Of old, by an inviolable Law, made by Custom, according to _Pliny_, _Vigetius_ and others, the Sea was lock’d up, from the eleventh of _October_, to the tenth of _March_, no Ships daring to venture forth, dreading short Nights, and foul Weather; neither in Summer, did they so much as once offer, unless driven by Storms, to attempt the _Offin_, or loose sight of Land; yet there is no question, but that several Nations in former Ages, made it their business, spending their whole time, and wearying themselves in the Practical Art of Navigation. [Sidenote: _Geograph._ lib. 1.] [Sidenote: _Hist. Nat._ lib. 2. cap. 67.] [Sidenote: _Ultima Thule_, suppos’d by some to be _Ireland_. _Vide Georgic._] [Sidenote: The Voyage of _Hanno_.] [Sidenote: Of _Eudoxus_, _Strab._ l. 2.] The Sacred Scripture testifies, That the Kings of _Judea_, _Solomon_, _Jehosaphat_, _Ozias_, and others, prepar’d several Fleets that Sail’d through remote Seas, freighting themselves with Gold from _Ophir_, and other Rarities, which were Imported to supply and enrich the _Holy-Land_. And _Strabo_ also tells us, That King _Solomon_ being contemporary with _Homer_, then discover’d _India_. And _Pliny_ relates, That the _Romans_, in the Reign of _Augustus_, passing the _Straights_ of _Gibraltar_, and sleighting the _Ne plus ultra_, Coasted _Spain_, _France_, and _Belgium_, leaving not at the Promontory of the _Cimbrians_ (now call’d _Shager-Riff_) but also ventur’d into the Northern Ocean, which washes _Norwey_ and _Lapland_: But long before this, as _Athenæus_ relates, _Phileas Taurominites_, a _Grecian_ Captain, and several others pass’d the _Herculean-Pillars_, penetrating the Northern Seas as far as _Britain_, and adventuring, made the first Discovery of _Thule_: And to the Southward the _African_ Coasts without _Gibraltar_, and beyond _Atlas_, were now and then explor’d by several expert Captains. But more remarkable is the Voyage of _Hanno_ a _Carthaginian_, who out-sail’d these, and inspected the Coasts of _Africa_, as far as the _Gorgades_: And _Eudoxus Cyzicenus_, flying from King _Lathyrus_, set Sail from the _Arabian_ Gulph, and passing the _Great-Cape_, came to an Anchor at last in the Mouth of _Gibraltar_, having discover’d all the Eastern, Southern, and Western parts of _Africa_. [Sidenote: Strange Voyage of some _Indians_.] [Sidenote: Of _Menelaus_.]