This opinion regarding Eratosthenes,
that he was more of a geometrician than a geographer, seems to be confirmed
by the testimony of Marcian of Heraclia, who informs us, that Eratosthenes
took the whole work of Timosthenes, preface and all, as it stood, and in
the very same words. If this account be accurate, it is probable that
Eratosthenes' knowledge of Thina, and his being able to correct the
erroneous position of this country in more ancient maps, was derived from
Timosthenes, who had commanded the fleet of Ptolemy Philadelphus on the
Indian Ocean.
If we reflect on the rude and imperfect state of science at this period,
the paucity and inadequacy of the instruments by means of which it might be
improved, and the superstitions and prejudices which opposed the removal of
error or the establishment of truth, we shall not be disposed to question
the justice of the panegyric pronounced by Pliny on Eratosthenes. This
author, after detailing all that was then known on the subject of the
circumference of the earth, and on the distances which had been ascertained
by actual admeasurement, or approximated by analogy or probable conjecture,
between the most remarkable places on its surface, adds, that Eratosthenes,
whose acuteness and application had advanced him far in every branch of
knowledge, but who had outstripped all his predecessors or contemporaries
in that particular branch which was connected with the admeasurement of the
earth, had fixed its circumference at 250,000 stadia; a bold and almost
presumptuous enterprize, (_improbum ausum_,) but which had been conducted
with so much judgment, and on such sound principles, that it commanded and
deserved our credit.
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