[735] This may be referred to the inflammable vapours mentioned above, unless we regard the whole narrative as fabulous.
[736] See Livy, i. 39, and Val. Maximus, i. 6. 2. Although it would be rash to pronounce this occurrence and the following anecdotes respecting Marcius to be absolutely impossible, we must regard them as highly improbable, and resting upon very insufficient evidence.
[737] In the [66th chapter] of this book.
[738] In the estimate of distances I have given the numbers as they occur in the text of Lemaire, although, in many cases, there is considerable doubt as to their accuracy. See the observations of Hardouin and Alexandre in Lemaire, i. 460.
[739] Artemidorus was an Ephesian, who wrote on geography; see Hardouin’s Index Auct., Lemaire, i. 167.
[740] Isidorus was a native of Nicæa; he appears to have been a writer on various topics in natural history, but not much estimated; see Hardouin’s Index Auct., in Lemaire, i. 194.
[741] The modern Cape St. Vincent and Cape Finisterre.
[742] This was a city on the Sinus Issicus, the present Gulf of Aiasso, situated, according to Brotier, between the sites of the modern towns of Scanderoon and Rosos. See Lemaire, i. 461.
[743] Respecting this and the other distances mentioned in this chapter, I may refer the reader to the remarks of Hardouin in Lemaire, i. 461.
[744] It is scarcely necessary to remark, that the calculations of our author do not indicate the real distance between the extreme points of the habitable parts of the globe, as known to the ancients, but the number of miles which must be passed over by a traveller, in going from place to place; in the first instance, a considerable part of the way by sea, and, in the second, almost entirely by land.