Thule. Al. Thyle. What island T. meant, is uncertain. It has been referred by different critics, to the Shetland, the Hebrides, and even to Iceland. The account of the island, like that of the surrounding ocean, is obviously drawn from the imagination.
Nam hactenus, etc. For their orders were to proceed thus far only, and (besides) winter was approaching. Cf. hactenus, G. 25, and appetere, Ann. 4, 51: appetente jam luce. The editions generally have nix instead of jussum. But Rit. and Or. with reason follow the oldest and best MSS. in the reading jussum, which with the slight and obvious amendment of nam for quam by Rit. renders this obscure and vexed passage at length easy and clear.
Pigrum et grave. See a similar description of the Northern Ocean, G. 25: pigrum ac prope immotum. The modern reader need not be informed, that this is an entire mistake, as to the matter of fact; those seas about Britain are never frozen; though the navigators in this voyage might easily have magnified the perils and hardships of their enterprise, by transferring to these waters what they had heard of those further north.
Perinde. Al. proinde. These two forms are written indiscriminately in the old MSS. The meaning of ne perinde here is not so much, sc. as other seas. Cf. note, G. 5.
Ne ventis—attolli. Directly the reverse of the truth. Those seas, are in fact, remarkably tempestuous.
Quod—impellitur. False philosophy to explain a fictitious phenomenon, as is too often the case with the philosophy of the ancients, who little understood natural science, cf. the astronomy of T. in 12.
Neque—ac. Correlatives. The author assigns two reasons why he does not discuss the subject of the tides: 1. It does not suit the design of his work; 2. The subject has been treated by many others, e.g. Strab. 3, 5, 11; Plin. N.H. 2, 99, &c.
Multum fluminum. Multum is the object of ferre, of which mare is the subject, as it is also of all the infinitives in the sentence. Fluminum is not rivers but currents among the islands along the shore.
Nec littore tenus, etc. "The ebbings and flowings of the tide are not confined to the shore, but the sea penetrates into the heart of the country, and works its way among the hills and mountains, as in its native bed." Ky. A description very appropriate to a coast so cut up by aestuaries, and highly poetical, but wanting in simplicity.
Jugis etiam ac montibus. Jugis, cf. G. 43. Ac. Atque in the common editions. But ac, besides being more frequent before a consonant, is found in the best MSS.