Gell, William: The geography and antiquities of Ithaca (London, 1807)

history. The events related in the Odyssey, at least many
of the incidents attending the wanderings of Ulysses, are
evidently out of the course of nature, and owe their exist-
ence to common report or to the invention of Homer him-
self, For whatever the materials were, on which the poem
was grounded, the main incident shews that they must have
been scanty and obscure.

The Iliad comprehending a vast number of characters
drawn from all parts, and from the chief families of Greece,
its author was obliged to court the general approbation by
a due attention to accredited history, and while every na-
tion held its own legendary story of the Trojan war, and
expected truth in the descriptions of the poem, the con-
fined scene of its action precluded all extraordinary fan-
cies like those of the Odyssey. The situation of Ithaca, in
sight of the continent of Greece, would, in a still greater
degree, render necessary a strict adherence to truth in local
descriptions of a spot, accessible without fatigue, where no
danger attended the gratification of curiosity, and where
imposture might be so easily detected.

The same cause however which would prohibit the ex-