Ἰνδικά 9: Strabo XV, p. 693

9

Μεγασθένης δὲ τὴν εὐδαιμονίαν τῆς Ἰνδικῆς ἐπισημαίνεται τῷ δίκαρπον εἶναι καὶ διφόρον, καθάπερ καὶ Ἐρατοσθένης ἔφη, τὸν μὲν εἰπὼν σπόρον χειμερινὸν, τὸν δὲ θερινὸν, καὶ ὄμβρον ὁμοίως· οὐδὲν γὰρ ἔτος εὑρίσκεσθαί φησι πρὸς ἀμφοτέρους καιροὺς ἄνομβρον· ὥστε εὐετηρίαν ἐκ τούτου συμβαίνειν, ἀφόρου μηδέποτε τῆς γῆς οὔσης· τούς τε ξυλίνους καρποὺς γεννᾶσθαι πολλοὺς, καὶ τὰς ῥίζας τῶν φυτῶν, καὶ μάλιστα τῶν μεγάλων καλάμων, γλυκείας καὶ φύσει καὶ ἑψήσει, χλιαινομένου τοῦ ὕδατος τοῖς ἡλίοις, τοῦ τ’ ἐκπίπτοντος ἐκ Διὸς, καὶ τοῦ ποταμίου. Τρόπον δή τινα λέγειν βούλεται, διότι ἡ παρὰ τοῖς ἄλλοις λεγομένη πέψις καὶ καρπῶν καὶ χυμῶν παρ’ ἐκείνοις ἕψησίς ἐστι· καὶ κατεργάζεται τοσοῦτον εἰς εὐστομίαν, ὅσον καὶ ἡ διὰ πυρός· διὸ καὶ τοὺς κλάδους φησὶν εὐκαμπεῖς εἶναι τῶν δένδρων, ἐξ ὧν οἱ τροχοί· ἐκ δὲ τῆς αὐτῆς αἰτίας ἐνίοις καὶ ἐπανθεῖν ἔριον.

Again, he [Eratosthenes] wished to show the ignorance of Deimachos, and his want of a practical knowledge of such subjects, evidenced as it was by his thinking that India lay between the autumnal equinox and the winter tropic, and by his contradicting the assertion of Megasthenes that in the southern parts of India the constellation of the Bear disappeared from view, and shadows fell in opposite directions,—phenomena which he assures us are never seen in India, thereby exhibiting the sheerest ignorance. He does not agree in this opinion, but accuses Deïmachos of ignorance for asserting that the Bears do nowhere in India disappear from sight, nor shadows fall in opposite directions, as Megasthenes supposed.