Page:The geography of Strabo (1854) Volume 2.djvu/372

 364 STRABO. CASAUB. 599. which is the extent of the plain in front of the city to the sea ; but he will be in error if he include (in the ancient) the present plain, which is all alluvial soil brought down by the rivers, 1 so that if the interval is 12 stadia at present, it must have been at that period less in extent by one half. The story framed by Ulysses, which he tells Eumaeus, implies a great distance from the Naustathmus to the city ; " when we lay in ambush below Troy," 2 and he adds afterwards, "for we had advanced too far from the ships." 3 Scouts are despatched to learn whether the Trojans will re- main near the ships when drawn away far from their own walls, or whether " they will return back to the city." 4 Poly dam as also says, " Consider well, my friends, what is to be done, for my advice is to re- turn now to the city, for we are far from the walls." 4 Demetrius (of Scepsis) adds the testimony of Hestiasa 6 of Alexandreia, who composed a work on the Iliad of Homer, and discusses the question whether the scene of the war was about the present city, and what was the Trojan plain which the poet mentions as situated between the city and the sea, for the plain seen in front of the present city is an accumula- tion of earth brought down by the rivers, and formed at a later period. 37. Polites also, " who was the scout of the Trojans, trusting to his swiftness of feot, and who was on the summit of the tomb of the old ^syetes,'' 7 was acting absurdly. For although he was seated "on the summit of the tomb," yet he might have observed from the much greater height of the citadel, situated nearly at the same distance, nor would his swiftness of foot have been required for the purpose of security, for the tomb of JEsyetes, which exists at present on the road to Alexandreia, is distant five stadia from the citadel. 1 The passage is corrupt, and the translation is rather a paraphrase, assisted by the conjectures of Kramer. 2 Od. xiv. 469. 3 Od. xiv. 496. 4 II. xx. 209. * II. xviii. 254. 6 Hestiaea was distinguished for her commentary on Homer somewhat, in the same manner as Madame Dacier in modern times. 7 II. ii. 792.