Κεφαλλῆνας δὲ νῦν μὲν τοὺς ἐκ τῆς νήσου τῆς Κεφαλληνίας λέγουσιν, Ὅμηρος δὲ πάντας τοὺς ὑπὸ τῷ Ὀδυσσεῖ, ὧν εἰσι καὶ οἱ Ἀκαρνᾶνες· εἰπὼν γάρ αὐτὰρ Ὀδυσσεὺς ἦγε Κεφαλλῆνας, / οἵ ῥʼ Ἰθάκην εἶχον καὶ Νήριτον εἰνοσίφυλλον / (τὸ ἐν ταύτῃ ὄρος ἐπιφανές, ὡς καί οἳ δʼ ἐκ Δουλιχίοιο Ἐχινάων θʼ ἱεράων / καὶ αὐτοῦ τοῦ Δουλιχίου τῶν Ἐχινάδων ὄντος· καί οἳ δʼ ἄρα Βουπράσιόν τε καὶ Ἤλιδα / καὶ τοῦ Βουπρασίου ἐν Ἤλιδι ὄντος· οἳ δʼ Εὔβοιαν ἔχον καὶ Χαλκίδα τʼ Εἰρέτριάν τε / καὶ τούτων ἐν Εὐβοίᾳ οὐσῶν· καί Τρῶες καὶ Λύκιοι καὶ Δάρδανοι / ὡς καὶ ἐκείνων Τρώων ὄντων)· πλὴν μετά γε Νήριτον φησί καὶ Κροκύλειʼ ἐνέμοντο καὶ Αἰγίλιπα τρηχεῖαν, / οἵ τε Ζάκυνθον ἔχον ἠδʼ οἳ Σάμον ἀμφενέμοντο, / οἵ τʼ ἤπειρον ἔχον ἠδʼ ἀντιπέραιʼ ἐνέμοντο. / ἤπειρον μὲν οὖν τὰ ἀντιπέρα τῶν νήσων βούλεται λέγειν, ἅμα τῇ Λευκάδι καὶ τὴν ἄλλην Ἀκαρνανίαν συμπεριλαβεῖν βουλόμενος, περὶ ἧς καὶ οὕτω λέγει δώδεκʼ ἐν ἠπείρῳ ἀγέλαι, τόσα πώεα μήλων, / τάχα τῆς Ἠπειρώτιδος τὸ παλαιὸν μέχρι δεῦρο διατεινούσης καὶ ὀνόματι κοινῷ ἠπείρου λεγομένης· Σάμον δὲ τὴν νῦν Κεφαλληνίαν, ὡς καὶ ὅταν φῇ ἐν πορθμῷ Ἰθάκης τε Σάμοιό τε παιπαλοέσσης. / τῷ γὰρ ἐπιθέτῳ τὴν ὁμωνυμίαν διέσταλται, ὡς οὐκ ἐπὶ τῆς πόλεως ἀλλʼ ἐπὶ τῆς νήσου τιθεὶς τοὔνομα. τετραπόλεως γὰρ οὔσης τῆς νήσου μία τῶν τεττάρων ἐστὶν ἡ καὶ Σάμος καὶ Σάμη καλουμένη καθʼ ἑκάτερον τοὔνομα, ὁμωνυμοῦσα τῇ νήσῳ. ὅταν δʼ εἴπῃ ὅσσοι γὰρ νήσοισιν ἐπικρατέουσιν ἄριστοι / Δουλιχίῳ τε Σάμῃ τε καὶ ὑλήεντι Ζακύνθῳ, / τῶν νήσων ἀριθμὸν ποιῶν δῆλός ἐστι καὶ Σάμην καλῶν τὴν νῆσον, ἣν πρότερον Σάμον ἐκάλεσεν. Ἀπολλόδωρος δὲ τοτὲ μὲν τῷ ἐπιθέτῳ λέγων διεστάλθαι τὴν ἀμφιβολίαν εἰπόντα Σάμοιό τε παιπαλοέσσης, / ὡς τὴν νῆσον λέγοντα, τοτὲ δὲ γράφεσθαι δεῖν Δουλιχίῳ τε Σάμῳ τε / ἀλλὰ μή Σάμῃ τε δῆλός ἐστι τὴν μὲν πόλιν Σάμην καὶ Σάμον συνωνύμως ὑπολαμβάνων ἐκφέρεσθαι, τὴν δὲ νῆσον Σάμον μόνον· ὅτι γὰρ Σάμη λέγεται ἡ πόλις δῆλον εἶναι ἔκ τε τοῦ διαριθμούμενον τοὺς ἐξ ἑκάστης πόλεως μνηστῆρας φάναι ἐκ δὲ Σάμης πίσυρές τε καὶ εἴκοσι φῶτες ἔασι, / καὶ ἐκ τοῦ περὶ τῆς Κτιμένης λόγου τὴν μὲν ἔπειτα Σάμηνδʼ ἔδοσαν. / ἔχει δὲ ταῦτα λόγον. οὐ γὰρ εὐκρινῶς ἀποδίδωσιν ὁ ποιητὴς οὔτε περὶ τῆς Κεφαλληνίας οὔτε περὶ τῆς Ἰθάκης καὶ τῶν ἄλλων πλησίον τόπων, ὥστε καὶ οἱ ἐξηγούμενοι διαφέρονται καὶ οἱ ἱστοροῦντες.
At present those are called Cephallenians who inhabit Cepliallenia. But Homer calls all those under the command of Ulysses by this name, among whom are the Acarnanians; for when he says, Ulysses led the Cephallenians, those who possessed Ithaca, and Neritum, waving with woods, (the remarkable mountain in this island; so also, they who came from Dulichium, and the sacred Echinades, / for Dulichium itself was one of the Echinades; and again, Buprasium and Elis, / when Buprasium is situated in Elis; and so, they who inhabited Euboea, Chalcis, and Eretria, / when the latter places are in Euboea; so again, Trojans, Lycians, and Dardanians, / and these also were Trojans): but after mentioning Neritum, he says, and they who inhabited Crocyleia and rocky Aegilips, Zacynthus, Samos, Epirus, and the country opposite to these islands; he means by Epirus the country opposite to the islands, intending to include together with Leucas the rest of Acarnania, of which he says, twelve herds, and as many flocks of sheep in Epirus, / because the district of Epirus (the Epirotis) extended anciently perhaps as far as this place, and was designated by the common name Epirus.
The present Cephallenia he calls Samos, as when he says, in the strait between Ithaca and the hilly Samos, / he makes a distinction between places of the same name by an epithet, assigning the name not to the city, but to the island. For the island contains four cities, one of which, called Samos, or Same, for it had either appellation, bore the same name as the island. But when the poet says, all the chiefs of the islands, Dulichium, Same, and the woody Zacynthus, / he is evidently enumerating the islands, and calls that Same which he had before called Samos.
But Apollodorus at one time says that the ambiguity is removed by the epithet, which the poet uses, when he says, and hilly Samos, / meaning the island; and at another time he pretends that we ought to write Dulichium, and Samos, / and not Same, / and evidently supposes that the city is called by either name, Samos or Samé, but the island by that of Samos only. That the city is called Same is evident from the enumeration of the suitors from each city, where the poet says, there are four and twenty from Samé, / and from what is said about Ctimene, they afterwards gave her in marriage at Samé. /
There is reason in this. For the poet does not express himself distinctly either about Cephallenia, or Ithaca, or the other neighbouring places, so that both historians and commentators differ from one another.
αὐτίκα γὰρ ἐπὶ τῆς Ἰθάκης ὅταν φῇ οἵ ῥʼ Ἰθάκην εἶχον καὶ Νήριτον εἰνοσίφυλλον, / ὅτι μὲν τὸ Νήριτον ὄρος λέγει τῷ ἐπιθέτῳ δηλοῖ. ἐν ἄλλοις δὲ καὶ ῥητῶς ὄρος ναιετάω δʼ Ἰθάκην εὐδείελον· ἐν δʼ ὄρος αὐτῇ, / Νήριτον εἰνοσίφυλλον ἀριπρεπές. / Ἰθάκην δʼ εἴτε τὴν πόλιν εἴτε τὴν νῆσον λέγει, οὐ δῆλον ἐν τούτῳ γε τῷ ἔπει οἵ ῥʼ Ἰθάκην εἶχον καὶ Νήριτον. / κυρίως μὲν γὰρ ἀκούων τις τὴν πόλιν δέξαιτʼ ἄν, ὡς καὶ Ἀθήνας καὶ Λυκαβηττὸν εἴ τις λέγοι, καὶ Ῥόδον καὶ Ἀτάβυριν, καὶ ἔτι Λακεδαίμονα καὶ Ταΰγετον· ποιητικῶς δὲ τοὐναντίον. ἐν μέντοι τῷ ναιετάω δʼ Ἰθάκην εὐδείελον· ἐν δʼ ὄρος αὐτῇ / Νήριτον / · ἐν γὰρ τῇ νήσῳ οὐκ ἐν τῇ πόλει τὸ ὄρος. ὅταν δὲ οὕτω φῇ ἡμεῖς ἐξ Ἰθάκης ὑπὸ Νηίου εἰλήλουθμεν, / ἄδηλον, εἴτε τὸ αὐτὸ τῷ Νηρίτῳ λέγει τὸ Νήιον εἴτε ἕτερον ἢ ὄρος ἢ χωρίον.
For instance, with respect to Ithaca, when the poet says, and they who possessed Ithaca, and Neritum with its waving woods, / he denotes by the epithet, that he means Neritum the mountain. In other passages he expressly mentions the mountain; I dwell at Ithaca, turned to the western sun; where is a mountain, Neritum, seen from afar with its waving woods; but whether he means the city, or the island, is not clear, at least from this verse; they who possessed Ithaca, and Neritum. / Any one would understand these words in their proper sense to mean the city, as we speak of Athens, Lycabettus, Rhodes, Atabyris, Lacedaemon, and Taygetus, but in a poetical sense the contrary is implied.
In the verses, I dwell at Ithaca, turned to the western sun, in which is a mountain Neritum, the meaning is plain, because the mountain is on the island and not in the city; and when he says, we came from Ithaca situated under Neium, / it is uncertain whether he means that Neium was the same as Neritum, or whether it is another, either mountain or place. [He, who writes Nericum for Neritum, or the reverse, is quite mistaken. For the poet describes the former as waving with woods; the other as a well-built city; one in Ithaca, the other on the sea-beach of Epirus.]
καὶ τοῦτο δὲ δοκεῖ ὑπεναντιότητά τινα δηλοῦν αὐτὴ δὲ χθαμαλὴ πανυπερτάτη εἰν ἁλὶ κεῖται. / χθαμαλὴ μὲν γὰρ ἡ ταπεινὴ καὶ χαμηλή, πανυπερτάτη δὲ ἡ ὑψηλή, οἵαν διὰ πλειόνων σημαίνει, Κραναὴν καλῶν· καὶ τὴν ὁδὸν τὴν ἐκ τοῦ λιμένος τρηχεῖαν ἀταρπὸν / χῶρον ἀνʼ ὑλήεντα / καί οὐ γάρ τις νήσων εὐδείελος, οὐδʼ εὐλείμων, / αἵ θʼ ἁλὶ κεκλίαται· Ἰθάκη δέ τε καὶ περὶ πασέων. / ἔχει μὲν οὖν ἀπεμφάσεις τοιαύτας ἡ φράσις, ἐξηγοῦνται δὲ οὐ κακῶς· οὔτε γὰρ χθαμαλὴν δέχονται ταπεινὴν ἐνταῦθα, ἀλλὰ πρόσχωρον τῇ ἠπείρῳ ἐγγυτάτω οὖσαν αὐτῆς· οὔτε πανυπερτάτην ὑψηλοτάτην ἀλλὰ πανυπερτάτην πρὸς ζόφον, οἷον ὑπὲρ πάσας ἐσχάτην τετραμμένην πρὸς ἄρκτον· τοῦτο γὰρ βούλεται λέγειν τὸ πρὸς ζόφον, τὸ δʼ ἐναντίον πρὸς νότον αἱ δέ τʼ ἄνευθε πρὸς ἠῶ τʼ ἠέλιόν τε. / τὸ γὰρ ἄνευθε πόρρω καὶ χωρὶς ἔστιν, ὡς τῶν μὲν ἄλλων πρὸς νότον κεκλιμένων καὶ ἀπωτέρω τῆς ἠπείρου, τῆς δʼ Ἰθάκης ἐγγύθεν καὶ πρὸς ἄρκτον. ὅτι δʼ οὕτω λέγει τὸ νότιον μέρος καὶ ἐν τοῖσδε φανερόν εἴτʼ ἐπὶ δεξίʼ ἴωσι, πρὸς ἠῶ τʼ ἠέλιόν τε, / εἴτʼ ἐπʼ ἀριστερὰ τοί γε, ποτὶ ζόφον ἠερόεντα / καὶ ἔτι μᾶλλον ἐν τοῖσδε ὦ φίλοι, οὐ γάρ τʼ ἴδμεν, ὅπη ζόφος, οὐδʼ ὅπη ἠώς, / οὐδʼ ὅπη ἠέλιος φαεσίμβροτος εἶσʼ ὑπὸ γαῖαν, / οὐδʼ ὅπη ἀννεῖται. / ἔστι μὲν γὰρ δέξασθαι τὰ τέτταρα κλίματα τὴν ἠῶ δεχομένους τὸ νότιον μέρος, ἔχει τέ τινα τοῦτʼ ἔμφασιν· ἀλλὰ βέλτιον τὸ κατὰ τὴν πάροδον τοῦ ἡλίου νοεῖν ἀντιτιθέμενον τῷ ἀρκτικῷ μέρει· ἐξάλλαξιν γάρ τινα τῶν οὐρανίων πολλὴν βούλεται σημαίνειν ὁ λόγος, οὐχὶ ψιλὴν ἐπίκρυψιν τῶν κλιμάτων. δεῖ γὰρ κατὰ πάντα συννεφῆ καιρόν, ἄν θʼ ἡμέρας ἄν τε νύκτωρ συμβῇ, παρακολουθεῖν· τὰ δʼ οὐράνια ἐξαλλάττει ἐπὶ πλέον τῷ πρὸς μεσημβρίαν μᾶλλον ἢ ἧττον παραχωρεῖν ἡμᾶς ἢ εἰς τοὐναντίον. τοῦτο δὲ οὐ δύσεως καὶ ἀνατολῆς ἐγκαλύψεις ποιεῖ (καὶ γὰρ αἰθρίας οὔσης συμβαίνει), ἀλλὰ μεσημβρίας καὶ ἄρκτου. μάλιστα γὰρ ἀρκτικός ἐστιν ὁ πόλος· τούτου δὲ κινουμένου, καὶ ποτὲ μὲν κατὰ κορυφὴν ἡμῖν γινομένου ποτὲ δὲ ὑπὸ γῆς ὄντος, καὶ οἱ ἀρκτικοὶ συμμεταβάλλουσι, ποτὲ δὲ συνεκλείπουσι κατὰ τὰς τοιαύτας παραχωρήσεις, ὥστε οὐκ ἂν εἰδείης ὅπου ἐστὶ τὸ ἀρκτικὸν κλίμα, οὐδʼ εἰ ἀρχὴν ἐστίν· εἰ δὲ τοῦτο, οὐδὲ τοὐναντίον ἂν γνοίης. κύκλος δὲ τῆς Ἰθάκης ἐστὶν ὡς ὀγδοήκοντα σταδίων. περὶ μὲν Ἰθάκης ταῦτα.
But this line seems to imply some contradiction; it lies in the sea both low, and very high, / for χθαμαλὴ is low, and depressed, but πανυπερτάτη expresses great height, as he describes it in other passages, calling it Cranae, (or rugged,) and the road leading from the harbour, as, a rocky way through a woody spot, / and again, for there is not any island in the sea exposed to the western sun, and with good pastures, least of all Ithaca.
The expression does imply contradictions, which admit however of some explanation. They do not understand χθαμαλὴ to signify in that place low, but its contiguity to the continent, to which it approaches very close; nor by πανυπερτάτη great elevation, but the farthest advance towards darkness, (πρὸς ζόφον,) that is, placed towards the north more than all the other islands, for this is what the poet means by towards darkness, the contrary to which is towards the south, (πρὸς νότον,) the rest far off (ἄνευφε) towards the morning, and the sun. / For the word ἄνευθε denotes at a distance, and apart, as if the other islands lay to the south, and more distant from the continent, but Ithaca near the continent and towards the north. That the poet designates the southern part (of the heavens) in this manner appears from these words, whether they go to the right hand, towards the morning and the sun, or to the left, towards cloudy darkness; and still more evidently in these lines, my friends, we know not where darkness nor where morning lie, nor where sets nor where rises the sun which brings light to man. We may here understand the four climates, and suppose the morning to denote the southern part (of the heavens), and this has some probability; but it is better to consider what is near to the path of the sun to be opposite to the northern part (of the heavens). For the speech in Homer is intended to indicate some great change in the celestial appearances, not a mere obscuration of the climates. For this must happen during every cloudy season either by day or by night. Now the celestial appearances alter very much as we advance more or less towards the south, or the contrary; but this alteration does not prevent our observing the setting and rising of the sun, for in fine weather these phenomena are always visible whether in the south or the north. For the pole is the most northerly point: when this moves, and is sometimes over our heads and sometimes below the earth, the arctic circles change their position with it. Sometimes they disappear during these movements, so that you cannot discern the position of the northern climate, nor where it commences; and if this is so, neither can you distinguish the contrary climate.
The circuit of Ithaca is about 80 stadia. So much then concerning Ithaca.
τὴν δὲ Κεφαλληνίαν τετράπολιν οὖσαν οὔτʼ αὐτὴν εἴρηκε τῷ νῦν ὀνόματι οὔτε τῶν πόλεων οὐδεμίαν, πλὴν μιᾶς εἴτε Σάμης εἴτε Σάμου, ἣ νῦν μὲν οὐκέτʼ ἐστίν, ἴχνη δʼ αὐτῆς δείκνυται κατὰ μέσον τὸν πρὸς Ἰθάκῃ πορθμόν· οἱ δʼ ἀπʼ αὐτῆς Σαμαῖοι καλοῦνται· αἱ δʼ ἄλλαι καὶ νῦν εἰσὶν ἔτι μικραὶ πόλεις τινές, Πρώνησος καὶ Κράνιοι. ἐφʼ ἡμῶν δὲ καὶ ἄλλην προσέκτισε Γάιος Ἀντώνιος, ὁ θεῖος Μάρκου Ἀντωνίου, ἡνίκα φυγὰς γενόμενος μετὰ τὴν ὑπατείαν, ἣν συνῆρξε Κικέρωνι τῷ ῥήτορι, ἐν τῇ Κεφαλληνίᾳ διέτριψε καὶ τὴν ὅλην νῆσον ὑπήκοον ἔσχεν ὡς ἴδιον κτῆμα· οὐκ ἔφθη μέντοι συνοικίσας, ἀλλὰ καθόδου τυχὼν πρὸς ἄλλοις μείζοσιν ὢν κατέλυσε τὸν βίον.
The poet does not mention Cephallenia, which contains four cities, by its present name, nor any of the cities except one, either Samé or Samos, which no longer exists, but traces of it are shown in the middle of the Strait near Ithaca. The inhabitants have the name of Samae. The rest still exist at present, they are small cities, Paleis, Pronesus, and Cranii. In our time Caius Antonius, the uncle of Marcus Antonius, founded an additional city, when (being an exile after his consulship in which he was the colleague of Cicero the orator) he lived at Cephallenia, and was master of the whole island, as if it had been his own property. He returned from exile before he completed the foundation of the settlement, and died when engaged in more important affairs.
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