[Isidore’s Use of the Word Terra] Further light on Isidore’s conception of the earth can be gained by noticing his use of the word terra in the following passage, and comparing the passage with that from Hyginus on which it is based. Isidore. | | Hyginus. | Nunc terrae positionem definiemus et mare quibus locis interfusum videatur, ordine exponemus. | | | Terra, ut testatur Hyginus, mundi media regione collocata, omnibus partibus coeli aequali dissidens intervallo centrum obtinet. | | Terra mundi media regione collocata, omnibus partibus aequali dissidens intervallo, centrum obtinet sphaerae. Hanc mediam dividit axis in dimensione totius terrae. | Oceanus autem regione circumductionis spherae profusus prope totius orbis alluit fines. Itaque et siderum signa occidentia in eum cadere existimantur. | | Oceanus autem regione circumductionis spherae profusus, prope totius orbis alluit fines. Itaque et signa occidentia in eum decidere existimantur. Sic igitur et terras contineri poterimus explanare. | Regio autem terrae dividitur trifariam e quibus una pars Europa, altera Asia, tertia Africa vocatur. Europam igitur ab Africa dividit mare ab extremis oceani finibus, et Herculi columnis. Asiam autem et Libyam cum Aegypto disterminat ostium Nili fluvii, quod Canopicon appellatur. Asiam ab Europa Tanais dividit bifariam se conjiciens in paludem, quae Maeotis appellatur. Asia autem, ut ait beatissimus Augustinus, a meridie per orientem usque ad septentrionem pervenit. Europa vero a septentrione usque ad occidentem, atque inde Africa ab occidente usque ad meridiem. | | Nam quaecumque regio est quae inter Arcticum et Aestivum finem collocata est, ea dividitur trifariam e quibus una pars, Europa; altera, Asia; tertia, Africa vocatur. Europam igitur ab Africa dividit mare ab extremis Oceani finibus, et Herculi columnis. Asiam vero et Libyam cum Aegypto disterminat os Nili fluminis quod Canopicon appellatur. Asiam ab Europa conjiciens in paludem quae Maeotis appellatur. (Hygini Poeticon Astron., Mythographi Latini, Thomas Muncherus, Amsterdam, 1681, vol. i, p. 353.) | Unde videntur orbem dimidium duae tenere, Europa et Africa. Alium vero dimidium sola Asia. Sed ideo illae duae partes factae sunt, quia inter utramque ab Oceano ingreditur, quidquid aquarum terras influit, et hoc mare Magnum nobis facit. Totius autem terrae mensuram geometrae centum octoginta millium stadiorum aestimaverunt. (De Natura Rerum, ch. 48.) | | | In the passage from Hyginus, terra in the singular is the spherical earth occupying the centre of the sphere formed by the universe. The ocean is on the surface of this spherical earth, and it washes “the limits of the circle of lands”. For this reason the heavenly bodies “are [popularly] supposed to set in it.” Hyginus then turns to the dry land (terras), and describes the land surface “between the boundaries of the Arctic and torrid zones” as divided into three parts, Europe, Asia, and Africa. In Isidore terra means in the first instance, dry land, in the second—if he realized the meaning of Hyginus—the sphere; in the third, the dry land; in the fourth, the sphere. There is no evidence that Isidore was conscious of having made these transitions. He entirely omits the sentence in which Hyginus passes from the subject of the spherical earth to that of the lands. It is clear that Isidore has fallen into the same confusion here as in the passage quoted on p. 51; he uses the terminology of the spherical earth, while having no conception of anything but the flat earth.[367] The difficulty offered by the word sphera in the passage quoted above from Isidore, is not insuperable, since it is clear from the following passage that he was not very definite in his notion of what a sphere was. A sphere and a circle apparently meant about the same thing to him. Cujus perfectionem spherae vel circuli multis argumentationibus tractans, rationabile Plato Fabricatoris mundi insinuat opus. Primo, quod ex una linea constat. Secundo, quod sine initio est et sine fine. Tertio, quod a puncto efficitur. Denuo, quod motum ex se habeat. Deinde quod careat indicio angulorum, et quod in se ceteras figuras omnes includat, et quod motum inerrabilem habeat, siquidem sex alii motus errabiles sunt, ante, a tergo, dextra, laevaque, sursum, deorsum. Postremo, et quod necessitate efficiatur, ut haec linea ultra circulum duci non possit. D. N. R., 12, 5.
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