§1.1.5καὶ αἱ τῶν μακάρων δὲ νῆσοι πρὸ τῆς Μαυρουσίας εἰσὶ τῆς ἐσχάτης πρὸς δύσιν, καθʼ ὃ μέρος συντρέχει καὶ τῆς Ἰβηρίας τὸ ταύτῃ πέρας·
And the Islands of the Blest also lie off the coast of Maurusia, at the extreme western end, where the boundary of Iberia on this side also converges.
ἐκ δὲ τοῦ ὀνόματος δῆλον ὅτι καὶ ταύτας ἐνόμιζον εὐδαίμονας διὰ τὸ πλησιάζειν τοιούτοις χωρίοις.
It is clear from the name that they considered these islands too to be prosperous because of their proximity to such regions.
§1.1.6Ἀλλὰ μὴν ὅτι γε καὶ οἱ Αἰθίοπες ἐπὶ τῷ ὠκεανῷ ἔσχατοι, δηλοῖ·
Furthermore, he shows that the Ethiopians also live on the ocean at the ends of the earth.
ὅτι μὲν ἔσχατοι
Αἰθίοπες, τοὶ διχθὰ δεδαίαται, ἔσχατοι ἀνδρῶν. οὐδὲ τοῦ
διχθὰ δεδαίαται
φαύλως λεγομένου, ὡς δειχθήσεται ὕστερον·
That they are at the ends of the earth is shown by: "The Ethiopians, who are divided in two, the outermost of men." And the phrase "divided in two" is not used without reason, as will be shown later.
ὅτι δʼ ἐπὶ τῷ ὠκεανῷ
Ζεὺς γὰρ ἐς ὠκεανὸν μετʼ ἀμύμονας Αἰθιοπῆας χθιζὸς ἔβη μετὰ δαῖτα. ὅτι δὲ καὶ ἡ πρὸς ταῖς ἄρκτοις ἐσχατιὰ παρωκεανῖτίς ἐστιν, οὕτως ᾐνίξατο εἰπὼν περὶ τῆς ἄρκτου
οἴη δʼ ἄμμορός ἐστι λοετρῶν ὠκεανοῖο. διὰ μὲν γὰρ τῆς ἄρκτου καὶ τῆς ἁμάξης τὸν ἀρκτικὸν δηλοῖ· οὐ γὰρ ἂν τοσούτων ἀστέρων ἐν τῷ αὐτῷ χωρίῳ περιφερομένων τῷ ἀεὶ φανερῷ οἴην ἄμμορον εἶπε λοετρῶν ὠκεανοῖο.
And that they are on the ocean: "For Zeus went yesterday to the ocean, to the blameless Ethiopians, for a feast." And he also hinted that the northernmost limit is adjacent to the ocean, when he said concerning the Bear: "And she alone has no share in the baths of Oceanus." For by the "Bear" and the "Wain" he means the arctic circle; for he would not have said that she alone has no share in the baths of Oceanus when so many stars are revolving in that same region which is always visible.
ὥστʼ οὐκ εὖ ἀπειρίαν αὐτοῦ καταγινώσκουσιν, ὡς μίαν ἄρκτον ἀντὶ δυεῖν εἰδότος· οὐδὲ γὰρ εἰκὸς ἦν πω τὴν ἑτέραν ἠστροθετῆσθαι, ἀλλʼ ἀφʼ οὗ οἱ Φοίνικες ἐσημειώσαντο καὶ ἐχρῶντο πρὸς τὸν πλοῦν παρελθεῖν καὶ εἰς τοὺς Ἕλληνας τὴν διάταξιν ταύτην, ὥσπερ καὶ τὸν Βερενίκης πλόκαμον καὶ τὸν Κάνωβον ἐχθὲς καὶ πρώην κατωνομασμένον, πολλοὺς δʼ ἔτι νῦν ἀνωνύμους ὄντας, καθάπερ καὶ Ἄρατός φησιν.
Thus they are wrong to charge him with ignorance, as if he knew only one Bear instead of two; for it was not yet likely that the other had been catalogued as a constellation, but only after the Phoenicians had marked it out and used it for navigation did this arrangement pass over to the Greeks, just as the "Lock of Berenice" and "Canopus" were named only yesterday or the day before, and many stars even now remain nameless, as Aratus says.
οὐδὲ Κράτης οὖν ὀρθῶς γράφει
οἶος δʼ ἄμμορός ἐστι λοετρῶν,
φεύγων τὰ μὴ φευκτά.
Therefore, Crates is not correct when he writes: "He alone has no share in the baths," fleeing from what is not to be fled.
βελτίων δʼ Ἡράκλειτος καὶ ὁμηρικώτερος, ὁμοίως ἀντὶ τοῦ ἀρκτικοῦ τὴν ἄρκτον ὀνομάζων
ἠοῦς καὶ ἑσπέρης τέρματα ἡ ἄρκτος, καὶ ἀντίον τῆς ἄρκτου οὖρος αἰθρίου Διός. ὁ γὰρ ἀρκτικός ἐστι δύσεως καὶ ἀνατολῆς ὅρος, οὐχ ἡ ἄρκτος.
Heraclitus is better and more Homeric, when he likewise uses the "Bear" for the arctic circle: "The limits of morning and evening are the Bear, and opposite the Bear is the boundary of the bright Zeus." For it is the arctic circle, and not the Bear, that is the boundary of setting and rising.
διὰ μὲν δὴ τῆς ἄρκτου, ἣν καὶ ἅμαξαν καλεῖ καὶ τὸν Ὠρίωνα δοκεύειν φησί, τὸν ἀρκτικὸν δηλοῖ, διὰ δὲ τοῦ ὠκεανοῦ τὸν ὁρίζοντα, εἰς ὃν καὶ ἐξ οὗ τὰς δύσεις καὶ τὰς ἀνατολὰς ποιεῖται.
Indeed, by the "Bear," which he also calls the "Wain," and says that she watches Orion, he means the arctic circle, and by "Oceanus" the horizon, into which and out of which he represents the settings and risings as taking place.
εἰπὼν δὲ αὐτοῦ στρέφεσθαι καὶ ἀμοιρεῖν τοῦ ὠκεανοῦ οἶδεν ὅτι κατὰ σημεῖον τὸ ἀρκτικώτατον τοῦ ὁρίζοντος γίνεται ὁ ἀρκτικός.
And when he says that she turns in her place and has no share in the ocean, he knows that the arctic circle becomes the horizon at its northernmost point.
ἀκολούθως δὴ τούτῳ τὸ ποιητικὸν ἁρμόσαντες τὸν μὲν ὁρίζοντα ὀφείλομεν δέχεσθαι τὸν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς οἰκείως τῷ ὠκεανῷ, τὸν δʼ ἀρκτικὸν τῆς γῆς ἁπτόμενον ὡς ἂν πρὸς αἴσθησιν κατὰ τὸ ἀρκτικώτατον τῆς οἰκήσεως σημεῖον· ὥστε καὶ τοῦτο τὸ μέρος τῆς γῆς κλύζοιτʼ ἂν τῷ ὠκεανῷ κατʼ αὐτόν.
Accordingly, fitting the poetical language to this, we ought to take the horizon on the earth as corresponding to the ocean, and the arctic circle as touching the earth at the northernmost point of our inhabited world, as far as our senses can perceive; so that even this part of the earth would be washed by the ocean according to him.
καὶ τοὺς ἀνθρώπους δὲ οἶδε τοὺς προσβόρρους μάλιστα, οὓς ὀνομαστὶ μὲν οὐ δηλοῖ (οὐδὲ γὰρ νῦν που κοινὸν αὐτοῖς ὄνομα κεῖται πᾶσι), τῇ διαίτῃ δὲ φράζει, νομάδας αὐτοὺς ὑπογράφων καὶ ἀγαυοὺς ἱππημολγοὺς γαλακτοφάγους ἀβίους τε.
He also knows the northernmost men, whom indeed he does not mention by name (since no common name is even now applied to all of them), but describes by their mode of life, portraying them as "nomads" and "noble mare-milkers, milk-eaters, and lifeless ones."