Chapter CXXXV: Appendix: I

[ISIDORE’S USE OF THE WORD _TERRA_]

Further light on Isidore’s conception of the earth can be gained by noticing his use of the word _terra_ in the following passage, and comparing the passage with that from Hyginus on which it is based.

Isidore. Hyginus.

Nunc terrae positionem definiemus
et mare quibus locis interfusum
videatur, ordine exponemus.

Terra, ut testatur Hyginus, Terra mundi media regione
mundi media regione collocata, collocata, omnibus partibus
omnibus partibus coeli aequali dissidens intervallo,
aequali dissidens intervallo centrum obtinet sphaerae.
centrum obtinet. Hanc mediam dividit axis in
dimensione totius terrae.

Oceanus autem regione Oceanus autem regione
circumductionis spherae profusus circumductionis spherae profusus,
prope totius orbis alluit prope totius orbis alluit
fines. Itaque et siderum fines. Itaque et signa occidentia
signa occidentia in eum cadere in eum decidere existimantur.
existimantur. Sic igitur et terras
contineri poterimus explanare.
Regio autem terrae dividitur Nam quaecumque regio est quae
trifariam e quibus una pars inter Arcticum et Aestivum finem
Europa, altera Asia, tertia collocata est, ea dividitur
Africa vocatur. Europam trifariam e quibus una pars,
igitur ab Africa dividit mare Europa; altera, Asia; tertia,
ab extremis oceani finibus, et Africa vocatur. Europam igitur ab
Herculi columnis. Asiam autem Africa dividit mare ab extremis
et Libyam cum Aegypto Oceani finibus, et Herculi
disterminat ostium Nili fluvii, columnis. Asiam vero et Libyam
quod Canopicon appellatur. cum Aegypto disterminat os Nili
Asiam ab Europa Tanais dividit fluminis quod Canopicon
bifariam se conjiciens in appellatur. Asiam ab Europa
paludem, quae Maeotis appellatur. conjiciens in paludem quae
Asia autem, ut ait beatissimus Maeotis appellatur. (_Hygini
Augustinus, a meridie per Poeticon Astron., Mythographi
orientem usque ad septentrionem Latini_, Thomas Muncherus,
pervenit. Europa vero a Amsterdam, 1681, vol. i, p. 353.)
septentrione usque ad occidentem,
atque inde Africa ab occidente
usque ad meridiem.

Unde videntur orbem dimidium
duae tenere, Europa et Africa.
Alium vero dimidium sola Asia.
Sed ideo illae duae partes factae
sunt, quia inter utramque ab
Oceano ingreditur, quidquid
aquarum terras influit, et hoc
mare Magnum nobis facit. Totius
autem terrae mensuram geometrae
centum octoginta millium
stadiorum aestimaverunt. (_De
Natura Rerum_, ch. 48.)

In the passage from Hyginus, _terra_ in the singular is the spherical earth occupying the centre of the sphere formed by the universe. The ocean is on the surface of this spherical earth, and it washes “the limits of the circle of lands”. For this reason the heavenly bodies “are [popularly] supposed to set in it.” Hyginus then turns to the dry land (_terras_), and describes the land surface “between the boundaries of the Arctic and torrid zones” as divided into three parts, Europe, Asia, and Africa.

In Isidore _terra_ means in the first instance, dry land, in the second—if he realized the meaning of Hyginus—the sphere; in the third, the dry land; in the fourth, the sphere. There is no evidence that Isidore was conscious of having made these transitions. He entirely omits the sentence in which Hyginus passes from the subject of the spherical earth to that of the lands. It is clear that Isidore has fallen into the same confusion here as in the passage quoted on p. 51; he uses the terminology of the spherical earth, while having no conception of anything but the flat earth.[367]

The difficulty offered by the word _sphera_ in the passage quoted above from Isidore, is not insuperable, since it is clear from the following passage that he was not very definite in his notion of what a sphere was. A sphere and a circle apparently meant about the same thing to him.

[367] For passages illustrating Isidore’s cosmology, see _Etym._,
2, 24, 2; 3, 52, 1; 3, 47; 9, 2, 133; 11, 3, 24; 13, 1, 1. See
also pp. 50–58 and notes.

Cujus perfectionem spherae vel circuli multis
argumentationibus tractans, rationabile Plato Fabricatoris
mundi insinuat opus. Primo, quod ex una linea constat.
Secundo, quod sine initio est et sine fine. Tertio, quod a
puncto efficitur. Denuo, quod motum ex se habeat. Deinde
quod careat indicio angulorum, et quod in se ceteras
figuras omnes includat, et quod motum inerrabilem habeat,
siquidem sex alii motus errabiles sunt, ante, a tergo,
dextra, laevaque, sursum, deorsum. Postremo, et quod
necessitate efficiatur, ut haec linea ultra circulum duci
non possit. D. N. R., 12, 5.