Of the might of the Nile according to the Astronomers, and of its
increase.
What man could decide the great contention there is among the learned
concerning the source and power of this river: for Alexander, who was
the most powerful of the Kings, to whom the province of Memphis in Egypt
made prayer, conceived a grudge against the Nile, for that he was not
able to learn the truth of the aforesaid source, though he was lord of
the world. And this covetousness was not only in him, but it was also
found among the Kings of Egypt, and of Persia, and of Macedonia, and of
Greece. But we will here describe in some small measure the course of
this river, according to the Astronomers, who say that Mercury is the
source of power over the waters, and that he hath influence over them;
and that when he is in that part of the heaven where the stars of the
sign of Leo are in conjunction with the stars of the sign of Cancer, or
with the star Sirius, to wit, that which is called the Dog
star,[BF][N151] whence those days are called the Dog days, he poureth
out flames full of fury from his mouth, and altereth thereby the circle
of the year, and the weather also changeth, for then the summer endeth
and autumn beginneth. And again, when the signs of Capricorn and Cancer
are in conjunction, under which the outflow of the Nile is hidden, and
when the star of Mercury is in conjunction with those signs, Mercury
being lord of the waters, striketh on the mouths, that is to say, in
those parts through which the Nile floweth, being under the fire of his
constellation; then the Nile openeth its fount and floweth forth; and
even as the sea waxeth with the waxing of the moon, so riseth the Nile
as if Mercury commanded it, and increaseth till it covereth the land
whence Egypt hath all its principal nutriment. And it doth not gather
its waters together, nor return into its bed until the night hath as
many hours as the day. And in old time there were some who said that the
rising of this stream was chiefly because of the snows of Ethiopia, but
this we find is not so, for the north doth not look upon those mountains
of Ethiopia; no, not any one of the Bears of either pole, to wit, Ellice
and Cynosure,[N152] neither the greater nor the less, which bring the
chill and are the cause of snows and frosts; nor doth the north-east
wind,[BG] which bringeth the frost with it.
[Footnote BF: Canicolla.]
[Footnote BG: Blow upon these mountains.]
And of this there is a good and sufficient testimony in the very colour
of that same people of Ethiopia, whose blood is burnt by the great heat
of the sun, which there hath the full power of its heat, and the breath
of the south-west wind,[BH] which is the hottest of all winds; whence
the men of that land have their colour exceeding black; and moreover, no
river, whatever it be, that swelleth for reason of the snow or ice that
hath recourse to it, is augmented except from the time of the entry of
the summer season; for then the snow and ice begin to melt by reason of
the heat; but the Nile doth not raise its waters so high, nor do they
swell in its bed before the rising of that same Dog Star, nor do its
waters reach outwards to their banks until the day is equal to the
night, which is in the month of September, when the sun entereth into
the sign of Libra. From all which it appeareth clearly that the Nile
doth not follow the rule of any other waters; but when the sky becometh
distempered in the midst of the great heat of the sun, the Nile issueth
forth with the swelling of its waters, and this is under the belt of the
mid-day, which is scorching hot.
[Footnote BH: Aurego.]
And this it doth that the flame of the axis of the firmament, by reason
of its increase, may not set fire to the land and burn it. And so the
Nile is as it were a succour to the world, because when the mouth of Leo
is kindled, and when Cancer burneth over its city of Syene in Egypt,
then riseth this river against the mouths of the twain, to temper their
fire, the which is a matter of the utmost need to the peoples of the
earth.
And so it spreadeth its waters over the land, not to return to its bed
till the sun shall have come to the time of autumn and lessened its
strength, when the shadows begin to fall in the city of Meroe, where the
trees cast no shadows in summer time, so directly passeth the sun[N153]
overhead above everything. And so, in conclusion, to the great might of
the Nile we may apply those words wherewith Bishop Achoreus spake of it
to Caesar, as Lucan writeth: "Oh," said he, "great and mighty stream,
which risest from the midst of the axis of the firmament, and venturest
to raise thy waters over their banks against the sign of Cancer when
that is in the fulness of its heat; thou who proceedest straight towards
the north-east with thy waters, and takest thy course through the midst
of the plain; thou who turnest thence to the west and again to the east;
thou who dost reveal thyself sometimes in Arabia and sometimes in the
sands of Libya, displaying thyself to the peoples of those lands,
performing so many great benefits for them--of a truth the men of those
regions could not dispense with thee or live without thee, and these are
the first races of men that behold thee. Thy power is to issue forth at
the solstices, the which do fall, the one in December and the other in
June, and thou increasest in the alien winter which is not thine. To
thee is it granted by nature to go through both the axes of the
firmament, to wit: the axis of the north and that of the south; thy foam
fighteth with the stars, so high dost thou cause it to rise by thy
power; and before thy waves do all things tremble. What can I say of
thee, except that thou art as it were the navel of the world: for even
as the creatures which lie in the wombs of their mothers are governed by
the navels of their bodies, a like comparison may be made of thy
greatness in affairs of the earth."