He said to them [the nobles: "This thought has arisen in my mind, and I am wondering what is the extent of the earth, and how high the heavens are ... and upon what the heavens are fixed ... Now this I desire to go and see, upon what the heavens rest, and what surrounds all creation." The nobles answered and said to the king, ... "As to the thing, my lord, which thy majesty desires to go and see, namely, upon what the heaveans rest, and what surrounds the earth, the terrible seas which surround the world will not give thee a passage; because there are eleven bright seas, on which the ships of men sail, and beyond these there is about ten miles of dry land, and beyond these ten miles there is the foetid sea, Okeyanos (the Ocean), which surrounds all creation. Men are not able to come near to this foetid sea ... Its waters are like poison and if men swim therein, they die at once."