Chap. 38.] 
ACCOUNT OF COUNTEIES, ETC. 
109 
three thousand four hundred and thirty-seven miles and a half, 
and that, starting from the same point, '''^ the distance in a 
straight line to Sicily is twelve hundred and fifty miles, from 
thence to Crete three hundred and seventy-five, to Ehodes one 
hundred and eighty- seven and a half, to the Chelidonian Islands 
the same distance, to Cyprus two hundred and twenty-five, 
and from thence to Seleucia Pieria, in Syria, one hundred and 
fifteen miles : the sum of all which distances amounts to two 
thousand three hundred and forty miles. Agrippa estimates 
this same distance, in a straight line from the Straits of Gades 
to the Gulf of Issus, at three thousand three hundred and forty 
miles ; in which computation, however, I am not certain that 
there is not some error in the figures, seeing that the same 
author has stated that the distance from the Straits of Sicily to 
Alexandria is thirteen hundred and fifty miles. Taking the 
whole length of the sea-line throughout the gulfs ahove-men- 
tioned, and beginning at the same point, he makes it ten 
thousand and fifty-eight miles ; to which number Artemidorus 
has added seven hundred and fifty-six : the same author, in- 
cluding in his calculation the shores of the Mseotis, makes the 
whole distance seventeen thousand three hundred and ninety 
miles. Such is the measurement given by men who have 
penetrated into distant countries, unaided by force of arms, 
and have, with a boldness that exhibits itself in the times of 
peace even, challenged, as it were, Fortune herself. 
I shall now proceed to compare the dimensions of the various 
parts of the earth, however great the difficulties which may 
arise from the discrepancy of the accounts given by various 
authors : the most convenient method, however, will be that 
of adding the breadth to the length.*^^ Following this mode 
of reckoning, the dimensions of Europe will be eight thou- 
sand two hundred and ninety- four miles ; of Africa, to adopt 
a mean between all the various accounts given by authors, the 
length is three thousand seven hundred and ninety- four miles, 
while the breadth, so far as it is inhabited, in no part exceeds 
The Straits of Gades or Cadiz. 
76 The Straits of Gades. 
Littre has the following remark : " Is it possible that Pliny can have 
imagined that the extent of a surface could he ascertained by adding the 
length to the breadth.^" It is just possible that such may not have been 
his meaning ; but it seems quite impossible to divine what it was. 
