Note 1461 — Chapter I

From σκέπτομαι, (sceptomai,) I see to a distance, from which the compound περισκέπτομαι, (perisceptomai,) I see to a distance around. Strabo perceived the absurdity of such an etymology. Others derived the name of this place from σκήπτομαι, I pretend, whence σκῆψις, (skepsis,) a pretext, because it was on this part of the chain of Ida that Rhea, on the birth of Jupiter, substituted for him a stone clothed as an infant, and presented it to be devoured by Saturn in place of her child. This etymology is conformable to analogy, although founded on a ridiculous fable.