Page:The geography of Strabo (1854) Volume 1.djvu/423

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B. VI. C. II. § 4.

SICILY. SYRACUSE.

409

where the Arethusa rises and flows into the sea. Some such proofs as these are given in support of the fact. A certain chalice having fallen into the river at Olympia was cast up by the springs of Arethusa; the fountain too is troubled by the sacrifices of oxen at Olympia. And Pindar, following such reports, thus sings,

“Ortygia, revered place of reappearing^[1] of the Alpheus,
The offset of renowned Syracuse.”^[2]

Timæus^[3] the historian advances these accounts in like manner with Pindar. Undoubtedly if before reaching the sea the Alpheus were to fall into some chasm,^[4] there would be a probability that it continued its course from thence to Sicily, preserving its potable water unmixed with the sea; but since the mouth of the river manifestly falls into the sea, and there does not appear any opening in the bed of the sea there, which would be capable of imbibing the waters of the river, (although even if there were they could not remain perfectly fresh, still it might be possible to retain much of the character of fresh water, if they were presently to be swallowed down into a passage running below the earth which forms the bed of the sea,) it is altogether impossible; and this the water of Arethusa clearly proves, being perfectly fit for beverage; but

↑ The words of Pindar are,
ἄμπνευμα σεμνὸν Ἀλφεοῦ,
κλεινᾶν Συρακοσσᾶν θάλος, Ὀρτυγία.

The French translators have rendered them,
“Terme saint du tourment d’Alphée
Bel ornement, de Syracuse Ortygia!”

And Groskurd,
“Ehrwürdige Ruhstatt Alpheos’,
Ruhmzweig Syrakossai’s, o Du Ortygia.”

Liddell and Scott call ἀνάπνευμα a resting-place, referring to this passage, but I can see no reason for not allowing to it the signification most suitable to the passage, ἀναπνέω is, “to breathe again,” and, according to the supposition of the ancients, the Alpheus might justly be said to breathe again on appearing at Arethusa, after its passage beneath the bed of the sea from Greece, ἀναπνοὴ also, means “a recovering of breath.”
↑ Pindar, Nem. Od. i. vers. 1. See also Bohn’s Classic. Lib. Pindar.
↑ Conf. Antig. Caryst. Hist. Mir. cap. 155.
↑ According to Strabo himself, book viii. chap. 3, § 12, the Alpheus flows through a subterraneous course before it comes to Olympia; the objection therefore which he here takes, rests only on the circumstance of the river pursuing a visible course all the way to the sea, from the point where the chalice had fallen into it.

[1] The words of Pindar are,
ἄμπνευμα σεμνὸν Ἀλφεοῦ,
κλεινᾶν Συρακοσσᾶν θάλος, Ὀρτυγία.

The French translators have rendered them,
“Terme saint du tourment d’Alphée
Bel ornement, de Syracuse Ortygia!”

And Groskurd,
“Ehrwürdige Ruhstatt Alpheos’,
Ruhmzweig Syrakossai’s, o Du Ortygia.”

Liddell and Scott call ἀνάπνευμα a resting-place, referring to this passage, but I can see no reason for not allowing to it the signification most suitable to the passage, ἀναπνέω is, “to breathe again,” and, according to the supposition of the ancients, the Alpheus might justly be said to breathe again on appearing at Arethusa, after its passage beneath the bed of the sea from Greece, ἀναπνοὴ also, means “a recovering of breath.”

[2] Pindar, Nem. Od. i. vers. 1. See also Bohn’s Classic. Lib. Pindar.

[3] Conf. Antig. Caryst. Hist. Mir. cap. 155.

[4] According to Strabo himself, book viii. chap. 3, § 12, the Alpheus flows through a subterraneous course before it comes to Olympia; the objection therefore which he here takes, rests only on the circumstance of the river pursuing a visible course all the way to the sea, from the point where the chalice had fallen into it.

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