lian hypolambanein apista dokein.] Aristotle, _De Coelo_, ii.
14. He goes on to say that "those persons" allege the existence
of elephants alike in Mauretania and in India in proof of their
theory.]

[Footnote 449: [Greek: Host' ei me to megethos tou Atlantikou
pelagous ekolye, kan plein hemas ek tes Iberias eis ten Indiken
dia tou autou parallelou.] Strabo, i. 4, Sec. 6.]

[Footnote 450: "Quantum enim est, quod ab ultimis litoribus
Hispaniae usque ad Indos jacet? Paucissimorum dierum spatium, si
navem suus ventus implevit." Seneca, _Nat. Quaest._, i. praef. Sec.
11.]

[Footnote 451:

Venient annis saecula seris,
Quibus Oceanus vincula rerum
Laxet, et ingens pateat tellus,
Tethysque novos detegat orbes,
Nec sit terris ultima Thule.
Seneca, _Medea_, 376.

In the copy of Seneca's tragedies, published at Venice in
1510, bought at Valladolid by Ferdinand Columbus in March,
1518, for 4 reals (plus 2 reals for binding), and now to be
seen at the Biblioteca Colombina, there is a marginal note
attached to these verses: "haec prophetia expleta [=e] per
patr[=e] meuz[=z] cristofor[=u] col[=o] almir[=a]t[=e] anno
1492."]

[Footnote 452: [Greek: Kaloumen gar oikoumenen hen oikoumen kai
gnorizomen; endeketai de kai en te aute eukrato zone kai dyo
oikoumenas einai e kai pleious.] Strabo, i. 4, Sec. 6; [Greek: kai
gar ei houtos echei, ouch hypo touton ge oikeitai ton par'
hemin; all' ekeinen allen oikoumenen theteon. hoper esti
pithanon. Hemin de ta en aute tauta lekteon.] Id. ii. 5, Sec. 13.
This has always seemed to me one of the most remarkable
anticipations of modern truth in all ancient literature. Mr.
Bunbury thinks it may have suggested the famous verses of
Seneca just quoted. _History of Ancient Geography_, vol. ii. p.
224.]

[Sidenote: Opinions of Christian writers.]

[Sidenote: Roger Bacon.]

[Sidenote: The "Imago Mundi" of Petrus Alliacus.]

Early in the Christian era we are told by an eminent Greek astronomer
that the doctrine of the earth's sphericity was accepted by all
competent persons except the Epicureans.[453] Among the Fathers of the
Church there was s