Greek Texts & Translations

which is the extent of the plain in front of the city to the sea; but he will be in error if he include (in the ancient) the present plain, which is all alluvial soil brought down by the rivers, ^note so that if the interval is 12 stadia at present, it must have been at that period less in extent by one half. The story framed by Ulysses, which he tells Eumaeus, implies a great distance from the Naustathmus to the city; when we lay in ambush below Troy, ^note
Od. xiv. 469. and he adds afterwards, for we had advanced too far from the ships. ^note
Od. xiv. 496. Scouts are despatched to learn whether the Trojans will remain near the ships when drawn away far from their own walls, or whether they will return back to the city. ^note
Il. xx. 209.

Polydamas also says, Consider well, my friends, what is to be done, for my advice is to return now to the city, for we are far from the walls. ^note

Demetrius (of Scepsis) adds the testimony of Hestiaea ^note of Alexandreia, who composed a work on the Iliad of Homer, and discusses the question whether the scene of the war was about the present city, and what was the Trojan plain which the poet mentions as situated between the city and the sea, for the plain seen in front of the present city is an accumulation of earth brought down by the rivers, and formed at a later period. 37

Polites also, who was the scout of the Trojans, trusting to his swiftness of foot, and who was on the summit of the tomb of the old Aesyetes, ^note was acting absurdly. For although he was seated on the summit of the tomb,
yet he might have observed from the much greater height of the citadel, situated nearly at the same distance, nor would his swiftness of foot have been required for the purpose of security, for the tomb of Aesyetes, which exists at present on the road to Alexandreia, is distant five stadia from the citadel.