Page:History of Greece Vol I.djvu/282

 250 HISTORY OF GREECE: Both the. track and the terminus of the Argonautic voyage ap- pear in the most ancient epic as little within the conditions of real- ity, as the speaking timbers or the semi-divine crew of the vessel. In the Odyssey, JEetes and Circe (Hesiod names Medea also) are brother and sister, offspring of Helios. The-ZEoean island, adjoining the circumfluous ocean, " where the house and dancing-ground of Eos are situated, and where Helios rises," is both the residence of Circe and of JEetes, inasmuch as Odysseus, in returning from the former, follows the same course as the Argo had previously taken in returning from the latter. 1 Even in the conception of Mimner- mus, about 600 B. c., JEa still retained its fabulous attributes in conjunction with the ocean and Helios, without having been yet identified with any known portion of the solid earth ; 2 and it was justly remarked by Demetrius of Skepsis in antiquity 3 (though near Apollonia, watched by the citizens of the place with great care ( Hero- dot, ix. 93; Skylax, c. 26). About Erytheia, Cellerius observes (Gcogr. Ant. ii. 1, 227), "Insula Ery- theia, quam veteres adjungunt Gadibus, vel demersa est, vel in scopulis quae- renda, vel pars est ipsarum Gadium, neque hodie ejus formae aliqua, uti descripta est, fertur superesse." To make the disjunctive catalogue complete, he ought to have added, "or it never really existed," not the least proba- ble supposition of all. 1 Hesiod, Theogon. 956-992; Homer, Odyss xii. 3-69. Nijoov if A.lairjv, 5$t T' 'Hot)f ripiyeveirjf OlKia not xP OL civ^i K( u uvTohai qefaoio. Qiiie /cor' uv /neya Knov. Aiqrao iroXiv, TO&I r' w/ 'AKTivef xpvct-V KeiaraL tv '2/teavov napti. xsifaff', Iv' 1 3 Strabo, i. p. 45-46. Ae^f/rpiof 6 2/c^tof Trpdf Neuv#? rdv Kijvdv ij>i XOTI/J.OT ep uf avriheyuv, eiirovra, on. ol ' ' Apyovavrai elf Quoiv rbv i' 'Qfifjpov not TUV uTJiuv o/ioAoyov/zevov irtovv, idpvaavro ra TTJC 'Idataf [j.T}Tpbf Itpti ini KV&KOV op^jyv frjoi fitj S 1 el d tv a i ri)v elf Qua iv uir odr] fiiav rov 'luorovof "Ofirjpov. Again, p. 46, napa^afluv fidprvpa Mifivepftov, of iv rij> 'Qiteavij) Trotrjaaf oltcrjcriv A<^TOV, etc. The adverb QiXoTLfioTcpuf reveals to us the municipal rivalry and conten
 * Mimnerm. Fragm. 10-11, Schneidewin; Athenae. vii. p. 277.