contains 125 of the former, and 625 of the latter. To ſuppoſe on ſuch a random conjecture that Pliny aſcribed 1000 feet to a ſtadium, when his. own words ſo directly contradict it, would be the height of abſurdity.
But let us now examine, from the teſtimony of writers of authority, Greek an well as, Roman., if the- meaſure of ten Roman feet would not be utterly inconſiſtent with the deſcription of the ὀργυιὰ, or fathom, itſelf.
Xenophon[1], who flouriſhed only 54 years after Herodotus, deſcribes the ὀργυιὰ to be the meaſure of the diſtance which reaches from the extremity of one arm to that of the other, when both are extended at right angles to the body. Phavorinus[2], Suidas[3], Hefychiuſ[4], and Julius Pollux[5], explain it in. the ſame way.
The ſame meaſure, though without a name aſſigned to it, is deſcribed by Vitruvius, who makes it equal[6] to the lengths of the body. It is alſo evident that Vitmvius meant eherebya meaſure of fix feet, as he reckons the meaſure[7] of the foot as one-ſixth part of the height.
Of the authors above cited, Vitruiius lived, about 126 years be-
- ↑ Χεῖρες μὲν γὰρ, εἰ δεοι αὐτὰς τὰ πλέον ὀργυιᾶς διέχοντα ἅμα ποιῆσαι, οὐκ ἂν δύναιντο. Memorab. lib. ii. cap. 3. ſect. 19.
- ↑ Ὀργυιὰ τὸ ἑξηπλωμένον μέτρον τῶν χεῖρων, ἢ τὴν ἔκτασιν τῶν χεῖρων. Phavorin.
- ↑ Ὀργυιαὶ τὰ μὲν ἰδίων χειρῶν μέτρα. Suidas
- ↑ Ὀργυιαὶ ἢ τῶν ἀμφοτέρων χειρῶν ἔκτασις. Heſychii. Louic.
- ↑ Εἰ δ' ἄμφω τὰς χεῖρας ἐκτείνειας, ὡς καὶ τὸ ϛέρνον αὐταῖς συμμετρεῖν, ὐργυιὰ τὸ μέτρον. Jul. Polluc. lib. ii. ſect. 158.
- ↑ Nam ſi a pedibus as ſummum caput menſum erit, eaque menſura relata ſuerit ad manus panſas, invenitur eadem latitudo uti altiudo. Vitruv. lib. iii. cap. 1.
- ↑ Pes vero altitudinis corporis ſenta. Ibid.
