Page:The geography of Strabo (1854) Volume 1.djvu/170

 156 STRABO. BOOK IT. 8. First, then, the Ethiopians next Egypt are actually se- parated into two divisions ; one part being in Asia, the other in Libya, otherwise there is no distinction between them. But it was not on this account that Homer divided the Ethiopians, nor yet because he was acquainted with the physical supe- riority of the Indians, (for it is not probable that Homer had the slightest idea of the Indians, since, according to the asser- tion of Eudoxus, Euergetes was both ignorant of India, and of the voyage thither,) but his division rather resulted from the cause we formerly mentioned. We have shown that as for the alteration of Crates, it makes no difference whether it be read so or not. Posidonius, however, says that it does make a difference, and would be better altered into " towards the descending [sun]." But in what can this be said to differ from " towards the west," since the whole section of the he- misphere west of the meridian is styled " the west," not only the mere semicircle of the horizon. This is manifested by the following expression of Aratus, " Where the extremities of the west and east blend together." l However, if the reading of Posidonius be preferable to that of Crates, any one may likewise claim for it a superiority over that of Aristarchus. So much for Posidonius. There are, how- ever, many particulars relating to Geography, which we shall bring under discussion ; others relating to Physics, which must be examined elsewhere, or altogether disregarded ; for he is much too fond of imitating Aristotle's propensity for diving into causes, a subject which we [Stoics] scrupulously avoid, simply because of the extreme darkness in which all causes are enveloped. CHAPTER IV. 1. POLYBIUS, in his Chorography of Europe, tells us that it is not his intention to examine the writings of the ancient geo- graphers, but the statements of those who have criticised them, 1 Aratus, who lived about B. c. 270, was the author of two Greek astronomical poems, called ^aivofisva and Aioa^t/a. It is from the former of these that the above quotation is taken. Aratus, PhaDnom. v. 61.