Note 1177 — Chapter XII · REGIONAL GEOGRAPHY

The Cratesian or Macrobian theory (see above, p. 18) would seem to have been accepted by William of Conches (De phil. mundi, IV, 3) and by Giraldus Cambrensis (Top. Hiber., II, 3) as the basis of their explanation of the tides. See also Im. du monde, II, 1. The theory was set forth by Macrobius and by Martianus Capella and, as a result of the great popularity of both of these writers throughout the Middle Ages, was undoubtedly entirely familiar to scholars.