§2.4.1πολύβιος δὲ τὴν Εὐρώπην χωρογραφῶν τοὺς μὲν ἀρχαίους ἐᾶν φησι, τοὺς δʼ ἐκείνους ἐλέγχοντας ἐξετάζειν Δικαίαρχόν τε καὶ Ἐρατοσθένη τὸν τελευταῖον πραγματευσάμενον περὶ γεωγραφίας, καὶ Πυθέαν, ὑφʼ οὗ παρακρουσθῆναι πολλούς, ὅλην μὲν τὴν Βρεττανικὴν ἐμβαδὸν ἐπελθεῖν φάσκοντος, τὴν δὲ περίμετρον πλειόνων ἢ τεττάρων μυριάδων ἀποδόντος τῆς νήσου, προσιστορήσαντος δὲ καὶ τὰ περὶ τῆς Θούλης καὶ τῶν τόπων ἐκείνων, ἐν οἷς οὔτε γῆ καθʼ αὑτὴν ὑπῆρχεν ἔτι οὔτε θάλαττα οὔτʼ ἀήρ, ἀλλὰ σύγκριμά τι ἐκ τούτων πλεύμονι θαλαττίῳ ἐοικός, ἐν ᾧ φησι τὴν γῆν καὶ τὴν θάλατταν αἰωρεῖσθαι καὶ τὰ σύμπαντα, καὶ τοῦτον ὡς ἂν δεσμὸν εἶναι τῶν ὅλων, μήτε πορευτὸν μήτε πλωτὸν ὑπάρχοντα· τὸ μὲν οὖν τῷ πλεύμονι ἐοικὸς αὐτὸς ἑωρακέναι, τἆλλα δὲ λέγειν ἐξ ἀκοῆς.
Polybius, in writing the chorography of Europe, says that he leaves aside the ancients, but examines those who refute them, namely Dicaearchus and Eratosthenes, the latter being the one who most recently treated of geography, and also Pytheas, by whom many have been deceived, who claims to have traversed the whole of Britain on foot, and who estimated the circumference of the island at more than forty thousand stades, and who additionally related the stories about Thule and those regions, where neither land by itself existed any longer, nor sea, nor air, but a certain mixture of these, like a marine lung, in which he says that the land and the sea and all things are suspended, and that this is, as it were, a bond of the universe, being neither passable on foot nor navigable; and he says that he himself had seen the thing like the marine lung, but related the other things by hearsay.
ταῦτα μὲν τὰ τοῦ Πυθέου, καὶ διότι ἐπανελθὼν ἐνθένδε πᾶσαν ἐπέλθοι τὴν παρωκεανῖτιν τῆς Εὐρώπης ἀπὸ Γαδείρων ἕως Τανάιδος.
These are the assertions of Pytheas, and also that, having returned from there, he traversed the whole coast of Europe along the ocean from Gadeira as far as the Tanais.
§2.4.2φησὶ δʼ οὖν ὁ Πολύβιος ἄπιστον καὶ αὐτὸ τοῦτο, πῶς ἰδιώτῃ ἀνθρώπῳ καὶ πένητι τὰ τοσαῦτα διαστήματα πλωτὰ καὶ πορευτὰ γένοιτο; τὸν δʼ Ἐρατοσθένη διαπορήσαντα εἰ χρὴ πιστεύειν τούτοις, ὅμως περί τε τῆς Βρεττανικῆς πεπιστευκέναι καὶ τῶν κατὰ Γάδειρα καὶ τὴν Ἰβηρίαν· πολὺ δέ φησι βέλτιον τῷ Μεσσηνίῳ πιστεύειν ἢ τούτῳ.
Polybius, therefore, says that this very thing is incredible, how for a private person and a poor man such great distances could be navigable and travelable on foot; and that Eratosthenes, although he doubted whether one ought to believe these things, nevertheless believed concerning Britain and the regions around Gadeira and Iberia; and Polybius says it is much better to believe the Messenian than him.
ὁ μέντοι γε εἰς μίαν χώραν τὴν Παγχαΐαν λέγει πλεῦσαι, ὁ δὲ καὶ μέχρι τῶν τοῦ κόσμου περάτων κατωπτευκέναι τὴν προσάρκτιον τῆς Εὐρώπης πᾶσαν, ἣν οὐδʼ ἂν τῷ Ἑρμῇ πιστεύσαι τις λέγοντι.
For the former says he sailed to only one country, Panchaea, whereas the latter claims to have reconnoitered all northern Europe as far as the limits of the world, which no one would believe even if Hermes said it.
Ἐρατοσθένη δὲ τὸν μὲν Εὐήμερον Βεργαῖον καλεῖν, Πυθέᾳ δὲ πιστεύειν, καὶ ταῦτα μηδὲ Δικαιάρχου πιστεύσαντος.
And he says Eratosthenes calls Euhemerus a "Bergaean," yet believes Pytheas, and that too when not even Dicaearchus believed him.
τὸ μὲν οὖν μηδὲ Δικαιάρχου πιστεύσαντος γελοῖον, ὥσπερ ἐκείνῳ κανόνι χρήσασθαι προσῆκον, καθʼ οὗ τοσούτους ἐλέγχους αὐτὸς προφέρεται.
Now, that he says "when not even Dicaearchus believed him" is ridiculous, as if it were fitting to use him as a standard against whom he himself brings forward so many refutations.
Ἐρατοσθένους δὲ εἴρηται ἡ περὶ τὰ ἑσπέρια καὶ τὰ ἀρκτικὰ τῆς Εὐρώπης ἄγνοια.
Eratosthenes' ignorance concerning the western and northern parts of Europe has already been spoken of.
ἀλλʼ ἐκείνῳ μὲν καὶ Δικαιάρχῳ συγγνώμη, τοῖς μὴ κατιδοῦσι τοὺς τόπους ἐκείνους· Πολυβίῳ δὲ καὶ Ποσειδωνίῳ τίς ἂν συγγνοίη;
But for him and Dicaearchus there is excuse, since they had not seen those places; but for Polybius and Posidonius, who could excuse them?
ἀλλὰ μὴν Πολύβιός γέ ἐστιν ὁ λαοδογματικὰς καλῶν ἀποφάσεις, ἃς ποιοῦνται περὶ τῶν ἐν τούτοις τοῖς τόποις διαστημάτων καὶ ἐν ἄλλοις πολλοῖς, ἀλλʼ οὐδʼ ἐν οἷς ἐκείνους ἐλέγχει καθαρεύων.
Indeed, Polybius is the one who calls the assertions "popular dogmas," which they make about the distances in these places and in many others, yet he is not free from error even in those matters for which he refutes them.
τοῦ γοῦν Δικαιάρχου μυρίους μὲν εἰπόντος τοὺς ἐπὶ στήλας ἀπὸ τῆς Πελοποννήσου σταδίους, πλείους δὲ τούτων τοὺς ἐπὶ τὸν Ἀδρίαν μέχρι τοῦ μυχοῦ, τοῦ δʼ ἐπὶ στήλας τὸ μέχρι τοῦ πορθμοῦ τρισχιλίους ἀποδόντος, ὡς γίνεσθαι τὸ λοιπὸν ἑπτακισχιλίους τὸ ἀπὸ πορθμοῦ μέχρι στηλῶν· τοὺς μὲν τρισχιλίους ἐᾶν φησιν εἴτʼ εὖ λαμβάνονται εἴτε μή, τοὺς δʼ ἑπτακισχιλίους οὐδετέρως, οὔτε τὴν παραλίαν ἐκμετροῦντι οὔτε τὴν διὰ μέσου τοῦ πελάγους.
For instance, when Dicaearchus said that it is ten thousand stades to the Pillars from the Peloponnese, and more than this to the Adriatic as far as its recess, and assigned three thousand as the distance to the Strait, so that the remainder from the Strait to the Pillars is seven thousand; Polybius says he lets the three thousand be, whether they are well taken or not, but the seven thousand is acceptable in neither way, neither to one measuring the coast nor the straight line through the open sea.
τὴν μὲν γὰρ παραλίαν ἐοικέναι μάλιστʼ ἀμβλείᾳ γωνίᾳ, βεβηκυίᾳ ἐπί τε τοῦ πορθμοῦ καὶ τῶν στηλῶν, κορυφὴν δʼ ἐχούσῃ Νάρβωνα, ὥστε συνίστασθαι τρίγωνον βάσιν ἔχον τὴν διὰ τοῦ πελάγους εὐθεῖαν, πλευρὰς δὲ τὰς τὴν γωνίαν ποιούσας τὴν λεχθεῖσαν, ὧν ἡ μὲν ἀπὸ τοῦ πορθμοῦ μέχρι Νάρβωνος μυρίων ἐστὶ καὶ πλειόνων ἢ διακοσίων ἐπὶ τοῖς χιλίοις, ἡ δὲ λοιπὴ μικρῷ ἐλαττόνων ἢ ὀκτακισχιλίων· καὶ μὴν πλεῖστον μὲν διάστημα ἀπὸ τῆς Εὐρώπης ἐπὶ τὴν Λιβύην ὁμολογεῖσθαι κατὰ τὸ Τυρρηνικὸν πέλαγος σταδίων οὐ πλειόνων ἢ τρισχιλίων, κατὰ τὸ Σαρδόνιον δὲ λαμβάνειν συναγωγήν.
For he says the coastline resembles most an obtuse angle, resting upon the Strait and the Pillars, and having Narbo as its vertex, so that a triangle is formed having as its base the straight line through the open sea, and as its sides those that form the said angle, of which the one from the Strait to Narbo is eleven thousand two hundred, and the remaining side is a little less than eight thousand; and indeed, the greatest distance from Europe to Libya is agreed to be not more than three thousand stades across the Tyrrhenian Sea, and across the Sardinian Sea it takes a narrowing.
ἀλλʼ ἔστω, φησί, καὶ ἐκεῖνο τρισχιλίων, προειλήφθω δʼ ἐπὶ τούτοις δισχιλίων σταδίων τὸ τοῦ κόλπου βάθος τοῦ κατὰ Νάρβωνα, ὡς ἂν κάθετος ἀπὸ τῆς κορυφῆς ἐπὶ τὴν βάσιν τοῦ ἀμβλυγωνίου· δῆλον οὖν, φησίν, ἐκ τῆς παιδικῆς μετρήσεως, ὅτι ἡ σύμπασα παραλία ἡ ἀπὸ τοῦ πορθμοῦ ἐπὶ στήλας ἔγγιστα ὑπερέχει τῆς διὰ τοῦ πελάγους εὐθείας πεντακοσίοις σταδίοις.
But let that also be three thousand, he says, and let there be assumed in addition to these two thousand stades as the depth of the gulf at Narbo, which is like a perpendicular from the vertex to the base of the obtuse triangle; it is clear then, he says, from elementary geometry, that the whole coast from the Strait to the Pillars exceeds the straight line through the sea by approximately five hundred stades.
προστεθέντων δὲ τῶν ἀπὸ τῆς Πελοποννήσου ἐπὶ τὸν πορθμὸν τρισχιλίων, οἱ σύμπαντες ἔσονται στάδιοι, αὐτοὶ οἱ ἐπʼ εὐθείας, πλείους ἢ διπλάσιοι ὧν Δικαίαρχος εἶπε· πλείους δὲ τούτων τοὺς ἐπὶ τὸν μυχὸν τὸν Ἀδριατικὸν δεήσει, φησί, τιθέναι κατʼ ἐκεῖνον.
And if the three thousand stades from the Peloponnese to the Strait are added, the total number of stades, along the straight line itself, will be more than double what Dicaearchus said; and it will be necessary, he says, to assume more than these to the recess of the Adriatic according to him.