Page:The Voyage of Nearchus and the Periplus of the Erythrean Sea.djvu/18

Rh giving the text correctly, and leaving the difficulties as they ſtood.

Blancard's edition (Amsterdam, 1680, as appears by the Dedication) is profeſſedly from Stuckius; his ſcholia, though learned, add little to our geographical knowledge: and in his edition of the Hiſtory and Indica of Arrian, which bears date 1668, he, among other editors of the fame works, falls, ſometimes not unjuſtly, under the ſevere laſh of Gronovius.

His edition of the Periplûs I was obliged to adopt, because I could obtain no other to uſe as copy: neither did I know of its existence, till it was procured for me within theſe few months. It is contained in a volume which compriſes the Tactics, the treatiſe on Hunting, the Periplûs of the Euxine Sea, and the Commentary on Epictetus, all by Arrian; and this Periplûs of the Erythrêan Sea, uſually bearing the name of Arrian, was aſſigned, with the others, to Arrian of Nicomêdia, whoſe work it certainly is not. I find theſe ſeveral tracts bear different dates, as 1680, 1681, 1683, and I conclude therefore, that the rareneſs of this volume proceeds either from the interval between their respective publication; or that, when the tracts were collected into a body, the impreſſion was confined to a ſmall number of copies. This indeed is a mere conjecture; but I had never met with this volume, while the other is common in every catalogue.

The ſtadium employed in the Voyage of Nearchus is ſuppoſed to be a ſtadium of 51 French toiſes, about 15 of which are equal to a mile Roman, 16 to a mile Engliſh, and 1111 to a degree.

The ſtadium employed in the Periplûs of the Erythrêan Sea is ſuppoſed to be a ſtadium of which 10 are equal to a mile Roman.