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ans, who accompanied Alhaemenes the Argive, and that
hence Ulysses speaks of its ninety cities. This account is
probable. But others say, that the ten were razed by the
enemies of Idomeneus; but the poet does not say that Crete
had a hundred cities at the time of the Trojan war, but in his
own age, for he speaks in his own person; but if the words
had been those of some person then living, as those in the
Odyssey, where Ulysses says, Crete had ninety cities, they
might have been properly understood in this manner. But
even if we admit this, the subsequent verses will not be exempt from objection. For neither at the time of the expedition, nor after the return of Idomeneus, is it probable that
these cities were destroyed by his enemies, for the poet says,
but Idomeneus brought back all his companions who had survived the
war to Crete; the sea had not deprived him of any of them; note
for he would have mentioned such a misfortune. Ulysses indeed might not have been acquainted with the destruction of
these cities, for he had not had any intercourse with any of the
Greeks either during or after his wanderings; but (Nestor),
who had been the companion of Idomeneus in the expedition
and in his escape from shipwreck, could not be ignorant of
what had happened at home during the expedition and before
his return. But he must certainly have been aware of what
occurred after his return. For if he and all his companions
escaped, he returned so powerful that their enemies were not
in a position to deprive them of ten cities.
Such then is the general description of the country of Crete. 16
With respect to the form of government, which Ephorus has described at large, it will be sufficient to give a cur- sory account of the principal parts. The law-giver, says Ephorus, seems to lay, as the foundation of his constitution, the greatest good that states can enjoy, namely, liberty; for it is this alone which makes the property of every kind which a man possesses his own; in a state of slavery it belongs to the governor, and not to the governed. The liberty also which men enjoy must be guarded. Unanimity ensues, when the dissensions that arise from covetousness and luxury note are
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Strabo, Geography (English) (XML Header) [genre: prose] [word count] [lemma count] [Str.].