Chap. 73.] DURATION OF DAY. 105 



in Armenia, between the eleventh and twelfth hour^ ; thus the 

 curve of the globe both reveals and conceals different objects 

 from the inhabitants of its different parts. If the earth had 

 been flat, everything would have been seen at the same time, 

 from every part of it, and the nights would not have been 

 unequal; while the equal intervals of twelve hours, which are 

 now observed only in the middle of the earth, would in that 

 case have been the same everywhere. 



CHAP. 73. (71.) WHAT EEGULATES THE DAYLIGHT OS THE 



EARTH. 



Hence it is that there is not any one night and day the same, 

 in all parts of the earth, at the same time ; the intervention of 

 the globe producing night, and its turning round producing 

 day'. This is known by various observations. In Africa and 

 in Spain it is made evident by the Towers of HannibaP, and in 

 Asia by the beacons, which, in consequence of their dread of 

 pirates, the people erected for their protection ; for it has been 

 frequently observed, that the signals, which were lighted a,t 

 the sixth hour of the day, were seen at the third hour of the 

 night by those who were the most remote"*. Philonides, a 



1 "We have an account of Corbiilo's expedition to Armenia in Dion Cas- 

 sius, ]x. 19-24, but there is no mention of the echpse or of any peculiar 

 celestial phsenomenon. 



2 The teiTHs employed in the original are " oppositu" and " ambitu." 

 Alexandre's explanation of the first is, "quum globi teiTaquei crassitude 

 interposita sohs arcet radios ;" and of the second, " quvun nostra hujus 

 globi pars a sole ambitm\" Lemaire, i. 389. 



3 One of these towers is mentioned by Livy, xxxiii. 48 ; it is said to 

 have been situated between AchoUa and Thapsus, on the sea-coast. 



* Hardouin, according to his usual custom, employs aU liis learning 

 and ingenuity to give a plausible explanation of tliis passage. Alexandre, 

 as it must be confessed, with but too much reason, remarks, " Frustra 

 desudavit Harduinus ut sanum aliquem scnsmn ex iUis Plinii delira- 

 mentis excuteret." He correctly refers the interval of time, which was 

 said to occur between these signals, not to any astronomical cause, but to 

 the necessary delay which took place in the transmission of them. He 

 concludes, " Sed ad cursum sohs hoc referre, dementia; est. Nam ut tanta 

 horarum differentia iutersit, si moram onmem in speculandis ao trans- 

 mittendLs signis sustuleris, necessc erit observatores illos ultimos 135 

 gradibus, id est, sesquidimidio hcmisplia?rio, a primis dislare turribus. 

 Recte igitur incredibilem Plinii creduhtatem ludibrio vertit Uayhus in 

 Dictionario suo." Lemaire, i. 389. 



