§2.4.3Ἀλλʼ ὦ φίλε Πολύβιε, φαίη τις ἄν, ὥσπερ τούτου τοῦ ψεύσματος ἐναργῆ παρίστησι τὸν ἔλεγχον ἡ πεῖρα ἐξ αὐτῶν ὧν εἴρηκας αὐτός, εἰς μὲν Λευκάδα ἐκ Πελοποννήσου ἑπτακοσίους, ἐντεῦθεν δὲ τοὺς ἴσους εἰς Κόρκυραν, καὶ πάλιν ἐντεῦθεν εἰς τὰ Κεραύνια τοὺς ἴσους, καὶ ἐν δεξιᾷ εἰς τὴν Ἰαπυγίαν, ἀπὸ δὲ τῶν Κεραυνίων τὴν Ἰλλυρικὴν παραλίαν σταδίων ἑξακισχιλίων ἑκατὸν πεντήκοντα· οὕτως κἀκεῖνα ψεύσματά ἐστιν ἀμφότερα, καὶ ὃ Δικαίαρχος εἶπε, τὸ ἀπὸ πορθμοῦ ἐπὶ στήλας εἶναι σταδίων ἑπτακισχιλίων, καὶ ὃ σὺ δοκεῖς ἀποδεῖξαι·
"But, my dear Polybius," someone might say, "just as experience presents a clear refutation of this falsehood from the very things you yourself have said—namely, seven hundred stades from the Peloponnese to Leucas, and an equal number from there to Corcyra, and again from there an equal number to the Ceraunian Mountains, and on the right to Iapygia, and from the Ceraunian Mountains along the Illyrian coast six thousand one hundred and fifty stades—so also those other two statements are both falsehoods, both what Dicaearchus said, that the distance from the Strait to the Pillars is seven thousand stades, and what you think you have proved.
ὁμολογοῦσι γὰρ οἱ πλεῖστοι λέγοντες τὸ διὰ πελάγους μυρίων εἶναι καὶ δισχιλίων, συμφωνεῖ δὲ τοῦτο καὶ τῇ ἀποφάσει τῇ περὶ τοῦ μήκους τῆς οἰκουμένης. μάλιστα γὰρ εἶναί φασι μυριάδων ἑπτά·
For most people agree in saying that the distance through the open sea is twelve thousand stades, and this agrees also with the statement concerning the length of the inhabited world.
τούτου δὲ τὸ ἑσπέριον τμῆμα τὸ ἀπὸ τοῦ Ἰσσικοῦ κόλπου μέχρι τῶν ἄκρων τῆς Ἰβηρίας, ἅπερ δυσμικώτατά ἐστι, μικρὸν ἀπολείπειν τῶν τρισμυρίων.
For they say that it is at most seventy thousand stades; and of this, the western part from the Gulf of Issus as far as the extremities of Iberia, which are the westernmost points, falls a little short of thirty thousand.
συντιθέασι δʼ οὕτως· ἀπὸ μὲν τοῦ Ἰσσικοῦ κόλπου μέχρι τῆς Ῥοδίας πεντακισχιλίους, ἐνθένδʼ ἐπὶ Σαλμώνιον τῆς Κρήτης, ὅπερ ἐστὶ τὸ ἑῷον ἄκρον, χιλίους, αὐτῆς δὲ τῆς Κρήτης μῆκος πλείους ἢ δισχιλίους ἐπὶ Κριοῦ μέτωπον, ἐντεῦθεν δʼ ἐπὶ Πάχυνον τῆς Σικελίας τετρακισχιλίους καὶ πεντακοσίους, καὶ ἀπὸ Παχύνου δὲ ἐπὶ πορθμὸν πλείους ἢ χιλίους, εἶτα τὸ δίαρμα τὸ ἐπὶ στήλας ἀπὸ πορθμοῦ μυρίους δισχιλίους, ἀπὸ στηλῶν δὲ ἐπὶ τὰ τελευταῖα τοῦ Ἱεροῦ ἀκρωτηρίου τῆς Ἰβηρίας περὶ τρισχιλίους.
And they put it together as follows: from the Gulf of Issus to the territory of Rhodes, five thousand stades; from there to Salmonium in Crete, which is the eastern promontory, one thousand; the length of Crete itself as far as Criu Metopon, more than two thousand; from there to Pachynus in Sicily, four thousand five hundred; and from Pachynus to the Strait, more than one thousand; then the passage from the Strait to the Pillars, twelve thousand; and from the Pillars to the furthest points of the Sacred Promontory of Iberia, about three thousand.
καὶ ἡ κάθετος δὲ οὐ καλῶς εἴληπται, εἴπερ ἡ μὲν Νάρβων ἐπὶ τοῦ αὐτοῦ παραλλήλου σχεδόν τι ἵδρυται τῷ διὰ Μασσαλίας, αὕτη τε τῷ διὰ Βυζαντίου, καθάπερ καὶ Ἵππαρχος πείθεται, ἡ δὲ διὰ τοῦ πελάγους ἐπὶ τοῦ αὐτοῦ ἐστι τῷ διὰ πορθμοῦ καὶ τῆς Ῥοδίας, ἀπὸ δὲ τῆς Ῥοδίας εἰς Βυζάντιον ὡς ἂν ἐπὶ τοῦ αὐτοῦ μεσημβρινοῦ κειμένων ἀμφοῖν περὶ πεντακισχιλίους, ὡς εἰρήκασι, σταδίους· τοσοῦτοι γὰρ ἂν εἶεν καὶ οἱ τῆς εἰρημένης καθέτου.
And the perpendicular also has not been correctly assumed, if indeed Narbo is situated on nearly the same parallel of latitude as that through Massalia, and this latter is on the same as that through Byzantium, as Hipparchus also believes, while the line through the open sea is on the same parallel as that through the Strait and Rhodes, and from Rhodes to Byzantium, since both lie on nearly the same meridian, the distance is about five thousand stades, as they have said; for the stades of the aforementioned perpendicular would also be as many.
ἐπεὶ δὲ καὶ τὸ μέγιστον δίαρμα τοῦ πελάγους τούτου τὸ ἀπὸ τῆς Εὐρώπης ἐπὶ τὴν Λιβύην πεντακισχιλίων που σταδίων λέγουσιν ἀπὸ τοῦ μυχοῦ τοῦ Γαλατικοῦ κόλπου, δοκεῖ μοι πεπλανημένως λέγεσθαι τοῦτο, ἢ πολὺ τὴν Λιβύην κατὰ τοῦτο τὸ μέρος προσνεύειν ἐπὶ τὴν ἄρκτον καὶ συνάπτειν τῷ διὰ τῶν στηλῶν παραλλήλῳ.
And since they also say that the greatest passage across this sea from Europe to Libya is about five thousand stades from the recess of the Galatic Gulf, this seems to me to be said erroneously, or else Libya in this part must incline greatly toward the north and touch the parallel through the Pillars.
καὶ τοῦτο οὐκ εὖ λέγεται τὸ πλησίον τῆς Σαρδόνος τὴν λεχθεῖσαν κάθετον τελευτᾶν· οὐ γὰρ παραπλήσιον, ἀλλὰ πολὺ δυσμικώτερον εἶναι τὸ δίαρμα τοῦτο τῆς Σαρδόνος, ὅλον σχεδόν τι ἀπολαμβάνον ἐν τῷ μεταξὺ πρὸς τῷ Σαρδονίῳ τὸ Λιγυστικὸν πέλαγος· καὶ τῆς παραλίας δὲ τὰ μήκη πεπλεόνασται, πλὴν οὐκ ἐπὶ τοσοῦτόν γε.
And this also is not well said, namely that the said perpendicular terminates near Sardinia; for this passage is not near, but much further to the west than Sardinia, intercepting in the space between, in addition to the Sardinian Sea, almost the whole of the Ligurian Sea; and the lengths of the coast also have been exaggerated, though not to such a great extent."