§2.1.10εἰ γὰρ ὁ διὰ Ῥόδου καὶ Βυζαντίου μεσημβρινὸς ὀρθῶς εἴληπται, καὶ ὁ διὰ τῆς Κιλικίας καὶ Ἀμισοῦ ὀρθῶς ἂν εἴη εἰλημμένος· φαίνεται γὰρ τὸ παράλληλον ἐκ πολλῶν, ὅταν μηδετέρως ἡ σύμπτωσις ἀπελέγχηται.
For if the meridian through Rhodes and Byzantium has been correctly taken, the one through Cilicia and Amisus would also be correctly taken; for their parallel relation is clear from many things, as long as their coincidence is in no way refuted.
§2.1.11̔́ο τε ἐξ Ἀμισοῦ πλοῦς ἐπὶ τὴν Κολχίδα ὅτι ἐστὶν ἐπὶ ἰσημερινὴν ἀνατολήν, καὶ τοῖς ἀνέμοις ἐλέγχεται καὶ ὥραις καὶ καρποῖς καὶ ταῖς ἀνατολαῖς αὐταῖς· ὡς δʼ αὕτως καὶ ἡ ἐπὶ τὴν Κασπίαν ὑπέρβασις καὶ ἡ ἐφεξῆς ὁδὸς μέχρι Βάκτρων.
And that the voyage from Amisus to Colchis is towards the equinoctial sunrise is proved both by the winds and the seasons, the fruits, and the sunrises themselves; and in the same way also the crossing to the Caspian and the subsequent route as far as Bactria.
πολλαχοῦ γὰρ ἡ ἐνάργεια καὶ τὸ ἐκ πάντων συμφωνούμενον ὀργάνου πιστότερόν ἐστιν, ἐπεὶ καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ Ἵππαρχος τὴν ἀπὸ στηλῶν μέχρι τῆς Κιλικίας γραμμήν, ὅτι ἐστὶν ἐπʼ εὐθείας καὶ ὅτι ἐπὶ ἰσημερινὴν ἀνατολήν, οὐ πᾶσαν ὀργανικῶς καὶ γεωμετρικῶς ἔλαβεν, ἀλλʼ ὅλην τὴν ἀπὸ στηλῶν μέχρι πορθμοῦ τοῖς πλέουσιν ἐπίστευσεν.
For in many places evidence and universal agreement are more reliable than an instrument, since Hipparchus himself did not take the whole line from the Pillars to Cilicia—namely, that it is in a straight line and towards the equinoctial sunrise—by instruments and geometrically, but trusted the mariners for the whole distance from the Pillars to the Strait.
ὥστʼ οὐδʼ ἐκεῖνο εὖ λέγει τό
ἐπειδὴ οὐκ ἔχομεν λέγειν οὔθʼ ἡμέρας μεγίστης πρὸς τὴν βραχυτάτην λόγον οὔτε γνώμονος πρὸς σκιὰν ἐπὶ τῇ παρωρείᾳ τῇ ἀπὸ Κιλικίας μέχρι Ἰνδῶν, οὐδʼ εἰ ἐπὶ παραλλήλου γραμμῆς ἐστιν ἡ λόξωσις ἔχομεν εἰπεῖν, ἀλλʼ ἐᾶν ἀδιόρθωτον, λοξὴν φυλάξαντες, ὡς οἱ ἀρχαῖοι πίνακες παρέχουσι. πρῶτον μὲν γὰρ τὸ μὴ ἔχειν εἰπεῖν ταὐτόν ἐστι τῷ ἐπέχειν, ὁ δʼ ἐπέχων οὐδετέρωσε ῥέπει, ἐᾶν δὲ κελεύων, ὡς οἱ ἀρχαῖοι, ἐκεῖσε ῥέπει.
So that he does not say well either that: "since we are unable to state either the ratio of the longest day to the shortest or that of the gnomon to its shadow along the mountain range from Cilicia to India, nor can we say if the curvature is along a parallel line, we must leave it uncorrected, keeping it slanted, as the ancient maps present it." For in the first place, not being able to say is the same as suspending judgment, and he who suspends judgment inclines to neither side; but he, by bidding us leave it as the ancients did, inclines in that direction.
μᾶλλον δʼ ἂν τἀκόλουθον ἐφύλαττεν, εἰ συνεβούλευε μηδὲ γεωγραφεῖν ὅλως· οὐδὲ γὰρ τῶν ἄλλων ὀρῶν τὰς θέσεις, οἷον Ἄλπεων καὶ τῶν Πυρηναίων καὶ τῶν Θρᾳκίων καὶ Ἰλλυρικῶν καὶ Γερμανικῶν, οὕτως ἔχομεν εἰπεῖν.
He would rather have preserved consistency if he had advised not to do geography at all; for we are not able to state the positions of the other mountains either, such as the Alps, the Pyrenees, the Thracian, Illyrian, and German mountains.
τίς δʼ ἂν ἡγήσαιτο πιστοτέρους τῶν ὑστέρων τοὺς παλαιοὺς τοσαῦτα πλημμελήσαντας περὶ τὴν πινακογραφίαν, ὅσα εὖ διαβέβληκεν Ἐρατοσθένης, ὧν οὐδενὶ ἀντείρηκεν Ἵππαρχος;
And who would consider the ancients, who committed so many errors in map-making—all of which Eratosthenes has well exposed, and not one of which Hipparchus has refuted—more trustworthy than their successors?
§2.1.12καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς δὲ πλήρη μεγάλων ἀποριῶν ἐστιν.
And the following parts are full of great difficulties.
ὅρα γάρ, εἰ τοῦτο μὲν μὴ κινοίη τις τὸ τὰ ἄκρα τῆς Ἰνδικῆς τὰ μεσημβρινὰ ἀνταίρειν τοῖς κατὰ Μερόην, μηδὲ τὸ διάστημα τὸ ἀπὸ Μερόης ἐπὶ τὸ στόμα τὸ κατὰ τὸ Βυζάντιον, ὅτι ἐστὶ περὶ μυρίους σταδίους καὶ ὀκτακισχιλίους, ποιοίη δὲ τρισμυρίων τὸ ἀπὸ τῶν μεσημβρινῶν Ἰνδῶν μέχρι τῶν ὀρῶν, ὅσα ἂν συμβαίη ἄτοπα.
For see, if one does not move this point, namely that the southern extremities of India lie opposite the regions around Meroe, nor the distance from Meroe to the mouth near Byzantium, that it is about eighteen thousand stadia, but makes the distance from southern India to the mountains thirty thousand, how many absurdities would result.
τὸ πρῶτον μὲν γὰρ εἴπερ ὁ αὐτός ἐστι παράλληλος ὁ διὰ Βυζαντίου τῷ διὰ Μασσαλίας, καθάπερ εἴρηκεν Ἵππαρχος πιστεύσας Πυθέᾳ, ὁ δʼ αὐτὸς καὶ μεσημβρινός ἐστιν ὁ διὰ Βυζαντίου τῷ διὰ Βορυσθένους, ὅπερ καὶ αὐτὸ δοκιμάζει ὁ Ἵππαρχος, δοκιμάζει δὲ καὶ τὸ ἀπὸ Βυζαντίου διάστημα ἐπὶ τὸν Βορυσθένη σταδίους εἶναι τρισχιλίους ἑπτακοσίους, τοσοῦτοι ἂν εἶεν καὶ οἱ ἀπὸ Μασσαλίας ἐπὶ τὸν διὰ Βορυσθένους παράλληλον, ὅς γε διὰ τῆς Κελτικῆς παρωκεανίτιδος ἂν εἴη· τοσούτους γάρ πως διελθόντες συνάπτουσι τῷ ὠκεανῷ.
For in the first place, if the parallel through Byzantium is the same as that through Massalia, as Hipparchus has said, believing Pytheas, and the meridian through Byzantium is the same as that through the Borysthenes, which Hipparchus himself also approves, and he also approves that the distance from Byzantium to the Borysthenes is three thousand seven hundred stadia, there would be as many stadia from Massalia to the parallel through the Borysthenes, which indeed would pass through the oceanic region of Celtic territory; for having traversed about this distance they touch the ocean.
§2.1.13πάλιν δʼ ἐπεὶ τὴν Κινναμωμοφόρον ἐσχάτην ἴσμεν οἰκουμένην πρὸς μεσημβρίαν, καὶ καθʼ Ἵππαρχον αὐτὸν ὁ διʼ αὐτῆς παράλληλος ἀρχὴ τῆς εὐκράτου καὶ τῆς οἰκουμένης ἐστί, καὶ διέχει τοῦ ἰσημερινοῦ περὶ ὀκτακισχιλίους καὶ ὀκτακοσίους σταδίους· ἐπεὶ οὖν φησὶν ἀπὸ τοῦ ἰσημερινοῦ τὸν διὰ Βορυσθένους διέχειν τρισμυρίους καὶ τετρακισχιλίους σταδίους, εἶεν ἂν λοιποὶ οἱ ἀπὸ τοῦ ὁρίζοντος τὴν διακεκαυμένην καὶ τὴν εὔκρατον εἰς τὸν διὰ Βορυσθένους καὶ τῆς Κελτικῆς παρωκεανίτιδος στάδιοι δισμύριοι πεντακισχίλιοι διακόσιοι.
And again, since we know that the Cinnamon-producing country is the southernmost inhabited region, and according to Hipparchus himself, the parallel through it is the beginning of the temperate zone and the inhabited world, and is distant from the equator by about eight thousand eight hundred stadia; if then he says that the parallel through the Borysthenes is distant from the equator by thirty-four thousand stadia, the remaining distance from the boundary separating the torrid and temperate zones to the parallel through the Borysthenes and the oceanic region of Celtic territory would be twenty-five thousand two hundred stadia.
ὁ δέ γε ἀπὸ τῆς Κελτικῆς πρὸς ἄρκτον πλοῦς ἔσχατος λέγεται παρὰ τοῖς νῦν ὁ ἐπὶ τὴν Ἰέρνην, ἐπέκεινα μὲν οὖσαν τῆς Βρεττανικῆς, ἀθλίως δὲ διὰ ψῦχος οἰκουμένην, ὥστε τὰ ἐπέκεινα νομίζειν ἀοίκητα.
But the furthest voyage northward from Celtic territory is said by men of today to be that to Ierne, which lies beyond Britain, and is wretchedly inhabited on account of the cold, so that the regions beyond are considered uninhabitable.
οὐ πλέον δὲ τῆς Κελτικῆς τὴν Ἰέρνην διέχειν φασὶ τῶν πεντακισχιλίων, ὥστε περὶ τρισμυρίους εἶεν ἂν ἢ μικρῷ πλείους οἱ πάντες οἱ τὸ πλάτος τῆς οἰκουμένης ἀφορίζοντες.
And they say that Ierne is distant from Celtic territory by not more than five thousand stadia, so that the total distance of those who define the width of the inhabited world would be about thirty thousand stadia, or a little more.