Chap. V3.] DrBATION OF DAT. 105 



in Armenia, between the eleventh and twelfth hour* ; thus the 

 curve of the globe both reveals and conceals different objects 

 from the inhabitants of its different parts. If the earth had 

 been flat, everything would have been seen at the same time, 

 from every part of it, and the nights would not have been 

 unequal; while the equal intervals of twelve hours, which are 

 now observed only in the middle of the earth, would in that 

 case have been the same everywhere. 



CHAP. 73. (71.) — WHAT EEGULATE8 THE DAYLIGHT ON THE 

 EABTH. 



Hence it is that there is not any one night and day the same, 

 in all parts of the earth, at the same time ; the intervention of 

 the globe producing night, and its turning round producing 

 day^. This is known by various observations. In Africa and 

 in Spain it is made evident by the Towers of HannibaP, and in 

 Asia by the beacons, which, in consequence of their dread of 

 pirates, the people erected for their protection ; for it has been 

 Irequently observed, that the signals, which were lighted at 

 the sixth hour of the day, were seen at the third hour of the 

 night by those who were the most remote^. Philonides, a 



1 We have an account of Corbulo's expedition to Armenia in Dion Cas- 

 sius, Ix. 19-24, but there is no mention of the eclipse or of any peculiar 

 celestial phsenomenon. 



2 The terms employed in the original are " oppositu" and " ambitu." 

 Alexandre's explanation of the first is, "quum globi t^rraquei crassitudo 

 interposita solis arcet radios ;" and of the second, " quum nostra hujus 

 globi pars a sole ambitvir." Lemaire, i. 389. 



3 One of these towers is mentioned by Livy, xxxiii. 48 ; it is said to 

 have been situated between AchoUa and Thapsus, on the sea-coast. 



* Hardouin, according to his usual custom, employs all his learning 

 and ingenuity to give a plausible explanation of this passage. Alexandre, 

 as it must be confessed, with but too much reason, remarks, " Frustra 

 desudavit Harduinus ut sanum ahquem sensum ex illis Plrnii dehra- 

 mentis excuteret." He correctly refers the interval of time, which was 

 said to occur between these signals, not to any astronomical cause, but to 

 the necessary delay which took place in the transmission of them. He 

 concludes, " Sed ad cursum solis hoc referre, dementise est. Nam ut tanta 

 horarum differentia intersit, si moram omnem in speculandis ac trans- 

 mittendis signis sustuleris, necesse erit observatores illos ultimos 135 

 gradibus, id est, sesquidimidio hemisphserio, a piimis distare turribus. 

 Recte igitur incredibilem Plinii credulitatem ludibrio vertit !Baylius in 

 Pictionario suo." Lemaire, i. 389. 



