Book 10
2.11
For instance, when Homer says in regard to Ithaca,those who held Ithaca and Neritum with quivering foliage,Hom. Il. 2.632he clearly indicates by the epithet that he means the mountain Neritum; and in other passages he expressly calls it a mountain;but I dwell in sunny Ithaca, wherein is a mountain, Neritum, with quivering leaves and conspicuous from afar.Hom. Od. 9.21But whether by Ithaca he means the city or the island, is not clear, at least in the following verse,those who held Ithaca and Neritum;Hom. Il. 2.632for if one takes the word in its proper sense, one would interpret it as meaning the city, just as though one should say “Athens and Lycabettus,” or “Rhodes and Atabyris,” or “Lacedaemon and Taÿgetus”; but if he takes it in a poetical sense the opposite is true. However, in the words,but I dwell in sunny Ithaca, wherein is a mountain, Neritum,Hom. Od. 9.21his meaning is clear, for the mountain is in the island, not in the city. But when he says as follows,we have come from Ithaca below Neïum,Hom. Od. 3.81it is not clear whether he means that Neïum is the same as Neritum or different, or whether it is a mountain or place. However, the critic who writes NericumAccusative of “Nericus.” instead of Neritum, or the reverse, is utterly mistaken; for the poet refers to the latter as “quivering with foliage,”Hom. Il. 2.632 but to the former as “well-built citadel,”Hom. Od. 24.377. and to the latter as “in Ithaca,”Hom. Od. 9.21. but to the former as “shore of the mainland.”Hom. Od. 24.378.
