hibernus

Nam et caput eius in Germania esse comperimus, et aestate quidem incipit crescere sed, adhuc manente intra mensuram suam Nilo, primis caloribus, cum sol vehementior intra extrema veris nives mollit, quas ante consumit quam tumescere Nilus incipiat; reliquo vero aestatis minuitur et ad hibernam magnitudinem redit atque ex ea demittitur. At Nilus ante exortum Caniculae augetur mediis aestibus ultra aequinoctium.

‘For we have found out that the source of the Danube is in Germany. It does begin to rise in the summer but at a time when the Nile is still flowing within its normal limits, when a strong sun between the beginning and the end of spring softens the snows, which the sun melts entirely before the Nile begins to rise. In the rest of the summer the Danube diminishes and returns to its winter level, and even falls below it. But the Nile increases from the middle of the summer, before the rise of the Dog Star, to beyond the equinox.’

Non enim eodem semper loco sol oritur aut occidit, sed alius est ortus occasusque aequinoctialis—bis autem aequinoctium est—alius solstitialis, alius hibernus.

‘For the sun does not always rise or set in the same place. One rising and setting is the equinoctial [i.e., rising due E., setting due W.]—moreover, the equinox occurs twice a year—another is the summer-solstitial [i.e., rising in the N.E., setting in the N.W.], and still another the winter-solstitial [i.e. rising in the S.E., setting in the S.W.].’