Note 176 — Chapter I · THE CONTRIBUTION OF THE ANCIENT WORLD
Reading edition
“Nam Syene sub ipso tropico est, Meroe autem tribus milibus octingentis stadiis in perustam a Syene introrsum recedit, et ab illa usque ad terram cinnamoni feracem sunt stadia octingenta, et per haec omnia spatia perustae licet rari tamen vita fruuntur habitantes. Ultra vero jam inaccessum est propter nimium solis ardorem” (Macrobius, In som. Scip. comm., II, 8, 3). In other words, the border of the habitable part of the world was placed by Macrobius 3800 + 800 = 4600 stades, or about 6½°, south of the tropic, that is to say at about latitude 17° N.