus to Pachynum, from Pachynum to Lilybæum 200, and from Lilybæum to Pelorus 1701544.

In this island there are five colonies and sixty-three cities or states. Leaving Pelorus and facing the Ionian Sea, we have the town of Messana1545, whose inhabitants are also called Mamertini and enjoy the rights of Roman citizens; the promontory of Drepanum1546, the colony of Tauromenium1547, formerly called Naxos, the river Asines1548, and Mount Ætna, wondrous for the flames which it emits by night. Its crater is twenty stadia in circumference, and from it red-hot cinders are thrown as far as Tauromenium and Catina, the noise being heard even at Maroneum1549 and the Gemellian Hills. We then come to the three rocks of the Cyclopes1550, the Port of Ulysses1551, the colony of Catina1552, and the rivers Symæthus1553 and Terias; while more inland lie the Læstrygonian Plains.

To these rivers succeed the towns of Leontinum1554 and Megaris, the river Pantagies1555, the colony of Syracuse1556, with the fountain of Arethusa1557, (the people in the Syracusan territory218 drink too of the fountains of Temenitis1558, Archidemia, Magæa, Cyane, and Milichie,) the port of Naustathmus1559, the river Elorus, and the promontory of Pachynum. This side1560 of Sicily begins with the river Hirminius1561, then follow the town of Camarina1562, the river Gelas1563, and the town of Agragas1564, which our people have named Agrigentum. We next come to the colony of Thermæ1565, the rivers Achates1566, Mazara, and Hypsa; the town of Selinus1567, and then the Promontory of Lilybæum, which is succeeded by Drepana1568, Mount Eryx1569, the towns of Panhormus1570, Solus1571 and Himera1572, with a river of the same name, Cephalœdis1573, Aluntium1574,219 Agathyrnum, the colony of Tyndaris1575, the town of Mylæ1576, and then Pelorus, the spot at which we began.

In the interior there are the following towns enjoying Latin privileges, those of the Centuripini1577, the Netini1578, and the Segestani1579; tributary towns are those of the Assorini1580, the Ætnenses1581, the Agyrini1582, the Acestæi, the Acrenses1583, the Bidini1584, the Cetarini1585, the Cacyrini1586, the Drepanitani, the Ergetini1587, the Echetlienses1588, the Erycini1589, the Entellini1590, the Enini1591, the Enguini1592, the Gelani1593,220 the Galatini1594, the Halesini1595, the Hennenses, the Hyblenses1596, the Herbitenses1597, the Herbessenses1598, the Herbulenses, the Halicyenses1599, the Hadranitani1600, the Imacarenses, the Ipanenses, the Ietenses1601, the Mytistratini1602, the Magellini, the Murgentini1603, the Mutycenses1604, the Menanini1605, the Naxii1606, the Noæi1607, the Petrini1608, the Paropini1609, the Phthinthienses1610, the Semellitani, the Scherini, the Selinuntii1611, the Symæthii, the221 Talarienses, the Tissinenses1612, the Triocalini1613, the Tyracinenses, and the Zanclæi1614, a Messenian colony on the Straits of Sicily. Towards Africa, its islands are Gaulos1615, Melita, 87 miles from Camerina, and 113 from Lilybæum, Cosyra1616, Hieronnesos1617, Cæne1618, Galata1619, Lopadusa, Æthusa, written by some Ægusa, Bucinna1620, Osteodes1621, distant from Soluntum 75 miles, and, opposite to Paropus, Ustica.

On this side of Sicily, facing the river Metaurus, at a distance of nearly 251622 miles from Italy, are the seven1623 islands called the Æolian, as also the Liparæan islands; by the Greeks they are called the Hephæstiades, and by our writers the Vulcanian1624 Isles; they are called “Æolian” because in the Trojan times Æolus was king there.

(9.) Lipara1625, with a town whose inhabitants enjoy the rights of Roman citizens, is so called from Liparus, a former king who succeeded1626 Æolus, it having been previously called Melogonis or Meligunis. It is 25 miles1627 distant from Italy, and in circumference a little less. Between this island and Sicily we find another, the name of which was formerly Therasia, but now called Hiera, because it is sacred to Vulcan1628: it contains a hill which at night vomits forth222 flames. The third island is Strongyle1629, lying one mile1630 to the east of Lipara, over which Æolus reigned as well; it differs only from Lipara in the superior brilliancy of its flames. From the smoke of this volcano it is said that some of the inhabitants are able to predict three days beforehand what winds are about to blow; hence arose the notion that the winds are governed by Æolus. The fourth of these islands is Didyme1631, smaller than Lipara, the fifth Ericusa, the sixth Phœnicusa, left to be a pasture-ground for the cattle of the neighbouring islands, and the last and smallest Euonymos. Thus much as to the first great Gulf of Europe.

At Locri begins the fore-part of Italy, called Magna Græcia, whose coast falls back in three bays1632 formed by the Ausonian sea, so called from the Ausones, who were the first inhabitants of the country. According to Varro it is 86 miles in extent; but most writers have made it only 75. Along this coast there are rivers innumerable, but we shall mention those only that are worthy of remark. After leaving Locri we come to the Sagra1633, and the ruins of the town of Caulon, Mystiæ1634, Consilinum Castrum1635, Cocinthum1636, in the opinion of some, the longest headland of Italy, and then the Gulf of Scylacium1637, and Scylacium1638 itself,223 which was called by the Athenians, when they founded it, Scylletium. This part of Italy is nearly a peninsula, in consequence of the Gulf of Terinæum1639 running up into it on the other side; in it there is a harbour called Castra Hannibalis1640: in no part is Italy narrower than here, it being but twenty miles across. For this reason the Elder Dionysius entertained the idea of severing1641 this portion from the main-land of Italy at this spot, and adding it to Sicily. The navigable rivers in this district are the Carcines1642, the Crotalus, the Semirus, the Arocas, and the Targines. In the interior is the town of Petilia1643, and there are besides, Mount Clibanus1644, the promontory of Lacinium, in front of which lies the island of Dioscoron1645, ten miles from the main-land, and another called the Isle of Calypso, which Homer is supposed to refer to under the name of Ogygia; as also the islands of Tiris, Eranusa, and Meloessa. According to Agrippa, the promontory of Lacinium1646 is seventy miles from Caulon.

(11.) At the promontory of Lacinium begins the second Gulf of Europe, the bend of which forms an arc of great depth, and terminates at Acroceraunium, a promontory of Epirus, from which it is distant1647 seventy-five miles. We first come to the town of Croton1648, and then the river224 Neæthus1649, and the town of Thurii1650, situate between the two rivers Crathis and Sybaris, upon the latter of which there was once a city1651 of the same name. In a similar manner Heraclia1652, sometimes called Siris, lies between the river of that name and the Aciris. We next come to the rivers Acalandrus and Casuentum1653, and the town of Metapontum1654, with which the third region of Italy terminates. In the interior of Bruttium, the Aprustani1655 are the only people; but in Lucania we find the Atinates, the Bantini, the Eburini1656, the Grumentini, the Potentini, the Sontini1657, the Sirini, the Tergilani, the Ursentini, and the Volcentani1658, whom the Numestrani join. Besides these, we learn from Cato1659 that Thebes in Lucania has disappeared, and Theopompus informs us that there was formerly a city of the Lucani called Pandosia1660, at which Alexander, the king of Epirus, died.