Chap. 68.] 
EXTENT OE THE OCEAK. 
101 
It appears, therefore, that the heavens take from us three 
parts of the earth ; how much the ocean steals is uncertain. 
And with respect to the part which is left us, I do not 
know whether that is not even in greater danger. This same 
ocean, insinuating itself, as I have described it, into a num- 
"ber of bays, approaches with its roaring^ so near to the in- 
land seas, that the Arabian Grulf is no more than 115 miles 
from the Egyptian Sea^, and the Caspian only 375 miles from 
the Euxine. It also insinuates itself into the numerous seas 
by which it separates Africa, Europe, and Asia ; hence how 
much space must it occupy ? "We must also take into ac- 
count the extent of all the rivers and the marshes, and we 
must add the lakes and the pools. There are also the moun- 
tains, raised up to the heavens, with their precipitous fronts ; 
we must also subtract the forests and the craggy valleys, the 
wildernesses, and the places, which, from various causes, are 
desert. The vast quantity which remains of the earth^, or 
rather, as many persons have considered it, this speck of a 
world^ (for the earth is no more in regard to the universe), 
this is the object, the seat of our glory — here we bear our 
honours, here we exercise our power, here we covet wealth, 
here we mortals create our disturbances, here we continually 
carry on our wars, aye, civil wars, even, and unpeople the 
earth by mutual slaughter. And not to dwell on public feuds, 
entered into by nations against each other, here it is that we 
drive away our neighbours, and enclose the land thus seized 
upon within our own fence ^ ; and yet the man who has most 
extended his boundary, and has expelled the inhabitants for 
ever so great a distance, after all, what mighty portion of the 
earth is he master of ? And even when his avarice has been 
the most completely satisfied, what part of it can he take 
with him into the grave ? 
^ " . . . . interna maria allatrat, ..." 
2 This is considerably more than the distance in the present day. 
The I&tlimiis of Suez appears, according to the statement of the most 
accurate geographers, to be about 70 miles in breadth. 
3 Hse tot portiones terrse, as Alexandre correctly remarks, " rronice 
dictum. Quam paucse enim supersunt I" Lemaire, i. 383. 
Mundi punctus." This expression, we may presume, was taken 
fpom Seneca ; " Hoc est illud punctum, quod inter tot gentes ferro et 
igni dividitur." Nat. Qusest. i. prsef. p. 681. 
Nostro solo adfodimus ; " addimus, adjungimus, annectimus, ut una 
fossione aretur." Hardomn, in Lemaire, i. 383. 
