§2.5#2δύο γὰρ ὄντων τμημάτων τῆς δυνατῆς οἰκεῖσθαι χώρας, τῆς μὲν πρὸς τὸν ἄνω πόλον, καθ᾿ ἡμᾶς, τῆς δὲ πρὸς τὸν ἕτερον καὶ πρὸς μεσημβρίαν, καὶ οὔσης οἷον τυμπάνου (τοιοῦτον γὰρ σχῆμα τῆς γῆς ἐκ τέμνουσιν αἱ ἐκ τοῦ κέντρου αὐτῆς ἀγόμεναι, καὶ ποιοῦσι δύο κώνους, τὸν μὲν ἔχοντα βάσιν τὸν τροπικόν, τὸν δὲ τὸν διὰ παντὸς φανερόν, τὴν δὲ κορυφὴν ἐπὶ τοῦ μέσου τῆς γῆς· τὸν αὐτὸν δὲ τρόπον πρὸς τὸν κάτω πόλον ἕτεροι δύο κῶνοι τῆς γῆς ἐκτμήματα ποιοῦσι.
For since there are two parts of the inhabitable land, the one facing the upper pole, which is our own, and the other facing the other pole and the south, and being like a drum (for the lines drawn from its center cut out such a shape from the earth, and make two cones, the one having the tropic as its base, and the other the ever-visible circle, and their vertex at the center of the earth; and in the same way towards the lower pole another two cones make the cuttings of the earth.
ταῦτα δ᾿ οἰκεῖσθαι μόνα δυνατόν, καὶ οὔτ᾿ ἐπέκεινα τῶν τροπῶν (σκιὰ γὰρ οὐκ ἂν ἦν πρὸς ἄρκτον, νῦν δ᾿ ἀοίκητοι πρότερον γίγνονται οἱ τόποι πρὶν ἢ ὑπολείπειν ἢ μεταβάλλειν τὴν σκιὰν πρὸς μεσημβρίαν) τὰ θ᾿ ὑπὸ τὴν ἄρκτον ὑπὸ ψύχους ἀοίκητα.
And it is possible to inhabit only these regions, and not beyond the tropics—for then the shadow would not have been towards the north, but now the regions become uninhabitable before the shadow either fails or changes to the south—and the regions under the north are uninhabitable because of cold.
φέρεται δὲ καὶ ὁ στέφανος κατὰ τοῦτον τὸν τόπον· φαίνεται γὰρ ὑπὲρ κεφαλῆς γιγνόμενος ἡμῖν, ὅταν ᾖ κατὰ τὸν μεσημβρινόν.
And the Crown too is carried along this region; for it appears to be overhead for us when it is on the meridian.
διὸ καὶ γελοίως γράφουσι νῦν τὰς περιόδους τῆς γῆς· γράφουσι γὰρ κυκλοτερῆ τὴν οἰκουμένην, τοῦτο δ᾿ ἐστὶν ἀδύνατον κατά τε τὰ φαινόμενα καὶ κατὰ τὸν λόγον.
Therefore they also write the circuits of the earth ridiculously now; for they draw the inhabited world circular, which is impossible both according to the phenomena and according to reason.
ὅ τε γὰρ λόγος δείκνυσιν ὅτι ἐπὶ πλάτος μὲν ὥρισται, τὸ δὲ κύκλῳ συνάπτειν ἐνδέχεται διὰ τὴν κρᾶσιν, — οὐ γὰρ ὑπερβάλλει τὰ καύματα καὶ τὸ ψῦχος κατὰ μῆκος, ἀλλ᾿ ἐπὶ πλάτος, ὥστ᾿ εἰ μή που κωλύει θαλάττης πλῆθος, ἅπαν εἶναι πορεύσιμον, — καὶ κατὰ τὰ φαινόμενα περί τε τοὺς πλοῦς καὶ τὰς πορείας· πολὺ γὰρ τὸ μῆκος διαφέρει τοῦ πλάτους.
For reason shows that it is limited in width, but it is possible for it to join in a circle because of the temperate climate—since the extreme heat and cold do not exceed in length, but in width, so that unless the vastness of the sea prevents it somewhere, the whole is navigable and passable—and also according to the phenomena concerning voyages and journeys; for the length differs greatly from the width.
τὸ γὰρ ἀπὸ Ἡρακλείων στηλῶν μέχρι τῆς Ἰνδικῆς τοῦ ἐξ Αἰθιοπίας πρὸς τὴν Μαιῶτιν καὶ τοὺς ἐσχατεύοντας τῆς Σκυθίας τόπους πλέον ἢ πέντε πρὸς τρία τὸ μέγεθός ἐστιν, ἐάν τέ τις τοὺς πλοῦς λογίζηται καὶ τὰς ὁδούς, ὡς ἐνδέχεται λαμβάνειν τῶν τοιούτων τὰς ἀκριβείας.
For the size from the Pillars of Heracles to India is more than five to three compared with that from Ethiopia to Lake Maeotis and the remotest regions of Scythia, whether one calculates the voyages and the journeys, as far as it is possible to get accuracy in such matters.
καίτοι ἐπὶ πλάτος μὲν μέχρι τῶν ἀοικήτων ἴσμεν τὴν οἰκουμένην· ἔνθα μὲν γὰρ διὰ ψῦχος οὐκέτι κατοικοῦσιν, ἔνθα δὲ διὰ τὴν ἀλέαν.
And yet in width we know the inhabited world up to the uninhabitable regions; for in some places they no longer dwell because of cold, and in others because of the heat.
τὰ δὲ τῆς Ἰνδικῆς ἔξω καὶ τῶν στηλῶν τῶν Ἡρακλείων διὰ τὴν θάλατταν οὐ φαίνεται συνείρειν, τῷ συνεχῶς εἶναι πᾶσαν οἰκουμένην)·
But the regions beyond India and the Pillars of Heracles do not seem to connect because of the sea, so that the whole inhabited world is continuous).
ἐπεὶ δ᾿ ὁμοίως ἔχειν ἀνάγκη τόπον τινὰ πρὸς τὸν ἕτερον πόλον ὥσπερ ὃν ἡμεῖς οἰκοῦμεν πρὸς τὸν ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν, δῆλον ὡς ἀνάλογον ἕξει τά τ᾿ ἄλλα καὶ τῶν πνευμάτων ἡ στάσις· ὥστε καθάπερ ἐνταῦθα βορέας ἐστίν, κἀκείνοις ἀπὸ τῆς ἐκεῖ ἄρκτου τις ἄνεμος οὕτως ὤν, ὃν οὐδὲν δυνατὸν διέχειν δεῦρο, ἐπεὶ οὐδ᾿ ὁ βορέας οὗτος εἰς τὴν ἐνταῦθα οἰκουμένην πᾶσάν ἐστιν· ἔστιν γὰρ ὥσπερ ἀπόγειον τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ βόρειον.
But since it is necessary that some place should be related to the other pole in the same way as that which we inhabit is related to the pole above us, it is clear that other things as well as the system of the winds will be analogous; so that just as there is a northerly wind here, so also for them there is some wind from the north there, being of this kind, which it is impossible to reach here, since not even this northerly wind is over all the inhabited world here; for the northerly wind is, as it were, a land-wind.
ἀλλὰ διὰ τὸ τὴν οἴκησιν κεῖσθαι ταύτην πρὸς ἄρκτον, πλεῖστοι βορέαι πνέουσιν.
But because this habitation lies towards the north, very many northerly winds blow.
ὅμως δὲ καὶ ἐνταῦθα ἐλλείπει καὶ οὐ δύναται πόρρω διήκειν, ἐπεὶ περὶ τὴν ἔξω Λιβύης θάλατταν τὴν νοτίαν, ὥσπερ ἐνταῦθα οἱ βορέαι καὶ οἱ νότοι πνέουσιν, οὕτως ἐκεῖ εὖροι καὶ ζέφυροι διαδεχόμενοι συνεχεῖς ἀεὶ πνέουσιν.
Nevertheless, even here it fails and cannot reach far, since around the southern sea outside Libya, just as the northerly and southerly winds blow here, so there east and west winds blowing in turn continuously always blow.
ὅτι μὲν οὖν ὁ νότος οὐκ ἔστιν ὁ ἀπὸ τοῦ ἑτέρου πόλου πνέων ἄνεμος, δῆλον.
That the southerly wind, then, is not the wind blowing from the other pole is clear.
ἐπεὶ δ᾿ οὔτ᾿ ἐκεῖνος, οὔτε ὁ ἀπὸ χειμερινῆς τροπῆς (δέοι γὰρ ἂν ἄλλον ἀπὸ θερινῆς εἶναι τροπῆς· οὕτως γὰρ τὸ ἀνάλογον ἀποδώσει· νῦν δ᾿ οὐκ ἔστιν· εἷς γὰρ μόνος φαίνεται πνέων ἐκ τῶν ἐκεῖθεν τόπων)· ὥστ᾿ ἀνάγκη τὸν ἀπὸ τοῦ κατακεκαυμένου τόπου πνέοντα ἄνεμον εἶναι νότον.
And since it is neither that one, nor the one from the winter solstice (for there would have to be another from the summer solstice; for thus it will render the analogy; but now there is not; for only one wind is seen blowing from those regions); so that it is necessary that the wind blowing from the burnt region is the southerly wind.
ἐκεῖνος δ᾿ ὁ τόπος διὰ τὴν τοῦ ἡλίου γειτνίασιν οὐκ ἔχει ὕδατα καὶ νομάς, αἳ διὰ τὴν πῆξιν ποιήσουσιν ἐτησίας· ἀλλὰ διὰ τὸ τὸν τόπον εἶναι πολὺ πλείω ἐκεῖνον καὶ ἀναπεπταμένον, μείζων καὶ πλείων καὶ μᾶλλον ἀλεεινὸς ἄνεμος ὁ νότος ἐστὶ τοῦ βορέου, καὶ διήκει μᾶλλον δεῦρο ἢ οὗτος ἐκεῖ.
But that region, because of the proximity of the sun, has no waters and moist places, which by freezing would produce Etesian winds; but because that region is much larger and open, the southerly wind is a greater, more abundant, and warmer wind than the northerly wind, and it reaches here more than this one reaches there.
τίς μὲν οὖν αἰτία τούτων ἐστὶ τῶν ἀνέμων, καὶ πῶς ἔχουσι πρὸς ἀλλήλους, εἴρηται.
What then is the cause of these winds, and how they are related to each other, has been said.