-- 4 --
Nor was he mistaken in calling them separated into two
divisions, as we shall presently show: and next to the ocean,—
For to the banks of the Oceanus,
Where Ethiopia holds a feast to Jove,
He journey'd yesterday. note
Iliad i. 423
Speaking of the Bear, he implies that the most northern part
of the earth is bounded by the ocean:
Only star of these denied
To slake his beams in Ocean's briny baths. note
Iliad xviii. 489; Odyssey v. 275.
Now, by the Bear and the Wain, he means the Arctic
Circle; otherwise he would never have said, It alone is deprived of the baths of the ocean, when such an infinity of
stars is to be seen continually revolving in that part of the
hemisphere. Let no one any longer blame his ignorance for
being merely acquainted with one Bear, when there are two.
It is probable that the second was not considered a constellation until, on the Phoenicians specially designating it, and employing it in navigation, it became known as one to the Greeks. note
Such is the case with the Hair of Berenice, and Canopus,
whose names are but of yesterday; and, as Aratus remarks,
there are numbers which have not yet received any designation. Crates, therefore, is mistaken when, endeavouring to
amend what is correct, he reads the verse thus:
οἷος δʼ ἄμμορός ἐστι λοετρῶν,
replacing οἴη by οἶς, with a view to make the adjective agree
