130 pliny's natural histoet. [Book II. 
medicates tliem^ Among the prodigies whicli have occurred, 
there is one which happened when Dionysius, the tyrant of 
Sicily, was expbiled from his kingdom ; that, for the space 
of one day, the water in the harbour became sweet. 
(101.) The moon, on the contrary, is said to be a feminine 
and delicate planet, and also nocturnal ; also that it resolves 
humours and draws them out, but does not carry them off. 
It is manifest that the carcases of wild beasts are rendered 
putrid by its beams, that, during sleep, it draws up the 
accumulated torpor into the head, that it melts ice, and 
relaxes all things by its moistening spirit^. Thus the 
changes of nature compensate each other, and are always 
adequate to their destined purpose ; some of them congealing 
the elements of the stars and others dissolving them. The 
moon is said to be fed by fresh, and the sun by salt water. 
CHAP. 105. (102.) — WHERE THE SEA IS THE DEEPEST. 
Pabianus^ informs us that the greatest depth of the sea is 
15 stadia**. We learn from others, that in the Euxine, 
opposite to the nation of the Coraxi, at what is called the 
Pepths of the Euxine^, about 300 stadia^ from the main land, 
the sea is immensely deep, no bottom having been found. 
^ The commentators discuss at considerable length the relative merits 
of the three hypotheses here proposed, to accomit for the saltness of the 
ocean ; all of which are equally unfounded. See Hardoum in Lemaire, 
i. 434, 435. Aristotle's opinion on this subject is contained in his Meteor. 
2 It is not easy to ascertain the origin of the very general opinion re- 
specting the pecuhar physical action of the moon. The alleged facts are, 
for the most part, without foimdation, and I am not aware of any cir- 
cumstance which could, originally, have made them a part of the popular 
creed of so many nations, ancient as well as modern. Perhaps some of 
the effects which have been ascribed to the specific action of the moon, 
may be explained by the lower temperature and greater dampness of the 
air, during the absence of the sun. 
3 There appears to be some doubt respecting the history of the person 
here referred to : according to the account of Hardouin, Fabian us was a 
naturahst, who enjoyed a high repution ; he Hved in the time of Tiberius : 
see licmaire, i. 188. 
This would be a depth of 3125 yards, not very far short of two 
miles ; see Adam's Rom. Antiq. p. 503. 
^ " BaOea Ponti ; " Aristotle refers to this as one of those parts where 
the sea is unfathomable ; Meteor, i. 13. 
* A distance of nearly nine and a half miles. 
