[361] Richard errs in supposing the estimation of Bede more accurate than that of Agrippa.
[362] The numerals are here so incorrect that it is difficult to discover what number was meant by Richard. Marcian observes that the circuit of our island is not more than 28,604 stadia, or 3575 miles, nor less than 20,526, or 2576 miles. Hence Bertram is led to prefer the greater number.
CHAP. II.
1. Albion, called by Chrysostom Great Britain, is, according to Cæsar, of a triangular shape, resembling Sicily. One of the sides lies opposite to Celtic Gaul. One angle of this side, which is the Cantian promontory,[363] is situated to the east; the other, the Ocrinian promontory,[364] in the country of the Damnonii, faces the south and the province of Tarraconensis in Spain. This side is about five hundred miles in length.
2. Another side stretches towards Ireland and the west, the length of which, according to the opinion of the ancients, is seven hundred miles.
3. The third side is situated to the north, and is opposite to no land except a few islands;[365] but the angle of this side chiefly trends towards Germania Magna.[366] The length from the Novantian Chersonesus,[367] through the country of the Taixali, to the Cantian promontory,[368] is estimated at eight hundred miles. Thus all erroneously compute the circuit of the island to be two thousand miles; for from the Cantian promontory to Ocrinum,[369] the distance is four hundred miles; from thence to Novantum, a thousand; and from thence to the Cantian promontory, two thousand two hundred. The circumference of the whole island is therefore three thousand six hundred miles.[370]
4. Livy and Fabius Rusticus compare the form of Britain to an oblong shield or battle-axe; and as, according to Tacitus, it bears that figure on the side of Caledonia, the comparison was extended to the whole island, though the bold promontories at its further extremity give it the shape of a wedge. But Cæsar and Pomponius Mela assert that its form is triangular.
5. If credit may be given to the celebrated geographer Ptolemy and his contemporary writers, the island resembles an inverted Z,[371] but according to the maps the comparison is not exact. The triangular shape, however, seems to belong to England alone.[372]