I have the less scruple in making the verse Od. v. 277 the subject of a particular inquiry, because the chief elements of the discussion are important with reference to the laws of Homeric Greek, as well as with regard to that adjustment of the Outer Geography, which I have supported by a detailed application to every part of the narrative of the Odyssey, and which I at once admit is in irreconcilable conflict with the popular construction of the account of the voyage from Ogygia to Scheria, as far as it depends upon this particular verse. The passage is[659] (the τὴν referring to Ἄρκτον in v. 273) [659] Od. v. 276, 7. τὴν γὰρ δή μιν ἄνωγε Καλυψὼ, δῖα θεάων, ποντοπορευέμεναι ἐπ’ ἀριστερὰ χειρὸς ἔχοντα. The points upon which the signification of the last line must depend, seem to be as follows: 1. The meaning of the important Homeric word ἀριστερός. 2. The form of the phrase ἀριστερὰ χειρὸς, which is an ἅπαξ λεγόμενον in Homer. 3. The force of the preposition ἐπὶ, particularly with the accusative. The second of these points may be speedily dismissed. For (1) the only question that can arise upon it would be, whether (assuming for the moment the sense of ἀριστερὸς) ‘the left of his hand’ means the left of the line described by the onward movement of his body, or the left of the direction in which his hand, that is, his right or steering hand, points while upon the helm; which would be the exact reverse of the former. But, though the latter interpretation would be grammatically accurate, it is too minute and subtle, as respects the sense, to agree with Homer’s methods of expression. And (2) some of the Scholiasts report another reading, νηὸς, instead of χειρὸς, which would present no point of doubt or suspicion under this head. We have then two questions to consider; of which the first is the general use and treatment by Homer of the word ἀριστερός. ~_Senses of δεξιὸς and ἀριστερός._~ It appears to me well worth consideration whether the δεξιὸς and ἀριστερὸς of Homer ought not, besides the senses of right and left, to be acknowledged capable of the senses of east and west respectively. The word ἀριστερὸς takes the sense of _left_ by way of derivation and second intention only. The word σκαιὸς is that, which etymologically and primarily expresses the function of the left hand. The use of this as the principal hand is abnormal, and places the body as it were _askew_ (compare σκάζω, _scævus_, _schief_)[660]. In Homer the only word used singly, i. e. without a substantive, to express the left hand is σκαιός. At the same time, we cannot draw positive conclusions from this fact, because ἀριστερὸς could not stand in the hexameter to represent a feminine noun singular, on account of the laws of metre, which in this point are inflexible. [660] Liddell and Scott.