A. D. 522. 227 



the Arabians, unlefs the later, in confequence of his having no tranfac- 

 tions with them, have been neglecfted in his narrative. 



From the writings of Cofmas we may alfo learn the deplorable decay 

 of fcience fmce the age of Pliny. The chief intent of his work, which 

 he calls Chrijlian topography, was to confute the heretical opinion of the 

 earth being a globe, together with the pagan aflertion that there was a 

 temperate zone on the fouth fide of the torrid zone ; and to inform his 

 readers, that, according to the true orthodox fyftem of cofmography, it 

 was a quandrangular plane, extending four hundred courfes, or days 

 journeys, from eaft to wefl, and exadlly half as much from north to 

 fouth*, inclofed by lofty walls, upon which the canopy or vault of the 

 firmament refl:cd ; that a huge mountain on the north fide of the earth, 

 by intercepting the light of the fun, produced the viciflitudes of day 

 and night ; and that the plane of the earth had a declivity from north 

 to fouth, by reafon of which the Euphrates, Tigris, and other rivers 

 running fouth, are rapid, whereas the Nile, having to run up hill, 

 hasneceflarily a very flow current. \CoJmas, 'Topog. Chrijl. — Procop. Per- 

 fic. L. i, c. 20.] 



523 — The Venetians, who efcaped the deftroying fword of Attila in 

 the year 452, appear to have now eflabliflied a regular internal govern- 

 ment or police. Their boats were enlarged to vefTels capable of vifiting 

 every part of the Adriatic gulf, and worthy of the attention of the fu- 

 preme government, now in the hands of the Gothic king of Italy, whofe 

 minifter, Cafliodorus, addrefl~ed a letter to the maritime tribimes of Ve- 

 nice, requiring them to tranfport the public ftores of wine and oil from 

 Iftria to Ravenna f . 



After difpatching his official bufinefs, Cafliodorus, very fortunately 

 for the caufe of genuine hiftory, runs out in a kind of poetical, but ap- 

 parently a true, defcription of the celebrated city of Venice, (' Venetise 

 ' praedicabiles') which he compares to the Cyclades, as he does their 

 houfes to the nefts of aquatic fowls, fet upon ground not provided by 

 nature, but made by human induftry, and confolidated by means of 

 flender fences made of twifted ofiers (fuch as the Dutch call_y?^^<"^ and 

 rijs'). The diflinflion of rich and poor was ftill unknown in Venice : 

 all the houfes were alike : all the citizens lived on the iame fifli diet. 

 Their only emulation was in the manuflidure of fait, an article, which, 

 as he obferves to the comfort of the Venetians, is more indifpenfibly 



* The antient Chinefe believed the earth to ance of which has remained entire in V'enice. The 



be a perfeft fquare. \_Staunton's Emhajfy, V. ii, reqiiifition of Theodoric, by the letter of his mi- 



p. ■X^2\. fecund cdr^ nittcr, fliows that he at Icafl thought otherways, 



f When individuals or coinmunitics become and reckoned tiiem in the number of his fubjefts : 



profperous, their vanity requires to be flattered and it is not likely, that they ventured to dilputc 



with the imaginary dignity of their ancellors. his claim to their allegiance. It is alfo certain. 



The Venetians have accordingly pretended, that that they afterwards acknowleged themfelves va''- 



their (late Is the only true and legitimate offspring fals of both the Eaflern and Weftern empires fo- 



of the Roman republic, the freedom and indcpend- fome sges. 



Ff 2 



