[212] Aristotle accounts for Homer’s mentioning Thebes rather than Memphis, by saying that, at the time of the poet, the formation of that part of Egypt by alluvial deposit was very recent. So that Memphis either did not then exist, or at all events had not then obtained its after celebrity. Aristotle likewise seems to say that anciently Egypt consisted only of the territory of the Thebaid, καὶ τὸ ἀρχαῖονἡ Αἴγυπτος, Θῆβαι καλούμεναι.
[213] The Mediterranean.
[214] Gosselin says, “Read 4000, as in lib. xvii. This correction is indicated by the following measure given by Herodotus:
| From the sea to Heliopolis | 1500 stadia |
| From Heliopolis to Thebes | 4860 |
| —— | |
| 6300 |
The stadium made use of in Egypt at the time of Herodotus consisted of 1111-1/9 to a degree on the grand circle, as may be seen by comparing the measure of the coasts of the Delta furnished by that historian with our actual information. The length of this stadium may likewise be ascertained by reference to Aristotle. In the time of Eratosthenes and Strabo, the stadium of 700 to a degree was employed in Egypt. Now 6360 stadia of 1111-1/9 to a degree make just 4006 stadia of 700: consequently these two measures are identical, their apparent inconsistency merely resulting from the different scales by which preceding authors had expressed them.” This reasoning seems very plausible, but we must remark that Col. Leake, in a valuable paper “On the Stade as a Linear Measure,” published in vol. ix. of the Journal of the Royal Geographical Society, is of opinion that Gosselin’s system of stadia of different lengths cannot be maintained.
[215] Namely Crates and Aristarchus. The last was of Alexandria, and consequently an Egyptian. Crates was of Cilicia, which was regarded as a part of Syria.
[216] This is a very favourite axiom with Strabo, notwithstanding he too often forgets it himself.
[217] The Phrygians were considered to be more timid than any other people, and consequently the hares of their country more timid than those of any other. We see then a two-fold hyperbole in the expression that a man is more timid than a Phrygian hare.
[218] Alcæus of Mitylene in the island of Lesbos, the earliest of the Æolian lyric poets, began to flourish in the forty-second Olympiad (B. C. 610). In the second year of this Olympiad we find Cicis and Antimenidas, the brothers of Alcæus, fighting under Pittacus against Melanchrus, who is described as the tyrant of Lesbos, and who fell in the conflict. Alcæus does not appear to have taken part with his brothers on this occasion; on the contrary, he speaks of Melanchrus in terms of high praise. Alcæus is mentioned in connexion with the war in Troas, between the Athenians and Mitylenæans, for the possession of Sigæum. During the period which followed this war, the contest between the nobles and the people of Mitylene was brought to a crisis. The party of Alcæus engaged actively on the side of the nobles, and was defeated. When he and his brother Antimenidas perceived that all hope of their restoration to Mitylene was gone, they travelled over different countries. Alcæus visited Egypt, and appears to have written poems in which his adventures by sea were described. Horace, Carm. ii. 13. 26. See Smith’s Dict. of Biog. and Mythol.
[219] But in it there is a haven with good mooring, from whence they take equal ships into the sea, having drawn black water. Odyssey iv. 358.