Note 1440 — Chapter XII · REGIONAL GEOGRAPHY (continued 2)

De imag. mundi, I, 10, from Isidore, Etym., XIV, 4; Otia imper., vol. i, p. 920. On the other hand, during our period the term “mare mediterraneum” was not invariably applied to the sea between Africa and Europe. Bernard Sylvester says (De mundi univ., pp. 34–35): “Neve rerum tranquillitas violentis passionibus temptaretur, contra fontem caloris solem quem linea medialis exportat, fontem humoris mediterraneum mare medio telluris infudi.” “Nous,” or the personification of Providence, is here speaking of the equatorial ocean girdling the earth. The same expression, mare mediterraneum, referring to the equatorial sea is used on the mappaemundi accompanying manuscripts of the Liber floridus of Lambert of St. Omer (Miller, op. cit., vol. iii, 1895, p. 50; see also Rainaud, Continent austral, 1893, p. 162 and note 3).