Book 3
2.13
Of these facts, notwithstanding, there are better proofs. For instance, the expeditions of Hercules and the Phoenicians to this country were evidence to him of the wealth and luxury of the people. They fell so entirely under the dominion of the Phoenicians, that at the present day almost the whole of the cities of Turdetania and the neighbouring places are inhabited by them. It also seems to me that the expedition of Ulysses hither, as it took place and was recorded, was the foundation both of his Odyssey and Iliad, which he framed upon facts collected into a poem, and embellished as usual with poetical mythology. It is not only in Italy, Sicily, and a few other places that vestiges of these [events] occur; even in Iberia a city is shown named Ulyssea,Ulisipo or Lisbon. also a temple of Minerva, and a myriad other traces both of the wandering of Ulysses and also of other survivors of the Trojan war, which was equally fatal to the vanquished and those who took Troy. These latter in fact gained a Cadmean victory,A proverbial expression by which the Greeks described a victory equally prejudicial to the victors and the vanquished. for their homes were destroyed, and the portion of booty which fell to each was exceedingly minute. Consequently not only those who had survived the perils [of their country], but the Greeks as well, betook themselves to piracy, the former because they had been pillaged of every thing; the latter, on account of the shame which each one anticipated to himself: The shame That must attend us, after absence long Returning unsuccessful, who can bear?But still it would be disgraceful to remain here so long, and to return home without fitting booty. Iliad ii. 298.Iliad ii. 298. In the same way is related the wandering of Aeneas, of Antenor, and of the Heneti; likewise of Diomedes, of Menelaus, of Ulysses,We should probably here read Menestheus. and of many others. Hence the poet, knowing of similar expeditions to the extremities of Iberia, and having heard of its wealth and other excellencies, (which the Phoenicians had made known,) feigned this to be the region of the Blessed, and the Plain of Elysium, where Proteus informs Menelaus that he is to depart to: But far hence the gods Will send thee to Elysium, and the earth’s Extremest bounds; there Rhadamanthus dwells, The golden-haired, and there the human kind Enjoy the easiest life; no snow is there, No biting winter, and no drenching shower, But zephyr always gently from the sea Breathes on them to refresh the happy race.But the immortals will send you to the Elysian plain, and the boundaries of the earth, where is auburn-haired Rhadamanthus; there of a truth is the most easy life for men. There is nor snow nor long winter, nor ever a shower, but ever does the ocean send forth the gently blowing breezes of the west wind to refresh men. Odyssey iv. 563.Odyssey iv. 563. Now the purity of the air, and the gentle breathing of the zephyr, are both applicable to this country, as well as the softness of the climate, its position in the west, and its place at the extremities of the earth, where, as we have said, he feigned that Hades was. By coupling Rhadamanthus with it, he signifies that the place was near to Minos, of whom he says, There saw I Minos, offspring famed of Jove; His golden sceptre in his hand, he sat Judge of the dead.There then I beheld Minos, the illustrious son of Jove, having a golden sceptre, giving laws to the dead. Odyssey xi. 567. Bohn’s edition.Odyssey xi. 567. Bohn’s edition. Similar to these are the fables related by later poets; such, for instance, as the expeditions after the oxen of Geryon, and the golden apples of the Hesperides, the Islands of the BlessedThe Canary Islands. they speak of, which we know are still pointed out to us not far distant from the extremities of Maurusia, and opposite to Gades.
