Plinies Naturail Hiftorie.^ 



A of a ball. And hereupon it is^that the inhabitants of the Eaft perceive not the ecclipfes of Sunne 

 andMoone in the evening, no more than thofe that dwell Well^ in the morning; but ihofe 

 that be atnoone in the South, they fee verie often. At whattime as i^lexa»drr the Great wan 

 that famous \i6tonc at Arbcla, the moone (by report) was eclipfed at the fecond houre of the 

 night : but at the very fame time in Sicilie^fhearofe. The eclipleofthe Sunne^wbich chaunced 

 before the Kalends of Maij,when as Vipfanm and Fonieim were Confulsj (and that-was not many 

 yeeres patt) was feenc in Campania betwecnc the 7 and 8 houres of tiie day : bur Cor hub (a ge- 

 ncrall Commaunder then in Armenia) made report^ that it was feene there bctweenethe tenth 

 and eleventh houres of the fame day : by reafon that the compafle of the globe difcovereth and 

 hidethfome things tofomCj and other to others. But, and if the earth were plaine and levelljali 



B things Ifiould appeare at once to all men , for neither fhould one night be longer than anotherj 

 neyet(houldthedayof 12 houres appeare even andequall to any, but to thole that are feated 

 in the mids pf the earthg which now in all parts agree and accord together alike^ 



ChaPo lxxi. 

 what Is the reafon of the day light tt^on earthy 



jNd hence it commeth, that it is neither night nor day at one tirtie in all parts of th^ 

 . jworld^byreafonthattheoppofitionof the globe bringeth night, and the round com= 

 E^^pa0e arici circuit thereof, difcovereth the day. This is knowne by many experiments. 

 ^ In Affricke and Spaine, there were raifed by ^nmbal^ high watch towrcs : and in Afia tor the 

 fame feare of rovers and pyratSjthe like helpe of beacons was eredled. Wherein it was obferved 

 often times5that the fires giving warning aforc-hand (which were fet a burning at the fixt houre 

 oftheday)weredefcriedby them that were fartheft off in Afia, at the third houre of the night. 

 Phdomdes^iht courrier or Poft of the fame Alexander above-named j difpatched in nine houres 

 of the day a 1 200 ftadia^ even as farre as from Sicyone to Elis : and from thence againe (albeic 

 he went down hill all the way) he returned oftentimes^but not before the third hour of the nighCd 

 The caufewasj for that he had the Sunne with him in hisfirft letting out to Elis; and in his re- 

 turnebacke to Sicyone, he went full ag^inft it, met with it, and ere he came home over-pafled 

 p iCj and left it in the Weft behind, going from him* Which is the reafon alfo, that they who by 

 day-light faile Weffward in the fhortelt day of the yeere, rid more way than thofe who laile all 

 the night long at the fame time, for that the other doe aceompanie the Sunne. 



ChaPo IXXII, 



f The Gmmonicke K^rt of the fame matter : as alfo of the firfl DialL 



iLfo dielnftrumentsferving for the houresj asQuadrant^ and Dials, will not fervefor 

 all places : butin every 30G ftadia, or 500 at the fartheft,ihe fhadowes that the Sunne 

 caifethjdoe chaunge : and therefore the iTiadow of the Style in the Dyall, which they 

 £ ^gjj Gnomon^ in ^gypt, at noone-tide, in the Equino6liall day, is little more in 



length than halfethe Gnomon. But in the cittie of Rome, the lliadowe wanteih rhe ninth pare 

 oFthe Gnomon. In the towne Anconajit is longer thanit a 35 part. Butin that part of Italic 

 w^iich is called VcnicCj at the fame time and houre^the fhadow and the Gnomon be ail one. 



Chap, lxx hi. 

 ^ Where And when there be no j})adoives at all, 



|N like manner they fay^that in the tovviie Syene (which is above Alexandria 50 ftadia) ai 

 Inoone-tide in themiddesof Summer there isnofliadow at all: and for farther experi- 

 ment therofjlet a pit be funkc in the ground, and it will be light all over in every corner : 

 whereby it appcarethj that the funne then is juft and dire(5llyover that place, as the very Zenith 

 thereof. Which alfo at the fame time happeneth in India, above the river Hypafis, as Oneftcra- 

 ///^ haihfet downein miting. Yea and it is forcertaine knowne, thatinBerenicc,acitieof the 

 TrogloditeSjandfrom thence 4820 ftadiainthe fame eountryjat the towne ofPtolemais(which 

 was built at the firft upon the very banke of the Red-fea^ for the pkafure of chafing and hunting 



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