§2.1.16τίνʼ οὖν τοιαύτην εὕροις εὐδαιμονίαν περὶ Βορυσθένη καὶ τὴν Κελτικὴν τὴν παρωκεανῖτιν;
What such prosperity, then, would you find around the Borysthenes and the maritime part of Celtica?
ὅπου μηδὲ φύεται ἄμπελος ἢ μὴ τελεσφορεῖ· ἐν δὲ τοῖς νοτιωτέροις τούτων καὶ ἐπιθαλαττιδίοις καὶ τοῖς κατὰ Βόσπορον τελεσφορεῖ, ἐν μικροκαρπίᾳ δέ, καὶ τοῦ χειμῶνος κατορύττεται.
Where the vine does not even grow, or does not bear fruit; but in the parts further south than these, both along the sea and around the Bosporus, it does bear fruit, though it is small-fruited and is buried during the winter.
οἱ δὲ πάγοι παρʼ αὐτοῖς τοιοῦτοί τινές εἰσιν ἐπὶ τῷ στόματι τῆς λίμνης τῆς Μαιώτιδος, ὥστʼ ἐν χωρίῳ, ἐν ᾧ χειμῶνος ὁ τοῦ Μιθριδάτου στρατηγὸς ἐνίκησε τοὺς βαρβάρους ἱππομαχῶν ἐπὶ τῷ πάγῳ, τοὺς αὐτοὺς καταναυμαχῆσαι θέρους, λυθέντος τοῦ πάγου.
And the frosts among them are of such a kind at the mouth of Lake Maeotis, that in the place where in winter the general of Mithridates defeated the barbarians in a cavalry battle on the ice, he defeated the same barbarians in a naval battle in summer, when the ice had melted.
ὁ δʼ Ἐρατοσθένης καὶ τοὐπίγραμμα προφέρεται τὸ ἐν τῷ Ἀσκληπιείῳ τῷ Παντικαπαιέων ἐπὶ τῇ ῥαγείσῃ χαλκῇ ὑδρίᾳ διὰ τὸν πάγον
εἴ τις ἄρʼ ἀνθρώπων μὴ πείθεται οἷα παρʼ ἡμῖν γίγνεται, εἰς τήνδε γνώτω ἰδὼν ὑδρίαν· ἣν οὐχ ὡς ἀνάθημα θεοῦ καλόν, ἀλλʼ ἐπίδειγμα χειμῶνος μεγάλου θῆχʼ ἱερεὺς Στρατίος. ὅπου οὖν οὐδὲ τοῖς ἐν Βοσπόρῳ συγκριτέον τὰ ἐν τοῖς διαριθμηθεῖσι τόποις, ἀλλʼ οὐδὲ τοῖς ἐν Ἀμισῷ καὶ Σινώπῃ (καὶ γὰρ ἐκείνων εὐκρατοτέρους ἂν εἴποι τις), σχολῇ γʼ ἂν παραβάλλοιντο τοῖς κατὰ Βορυσθένη καὶ τοῖς ἐσχάτοις Κελτοῖς.
Eratosthenes also adduces the inscription in the Asclepieium of the Panticapaeans on the bronze hydria that was broken because of the ice: "If any of men does not believe what things happen among us, let him look at this hydria and know; which the priest Stratios set up, not as a beautiful offering to the god, but as a proof of a great winter." Since, then, the conditions in the aforementioned places cannot even be compared with those in the Bosporus, nor indeed with those in Amisus and Sinope (for one might say that those places are milder than even the latter), they could hardly be compared with the regions around the Borysthenes and the remotest Celts.
μόλις γὰρ ἂν ταυτοκλινεῖς εἶεν τοῖς κατʼ Ἀμισὸν καὶ Σινώπην καὶ Βυζάντιον καὶ Μασσαλίαν, οἳ τοῦ Βορυσθένους καὶ τῶν Κελτῶν ὡμολόγηνται νοτιώτεροι σταδίοις τρισχιλίοις καὶ ἑπτακοσίοις.
For they would scarcely be under the same parallel as Amisus, Sinope, Byzantium, and Massalia, which are admitted to be three thousand seven hundred stadia further south than the Borysthenes and the Celts.
§2.1.17οἱ δέ γε περὶ Δηίμαχον τοῖς τρισμυρίοις ἐὰν προσλάβωσι τὸ ἐπὶ τὴν Ταπροβάνην καὶ τοὺς ὅρους τῆς διακεκαυμένης, οὓς οὐκ ἐλάττους τῶν τετρακισχιλίων θετέον, ἐκτοπιοῦσι τά τε Βάκτρα καὶ τὴν Ἀρίαν εἰς τοὺς ἀπέχοντας τόπους τῆς διακεκαυμένης σταδίους τρισμυρίους καὶ τετρακισχιλίους, ὅσους ἀπὸ τοῦ ἰσημερινοῦ ἐπὶ Βορυσθένη φησὶν εἶναι ὁ Ἵππαρχος.
And if Deïmachus and his followers, in addition to the thirty thousand stadia, assume the distance to Taprobane and the boundaries of the scorched zone—which must be set at not less than four thousand stadia—they will displace Bactra and Aria to places thirty-four thousand stadia distant from the scorched zone, which Hipparchus says is the distance from the equator to the Borysthenes.
ἐκπεσοῦνται ἄρα εἰς τοὺς βορειοτέρους τοῦ Βορυσθένους καὶ τῆς Κελτικῆς σταδίοις ὀκτακισχιλίοις καὶ ὀκτακοσίοις, ὅσοις νοτιώτερός ἐστιν ὁ ἰσημερινὸς τοῦ ὁρίζοντος κύκλου τὴν διακεκαυμένην καὶ τὴν εὔκρατον, ὅν φαμεν διὰ τῆς Κινναμωμοφόρου μάλιστα γράφεσθαι.
They will therefore fall into regions further north than the Borysthenes and Celtica by eight thousand eight hundred stadia, by which distance the equator is further south than the circle bounding the scorched zone and the temperate zone, which we say is drawn approximately through the Cinnamon-producing land.
ἡμεῖς δέ γε ἐπεδείκνυμεν μέχρι τῆς Ἰέρνης μόλις οἰκήσιμα ὄντα τὰ ὑπὲρ τὴν Κελτικήν, ἅπερ οὐ πλείω τῶν πεντακισχιλίων ἐστίν.
But we were showing that the parts above Celtica are habitable with difficulty as far as Ierne, which is not more than five thousand stadia.
οὗτος δʼ ἀποφαίνει ὁ λόγος τῆς Ἰέρνης ἔτι βορειότερον εἶναί τινα κύκλον οἰκήσιμον σταδίοις τρισχιλίοις ὀκτακοσίοις.
But this argument shows that there is some habitable circle still further north of Ierne by three thousand eight hundred stadia.
ἔσται δὲ Βάκτρα καὶ τοῦ στόματος τῆς Κασπίας θαλάττης εἴτε Ὑρκανίας πάμπολύ τι ἀρκτικώτερα, ὅπερ τοῦ μυχοῦ τῆς Κασπίας καὶ τῶν Ἀρμενιακῶν καὶ Μηδικῶν ὀρῶν διέχει περὶ ἑξακισχιλίους σταδίους, καὶ δοκεῖ αὐτῆς τῆς παραλίας μέχρι τῆς Ἰνδικῆς ἀρκτικώτερον εἶναι σημεῖον καὶ περίπλουν ἔχειν ἀπὸ τῆς Ἰνδικῆς δυνατόν, ὥς φησιν ὁ τῶν τόπων ἡγησάμενος τούτων Πατροκλῆς.
And Bactra will be very much further north than the mouth of the Caspian Sea or Hyrcanian Sea, which is about six thousand stadia distant from the recess of the Caspian and the Armenian and Median mountains, and is thought to be the most northerly point of the coast itself as far as India, and to have a possible circumnavigation from India, as Patrocles, who led the expedition in these regions, says.
ἔτι τοίνυν ἡ Βακτριανὴ χίλια στάδια ἐπὶ τὴν ἄρκτον ἐκτείνεται· τὰ δὲ τῶν Σκυθῶν πολὺ μείζω ταύτης ἐπέκεινα χώραν νέμεται, καὶ τελευτᾷ πρὸς τὴν βόρειον θάλατταν, νομαδικῶς μὲν ζῶντα δʼ ὅμως.
Furthermore, Bactriana extends a thousand stadia towards the north; and the territory of the Scythians, which is much larger, occupies the land beyond this, and ends at the northern sea, though they live in a nomadic fashion.
πῶς οὖν, εἴπερ καὶ αὐτὰ τὰ Βάκτρα ἤδη τῆς οἰκουμένης ἐκπίπτει;
How then, if even Bactra itself already falls outside the inhabited world?
εἴη ἂν τὸ διάστημα τοῦτο ἀπὸ τοῦ Καυκάσου μέχρι τῆς βορείας θαλάττης τῇ διὰ Βάκτρων ὀλίγῳ πλειόνων ἢ τετρακισχιλίων.
This distance from the Caucasus to the northern sea through Bactra would be a little more than four thousand stadia.
ταῦτα δὴ προστεθέντα τῷ ἀπὸ τῆς Ἰέρνης ἐπὶ τὰ βόρεια σταδιασμῷ ποιεῖ τὸ πᾶν διὰ τῆς ἀοικήτου διάστημα ἐπὶ τοῦ διὰ τῆς Ἰέρνης σταδιασμοῦ σταδίων ἑπτακισχιλίων καὶ ὀκτακοσίων· εἰ δὲ ἐάσειέ τις τοὺς τετρακισχιλίους σταδίους, αὐτά γε τὰ πρὸς τῷ Καυκάσῳ μέρη τῆς Βακτριανῆς ἔσται βορειότερα τῆς Ἰέρνης σταδίοις τρισχιλίοις καὶ ὀκτακοσίοις, τῆς δὲ Κελτικῆς καὶ τοῦ Βορυσθένους ὀκτακισχιλίοις καὶ ὀκτακοσίοις.
These, then, if added to the measurement of stadia from Ierne towards the north, make the entire distance through the uninhabitable region, on the measurement of stadia through Ierne, seven thousand eight hundred stadia; but if one should omit the four thousand stadia, the parts of Bactriana near the Caucasus themselves will be further north than Ierne by three thousand eight hundred stadia, and further north than Celtica and the Borysthenes by eight thousand eight hundred stadia.