BOOK II. cxi. 240-cxii. 243 



under Arezzo if charcoal is dropped on the ground, the 

 earth is set on fire ; that in the Sabine and Sidicine 

 district " a stone flames up when oiled ; that in the 

 Sallentine town of Egnatia,'' if wood is put on a certain 

 sacred rock, a flame at once shoots up ; that ashes 

 on the altar of Juno at Lacinium,'' which stands in 

 the open air, remains motionless when stormy winds 

 sweep over it in every direction. Morcover, it is 

 recorded that sudden fires arise both in pools of water 

 and in bodies, even human bodies ; Valerius Antias 

 tells that the whole of Lake Trasimene once was on 

 fire ; that when Servius Tulhus was a boy a flame 

 flashed out from his head while he was aslcep ; and 

 that a similar flame burnt on Lucius Marcius in 

 Spain when he was making a speech after the death 

 of the Scipios <* and exhoi-ting the soldiers to revenge. 

 Later we shall give more instances, and more in 

 detail ; for at the present we are displaying a sort 

 of medley of marvels of all the elements. But 

 leaving the interpretation of nature our mind 

 hastens to lead the reader's attention by the hand on 

 a tour of the whole world. 



CXII. Our own portion of the earth, which is my Dimensions 

 subject, swims as it were in the ocean by which, as we ^/['^lfted 

 have said, it is surrounded ; its longest extent is from eanh fr, m 

 East to West, i.e. from India to the Pillars con- '"^'"' *^' 

 secrated to Hercules at Cadiz, a distance of 8,568 

 miles according to Artemidorus, but 9,818 according 

 to Isidore. Artemidorus adds in addition from 

 Cadiz round Cape St. Vincent to Cape Finisterre the 

 longest projection of the coast of Spain, 890.y miles. 

 The measmement runs by a double route ; from the 

 river Ganges and its mouth where it flows into the 

 Eastern Ocean, through India and Parthyene to the 



367 



