BOOKS XIII AND XIV[On Universe and Earth]
[On Universe and Earth]
In booksXIII and XIV Isidore gives a complete and systematic account of the material universe, taking up and treating in order the heavens, the atmosphere, water, and earth. His treatment of the last two is especially full and constitutes a geographical description of the earth’s surface as known at his time.[339]
BOOK XIII
On the Universe and its Parts
Preface.—In this book, as it were in a brief outline we have commented on certain causes in the heavens, and the sites of the lands, and the spaces of the sea, so that the reader may run them over in a little time, and learn their etymologies and causes with compendious brevity.
Chapter 1. On the universe.
1. The universe is the heavens, the earth, the sea, and what in them is the work of God, of whom it is said: “And the universe was made by him”. The universe (mundus) is so named in Latin by the philosophers because it is in continued motion (motu), as for example, the heavens, the sun, moon, air, seas. For no rest is permitted to its elements, and therefore it is always in motion.
2. Whence also the elements seem to Varro living creatures, since, he says, they move of themselves. The Greeks have borrowed a name for the universe from ornament, on account of the variety of the elements and the beauty of the stars. For it is called among them κόσμος, which means ornament. For with the eyes of the flesh we see nothing fairer than the universe.
3. It is agreed that there are fourclimata, that is, tracts of the universe: East, West, North, South.
Chapter 2. On the atoms.
1. The philosophers call by the name of atoms certain parts of bodies in the universe so very minute that they do not appear to the sight, nor admit of τομή, that is, division, whence they are called atoms. These are said to flit through the void of the whole universe with restless motions, and to move hither and thither like the finest dust that is seen when the rays of the sun pour through the windows. From these certain philosophers of the heathen have thought that trees are produced, and herbs and all fruits, and fire and water, and all things are made out of them.
2. Atoms exist either in a body, or in time, or in number, or in the letters. In a body as a stone. You divide it into parts, and the parts themselves you divide into grains like the sands, and again you divide the very grains of sand into the finest dust, until if you could, you would come to some little particle which is now [such] that it cannot be divided or cut. This is an atom in a body.
3. In time, the atom is thus understood: you divide a year, for example, into months, the months into days, the days into hours, the parts of the hours still admit of division, until you come to such an instant of time and fragment of a moment as it were, that it cannot be lengthened by any little bit and therefore it cannot be divided. This is the atom of time.
4. In numbers, as for example, eight is divided into fours, again four into twos, then two into ones. One is an atom because it is indivisible. So also in case of the letters. Foryou divide a speech into words, words into syllables, the syllable into letters. The letter, the smallest part, is the atom and cannot be divided. The atom is therefore what cannot be divided, like the point in geometry....
Chapter 3. On the elements.
1.Hyle[341]is the name the Greeks apply to the first material of things, which is in no way formed, but has a capacity for all bodily forms, and out of it these visible elements are shaped. Wherefore they have derived their name from this source.[342]Thishylethe Latins calledmateria, for the reason that everything in the rough from which something is made, is always calledmateria....
2. The Greeks moreover call the elements στοιχεῖα,[343]because they are akin to one another in the harmony of like quality and a sort of common character, for they are said to be allied with one another in a natural way, now tracing their origin from fire all the way to earth, now from earth all the way to fire, so that fire fades into air, air is thickened to water, water coarsened to earth, and again earth is dissolved into water, water refined into air, air rarefied into fire.
3. Wherefore all elements are present in all, but each of them has received its name from that which it has in greater degree. And they have been assigned by divine providence to the living creatures that are suited to them, for the Creator himself filled the heaven with angels, the air with birds, the sea with fish, the earth with men and other living creatures.
Chapter 5. On the parts of the heavens.
1. Ether is the place in which the stars are, and it signifies that fire which is separated on high from the whole universe. Ether is the element itself; andaethrais the glow of the ether and is a Greek word.
Chapter 7. On the air and the clouds.
1. Air is emptiness, having more rarity mixed with it than the other elements. Of it Virgil says:
Longum per inane secutus.
Longum per inane secutus.
Longum per inane secutus.
Air (aer) is so called from αἴρειν (to raise), because it supports the earth or, it may be, is supported by it. This belongs partly to the substance of heaven, partly to that of the earth. For yonder thin air where windy and gusty blasts cannot come into existence, belongs to the heavenly part; but this more disordered air which takes a corporeal character because of dank exhalations, is assigned to earth, and it has many subdivisions: for being set in motion it makes winds; and being vigorously agitated, lightnings and thunderings; being contracted, clouds; being thickened, rain; when the clouds freeze, snow; when thick clouds freeze in a more disordered way, hail; being spread abroad, it causes fine weather; for it is known that thick air is a cloud and that a cloud that thins and melts away, is air.
2. ... Now the thickening of the air makes clouds. For the winds gather the air together and make a cloud. Whence is the expression: “Atque in nubem cogitur aer.”
Chapter 8. On thunder.
1. Thunder (tonitruum) is so called because its sound terrifies (terreat), fortonusis sound. And it sometimes shakes everything so severely that it seems to have split the heavens, since when a great gust of the most furious wind suddenly bursts into the clouds, its circular motion becoming stronger and seeking an outlet, it tears asunder with great force the cloud it has hollowed out, and thus comes to our ears with a horrifying noise.
2. One ought not to wonder at this since a vesicle, however small, emits a great sound when it is exploded. Lightning is caused at the same time with the thunder, but the former is seen more quickly because it is bright and the latter comes to our ears more slowly....
Chapter 9. On thunder-bolts.
1. ... Clouds striking together make thunder-bolts: for in all things collision creates fire, as we see in the case of stones, or when wheels rub together, or in the woods. In the same way fire is created in the clouds; whence they are clouds before, lightnings later.
2. It is certain that it is from wind and fire that thunder-bolts are formed in the clouds, and that they are launched by the impulse of the winds; and the fire of a thunder-bolt has greater force in penetrating because it is made of subtler elements than our fire, that is, the fire we make use of....
Chapter 10. On the rainbow and the causes of clouds.
1. The rainbow is so called from its resemblance to a bent bow. Its proper name is Iris and it is called Iris, as it wereaeris(of the air), because it comes down through the air to earth. It comes from the radiance of the sun when hollow clouds receive the sun’s ray full in front, and they create the appearance of a bow, and rarified water, bright air, and a misty cloud under the beams of the sun create those varied hues.
2. Rains (pluviae) are so called because they flow, as iffluviae. They arise by exhalation from earth and sea, and being carried aloft they fall in drops on the lands, being acted upon by the heat of the sun or condensed by strong winds.
13. Shadow (umbra) is air that lacks sun, and is so called because it is made when we interpose ourselves in the rays of the sun. It moves and is ill-defined, because of the motion of the sun and the force of the wind. As often as we move in the sun, it seems to move with us, because wherever we encounter the rays of the sun, we take the light from that place, and so the shadow seems to walk with us and to imitate our motions.
Chapter 11. On the winds.
2. There are four chief winds. The first of these is from the east,Subsolanus, andAusterfrom the south,Favoniusfrom the west, and fromSeptentrio(north) a wind of thesame name blows. These winds have kindred winds one on each side.
3.Subsolanushas on its rightVulturnus, on its leftEurus;Austerhas on its rightEuroauster, on its leftAustroafricus;Favoniuson its rightAfricus, on its leftCorus. Further,Septentriohas on its rightCircius, on its leftAquilo. These twelve winds surround the globe of the universe with their blasts.
20. ... In the spring and autumn the greatest possible storms appear when it is neither full summer nor full winter, whence, as [the time] is an intervening one, bordering on both seasons, storms are caused from the conjunction of contrary airs.
Chapter 12. On the waters.
2. The two most powerful elements of human life are fire and water, whence they who are forbidden fire and water are seriously punished.
3. The element of water is master of all the rest. For the waters temper the heavens, fertilize the earth, incorporate air in their exhalations, climb aloft and claim the heavens; for what is more marvelous than the waters keeping their place in the heavens!
4. It is too small a thing to come to such a height; they carry with them thither swarms of fishes; pouring forth, they are the cause of all growth on the earth. They produce fruits, they make fruit trees and herbs grow, they scour away filth, wash away sin, and give drink to all living things.
Chapter 13. On the different qualities of waters.
5. Linus, a fountain of Arcadia, does not allow miscarriages to take place. In Sicily are two springs, of which one makes the sterile woman fertile, the other makes the fertile, sterile. In Thessaly are two rivers; they say that sheep drinking from one become black; from the other, white; from both, parti-colored.
10. Hot springs in Sardinia cure the eyes; they betray thieves, for their guilt is revealed by blindness. They saythere is a spring in Epirus in which lighted torches are extinguished, and torches that are extinguished are lighted. Among the Garamantes they say there is a spring so cold in the daytime that it cannot be drunk, so hot at night that it cannot be touched.
Chapter 14. On the sea.
2. ... The depth of the sea varies; still the level of its surface is invariable.
3. Moreover that the sea does not increase, though it receives all streams and all springs, is accounted for in this way; partly that its very greatness does not feel the waters flowing in; secondly, because the bitter water consumes the fresh that is added, or that the clouds draw up much water to themselves, or that the winds carry it off, and the sun partly dries it up; lastly, because the water leaks through certain secret holes in the earth, and turns and runs back to the sources of rivers and to the springs.
Chapter 15. On the ocean.
1.Oceanusis so named by both Greeks and Latins because it flows like a circle around the circle of the land; it may be from its speed because it runs swiftly (ocius); or because like the heavens it glows with a dark purple color.Oceanusis, as it were, κυάνεος (dark purple). It is this that embraces the shores of the lands, approaching and receding with alternate tides. For when the winds breathe in the depths, it either pushes the waters away or sucks them back.
2. And it has taken different names from the neighboring lands; asGallicus,Germanicus,Scythicus,Caspius,Hyrcanus,Atlanticus,Gaditanus. The Gaditanian strait was named fromGadeswhere the entrance to theMare Magnumfirst opens from the Ocean. Whence when Hercules had come to Gades he placed the columns there, believing that there was the limit of the circle of the lands.
Chapter 16. On the Mediterranean Sea.
1. TheMare Magnumis that which flows from the west out of the Ocean and extends toward the South, and thenstretches to the North. And it is calledMagnumbecause the rest of the seas are smaller in comparison with it. It is also called Mediterranean because it flows through the midst of the land (per mediam terram) as far as the Orient, separating Europe and Africa and Asia.
Chapter 20. On the abyss.
1. The abyss is the deep water which cannot be penetrated; whether caverns of unknown waters from which springs and rivers flow; or the waters that pass secretly beneath, whence it is called abyss. For all waters or torrents return by secret channels to the abyss which is their source.
Chapter 21. On rivers.
6. Certain of the rivers have received their names from causes peculiar to them, and of these some which are told of as famous in history should be mentioned.
7. Geon is a river issuing from Paradise and surrounding the whole of Ethiopia, being called by this name because it waters the land of Egypt by its flood, for γῆ in the Greek meansterrain the Latin. This river is called Nile by the Egyptians, on account of the mud which it brings, which gives fertility.
8. The river Ganges, which the holy Scriptures call Phison, issuing from Paradise, takes its course toward the regions of India.... It is said to rise in the manner of the Nile and overflow the lands of the East.
9. The Tigris, a river of Mesopotamia, rises in Paradise, and flows opposite the Assyrians (contra Assyrios), and after many windings flows into the Dead Sea. And it is called by this name because of its velocity, like a wild beast that runs with great speed.
10. The Euphrates, a river of Mesopotamia, greatly abounding in gems, rises in Paradise and flows through the midst of Babylonia.... It irrigates Mesopotamia in certain places just as the Nile does Alexandria. Sallust, however, a most reliable author, asserts that the Tigris and the Euphrates arise from one source in Armenia, and going by different ways arefar separated, an intervening space of many miles being left, and the land which is enclosed by them is called Mesopotamia. Therefore as Hieronymus noted, there must be a different explanation of the rivers of Paradise.
24. Tanus was the first king of the Scythians, from whom the riverTanaisis said to have been named. It rises in the Riphaean forest, and separates Europe from Asia, flowing in the midst between two divisions of the world, and emptying into the Pontus.
35. Certain rivers were overwhelmed in the flood, and shut off by the mass of the lands, but certain ones which were not, burst forth by passages that were at that time violently formed from the abyss.
Chapter 22. On floods.
2. The first flood occurred under Noah, when the Omnipotent, offended at man’s guilty deeds, covered the whole circle of the lands[344]and destroyed all, and there was one stretch of sky and sea; and we observe the proof of this to the present time in the stones which we are wont to go to see in the distant mountains, which have mingled in them the shells of mussels and oysters, and besides are often hollowed by the waters.
3. The second flood was in Achaea in the time of the patriarch Jacob and of Ogygius, who was the founder and king of Eleusina, and gave his name to the place and time.
4. The third flood was in Thessaly in the time of Moses and Amphictyon, who reigned third after Cecrops. At which time a flood of waters destroyed the greater part of the peoples of Thessaly, a few escaping by taking refuge in the mountains, especially on mount Parnassus, on whose circuit Deucalion then possessed dominion. And he received those who fled to him on rafts, and warmed and fed them on the twin peaks of Parnassus, and so the fables of the Greeks say that the human race was re-created from stones—because of the inborn hardness of the heart of man.
BOOK XIV
On the Earth and its Parts
Chapter 1. On the earth.
1. The earth is placed in the middle region of the universe, being situated like a center at an equal interval from all parts of heaven; in the singular number it means the whole circle;[345]in the plural[346]the separate parts; and reason gives different names for it; for it is calledterrafrom the upper part where it suffers attrition (teritur);humusfrom the lower andhumidpart, as for example, under the sea; again,tellus, because we take (tollimus) its fruits; it is also calledopsbecause it brings opulence.[347]It is likewise calledarva, from ploughing (arando) and cultivating.
2. Earth in distinction from water is called dry; since the Scripture says that “God called the dry land, earth”. For dryness is the natural property of earth. Its dampness it gets by its relation to water. As to its motion (earthquakes) some say it is wind in its hollow parts, the force of which causes it to move.
3. Others say that a generative water moves in the lands, and causes them to strike together,sicut vas, as Lucretius says. Others have it that the earth is sponge-shaped, and its fallen parts lying in ruins cause all the upper parts to shake. The yawning of the earth also is caused either by the motion of the lower water, or by frequent thunderings, or by winds bursting out of the hollow parts of the earth.
Chapter 2. On the circle of lands.[348]
1. The circle of lands (orbis) is so called from its roundness, which is like that of a wheel, whence a small wheel is calledorbiculus. For the Ocean flowing about on all sides encircles its boundaries. It is divided into three parts; of which the first is called Asia; the second, Europe; the third, Africa.
2. These three parts the ancients did not divide equally; for Asia stretches from the South through the East to the North, and Europe from the North to the West, and thence Africa from the West to the South. Whence plainly the two, Europe and Africa, occupy one-half, and Asia alone the other. But the former were made into two parts because the Great Sea enters from the Ocean between them and cuts them apart. Wherefore if you divide the circle of lands into two parts, East and West, Asia will be in one, and in the other, Europe and Africa.
Chapter 3. On Asia.
1. Asia was so called from the name of a certain woman who held dominion over the East in the time of the ancients. Lying in the third part of the circle of lands it is bounded on the east by the sun-rise, on the south by the ocean, on the west by our sea, on the north by lake Maeotis and the river Tanais. It has many provinces and regions, of which I shall briefly explain the names and sites, beginning with Paradise.
2. Paradise is a place lying in the parts of the Orient, whose name is translated out of the Greek into the Latin ashortus. In the Hebrew it is called Eden, which in our tongue means delight. And the two being joined mean garden of delight; for it is planted with every kind of wood and fruit-bearing tree, having also the tree of life; there is neither cold nor heat there, but a continual spring temperature.
3. And a spring, bursting forth from its center, waters the whole grove, and divides into four rivers that take their rise there. Approach to this place was closed after man’s sin.For it is hedged in on every side by sword-like flame,[349]that is, girt by a wall of fire whose burning almost reaches the heaven.
4. A guard of cherubim, too, that is, of angels, is set over the burning of the fiery rampart to ward off evil spirits, in order that the flames may keep men off, and good angels, bad ones, that the approach to Paradise may not be open to any flesh or to the spirit of wickedness.
5. India is so called from the river Indus, by which it is bounded on the west. It stretches from the southern sea all the way to the sun-rise, and from the north all the way to Mount Caucasus, having many peoples and cities and the island of Taprobana, full of elephants, and Chryse and Argyra, rich in gold and silver, and Tyle, which never lacks leaves on its trees.
Chapter 4. On Europe.
2. Europe, which was parted off to form a third part of the circle, begins at the river Tanais, passing to the west along the Northern ocean as far as the limits of Spain. Its Eastern and Southern parts begin at the Pontus, extend along the whole Mare Magnum, and end at the island of Gades.
Chapter 5. On Libya (Africa).
3. It begins at the boundaries of Egypt,[350]extending along the South through Ethiopia as far as Mt. Atlas. On the north it is bounded by the Mediterranean Sea, and it ends at the strait of Gades, having the provinces Libya Cyrenensis, Pentapolis, Tripolis, Byzacium, Carthago, Numidia, Mauritania Stifensis, Mauritania Tingitana, and in the neighborhood of the sun’s heat, Ethiopia.
14. Ethiopia is so called from the color of its people, who are scorched by the nearness of the sun. The color of the people betrays the sun’s intensity, for there is never-ending heat here. Whatever there is of Ethiopia is under the southpole. Towards the west it is mountainous, sandy in the middle, and toward the eastern region, a desert. Its situation extends from the Atlas Mts. on the west to the bounds of Egypt on the east. It is bounded on the south by the ocean, on the north by the river Nile. It has many peoples, of diverse appearance and fear-inspiring because of their monstrous aspect.
17. Besides the three parts of the circle there is a fourth part across the Ocean on the South,[351]which is unknown to us on account of the heat of the sun, in whose boundaries, according to story, the Antipodes are said to dwell.
Chapter 6. On Islands.
2. Britannia, an island of the Ocean, completely separated from the circle of lands by the sea that flows between, is called by the name of its people. It lies in the rear of the Gauls and looks toward Spain. Its circuit is 4,875 miles; there are many large rivers in it and hot springs, and an abundant and varied supply of metals. Jet is very common there, and pearls.
3. Thanatos, an island of the Ocean in the Gallic sea, separated from Britain by a narrow strait, with fields rich in grain and a fertile soil. It is called Thanatos from the death of snakes, for it is destitute of them itself, and earth taken thence to any part of the world kills snakes at once.
4. Thyle is the furthest island in the Ocean, between the region of North and that of West,[352]beyond Britain, having its name from the sun, because there the sun makes its summer halt, and there is no day beyond it; whence the sea there is sluggish and frozen.
6. Scotia, the same as Hibernia, an island very near Britain, narrower in the extent of its lands but more fertile; this reaches from Africa towards Boreas, and Iberia and the Cantabrian ocean are opposite to the first part of it. Whence, too, it is called Hibernia. It is called Scotia because it is inhabited by the tribes of Scots. There are no snakes there, few birds, no bees; and so if any one scatters among beehives stones or pebbles brought thence, the swarms desert them.
8. The Happy Isles (Fortunatae insulae) ... lie in the Ocean opposite the left of Mauretania, very near the West, and separated from one another by the sea.
12. Taprobana is an island lying close to India on the Southeast, where the Indian Ocean begins, extending in length eight hundred and seventy-five miles, in width, six hundred and twenty-five. It is separated [from India] by a river that flows between. It is all full of pearls and gems. Part of it is full of wild beasts and elephants, but men occupy part. In this island they say that there are two summers and two winters in one year, and that the place blooms twice with flowers.
21. Delos is said to be so named because after the flood which is said to have come in the time of Ogygius, when continuous night had overshadowed the circle of lands for many months, it was lightened by the rays of the sun before all lands, and got its name from that, because it was first made visible to the eye. For the Greeks call visible δῆλος.
Chapter 9. On the under parts of the Earth.
9. Gehenna is a place of fire and sulphur, which they think is so named from the valley sacred to idols which is near the wall of Jerusalem, which was filled in former time with bodies of the dead. For there the Hebrews used to sacrifice their own sons to demons, and the place itself was called Gehennon. Therefore the place of future punishment where sinners are to be tortured is denoted by the name of this place. (We read in Job) that there is a double Gehenna, both of fire and of frost.
11. Just as the heart of an animal is in its midst, so alsoinfernusis said to be in the midst of the earth.