He first formed the idea of a general survey of the whole
empire; and for this purpose obtained a decree of the senate. The survey
was finished by Augustus: the execution of it was committed to three Greek
geographers. The survey of the eastern portion of the empire was committed
to Zenodoxus, who completed it, in fourteen years, five months, and nine
days. The northern division was finished by Theodoras in twenty years,
eight months, and ten days: and the southern division was finished in
twenty-five years, one month, and ten days. This survey, with the
supplementary surveys of the new provinces, as they were conquered and
added to the empire, formed the basis of the geography of Ptolemy. It
appears from Vegetius, that every governor of a province was furnished with
a description of it, in which were given the distance of places, the nature
of the roads, the face of the country, the direction of the rivers, &c.: he
adds, that all these were delineated on a map as well as described in
writing. Of this excellent plan for the itineraries and surveys of the
Roman empire, from which the ancient geographers obtained their fullest and
most accurate information, Julius Caesar was the author.
Julius Caesar certainly added much to geographical knowledge by his
conquests of Gaul and Britain: his information respecting the latter,
however, as might be expected, is very erroneous.
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