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interest in the exercise. "It is a name given to a country in the north-eastern corner of Asia Minor, on the Black Sea, the ancient name of which was Pontus Euxinus, or Euxine Sea, from which it got its name. His mother was of Greek descent, and nothing is known of his father. I suppose you all know what strabismus means." "I am sure I don't," replied Mrs. Blossom; and probably she was the only one who could answer in the negative. "In plain terms, it means cross-eyed; and doubtless Strabo obtained his name from having this defect in his eyes. Whether any of his family were called so before him is not known. He studied with various learned men in Greece, Rome, and Alexandria. It does not appear that he had any occupation, but devoted all his time to study and travel. He wrote forty-seven books, and those on geography were very valuable; for he wrote from his own observation, though sometimes he is very full, at others very meagre. He is regarded as by no means the equal of Herodotus. "The third of whom I am to speak is Diodorus Siculus." "You have put a tail on his name, Professor," added the magnate. "That is as much a part of his name as the rest of it, as used by scholars. It means that he was born in Sicily. Very little is known about him beyond what he told himself. He lived in the time of Julius Caesar and Augustus, and for a long time in Rome. He travelled in Europe and Asia for material. He wrote a history of the world from the creation to the time of Julius Caesar. Some of the volumes are lost, and some of them are still read. "Diodorus was deficient in the qualifications of a historian; and about all that is valuable in his writings is the mass of facts he gives, from which he was not competent to make the proper deductions. The material he gathered is valuable; but the thirty years he spent in the composition of his works have not purchased for him the literary reputation of Herodotus, or even of Strabo." "I am very much obliged to you for your lecture, and I hope others besides myself have profited by it," said Mr. Woolridge. The professor bowed, and took some manuscript from his pocket. CHAPTER XXVIII THE ANCIENT KINGDOMS OF THE WORLD When the promenade had been transformed into Conference Hall, the arrangement for the maps had not been forgotten, and the frame had been set up against the after end of the pilot-house. It covered the two windows; but they were not needed w
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