§2.4.7̔́η τε τοῦ μήκους τῆς οἰκουμένης μέτρησις κατὰ παραλλήλου τῷ ἰσημερινῷ ἐστιν, ἐπειδὴ καὶ αὐτὴ ἐπὶ μῆκος οὕτως ἐκτέταται ὥστε καὶ τῶν ἠπείρων ἑκάστης οὕτω δεῖ λαμβάνειν τὸ μῆκος μεταξὺ μεσημβρινῶν δυεῖν κείμενον.
And the measurement of the length of the inhabited world is made along a line parallel to the equator, since the world itself is also extended in length in this way, so that for each of the continents, too, we must take its length as lying between two meridians.
τά τε μέτρα τῶν μηκῶν σταδιασμοί εἰσιν, οὓς θηρεύομεν, ἢ διʼ αὐτῶν ἐκείνων ἰόντες ἢ τῶν παραλλήλων ὁδῶν ἢ πόρων.
Moreover, the measures of lengths are measurements in stades, which we hunt out, either by traveling along those very lines, or along parallel roads or waterways.
ὁ δὲ τοῦτον ἀφεὶς τὸν τρόπον καινὸν εἰσάγει τὸ μεταξὺ τῆς τε θερινῆς ἀνατολῆς καὶ τῆς ἰσημερινῆς τμῆμά τι τοῦ ἀρκτικοῦ ἡμικυκλίου.
But Polybius, abandoning this method, introduces a novelty: a certain segment of the northern semicircle lying between the summer rising and the equinoctial rising.
πρὸς δὲ τὰ ἀμετάπτωτα οὐδεὶς κανόσι καὶ μέτροις χρῆται τοῖς μεταπτώτοις οὐδὲ τοῖς κατʼ ἄλλην καὶ ἄλλην σχέσιν λεγομένοις πρὸς τὰ καθʼ αὑτὰ καὶ * διαφοράν.
But no one uses variable things, or those spoken of in one relation or another, as rules and measures for invariable things and those spoken of in themselves and by way of * distinction.
τὸ μὲν οὖν μῆκος ἀμετάπτωτον καὶ καθʼ αὑτὸ λέγεται, ἀνατολὴ δʼ ἰσημερινὴ καὶ δύσις, ὡς δʼ αὕτως θερινή τε καὶ χειμερινή, οὐ καθʼ αὑτὴν ἀλλὰ πρὸς ἡμᾶς· ἡμῶν δʼ ἄλλοτʼ ἄλλῃ μεταχωρούντων, ἄλλοτʼ ἄλλοι τόποι καὶ δύσεών εἰσι καὶ ἀνατολῶν ἰσημερινῶν τε καὶ τροπικῶν, τὸ δὲ μῆκος μένει ταὐτὸν τῆς ἠπείρου.
Therefore, while length is spoken of as invariable and in itself, the equinoctial rising and setting, and likewise the summer and winter ones, are spoken of not in themselves but in relation to us; for when we move to different places at different times, the places of settings and of risings, both equinoctial and solstitial, are different at different times, while the length of the continent remains the same.
Τάναϊν μὲν οὖν καὶ Νεῖλον οὐκ ἄτοπον πέρας ποιεῖσθαι, θερινὴν δʼ ἀνατολὴν ἢ ἰσημερινὴν καινόν.
Therefore, it is not absurd to make the Tanais and the Nile the boundaries, but to make the summer rising or the equinoctial rising the boundary is a novelty.
§2.4.8προπεπτωκυίας δὲ τῆς Εὐρώπης ἄκραις πλείοσι, βέλτιον μὲν οὗτος εἴρηκεν περὶ αὐτῶν Ἐρατοσθένους, οὔπω δὲ ἱκανῶς·
Though Europe projects in several peninsulas, Polybius has spoken better about them than Eratosthenes, yet not yet sufficiently.
ἐκεῖνος μὲν γὰρ τρεῖς ἔφη, τὴν ἐπὶ τὰς στήλας καθήκουσαν, ἐφʼ ἧς ἡ Ἰβηρία, καὶ τὴν ἐπὶ τὸν πορθμόν, ἐφʼ ἧς ἡ Ἰταλία, καὶ τρίτην τὴν κατὰ Μαλέας, ἐφʼ ἧς τὰ μεταξὺ τοῦ Ἀδρίου καὶ τοῦ Εὐξείνου πάντʼ ἔθνη καὶ τοῦ Τανάιδος.
For Eratosthenes said there were three: the one reaching down to the Pillars, on which is Iberia; the second reaching to the strait, on which is Italy; and the third at Maleae, on which are all the nations between the Adriatic, the Euxine, and the Tanais.
οὗτος δὲ τὰς μὲν δύο τὰς πρώτας ὁμοίως ἐκτίθεται, τρίτην δὲ τὴν κατὰ Μαλέας καὶ Σούνιον, ἐφʼ ἧς ἡ Ἑλλὰς πᾶσα καὶ ἡ Ἰλλυρὶς καὶ τῆς Θρᾴκης τινά, τετάρτην δὲ τὴν κατὰ τὴν Θρᾳκίαν χερρόνησον, ἐφʼ ἧς τὰ κατὰ Σηστὸν καὶ Ἄβυδον στενά (ἔχουσι δʼ αὐτὴν Θρᾷκες), πέμπτην δὲ τὴν κατὰ τὸν Κιμμερικὸν Βόσπορον καὶ τὸ στόμα τῆς Μαιώτιδος.
But Polybius sets forth the first two in the same way, but the third at Maleae and Sunium, on which are the whole of Greece, Illyris, and parts of Thrace; the fourth at the Thracian Chersonese, on which are the straits at Sestos and Abydos (and the Thracians hold it); and the fifth at the Cimmerian Bosporus and the mouth of Lake Maeotis.
τὰς μὲν οὖν δύο τὰς πρώτας δοτέον· ἁπλοῖς γάρ τισι περιλαμβάνονται κόλποις, ἡ μὲν τῷ μεταξὺ τῆς Κάλπης καὶ τοῦ ἱεροῦ ἀκρωτηρίου, ἐν ᾧ τὰ Γάδειρα, καὶ τῷ μεταξὺ στηλῶν καὶ τῆς Σικελίας πελάγει· ἡ δὲ τούτῳ τε καὶ τῷ Ἀδρίᾳ, καίτοι ἥ γε τῶν Ἰαπύγων ἄκρα παρεμπίπτουσα καὶ τὴν Ἰταλίαν δικόρυφον ποιοῦσα ἔχει τινὰ ἀντέμφασιν·
Now the first two must be granted; for they are enclosed by simple gulfs, the one by the sea between Calpe and the Sacred Promontory, in which is Gadeira, and by the sea between the Pillars and Sicily; the other by this sea and the Adriatic, although the promontory of the Iapyges, intruding and making Italy double-peaked, presents some inconsistency.
αἱ λοιπαὶ δʼ ἔτι ἐναργέστερον ποικίλαι καὶ πολυμερεῖς οὖσαι ζητοῦσιν ἄλλην διαίρεσιν.
But the remaining ones, being still more obviously intricate and composed of many parts, require another division.
ὡς δʼ αὕτως ἔχει καὶ ἡ εἰς ἓξ διαίρεσις τὴν ὁμοίαν ἔνστασιν ἀκολούθως ταῖς ἄκραις διειλημμένη.
In the same way, the division into six, which is mapped out in accordance with the peninsulas, is open to the same objection.
ποιησόμεθα δʼ ἡμεῖς ἐν τοῖς καθʼ ἕκαστα τὴν προσήκουσαν ἐπανόρθωσιν καὶ τούτων καὶ τῶν ἄλλων, ὅσα ἔν τε τῇ Εὐρώπῃ διημάρτηται καὶ ἐν τῇ τῆς Λιβύης περιοδείᾳ.
But we shall make the proper correction of these and other matters in our detailed descriptions, both of what has been erroneous in Europe and in the circumnavigation of Libya.
νῦν δʼ ἀρκέσει ταῦτα λεχθέντα πρὸς τοὺς πρὸ ἡμῶν, ὅσους ᾠήθημεν ἱκανοὺς εἶναι παρατεθέντας ἐκμαρτυρεῖν ἡμῖν, ὅτι δικαίως προειλόμεθα καὶ αὐτοὶ τὸ αὐτὸ τοῦτο ἔργον τοσαύτης ἐπανορθώσεως καὶ προσθήκης δεόμενον.
For the present, what has been said against our predecessors will suffice, whom we thought sufficient to cite in order to bear witness for us that we also have justly undertaken this same task, which stands in need of so much correction and addition.