Text: R. J. Walker, “Poe: A Classical Reference,” Notes and Queries (London, UK), June 13, 1914, p. 472

POE: A CLASSICAL REFERENCE (11 S. ix. 426). — It seems hard to suppose that by “Nicean barks” Poe means the one yacht of Catullus, and, if he does, the allusion is so obscure as to bewilder even readers familiar with Catullus.

I would point out that Stephanus of Byzantium specifies eight places of the name “Nicea,” and that of these the third in order is described by him as being “in Illyria.” Now, Mela (2, 3, 12) incorporates a tradition which places the Phzacians on the Illyrian coast. This tradition, though in point of geography it departs but little from the more ordinary identification of Pheacia with Coreyra, would nevertheless, unlike that identification, make it possible for Poe, if he knew of it, to use “Nicean” as a mere picturesque equivalent of “Phzacian.”’ If so, the allusion would be highly appropriate, but also, I confess, highly obscure.

Yet another exegesis may be suggested. On the Hydaspes in the Panjab Alexander the Great founded a city which he named Nicea. At or close to this Nicea he built a fleet, in which he and his men sailed down the river and out into the Indian Ocean. This suits well Poe's words “ o’er a perfumed sea.’‘ But he was not borne in it “ to his own native shore,”’ and, indeed, could not have been, unless he had circumnavigated the Cape of Good Hope. Yet I cannot help thinking that it is this fleet to which Poe intended to refer. He may not have been strong in geography or the minute details of history. The allusion would not be excessively recondite (see Strabo).

R. J. WALKER.

Little Holland House, Kensington, W.