Page:The Natural History of Pliny.djvu/87

Chap. 21.] ACCOUNT OF THE WORLD. 53 half a tone, and thence a tone and a half to the zodiac. Hence there are seven tones, which he terms the diapason harmony meaning the whole compass of the notes. In this, Saturn is said to move in the Doric time, Jupiter in the Phrygian, and so forth of the rest; but this is a refinement rather amusing than useful.

CHAP. 21. (23.) — OF THE DIMENSIONS OF THE WORLD.

The stadium is equal to 125 of our Roman paces, or 625 feet. Posidonius supposes that there is a space of not less than 40 stadia around the earth, whence mists, winds and clouds proceed; beyond this he supposes that the air is pure and liquid, consisting of uninterrupted light; from the clouded region to the moon there is a space of 2,000,000 of stadia,

1 ", omnibus tonis contextam harmoniam." Hardouin in Lemarre, ii. 287.

3 Hence the passus will be equal to 5 Roman feet. If we estimate the Roman foot at 11.6496 English inches, we shall have the miliare of 8 stadia equal to 1618 English yards, or 142 yards less than an English statute mole. See Adam's Roman Antiquities, p. 503; also the articles Miliare and Pes in Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities; and for the varieties of the stadium, as employed at different periods and in different countries, see the article Stadium. The stadium which Herodotus employed in measurements of Babylon has been supposed to consist of 490 English feet, while that of Xenophon and Strabo has been estimated at 505; see Ed. Rev. xlviii. 190. The Abbé Barthelemi supposes the stadium to be equal to 604 English feet; Anach. Travels, vii. 284.