24 



THEORY OF STEABO. 



[Ch. II. 



ground which, is under the 



profoundness of which modern geologists are only beginnin- 

 to appreciate. ' It is not/ he says, ' because the lands co" 

 vered by seas were originally at different altitudes, that the 

 waters have risen, or subsided, or receded from some parts 

 and inundated others. But the reason is, that the same land 

 is sometimes raised up and sometimes depressed, and the sea 

 also is simultaneously raised and depressed, so that it either 

 overflows or returns into its own place again. We must 

 therefore, ascribe the cause to the ground, either to that 



sea, or to that which becomes 

 flooded by it, but rather to that which lies beneath the sea, 

 for this is more movable and, on account of its humidity, 

 can be altered with greater celerity."* It is proper,' he ob- 

 serves in continuation, * to derive our explanations from things 

 which are obvious, and in some measure of daily occurrence, such 

 as deluges, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions,^ andj sudden 

 swellings of the land beneath the sea ; for the last raise up the 

 sea also ; and when the same lands subside again, they occa- 

 sion the sea to be let down. And it is not merely the small, 

 but the large islands also, and not merely the islands, but the 

 continents which can be lifted up together with the sea ; and 

 both large and small tracts may subside, for habitations and 

 cities, like Bure, Bizona, and many others, have been en- 

 gulphed by earthquakes/ 



In another place, this learned geographer, in alluding to 

 the tradition that Sicily had been separated by a convulsion 

 from Italy, remarks, that at present the land near the sea in 

 those parts was rarely shaken by earthquakes, since there 

 were now open orifices whereby fire and ignited matters, and 

 waters escape ; but formerly, when the volcanos of Etna, the 



* ' Quod enim hoc attollitur aut sub- 

 si dit, et vel inundat qusedam loca, vel 

 ab iis recedit, ejus rei causa non est, 

 quod alia aliis sola humiliora sint aut 

 altiora ; sed quod idem solum modo 

 attollitur modo deprimitur, simulque 

 etiam modo attollitur modo deprimitur, 



mare : itaque vel exundat vel in simm 

 redit locum,' 



t 



sive quod inundatur ; potius tamen ei 

 quod mari sub est. Hoc enim mult 6 est 

 mobilius, et quod ob humiditatem cele- 

 rius multari possit.' — Strabo, Geog. 



Edit, Almelov. Amst, 1707. lib. i. 



f Volcanic eruptions, eruptiones fla- 

 tuum, in the Latin translations, and m 

 the original Greek, avoupv<n\^ara, gaseous 

 eruptions ? or inflations of land f— Ibid. 





Postea, p. 88. ' Eestat, ut eausam p. 93. 

 adscribamus solo, sive quod mari subest 



* 



