Varro, Who Was Pompey's Lieutenant During The War Against The Pirates, And
Obtained A Naval Crown On That Occasion, Among The Almost Infinite Variety
Of Topics On Which He Wrote, Was The Author Of A Work On Navigation;
Unfortunately, However, Only The Title Of It Is Extant:
Had it yet
remained, it would have thrown much light on the state of navigation,
geography, and commerce among the Romans in his time.
Julius Caesar's attention to science in the midst of his wars and perils is
well known. He first formed the idea of a general survey of the whole
empire; and for this purpose obtained a decree of the senate. The survey
was finished by Augustus: the execution of it was committed to three Greek
geographers. The survey of the eastern portion of the empire was committed
to Zenodoxus, who completed it, in fourteen years, five months, and nine
days. The northern division was finished by Theodoras in twenty years,
eight months, and ten days: and the southern division was finished in
twenty-five years, one month, and ten days. This survey, with the
supplementary surveys of the new provinces, as they were conquered and
added to the empire, formed the basis of the geography of Ptolemy. It
appears from Vegetius, that every governor of a province was furnished with
a description of it, in which were given the distance of places, the nature
of the roads, the face of the country, the direction of the rivers, &c.: he
adds, that all these were delineated on a map as well as described in
writing.
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