§2.1.20νυνὶ μὲν οὖν ὑποθέμενοι τὰ νοτιώτατα τῆς Ἰνδικῆς ἀνταίρειν τοῖς κατὰ Μερόην, ὅπερ εἰρήκασι πολλοὶ καὶ πεπιστεύκασιν, ἐπεδείξαμεν τὰ συμβαίνοντα ἄτοπα.
Now, by assuming that the southernmost parts of India lie on the same parallel as the regions around Meroë—which many have said and believed—we have demonstrated the absurdities that result.
ἐπεὶ δὲ ὁ Ἵππαρχος οὐδὲν ἀντειπὼν τῇ ὑποθέσει ταύτῃ νυνὶ μετὰ ταῦτα ἐν τῷ δευτέρῳ ὑπομνήματι οὐ συγχωρεῖ, σκεπτέον καὶ τοῦτον τὸν λόγον.
But since Hipparchus, without having made any objection to this assumption, now after this in his second treatise does not concede it, we must also examine this argument.
φησὶ τοίνυν ἀνταιρόντων ἀλλήλοις ἐπὶ τοῦ αὐτοῦ παραλλήλου κειμένων, ἐπειδὰν τὸ μεταξὺ ᾖ μέγα διάστημα, μὴ δύνασθαι γνωσθῆναι αὐτὸ τοῦτο ὅτι εἰσὶν ἐπὶ τοῦ αὐτοῦ παραλλήλου οἱ τόποι, ἄνευ τῆς τῶν κλιμάτων συγκρίσεως τῆς κατὰ θάτερον τὸν τόπον.
He says, then, that when places lie on the same parallel facing one another, whenever the intervening distance is great, it is not possible to know this very fact, that the places are on the same parallel, without a comparison of the climates in one of the two places.
τὸ μὲν οὖν κατὰ Μερόην κλίμα Φίλωνά τε τὸν συγγράψαντα τὸν εἰς Αἰθιοπίαν πλοῦν ἱστορεῖν, ὅτι πρὸ πέντε καὶ τετταράκοντα ἡμερῶν τῆς θερινῆς τροπῆς κατὰ κορυφὴν γίνεται ὁ ἥλιος, λέγειν δὲ καὶ τοὺς λόγους τοῦ γνώμονος πρός τε τὰς τροπικὰς σκιὰς καὶ τὰς ἰσημερινάς, αὐτόν τε Ἐρατοσθένη συμφωνεῖν ἔγγιστα τῷ Φίλωνι, τὸ δʼ ἐν τῇ Ἰνδικῇ κλίμα μηδένα ἱστορεῖν, μηδʼ αὐτὸν Ἐρατοσθένη.
Now, as for the climate around Meroë, Philo, who wrote the voyage to Ethiopia, records that forty-five days before the summer solstice the sun comes to the zenith, and he also tells the ratios of the gnomon to both the solstitial and the equinoctial shadows, and Eratosthenes himself agrees very closely with Philo; but as for the climate in India, no one records it, not even Eratosthenes himself.
εἰ δὲ δὴ καὶ αἱ ἄρκτοι ἐκεῖ ἀμφότεραι, ὡς οἴεται, ἀποκρύπτονται, πιστεύων τοῖς περὶ Νέαρχον, μὴ δυνατὸν εἶναι ἐπὶ ταὐτοῦ παραλλήλου κεῖσθαι τήν τε Μερόην καὶ τὰ ἄκρα τῆς Ἰνδικῆς.
And if indeed both the Bears hide there, as he thinks, trusting Nearchus and his followers, it is not possible for Meroë and the extremities of India to lie on the same parallel.
εἰ μὲν τοίνυν περὶ τῶν ἄρκτων ἀμφοτέρων ὅτι ἀποκρύπτονται συναποφαίνεται τοῖς εἰποῦσιν Ἐρατοσθένης, πῶς περὶ τοῦ ἐν τῇ Ἰνδικῇ κλίματος οὐδεὶς ἀποφαίνεται, οὐδʼ αὐτὸς Ἐρατοσθένης;
If, then, Eratosthenes joins in declaring with those who said so that both the Bears hide, how is it that no one declares anything about the climate in India, not even Eratosthenes himself?
οὗτος γὰρ ὁ λόγος περὶ τοῦ κλίματός ἐστιν.
For this argument is about the climate.
εἰ δʼ οὐ συναποφαίνεται, ἀπηλλάχθω τῆς αἰτίας.
But if he does not join in declaring it, let him be cleared of the blame.
οὐ συναποφαίνεται δέ γε, ἀλλὰ τοῦ Δηιμάχου φήσαντος μηδαμοῦ τῆς Ἰνδικῆς μήτʼ ἀποκρύπτεσθαι τὰς ἄρκτους μήτʼ ἀντιπίπτειν τὰς σκιάς, ἅπερ ὑπείληφεν ὁ Μεγασθένης, ἀπειρίαν αὐτοῦ καταγιγνώσκει, τὸ συμπεπλεγμένον νομίζων ψεῦδος, ἐν ᾧ ὁμολογουμένως καὶ κατʼ αὐτὸν τὸν Ἵππαρχον τό γε μὴ ἀντιπίπτειν τὰς σκιὰς ψεῦδος ἐμπέπλεκται.
And indeed he does not join in declaring it; on the contrary, when Deïmachus says that nowhere in India do the Bears hide nor do the shadows fall in the opposite direction, which Megasthenes had assumed, he condemns his inexperience, considering the combined falsehood, in which, as is agreed and according to Hipparchus himself, the fact that the shadows do not fall in the opposite direction is bound up as a falsehood.
καὶ γὰρ εἰ μὴ τῇ Μερόῃ ἀνταίρει, τῆς γε Συήνης νοτιώτερα εἶναι τὰ ἄκρα τῆς Ἰνδικῆς συγχωρῶν φαίνεται.
For even if it does not lie on the same parallel as Meroë, he appears to concede that the extremities of India are further south than Syene.
§2.1.21καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἑξῆς δὲ περὶ τῶν αὐτῶν ἐπιχειρῶν ἢ ταὐτὰ λέγει τοῖς ἐξελεγχθεῖσιν ὑφʼ ἡμῶν, ἢ λήμμασι προσχρῆται ψευδέσιν, ἢ ἐπιφέρει τὸ μὴ ἀκολουθοῦν.
And in what follows, when attempting to argue about the same things, he either says the same things as those refuted by us, or makes use of false premises, or infers what does not follow.
οὔτε γὰρ τῷ ἀπὸ Βαβυλῶνος εἰς Θάψακον εἶναι σταδίους τετρακισχιλίους ὀκτακοσίους, ἐντεῦθεν δὲ πρὸς τὴν ἄρκτον ἐπὶ τὰ Ἀρμένια ὄρη χιλίους ἑκατόν, ἀκολουθεῖ τὸ ἀπὸ Βαβυλῶνος ἐπὶ τοῦ διʼ αὐτῆς μεσημβρινοῦ ἐπὶ τὰ ἀρκτικὰ ὄρη πλείους εἶναι τῶν ἑξακισχιλίων· οὔτε τὸ ἀπὸ Θαψάκου ἐπὶ τὰ ὄρη χιλίων καὶ ἑκατόν φησιν Ἐρατοσθένης, ἀλλʼ εἶναί τι λοιπὸν ἀκαταμέτρητον, ὥσθʼ ἡ ἑξῆς ἔφοδος ἐκ μὴ διδομένου λήμματος οὐκ ἂν ἐπεραίνετο· οὔτʼ ἀπεφήνατο οὐδαμοῦ Ἐρατοσθένης τὴν Θάψακον τῆς Βαβυλῶνος πρὸς ἄρκτους κεῖσθαι πλείοσιν ἢ τετρακισχιλίοις καὶ πεντακοσίοις σταδίοις.
For it does not follow from the fact that from Babylon to Thapsacus is four thousand eight hundred stadia, and from there toward the north to the Armenian mountains is one thousand one hundred, that the distance from Babylon on the meridian passing through it to the northern mountains is more than six thousand; nor does Eratosthenes say that the distance from Thapsacus to the mountains is one thousand one hundred, but that there is some unmeasured remainder, so that his subsequent approach, based on an ungranted premise, would not lead to a conclusion; nor did Eratosthenes ever declare anywhere that Thapsacus lies to the north of Babylon by more than four thousand five hundred stadia.
§2.1.22̔εξῆς δὲ συνηγορῶν ἔτι τοῖς ἀρχαίοις πίναξιν οὐ τὰ λεγόμενα ὑπὸ τοῦ Ἐρατοσθένους προφέρεται περὶ τῆς τρίτης σφραγῖδος, ἀλλʼ ἑαυτῷ κεχαρισμένως πλάττει τὴν ἀπόφασιν πρὸς ἀνατροπὴν εὐφυῆ.
And next, still advocating for the ancient maps, he does not bring forward what was said by Eratosthenes concerning the third seal, but fabricates the assertion to please himself, for a clever refutation.
ὁ μὲν γὰρ ἀκολουθῶν τῇ θέσει τῇ προειρημένῃ τοῦ τε Ταύρου καὶ τῆς ἀπὸ στηλῶν θαλάττης, διελὼν τῇ γραμμῇ ταύτῃ τὴν οἰκουμένην δίχα καὶ καλέσας τὸ μὲν βόρειον μέρος τὸ δὲ νότιον, πειρᾶται τούτων ἑκάτερον τέμνειν πάλιν εἰς τὰ δυνατὰ μέρη· καλεῖ δὲ ταῦτα σφραγῖδας. καὶ δὴ τοῦ νοτίου μέρους πρώτην εἰπὼν σφραγῖδα τὴν Ἰνδικήν, δευτέραν δὲ τὴν Ἀριανήν, ἐχούσας τι εὐπερίγραφον, ἴσχυσεν ἀμφοτέρων ἀποδοῦναι καὶ μῆκος καὶ πλάτος, τρόπον δέ τινα καὶ σχῆμα, ὡς ἂν γεωμετρικός.
For he (Eratosthenes), following the aforementioned placement of the Taurus and the sea from the Pillars, having divided the inhabited world in two by this line and having called one part northern and the other southern, attempts to cut each of these again into possible parts; and he calls these "seals." And indeed, having called India the first seal of the southern part, and Ariana the second, since they have a somewhat easily defined outline, he was able, like a geometer, to render for both their length and breadth, and in a way also their shape.
τὴν μὲν γὰρ Ἰνδικὴν ῥομβοειδῆ φησι διὰ τὸ τῶν πλευρῶν τὰς μὲν θαλάττῃ κλύζεσθαι τῇ τε νοτίῳ καὶ τῇ ἑῴᾳ, μὴ πάνυ κολπώδεις ᾐόνας ποιούσαις, τὰς δὲ λοιπὰς τὴν μὲν τῷ ὄρει τὴν δὲ τῷ ποταμῷ, κἀνταῦθα τοῦ εὐθυγράμμου σχήματος ὑπό τι σωζομένου· τὴν δʼ Ἀριανὴν ὁρῶν τάς γε τρεῖς πλευρὰς ἔχουσαν εὐφυεῖς πρὸς τὸ ἀποτελέσαι παραλληλόγραμμον σχῆμα, τὴν δʼ ἑσπέριον οὐκ ἔχων σημείοις ἀφορίσαι διὰ τὸ ἐπαλλάττειν ἀλλήλοις τὰ ἔθνη, γραμμῇ τινι ὅμως δηλοῖ τῇ ἀπὸ Κασπίων πυλῶν ἐπὶ τὰ ἄκρα τῆς Καρμανίας τελευτώσῃ τὰ συνάπτοντα πρὸς τὸν Περσικὸν κόλπον.
For he says that India is rhomboidal because of its sides, some being washed by the sea, both the southern and the eastern, which form coastlines that are not at all deeply indented, and the remaining sides, one being formed by the mountain and the other by the river, and there also the rectilinear shape is to some extent preserved; and as for Ariana, seeing that at least three of its sides are well-suited to complete a parallelogram shape, but not being able to define the western side by landmarks because the nations overlap with one another, he nevertheless indicates it by a certain line ending from the Caspian Gates at the extremities of Carmania, which adjoins the Persian Gulf.
ἑσπέριον μὲν οὖν καλεῖ τοῦτο τὸ πλευρόν, ἑῷον δὲ τὸ παρὰ τὸν Ἰνδόν, παράλληλα δʼ οὐ λέγει· οὐδὲ τὰ λοιπά, τό τε τῷ ὄρει γραφόμενον καὶ τὸ τῇ θαλάττῃ, ἀλλὰ μόνον τὸ μὲν βόρειον τὸ δὲ νότιον.
He calls this side western, and the one along the Indus eastern, but he does not say they are parallel; nor does he say so of the remaining sides, both the one drawn along the mountain and the one along the sea, but only that one is northern and the other southern.