[628] For the circumference.
[629] Viz. none for those who dwell under the equator, or at the poles.
[630] Strabo’s argument seems to be this. It matters but little that there may not be Arctic Circles for every latitude, since for the inhabitants of the temperate zone they do certainly exist, and these are the only people of whom we have any knowledge. But at the same time the objection is unanswerable, that as these circles differ in respect to various countries, it is quite impossible that they can fix uniformly the limits of the temperate zone.
[631] The polar circles, where the shadow, in the summer season, travels all round in the twenty-four hours.
[632] Those who live north and south of the tropics, or in the temperate zones, and at noon have a shadow only falling one way.
[633] Having at mid-day in alternate seasons the shadow falling north and south.
[634] Viz. Posidonius allowed for each of these small zones a breadth of about 30´, or 350 stadia, of 700 to a degree.
[635] A plant, the juice of which was used in food and medicine. Bentley supposes it to be the asa-fœtida, still much eaten as a relish in the East.
[636] Posidonius was here mistaken; witness the Niger, the Senegal, the Gambia, &c.
[637] The expression of Strabo is so concise as to leave it extremely doubtful whether or not he meant to include the human race in his statement. Looking at this passage, however, in connexion with another in the 15th Book, we are inclined to answer the question in the affirmative.