366 PTOLEMY AND LATER GEOGRAPHERS. [CHAP.
mentioned, however, in his favour, that he is the only ancient
writer who notices the Isle of Thanet (Tanatus Insula\ This
he describes as receiving the breezes of the Gallic strait (Straits
of Dover), and as being separated from the mainland of Britain
only by a narrow inlet: it rejoices in corn-land and a fruitful
soil, and moreover dispenses its benefits beyond its own borders,
for not only does it harbour no snakes itself, but the earth that
is exported from it kills the snakes in any country to which it is
taken1.
Paulus Orosius, who was a native of Tarragona in Spain, and
lived in the early part of the fifth century, was the
author of a work entitled Historiae adwrsus Paga-
His Historiae. _. . , n . . . _ £
nos. This, as he tells us m his Preface, was under-
taken at the suggestion of St. Augustine, in order to answer the
complaint of the heathen of that age, that the calamities which
had then fallen on the empire were due to the neglect of the
ancient divinities arising from the spread of Christianity, by
shewing that similar disasters had befallen mankind from the
earliest period. In reality it is an epitome of the annals of the
world down to the writer's own time, and in this character it
became the chief mediaeval authority for the facts and dates of
ancient history. It is frequently quoted by Bede, and was trans-
lated into Anglo-Saxon by Alfred the Great. In Dante's prose
works Orosius is several times referred to by name, and in other
places he can be recognised as his authority, though unacknow-
ledged. By way of an introduction to this historical sketch, an
outline of universal geography is prefixed to it,
ca?secttai.phi" which is principally taken up with describing the
boundaries of countries. It has numerous errors,
and the relative positions of the various lands are strangely dis-
torted ; but, notwithstanding this, its popularity at a later period
was not less than that attained by the historical portion of the
work. The influence of this geographical section is frequently
traceable in the Divina Commedia^ and in the De Monarchia
Dante refers to it in support of the statement that Mount Atlas
and the Fortunatae Insulae are the western limits of Africa2.
1 Memorabilia^ 22. 8.
. 2 Dante, De Monarch, a. 3; Oros. Hist., i. -2. n.