32 CLASSICS OF MODERN SCIENCE 



What do men imagine concerning the figure of the earth? The 

 earth seems to be a broad plane extending in a circle in every direction 

 around the spectator. And from this appearance of a plane bounded 

 by a great circle the appellation, orhis tcrrarum, the circle of the 

 earth, has arisen, and has been taken over by the Scripture and among 

 other nations. 



What do men imagine to he the center of the earth? Each nation, 

 unless it has become familiar with the notion of the circle, thinks by 

 the instinct of nature and the error of vision that its country is in the 

 center or middle of this plane circle. So the common people among 

 the Jews believe still that Jerusalem, the earliest home of their race, 

 is situated at the center of the world. 



What do men think about the waters? Since men proceeding as 

 far as possible in any direction finally came upon the ocean, some have 

 thought that the earth is like a disc swimming in the waters, and that 

 the waters are held up by the lower part of the sky, whence poets have 

 called the ocean, the father of all things. Others believe that a strip of 

 land surrounds the ocean which keeps the water from flowing away, 

 and these suppose there is land under the water, saying that the water 

 is held up by the earth. Besides these there are still others who, since 

 the ocean seems higher than the land if it is looked at from the edge of 

 the shore, believe that the earth is, as it were, sunk in the waters and 

 supernaturally guarded by the omnipotence of God lest the waters 

 rushing in from the deep should overwhelm it. 



What do men imagine to he under hoth the land and the waters? 

 There has been great discussion among men marveling concerning the 

 foundation which could bear up the great mass of the earth so that it 

 should remain for so many centuries firm and immovable and should 

 not sink ; and Heraclitus among the early philosophers, and Lactantius 

 among the ecclesiastics said that it reached down to the lowest root of 

 things. 



How about the other part of the world, the sky and its extent? 

 Men have thought that the sky was not much larger than the earth, and 

 indeed was connected with the earth and the ocean at the circumfer- 

 ence of the circle, so that it bounded the earth ; and that anyone going 

 that far, if it could be done, would run up against the sky, blocking 

 further progress. With this idea of men the Scriptures also agreed. 



So also the poets said that Mt. Atlas, a lofty mountain on the 



