Book 8
5.8
It appears from Homer, that both the country and the city had the name of Lacedaemon; I mean the country together with Messenia. When he speaks of the bow and quiver of Ulysses, he says, A present from Iphitus Eurytides, a stranger, who met him in Lacedaemon,Od. xxi. 13.Od. xxi. 13. and adds, They met at Messene in the house of Ortilochus. He means the country which was a part of Messenia.Eustathius informs us that, according to some writers, Sparta and Lacedaemon were the names of the two principal quarters of the city; and adds that the comic poet, Cratinus, gave the name of Sparta to the whole of Laconia. There was then no difference whether he said A stranger, whom he met at Lacedaemon, gave him, or, they met at Messene; for it is evident that Pherae was the home of Ortilochus: they arrived at Pherae, and went to the house of Diocles the son of Ortilochus,Od. iii. 488.Od. iii. 488. namely, Telemachus and Pisistratus. Now PheraeCheramidi. belongs to Messenia. But after saying, that Telemachus and his friend set out from Pherae, and were driving their two horses the whole day, he adds, The sun was setting; they came to the hollow Lacedaemon (κητ́εσσαν), and drove their chariot to the palace of Menelaus.Od. iii. 487. Here we must understand the city; and if we do not, the poet says, that they journeyed from Lacedaemon to Lacedaemon. It is otherwise improbable that the palace of Menelaus should not be at Sparta; and if it was not there, that Telemachus should say, for I am going to Sparta, and to Pylus,Od. ii. 359.Od. ii. 359. for this seems to agree with the epithets applied to the country,The text to the end of the section is very corrupt. The following is a translation of the text as proposed to be amended by Groskurd. The epithet of Lacedaemon, hollow, cannot properly be applied to the country, for this peculiarity of the city does not with any propriety agree with the epithets given to the country; unless we suppose the epithet to be a poetical licence. For, as has been before remarked, it must be concluded from the words of the poet himself, that Messene was then a part of Laconia, and subject to Menelaus. It would then be a contradiction (in Homer) not to join Messene, which took part in the expedition, with Laconia or the Pylus under Nestor, nor to place it by itself in the Catalogue, as though it had no part in the expedition. unless indeed any one should allow this to be a poetical licence; for, if Messenia was a part of Laconia, it would be a contradiction that Messene should not be placed together with Laconia, or with Pylus, (which was under the command of Nestor,) nor by itself in the Catalogue of Ships, as though it had no part in the expedition.
