§17.1.3Ἐρατοσθένης μὲν οὖν οὕτως.
So much, then, for Eratosthenes.
δεῖ δὲ ἐπὶ πλέον εἰπεῖν καὶ πρῶτον τὰ περὶ τὴν Αἴγυπτον, ὅπως ἀπὸ τῶν γνωριμωτέρων ἐπὶ τὰ ἑξῆς προΐωμεν.
But we must speak at greater length, and first of the matters concerning Egypt, so that we may proceed from the better known to the things that follow.
κοινὰ μὲν γάρ τινα καὶ ταύτῃ τῇ χώρᾳ καὶ τῇ συνεχεῖ καὶ ὑπὲρ αὐτὴν τῇ τῶν Αἰθιόπων ὁ Νεῖλος παρασκευάζει, ποτίζων τε αὐτὰς κατὰ τὰς ἀναβάσεις καὶ τοῦτʼ οἰκήσιμον αὐτῶν τὸ μέρος ἀπολείπων μόνον τὸ καλυπτόμενον ἐν ταῖς πλημμυρίσι, τὸ δʼ ὑπερδέξιον καὶ μετεωρότερον τοῦ ῥεύματος πᾶν ἀοίκητον διεξιὼν ἑκατέρωθεν καὶ ἔρημον διὰ τὴν αὐτὴν ἀνυδρίαν.
For the Nile produces certain common characteristics both for this country and for the adjoining one above it, that of the Ethiopians, by watering them during its rises and leaving only that part of them inhabitable which is covered in the floods, while it passes through the entire region on both sides that lies above and higher than the current as uninhabitable and desert because of the same lack of water.
ἀλλὰ τὴν μὲν Αἰθιοπίαν οὔτε πᾶσαν διέξεισιν ὁ Νεῖλος οὔτε μόνος οὔτʼ ἐπʼ εὐθείας οὔτʼ οἰκουμένην καλῶς· τὴν δὲ Αἴγυπτον καὶ μόνος καὶ πᾶσαν καὶ ἐπʼ εὐθείας ἀπὸ τοῦ μικροῦ καταράκτου ὑπὲρ Συήνης καὶ Ἐλεφαντίνης ἀρξάμενος, οἵπερ εἰσὶν ὅροι τῆς Αἰγύπτου καὶ τῆς Αἰθιοπίας, ἕως τῶν ἐπὶ θάλατταν ἐκβολῶν.
But while the Nile does not flow through the whole of Ethiopia, nor alone, nor in a straight line, nor through a well-inhabited country, it flows through Egypt both alone and through the whole of it and in a straight line, starting from the small cataract above Syene and Elephantine, which are the boundaries of Egypt and Ethiopia, as far as its outlets at the sea.
καὶ μὴν οἵ γε Αἰθίοπες τὸ πλέον νομαδικῶς ζῶσι καὶ ἀπόρως διά τε τὴν λυπρότητα τῆς χώρας καὶ τὴν τῶν ἀέρων ἀσυμμετρίαν καὶ τὸν ἀφʼ ἡμῶν ἐκτοπισμόν, τοῖς δʼ Αἰγυπτίοις ἅπαντα τἀναντία συμβέβηκε·
Moreover, the Ethiopians live for the most part in a nomadic and needy fashion because of the poverty of their country, the extreme nature of their climates, and their remoteness from us; whereas to the Egyptians all the contrary things have happened.
καὶ γὰρ πολιτικῶς καὶ ἡμέρως ἐξ ἀρχῆς ζῶσι καὶ ἐν γνωρίμοις ἵδρυνται τόποις, ὥστε καὶ αἱ διατάξεις αὐτῶν μνημονεύονται·
For from the beginning they have lived a civic and civilized life and have been settled in well-known places, so that even their institutions are recorded in memory.
καὶ ἐπαινοῦνταί γε δοκοῦντες ἀξίως χρήσασθαι τῇ τῆς χώρας εὐδαιμονίᾳ, μερίσαντές τε εὖ καὶ ἐπιμεληθέντες.
And they are praised because they are thought to have made worthy use of the prosperity of their country, by having partitioned it well and cared for it.
βασιλέα γὰρ ἀποδείξαντες τριχῆ τὸ πλῆθος διεῖλον καὶ τοὺς μὲν στρατιώτας ἐκάλεσαν τοὺς δὲ γεωργοὺς τοὺς δὲ ἱερέας·
For having appointed a king, they divided the multitude into three parts, and called some soldiers, others husbandmen, and others priests.
καὶ τοὺς μὲν τῶν ἱερῶν ἐπιμελητὰς τοὺς δʼ ἄλλους τῶν περὶ τὸν ἄνθρωπον· καὶ τοὺς μὲν ἐν τῷ πολέμῳ τοὺς δʼ ὅσα ἐν εἰρήνῃ, γῆν τε καὶ τέχνας ἐργαζομένων· ἀφʼ ὧνπερ καὶ αἱ πρόσοδοι συνήγοντο τῷ βασιλεῖ.
And they made some the guardians of sacred things, and the others the guardians of things concerning man; and some they employed in war, and the others in all things of peace, by working the land and the crafts; from which resources the revenues were also collected for the king.
οἱ δʼ ἱερεῖς καὶ φιλοσοφίαν ἤσκουν καὶ ἀστρονομίαν, ὁμιληταί τε τῶν βασιλέων ἦσαν.
The priests also practiced philosophy and astronomy, and were associates of the kings.
ἡ δὲ χώρα τὴν μὲν πρώτην διαίρεσιν εἰς νομοὺς ἔσχε, δέκα μὲν ἡ Θηβαΐς, δέκα δʼ ἡ ἐν τῷ Δέλτα, ἑκκαίδεκα δʼ ἡ μεταξύ·
The country had its first division into nomes: ten for the Thebaïs, ten for the Delta, and sixteen for the region between them.
ὡς δέ τινες, τοσοῦτοι ἦσαν οἱ σύμπαντες νομοὶ ὅσαι αἱ ἐν τῷ λαβυρίνθῳ αὐλαί· αὗται δʼ ἐλάττους τῶν τριάκοντα·
But according to some, the total number of the nomes was as many as the courts in the Labyrinth, and these are fewer than thirty.
πάλιν δʼ οἱ νομοὶ τομὰς ἄλλας ἔσχον·
Again, the nomes received other divisions.
εἰς γὰρ τοπαρχίας οἱ πλεῖστοι διῄρηντο, καὶ αὗται δʼ εἰς ἄλλας τομάς· ἐλάχισται δʼ αἱ ἄρουραι μερίδες.
For most of them were divided into toparchies, and these again into other divisions, the smallest portions being the arurae.
ἐδέησε δὲ τῆς ἐπʼ ἀκριβὲς καὶ κατὰ λεπτὸν διαιρέσεως διὰ τὰς συνεχεῖς τῶν ὅρων συγχύσεις ἃς ὁ Νεῖλος ἀπεργάζεται κατὰ τὰς αὐξήσεις, ἀφαιρῶν καὶ προστιθεὶς καὶ ἐναλλάττων τὰ σχήματα καὶ τἆλλα σημεῖα ἀποκρύπτων οἷς διακρίνεται τό τε ἀλλότριον καὶ τὸ ἴδιον· ἀνάγκη δὴ ἀναμετρεῖσθαι πάλιν καὶ πάλιν.
And there was need of this accurate and minute division because of the continuous confusion of the boundaries which the Nile effects at the times of its rises, taking away and adding, and changing shapes, and hiding the other landmarks by which one's own property is distinguished from that of another; hence there is a necessity to remeasure again and again.
ἐντεῦθεν δὲ καὶ τὴν γεωμετρίαν συστῆναί φασιν, ὡς τὴν λογιστικὴν καὶ ἀριθμητικὴν παρὰ Φοινίκων διὰ τὰς ἐμπορίας.
And from this, they say, geometry also arose, just as bookkeeping and arithmetic did among the Phoenicians because of their trade.
τριχῆ δὲ διῄρητο ὥσπερ τὸ σύμπαν καὶ τὸ ἐν ἑκάστῳ τῷ νομῷ πλῆθος, εἰς τρία ἴσα μερισθείσης τῆς χώρας.
And just like the whole country, the multitude in each nome was also divided into three parts, the land having been divided into three equal portions.
ἡ δὲ περὶ τὸν ποταμὸν πραγματεία διαφέρει τοσοῦτον ὅσον τῇ ἐπιμελείᾳ νικᾶν τὴν φύσιν.
And the industry concerning the river is so superior that industry overcomes nature.
φύσει γὰρ πλείονα φέρει καρπὸν καὶ ποτισθεῖσα μᾶλλον φύσει δὲ καὶ ἡ μείζων ἀνάβασις τοῦ ποταμοῦ πλείω ποτίζει γῆν, ἀλλʼ ἡ ἐπιμέλεια πολλάκις καὶ τῆς φύσεως ἐξίσχυσεν ἐπιλιπούσης, ὥστε καὶ κατὰ τὰς ἐλάττους ἀναβάσεις τοσαύτην ποτισθῆναι γῆν ὅσην ἐν ταῖς μείζοσι, διά τε τῶν διωρύγων καὶ τῶν παραχωμάτων·
For by nature the land bears more fruit when it is watered more; and by nature also the greater rise of the river waters more land; but industry has often prevailed even when nature failed, so that even during the smaller rises as much land was watered as in the greater ones, by means of canals and embankments.
ἐπὶ γοῦν τῶν πρὸ Πετρωνίου χρόνων ἡ μεγίστη μὲν ἦν φορὰ καὶ ἀνάβασις, ἡνίκα ἐπὶ τεσσαρεσκαίδεκα πήχεις ἀνέβαινεν ὁ Νεῖλος, ἡνίκα δʼ ἐπʼ ὀκτώ, συνέβαινε λιμός· ἐπʼ ἐκείνου δὲ ἄρξαντος τῆς χώρας καὶ δώδεκα μόνον πληρώσαντος πήχεις τοῦ Νείλου μέτρου, μεγίστη ἦν ἡ φορά, καὶ ὀκτώ ποτε μόνον πληρώσαντος λιμοῦ οὐδεὶς ᾔσθετο.
At any rate, in the times before Petronius, the greatest harvest and rise was when the Nile rose to fourteen cubits, and when it rose to eight, famine occurred; but when he was governor of the country, and the Nile reached a measure of only twelve cubits, the harvest was greatest, and once when it reached only eight, no one felt a famine.
τοιαύτη μὲν ἡ διάταξις· τὰ δʼ ἑξῆς λέγωμεν νυνί.
Such, then, is this arrangement; let us now speak of what follows.