Page:Arrian's Voyage Round the Euxine Sea Translated.djvu/23

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have been ſailing a ſhort diſtance from it, and inſtructed them where the iſland was moſt lately acceſſible, and where the ſhips might beſt lie at anchor. They even ſay further, that Achilles has appeared to them not in time of ſleep, or a dream, but in a viſible form on the maſt, or at the extremity of the yards, in the ſame manner as the Dioſcuri have appeared. This diſtinction however muſt be made between the appearance of Achilles, and that of the Dioſcuri, that the latter appear evidently and clearly to perſons, who navigate the ſea at large, and when ſo ſeen foretell a proſperous voyage; whereas the figure of Achilles is ſeen only by ſuch as approach this iſland. Some alſo ſay, that Patroclus has appeared to them during their ſleep. I have thus put down what I have heard concerning this iſland of Achilles, either from perſons who had touched there themſelves, or from others that had made the ſame enquiries; and indeed theſe accounts ſeem to me to be not unworthy of belief. I am myſelf perſuaded, that Achilles was a hero, if ever man was, being illuſtrious by his noble birth, by the beauty of his perſon, by the ſtrength of his mind and underſtanding, by his untimely death in the flower of youth, by his being the ſubject of Homer's poetry, and, laſtly, by the force of his love, and conſtancy of his friendſhip, inſomuch that he would even die for his friends.

From the mouth of the Iſter called Pſilon to the ſecond mouth is ſixty ſtadia. Thence to the mouth called Calon forty ſtadia. From Calon to Naracum, which laſt is the name of the fourth mouth of the Iſter, ſixty ſtadia. Hence to the fifth mouth a hundred and twenty ſtadia. Hence to the city of Iſtria five hundred ſtadia. From Iſtria to the city of Tomea three hundred ſtadia. From Tomea to the city of Callantra, where there is a port, three

hundred