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[81] πρὸς ζόφον εἰς Ἔρεβος τετραμμένον. Eustath. and the Scholl. interpret this as if the latter half of the sentence were only the nearer description of the former. It seems more likely that πρὸς ζόφον gives the direction in which the mouth of the cave looks, viz. westward, while εἰς Ἔρεβος τετραμμένον implies that it is not a horizontal cavern in the cliff's face, but that its direction is ‘downwards;’ which seems to be implied also in “μέσση δέδυκεν” (inf. 93).

περ ἄν, ‘just where you will steer your hollow ship past.’ For a similar use of the subjunctive with “ἄν” or “κε” cp. Od.10. 507τὴν δέ κέ τοι πνοιὴ . . φέρῃσιν”, Il.1. 184ἐγὼ δέ κ᾽ ἄγω”, ib. 205 “τάχ᾽ ἄν ποτε θυμὸν ὀλέσσῃ”.

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