Page:The Natural History of Pliny.djvu/135

 Chap. 68.] EXTENT OF THE OCEAI?'. 10 1 It appears, tlierefore, that the heavens take from us three parts of the earth ; how much the ocean steals is uncertain. And with respect to the part which is left us, I do not know whether that is not even in greater danger. This same ocean, insinuating itself, as I have described it, into a num- ber of bays, approaches with its roaring^ so near to the in- land seas, that the Ai'abian Gulf is no more than 115 miles from the Egyptian Sea"-, and the Caspian only 375 miles from the Euxine. It also insinuates itself into the numerous seas by which it separates Africa, Europe, and Asia ; hence how much space must it occupy ? We must also take into ac- count the extent of all the rivers and the marshes, and we must add the lakes and the pools. There are also the moun- tains, raised up to the heavens, wdth their precipitous fronts ; we must also subtract the forests and the craggy valleys, the wildernesses, and the places, which, from various causes, are desert. The vast quantity which remains of the earth^, or rather, as many persons have considered it, this speck of a world"* (for the earth is no more in regard to the universe), tbis is the object, the seat of our glory — here we bear our honours, here we exercise our power, here we covet wealth, here we mortals create our disturbances, here we continually carry on our wars, aye, civil wars, even, and unpeople the earth by mutual slaughter. And not to dwell on public feuds, entered into by nations against each other, here it is that we drive away our neighbours, and enclose the land thus seized upon within our own fence ^ ; and yet the man who has most extended his boundary, and has expelled tlie inhabitants for ever so great a distance, after all, what mighty portion of the earth is he master of? And even when his avarice has been the most completely satisfied, what part of it can he take with him into the grave ? ^ "".... iiitema maria allatrat,. . ." 2 This is considerably more than the distance in the present day. The Istlimus of Suez appears, according to the statement of the most accurate geographers, to be about 70 miles in breadth. 3 Ha; tot portiones terrse, as Alexandre correctly remarks, " ironice dictum. Quam paucffi enira supersunt !" Lemaire, i. 383. ■* " Mimdi punctus." This expression, we may presume, was taken from Seneca ; " Hoc est illud punctum, quod inter tot gentes ferro et igni dividitur." Nat. Qua;st. i. prajf. p. 681. Nostro solo adfodimus ; " addinm?, adjungimus, anncctimus, ut una fossione aretxxr." Hardouin, in Lemaire, i. 383.