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Non huc Argoo contendit remige pinus,
Neque inpudica Colchis intulit pedem;
Non huc Sidonii torserunt cornua nautae,
Laboriosa nec cohors Ulixei.
Juppiter illa piae secrevit litora genti,
Ut inquinavit aere tempus aureum;
Aere, dehinc ferro duravit saecula, quorum
Piis secunda, vate me, datur fuga.
(Horace, Epode, xvi.)
Virgil, in the well-known lines in the prophecy of Anchises—
Super et Garamantes et Indos
Proferet inperium; iacet extra sidera tellus,
Extra anni solisque vias, ubi caelifer Atlas
Axem humero torquet stellis ardentibus aptum—
(Æneid, vi. 795.)
had Africa rather than the west in mind, according to the commentators.
It is possible that the islands described to Sertorius were Madeira and Porto Santo, but the distance was much overestimated in this case.
[313] “He [Eratosthenes] says that if the extent of the Atlantic Ocean were not an obstacle, we might easily pass by sea from Iberia to India, still keeping in the same parallel, the remaining portion of which parallel ... occupies more than a third of the whole circle.... But it is quite possible that in the temperate zone there may be two or even more habitable earths οἰκουμένας, especially near the circle of latitude which is drawn through Athens and the Atlantic ocean.” (Strabo, Geogr., i. 4, § 6.)
[314] Seneca, Naturalium Quaest. Praefatio. The passage is certainly striking, but those who, like Baron Zach, base upon it the conclusion that American voyagers were common in the days of Seneca overestimate its force. It is certainly evident that Seneca, relying on his knowledge of theoretical geography, underestimated the distance to India. Had the length of the voyage to America been known, he would not have used the illustration.