Text, translated from the 1579/1580 Latin 2nd Add, 1579 Latin (AB), 1580 German 2nd Add/1580/1589 German, 1581 French, 1584 Latin, 1587 French, 1592 Latin, 1595 Latin, 1598 French, 1601 Latin, 1602 German, 1603 Latin, 1606 English, 1608/1612 Italian, 1609/1612 Spanish/Latin & 1624LParergon/1641 Spanish [but with Latin text] editions:
215.1. {1579/1580L2Add{ANCIENT GREECE{1592L instead, not in 1598F, 1602G & 1606E{GRĘCIA or HELLAS}1592L instead, not in 1598F, 1602G}.
215.2. That country which the Romans call GRĘCIA, Greece, was by the Greeks generally named HELLAS {1580/1589G & 1602G only[in Greek lettering]{hEllas}1580/1589G & 1602G only}. Yet, its borders are not described in the same way by everyone. The part of it that was truly and most anciently called Greece is that which Ptolemęus, Plinius and Mela name Attica {1595L instead{ACHAIA}1595L instead}, in which Athens {1606E only{the first and most flourishing University of the world}1606E only} is located, {1595L, not in 1598F & 1602G{most splendid of all, as Athenęus {1608/1612I instead{Ammianus}1608/1612I} notes, where Iupiter himself shines}1595L, not in 1598F & 1602G}. It is a free city, as Plinius calls it, and needs no further recommendations, famous and honourable as it is, {1606E only{and ever has been beyond all measure or concept of man}1606E only}. Yet it is manifest, not only from the writings of the common Historiographers' sort, but also from Strabo himself, the prince of Geographers, that many countries are comprised under the name of Gręcia or Hellas, namely Macedonia, Epirus, Peloponnesus {1608/1612I only{or Morea}1608/1612I only}, and other provinces comprised under these names. Thus, all of Greece is on three sides bounded by the Ionian, Ęgean and the Libyan seas.
215.3. Towards the main land, it contains those mountains which separate Macedonia from Thracia {1606E only{(Romania)}1606E only}, upper Mysia, {1606E only{(Servia, Bosnia and Bulgaria)}1606E only} and Dalmatia {1606E only{(now this is called Sclavonia)}1606E only}. {1592L, not in 1598F & 1602G{This is that [kind of] Greece which, {1595L{as Manilius says, is Maxima terra viris, & foecundißima doctis Vrbibus, &c.}1595L}, an extended and very fertile country, with warlike men, and scholars of great learning, {1592L, not in 1598F & 1602G{which (as Cicero writes in his oration to Flacco) for honour, fame, learning, various arts and sciences, civil policy in time of peace, and feats of arms, has always been famous}1592L, not in 1598F & 1602G}, {1601L{or, as Trogus Pompeius says in his 8th book, was for valour and esteem called Princess of the World}1601L}.
215.4. From this part of the world, as Plinius says, the bright lustre of liberal arts enlightened the world around it. {1581F, 1587F & 1598F have instead{From this part of the world, according to Plinius, all sciences have started}1581F, 1587F & 1598F instead}.
215.5. {1595L, not in 1598F & 1602G{In this country humanity and letters, as also discipline, {1606E & 1608/1612I instead{how to read and write, how to till the ground and sow corn}1606E & 1608/1612I instead} were first invented, as Plinius Cęcilius has left recorded in his epistle to his friend Maximus. And this is the country, he says, from where we obtained our statutes, not as victims, but because we desired to have them}1595L, not in 1598F & 1602G}.
MACEDONIA occupies the largest part of Greece. A long time ago {1598F{as the Empire of the World}1598F}, it encompassed Asia {1606E only{the Lesser}1606E only}, Armenia, Iberia, Albania, Cappadocia, Syria, Egypt, the mountain ranges Taurus and the Caucasus, and its rule extended to Bactria, Media, Persia and the rest of those Eastern countries, even as far as India, (in this [respect] following [in] the footsteps of {1579L, 1584L, 1592L, 1595L, 1601L, 1603L, 1609/1612L & 1624LP only(the freemen}1579L, 1584L, 1592L, 1595L, 1601L, 1603L, 1609/1612L & 1624LP only}{1580/1589G, 1581F, 1587F, 1598F, 1602G, 1606E & 1608/1612I instead{Bacchus}1580/1589G, 1581F, 1587F, 1598F, 1602G, 1606E & 1608/1612I instead} and of the roamings of Hercules) {1601L, not in 1602G{becoming the Empress, you may say}1601L, not in 1602G}, {1595L, not in 1598F & 1602G{yes, of the whole world, as Manilius says: & Macedum tellus quę vicerat Orbem [Macedonia was such that it conquered the world]}1595L, not in 1598F & 1602G}.
215.6. This is that Macedonia of 72 cities, which Emperor {1606E instead{a Roman consul}1606E instead} Paulus Ęmilius sacked and sold in one day. Then comes PELOPONNESUS, a peninsula {1606E only{or half-isle}1606E only}, not much inferior in terms of goodness of soil and fertility to any country, which resembles in form the leaf of a plane tree. On it you find the city of Corinthus situated between two seas, the fortress and entrance to all of Greece {1606E only{situated in the neckland or narrow place between this province and Achaia}1606E only}. Here too is Lacedęmon {1606E only{(Misithra or Zaconia, as some think, but it was in old times}1606E only} also called Sparta, instituted as a republic by Lycurgus, praised for many memorable acts performed both in war and peace {1606E instead{at home and abroad}1606E instead}.
215.7. But the name of Greece extended itself even further, on each side of the sea, as plainly appears from the records of the reliable writers, for was not a great portion of Italy in former times called Magna Gręcia, Great Greece? In a part also of Asia, beyond the sea opposite Macedonia, quite a few settlements were established by the Greeks, and also received their name and characteristics. {1595L, not in 1598F & 1602G{Whose inhabitants are named by Plutarchus in his Laconica apophthegmata for distinctions sake Gręcos Asianos, Asian Greeks}1595L, not in 1598F & 1602G}.
215.8. Lucianus writes in his treatise on Love (de Amoribus) that the insulę Chelidonię, {1606E only{certain small islands or rocks, as some call them, in the midland [Mediterranean] sea (they are now called Isole corrente as Castaldus thinks, or Caprose as Pinetus thinks)}1606E only} were the borders of ancient Greece. {1595L, not in 1598F & 1602G{Isocrates in his Panegyricos oration writes that the Greeks settled as far as Cnidus {1606E only{(a town in the province of Doris in Lesser Asia)}1606E only} and Sinope}1595L, not in 1598F & 1602G} {1606E only{(a city of Paphlagonia in Asia, situated on the Euxine [Black] sea.
215.9. Chalcondylas calls it Pordapas, the Turcs, as Leunclaw reports Sinabe)}1606E only}. In the same manner the Ęgęan sea which beats upon the coast of Macedonia and also upon the [part of] Asia just mentioned is called{1595L only{[in Greek lettering] Helleas}1595L only}{1601L and later instead{[in Greek lettering] Elleniken}1601L and later instead}, {1606E instead{Hellenice thalassa}1606 instead} the Greek sea, by Thucydides, Plutarchus, {1595L, not in 1598F & 1602G{Arrianus}1595L, not in 1598F & 1602G} and Polyęnus, and Gręciense mare, the Greek sea, by Plinius. Strabo and Pausanias, among the rest, have described ancient Greece most diligently and interestingly}1579L(AB)/1580L2Add, 1580/1589G, 1581F, 1584L, 1587F, 1592L, 1598F & 1602G end here}.
215.10. {1595L{About Greece in Asia, which you can see opposite Macedonia, read Pausanias' Achaia, and Vitrivius' first chapter of his third {1601L, 1603L, 1606E, 1608/1612I, 1609/1612S/L & 1624LParergon instead{fourth}1601L, 1603L, 1606E, 1608/1612I, 1609/1612S/L & 1624LParergon instead} book.}1595L, 1601L, 1603L, 1608/1612I, 1609/1612L/S & 1624LP/1641S end here.} {1606E only{on Architecture}1606E only, which ends here}.