96 TABLEAU de la PLAINE de TROrE. 



there was a place for crofBng the river*. Homer guides us 

 no farther. 



I FORMERLY thought it ptobable that Homer meant only a 

 near approach of the two rivers, not an entire confluence of 

 their ftreams ; but this opinion I have long jQnce abandoned. 

 The Scholiafts, and even Eustathius, give us no aid here ; 

 they rather miflead ; they themfelves had probably no ocular 

 knowledge of the place. The Scholia, however, on Iliad, H. 

 465. fay, " the Scamander comes from Ida, divides in the 

 " midfl the plain that ftretches to the fliore, and difcharges it- 

 " felf, on the left hand, into the fea." But how is this to be 

 underftood ? If the left hand frofn Troy is fpoken of, the prefent 

 mouth, to the fouthward of Sigeum, muft be intended ; and on 

 that fuppofition this mouth would be of confiderable antiquity. 

 If the commentator, however, means on the left hand going from 

 thejhore to Mount Ida, it is then the united ftream of the Scaman- 

 der and Simois, that is -faid to fall into the fea at this place f. 



Even 



. * 'AVi' 0T£ Ji ir4|ev, »|m i'v^ttti rna^fiuo. •—-—992. 



It is here that-M.;CH&VAiIER's obfervations on the fpot,:and his delineation ypon 

 the map, give us fo much light. The Scamander, as it came near the ihore, direfl:- 

 ing its courfe obliquely over the plain, approached the Simois, and run into it, ex- 

 aftly as defcribed in Strabo. At prefent the Scamander is condufted into a oanal^ 

 and»^ifcharges itfeif into the fea below Sigeum. This is one important obfervation 

 made by M. Chevalier. There is another, alfo, relating to the fources of the Sca- 

 mander. Still it is a perplexing circumftance, that, neither in the advancing, nor 

 in the retreat, of the armies, is any exprefs mention made of fo important a circum- 

 ftance as croffing the river. Almrrft all the paflages, except perhaps the lafl, rather 

 imply that the rivers run on each hde. H. See above, p. 46. Note *. D. 



+ I DOUBT whether any of the poets, Quintus of Smyrna, Tbyphiodorus, or 

 Cor.uTHTjs, had an accurate knowledge of this neighbourhood. Tryphiodorus, foe 

 •inllance, lays, (lin. 316.), 1} 'io c/ liuoffiib tl 31 ait. 



"l^oud 



