Footnote 355: Herodotus, iv. 43.[Back to Main Text]
Footnote 356: The story is preserved by Strabo, ii. 3, §§ 4, 5, who rejects it with a vehemence for which no adequate reason is assigned.[Back to Main Text]
Footnote 357: Pliny, Hist. Nat., ii. 67; Mela, De Situ Orbis, iii. 9.[Back to Main Text]
Footnote 358: After the civil war of Sertorius (B. C. 80-72), the Romans became acquainted with the Canaries, which, because of their luxuriant vegetation and soft climate, were identified with the Elysium described by Homer, and were commonly known as the Fortunate islands. "Contra Fortunatæ Insulæ abundant sua sponte genitis, et subinde aliis super aliis innascentibus nihil sollicitos alunt, beatius quam aliæ urbes excultæ." Mela, iii. 10.
Ἀλλά σ' ἐς Ἠλύσιον πεδίον καὶ πείρατα γαίης
ἀθάνατοι πέμψουσιν, ὅθι ξανθὸς Ῥαδάμανθυς,
τῆπερ ῥηΐστη βιοτὴ πέλει ἀνθρώποισιν·
οὐ νιφετὸς, οὔτ' ἂρ χειμὼν πολὺς οὔτε ποτ' ὄμβρος,
ἀλλ' αἰεὶ Ζεφύροιο λιγὺ πνείοντας ἀήτας
Ὠκεανὸς ἀνίησιν ἀναψύχειν ἀνθρώπους.
Odyssey, iv. 563.
Since Horace's time (Epod. vi. 41-66) the Canary islands have been a favourite theme for poets. It was here that Tasso placed the loves of Rinaldo and Armida, in the delicious garden where
Vezzosi augelli infra le verde fronde
Temprano a prova lascivette note.
Mormora l' aura, e fa le foglie e l' onde
Garrir, che variamente ella percote.
Gerusalemme Liberata, xvi. 12.[Back to Main Text]
Footnote 359: Just as our grandfathers used to read the Bible without noticing such points as the divergences between the books of Kings and Chronicles, the contradictions between the genealogies of Jesus in Matthew and Luke, the radically different theories of Christ's personality and career in the Fourth Gospel as compared with the three Synoptics, etc.[Back to Main Text]
Footnote 360: Bunbury, op. cit. vol. ii. pp. 492, 527. The name is used in different geographical senses by various ancient writers, as is well shown in Lewis's Astronomy of the Ancients, pp. 467-481.[Back to Main Text]
Footnote 361: The Romans, at least by the first century A. D., knew also of the shortness of northern nights in summer.