And another road leads from Eleusis to Megara: as you go along this
road is a well called the Well of Flowers. Pamphus records that it
was at this well that Demeter sat in the guise of an old woman after
the rape of Proserpine: and that she was taken thence as an old woman
of the country by the daughters of Celeus to their mother, and that
Metanira entrusted her with the education of her son. And not far
from the well is the temple of Metanira, and next to it the tombs of
those that fell at Thebes. For Creon, who was at that time the ruler
at Thebes (being Regent for Laodamas the son of Eteocles), would not
allow their relations to bury the dead: and Adrastus having supplicated
Theseus, and a battle having been fought between the Athenians and
Bœotians, when Theseus was the victor, he conveyed the dead bodies
to Eleusis and there buried them. But the Thebans say that they
surrendered the dead bodies of their own free will, and did not fight
on this question. And next to the tombs of the Argives is the monument
of Alope, who they say was the mother of Hippothoon by Poseidon,
and was in consequence put to death by her father Cercyon. Now this
Cercyon is said in other respects to have been harsh to strangers, and
especially to those who would not contend with him in wrestling: and
this place was called even in my day Cercyon’s wrestling ground, at a
little distance from the tomb of Alope. And Cercyon is said to have
killed all that wrestled with him but Theseus. But Theseus wrestled
against him cunningly throw for throw and beat him: for he was the
first who elevated wrestling into a science, and afterwards established
training schools for wrestling: for before the time of Theseus only
size and strength were made use of in wrestling.
Such in my opinion are the most noteworthy among Athenian traditions
or sights. And in my account I have selected out of a mass of material
that only which was important enough to be considered history.
Next to Eleusis is the district called Megaris: it too belonged
originally to the Athenians, having been bequeathed to Pandion by (its)
king Pylas. Proofs of what I assert are the tomb of Pandion in that
district, and the fact that Nisus, though he conceded the kingdom of
Attica to Ægeus the head of the family, yet himself was selected to
be king of Megara and the whole district up to Corinth: and even now
the Megarians have a dockyard called Nisæa after him. And afterwards,
when Codrus was king, the Peloponnesians marched against Athens: and
not having any brilliant success there they went home again, but took
Megara from the Athenians, and gave it to the Corinthians and others
of their allies that wished to dwell in it. Thus the Megarians changed
their customs and dialect and became Dorians. And they say the city
got its name in the days of Car, the son of Phoroneus, who was king in
this district: in his day they say first temples were built to Demeter
among them, and the inhabitants called them Halls.[11] This is at
any rate the tradition of the Megarians. But the Bœotians say that
Megareus the son of Poseidon lived at Onchestus, and went with an army
of Bœotians to aid Nisus in his war against Minos, and that he fell in
the battle, and got buried there, and the city which had been formerly
called Nisa, got its name Megara from him. And years afterwards, in the
12th generation from Car, the son of Phoroneus, the Megarians say Lelex
came from Egypt and became king, and during his reign the Megarians
were called Leleges. And he had a son Cleson, and a grandson Pylas,
and a great-grandson Sciron, who married the daughter of Pandion, and
afterwards, (Sciron having a controversy with Nisus the son of Pandion
about the sovereignty), Æacus was arbitrator, and gave his decision
that the kingdom was to belong to Nisus and his descendants, but the
command of the army was to devolve upon Sciron. And Megareus the son of
Poseidon, having married Iphinoe the daughter of Nisus, succeeded Nisus
they say in the kingdom. But of the Cretan war, and the capture of the
city in the days of King Nisus, they pretend to know nothing.