§1.13#3ὑπʼ αὐτὴν δὲ τὴν ἄρκτον ὑπὲρ τῆς ἐσχάτης Σκυθίας αἱ καλούμεναι Ῥῖπαι, περὶ ὧν τοῦ μεγέθους λίαν εἰσὶν οἱ λεγόμενοι λόγοι μυθώδεις·
Right under the North, beyond the furthest Scythia, are the so-called Rhipae, about whose magnitude the stories told are excessively mythical.
ῤέουσι δʼ οὖν οἱ πλεῖστοι καὶ μέγιστοι μετὰ τὸν Ἴστρον τῶν ἄλλων ποταμῶν ἐντεῦθεν, ὥς φασιν.
At any rate, most and the greatest of the other rivers after the Ister flow from there, as they say.
ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ περὶ τὴν Λιβύην οἱ μὲν ἐκ τῶν Αἰθιοπικῶν ὁρῶν, ὅ τε Αἰγὼν καὶ ὁ Νύσης, οἱ δὲ μέγιστοι τῶν διωνομασμένων, ὅ τε Χρεμέτης καλούμενος, ὃς εἰς τὴν ἔξω ῥεῖ θάλατταν, καὶ τοῦ Νείλου τὸ ῥεῦμα τὸ πρῶτον, ἐκ τοῦ Ἀργυροῦ καλουμένου ὄρους.
Similarly also in Libya, some flow from the Ethiopian mountains, namely the Aegon and the Nyses, while the greatest of those famous ones, both the so-called Chremetes, which flows into the outer sea, and the first stream of the Nile, flow from the so-called Silver Mountain.
τῶν δὲ περὶ τὸν Ἑλληνικὸν τόπον ὁ μὲν Ἀχελῷος ἐκ Πίνδου, καὶ ὁ Ἴναχος ἐντεῦθεν, ὁ δὲ Στρυμὼν καὶ Νέσσος καὶ ὁ Ἕβρος ἅπαντες τρεῖς ὄντες ἐκ τοῦ Σκόμβρου· πολλὰ δὲ ῥεύματα καὶ ἐκ τῆς Ῥοδόπης ἐστίν.
Of those in the Greek region, the Achelous flows from Pindus, and the Inachus from there also, while the Strymon, the Nessus, and the Hebrus, all three of them, flow from Scombrus; and many streams also flow from Rhodope.
ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους ποταμοὺς εὕροι τις ἄν ῥέοντας· ἀλλὰ μαρτυρίου χάριν τούτους εἴπομεν· ἐπεὶ καὶ ὅσοι αὐτῶν ῥέουσιν ἐξ ἐλῶν, τὰ ἕλη ὑπὸ ὄρη κεῖσθαι συμβαίνει πάντα σχεδὸν ἢ τόπους ὑψηλοὺς ἐκ προσαγωγῆς.
In like manner one would find the other rivers flowing also; but we have mentioned these for the sake of testimony; since even of those that flow from marshes, the marshes happen to lie almost all under mountains or high places by gradual ascent.
ὅτι μὲν οὖν οὐ δεῖ νομίζειν οὕτω γίγνεσθαι τὰς ἀρχὰς τῶν ποταμῶν ὡς ἐξ ἀφωρισμένων κοιλιῶν, φανερόν·
That, therefore, we must not think the sources of rivers to arise in such a way as from defined cavities, is clear.
οὔτε γὰρ ἄν ὁ τόπος ἱκανὸς ἦν ὁ τῆς γῆς ὡς εἰπεῖν, ὥσπερ οὐδʼ ὁ τῶν νεφῶν, εἰ τὸ ὂν ἔδει ῥεῖν μόνον, ἀλλὰ μὴ τὸ μὲν ἀπῄει τὸ δʼ ἐγίγνετο, ἀλλʼ αἰεὶ ἀπὸ ὄντος ἐταμιεύετο·
For neither would the space of the earth, so to speak, be sufficient, just as that of the clouds would not, if it were necessary that only what already exists should flow, and not that some departed while some was generated, but was always dispensed from what was already existing.
τὸ τε ὑπὸ τοῖς ὄρεσιν ἔχειν τὰς πηγὰς μαρτυρεῖ διότι τῷ συρρεῖν εἰς ὀλίγον καὶ κατὰ μικρὸν ἐκ πολλῶν νοτίδων διαδίδωσιν ὁ τόπος καὶ γίγνονται οὕτως αἱ πηγαὶ τῶν ποταμῶν.
And the fact that they have their sources under the mountains testifies that, by collecting into a small space and little by little from many drops, the place distributes them and thus the sources of rivers are formed.
οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ καὶ τοιούτους εἶναι τόπους ἔχοντας πλῆθος ὕδατος, οἷον λίμνας, οὐδὲν ἄτοππον, πλὴν οὔτι τηλικαύτας ὥστε τοῦτο συμβαίνειν, οὐδὲν μᾶλλον ἢ εἴ τις οἴοιτο τὰς φανερὰς εἶναι πηγὰς τῶν ποταμῶν· σχεδὸν γὰρ ἐκ κρηνῶν οἱ πλεῖστοι ῥέουσιν.
Not but what there is nothing absurd in there being also such places containing a multitude of water, like lakes, except that they are not so great as to make this happen, any more than if one were to think that the visible springs are the whole body of the rivers; for almost most of them flow from springs.
ὅμοιον οὖν τὸ ἐκείνας καὶ τὸ ταύτας νομίζειν εἶναι τὸ σῶμα τὸ τοῦ ὕδατος πᾶν.
Therefore, to think that those or these are the whole body of water is a similar error.
ὅτι δʼ εἰσὶν τοιαῦται φάραγγες καὶ διαστάσεις τῆς γῆς, δηλοῦσιν οἱ καταπινόμενοι τῶν ποταμῶν.
And that there are such chasms and clefts of the earth is shown by those rivers which are swallowed up.
συμβαίνει δὲ τοῦτο πολλαχοῦ τῆς γῆς, οἷον τῆς μὲν Πελοποννήσου πλεῖστα τοιαῦτα περὶ τὴν Ἀρκαδίαν ἐστίν.
And this happens in many places of the earth, as for instance in the Peloponnese there are most such cases around Arcadia.
αἴτιον δὲ διὰ τὸ ὀρεινὴν οὖσαν μὴ ἔχειν ἐκροὰς ἐκ τῶν κοίλων εἰς θάλατταν· πληροὺμενοι γὰρ οἱ τόποι καὶ οὐκ ἔχοντες ἔκρυσιν αὑτοῖς εὑρίσκονται τὴν δίοδον εἰς βάθος, ἀποβιαζομένου τοῦ ἄνωθεν ἐπιόντος ὕδατος.
And the cause is that, being mountainous, it has no outlets from its hollows into the sea; for the places becoming full and having no outflow find for themselves a passage into the depth, under the pressure of the water coming from above.
περὶ μὲν οὖν τὴν Ἑλλάδα μικρὰ τοιαῦτα παντελῶς ἐστιν γιγνόμενα· ἀλλʼ ἥ γε ὑπὸ τὸν Καύκασον λίμνη, ἣν καλοῦσιν οἱ ἐκεῖ θάλατταν· αὔτη γὰρ ποταμῶν πολλῶν καὶ μεγάλων εἰσβαλλόντων οὐκ ἔχουσα ἔκρουν φανερὸν ἐκδίδωσιν ὑπὸ γῆν κατὰ Κοραξούς, περὶ τὰ καλούμενα βαθέα τοῦ Πόντου· ταῦτα δʼ ἐστὶν ἄπειρόν τι τῆς θαλάττης βάθος· οὐδεὶς γοῦν πώποτε καθεὶς ἐδυνήθη πέρας εὑρεῖν.
Now about Greece such occurrences are altogether small; but at any rate the lake under the Caucasus, which the people there call a sea; for this, although many and great rivers empty into it, having no visible outlet, discharges underground near the Coraxi, about the so-called deeps of the Pontus; and this is an infinite depth of the sea; at any rate, no one by letting down a line has ever been able to find its bottom.
ταύτῇ δὲ πόρρω τῆς γῆς σχεδὸν περὶ τριακόσια στάδια πότιμον ἀναδίδωσιν ὕδωρ ἐπὶ πολὺν τόπον, οὐ συνεχῆ δέ, ἀλλὰ τρισσαχῇ.
And here, far from the land, about three hundred stades, it sends up potable water over a large area, not continuously indeed, but in three places.
καὶ περὶ τὴν Λιγυστικὴν οὐκ ἐλάττων τοῦ Ῥοδανοῦ καταπίνεταί τις ποταμός, καὶ πάλιν ἀναδίδωσιν κατ᾿ ἄλλον τόπον· ὁ δὲ Ῥοδανὸς ποταμὸς ναυσιπέρατός ἐστιν.
And in Liguria a certain river not less than the Rhone is swallowed up, and rises again in another place; and the Rhone itself is a navigable river.