Pactolus is a river of Lydia, that washes the walls of Sardis,
formerly called, Chrysorrhoas. For Chrysorrhoas, the son of Apollo
and Agathippe, being a mechanic artist, and one that only lived from
hand to mouth upon his trade, one time in the middle of the night made
bold to break open the treasury of Croesus; and conveying thence a
good quantity of gold, he made a distribution of it to his family. But
being pursued by the king’s officers, when he saw he must be taken, he
threw himself into the river which was afterwards from his name called
Chrysorrhoas, and afterwards changed into that of Pactolus upon this
occasion.
Pactolus, the son of ... and Leucothea, during the performance of
the mysteries sacred to Venus, ravished Demodice his own sister, not
knowing who she was; for which being overwhelmed with grief, he threw
himself into the river Chrysorrhoas, which from that time forward was
called Pactolus, from his own name. In this river is found a most pure
gold sand, which the force of the stream carries into the bosom of the
Happy Gulf.
Also in this river is to be found a stone which is called the preserver
of the fields, resembling the color of silver, very hard to be found,
in regard of its being mixed with the gold sand. The virtue of which is
such, that the more wealthy Lydians buy it and lay it at the doors of
their treasuries, by which means they preserve their treasure, whatever
it be, safe from the seizure of pilfering hands. For upon the approach
of thieves or robbers, the stone sends forth a sound like that of a
trumpet. Upon which the thieves surprised, and believing themselves
apprehended by officers, throw themselves headlong and break their
necks; insomuch that the place where the thieves thus frighted come by
their violent deaths is called Pactolus’s prison.
In this river also there grows an herb that bears a purple flower, and
is called chrysopolis; by which the inhabitants of the neighboring
cities try their purest gold. For just before they put their gold
into the melting-pot, they touch it with this herb; at what time,
if it be pure and unmixed, the leaves of the herb will be tinctured
with the gold and preserve the substance of the matter; but if it
be adulterated, they will not admit the discoloring moisture;—as
Chrysermus relates in his Third Book of Rivers.
Near to this river lies the mountain Tmolus, full of all manner of wild
beasts, formerly called Carmanorion, from Carmanor the son of Bacchus
and Alexirrhoea, who was killed by a wild boar as he was hunting; but
afterward Tmolus upon this occasion.
Tmolus, the son of Mars and Theogone, king of Lydia, while he was a
hunting upon Carmanorion, chanced to see the fair virgin Arrhippe that
attended upon Diana, and fell passionately in love with her. And such
was the heat of his love, that not being able to gain her by fair
means, he resolved to vitiate her by force. She, seeing she could by
no means escape his fury otherwise, fled to the temple of Diana, where
the tyrant, contemning all religion, ravished her,—an infamy which the
nymph not being able to survive immediately hanged herself. But Diana
would not pass by so great a crime; and therefore, to be revenged upon
the king for his irreligious insolence, she set a mad bull upon him, by
which the king being tossed up in the air, and falling down upon stakes
and stones, ended his days in torment. But Theoclymenus his son, so
soon as he had buried his father, altered the name of the mountain, and
called it Tmolus after his father’s name.
Upon this mountain grows a stone not unlike a pumice-stone, which is
very rare to be found. This stone changes its color four times a day;
and is to be seen only by virgins that are not arrived at the years of
understanding. But if marriageable virgins happen to see it, they can
never receive any injury from those that attempt their chastity;—as
Clitophon reports.