[15] This name has been substituted by me from the Iliad, ii. 561, for one which occurs only in a single set of notes, and is altogether mis-written.—ED. [16] Verse 533. [17] “The part of Laconia, which forms the western coast of the Argolic gulf, but which, by the division of Philip of Macedonia was restored to Argos, will be spoken of when I come to describe Laconia.” [18] “A stadium measures 600 Greek feet, and eight stadia make a Roman mile; 606 feet and 9 inches English are equal to a stadium. This is a well known fact, requiring no proof. But it is a very debatable question, as to whether the ancients, when reckoning by stadia, always adopted the measure of the Olympian stadium, or whether we have sometimes to understand others. The latter opinion has been very generally spread by the moderns, especially in consequence of an error committed by the excellent D’Anville. It very often occurs, that the distances mentioned by the ancients are irreconcilable with modern measurements; whence it has been inferred that sometimes different stadia must be meant, and the statement that the Pythian stadium was shorter than the Olympian, appeared to support this supposition. But there is no other hypothesis which has been set forth equally often, and is yet so devoid of all foundation: the ancient writers do not furnish a single passage in support of the assertion; an endless confusion, moreover, would be introduced into all statements, if we were to suppose that the ancients reckoned according to different stadia without informing their readers of it. Wherever the stadia mentioned are irreconcilable with correct measurements, the cause is no other but either an error in our calculation, or some inaccuracy in the statements of the ancients, which arose in a very natural manner; for the high-roads in Greece were, not like those of the Romans, made in a straight line, but had various turnings, because they had been gradually formed out of the common paths across the fields. In some instances, on the other hand, it has been found that, where the ancients were charged with inaccuracy, too much confidence has been placed in modern travellers, so that the statements of the ancients are, after all, not as inaccurate as some have supposed.