§1.2.25πρὸς μὲν οὖν Κράτητα μακροῦ λόγου δεῖ καὶ ἴσως οὐδὲν ὄντος πρὸς τὰ νῦν.
Now, to answer Crates would require a long discussion, and one which is perhaps of no relevance to our present purpose.
Ἀριστάρχου δὲ τοῦτο μὲν ἐπαινῶμεν, διότι τὴν Κρατήτειον ἀφεὶς ὑπόθεσιν δεχομένην πολλὰς ἐνστάσεις περὶ τῆς καθʼ ἡμᾶς Αἰθιοπίας ὑπονοεῖ γεγονέναι τὸν λόγον· τὰ δʼ ἄλλα ἐπισκοπῶμεν.
But as for Aristarchus, on the one hand let us praise him because, setting aside the hypothesis of Crates which is open to many objections, he supposes that the passage was spoken about our Ethiopia; but on the other hand let us examine his other points.
καὶ πρῶτον ὅτι καὶ αὐτὸς μικρολογεῖται μάτην περὶ τῆς γραφῆς.
And first, that he himself also trifles in vain about the reading.
καὶ γὰρ ἂν ἑκατέρως γράφηται, δύναται ἐφαρμόττειν τοῖς νοήμασιν αὐτοῦ.
For indeed, whichever way it is written, it can fit his meaning.
τί γὰρ διαφέρει λέγειν ἢ οὕτως
δύο εἰσὶ καθʼ ἡμᾶς Αἰθίοπες, οἱ μὲν πρὸς ἀνατολὰς οἱ δὲ πρὸς δύσεις,
ἢ οὕτως
καὶ γὰρ πρὸς ἀνατολὰς καὶ πρὸς δύσεις;
For what difference does it make whether one says thus: 'There are two groups of Ethiopians in our part, some toward the east, others toward the west,' or thus: 'For they are both toward the east and toward the west'?
ἔπειθʼ ὅτι ψευδοῦς προΐσταται δόγματος.
Next, that he champions a false doctrine.
φέρε γὰρ τὸν ποιητὴν ἀγνοεῖν μὲν τὸν ἰσθμόν, τῆς δὲ κατʼ Αἴγυπτον Αἰθιοπίας μεμνῆσθαι ὅταν φῇ
Αἰθίοπας, τοὶ διχθὰ δεδαίαται. πῶς οὖν;
For suppose that the poet was indeed ignorant of the isthmus, but had in mind the Ethiopia next to Egypt when he says: 'Ethiopians, who are divided in two.' How so?
οὐ διχθὰ δεδαίαται οὕτως, ἀλλʼ ἀγνοῶν οὕτως εἴρηκεν ὁ ποιητής;
Are they not thus divided in two, but did the poet speak so out of ignorance?
πότερʼ οὐδʼ ἡ Αἴγυπτος, οὐδʼ οἱ Αἰγύπτιοι ἀπὸ τοῦ Δέλτα ἀρξάμενοι μέχρι πρὸς Συήνην ὑπὸ τοῦ Νείλου δίχα διῄρηνται
οἱ μὲν δυσομένου Ὑπερίονος, οἱ δʼ ἀνιόντος;
Or is it that neither Egypt itself, nor the Egyptians, beginning from the Delta and extending as far as Syene, are divided in two by the Nile, 'some at the setting of Hyperion, others at his rising'?
τί δʼ ἄλλο ἡ Αἴγυπτός ἐστι πλὴν ἡ ποταμία, ἣν ἐπικλύζει τὸ ὕδωρ;
And what else is Egypt but the river-land which the water inundates?
αὕτη δʼ ἐφʼ ἑκάτερα τοῦ ποταμοῦ κεῖται πρὸς ἀνατολὴν καὶ δύσιν.
And this lies on both sides of the river, toward the east and the west.
ἀλλὰ μὴν ἡ Αἰθιοπία ἐπʼ εὐθείας ἐστὶ τῇ Αἰγύπτῳ καὶ παραπλησίως ἔχει πρός τε τὸν Νεῖλον καὶ τὴν ἄλλην φύσιν τῶν τόπων.
Moreover, Ethiopia is in a straight line with Egypt and is similarly situated with respect both to the Nile and to the rest of the nature of the places.
καὶ γὰρ αὕτη στενή τέ ἐστι καὶ μακρὰ καὶ ἐπίκλυστος.
For this land too is narrow, long, and subject to inundation.
τὰ δʼ ἔξω τῆς ἐπικλύστου ἔρημά τε καὶ ἄνυδρα καὶ σπανίως οἰκεῖσθαι δυνάμενα, τὰ μὲν πρὸς ἕω τὰ δὲ πρὸς δύσιν κεκλιμένα.
And the parts outside the inundated area are desert, waterless, and capable of being inhabited only sparsely, some inclining toward the east and others toward the west.
πῶς οὖν οὐχὶ καὶ δίχα διῄρηται;
How, then, is it not also divided in two?
ἢ τοῖς μὲν τὴν Ἀσίαν ἀπὸ τῆς Λιβύης διαιροῦσιν ἀξιόλογον τοῦθʼ ὅριον ἐφάνη ὁ Νεῖλος, μῆκος μὲν ἀνατείνων ἐπὶ τὴν μεσημβρίαν πλειόνων ἢ μυρίων σταδίων, πλάτος δέ, ὥστε καὶ νήσους ἀπολαμβάνειν μυριάνδρους, ὧν μεγίστη ἡ Μερόη τὸ βασίλειον καὶ μητρόπολις τῶν Αἰθιόπων, αὐτὴν δὲ τὴν Αἰθιοπίαν οὐχ ἱκανὸς ἦν διαιρεῖν δίχα;
Or was the Nile, which appeared to those who divide Asia from Libya as a noteworthy boundary—stretching in length toward the south for more than ten thousand stades, and in width so as even to enclose islands with tens of thousands of inhabitants, the largest of which is Meroe, the royal seat and metropolis of the Ethiopians—yet not sufficient to divide Ethiopia itself in two?
καὶ μὴν οἵ γε ἐπιτιμῶντες τοῖς τὰς ἠπείρους τῷ ποταμῷ διαιροῦσι τῶν ἐγκλημάτων τοῦτο μέγιστον προφέρουσιν αὐτοῖς, ὅτι τὴν Αἴγυπτον καὶ τὴν Αἰθιοπίαν διασπῶσι καὶ ποιοῦσι τὸ μέν τι μέρος ἑκατέρας αὐτῶν Λιβυκόν, τὸ δʼ Ἀσιατικόν· ἢ εἰ μὴ βούλονται τοῦτο, ἢ οὐ διαιροῦσι τὰς ἠπείρους ἢ οὐ τῷ ποταμῷ.
And indeed, those who censure those who divide the continents by the river bring forward this as the greatest of their accusations against them, namely, that they tear Egypt and Ethiopia asunder, making one part of each of them Libyan, and the other Asiatic; or if they do not wish this, they must either not divide the continents, or not divide them by the river.