. . .Ariana is not so accurately described, on account of its western side being interwoven with the adjacent land. Still it is pretty well distinguished by its three other sides, which are formed by three nearly straight lines, and also by its name, which shows it to be only one nation.579 As to the Third Section of Eratosthenes, it cannot be considered to be defined or circumscribed at all; for that side of it which is common to Ariana is but ill defined, as before remarked. The southern side, too, is most negligently taken: it is, in fact, no boundary to the section at all, for it passes right through its centre, leaving entirely outside of it many of the southern portions. Nor [Pg 129] yet does it represent the greatest length of the section, for the northern side is the longest.580 Nor, lastly, can the Euphrates be its western boundary, not even if it flowed in a right line, since its two extremes581 do not lie under the same meridian. How then is it the western rather. . . Read More