BOOK X.GREECE.

“They who occupy Tricca and rocky Ithome.”518

These places belong to Histiæotis, which was formerly called Doris. When it was in the possession of the Perrhæbi, who destroyed Histiæotis in Eubœa, and had removed the inhabitants by force to the continent, they gave the country the name of Histiæotis, on account of the great numbers of Histiæans among the settlers. This country and Dolopia are called Upper Thessaly, which is in a straight line with Upper Macedonia, as Lower Thessaly is in a straight line with Lower Macedonia.

Tricca,519where there is a very ancient and famous temple of Æsculapius, borders upon the Dolopes, and the parts about Pindus.

Ithome, which has the same name as the Messenian Ithome, ought not, they say, to be pronounced in this manner, but should be pronounced without the first syllable, Thome, for this was its former name. At present, it is changed to [Thumæum]. It is a spot strong by nature, and in reality rocky. It lies between four strong-holds, which form a square, Tricca, Metropolis, Pelinnæum, and Gomphi.520Ithome belongs to the district of the Metropolitæ. Metropolis was formed at first out of three small obscure cities, and afterwards more were included, and among these Ithome. Callimachus says in his Iambics,

“among the Venuses, (for the goddess bears several titles,) Venus Castnietis surpasses all others in wisdom,”

for she alone accepts the sacrifice of swine. Certainly Callimachus, if any person could be said to possess information, was well informed, and it was his object, as he himself says, all his life to relate these fables. Later writers, however, have proved that there was not one Venus only, but several, who accepted that sacrifice, from among whom the goddess worshipped at Metropolis came, and that this [foreign] rite was delivered down by one of the cities which contributed to form that settlement.

Pharcadon also is situated in the Hestiæotis. The Peneius and the Curalius flow through it. The Curalius, after flowing beside the temple of the Itonian Minerva, empties itself into the Peneius.

The Peneius itself rises in Mount Pindus, as I have before said. It leaves Tricca, Pelinnæum, and Pharcadon on the left hand, and takes its course beside Atrax and Larisa. After having received the rivers of the Thessaliotis it flows onwards through Tempe, and it empties itself into the sea.

Historians speak of Œchalia, the city of Eurytus, as existing in these parts, in Eubœa also, and in Arcadia; but some give it one name, others another, as I have said in the description of Peloponnesus.

They inquire particularly, which of these was the city taken by Hercules, and which was the city intended by the author of the poem, “The Capture of Œchalia”?

The places, however, were subject to the Asclepiadæ.

18. The poet next mentions the country which was under the dominion of Eurypylus;

“They who possessed Ormenium and the spring Hypereia,And they who occupied Asterium and the white peaks of Titanus.”521

“They who possessed Ormenium and the spring Hypereia,

And they who occupied Asterium and the white peaks of Titanus.”521

Ormenium is now called Orminium. It is a village situated below Pelion, near the Pagasitic Gulf, but was one of the cities which contributed to form the settlement of Demetrias, as I have before said.

The lake Bœbeis must be near, because both Bœbe and Ormenium belonged to the cities lying around Demetrias.

Ormenium is distant by land 27 stadia from Demetrias. The site of Iolcus, which is on the road, is distant 7 stadia from Demetrias, and the remaining 20 from Ormenium.

Demetrius of Scepsis says, that Phœnix came from Ormenium, and that he fled thence from his father Amyntor, the son of Ormenus, to Phthia, to king Peleus. For this place was founded by Ormenus, the son of Cercaphus, the son of Æolus. The sons of Ormenus were Amyntor and Euæmon; the son of the former was Phœnix, and of the latter, Eurypylus. The succession to his possessions was preserved secure for Eurypylus, after the departure of Phœnix from his home, and we ought to write the verse of the poet in this manner:

“as when I first left Ormenium, abounding with flocks,”522

instead of

“left Hellas, abounding with beautiful women.”

But Crates makes Phœnix a Phocæan, conjecturing this from the helmet of Meges, which Ulysses wore on the night expedition; of which helmet the poet says,

“Autolycus brought it away from Eleon, out of the house of Amyntor, the son of Ormenus, having broken through the thick walls.”523

Now Eleon was a small city on Parnassus, and by Amyntor, the son of Ormenus, he could not mean any other person than the father of Phœnix, and that Autolycus, who lived on Parnassus, was in the habit of digging through the houses of his neighbours, which is the common practice of every house-breaker, and not of persons living at a distance. But Demetrius the Scepsian says, that there is no such place on Parnassus as Eleon, but Neon, which was built after the Trojan war, and that digging through houses was not confined to robbers of the neighbourhood. Other things might be advanced, but I am unwilling to insist long on this subject. Others write the words

“from Heleon;”

but this is a Tanagrian town; and the words

“Then far away I fled through Hellas and came to Phthia,”524

would make this passage absurd.

Hypereia is a spring in the middle of the city of the Pheræi [subject to Eumelus]. It would therefore be absurd [to assign it to Eurypylus].

Titanus525had its name from the accident of its colour, for the soil of the country near Arne and [Aphe]tæ is white, and Asterium is not far from these places.

19. Continuous with this portion of Thessaly are the people subject to Polypœtes.

“They who possessed Argissa; those who inhabited Gyrtone,526Orthe, Elone, and the white city Oloosson.”527

“They who possessed Argissa; those who inhabited Gyrtone,526

Orthe, Elone, and the white city Oloosson.”527

This country was formerly inhabited by Perrhæbi, whopossessed the part towards the sea and the Peneius, as far as528its mouth and the city Gyrton, belonging to the district Perrhæbis. Afterwards the Lapithæ, Ixion and his son Peirithous, having reduced the Perrhæbi,529got possession of these places. Peirithous took possession also of Pelion, having expelled by force the Centaurs, a savage tribe, who inhabited it. These

“he drove from Pelion to the neighbourhood of the Æthices,”530

but he delivered up the plains to the Lapithæ. The Perrhæbi kept possession of some of these parts, those, namely, towards Olympus, and in some places they lived intermixed altogether with the Lapithæ.

Argissa, the present Argura, is situated upon the banks of the Peneius. Atrax lies above it at the distance of 40 stadia, close to the river. The intermediate country along the side of the river was occupied by Perrhæbi.

Some call Orthe the citadel of the Phalannæi. Phalanna is a Perrhæbic city on the Peneius, near Tempe.

The Perrhæbi, oppressed by the Lapithæ, retreated in great numbers to the mountainous country about Pindus, and to the Athamanes and Dolopes; but the Larisæi became masters of the country and of the Perrhæbi who remained there. The Larisæi lived near the Peneius, but in the neighbourhood of the Perrhæbi. They occupied the most fertile portion of the plains, except some of the very deep valleys near the lake Nessonis, into which the river, when it overflowed, usually carried away a portion of the arable ground belonging to the Larisæi, who afterwards remedied this by making embankments.

These people were in possession of Perrhæbia, and levied imposts until Philip became master of the country.

Larisa is a place situated on Ossa, and there is Larisa Cremaste, by some called Pelasgia. In Crete also is a city Larisa, the inhabitants of which were embodied with those of Hierapytna; and from this place the plain below is called the Larisian plain. In Peloponnesus the citadel of the Argives iscalled Larisa, and there is a river Larisus, which separates Eleia from Dyme. Theopompus mentions a city Larisa, situated on the immediate confines of this country. In Asia is Larisa Phriconis near Cume, and another Larisa near Hamaxitus, in the Troad. There is also an Ephesian Larisa, and a Larisa in Syria. At 50 stadia from Mitylene are the Larisæan rocks, on the road to Methymne. There is a Larisa in Attica; and a village of this name at the distance of 30 stadia from Tralleis, situated above the city, on the road to the plain of the Cayster, passing by Mesogis towards the temple of Mater Isodroma. This Larisa has a similar position, and possesses similar advantages to those of Larisa Cremaste; for it has abundance of water and vineyards. Perhaps Jupiter had the appellation of Larisæus from this place. There is also on the left side of the Pontus (Euxine) a village called Larisa, near the extremities of Mount Hæmus, between Naulochus [and Odessus].531

Oloosson, called the White, from its chalky soil, Elone, and Gonnus are Perrhæbic cities. The name of Elone was changed to that of Leimone. It is now in ruins. Both lie at the foot of Olympus, not very far from the river Eurotas, which the poet calls Titaresius.

20. The poet speaks both of this river and of the Perrhæbi in the subsequent verses, when he says,

“Guneus brought from Cyphus two and twenty vessels. His followers were Enienes and Peræbi, firm in battle. They dwelt near the wintry Dodona, and tilled the fields about the lovely Titaresius.”532

He mentions therefore these places as belonging to the Perrhæbi, which comprised a part of the Hestiæotis.533They were in part Perrhæbic towns, which were subject to Polypœtes. He assigned them however to the Lapithæ, because these people and the Perrhæbi lived intermixed together, and the Lapithæ occupied the plains. The country, which belonged to the Perrhæbi, was, for the most part, subject to the Lapithæ, but the Perrhæbi possessed the more mountainous tracts towards Olympus and Tempe, such as Cyphus, Dodonē, and the country about the river Titaresius. This river risesin the mountain Titarius, which is part of Olympus. It flows into the plain near Tempe belonging to Perrhæbia, and somewhere there enters the Peneius.

The water of the Peneius is clear, that of the Titaresius is unctuous; a property arising from some matter, which prevents the streams mingling with each other,

“but runs over the surface like oil.”534

Because the Perrhæbi and Lapithæ lived intermingled together, Simonides calls all those people Pelasgiotæ, who occupy the eastern parts about Gyrton and the mouths of the Peneius, Ossa, Pelion, and the country about Demetrias, and the places in the plain, Larisa, Crannon, Scotussa, Mopsium, Atrax, and the parts near the lakes Nessonis and Bœbeis. The poet mentions a few only of these places, either because they were not inhabited at all, or badly inhabited on account of the inundations which had happened at various times. For the poet does not mention even the lake Nessonis, but the Bœbeis only, which is much smaller, for its water remained constant, and this alone remains, while the former probably was at one time filled irregularly to excess, and at another contained no water.

We have mentioned Scotussa in our accounts of Dodona, and of the oracle, in Thessaly, when we observed that it was near Scotussa. Near Scotussa is a tract called Cynoscephalæ. It was here that the Romans with their allies the Ætolians, and their general Titus Quintius, defeated in a great battle Philip, son of Demetrius, king of Macedon.

21. Something of the same kind has happened in the territory of Magnetis. For Homer having enumerated many places of this country, calls none of them Magnetes, but those only whom he indicates in terms obscure, and not easily understood;

“They who dwelt about Peneius and Pelion with waving woods.”535

Now about the Peneius and Pelion dwell those (already mentioned by Homer) who occupied Gyrton, and Ormenium, and many other nations. At a still greater distance from Pelion, according to later writers, were Magnetes, beginning from the people, that were subject to Eumelus. Thesewriters, on account of the continual removals from one settlement to another, alterations in the forms of government, and intermixture of races, seem to confound both names and nations, which sometimes perplexes persons in these times, as is first to be observed in the instances of Crannon and Gyrton.

Formerly they called the Gyrtonians Phlegyæ, from Phlegyas, the brother of Ixion; and the Crannonii, Ephyri, so that there is a doubt, when the poet says,

“These two from Thrace appeared with breastplates armed against Ephyri, or haughty Phlegyæ,”536

what people he meant.

22. The same is the case with the Perrhæbi and Ænianes, for Homer joins them together, as if they dwelt near each other; and it is said by later writers, that, for a long period, the settlement of the Ænianes was in the Dotian plain. Now this plain is near Perrhæbia, which we have just mentioned, Ossa, and the lake Bœbeis: it is situated about the middle of Thessaly, but enclosed by itself within hills. Hesiod speaks of it in this manner;

“Or, as a pure virgin, who dwells on the sacred heights of the Twin hills, comes to the Dotian plain, in front of Amyrus, abounding with vines, to bathe her feet in the lake Bœbias.”

The greater part of the Ænianes were expelled by the Lapithæ, and took refuge in Œta, where they established their power, having deprived the Dorians and the Malienses of some portions of country, extending as far as Heracleia and Echinus. Some of them however remained about Cyphus, a Perrhæbic mountain, where is a settlement of the same name. As to the Perrhæbi, some of them collected about the western parts of Olympus and settled there, on the borders of the Macedonians. But a large body took shelter among the mountains near Athamania, and Pindus. But at present few, if any, traces of them are to be found.

The Magnetes, who are mentioned last in the Thessalian catalogue of the poet, must be understood to be those situated within Tempe, extending from the Peneius and Ossa to Pelion, and bordering upon the Pieriotæ in Macedonia, who occupy the country on the other side of the Peneius as far as the sea.

Homolium, or Homolē, (for both words are in use,) mustbe assigned to the Magnetes. I have said in the description of Macedonia, that Homolium is near Ossa at the beginning of the course which the Peneius takes through Tempe.

If we are to extend their possessions as far as the sea-coast, which is very near Homolium, there is reason for assigning to them Rhizus, and Erymnæ, which lies on the sea-coast in the tract subject to Philoctetes and Eumelus. Let this however remain unsettled. For the order in which the places as far as the Peneius follow one another, is not clearly expressed, and as the places are not of any note, we need not consider that uncertainty as very important. The coast of Sepias, however, is mentioned by tragic writers, and was chaunted in songs on account of the destruction of the Persian fleet. It consists of a chain of rocks.

Between Sepias and Casthanæa, a village situated below Pelion, is the sea-shore, where the fleet of Xerxes was lying, when an east wind began to blow violently; some of the vessels were forced on shore, and immediately went to pieces, others were driven on Hipnus, a rocky spot near Pelion, others were lost at Melibœa, others at Casthanæa.

The whole of the coasting voyage along Pelion, to the extent of about 80 stadia, is among rocks. That along Ossa is of the same kind and to the same extent.

Between them is a bay of more than 200 stadia in extent, upon which is situated Melibœa.

The whole voyage from Demetrias, including the winding of the bays, to the Peneius is more than 1000 stadia, from the Spercheius 800 stadia more, and from the Euripus 2350 stadia.

Hieronymus assigns a circuit of 3000 stadia to the plain country in Thessaly and Magnesia, and says, that it was inhabited by Pelasgi, but that these people were driven into Italy by Lapithæ, and that the present Pelasgic plain is that in which are situated Larisa, Gyrton, Pheræ, Mopsium, Bœbeis, Ossa, Homole, Pelion, and Magnetis. Mopsium has not its name from Mopsus, the son of Manto the daughter of Teiresias, but from Mopsus, one of the Lapithæ, who sailed with the Argonauts. Mopsopus, from whom Attica is called Mopsopia, is a different person.

23. This then is the account of the several parts of Thessaly.

In general we say, that it was formerly called Pyrrhæa, from Pyrrha, the wife of Deucalion; Hæmonia, from Hæmon; and Thettalia, from Thettalus, the son of Hæmon. But some writers, after dividing it into two portions, say, that Deucalion obtained by lot the southern part, and called it Pandora, from his mother; that the other fell to the share of Hæmon, from whom it was called Hæmonia; that the name of one part was changed to Hellas, from Hellen, the son of Deucalion, and of the other to Thettalia, from Thettalus, the son of Hæmon. But, according to some writers, it was the descendants of Antiphus and Pheidippus, sons of Thettalus, descended from Hercules, who invaded the country from Ephyra in Thesprotia, and called it after the name of Thettalus their progenitor. It has been already said that once it had the name of Nessonis, as well as the lake, from Nesson, the son of Thettalus.

SUMMARY.

The Tenth Book contains Ætolia and the neighbouring islands; also the whole of Crete, on which the author dwells some time in narrating the institutions of the islanders and of the Curetes. He describes at length the origin of the Idæan Dactyli in Crete, their customs and religious rites. Strabo mentions the connexion of his own family with Crete. The Book contains an account of the numerous islands about Crete, including the Sporades and some of the Cyclades.

1.SinceEubœa537stretches along the whole of this coast from Sunium to Thessaly, except the extremity on each side,538it may be convenient to connect the description of this island with that of Thessaly. We shall then pass on to Ætolia and Acarnania, parts of Europe of which it remains to give an account.

2. The island is oblong, and extends nearly 1200 stadia from Cenæum539to Geræstus.540Its greatest breadth is about 150 stadia, but it is irregular.541

Cenæum is opposite to Thermopylæ, and in a small degree to the parts beyond Thermopylæ: Geræstus542and Petalia543are opposite to Sunium.

Eubœa then fronts544Attica, Bœotia, Locris, and the Malienses. From its narrowness, and its length, which we have mentioned, it was called by the ancients Macris.545

It approaches nearest to the continent at Chalcis. It projects with a convex bend towards the places in Bœotia near Aulis, and forms the Euripus,546of which we have before spoken at length. We have also mentioned nearly all the places on either side of the Euripus, opposite to each other across the strait, both on the continent and on the island. If anything is omitted we shall now give a further explanation.

And first, the parts lying between Aulis (Chalcis?) and the places about Geræstus are called the Hollows of Eubœa, for the sea-coast swells into bays, and, as it approaches Chalcis, juts out again towards the continent.

3. The island had the name not of Macris only, but of Abantis also. The poet in speaking of Eubœa never calls the inhabitants from the name of the island, Eubœans, but always Abantes;

“they who possessed Eubœa, the resolute Abantes;”547

“in his train Abantes were following.”

Aristotle says that Thracians, taking their departure from Aba, the Phocian city, settled with the other inhabitants in the island, and gave the name of Abantes to those who already occupied it; other writers say that they had their name from a hero,548as that of Eubœa was derived from a heroine.549But perhaps as a certain cave on the sea-coast fronting theÆgean Sea is called Boos-Aule, (or the Cow’s Stall,) where Io is said to have brought forth Epaphus, so the island may have had the name Eubœa550on this account.

It was also called Oché, which is the name of one of the largest mountains551there.

It had the name of Ellopia, from Ellops, the son of Ion; according to others, he was the brother of Æclus, and Cothus, who is said to have founded Ellopia,552a small place situated in the district called Oria of the Histiæotis, near the mountain Telethrius.553He also possessed Histiæa, Perias, Cerinthus, Ædepsus,554and Orobiæ, where was an oracle very free from deception. There also was an oracle of Apollo Selinuntius.

The Ellopians, after the battle of Leuctra, were compelled by the tyrant Philistides to remove to the city Histiæa, and augmented the number of its inhabitants. Demosthenes555says that Philistides was appointed by Philip tyrant of the Oreitæ also, for afterwards the Histiæans had that name, and the city, instead of Histiæa, was called Oreus. According to some writers, Histiæa was colonized by Athenians from the demus of the Histiæeis, as Eretria was from the demus of the Eretrieis. But Theopompus says, that when Pericles had reduced Eubœa, the Histiæans agreed to remove into Macedonia, and that two thousand Athenians, who formerly composed the demus of the Histiæans, came, and founded Oreus.556

4. It is situated below Mount Telethrius, at a place called Drymus, near the river Callas, on a lofty rock;557whence perhaps because the Ellopians, the former inhabitants, were a mountain tribe,558the city had the name of Oreus. Orion, who was brought up there, seems to have had his name from the place. But according to some writers, the Oreitæ, who had acity of their own, being attacked by the Ellopians, migrated, and settled with the Histiæans, and although it was a single city it had both appellations, as Lacedæmon and Sparta were the same city. We have said, that the Histiæotis in Thessaly had its name from the people who were carried away from this country by the Perrhæbi.

5. As Ellopia induced us to commence our description with Histiæa and Oreus, we shall proceed with the places continuous with these.

The promontory Cenæum is near Oreus, and on the promontory is situated Dium,559and Athenæ Diades, a town founded by Athenians, and overlooks the passage across the strait to Cynus. Canæ in Æolia received colonists from Dium. These places are situated near Histiæa, and besides these Cerinthus, a small city, close to the sea. Near it is a river Budorus, of the same name as the mountain in Salamis on the side of Attica.

6. Carystus560lies at the foot of the mountain Oche, and near it are Styra561and Marmarium,562where is a quarry, from which are obtained the Carystian columns. It has a temple of Apollo Marmarinus, where there is a passage across to Halæ-Araphenides. At Carystus there is found in the earth a stone,563which is combed like wool, and woven, so that napkins are made of this substance, which, when soiled, are thrown into the fire, and cleaned, as in the washing of linen.564These places are said to be inhabited by colonists from the Tetrapolis of Marathon, and by Steirieis. Styra was destroyed in the Maliac (Lamiac?) war by Phædrus, the general of the Athenians. But the Eretrians are in possession of the territory. There is also a Carystus in Laconia, a place belonging to Ægys, towards Arcadia; from whence comes the Carystian wine, spoken of by Alcman.

7. Geræstus565is not mentioned by Homer in the Catalogue of the Ships; it is however mentioned by him elsewhere;

“The vessels came to Geræstus by night;”566

which shows, that the place being near Sunium lies conveniently for persons who cross from Asia to Attica. It has a temple of Neptune the most remarkable of any in that quarter, and a considerable number of inhabitants.

8. Next to Geræstus is Eretria, which, after Chalcis, is the largest city in Eubœa. Next follows Chalcis, the capital as it were of the island, situated immediately on the Euripus. Both these cities are said to have been founded by Athenians before the Trojan war; [but it is also said that] after the Trojan war, Æclus and Cothus took their departure from Athens; the former to found Eretria, and Cothus, Chalcis. A body of Æolians who belonged to the expedition of Penthilus remained in the island. Anciently, even Arabians567settled there, who came over with Cadmus.

These cities, Eretria and Chalcis, when their population was greatly augmented, sent out considerable colonies to Macedonia, for Eretria founded cities about Pallene and Mount Athos; Chalcis founded some near Olynthus, which Philip destroyed. There are also many settlements in Italy and Sicily, founded by Chalcidians. These colonies were sent out, according to Aristotle,568when the government of the Hippobatæ, (or Knights,) as it is called, was established; it was an aristocratical government, the heads of which held their office by virtue of the amount of their property. At the time that Alexander passed over into Asia, they enlarged the compass of the walls of their city, including within them Canethus,569and the Euripus, and erected towers upon the bridge, a wall, and gates.

9. Above the city of the Chalcidians is the plain called Lelantum, in which are hot springs, adapted to the cure of diseases, and which were used by Cornelius Sylla, the Roman general. There was also an extraordinary mine which produced both copper and iron; such, writers say, is not to be found elsewhere. At present, however, both are exhausted.

The whole of Eubœa is subject to earthquakes, especially the part near the strait. It is also exposed to violent subterraneous blasts, like Bœotia, and other places of which I have before spoken at length.570The city of the same name as the island is said to have been swallowed up by an earthquake.571It is mentioned by Æschylus in his tragedy of Glaucus Pontius;

“Euboïs near the bending shore of Jupiter Cenæus, close to the tomb of the wretched Lichas.”

There is also in Ætolia a town of the name of Chalcis,

“Chalcis on the sea-coast, and the rocky Calydon,”572

and another in the present Eleian territory;

“they passed along Cruni, and the rocky Chalcis,”573

speaking of Telemachus and his companions, when they left Nestor to return to their own country.

10. Some say, that the Eretrians were a colony from Macistus in Triphylia, under the conduct of Eretrieus; others, that they came from Eretria, in Attica, where now a market is held. There is an Eretria also near Pharsalus. In the Eretrian district there was a city, Tamynæ, sacred to Apollo. The temple (which was near the strait) is said to have been built by Admetus, whom the god, according to report, served a year574for hire.

Eretria,575formerly, had the names of Melaneïs and Arotria. The village Amarynthus, at the distance of 7 stadia from the walls, belongs to it.

The Persians razed the ancient city, having enclosed with multitudes the inhabitants, according to the expression of Herodotus,576in a net, by spreading the Barbarians around the walls. The foundations are still shown, and the place is called ancient Eretria. The present city is built near it.

The power which the Eretrians once possessed, is evinced by a pillar which was placed in the temple of Diana Amarynthia. There is an inscription on it to this effect, that their processions upon their public festivals consisted of three thousand heavy-armed soldiers, six hundred horsemen, andsixty chariots. They were masters, besides other islands, of Andros, Tenos, and Ceos. They received colonists from Elis, whence their frequent use of the letter R, (ρ,)577not only at the end, but in the middle of words, which exposed them to the raillery of comic writers.

Œchalia,578a village, the remains of a city destroyed by Hercules, belongs to the district of Eretria. It has the same name as that in Trachinia, as that near Tricca,579as that in Arcadia, (which later writers call Andania,) and as that in Ætolia near the Eurytanes.

11. At present Chalcis580is allowed, without dispute, to hold the first rank, and is called the capital of the Eubœans. Eretria holds the second place. Even in former times these cities had great influence both in war and peace, so that they afforded to philosophers an agreeable and tranquil retreat. A proof of this is the establishment at Eretria of the school of Eretrian philosophers, disciples of Menedemus; and at an earlier period the residence of Aristotle581at Chalcis, where he also died.

12. These cities generally lived in harmony with each other, and when a dispute arose between them respecting Lelantum, they did not even then suspend all intercourse so as to act in war entirely without regard to each other, but they agreed upon certain conditions, on which the war was to be conducted. This appears by a column standing in the Amarynthium, which interdicts the use of missiles. [For with respect to warlike usages and armour, there neither is nor was any common usage; for some nations employ soldiers who use missile weapons, such as bows, slings, and javelins; others employ men who engage in close fight, and use a sword, or charge with a spear.582For there are two methods of using the spear; one is to retain it in the hand; the other, to hurl it like a dart; the pike583answers both purposes, for it is used in close encounter and is hurled to a distance. The sarissa and the hyssus are similarly made use of.]584

13. The Eubœans excelled in standing585fight, which was also called close fight,586and fight hand to hand.587They used spears extended at length according to the words of the poet;

“warriors eager to break through breastplates with extended ashen spears.”588

The missile weapons were perhaps of different kinds, as, probably, was the ashen spear of Pelion, which, as the poet says,

“Achilles alone knew how to hurl.”589

When the poet says,

“I strike farther with a spear than any other person with an arrow,”590

he means with a missile spear. They, too, who engage in single combat, are first introduced as using missile spears, and then having recourse to swords. But they who engage in single combat do not use the sword only, but a spear also held in the hand, as the poet describes it,

“he wounded him with a polished spear, pointed with brass, and unbraced his limbs.”591

He represents the Eubœans as fighting in this manner; but he describes the Locrian mode as contrary to this;

“It was not their practice to engage in close fight, but they followed him to Ilium with their bows, clothed in the pliant fleece of the sheep.”592

An answer of an oracle is commonly repeated, which was returned to the Ægienses;

“a Thessalian horse, a Lacedæmonian woman, and the men who drink the water of the sacred Arethusa,”

meaning the Chalcideans as superior to all other people, for Arethusa belongs to them.

14. At present the rivers of Eubœa are the Cereus and Neleus. The cattle which drink of the water of the former become white, and those that drink of the water of the latter become black. We have said that a similar effect is produced by the water of the Crathis.593

15. As some of the Eubœans, on their return from Troy, were driven out of their course among the Illyrians; pursued their journey homewards through Macedonia, and stopped in the neighbourhood of Edessa; having assisted the people in a war, who had received them hospitably; they founded a city,

Eubœa. There was a Eubœa in Sicily, founded by the Chalcideans, who were settled there. It was destroyed by Gelon, and became a stronghold of the Syracusans. In Corcyra also, and at Lemnus, there was a place called Eubœa, and a hill of this name in the Argive territory.

16. We have said, that Ætolians, Acarnanians, and Athamanes are situated to the west of the Thessalians and Œtæans, if indeed we must call the Athamanes,594Greeks. It remains, in order that we may complete the description of Greece, to give some account of these people, of the islands which lie nearest to Greece, and are inhabited by Greeks, which we have not yet mentioned.

1.Ætoliansand Acarnanians border on one another, having between them the river Achelous,595which flows from the north, and from Pindus towards the south, through the country of the Agræi, an Ætolian tribe, and of the Amphilochians.

Acarnanians occupy the western side of the river as far as the Ambracian Gulf,596opposite to the Amphilochians, and the temple of Apollo Actius. Ætolians occupy the part towards the east as far as the Locri Ozolæ, Parnassus, and the Œtæans.

Amphilochians are situated above the Acarnanians in the interior towards the north; above the Amphilochians are situated Dolopes, and Mount Pindus; above the Ætolians are Perrhæbi, Athamanes, and a body of the Ænianes who occupy Œta.

The southern side, as well the Acarnanian as the Ætolian, is washed by the sea, forming the Corinthian Gulf, into which the Achelous empties itself. This river (at its mouth) is the boundary of the Ætolian and the Acarnanian coast. The Achelous was formerly called Thoas. There is a river of this name near Dyme,597as we have said, and another near Lamia.598We have also said,599that the mouth of this river isconsidered by some writers as the commencement of the Corinthian Gulf.

2. The cities of the Acarnanians are, Anactorium, situated upon a peninsula600near Actium, and a mart of Nicopolis, which has been built in our time; Stratus,601to which vessels sail up the Achelous, a distance of more than 200 stadia; and Œniadæ602is also on the banks of the river. The ancient city is not inhabited, and lies at an equal distance from the sea and from Stratus. The present city is at the distance of 70 stadia above the mouth of the river.

There are also other cities, Palærus,603Alyzia,604Leucas,605the Amphilochian Argos,606and Ambracia:607most of these, if not all, are dependent upon Nicopolis.

Stratus lies half-way between Alyzia and Anactorium.608

3. To the Ætolians belong both Calydon609and Pleuron, which at present are in a reduced condition, but, anciently, these settlements were an ornament to Greece.

Ætolia was divided into two portions, one called the Old, the other the Epictetus (the Acquired). The Old comprised the sea-coast from the Achelous as far as Calydon, extending far into the inland parts, which are fertile, and consist of plains. Here are situated Stratus and Trichonium, which has an excellent soil. The Epictetus, that reaches close to the Locri in the direction of Naupactus610and Eupalium,611is a rugged and sterile tract, extending as far as Œtæa, to the territory of the Athamanes, and the mountains and nations following next in order, and which lie around towards the north.

4. There is in Ætolia a very large mountain, the Corax,612which is contiguous to Œta. Among the other mountains, more in the middle of the country, is the Aracynthus,613near which the founders built the modern Pleuron, having abandoned the ancient city situated near Calydon, which was in a fertile plain country, when Demetrius, surnamed Ætolicus, laid waste the district.

Above Molycreia614are Taphiassus615and Chalcis,616mountains of considerable height, on which are situated the small cities, Macynia and Chalcis, (having the same name as the mountain,) or, as it is also called, Hypochalcis. Mount Curium is near the ancient Pleuron, from which some supposed the Pleuronii had the appellation of Curetes.

5. The river Evenus rises in the country of the Bomianses, a nation situated among the Ophienses, and an Ætolian tribe like the Eurytanes, Agræi, Curetes, and others. It does not flow, at its commencement, through the territory of the Curetes, which is the same as Pleuronia, but through the country more towards the east along Chalcis and Calydon; it then makes a bend backwards to the plains of the ancient Pleuron, and having changed its course to the west, turns again to the south, where it empties itself. It was formerly called Lycormas. There Nessus, who had the post of ferryman, is said to have been killed by Hercules for having attempted to force Deïaneira while he was conveying her across the river.

6. The poet calls Olenus and Pylene Ætolian cities, the former of which, of the same name as the Achæan city, was razed by the Æolians. It is near the new city Pleuron. The Acarnanians disputed the possession of the territory. They transferred Pylene to a higher situation, and changed its name to Proschium. Hellanicus was not at all acquainted with the history of these cities, but speaks of them as still existing in their ancient condition, but Macynia and Molycria, which were built subsequent to the return of the Heracleidæ,he enumerates among ancient cities, and shows the greatest carelessness in almost every part of his work.

7. This, then, is the general account of the country of the Acarnanians and Ætolians. We must annex to this some description of the sea-coast and of the islands lying in front of it.

If we begin from the entrance of the Ambracian Gulf, the first place we meet with in Acarnania is Actium. The temple of Apollo Actius has the same name as the promontory, which forms the entrance of the Gulf, and has a harbour on the outside.

At the distance of 40 stadia from the temple is Anactorium, situated on the Gulf; and at the distance of 240 stadia is Leucas.617

8. This was, anciently, a peninsula belonging to the territory of the Acarnanians. The poet calls it the coast of Epirus, meaning by Epirus the country on the other side of Ithaca,618and Cephallenia,619which country is Acarnania; so that by the words of the poet,

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