Page:The geography of Strabo (1854) Volume 2.djvu/110

 102 STRABO. CASAUB. 407. except the chasm which receives the Cephissus, and the marshes. 20. Among the neighbouring lakes are Trephea l and Ce- phissis. Homer mentions it ; " Who dwelt in Hyla, intent upon amassing wealth, close to the lake Ce- phissis ; " 2 for he did not mean to specify the lake Copais, as some sup- pose, but that called Hylicus, 3 from the neighbouring village, which is called Hylae : nor did he mean Hyda, as some write the passage, " He lived in Hyda," for there is a place of this name in Lydia, " at the foot of the snowy Tmolus, in the fruitful country of Hyda ; " 4 and another in Boeotia ; he therefore adds to " behind the lake Cephissis," these words, " near dwelt other Boeotians." For the Copais is of great extent, and not situated in the Theban district, but the other is small, and filled from the former by subterraneous channels; it is situated between Thebes 5 and Anthedon. Homer however makes use of the word in the singular number, sometimes making the first syllable long by poetical licence, as in the Catalogue, r/cT "YX^v KOI ITcrewj/a, 6 and sometimes shortening it, as in this instance ; "Oc p' tv T YAr; vaieffKe ; and again, Tychius 2fcvroro/Liwv o%' apiff-og "YX?? 'ivi oiKta vtuW. 7 Nor do some persons correctly write in this passage, *Y(fy evt, '" In Hyda," for Ajax was not to send for his shield from Lydia. 21. 8 The lakes themselves would indicate the order in sons. On the northern and eastern sides its extent is limited by a range of heights, but on the opposite quarter there is no such natural boundary to its size. Smith, v. Boeotia, which contains also a useful map from Forschamer's Hellenica of the Basin of the Copais. 1 There appears to be no modern lake in the position assigned to Tre- phea by Kiepert. Kramer suggests the omission here of the word Tre- phea. 2 II. v. 708. 3 Makaris. * II. xx. 385. 5 Thiva. 6 II. ii. 500. 7 II. vii.221. 8 The text is in a very imperfect state. The section is translated as proposed to be emended by Kramer.