36 OPINION OF PLATO 



CHAP, xii. Of the opinion which Plato held of the West 



Indies. 



LIB. i. If any one hath treated more particularly of the west 

 ~ Indies, the honor belongs to Plato, who in his Timoeus saith 

 thus : &quot; In those dayes they could not sayle this Gulph&quot; 

 (meaning the Atlantike Sea, which is the Ocean which 

 ineetes at the Straight of Gibraltar) &quot; for that the passage 

 was stopped at the mouth of the pillars of Hercules&quot; (which 

 is the same Straight of Gibraltar) &quot; and this Hand was in 

 those dayes ioyned to the foresaid mouth, and was of that 

 bignesse as it exceeded all Asia and Affricke together ; and 

 then was there a passage to goe from these Hands to others, 

 and from those other Ilandes, they went to the firme Land, 

 the which was neere invironed with the very Sea&quot;. This is 

 reported by Critias in Plato. And such as beleeve that this 

 narration of Plato is a true Historic, delivered in these 

 terrnes, say that this great Atlanticke Hand, the which did 

 exceed both Affricke and Asia in greatnesse, did then com 

 prehend the greatest part of the Ocean called Atlantike, 

 which the Spaniards nowe sayle in ; and that those other 

 Hands, which, he sayde, were neere vnto this great one, are 

 those which wee now call the Hands of Barlovento j 1 that is, 

 Cuba, Hispaniola, S. lohn de Port ricco, 2 lamaica, and other 

 Hands of that Countrie ; and that the rnaine Land whereof 

 hee maketh mention, is the same wee now call Tierra Firme, 

 that is, Peru and America ; and that Sea, which he sayth is 

 adioyning to the Tierra Firme, is the South Sea, the which he 

 calleth the very Sea, for that in comparison of her greatnesse, 

 all other Seas, both Mediterranean, yea and the Atlantike 

 Sea, are small in regard thereof. Hereby in trueth they 

 give a cunning and wittie interpretation to these words of 

 Plato. But whether this interpretation should be held for 

 true or not, I am resolved to declare in another place. 

 1 The AYindwiird Islands. * Porto Rico. 



