§1.2.14Ἐρατοσθένης δὲ Ἡσίοδον μὲν εἰκάζει πεπυσμένον περὶ τῆς Ὀδυσσέως πλάνης ὅτι κατὰ Σικελίαν καὶ Ἰταλίαν γεγένηται, πιστεύσαντα τῇ δόξῃ μὴ μόνον τῶν ὑφʼ Ὁμήρου λεγομένων μεμνῆσθαι, ἀλλὰ καὶ Αἴτνης καὶ Ὀρτυγίας τοῦ πρὸς Συρακούσαις νησίου καὶ Τυρρηνῶν· Ὅμηρον δὲ μήτε εἰδέναι ταῦτα μήτε βούλεσθαι ἐν γνωρίμοις τόποις ποιεῖν τὴν πλάνην.
Eratosthenes supposes that Hesiod, having learned about the wandering of Odysseus that it took place around Sicily and Italy, and having believed this opinion, mentioned not only the things spoken of by Homer, but also Etna and Ortygia, the small island near Syracuse, and the Tyrrhenians; but that Homer neither knew these things nor wished to set the wandering in well-known places.
πότερον οὖν Αἴτνη μὲν καὶ Τυρρηνία γνώριμα, Σκύλλαιον δὲ καὶ Χάρυβδις καὶ Κίρκαιον καὶ Σειρηνοῦσσαι οὐ πάνυ;
Is it then the case that Etna and Tyrrhenia are well-known, but Skyllaion, Charybdis, Kirkaion, and the Sirenussae are not at all?
ἢ καὶ Ἡσιόδῳ μὲν ἔπρεπε μὴ φλυαρεῖν, ἀλλὰ ταῖς κατεχούσαις δόξαις ἀκολουθεῖν, Ὁμήρῳ δὲ πᾶν ὅ τι ἂν ἐπʼ ἀκαιρίμαν γλῶσσαν ἴῃ κελαδεῖν;
Or was it proper for Hesiod not to talk nonsense but to follow the prevailing opinions, but for Homer to shout aloud whatever comes to his unbridled tongue?
χωρὶς γὰρ τῶν λεχθέντων περὶ τοῦ τρόπου τῆς πρεπούσης Ὁμήρῳ μυθοποιίας καὶ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν συγγραφέων τῶν ταὐτὰ θρυλούντων κἀκ τῆς κατὰ τοὺς τόπους ἐπιχωριαζούσης φήμης διδάσκειν δύναται, διότι ταῦτα οὐ ποιητῶν πλάσματά ἐστιν οὐδὲ συγγραφέων, ἀλλὰ γεγενημένων ἴχνη καὶ προσώπων καὶ πράξεων.
For apart from what has been said about the character of the myth-making appropriate to Homer, both the multitude of writers who harp on the same things and the evidence from the local tradition prevalent in those places can teach us that these things are not inventions of poets nor of writers, but traces of actual persons and deeds.
§1.2.15καὶ Πολύβιος δʼ ὀρθῶς ὑπονοεῖ τὰ περὶ τῆς πλάνης· τὸν γὰρ Αἰόλον τὸν προσημαίνοντα τοὺς ἔκπλους ἐν τοῖς κατὰ τὸν πορθμὸν τόποις ἀμφιδρόμοις οὖσι καὶ δυσέκπλοις διὰ τὰς παλιρροίας ταμίαν τε εἰρῆσθαι τῶν ἀνέμων καὶ βασιλέα νενομίσθαι φησί, καθάπερ Δαναὸν μὲν τὰ ὑδρεῖα τὰ ἐν Ἄργει παραδείξαντα, Ἀτρέα δὲ τοῦ ἡλίου τὸν ὑπεναντίον τῷ οὐρανῷ δρόμον, μάντεις τε καὶ ἱεροσκοπουμένους ἀποδείκνυσθαι βασιλέας, τούς θʼ ἱερέας τῶν Αἰγυπτίων καὶ Χαλδαίους καὶ Μάγους σοφίᾳ τινὶ διαφέροντας τῶν ἄλλων ἡγεμονίας καὶ τιμῆς τυγχάνειν παρὰ τοῖς πρὸ ἡμῶν, οὕτω δὲ καὶ τῶν θεῶν ἕνα ἕκαστον τῶν χρησίμων τινὸς εὑρετὴν γενόμενον τιμᾶσθαι.
And Polybius also correctly conceives the matters regarding the wandering; for he says that Aeolus, who foretold the voyages in the places around the strait—which are swept by currents on both sides and difficult to sail out of on account of the ebb and flow of tides—was called steward of the winds and considered a king, just as Danaus, who showed the water-reservoirs in Argos, and Atreus, who showed the course of the sun contrary to the heaven, and prophets and examiners of victims were appointed kings, and the priests of the Egyptians, and Chaldaeans, and Magi, differing in some wisdom from others, obtained leadership and honor among those before us, and so also each one of the gods, having become the inventor of something useful, was honored.
ταῦτα δὲ προοικονομησάμενος οὐκ ἐᾷ τὸν Αἰόλον ἐν μύθου σχήματι ἀκούεσθαι οὐδʼ ὅλην τὴν Ὀδυσσέως πλάνην, ἀλλὰ μικρὰ μὲν προσμεμυθεῦσθαι καθάπερ καὶ τῷ Ἰλιακῷ πολέμῳ, τὸ δʼ ὅλον περὶ Σικελίαν καὶ τῷ ποιητῇ πεποιῆσθαι καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις συγγραφεῦσιν, ὅσοι τὰ περιχώρια λέγουσι τὰ περὶ τὴν Ἰταλίαν καὶ Σικελίαν.
Having laid this down beforehand, he does not allow Aeolus to be understood in the form of a myth, nor the whole of Odysseus' wandering, but asserts that while a few mythical elements have been added, just as to the Trojan War, yet as a whole, it was located around Sicily both by the poet and by the other writers, as many as speak of the neighboring regions around Italy and Sicily.
οὐκ ἐπαινεῖ δὲ οὐδὲ τὴν τοιαύτην τοῦ Ἐρατοσθένους ἀπόφασιν, διότι φησὶ τότʼ ἂν εὑρεῖν τινα ποῦ Ὀδυσσεὺς πεπλάνηται, ὅταν εὕρῃ τὸν σκυτέα τὸν συρράψαντα τὸν τῶν ἀνέμων ἀσκόν.
And he does not praise such a declaration of Eratosthenes either, because he says that one will then find where Odysseus wandered, when he finds the cobbler who sewed up the bag of the winds.
καὶ τοῦτο δʼ οἰκείως εἰρῆσθαι τοῖς συμβαίνουσι περὶ τὸ Σκύλλαιον καὶ τὴν θήραν τῶν γαλεωτῶν τὸ ἐπὶ τῆς Σκύλλης
αὐτοῦ δʼ ἰχθυάᾳ σκόπελον περιμαιμώωσα δελφῖνάς τε κύνας τε, καὶ εἴ ποθι μεῖζον ἕλῃσι κῆτος. τοὺς γὰρ θύννους ἀγεληδὸν φερομένους παρὰ τὴν Ἰταλίαν, ἐπειδὰν ἐμπέσωσι καὶ κωλυθῶσι τῆς Σικελίας ἅψασθαι, περιπίπτειν τοῖς μείζοσι τῶν ζῴων, οἷον δελφίνων καὶ κυνῶν καὶ ἄλλων κητωδῶν, ἐκ δὲ τῆς θήρας αὐτῶν πιαίνεσθαι τοὺς γαλεώτας, οὓς καὶ ξιφίας λέγεσθαι καὶ κύνας φησί· συμβαίνειν γὰρ ταὐτὸν ἐνθάδε καὶ κατὰ τὰς ἀναβάσεις τοῦ Νείλου καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ὑδάτων, ὅπερ ἐπὶ πυρὸς καὶ ὕλης ἐμπιπραμένης· ἀθροιζόμενα γὰρ τὰ θηρία φεύγειν τὸ πῦρ ἢ τὸ ὕδωρ καὶ βορὰν γίνεσθαι τοῖς κρείττοσι.
And he says that this was said appropriately to what happens around Skyllaion and the hunting of swordfish, namely the passage concerning Scylla: "And there she fishes, peering wildly around the rock, for dolphins and dogfish, and if anywhere she might catch a larger sea-monster." For the tunny-fish, being carried in shoals along Italy, when they fall in and are prevented from reaching Sicily, fall in with the larger animals, such as dolphins and dogfish and other sea-monsters, and from their hunt, the galeotes fatten—which galeotes he says are also called swordfish and dogs; for he says that the same thing happens here as during the risings of the Nile and of other waters, and as in the case of fire and burning forest; for the beasts, gathering together, flee the fire or the water, and become food for the stronger ones.