most powerful, it meets the Tigris especially near Susa. And so, ceasing from its own name, with that one it is dragged down to the Persian gulf. And the land between these two rivers, the Tigris and the Euphrates, happens to be called Mesopotamia. 3.9 That the Tigris and the Euphrates, as to the visible place from which they emerge, has been stated. But our sacred scripture, saying that these spring from Paradise, relates what is most true. For carrying the first beginnings of their streams from it, they proceed for a certain distance, perhaps flowing above ground; then, when the great and very sandy desert receives them, being swallowed down here into the depth, they do not stop their downward course until they reach the very solid and rocky part of the land there. And when the foundation there provides a stop to their downward progress, here their streams are already gathered together, and by the abundance and force of what is always added, they proceed forward, being forced straight on. But these rivers, traveling underground, with no small portion of them being taken away by the earth in between, now appear smaller and weaker at the places of their reappearance. And that they traverse a very great land in its depths, it is not unreasonable to believe. For there are also many other streams everywhere, both of the very greatest and most powerful, that travel under the earth. And it is clear; for a great sound is heard from them as they are carried with much disturbance and rushing noise; but also some, digging wells above them, and having pierced for a little the slab they encountered below, under which the stream, already gurgling, was forcing its way upwards, were with difficulty pulled up, being snatched up by those standing on the lip of the well-digging, and the stream, rushing along with them, proceeded into a channel, no longer troubled by any drought because of the ever-flowing nature of its supply. For the ineffable wisdom of God has made the courses of the streams, some unseen, others manifest, like veins supplying what is necessary. In this way, therefore, the prophet David also sang in a psalm: «20he founded it upon the seas and prepared it upon the rivers20»; as having stored up the seas in its greatest gulfs, as it were, and having strengthened its base to bear so great a bulk and multitude of things borne in it; and having always given the rivers an unimpeded passage by its well-contrived arrangements, providing a place for the force of the teeming water by the depressions and lowlands of the regions, from the higher to the lower places. 3.10 That he says, using conjecture, that Paradise is situated in the equinoctial East, first, from the fact that the lands to the south are clearly all inhabited almost up to the outer sea, which sea the sun now burns up, directing its rays perpendicularly upon it; and this is the so-called torrid zone. And also because the river now called the Hyphasis, which scripture names Pishon, itself also gushing forth from Paradise, appears to flow from the more northern parts of the East towards the south and to empty its stream into the Ocean there, opposite the island of Taprobane. along the banks of this river is found the so-called caryophyllum, whether it is a fruit or a flower. And the people there have believed this to be a tree from Paradise. For the land beyond them is entirely terribly desolate and most barren. And from the fact that the river carries the flower, it would be evident that this river flows entirely above ground, nowhere submerging; for it would not be able to carry what grows from there. And it has another symbol of its earthly connection with Paradise: for they say that if someone happens to be burning with a raging fever, having been immersed in the river, he is immediately delivered from the sickness. But the Tigris and Euphrates, because they submerge and rise again, are able to bring nothing from there as the Hyphasis does. Nor indeed the Nile; for also this one to flow from there the [scripture] of Moses

δυνατωτάτῃ, τῷ Τίγρητι κατὰ Σούσας μάλιστα συμπίπτει. καὶ δὴ τῆς ἑαυτοῦ προσηγορίας ἀποπαυσάμενος, σὺν ἐκείνῳ πρὸς τὸν Περσικὸν κατασύρεται κόλπον. καὶ τὸ μεταξὺ τῶν δύο ποταμῶν τούτων, τοῦ τε Τίγρητος καὶ τοῦ Εὐφράτου, Μεσοποταμία τυγχάνει προσαγορευόμενον. 3.9 Ὅτι ὁ Τίγρης καὶ ὁ Εὐφράτης κατὰ μὲν τὸ ἐμφανὲς ὅθεν ἀναδύονται, εἴρηται. ἡ δὲ ἱερὰ ἡμῶν γραφὴ ἐκ τοῦ Παραδείσου τούτους λέγουσα ὁρμᾶσθαι τὸ ἀληθέστατον ἱστορεῖ. καὶ γὰρ ἐξ αὐτοῦ τὰς πρώτας ἀρχὰς τῶν ῥείθρων φέροντες, ἄχρι μέν τινος προΐασιν, ἴσως ὑπὲρ γῆν ῥέοντες· ἔπειτα δὲ τῆς μεγάλης ἐρήμου καὶ ἀμμωδεστάτης αὐτοὺς ἐκδεξαμένης, πρὸς τὸ βάθος ἐνταῦθα καταπινόμενοι, οὐ πρότερον ἵστανται τῆς ἐπὶ τὰ κάτω φορᾶς, πρὶν ἐπ' αὐτὸ δὴ τὸ στεγανὸν καὶ πετρῶδες τῆς αὐτόθι καταντήσωσι γῆς. στάσιν δ' αὐτοῖς τῆς ἐπὶ τὰ κάτω προχωρήσεως τῆς αὐτόθι κρηπῖδος παρασχομένης, ἐνταῦθα ἤδη τῶν ῥευμάτων αὐτοῖς συναγειρομένων, ὑπὸ πλήθους καὶ ἰσχύος τοῦ ἀεὶ ἐπιφερομένου τὸ πρόσω χωροῦσιν ἐπ' εὐθὺ βιαζόμενοι. ἀλλ' οὗτοι μὲν οἱ ποταμοὶ κατωρύχιοι πορευόμενοι, μοῖραν αὐτῶν οὐκ ὀλίγην τῆς ἐν μέσῳ γῆς ὑπεξαιρουμένης, ἐλάττους ἀπαντῶσιν ἤδη καὶ ἀσθενέστεροι ἐπὶ τοὺς τόπους τῶν ἀναδόσεων. Καὶ τό γε μυχίους αὐτοὺς πλείστην ἐπιέναι γῆν, οὐκ εἰκὸς ἀπιστεῖν. πολλὰ γάρ ἐστιν καὶ ἄλλα ῥεύματα πανταχοῦ καὶ τῶν σφόδρα μεγίστων τε καὶ ἰσχυροτάτων ὑπὸ γῆν ἀφικνούμενα. δῆλον δέ· ἦχός τε γὰρ ἀπ' αὐτῶν ἀκούεται μέγας σὺν ταράχῳ καὶ ῥοίζῳ πολλῷ φερομένων· ἀλλὰ καί τινες ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν φρέατα ὀρυσσόμενοι, καὶ τῆς ἀπηντηκυίας αὐτοῖς πλακὸς κάτωθεν ἐπ' ὀλίγον τρώσαντες, ὑφ' ἣν τὸ ῥεῖθρον ἤδη καχλάζον τὴν ἐπὶ τὸ ἄνω φορὰν βιαζόμενον, μόλις γ' ἀνελήφθησαν ὑπὸ τῶν ἐπὶ τοῦ χείλους τῆς φρεωρυχίας ἑστώτων ἀναρπασθέντες, καὶ τὸ ῥεῖθρον ἐφομαρτῆσαν εἰς ὀχετὸν προὐχώρησεν, ὑπ' οὐδεμιᾶς ἀνομβρίας ἔτι παραλυπούμενον διὰ τὸ τῆς χορηγίας ἀένναον. ἡ γὰρ τοῦ θεοῦ ἀπόρρητος σοφία οἱονεὶ φλέβας χορηγοὺς τῶν ἀναγκαίων τὰς τῶν ῥείθρων διεκδρομάς, τὰς μὲν ἀφανεῖς, τὰς δὲ προδήλους, εἰργάσατο. ταύτῃ ἄρα καὶ ὁ προφήτης ἐμελῴδησε ∆αυΐδ· «20αὐτὸς ἐπὶ θαλασσῶν ἐθεμελίωσεν αὐτὴν καὶ ἐπὶ ποταμῶν ἡτοίμασεν αὐτήν20»· ὡς τὰς μὲν θαλάττας τοῖς μεγίστοις αὐτῆς κολπώμασιν οἷον ἀποθησαυρίσας, καὶ τὴν βάσιν αὐτῆς κρατυνάμενος πρὸς τὸ ἀνέχεσθαι τοσοῦτον ὄγκον καὶ πλῆθος τῶν ἐν αὐτῇ φερομένων· τοῖς δὲ ποταμοῖς τὴν διέξοδον ἀπόλυτον ταῖς εὐμηχάνοις αὐτῆς διαθέσεσι δοὺς ἀεί, ταῖς τῶν χωρίων ὑπαγωγαῖς τε καὶ ταπεινότησιν ἀπὸ τῶν ὑψηλοτέρων ἐπὶ τὰ χθαμαλώτερα τόπον τῇ ῥοπῇ τοῦ βρίθοντος ὕδατος παρασχών. 3.10 Ὅτι κεῖσθαι τὸν Παράδεισον οὗτος εἰκασίᾳ χρώμενος λέγει κατὰ τὰς ἰσημερίας τῆς Ἠοῦς, πρῶτον μὲν ἐξ ὧν τὰ πρὸς μεσημβρίαν δῆλά ἐστι πάντα οἰκούμενα σχεδὸν μέχρι τῆς ἔξω θαλάττης, ἣν θάλατταν ὁ ἥλιος ἤδη ξυμφλέγει καθέτως ἐπ' αὐτῇ τὰς ἀκτῖνας ἐρείδων· καὶ ἡ διὰ μέσου λεγομένη ζώνη τοῦτό ἐστιν. ἔτι δὲ καὶ διότι ὁ νῦν Ὕφασις καλούμενος ποταμός, ὃν ἡ γραφὴ Φησὼν ὀνομάζει, καὶ αὐτὸς τοῦ Παραδείσου ἀναβλύζων, ἐκ τῶν ἀρκτῴων μᾶλλον τῆς Ἀνατολῆς μερῶν ἐπὶ τὴν μεσημβρίαν φαίνεται ῥέων καὶ εἰς τὸν ταύτῃ Ὠκεανὸν τὸ ῥεῖθρον εἰσερευγόμενος, ἀντικρὺ τῆς νήσου Ταπροβάνης. οὗ παρὰ τὰς ὄχθας τοῦ ποταμοῦ εὑρίσκεται τὸ λεγόμενον καρυόφυλλον, εἴτε καρπός, εἴτε δὲ καὶ ἄνθος τυγχάνει. καὶ πεπιστεύκασιν οἱ ἐκείνῃ τῶν ἐκ τοῦ Παραδείσου τοῦτο δένδρον εἶναι. καὶ γὰρ καὶ ἡ ὑπὲρ αὐτοὺς γῆ ἔρημός τέ ἐστι δεινῶς ἅπασα καὶ ἀκαρποτάτη. ἐκ δὲ τοῦ φέρειν τὸν ποταμὸν τὸ ἄνθος, ἐπίδηλον ἂν εἴη ὡς οὗτος ὁ ποταμὸς ὑπὲρ γῆς ἅπας ῥεῖ, μηδαμόθι καταδυόμενος· οὐ γὰρ ἂν τὸ ἐκεῖθεν φυόμενον ἠδύνατο φέρειν. ἔχει δέ τι καὶ ἄλλο σύμβολον τῆς περὶ τὸν Παράδεισον γεηρᾶς ἐπιμιξίας· φασὶ γὰρ ὡς ἐάν τις τύχοι πυρετῷ λάβρῳ φλεγόμενος, εἰς τὸν ποταμὸν βαπτισάμενος, παραυτίκα τοῦ νοσήματος ἀπαλλάττεται. Ὁ δὲ Τίγρης καὶ Εὐφράτης, διότι καταδύουσιν καὶ πάλιν ἀνίσχουσιν, οὐδὲν ἐκεῖθεν δύνανται κομίζειν ὡς ὁ Ὕφασις. οὐδέ γε ὁ Νεῖλος· καὶ γὰρ καὶ τοῦτον ἐκεῖθεν ῥεῖν ἡ Μωσέως