§15.1.10̔ως ἐν τοῖς τοιούτοις οὖν ἀποδέχεσθαι δεῖ πᾶν τὸ ἐγγυτάτω πίστεως.
As in such matters, then, one must accept everything that is closest to credibility.
ἐποιησάμεθα δʼ ἡμεῖς καὶ ἐν τοῖς πρώτοις λόγοις τοῖς περὶ γεωγραφίας δίαιταν ἣν δυνατὸν ἦν περὶ τούτων, καὶ νῦν ἐκείνοις τε ἐξ ἑτοίμου χρησόμεθα καὶ ἕτερα προσθήσομεν, ὅσων ἂν δεῖν δόξῃ πρὸς τὴν σαφήνειαν.
We ourselves have made, even in our first books on Geography, such an examination of these matters as was possible, and now we shall both make use of those results as ready at hand and add other details, as many as may seem to be needed for clarity.
μάλιστα δʼ ἐκ τῆς διαίτης ἐδόκει τῆς τότε πιστότατα εἶναι τὰ ὑπὸ τοῦ Ἐρατοσθένους ἐν τῷ τρίτῳ τῶν γεωγραφικῶν ἐκτεθέντα κεφαλαιωδῶς περὶ τῆς τότε νομιζομένης Ἰνδικῆς, ἡνίκα Ἀλέξανδρος ἐπῆλθε·
And especially from that examination, the things set forth summarily by Eratosthenes in the third book of his Geography concerning the India then believed in, at the time when Alexander invaded it, seemed to be the most trustworthy.
καὶ ἦν ὁ Ἰνδὸς ὅριον ταύτης τε καὶ τῆς Ἀριανῆς ἣν ἐφεξῆς πρὸς τῇ ἑσπέρᾳ κειμένην Πέρσαι κατεῖχον· ὕστερον γὰρ δὴ καὶ τῆς Ἀριανῆς πολλὴν ἔσχον οἱ Ἰνδοὶ λαβόντες παρὰ τῶν Μακεδόνων.
And the Indus was the boundary between this and Ariane, which lay next to it on the west and was held by the Persians; for later, indeed, the Indians also held a large part of Ariane, having received it from the Macedonians.
ἔστι δὲ τοιαῦτα ἃ λέγει ὁ Ἐρατοσθένης.
The things which Eratosthenes says are as follows.
§15.1.11τὴν Ἰνδικὴν περιώρικεν ἀπὸ μὲν τῶν ἄρκτων τοῦ Ταύρου τὰ ἔσχατα ἀπὸ τῆς Ἀριανῆς μέχρι τῆς ἑῴας θαλάττης, ἅπερ οἱ ἐπιχώριοι κατὰ μέρος Παροπάμισόν τε καὶ Ἠμωδὸν καὶ Ἴμαον καὶ ἄλλα ὀνομάζουσι, Μακεδόνες δὲ Καύκασον· ἀπὸ δὲ τῆς ἑσπέρας ὁ Ἰνδὸς ποταμός· τὸ δὲ νότιον καὶ τὸ προσεῷον πλευρόν, πολὺ μείζω τῶν ἑτέρων ὄντα, προπέπτωκεν εἰς τὸ Ἀτλαντικὸν πέλαγος, καὶ γίνεται ῥομβοειδὲς τὸ τῆς χώρας σχῆμα τῶν μειζόνων πλευρῶν ἑκατέρου πλεονεκτοῦντος παρὰ τὸ ἀπεναντίον πλευρὸν καὶ τρισχιλίοις σταδίοις, ὅσων ἐστὶ τὸ κοινὸν ἄκρον τῆς τε ἑωθινῆς παραλίας καὶ τῆς μεσημβρινῆς, ἔξω προπεπτωκὸς ἐξ ἴσης ἐφʼ ἑκάτερον παρὰ τὴν ἄλλην ᾐόνα.
He has bounded India as follows: on the north, by the extremities of the Taurus, from Ariane to the eastern sea, which the natives name section by section Paropamisus, Hemodus, Imaus, and other names, but the Macedonians call Caucasus; on the west, by the Indus River; while the southern and the eastern sides, which are much larger than the others, project into the Atlantic Sea, so that the shape of the country becomes rhomboidal, each of the larger sides exceeding its opposite side by as much as three thousand stadia, which is the extent to which the common cape of the eastern and the southern coast projects outwards equally in each direction beyond the rest of the shore.
τῆς μὲν οὖν ἑσπερίου πλευρᾶς ἀπὸ τῶν Καυκασίων ὀρῶν ἐπὶ τὴν νότιον θάλατταν στάδιοι μάλιστα λέγονται μύριοι τρισχίλιοι παρὰ τὸν Ἰνδὸν ποταμὸν μέχρι τῶν ἐκβολῶν αὐτοῦ, ὥστʼ ἀπεναντίον ἡ ἑωθινὴ προσλαβοῦσα τοὺς τῆς ἄκρας τρισχιλίους ἔσται μυρίων καὶ ἑξακισχιλίων σταδίων.
Thus, of the western side, from the Caucasian mountains to the southern sea, along the Indus River to its outlets, the distance is said to be about thirteen thousand stadia; so that the eastern side, opposite to it, by taking in the three thousand of the cape, will be sixteen thousand stadia.
τοῦτο μὲν οὖν πλάτος τῆς χώρας τό τʼ ἐλάχιστον καὶ τὸ μέγιστον.
This, then, is the breadth of the country, both the minimum and the maximum.
μῆκος δὲ τὸ ἀπὸ τῆς ἑσπέρας ἐπὶ τὴν ἕω· τούτου δὲ τὸ μὲν μέχρι Παλιβόθρων ἔχοι τις ἂν βεβαιοτέρως εἰπεῖν· καταμεμέτρηται γὰρ σχοινίοις καὶ ἔστιν ὁδὸς βασιλικὴ σταδίων μυρίων· τὰ δʼ ἐπέκεινα στοχασμῷ λαμβάνεται διὰ τῶν ἀνάπλων τῶν ἐκ θαλάττης διὰ τοῦ Γάγγου ποταμοῦ μέχρι Παλιβόθρων· εἴη δʼ ἄν τι σταδίων ἑξακισχιλίων.
And the length is the distance from west to east; of this, one might speak with greater certainty of the portion as far as Palibothra, for it has been measured with measuring-lines and there is a royal road of ten thousand stadia; but the parts beyond are taken by conjecture, from the voyages up from the sea along the Ganges River to Palibothra, and this would be some six thousand stadia.
ἔσται δὲ τὸ πᾶν ᾗ βραχύτατον μυρίων ἑξακισχιλίων, ὡς ἔκ τε τῆς ἀναγραφῆς τῶν σταθμῶν τῆς πεπιστευμένης μάλιστα λαβεῖν Ἐρατοσθένης φησί, καὶ ὁ Μεγασθένης οὕτω συναποφαίνεται, Πατροκλῆς δὲ χιλίοις ἔλαττον φησί.
The total, at its shortest, will be sixteen thousand stadia, as Eratosthenes says can be gathered from the register of the stations which is most trusted; and Megasthenes agrees in declaring the same, though Patrocles says it is a thousand less.
τούτῳ δὴ πάλιν τῷ διαστήματι προστεθὲν τὸ τῆς ἄκρας διάστημα τὸ προπῖπτον ἐπὶ πλέον πρὸς τὰς ἀνατολάς, οἱ τρισχίλιοι στάδιοι ποιήσουσι τὸ μέγιστον μῆκος· ἔστι δὲ τοῦτο τὸ ἀπὸ τῶν ἐκβολῶν τοῦ Ἰνδοῦ ποταμοῦ παρὰ τὴν ἑξῆς ᾐόνα μέχρι τῆς λεχθείσης ἄκρας καὶ τῶν ἀνατολικῶν αὐτῆς τερμόνων· οἰκοῦσι δʼ ἐνταῦθα οἱ Κωνιακοὶ καλούμενοι.
Now if to this distance there be added again the distance of the cape which projects further towards the east, the three thousand stadia will make the maximum length; this is the distance from the outlets of the Indus River along the adjacent coast to the aforesaid cape and its eastern boundaries; and here live the people called Coniaci.
§15.1.12Ἐκ δὲ τούτων πάρεστιν ὁρᾶν ὅσον διαφέρουσιν αἱ τῶν ἄλλων ἀποφάσεις, Κτησίου μὲν οὐκ ἐλάττω τῆς ἄλλης Ἀσίας τὴν Ἰνδικὴν λέγοντος, Ὀνησικρίτου δὲ τρίτον μέρος τῆς οἰκουμένης, Νεάρχου δὲ μηνῶν ὁδὸν τεττάρων τὴν διὰ τοῦ πεδίου, Μεγασθένους δὲ καὶ Δηιμάχου μετριασάντων μᾶλλον· ὑπὲρ γὰρ δισμυρίους τιθέασι σταδίους τὸ ἀπὸ τῆς νοτίου θαλάττης ἐπὶ τὸν Καύκασον, Δηίμαχος δʼ ὑπὲρ τοὺς τρισμυρίους κατʼ ἐνίους τόπους·
From these things one can see how much the statements of the others differ, Ctesias saying that India is not less than the rest of Asia, Onesicritus that it is a third part of the inhabited world, Nearchus that the journey through the plain is four months, and Megasthenes and Deïmachus being more moderate; for they place the distance from the southern sea to the Caucasus at over twenty thousand stadia, and Deïmachus at over thirty thousand in some places.
πρὸς οὓς ἐν τοῖς πρώτοις λόγοις εἴρηται, νῦν δὲ τοσοῦτον εἰπεῖν ἱκανόν, ὅτι καὶ ταῦτα συνηγορεῖ τοῖς αἰτουμένοις συγγνώμην, ἐάν τι περὶ τῶν Ἰνδικῶν λέγοντες μὴ διισχυρίζωνται.
These writers we have answered in our first books, but for the present it is enough to say this much, that these discrepancies also support those who ask for indulgence if, in speaking of India, they do not make positive assertions.