[347] _Opem fert frugibus._ 2. Earth in distinction from water is called dry; since the Scripture says that “God called the dry land, earth”. For dryness is the natural property of earth. Its dampness it gets by its relation to water. As to its motion (earthquakes) some say it is wind in its hollow parts, the force of which causes it to move. 3. Others say that a generative water moves in the lands, and causes them to strike together, _sicut vas_, as Lucretius says. Others have it that the earth is sponge-shaped, and its fallen parts lying in ruins cause all the upper parts to shake. The yawning of the earth also is caused either by the motion of the lower water, or by frequent thunderings, or by winds bursting out of the hollow parts of the earth. Chapter 2. On the circle of lands.[348] [348] See Map, p. 5. 1. The circle of lands (_orbis_) is so called from its roundness, which is like that of a wheel, whence a small wheel is called _orbiculus_. For the Ocean flowing about on all sides encircles its boundaries. It is divided into three parts; of which the first is called Asia; the second, Europe; the third, Africa. 2. These three parts the ancients did not divide equally; for Asia stretches from the South through the East to the North, and Europe from the North to the West, and thence Africa from the West to the South. Whence plainly the two, Europe and Africa, occupy one-half, and Asia alone the other. But the former were made into two parts because the Great Sea enters from the Ocean between them and cuts them apart. Wherefore if you divide the circle of lands into two parts, East and West, Asia will be in one, and in the other, Europe and Africa. Chapter 3. On Asia. 1. Asia was so called from the name of a certain woman who held dominion over the East in the time of the ancients. Lying in the third part of the circle of lands it is bounded on the east by the sun-rise, on the south by the ocean, on the west by our sea, on the north by lake Maeotis and the river Tanais. It has many provinces and regions, of which I shall briefly explain the names and sites, beginning with Paradise. 2. Paradise is a place lying in the parts of the Orient, whose name is translated out of the Greek into the Latin as _hortus_. In the Hebrew it is called Eden, which in our tongue means delight. And the two being joined mean garden of delight; for it is planted with every kind of wood and fruit-bearing tree, having also the tree of life; there is neither cold nor heat there, but a continual spring temperature. 3. And a spring, bursting forth from its center, waters the whole grove, and divides into four rivers that take their rise there. Approach to this place was closed after man’s sin. For it is hedged in on every side by sword-like flame,[349] that is, girt by a wall of fire whose burning almost reaches the heaven. [349] Romphaea flamma. _Cf. Etym._, 18, 6, 3.