16

to die once for all through their untimely death rather than to add to their sins, and he brought men and the irrational animals which were on account of man into this land, being better and almost equal to paradise, which he also did, commanding Noah after the flood, while he was in this land, to taste of all things, both of trees and of seeds, and teaching him to eat flesh. 2.42 But that he did not bring on the flood only to kill them is clear from the fact that the water prevailed for a longer time; for even one day or two would have been enough to destroy all, but it was so that the ark might cross the Ocean and be brought to this land. For one hundred and fifty days the water prevailed without diminishing, until the ark wondrously crossed into this land. But also that the water was raised fifteen cubits above the high mountains, it is very clear that He ordained it to happen this way on account of the measurement of the submerged part of the ark, so that the ark might rest upon the mountains. For half the height of the ark was submerged, that is, fifteen cubits; for its total height was thirty cubits. 2.43 It is possible therefore to learn from this and from the prophecy of Lamech and from the construction of the table in the tabernacle that there is a land beyond the Ocean, encircling the Ocean. But also the hierophant Moses says in Deuteronomy thus: "And you, Israel, hear the commandment, which I give you today. Do not say in your heart: Who will ascend into heaven to bring it down to us? Or who will cross to the other side of the sea to bring it to us? The word is near you, in your mouth," saying this, that: Do not say, to go up into heaven to bring down the divine commandments, or to cross to the other side of the sea to bring them, for behold they are near you, in your mouth and in your heart, teaching both things at the same time, that there is a land or a place beyond the Ocean, and that it is impossible to cross the Ocean, just as it is for us, being still mortal, to ascend into heaven. 2.44 But also Baruch, the scribe of Jeremiah the prophet, in his own epistle, advising about wisdom, and having been taught the statutes of Moses, utters the same things as Moses and says: "Who has gone up into heaven and taken her, and brought her down from the clouds? Who has crossed the other side of the sea and found her?" as both of these are impossible. For he does not speak of the navigable gulfs with the phrase "the other side of the sea"—for it is possible to cross these—but of the Ocean itself. 2.45 Nevertheless, men also, desiring to learn and investigate many things, if paradise were in this land, many would not hesitate to reach those very places. For if, for the sake of silk, some do not hesitate to travel to the ends of the earth for the sake of wretched commerce, how would they hesitate to journey for the sight of paradise itself? And this country of silk is in the innermost of all India, on the left side for those entering the Indian Sea, much further than the Persian Gulf and the island called Selediba by the Indians, but Taprobane by the Greeks—Tzinista it is thus called—being again encircled on the left by the Ocean, just as Barbaria is encircled by it on the right. And the Indians, the philosophers called Brahmans, say that if you stretch a cord from Tzinista through Persia to Romania, as if by a rule, it is the very middle of the world, and perhaps they speak the truth. 2.46 For it is far to the left, so that shipments of silk from there reach Persia by land in a short time, passed on by other nations in succession, while by sea it is very many distances away from Persia. For whatever distance the Persian Gulf covers entering Persia, so great a distance again from Taprobane and beyond does one travel to the left entering Tzinista itself, after there are also again considerable distances from the very start of the Persian Gulf, the whole Indian sea as far as Taprobane

16

ἅπαξ ἀποθανεῖν διὰ τῆς ἀωρίας μᾶλλον μὴ προστιθέναι ἁμαρτίας, ἐνέγκῃ δὲ τοὺς ἀνθρώπους καὶ τὰ ἄλογα τὰ διὰ τὸν ἄνθρωπον ἐν τῇ γῇ ταύτῃ, κρείττονι ὑπαρχούσῃ καὶ σχεδὸν ἴσῃ τοῦ παραδείσου, ὅπερ καὶ πεποίηκε, κελεύσας τῷ Νῶε μετὰ τὸν κατακλυσμὸν ἐν τῇ γῇ ταύτῃ ὑπάρχοντι πάντων ἀπογεύσασθαι, καὶ ξύλων καὶ σπερμάτων, καὶ διδάξας κρεοφαγεῖν. 2.42 Ὅτι δὲ οὐ διὰ τὸ ἀποκτεῖναι ἐκείνους μόνον ἐπήγαγε τὸν κατακλυσμὸν δῆλον ἐκ τοῦ ἐπικρατῆσαι τὸ ὕδωρ ἐπὶ πλείονα χρόνονἤρκει γὰρ καὶ μία ἡμέρα ἢ καὶ δύο πάντας ἀπολέσαι, ἀλλ' ἵνα καὶ τὴν κιβωτὸν διαπεράσῃ τὸν Ὠκεανὸν καὶ ἐνέγκῃ ἐν τῇ γῇ ταύτῃ. Ἑκατὸν γὰρ πεντήκοντα ἡμέρας ἐπεκράτησε τὸ ὕδωρ μὴ ἐλαττούμενον, ἕως ὅτε περάσῃ παραδόξως ἡ κιβωτὸς ἐν τῇ γῇ ταύτῃ. Ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ ὑψωθῆναι τὸ ὕδωρ ἐπάνω τῶν ὑψηλῶν ὀρέων πήχεις δεκαπέντε, εὔδηλόν ἐστιν ὡς διὰ τὸ μέτρον τοῦ μέρους τῆς κιβωτοῦ τοῦ ὑποβρυχίου, ἵνα ἐπικαθίσῃ ἡ κιβωτὸς ἐπάνω τῶν ὀρέων, ᾠκονόμησεν οὕτως γενέσθαι. Τὸ ἥμισυ γὰρ τοῦ ὕψους τῆς κιβωτοῦ ὑποβρύχιον ἦν, τουτέστι πήχεις δεκαπέντε· ἦν γὰρ ὕψος ἔχουσα πᾶσα πηχῶν τριάκοντα. 2.43 Ἔστιν οὖν καὶ ἐκ τούτου καὶ ἐκ τῆς προφητείας τοῦ Λάμεχ καὶ ἐκ τῆς κατασκευῆς τῆς τραπέζης τῆς ἐν τῇ σκηνῇ μαθεῖν ὅτι πέραν τοῦ Ὠκεανοῦ γῆ ὑπάρχει κυκλοῦσα τὸν Ὠκεανόν. Ἀλλὰ καὶ ὁ ἱεροφάντης Μωϋσῆς ἐν τῷ ∆ευτερονομίῳ φησὶν οὕτως· "Καὶ σύ, Ἰσραήλ, ἄκουσον τὴν ἐντολήν, ἣν δίδωμί σοι σήμερον. Μὴ εἵπῃς ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ σου· Τίς ἀναβήσεται εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν καταγαγεῖν ἡμῖν αὐτήν; Ἢ τίς περάσει εἰς τὸ πέραν τῆς θαλάσσης ἀγαγεῖν ἡμῖν αὐτήν; Ἐγγύς σου τὸ ῥῆμά ἐστιν ἐν τῷ στόματί σου", τοῦτο λέγων ὅτι· Μὴ εἴπῃς ἀνελθεῖν εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν καταγαγεῖν τὰ θεῖα προστάγματα, ἢ περάσαι εἰς τὸ πέραν τῆς θαλάσσης ἀγαγεῖν αὐτά, ὅτι ἰδοὺ ἐγγύς σού εἰσιν ἐν τῷ στόματί σου καὶ ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ σου, ἐν ταὐτῷ ἀμφότερα διδάξας ὅτι καὶ πέραν τοῦ Ὠκεανοῦ γῆ ἤτοι τόπος ὑπάρχει, καὶ ἀδύνατόν ἐστι διαπορθμεῦσαι τὸν Ὠκεανόν, ὥσπερ οὖν καὶ εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν ἀνελθεῖν θνητοὺς ἔτι ἡμᾶς ὑπάρχοντας. 2.44 Ἀλλὰ καὶ Βαρούχ, ὁ γραμματεὺς Ἱερεμίου τοῦ προφήτου, ἐν τῇ ἐπιστολῇ ἑαυτοῦ περὶ φρονήσεως συμβουλεύων, διδαχθεὶς δὲ καὶ νόμιμα Μωϋσέως, τὰ αὐτὰ Μωϋσῇ φθέγγεται καί φησι· "Τίς ἀνέβη εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ ἔλαβεν αὐτὴν καὶ κατεβίβασεν αὐτὴν ἐκ τῶν νεφελῶν; Τίς διέβη πέραν τῆς θαλάσσης καὶ εὗρεν αὐτήν;" ὡς ἀδυνάτων καὶ τῶν δύο ὄντων. Οὔτε γὰρ περὶ τῶν κόλπων τῶν πλεομένων λέγει τὸ "πέραν τῆς θαλάσσης" δυνατὸν γὰρ περάσαι τούτους, ἀλλὰ περὶ αὐτοῦ τοῦ Ὠκεανοῦ. 2.45 Οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ καὶ οἱ ἄνθρωποι ποθοῦντες τὰ πολλὰ μανθάνειν καὶ περιεργάζεσθαι, εἴπερ ἦν ὁ παράδεισος ἐν ταύτῃ τῇ γῇ, οὐκ ὤκνουν οἱ πολλοὶ φθάσαι μέχρι τῶν αὐτόθι. Εἰ γὰρ διὰ μέταξιν εἰς τὰ ἔσχατα τῆς γῆς τινες ἐμπορίας οἰκτρᾶς χάριν οὐκ ὀκνοῦσι διελθεῖν, πῶς ἂν περὶ τῆς θέας αὐτοῦ τοῦ παραδείσου ὤκνησαν πορεύεσθαι; Αὕτη δὲ ἡ χώρα τοῦ μεταξίου ἐστὶν ἐν τῇ ἐσωτέρᾳ πάντων Ἰνδίᾳ, κατὰ τὸ ἀριστερὸν μέρος εἰσιόντων τοῦ Ἰνδικοῦ πελάγους, περαιτέρω πολὺ τοῦ Περσικοῦ κόλπου καὶ τῆς νήσου τῆς καλουμένης παρὰ μὲν Ἰνδοῖς, Σελεδίβα, παρὰ δὲ τοῖς Ἕλλησι, Ταπροβάνη, Τζίνιστα οὕτω καλουμένη, κυκλουμένη πάλιν ἐξ ἀριστερῶν ὑπὸ τοῦ Ὠκεανοῦ, ὥσπερ καὶ ἡ Βαρβαρία κυκλοῦται ἐκ δεξιῶν ὑπ' αὐτοῦ. Καί φασιν οἱ Ἰνδοί, οἱ φιλόσοφοι, οἱ καλούμενοι Βραχμάνες, ὅτι ἐὰν βάλῃς ἀπὸ Τζίνιστα σπαρτίον διελθεῖν διὰ Περσίδος ἕως Ῥωμανίας ὡς ἀπὸ κανόνος τὸ μεσαίτατον τοῦ κόσμου ἐστί, καὶ τάχα ἀληθεύουσιν. 2.46 Πολὺ γὰρ ἀριστερά ἐστιν, ὡς δι' ὀλίγου χρόνου βασταγὰς μεταξίου γίνεσθαι ἐκ τῶν ἐκεῖ, ἐκ διαδοχῆς ἑτέρων ἐθνῶν, ἐν Περσίδι διὰ τῆς γῆς, διὰ δὲ τῆς θαλάσσης πάνυ πολλὰ διαστήματα ἀπέχουσα ἀπὸ τῆς Περσίδος. Ὅσον γὰρ διάστημα ἔχει ὁ κόλπος ὁ Περσικὸς εἰσερχόμενος ἐν Περσίδι, τοσοῦτο διάστημα πάλιν ἀπὸ τῆς Ταπροβάνης καὶ περαιτέρω ποιεῖ ἐπὶ τὰ ἀριστερὰ εἰσερχόμενός τις ἐν αὐτῇ τῇ Τζίνιστα, μετὰ τὸ καὶ διαστήματα πάλιν ἱκανὰ ἔχειν ἀπὸ τῆς ἀρχῆς ἐξ αὐτοῦ τοῦ Περσικοῦ κόλπου, ὅλον τὸ Ἰνδικὸν πέλαγος ἕως Ταπροβάνης