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[22] χῶρον … ὃν φράσε Κίρκη. Circe had directed him to make for the groves of Persephone, and to beach his ship upon the “ἀκτὴ λάχεια” on the further side of the Ocean-stream at that particular point ( Od.10. 508 foll.). In the present passage we hear nothing further of the “ἀκτή” and the “ἄλσεα”, but the notice of the Cimmerians and their gloomy land is introduced instead. In bk. 10, Circe speaks of the confluence of the rivers and the rock over which their waters fall: here we have no further allusion to them. Odysseus is only described as going with his comrades (“παρὰ ῥόον”) ‘along the side of the Ocean-stream,’ till he reached the place indicated by Circe. φράζω, according to the rule of Aristarchus, refers not to her actual words, but generally to the signs and marks given, by which the spot may be known.

Homer's Odyssey. W. Walter Merry. James Riddell. D. B. Monro. Oxford. Clarendon Press. 1886-1901.

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