[105] τρίς. The same number of alternations is given in Virg. Aen.3. 566; Ov. Ep.ex Ov. Pont.4. 10. 27; but in the Latin version there is nothing equivalent to “ἐπ̓ ἤματι”. There is of course intended to be a connection between the ebb and flow of the tide, and the engulphing and disgorging action of the whirlpool. So Strabo (1. 2. 36) “ἀπὸ γὰρ τῶν ἀμπώτεων καὶ πλημμυρίδων ἡ Χάρυβδις αὐτῷ μεμύθευται”, and again (1. 1. 7) “ἔχεται δὲ τῆς αὐτῆς φιλοπραγμοσύνης καὶ τὸ μὴ ἀγνοεῖν τὰ περὶ τὰς πλημμυρίδας τοῦ ὠκεανοῦ καὶ τὰς ἀμπώτεις κ.τ.λ.” But as ebb and flow occur only twice a day, a difficulty has been felt about the use of τρίς. To which it may be answered that we are still in the land of marvel, and there is a completeness about the number three that would naturally suggest itself to the poet in describing the full day's work of the whirlpool. But, as a matter of fact, the ebb and flow in narrow friths do not by any means follow the movement of the tide wave outside. The frequent change of the tides in the Euripus is an illustration of this, and, nearer home, we find the same phenomenon in Southamptonwater. But Buchholz (Homerisch. Real. I. 272) quotes from Heller (PhilologusOv. Pont., 15. 354 foll.) to the effect that “τρίς” really describes with perfect accuracy the normal ebb and flow of the sea. He tabulates the results thus for a period of twenty-four hours:
| Beginning of flood | Beginning of ebb | |
| 6 a. m. | noon | |
| 6 p. m. | midnight | |
| 6 a. m. | noon |
