All in all, then, this epoch of Roman domination is one that need
detain the historian of science but a brief moment. With the
culmination of Greek effort in the so-called Hellenistic period
we have seen ancient science at its climax. The Roman period is
but a time of transition, marking, as it were, a plateau on the
slope between those earlier heights and the deep, dark valleys of
the Middle Ages. Yet we cannot quite disregard the efforts of
such workers as those we have just named. Let us take a more
specific glance at their accomplishments.


STRABO THE GEOGRAPHER

The earliest of these workers in point of time is Strabo. This
most famous of ancient geographers was born in Amasia, Pontus,
about 63 B.C., and lived to the year 24 A.D., living, therefore,
in the age of Caesar and Augustus, during which the final
transformation in the political position of the kingdom of Egypt
was effected. The name of Strabo in a modified form has become
popularized through a curious circumstance. The geographer, it
appears, was afflicted with a peculiar squint of the eyes, hence
the name strabismus, which the modern oculist applies to that
particular infirmity.

Fortunately, the great geographer has not been forced to depend
upon hearsay evidence for recognition. His comprehensive work on
geography has been preserved in its entirety, being one of the
few expansive classical writings of which this is true. The other
writings of Strabo, however, including certain histories of which
reports have come down to us, are entirely lost. The geography is
in many ways a remarkable book. It is not, however, a work in
which any important new principles are involved. Rather is it
typical of its age in that it is an elaborate compilation and a
critical review of the labors of Strabo's predecessors. Doubtless
it contains a vast deal of new information as to the details of
geography--precise areas and distance, questions of geographical
locations as to latitude and zones, and the like. But however
important these details may have been from a contemporary
stand-point, they, of course, can have nothing more than
historical interest to posterity. The value of the work from our
present stand-point is chiefly due to the criticisms which Strabo
passes upon his forerunners, and to the incidental historical and
scientific references with which his work abounds. Being written
in this closing period of ancient progress, and summarizing, as
it does, in full detail the geographical knowledge of the time,
it serves as an important guide-mark for the student of the
progress of scientific thought. We cannot do better than briefly
to follow Strabo in his estimates and criticisms of the work of
his predecessors, taking note thus of the point of view from
which he himself looked out upon the world. We shall thus gain a
clear idea as to the state of scientific geography towards the
close of the classical epoch.

"If the scientific investigation of any subject be the proper
avocation of the philosopher," says Strabo, "geography, the
science of which we propose to treat, is certainly entitled to a
high place; and this is evident from many considerations. They
who first undertook to handle the matter were distinguished men.
Homer, Anaximander the Milesian, and Hecaeus (his fellow-citizen
according to Eratosthenes), Democritus, Eudoxus, Dicaearchus, and
Ephorus, with many others, and after these, Eratosthenes,
Polybius, and Posidonius, all of them philosophers. Nor is the
great learning through which alone this subject can be approached
possessed by any but a person acquainted with both human and
divine things, and these attainments constitute what is called
philosophy. In addition to its vast importance in regard to
social life and the art of government, geography unfolds to us a
celestial phenomena, acquaints us with the occupants of the land
and ocean, and the vegetation, fruits, and peculiarities of the
various quarters of the earth, a knowledge of which marks him who
cultivates it as a man earnest in the great problem of life and
happiness."

Strabo goes on to say that in common with other critics,
including Hipparchus, he regards Homer as the first great
geographer. He has much to say on the geographical knowledge of
the bard, but this need not detain us. We are chiefly concerned
with his comment upon his more recent predecessors, beginning
with Eratosthenes. The constant reference to this worker shows
the important position which he held. Strabo appears neither as
detractor nor as partisan, but as one who earnestly desires the
truth. Sometimes he seems captious in his criticisms regarding
some detail, nor is he always correct in his emendations of the
labors of others; but, on the whole, his work is marked by an
evident attempt at fairness. In reading his book, however, one is
forced to the conclusion that Strabo is an investigator of
details, not an original thinker. He seems more concerned with
precise measurements than with questionings as to the open
problems of his science. Whatever he accepts, then, may be taken
as virtually the stock doctrine of the period.

"As the size of the earth," he says, "has been demonstrated by
other writers, we shall here take for granted and receive as
accurate what they have advanced. We shall also assume that the
earth is spheroidal, that its surface is likewise spheroidal and,
above all, that bodies have a tendency towards its centre, which
latter point is clear to the perception of the most average
understanding. However, we may show summarily that the earth is
spheroidal, from the consideration that all things, however


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