Chap. 21.] ACCOUNT OF THE WORLD. 53
half a tone, and thence a tone and a half to the zodiac. Hence there are seven tones, which he terms the diapason harmony[1] meaning the whole compass of the notes. In this, Saturn is said to move in the Doric time, Jupiter in the Phrygian[2], and so forth of the rest; but this is a refinement rather amusing than useful.
CHAP. 21. (23.) — OF THE DIMENSIONS OF THE WORLD.
The stadium is equal to 125 of our Roman paces, or 625 feet[3]. Posidonius[4] supposes that there is a space of not less than 40 stadia around the earth, whence mists[5], winds and clouds[5] proceed; beyond this he supposes that the air is pure and liquid, consisting of uninterrupted light; from the clouded region to the moon there is a space of 2,000,000 of stadia,
1 "Διὰ πασῶν, omnibus tonis contextam harmoniam." Hardouin in Lemarre, ii. 287.
3 Hence the passus will be equal to 5 Roman feet. If we estimate the Roman foot at 11.6496 English inches, we shall have the miliare of 8 stadia equal to 1618 English yards, or 142 yards less than an English statute mole. See Adam's Roman Antiquities, p. 503; also the articles Miliare and Pes in Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities; and for the varieties of the stadium, as employed at different periods and in different countries, see the article Stadium. The stadium which Herodotus employed in measurements of Babylon has been supposed to consist of 490 English feet, while that of Xenophon and Strabo has been estimated at 505; see Ed. Rev. xlviii. 190. The Abbé Barthelemi supposes the stadium to be equal to 604 English feet; Anach. Travels, vii. 284.
- ↑ 1
- ↑ These appellations appear to have originated from different nations having assumed different notes as the foundation or commencement of their musical scale. The Abbé Barthelemi informs us, that "the Dorians executed the same air a tone lower than the Phrygians, and the latter a tone still higher than the Lydians; hence the denomination of the Dorian, Phrygian, and Lydian modes." It appears to have been a general practice to employ the lowest modes for the slowest airs; Anacharsis's Travels, iii. 73, 74.
- ↑ 3
- ↑ There appears to have been two individuals of this name, who have been confounded with each other; the one referred to by Pliny was an astronomer of Alexandria, who flourished about 260 years B.C.; the other was a native of Apamea, a stoic philosopher, who lived about two centuries later; see Aikin's Biog. in loco; also Hardouin's Index Auctorum, Lemaire, i. 209.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 The terms in the original are respectively nubila and nubes. The lexicographers and grammarians do not appear to have accurately discriminated between these two words.
