[BB] Cherchel.
[BC] The Nile.
[BD] Astabores.
[BE] The Cataracts.
CHAPTER LXII.
Of the might of the Nile according to the Astronomers, and of its increase.
What man could decide the great contention there is among the learned concerning the source and power of this river: for Alexander, who was the most powerful of the Kings, to whom the province of Memphis in Egypt made prayer, conceived a grudge against the Nile, for that he was not able to learn the truth of the aforesaid source, though he was lord of the world. And this covetousness was not only in him, but it was also found among the Kings of Egypt, and of Persia, and of Macedonia, and of Greece. But we will here describe in some small measure the course of this river, according to the Astronomers, who say that Mercury is the source of power over the waters, and that he hath influence over them; and that when he is in that part of the heaven where the stars of the sign of Leo are in conjunction with the stars of the sign of Cancer, or with the star Sirius, to wit, that which is called the Dog star,[[BF]][[151]] whence those days are called the Dog days, he poureth out flames full of fury from his mouth, and altereth thereby the circle of the year, and the weather also changeth, for then the summer endeth and autumn beginneth. And again, when the signs of Capricorn and Cancer are in conjunction, under which the outflow of the Nile is hidden, and when the star of Mercury is in conjunction with those signs, Mercury being lord of the waters, striketh on the mouths, that is to say, in those parts through which the Nile floweth, being under the fire of his constellation; then the Nile openeth its fount and floweth forth; and even as the sea waxeth with the waxing of the moon, so riseth the Nile as if Mercury commanded it, and increaseth till it covereth the land whence Egypt hath all its principal nutriment. And it doth not gather its waters together, nor return into its bed until the night hath as many hours as the day. And in old time there were some who said that the rising of this stream was chiefly because of the snows of Ethiopia, but this we find is not so, for the north doth not look upon those mountains of Ethiopia; no, not any one of the Bears of either pole, to wit, Ellice and Cynosure,[[152]] neither the greater nor the less, which bring the chill and are the cause of snows and frosts; nor doth the north-east wind,[[BG]] which bringeth the frost with it.
And of this there is a good and sufficient testimony in the very colour of that same people of Ethiopia, whose blood is burnt by the great heat of the sun, which there hath the full power of its heat, and the breath of the south-west wind,[[BH]] which is the hottest of all winds; whence the men of that land have their colour exceeding black; and moreover, no river, whatever it be, that swelleth for reason of the snow or ice that hath recourse to it, is augmented except from the time of the entry of the summer season; for then the snow and ice begin to melt by reason of the heat; but the Nile doth not raise its waters so high, nor do they swell in its bed before the rising of that same Dog Star, nor do its waters reach outwards to their banks until the day is equal to the night, which is in the month of September, when the sun entereth into the sign of Libra. From all which it appeareth clearly that the Nile doth not follow the rule of any other waters; but when the sky becometh distempered in the midst of the great heat of the sun, the Nile issueth forth with the swelling of its waters, and this is under the belt of the mid-day, which is scorching hot.
And this it doth that the flame of the axis of the firmament, by reason of its increase, may not set fire to the land and burn it. And so the Nile is as it were a succour to the world, because when the mouth of Leo is kindled, and when Cancer burneth over its city of Syene in Egypt, then riseth this river against the mouths of the twain, to temper their fire, the which is a matter of the utmost need to the peoples of the earth.
And so it spreadeth its waters over the land, not to return to its bed till the sun shall have come to the time of autumn and lessened its strength, when the shadows begin to fall in the city of Meroe, where the trees cast no shadows in summer time, so directly passeth the sun[[153]] overhead above everything. And so, in conclusion, to the great might of the Nile we may apply those words wherewith Bishop Achoreus[[153a]] spake of it to Caesar, as Lucan writeth: "Oh," said he, "great and mighty stream, which risest from the midst of the axis of the firmament, and venturest to raise thy waters over their banks against the sign of Cancer when that is in the fulness of its heat; thou who proceedest straight towards the north-east with thy waters, and takest thy course through the midst of the plain; thou who turnest thence to the west and again to the east; thou who dost reveal thyself sometimes in Arabia and sometimes in the sands of Libya, displaying thyself to the peoples of those lands, performing so many great benefits for them—of a truth the men of those regions could not dispense with thee or live without thee, and these are the first races of men that behold thee. Thy power is to issue forth at the solstices, the which do fall, the one in December and the other in June, and thou increasest in the alien winter which is not thine. To thee is it granted by nature to go through both the axes of the firmament, to wit: the axis of the north and that of the south; thy foam fighteth with the stars, so high dost thou cause it to rise by thy power; and before thy waves do all things tremble. What can I say of thee, except that thou art as it were the navel of the world: for even as the creatures which lie in the wombs of their mothers are governed by the navels of their bodies, a like comparison may be made of thy greatness in affairs of the earth."
[BF] Canicolla.