Now if a stone could be dropped from this pole of ours [the northern], it would fall far away yonder in the ocean just where, if a man were standing, he would always have the Pole Star exactly overhead. [“La stella”[383] is the Pole Star, see p. 291]. And I believe (Dante says) that from Rome to the north pole, in a direct line, is a distance of about 2,700 miles. To fix our ideas, let us imagine that at this spot there is a city called _Maria_, and let us imagine another city, called _Lucia_, at the spot exactly opposite, where a stone would fall if dropped from the other pole. And I believe that from Rome southwards to this second place would be a distance of about 7500 miles. Thus the distance between the two cities, in whatever direction the measuring cord be stretched, would be 10,200 miles, that is, half the circumference of the globe,[384] and the inhabitants of _Maria_ would have their feet opposite the feet of those of _Lucia_. [If any two spots on a sphere are exactly antipodal, but in no other case, the distance may be measured in an infinity of directions, and always come out the same.] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [383] “The star.” [384] As this is the value given by Alfraganus, we must here understand Arabian miles. The distances from Rome to the north and south pole are therefore probably equal to 3500 to 9750 English miles, and both are a little too large, because the half circumference of Earth is too large. The proportion is about right, however, for Rome is nearly three times as far from the south pole as the north, her latitude being 42° N. Alfraganus placed her in the fifth climate, at the northern boundary of which he said the pole was elevated 43½°. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Lastly, let us imagine a circle on the globe, which will be at equal distances everywhere from _Maria_ and _Lucia_ [the equator]. According to the opinions of the astrologers, if I understand them aright, and according to what is said by Albertus Magnus and by Lucan, this circle would divide the dry land from the ocean there in the south, approximately along the extremity of the First Climate, where amongst others live the Garamantes, who go almost always naked, to whom Cato went when fleeing from Cæsar. “Approximately,” because the southern extremity of the First Climate, according to Alfraganus, lay a little north of the equator, although land extended, and was sparsely inhabited, as far the equator (see p. 186).