106 plint's natural histoet. [Book II, 



courier of the above-mentioned Alexander, went from Sicjon 

 to Elis, a distance of 1200 stadia, in nine hours, while he 

 seldom returned until the third hour of the night, although 

 the road was do^\Ti-hilP. The reason is, that, in going, he 

 followed the course of the sun, while on his return, in the 

 opposite direction, he met the sun and left it behind him. 

 For the same reason it is, that those who sail to the west, 

 even on the shortest day, compensate for the difficulty of 

 sailing in the night and go farther", because they sail in the 

 same direction with the sun. 



CHAP. 74. (72.) — REMARKS OK DIALS, AS CONNECTED WITH 



THIS SUBJECT. 



The same dial-plates^ cannot be used in all places, the 

 shadow of the sun being sensibly different at distances of 

 300, or at most of 500 stadia"*. Hence the shadow of the dial- 

 pin, which is termed the gnomon, at noon and at the summer 

 solstice, in Egypt, is a little more than half the length of the 

 gnomon itself. At the city of Home it is only -g less than 

 the gnomon, at Ancona not more than -^j less, while in 

 the part of Italy which is called Venetia, at the same hour, 

 the shadow is equal to the length of the gnomon^. 



^ The distance, as here stated, is about 150 miles, which he is said to 

 have performed m nine hours, but that the same distance, in retm-ning, 

 required fifteen hours. We have here, as on the former occasion, a note 

 of Hardouin's to elucidate the statement of the author. On this Alex- 

 andre observes, " Optime ; sed in tam parva locorum distantia, Ehdis et 

 Sicyonis horologia vix qumque unius horse sexagesimis diiFerre poterant ; 

 quare eunti ac redeunti ne discrimen quidem quadrantis liora; intererat. 

 Ineptos igitur auctores sequitur hoc quoque loco Plinius." Lemaire, i. 

 390, 391. 



2 " Vincunt spatia noctumae navigationis." Tliis expression would ap- 

 pear to imply, that the author conceived some physical difficulty m sail- 

 ing during the night, and so it seems to be understood by Alexandre ; 

 vide not. in loco. 



^ " Vasa horoscopica." " Yasa horoscopica appeUat horologia in piano 

 descripta, horizonti ad Hbellam respondentia. Vasa dicmitur, quod area 

 in qua hneae ducebantur, labri interdum instar et conchse erat, cujus in 

 margine describebantvir bora?. Horoscopa, ab cop a et c/co Trtw, hoc est, 

 ab uispiciendis horis." Hardouin, in Lemaire, i. 391. 



■* These distances are respectively about 38 and 62 mUes. 



* We are not to expect any great accuracy in these estimates, and we 

 accordingly find, that our author, when referring to the subject in hia 



