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The Cyclades islands were formerly inhabited by the children of Minos, and afterwards by the children of Codrus and Neleus; in which now fools that are banished thither think they are punished. And indeed, what island is there to which men are wont to be banished that is not larger than the land that lies about Scillus, in which Xenophon after his military expedition passed delicately his old age? The Academy near Athens, that was purchased for three thousand drachmas, was the place where Plato, Xenocrates, and Polemo dwelt; there they held their schools, and there they lived all their lifetime, except one day every year, when Xenocrates came into the city at the time of the Bacchanals and the new tragedies, to grace the feast, as they say. Theocritus of Chios reproached Aristotle, who affected a court-life with Philip and Alexander, that he chose instead of the Academy rather to dwell at the mouth of Borborus. For there is a river by Pella, which the Macedonians call by that name.
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But as for islands, Homer sets himself as it were studiously to commend them in these verses: He comes to the isle of Lemnos, and the town Where divine Thoas dwelt, of great renown; and As much as fruitful Lesbos does contain, A seat which Gods above do not disdain; and When he to th’ lofty hills of Scyros came, And took the town that boasts Enyeus’s name; and These from Dulichium and th’ Echinades, Blest isles, that lie ’gainst Elis, o’er the seas.Il. XIV. 230; XXIV. 544; IX. 668; II. 625. And among the famous men that dwelt in islands they reckon Aeolus, a great favorite of the Gods, the most prudent Ulysses, the most valiant Ajax, and Alcinous, the most courteous entertainer of strangers.
