16: "The Orcades are forty in number, at a small
distance
from each other.
Tacitus
They succeeded, in the calends of July, the consuls Vespasian and Titus, who began the year.
]
35 (return)
[ He was admitted into the Pontifical College, at the head of which was the Pontifex Maximus. ]
36 (return)
[ Julius Caesar, Livy, Strabo, Fabius Rusticus, Pomponius Mela, Pliny, &c. ]
37 (return)
[ Thus Caesar: "One side of Britain inclines towards Spain, and the setting sun; on which part Ireland is situated. "—Bell. Gall. v. 13. ]
38 (return)
[ These, as well as other resemblances suggested by ancient geographers, have been mostly destroyed by the greater accuracy of modern maps. ]
39 (return)
[ This is so far true, that the northern extremity of Scotland is much narrower than the southern coast of England. ]
40 (return)
[ The Orkney Islands. These, although now first thoroughly known to the Romans, had before been heard of, and mentioned by authors. Thus Mela, in. 6: "There are thirty of the Orcades, separated from each other by narrow straits. " And Pliny, iv.
16: "The Orcades are forty in number, at a small distance from each other. " In the reign of Claudius, the report concerning these islands was particularly current, and adulation converted it into the news of a victory. Hence Hieronymus in his Chronicon says, "Claudius triumphed over the Britons, and added the Orcades to the Roman empire. "]
41 (return)
[ Camden supposes the Shetland Islands to be meant here by Thule; others imagine it to have been one of the Hebrides. Pliny, iv. 16, mentions Thule as the most remote of all known islands; and, by placing it but one day's sail from the Frozen Ocean, renders it probable that Iceland was intended. Procopius (Bell. Goth, ii. 15) speaks of another Thule, which must have been Norway, which many of the ancients thought to be an island. Mr. Pennant supposes that the Thule here meant was Foula, a very lofty isle, one of the most westerly of the Shetlands, which might easily be descried by the fleet. ]
42 (return)
[ As far as the meaning of this passage can be elucidated, it would appear as if the first circumnavigators of Britain, to enhance the idea of their dangers and hardships, had represented the Northern sea as in such a thickened half solid state, that the oars could scarcely be worked, or the water agitated by winds. Tacitus, however, rather chooses to explain its stagnant condition from the want of winds, and the difficulty of moving so great a body of waters. But the fact, taken either way, is erroneous; as this sea is never observed frozen, and is remarkably stormy and tempestuous. —Aiken. ]
43 (return)
[ The great number of firths and inlets of the sea, which almost cut through the northern parts of the island, as well as the height of the tides on the coast, render this observation peculiarly proper.
35 (return)
[ He was admitted into the Pontifical College, at the head of which was the Pontifex Maximus. ]
36 (return)
[ Julius Caesar, Livy, Strabo, Fabius Rusticus, Pomponius Mela, Pliny, &c. ]
37 (return)
[ Thus Caesar: "One side of Britain inclines towards Spain, and the setting sun; on which part Ireland is situated. "—Bell. Gall. v. 13. ]
38 (return)
[ These, as well as other resemblances suggested by ancient geographers, have been mostly destroyed by the greater accuracy of modern maps. ]
39 (return)
[ This is so far true, that the northern extremity of Scotland is much narrower than the southern coast of England. ]
40 (return)
[ The Orkney Islands. These, although now first thoroughly known to the Romans, had before been heard of, and mentioned by authors. Thus Mela, in. 6: "There are thirty of the Orcades, separated from each other by narrow straits. " And Pliny, iv.
16: "The Orcades are forty in number, at a small distance from each other. " In the reign of Claudius, the report concerning these islands was particularly current, and adulation converted it into the news of a victory. Hence Hieronymus in his Chronicon says, "Claudius triumphed over the Britons, and added the Orcades to the Roman empire. "]
41 (return)
[ Camden supposes the Shetland Islands to be meant here by Thule; others imagine it to have been one of the Hebrides. Pliny, iv. 16, mentions Thule as the most remote of all known islands; and, by placing it but one day's sail from the Frozen Ocean, renders it probable that Iceland was intended. Procopius (Bell. Goth, ii. 15) speaks of another Thule, which must have been Norway, which many of the ancients thought to be an island. Mr. Pennant supposes that the Thule here meant was Foula, a very lofty isle, one of the most westerly of the Shetlands, which might easily be descried by the fleet. ]
42 (return)
[ As far as the meaning of this passage can be elucidated, it would appear as if the first circumnavigators of Britain, to enhance the idea of their dangers and hardships, had represented the Northern sea as in such a thickened half solid state, that the oars could scarcely be worked, or the water agitated by winds. Tacitus, however, rather chooses to explain its stagnant condition from the want of winds, and the difficulty of moving so great a body of waters. But the fact, taken either way, is erroneous; as this sea is never observed frozen, and is remarkably stormy and tempestuous. —Aiken. ]
43 (return)
[ The great number of firths and inlets of the sea, which almost cut through the northern parts of the island, as well as the height of the tides on the coast, render this observation peculiarly proper.
