For if that be a good saying of Callimachus, that
we ought not to measure wisdom by a Persian cord, much
less should we measure happiness by cords of furlongs,
or, if we chance to inhabit an island of two hundred furlongs and not (like Sicily) of four days' sail in compass,
think that we ought to disquiet ourselves and lament as if
we were very miserable and unfortunate. For what does a
place of large extent contribute to the tranquillity of one's
life? Do you not hear Tantalus saying in the tragedy:
[p. 24]
I sow the Berecyntian ground,
A field of twelve days' journey round?
But he says a little after:
My mind, that used to mount the skies,
Fallen to the earth dejected lies,
And now this friendly counsel brings,—
Less to admire all earthly things.
1
Nausithous, forsaking the spacious country of Hyperia
because the Cyclops bordered upon it, and removing to an
island far distant from all other people, chose there,
Remote from all commerce t' abide,
By sea's surrounding waves denied;
2
and yet he procured a very pleasant way of living to his
own citizens.
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.
But as for islands, Homer sets himself as it were studiously to commend them in these verses:
[p. 25]
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.
3
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.
