Page:The geography of Strabo (1854) Volume 2.djvu/91

 B. ix. c. I. 10. ATTICA. 83 the serpent Cychrides had its name, which Hesiod says Cychreus bred, and Eurylochus ejected, because it infested the island, but that Ceres admitted it into Eleusis, and it be- came her attendant. Salamis was called also Pityussa from " pitys," the pine tree. The island obtained its renown from the JEacidae, who were masters of it, particularly from Ajax, the son of Telamon, and from the defeat of Xerxes by the Greeks in a battle on the coast, and by his flight to his own country. The ^Eginetae participated in the glory of that en- gagement, both as neighbours, and as having furnished a con- siderable naval force. [In Salamis is the river Bocarus, now called Bocalia.] l 10. At present the Athenians possess the island Salamis. In former times they disputed the possession of it with the Megarians. Some allege, that Pisistratus, others that Solon, inserted in the Catalogue of Ships immediately after this verse, " Ajax conducted from Salamis twelve vessels," 2 the following words, " And stationed them by the side of the Athenian forces ;" and appealed to the poet as a witness, that the island origin- ally belonged to the Athenians. But this is not admitted by the critics, because many other lines testify the contrary. For why does Ajax appear at the extremity of the line not with the Athenians, but with the Thessalians under the com- mand of Protesilaus ; " There were the vessels of Ajax, and Protesilaus." 3 And Agamemnon, in the Review 4 of the troops, " found the son of Peteus, Menestheus, the tamer of horses, standing, and around were the Athenians skilful in war : near stood the wily Ulysses, and around him and at his side, the ranks of the Cephalleni ; " 4 and again, respecting Ajax and the Salaminii ; " he came to the Ajaces," 5 and near them, " Idomeneus on the other side amidst the Cretans," ' not Menestheus. The Athenians then seem to have alleged 1 Probably interpolated. 2 II. ii. 557. 3 II. xiii. 681. 4 II. iv. 327. 6 II. iv. 273. 6 II. iii. 230. Q 2