CHAPTER III.

“the coast of Epirus,”

we must understand the coast of Acarnania.

To Leucas also belonged Neritus, which Laertes said he took—

“as when I was chief of the Cephallenians, and took Nericus, a well-built city, on the coast of Epirus,”620

and the cities which he mentions in the Catalogue,

“and they who inhabited Crocyleia, and the rugged Ægilips.”621

But the Corinthians who were despatched by Cypselus and Gorgus, obtained possession of this coast, and advanced as far as the Ambracian Gulf. Ambracia and Anactorium were both founded. They cut through the isthmus of the peninsula, converted Leucas into an island, transferred Neritus to the spot, which was once an isthmus, but is now a channel connected with the land by a bridge, and changed the name to Leucas from Leucatas, as I suppose, which is a white rock, projecting from Leucas into the sea towards Cephallenia, so that it might take its name from this circumstance.

9. It has upon it the temple of Apollo Leucatas, and the Leap, which, it was thought, was a termination of love.

“Here Sappho first ’tis said,” (according to Menander,) “in pursuit of the haughty Phaon, and urged on by maddening desire, threw herself622from the aerial rock, imploring Thee, Lord, and King.”

Menander then says that Sappho was the first who took the leap, but persons better acquainted with ancient accounts assert that it was Cephalus, who was in love with Pterelas, the son of Deïoneus.623It was also a custom of the country among the Leucadians at the annual sacrifice performed in honour of Apollo, to precipitate from the rock one of the condemned criminals, with a view to avert evil. Various kinds of wings were attached to him, and even birds were suspended from his body, to lighten by their fluttering the fall of the leap. Below many persons were stationed around in small fishing boats to receive, and to preserve his life, if possible, and to carry him beyond the boundaries of the country. The author of the Alcmæonis says that Icarius, the father of Penelope, had two sons, Alyzeus, and Leucadius, who reigned after their father in Acarnania, whence Ephorus thinks that the cities were called after their names.

10. At present those are called Cephallenians who inhabit Cephallenia. But Homer calls all those under the command of Ulysses by this name, among whom are the Acarnanians; for when he says,

“Ulysses led the Cephallenians, those who possessed Ithaca, and Neritum, waving with woods,”624

(the remarkable mountain in this island; so also,

“they who came from Dulichium, and the sacred Echinades,”625

for Dulichium itself was one of the Echinades; and again,

“Buprasium and Elis,”626

when Buprasium is situated in Elis; and so,

“they who inhabited Eubœa, Chalcis, and Eretria,”627

when the latter places are in Eubœa; so again,

“Trojans, Lycians, and Dardanians,”628

and these also were Trojans): but after mentioning Neritum, he says,

“and they who inhabited Crocyleia and rocky Ægilips, Zacynthus, Samos, Epirus, and the country opposite to these islands;”629

he means by Epirus the country opposite to the islands, intending to include together with Leucas the rest of Acarnania, of which he says,

“twelve herds, and as many flocks of sheep in Epirus,”630

because the district of Epirus (the Epirotis) extended anciently perhaps as far as this place, and was designated by the common name Epirus.

The present Cephallenia he calls Samos, as when he says,

“in the strait between Ithaca and the hilly Samos,”631

he makes a distinction between places of the same name by an epithet, assigning the name not to the city, but to the island. For the island contains four cities, one of which, called Samos, or Same, for it had either appellation, bore the same name as the island. But when the poet says,

“all the chiefs of the islands, Dulichium, Same, and the woody Zacynthus,”632

he is evidently enumerating the islands, and calls that Same which he had before called Samos.

But Apollodorus at one time says that the ambiguity is removed by the epithet, which the poet uses, when he says,

“and hilly Samos,”

meaning the island; and at another time he pretends that we ought to write

“Dulichium, and Samos,”

and not

“Same,”

and evidently supposes that the city is called by either name, Samos or Samé, but the island by that of Samos only. That the city is called Samé is evident from the enumeration of the suitors from each city, where the poet says,

“there are four and twenty from Samé,”633

and from what is said about Ctimene,

“they afterwards gave her in marriage at Samé.”634

There is reason in this. For the poet does not express himself distinctly either about Cephallenia, or Ithaca, or the other neighbouring places, so that both historians and commentators differ from one another.

11. For instance, with respect to Ithaca, when the poet says,

“and they who possessed Ithaca, and Neritum with its waving woods,”635

he denotes by the epithet, that he means Neritum the mountain. In other passages he expressly mentions the mountain;

“I dwell at Ithaca, turned to the western sun; where is a mountain, Neritum, seen from afar with its waving woods;”636

but whether he means the city, or the island, is not clear, at least from this verse;

“they who possessed Ithaca, and Neritum.”

Any one would understand these words in their proper sense to mean the city, as we speak of Athens, Lycabettus, Rhodes, Atabyris, Lacedæmon, and Taygetus, but in a poetical sense the contrary is implied.

In the verses,

“I dwell at Ithaca, turned to the western sun, in which is a mountain Neritum,”

the meaning is plain, because the mountain is on the island and not in the city; and when he says,

“we came from Ithaca situated under Neium,”637

it is uncertain whether he means that Neium was the same as Neritum, or whether it is another, either mountain or place. [He, who writes Nericum for Neritum, or the reverse, is quite mistaken. For the poet describes the former as “waving with woods;” the other as a “well-built city;” one in Ithaca, the other on the sea-beach of Epirus.]638

12. But this line seems to imply some contradiction;

“it lies in the sea both low, and very high,”639

for χθαμαλὴ is low, and depressed, but πανυπερτάτη expresses great height, as he describes it in other passages, calling it Cranae, (or rugged,) and the road leading from the harbour, as,

“a rocky way through a woody spot,”640

and again,

“for there is not any island in the sea exposed to the western sun,641and with good pastures, least of all Ithaca.”642

The expression does imply contradictions, which admit however of some explanation. They do not understand χθαμαλὴ to signify in that place “low,” but its contiguity to the continent, to which it approaches very close; nor by πανυπερτάτη great elevation, but the farthest advance towards darkness, (πρὸς ζόφον,) that is, placed towards the north more than all the other islands, for this is what the poet means by “towards darkness,” the contrary to which is towards the south, (πρὸς νότον,)

“the rest far off (ἄνευθε) towards the morning, and the sun.”643

For the word ἄνευθε denotes “at a distance,” and “apart,” as if the other islands lay to the south, and more distant from the continent, but Ithaca near the continent and towards the north. That the poet designates the southern part (of the heavens) in this manner appears from these words,

“whether they go to the right hand, towards the morning and the sun, or to the left, towards cloudy darkness;”644

and still more evidently in these lines,

“my friends, we know not where darkness nor where morning lie, nor where sets nor where rises the sun which brings light to man.”645

We may here understand the four climates,646and suppose the morning to denote the southern part (of the heavens), and this has some probability; but it is better to consider what is near to the path of the sun to be opposite to the northern part (of the heavens). For the speech in Homer is intended to indicate some great change in the celestial appearances, not a mere obscuration of theclimates. For this must happenduring every cloudy season either by day or by night. Now the celestial appearances alter very much as we advance more or less towards the south, or the contrary; but this alteration does not prevent our observing the setting and rising of the sun, for in fine weather these phenomena are always visible whether in the south or the north. For the pole is the most northerly point: when this moves, and is sometimes over our heads and sometimes below the earth, the arctic circles change their position with it. Sometimes they disappear during these movements, so that you cannot discern the position of the northernclimate, nor where it commences;647and if this is so, neither can you distinguish the contraryclimate.

The circuit of Ithaca is about 80648stadia. So much then concerning Ithaca.

13. The poet does not mention Cephallenia, which contains four cities, by its present name, nor any of the cities except one, either Samé or Samos, which no longer exists, but traces of it are shown in the middle of the Strait near Ithaca. The inhabitants have the name of Samæ. The rest still exist at present, they are small cities, Paleis, Pronesus, and Cranii. In our time Caius Antonius, the uncle of Marcus Antonius, founded an additional city, when (being an exile after his consulship in which he was the colleague of Cicero the orator) he lived at Cephallenia, and was master of the whole island, as if it had been his own property. He returned from exile before he completed the foundation of the settlement, and died when engaged in more important affairs.

14. Some writers do not hesitate to affirm, that Cephallenia and Dulichium are the same; others identify it with Taphos, and the Cephallenians with Taphians, and these again with Teleboæ. They assert that Amphitryon, with the aid of Cephalus, the son of Deïoneus, an exile from Athens, undertook an expedition against the island, and having got possession of it, delivered it up to Cephalus; hence this city bore his name, and the rest those of his children. But this is not in accordance with Homer, for the Cephallenians were subject to Ulysses and Laertes, and Taphos to Mentes;

“I boast that I am Mentes, son of the valiant Anchialus,And king of the Taphians, skilful rowers.”649

“I boast that I am Mentes, son of the valiant Anchialus,

And king of the Taphians, skilful rowers.”649

Taphos is now called Taphius.650Nor does Hellanicus follow Homer when he calls Cephallenia, Dulichium, for Dulichium, and the other Echinades, are said to be under the command of Meges, and the inhabitants, Epeii, who came from Elis; wherefore he calls Otus the Cyllenian,

“companion of Phyleides, chief of the magnanimous Epeii;”651“but Ulysses led the magnanimous Cephallenes.”652

“companion of Phyleides, chief of the magnanimous Epeii;”651

“but Ulysses led the magnanimous Cephallenes.”652

Neither, as Andro asserts, is Cephallenia, according to Homer, Dulichium, nor does Dulichium belong to Cephallenia, for Epeii possessed Dulichium, and Cephallenians the whole of Cephallenia, the former of whom were under the command of Ulysses, the latter of Meges. Paleis is not called Dulichium by Homer, as Pherecydes says. But he who asserts that Cephallenia and Dulichium are the same contradicts most strongly the account of Homer; for as fifty-two of the suitors came from Dulichium, and twenty-four from Samé, would he not say, that from the whole island came such a number of suitors, and from a single city of the four came half the number within two? If any one should admit this, we shall inquire what the Samé could be, which is mentioned in this line,

“Dulichium and Samé, and the woody Zacynthus.”653

15. Cephallenia is situated opposite to Acarnania, at the distance from Leucatas of about 50, or according to others, of 40 stadia, and from Chelonatas654of about 80 stadia. It is about 300 stadia (1300?) in circumference. It extends in length towards the south-east (Eurus). It is mountainous; the largest mountain in it is the Ænus,655on which is the temple of Jupiter Ænesius. Here is the narrowest part of the island, which forms a low isthmus, that is frequently overflowed from sea to sea.656Cranii657and Paleis658are situated near the straits in the Gulf.

16. Between Ithaca and Cephallenia is the small islandAsteria,659or Asteris, as it is called by the poet, which, according to Demetrius, the Scepsian, does not remain in the state described by the poet,

“there are harbours in it, open on both sides, for the reception of vessels.”660

But Apollodorus says that it exists even at present, and mentions a small city in it, Alalcomenæ, situated quite upon the isthmus.

17. The poet also gives the name of Samos to Thracia, which we now call Samothracé. He was probably acquainted with the Ionian island, for he seems to have been acquainted with the Ionian migration. He would not, otherwise, have made a distinction between islands of the same names, for in speaking of Samothrace, he makes the distinction sometimes by the epithet,

“on high, upon the loftiest summit of the woody Samos, the Thracian,”661

sometimes by uniting it with the neighbouring islands,

“to Samos, and Imbros, and inaccessible Lemnos;”662

and again,

“between Samos and rocky Imbros.”663

He was therefore acquainted with the Ionian island, although he has not mentioned its name. Nor had it formerly always the same name, but was called Melamphylus, then Anthemis, then Parthenia, from the river Parthenius, the name of which was changed to Imbrasus. Since then both Cephallenia and Samothracé were called Samos664at the time of the Trojan war, (for if it had not been so Hecuba would not have been introduced saying, that Achilles would sell any of her children that he could seize at Samos and Imbros,665) Ionian Samos was not yet colonized (by Ionians), which is evident from its having the same name from one of the islands earlier (called Samos), that had it before; whence this also is clear, that those persons contradict ancient history, who assert, that colonists came from Samos after the Ionian migration, and the arrival of Tembrion, and gave the name of Samos to Samothracé. The Samians invented this story out of vanity. Those are more entitled to credit, who say, that heights arecalled Sami,666and that the island obtained its name from this circumstance, for from thence

“was seen all Ida, the city of Priam, and the ships of the Greeks.”667

But according to some writers, Samos had its name from the Saii, a Thracian tribe, who formerly inhabited it, and who occupied also the adjoining continent, whether they were the same people as the Sapæ, or the Sinti, whom the poet calls Sinties, or a different nation. Archilochus mentions the Saii;

“one of the Saii is exulting in the possession of an honourable shield, which I left against my will near a thicket.”

18. Of the islands subject to Ulysses there remains to be described Zacynthus.668It verges a little more than Cephallenia to the west of Peloponnesus, but approaches closer to it. It is 160 stadia in circumference, and distant from Cephallenia about 60 stadia. It is woody, but fertile, and has a considerable city of the same name. Thence to the Hesperides belonging to Africa are 3300669stadia.

19. To the east of this island, and of Cephallenia, are situated the Echinades670islands; among which is Dulichium, at present called Dolicha, and the islands called Oxeiæ, to which the poet gives the name of Thoæ.671

Dolicha is situated opposite to the Œniadæ, and the mouth of the Achelous: it is distant from Araxus,672the promontory of Elis, 100 stadia. The rest of the Echinades are numerous, they are all barren and rocky, and lie in front of the mouth of the Achelous, the most remote of them at the distance of 15, the nearest at the distance of 5 stadia; they formerly were farther out at sea, but the accumulation of earth, which is brought down in great quantity by the Achelous, has already joined some, and will join others, to the continent. This accumulation of soil anciently formed the tract Paracheloitis, which the river overflows, a subject of contention, as it was continually confounding boundaries, which had been determined by the Acarnanians and the Ætolians. For want of arbitrators they decided their dispute by arms. The mostpowerful gained the victory. This gave occasion to a fable, how Hercules overcame the Achelous in fight, and received in marriage as the prize of his victory, Deïaneira, daughter of Œneus. Sophocles introduces her, saying,

“My suitor was a river, I mean the Achelous, who demanded me of my father under three forms; one while coming as a bull of perfect form, another time as a spotted writhing serpent, at another with the body of a man and the forehead of a bull.”673

Some writers add, that this was the horn of Amaltheia, which Hercules broke off from the Achelous, and presented to Œneus as a bridal gift. Others, conjecturing the truth included in this story, say, that Achelous is reported to have resembled a bull, like other rivers, in the roar of their waters, and the bendings of their streams, which they term horns; and a serpent from its length and oblique course; and bull-fronted because it was compared to a bull’s head; and that Hercules, who, on other occasions, was disposed to perform acts of kindness for the public benefit, so particularly, when he was desirous of contracting an alliance with Œneus, performed for him these services; he prevented the river from overflowing its banks, by constructing mounds and by diverting its streams by canals, and by draining a large tract of the Paracheloïtis, which had been injured by the river; and this is the horn of Amaltheia.

Homer says, that in the time of the Trojan war the Echinades, and the Oxeiæ were subject to Meges,

“son of the hero Phyleus, beloved of Jupiter, who formerly repaired to Dulichium on account of a quarrel with his father.”674

The father of Phyleus was Augeas, king of Elis, and of the Epeii. The Epeii then, who possessed these islands, were those who had migrated to Dulichium with Phyleus.

20. The islands of the Taphii, and formerly of the Teleboæ, among which was Taphus, now called Taphius, were distinct from the Echinades, not separated by distance, (for they lie near one another,) but because they were ranged under different chiefs, Taphii and Teleboæ. In earlier times Amphitryon, in conjunction with Cephalus, the son of Deïoneus, an exile from Athens, attacked, and then delivered them up to the government of Cephalus. But the poet says thatMentes was their chief, and calls them robbers, which was the character of all the Teleboæ.

So much then concerning the islands off Acarnania.

21. Between Leucas and the Ambracian gulf is a sea-lake, called Myrtuntium.675Next to Leucas followed Palærus, and Alyzia, cities of Acarnania, of which Alyzia is distant from the sea 15 stadia. Opposite to it is a harbour sacred to Hercules, and a grove from whence a Roman governor transported to Rome “the labours of Hercules,” the workmanship of Lysippus, which was lying in an unsuitable place, being a deserted spot.676

Next are Crithote,677a promontory, and the Echinades, and Astacus, used in the singular number, a city of the same name as that near Nicomedia, and the Gulf of Astacus, Crithote, a city of the same name as that in the Thracian Chersonesus. All the coast between these places has good harbours. Then follows Œniadæ, and the Achelous; then a lake belonging to the Œniadæ, called Melite, 30 stadia in length, and in breadth 20; then another Cynia, of double the breadth and length of Melite; a third Uria,678much less than either of the former. Cynia even empties itself into the sea; the others are situated above it at the distance of about half a stadium.

Next is the river Evenus, which is distant from Actium 670 stadia.

Then follows the mountain Chalcis, which Artemidorus calls Chalcia; [next Pleuron, then Licyrna, a village, above which in the interior is situated Calydon at the distance of 30 stadia. Near Calydon is the temple of Apollo Laphrius;]679then the mountain Taphiassus; then Macynia, a city; then Molycria, and near it Antirrhium, the boundary of Ætolia and of Locris. To Antirrhium from the Evenus are about 120 stadia.

Artemidorus does not place the mountain, whether Chalcis or Chalcia, between the Achelous and Pleuron, but Apollodorus,as I have said before, places Chalcis and Taphiassus above Molycria; and Calydon between Pleuron and Chalcis. Are we then to place one mountain of the name of Chalcia near Pleuron, and another of the name of Chalcis near Molycria?

Near Calydon is a large lake, abounding with fish. It belongs to the Romans of Patræ.

22. Apollodorus says, that there is in the inland parts of Acarnania, a tribe of Erysichæi, mentioned by Aleman,

“not an Erysichæan, nor a shepherd; but I came from the extremities of Sardis.”

Olenus belonged to Ætolia; Homer mentions it in the Ætolian Catalogue,680but traces alone remain of it near Pleuron below Aracynthus.681

Lysimachia also was near Olenus. This place has disappeared. It was situated upon the lake, the present Lysimachia, formerly Hydra, between Pleuron and the city Arsinoë,682formerly a village of the name of Conopa. It was founded by Arsinoë, wife and also sister of the second Ptolemy. It is conveniently situated above the passage across the Achelous.

Pylene has experienced nearly the same fate as Olenus.

When the poet describes Calydon683as lofty, and rocky, we must understand these epithets as relating to the character of the country. For we have said before, that when they divided the country into two parts, they assigned the mountainous portion and the Epictetus684to Calydon, and the tract of plains to Pleuron.

23. The Acarnanians, and the Ætolians, like many other nations, are at present worn out, and exhausted by continual wars. The Ætolians however, in conjunction with the Acarnanians, during a long period withstood the Macedonians and the other Greeks, and lastly the Romans, in their contest for independence.

But since Homer, and others, both poets and historians, frequently mention them, sometimes in clear and undisputed terms, and sometimes less explicitly, as appears from what we have already said of these people, we must avail ourselves of some of the more ancient accounts, which will supply us witha beginning, or with an occasion of inquiring into what is controverted.

24. First then with respect to Acarnania. We have already said, that it was occupied by Laertes and the Cephallenians; but as many writers have advanced statements respecting the first occupants in terms sufficiently clear, indeed, but contradictory, the inquiry and discussion are left open to us.

They say, that the Taphii and Teleboæ, as they are called, were the first inhabitants of Acarnania, and that their chief, Cephalus, who was appointed by Amphitryon sovereign of the islands about Taphus, was master also of this country. Hence is related of him the fable, that he was the first person who took the reputed leap from Leucatas. But the poet does not say, that the Taphii inhabited Acarnania before the arrival of the Cephallenians and Laertes, but that they were friends of the Ithacenses; consequently, in his time, either they had not the entire command of these places, or had voluntarily retired, or had even become joint settlers.

A colony of certain from Lacedæmon seems to have settled in Acarnania, who were followers of Icarius, father of Penelope, for the poet in the Odyssey represents him and the brothers of Penelope as then living;

“who did not dare to go to the palace of Icarius with a view of his disposing of his daughter in marriage.”685

And with respect to the brothers;

“for now a long time both her father and her brothers were urging her to marry Eurymachus.”686

Nor is it probable that they were living at Lacedæmon, for Telemachus would not, in that case, have been the guest of Menelaus upon his arrival, nor is there a tradition, that they had any other habitation. But they say that Tyndareus and his brother Icarius, after being banished from their own country by Hippocoon, repaired to Thestius, the king of the Pleuronii, and assisted in obtaining possession of a large tract of country on the other side of the Achelous on condition of receiving a portion of it; that Tyndareus, having espoused Leda the daughter of Thestius, returned home; that Icarius continued there in possession of a portion of Acarnania, and had Penelope and her brothers by his wife Polycasta, daughter of Lygæus.

We have shown by the Catalogue of the Ships in Homer, that the Acarnanians were enumerated among the people who took part in the war of Troy; and among these are reckoned the inhabitants of the Acté, and besides these,

“they who occupied Epirus, and cultivated the land opposite.”

But Epirus was never called Acarnania, nor Acté, Leucas.

25. Ephorus does not say that they took part in the expedition against Troy; but he says that Alcmæon, the son of Amphiaraus, who was the companion of Diomede, and the other Epigoni in their expedition, having brought the war against the Thebans to a successful issue, went with Diomede to assist in punishing the enemies of Œneus, and having delivered up Ætolia to Diomede, he himself passed over into Acarnania, which country also he subdued. In the mean time Agamemnon attacked the Argives, and easily overcame them, the greatest part having attached themselves to the followers of Diomede. But a short time afterwards, when the expedition took place against Troy, he was afraid, lest, in his absence with the army, Diomede and his troops should return home, (for there was a rumour that he had collected a large force,) and should regain possession of a territory to which they had the best right, one being the heir of Adrastus, the other of his father. Reflecting then on these circumstances, he invited them to unite in the recovery of Argos, and to take part in the war. Diomede consented to take part in the expedition, but Alcmæon was indignant and refused; whence the Acarnanians were the only people who did not participate in the expedition with the Greeks. The Acarnanians, probably by following this account, are said to have imposed upon the Romans, and to have obtained from them the privilege of an independent state, because they alone had not taken part in the expedition against the ancestors of the Romans, for their names are neither in the Ætolian Catalogue, nor are they mentioned by themselves, nor is their name mentioned anywhere in the poem.

26. Ephorus then having represented Acarnania as subject to Alcmæon before the Trojan war, ascribes to him the foundation of Amphilochian Argos, and says that Acarnania had its name from his son Acarnan, and the Amphilochians from his brother Amphilochus; thus he turns aside to reports contrary to the history in Homer. But Thucydides and otherwriters say, that Amphilochus, on his return from the Trojan expedition, being displeased with the state of affairs at Argos, dwelt in this country; according to some writers, he obtained it by succeeding to the dominions of his brother; others represent it differently. So much then respecting the Acarnanians considered by themselves. We shall now speak of their affairs where they are intermixed in common with those of the Ætolians, and we shall then relate as much of the history of the Ætolians as we proposed to add to our former account of this people.

1.Somewriters reckon the Curetes among the Acarnanians, others among the Ætolians; some allege that they came from Crete, others that they came from Eubœa. Since, however, they are mentioned by Homer, we must first examine his account of them. It is thought that he does not mean the Acarnanians, but the Ætolians, in the following verses, for the sons of Porthaon were,

“Agrius, Melas, and the hero Œneus,These dwelt at Pleuron, and the lofty Calydon,”687

“Agrius, Melas, and the hero Œneus,

These dwelt at Pleuron, and the lofty Calydon,”687

both of which are Ætolian cities, and are mentioned in the Ætolian Catalogue; wherefore since those who inhabited Pleuron appear to be, according to Homer, Curetes, they might be Ætolians. The opponents of this conclusion are misled by the mode of expression in these verses,

“Curetes and Ætolians, firm in battle, were righting for the city Calydon,”688

for neither would he have used appropriate terms if he had said,

“Bœotians and Thebans were contending against each other,”

nor

“Argives and Peloponnesians.”

But we have shown in a former part of this work, that this mode of expression is usual with Homer, and even trite among other poets. This objection then is easily answered. But let the objectors explain, how, if these people were not Ætolians,the poet came to reckon the Pleuronii among the Ætolians.

2. Ephorus, after having asserted that the nation of the Ætolians were never in subjection to any other people, but, from all times of which any memorial remains, their country continued exempt from the ravages of war, both on account of its local obstacles and their own experience in warfare, says, that from the beginning Curetes were in possession of the whole country, but on the arrival of Ætōlus, the son of Endymion, from Elis, who defeated them in various battles, the Curetes retreated to the present Acarnania, and the Ætolians returned with a body of Epeii, and founded ten of the most ancient cities in Ætolia; and in the tenth generation afterwards Elis was founded, in conjunction with that people, by Oxylus, the son of Hæmon, who had passed over from Ætolia. They produce, as proofs of these facts, inscriptions, one sculptured on the base of the statue of Ætolus at Therma in Ætolia, where, according to the custom of the country, they assemble to elect their magistrates;

“this statue of Ætolus, son of Endymion, brought up near the streams of the Alpheius, and in the neighbourhood of the stadia of Olympia, Ætolians dedicated as a public monument of his merits.”

And the other inscription on the statue of Oxylus is in the market-place of Elis;

“Ætolus, having formerly abandoned the original inhabitants of this country, won by the toils of war the land of the Curetes. But Oxylus, the son of Hæmon, the tenth scion of that race, founded this ancient city.”

3. He rightly alleges, as a proof of the affinity subsisting reciprocally between the Eleii and the Ætolians, these inscriptions, both of which recognise not the affinity alone, but also that their founders had established settlers in each other’s country. Whence he clearly convicts those of falsehood who assert, that the Eleii were a colony of Ætolians, and that the Ætolians were not a colony of Eleii. But he seems to exhibit the same inconsistency in his positions here, that we proved689with regard to the oracle at Delphi. For after asserting that Ætolia had never been ravaged by war from all time of which there was any memorial, and saying, that from the first the Curetes were in possession of this country, heought to have inferred from such premises, that the Curetes continued to occupy the country of Ætolia to his days. For in this manner it might be understood never to have been devastated, nor in subjection to any other nation. But forgetting his position, he does not infer this, but the contrary, that Ætolus came from Elis, and having defeated the Curetes in various battles, these people retreated into Acarnania. What else then is there peculiar to the devastation of a country than the defeat of the inhabitants in war and their abandonment of their land, which is evinced by the inscription among the Eleii; for speaking of Ætolus the words are,

“he obtained possession of the country of the Curetes by the continued toils of war.”

4. But perhaps some person may say, that he means Ætolia was not laid waste, reckoning from the time that it had this name after the arrival of Ætolus; but he takes away the ground of this supposition, by saying afterwards, that the greatest part of the people, that remained among the Ætolians, were those called Epeii, with whom Ætolians were afterwards intermingled, who had been expelled from Thessaly together with Bœotians, and possessed the country in common with these people. But is it probable that, without any hostilities, they invaded the country of another nation and divided it among themselves and the original possessors, who did not require such a partition of their land? If this is not probable, is it to be believed that the victors agreed to an equal division of the territory? What else then is devastation of a country, but the conquest of it by arms? Besides, Apollodorus says that, according to history, the Hyantes abandoned Bœotia and came and settled among the Ætolians, and concludes as confident that his opinion is right by saying it is our custom to relate these and similar facts exactly, whenever any of them is altogether dubious, or concerning which erroneous opinions are entertained.

5. Notwithstanding these faults in Ephorus, still he is superior to other writers. Polybius himself, who has studiously given him so much praise, has said that Eudoxus has written well on Grecian affairs, but that Ephorus has given the best account of the foundation of cities, of the relationship subsisting between nations, of changes of settlements, and of leaders of colonies, in these words, “but I shall explain thepresent state of places, both as to position and distances; for this is the peculiar province of chorography.”690

But you, Polybius, who introduce popular hearsay, and rumours on the subject of distances, not only of places beyond Greece, but in Greece itself, have you not been called to answer the charges sometimes of Posidonius, sometimes of Artemidorus, and of many other writers? ought you not therefore to excuse us, and not to be offended, if in transferring into our own work a large part of the historical poets from such writers we commit some errors, and to commend us when we are generally more exact in what we say than others, or supply what they omitted through want of information.

6. With respect to the Curetes, some facts are related which belong more immediately, some more remotely, to the history of the Ætolians and Acarnanians. The facts more immediately relating to them, are those which have been mentioned before, as that the Curetes were living in the country which is now called Ætolia, and that a body of Ætolians under the command of Ætolus came there, and drove them into Acarnania; and these facts besides, that Æolians invaded Pleuronia, which was inhabited by Curetes, and called Curetis, took away their territory, and expelled the possessors.

But Archemachus691of Eubœa says that the Curetes had their settlement at Chalcis, but being continually at war about the plain Lelantum, and finding that the enemy used to seize and drag them by the hair of the forehead, they wore their hair long behind, and cut the hair short in front, whence they had the name of Curetes, (or the shorn,) from cura, (κουρά,) or the tonsure which they had undergone; that they removed to Ætolia, and occupied the places about Pleuron; that others, who lived on the other side of the Achelous, because they kept their heads unshorn, were called Acarnanians.692

But according to some writers each tribe derived its name from some hero;693according to others, that they had thename of Curetes from the mountain Curium,694which is situated above Pleuron, and that this is an Ætolian tribe, like the Ophieis, Agræi, Eurytanes, and many others.

But, as we have before said, when Ætolia was divided into two parts, the country about Calydon was said to be in the possession of Œneus; and a portion of Pleuronia in that of the Porthaonidæ of the branch of Agrius,695for

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