[475] The division of the globe into five zones is referred to by Virgil, Geor. i. 233-239, and by Ovid, Met. i. 45, 46.
[476] “... interna maria allatrat, ...”
[477] This is considerably more than the distance in the present day. The Isthmus of Suez appears, according to the statement of the most accurate geographers, to be about 70 miles in breadth.
[478] Hæ tot portiones terræ, as Alexandre correctly remarks, “ironice dictum. Quam paucæ enim supersunt!” Lemaire, i. 383.
[479] “Mundi punctus.” This expression, we may presume, was taken from Seneca; “Hoc est illud punctum, quod inter tot gentes ferro et igni dividitur.” Nat. Quæst. i. præf. p. 681.
[480] Nostro solo adfodimus; “addimus, adjungimus, annectimus, ut una fossione aretur.” Hardouin, in Lemaire, i. 383.
[481] “Mundi totius.”
[482] “Æquinoctii paribus horis.”
[483] Dioptra. “Græce διόπτρα, instrumentum est geometricum, un quart de cercle, quo apparentes rerum inter se distantiæ anguli apertura dijudicantur.” Alexandre, in Lemaire, i. 384.
[484] This title does not correspond with the contents of the chapter.