Page:The geography of Strabo (1854) Volume 1.djvu/77

CHAP. ii. 32. INTRODUCTION. 63 part a needy and nomad race. True, [you say,] but adjoin- ing them is Arabia, and the whole country as far as India. One of these is distinguished above all other lands by the title of Felix, 1 and the other, though not dignified by that name, is both generally believed and also said to be pre- eminently Blessed. But [we reply], Homer was not acquainted with India, or he would have described it. And though he knew of the Arabia which is now named Felix, at that time it was by no means wealthy, but a wild country, the inhabitants of which dwelt for the most part in tents. It is only a small district which produces the aromatics from which the whole territory afterwards received its name, 2 owing to the rarity of the com- modity amongst us, and the value set upon it. That the Arabians are now flourishing and wealthy is due to their vast and extended traffic, but formerly it does not appear to have been considerable. A merchant or camel-driver might attain to opulence by the sale of these aromatics and similar com- modities ; but Menelaus could only become so either by plun- der, or presents conferred on him by kings and nobles, who had the means at their disposal, and wished to gratify one so distinguished by glory and renown. The Egyptians, it is true, and the neighbouring Ethiopians and Arabians, were not so entirely destitute of the luxuries of civilization, nor so unacquainted with the fame of Agamemnon, especially after the termination of the Trojan war, but that Menelaus might have expected some benefits from their generosity, even as the breastplate of Agamemnon is said to be " The gift Of Cinyras long since ; for rumour loud Had Cyprus reached." 3 And we are told that the greater part of his wanderings were in Phoenicia, Syria, Egypt, Africa, around Cyprus, and, in fact, the whole of our coasts and islands. 4 Here, indeed, he might hope to enrich himself both by the gifts of friendship 1 Blessed. 2 The name of Arabia Felix is now confined to Yemen. A much larger territory was anciently comprehended under this designation, con- taining the whole of Hedjaz, and even Nedjed-el-Ared. It is probable that Strata) here speaks of Hedjaz, situated about two days' journey south of Mecca. 3 Iliad xi. 20. 4 Of the Mediterranean.