[222] Polybius proves his point by the demonstration of the proposition “The square of the hypotenuse of a right-angled-triangle is equal to the squares of the sides containing the right angle.”
By applying this principle AD = 7745.9... and DC = 11019.9..., and the whole AC = 18765.8; whereas AB + BC (i.e. the coasting voyage) = 19200 stades (a difference of 434.2 stades, not 500). Add to this the 3000 from the Peloponnese to the Straits, the total coast voyage is 22,200 stades, as against Dicaearchus’s 10,000.]
[223] Strabo quotes this reckoning of the distance from the Peloponnese to the head of the Adriatic to prove that Polybius, on his own showing, is wrong in admitting that this distance (8250 stades) is greater than that from the Peloponnese to the Pillars, which Dicaearchus said was 10,000 stades, and which Polybius showed to be 18,765 stades by the shortest route.
[224] To enable the reader to follow this list of prices, a short table is here sub-joined of Greek weights and money,—though he must be warned that values varied at different times and places,—with approximate values in English weights and money.
| 1 obol | = | 1/40 oz. | = | 1/8 shilling. | |
| 6 obols | = | 1 drachma | = | 3/20 oz. | 9d. |
| 100 drachmae | = | 1 mina | = | 15-1/2 oz. | £3 : 18 : 6. |
| 60 minae | = | 1 talent | = | 57 lbs. | £235. |
| A medimnus | = | 11 gals. 4 pts. (dry measure). |
| A metreta | = | 8 gals. 5 pts. (liquid measure). |
[225] Which member of the Cornelian gens this was is unknown. He appears to have been at Marseilles in the 4th century B.C. inquiring as to centres of trade open to Rome in rivalry with Carthage.
[226] Varro (Serv. ad Æn. 10, 13) adds a fifth by the Graian Alps, i.e. Little St. Bernard.
[227] Strabo corrects this, saving that the distance is 3000 stades.