Page:The Natural History of Pliny.djvu/440

 406 PlilNT's NATUKAL HISTORY. [Book V. their mouths atid eyes being seated in their breasts. The Satyri beyond their figure, have nothing in common with the manners of the human race, and the form of the -^gi- pani^ is such as is commonly represented in paintings. The Himantopodes^ are a race of people with feet resembling thongs, upon which they move along by nature with a ser- pentine, crawling kind of gait. The Pharusii, descended from the ancient Persians, are said to have been the compa- nions of Hercules when on his expedition to the Hesperides. Beyond the above, I have met with nothing relative to Africa^ worthy of mention. CHAP. 9. (9.) — EGYPT AKD THEBAIS. Joining on to Africa is Asia, the extent of which, accord- ing to Timosthenes, from the Canopic mouth of the Nile to the mouth of the Euxine, is 2689 miles. From the mouth of the Euxine to that of Lake Mseotis is, according to Eratosthenes, 1545 mdes. The whole distance to the Ta- nais, including Egypt, is, according to Artemidorus and Isidorus, 6375^ miles. The seas of Egypt, which are several rodotus. The mistake was probably made by Mela in copying from Herodotus, and continued by Pliny when borrowing from him. ^ So called from thefr supposed resemblance in form to the Satyrs of the ancient mythology, who were represented as Httle hairy men with horns, long ears, and tails. They were probably monkeys, which had been mistaken for men. 2 Half goat, half man. See the Note relative to JEgipan, in C. 1 of the present Book, p. 378. and Tropes " the feet." It is most probable that the name of a savage people in the interior bore a fancied resemblance to this word, upon which the marvellous story here stated was coined for the purpose of tallying with the name. From a statement in the ^thiopica of HeUo- dorus, B. X., Marcus suggests that the story as to theBlemmyse having no heads arose from the cfrcumstance, that on the invasion of the Per- sians they were in the habit of falling on one knee and bovmig the head to the breast, by which means, without injury to themselves, they afforded a passage to the horses of the enemy. ^ It must be remembered, as afready mentioned, that the ancients looked upon Egypt as forming part of Asia, not of Africa. It seems impossible to say how this supposition arose, when the Red Sea and the Isthmus of Suez form so natural and so jaalpable a frontier between Asia and Africa. " It is not improbable that these numbers are incorrectly stated in the MSS. of oiu* author.
 * Evidently intended to be derived from the Greek tjuds "a thong,"