Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

concerning Italy, should suppose, in the first place, that these rivers were navigable; and, in the next place, that they communicated with the Po, which they had observed in a circumnavigation of Italy, (with them a great voyage,) to fall into the Adriatic sea, by a number of embouchures.-Thus, perhaps, we might account for their erroneous supposition, that a vessel could pass, by inland navigation, from the Adriatic, or, as they called it, Ionian sea, to the Ligustic sea, or gulf of Genoa.

But, the error of Apollonius extends yet further; and cannot be accounted for by what has hitherto been said.

-Our poet relates, that " The Argonauts past from the "Po into the Rhone, which, as he says, 'forms shallows '“ and marshes, and stormy lakes, in the vast extended "country of the Celta.—In one of the branches of this "river, they were in danger of being lost; but, at last, "they made their way out, to the Ligustic sea.”—Such is the strange story! As to the Rhone, it rises in that part of the Alps, called Mont de la Fourche, in the easterh extremity of Swisserland.-It passes by Sion, and St. Maurice, after which, it enters into the lake of Geneva, which it traverses through its whole extent.—It, then, loses itself, for a time, in a rocky gulf.-In its ́course, it receives a number of considerable rivers as the Saone, which joins it at Lyons—the Isere-the Sorgue-the Durance.—It falls into the sea of Provence, or gulf of Lyons, anciently part of the Tyrrhenian sea, about thirty leagues to the south of the city of Arles. Such is the river, which Apollonius makes to communicate with the Po, and to fall into the Adriatic sea, with one arm; into the gulf of Genoa, with the other!-It would not be so strange, that the poet should confound the Po, with the streams, which actually fall into it; or even suppose, under the influence of such a confusion, that it flowed both into the Ionian and Ligustic seas;

but,

but, that he should make the Rhone communicate with the Po, and discharge part of its waters into the gulf of Genoa, seems to be either a piece of very gross ignorance, or a fiction of revolting and unnecessary boldness, for which it is not easy to assign a reason.-Cer tainly, it is not so easy to account for this piece of geography, as for his confounding, as he does, the rivers, that join the Danube, with that river itself.-It may, perhaps, appear to some idle, and a waste of time, to reason upon this subject, or to attempt to explain, how, the poet came to adopt such an opinion.-If he really meant to give the story, not as a poetical embellishment, but to pledge himself for the truth of what he relates. We cannot, I think, assign any other source, for such a glaring error, than the confusion of names, arising, most probably, from a similarity of sound, which misled the first travellers and historians, from whom our poet borrowed his materials, and caused them to prædicate, concerning the Rhone, what was applicable to some other stream or streams, whose names, more or less, nearly approached to those of the Rhone, in sound.

The river Saone, which joins the Rhone, at Lyons, was anciently called the Araris.-The classical name of the Rhone, was the Rhodanus.-Now, might it not possibly have happened, that the voyagers, and travellers, in the early ages of Greece, by joining together the names of those two rivers, which united their currents, (a natural mistake enough,) were led, to confound the rivers in question, to consider them as one, and to form of two names one appellation, Arar-rhodanus, or Arrhodanus, which, the reader will perceive, is not very distant in sound from Eridanus, the ancient name of the river Po?-Might not this resemblance in sound, produced by an easy confusion of names, have led to a

further

further mistake, in confounding the Rhone, and its adjuncts, with the Po, and its tributary streams?—I trust, that this conjecture will not appear very wild, or chimerical.- I am sure, I have seen many, which were more visionary and romantic, hazarded by many very great and respectable travellers, historians, and critics.

On the foregoing supposition, it remains to be considered, what streams might probably have been in the contemplation of Apollonius, when he spoke of that branch of the Rhone, through which, according to his account, the Argonauts sailed from the Po, to the Tyrrhenian sea.-On the principle we have mentioned, he might have understood, the Tanaro, the Sturo, and the Var, which flows into the sea near Nice, to have been that branch of the Rhone, through which, as he says, the Argonauts past into the Tyrrhenian sea.- -It is reasonable, to conclude, that the narratives of the Argonautic expedition were not altogether fictitious, but had some little foundation, rather from report, than actual inspection, of the face of the country, in the testimony of mariners.

The sum of what has been said, respecting the passage of the Argonauts, from the Ionian to the Ligustic sea, amounts to this-the points, which shock probability the most, in the geography of Apollonius, are the direct passage, without interruption, of the Argonauts, from the Adriatic sea, to the gulf of Genoa, and the communication of the Rhone with the Po. As to the former point, the ancients, whom our poet followed, were misled and confounded, by the complicated tissue of rivers, which intersected the intervening country.— As to the latter, I think, it must be referred, to the confusion of names, nearly approaching each other in sound. The latter mistake is one, to which travellers must be very liable, who are subject to collect the names

of

of places, of mountains, and rivers, very imperfectly and erroneously, through the fugacious and delusivemedium of foreign pronunciation.--We find, for instance, in the accounts of Cook's voyages, the attempts of the people of Otaheite, to articulate the names of the travellers-how they called Captain Cook-Tooti, and Mr. Banks-Opano.Any modern traveller, either Englishman, who visits France, or any other foreign country-or any foreigner, who visits Britain, or Ireland, will find a peculiar difficulty, in catching the true sound and articulation, of the proper names of persons and places; and a still greater difficulty, in imitating and returning these new and unwonted. sounds; insomuch, that, even after many year's residence, foreigners are very deficient in the pronunciation of proper names, and alter them from the truth, and disfigure them strangely.It is easy to see, that this must be an abundant source of confusion and deception, in the nomenclature of persons and places. Indeed, it will occur to one, who is conversant with the Greek writers, that they wholly transform foreign appellations, particularly proper names, and mold them in form and termination, to the genius of the Greek language. Even in America, a country but lately discovered, and discovered in an enlightened age, at a period, when the sciences and arts, particularly that of navigation, had attained a considerable degree of perfection, and had entered on their glorious career of progressive improve. ment. Even in these new found regions, many disagreements have taken place, in the narratives of travellers; many doubts and uncertainties have occurred, respecting the boundaries of countries, and the site and courses of rivers.--Thus, for instance, we find great doubts and altercations have arisen, with regard to the

confines

confines of French and Portugueze Guiana.* It appears, there were two rivers, named Oyapock—one to the north, the other to the south, of the equator, at nearly equal distances, and much difficulty has occurred, in determining, which was meant to constitute the boundary line.

If I were to form a conjecture, as to the particular streams, which were by the poet erroneously supposed to be a branch of the Rhone, and to form a communication, between the Po and the Ligustic sea; I should say, that, most probably, he meant to designate the Tanaro, the Stura, and the Var, which falls into the gulf of Genoa.-The Stura does not, it is true, com. municate with the Var, neither do the rivers, which communicate with the Danube, actually reach the Unna, which falls into the Adriatic sea; yet, they nearly approach; and this might have been sufficient to have produced some vague opinion, or conjecture, that they actually met. We see how little is known, at this day, notwithstanding the enterprise, the ardent spirit of discovery, of modern times, concerning the interior of Africa; and shall we wonder, that the first navigators, in the infancy of their art, with so few means of enlightening their minds, should have circulated abundance of erroneous reports.

If we were to suppose it possible, that the Argonauts should have sailed up the Danube, and come out, in the Adriatic sea; and, again, sailed up the Po, and come out, in the gulf of Genoa; it is necessary, to the hypothesis of their doing this, (independant of the great doubtfulness, whether some of the rivers, on the currents of which they must have made their way, were

* So, respecting the existence of a north-west pas

sage.

navigable

« AnteriorContinuar »