B. vin. c. vi. 1. ARGOLIS. 47 " The sun was setting ; they came to the hollow Lacedaemon (*c>/rw(7(Tav), and drove their chariot to the palace of Menelaus." l Here we must understand the city ; and if we do not, the poet says, that they journeyed from Lacedaemon to Lacedaemon. It is otherwise improbable that the palace of Menelaus should not be at Sparta ; and if it was not there, that Telemachus should say, " for I am going to Sparta, and to Pylus," 2 for this seems to agree with the epithets applied to the coun- try, 3 unless indeed any one should allow this to be a poetical licence ; for, if Messenia was a part of Laconia, it would be a contradiction that Messene should not be placed together with Laconia, or with Pylus, (which wa& under the command of Nestor,) nor by itself in the Catalogue of Ships, as though it had no part in the expedition. CHAPTER VI. 1. AFTER Maleae follow the Argolic and Hermionic Gulfs ; the former extends as far as Scyllaeum, 4 it looks to the east, and towards the Cyclades; 5 the latter lies still more towards the east than the former, reaching JEgina and the Epidau- rian territory. 6 The Laconians occupy the first part of the Argolic Gulf, and the Argives the rest. Among the places occupied by the Laconians are Delium, 7 a temple of Apollo, of 1 Od. iii. 487. 2 Od. ii. 359. 3 The text to the end of the section is very corrupt. The following is a translation of the text as proposed to be amended by Groskurd. The epithet of Lacedeemon, hollow, cannot properly be applied to the country, for this peculiarity of the city does not with any propriety agree with the epithets given to the country ; unless we suppose the epithet to be a poet- ical licence. For, as has been before remarked, it must be concluded from the words of the poet himself, that Messene was then a part of La- conia, and subject to Menelaus. It would then be a contradiction (in Homer) not to join Messene, which took part in the expedition, with Laconia or the Pylus under Nestor, nor to place it by itself in the Cata- logue, as though it had no part in the expedition. 4 Skylli. 5 The islands about Delos. 6 The form thus given to the Gulf of Hermione bears no resemblance to modern maps. 7 Pausanias calls it Epidelium, now S. Angelo.
