Res Gestae

Now earthquakes take place (as the theories state, and among them Aristotle[*](Meteorologica, ii. 8.) is perplexed and troubled) either in the tiny recesses of the earth, which in Greek we call σύριγγαι,[*](Subterranean passages.) under the excessive pressure of surging waters; or at any rate (as Anaxagoras asserts) through the force of the winds, which penetrate the innermost parts of the earth; for when these strike the solidly cemented walls and find no outlet, they violently shake those stretches of land under which they crept when swollen. Hence it is generally observed that during an earthquake not a breath of wind is felt where we are,[*](But compare the procellae of § 3, above.) because the winds are busied in the remotest recesses of the earth.