CHAPTER II.

“Altes, king of the war-loving Leleges, governsThe lofty Pedasus on the river Satnioeis:”1451

“Altes, king of the war-loving Leleges, governs

The lofty Pedasus on the river Satnioeis:”1451

the spot exists but there is no city. Some read, but incorrectly, “below Satnioeis,” as if the city lay at the foot of a mountain called Satnioeis; yet there is no mountain there called Satnioeis, but a river, on which the city is placed. The city is at present deserted. The poet mentions the river;

“Ajax pierced with his spear Satnius, the son of Œnops, whom the beautiful nymph Naïs bore to Œnops, when he tended herds on the banks of the Satnioeis.”1452

And in another place;

“Œnops dwelt on the banks of the smooth-flowing SatnioeisIn lofty Pedasus.”1453

“Œnops dwelt on the banks of the smooth-flowing Satnioeis

In lofty Pedasus.”1453

Later writers called it Satioeis, and some writers Saphnioeis. It is a great winter torrent, which the poet, by mentioning it, made remarkable. These places are continuous with the districts Dardania and Scepsia, and are as it were another Dardania, but lower than the former.

51. The country comprised in the districts of Antandria, Cebrene, Neandria, and the Hamaxitus, as far as the sea opposite to Lesbos, now belongs to the people of Assus and Gargara.1454

The Neandrians are situated above Hamaxitus on this side Lectum, but more towards the interior, and nearer to Ilium, from which they are distant 130 stadia. Above these people are the Cebrenii, and above the Cebrenii the Dardanii, extending as far as Palæscepsis, and even to Scepsis.

The poet Alcæus calls Antandrus a city of the Leleges:

“First is Antandrus, a city of the Leleges.”

Demetrius of Scepsis places it among the adjacent cities, so that it might be in the country of the Cilicians, for these people are rather to be regarded as bordering upon the Leleges,having as their boundary the southern side of Mount Ida. These however are situated low down, and approach nearer the sea-coast at Adramyttium. After Lectum, at the distance of 40 stadia is Polymedium,1455a stronghold; then at the distance of 80 stadia Assus, situated a little above the sea; next at 140 stadia Gargara, which is situated on a promontory, which forms the gulf, properly called the gulf of Adramyttium. For the whole of the sea-coast from Lectum to Canæ, and the Elaïtic bay, is comprised under the same name, the gulf of Adramyttium. This, however, is properly called the Adramyttene gulf, which is enclosed within the promontory on which Gargara stands, and that called the promontory Pyrrha,1456on which is a temple of Venus. The breadth of the entrance forms a passage across from promontory to promontory of 120 stadia. Within it is Antandrus,1457with a mountain above it, which is called Alexandreia, where it is said the contest between the goddesses was decided by Paris; and Aspaneus, the depository of the timber cut from the forests of Ida; it is here that wood is brought down and disposed of to those who want it.

Next is Astyra, a village and grove sacred to Artemis Astyrene. Close to it is Adramyttium, a city founded by a colony of Athenians, with a harbour, and a station for vessels. Beyond the gulf and the promontory Pyrrha is Cisthene, a deserted city with a harbour. Above it in the interior is a copper mine, Perperena, Trarium, and other similar settlements.

On this coast after Cisthene are the villages of the Mitylenæans, Coryphantis and Heracleia; next to these is Attea; then Atarneus,1458Pitane,1459and the mouths of the Caïcus. These, however, belong to the Elaïtic gulf. On the opposite side of the Caïcus are Elæa,1460and the remainder of the gulf as far as Canæ.

We shall resume our description of each place, lest we should have omitted any one that is remarkable. And first with regard to Scepsis.

52. Palæscepsis is situated above Cebrene towards the most elevated part of Ida near Polichna. It had the name ofScepsis1461either for some other reason or because it was within view of the places around, if we may be allowed to derive words then in use among Barbarians from the Greek language. Afterwards the inhabitants were transferred to the present Scepsis, 60 stadia lower down, by Scamandrius, the son of Hector, and by Ascanius, the son of Æneas; these two families reigned, it is said, a long time at Scepsis. They changed the form of government to an oligarchy; afterwards the Milesians united with the Scepsians, and formed a democracy.1462The descendants of these families had nevertheless the name of kings, and held certain dignities. Antigonus incorporated the Scepsians with the inhabitants of Alexandreia (Troas); Lysimachus dissolved this union, and they returned to their own country.

53. The Scepsian (Demetrius) supposes that Scepsis was the palace of Æneas, situated between the dominion of Æneas and Lyrnessus, where, it is said, he took refuge when pursued by Achilles.

“Remember you not,” says Achilles, “how I chased you when alone and apart from the herds, with swift steps, from the heights of Ida, thence indeed you escaped to Lyrnessus; but I took and destroyed it.”1463

Present traditions respecting Æneas do not agree with the story respecting the first founders of Scepsis. For it is said that he was spared on account of his hatred to Priam:

“he ever bore hatred to Priam, for never had Priam bestowed any honour upon him for his valour.”1464

His companion chiefs, the Antenoridæ, and Antenor, and myself, escaped on account of the hospitality which the latter had shown to Menelaus.

Sophocles, in his play, The Capture of Troy, says, that a panther’s skin was placed before Antenor’s door as a signal that his house should be spared from plunder. Antenor andhis four sons, together with the surviving Heneti, are said to have escaped into Thrace, and thence into Henetica on the Adriatic;1465but Æneas, with his father Anchises and his son Ascanius, are said to have collected a large body of people, and to have set sail. Some writers say that he settled about the Macedonian Olympus; according to others he founded Capuæ,1466near Mantineia in Arcadia, and that he took the name of the city from Capys. There is another account, that he disembarked at Ægesta1467in Sicily, with Elymus, a Trojan, and took possession of Eryx1468and Lilybæus,1469and called the rivers about Ægesta Scamander and Simoïs; that from Sicily he went to Latium, and settled there in obedience to an oracle enjoining him to remain wherever he should eat his table. This happened in Latium, near Lavinium, when a large cake of bread which was set down instead of, and for want of, a table, was eaten together with the meat that was laid upon it.

Homer does not agree either with these writers or with what is said respecting the founders of Scepsis. For he represents Æneas as remaining at Troy, succeeding to the kingdom, and delivering the succession to his children’s children after the extinction of the race of Priam:

“the son of Saturn hated the family of Priam: henceforward Æneas shall reign over the Trojans, and his children’s children to late generations.”1470

In this manner not even the succession of Scamandrius could be maintained. He disagrees still more with those writers who speak of his wanderings as far as Italy, and make him end his days in that country. Some write the verse thus:

“The race of Æneas and his children’s children,” meaning the Romans,“shall rule over all nations.”

“The race of Æneas and his children’s children,” meaning the Romans,

“shall rule over all nations.”

54. The Socratic philosophers, Erastus, Coriscus, and Neleus, the son of Coriscus, a disciple of Aristotle, and Theophrastus, were natives of Scepsis. Neleus succeeded to the possession of the library of Theophrastus, which included that of Aristotle; for Aristotle gave his library, and left his school,to Theophrastus. Aristotle1471was the first person with whom we are acquainted who made a collection of books, and suggested to the kings of Ægypt the formation of a library. Theophrastus left his library to Neleus, who carried it to Scepsis, and bequeathed it to some ignorant persons who kept the books locked up, lying in disorder. When the Scepsians understood that the Attalic kings, on whom the city was dependent, were in eager search for books, with which they intended to furnish the library at Pergamus, they hid theirs in an excavation under-ground; at length, but not before they had been injured by damp and worms, the descendants of Neleus sold the books of Aristotle and Theophrastus for a large sum of money to Apellicon of Teos. Apellicon1472was rather a lover of books than a philosopher; when therefore he attempted to restore the parts which had been eaten and corroded by worms, he made alterations in the original text and introduced them into new copies; he moreover supplied the defective parts unskilfully, and published the books full of errors. It was the misfortune of the ancient Peripatetics, those after Theophrastus, that being wholly unprovided with the books of Aristotle, with the exception of a few only, and those chiefly of the exoteric1473kind, they were unable to philosophize accordingto the principles of the system, and merely occupied themselves in elaborate discussions on common places. Their successors however, from the time that these books were published, philosophized, and propounded the doctrine of Aristotle more successfully than their predecessors, but were under the necessity of advancing a great deal as probable only, on account of the multitude of errors contained in the copies.

Even Rome contributed to this increase of errors; for immediately on the death of Apellicon, Sylla, who captured Athens, seized the library of Apellicon. When it was brought to Rome, Tyrannion,1474the grammarian, who was an admirer of Aristotle, courted the superintendent of the library and obtained the use of it. Some vendors of books, also, employed bad scribes and neglected to compare the copies with the original. This happens in the case of other books which are copied for sale both here and at Alexandreia.

This may suffice on this subject.

55. Demetrius the grammarian, whom we have frequently mentioned, was a native of Scepsis. He composed a comment on the catalogue of the Trojan forces. He was contemporary with Crates and Aristarchus. He was succeeded by Metrodorus,1475who changed from being a philosopher toengage in public affairs. His writings are for the most part in the style of the rhetoricians. He employed a new and striking kind of phraseology. Although he was poor, yet, in consequence of the reputation which he had acquired, he married a rich wife at Chalcedon, and acquired the surname of the Chalcedonian. He paid great court to Mithridates Eupator, whom he accompanied with his wife on a voyage to Pontus, and received from him distinguished honours. He was appointed to preside over a tribunal where the party condemned by the judge had no power of appeal to the king. His prosperity however was not lasting, for he incurred the enmity of some very unjust persons, and deserted from the king at the very time that he was despatched on an embassy to Tigranes the Armenian. Tigranes sent him back much against his inclination to Eupator, who was then flying from his hereditary kingdom. Metrodorus died on the road, either in consequence of orders from the king, or by natural disease, for both causes of his death are stated.

So much then respecting Scepsis.

56. Next to Scepsis are Andeira, Pioniæ, and Gargaris. There is found at Andeira a stone, which when burnt becomes iron. It is then put into a furnace together with some kind of earth, when it distils a mock silver, (Pseudargyrum,) or with the addition of copper it becomes the compound called oreichalcum. There is found a mock silver near Tmolus also. These places and those about Assus were occupied by the Leleges.

57. Assus is a strong place, and well fortified with walls. There is a long and perpendicular ascent from the sea and the harbour, so that the verse of Stratonicus the citharist seems to be applicable to it;

“Go to Assus, if you mean to reach quickly the confines of death.”

The harbour is formed of a large mole.

Cleanthes, the Stoic philosopher, was a native of this place. He succeeded to the school of Zeno of Citium, and left it to Chrysippus of Soli. Here also Aristotle resided for some time, on account of his relationship to Hermeas the tyrant. Hermeas was an eunuch, servant of a money-changer. When he was at Athens he was the hearer both of Plato and of Aristotle. On his return he became the associate in the tyranny of his master, who attacked the places near Atarneus and Assus. He afterwards succeeded his master, sent for both Aristotle and Xenocrates, and treated them with kindness. He even gave his niece in marriage to Aristotle. But Memnon of Rhodes, who was at that time general in the service of the Persians, invited to his house Hermeas, under the mask of friendship, and on pretence of business. He seized Hermeas, and sent him to the king, who ordered him to be hanged. The philosophers, avoiding places in possession of the Persians, escaped by flight.

58. Myrsilus says that Assus was founded by Methymnæans; but according to Hellanicus it was an Æolian city, like Gargara and Lamponia of the Æolians. Gargara1476was founded from Assus; it was not well peopled, for the kings introduced settlers from Miletopolis,1477which they cleared of its inhabitants,so that Demetrius the Scepsian says that, instead of being Æolians, the people became semi-barbarians. In the time of Homer all these places belonged to Leleges, whom some writers represent as Carians, but Homer distinguishes them,

“Near the sea are Carians, and Pæonians with curved bows, Leleges, and Caucones.”1478

The Leleges were therefore a different people from the Carians, and lived between the people subject to Æneas and the Cilicians, as they are called by the poet. After being plundered by Achilles, they removed to Caria, and occupied the country about the present Halicarnassus.

59. Pedasus, the city which they abandoned, is no longer in existence. But in the interior of the country belonging to the people of Halicarnassus there was a city called by them Pedasa, and the territory has even now the name of Pedasis. It is said that this district contained eight cities, occupied by the Leleges, who were formerly so populous a nation as to possess Caria as far as Myndus, Bargylia, and a great part of Pisidia. In later times, when they united with the Carians in their expeditions, they were dispersed throughout the whole of Greece, and the race became extinct.

Mausolus, according to Callisthenes, assembled in Halicarnassus1479alone the inhabitants of six out of the eight cities, but allowed Suangela and Myndus to remain untouched. Herodotus1480relates that whenever anything unfortunate was about to befall the inhabitants of Pedasus1481and the neighbourhood a beard appeared on the face of the priestess of Minerva, and that this happened three times.

There is now existing in the territory of the Stratoniceis1482a small town called Pedasum. There are to be seen throughout the whole of Caria and at Miletus sepulchres, and fortifications, and vestiges of settlements of the Leleges.

60. The tract of sea-coast following next after the Leleges was occupied, according to Homer, by Cilicians, but at present it is occupied by Adramytteni, Atarneitæ, and Pitanæi as far as the mouth of the Caïcus. The Cilicians were divided intotwo dynasties, as we have before said,1483the head of one was Eetion, the other Mynes.

61. Homer says that Thebe was the city of Eetion;

“We went to Thebe, the sacred city of Eetion.”1484

To him also belonged Chrysa, which contained the temple of Apollo Smintheus, for Chryseïs was taken from Thebe;

“We went,”

he says,

“to Thebe, ravaged it, and carried everything away; the sons of the Achæans divided the booty among themselves, but selected for Atrides the beautiful Chryseïs.”

Lyrnessus he calls the city of Mynes, for

“having plundered Lyrnessus, and destroyed the walls of Thebe,”1485

Achilles slew Mynes and Epistrophus, so that when Bryseïs says,

“you suffered me not to weep when the swift Achilles slew my husband, and laid waste the city of the divine Mynes,”1486

the poet cannot mean Thebe, for that belonged to Eetion, but Lyrnessus, for both cities lay in what was afterwards called the plain of Thebe, which, on account of its fertility, was a subject of contest among the Mysians and Lydians formerly, and latterly among the Greeks who had migrated from Æolis and Lesbos. At present Adramytteni possess the greater part of it; there are Thebe and Lyrnessus, a strong place, but both are deserted. One is situated at the distance of 60 stadia from Adramyttium on one side, and the other 88 stadia on the other side.

62. In the Adramyttene district are Chrysa and Cilla. There is at present near Thebe a place called Cilla, in which is a temple of Apollo Cillæus. Beside it runs a river, which comes from Mount Ida. These places are near Antandria. The Cillæum in Lesbos has its name from this Cilla. There is also a mountain Cillæum between Gargara and Antandrus. Daes of Colonæ says that the temple of Apollo Cillæus was founded at Colonæ by the Æolians, who came by sea from Greece. At Chrysa also it is said that there is a Cillæan Apollo, but it is uncertain whether it is the same as Apollo Smintheus, or a different statue.

63. Chrysa is a small town on the sea-coast with a harbour. Near and above it is Thebe. Here was the temple of Apollo Smintheus, and here Chryseïs lived. The place at present is entirely abandoned. To the present Chrysa, near Hamaxitus, was transferred the temple of the Cilicians, one party of whom went to Pamphylia, the other to Hamaxitus. Those who are not well acquainted with ancient histories say that Chryses and Chryseïs lived there, and that Homer mentions the place. But there is no harbour at this place, yet Homer says,

“but when they entered the deep harbour,”1487—

nor is the temple on the sea-coast, but Homer places it there;

“Chryseïs left the ship; then the sage Ulysses, leading her to the altar, placed her in the hands of her beloved father.”1488

Nor is it near Thebe, but it is near it, according to Homer, for he says, that Chryseïs was taken away from thence.

Nor is there any place of the name of Cilla in the district of the Alexandreia, (Troas,) nor a temple of Apollo Cillæus, whereas the poet joins them together:

“who art the guardian of Chrysa, and the divine Cilla.”1489

But it is in the plain of Thebe that they are seen near together. The voyage from the Cilician Chrysa to the Naustathmus (or naval station) is about 700 stadia, and occupies a day, which is as much as Ulysses seems to have completed; for immediately upon leaving the vessel he offers sacrifice to the god, and being overtaken by the evening, remains there. In the morning he sets sail. It is scarcely a third of the above-mentioned distance from Hamaxitus, so that Ulysses could have performed his sacrifice and have returned to the Naustathmus the same day. There is also a monument of Cillus, a large mound, near the temple of Apollo Cillæus. He is said to have been the charioteer of Pelops, and to have had the chief command in these parts. Perhaps the country Cilicia had its name from him, or he had his from the country.

64. The story about the Teucri, and the mice from whom the name of Smintheus is derived, (for mice are called Sminthii,) must be transferred to this place.

They excuse the derivation of titles from insignificant objects by examples of this kind; as from the parnopes, which the Œtæans call cornopes, Hercules had a surname, and was worshipped under the title of Hercules Cornopion, because he had delivered them from locusts. So the Erythræans, who live near the river Melius, worship Hercules Ipoctonus, because he destroyed the ipes, or worms, which are destructive to vines; for this pest is found everywhere except in the country of the Erythræans. The Rhodians have in the island a temple of Apollo Erythibius, so called from erysibe, (mildew,) and which they call erythibe. Among the Æolians in Asia one of their months is called Pornopion, for this name the Bœotians give to parnopes, (locusts,) and a sacrifice is performed to Apollo Pornopion.

65. The country about Adramyttium is Mysia. It was once subject to Lydians, and there are now Pylæ Lydiæ (or the Lydian Gates) at Adramyttium, the city having been founded, it is said, by Lydians.

Astyra also, the village near Adramyttium, is said to belong to Mysia. It was once a small city, in which was the temple of Artemis Astyrene, situated in a grove. The Antandrians, in whose neighbourhood it is more immediately situated, preside over it with great solemnity. It is distant 20 stadia from the ancient Chrysa, which also has a temple in a grove. There too is the Rampart of Achilles. At the distance of 50 stadia in the interior is Thebe, uninhabited, which the poet says was situated below the woody Placus. But there is neither Placus nor Plax there, nor a wood above it, although near Ida.

Thebe is distant from Astyra 70, and from Andeira 60 stadia. All these are names of uninhabited places, or thinly inhabited, or of rivers which are torrents. But they owe their fame to ancient history.

66. Assus and Adramyttium are considerable cities. Adramyttium was unfortunate in the Mithridatic war, for Diodorus the general, in order to gratify the king, put to death the council of the citizens, although at the same time he pretended to be a philosopher of the Academy, pleaded causes, and professed to teach rhetoric. He accompanied the king on his voyage to Pontus, but upon his overthrow Diodorus was punished for his crimes. Many accusations were simultaneouslypreferred against him: but, unable to endure the disgrace, he basely destroyed himself in my native city by abstaining from food.

Adramyttium produced Xenocles, a distinguished orator, who adopted the Asiatic style of eloquence and was remarkable for the vehemence of his manner; he defended Asia before the senate, at the time when that province was accused of favouring the party of Mithridates.

67. Near Astyra is a lake called Sapra, full of deep holes, that empties itself by a ravine among ridges of rocks on the coast. Below Andeira is a temple dedicated to the Andeirenian mother of the gods, and a cave with a subterraneous passage extending to Palæa. Palæa is a settlement distant 130 stadia from Andeira. A goat, which fell into the opening, discovered the subterraneous passage. It was found at Andeira the next day, accidentally, by the shepherd, who had gone there to a sacrifice.

Atarneus1490is the royal seat of Hermeas the tyrant. Next is Pitane, an Æolian city, with two harbours, and the river Euenus flowing beside it, which supplies the aqueduct of the Adramyttium with water.

Arcesilaus of the Academy was a native of Pitane, and a fellow-disciple of Zeno of Citium in the school of Polemo.

There is a place in Pitane called “Atarneus under Pitane,” opposite to the island called Elæussa.

It is said that at Pitane bricks float upon the water, as was the case with a small island1491in Tyrrhenia, for the earth, being lighter than an equal bulk of water, swims upon it. Poseidonius says, that he saw in Spain bricks made of an argillaceous earth (with which silver vessels are cleansed) floating upon water.

After Pitane the Caïcus1492empties itself, at the distance of 30 stadia from it, into the Elaïtic bay. Beyond the Caïcus, at the distance of 12 stadia from the river, is Elæa, an Æolian city; it is the arsenal of Pergamum, and distant from it 120 stadia.

68. At 100 stadia farther is Cane, the promontory opposite to Lectum, and forming the gulf of Adramyttium, of which the Elaïtic Gulf is a part. Canæ is a small city of the Locrians who came from Cynus; it is situated in the Canæan territory, opposite the most southerly extremities of Lesbos. This territory extends to the Arginusæ, and the promontory above, which some call Aiga, or the goat. The second syllable however must be pronounced long, Aigan, like Actan and Archan, for this was the name of the whole mountain, which at present is called Cane, or Canæ.1493The sea surrounds the mountain on the south and west; towards the east the plain of Caïcus lies below, and on the north the Elaïtic district. The mountain itself is very much contracted. It inclines indeed towards the Ægæan Sea, from which it has the name (Æga), but afterwards the promontory itself was called Æga, the name which Sappho gives it, and then Cane and Canæ.

69. Between Elæa, Pitane, Atarneus, and Pergamum on this side the Caïcus, is Teuthrania, distant from none of these places above 70 stadia. Teuthras is said to have been king of the Cilicians and Mysians. According to Euripides, Auge, with her son Telephus, was enclosed in a chest and thrown into the sea, by command of her father Aleus, who discovered that she had been violated by Hercules. By the care of Minerva the chest crossed the sea, and was cast ashore at the mouth of the Caïcus. Teuthras took up the mother and her son, married the former, and treated the latter as his own child. This is a fable, but another concurrence of circumstances is wanting to explain how the daughter of the Arcadian became the wife of the king of the Mysians, and how her son succeeded to the throne of the Mysians. It is however believed that Teuthras and Telephus governed the country lying about Teuthrania and the Caïcus, but the poet mentions a few particulars only of this history:

“as when he slew the son of Telephus, the hero Eurypylus, and many of his companions, the Cetæi, were killed around him for the sake of the gifts of women.”1494

Homer here rather proposes an enigma than a clear meaning. For we do not know who the Cetæi were, nor what people we are to understand by this name, nor what is meant by the words, “for the sake of the gifts of women.”1495Grammarians adduce and compare with this other stories, but they indulge in invention rather than solve the difficulty.

70. Let us dismiss this doubtful matter, and turn to what is more certain; for instance, according to Homer, Eurypylus appears to have been king of the places about the Caïcus, so that perhaps a part of the Cilicians were his subjects, and that there were not only two but three dynasties among that people.

This opinion is supported by the circumstance that in the Elaïtis there is a small river, like a winter torrent, of the name of Ceteium. This falls into another like it, then againinto another, but all discharge themselves into the Caïcus. The Caïcus does not flow from Ida, as Bacchylides says, nor does Euripides say correctly that Marsyas

“inhabited the famous Celænæ, at the extremity of Ida,”

for Celænæ is at a great distance from Ida, and so are the sources of the Caïcus, for they are to be seen in the plain.

There is a mountain, Temnum, which separates this and the plain of Asia; it lies in the interior above the plain of Thebe. A river, Mysius, flows from Temnum and enters the Caïcus below its source. Hence some persons suppose that Æschylus refers to it in the beginning of the prologue to the play of the Myrmidons,

“Caïcus, and ye Mysian streams”—

Near its source is a village called Gergitha, to which Attalus transferred the inhabitants of Gergitha in the Troad, after destroying their own town.

1.SinceLesbos, a very remarkable island, lies along and opposite to the sea-coast, extending from Lectum to Canæ, and since it is surrounded by small islands, some of which lie beyond it, others in the space between Lesbos and the continent, it is now proper to describe them, because they are Æolian places, and Lesbos is, as it were, the capital of the Æolian cities. We shall begin where we set out to describe the coast opposite to the island.

2. In sailing from Lectum to Assus the Lesbian district begins opposite to Sigrium,1496its northern promontory. Somewhere there is Methymna,1497a city of the Lesbians, 60 stadia from the coast, between Polymedium and Assus. The whole island is 1100 stadia in circumference. The particulars are these.

From Methymna to Malia,1498the most southern promontory to those who have the island on their right hand, and to which Canæ1499lies directly opposite, are 340 stadia. Thenceto Sigrium, which is the length of the island, 560 stadia, thence to Methymna 210 stadia.1500

Mitylene, the largest city, lies between Methymna and Malia, at the distance from Malia of 70 stadia, and from Canæ of 120, and as many from the Arginussæ islands,1501which are three small islands near the continent, and situated near Canæ. In the interval between Mitylene and Methymna, at a village called Ægeirus in the Methymnæan territory, is the narrowest part of the island, having a passage of 20 stadia to the Pyrrhæan Euripus.1502Pyrrha1503is situated on the western side of Lesbos, at the distance of 100 stadia from Malia.

Mitylene has two harbours; of which the southern is a closed harbour for triremes, and capable of holding 50 vessels. The northern harbour is large, and deep, and protected by a mole. In front of both lies a small island, which contains a part of the city. Mitylene is well provided with everything.

3. It formerly produced celebrated men, as Pittacus, one of the Seven Wise Men; Alcæus the poet, and his brother Antimenidas, who, according to Alcæus, when fighting on the side of the Babylonians, achieved a great exploit, and extricated them from their danger by killing

“a valiant warrior, the king’s wrestler, who was four cubits in height.”

Contemporary with these persons flourished Sappho, an extraordinary woman; for at no period within memory has any woman been known at all to be compared to her in poetry.

At this period Mitylene was ruled by many tyrants, in consequence of the dissensions among the citizens. These dissensions are the subject of the poems of Alcæus called Stasiotica (the Seditions). One of these tyrants was Pittacus: Alcæus inveighed against him as well as against Myrsilus, Megalagyrus1504the Cleanactidæ, and some others; nor was hehimself clear from the imputation of favouring these political changes. Pittacus himself employed monarchical power to dissolve the despotism of the many, but, having done this, he restored the independence of the city.

At a late period afterwards appeared Diophanes the rhetorician; in our times Potamo, Lesbocles, Crinagoras, and Theophanes the historian.1505The latter was versed in political affairs, and became the friend of Pompey the Great, chiefly on account of his accomplishments and assistance he afforded in directing to a successful issue all his enterprises. Hence, partly by means of Pompey, partly by his own exertions, he became an ornament to his country, and rendered himself the most illustrious of all the Grecians. He left a son, Mark Pompey, whom Augustus Cæsar appointed prefect of Asia, and who is now reckoned among the number of the chief friends of Tiberius.

The Athenians were in danger of incurring irremediable disgrace by passing a decree that all the Mitylenæans who had attained the age of puberty should be put to death. They, however, recalled their resolution, and the counter-decree reached their generals only one day before the former order was to be executed.

4. Pyrrha is in ruins. But the suburb is inhabited, and has a port, whence to Mitylene is a passage of 80 stadia. Next after Pyrrha is Eressus.1506It is situated upon a hill, and extends to the sea. Thence to Sigrium 28 stadia.

Eressus was the birth-place of Theophrastus, and of Phanias, Peripatetic philosophers, disciples of Aristotle. Theophrastus was called Tyrtamus before his name was changed by Aristotle to Theophrastus, thus getting rid of the cacophony of the former name, and at the same time expressing thebeauty of his elocution, for Aristotle made all his disciples eloquent, but Theophrastus the most eloquent of them all.

Antissa1507is next to Sigrium. It is a city with a harbour. Then follows Methymna, of which place Arion was a native, who, as Herodotus relates the story, after having been thrown into the sea by pirates, escaped safe to Tænarus on the back of a dolphin. He played on the cithara and sang to it. Terpander, who practised the same kind of music, was a native of this island. He was the first person that used the lyre with seven instead of four strings, as is mentioned in the verses attributed to him:

“we have relinquished the song adapted to four strings, and shall cause new hymns to resound on a seven-stringed cithara.”

The historian Hellanicus, and Callias, who has commented on Sappho and Alcæus, were Lesbians.

5. Near the strait situated between Asia and Lesbos there are about twenty small islands, or, according to Timosthenes, forty. They are called Hecatonnesoi,1508a compound name like Peloponnesus, the letter N being repeated by custom in such words as Myonnesus, Proconnesus, Halonnesus, so that Hecatonnesoi is of the same import as Apollonnesoi, since Apollo is called Hecatus;1509for along the whole of this coast, as far as Tenedos, Apollo is held in the highest veneration, and worshipped under the names of Smintheus, Cillæus, Gryneus, or other appellations.

Near these islands is Pordoselene, which contains a city of the same name, and in front of this city is another island1510larger than this, and a city of the same name, uninhabited, in which there is a temple of Apollo.

6. Some persons, in order to avoid the indecorum couched in these names,1511say that we ought to read in that place Poroselene, and to call Aspordenum, the rocky and barren mountain near Pergamum, Asporenum, and the temple there of the mother of the gods the temple of the Asporene mother of the gods; what then are we to say to the names Pordalis, Saperdes,Perdiccas, and to this word in the verse of Simonides, “with clothes dripping with wet,” (πορδάκοισιν for διαβρόχοις,) and in the old comedy somewhere, “the country is πορδακόν, for λιμνάζον, or ‘marshy.’”

Lesbos is at the same distance, rather less than 500 stadia, from Tenedos, Lemnos, and Chios.

1.Sincethere subsisted so great an affinity among the Leleges and Cilicians with the Trojans, the reason is asked, why these people are not included in Homer’s Catalogue. Perhaps it is that, on account of the loss of their leaders and the devastation of the cities, the few Cilicians that were left placed themselves under the command of Hector. For Eetion and his sons are said to have been killed before the Catalogue is mentioned;

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