§2.4.4̔εξῆς δὲ τὰ τοῦ Ἐρατοσθένους ἐπανορθοῖ, τὰ μὲν εὖ τὰ δὲ χεῖρον λέγων ἢ ἐκεῖνος.
Next he corrects Eratosthenes, saying some things well and others worse than he.
ἐξ Ἰθάκης μὲν γὰρ εἰς Κόρκυραν τριακοσίους εἰπόντος, πλείους φησὶν εἶναι τῶν ἐνακοσίων, ἐξ Ἐπιδάμνου δὲ εἰς Θεσσαλονίκειαν ἐνακοσίους ἀποδόντος, πλείους τῶν δισχιλίων φησί· ταῦτα μὲν εὖ.
For when Eratosthenes says that the distance from Ithaca to Corcyra is three hundred stades, Polybius says it is more than nine hundred; and when Eratosthenes gives nine hundred from Epidamnus to Thessalonica, Polybius says it is more than two thousand; these things are well said.
ἀπὸ δὲ Μασσαλίας ἐπὶ στήλας λέγοντος ἑπτακισχιλίους, ἀπὸ δὲ Πυρήνης ἑξακισχιλίους, αὐτὸς λέγει χεῖρον πλείους ἢ ἐνακισχιλίους τοὺς ἀπὸ Μασσαλίας, ἀπὸ δὲ Πυρήνης μικρὸν ἐλάττους ἢ ὀκτακισχιλίους· ἐγγυτέρω γὰρ τῆς ἀληθείας ἐκεῖνος εἴρηκεν.
But when Eratosthenes says seven thousand from Massalia to the Pillars, and six thousand from the Pyrenees, Polybius himself speaks worse, saying more than nine thousand from Massalia, and slightly less than eight thousand from the Pyrenees; for Eratosthenes has spoken closer to the truth.
οἱ γὰρ νῦν ὁμολογοῦσιν, εἴ τις τὰς τῶν ὁδῶν ἀνωμαλίας ὑποτέμνοιτο, μὴ μείζω τῶν ἑξακισχιλίων σταδίων εἶναι τὸ μῆκος τὴν σύμπασαν Ἰβηρίαν ἀπὸ Πυρήνης ἕως τῆς ἑσπερίου πλευρᾶς.
For people today agree that, if one subtracts the windings of the roads, the length of the whole of Iberia from the Pyrenees to the western side is not greater than six thousand stades.
ὁ δʼ αὐτὸν τὸν Τάγον ποταμὸν ὀκτακισχιλίων τίθησι τὸ μῆκος ἀπὸ τῆς πηγῆς μέχρι τῶν ἐκβολῶν, οὐ δή που τὸ σὺν τοῖς σκολιώμασιν (οὐ γὰρ γεωγραφικὸν τοῦτο), ἀλλʼ ἐπʼ εὐθείας λέγων, καίτοι γε ἀπὸ Πυρήνης αἱ τοῦ Τάγου πηγαὶ πλέον διέχουσιν ἢ χιλίους σταδίους.
Yet Polybius puts the length of the river Tagus itself at eight thousand stades from its source to its mouth, surely not including the windings (for that is not geographical), but speaking in a straight line, and yet the sources of the Tagus are more than a thousand stades distant from the Pyrenees.
πάλιν δὲ τοῦτο μὲν ὀρθῶς ἀποφαίνεται, ὅτι ἀγνοεῖ τὰ Ἰβηρικὰ ὁ Ἐρατοσθένης, καὶ διότι περὶ αὐτῆς ἔσθʼ ὅπου τὰ μαχόμενα ἀποφαίνεται· ὅς γε μέχρι Γαδείρων ὑπὸ Γαλατῶν περιοικεῖσθαι φήσας ἔξωθεν αὐτῆς, εἴ γε τὰ πρὸς δύσιν τῆς Εὐρώπης μέχρι Γαδείρων ἔχουσιν ἐκεῖνοι, τούτων ἐκλαθόμενος κατὰ τὴν τῆς Ἰβηρίας περίοδον τῶν Γαλατῶν οὐδαμοῦ μέμνηται.
On the other hand, he correctly declares this, that Eratosthenes is ignorant of Iberian matters, and that he sometimes declares contradictory things about Iberia; for example, after saying that as far as Gadeira it is inhabited on the outside by Galatians—if indeed those people hold the parts of Europe toward the west as far as Gadeira—he forgets this and makes no mention of the Galatians in his circumnavigation of Iberia.
§2.4.5τό μῆκος τῆς Εὐρώπης ὅτι ἔλαττόν ἐστι τοῦ συνάμφω τῆς τε Λιβύης καὶ τῆς Ἀσίας ἐκθείς, οὐκ ὀρθῶς τὴν σύγκρισιν ποιεῖται·
In setting forth that the length of Europe is less than that of Libya and Asia combined, he does not make the comparison correctly.
τὸ μὲν γὰρ στόμα τὸ κατὰ στήλας φησὶν ὅτι κατὰ τὴν ἰσημερινὴν δύσιν ἐστίν, ὁ δὲ Τάναϊς ῥεῖ ἀπὸ θερινῆς ἀνατολῆς· ἐλαττοῦται δὴ τοῦ συνάμφω μήκους τῷ μεταξὺ τῆς θερινῆς ἀνατολῆς καὶ τῆς ἰσημερινῆς·
For he says that the mouth at the Pillars is toward the equinoctial setting, while the Tanais flows from the summer rising; therefore, it falls short of the combined length by the distance between the summer rising and the equinoctial rising.
τοῦτο γὰρ ἡ Ἀσία προλαμβάνει πρὸς τὴν ἰσημερινὴν ἀνατολὴν τοῦ πρὸς τὰς ἄρκτους ἡμικυκλίου.
For Asia preempts this part of the northern semicircle toward the equinoctial rising.
χωρὶς γὰρ τοῦ περισκελοῦς ἐν πράγμασιν εὐαποδότοις καὶ ψεῦδός ἐστι τὸ ἀπὸ θερινῆς ἀνατολῆς τὸν Τάναϊν ῥεῖν· ἅπαντες γὰρ οἱ ἔμπειροι τῶν τόπων ἀπὸ τῶν ἄρκτων ῥεῖν φασιν εἰς τὴν Μαιῶτιν, ὥστε τὰ στόματα τοῦ ποταμοῦ καὶ τὸ τῆς Μαιώτιδος καὶ αὐτὸν τὸν ποταμόν, ἐφʼ ὅσον γνώριμός ἐστιν, ἐπὶ τοῦ αὐτοῦ μεσημβρινοῦ κεῖσθαι.
For, apart from his stubbornness in matters easily demonstrated, it is also false that the Tanais flows from the summer rising; for all who are acquainted with these places say that it flows from the north into Lake Maeotis, so that the mouths of the river, the lake of Maeotis, and the river itself, as far as it is known, lie on the same meridian.
§2.4.6οὐκ ἄξιοι δὲ λόγου τινὲς οἱ μὲν εἶπον ἀπὸ τῶν κατὰ τὸν Ἴστρον τόπων αὐτὸν τὰς ἀρχὰς ἔχειν καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς ἑσπέρας, οὐκ ἐνθυμηθέντες ὡς μεταξὺ ὁ Τύρας καὶ Βορυσθένης καὶ Ὕπανις μεγάλοι ποταμοὶ ῥέουσιν εἰς τὸν Πόντον, ὁ μὲν τῷ Ἴστρῳ παράλληλος οἱ δὲ τῷ Τανάιδι·
But some who are not worthy of mention have said that it has its sources in the regions near the Ister, and from the west, not reflecting that in between, the Tyras, the Borysthenes, and the Hypanis, great rivers, flow into the Pontus, the first parallel to the Ister, and the others to the Tanais.
οὔτε δὲ τοῦ Τύρα τῶν πηγῶν κατωπτευμένων οὔτε τοῦ Βορυσθένους οὔτε τοῦ Ὑπάνιος, πολὺ ἂν εἴη ἀγνωστότερα τὰ ἐκείνων ἀρκτικώτερα· ὥσθʼ ὁ διʼ ἐκείνων ἄγων ἐπὶ τὴν Μαιῶτιν τὸν Τάναϊν, εἶτʼ ἐπιστρέφων ἐπʼ αὐτήν (αἱ γὰρ ἐκβολαὶ φανερῶς ἐν τοῖς προσαρκτίοις μέρεσι τῆς λίμνης δείκνυνται καὶ τούτοις τοῖς ἑωθινωτάτοις), πλαστὸς ἄν τις εἴη καὶ ἀπέραντος λόγος.
And since neither the sources of the Tyras, nor those of the Borysthenes, nor those of the Hypanis have been explored, the regions further north than those would be much more unknown; so that the theory which brings the Tanais through those regions to Lake Maeotis, and then turns it back toward it (for its outlets are clearly shown to be in the northern parts of the lake, and indeed the easternmost of these), would be a fabricated and endless story.
ὡς δʼ αὕτως ἀπέραντος καὶ ὁ διὰ τοῦ Καυκάσου πρὸς ἄρκτον φήσας ῥεῖν, εἶτʼ ἐπιστρέφειν εἰς τὴν Μαιῶτιν· εἴρηται γὰρ καὶ τοῦτο.
Equally endless is the statement of the one who said that it flows through the Caucasus toward the north and then turns back into Lake Maeotis; for this too has been said.
ἀπὸ μέντοι τῆς ἀνατολῆς οὐδεὶς εἴρηκε τὴν ῥύσιν· καὶ γὰρ εἰ ἔρρει οὕτως, οὐκ ἂν ὑπεναντίως τῷ Νείλῳ καὶ τρόπον τινὰ κατὰ διάμετρον ῥεῖν αὐτὸν ἀπεφαίνοντο οἱ χαριέστεροι, ὡς ἂν ἐπὶ ταὐτοῦ μεσημβρινοῦ ἢ παρακειμένου τινὸς τῆς ῥύσεως οὔσης ἑκατέρῳ ποταμῷ.
Yet no one has said that its flow is from the east; for even if it did flow so, the more refined writers would not have declared that it flows in a direction opposite to the Nile and, in a way, diametrically, as though the flow of each river were on the same or some adjacent meridian.