§1.2.28μηνύει δὲ καὶ Ἔφορος τὴν παλαιὰν περὶ τῆς Αἰθιοπίας δόξαν, ὅς φησιν ἐν τῷ περὶ τῆς Εὐρώπης λόγῳ, τῶν περὶ τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν τόπων εἰς τέτταρα μέρη διῃρημένων, τὸ πρὸς τὸν ἀπηλιώτην Ἰνδοὺς ἔχειν, πρὸς νότον δὲ Αἰθίοπας, πρὸς δύσιν δὲ Κελτούς, πρὸς δὲ βορρᾶν ἄνεμον Σκύθας.
And Ephorus also indicates the ancient opinion concerning Ethiopia, who says in his treatise On Europe, since the parts of the heavens and the earth are divided into four parts, that the eastern part is held by the Indians, the southern by the Ethiopians, the western by the Celts, and the northern by the Scythians.
προστίθησι δʼ ὅτι μείζων ἡ Αἰθιοπία καὶ ἡ Σκυθία· δοκεῖ γάρ, φησί, τὸ τῶν Αἰθιόπων ἔθνος παρατείνειν ἀπʼ ἀνατολῶν χειμερινῶν μέχρι δυσμῶν, ἡ Σκυθία δʼ ἀντίκειται τούτῳ.
And he adds that Ethiopia and Scythia are larger; for, he says, the nation of the Ethiopians seems to extend from the winter sunrises to the sunsets, and Scythia lies opposite to this.
ὅτι δʼ ὁ ποιητὴς ὁμόλογος τούτοις, καὶ ἐκ τῶνδε δῆλον ὅτι ἡ μὲν Ἰθάκη κεῖται
πρὸς ζόφον
(ὅπερ ἐστὶ πρὸς ἄρκτον),
αἱ δέ τʼ ἄνευθε πρὸς ἠῶ τʼ ἠέλιόν τε. ὅλον τὸ νότιον πλευρὸν οὕτω λέγων.
And that the poet is in agreement with these views is clear also from this: namely, that Ithaca lies 'toward the gloom' (which is toward the north), 'but the others apart toward the dawn and the sun,' speaking in this way of the whole southern side.
καὶ ἔτι, ὅταν φῇ· εἴτʼ ἐπὶ δέξιʼ ἴωσι πρὸς ἠῶ τʼ ἠέλιόν τε, εἴτʼ ἐπʼ ἀριστερὰ τοί γε ποτὶ ζόφον ἠερόεντα. καὶ πάλιν
ὦ φίλοι, οὐ γάρ τʼ ἴδμεν, ὅπῃ ζόφος, οὐδʼ ὅπῃ ἠώς, οὐδʼ ὅπῃ ἠέλιος φαεσίμβροτος εἶσʼ ὑπὸ γαῖαν, οὐδʼ ὅπῃ ἀννεῖται. περὶ ὧν λέγεται καὶ ἐν τοῖς περὶ τῆς Ἰθάκης λόγοις σαφέστερον.
And further, when he says: 'whether they go to the right toward the dawn and the sun, or to the left toward the misty gloom.' And again: 'O friends, for we do not know where the gloom is, nor where the dawn is, nor where the sun that gives light to mortals goes beneath the earth, nor where he rises.' Concerning which things it is also spoken more clearly in the discussions about Ithaca.
ὅταν οὖν φῇ
Ζεὺς γὰρ ἐς ὠκεανὸν μετʼ ἀμύμονας Αἰθιοπῆας χθιζὸς ἔβη,
κοινότερον δεκτέον καὶ τὸν ὠκεανὸν τὸν καθʼ ὅλον τὸ μεσημβρινὸν κλίμα τεταμένον καὶ τοὺς Αἰθίοπας· ᾧ γὰρ ἂν τόπῳ τοῦδε τοῦ κλίματος προσβάλῃς τὴν διάνοιαν, καὶ ἐπὶ τῷ ὠκεανῷ ἔσῃ καὶ ἐπὶ τῇ Αἰθιοπίᾳ.
Therefore, when he says, 'For Zeus went yesterday to the ocean, to the noble Ethiopians,' we must understand both the ocean as extending along the whole southern region and the Ethiopians in a more general sense; for to whatever part of this region you direct your mind, you will be both at the ocean and in Ethiopia.
οὕτω δὲ λέγει καὶ τὸ
τὸν δʼ ἐξ Αἰθιόπων ἀνιὼν τηλόθεν ἐκ Σολύμων ὀρέων ἴδεν,
ἴσον τῷ ἀπὸ μεσημβρινῶν τόπων, Σολύμους λέγων οὐ τοὺς ἐν τῇ Πισιδίᾳ, ἀλλʼ ὡς ἔφην πρότερον πλάσαι τινὰς ὁμωνύμους, τοὺς ἀναλόγως ἔχοντας πρός τε τὸν πλέοντα ἐν τῇ σχεδίᾳ καὶ τοὺς ἐκεῖ μεσημβρινούς, ὡς ἂν Αἰθίοπας, ὡς οἱ Πισιδικοὶ πρός τε τὸν Πόντον καὶ τοὺς ὑπὲρ τῆς Αἰγύπτου Αἰθίοπας.
And in the same way he speaks of this: 'but him, returning from the Ethiopians, he saw from afar from the Solymi mountains,' which is equivalent to 'from southern regions,' meaning by Solymi not those in Pisidia, but, as I said before, some homonymous people invented by him, who bear an analogous relation both to the voyager on the raft and to the southern people there (the Ethiopians, as it were), just as the Pisidian Solymi do to the Pontus and to the Ethiopians beyond Egypt.
οὕτω δὲ καὶ τὸν περὶ τῶν γεράνων λόγον κοινὸν ποιούμενός φησιν
αἵ τʼ ἐπεὶ οὖν χειμῶνα φύγον καὶ ἀθέσφατον ὄμβρον, κλαγγῇ ταί γε πέτονται ἐπʼ ὠκεανοῖο ῥοάων, ἀνδράσι Πυγμαίοισι φόνον καὶ κῆρα φέρουσαι. οὐ γὰρ ἐν μὲν τοῖς κατὰ τὴν Ἑλλάδα τόποις ὁρᾶται φερομένη ἡ γέρανος ἐπὶ τὴν μεσημβρίαν, ἐν δὲ τοῖς κατὰ τὴν Ἰταλίαν ἢ Ἰβηρίαν οὐδαμῶς ἢ τοῖς κατὰ τὴν Κασπίαν καὶ Βακτριανήν.
In the same way, also, making the story about the cranes general, he says: 'who, when they have fled from winter and unspeakable rain, fly with a clang toward the streams of Ocean, bringing slaughter and death to Pygmy men.' For it is not only in the regions of Greece that the crane is seen flying toward the south, while in the regions of Italy or Iberia it is not seen at all, or in those of the Caspian and Bactria.
κατὰ πᾶσαν οὖν τὴν μεσημβρινὴν παραλίαν τοῦ ὠκεανοῦ παρατείνοντος, ἐφʼ ἅπασαν δὲ καὶ χειμοφυγούντων, δέχεσθαι δεῖ καὶ τοὺς Πυγμαίους μεμυθευμένους κατὰ πᾶσαν.
Therefore, since the ocean extends along the whole southern coast, and they flee from winter to the whole of it, we must understand the legendary Pygmies also to be along the whole of it.
εἰ δʼ οἱ ὕστερον τοὺς Αἰθίοπας ἐπὶ τοὺς κατʼ Αἴγυπτον μόνους μετήγαγον καὶ τὸν περὶ τῶν Πυγμαίων λόγον, οὐδὲν ἂν εἴη πρὸς τὰ πάλαι.
And if later writers transferred the Ethiopians and the story about the Pygmies to those near Egypt alone, this would have nothing to do with ancient times.
καὶ γὰρ Ἀχαιοὺς καὶ Ἀργείους οὐ πάντας μὲν νῦν φαμεν τοὺς στρατεύσαντας ἐπὶ Ἴλιον, Ὅμηρος δὲ καλεῖ πάντας.
For indeed, we do not now call all those who campaigned against Ilium 'Achaeans' and 'Argives,' but Homer calls them all so.
παραπλήσιον δέ ἐστιν ὃ λέγω καὶ περὶ τῶν δίχα διῃρημένων Αἰθιόπων, ὅτι δεῖ δέχεσθαι τοὺς παρʼ ὅλην διατείνοντας τὴν ὠκεανῖτιν ἀφʼ ἡλίου ἀνιόντος μέχρι ἡλίου δυομένου.
And what I am saying about the Ethiopians who are 'divided in two' is similar, namely, that we must understand those who extend along the whole ocean from the rising of the sun to its setting.
οἱ γὰρ οὕτω λεγόμενοι Αἰθίοπες δίχα διῄρηνται φυσικῶς τῷ Ἀραβίῳ κόλπῳ, ὡς ἂν μεσημβρινοῦ κύκλου τμήματι ἀξιολόγῳ, ποταμοῦ δίκην ἐν μήκει σχεδόν τι καὶ πεντακισχιλίων σταδίων ἐπὶ τοῖς μυρίοις, πλάτει δʼ οὐ πολὺ τῶν χιλίων μείζονι τῷ μεγίστῳ· πρόσεστι δὲ τῷ μήκει καὶ τὸ τὸν μυχὸν τοῦδε τοῦ κόλπου διέχειν τῆς κατὰ Πηλούσιον θαλάττης τριῶν ἢ τεττάρων ἡμερῶν, ἣν ἐπέχει ὁ ἰσθμός.
For the Ethiopians so-called are naturally divided in two by the Arabian Gulf, as if by a noteworthy segment of a meridian circle, like a river in length of almost fifteen thousand stadia, and in width not much greater than a thousand at its widest part; and in addition to its length, there is also the fact that the innermost recess of this gulf is distant from the sea near Pelusium by three or four days' journey, which space the isthmus occupies.
καθάπερ οὖν οἱ χαριέστεροι τῶν διαιρούντων τὴν Ἀσίαν ἀπὸ τῆς Λιβύης ὅρον εὐφυέστερον ἡγοῦνται τοῦτον τῶν ἠπείρων ἀμφοῖν τὸν κόλπον ἢ τὸν Νεῖλον· τὸν μὲν γὰρ διήκειν παρʼ ὀλίγον παντελῶς ἀπὸ θαλάττης ἐπὶ θάλατταν, τὸν δὲ Νεῖλον πολλαπλάσιον ἀπὸ τοῦ ὠκεανοῦ διέχειν, ὥστε μὴ διαιρεῖν τὴν Ἀσίαν πᾶσαν ἀπὸ τῆς Λιβύης· τοῦτον ὑπολαμβάνω τὸν τρόπον κἀγὼ τὰ μεσημβρινὰ μέρη πάντα καθʼ ὅλην τὴν οἰκουμένην δίχα διῃρῆσθαι νομίσαι τὸν ποιητὴν τῷ κόλπῳ τούτῳ.
Just as, therefore, the more elegant of those who divide Asia from Libya consider this gulf a more natural boundary for both continents than the Nile; for the former extends almost completely from sea to sea, whereas the Nile is distant many times as far from the ocean, so that it does not divide the whole of Asia from Libya; in this manner, I assume, the poet also believed that all the southern parts along the whole inhabited world were divided in two by this gulf.
πῶς οὖν ἠγνόει τὸν ἰσθμόν, ὃν οὗτος ποιεῖ πρὸς τὸ Αἰγύπτιον πέλαγος;
How, then, was he ignorant of the isthmus, which he himself makes toward the Egyptian sea?