Page:The geography of Strabo (1854) Volume 1.djvu/79

 CHAP. ii. 33. INTRODUCTION. 65 He possessed Euboea, Chalcis, and Eretria. 1 Sappho likewise [says], Whether Cyprus, or the spacious-harboured Paphos. 2 But he had some other cause besides this for mentioning Sidon immediately after having spoken of the Phoenicians : for had he merely desired to recount the nations in order, it would have been quite sufficient to say, Having wandered to Cyprus, Phcenice, and the Egyptians, I came to the Ethiopians. 3 But that he might record his sojourn amongst the Sidonians, which was considerably prolonged, he thought it well to refer to it repeatedly. Thus he praises their prosperity and skill in the arts, and alludes to the hospitality the citizens had shown to Helen and Alexander. Thus he tells us of the many [treasures] of this nature laid up in store by Alex- ander. 4 " There his treasures lay, Works of Sidonian women, whom her son, The godlike Paris, when he crossed the seas With Jove-begotten Helen, brought to Troy." 5 And also by Menelaus, who says to Telemachus, ' I give thee this bright beaker, argent all, But round encircled with a lip of gold. It is the work of Vulcan, which to me The hero Phaedimus presented, king Of the Sidonians, when on my return Beneath his roof I lodged. I make it thine." 6 Here the expression, " work of Vulcan," must be looked upon as a hyperbole : in the same way all elegant productions are 1 Iliad ii. 536. Chalcis and Eretria were two cities of Euboea. 2 We have here taken advantage of Casaubon's suggestion to read 17 Travopp-og instead of 77 UdvopfjioQ, the Greek name for Palermo in Sicily, which was not founded in the time of Sappho. 3 Odyssey iv. 83. * Paris. 5 Where were her variously embroidered robes, the works of Sidonian females, which godlike Alexander himself had brought from Sidon, sailing over the broad ocean, in that voyage in which he carried off Helen, sprung from a noble sire. Iliad vi. 289. 6 I will give thee a wrought bowl : it is all silver, and the lips are bound with gold; it is the work of "Vulcan: the hero Phaedimus, king of the Sidonians, gave it [to me], when his home sheltered me, as I was returning from thence, i wish to give this to thee. Odyssey xv. 115.