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[544] Cf. Hymn. Ap. 30, 37, 45, “ὅσσους Κρήτη τ᾽ ἐντὸς ἔχει καὶ δῆμος Ἀθηνῶν . . Λέσβος τ᾽ ἠγαθέη Μάκαρος ἕδος Αἰολίωνος . . τόσσον ἔπ᾽ ὠδίνουσα Ἑκηβόλον ἵκετο Λητώ”, which suggests that “ὅσσους” here would be a simpler reading answering to “τῶν” in 546. ὅσσον must be taken as the not uncommon identification of a country with its inhabitants. ἐέργει, bounds, see on 2.845, 12.201. Μάκαρος, the name of a legendary king or hero of Lesbos, which is said to have been named Makaria after him. The various legends told by the mythographers will be found in Roscher Lex. s.v. They differ so completely as to shew that there was no real local tradition; the name is used merely as a peg on which to hang theories of colonization in the form of genealogies. Makar appears also in Phokis as ‘father of Amphissa’ (Paus. x. 38. 4). It has been proposed to identify the name with Melkart, the Baal of Tyre, who appears in Corinth as Melikertes; but for this there is no ground beyond the slight resemblance in form. The variant “μακάρων” is not a mere blunder. It is found in Plutarch (Mor. p. 603) and Dion Chrys., and was regarded as a compliment to the fortunate island. Other critics have seen in it the name of a tribe called “Μάκαρες”, whose eponymos Makar was. ἄνω, out to sea, as with “ἀνάγειν”, etc.; καθύπερθε, higher, because forming part of the tableland of central Asia Minor. To a Greek on the coast a journey either inland or to sea was ‘up’; so that there is only an apparent contradiction in the use of such similar adverbs to describe boundaries in opposite directions. In Herod.i. 142 “ἄνω” is used for ‘to the north’; but that probably implies some knowledge of maps, and does not suit the sense here. “καθύπερθε Χίοιο,” Od. 3.170, is rather different, meaning apparently ‘to seaward,’ while “ὑπένερθε” (172) is ‘under shelter of.’ It is to be presumed that Phrygia and Lesbos, the boundaries themselves, are included in the space within which Priam was most blessed; it is a small thing to say that he ‘surpassed all men’ in the Troad where he was king.

The Iliad, edited, with apparatus criticus, prolegomena, notes, and appendices. Walter Leaf. London. Macmillan. 1900.

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