Page:The Natural History of Pliny.djvu/131

 -t Cliap. 66.1 WATEE. 97 a lower level, and this is admitted to be essential to it, no one ever doubted that the water would accumulate on any shore, as much as its slope would allow it. It is also certain, that the lower an}i;hing is, so much the nearer is it to the centre, and that all the lines which are dra-vTi from this point to the water which is tlie nearest to it, are shorter than those which reach from the beginnmg of the sea to its extreme parts ^ Hence it follows, that all the water, from every part, tends towards the centre, and, because it has this tendency, does not fall. CHAP. 66. HOW THE WATEE IS CONJfECTED WITH THE EAETH. OF THE NAYIGATION OF THE SEA AND THE EIVEES. "We must believe, that the great artist, Nature, has so arranged it, that as the arid and dry earth cannot subsist by itself and without moisture, nor, on the other hand, can the water subsist unless it be supported by the earth, they are connected by a mutual union. The earth opens her harbours, while the water pervades the whole earth, within, without, and above ; its veins running in all directions, like connect- ing links, and bursting out on even the highest ridges ; where, forced up by the air, and pressed out by the weight of the earth, it shoots forth as from a pipe, and is so far from being in danger of falling, that it bounds up to the highest and most lofty places. Hence the reason is obvious, why the seas are not increased by the daily accession of so many rivers^. (66.) The earth has, therefore, the whole of its globe girt, on every side, by the sea flowing round it. And this is not &, ^ " Quam quse ad extremum marc a priinis aqviis." T profess myself altogether unable to follow the author's mode of reasoning in this para- graph, or to tlirow any light upon it. He would appear to be arguing in favour of the actual flatness of the surface of the ocean, whereas his previous remarks prove its convexity. 2 Alexandre remarks on this passage, " Nempe quod remolissimos etiam fontes alat oceanus. Sed omittit Plinius va]jorafionis ijitoi'mcdia ope hoc fieri." Lemaire, i. 376. Aristotle ha.s wTitten at considerable length on the origin of springs, in his Meteor, i. 13. p. 513 et seq. He argues against the opinion of those who suppose that the water of springs is entirely derived from evaporation. Seneca's account of the origin of springs is found in his Nat. Qusest. iii. 1. VOL. I. H