Greek Texts & Translations

a rocky way through a woody spot, ^note
Od. xiv. l. and again, for there is not any island in the sea exposed to the western sun, ^note and with good pastures, least of all Ithaca. ^note

The expression does imply contradictions, which admit how- ever of some explanation. They do not understand χθαμαλὴ to signify in that place low, but its contiguity to the continent, to which it approaches very close; nor by πανυπετάτη great elevation, but the farthest advance towards darkness, (πὸς ζόφον,) that is, placed towards the north more than all the other islands, for this is what the poet means by towards darkness, the contrary to which is towards the south, (πὸς νότον,) the rest far off (ἄνευφε) towards the morning, and the sun. ^note
Od. ix. 26. For the word ἄνευθε denotes at a distance, and apart, as if the other islands lay to the south, and more distant from the continent, but Ithaca near the continent and towards the north. That the poet designates the southern part (of the heavens) in this manner appears from these words, whether they go to the right hand, towards the morning and the sun, or to the left, towards cloudy darkness; ^note and still more evidently in these lines, my friends, we know not where darkness nor where morning lie, nor where sets nor where rises the sun which brings light to man. ^note We may here understand the four climates, ^note and suppose the morning to denote the southern part (of the heavens), and this has some probability; but it is better to consider what is near to the path of the sun to be opposite to the northern part (of the heavens). For the speech in Homer is intended to indicate some great change in the celestial appearances, not a mere obscuration of the climates. For this must happen