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(...._L_ A_
T_I_N_ L_A_N_G_U_ A_ G_E_----'1 t:::z:;({'©C?~
%¥~ ?)~~ I LA TITUDJiand LONGITUDE I
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of Carlyle, gives us a number 'of valuable historical pictures. The " Germania " is our only
view of Central Europe under the early Roman
Empire. His " Agricola " is ~ very beautiful
piece of biography. And what remains of his
" Annals " and " Histories " is our chief source
for the events of the first century of the Roman
Empire. The historian Suetonius (75-160), a
writer of much less distinction than Tacitus, had
the advantage of being one of Hadrian's private
secretaries, and could therefore write his very
gossipy " Lives of the Twelve Cresars " from the
documentary sources.
·
Treasure-house of Natural History
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from pole to pole are called "meridians,"
and the distance between them is measured in
"degrees of longitude." Instead of marking
each degree, which would make a confusing network of lines on the map, every fifth or tenth
degree only is usually marked.
In numbering the parallels, we .begin with
the Equator as zero and count north and
south. Thus the first degree north of the
Ec1uator is one degree north latitude, usually
w .ritten " lat. 1° N." ; and the first degree
south of the Equator is one degree south
latitude, or " lat. 1o S." Since the distance
from the Equator to either of the poles is onefourth of a circle around the earth, it ·will measure ..·
one-fourth of 360 degrees (the number of equal
parts into which a circle is divided), which
equals 90 degrees. Thus 90 degrees north
IS SPACED OFF latitude marks the position of
the North Pole, and 90 degrees
south latitude that of the South
Pole.
Perhaps the most interesting writings in
Silver Latin are the letters of Pliny the Younger
(611- 113). The most famous is the one telling
of the death of his uncle Pliny the Elder in
the eruption of Vesuvius that HOW THE EARTH
buried Pompeii. As a whole
these letters give a racy picture
of the time that is also pietured in Juvenal and Tacitus.
The Zero Meridian
Pliny the Elder (23-79) was the
In numbering the meridians
author of a" Natural History,"
most countries by agreement
which is a priceless storehouse
have chosen as the point of
of information about the
departure the meridian passing
through Greenwich, where the
science of ancient times. Two
· other works of the Silver Age
British Royal Observatory was
strike a more modern note,
established in 1675. Beginning
the literary criticism of Quinwith this as 0°, the first degree
tilian and the '' Satyricon,''
. east of Greenwich is called one
the prose novel of Petronius
degree east longitude, or "long.
Arbiter.
1o E." ; the first degree west
With the gradual breakdown Continental hemisphere showing lines ot is ''long. 1° W.'' ; and so on
of the Roman Empire which latitude, which pass east to west through until 180 degrees (half of 360)
followed the death of Marcus the land, and longitude, which extend have been measured off eastAurelius (A.D. 180), literature north to south .from the North Pole. ward and westward. The 180th
almost disappeared. Although there were brief meridian is on the other side of the earth, ex' flickers of activity from time to time, the genuine actly opposite to the one which passes through
Roman spirit was dead. Latin survived as a · Greenwich, and with it, it forms one of the
learned language and still survives, for every great circles which pass through the poles
year sees a considerable output of scholaily around the earth. This meridian is neither
research written in Latin but Latin literature "east" nor "west," for both the east and west
may be said to have ended in the _2 nd century.
count·s end here. Other meridians which have
As Latin has never ceased to b e spoken as a learn ed
at times been used in calculating longitude are
language, its pronunciation has been corrupted by the
the ones passing through Washington (U.S.A.),
pronunciation of the various languages of' Europe. Thus
Ferro (in the Canary Islands), and Paris (France).
the name Cicero is commonly pronounced in France as
A£ you can readily see, the circles forming the
Sisero, in Italy Chichero, in England Sisero. But in
many schools and colleges the consonants c and G are
parallels decrease in size from the Equator to
always given their hard sound. Thus the word Cicero
the poles. The meridians all meet at the poles,
is pronounced Kikero.
therefore the North Pole cannot be said to have
LATITUDE AND LONGITUDE. To indicate
longitude. It has only latitude (lat. 90° N.),
accurately the position of a place on the surface and from there the only direction is south, just
of the earth, geographers imagine the globe to as from the South Pole the only possible direcbe covered with a network of lines regularly tion is north. A degree of longitude measured
· spaced. Those running east and west parallel on the Equator is a little more than 69 miles.
to the Equator are called "parallels," and the This distance decreases until at 30° it is a little
distance between the:tn is measured in " degrees less than 60 miles, at 60° about 34-§- miles, and
of latitude." Those running north and south at the poles zero. (See Longitudes.)
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For an11 subject not found in its alphabetical place .se• in/ormotlota
2154
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