Book 10
' Such is the task of Nile; thus in the world
1
' He finds his purpose, lest exceeding heat
' Consume the lands: and rising thus to meet
' Enkindled Lion, to Syene's prayers
' By Cancer burnt gives ear; nor curbs his wave
' Till the slant sun and Meroe's lengthening shades
' Proclaim the autumn. Who shall give the cause?
' 'Twas Parent Nature's self which gave command
' Thus for the needs of earth should flow the Nile.
' Vain too the fable that the western winds So, too, Herodotus, Book II., 20, who attributes this theory to Greeks who wish to get a reputation for cleverness.
' Control his current, in continuous course
' At stated seasons governing the air;
' Or hurrying from Occident to South
' Clouds without number which in misty folds
' Press on the waters; or by constant blast,
' Forcing his current back whose several mouths
' Burst on the sea;-so, forced by seas and wind,
'Men say, his billows pour upon the land.
' Some speak of hollow caverns, breathing holes
' Deep in the earth, within whose mighty jaws
' Waters in noiseless current underneath
' From northern cold to southern climes are drawn;
'And when hot Meroe pants beneath the sun,
' Then, say they, Ganges through the silent depths
' And Padus pass: and from a single fount
' The Nile arising not in single streams
' Pours all the rivers forth. And rumour says
' That when the sea which girdles in the worldSee on Book V., 712. Herodotus mentions this theory also, to dismiss it.
' O'erflows, thence rushes Nile, by lengthy course,
' Softening his saltness. More, if it be true
' That ocean feeds the sun and heavenly fires,
' Then Phoebus journeying by the burning Crab
' Sucks from its waters more than air can hold
' Upon his passage-this the cool of night
' Pours on the Nile. If, Caesar, 'tis my part
' To judge such difference, 'twould seem that since
' Creation's age has passed, earth's veins by chance
' Some waters hold, and shaken cast them forth:
' But others took when first the globe was formed
' A sure abode; by Him who framed the world
