1. IN their Greek histories Eudoxus gave a good, but Ephorus the best, account of the foundations, blood connexions, migrations, and founders of states; but I shall now give some information on the position of countries and their distances, which are the subjects most properly belonging to the science of Geography.... It is not Homer’s manner to indulge in mere mythological stories founded on no substratum of truth. For there is no surer way of giving an air of verisimilitude to fiction than to mix with it some particles of truth. And this is the case with the tale of the wanderings of Odysseus.... For instance, Aeolus, who taught the way of getting through the straits, where there are currents setting both ways, and the passage is rendered difficult by the indraught of the sea, came to be called and regarded as the dispenser and king of the winds; just as Danaus, again, who discovered the storages of water in Argos, and Atreus, who discovered the fact of the sun’s revolution being in the opposite direction to that of the heaven, were called seers and priest-kings. So the priests of the Egyptians, the Chaldeans, and the Magi, being superior to the rest of the world in wisdom, obtained rule and honour in former generations. And on this principle, too, each one of the gods is honoured as the inventor of something useful to man. I do not allow therefore that Aeolus is wholly mythical, nor the wanderings of Odysseus generally. Some mythical elements have been undoubtedly added, as they have in the War or Ilium; but the general account of Sicily given by the poet agrees with that of other historians who have given topographical details of Italy and Sicily. I cannot agree therefore with the remark of Eratosthenes that “we shall discover where Odysseus wandered, when we find the cobbler who sewed up the leather bag of the winds.” See for instance how Homer’s description of Scylla agrees with what really happens at the Scyllaean rock, and the taking of the sword fish:“And there she fishes, roaming round the rock,”“For dog-fish and for dolphins, or what else”“Of huger she may take that swims the sea.”For the fact is that tunnies swimming in great shoals along the Italian coast, if they are drifted from their course and are prevented from reaching Sicily, fall a prey to the larger fish, such as dolphins, dog-fish, or other marine monsters; and from hunting these the sword-fish (called also xiphiae, or sometimes sea-dogs) are fattened. The same thing happens at a rise of the Nile, and other rivers, as in the case of a fire or a burning forest; the animals crowd together, and, in their effort to escape the fire or the water, fall a prey to stronger animals.
1. οἱ δʼ ἐν τῇ κοινῇ τῆς ἱστορίας γραφῇ χωρὶς ἀποδείξαντες τὴν τῶν ἠπείρων τοπογραφίαν, καθάπερ Ἔφορός τε ἐποίησε καὶ Πολύβιος. — Πολύβιος … φήσας περὶ τῶν Ἑλληνικῶν καλῶς μὲν Εὔδοξον, κάλλιστα δʼ Ἔφορον ἐξηγεῖσθαι περὶ κτίσεων, συγγενειῶν, μεταναστάσεων, ἀρχηγετῶν, ἡμεῖς δέ, φησί, τὰ νῦν ὄντα δηλώσομεν καὶ περὶ θέσεως τόπων καὶ διαστημάτων· τοῦτο γάρ ἐστιν οἰκειότατον χωρογραφίᾳ. ἀλλὰ μὴν σύγε, ὦ Πολύβιε, ὁ τὰς λαοδογματικὰς ἀποφάσεις περὶ τῶν διαστημάτων εἰσάγων οὐκ ἐν τοῖς ἔξω τῆς Ἑλλάδος μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν τοῖς Ἑλληνικοῖς καὶ διδοῖς εὐθύνας τὰς μὲν Ποσειδωνίῳ, τὰς δʼ Ἀρτεμιδώρῳ, τὰς δʼ ἄλλοις πλείοσι. — Πολύβιος οὖν ὁ ἱστοριογράφος πεπραγμάτευται βιβλίον, ὃ ἐπιγραφὴν ἔχει "περὶ τῆς ὑπὸ τὸν ἰσημερινὸν οἰκήσεωσ". αὕτη δέ ἐστιν ἐν μέσῃ τῇ διακεκαυμένῃ ζώνῃ. καί φησιν οἰκεῖσθαι τοὺς τόπους καὶ εὐκρατοτέραν ἔχειν τὴν οἴκησιν τῶν περὶ τὰ πέρατα τῆς διακεκαυμένης ζώνης κατοικούντων. καὶ ἃ μὲν ἱστορίας φέρει τῶν κατωπτευκότων τὰς οἰκήσεις καὶ ἐπιμαρτυρούντων τοῖς φαινομένοις, ἃ δὲ ἐπιλογίζεται ἐπὶ τῆς φυσικῆς περὶ τὸν ἥλιον ὑπαρχούσης κινήσεως. ὁ γὰρ ἥλιος περὶ μὲν τοὺς τροπικοὺς κύκλους πολὺν ἐπιμένει χρόνον κατά τε τὴν πρόσοδον τὴν πρὸς αὐτοὺς καὶ τὴν ἀποχώρησιν, ὥστε σχεδὸν ἐφʼ ἡμέρας τετταράκοντα μένει πρὸς αἴσθησιν ἐπὶ τῶν τροπικῶν κύκλων. [διʼ ἣν αἰτίαν καὶ τὰ μεγέθη τῶν ἡμερῶν σχεδὸν ἐφʼ ἡμέρας μ# τὰ αὐτὰ διαμένει.] ὅθεν ἐπιμονῆς γινομένης πρὸς τὰς οἰκήσεις τὰς κειμένας ὑπὸ τοὺς τροπικοὺς ἀνάγκη ἐκπυροῦσθαι τὴν οἴκησιν καὶ ἀοίκητον γίνεσθαι διὰ τὴν τοῦ καύματος ὑπερβολήν. ἀπὸ δὲ τοῦ ἰσημερινοῦ κύκλου ταχείας συμβαίνει τὰς ἀποχωρήσεις γίνεσθαι. [ὅθεν καὶ τὰ μεγέθη τῶν ἡμερῶν περὶ τὰς ἰσημερίας μεγάλας λαμβάνει τὰς παραυξήσεις.] εὔλογον οὖν καὶ τὰς ὑπὸ τὸν ἰσημερινὸν κειμένας οἰκήσεις εὐκρατοτέρας ὑπάρχειν, ἐπιμονῆς μὲν οὐ γινομένης ἐπὶ τοῦ κατὰ κορυφὴν σημείου, ταχέως δὲ ἀποχωροῦντος τοῦ ἡλίου. πάντες γὰρ οἱ μεταξὺ τῶν τροπικῶν κύκλων οἰκοῦντες παρὰ τὴν πάροδον ὁμοίως κεῖνται τοῦ ἡλίου· πλείονας δὲ χρόνους ἐπιμένει τοῖς περὶ τοὺς τροπικοὺς οἰκοῦσι. διʼ ἣν αἰτίαν εὐκρατοτέρας εἶναι συμβέβηκε τὰς ὑπὸ τὸν ἰσημερινὸν οἰκήσεις, αἵτινες κεῖνται ἐν μέσῃ τῇ διακεκαυμένῃ ζώνῃ, τῶν περὶ τὰ πέρατα τῆς διακεκαυμένης οἰκήσεων, αἵτινες ὑπὸ τοὺς τροπικοὺς κύκλους κεῖνται. — Πολύβιος δὲ ποιεῖ ζώνας ἕξ, δύο μὲν τὰς τοῖς ἀρκτικοῖς ὑποπιπτούσας, δύο δὲ τὰς μεταξὺ τούτων τε καὶ τῶν τροπικῶν καὶ δύο τὰς μεταξὺ τούτων καὶ τοῦ ἰσημερινοῦ. — ὁ δὲ Πολύβιος τοῦτο μὲν οὐκ εὖ, τὸ ποιεῖν τινας ζώνας τοῖς ἀρκτικοῖς διοριζομένας, δύο μὲν τὰς ὑποπιπτούσας αὐτοῖς, δύο δὲ τὰς μεταξὺ τούτων καὶ τῶν τροπικῶν. — εἰ δʼ, ὥσπερ Ἐρατοσθένης φησίν, ἡ ὑποπίπτουσα τῷ ἰσημερινῷ ἐστιν εὔκρατος, καθάπερ καὶ Πολύβιος ὁμοδοξεῖ — προστίθησι δʼ οὗτος καὶ διότι ὑψηλοτάτη ἐστί· διόπερ καὶ κατομβρεῖται, τῶν βορείων νεφῶν κατὰ τοὺς ἐτησίας ἐκεῖ τοῖς ἀναστήμασι προσπιπτόντων πλείστων — πολὺ κρεῖττον τρίτην εὔκρατον ταύτην ποιεῖν στενήν τινα, ἢ τὰς ὑπὸ τοῖς τροπικοῖς εἰσάγειν. — ἐνίσταται δʼ ὁ Ποσειδώνιος τῷ Πολυβίῳ, διότι φησὶ τὴν ὑπὸ τῷ ἰσημερινῷ οἴκησιν ὑψηλοτάτην. — περὶ δὲ τοῦ ἀριθμοῦ αὐτῶν πολλὴ διαφωνία τοῖς μετʼ αὐτὸν γέγονεν· οἱ μὲν γὰρ ἓξ αὐτὰς εἶπον, ὡς Πολύβιος καὶ Ποσειδώνιος, τὴν διακεκαυμένην εἰς δύο διαιροῦντες. ἐκ μηδενὸς δὲ ἀληθοῦς ἀνάπτειν κενὴν τερατολογίαν οὐχ Ὁμηρικόν. προσπίπτει γάρ, ὡς εἰκός, ὡς πιθανώτερον ἂν οὕτω τις ψεύδοιτο, εἰ καταμίσγοι τι καὶ αὐτῶν τῶν ἀληθινῶν· ὅπερ καὶ Πολύβιός φησι περὶ τῆς Ὀδυσσέως πλάνης ἐπιχειρῶν. — καὶ Πολύβιος δʼ ὀρθῶς ὑπονοεῖ τὰ περὶ τῆς πλάνης. τὸν γὰρ Αἴολον τὸν προσημαίνοντα τοὺς ἔκπλους ἐν τοῖς κατὰ τὸν πορθμὸν τόποις ἀμφιδρόμοις οὖσι καὶ δυσέκπλοις διὰ τὰς παλιρροίας ταμίαν τε εἰρῆσθαι τῶν ἀνέμων καὶ βασιλέα νενομίσθαι φησί, καθάπερ Δαναὸν μὲν τὰ ὑδρεῖα τὰ ἐν Ἄργει παραδείξαντα, Ἀτρέα δὲ τοῦ ἡλίου τὸν ὑπεναντίον τῷ οὐρανῷ δρόμον, μάντεις τε καὶ ἱεροσκοπουμένους ἀποδείκνυσθαι βασιλέας· τούς θʼ ἱερέας τῶν Αἰγυπτίων καὶ Χαλδαίους καὶ Μάγους σοφίᾳ τινὶ διαφέροντας τῶν ἄλλων ἡγεμονίας καὶ τιμῆς τυγχάνειν παρὰ τοῖς πρὸ ἡμῶν. οὕτω δὲ καὶ τῶν θεῶν ἕνα ἕκαστον τῶν χρησίμων τινὸς εὑρετὴν γενόμενον τιμᾶσθαι. ταῦτα δὲ προοικονομησάμενος οὐκ ἐᾷ τὸν Αἴολον ἐν μύθου σχήματι ἀκούεσθαι, οὐδʼ ὅλην τὴν Ὀδυσσέως πλάνην, ἀλλὰ μικρὰ μὲν προσμεμυθεῦσθαι, καθάπερ καὶ τῷ Ἰλιακῷ πολέμῳ, τὸ δʼ ὅλον περὶ Σικελίαν καὶ τῷ ποιητῇ πεποιῆσθαι καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις συγγραφεῦσιν, ὅσοι τἀπιχώρια λέγουσι τὰ περὶ τὴν Ἰταλίαν καὶ Σικελίαν. οὐκ ἐπαινεῖ δὲ οὐδὲ τὴν τοιαύτην τοῦ Ἐρατοσθένους ἀπόφασιν, διότι φησὶ τότʼ ἂν εὑρεῖν τινα ποῦ Ὀδυσσεὺς πεπλάνηται, ὅταν εὕρῃ τὸν σκυτέα τὸν συρράψαντα τὸν τῶν ἀνέμων ἀσκόν. καὶ τοῦτο δʼ οἰκείως εἰρῆσθαι τοῖς συμβαίνουσι περὶ τὸ Σκύλλαιον καὶ τὴν θήραν τῶν γαλεωτῶν, τὸ ἐπὶ τῆς Σκύλλης, αὐτοῦ δʼ ἰχθυάᾳ, σκόπελον περιμαιμώωσα, δελφῖνάς τε κύνας τε καὶ εἴ ποθι μεῖζον ἕλῃσι κῆτος. τοὺς γὰρ θύννους ἀγεληδὸν φερομένους παρὰ τὴν Ἰταλίαν, ἐπειδὰν ἐκπέσωσι καὶ κωλυθῶσι τῆς Σικελίας ἅψασθαι, περιπίπτειν τοῖς μείζοσι τῶν ζῴων, οἷον δελφίνων καὶ κυνῶν καὶ ἄλλων κητωδῶν, ἐκ δὲ τῆς θήρας αὐτῶν πιαίνεσθαι τοὺς γαλεώτας, οὓς καὶ ξιφίας λέγεσθαι καὶ κύνας φησί. συμβαίνειν γὰρ ταὐτὸν ἐνθάδε καὶ κατὰ τὰς ἀναβάσεις τοῦ Νείλου καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ὑδάτων, ὅπερ ἐπὶ πυρὸς καὶ ὕλης ἐμπιπραμένης· ἁθροιζόμενα γὰρ τὰ θηρία φεύγειν τὸ πῦρ ἢ τὸ ὕδωρ καὶ βορὰν γίνεσθαι τοῖς κρείττοσι.
3. Fishing for sword-fish at the Scyllaean rock is carried on in this way. A number of men lie in wait, two each in small two-oared boats, and one man is set to look out for them all. In the boat one man rows, while the other stands on the prow holding a spear. When the look-out man signals the appearance of a sword-fish (for the animal swims with one-third of its body above water), the boat rows up to it, and the man with the spear strikes it at close quarters, and then pulls the spear-shaft away leaving the harpoon in the fish’s body; for it is barbed and loosely fastened to the shaft on purpose, and has a long rope attached to it. They then slacken the rope for the wounded fish, until it is wearied out with its convulsive struggles and attempts to escape, and then they haul it on to land, or, if its size is not too great, into the boat. And if the spear-shaft falls into the sea it is not lost; for being made of two pieces, one oak and the other pine, the oak end as the heavier dips under water, the other end rises above it and is easily got hold of. But sometimes it happens that the man rowing is wounded, right through the boat, by the immense size of the animal’s sword; for it charges like a boar, and hunting the one is very like hunting the other. This would lead us to conjecture that the wandering described by Homer was near Sicily, because he has assigned to Scylla the kind of fishing which is indigenous to the Scyllaean rock; and because what he says of Charybdis correctly describes what does happen in the Straits. But the“Thrice sends she up the darksome tide,”in stead of twice “a day,” is an error to be ascribed to the copyist or the geographer. So also Meninx answers to his description of the Lotophagi.
3. ταῦτα δʼ εἰπὼν διηγεῖται τῶν γαλεωτῶν θήραν, ἣ συνίσταται περὶ τὸ Σκύλλαιον. σκοπὸς γὰρ ἐφέστηκε κοινὸς ὑφορμοῦσιν ἐν δικώποις σκαφιδίοις πολλοῖς, δύο καθʼ ἕκαστον σκαφίδιον. καὶ ὁ μὲν ἐλαύνει, ὁ δʼ ἐπὶ τῆς πρῴρας ἕστηκε δόρυ ἔχων, σημήναντος τοῦ σκοποῦ τὴν ἐπιφάνειαν τοῦ γαλεώτου· φέρεται δὲ τὸ τρίτον μέρος ἔξαλον τὸ ζῷον. συνάψαντος δὲ τοῦ σκάφους ὁ μὲν ἔπληξεν ἐκ χειρός, εἶτʼ ἐξέσπασεν ἐκ τοῦ σώματος τὸ δόρυ χωρὶς τῆς ἐπιδορατίδος· ἀγκιστρώδης τε γάρ ἐστι καὶ χαλαρῶς ἐνήρμοσται τῷ δόρατι ἐπίτηδες, καλῴδιον δʼ ἔχει μακρὸν ἐξημμένον. τοῦτʼ ἐπιχαλῶσι τῷ τρωθέντι, τέως ἂν κάμῃ σφαδᾷζον καὶ ὑποφεῦγον· τότε δʼ ἕλκουσιν ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν ἢ εἰς τὸ σκάφος ἀναλαμβάνουσιν, ἐὰν μὴ μέγα ᾖ τελέως τὸ σῶμα. κἂν ἐκπέσῃ δὲ εἰς τὴν θάλατταν τὸ δόρυ, οὐκ ἀπόλωλεν· ἔστι γὰρ πηκτὸν ἔκ τε δρυὸς καὶ ἐλάτης, ὥστε βαπτιζομένου τοῦ δρυΐνου βάρει μετέωρον εἶναι τὸ λοιπὸν καὶ εὐανάληπτον. συμβαίνειν δέ ποτε καὶ τιτρώσκεσθαι διὰ τοῦ σκαφιδίου τὸν κωπηλάτην διὰ τὸ μέγεθος τοῦ ξίφους τῶν γαλεωτῶν καὶ τὸ τὴν ἀκμὴν τοῦ ζῴου συαγρώδη εἶναι καὶ τὴν θήραν. ἔκ τε δὴ τῶν τοιούτων εἰκάζοι τις ἄν, φησί, περὶ Σικελίαν γενέσθαι τὴν πλάνην κατὰ τὸν Ὅμηρον, ὅτι τῇ Σκύλλῃ προσῆψε τὴν τοιαύτην θήραν, ἣ μάλιστʼ ἐπιχώριός ἐστι τῷ Σκυλλαίῳ, καὶ ἐκ τῶν περὶ τῆς Χαρύβδεως λεγομένων ὁμοίων τοῖς τοῦ πορθμοῦ πάθεσι. τὸ δὲ τρὶς μὲν γάρ τʼ ἀνίησιν ἀντὶ τοῦ δὶς γραφικὸν εἶναι ἁμάρτημα ἢ ἱστορικόν. καὶ τὰ ἐν τῇ Μήνιγγι δὲ τοῖς περὶ τῶν Λωτοφάγων εἰρημένοις συμφωνεῖν.
4. Or if there are some points which do not answer, we must lay the blame on ignorance or poetic licence, which uses real history, picturesque detail, and mythological allusion. The object of history is truth, as when in the catalogue of ships the poet describes the features of the several localities, calling one city “rocky,” another “frontier-placed,” another “with wealth of doves,” or “hard by the sea.” But the object of picturesque detail is vividness, as when he introduces men fighting; and that of mythological allusion is to give pleasure or rouse wonder. But a narrative wholly fictitious creates no illusion and is not Homeric. For all look upon his poetry as a philosophical work; and Eratosthenes is wrong in bidding us not judge his poems with a view to having any serious meaning, or to seek for history in them. It is better, again, to take the line“Thence for nine days the foul winds drave us on,”to mean that he made but a short distance—for foul winds do not favour a straight course—than to imagine him to have got into the open ocean as running before favouring winds. The distance from Malea to the Pillars is twenty-two thousand five hundred stades. If we suppose this to have been accomplished at an even speed in the nine days, he would make two thousand five hundred stades a day. Now, who has ever asserted that any one made the voyage from Lycia or Rhodes to Alexandria in four days, a distance of four thousand stades? To those who ask how it was that Odysseus, though he came to Sicily three times, never once went through the straits, I answer that all subsequent sailors avoided that passage also....
4. εἰ δέ τινα μὴ συμφωνεῖ, μεταβολὰς αἰτιᾶσθαι δεῖν ἢ ἄγνοιαν ἢ καὶ ποιητικὴν ἐξουσίαν, ἣ συνέστηκεν ἐξ ἱστορίας καὶ διαθέσεως καὶ μύθου. τῆς μὲν οὖν ἱστορίας ἀλήθειαν εἶναι τέλος, ὡς ἐν Νεῶν καταλόγῳ τὰ ἑκάστοις τόποις συμβεβηκότα λέγοντος τοῦ ποιητοῦ, τὴν μὲν πετρήεσσαν, τὴν δὲ ἐσχατόωσαν πόλιν, ἄλλην δὲ πολυτρήρωνα, τὴν δʼ ἀγχίαλον· τῆς δὲ διαθέσεως ἐνέργειαν εἶναι τὸ τέλος, ὡς ὅταν μαχομένους εἰσάγῃ, μύθου δὲ ἡδονὴν καὶ ἔκπληξιν. τὸ δὲ πάντα πλάττειν οὐ πιθανὸν οὐδʼ Ὁμηρικόν· τὴν γὰρ ἐκείνου ποίησιν φιλοσόφημα πάντας νομίζειν, οὐχ ὡς Ἐρατοσθένης φησί, κελεύων μὴ κρίνειν πρὸς τὴν διάνοιαν τὰ ποιήματα μηδʼ ἱστορίαν ἀπʼ αὐτῶν ζητεῖν. πιθανώτερόν τε τὸ ἔνθεν δʼ ἐννῆμαρ φερόμην ὀλοοῖς ἀνέμοισιν ἐν βραχεῖ διαστήματι δέχεσθαι — οἱ γὰρ ὀλοοὶ οὐκ εὐθύδρομοι — ἢ ἐξωκεανίζειν, ὡς ἂν οὐρίων πνεόντων συνεχῶς. συνθεὶς δὲ τὸ διάστημα τὸ ἐκ Μαλεῶν ἐπὶ στήλας σταδίων δισμυρίων καὶ δισχιλίων πεντακοσίων, εἰ, φησί, τοῦτο θείημεν ἐν ταῖς ἐννέα ἡμέραις διηνύσθαι ἰσοταχῶς, ἑκάστης ἂν ἡμέρας ὁ πλοῦς συμβαίνοι σταδίων δισχιλίων πεντακοσίων. τίς οὖν ἱστόρηκεν ἐκ Λυκίας ἢ Ῥόδου δευτεραῖόν τινα ἀφιγμένον εἰς Ἀλεξάνδρειαν, ὄντος τοῦ διαστήματος σταδίων τετρακισχιλίων; πρὸς δὲ τοὺς ἐπιζητοῦντας πῶς τρὶς εἰς Σικελίαν ἐλθὼν οὐδʼ ἅπαξ διὰ τοῦ πορθμοῦ πέπλευκεν Ὀδυσσεύς, ἀπολογεῖται διότι καὶ οἱ ὕστερον ἔφευγον ἅπαντες τὸν πλοῦν τοῦτον. τοιαῦτα μὲν εἴρηκεν.
5. In treating of the geography of Europe I shall say nothing of the ancient geographers, but shall confine my attention to their modern critics, Dicaearchus, Eratosthenes, who is the most recent writer on geography, and Pytheas, who has misled many readers by professing to have traversed on foot the whole of Britain, the coastline of which island, he says, is more than forty thousand stades. And again by his stories of Thule and the countries in its neighbourhood, “in which,” he says, “there is neither unmixed land or sea or air, but a kind of compound of all three (like the jelly-fish or Pulmo Marinus), in which earth and sea and everything else are held in suspense, and which forms a kind of connecting link to the whole, through which one can neither walk nor sail.” This substance, which he says is like the Pulmo Marinus, he saw with his own eyes, the rest he learnt by report. Such is Pytheas’s story, and he adds that, on his return thence, he traversed the whole of the coast of Europe from Gades to the Tanais. But we cannot believe that a private person, who was also a poor man, should have made such immense journeys by land and sea. Even Eratosthenes doubted this part of his story, though he believed what he said about Britain, and Gades, and Iberia. I would much rather believe the Messenian (Euhemerus) than him. The latter is content with saying that he sailed to one country which he calls Panchaia; while the former asserts that he has actually seen the whole northern coast of Europe up to the very verge of the world, which one would hardly believe of Hermes himself if he said it. Eratosthenes calls Euhemerus a Bergaean, yet believes Pytheas, though Dicaearchus himself did not.... Eratosthenes and Dicaearchus give mere popular guesses as to distances.
5. Πολύβιος δὲ τὴν Εὐρώπην χωρογραφῶν τοὺς μὲν ἀρχαίους ἐᾶν φησι, τοὺς δʼ ἐκείνους ἐλέγχοντας ἐξετάζειν Δικαίαρχόν τε καὶ Ἐρατοσθένη τὸν τελευταῖον πραγματευσάμενον περὶ γεωγραφίας καὶ Πυθέαν, ὑφʼ οὗ παρακρουσθῆναι πολλούς, ὅλην μὲν τὴν Βρεττανικὴν ἐμβαδὸν ἐπελθεῖν φάσκοντος, τὴν δὲ περίμετρον πλειόνων ἢ τεττάρων μυριάδων ἀποδόντος τῆς νήσου, προσιστορήσαντος δὲ καὶ τὰ περὶ τῆς Θούλης καὶ τῶν τόπων ἐκείνων, ἐν οἷς οὔτε γῆ καθʼ αὑτὴν ὑπῆρχεν ἔτι οὔτε θάλαττα οὔτʼ ἀήρ, ἀλλὰ σύγκριμά τι ἐκ τούτων πλεύμονι θαλαττίῳ ἐοικός, ἐν ᾧ φησι τὴν γῆν καὶ τὴν θάλατταν αἰωρεῖσθαι καὶ τὰ σύμπαντα, καὶ τοῦτον ὡς ἂν δεσμὸν εἶναι τῶν ὅλων, μήτε πορευτὸν μήτε πλωτὸν ὑπάρχοντα. τὸ μὲν οὖν τῷ πλεύμονι ἐοικὸς αὐτὸς ἑωρακέναι, τἄλλα δὲ λέγειν ἐξ ἀκοῆς. ταῦτα μὲν τὰ τοῦ Πυθέου, καὶ διότι ἐπανελθὼν ἐνθένδε πᾶσαν ἐπέλθοι τὴν παρωκεανῖτιν τῆς Εὐρώπης ἀπὸ Γαδείρων ἕως Τανάιδος· φησὶ δʼ οὖν ὁ Πολύβιος ἄπιστον καὶ αὐτὸ τοῦτο πῶς ἰδιώτῃ ἀνθρώπῳ καὶ πένητι τὰ τοσαῦτα διαστήματα πλωτὰ καὶ πορευτὰ γένοιτο. τὸν δʼ Ἐρατοσθένη διαπορήσαντα εἰ χρὴ πιστεύειν τούτοις, ὅμως περί τε τῆς Βρεττανικῆς πεπιστευκέναι καὶ τῶν κατὰ Γάδειρα καὶ τὴν Ἰβηρίαν. πολὺ δέ φησι βέλτιον τῷ Μεσσηνίῳ πιστεύειν ἢ τούτῳ· ὁ μέντοι γε εἰς μίαν χώραν τὴν Παγχαίαν λέγει πλεῦσαι· ὁ δὲ καὶ μέχρι τῶν τοῦ κόσμου περάτων κατωπτευκέναι τὴν προσάρκτιον τῆς Εὐρώπης πᾶσαν, ἣν οὐδʼ ἂν τῷ Ἑρμῇ πιστεύσαι τις λέγοντι. Ἐρατοσθένη δὲ τὸν μὲν Εὐήμερον Βεργαῖον καλεῖν, Πυθέᾳ δὲ πιστεύειν, καὶ ταῦτα μηδὲ Δικαιάρχου πιστεύσαντος. τὸ μὲν οὖν "μηδὲ Δικαιάρχου πιστεύσαντοσ" γελοῖον, ὥσπερ ἐκείνῳ κανόνι χρήσασθαι προσῆκον, καθʼ οὗ τοσούτους ἐλέγχους αὐτὸς προφέρεται· Ἐρατοσθένους δὲ εἴρηται ἡ περὶ τὰ ἑσπέρια καὶ τὰ ἀρκτικὰ τῆς Εὐρώπης ἄγνοια. ἀλλʼ ἐκείνῳ μὲν καὶ Δικαιάρχῳ συγγνώμη τοῖς μὴ κατιδοῦσι τοὺς τόπους ἐκείνους· Πολυβίῳ δὲ καὶ Ποσειδωνίῳ τίς ἂν συγγνοίη; ἀλλὰ μὴν Πολύβιός γέ ἐστιν ὁ λαοδογματικὰς καλῶν ἀποφάσεις, ἃς ποιοῦνται περὶ τῶν ἐν τούτοις τοῖς τόποις διαστημάτων καὶ ἐν ἄλλοις πολλοῖς, ἀλλʼ οὐδʼ ἐν οἷς ἐκείνους ἐλέγχει καθαρεύων.
6. For instance, Dicaearchus says that the distance from the Peloponnese to the Pillars is ten thousand stades and still further to the head of the Adriatic; and from the Peloponnesus to the Sicilian straits three thousand; and therefore the remainder, from the Straits to the Pillars, is seven thousand stades. I say nothing about the three thousand stades, whether they are right or wrong; but the seven thousand cannot be made out, whether you measure along the coast or straight across the sea. The coast route is a kind of obtuse angle, contained by two lines resting on the straits and the pillars respectively; so that we have a triangle, of which the apex is Narbo, and the base the straight line representing the course by the open sea; of the two sides of the triangle which contain the obtuse angle, that which extends from the straits to Narbo is more than eleven thousand two hundred stades, the other from Narbo to the Pillars is a little under eight thousand. The longest distance from Europe to Libya across the Tuscan sea is allowed to be not more than three thousand stades, that by the Sardinian sea is somewhat less; but let us call it three thousand stades. Now suppose a perpendicular let down through the gulf of Narbo to the base of the triangle, that is to the straight seacourse, measuring two thousand stades; it requires only a schoolboy’s geometry to prove that the coasting voyage is longer than the direct sea voyage by nearly five hundred stades. And when the three thousand stades from the Peloponnese to the straits are added, the whole number of the stades even of the straight sea course will be more than double Dicaearchus’s reckoning. And if we measure to the head of the Adriatic we must add still more by his own admission; that is to say, from the Peloponnese to Leucas is seven hundred stades, from Leucas to Corcyra seven hundred, from Corcyra to Ceraunia seven hundred, and from Ceraunia along the Illyrian coast six thousand one hundred and fifty. Strabo quotes this reckoning of the distance from the Peloponnese to the head of the Adriatic to prove that Polybius, on his own showing, is wrong in admitting that this distance (8250 stades) is greater than that from the Peloponnese to the Pillars, which Dicaearchus said was 10,000 stades, and which Polybius showed to be 18,765 stades by the shortest route. In talking such nonsense he might well be regarded as having gone beyond even Antiphanes of Berga, and, in fact, to have left no folly for his successors to commit....
6. τοῦ γοῦν Δικαιάρχου μυρίους μὲν εἰπόντος τοὺς ἐπὶ στήλας ἀπὸ τῆς Πελοποννήσου σταδίους, πλείους δὲ τούτων τοὺς ἐπὶ τὸν Ἀδρίαν μέχρι τοῦ μυχοῦ, τοῦ δʼ ἐπὶ στήλας τὸ μέχρι τοῦ πορθμοῦ τρισχιλίους ἀποδόντος, ὡς γίνεσθαι τὸ λοιπὸν ἑπτακισχιλίους τὸ ἀπὸ πορθμοῦ μέχρι στηλῶν, τοὺς μὲν τρισχιλίους ἐᾶν φησιν εἴτʼ εὖ λαμβάνονται εἴτε μή, τοὺς δʼ ἑπτακισχιλίους οὐδετέρως, οὔτε τὴν παραλίαν ἐκμετροῦντι οὔτε τὴν διὰ μέσου τοῦ πελάγους. τὴν μὲν γὰρ παραλίαν ἐοικέναι μάλιστʼ ἀμβλείᾳ γωνίᾳ, βεβηκυίᾳ ἐπί τε τοῦ πορθμοῦ καὶ τῶν στηλῶν, κορυφὴν δʼ ἐχούσῃ Νάρβωνα, ὥστε συνίστασθαι τρίγωνον, βάσιν ἔχον τὴν διὰ τοῦ πελάγους εὐθεῖαν, πλευρὰς δὲ τὰς τὴν γωνίαν ποιούσας τὴν λεχθεῖσαν· ὧν ἡ μὲν ἀπὸ τοῦ πορθμοῦ μέχρι Νάρβωνος μυρίων ἐστὶ καὶ πλειόνων ἢ διακοσίων ἐπὶ τοῖς χιλίοις, ἡ δὲ λοιπὴ μικρῷ λεῖπον [ἐλαττόνων ἢ] ὀκτακισχιλίων. καὶ μὴν πλεῖστον μὲν διάστημα ἀπὸ τῆς Εὐρώπης ἐπὶ τὴν Λιβύην ὁμολογεῖσθαι κατὰ τὸ Τυρρηνικὸν πέλαγος σταδίων οὐ πλειόνων ἢ τρισχιλίων, κατὰ τὸ Σαρδόνιον δὲ λαμβάνειν συναγωγήν. ἀλλʼ ἔστω, φησί, καὶ ἐκεῖνο τρισχιλίων, προειλήφθω δʼ ἐπὶ τούτοις δισχιλίων σταδίων τὸ τοῦ κόλπου βάθος τοῦ κατὰ Νάρβωνα, ὡς ἂν κάθετος ἀπὸ τῆς κορυφῆς ἐπὶ τὴν βάσιν τοῦ ἀμβλυγωνίου. δῆλον οὖν, φησίν, ἐκ τῆς παιδικῆς μετρήσεως ὅτι ἡ σύμπασα παραλία ἡ ἀπὸ τοῦ πορθμοῦ ἐπὶ στήλας ἔγγιστα ὑπερέχει τῆς διὰ τοῦ πελάγους εὐθείας πεντακοσίοις σταδίοις. προστεθέντων δὲ τῶν ἀπὸ τῆς Πελοποννήσου ἐπὶ τὸν πορθμὸν τρισχιλίων, οἱ σύμπαντες ἔσονται στάδιοι, αὐτοὶ οἱ ἐπʼ εὐθείας, πλείους ἢ διπλάσιοι ὧν Δικαίαρχος εἶπε. πλείους δὲ τούτων τοὺς ἐπὶ τὸν μυχὸν τὸν Ἀδριατικὸν δεήσει, φησί, τιθέναι κατʼ ἐκεῖνον. ἀλλʼ, ὦ φίλε Πολύβιε, φαίη τις ἄν, ὥσπερ τούτου τοῦ ψεύσματος ἐναργῆ παρίστησι τὸν ἔλεγχον ἡ πεῖρα ἐξ αὐτῶν ὧν εἴρηκας αὐτός, εἰς μὲν Λευκάδα ἐκ Πελοποννήσου ἑπτακοσίους, ἐντεῦθεν δὲ τοὺς ἴσους εἰς Κόρκυραν, καὶ πάλιν ἐντεῦθεν εἰς τὰ Κεραύνια τοὺς ἴσους καὶ ἐν δεξιᾷ εἰς τὴν Ἰαπυδίαν ἀπὸ τῶν Κεραυνίων τὴν Ἰλλυρικὴν παραλίαν σταδίων ἑξακισχιλίων ἑκατὸν πεντήκοντα, οὕτως κἀκεῖνα ψεύσματά ἐστιν ἀμφότερα, καὶ ὃ Δικαίαρχος εἶπε, τὸ ἀπὸ πορθμοῦ ἐπὶ στήλας εἶναι σταδίων ἑπτακισχιλίων, καὶ ὃ σὺ δοκεῖς ἀποδεῖξαι· ὁμολογοῦσι γὰρ οἱ πλεῖστοι λέγοντες τὸ διὰ πελάγους μυρίων εἶναι καὶ δισχιλίων. — πῶς οὐκ ἂν εἰκότως δόξειεν ὑπερβεβηκέναι καὶ ἀπολεληρηκέναι τὸν Βεργαῖον Ἀντιφάνην καὶ καθόλου μηδενὶ καταλιπεῖν ὑπερβολὴν ἀνοίας τῶν ἐπιγινομένων; — ἑξῆς δὲ τὰ τοῦ Ἐρατοσθένους ἐπανορθοῖ, τὰ μὲν εὖ, τὰ δὲ χεῖρον λέγων ἢ ἐκεῖνος.
7. From Ithaca to Corcyra is more than nine hundred stades; from Epidamnus to Thessalonica more than two thousand. From Marseilles to the Pillars is more than nine thousand; from the Pyrenees, rather less than eight thousand.... The Pagus from source to mouth is eight thousand, not following its windings, but taking a direct line.... Eratosthenes is quite ignorant of the geography of Iberia, and sometimes makes statements about it entirely contradictory. He says, for instance, that its western coast as far as Gades is inhabited by Gauls, since the whole western side of Europe, as far south as Gades, is occupied by that people: and then, quite forgetting he has said this, when taking a survey of the whole of Spain, he nowhere mentions the Gauls.... The length of Europe is less than that of Libya and Asia put together by the distance between the sunrise in summer and at the point of the equinox; for the source of the Tanais is at the former, and the Pillars are at the western equinox, and between them lies Europe, while Asia occupies the northern semicircle between the Tanais and equinoctial sunrise.... Southern Europe is divided into five peninsulas—Iberia; Italy; a third ending in the Capes Malea and Sunium, in which are included Greece and Illyria, and a part of Thrace; a fourth called the Thracian Chersonese, bounded by the strait between Sestos and Abydos; and a fifth along the Cimmerian Bosphorus and the entrance to the Maeotis....
7. ἐξ Ἰθάκης μὲν γὰρ εἰς Κόρκυραν τριακοσίους εἰπόντος, πλείους φησὶν εἶναι τῶν ἐνακοσίων, ἐξ Ἐπιδάμνου δὲ εἰς Θεσσαλονίκειαν ἐνακοσίους ἀποδόντος, πλείους τῶν δισχιλίων φησί. ταῦτα μὲν εὖ, ἀπὸ δὲ Μασσαλίας ἐπὶ στήλας λέγοντος ἑπτακισχιλίους, ἀπὸ δὲ Πυρήνης ἑξακισχιλίους, αὐτὸς λέγει χεῖρον πλείους ἢ ἐνακισχιλίους τοὺς ἀπὸ Μασσαλίας, ἀπὸ δὲ Πυρήνης μικρὸν ἐλάττους ἢ ὀκτακισχιλίους· ἐγγυτέρω γὰρ τῆς ἀληθείας ἐκεῖνος εἴρηκεν. οἱ γὰρ νῦν ὁμολογοῦσιν, εἴ τις τὰς τῶν ὁδῶν ἀνωμαλίας ὑποτέμνοιτο, μὴ μείζω τῶν ἑξακισχιλίων σταδίων εἶναι τὸ μῆκος τὴν σύμπασαν Ἰβηρίαν ἀπὸ Πυρήνης ἕως τῆς ἑσπερίου πλευρᾶς. ὁ δʼ αὐτὸν τὸν Τάγον ποταμὸν ὀκτακισχιλίων τίθησι τὸ μῆκος ἀπὸ τῆς πηγῆς μέχρι τῶν ἐκβολῶν, οὐ δήπου τὸ σὺν τοῖς σκολιώμασιν — οὐ γὰρ γεωγραφικὸν τοῦτο — ἀλλʼ ἐπʼ εὐθείας λέγων· καίτοι γε ἀπὸ Πυρήνης αἱ τοῦ Τάγου πηγαὶ πλέον διέχουσιν ἢ χιλίους σταδίους. πάλιν δὲ τοῦτο μὲν ὀρθῶς ἀποφαίνεται ὅτι ἀγνοεῖ τὰ Ἰβηρικὰ ὁ Ἐρατοσθένης καὶ διότι περὶ αὐτῆς ἔσθʼ ὅπου τὰ μαχόμενα ἀποφαίνεται, ὅς γε μέχρι Γαδείρων ὑπὸ Γαλατῶν περιοικεῖσθαι φήσας τὰ ἔξωθεν αὐτῆς, εἴ γε τὰ πρὸς δύσιν τῆς Εὐρώπης μέχρι Γαδείρων ἔχουσιν ἐκεῖνοι, τούτων ἐκλαθόμενος κατὰ τὴν τῆς Ἰβηρίας περίοδον τῶν Γαλατῶν οὐδαμοῦ μέμνηται. τὸ δὲ μῆκος τῆς Εὐρώπης ὅτι ἔλαττόν ἐστι τοῦ συνάμφω τῆς τε Λιβύης καὶ τῆς Ἀσίας ἐκθείς, οὐκ ὀρθῶς τὴν σύγκρισιν ποιεῖται. τὸ μὲν γὰρ στόμα τὸ κατὰ στήλας φησὶν ὅτι κατὰ τὴν ἰσημερινὴν δύσιν ἐστίν, ὁ δὲ Τάναϊς ῥεῖ ἀπὸ θερινῆς ἀνατολῆς· ἐλαττοῦται δὴ τοῦ συνάμφω μήκους τῷ μεταξὺ τῆς θερινῆς ἀνατολῆς καὶ τῆς ἰσημερινῆς· τοῦτο γὰρ ἡ Ἀσία προλαμβάνει πρὸς τὴν ἰσημερινὴν ἀνατολὴν τοῦ πρὸς τὰς ἄρκτους ἡμικυκλίου. — προπεπτωκυίας δὲ τῆς Εὐρώπης ἄκραις πλείοσι, βέλτιον μὲν οὗτος εἴρηκε περὶ αὐτῶν Ἐρατοσθένους, οὔπω δὲ ἱκανῶς. ἐκεῖνος μὲν γὰρ τρεῖς ἔφη, τὴν ἐπὶ τὰς στήλας καθήκουσαν, ἐφʼ ἧς ἡ Ἰβηρία, καὶ τὴν ἐπὶ τὸν πορθμόν, ἐφʼ ἧς ἡ Ἰταλία, καὶ τρίτην τὴν κατὰ Μαλέας, ἐφʼ ἧς τὰ μεταξὺ τοῦ Ἀδρίου καὶ τοῦ Εὐξείνου πάντʼ ἔθνη καὶ τοῦ Τανάιδος· οὗτος δὲ τὰς μὲν δύο τὰς πρώτας ὁμοίως ἐκτίθεται, τρίτην δὲ τὴν κατὰ Μαλέας καὶ Σούνιον, ἐφʼ ἧς ἡ Ἑλλὰς πᾶσα καὶ ἡ Ἰλλυρὶς καὶ τῆς Θρᾴκης τινά, τετάρτην δὲ τὴν κατὰ τὴν Θρᾳκίαν χερρόνησον, ἐφʼ ἧς τὰ κατὰ Σηστὸν καὶ Ἄβυδον στενά — ἔχουσι δʼ αὐτὴν Θρᾷκες — πέμπτην δὲ τὴν κατὰ τὸν Κιμμερικὸν Βόσπορον καὶ τὸ στόμα τῆς Μαιώτιδος.