Page:The geography of Strabo (1854) Volume 1.djvu/67

 CHAP. ii. 28. INTRODUCTION. 53 It is evident this was the opinion of Homer, since he places Ithaca Towards the gloomy region, 1 that is, towards the north, 2 but the others apart, Towards the morning and the sun, by which he means the whole southern hemisphere : and again when he says, " speed they their course With right-hand flight towards the ruddy east, Or leftward down into the shades of eve." 3 Ami again, " Alas ! my friends, for neither west Know we, nor east, where rises or where sets The all-enlightening sun." 4 Which we shall explain more fully when we come to speak of Ithaca. 5 When therefore he says, " For to the banks of the Oceanus, Where Ethiopia holds a feast to Jove, Hejourney'd yesterday," 6 we should take this in a general sense, and understand by it the whole of the ocean which washes Ethiopia and the south- ern region, for to whatever part of this region you direct your attention, you will there find both the ocean and Ethi- opia. It is in a similar style he says, " But Neptune, traversing in his return From Ethiopia's sons the mountain heights Of Solyme, descried him from afar." 7 1 Odyssey ix. 26. 2 Strabo is mistaken in interpreting TrpoQ Z,6ov towards the north. It means here, as every where else, " towards the west," and allusion in the passage is made to Ithaca as lying west of Greece. 3 Whether they fly to the right towards the morn and the sun, or to the left towards the darkening west. Iliad xii. 239. 4 O my friends ! since we know not where is the west, nor where the morning, nor where the sun that gives light to mortals descends beneath the earth, nor where he rises up again. Odyssey x. 190. 5 In Book x. 6 For yesterday Jove went to Oceanus to the blameless Ethiopians, to a banquet. Iliad i. 423. 7 The powerful shaker of the earth, as he was returning from the Ethiopians, beheld him from a distance, from the mountains of the Solymi. Odyssey v. 282.