THE KING'S MIRROR 97 



However, if you hang the apple near the wall, it will not 

 get hot; the candle will light up the whole house; and 

 the shadow on the wall where the apple hangs will be 

 scarcely half as large as the apple itself. FrpnaJjiis you 7 

 may inferjjiat r the earth-circlejs_round like-_a-Jball and V 

 not equajlyjaear the sun ^ every point. But where the^ 

 curved surface lies nearest the sun's path, there will the 

 greatest heat be; and some of the lands that lie contin- 

 uously under the unbroken rays cannot be inhabited. 

 On the other hand, those lands which the sun approaches 

 with slanting rays may readily be occupied; and yet, 

 some of these are hotter than others according as they 

 lie nearer the sun's path. But when the curved and steep 

 slope of the sphere-shaped wheel moves up before the 

 light and the beams of the sun, it will cast the deepest 

 shadow where its curved surface lies nearest the sun; 

 and yet, the lands nearest the sun are always hottest.* 

 Now I agree with you that Apulia and Jerusalem are 

 hotter than our own country; but you must know that 

 there are places where the heat is greater than in either 

 of those just mentioned, for some countries are unin- 

 habitable on account of the heat. And I have heard it 

 stated as a fact, that even when the sun mounts highest, 

 the night in those regions is very dark and quite long. 

 From this you must conclude that where the strength 

 and power of the sun are greater, since it is nearer, it 

 must ascend and decline more slowly; for the night is 

 long in summer when the sun mounts highest, and 

 the day is long in winter when it sinks lowest. Now I 



* It is evident from this discussion that the author believes in a spherical 

 earth; elsewhere, too, he speaks of the sphere of earth (jarftarbollr); see c. Ivi. 



