§34.7.1ἑξῆς δὲ τὰ τοῦ Ἐρατοσθένους ἐπανορθοῖ, τὰ μὲν εὖ, τὰ δὲ χεῖρον λέγων ἢ ἐκεῖνος.
Next he corrects the statements of Eratosthenes, speaking well in some points, but in others worse than he.
§34.7.2ἐξ Ἰθάκης μὲν γὰρ εἰς Κόρκυραν τριακοσίους εἰπόντος, πλείους φησὶν εἶναι τῶν ἐνακοσίων, ἐξ Ἐπιδάμνου δὲ εἰς Θεσσαλονίκειαν ἐνακοσίους ἀποδόντος, πλείους τῶν δισχιλίων φησί.
For when Eratosthenes said that it is three hundred stades from Ithaca to Corcyra, Polybius says that it is more than nine hundred; and when Eratosthenes estimated it at nine hundred from Epidamnus to Thessalonica, Polybius says it is more than two thousand.
ταῦτα μὲν εὖ, §34.7.3ἀπὸ 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.
These corrections are well made; but when Eratosthenes says that the distance from Massalia to the Pillars is seven thousand stades, and from Pyrene six thousand, Polybius himself speaks worse, saying that from Massalia is more than nine thousand, and from Pyrene slightly less than eight thousand; for Eratosthenes has spoken closer to the truth.
§34.7.4οἱ 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 irregularities of the roads, the length of the whole of Iberia from Pyrene to the western side is not greater than six thousand stades.
§34.7.5ὁ δʼ αὐτὸν τὸν Τάγον ποταμὸν ὀκτακισχιλίων τίθησι τὸ μῆκος ἀπὸ τῆς πηγῆς μέχρι τῶν ἐκβολῶν, οὐ δήπου 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 he estimates the length of the river Tagus itself from its source to its mouth at eight thousand stades, speaking not, of course, of the length with its windings—for that is not geographical—but in a straight line; and yet the sources of the Tagus are distant from Pyrene by more than a thousand stades.
§34.7.6πάλιν δὲ τοῦτο μὲν ὀρθῶς ἀποφαίνεται ὅτι ἀγνοεῖ τὰ Ἰβηρικὰ ὁ Ἐρατοσθένης καὶ διότι περὶ αὐτῆς ἔσθʼ ὅπου τὰ μαχόμενα ἀποφαίνεται, §34.7.7ὅς γε μέχρι Γαδείρων ὑπὸ Γαλατῶν περιοικεῖσθαι φήσας τὰ 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 points out this correctly, that Eratosthenes is ignorant of Iberian matters, and that on this subject he sometimes makes contradictory statements; since, after having said that the outer parts of Iberia as far as Gadeira are inhabited around by Galatae—if indeed those people possess the parts toward the west of Europe as far as Gadeira—he forgets these statements and nowhere mentions the Galatae in his circuit of Iberia.
§34.7.8τὸ δὲ μῆκος τῆς Εὐρώπης ὅτι ἔλαττόν ἐστι τοῦ συνάμφω τῆς τε Λιβύης καὶ τῆς Ἀσίας ἐκθείς, οὐκ ὀρθῶς τὴν σύγκρισιν ποιεῖται.
And in setting forth that the length of Europe is less than the combined length of both Libya and Asia, he does not make the comparison correctly.
§34.7.9τὸ μὲν γὰρ στόμα τὸ κατὰ στήλας φησὶν ὅτι κατὰ τὴν ἰσημερινὴν δύσιν ἐστίν, ὁ δὲ Τάναϊς ῥεῖ ἀπὸ θερινῆς ἀνατολῆς· §34.7.10ἐλαττοῦται δὴ τοῦ συνάμφω μήκους τῷ μεταξὺ τῆς θερινῆς ἀνατολῆς καὶ τῆς ἰσημερινῆς· τοῦτο γὰρ ἡ Ἀσία προλαμβάνει πρὸς τὴν ἰσημερινὴν ἀνατολὴν τοῦ πρὸς τὰς ἄρκτους ἡμικυκλίου. —
προπεπτωκυίας δὲ τῆς Εὐρώπης ἄκραις πλείοσι, §34.7.11βέλτιον μὲν οὗτος εἴρηκε περὶ αὐτῶν Ἐρατοσθένους, οὔπω δὲ ἱκανῶς.
For he says that the mouth at the Pillars is at the equinoctial setting, and that the Tanais flows from the summer rising; so it is less than the combined length by the interval between the summer rising and the equinoctial rising; for Asia pre-occupies this part of the northern semicircle towards the equinoctial rising. — Now, although Europe projects with several capes, Polybius has spoken better about them than Eratosthenes, but still not adequately.
§34.7.12ἐκεῖνος 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 the latter said there were three: the first extending down towards the Pillars, on which is Iberia; the second towards 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.
§34.7.13οὗτος 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, §34.7.14τετάρτην 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 as the third, the one at Maleae and Sunium, on which are the whole of Greece, Illyris, and parts of Thrace; as the fourth, the one at the Thracian Chersonese, on which are the straits at Sestos and Abydos—and the Thracians possess this; and as the fifth, the one at the Cimmerian Bosporus and the mouth of Lake Maeotis.