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εἴη δ᾽ ἂν πᾶν. This passage is important for H.'s use of evidence. He (rightly) does not consider the evidence sufficient to prove that gold dust is skimmed from a pool. But ‘anything may happen’ in remote places, as well as ‘in long periods of time’ (v. 9. 3). Hence he tentatively suggests the analogy of pitch ‘skimmed’ at Zante.

ἐν Ζακύνθῳ. For the tar wells of Zante cf. E. Dodwell (Tour in Greece, 1819). He (pp. 81-2) says the springs are some twelve miles from the town; the one in use at the time of his visit (1805) was much smaller than that of H.; but near it there is a ‘spot with which his description seems in every respect to correspond’. Dodwell further describes the sea as being coloured by the pitch for some distance from the shore (cf. § 4). Chandler (Travels in Greece, 1776, p. 302) describes the method of obtaining the pitch as being exactly that of H., and Dodwell partly confirms this.

αὐτὸς ἐγώ. H. probably went to Zacynthus on his way to Thurii.

ἀμείνω. H. speaks with a traveller's (perhaps a merchant's) experience of the various kinds of pitch. Greeks thought the Pierian pitch the best (Plin. xiv. 128); it was made from the forests of Mt. Olympus. Modern experience condemns the tar of Zante.

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