89. And Callisthenes the historian argues against what I quoted just now as stated by Anaxagoras and Euripides: and he, too, declares his own opinion,--that as there is much very heavy and continued rain in Æthiopia about the time of the rising of the Dogstar, and from that period till the rising of Arcturus, and as the Etesian winds blow at about the same time, (for these are the winds which he says have the greatest tendency to bring the clouds over Æthiopia,) when the clouds fall upon the mountains in that region, a vast quantity of water bursts forth, in consequence of which the Nile rises. But Democritus says that about the winter solstice there are heavy falls of snow in the countries around the north; but that when the sun changes its course, at the summer solstice, the snow being melted and evaporated by the warmth, clouds are formed, and then the Etesian gales catch hold of them, and drive them towards the south; and when these clouds are all driven together towards Æthiopia and Libya, a mighty rain ensues, and the water from that flows down the mountains and fills the Nile. This, then, is the cause which Democritus alleges for this fulness of the Nile. 90. But Euthymenes the Massiliote says, speaking of his own knowledge, acquired in a voyage which he had made, that the sea outside the Pillars of Hercules flows towards Libya and turns up and proceeds towards the north; and that then, being driven back by the Etesian gales, it is raised to a height by the winds, and flows high at that time; but, when the Etesian gales cease, it recedes. He says moreover, that that sea is sweet to the taste, and that it contains monsters like the crocodiles and the hippopotami in the Nile. But Œnopides the Chian says, that in winter the sources of the river are dried up, but in the summer they are thawed and flow; and so that for the sake of filling up the previous dryness, the rains from heaven cooperate with * * * * * * * * And on this account the river is smaller in winter and is full in summer. But Herodotus gives an explanation quite contrary to that of the rest of those who have discussed this subject, but agreeing with the explanation of Œnopides; for he says that the stream of the Nile is of such magnitude as always to fill the river; but that the sun, as it makes its journey through Libya in the winter, dries up the river at that time; but that as it has gone off towards the north at the time of the summer solstice, then the river becomes full again, and overflows the plains. Now these are the mouths of the Nile:--towards Arabia, the Pelusiac mouth; towards Libya, the Canopic: and the rest are,--the Bolbitic, the Sebennytic, the Mendesian, the Saitic, and the Opuntic. FOOTNOTES: [62:1] We find something like this in Theoc. xxix. 1. Οἶνος, ὦ φίλε παῖ, λέγεται καὶ ἀλάθεα. [64:1] Ἀκρατοπότης, drinker of unmixed wine. [64:2] Φειδίτια was the Spartan name for the συσσίτια. _Vide_ Smith, Dict. Ant. p. 928. _b_.