Page:The geography of Strabo (1854) Volume 1.djvu/76

 62 STEABO. BOOK I. so that the Atlantic should by that channel communicate with the Mediterranean, and that this sea being higher than the Isthmus [of Suez], covered it ; but when the Strait [of Gibraltar] was formed, the sea subsided considerably ; and left the land about Casium 1 and Pelusium 2 dry as far over as the Red Sea. But what account have we of the formation of this strait, supposing it were not in existence prior to the Trojan war ? Is it likely that our poet would make Ulysses sail out through the Strait [of Gibraltar] into the Atlantic Ocean, as if that strait already existed, and at the same time describe Mene- laus conducting his ships from Egypt to the Red Sea, as if it did not exist. Further, the poet introduces Proteus as say- ing to him, " Thee the gods Have destined to the blest Elysian Isles, Earth's utmost boundaries." 3 And what this place was, namely, some far western region, is evident from [the mention of] the Zephyr in connexion with it : " But Zephyr always gently from the sea Breathes on them." 4 This, however, is very enigmatical. 32. But if our poet speaks of the Isthmus of Suez as ever having been the strait of confluence between the Mediterra- nean and the Red Seas, how much more credit may we attri- bute to his division of the Ethiopians into two portions, being thus separated by so grand a strait ! And what commerce could he have carried on with the Ethiopians who dwelt by the shores of the exterior sea and the ocean ? Telemachus and his companions admire the multitude of ornaments that were in the palace, "Of gold, electrum, silver, ivory." 5 Now the Ethiopians are possessed of none of these produc- tions in any abundance, excepting ivory, being for the most 1 Mount El Kas. 2 Tineh. 3 But the immortals will send you to the Elysian plain, and the bound- aries of the earth. Odyssey iv. 563. 4 But ever does the ocean send forth the gently blowing breezes of the west wind. Odyssey iv. 567. 5 Odyssey iv. 7,3. See Strabo's description of electrum, Book iii, c. ii. 8.