εἰ δὲ Φοίνικας εἰπὼν ὀνομάζει καὶ Σιδωνίους τὴν μητρόπολιν αὐτῶν σχήματι συνήθει χρῆται, ὡς Τρῶάς τε καὶ Ἕκτορα νηυσὶ πέλασσε, καί οὐ γὰρ ἔτʼ Οἰνῆος μεγαλήτορος υἱέες ἦσαν, οὐδʼ ἄρʼ ἔτʼ αὐτὸς ἔην, θάνε δὲ ξανθὸς Μελέαγρος, καί Ἴδην δʼ ἵκανεν καὶ Γάργαρον, καί οἳ δʼ Εὔβοιαν ἔχον καὶ Χαλκίδα τʼ Εἰρέτριάν τε. καὶ Σαπφώ ἤ σε Κύπρος ἢ Πάφος ἢ Πάνορμος. καίτοι καὶ ἄλλο τι ἦν τὸ ποιῆσαν καίπερ ἤδη μνησθέντα τῆς Φοινίκης ἰδίως πάλιν καὶ τὴν Σιδῶνα συγκαταλέξαι. πρὸς μὲν γὰρ τὸ τὰ ἐφεξῆς ἔθνη καταλέξαι ἱκανῶς εἶχεν οὕτως εἰπεῖν Κύπρον Φοινίκην τε καὶ Αἰγυπτίους ἐπαληθεὶς Αἰθίοπάς θʼ ἱκόμην· ἵνα δʼ ἐμφήνῃ καὶ τὴν παρὰ τοῖς Σιδωνίοις ἀποδημίαν τὴν ἐπὶ πλέον γενομένην, καλῶς εἶχεν εἴτʼ ἀναλαβεῖν εἴτε καὶ παραλαβεῖν· ἐμφαίνει διὰ τῶν ἐπαίνων τῆς παρʼ αὐτοῖς εὐτεχνίας καὶ τοῦ τὴν Ἑλένην προεξενῶσθαι τοῖς ἀνθρώποις μετὰ Ἀλεξάνδρου· διόπερ παρὰ τῷ Ἀλεξάνδρῳ πολλὰ τοιαῦτα ἀποκείμενα λέγει ἔνθʼ ἔσαν οἱ πέπλοι παμποίκιλοι, ἔργα γυναικῶν Σιδονίων, ἃς αὐτὸς Ἀλέξανδρος θεοειδὴς ἤγαγε Σιδονίηθεν τὴν ὁδόν, ἣν Ἑλένην περ ἀνήγαγε· καὶ παρὰ τῷ Μενελάῳ· λέγει γὰρ πρὸς Τηλέμαχον δώσω τοι κρητῆρα τετυγμένον· ἀργύρεος δὲ ἐστὶν ἅπας, χρυσῷ δʼ ἐπὶ χείλεα κεκράανται. ἄργον δʼ Ἡφαίστοιο· πόρεν δέ ἑ φαίδιμος ἥρως Σιδονίων βασιλεύς, ὅθʼ ἑὸς δόμος ἀμφεκάλυψε κεῖσέ με νοστήσαντα. δεῖ δὲ δέξασθαι πρὸς ὑπερβολὴν εἰρημένον τὸ Ἡφαίστου ἔργον, ὡς λέγεται Ἀθηνᾶς ἔργα τὰ καλὰ καὶ Χαρίτων καὶ Μουσῶν. ἐπεὶ ὅτι γε οἱ ἄνδρες ἦσαν καλλίτεχνοι, δηλοῖ τὸν κρατῆρα ἐπαινῶν, ὃν ὁ Εὔνεως ἔδωκεν ἀντὶ Λυκάονος· φησὶ γάρ κάλλει ἐνίκα πᾶσαν ἐπʼ αἶαν πολλόν· ἐπεὶ Σιδόνες πολυδαίδαλοι εὖ ἤσκησαν, Φοίνικες δʼ ἄγον ἄνδρες.
When, after mentioning Phoenicia, he talks of Sidon, its metropolis, he merely employs a common form of expression, for example, He urged the Trojans and Hector to the ships. / For the sons of magnanimous Oeneus were no more, nor was he himself surviving; moreover, fair-haired Meleager was dead. He came to Ida—and to Gargarus. / He possessed Euboea, Chalcis, and Eretria. / Sappho likewise [says], Whether Cyprus, or the spacious-harboured Paphos. /
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, Phoenice, and the Egyptians, I came to the Ethiopians.
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 Alexander. 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. / 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. / Here the expression, work of Vulcan, must be looked upon as a hyperbole: in the same way all elegant productions are said to be the work of Minerva, of the Graces, or of the Muses. But that the Sidonians were skilful artists, is clear from the praises bestowed [by Homer] on the bowl which Euneos gave in exchange for Lycaon: Earth / Own’d not its like for elegance of form. / Skilful Sidonian artists had around / Embellish’d it, and o’er the sable deep / Phoenician merchants into Lemnos’ port / Had borne it. /
περὶ δὲ τῶν Ἐρεμβῶν πολλὰ μὲν εἴρηται, πιθανώτατοι δʼ εἰσὶν οἱ νομίζοντες τοὺς Ἄραβας λέγεσθαι. Ζήνων δʼ ὁ ἡμέτερος καὶ γράφει οὕτως Αἰθίοπάς θʼ ἱκόμην καὶ Σιδονίους Ἄραβάς τε. τὴν μὲν οὖν γραφὴν οὐκ ἀνάγκη κινεῖν παλαιὰν οὖσαν· αἰτιᾶσθαι δὲ βέλτιον τὴν τοῦ ὀνόματος μετάπτωσιν πολλὴν καὶ ἐπιπολαίαν οὖσαν ἐν πᾶσι τοῖς ἔθνεσιν. ἀμέλει δὲ καὶ ποιοῦσί τινες παραγραμματίζοντες. ἄριστα δʼ ἂν δόξειεν εἰπεῖν ὁ Ποσειδώνιος κἀνταῦθα ἀπὸ τῆς τῶν ἐθνῶν συγγενείας καὶ κοινότητος ἐτυμολογῶν. τὸ γὰρ τῶν Ἀρμενίων ἔθνος καὶ τὸ τῶν Σύρων καὶ Ἀράβων πολλὴν ὁμοφυλίαν ἐμφαίνει κατά τε τὴν διάλεκτον καὶ τοὺς βίους καὶ τοὺς τῶν σωμάτων χαρακτῆρας, καὶ μάλιστα καθὸ πλησιόχωροί εἰσι. δηλοῖ δʼ ἡ Μεσοποταμία ἐκ τῶν τριῶν συνεστῶσα τούτων ἐθνῶν· μάλιστα γὰρ ἐν τούτοις ἡ ὁμοιότης διαφαίνεται. εἰ δέ τις παρὰ τὰ κλίματα γίνεται διαφορὰ τοῖς προσβόρροις ἐπὶ πλέον πρὸς τοὺς μεσημβρινοὺς καὶ τούτοις πρὸς μέσους τοὺς ὅρους, ἀλλʼ ἐπικρατεῖ γε τὸ κοινόν. καὶ οἱ Ἀσσύριοι δὲ καὶ οἱ Ἀριανοὶ παραπλησίως πως ἔχουσι καὶ πρὸς τούτους καὶ πρὸς ἀλλήλους. εἰκάζει γε δὴ καὶ τὰς τῶν ἐθνῶν τούτων κατονομασίας ἐμφερεῖς ἀλλήλαις εἶναι. τοὺς γὰρ ὑφʼ ἡμῶν Σύρους καλουμένους ὑπʼ αὐτῶν τῶν Σύρων Ἀραμμαίους καλεῖσθαι· τούτῳ δʼ ἐοικέναι τοὺς Ἀρμενίους καὶ τοὺς Ἄραβας καὶ Ἐρεμβούς, τάχα τῶν πάλαι Ἑλλήνων οὕτω καλούντων τοὺς Ἄραβας, ἅμα καὶ τοῦ ἐτύμου συνεργοῦντος πρὸς τοῦτο. ἀπὸ γὰρ τοῦ εἰς τὴν ἔραν ἐμβαίνειν τοὺς Ἐρεμβοὺς ἐτυμολογοῦσιν οὕτως οἱ πολλοί, οὓς μεταλαβόντες οἱ ὕστερον ἐπὶ τὸ σαφέστερον Τρωγλοδύτας ἐκάλεσαν· οὗτοι δέ εἰσιν Ἀράβων οἱ ἐπὶ θάτερον μέρος τοῦ Ἀραβίου κόλπου κεκλιμένοι, τὸ πρὸς Αἰγύπτῳ καὶ Αἰθιοπίᾳ. τούτων δʼ εἰκὸς μεμνῆσθαι τὸν ποιητὴν καὶ πρὸς τούτους ἀφῖχθαι λέγειν τὸν Μενέλαον, καθʼ ὃν τρόπον εἴρηται καὶ πρὸς τοὺς Αἰθίοπας· τῇ γὰρ Θηβαΐδι καὶ οὗτοι πλησιάζουσιν· ὁμοίως οὐκ ἐργασίας οὐδὲ χρηματισμοῦ χάριν τούτων ὀνομαζομένων (οὐ πολὺ γὰρ ἦν τοῦτο), ἀλλὰ τοῦ μήκους τῆς ἀποδημίας καὶ τοῦ ἐνδόξου· ἔνδοξον γὰρ τοσοῦτον ἐκτοπίσαι. τοιοῦτον δὲ καὶ τὸ πολλῶν ἀνθρώπων ἴδεν ἄστεα καὶ νόον ἔγνω, καὶ τὸ ἦ γὰρ πολλὰ παθὼν καὶ πόλλʼ ἐπαληθεὶς ἠγαγόμην. Ἡσίοδος δʼ ἐν Καταλόγῳ φησί καὶ κούρην Ἀράβοιο, τὸν Ἑρμάων ἀκάκητα γείνατο καὶ Θρονίη, κούρη Βήλοιο ἄνακτος. οὕτω δὲ καὶ Στησίχορος λέγει. εἰκάζειν οὖν ἐστιν ὅτι ἀπὸ τούτου καὶ ἡ χώρα Ἀραβία ἤδη τότε ὠνομάζετο, κατὰ δὲ τοὺς ἥρωας τυχὸν ἴσως οὔπω.
Many conjectures have been hazarded as to who the Erembi were: they who suppose the Arabs are intended, seem to deserve the most credit.
Our Zeno reads the passage thus:— I came to the Ethiopians, the Sidonians, and the Arabians. /
But there is no occasion to tamper with the text, which is of great antiquity; it is a far preferable course to suppose a change in the name itself, which is of frequent and ordinary occurrence in every nation: and in fact certain grammarians establish this view by a comparison of the radical letters. Posidonius seems to me to adopt the better plan after all, in looking for the etymology of names in nations of one stock and community; thus between the Armenians, Syrians, and Arabians there is a strong affinity both in regard to dialect, mode of life, peculiarities of physical conformation, and above all in the contiguity of the countries. Mesopotamia, which is a motley of the three nations, is a proof of this; for the similarity amongst these three is very remarkable. And though in consequence of the various latitudes there may be some difference between those who dwell in the north and those of the the south, and again between each of these and the inhabitants of the middle region, still the same characteristics are dominant in all. Also the Assyrians and Arians have a great affinity both to these people and to each other. And [Posidonius] believes there is a similarity in the names of these different nations. Those whom we call Syrians style themselves Armenians and Arammaeans, names greatly like those of the Armenians, Arabs, and Erembi. Perhaps this [last] term is that by which the Greeks anciently designated the Arabs; the etymon of the word certainly strengthens the idea. Many deduce the etymology of the Erembi from ἔραν ἐμβαίνειν, (to go into the earth,) which [they say] was altered by the people of a later generation into the more intelligible name of Troglodytes, by which are intended those Arabs who dwell on that side of the Arabian Gulf next to Egypt and Ethiopia. It is probable then that the poet describes Menelaus as having visited these people in the same way that he says he visited the Ethiopians; for they are likewise near to the Thebaid; and he mentions them not on account of any commerce or gain, (for of these there was not much,) but probably to enhance the length of the journey and his meed of praise: for such distant travelling was highly thought of. For example,— Discover’d various cities, and the mind / And manners learn’d of men in lands remote. / And again: After numerous toils / And perilous wanderings o’er the stormy deep, / In the eighth year at last I brought them home. / Hesiod, in his Catalogue, writes, And the daughter of Arabus, whom gracious Hermes and Thronia, descended from king Belus, brought forth. Thus, too, says Stesichorus. Whence it seems that at that time the country was from him named Arabia, though it is not likely this was the case in the heroic period.
οἱ δὲ πλάττοντες Ἐρεμβοὺς ἴδιόν τι ἔθνος Αἰθιοπικὸν καὶ ἄλλο Κηφήνων καὶ τρίτον Πυγμαίων καὶ ἄλλα μυρία ἧττον ἂν πιστεύοιντο, πρὸς τῷ μὴ ἀξιοπίστῳ καὶ σύγχυσίν τινα ἐμφαίνοντες τοῦ μυθικοῦ καὶ ἱστορικοῦ σχήματος. ὅμοιοι δʼ εἰσὶ τούτοις καὶ οἱ Σιδονίους ἐν τῇ κατὰ Πέρσας θαλάττῃ διηγούμενοι ἢ ἄλλοθί που τοῦ ὠκεανοῦ, καὶ τὴν τοῦ Μενελάου πλάνην ἐξωκεανίζοντες· ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ τοὺς Φοίνικας. τῆς δʼ ἀπιστίας αἴτιον οὐκ ἐλάχιστόν ἐστι τὸ ἐναντιοῦσθαι ἀλλήλοις τοὺς λέγοντας. οἱ μὲν γὰρ καὶ τοὺς Σιδονίους τοὺς καθʼ ἡμᾶς ἀποίκους εἶναι τῶν ἐν τῷ ὠκεανῷ φασί, προστιθέντες καὶ διὰ τί Φοίνικες ἐκαλοῦντο, ὅτι καὶ ἡ θάλαττα ἐρυθρά· οἱ δʼ ἐκείνους τούτων. εἰσὶ δʼ οἳ καὶ τὴν Αἰθιοπίαν εἰς τὴν καθʼ ἡμᾶς Φοινίκην μετάγουσι καὶ τὰ περὶ τὴν Ἀνδρομέδαν ἐν Ἰόπῃ συμβῆναί φασιν· οὐ δήπου κατʼ ἄγνοιαν τοπικὴν καὶ τούτων λεγομένων, ἀλλʼ ἐν μύθου μᾶλλον σχήματι· καθάπερ καὶ τῶν παρʼ Ἡσιόδῳ καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις, ἃ προφέρει ὁ Ἀπολλόδωρος, οὐδʼ ὃν τρόπον παρατίθησι τοῖς Ὁμήρου ταῦτα εἰδώς. τὰ μὲν γὰρ Ὁμήρου τὰ περὶ τὸν Πόντον καὶ τὴν Αἴγυπτον παρατίθησιν ἄγνοιαν αἰτιώμενος, ὡς λέγειν μὲν τὰ ὄντα βουλομένου, μὴ λέγοντος δὲ τὰ ὄντα, ἀλλὰ τὰ μὴ ὄντα ὡς ὄντα κατʼ ἄγνοιαν. Ἡσιόδου δʼ οὐκ ἄν τις αἰτιάσαιτο ἄγνοιαν, ἡμίκυνας λέγοντος καὶ μακροκεφάλους καὶ πυγμαίους· οὐδὲ γὰρ αὐτοῦ Ὁμήρου ταῦτα μυθεύοντος, ὧν εἰσι καὶ οὗτοι οἱ πυγμαῖοι, οὐδʼ Ἀλκμᾶνος στεγανόποδας ἱστοροῦντος, οὐδʼ Αἰσχύλου κυνοκεφάλους καὶ στερνοφθάλμους καὶ μονομμάτους, ὅπου γε οὐδὲ τοῖς πεζῇ συγγράφουσιν ἐν ἱστορίας σχήματι προσέχομεν περὶ πολλῶν, κἂν μὴ ἐξομολογῶνται τὴν μυθογραφίαν. φαίνεται γὰρ εὐθὺς ὅτι μύθους παραπλέκουσιν ἑκόντες οὐκ ἀγνοίᾳ τῶν ὄντων, ἀλλὰ πλάσει τῶν ἀδυνάτων τερατείας καὶ τέρψεως χάριν. δοκοῦσι δὲ κατʼ ἄγνοιαν, ὅτι μάλιστα καὶ πιθανῶς τὰ τοιαῦτα μυθεύουσι περὶ τῶν ἀδήλων καὶ τῶν ἀγνοουμένων. Θεόπομπος δὲ ἐξομολογεῖται φήσας ὅτι καὶ μύθους ἐν ταῖς ἱστορίαις ἐρεῖ, κρεῖττον ἢ ὡς Ἡρόδοτος καὶ Κτησίας καὶ Ἑλλάνικος καὶ οἱ τὰ Ἰνδικὰ συγγράψαντες.
There are many who would make the Erembi a tribe of the Ethiopians, or of the Cephenes, or again of the Pygmies, and a thousand other fancies. These ought to be regarded with little trust; since their opinion is not only incredible, but they evidently labour under a certain confusion as to the different characters of history and fable. In the same category must be reckoned those who place the Sidonians and Phoenicians in the Persian Gulf, or somewhere else in the Ocean, and make the wanderings of Menelaus to have happened there. Not the least cause for mistrusting these writers is the manner in which they contradict each other. One half would have us believe that the Sidonians are a colony from the people whom they describe as located on the shores of the [Indian] Ocean, and who they say were called Phoenicians from the colour of the Erythraean Sea, while the others declare the opposite.
Some again would transport Ethiopia into our Phoenicia, and make Joppa the scene of the adventures of Andromeda; and this not from any ignorance of the topography of those places, but by a kind of mythic fiction similar to those of Hesiod and other writers censured by Apollodorus, who, however, couples Homer with them, without, as it appears, any cause. He cites as instances what Homer relates of the Euxine and Egypt, and accuses him of ignorance for pretending to speak the actual truth, and then recounting fable, all the while ignorantly mistaking it for fact. Will anyone then accuse Hesiod of ignorance on account of his Hemicynes, his Macro- cephali, and his Pygmies; or Homer for his like fables, and amongst others the Pygmies themselves; or Alcman for describing the Steganopodes; or Aeschylus for his Cyno- cephali, Sternophthalmi, and Monommati; when amongst prose writers, and in works bearing the appearance of veritable history, we frequently meet with similar narrations, and that without any admission of their having inserted such myths. Indeed it becomes immediately evident that they have woven together a tissue of myths not through ignorance of the real facts, but merely to amuse by a deceptive narration of the impossible and marvellous. If they appear to do this in ignorance, it is because they can romance more frequently and with greater plausibility on those things which are uncertain and unknown. This Theopompus plainly confesses in the announcement of his intention to relate the fables in his history in a better style than Herodotus, Ctesias, Hellanicus, and those who had written on the affairs of India.
περὶ δὲ τῶν τοῦ ὠκεανοῦ παθῶν εἴρηται μὲν ἐν μύθου σχήματι· καὶ γὰρ τούτου στοχάζεσθαι δεῖ τὸν ποιητήν. ἀπὸ γὰρ τῶν ἀμπώτεων καὶ τῶν πλημμυρίδων ἡ Χάρυβδις αὐτῷ μεμύθευται, οὐδʼ αὐτὴ παντάπασιν Ὁμήρου πλάσμα οὖσα, ἀλλʼ ἀπὸ τῶν ἱστορουμένων περὶ τὸν Σικελικὸν πορθμὸν διεσκευασμένη. εἰ δὲ δὶς τῆς παλιρροίας γινομένης καθʼ ἑκάστην ἡμέραν καὶ νύκτα ἐκεῖνος τρὶς εἴρηκε τρὶς μὲν γάρ τʼ ἀνίησιν ἐπʼ ἤματι, τρὶς δʼ ἀναροιβδεῖ, λέγοιτʼ ἂν καὶ οὕτως· οὐ γὰρ κατʼ ἄγνοιαν τῆς ἱστορίας ὑποληπτέον λέγεσθαι τοῦτο, ἀλλὰ τραγῳδίας χάριν καὶ φόβου, ὃν ἡ Κίρκη πολὺν τοῖς λόγοις προστίθησιν ἀποτροπῆς χάριν, ὥστε καὶ τὸ ψεῦδος παραμίγνυσθαι. ἐν αὐτοῖς γοῦν τοῖς ἔπεσι τούτοις εἴρηκε μὲν οὕτως ἡ Κίρκη τρὶς μὲν γάρ τʼ ἀνίησιν ἐπʼ ἤματι, τρὶς δʼ ἀναροιβδεῖ δεινόν· μὴ σύ γε κεῖθι τύχοις, ὅτε ῥοιβδήσειε· οὐ γάρ κεν ῥύσαιτό σʼ ὑπὲκ κακοῦ οὐδʼ Ἐνοσίχθων. καὶ μὴν παρέτυχέ τε τῇ ἀναρροιβδήσει ὁ Ὀδυσσεὺς καὶ οὐκ ἀπώλετο, ὥς φησιν αὐτός ἡ μὲν ἀνερροίβδησε θαλάσσης ἁλμυρὸν ὕδωρ· αὐτὰρ ἐγὼ ποτὶ μακρὸν ἐρινεὸν ὑψόσʼ ἀερθείς, τῷ προσφὺς ἐχόμην, ὡς νυκτερίς. εἶτα περιμείνας τὰ ναυάγια καὶ λαβόμενος πάλιν αὐτῶν σώζεται, ὥστʼ ἐψεύσατο ἡ Κίρκη. ὡς οὖν τοῦτο, κἀκεῖνο τὸ τρὶς μὲν γάρ τʼ ἀνίησιν ἐπʼ ἤματι ἀντὶ τοῦ δίς, ἅμα καὶ τῆς ὑπερβολῆς τῆς τοιαύτης συνήθους πᾶσιν οὔσης, τρισμακαρίους καὶ τρισαθλίους λεγόντων· καὶ ὁ ποιητής τρισμάκαρες Δαναοί, καί ἀσπασίη τρίλλιστος, τριχθά τε καὶ τετραχθά. ἴσως δʼ ἄν τις καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς ὥρας τεκμήραιτο, ὅτι ὑπαινίττεταί πως τὸ ἀληθές· μᾶλλον γὰρ ἂν ἐφαρμόττοι τῷ δὶς γενέσθαι τὴν παλίρροιαν κατὰ τὸν συνάμφω χρόνον, τὸν ἐξ ἡμέρας καὶ νυκτός, ἢ τῷ τρὶς τοσοῦτον χρόνον μεῖναι τὰ ναυάγια ὑποβρύχια, ὀψὲ δὲ ἀναβληθῆναι ποθοῦντι. καὶ συνεχῶς προσισχομένῳ τοῖς κλάδοις νωλεμέως δʼ ἐχόμην, ὄφρʼ ἐξεμέσειεν ὀπίσσω ἱστὸν καὶ τρόπιν αὖτις, ἐελδομένῳ δέ μοι ἦλθεν ὄψʼ· ἦμός τʼ ἐπὶ δόρπον ἀνὴρ ἀγορῆθεν ἀνέστη, κρίνων νείκεα πολλὰ δικαζομένων αἰζηῶν, καὶ τότε δήμοι δοῦρα Χαρύβδιος ἐξεφαάνθη. πάντα γὰρ ταῦτα χρόνου τινὸς ἔμφασιν ἀξιολόγου δίδωσι, καὶ μάλιστα τὸ τὴν ἑσπέραν ἐπιτεῖναι, μὴ κοινῶς εἰπόντα, ἡνίκα ὁ δικαστὴς ἀνίσταται, ἀλλʼ ἡνίκα κρίνων νείκεα πολλά, ὥστε βραδῦναι πλέον τι καὶ ἄλλως δὲ οὐ πιθανὴν ἂν ὑπέτεινε τῷ ναυαγῷ τὴν ἀπαλλαγήν, εἰ πρὶν ἀποσπασθῆναι πολὺ καὶ αὐτίκα εἰς τοὐπίσω παλίρρους μετέπιπτεν.
Homer has described to us the phenomena of the ocean under the form of a myth; this [art] is very desirable in a poet; the idea of his Charybdis was taken from the ebb and flow of the tide, and was by no means a pure invention of his own, but derived from what he knew concerning the Strait of Sicily. And although he states that the ebb and flow occurred thrice during the four and twenty hours, instead of twice, (Each day she thrice disgorges, and each day / Thrice swallows it,”) / we must suppose that he said this not through any ignorance of the fact, but for tragic effect, and to excite the fear which Circe endeavours to infuse into her arguments to deter Ulysses from departing, even at a little expense of truth. The following is the language Circe makes use of in her speech to him: Each day she thrice disgorges, and each day / Thrice swallows it. Ah! well-forewarn’d beware / What time she swallows, that thou come not nigh, / For not himself, Neptune, could snatch thee thence. / And yet when Ulysses was ingulfed in the eddy he was not lost. He tells us himself, ‘It was the time when she absorb’d profound / The briny flood, but by a wave upborne, / I seized the branches fast of the wild fig, / To which bat-like I clung. / And then having waited for the timbers of the wreck he seized hold of them, and thus saved himself. Circe, therefore, had exaggerated both the peril, and also the fact of its vomiting forth thrice a day instead of twice. However, this latter is a hyperbole which every one makes use of; thus we say thrice-happy and thrice-miserable.
So the poet, Thrice-happy Greeks! / Again, O delightful, thrice-wished for! / And again, O thrice and four times. / Any one, too, might conclude from the passage itself that Homer even here hinted at the truth, for the long time which the remains of the wreck lay under water, which Ulysses, who was all the while hanging suspended to the branches, so anxiously desired to rise, accords much better with the ebb and flow taking place but twice during the night and day instead of thrice. Therefore hard / I clench’d the boughs, till she disgorged again / Both keel and mast. Not undesired by me / They came, though late; for at what hour the judge, / After decision made of numerous strifes / Between young candidates for honour, leaves / The forum, for refreshment’s sake at home, / Then was it that the mast and keel emerged. /
Every word of this indicates a considerable length of time, especially when he prolongs it to the evening, not merely saying at that time when the judge has risen, but having adjudicated on a vast number of cases, and therefore detained longer than usual. Otherwise his account of the return of the wreck would not have appeared likely, if he had brought it back again with the return of the wave, before it had been first carried a long way off.
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