( 539 ) 



ON THE 



SYRINX OF STRABO, 



AND 



THE PASSAGE OF THE EURIPUS. 



[liY MR. HA WAINS.] 



In the very short description which Strabo has transmitted to us ot" 

 the celebrated Straits ot'the Euripus, there is an expression which has 

 long exercised the ingenuity of critics, without having received any 

 very clear or satisfactory explanation. The words of" the geographer 



are- the following: — "E^i S' lii ocutu yspu^x SiTrXi'^^o;*, ug u^n^za' TTVpyogS' 

 BKUTipuBiv e'Pes'V^^''i ° Z^'" ^'"^ ''"'!? X»-A;4(dof, o a s>i Tr,q Boiunacg' ^iuy.oiou.v]Ta,t 



(5"etV avTOf crv^iy^. Here, I believe, with the exception of dvTov, for 

 which some critics have substituted duToiji;, the purity of the text has 

 been generally admitted, but the meaning is nevertheless obscure, 

 because the term a-voiy^ seems not to be used in its ordinary accept- 

 ation ; the passage accordingly has been variously rendered by 

 translators, nearly all of whom have avoided giving any precise inter- 

 pretation of the term a-v^ty^, without which the whole is unintel- 

 ligible. ' • 



We are indebted to Isaac Vossius f for the first successful attempt 

 to remove this obscurity, by pointing out the true meaning of the 

 verb which is here put in connection with a-Vj^iyP. " A wxrof^'o^s;;," he 



* Two plethra amount to one liiindrcd and seventy-one French feet, which may be 

 stated as about twice tlie present breadtii of the Euripus; according to Spons's cvahiation 

 it is ninety-one French feet, wliile Gylliiis estimates it at seventy-three French feet only. 

 No dependence can be placed on tiie accuracy of tlicse measurements, which are unfortu- 

 nately the only ones ihat have been taken by modern travellers. 



■f Observ, ad P. Melam. lib. xi. c. 7- 



■ 3z 2 



