Page:The geography of Strabo (1854) Volume 1.djvu/66

 52 STRABO. BOOK i. afterwards becoming acquainted with those towards the west, styled them Islts and Iberians ; sometimes compounding the names into Keltiberians, or Keltoscythians, thus ignorantly uniting various distinct nations ; so I affirm they designated as Ethiopia the whole of the southern countries towards the ocean. Of this there is evidence, for ^Eschylus, in the Pro- metheus Loosed, 1 thus speaks: There [is] the sacred wave, and the coralled bed of the Erythraean Sea, and [there] the luxuriant marsh of the Ethiopians, situated near the ocean, glitters like polished brass ; where dafly"m the soft and tepid stream, the all-seeing sun bathes his undying self, and refreshes his weary steeds. And as the ocean holds the same position in respect to the sun, and serves the same purpose throughout the whole south- ern region, 2 he 3 therefore concludes that the Ethiopians inha- bited the whole of the region. And Euripides in his Phaeton 4 says that Clymene was given " To Merops, sovereign of that land Which from his four-horsed chariot first The rising sun strikes with his golden rays ; And which its swarthy neighbours call The radiant stable of the Morn and Sun." Here the poet merely describes them as the common stables of the Morning and of the Sun ; but further on he tells us they were near to the dwellings of Merops, and in fact the whole plot of the piece has reference to this. This does not therefore refer alone to the [land] next to Egypt, but rather to the whole southern country extending along the sea-coast. 28. Ephorus likewise shows us the opinion of the ancients respecting Ethiopia, in his Treatise on Europe. He says, " If the whole celestial and terrestrial globe were divided into four parts, the Indians would possess that towards the east, theHEthiopians towards the south, the Kelts towards the west, and the Scythians towards" the north." He adds that Ethiopia is largerTEan Scythia ; for, says"he, it appears that the country of the Ethiopians extends from the rising to the setting of the sun in winter ; and Scythia is opposite to it. 1 This piece is now lost. 2 TO /u<7jju/3piv6v i 3 ^Eschylus. 4 This piece is now lost.