Jupiter assisted his march, and an army of crows pointed out
the path (Plutarch). It is, however stated, in a note in
Langhorne's edition, that Maximus Tyrius informs us that the
object of the journey was the discovery of the sources of
the Nile.
(17) Sesostris, the great king, does not appear to have pushed
his conquests to the west of Europe.
(18) See Herodotus, iii., 17. These Ethiopian races were
supposed to live to the age of 120 years, drinking milk, and
eating boiled flesh. On Cambyses's march his starving
troops cast lots by tens for the one man who was to be
eaten.
(19) The Seres are, of course, the Chinese. The ancients seem to
have thought that the Nile came from the east. But it is
possible that there was another tribe of this name dwelling
in Africa.
(20) A passage of difficulty. I understand it to mean that at
this spot the summer sun (in Leo) strikes the earth with
direct rays.
(21) Reading "ibi fas ubi proxima merees", with Hosius.
(22) See Book VIII., 253.
(23) Medea, who fled from Colchis with her brother, Absyrtus.
Pursued by her father Aeetes, she killed her brother and
strewed the parts of his body into the sea. The king paused
to collect them.
(24) It was in this conflagration that a large part of the
library of the Ptolemies was destroyed. 400,000 volumes are
stated to have perished.
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