Greek Texts & Translations

had been pillaged of every thing; the latter, on account of the shame which each one anticipated to himself: The shame
That must attend us, after absence long
Returning unsuccessful, who can bear? ^note
Iliad ii. 298. In the same way is related the wandering of Aeneas, of Antenor, and of the Heneti; likewise of Diomedes, of Menelaus, of Ulysses, ^note and of many others. Hence the poet, knowing of similar expeditions to the extremities of Iberia, and having heard of its wealth and other excellencies, (which the Phoenicians had made known,) feigned this to be the region of the Blessed, and the Plain of Elysium, where Proteus informs Menelaus that he is to depart to: But far hence the gods
Will send thee to Elysium, and the earth's
Extremest bounds; there Rhadamanthus dwells,
The golden-haired, and there the human kind
Enjoy the easiest life; no snow is there,
No biting winter, and no drenching shower,
But zephyr always gently from the sea
Breathes on them to refresh the happy race. ^note
Odyssey iv. 563. Now the purity of the air, and the gentle breathing of the zephyr, are both applicable to this country, as well as the softness of the climate, its position in the west, and its place at the extremities of the earth, where, as we have said, he feigned that Hades was. By coupling Rhadamanthus with it, he signifies that the place was near to Minos, of whom he says, There saw I Minos, offspring famed of Jove;
His golden sceptre in his hand, he sat
Judge of the dead. ^note
Odyssey xi. 567. Bohn's edition. Similar to these are the fables related by later poets; such, for instance, as the expeditions after the oxen of Geryon, and the