§1.3.7ταῦτα δὲ μεταφέρειν καὶ ἐπὶ τὴν ὅλην τὴν καθʼ ἡμᾶς θάλατταν καὶ τὴν ἐκτός, μὴ ἐν τοῖς ἐδάφεσι καὶ ταῖς ἐπικλίσεσιν αὐτῶν τὴν αἰτίαν τοῦ ἔκρου τιθεμένους, ἀλλʼ ἐν τοῖς ποταμοῖς· ἐπεὶ οὐκ ἀπίθανον κατʼ αὐτούς, οὐδʼ εἰ τὴν ὅλην θάλατταν τὴν ἡμετέραν λίμνην πρότερον εἶναι συνέβαινε πληρουμένην ὑπὸ τῶν ποταμῶν, ἐπιπολάσασαν ἐκπεσεῖν ἔξω διὰ τῶν κατὰ στήλας στενῶν ὡς ἐκ καταράκτου, ἐπαυξομένην δʼ ἀεὶ καὶ μᾶλλον τὴν θάλατταν σύρρουν γενέσθαι ὑπʼ αὐτῆς τῷ χρόνῳ καὶ συνδραμεῖν εἰς μίαν ἐπιφάνειαν, ἐκθαλαττωθῆναι δὲ διὰ τὴν ἐπικράτειαν.
And they transfer these arguments also to our whole sea and the outer sea, placing the cause of the outflow not in the beds and their slopes, but in the rivers; for according to them, it is not improbable that, even if our whole sea happened to be a lake formerly, filled by the rivers, it overflowed and escaped outward through the straits at the Pillars like a cataract, and the sea, always increasing more and more, became confluent with it in time and ran together into one surface, and became thoroughly marinized because of the dominance of the sea.
οὐ φυσικὸν δʼ ὅλως τὸ τοῖς ποταμοῖς εἰκάζειν τὴν θάλατταν· οἱ μὲν γὰρ φέρονται κατὰ ἐπικλινὲς ῥεῖθρον, ἡ δὲ ἀκλινὴς ἕστηκεν.
But it is not at all natural to compare the sea to rivers; for the latter are carried along a sloping bed, while the former stands without slope.
οἱ δὲ πορθμοὶ ῥευματίζονται κατʼ ἄλλον τρόπον, οὐ διὰ τὸ τὴν ἰλὺν τὴν ἐκ τῶν ποταμῶν προσχοῦν τὸν τοῦ πελάγους βυθόν· ἡ γὰρ πρόσχωσις περὶ αὐτὰ συνίσταται τὰ στόματα τῶν ποταμῶν, οἷον περὶ μὲν τὰ τοῦ Ἴστρου τὰ λεγόμενα στήθη καὶ ἡ Σκυθῶν ἐρημία καὶ ὁ Σαλμυδησσός, καὶ ἄλλων χειμάρρων συνεργούντων πρὸς τοῦτο, περὶ δὲ τὰ τοῦ Φάσιδος ἡ Κολχικὴ παραλία δίαμμος καὶ ταπεινὴ καὶ μαλακὴ οὖσα, περὶ δὲ τὸν Θερμώδοντα καὶ τὸν Ἶριν ὅλη Θεμίσκυρα, τὸ τῶν Ἀμαζόνων πεδίον, καὶ τῆς Σιδηνῆς τὸ πλέον· οὕτω δὲ καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν ἄλλων.
And the straits have currents in another way, not because the mud from the rivers silts up the bed of the open sea; for the silting up takes place around the mouths of the rivers themselves, as, for example, around those of the Ister, the so-called "Breasts," the desert of the Scythians, and Salmydessus (with other torrents cooperating to this end), and around those of the Phasis, the Colchian coast, which is sandy, low, and soft, and around the Thermodon and the Iris, the whole of Themiscyra, the plain of the Amazons, and the greater part of Sidene; and so it is with the others.
ἅπαντες γὰρ μιμοῦνται τὸν Νεῖλον ἐξηπειροῦντες τὸν πρὸ αὐτῶν πόρον, οἱ μὲν μᾶλλον οἱ δὲ ἧττον· ἧττον μὲν οἱ μὴ πολλὴν καταφέροντες τὴν ἰλύν, μᾶλλον δὲ οἱ πολλήν τε καὶ μαλακόγειον χώραν ἐπιόντες καὶ χειμάρρους δεχόμενοι πολλούς, ὧν ἐστι καὶ ὁ Πύραμος ὁ τῇ Κιλικίᾳ πολὺ μέρος προσθείς, ἐφʼ οὗ καὶ λόγιον ἐκπέπτωκέ τι τοιοῦτον
ἔσσεται ἐσσομένοις, ὅτε Πύραμος ἀργυροδίνης ἠιόνα προχέων ἱερὴν ἐς Κύπρον ἵκηται. ἐκ μέσων γὰρ τῶν τῆς Καταονίας πεδίων ἐνεχθεὶς πλωτὸς καὶ διεκπαισάμενος διὰ τῶν τοῦ Ταύρου στενῶν εἰς τὴν Κιλικίαν ἐκδίδωσιν εἰς τὸν πρὸ ταύτης τε καὶ τῆς Κύπρου πόρον.
For all of them imitate the Nile by silting up the channel in front of them, some more and some less; less indeed those that do not bring down much mud, but more those that pass over a large and soft-soiled country and receive many torrents, among which is also the Pyramus, which has added a large part to Cilicia, concerning which also a certain oracle has been uttered like this: "It shall be for those of future times, when the silver-swirling Pyramus, pouring forth its shore, shall reach sacred Cyprus." For, being carried from the midst of the plains of Cataonia, navigable, and having forced its way through the narrows of the Taurus, it empties into Cilicia, into the channel in front of both Cilicia and Cyprus.
§1.3.8αἴτιον δὲ τοῦ μὴ φθάνειν τὴν χοῦν εἰς τὸ πέλαγος προϊοῦσαν τὴν ὑπὸ τῶν ποταμῶν καταφερομένην τὸ τὴν θάλατταν ἀνακόπτειν αὐτὴν εἰς τοὐπίσω, παλιρροοῦσαν φύσει· ἔοικε γὰρ τοῖς ζῴοις, καὶ καθάπερ ἐκεῖνα συνεχῶς ἀναπνεῖ τε καὶ ἐκπνεῖ, τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον καὶ αὐτὴ ἐξ αὑτῆς τε καὶ εἰς ἑαυτὴν συνεχῶς παλινδρομικήν τινα κινουμένη κίνησιν.
The cause of the silt brought down by the rivers not succeeding in advancing into the open sea is that the sea beats it back, having by nature a receding tide; for it resembles living creatures, and just as they continually breathe in and out, in the same way the sea also, from itself and into itself, continually moves with a certain reciprocating motion.
δῆλον δὲ τῷ ἐπὶ τοῦ αἰγιαλοῦ ἑστῶτι κατὰ τὴν κυμάτωσιν· ἅμα γὰρ κλύζονται οἱ πόδες καὶ γυμνοῦνται καὶ πάλιν κλύζονται, καὶ τοῦτο συνεχῶς· τῷ δὲ κλύδωνι καὶ κῦμα ἐπιτρέχει, κἂν γαληνότατον ᾖ ἐπιφερόμενον ἔχει τινὰ βίαν πλείω καὶ ἀπορρίπτει πᾶν τὸ ἀλλότριον εἰς τὴν γῆν
πολλὸν δὲ παρὲξ ἅλα φῦκος ἔχευε. μᾶλλον μὲν οὖν ἐν ἀνέμῳ συμβαίνει τοῦτο, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν νηνεμίᾳ καὶ ἐν ἀπογαίοις πνεύμασιν· οὐδὲν γὰρ ἧττον ἐπὶ γῆν φέρεται τὸ κῦμα ὑπεναντίως τῷ ἀνέμῳ, ὡς ἂν ἰδίαν τινὰ τῆς θαλάττης κίνησιν συγκινούμενον αὐτῇ.
This is clear to one standing on the shore during the waving; for at the same time the feet are washed and bared, and washed again, and this continually; and upon the surge the wave also runs, and even if it be most calm, as it advances it has a certain greater force and casts out all foreign matter onto the land: "And it poured out much seaweed along the sea." This indeed happens more in a wind, but also in a calm and in land-breezes; for none the less is the wave carried toward the land against the wind, as if being moved together with a certain proper motion of the sea.