When we consider that the cape which forms the Cephalas Pro-
montorium is, at least, as we have stated, an hundred feet high; and
that, from the soft quality of the stone, which is continually crumbling
away, it may have been in Strabo’s time considerably higher, we
may fairly conclude that the term (or \Mgh) is not quite so inapplicable
to it as Signor Della Celia has asserted.
not clearly appear how the removal of a comma from a place which it never occupied,
and the insertion of it in a place where it always existed, can be said to amend a defective
passage. A comma is placed after uXo^s-, in all the copies of Strabo with which,
we are acquainted, but none after axga although there might be without impropriety ;
and it seems more consistent with the Doctor’s translation to suppose that he meant
exactly the contrary of what he has recommended ; that is to say, that -his real intention
was to remove the comma from vkuims, and place it after axg«. We might then read,
by giving to the sense which Signor Della Celia requires for it, k Then comes
the promontory, which forms the distant and woody extremity of the Greater Syrtis,
instead of—“ Then (comes) the high and woody promontory, which is the beginning, of
the Greater Syrtis.” We must, however, confess that we do not see any difference in
the sense of the passage in question, whether a comma be placed after axqx or not,'provided
that after vkwlns be allowed to keep its place : but by the change which we
propose, the Doctor’s punctuation will at any rate correspond with his version, which,
as it stands, it does not. ,
We give the observations and the passage together in Signor Della Celia’s own
words.—“ Con questa avvertenza io crederei doversi intendere un passo di Strabone
molto diversamente dal penso che gli è dato da tutti i traduttóri ; parlando del Capo
Cefalo, questo geografo così si esprime—eit’ axpcc wfaikn xai vkcolw, axgn («§%») of
course is intended) ms /¿eyakvis Svgrecus—che tutti traducono- indi (viene) il promontorio
alto e selvoso, che è il principio della gran Sirte.
L’esattezza di questo illustre geografo, può esser salvata togliendo la virgola dopo axqx
e transportandola dopo vkcoàvts, e traducendo—quindi viene il promontorio, che forma1
1’ alta e selvosa estremità della gran Sirte—dovendosi riputare quell’ alto non all’ altezza
del capo, che non quadra col vero, ma alla distanza che divide l’estremità della gran
Sirte dal suo fondo. In questo stesso senso la voce wjMkm trovasi spesso adoperata da
Omero per dinotare gli sfondi del mare nelle terre.
. _. .. . . , us ore xvf/M axm ■
E(p* v^/Tikv) ore xtfTifei Notm e\0<vv, ,&c.—(V.. da Tripoli, p. 54.
I t is true that compared with high capes this elevation may appear to
be trifling; but it seems quite sufficient when contrasted with the land
about it, and particularly with the low and level surface of the Syrtis.
The highest parts of the Cape, as we have mentioned above, are not
at the present time wooded, whatever they may have been formerly;
but the land at its base, to the south and south-east, is thickly
covered with date-trees and olives : and, without allowing so much
for the changes which time might be supposed to have produced, as
would be readily granted to us by the most tenacious of naturalists,
we may venture to assert that this cape, under its present appearance,
answers sufficiently well to the description of Strabo, to authorize its
being identified with the Cephalas.
The observations, however, which Signor Della Celia has made on
the map of Northern Africa by Arrowsmith, respecting the extension
of the Gharian chain towards the Greater Syrtis, and the omission
of the low range which actually branches off from those mountains,
are certainly very correct*. For a minor branch of the Gharian
detaches itself from the chain, and runs down to the sea in the
neighbourhood of Lebida; and another part of the same range extends
itself from Lebida towards the Syrtis Major, gradually declining
as it approaches that place, both of which are omitted in the
* Sopra questa osservazione converrà correggere la bellissima carta di Arrow-Smith,
ove la schiera de’ monti del Goriano son disposti in maniera de far credere che tra il
capo Mesurata, ove in quella carta si pretendono è la piccola Sirte, vi sia un’ ampia e
non interrotta pianura. Ora, non solo da questi monti si stacca un ramo che la interrompe,
e viene a cadere scosceso sul mare a Lebda ; ma di più, il loro prolungamento
fino al Capo Mesurata è falso.—(p. 53-4.)