Page:Essays and Addresses.djvu/272

 "There is an isle called Syria (Syros), west of Ortygia (Delos), where are the turnings of the sun": M. Lebégue takes this to mean; "where the course of the sun on the ecliptic is observed from the grotto on Cynthus." Eustathius took to mean, "where (at Syria) is the sunset"; but adds this remarkable comment:—. Didymus, also, in his commentary on the Odyssey, mentioned the. Nothing could be more brilliant, more tempting, than this combination. It is an ungracious task to confess the fear that it is too brilliant. Yet I cannot but think that the words merely express a hazy notion of the poet's—whence derived, the Muses alone can tell—that "the Syrian isle" lay beneath a turning-point in the sun's heavenly course. As to the comment of the old grammarians, I conceive that it blends two elements. (i) This grotto in Delos may have been anciently called "the Cavern of the Sun" because a solar god had been worshipped there; and (ii) at once suggested the familiar word, a sun-dial.

Scarcely any objects of ancient art have been discovered at Delos, except marble statues, more or