§17.1.5οἱ μὲν οὖν ἀρχαῖοι στοχασμῷ τὸ πλέον, οἱ δʼ ὕστερον αὐτόπται γενηθέντες ᾔσθοντο ὑπὸ ὄμβρων θερινῶν πληρούμενον τὸν Νεῖλον, τῆς Αἰθιοπίας τῆς ἄνω κλυζομένης, καὶ μάλιστα ἐν τοῖς ἐσχάτοις ὄρεσι, παυσαμένων δὲ τῶν ὄμβρων παυομένην κατʼ ὀλίγον τὴν πλημμυρίδα· τοῦτο δʼ ὑπῆρξε μάλιστα δῆλον τοῖς πλέουσι τὸν Ἀράβιον κόλπον μέχρι τῆς κινναμωμοφόρου καὶ τοῖς ἐκπεμπομένοις ἐπὶ τὴν τῶν ἐλεφάντων θήραν, καὶ εἴ τινες ἄλλαι χρεῖαι παρώξυνον ἐκεῖσε ἄνδρας προχειρίζεσθαι τοὺς τῆς Αἰγύπτου βασιλέας τοὺς Πτολεμαϊκούς.
Now, the ancients for the most part by conjecture, but those of later times who became eyewitnesses, perceived that the Nile is filled by summer rains, when Upper Ethiopia is inundated, and especially in its outermost mountains, and that when the rains cease the flood subsides little by little; and this became especially clear to those who sail the Arabian Gulf as far as the cinnamon-bearing country, and to those who are sent out for the hunting of elephants, and if any other needs prompted the Ptolemaic kings of Egypt to dispatch men thither.
οὗτοι γὰρ ἐφρόντισαν τῶν τοιούτων, διαφερόντως δʼ ὁ Φιλάδελφος ἐπικληθείς, φιλιστορῶν καὶ διὰ τὴν ἀσθένειαν τοῦ σώματος διαγωγὰς ἀεί τινας καὶ τέρψεις ζητῶν καινοτέρας.
For these kings cared for such things, and especially the one surnamed Philadelphus, who was fond of inquiry and, because of the weakness of his body, was always seeking some new pastimes and amusements.
οἱ πάλαι δὲ βασιλεῖς οὐ πάνυ ἐφρόντισαν τῶν τοιούτων· καίπερ οἰκεῖοι σοφίας γεγονότες καὶ αὐτοὶ καὶ οἱ ἱερεῖς, μεθʼ ὧν ἦν αὐτοῖς ὁ πλείων βίος· ὥστε καὶ θαυμάζειν ἄξιον καὶ διὰ τοῦτο καὶ διότι Σέσωστρις τὴν Αἰθιοπίαν ἐπῆλθεν ἅπασαν μέχρι τῆς κινναμωμοφόρου, καὶ ὑπομνήματα τῆς στρατείας αὐτοῦ καὶ νῦν ἔτι δείκνυται στῆλαι καὶ ἐπιγραφαί.
But the kings of old did not care much for such things, although both they themselves and the priests, with whom they spent the greater part of their lives, were familiar with wisdom; so that it is a matter of wonder both on this account, and because Sesostris traversed the whole of Ethiopia as far as the cinnamon-bearing country, and memorials of his campaign, pillars and inscriptions, are shown even now.
Καμβύσης τε τὴν Αἴγυπτον κατασχὼν προῆλθε καὶ μέχρι τῆς Μερόης μετὰ τῶν Αἰγυπτίων· καὶ δὴ καὶ τοὔνομα τῇ τε νήσῳ καὶ τῇ πόλει τοῦτο παρʼ ἐκείνου τεθῆναί φασιν, ἐκεῖ τῆς ἀδελφῆς ἀποθανούσης αὐτῷ Μερόης· οἱ δὲ γυναῖκά φασι· τὴν ἐπωνυμίαν οὖν ἐχαρίσατο αὐτῇ τιμῶν τὴν ἄνθρωπον, θαυμαστὸν οὖν πῶς ἐκ τῶν τοιούτων ἀφορμῶν οὐ τελέως ἐναργὴς ἦν ἡ περὶ τῶν ὄμβρων ἱστορία τοῖς τότε, καὶ ταῦτα τῶν ἱερέων φιλοπραγμονέστερον ἀναφερόντων εἰς τὰ ἱερὰ γράμματα καὶ ἀποτιθεμένων, ὅσα μάθησιν περιττὴν ἐπιφαίνει.
And Cambyses, having taken possession of Egypt, advanced even as far as Meroe with the Egyptians; and indeed they say that this name was given to both the island and the city by him, because his sister Meroe died there (some, however, say his wife); he therefore bestowed the name upon her, honoring the woman. It is wonderful, then, how from such opportunities the account of the rains was not completely manifest to the people of that time, and that too when the priests were quite industriously recording in the sacred writings and storing away whatever exhibited extraordinary knowledge.
εἰ γὰρ ἄρα, τοῦτʼ ἐχρῆν ζητεῖν ὅπερ καὶ νῦν ἔτι ζητεῖται, τί δή ποτε θέρους, χειμῶνος δὲ οὔ, καὶ ἐν τοῖς νοτιωτάτοις, ἐν δὲ τῇ Θηβαΐδι καὶ τῇ περὶ Συήνην οὐ συμπίπτουσιν ὄμβροι· τὸ δʼ ὅτι ἐξ ὄμβρων αἱ ἀναβάσεις μὴ ζητεῖν, μηδὲ τοιούτων δεῖσθαι μαρτύρων οἵους Ποσειδώνιος εἴρηκε.
For if indeed they had to investigate, they ought to have investigated this which is still investigated even now, namely, why on earth it rains in summer, but not in winter, and in the southernmost parts, but in the Thebaid and around Syene rains do not occur; but they ought not to have investigated whether the rises are from rains, nor to have needed such witnesses as Posidonius has mentioned.
φησὶ γὰρ Καλλισθένη λέγειν τὴν ἐκ τῶν ὄμβρων αἰτίαν τῶν θερινῶν παρὰ Ἀριστοτέλους λαβόντα, ἐκεῖνον δὲ παρὰ Θρασυάλκου τοῦ Θασίου (τῶν ἀρχαίων δὲ φυσικῶν εἷς οὗτος) ἐκεῖνον δὲ παρʼ ἄλλου, τὸν δὲ παρʼ Ὁμήρου διιπετέα φάσκοντος τὸν Νεῖλον
ἂψ δʼ εἰς Αἰγύπτοιο διιπετέος ποταμοῖο. ἀλλʼ ἐῶ ταῦτα πολλῶν εἰρηκότων ὧν ἀρκέσει δύο μηνῦσαι τοὺς ποιήσαντας καθʼ ἡμᾶς τὸ περὶ τοῦ Νείλου βιβλίον, Εὔδωρόν τε καὶ Ἀρίστωνα τὸν ἐκ τῶν περιπάτων·
For he says that Callisthenes says that he took the cause from the summer rains from Aristotle, and he from Thrasyalces the Thasian (this man being one of the ancient physicists), and he from another, and he from Homer, who called the Nile "fallen from Zeus": "And back to the river Egypt, fallen from Zeus." But I shall pass these things over, since many have spoken of them, of whom it will be sufficient to mention the two who in our time produced the book on the Nile, Eudorus and Ariston the Peripatetic; for except for the order, everything else, both in style and in argument, is laid down the same in both.
πλὴν γὰρ τῆς τάξεως τά γε ἄλλα καὶ τῇ φράσει καὶ τῇ ἐπιχειρήσει ταὐτά ἐστι κείμενα παρʼ ἀμφοτέροις. ἐγὼ γοῦν ἀπορούμενος ἀντιγράφων εἰς τὴν ἀντιβολὴν ἐκ θατέρου θάτερον ἀντέβαλον· πότερος δʼ ἦν ὁ τἀλλότρια ὑποβαλλόμενος, ἐν Ἄμμωνος εὕροι τις ἄν.
I, at least, being in want of copies for comparison, collated one from the other; and which of the two was the one who surreptitiously put forward the other's work, one might find out in the temple of Ammon.
Εὔδωρος δʼ ᾐτιᾶτο τὸν Ἀρίστωνα· ἡ μέντοι φράσις Ἀριστώνειος μᾶλλόν ἐστιν.
Eudorus accused Ariston, but the style is rather Aristonian.
οἱ μὲν οὖν ἀρχαῖοι τὸ οἰκούμενον αὐτὸ καὶ ποτιζόμενον ὑπὸ τοῦ Νείλου μόνον Αἴγυπτον ἐκάλουν ἀπὸ τῶν περὶ Συήνην τόπων ἀρξάμενοι μέχρι τῆς θαλάττης, οἱ δʼ ὕστερον μέχρι νῦν προσέλαβον ἐκ μὲν τῶν πρὸς ἕω μερῶν μεταξὺ τοῦ Ἀραβίου κόλπου καὶ τοῦ Νείλου σχεδόν τι πάντα (οἱ δʼ Αἰθίοπες οὐ πάνυ χρῶνται τῇ Ἐρυθρᾷ θαλάττῃ), ἐκ δὲ τῶν ἑσπερίων τὰ μέχρι τῶν αὐάσεων καὶ ἐν τῇ παραλίᾳ τὰ ἀπὸ τοῦ Κανωβικοῦ στόματος μέχρι Καταβαθμοῦ καὶ τῆς Κυρηναίων ἐπικρατείας.
Now, the ancients called only the land inhabited and watered by the Nile Egypt, starting from the parts around Syene as far as the sea, but those of later times down to the present have added almost all the territory on the east side between the Arabian Gulf and the Nile (though the Ethiopians do not use the Red Sea much), and on the west side the parts as far as the oases, and along the coast the parts from the Canobic mouth as far as Catabathmus and the territory of the Cyrenaeans.
οἵ τε γὰρ ἀπὸ τοῦ Πτολεμαίου βασιλεῖς ἴσχυσαν τοσοῦτον, οἵ γε καὶ τὴν Κυρηναίαν αὐτὴν κατέσχον καὶ διενείμαντο πρὸς τὴν Αἴγυπτον καὶ τὴν Κύπρον, Ῥωμαῖοί τε οἱ διαδεξάμενοι τὴν ἐκείνων ἐπαρχίαν κρίναντες τὴν Αἴγυπτον ἐν τοῖς αὐτοῖς ὅροις διεφύλαξαν.
For the kings from Ptolemy onwards were so powerful that they even held Cyrenaica itself and partitioned it with Egypt and Cyprus, and the Romans, who succeeded to their province, deciding to preserve Egypt within the same boundaries, kept it so.
αὐάσεις δʼ οἱ Αἰγύπτιοι καλοῦσι τὰς οἰκουμένας χώρας περιεχομένας κύκλῳ μεγάλαις ἐρημίαις ὡς ἂν νήσους πελαγίας· πολὺ δὲ τοῦτʼ ἔστι κατὰ τὴν Λιβύην, τρεῖς δʼ εἰσὶν αἱ πρόσχωροι τῇ Αἰγύπτῳ καὶ ὑπʼ αὐτῇ τεταγμέναι.
And the Egyptians call "oases" the inhabited lands surrounded on all sides by vast deserts, like islands in the open sea; and there are many of these in Libya, but three are adjacent to Egypt and are placed under its administration.