Page:The geography of Strabo (1854) Volume 1.djvu/49

CHAP. ii. $ 14, 15. INTRODUCTION. which is formed by the Sirenussae, we are n still that the position of the Sirenes was some w That the poet did not search for accuracy it detail we admit, but neither ought we to expect , at the same time we are not to believe that he composed his poem without inquiring into the history of the Wandering, nor where and how it occurred. 14. Eratosthenes "thinks it probable that Hesiod, having heard of the wanderings of Ulysses, and of their having taken place near to Sicily and Italy, embraced this view of the case, and not only describes the places spoken of by Homer, but also JEtna, the Isle of Ortygia, 1 near to Syracuse, and Tyr- rhenia. As for Homer, he was altogether unacquainted with these places, and further, had no wish to lay the scene of the wanderings in any well-known locality." What ! are then jEtna and Tyrrhenia such well-known places, and Scyllaeum, Charybdis, Circseum, 2 and the Sirenussae, so obscure ? Or is Hesiod so correct as never to write nonsense, but always fol- low in the wake of received opinions, while Homer blurts out whatever comes uppermost ? Without taking into consider- ation our remarks on the character and aptitude of Homer's myths, a large array of writers who bear evidence to his state- ments, and the additional testimony of local tradition, are sufficient proof that his are not the inventions of poets or con- temporary scribblers, but the record of real actors and real scenes. 15. The conjecture of Polybius in regard to the particulars of the wandering of Ulysses is excellent. He says that jEplus instructed sailors how to navigate the strait, a difficult matter on account of the currents occasioned by the ebb and flow, and was therefore called the dispenser of the winds, and re- puted their king. In like manner Danaus for pointing out the springs of water that were in Argos, and Ajjreus for showjng the re- trograde movement of the sun in tfi*e heavens, from being" merer soothsayers and diviners, were raised to the dignity of kings. And the priests of the Egyptians, the Chaldeajis, f and Magi, distinguished for their wisdom above those around* them, ootained from our predecessors honour and authority ; 1 Now the Island of St. Marcian. 2 Monte Circello, near to Terracina. D 2