8 VARRO ON FARMING [bk. 



two halves, the northern and the southern (the most 



4 natural division) ; and since the northern part is 

 incontestably healthier than the southern, and the 

 healthier a place is the more productive it is, we 

 must conclude that Italy, being in the northern 

 half, was originally more suitable for cultivation 

 than Asia. For in the first place Italy is in Europe; 

 secondly, this part of Europe is more temperate 

 than the inner part, where almost perpetual winters 

 reign. And no wonder, since there are districts 

 between the Arctic Circle and the North Pole — the 

 axis of the heavens — where the sun is invisible for 

 six months together. They say, too, that in conse- 

 quence of this, sailing even is impossible in the 

 Ocean, owing to the sea being frozen. 



5 I say, said Fundanius, you don't suppose, do 

 you, that anything can grow there, or be cul- 

 tivated if it does? For Pacuvius's saying is true, 

 '*If there be perpetual sunlight or night, all the 



there are these lines (v. i8), which Varro may have had in 



mind: 



avrt)v fikv [iiv trtrfxi fiscrt'ipea iravToQ 'OXvfnrov 

 Ksvrpov Itti a<l>aipriQ did d' d^ovog riprjpeiaTo. 



But the division of the earth into two parts, Asia and Europe, 

 Africa being considered as a part of Europe, was adopted by 

 many of the ancients. Lucan, in speaking of Africa (Phar- 

 salia, Bk. ix), says: St venios caelumque sequaris \\ pars- 

 erit Europae. Cf also "^thici Cosmographia," p. i, and 

 Varro himself (L. L., v, cap. 4): Ut omnis natura in caelum 

 et terram divisa est, sic caeli regionihus terra in Asiam et 

 Europam. Asia enim iacet ad meridiem et Austrum, Europa 

 ad Septemtriones et aquilonem. 



