Yet, With All This Knowledge Of What We May Deem Distant Parts,
Polybius Was Ignorant Of The Real Shape Of Italy, Which He Describes As
Stretching From East To West; A Mistake Which Seems To Have Originated With
Him, And Was Copied By Strabo.
Varro, who was Pompey's lieutenant during the war against the pirates, and
obtained a naval crown on that occasion, among the almost infinite variety
of topics on which he wrote, was the author of a work on navigation;
unfortunately, however, only the title of it is extant:
Had it yet
remained, it would have thrown much light on the state of navigation,
geography, and commerce among the Romans in his time.
Julius Caesar's attention to science in the midst of his wars and perils is
well known. He first formed the idea of a general survey of the whole
empire; and for this purpose obtained a decree of the senate. The survey
was finished by Augustus: the execution of it was committed to three Greek
geographers. The survey of the eastern portion of the empire was committed
to Zenodoxus, who completed it, in fourteen years, five months, and nine
days. The northern division was finished by Theodoras in twenty years,
eight months, and ten days: and the southern division was finished in
twenty-five years, one month, and ten days. This survey, with the
supplementary surveys of the new provinces, as they were conquered and
added to the empire, formed the basis of the geography of Ptolemy. It
appears from Vegetius, that every governor of a province was furnished with
a description of it, in which were given the distance of places, the nature
of the roads, the face of the country, the direction of the rivers, &c.: he
adds, that all these were delineated on a map as well as described in
writing. Of this excellent plan for the itineraries and surveys of the
Roman empire, from which the ancient geographers obtained their fullest and
most accurate information, Julius Caesar was the author.
Julius Caesar certainly added much to geographical knowledge by his
conquests of Gaul and Britain: his information respecting the latter,
however, as might be expected, is very erroneous. Yet, that even its very
northern parts were known by name to the Romans soon after his death, is
apparent, from this circumstance, that Diodorus Siculus, who died towards
the middle of the reign of Augustus, mentions Orkas; which, he says, forms
the northern extremity of the island of Britain. This is the very first
mention of any place in Scotland by any writer.
One of the first objects of Augustus, after he had reduced Egypt, was to
explore the interior of Africa, either for the purpose of conquest, or to
obtain the precious commodities, especially frankincense and aromatics,
which he had learned were the produce of those countries. AElius Gallus was
selected by the emperor for this expedition, and he was accompanied by the
geographer Strabo; who, however, has not given such accurate information of
the route which was pursued as might have been expected.
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