CHAPTER XLIV.

Next Corœbus is buried Orsippus, who, though the athletes according to

olden custom had girdles round their loins, ran naked at Olympia in

the race and won the prize. And they say that he afterwards as general

cut off a slice of his neighbours’ territory. But I think at Olympia

he dropped his girdle on purpose, knowing that it is easier for a

man to run naked than with a girdle on. And as you descend from the

market-place by the way called Straight, there is on the right hand a

temple of Protecting Apollo: you can find it by turning a little out

of the way. And there is in it a statue of Apollo well worth seeing,

and an Artemis and Leto, and other statues, and Leto and her sons by

Praxiteles. And there is in the ancient gymnasium, near the gates

called Nymphades, a stone in shape like a small pyramid. This they

call Apollo Carinus, and there is here a temple to Ilithyia also.

Such are the notable things the city contains. And as you descend to

the dockyard, which is still called Nisæa, is a temple of Demeter the

Wool-bearer. Several explanations are given of this title, among them

that those who first reared sheep in this country gave her that name.

And one would conjecture that the roof had fallen from the temple by

the lapse of time. There is here also a citadel called Nisæa. And as

you descend from it there is near the sea a monument of Lelex the

king, who is said to have come from Egypt, and to have been the son of

Poseidon by Libye the daughter of Epaphus. There is an island too near

Nisæa of no great size called Minoa. Here the navy of the Cretans was

moored in the war with Nisus. And the mountainous part of Megaris is on

the borders of Bœotia, and contains two towns, Pagæ and Ægosthena. As

you go to Pagæ, if you turn a little off from the regular road, there

is shewn the rock which has arrows fixed in it everywhere, into which

the Medes once shot in the night. At Pagæ too well worth seeing is a

brazen statue of Artemis under the title of _Saviour_, in size and

shape like the statues of the goddess at Megara. There is also here

a hero-chapel of Ægialeus the son of Adrastus. He, when the Argives

marched against Thebes the second time, was killed in the first battle

at Glisas, and his relations carried him to Pagæ in Megaris, and buried

him there, and the hero-chapel is still called after his name. And at

Ægosthena is a temple of Melampus the son of Amythaon, and a man of

no great size is carved on a pillar. And they sacrifice to Melampus

and have a festival to him every year. But they say that he has no

prophetic powers either in dreams or in any other way. And I also heard

at Erenea a village of Megaris, that Autonoe the daughter of Cadmus,

excessively grieving at the death of Actæon, and the circumstances

of it which tradition records, and the general misfortunes of her

father’s house, migrated there from Thebes: and her tomb is in that

village.

And as you go from Megara to Corinth there are several tombs, and

among them that of the Samian flute-player Telephanes. And they say

that this tomb was erected by Cleopatra, the daughter of Philip the

son of Amyntas. And there is a monument of Car the son of Phoroneus,

originally only a mound of earth, but afterwards in consequence of the

oracle it was beautified with a shell-like stone. And the Megarians

are the only Greeks who possess this peculiar kind of stone, and many

things in their city are made of it. It is very white, and softer than

other stone, and seashells are everywhere in it. Such is this kind of

stone. And the road, called the Scironian road after Sciron, is so

called because Sciron, when he was commander in chief of the Megarians,

first made it a road for travellers according to tradition. And the

Emperor Adrian made it so wide and convenient that two chariots could

drive abreast.

Now there are traditions about the rocks which project in the narrow

part of the road; with regard to the Molurian rock, that Ino threw

herself into the sea from it with Melicerta, the younger of her sons:

for Learchus the oldest was killed by his father. Athamas also is

said to have acted in the same way when mad, and to have exhibited

ungovernable rage to Ino and her children, thinking that the famine

which befell the Orchomenians, which also apparently caused the

death of Phrixus, was not the visitation of God, but a stepmother’s

contrivance against them all. So she to escape him threw herself and

her boy Melicerta into the sea from the Molurian rock. And the boy,

being carried it is said by a dolphin to the Isthmus of Corinth, had

various honours paid to him under the name of Palæmon, and the Isthmian

games were celebrated in his honour. This Molurian rock they consider

sacred to Leucothea and Palæmon, but the rocks next to it they consider

accursed, because Sciron lived near them, who threw into the sea all

strangers that chanced to come there. And a tortoise used to swim about

near these rocks, so as to devour those that were thrown in: these sea

tortoises are like land tortoises, except in size and the shape of

their feet which are like those of seals. But the whirligig of time

which brought on Sciron punishment for all this, for he himself was

thrown by Theseus into the same sea. And on the top of the mountain is

a temple to Zeus called the Remover. They say that Zeus was so called

because when a great drought once happened to the Greeks, and Æacus in

obedience to the oracle prayed to Pan-Hellenian Zeus at Ægina, he took

it away and removed it. Here are also statues of Aphrodite and Apollo

and Pan. And as you go on a little further is the tomb of Eurystheus.

They say that he fled here from Attica after the battle with the

Heraclidæ, and was killed by Iolaus. As you descend this road is a

temple of Latoan Apollo, and near to it the boundaries between Megaris

and Corinth, where they say Hyllus the son of Hercules had a single

combat with the Arcadian Echemus.

FOOTNOTES:

[2] A stade was about one-eighth of a Roman mile.

[3] Odyssey, xi., 122, 123.

[4] See Plutarch’s “Life of Theseus.”

[5] Iliad, xxiii., 677-680.

[6] See Herod., iii., 64.

[7] Perhaps a reminiscence of Hom. Il. i. 423.

[8] See Verg. Ecl. 3. 106. Theocr. x. 28. And especially Ovid,

Metamorph. x. 210-219.

[9] Demeter and Proserpine.

[10] Iliad xxiii. 144-148.

[11] The Greek is _Megara_. Hence the paronomasia.

[12] Herod. iv. 99, and 103.

BOOK II.--CORINTH.

CHAPTER I.

The Corinthian territory, a part of Argolis, gets its name from

Corinthus, and that he was the son of Zeus I know of none who seriously

assert but most Corinthians, for Eumelus the son of Amphilytus of the

race called Bacchidæ, who is also said to have been a poet, says in

his History of Corinth (if indeed he is the author of it), that Ephyre

the daughter of Oceanus, dwelt first in this land, and that afterwards

Marathon the son of Epopeus, the son of Aloeus, the son of the Sun,

fled from the lawless insolence of his father, and took a colony into

the maritime parts of Attica, and when Epopeus was dead returned to the

Peloponnese, and after dividing the kingdom among his sons went back

into Attica, and from his son Sicyon Asopia got the name of Sicyonia,

and Ephyrea got called Corinth from his son Corinthus.

Now Corinth is inhabited by none of the ancient Corinthians, but by

colonists who were sent there by the Romans. And this is owing to the

Achæan confederacy. For the Corinthians joined it, and took their part

in the war with the Romans which Critolaus, who had been appointed

commander in chief of the Achæans, brought about, having persuaded

the Achæans and most of the Greeks outside the Peloponnese to revolt

against Rome. And the Romans, after conquering all the other Greeks in

battle, took away from them their arms, and razed the fortifications of

all the fortified cities: but they destroyed Corinth under Mummius the

General of the Roman army, and they say it was rebuilt by Julius Cæsar,

who instituted the present form of government at Rome, (the Imperial).

Carthage also was rebuilt in his term of power.

Now the place called Crommyon in the Corinthian territory is so

called from Cromus the son of Poseidon. Here they say was the haunt of

the Phæan boar, and the scene of Theseus’ legendary exploits against

Pityocamptes, (the _Pinebender_). As you go forward the famous pine was

to be seen even in my time near the seashore; and there was an altar to

Melicerta there, for it was here they say that he was conveyed by the

dolphin: and Sisyphus, finding him lying dead on the shore, buried him

at the Isthmus, and established the Isthmian games in honour of him.

Now it is at the head of the Isthmus that the robber Sinis took two

pine-trees and bent them down to the ground: and whoever he conquered

in battle he tied to these pine-trees, and let the pines go up into

the air again: and each of these pines dragged the poor fellow tied to

it, and (neither yielding but pulling with equal vigour) the victim

tied to them was torn asunder. In this way Sinis himself was killed

by Theseus. For Theseus cleared all the road from Trœzen to Athens

of evildoers, having killed those whom I mentioned before, and, at

Epidaurus the Holy, Periphetes the putative son of Hephæstus, whose

weapon in fighting was a brazen club. The Isthmus of Corinth extends

in one direction to the sea near Cenchreæ, and in the other to the

sea near Lechæum. This Isthmus makes the Peloponnese a Peninsula. And

whoever attempted to make the Peloponnese an island died before the

completion of a canal across the Isthmus. And where they began to dig

is now plainly visible, but they didn’t make much progress because

of the rock. The Peloponnese remains therefore what it was by nature

main land. And when Alexander, the son of Philip, wished to make a

canal through Mimas, the work was all but completed. But the oracle

at Delphi forbade the navvies to complete the work. So difficult is

it for man to oppose the divine ordinances. And the Corinthians are

not alone in their boasting about their country, but it seems to me

that the Athenians even earlier used tall talk in regard to Attica.

The Corinthians say that Poseidon had a controversy with the Sun about

their land, and that Briareus was the Arbitrator, awarding the Isthmus

and all in that direction to Poseidon, and giving the height above

the city to the Sun. From this time they say the Isthmus belongs to

Poseidon.

The great sights at Corinth are the Theatre, and the Stadium of

white stone. And as you approach the temple of the god, there are

statues of the Athletes who have been conquerors in the Isthmian games

on one side, and on the other pine-trees planted in a row, mostly in

a straight line. And at the temple, which is not very large, there

stand some Tritons in brass. And there are statues in the porch two of

Poseidon, and one of Amphitrite, and a brazen Sea. And inside Herod an

Athenian placed in our time 4 horses all gold except the hoofs, which

are of ivory. And two golden Tritons are near the horses, ivory below

the waist. And Amphitrite and Poseidon are standing in a chariot, and

their son Palæmon is seated bolt upright on the dolphin’s back: and

these are made of ivory and gold. And on the middle of the base, on

which the chariot rests, is the Sea supporting the child Aphrodite

rising from it, and on each side are the so-called Nereids, who have I

know altars in other parts of Greece, and some have temples dedicated

to them as Shepherdesses, in places where Achilles is also honoured.

And at Doto among the Gabali there is a holy temple, where the peplus

is still kept, which the Greeks say Eriphyle took for her son Alcmæon.

And on the base of Poseidon’s statue are in bas relief the sons of

Tyndareus, because they are the patron saints of ships and sailors.

And the other statues are Calm and Sea, and a horse like a sea-monster

below the waist, and Ino and Bellerophon and Pegasus.

CHAPTER II.

And inside the precincts there is on the left hand a temple of Palæmon,

and some statues in it of Poseidon and Leucothea and Palæmon himself.

And there is also a crypt, approached by an underground passage,

where they say Palæmon is buried: whatever Corinthian or foreigner

commits perjury here has no chance of escaping punishment. There is

also an ancient temple called the altar of the Cyclopes, to whom they

sacrifice upon it. But the tombs of Sisyphus and Neleus, (for they say

that Neleus came to Corinth, and died there of some disease, and was

buried near the Isthmus), no one could find from the account in the

poems of Eumelus. As to Neleus they say that his tomb was not even

shewn to Nestor by Sisyphus: for it was to be unknown to all alike.

But that Sisyphus was buried at the Isthmus, and indeed the very site

of his tomb, a few Corinthians who were his contemporaries know. And

the Isthmian games did not fall into disuse when Corinth was taken by

Mummius, but as long as the city lay desolate, these games took place

at Sicyon, and when the city was rebuilt the old honour came back to

Corinth.

The Corinthian seaports got their names from Leches and Cenchrias,

who were reputed to be the sons of Poseidon by Pirene the daughter of

Achelous: though in Hesiod’s poem _the great Eœæ_ Pirene is said to be

the daughter of Œbalus. And there is at Lechæum a temple and brazen

statue of Poseidon, and as you go to Cenchreæ from the Isthmus a temple

of Artemis, and old wooden statue of the goddess. And at Cenchreæ there

is a shrine of Aphrodite and her statue in stone, and next it, on the

breakwater near the sea, a brazen statue of Poseidon. And on the other

side of the harbour are temples of Æsculapius and Isis. And opposite

Cenchreæ is the bath of Helen: where much salt water flows into the sea

from the rock, like water just with the chill off.

As you go up the hill to Corinth there are several tombs along the

wayside, and at the gate is buried Diogenes of Sinope, whom the Greeks

nickname the Cynic. And in front of the city is a grove of cypress

trees called Craneum. Here is a temple of Bellerophon, and a shrine

of Melænian Aphrodite, and the tomb of Lais, with a lioness carved

on it with a ram in its front paws. And there is another monument of

Lais said to exist in Thessaly: for she went to Thessaly when she

was enamoured of Hippostratus. She is said to have come originally

from Hyccara in Sicily, and to have been taken prisoner as a child by

Nicias and the Athenians, and to have been sold at Corinth, and to have

outstripped in beauty all the courtesans there, and so admired was she

by the Corinthians that even now they claim her as a Corinthian.

The notable things in the city are partly the remains of antiquity

still to be seen there, partly works of art more recent, when Corinth

was at the height of all her glory. In the market-place, for most of

the temples are there, is Ephesian Artemis, and there are two wooden

statues of Dionysus gilt except the faces, which are painted with

red paint, one they call Lysian Dionysus, and the other Dionysus the

Reveller. The tradition about these statues I will record. Pentheus

they say, when he outraged Dionysus, among other acts of reckless

daring actually at last went to Mount Cithæron to spy the women, and

climbed up into a tree to see what they were doing: and when they

detected him, they forthwith dragged him down, and tore him limb from

limb. And afterwards, so they say at Corinth, the Pythian Priestess

told them to discover that tree and pay it divine honours. And that is

why these statues are made of that very wood. There is also a Temple

of Fortune: her statue is in a standing posture, in Parian marble. And

near it is a temple to all the gods. And near it is a conduit, and a

brazen Poseidon on it, and a dolphin under Poseidon’s feet passing the

water. And there is a brazen statue of Apollo called the Clarian, and

a statue of Aphrodite by Hermogenes of Cythera. And both the statues

of Hermes are of brass and in a standing posture, and one of them has

a shrine built for it. And there are three statues of Zeus in the open

air, one has no special title, the second is called Zeus of the Nether

World, and the third Zeus of Highest Heaven.

CHAPTER III.

And in the middle of the market-place is a statue of Athene in brass:

on the base are sculptured effigies of the Muses. And above the

market-place is a temple of Octavia, the sister of Augustus, who was

Emperor of the Romans after Cæsar, the founder of modern Corinth.

And as you go from the market-place towards Lechæum there are

vestibules, on which are golden chariots, one with Phaethon in it (the

son of the Sun), and the other with the Sun himself in it. And at a

little distance from the vestibules on the right as you enter is a

brazen statue of Hercules. And next to it is the approach to the well

of Pirene. They say that Pirene became a well from a woman through the

tears she shed, bewailing the death of her son Cenchrias at the hands

of Artemis. And the well is beautified with white stone, and there are

cells like caves to match, from which the water trickles into that part

of the well which is in the open air, and it has a sweet taste, and

they say that Corinthian brass when hissing hot is dipped into this

water. There is also a statue of Apollo near Pirene, and some precincts

of the god. There is also a painting of Odysseus taking vengeance on

the suitors.

And as you go straight on for Lechæum, you will see a brazen Hermes

in a sitting posture, and by it a ram, for Hermes more than any of the

gods is thought to watch over and increase flocks, as indeed Homer

has represented him in the Iliad “The son of Phorbas rich in flocks

and herds, whom Hermes loved most of the Trojans, and increased his

substance.”[13] But the tradition about Hermes and the ram in the rites

of the Great Mother (though I know it) I purposely pass over. And next

to the statue of Hermes are Poseidon and Leucothea, and Palæmon on

the dolphin’s back. And there are several baths in various parts of

Corinth, some erected at the public expense, and others by the Emperor

Adrian. And the most famous of them is near the statue of Poseidon.

It was erected by Eurycles a Spartan, who beautified it with various

stones, amongst others by the stone they dig at Croceæ in Laconia.

On the left of the entrance is a statue of Poseidon, and next to him

one of Artemis hunting. And many conduits have been built in various

parts of the city, as there is abundance of water, as well as the water

which the Emperor Adrian brought from Stymphelus: the handsomest is the

conduit by the statue of Artemis, and on it is a figure of Bellerophon,

and the water flows by the hoof of Pegasus.

As you go from the market-place towards Sicyon, there is visible on

the right of the road a temple and brazen statue of Apollo, and at a

little distance a well called the well of Glauce: for she threw herself

into it, thinking the water would be an antidote against the poison of

Medea. Above this well is what is called the Odeum. And near it is the

tomb of the sons of Medea, whose names were Mermerus and Pheres, who

are said to have been stoned by the Corinthians because of the gifts

which they took Glauce. But because their death was violent and unjust,

the children of the Corinthians wasted away in consequence, until at

the oracular response of the god yearly sacrifices were ordained for

them, and a statue of Panic erected. This statue still remains to our

day, the figure of a woman represented as feeling the greatest terror.

But since the capture of Corinth by the Romans and the decay of the

old Corinthians, the sacrifices are no longer continued by the new

settlers, nor do their children continue to shear their hair, or wear

black raiment. And Medea when she went to Athens, lived with Ægeus, but

some time after (being detected plotting against Theseus) she had to

fly from Athens also, and going to the country which was then called

Aria, gave her name to its inhabitants, so that they were called Medes

from her. And the son whom she carried off with her when she fled to

the Arians was they say her son by Ægeus, and his name was Medus. But

Hellanicus calls him Polyxenus, and says Jason was his father. And

there are poems among the Greeks called Naupactian: in which Jason

is represented as having migrated from Iolcus to Corcyra after the

death of Pelias, and Mermerus (the elder of his sons) is said to have

been torn to pieces by a lioness, as he was hunting on the mainland

opposite: but about Pheres nothing is recorded. And Cinæthon the

Lacedæmonian, who also wrote Genealogical Poems, said that Jason had

by Medea a son Medeus and a daughter Eriopis: but of any children more

he too has made no mention. But Eumœlus’ account is that the Sun gave

Asopia to Aloeus, and Ephyræa to Æetes: and Æetes went to Colchis, and

left the kingdom to Bunus the son of Hermes and Alcidamea, and after

Bunus’ death, Epopeus reigned over the Ephyræans. And when in after

days Corinthus the son of Marathon died childless, the Corinthians

sent for Medea from Iolcus to hand over the kingdom to her: and it was

through her that Jason became king of Corinth, and Medea had children,

by Jason, but whenever each was born she took it to the temple of

Hera and hid it there, for she thought that by hiding them they would

be immortal: but eventually she learned that she was wrong in this

expectation, and, being at the same time detected by Jason, he would

not forgive her though she pleaded hard for forgiveness, but sailed

away to Iolcus. Eventually Medea herself went away too, and handed over

the kingdom to Sisyphus. This is the account I have read.

CHAPTER IV.

And not far from the tomb of Mermerus and Pheres is the temple of

Athene the _Bridler_: who they say helped Bellerophon more than any of

the gods in various ways, and gave him Pegasus, after having broken

it in and bridled it herself. Her statue is of wood, but the head and

hands and toes are of white stone. That Bellerophon was not absolute

king at Corinth, but limited in his power by Prœtus and the Argives I

am positive, as every one will be who has read Homer carefully. And

when Bellerophon migrated into Lycia, the Corinthians seem just the

same to have obeyed those who were in power at Argos or Mycenæ. And

they had no separate commander-in-chief of their own in the expedition

against Troy, but took part in the expedition only as a contingent with

the men of Mycenæ; and Agamemnon’s other troops. And Sisyphus had as

sons not only Glaucus the father of Bellerophon, but also Ornytion,

and Thersander, and Almus. And Phocus was the son of Ornytion, though

nominally the son of Poseidon. And he colonized Tithorea in what is

now called Phocis, but Thoas, the younger son of Ornytion, remained

at Corinth. And Demophon was the son of Thoas, Propodas the son of

Demophon, Doridas and Hyanthidas the sons of Propodas. During the joint

reign of Doridas and Hyanthidas the Dorians led an expedition against

Corinth, under the command of Aletes the son of Hippotas, (the son

of Phylas, the son of Antiochus, the son of Hercules). Doridas and

Hyanthidas handed over the kingdom to Aletes, and were permitted to

remain at Corinth, but the Corinthian people were expelled, after being

beaten in battle by the Dorians. And Aletes himself and his descendants

reigned for five generations, down to Bacchis the son of Prumnis,

and his descendants the Bacchidæ reigned five more generations, down

to Telestes the son of Aristodemus. And Telestes was slain by Arieus

and Perantas out of hatred, and there were no longer any kings, but

Presidents elected annually from the Bacchidæ, till Cypselus the son

of Eetion drove out the Bacchidæ, and made himself king. He was the

descendant of Melas the son of Antasus. And when Melas joined the

Dorian expedition against Corinth from Gonussa beyond Sicyon, Aletes

at first according to the oracle told him to go to other Greeks, but

afterwards disregarded the oracle and took him as associate. Such is

the result of my researches about the kings of the Corinthians.

Now the temple of Athene the _Bridler_ is near the theatre, and not

far off is a wooden statue of a naked Hercules, which they say is the

work of Dædalus. All the works of Dædalus are somewhat odd to look at,

but there is a wonderful inspiration about them. And above the theatre

is a temple of Jupiter Capitolinus in the Roman diction, in Greek

it would be Zeus Coryphæus. And not far from this theatre is an old

gymnasium, and a well called Lerna. And there are pillars round it, and

seats to refresh those who come in in summertime. In this gymnasium

there are shrines of the gods, one of Zeus, one of Æsculapius: and

statues of Æsculapius and Hygiea (_Health_) in white stone, and one of

Zeus in brass. As you ascend to Acro-Corinthus, (it is the top of the

hill above the city, Briareus gave it to the Sun, after litigation, and

the Sun, as the Corinthians say, let Aphrodite have it), there are two

temples of Isis, one they call the Pelagian and the other the Egyptian,

and two of Serapis, one under the name of Canobus. And next them are

altars to the Sun, and a temple of Necessity and Force, into which it

is not customary to enter. Above this is a temple of the Mother of

the Gods, and a stone pillar and seat. The temples of the Fates and

Demeter and Proserpine have statues rather dim with age. Here too is a

temple of Bunæan Hera, which Bunus the son of Hermes erected. Hence the

goddess got the title Bunæan.

CHAPTER V.

On the ascent to Acro-Corinthus there is also a temple of Aphrodite:

and statues of her in full armour, and the Sun, and Cupid with a bow.

And the fountain behind the temple is they say the gift of Asopus to

Sisyphus: for he, though he knew that Zeus had carried off Ægina the

daughter of Asopus, refused to tell him unless he would give him this

water on Acro-Corinthus. And Asopus giving this water he vouchsafed

the required information, and for his information pays the penalty

in Hades, if indeed this is credible. But I have heard people say

that this fountain is Pirene, and that the water in the city flows

down from it. This river Asopus has its rise in the neighbourhood of

Phlius, flows through the Sicyonian district, and has its outlet in the

Corinthian Gulf. And the people of Phlius say that Asopus’ daughters

were Corcyra and Ægina and Thebe: and that from Corcyra and Ægina the

islands Scheria and Œnone got their present names, and that Thebe gave

its name to Thebes the city of Cadmus. But the Thebans do not admit

this, for they say that Thebe was the daughter of the Bœotian Asopus,

and not the Asopus that has its rise at Phlius. The Phliasians and

Sicyonians say further about this river that it is foreign and not

indigenous, for Mæander they say flowing down from Celænæ through

Phrygia and Caria, and falling into the sea at Miletus, travelled to

the Peloponnese and made the river Asopus. And I remember to have

heard something of the same kind from the people of Delos of the

river Inopus, which they say came to them from the Nile. And moreover

there is a tradition that the same Nile is the river Euphrates, which

was lost in a lake and re-emerged as the Nile in the remote part of

Ethiopia. This is what I heard about the Asopus. As you turn towards

the mountains from Acro-Corinthus is the Teneatic gate, and a temple

of Ilithyia. Now Tenea is about 60 stades from Corinth. And the people

of Tenea say that they are Trojans, and were carried away captive by

the Greeks from Tenedos, and located here by Agamemnon: and accordingly

Apollo is the god they hold in highest honour.

And as you go from Corinth along the coast in the direction of Sicyon

there is a temple, which was burnt down, not far from the city on the

left hand of the way. There have been several wars in the neighbourhood

of Corinth, and fire has consumed, as one would indeed expect, both

houses and temples outside the city walls: this was they say a temple

of Apollo, and burnt down by Pyrrhus the son of Achilles. I have also

heard another account, that the Corinthians erected this temple to

Olympian Zeus, and that it was some accidental fire that burnt it down.

And the people of Sicyon, who are near neighbours to the Corinthians,

say of their region that Ægialeus the Autochthon first dwelt there, and

that what is now called Ægialus in the Peloponnese was called after him

its king, and that he was founder of Ægialea a city in the plain: and

that the site of the temple of Apollo was the citadel. And they say

that the son of Ægialeus was Europs, and the son of Europs Telchis,

and the son of Telchis Apis. Now this Apis had grown to such magnitude

before Pelops came to Olympia, that all the land inside the Isthmus

was called after him Apian. And the son of Apis was Thelxion, and the

son of Thelxion was Ægyrus, and his son was Thurimachus, and the son

of Thurimachus was Leucippus, and Leucippus had no male children, and

only one daughter Chalcinia, who they say bore a child to Poseidon, who

was called Peratus, and was brought up by Leucippus, and on his death

succeeded to the kingdom as his heir. And the history of Plemnæus the

son of Peratus seems to me most marvellous. All his children died that

his wife bare to him directly they were born and had uttered the first

cry, till Demeter took compassion on him, and coming to Ægialea as a

stranger to Plemnæus reared his child Orthopolis. And Orthopolis had a

daughter Chrysorthe: she had a child, supposed to be Apollo’s, called

Coronus. And Coronus had Corax and a younger son Lamedon.

CHAPTER VI.

And Corax dying childless, about this time Epopeus came from Thessaly

and obtained the kingdom. In his reign first (they say) did a hostile

army ever come into their country, as they had heretofore in all

time lived in peace. And the origin of the war was this. Antiope

the daughter of Nycteus had a great reputation for beauty among the

Greeks, and there was a rumour about her that she was the daughter of

Asopus, the river that forms the boundary between Thebes and Platæa,

and not the daughter of Nycteus. I know not whether Epopeus asked her

in marriage, or carried her off with more audacious designs from the

beginning. But the Thebans came with an army, and Nycteus was wounded,

and Epopeus too (though he won the victory). Nycteus though very bad

they took back to Thebes, and, when he was on the point of death, he

gave orders that Lycus his brother should be ruler of the Thebans for

the present: for Nycteus himself was Regent for Labdacus, (the son

of Polydorus, the son of Cadmus), who was still a child, and now he

left the Regency to Lycus. He also begged Lycus to go with a larger

force to Ægialea and punish Epopeus, and even to illtreat Antiope if

he could get hold of her. And Epopeus at first offered sacrifices for

his victory and built a temple to Athene, and when it was finished

prayed that the goddess would shew by some sign if it was to her mind,

and after the prayer they say oil trickled in front of the temple.

But afterwards Epopeus chanced to die of his wound which had been

originally neglected, so Lycus had no longer any need of war, for

Lamedon (the son of Coronus) the king after Epopeus gave Antiope up.

And she, as she was being conducted to Thebes, gave birth to a child

on the road near Eleutheræ. And it is in reference to this event that

Asius the son of Amphiptolemus has written the lines, “Antiope, the

daughter of the deep-eddying river Asopus, bare Zethus and divine

Amphion, being pregnant both by Zeus, and Epopeus shepherd of his

people.”

But Homer[14] has given them a finer pedigree, and says that they

first built Thebes, distinguishing as it seems to me the lower city

from the city built by Cadmus. And King Lamedon married a wife from

Athens, Pheno the daughter of Clytius: and afterwards, when there was

war between him and Archander and Architeles, the sons of Achæus, he

invited Sicyon from Attica to help him, and gave him his daughter

Zeuxippe in marriage, and when he became king the region got called

after him Sicyonia, and the town Sicyon instead of Ægialea. And the

Sicyonians say that Sicyon was not the son of Marathon the son of

Epopeus, but the son of Metion the son of Erechtheus. And Asius agrees

with them. But Hesiod has represented Sicyon as the son of Erechtheus,

and Ibycus says he was the son of Pelops. However Sicyon had a daughter

Chthonophyle, who is said to have had a son Polybus by Hermes: and

afterwards Phlias the son of Dionysus married her, and she had a son

Androdamas. And Polybus gave his daughter Lysianassa to Talaus, the son

of Bias, the king of the Argives: and when Adrastus fled from Argos he

went to Polybus at Sicyon, and after Polybus’ death he obtained the

chief power at Sicyon. But when Adrastus was restored to Argos, then

Ianiscus the descendant of Clytius, the father in law of Lamedon, came

from Attica and became king, and on his death Phæstus, who was reputed

to be one of the sons of Hercules. And Phæstus having migrated to

Crete in accordance with an oracle, Zeuxippus, the son of Apollo and

the nymph Syllis, is said to have become king. And after the death of

Zeuxippus Agamemnon led an army against Sicyon and its king Hippolytus,

the son of Rhopalus, the son of Phæstus. And Hippolytus fearing the

invading army agreed to be subject to Agamemnon and Mycenæ. And this

Hippolytus had a son Lacestades. And Phalces, the son of Temenus,

having seized Sicyon by night in conjunction with the Dorians, did no

harm to Lacestades (as being himself also a descendant of Hercules),

but shared the royal power with him.

CHAPTER VII.

And the Sicyonians became Dorians after this, and a part of Argolis.

And their city, built by Ægialeus in the plain, Demetrius the son of

Antigonus razed to the ground, and built the present city on the site

of what was in former times the citadel. And the reason of the low

fortunes of the Sicyonians one could not find out by investigation, but

one would have to be content with what is said by Homer about Zeus,[15]

“Who hath brought down the pride of many cities.”

And when they were in a far from favourable condition an earthquake

came on them, and made the city almost bare of men, and robbed them of

many works of art. This earthquake also injured the cities of Caria and

Lycia, and the island of Rhodes suffered especially, insomuch that the

oracle of the Sibyl about Rhodes was fulfilled.

And as you go from Corinth towards Sicyon you come to the tomb of

Messenian Lycus, whoever this Lycus was. For I find no Messenian Lycus

that practised in the pentathlum, or carried off the prize at Olympia.

This tomb is a mound of earth, and the Sicyonians mostly bury in the

following manner. The body they deposit in the ground, and over it a

stone slab with pillars on the top, on which are figures, generally

like the eagles in the temples. But they write no epitaph, but simply

the name of the deceased, not even his parentage, and bid the dead

farewell. And next to the tomb of Lycus, when you have crossed over the

Asopus, is on the right hand the temple of Olympian Zeus, and a little

further on, on the left side of the road, is the tomb of Eupolis the

Athenian Comedian. Further on in the direction of the city is the tomb

of Xenodice, who died in childbirth: it is unlike the tombs in this

part of the country, and has a painting, which is very fine. A little

further is the tomb of the Sicyonians, who died at Pellene, and Dyme in

Achaia, and at Megalopolis and Sellasia, whose exploits I shall relate

fully later on. And they have near the gate a well in a cave, which

oozes through the roof of the cave, so it is called the Dripping Well.

And in the present citadel there is a temple to Fortune Dwelling on

the Heights, and next it one to the Dioscuri. Both these and the statue

of Fortune are of wood. And in the theatre built under the citadel the

person represented on the stage-curtain is, they say, Aratus the son

of Clinias. And next to the theatre is a temple of Dionysus: the god

is fashioned in gold and ivory, and near him some Bacchantes in white

stone. These women they say are sacred to Dionysus, and full of Bacchic

fury. And the Sicyonians have other statues in a secret place, which

one night in every year they bring to the temple of Dionysus from the

place called Ornament Room, and they bring them with lighted torches

and national Hymns. The leader of the procession is called Baccheus,

this functionary was appointed by Androdamas the son of Phlias, and

the next in the procession is called Lysius, whom the Theban Phanes

brought from Thebes at the bidding of the Pythian Priestess. And Phanes

came to Sicyon, when Aristomachus the son of Cleodæus, mistaking the

oracle, lost thereby his return to the Peloponnese. And as you go from

the temple of Dionysus to the market-place there is a shrine of Artemis

Limnæa on the right hand. And that the roof has fallen in is clear to

the spectator. But as to the statue of the goddess--for there is none

now--the people of Sicyon do not say whether it was carried away to

some other place, or how it was destroyed (if destroyed).

And as you enter the market-place is a temple of Persuasion, also

without a statue. Persuasion is worshipped by them on the following

ground. Apollo and Artemis after slaying Pytho went to Ægialea to

purify themselves. But being seized with some panic fear in the place

which they now call Fear, they turned aside to Crete to Carmanor, and

a pestilence came upon the people at Ægialea, and they were ordered by

the seers to propitiate Apollo and Artemis. And they sent 7 lads and

7 maidens to the river Sythas to supplicate Apollo and Artemis, and

persuaded by them these deities went to what was then the citadel, and

the place they first reached was the temple of Persuasion. A Pageant

of all this goes on to this day. On the Festival of Apollo the lads

go to the river Sythas, and, after bringing Apollo and Artemis to the

temple of Persuasion, take them back again to the temple of Apollo. And

that temple is in the middle of the present market-place, and they say

it was originally built by Prœtus, because his daughters got cured of

madness here. They say also that Meleager hung up in this temple the

spear with which he killed the Calydonian boar: here too (they say) are

deposited the flutes of Marsyas: for after his awful death the river

Marsyas carried them to Mæander, and they turned up again at the Asopus

and were landed at Sicyon, and given to Apollo by a shepherd who found

them. Of these votive offerings there is no vestige: for they were

burnt with the temple. And the temple and statue were re-erected in my

time by Pythocles.

CHAPTER VIII.

The sacred enclosure near the temple of Persuasion, consecrated to

the Roman emperors, was formerly the house of Cleon the king. For

Clisthenes the son of Aristonymus, the son of Myro, was king of the

Sicyonians in the lower part of the city, but Cleon in what is now the

city (_i.e._ the upper part). In front of this house is a hero-chapel

to Aratus, who did the greatest exploits of all the Greeks in his

time: and this is what he did. After the death of Cleon there came

on those in authority such unbridled lust for power, that Euthydemus

and Timoclidas usurped the chief power. These the people afterwards

drove out, and put in their place Clinias the father of Aratus: and

not many years afterwards Abantidas got the chief power, (after the

death of Clinias), and either exiled Aratus, or Aratus retired of his

own free will. However the men of the country killed Abantidas, and

Pascas his father succeeded him, and Nicocles killed him, and reigned

in his room. Against him came Aratus with some Sicyonian refugees and

mercenaries from Argos, and slipping by some of the garrison in the

darkness (for he made his attack by night), and forcing others back,

got inside the walls: and (for by now it was day) leading his men to

the tyrant’s house, he made a fierce attack on it. And he took it by

storm with no great difficulty, and Nicocles slipt out at a back door

and fled. And Aratus granted the Sicyonians isonomy, reconciling them

to the refugees, and giving back to the refugees all their houses and

goods that had been sold, but not without full compensation to former

purchasers. And because all the Greeks were greatly afraid of the

Macedonians and Antigonus (the Regent for Philip the son of Demetrius),

he forced the Sicyonians, though they were Dorians, into the Achæan

league. And forthwith he was chosen commander in chief by the Achæans,

and he led them against the Locrians that live at Amphissa, and into

the territory of the hostile Ætolians, and ravaged it. And although

Antigonus held Corinth with a Macedonian garrison, he dismayed them by

the suddenness of his attack, and in a battle defeated and killed many

of them, and among others Persæus the head of the garrison, who had

been a disciple of Zeno (the son of Mnaseas) in philosophy. And when

Aratus had set Corinth free, then the Epidaurians and the Trœzenians

who occupy the coast of Argolis, and the Megarians beyond the Isthmus,

joined the Achæan league, and Ptolemy also formed an alliance with

them. But the Lacedæmonians and Agis (the son of Eudamidas) their king

were beforehand with them, and took Pellene by a _coup de main_, but

when Aratus and his army came up they were beaten in the engagement,

and evacuated Pellene, and returned home again on certain conditions.

And Aratus, as things had prospered so well in the Peloponnese, thought

it monstrous that the Piræus and Munychia, and moreover Salamis and

Sunium, should be allowed to continue in Macedonian hands, and, as he

did not expect to be able to take them by storm, he persuaded Diogenes,

who was Governor of these Forts, to surrender them for 150 talents, and

of this money he himself contributed one sixth part for the Athenians.

He also persuaded Aristomachus, who was king at Argos, to give a

democratical form of government to the Argives, and to join the Achæan

league. And he took Mantinea from the Lacedæmonians. But indeed all

things do not answer according to a man’s wish, since even Aratus was

obliged eventually to become the ally of the Macedonians and Antigonus.

This is how it happened.

CHAPTER IX.

Cleomenes, the son of Leonidas, and grandson of Cleonymus, when he

succeeded to the kingdom in Sparta, imitated Pausanias in desiring to

be an autocrat, and not to obey the established laws. And as he was

more impetuous than Pausanias, and brave as a lion, he quickly moulded

everything to his will by his sagacity and boldness, and took off by

poison Eurydamidas, the king of the other royal branch, while quite

a lad, and vested the power of the Ephors in his brother Epiclidas,

and having put down the power of the Senate, he established instead

of them The Great Council of Patronomi (as they were called). And

being very ambitious of greater fortunes, and even the supremacy over

Greece, he attacked the Achæans first, hoping to have them as allies if

he conquered them, and not wishing to give them the chance to hinder

his actions. And he attacked them and beat them at Dyme above Patræ,

Aratus being in this action the Achæan general, and this defeat it was

that compelled Aratus to invite the aid of Antigonus, being afraid

for the Achæans, and even for the safety of Sicyon. And Cleomenes

having violated his conditions with Antigonus, (having openly acted

against the terms of the treaty in other respects, and especially by

turning out the inhabitants of Megalopolis,) Antigonus crossed into

the Peloponnese, and in concert with the Achæans attacked Cleomenes at

Sellasia. And the Achæans were victorious, and Sellasia was enslaved,

and Lacedæmon captured. Antigonus and the Achæans then gave back to

the Lacedæmonians their old Polity: and of Leonidas’s sons, Epiclidas

was killed in battle, and Cleomenes, (who fled to Egypt and received

the greatest honours from Ptolemy), was cast into prison subsequently

for inciting the Egyptians to revolt. And he escaped out of prison,

and caused some trouble at Alexandria: but at last he was taken and

committed suicide. And the Lacedæmonians, glad to get rid of Cleomenes,

chose to submit to kingly government no longer, but from thenceforth

until now had the republican form of government. And Antigonus

continued friendly to Aratus, as he had done him many good and splendid

services. But when Philip took the government into his own hands,

because Aratus did not praise his frequent exhibition of temper to his

subjects, and sometimes even checked him in his outbursts, he murdered

him, giving him poison when he didn’t expect it. And from Ægium, for

here fate took him, they took his body to Sicyon and buried him, and

the hero-chapel Arateum is still called after him. And Philip acted in

just the same way to Euryclides and Micon, who were Athenians: for them

too, (being orators and not unpersuasive with the people), he took off

by poison. But poison was it seems destined to bring disaster to Philip

himself: for his son Demetrius was poisoned by Perseus, his youngest

brother, and so caused his father’s death by sorrow. And I have gone

out of my way to give this account, remembering the divine saying of

Hesiod, that he who plots mischief for another brings it first on his

own pate.[16]

And next to the hero-chapel of Aratus is an altar to Poseidon

Isthmius, and rude statues of Milichian Zeus and Tutelary Artemis.

Milichian Zeus is in the shape of Pyramid, Artemis in that of a Pillar.

Here too has been built a Council Chamber, and a Porch called the

Clisthenic from its builder Clisthenes, who built it out of spoil which

he took in the war against Cirrha, as an ally of the Amphictyones.

And in the part of the market-place which is in the open air there is

a Zeus in brass, the work of Lysippus, and near it a golden Artemis.

And next is the temple of Lycian (_Wolf-god_) Apollo, in a very

dilapidated condition. When wolves used to devour the flocks so that

there was no profit in keeping sheep, Apollo pointed out a certain

place where some dry wood lay, and ordered the bark of this wood and

flesh to be laid together before the wolves. And this bark killed the

wolves immediately they tasted it. This wood is kept stored up in the

temple of the Wolf-god: but what tree it is of none of the Sicyonian

antiquaries know. And next are some brazen statues, said to be the

daughters of Prœtus, but the inscription has other women’s names. There

is also a Hercules in brass, by Sicyonian Lysippus. And near it is a

statue of Hermes of the Market.

CHAPTER X.

Not far from the market-place in the gymnasium is a Hercules in stone,

the work of Scopas. There is also elsewhere a temple of Hercules: the

precincts of which they call Pædize, and the temple is in the middle of

the precincts, and in it is an old wooden statue of Hercules by Laphaes

of Phlius. And the sacrifices they are wont to conduct as follows.

They say that Phæstus, when he went to Sicyon, found that the people

there offered victims to Hercules as a hero, whereas he thought they

ought to sacrifice to him as to a god. And now the Sicyonians sacrifice

lambs and burn their thighs on the altar, and part of the meat they

eat and part they offer as to a hero. And the first of the days of the

Feast which they keep to Hercules they call _Names_, and the second

_Hercules’ Day_.

A road leads from here to the temple of Æsculapius. In the precincts

there is on the left hand a double building: in the outer room is a

statue of _Sleep_, and there is nothing of it remaining but the head.

And the inner room is dedicated to Carnean Apollo, and none but the

priests may enter it. In the Porch is the huge bone of a sea-monster,

and next it the statue of _Dream_, and _Sleep_, called _the Bountiful_,

lulling a lion to rest. And as you go up to the temple of Æsculapius,

on one side is a statue of Pan seated, on the other one of Artemis

erect. At the entrance is the god himself (Æsculapius) beardless, in

gold and ivory, the work of Calamis: he has his sceptre in one hand,

and in the other the fruit of the pine-tree. And they say that the god

was brought to them from Epidaurus by a pair of mules, and that he was

like a dragon, and that he was brought by Nicagora a native of Sicyon,

the mother of Agasicles, and the wife of Echetimus. There are also some

small statues fastened to the ceiling. The woman seated on the dragon

is they say Aristodama the mother of Aratus, and they consider Aratus

the son of Æsculapius. Such are the notable things to be seen in these

precincts.

And there are other precincts there sacred to Aphrodite: and in them

first is the statue of Antiope. For they say her sons were born at

Sicyon, and this is the connection with Antiope. Next is the temple

of Aphrodite. None may enter into it but a maiden Sacristan, who must

never marry, and another maiden who performs the annual rites. This

maiden they call bath-carrier. All others alike must only look at the

goddess from the porch and worship her there. Her figure seated is the

design of Canachus a native of Sicyon, (who also designed the Didymæan

Apollo for the Milesians, and the Ismenian Apollo for the Thebans). It

is in gold and ivory. The goddess wears on her head a cap, and in one

hand holds a poppy, in the other an apple. And they offer in sacrifice

to her the thighs of any victims but wild boars, all other parts they

burn with juniper wood, and when they burn the thighs they burn up

together with them the leaves of pæderos; which is a plant that grows

in the precincts of the goddess’ temple in the open air, and grows in

no other land, nor in any other part of Sicyonia. And its leaves are

smaller than the leaves of the beech, but larger than those of the holm

oak, and their shape is that of the oak-leaf, partly black, partly

white like the silvery white of the poplar tree.

And as you go hence to the gymnasium, on the right is the temple of

Pheræan Artemis: the wooden statue of the goddess was they say brought

from Pheræ. Clinias built this gymnasium, and they educate boys there

still. There is an Artemis also in white stone, carved only down to the

waist, and a Hercules in his lower parts like the square Hermæ.

CHAPTER XI.

And as you turn from thence to the gate called The Holy Gate, not far

from the gate is a shrine of Athene, which Epopeus formerly erected,

in size and beauty surpassing those of its time. But time has obscured

its fame. The god struck it with lightning: and now there remains only

the altar, for the lightning did not light on it. And in front of

the altar is the tomb of Epopeus, and near his tomb are the Gods the

Averters of Evil, to whom they sacrifice (as the Greeks generally) to

avert evil. And they say that Epopeus built the neighbouring temple to

Artemis and Apollo, and Adrastus the one next to Hera: but no statues

remain in either temple. Adrastus also built behind the temple of

Hera two altars, one to Pan, and one to the Sun God in white stone.

And as you descend to the plain is a temple of Demeter, and they say

Plemnæus built it in gratitude to the goddess for rearing his son. And

at a little distance from the temple of Hera, which Adrastus built, is

the temple of Carnean Apollo. There are only the pillars of it left,

you will find neither walls nor roof nor anything else there--nor in

the temple of Hera the _Guide_: which was built by Phalces the son

of Temenus, who said that Hera was his guide on the way to Sicyon.

And as you go from Sicyon on the straight road to Phlius, about ten

stades, and then turn off to the left, is the grove called Pyræa, and

in it a temple of Demeter Prostasia, and Proserpine. Here the men have

a festival to themselves, and give up what is called the _Nymphon_

to the women to celebrate their festival in, and there are statues

of Dionysus and Demeter and Proserpine (showing only their faces) in

the _Nymphon_. And the road to Titane is sixty stades, and because of

its narrowness it is impassable by a carriage and pair: and 20 stades

further you cross the Asopus, and see on the left a grove of holm-oaks,

and a temple of the Goddesses whom the Athenians call the Venerable,

but the Sicyonians the Eumenides. And every year they keep a feast to

them on one day, sacrificing ewes big with young, and they are wont

to pour libations of honey and milk, and to use flowers as chaplets.

They go through the same rites on the altar of the Fates in the open

air, in the grove. And as you turn back again to the road, and cross

the Asopus again, you come to a mountain-top, where the natives say

Titan first dwelt, who was the brother of the Sun, and gave the name

Titane to this place. This Titan seems to me to have been wonderfully

clever in watching the seasons of the year, as when the Sun fructified

and ripened seeds and fruit, and this was why he was considered the

Sun’s brother. And afterwards Alexanor, the son of Machaon, the son of

Æsculapius, came to Sicyon, and built a temple of Æsculapius at Titane.

A few people dwell there, but for the most part only the suppliants of

the god, and there are within the precincts some old cypress trees. But

it is not possible to learn of what wood or metal Æsculapius’ statue is

made, nor do they know who made it, though some say Alexanor himself.

The only parts of the statue that are visible are the face and fingers

and toes, for a white woollen tunic and cloak are thrown round it. And

there is a statue of Hygiea somewhat similar. You can not see it either

easily, so hidden is it by the hair of the women which they shear to

the goddess, and by the folds of a Babylonish garment. And whichever of

these any one wishes to propitiate, he is instructed to worship Hygiea.

Alexanor and Euamerion have also statues, to the former they offer

sacrifices after sunset as to a hero, but to the latter they sacrifice

as to a god. And (if my conjecture is correct) this Euamerion is called

Telesphorus (according to some oracle) by the people of Pergamum, but

by the people of Epidaurus Acesis. There is also a wooden statue of

Coronis, but not anywhere in the temple: but when bull or lamb or pig

are sacrificed to the goddess, then they take Coronis to the temple of

Athene and honour her there. Nor are they contented merely with cutting

off the thighs of the victims, but they burn all the victims whole

on the ground except birds, and these they burn on the altar. On the

gable ends are figures of Hercules, and several Victories. And in the

porch are statues of Dionysus and Hecate and Aphrodite and The Mother

of the Gods and Fortune: these are all in wood, and one of Gortynian

Æsculapius in stone. And people are afraid to approach the sacred

dragons: but if their food is put at the entrance they give no further

trouble. There is also within the precincts a statue of Granianus, a

native of Sicyon, in brass. He won two victories at Olympia in the

pentathlum, and a third in the stadium, and two in the double course,

which he ran both in armour and out of armour.

CHAPTER XII.

And at Titane there is also a temple of Athene, into which they carry

the statue of Coronis. And in it is an old wooden statue of Athene.

This too is said to have been struck by lightning. As you descend from

the hill, for the temple is built on the hill, is the altar of the

winds, on which the priest sacrifices to them one night in every year.

And he performs mysterious rites at four pits, to tame their violence,

chanting, so they say, the incantations of Medea.

And as you go from Titane to Sicyon, and descend towards the sea,

there is on the left a temple of Hera, with neither statue nor roof.

They say Prœtus the son of Abas built it. And as you go down to what

is called the harbour of the Sicyonians, and turn to Aristonautæ, the

port of the people of Pellene, there is, a little above the road, on

the left a temple of Poseidon. And as you go on along the high road

you come to the river Helisson, and next the river Sythas, both rivers

flowing into the sea.

Next to Sicyonia is Phliasia. Its chief town Phlius is 40 stades at

most distant from Titane, and the road to it from Sicyon is straight.

That the Phliasians have no connection with the Arcadians is plain

from the catalogue of the Arcadians in Homer’s Iliad, for they are

not included among them. And that they were Argives originally, and

became Dorians after the return of the Heraclidæ to the Peloponnese,

will appear in the course of my narrative. As I know there are many

different traditions about among the Phliasians, I shall give those

which are most generally accepted among them. The first person who

lived in this land was they say Aras an Autochthon, and he built a

city on that hill which is still in our time called the Arantine hill,

(not very far from another hill, on which the Phliasians have their

citadel and a temple of Hebe.) Here he built his city, and from him

both land and city got called of old Arantia. It was in his reign that

Asopus (said to be the son of Celusa and Poseidon) found the water of

the river which they still call Asopus from the name of the person who

found it.[17] And the sepulchre of Aras is in a place called Celeæ,

where they say also Dysaules, an Eleusinian, is buried. And Aras had a

son Aoris and a daughter Aræthyrea, who the Phliasians say were cunning

hunters and brave in war. And, Aræthyrea dying first, Aoris changed the

name of the city into Aræthyrea. Homer has made mention of it (when

recording those who went with Agamemnon to Ilium) in the line

“They lived at Orneæ and lovely Aræthyrea.”[18]

And I think the tombs of the sons of Aras are on the Arantine hill. And

at their tombs are some remarkable pillars, and before the rites which

they celebrate to Ceres they look at these tombs, and call Aras and his

sons to the libations. As to Phlias, the third who gave his name to

the land, I cannot at all accept the Argive tradition that he was the

son of Cisus the son of Temenus, for I know that he was called the son

of Dionysus, and was said to have been one of those who sailed in the

Argo. And the lines of the Rhodian poet bear me out, “Phlias also came

with the men of Aræthyrea, where he dwelt, wealthy through his sire

Dionysus, near the springs of Asopus.” And Aræthyrea was the mother of

Phlias and not Chthonophyle, for Chthonophyle was his wife and he had

Andromedas by her.

CHAPTER XIII.

By the return of the Heraclidæ all the Peloponnese was disturbed

except Arcadia, for many of the cities had to take Dorian settlers,

and frequent changes of inhabitants took place. The following were

the changes at Phlius. Rhegnidas a Dorian (the son of Phalces the son

of Temenus) marched against it from Argos and Sicyon. And some of the

Phliasians were content with his demands, that they should remain in

their own land, that he should be their king, and that the Dorians and

he should have lands assigned to them. But Hippasus and his party stood

out for a vigorous defence, and not for yielding up to the Dorians

their numerous advantages without a fight. But as the people preferred

the opposite view, Hippasus and those who agreed with him fled to

Samos. And the great grandson of this Hippasus was Pythagoras, surnamed

the Wise: who was the son of Mnesarchus, the son of Euphron, the son of

Hippasus. This is the account the Phliasians give of their own history,

and in most particulars the Sicyonians bear them out.

The most notable public sights are as follows. There is in the

citadel at Phlius a cypress grove, and a temple hoary from old

antiquity. The deity to whom the temple belongs is said by the most

ancient of the Phliasians to have been Ganymeda, but by later ones

Hebe: of whom Homer has made mention in the single combat between

Menelaus and Paris, saying that she was the cupbearer of the gods, and

again in the descent of Odysseus to Hades he has said that she was

the wife of Hercules. But Olen in his Hymn to Hera says that she was

reared by the Seasons, and was mother of Ares and Hebe. And among the

Phliasians this goddess has various honours and especially in regard to

slaves; for they give them entire immunity if they come as suppliants

here, and when prisoners are loosed of their fetters they hang them up

on the trees in the grove. And they keep a yearly feast which they

call _Ivy-cuttings_. But they have no statue in any secret crypt, nor

do they display one openly: and they have a sacred reason for acting

so, for on the left as you go out there is a temple of Hera with a

statue in Parian marble. And in the citadel there are some precincts

sacred to Demeter, and in them a temple and statue of Demeter and

Persephone, and also a brazen statue of Artemis, which seemed to me

ancient. And as you go down from the citadel there is on the right

a temple and beardless statue of Æsculapius. Under this temple is a

theatre. And not far from it is a temple of Demeter, and some old

statues of the goddess in a sitting posture.

And in the market-place there is a brazen she-goat, mostly gilt.

It got honours among the Phliasians for the following reason. The

constellation which they call the She-Goat does continuous harm to

vines at its rise. And that no serious detriment might result from it,

they paid various honours to this brazen goat, and decked its statue

with gold. Here too is a monument of Aristias the son of Pratinas. The

Satyrs carved by Aristias and Pratinas are reckoned the best carving

next to that of Æschylus. In the back part of the market-place is a

house called by the Phliasians the seer’s house. Into it Amphiaraus

went (so they say) and lay all night in sleep before giving his

oracular responses: and according to their account he for some time

lived there privately and not as a seer. And since his time the

building has been shut up entirely. And not far off is what is called

_Omphalus_, the centre of all the Peloponnese, if indeed their account

is correct. Next you come to an ancient temple of Dionysus, and another

of Apollo, and another of Isis. The statue of Dionysus may be seen by

anybody, as also that of Apollo: but that of Isis may only be seen

by the priests. The following is also a tradition of the Phliasians,

that Hercules, when he returned safe from Libya with the apples of the

Hesperides, went to Phlius for some reason or other, and when he was

living there was visited by Œneus, who was a connexion by marriage.

On his arrival from Ætolia either he feasted Hercules, or Hercules

feasted him. However this may be, Hercules struck the lad Cyathus, the

cupbearer of Œneus, on the head with one of his fingers, not being

pleased with the drink he offered him: and as this lad died immediately

from the blow, the Phliasians erected a chapel to his memory. It was

built near the temple of Apollo, and has a stone statue of Cyathus in

the act of handing the cup to Hercules.

CHAPTER XIV.

Now Celeæ is about five stades from Phlius, and they sacrifice to

Demeter there every fourth year and not annually. Nor is the presiding

priest appointed for life, but a different one is chosen on each

occasion, who may marry if he chooses. In this respect they differ from

the Eleusinian mysteries, though generally speaking, as the Phliasians

themselves admit, their mysteries are an imitation of those. They

say that Dysaules the brother of Celeus came to their country and

established these rites, when he was driven from Eleusis by Ion the son

of Xuthus, who had been chosen commander in chief by the Athenians in

the war against the people of Eleusis. This statement of the Phliasians

I cannot assent to, that an Eleusinian should have been conquered in

battle and gone into exile, when before the war was fought out the

matter was submitted to arbitration, and Eumolpus remained at Eleusis.

But it is quite possible that Dysaules may have gone to Celeæ for some

other reason, and not that which the Phliasians allege. Nor indeed

had he, as it seems to me, any other relation with the Eleusinian

chiefs than as brother of Celeus, for else Homer would not have passed

him over in his Hymn to Demeter: where in his list of those who were

taught the mysteries by the goddess he ignores Dysaules. These are

his lines. “She shewed Triptolemus, and Diocles tamer of horses, and

powerful Eumolpus, and Celeus leader of the people, the due performance

of her rights and mysteries.”[19] However, according to the Phliasian

tradition, this Dysaules established the mysteries here, and also gave

the name Celeæ to the place. There is also here as I have said the

tomb of Dysaules, but subsequent to the date of the tomb of Aras: for

according to the Phliasian account Dysaules came after the days when

Aras was king. For they say Aras was a contemporary of Prometheus the

son of Iapetus, and lived three generations earlier than Pelasgus the

son of Arcas, and those who were called the Autochthons at Athens. And

they say the chariot of Pelops is attached to the roof of the temple

called the Anactorum. Such are the most important traditions of the

Phliasians.

CHAPTER XV.

On the road from Corinth to Argos you come to the small town of Cleonæ.

Some say Cleone was the daughter of Pelops, others that she was one of

the daughters of Asopus, the river that flows by Sicyon: however the

town got its name from her. There is a temple of Athene there, and a

statue of the goddess by Scyllis and Dipœnus, pupils of Dædalus. But

some say that Dædalus took a wife from Gortyns, and that Dipœnus and

Scyllis were his sons by her. At Cleonæ beside this temple is the tomb

of Eurytus and Cteatus, who had gone from Elis to be spectators of the

Isthmian games, and whom Hercules shot with arrows there, charging them

with having fought against him in the battle with Augeas.

From Cleonæ there are two roads to Argos, one convenient for rapid

walkers and the shorter route, the other called Tretus (_Bored_), more

convenient for a carriage, though it too is narrow and has mountains on

both sides. Among these mountains is still shown the lair of the Nemean

lion, for Nemea is only about 15 stades distant.

At Nemea is a temple well worth seeing of Nemean Zeus, only the roof

has tumbled in, and there is no longer any statue there: but there is

a cypress grove near the temple, where they say that Opheltes, placed

on the grass there by his nurse, was devoured by a dragon. The Argives

also sacrifice to Zeus at Nemea, and select the priest of Nemean

Zeus, and have a contest in running for men in armour at the winter

meeting at Nemea. Here too is the tomb of Opheltes, and round it a

wall of stones, and altars within the precincts: and there is a piled

up mound of earth as a monument to Lycurgus the father of Opheltes.

And the fountain they call Adrastea, whether for some other reason or

because Adrastus discovered it. And they say the name Nemea was given

to the place by Nemea the daughter of Asopus. And above Nemea is the

Mountain Apesas, where they say Perseus sacrificed first to Apesantian

Zeus. And as you go up to Argos by the road called Tretus you will see

on the left hand the ruins of Mycenæ. All Greeks know that Perseus

founded Mycenæ, and I shall relate the circumstances of the founding,

and why the Argives afterwards dispossessed the old inhabitants. For

in what is now called Argolis they mention no older town, and they say

that Inachus the king gave his name to the river, and sacrificed to

Hera. They also say that Phoroneus was the first mortal in this land,

and that Inachus his father was not a man but a river: and that he

and Cephisus and Asterion were the arbitrators between Poseidon and

Hera in their dispute about the land: and when they judged that it was

Hera’s, then Poseidon took away all their water. And this is the reason

why neither Inachus nor any other of these rivers mentioned have any

water except after rain. And in summer their streams are dry except at

Lerna. And Phoroneus the son of Inachus first gathered men together in

communities, who before lived scattered and solitary: so the city in

which they were first gathered together was called Phoronicum.

CHAPTER XVI.

And Argos his daughter’s son, who reigned after Phoroneus, gave Argos

his own name. And to Argos were born Pirasus and Phorbas, and to

Phorbas Triopas, and to Triopas Iasus and Agenor. Io the daughter of

Iasus went to Egypt, either as Herodotus tells the story or as the

Greeks tell the story, and Crotopus the son of Agenor had the rule

after Iasus, and the son of Crotopus was Sthenelas. And Danaus sailed

from Egypt against Gelanor the son of Sthenelas, and expelled from the

kingdom the descendants of Agenor. All the world knows the history, how

his daughters acted to their cousins, and how after his death Lynceus

had the kingdom. And his grandsons, the sons of Abas, divided the

kingdom, Acrisius remained at Argos, and Prœtus had Heræum and Midea

and Tiryns and all the maritime parts of Argolis: and there are to

this day remains of Prœtus’ palace at Tiryns. And some time afterwards

Acrisius, hearing that Perseus was alive and a mighty man of valour,

retired to Larissa by the river Peneus. And Perseus, as he wished

excessively to see his mother’s father and greet him with kind words

and deeds, went to him to Larissa. And being in the prime of life,

and rejoicing in the invention of the game of quoits, he displayed

his prowess to all, and by fatality Acrisius was unintentionally

killed by the throw of his quoit. Thus was the prophecy of the god

fulfilled to Acrisius, nor did his contrivances against his daughter

and her son turn away his fate. But when Perseus returned to Argos,

for he was ashamed of the infamy of this murder of his grandfather,

he persuaded Megapenthes the son of Prœtus to exchange kingdoms with

him, and founded Mycenæ, where the scabbard of his sword fell off,

for he thought this an indication that he should build a city there.

Another tradition is that when thirsty he took up a fungus from the

ground, and when some water flowed from it he drank it and was pleased,

and called the name of the place Mycenæ [which means both _scabbard_

and _fungus_.] Homer indeed in the Odyssey[20] has recorded the lady

Mycene in the following line,

“Tyro and Alcmene and Mycene adorned with garlands;”

and the poem called the Great EϾ, by Hesiod, represents her as the

daughter of Inachus and the wife of Arestor: and from her some say the

city got its name. But the tradition of Acusilaus which they also add,

that Myceneus was the son of Sparton, and Sparton the son of Phoroneus,

I could not accept, far less would the Lacedæmonians. For they have

at Amyclæ the image of a woman called Sparta, and if they heard that

Sparton was the son of Phoroneus they would marvel at once.

Now the Argives destroyed Mycenæ in jealousy. For though they took no

part against the Medes, the people of Mycenæ sent to Thermopylæ 80 men,

who shared in the glory of the famous 300. This public spirit brought

about their destruction, by provoking the Argives to jealousy. But

there are still some remains of the precincts and the gate, and there

are some lions on it: which were they say executed by the Cyclopes, who

built the wall at Tiryns for Prœtus. And among the ruins at Mycenæ is a

fountain called Perseus’, and some underground buildings belonging to

Atreus and his sons, where their treasures were. And there is the tomb

of Atreus, and of those whom Ægisthus slew at a banquet on their return

from Ilium with Agamemnon. As to Cassandra’s tomb the Lacedæmonians

of Amyclæ claim that they have it. And there is the tomb of Agamemnon

there, and that of Eurymedon the charioteer, and the joint-tomb of

Teledamus and Pelops, who were twins of Cassandra, and were butchered

by Ægisthus (while still babes) after their parents. There is also the

tomb of Electra, who married Pylades, and Orestes gave her away. And

Hellanicus has recorded that Medon and Strophius were the issue of the

marriage. And Clytæmnestra and Ægisthus were buried a little outside

the walls, for they were thought unworthy to lie within the city, and

mingle their ashes with Agamemnon and those who were murdered with him.

CHAPTER XVII.

About fifteen stades from Mycenæ on the left is a temple of Hera. By

the road flows the river Eleutherius. And the priestesses use it for

lustrations and for private sacrifices. And this temple is on the

more level part of Eubœa, for Eubœa is a mountain, and they say the

daughters of the river god Asterion were Eubœa and Prosymna and Acræa,

and that they were nurses of Hera. And Acræa gave her name to all the

mountain opposite the temple of Hera, and Eubœa to the mountain near

the temple, and Prosymna to the ground below the temple. And this

Asterion flows above the temple of Hera and falls into a ravine and so

disappears. And the flower called Asterion grows on its banks: they

carry this flower to Hera and plait her crowns of its leaves. The

architect of the temple was they say Eupolemus the Argive: and all the

carved work above the pillars relates partly to the birth of Zeus and

the gods and the battle with the Giants, and partly to the Trojan war

and the capture of Ilium. And there are some statues in the porch, of

the priestesses of Hera, and of Orestes and other heroes. For they

say the one bearing the inscription that it is the Emperor Augustus

is really Orestes. In the Ante-chapel are some old statues of The

Graces, and on the right hand the bed of Hera, and a votive offering,

the spear which Menelaus took from Euphorbus at Ilium. And there is a

huge statue of Hera seated on a throne, in gold and ivory, the design

of Polycletus. And she has a crown on her head composed of Graces and

Seasons, and in one hand she has the fruit of the pomegranate, and in

the other her sceptre. As to the pomegranate let me pass that over,

for I am forbid to speak of it. But as to the cuckoo which sits on

the sceptre, they say that Zeus, when he was enamoured of Hera while

still a maid, changed himself into that bird, and that Hera chased the

supposed cuckoo in sport. This tradition and similar ones about the

gods I do not record because I believe them, but I record them just

the same. And near Hera is a statue of Hebe said to be by Naucydes,

this too in ivory and gold. And near it on a pillar is an old statue

of Hera. But the oldest statue of Hera was made of wild pear tree,

and was placed at Tiryns by Pirasus the son of Argus, and the Argives

when they took Tiryns conveyed it to the temple of Hera, and I myself

have seen it, a statue not very large seated. And the votive offerings

worthy of record are a silver altar, with the legendary marriage of

Hebe and Hercules carved upon it, and a peacock of gold and precious

stones, an offering of the Emperor Adrian: he made this present because

the peacock is sacred to Hera. There is also a golden crown and purple

robe, the offerings of Nero. And there are above this temple the

foundations of an older one and whatever the flames have spared. That

temple was burnt by Chryseis, the priestess of Hera, falling asleep,

and her lamp first setting fire to the decorations. And Chryseis went

to Tegea and supplicated Alean Athene: and the Argives, although such

a misfortune had befallen them, did not remove the effigy of Chryseis,

but it is there to this day in front of the burnt temple.

CHAPTER XVIII.

And as you go from Mycenæ to Argos there is on the left hand a

hero-chapel of Perseus near the road. He has honours here from the

people in the neighbourhood, but the greatest honours are paid him

at Seriphus, and he has also a temple among the Athenians, and in

it an altar to Dictys and Clymene, who are called the Saviours of

Perseus. And as you advance on the road to Argos a little way from this

hero-chapel is the tomb of Thyestes on the right hand: and on it is

a ram in stone, for Thyestes stole the golden sheep, when he seduced

his brother’s wife. And Atreus could not be satisfied with the law

of Tit for Tat, but slaughtered the children of Thyestes and served

them up to him at table. But afterwards I cannot pronounce decidedly

whether Ægisthus began the injury, or whether it began with the murder

of Tantalus the son of Thyestes by Agamemnon: for they say he married

Clytæmnestra as her first husband having received her from Tyndareus.

And I do not wish to accuse them of wickedness incarnate. But if

the crime of Pelops and the ghost of Myrtilus haunted the family so

ruthlessly, it reminds one of the answer of the Pythian Priestess to

Glaucus the son of Epicydes the Spartan, when he purposed perjury, that

punishment would come on his descendants.

As you go on a little to the left from the _Rams_, for so they call

the tomb of Thyestes, is a place called Mysia, and a temple of Mysian

Demeter, so called from a man called Mysius, who was as the Argives

say a host of Demeter. It has no roof. And in it is a shrine of baked

brick, and images of Proserpine and Pluto and Demeter. And a little

further is the river Inachus, and on the other side of the river is an

altar of the Sun. And you will go thence to the gate called from the

neighbouring temple, the temple of Ilithyia.

The Argives are the only Greeks I know of who were divided into three

kingdoms. For in the reign of Anaxagoras, the son of Argos, the son of

Megapenthes, a madness came on the women, they went from their homes

and wandered up and down the country, till Melampus the son of Amythaon

cured them of that complaint, on condition that he and his brother

Bias should share alike with Anaxagoras. And five kings of Bias’ race

reigned for four generations to Cyanippus the son of Ægialeus, being

all descended from Neleus on the mother’s side, and from Melampus six

generations and six kings to Amphilochus the son of Amphiaraus. But

the native race, the descendants of Anaxagoras, reigned longer. For

Iphis, the son of Alector, the son of Anaxagoras, left the kingdom to

Sthenelus the son of his brother Capaneus: and Amphilochus after the

capture of Ilium having migrated to what is now called Amphilochi,

and Cyanippus dying childless, Cylarabes the son of Sthenelus had the

kingdom alone. And he too had no children, and so Orestes the son

of Agamemnon got Argos, as he was a near neighbour, and besides his

hereditary sway had added to his dominions much Arcadian territory, and

as he had also got the kingdom in Sparta, and had ever ready help in

the alliance of the Phocians. And he was king of the Lacedæmonians at

their own request. For they thought the sons of Tyndareus’ daughters

better entitled to the kingdom than Nicostratus and Megapenthes, the

sons of Menelaus by a bondmaid. And when Orestes died Tisamenus,

the son of Orestes by Hermione the daughter of Menelaus, had the

kingdom. And Penthilus, Orestes’ bastard son by Erigone the daughter

of Ægisthus, is mentioned by Cinæthon in his Verses. It was in the

reign of this Tisamenus that the Heraclidæ returned to the Peloponnese,

_viz._ Temenus and Cresphontes the sons of Aristomachus, and, as

Aristodemus had died earlier, his sons came too. And they laid claim

to Argos and its kingdom on it seems to me the justest grounds, for

Tisamenus was a descendant of Pelops, but the Heraclidæ derived from

Perseus. And they represented that Tyndareus had been turned out by

Hippocoon, and they said that Hercules had slain Hippocoon and his

sons, and had given the country back to Tyndareus. Similarly they said

about Messenia, that it was given to Nestor as a charge by Hercules

when he took Pylos. They turned out therefore Tisamenus from Lacedæmon

and Argos, and the descendants of Nestor from Messenia, _viz._ Alcmæon

the son of Sillus the son of Thrasymedes, and Pisistratus the son of

Pisistratus, and the sons of Pæon the son of Antilochus, and besides

them Melanthus the son of Andropompus, the son of Borus, the son of

Penthilus, the son of Periclymenus. So Tisamenus and his sons went to

what is now called Achaia with his army: and all the other sons of

Neleus but Pisistratus, (for I don’t know to what people he betook

himself), went to Athens, and the Pæonidæ and the Alcmæonidæ were

called after them. Melanthus also had the kingdom, after driving out

Thymœtes, the son of Oxyntas, who was the last of the descendants of

Theseus that reigned at Athens.

CHAPTER XIX.

As to Cresphontes and the sons of Aristodemus there is nothing pressing

to narrate about them. But Temenus openly made use of Deiphontes (the

son of Antimachus, the son of Thrasyanor, the son of Ctesippus, the

son of Hercules) as general for his battles instead of his sons, and

made him his associate in all things, and gave him as wife his daughter

Hyrnetho whom he loved more than all his children, and was suspected of

intending to make her and Deiphontes his heirs in the kingdom. And for

these reasons he was slain by his sons, and Cisus the eldest of them

became king. But the Argives, who had from the most ancient times loved

equality and home rule, reduced the kingly power so low, that Medon,

the son of Cisus, and his descendants were left the royal title only.

And Meltas the son of Lacedas, the 10th descendant of Medon, the people

sentenced to deprivation of his kingdom altogether.

Of the temples in the city of the Argives the most notable is that

of Lycian (_Wolf-God_) Apollo. The statue in our day was the work of

an Athenian, Attalus, but originally the temple and wooden statue was

the offering of Danaus. I think all statues were wooden in those days,

and especially Egyptian ones. Now Danaus built a temple to Apollo

the Wolf-God for the following reason. When he came to Argos, he and

Gelanor the son of Sthenelas were rival competitors for the kingdom.

And many ingratiating words having been spoken by both of them to the

people, and Gelanor’s speech seeming rather the best, the people, they

say, put off the decision to the next day. And at break of day a wolf

attacked a herd of cattle that were feeding near the walls, and had a

fierce encounter with the bull, the leader of the herd. And it occurred

to the Argives that Gelanor was like the bull, Danaus like the wolf,

for just as this animal does not live with human beings so Danaus had

not up to that time lived with them. And as the wolf mastered the bull,

so Danaus got the kingdom. And he thinking that Apollo had sent that

wolf against the herd, built a temple to Apollo the Wolf-God. In it

is the throne of Danaus, and an image of Biton, the man who carried

a bull on his shoulders (as Lyceas has represented), for, when the

Argives were sacrificing to Zeus at Nemea, Biton took up a bull by

sheer strength and carried it to the altar. And they light the fire

close to this image, and they call it the fire of Phoroneus: for they

do not admit that Prometheus gave fire to men, but they attribute

the invention of fire to Phoroneus. Here also are wooden statues of

Aphrodite and Hermes, the latter the work of Epeus, and the former

the offering of Hypermnestra. For she, the only one of his daughters

who disobeyed his cruel order, was brought to trial by Danaus, partly

because he thought his own safety compromised by that of Lynceus, and

partly because her not joining with her sisters in their atrocious

deed augmented the disgrace of the contriver of the deed. And, being

acquitted by the Argives, she erected as a votive offering in this

temple a statue of Victorious Aphrodite. And there is inside the temple

a statue of Ladas, who excelled all his contemporaries in fleetness of

foot, and one of Hermes making a lyre out of a tortoise. And there is

in front of the temple an amphitheatre with a representation of the

fight between the bull and the wolf, and a maiden throwing a stone at

the bull. They think this maiden represents Artemis. Danaus had all

this constructed, and some pillars near, and wooden statues of Zeus and

Artemis.

Here also are the tombs of Linus the son of Apollo, and of Psamathe

the daughter of Crotopus, and this is that Linus they say who wrote

poetry. I pass him by now as more meet to be discussed in another

place, and as regards Psamathe I have already given a full account of

her in what I have written about Megara. Next is a statue of Apollo the

Guardian of the Streets, and the altar of Rainy Zeus, where those who

conspired the return of Polynices to Thebes swore that they would die

if unsuccessful in taking Thebes. As to the sepulchre of Prometheus,

the Argives seem to me to give a less credible account than the

Opuntians, but they stick to their account all the same.

CHAPTER XX.

And passing by the effigy of Creux the boxer, and the trophy erected

over the Corinthians, you come to the statue of Milichian Zeus seated,

the work of Polycletus in white stone. I ascertained that the following

was the reason why it was made. When the Lacedæmonians began the war

with the Argives, they continued hostilities till Philip the son of

Amyntas compelled them to remain within their original boundaries. For

during all previous time the Lacedæmonians never interfered outside

the Peloponnese, but were always cutting a slice off Argolis, or the

Argives, if the Lacedæmonians were engaged in war, would at such a

time make a swoop on their borders. And when their mutual animosity

was at its height, the Argives resolved to keep a standing army of

1000 picked men, and their captain was Bryas the Argive, who in other

respects was insolent to the people, and outraged a maiden, who was

being led in procession to her bridegroom’s house, tearing her away

from her escort. But during the night catching him asleep she blinded

Bryas: and being arrested at daybreak implored protection from the

people. As they would not abandon her to the vengeance of the thousand,

there ensued a fight, and the people were victorious, and in the heat

of victory left not one of the 1000 alive. But afterwards they made

expiation for this shedding of kinsmen’s blood, and erected a statue

to Milichian Zeus. And near are statues in stone of Cleobis and Bito,

who themselves drew the car with their mother in it to the temple of

Hera.[21] And opposite these is the temple of Nemean Zeus, and in it a

brazen statue of the god erect, the design of Lysippus. And next to it,

as you go forward, on the right hand, is the tomb of Phoroneus: to whom

they still offer victims. And opposite the temple of Nemean Zeus is a

temple of Fortune of most ancient date, since Palamedes the inventor of

dice made a votive offering of his dice to this temple. And the tomb

near they call that of the Mænad Chorea, who they say with the other

women accompanied Dionysus to Argos, and Perseus being victorious in

the battle slew most of the women: the others they buried all together,

but for her they had a tomb separately, as she excelled the others in

merit. And at a little distance is a temple of the Seasons. And as

you go on there are some full-length statues of Polynices, the son

of Œdipus, and all the chief warriors that died with him in battle

fighting against Thebes. These men Æschylus has described as only

seven in number, though more must have come from Argos and Messene

and Arcadia. And near these seven, (for the Argives also follow the

description of Æschylus), are the statues of those that took Thebes,

Ægialeus the son of Adrastus, and Promachus the son of Parthenopæus the

son of Talaus, and Polydorus the son of Hippomedon, and Thersander,

and Alcmæon and Amphilochus the sons of Amphiaraus, and Diomede and

Sthenelus: also Euryalus the son of Mecisteus, and Adrastus and Timeas,

the sons of Polynices. And not far from these statues is exhibited the

sepulchre of Danaus, and a cenotaph of the Argives whom fate seized in

Ilium or on the journey home. And there is here also a temple of Zeus

Soter, at a little distance from which is a building where the Argive

women bewail Adonis. And on the right hand of the entrance a temple has

been built to the river Cephisus: the water of this river they say was

not altogether dried up by Poseidon, but flowed under ground on the

site of the temple. And near the temple of the Cephisus is a head of

the Medusa in stone: this also they say is the work of the Cyclopes.

And the place behind they call to this day _Judgement Hall_, because

they say that Hypermnestra was put upon her trial there by Danaus. And

not far distant is a theatre: and in it among other things well worth

seeing is Perilaus the Argive, the son of Alcenor, slaying Othryades

the Spartan. Perilaus before this had had the good luck to carry off

the prize for wrestling in the Nemean games. And beyond the theatre

is a temple of Aphrodite, in front of which is a statue of Telesilla

the poetess on a pillar: at her feet lie her volumes of poetry, and

she herself is looking at a helmet, which she holds in her hand and

is about to put on her head. This Telesilla was otherwise remarkable

among women, besides being honoured for her poetic gifts. For when upon

the Argives fell disaster untold at the hands of Cleomenes (the son

of Anaxandrides) and the Lacedæmonians, and most of them perished in

the battle, and when all that fled for refuge to the grove at Argos

perished also, at first coming out for quarter, but when they found

that the promised quarter was not granted, setting themselves and the

grove on fire together, then Cleomenes led the Lacedæmonians to an

Argos stript of men. Then it was that Telesilla manned the walls with

all the slaves who through youth or age were reckoned unfit to carry

arms, and herself getting together all the arms which were left in

the houses or the temples, and mustering all the women in the prime

of life, armed them, and drew them up in battle array where she knew

the enemy would approach. And when the Lacedæmonians came up, and the

women so far from being dismayed at their war cry received their attack

stoutly, then the Lacedæmonians considering that if they killed all

the women their victory would be discreditable, and if they themselves

were beaten their reverse would be disgraceful, yielded to the women.

Now the Pythian Priestess had foretold this, and Herodotus, whether

understanding the oracle or not, had recorded it as follows.[22] “But

when the female conquering the male shall drive him out and win fame

for the Argives, then shall the god make many of the Argive women

wretched.” These words of the oracle describe the action of the women.

CHAPTER XXI.

And as you descend from thence and turn to the market-place you see the

tomb of Cerdo, the wife of Phoroneus, and the temple of Æsculapius.

And the temple of Artemis, under the name Persuasion, was erected also

by Hypermnestra, when she was victorious over her father in the trial

about Lynceus. There is also a brazen statue of Æneas, and a place

called Delta, but why it is called Delta I purposely pass over, for I

didn’t like the explanation. And in front of it is a temple of Zeus

Promoter of Flight, and near it is the sepulchre of Hypermnestra the

mother of Amphiaraus, and the sepulchre of Hypermnestra the daughter

of Danaus, who lies in the same grave with Lynceus. And opposite them

is the tomb of Talaus the son of Bias, about whom and his descendants

I have spoken already. And there is a temple of Athene under the name

of _Trumpet_, which they say Hegeleus built. This Hegeleus they say was

the son of Tyrsenus, who was the son of Hercules and a Lydian woman,

and Tyrsenus was the first who invented the trumpet, and Hegeleus his

son taught the Dorians who followed Temenus the use of it, and that

was why he called Athene _Trumpet_. And before the temple of Athene is

they say the tomb of Epimenides: for the Lacedæmonians when they fought

against the Gnossians took Epimenides alive, but killed him afterwards

because he did not prophesy auspiciously for them, and they say they

brought his remains, and buried them, here. And the building of white

stone, nearly in the middle of the market-place, is not a trophy over

Pyrrhus the king of Epirus, as the Argives say, but a memorial that his

body was burnt here, inasmuch as elephants and all other things which

he used in battle are represented here. This was the building for his

funeral pyre: but his bones lie in the temple of Demeter, where in my

account of Attica I have shown that he died. And at the entrance of

this temple of Demeter you may see his brazen shield hanging over the

door.

And not far from the building in the market-place of the Argives

is a mound of earth. They say the head of the Gorgon Medusa lies

under it. To omit fable, it has been recorded of her that she was the

daughter of Phorcus, and that after the death of her father she ruled

over the people that live near the Tritonian marsh, and used to go out

hunting and led the Libyans in battle, and moreover resisted with her

army the power of Perseus, though picked men followed him from the

Peloponnese, but she was treacherously slain by night, and Perseus,

marvelling at her beauty even after death, cut her head off and brought

it home to display to the Greeks. But Procles the Carthaginian, the

son of Eucrates, has another account more plausible than this one. The

desert of Libya produces monsters scarce credible to those that hear

of them, and there both wild men and wild women are born: and Procles

said he had seen one of those wild men that had been taken to Rome. He

conjectured therefore that Medusa was a woman who had wandered from

them, and gone to the Tritonian marsh, and illtreated the inhabitants

till Perseus slew her: and Athene he thought assisted Perseus in the

work, because the men in the neighbourhood of the Tritonian marsh were

sacred to her. And in Argos close to this monument of the Gorgon is the

tomb of the Gorgon-slayer Perseus. Why she was called Gorgon is plain

to the hearer at once.[23] They say she was the first woman who ever

married a second husband, for she married one Œbalus, when her husband

Perieres the son of Æolus was dead, with whom she had lived from her

virginity. Previously it was customary for women to remain widows if

their husband died. And before this tomb is a trophy erected in stone

to the Argive Laphaes, whom, according to the Argive tradition, the

people rose up against and expelled when he was king, and when he

fled to Sparta the Lacedæmonians endeavoured to restore him, but the

Argives being victorious in the battle slew Laphaes and most of the

Lacedæmonians. And not far from this trophy is the temple of Leto, and

a statue of her by Praxiteles. And the figure near the goddess is the

maiden they call Chloris, who they say was the daughter of Niobe, and

was originally called Melibœa. And when the children of Amphion and

Niobe were slain by Apollo and Artemis, she alone and Amyclas were

saved alive, as they supplicated Leto. But fear turned Melibœa so

pale that she remained so all the rest of her life, insomuch that her

name was changed from Melibœa into Chloris (_pale_). This Chloris and

Amyclas the Argives say built the original temple of Leto. But I myself

am of opinion, (for I lean more than most people to the authority of

Homer,) that none of the children of Niobe survived. The following line

bears me out.

“Two arrows only slew the whole family.”[24]

Homer therefore describes the whole family of Amphion as cut off.

CHAPTER XXII.

Now the temple of Flowery Hera is on the right hand of the temple of

Leto, and in front of it is the tomb of the women who fell in the

fight between the Argives and Perseus, and had marched with Dionysus

from the islands in the Ægean, and who were called _Marines_ from

that circumstance. And right opposite the sepulchre of those women

is the temple of Demeter, surnamed Pelasgian because Pelasgus the

son of Triopas built it, and at no great distance from the temple

is Pelasgus’ tomb. And beyond the tomb is a brazen shrine not very

large, which contains old statues of Artemis and Zeus and Athene.

Lyceas in his verses has represented it as a votive offering to Zeus

the Contriver, and said that the Argives who went on the expedition

to Ilium swore here that they would not give over fighting, till they

should either capture Ilium or be killed fighting there. But others

have said that the remains of Tantalus are in that brazen shrine. I

will not dispute that the Tantalus who was the son of Thyestes or

Broteus, (for both traditions are current), who married Clytæmnestra

before Agamemnon, was buried here. But the Tantalus who was said to

be son of Zeus or Pluto was buried at Sipylus in a very handsome tomb

which I have myself seen. And moreover there was no necessity for him

to flee from Sipylus, as happened afterwards to Pelops when Ilus the

Phrygian came against him with an army. But let the enquiry proceed no

further. As for the rites which take place at the neighbouring trench,

they say they were instituted by Nicostratus, a man of those parts. To

this day they place in the trench lighted torches to Proserpine the

daughter of Demeter. There too is a temple of Poseidon under the name

of the _Flood-god_--for Poseidon flooded most of the region, because

Inachus and the other arbitrators decided that the land was Hera’s and

not his. But Hera afterwards got Poseidon to draw the water off: and

the Argives, at the place where the stream retired, built a temple

to Poseidon the _Flood-god_. And as you go a little further is the

tomb of Argos, who was reputed to be the son of Zeus and Niobe the

daughter of Phoroneus: and next is the temple of the Dioscuri. And

there are statues of them and their sons, Anaxis and Mnasinous, and

with them their mothers Hilaira and Phœbe, in black ebony wood, by

Dipœnus and Scyllis. Even the horses are mostly made of ebony, though

partly of ivory. And near this temple of the Dioscuri is a temple of

Ilithyia, the offering of Helen, when Theseus went with Pirithous to

Thesprotia, and Aphidna was captured by the Dioscuri, and Helen was

taken to Lacedæmon. For they say she was pregnant by Theseus, and

bare a child in Argos and built this temple to Ilithyia, and gave the

child to Clytæmnestra, who was now the wife of Agamemnon, and the

child afterwards became the wife of Menelaus. Euphorion the Chalcidian

and Alexander the Pleuronian have mentioned it in their poems, and

still earlier Stesichorus of Himera, and they say like the Argives

that Iphigenia was the daughter of Theseus by Helen. And beyond the

temple of Ilithyia is the temple of Hecate, and the statue is the work

of Scopas. It is of stone and right opposite are two brazen statues

of Hecate, one by Polycletus, and the other by his brother Naucydes

the son of Mothon. And as you go straight for the gymnasium, which

is called Cylarabis after Cylarabus, the son of Sthenelus, you come

to the tomb of Licymnius the son of Electryon. Homer says he was

slain by Tleptolemus the son of Hercules, who had to fly from Argos

in consequence of this murder. And, as you turn off a little towards

Cylarabis and the gate in this direction, is the sepulchre of Sacadas,

who was the first who played the Hymn to Apollo at Delphi on the flute:

and it seems the anger of Apollo against flute-players (which he had

in consequence of the contest with Marsyas the Silenus) was appeased

by this Sacadas. In this gymnasium of Cylarabus is a bust of Athene

Capanea, and they show the tomb of Sthenelus, and of Cylarabus himself.

And not far from this gymnasium is a monument to the Argives who sailed

with the Athenians to reduce Syracuse and Sicily.

CHAPTER XXIII.

As you go thence on the road called the Hollow Way, there is on the

right hand a temple of Dionysus: the statue of the god they say came

from Eubœa. For when the Greeks returning from Ilium were shipwrecked

at Caphareus, those of the Argives who contrived to escape to shore

were in evil plight from cold and hunger. But when they prayed that one

of the gods would save them in their present emergency, immediately as

they went forward they saw a cave of Dionysus, and a statue of the god

in the cave, and some wild goats that had taken refuge from the cold

were huddled together in it. These the Argives killed, and eat their

flesh, and used their skins for clothing. And when the winter was over,

they repaired their vessels and sailed homewards, and took with them

the wooden statue from the cave, and worship it to this day. And very

near the temple of Dionysus you will see the house of Adrastus, and at

some distance from it the temple of Amphiaraus, and beyond that the

tomb of Eriphyle. And next these is the shrine of Æsculapius, and close

to it the temple of Bato, who was of the family of Amphiaraus and one

of the Melampodidæ, and was Amphiaraus’ charioteer when he went out

to battle: and when the rout from Thebes came about, the earth opened

and swallowed up Amphiaraus and the chariot and Bato all together.

And as you return from the Hollow Way you come to the reputed tomb

of Hyrnetho. If it is a cenotaph and merely in memory of her, their

account is probable enough, but if they say that the body of Hyrnetho

lies there I cannot believe them, but let him believe them who knows

nothing about Epidaurus. The most famous of the temples of Æsculapius

at Argos has a statue still to be seen, Æsculapius seated, in white

stone, and next to him a statue of Hygiea. There are also seated

near them those who designed these statues, Xenophilus and Strato.

That temple was originally built by Sphyrus, the son of Machaon, and

the brother of the Alexanor who has honours among the Sicyonians at

Titane. And the statue of Pheræan Artemis, (for the Argives worship

Pheræan Artemis as well as the Athenians and Sicyonians,) was they say

brought from Pheræ in Thessaly. But I cannot agree with the Argives

who say that they have at Argos the tombs of Deianira the daughter of

Œneus, and of Helenus the son of Priam, and that they have the statue

of Athene that was carried away from Ilium, and whose loss caused its

fall. The Palladium, for that is its name, was certainly carried by

Æneas to Italy. As to Deianira, we know she died at Trachis and not

at Argos, and her tomb is near that of Hercules on Mount Œta. And as

to Helenus the son of Priam, I have already shown that he went with

Pyrrhus the son of Achilles to Epirus, and married Andromache, and

was Regent for the sons of Pyrrhus, and that Cestrine in Epirus took

its name from his son Cestrinus. Not that the Argive antiquarians are

ignorant that all their traditions are not true, still they utter

them: for it is not easy to get the mass of mankind to change their

preconceived opinions. There are other things at Argos worth seeing,

as the underground building, (in which is the brazen chamber which

Acrisius formerly got constructed for the safe custody of his daughter,

Perilaus deposed and succeeded him,) and the tomb of Crotopus, and

the temple of Cretan Dionysus. For they say that Dionysus, after he

had warred with Perseus and got friendly again with him, was highly

honoured by the Argives in various respects, and was given as a special

honour this enclosure. And afterwards it was called the temple of

Cretan Dionysus, because they buried Ariadne here. And Lyceas says that

when the temple was restored an earthenware cinerary urn was found that

contained the ashes of Ariadne: which he said several Argives had seen.

And near this temple of Dionysus is the temple of Celestial Aphrodite.

CHAPTER XXIV.

And the citadel they call Larissa from the daughter of Pelasgus, and

from two cities of that name in Thessaly, one on the coast, and one by

the river Peneus. And as you go up to the citadel there is a temple of

Hera Dwelling on the Heights, there is also a temple of Apollo, which

Pythæus, who first came from Delphi, is said to have erected. The

statue is of brass erect, and is called Apollo of the Ridgeway, for the

place is called Ridge. Oracular responses, for there is an oracle there

even to our day, are given in the following manner. The prophetess is

debarred from marriage: and when a lamb is sacrificed every month,

she tastes of the blood and becomes possessed by the god. And next to

the temple of Apollo of the Ridgeway is the temple of Athene called

_Sharp-eyed_, the votive offering of Diomede, because when he was

fighting at Ilium the goddess upon one occasion took a mist from his

eyes.[25] And close by is the race-course where they hold the games to

Nemean Zeus and to Hera. On the left of the road to the citadel is a

monument to the sons of Ægyptus. Their heads are here apart from their

bodies, for the bodies are at Lerna where the murder of the young men

was perpetrated, and when they were dead their wives cut their heads

off, to show their father their desperate deed. And on the summit of

Larissa is the temple of Larissæan Zeus, which has no roof to it: and

the statue, which is made of wood, stands no longer on its base. And

there is a temple of Athene well worth seeing. There are several votive

offerings there, and a wooden statue of Zeus, with the usual two eyes,

and a third in the forehead. This Zeus they say was the tutelary god of

Priam the son of Laomedon, and was placed in his hall in the open air,

and when Ilium was taken by the Greeks, it was to his altar that Priam

fled for refuge. And when they divided the spoil Sthenelus the son of

Capaneus got it, and placed it here. One might conjecture that the god

has three eyes for the following reason. That he reigns in heaven is

the universal tradition of all mankind. And that he reigns also under

the earth the line of Homer proves, speaking of him as

“Zeus the lord of the under world, and dread Proserpine.”[26]

And Æschylus the son of Euphorion calls him also Zeus of the sea. The

sculptor therefore whoever he was represented him with three eyes to

denote that the god rules in these three departments of the universe.

Among the roads from Argos to various parts of the Peloponnese,

is one to Tegea a town in Arcadia. On the right of this road is the

mountain Lycone, full of cypress trees. And on the top of the mountain

is a temple to Orthian Artemis, and there are statues of Apollo and

Leto and Artemis in white stone; said to be by Polycletus. And as you

go down from the mountain there is on the left of the road a temple of

Artemis. And at a little distance on the right is the mountain called

Chaon. And underneath it trees are planted, and manifestly here the

Erasinus has its rise: for a while it flows from Stymphalus in Arcadia,

as the Rheti flow from Euripus to Eleusis and so to the sea. And where

the river Erasinus gushes out on the mountain-side they sacrifice to

Dionysus and Pan, and keep the feast of Dionysus called _Medley_. And

as you return to the Tegean road, you come to Cenchreæ on the right of

what is called Trochus. Why it was called Cenchreæ they do not tell us,

except the name came from Cenchreus the son of Pirene. There is here a

general tomb of the Argives who conquered the Lacedæmonians in battle

near Hysiæ. I ascertained that this battle was fought when Pisistratus

was ruler at Athens, and in the 4th year of the Olympiad in which

Eurybotus the Athenian won the prize in the course. And as you descend

to the plain are the ruins of the town Hysiæ in Argolis, and here they

say the reverse happened to the Lacedæmonians.

CHAPTER XXV.

The road to Mantinea from Argos is not the same as the road to Tegea,

but you start from the gates near the ridge. And on this road there

is a temple with a double entrance, one facing west, another east.

At the east end is a wooden statue of Aphrodite, at the west one of

Ares. These statues are they say votive offerings of Polynices and the

Argives who were associated with him in his expedition. And as you go

on from thence after crossing the winter torrent called Ravine you come

to Œnoe, which gets its name (so the Argives say) from Œneus, who was

king in Ætolia, and expelled they say from his kingdom by the sons of

Agrius, and went to Argos to Diomede. And he helped him somewhat by

leading an army into Calydonia, but he couldn’t he said stay there:

but recommended him if he liked to accompany him to Argos. And when he

went there, he treated him in all respects well, as one would expect a

person to treat his grandfather, and when he died he buried him here.

The place got called Œnoe by the Argives after him. And above Œnoe is

the Mountain Artemisium, and a temple of Artemis on the top of the

mountain. And on this mountain are the sources of the Inachus: for it

has its rise here, though it flows underground for some way. There is

nothing else to see here.

And another road from the gates near the Ridge goes to Lyrceia. This

is the place to which Lynceus alone of all the 50 brothers is said to

have escaped, and when he got there safe, he held up a lighted torch

there. For it was no doubt agreed between Hypermnestra and him that he

should do so as a signal, if he should escape from Danaus and get to

a place of safety. And she also they say kindled another at Larissa,

manifestly to show that she too was in no danger. And in memory of

this the Argives every year have a torch procession. And in those

days the place was called Lynceia, but afterwards, because Lyrcus an

illegitimate son of Abas lived there, it got the name Lyrceia from him.

There is nothing very notable among the ruins but the effigy of Lyrcus

on a pillar. From Lyrceia to Argos is about 60 stades, and it is about

the same distance from Lyrceia to Orneæ. Homer has made no mention of

Lyrceia in his catalogue, as the city was already depopulated at the

time of the expedition to Ilium: but Orneæ, which was still inhabited,

Homer[27] has recorded before Phlius and Sicyon, according to its

geographical situation in Argolis. And it got its name from Orneus the

son of Erechtheus: and this Orneus had a son Peteos, and he had a son

Menestheus, who aided Agamemnon with a force from Athens to put down

the dominion of Priam. From Orneus then the city got its name, and the

Argives afterwards dispossessed the people of Orneæ; and when they were

dispossessed they were naturalized among the Argives. And there is at

Orneæ a temple of Artemis, and a wooden statue of the goddess in an

erect posture, and another temple to all the gods in common. And beyond

Orneæ are Sicyonia and Phliasia.

And as you go from Argos to the district of Epidaurus there is a

building on the right hand like a pyramid, with some Argolic shields

worked on it as a design. Here Prœtus fought with Acrisius for the

supremacy, and their contest was they say drawn, and they had a peace

afterwards, as neither of them could conquer the other. And they say

that they engaged first with shields, and then they and the army

on both sides in full armour. And those who fell on both sides, as

they were fellow citizens and kinsmen, had one tomb and monument in

common. And as you go on from thence and turn to the right you come

to the ruins of Tiryns. And the Argives dispossessed the inhabitants

of Tiryns, wishing to take them in as settlers to aggrandize Argos.

And they say the hero Tiryns, from whom the city got its name, was the

son of Argus the son of Zeus. And the walls of the city, which are the

only ruins left, are the work of the Cyclopes made of rude stones, each

stone of so gigantic a size that the smallest of them could hardly

be moved by a pair of mules. And in ancient times small stones were

inserted so as to dovetail in with the large stones. And as you go down

to the sea, are the chambers of the daughters of Prœtus. And when you

return to the high road you will come to Midea on the left. They say

that Electryon the father of Alcmena was king of Midea. But now nothing

is left of Midea but the site. And on the direct road to Epidaurus is

the village Lessa, and there is a temple of Athene in it, and a wooden

statue very similar to that in the citadel at Larissa. And above Lessa

is the Mountain Arachnæum, which in old times in the days of Inachus

had the name of Sapyselaton. And there are altars on it to Zeus and

Hera. They sacrifice to these gods here when there is a deficiency of

rain.

CHAPTER XXVI.

And near Lessa is Epidaurus in Argolis, and before you get to the town

itself, you will come to the temple of Æsculapius. I do not know who

dwelt in this place before Epidaurus came to it: nor could I learn from

any of the people of the neighbourhood anything about his descendants.

But the last king they say before the Dorians came to the Peloponnese

was Pityreus, the descendant of Ion the son of Xuthus. He they say gave

up the land without fighting for it to Deiphontes and the Argives: and

retired to Athens with his subjects and dwelt there, and Deiphontes

and the Argives who espoused his cause occupied Epidauria. For there

was a split among the Argives at the death of Temenus, Deiphontes and

Hyrnetho being hostile to the sons of Temenus, and the army with them

favouring Deiphontes and Hyrnetho more than Cisus and his brothers.

Epidaurus, from whom the country got its name, was, as the people

of Elis say, the son of Pelops: but according to the opinion of the

Argives, and the poem of Hesiod called The Great EϾ, the father of

Epidaurus was Argus the son of Zeus. But the Epidaurians make Epidaurus

the son of Apollo. And the district was generally held sacred to

Æsculapius for the following reason. The Epidaurians say that Phlegyas

came to the Peloponnese on the pretext of seeing the country, but

really to spy out the population, and see if the number of fighting

men was large. For Phlegyas was the greatest warrior of that day, and,

whoever he attacked, used to carry off their corn and fruit and booty

of all kinds. But when he came to the Peloponnese his daughter followed

him, who though her father knew it not was with child by Apollo. And

when she bore her child on Epidaurian soil, she exposed it on the

mountain called in our day Titthion, but which was then called Myrgion.

And as he was exposed there one of the she-goats feeding on the

mountain gave him milk, and the watch-dog of the flock guarded him. And

Aresthanas, for that was the name of the goat-herd, when he found the

number of the goats not tallying and that the dog was also absent from

the flock, went in search everywhere, and when he saw the child desired

to take him away, but when he got near saw lightning shining from the

child, and thinking there was something divine in all this, as indeed

there was, he turned away. And it was forthwith noised abroad about the

lad both by land and sea that he could heal sicknesses, and raise the

dead. There is also another tradition told of him, that Coronis, when

pregnant with Æsculapius, lay with Ischys the son of Elatus, and that

she was put to death by Artemis who thus punished her unfaithfulness

to Apollo, and when the funeral pyre was already lighted Hermes is

said to have plucked the child from the flame. And a third tradition

is as it seems to me the least likely of all, which makes Æsculapius

the son of Arsinoe, the daughter of Leucippus. For when Apollophanes

the Arcadian went to Delphi and enquired of the god, whether Æsculapius

was the son of Arsinoe and a citizen at Messene, Apollo answered from

his oracle, “O Æsculapius, that art born a great joy to all mortals,

whom lovely Coronis, the daughter of Phlegyas, bare to me the child of

love, at rocky Epidaurus.” This oracular response shows plainly that

Æsculapius was not the son of Arsinoe, but that Hesiod, or somebody

that interpolated Hesiod, inserted that legend to please the people

of Messene. And this too bears me out that Æsculapius was born at

Epidaurus, that his worship is derived from thence. For the Athenians

call the day on which they worship Æsculapius _Epidauria_, and they

say the god is worshipped by them from Epidaurus; and also Archias the

son of Aristæchmus, being healed in Epidauria of a convulsion that

seized him when he was hunting near Pindasus, introduced the worship

of the god at Pergamum. And from the people of Pergamum it passed in

our time to the people of Smyrna. And at Balagræ amongst the Cyrenæans

the Epidaurian Æsculapius is called _Doctor_. And from the Cyrenæans

Æsculapius got worshipped in Labene among the Cretans. And there

is this difference between the Cyrenæan and Epidaurian customs of

worshipping Æsculapius, that the former sacrifice goats, which is not

customary with the latter. And I find that Æsculapius was considered as

a god from the beginning, and not merely as he got fame as time went

on, from other proofs, and the testimony of Homer in what Agamemnon

says about Machaon,

“Talthybius, call here as quickly as possible Machaon the mortal,

the son of Æsculapius,”

as if he said the man the son of the god.[28]

CHAPTER XXVII.