Note 70 — Chapter I · THE CONTRIBUTION OF THE ANCIENT WORLD

“Quantum est enim, quod ab ultimis litoribus Hispaniae usque ad Indos iacet? Paucissimorum dierum spatium, si navem suus ferat ventus implebit” (Quaest. nat., I, praef., 13). Doubt has been expressed by critics as to whether or not Seneca had in mind a passage westward across the Atlantic. See Edward Channing, A History of the United States, vol. i, New York, 1905, p. 31. Strabo discussed Eratosthenes’ views on the possibility of sailing from Spain to India in his Geography, I, 64, 65. See Channing, op. cit., p. 30.