[14] Near Anthedon is a place called Isus, and esteemed sacred, belonging to Bœotia; it contains remains of a city, and the first syllable of Isus is short. Some persons are of opinion, that the verse ought to be written, ῏ισόν
” lengthening the first syllable by poetical licence for the sake of the metre, instead of
” for Nisa is not to be found anywhere in Bœotia, as Apollodorus says in his observations on the Catalogue of the Ships; so that Nisa could not stand in this passage, unless by Nisa Homer meant Isus, for there was a city Nisa, in Megaris, from whence Isus was colonized, situated at the base of Cithæron, but it exists no longer.1 Some however write
” meaning the present Creusa, the arsenal of the Thespieans, situated on the Crisæan Gulf. Others write the passage
” Pharæ is one of the four villages, (or Tetracomiæ,) near Tanagra, namely, Heleon, Harma, Mycalessus, Pharæ. Others again write the passage thus,
” Nysa is a village of Helicon. Such then is the description of the sea-coast opposite Eubœa.