§1.2.24̔η δʼ αὐτὴ ἁμαρτία καὶ περὶ τοῦ ἀγνοεῖν τὸν ἰσθμὸν τὸν μεταξὺ τοῦ Αἰγυπτίου πελάγους καὶ τοῦ Ἀραβίου κόλπου καὶ περὶ τοῦ ψευδῶς λέγεσθαι
Αἰθίοπες, τοὶ διχθὰ δεδαίαται ἔσχατοι ἀνδρῶν. καὶ γὰρ τοῦτο ἐκείνου λέγοντος καλῶς ἐπιτιμῶσιν οἱ ὕστερον οὐκ εὖ.
And the very same error is seen both concerning the claim that Homer was ignorant of the isthmus between the Egyptian Sea and the Arabian Gulf, and concerning the claim that he speaks falsely when he says: 'Ethiopians, who are divided in two, the outermost of men.' For indeed, though he speaks this beautifully, later writers censure him, not well.
τοσούτου γὰρ δεῖ τοῦτʼ ἀληθὲς εἶναι τὸ ἀγνοεῖν Ὅμηρον τὸν ἰσθμὸν τοῦτον, ὥστε ἐκεῖνον μέν φημι μὴ εἰδέναι μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀποφαίνεσθαι ἄντικρυς, τοὺς δὲ γραμματικοὺς μηδὲ λέγοντος ἐκείνου αἰσθάνεσθαι ἀπὸ Ἀριστάρχου καὶ Κράτητος τῶν κορυφαίων ἐν τῇ ἐπιστήμῃ ταύτῃ.
For so far is it from being true that Homer was ignorant of this isthmus, that I say he not only knew it, but even declared it outright, whereas the grammarians, even though he says so, do not perceive it, starting from Aristarchus and Crates, the leaders in this science.
εἰπόντος γὰρ τοῦ ποιητοῦ
Αἰθίοπας, τοὶ διχθὰ δεδαίαται, ἔσχατοι ἀνδρῶν,
περὶ τοῦ ἐπιφερομένου ἔπους διαφέρονται, ὁ μὲν Ἀρίσταρχος γράφων
οἱ μὲν δυσομένου Ὑπερίονος, οἱ δʼ ἀνιόντος,
ὁ δὲ Κράτης
ἠμὲν δυσομένου Ὑπερίονος, ἠδʼ ἀνιόντος,
οὐδὲν διαφέρον πρὸς τὴν ἑκατέρου ὑπόθεσιν οὕτως ἢ ἐκείνως γράφειν.
For when the poet says: 'Ethiopians, who are divided in two, the outermost of men,' they differ about the subsequent verse, Aristarchus writing: 'some at the setting of Hyperion, others at his rising,' and Crates: 'both at the setting of Hyperion, and at his rising,' though it makes no difference to the hypothesis of either whether one writes it in this way or that way.
ὁ μὲν γὰρ ἀκολουθῶν τοῖς μαθηματικῶς λέγεσθαι δοκοῦσι τὴν διακεκαυμένην ζώνην κατέχεσθαί φησιν ὑπὸ τοῦ ὠκεανοῦ· παρʼ ἑκάτερον δὲ ταύτης εἶναι τὴν εὔκρατον, τήν τε καθʼ ἡμᾶς καὶ τὴν ἐπὶ θάτερον μέρος.
For the one (Crates), following those who are thought to speak mathematically, says that the torrid zone is occupied by the Ocean, and on each side of this is the temperate zone, both ours and the one on the other side.
ὥσπερ οὖν οἱ παρʼ ἡμῖν Αἰθίοπες οὗτοι λέγονται οἱ πρὸς μεσημβρίαν κεκλιμένοι παρʼ ὅλην τὴν οἰκουμένην ἔσχατοι τῶν ἄλλων παροικοῦντες τὸν ὠκεανόν, οὕτως οἴεται δεῖν καὶ πέραν τοῦ ὠκεανοῦ νοεῖσθαί τινας Αἰθίοπας ἐσχάτους τῶν ἄλλων τῶν ἐν τῇ ἑτέρᾳ εὐκράτῳ, παροικοῦντας τὸν αὐτὸν τοῦτον ὠκεανόν· διττοὺς δὲ εἶναι καὶ διχθὰ δεδάσθαι ὑπὸ τοῦ ὠκεανοῦ.
Just as, therefore, these Ethiopians in our part are said to be those inclined toward the south, living along the whole of the inhabited world as the outermost of the others next to the Ocean, so he thinks we must conceive some Ethiopians also beyond the Ocean as the outermost of the others in the other temperate zone, living next to this same Ocean; and that they are of two kinds and divided in two by the Ocean.
προσκεῖσθαι δὲ τὸ
ἠμὲν δυσομένου Ὑπερίονος, ἠδʼ ἀνιόντος,
ὅτι τοῦ ζωδιακοῦ κατὰ κορυφὴν ὄντος ἀεὶ τῷ ἐν τῇ γῇ ζωδιακῷ, τούτου δʼ οὐκ ἐκβαίνοντος ἔξω τῆς Αἰθιόπων ἀμφοῖν τῇ λοξώσει, ἀνάγκη καὶ τὴν πάροδον τοῦ ἡλίου πᾶσαν ἐν τῷ πλάτει τούτῳ νοεῖσθαι, καὶ τὰς ἀνατολὰς καὶ τὰς δύσεις συμβαίνειν ἐνταῦθα ἄλλας ἄλλοις καὶ κατʼ ἄλλα ἢ ἄλλα σημεῖα.
And the verse: 'both at the setting of Hyperion, and at his rising,' is added because, since the zodiac is always directly overhead to the zodiac on the earth, and the latter does not go outside the zone of both Ethiopians due to its obliquity, it is necessary that the whole passage of the sun be conceived within this latitude, and that sunrises and sunsets happen there, some for some people and others for others, at different points.
εἴρηκε μὲν οὕτως ἀστρονομικώτερον νομίσας· ἦν δὲ καὶ ἁπλούστερον εἰπεῖν αὐτὸ σώζοντα τὸ οὕτω διῃρῆσθαι δίχα τοὺς Αἰθίοπας, ὡς εἴρηται, ὅτι ἀφʼ ἡλίου ἀνιόντος μέχρι δύσεως ἐφʼ ἑκάτερα παροικοῦσι τῷ ὠκεανῷ Αἰθίοπες.
He spoke in this way, thinking it more astronomical; but it was possible to say it more simply while preserving the fact that the Ethiopians are thus divided in two, as has been said, because from the rising of the sun to its setting on both sides of the Ocean there live Ethiopians.
τί οὖν διαφέρει πρὸς τὸν νοῦν τοῦτον ἢ οὕτως εἰπεῖν ὥσπερ αὐτὸς γράφει, ἢ ὡς Ἀρίσταρχος
οἱ μὲν δυσομένου Ὑπερίονος, οἱ δʼ ἀνιόντος;
What difference, then, does it make for this meaning whether one speaks as he himself writes, or as Aristarchus writes: 'some at the setting of Hyperion, others at his rising'?
καὶ γὰρ τοῦτʼ ἐστὶ καὶ πρὸς δύσιν καὶ πρὸς ἀνατολὴν ἐφʼ ἑκάτερα τοῦ ὠκεανοῦ οἰκεῖν.
For both mean to dwell on both sides of the Ocean, both toward the west and toward the east.
ὁ δʼ Ἀρίσταρχος ταύτην μὲν ἐκβάλλει τὴν ὑπόθεσιν, δίχα δὲ μεμερισμένους οἴεται λέγεσθαι τοὺς καθʼ ἡμᾶς Αἰθίοπας τοὺς τοῖς Ἕλλησι πρὸς μεσημβρίαν ἐσχάτους.
But Aristarchus rejects this hypothesis, and thinks that our Ethiopians, the outermost toward the south for the Greeks, are said to be divided in two.
τούτους δὲ μὴ μεμερίσθαι δίχα ὥστε εἶναι δύο Αἰθιοπίας, τὴν μὲν πρὸς ἀνατολὴν τὴν δὲ πρὸς δύσιν, ἀλλὰ μίαν μόνην τὴν πρὸς μεσημβρίαν κειμένην τοῖς Ἕλλησιν, ἱδρυμένην δὲ κατʼ Αἴγυπτον.
He thinks, however, that these are not divided in two so that there are two Ethiopias, one toward the east and the other toward the west, but only one lying toward the south for the Greeks, situated next to Egypt.
τοῦτο δὲ ἀγνοοῦντα τὸν ποιητήν, ὥσπερ καὶ τὰ ἄλλα, ὅσα εἴρηκεν Ἀπολλόδωρος ἐν τῷ περὶ νεῶν καταλόγου δευτέρῳ, καταψεύσασθαι τῶν τόπων τὰ μὴ ὄντα.
And he claims that the poet, being ignorant of this, just as of the other things which Apollodorus has spoken of in the second book of his 'On the Catalogue of Ships', falsely described places that do not exist.