Читать книгу The Natural History of Pliny (Vol. 1-6) - Pliny the Elder - Страница 88

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To these circumstances we must add those that are connected with certain celestial causes. There can be no doubt, that the Æthiopians are scorched by their vicinity to the sun’s heat, and they are born, like persons who have been burned, with the beard and hair frizzled528; while, in the opposite and frozen parts of the earth, there are nations with white skins and long light hair. The latter are savage from the inclemency of the climate, while the former are dull from its variableness529. We learn, from the form of the legs, that in the one, the fluids, like vapour, are forced into the upper parts of the body, while in the other, being a gross humour, it is drawn downwards into the lower parts530. In the cold regions savage beasts are produced, and in the others, various forms of animals, and many kinds of birds531. In both situations the body grows tall, in the one case by the force of fire, and in the other by the nutritive moisture.

In the middle of the earth there is a salutary mixture of the two, a tract fruitful in all things, the habits of the body holding a mean between the two, with a proper tempering of colours; the manners of the people are gentle, the intellect clear532, the genius fertile and capable of comprehending every part of nature. They have formed empires, which has never been done by the remote nations; yet these latter have never been subjected by the former, being severed from them and remaining solitary, from the effect produced on them by their savage nature.