and a little farther on, speaking of the division of the country by the Heracleidæ according to lot, the first was “lord of the Lacænian land, a bad soil,” the second was Messene, “whose excellence no language could express;” and Tyrtæus speaks of it in the same manner. But we cannot admit that Laconia and Messenia are bounded, as Euripides says, “by the Pamisus,[145] which empties itself into the sea;” this river flows through the middle of Messenia, and does not touch any part of the present Laconia. Nor is he right, when he says that Messenia is inaccessible to sailors, whereas it borders upon the sea, in the same manner as Laconia. Nor does he give the right boundaries of Elis; “after passing the river is Elis, the neighbour of Jove;” and he adduces a proof unnecessarily. For if he means the present Eleian territory, which is on the confines of Messenia, this the Pamisus does not touch, any more than it touches Laconia, for, as has been said before, it flows through the middle of Messenia: or, if he meant the ancient Eleia, called the Hollow, this is a still greater deviation from the truth. For after crossing the Pamisus, there is a large tract of the Messenian country, then the whole district of [the Lepreatæ], and of the [Macistii], which is called Triphylia; then the Pisatis, and Olympia; then at the distance of 300 stadia is Elis. 7. As some persons write the epithet applied by Homer to Lacedæmon, κητώεσσαν, and others καιετάεσσαν, how are we to understand κητώεσσα, whether it is derived from Cetos,[146] or [CAS. 367] whether it denotes “large,” which is most probable. Some understand καιετάεσσα to signify, “abounding with calaminthus;” others suppose, as the fissures occasioned by earthquakes are called Cæeti, that this is the origin of the epithet. Hence Cæietas also, the name of the prison among the Lacedæmonians, which is a sort of cave. Some however say, that such kind of hollows are rather called Coi, whence the expression of Homer,[147] applied to wild beasts, φηρσὶν ὀρεσκῴοισιν, which live in mountain caves. Laconia however is subject to earthquakes, and some writers relate, that certain peaks of Taÿgetum have been broken off by the shocks.[148] Laconia contains also quarries of valuable marble. Those of the Tænarian marble in Tænarum[149] are ancient, and certain persons, assisted by the wealth of the Romans, lately opened a large quarry in Taÿgetum. 8. It appears from Homer, that both the country and the city had the name of Lacedæmon; I mean the country together with Messenia. When he speaks of the bow and quiver of Ulysses, he says, “A present from Iphitus Eurytides, a stranger, who met him in Lacedæmon,”[150] and adds, “They met at Messene in the house of Ortilochus.”