[166] Such as “the Seal of Solomon.”
[167] “Homer, in the Odyssey, says that the Greeks used the needle in the time of the siege of Troy: thus it is certain that the polarity of the magnet and the mariner’s compass were discoveries which date back 3000 years.”—Buffon, t. xii. p. 386. This passage is often quoted to throw ridicule on the supposition. The only mistake of Buffon was in reading as general the description which in Homer was particular and restricted.
Οὔ γὰρ φαιήκεσσι κυβερνητῆρες ἔασιν,
Οὐδέ τι πεδαλι’ ὲστὶ, τά τ’ ἄλλαι νῆες ἔχουσιν,
Ἀλλ’ αὐταὶ ἴσασι νοήματα καὶ φρένας ἀνδρῶν.
Od. θ. 557.
Οὔ γὰρ φαιήκεσσι μέλει βιός, οὐδὲ φαρέτρην.
Ἀλλ’ ἴστοι καὶ ὲρετμὰ νεῶν, καὶ νηἔς ἐἴσαι,
Ηἴσιν ὰγενόμενοι, πολιτὴν περόωσι θαλάσσην.
Od. γ’. 370.
[170] ךיאפ φαἴακ
[171] “Carcar, inde רקרק carcar, quiescere et in tuto esse significat. An inde dicta est Corcyra, in qua Phæaces per multa sæcula tuto et pacate vixisse constat.”—Chonaan l. i. cxxiii. Whence also Carcer. The name is preserved in Barhary and Spain in Carcer.