370 



NOTES AND QUEEIES. 



[2na s, N« 97., Nor. 7. '57. 



and Messapius ; -which, from the geographical re- 

 lations, must be looked for in the island of Euboea, 

 or more probably in one of the small islands to 

 the north of Euboea, as Peparethus or Halonnesus. 

 This is Blomfield's opinion, who, in Gloss, ad v. 

 280., says : " Omnino de monte cogitandum, ut in 

 ceteris stationibus." Heath and Schiitz, however, 

 suppose Macistus to be the name of a man ; re- 

 lying upon the language of ^schylus as to his 

 vigilance and promptitude. But this argument 

 has little weight ; for a poet so bold in his expres- 

 sions might easily personify the station, and trans- 

 fer to the mountain or rock the attributes of the 

 unnamed watchmen who transmitted the signal. 

 Macistus would be a natural name for a high 

 mountain. It may be remarked that Polybius 

 instances Peparethus as a place from which fire- 

 signals (iTvpffol) could be sent to the mainland 

 (x. 43.). 



Blomfield observes that Eretria in Euboea is 

 stated by Strabo (x. 1. § 10.) to have been colo- 

 nised by Eretrieus, a native of Macistus, the town 

 of Triphylia in Elis ; and he conjectures that a 

 mountain in Eubcea may have been hence called 

 Macistus. The position of Eretria, however, does 

 not agree with the course of the beacon-fire. It 

 lies to the south of Messapius, and not in the 

 dif'ect line from that mountain to Athos. 



So obvious a contrivance as the conveyance of 

 intelligence by beacon-fires is doubtless of great 

 antiquity, and long anterior to the time of iEs- 

 chylus. But his description is purely imaginary, 

 and there is no reason for supposing that a signal 

 had ever been conveyed in this manner before his 

 time between places so distant as Troy and My- 

 cenae. The intervals, moreover, between the in- 

 termediate stations which he supposes exceed the 

 distance at which a fire of plnewood or heath 

 — indicated in this passage — could be seen by 

 the naked eye. The interval from Athos to Mes- 

 sapius, which is divided into two stations, is about 

 100 geographical miles ; so that each distance is, 

 on an average, fifty geographical miles. The 

 shortest distances are from twenty to thirty geo- 

 graphical miles. Now the light of a good light- 

 house is, under favourable circumstances, visible 

 at sea to the naked eye not more than about 

 fifteen miles. Herodotus describes the Greeks 

 encamped at Artemisium on the northern coast of 

 Euboea as receiving, in the Persian war, a mes- 

 sage by means of fire-signals from the island of 

 Sciathus (vii. 182.) ; which is no great distance. 



Plutarch speaks of the distance from Lemnos to 

 Athos being 700 stadia = 87 miles, which far ex- 

 ceeds the truth. Measured on the map, the dis- 

 tance appears to be about thirty geographical 

 miles. Stephanus of Byzantium is nearer the 

 truth. He asserts that Athos casts its shadow 

 300 stadia=37^ miles (in v. 'AOws). Pliny like- 

 wise makes the distance 87 miles (H. N., iv. 23.). 



The supposition of ^schylus as to the transmis- 

 sion of the light from Lemnos to Athos was 

 not, according to the ideas of the ancients, at 

 all extravagant ; for there was a proverbial verse, 

 referred to Sophocles, which described the shadow 

 of Mount Athos as falling upon the island of 

 Athos : — 



" 'A9(as (TKid^ei. vwTa. Aij/ivias jSods." 



(Soph. Fragm. 348. ed. Dlndorf; Plutarch, de 

 fac. in 07'be lunm, c. 22. ; Apostol. i. 57. ; Greg. 

 Cyp. i. 73., with the note of the Gottingen editor; 

 ApoUon. lihod. i. 604., cum Schol.) 



It may be remarked that if iEschylus had been 

 an engineer instead of a poet, he would not have 

 carried his line of signals so far north as Athos. 

 The more direct course lay through the little Island 

 of Ne£e to Peparethus or Scyrus, and so to Euboea. 



There were in Africa and Spain certain towers, 

 called Hannibal's Towers, by which beacon liglits 

 were transmitted. Similar means were used for 

 giving warning of landings of pirates in Asia 

 Minor (Plin. N. H., ii. 73.), and In Sicily (Cic. 

 Verr. v. 35.). Theognis, who was a generation 

 earlier than iEschylus, describes the signal for Avar 

 being given from a lofty eminence (v. 549.) ; by 

 which his commentators understand a fire signal 

 to be meant. (Compare Suidas in (ppvKToi.) 



Pliny, in his long list of mythical inventors, 

 includes Sinon as having originated signals from 

 watch »towers in the Trojan war (" specularum 

 slgnlficatlo," N. H., vil. 56.). This honour is 

 manifestly assigned to him because he was related 

 to have held out a torch to the Greeks as a signal 

 to enter Troy. (^Procl. Chrest. Arctinus.') 



In the treatise de Mundo, included in Aristo- 

 tle's writings, but manifestly not the work of that 

 philosopher, there is a rhetorical passage, describ- 

 ing the state and grandeur of the king of Persia, 

 which concludes as follows : — 



" The whole empire of Asia, bounded by the Hellespont 

 to the West, and by the Indus to the East, is divided ac- 

 cording to nations between generals, satraps, and kings, 

 who are slaves of the great king; together with couriers, 

 spies, messengers, and inspectors of beacons. So complete 

 was the arrangement, — especially of the beacons, whicli 

 conveyed signals in lines from the boundaries of the em- 

 pire to Susa and Ecbatana — that the king knew on the 

 same day every fresh occurrence over the whole of Asia." 

 — i. 6. p. 398. ed. Bekker. 



Beacons were used in England In former times. 

 We learn from Spelman's Glossary (in v. becona- 

 gium), that beaconage was a tax levied for the 

 sustentation of beacons. They were on the sea- 

 shore, either to serve as lighthouses for ships, or 

 to send warning into the interior of the approach 

 or landing of a hostile fleet. L. 



I think Mr. Buckton is rather too positive in 

 his assertion that this is the name of a person, 

 and not of a place. He quotes the note of Schiitz 



