Page:The geography of Strabo (1854) Volume 1.djvu/67
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CHAP. II. § 28.
INTRODUCTION.
53
It is evident this was the opinion of Homer, since he places Ithaca
Towards the gloomy region,[q 1]
that is, towards the north,[1] but the others apart,
Towards the morning and the sun,
by which he means the whole southern hemisphere: and again when he says,
“Speed they their course
With right-hand flight towards the ruddy east,
Or leftward down into the shades of eve.”[2]
With right-hand flight towards the ruddy east,
Or leftward down into the shades of eve.”[2]
And again,
“Alas! my friends, for neither west
Know we, nor east, where rises or where sets
The all-enlightening sun.”[3]
Know we, nor east, where rises or where sets
The all-enlightening sun.”[3]
Which we shall explain more fully when we come to speak of Ithaca.[q 2]
When therefore he says,
we should take this in a general sense, and understand by it the whole of the ocean which washes Ethiopia and the southern region, for to whatever part of this region you direct your attention, you will there find both the ocean and Ethiopia. It is in a similar style he says,
“But Neptune, traversing in his return
From Ethiopia’s sons the mountain heights
Of Solymè, described him from afar.”[5]
From Ethiopia’s sons the mountain heights
Of Solymè, described him from afar.”[5]
- ↑ Strabo is mistaken in interpreting πρὸς ζόφον towards the north. It means here, as every where else, “towards the west,” and allusion in the passage is made to Ithaca as lying west of Greece.
- ↑ Whether they fly to the right towards the morn and the sun, or to the left towards the darkening west. Iliad xii. 239.
- ↑ O my friends! since we know not where is the west, nor where the morning, nor where the sun that gives light to mortals descends beneath the earth, nor where he rises up again. Odyssey x. 190.
- ↑ For yesterday Jove went to Oceanus to the blameless Ethiopians, to a banquet. Iliad i. 423.
- ↑ The powerful shaker of the earth, as he was returning from the Ethiopians, beheld him from a distance, from the mountains of the Solymi. Odyssey v. 282.