And after the death of Nyctimus Arcas the son of Callisto succeeded
him in the kingdom. And he introduced sowing corn being taught by
Triptolemus, and showed his people how to make bread, and to weave
garments and other things, having learnt spinning from Adristas. And in
his reign the country was called Arcadia instead of Pelasgia, and the
inhabitants were called Arcadians instead of Pelasgi. And they say he
mated with no mortal woman but with a Dryad Nymph. For the Nymphs used
to be called Dryades, and Epimeliades, and sometimes Naiades, Homer in
his poems mainly mentions them as Naiades.[22] The name of this Nymph
was Erato, and they say Arcas had by her Azan and Aphidas and Elatus:
he had had a bastard son Autolaus still earlier. And when they grew up
Arcas divided the country among his 3 legitimate sons, Azania took its
name from Azan, and they are said to be colonists from Azania who dwell
near the cave in Phrygia called Steunos and by the river Pencala. And
Aphidas got Tegea and the neighbouring country, and so the poets call
Tegea the lot of Aphidas. And Elatus had Mount Cyllene, which had no
name then, and afterwards he migrated into what is now called Phocis,
and aided the Phocians who were pressed hard in war by the Phlegyes,
and built the city Elatea. And Azan had a son Clitor, and Aphidas had
a son called Aleus, and Elatus had five sons, Æpytus and Pereus and
Cyllen and Ischys and Stymphelus. And when Azan died funeral games
were first established, I don’t know whether any other but certainly
horseraces. And Clitor the son of Azan lived at Lycosora, and was
the most powerful of the kings, and built the city which he called
Clitor after his own name. And Aleus inherited his father’s share. And
Mount Cyllene got its name from Cyllen, and from Stymphelus the well
and city by the well were both called Stymphelus. The circumstances
attending the death of Ischys, the son of Elatus, I have already given
in my account of Argolis. And Pereus had no male offspring but only a
daughter Neæra, who married Autolycus, who dwelt on Mount Parnassus,
and was reputed to be the son of Hermes, but was really the son of
Dædalion.
And Clitor the son of Azan had no children, so the kingdom of Arcadia
devolved upon Æpytus the son of Elatus. And as he was out hunting he
was killed not by any wild animal but by a serpent, little expecting
such an end. I have myself seen the particular kind of serpent. It is a
very small ash-coloured worm, marked with irregular stripes, its head
is broad and its neck narrow, it has a large belly and small tail, and,
like the serpent they call the horned serpent, walks sideways like the
crab. And Æpytus was succeeded in the kingdom by Aleus, for Agamedes
and Gortys, the sons of Stymphelus, were great-grandsons of Arcas,
but Aleus was his grandson, being the son of Aphidas. And Aleus built
the old temple to Athene Alea at Tegea, which he made the seat of his
kingdom. And Gortys, the son of Stymphelus, built the town Gortys by
the river called Gortynius. And Aleus had three sons, Lycurgus and
Amphidamas and Cepheus, and one daughter Auge. According to Hecatæus
Hercules, when he came to Tegea, had an intrigue with this Auge, and
at last she was discovered to be with child by him, and Aleus put her
and the child in a chest and let it drift to sea. And she got safely
to Teuthras, a man of substance in the plain of Caicus, and he fell in
love with her and married her. And her tomb is at Pergamus beyond the
Caicus, a mound of earth with a stone wall round it, and on the tomb a
device in bronze, a naked woman. And after the death of Aleus Lycurgus
his son succeeded to the kingdom by virtue of being the eldest. He
did nothing very notable except that he slew by guile and not fairly
Areithous a warrior. And of his sons Epochus died of some illness,
but Ancæus sailed to Colchi with Jason, and afterwards, hunting with
Meleager the wild boar in Calydon, was killed by it. Lycurgus lived to
an advanced old age, having survived both his sons.
[22] _e.g._ Odyssey, xiii. 104.