No More Learning

BOOK X.

GREECE.

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.




CHAPTER I.


1. Since Eubœa[537] stretches along the whole of this coast from Sunium
to Thessaly, except the extremity on each side,[538] it 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 Cenæum[539]
to Geræstus. [540] Its 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: Geræstus[542] and Petalia[543] are opposite to
Sunium.

Eubœa then fronts[544] Attica, 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,[546] of 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,[548] as that of Eubœa was derived
from a heroine. [549] But perhaps as a certain cave on the sea-coast
fronting the [CAS. 445] Ægean 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 Eubœa[550] on this account.

It was also called Oché, which is the name of one of the largest
mountains[551] there.

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,[552] a small place situated in the district called Oria
of the Histiæotis, near the mountain Telethrius. [553] He also possessed
Histiæa, Perias, Cerinthus, Ædepsus,[554] and 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. Demosthenes[555] says 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;[557] whence perhaps because the
Ellopians, the former inhabitants, were a mountain tribe,[558] the 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 a city 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,[559] and 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. Carystus[560] lies at the foot of the mountain Oche, and near it are
Styra[561] and Marmarium,[562] where 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,[563] which 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. [564]
These 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. Geræstus[565] is not mentioned by Homer in the Catalogue of the
Ships; it is however mentioned by him elsewhere;[CAS. 447]

“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 Arabians[567] settled 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,[568] when 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,[569] and 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. [570]
The city of the same name as the island is said to have been swallowed
up by an earthquake. [571] It 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
year[574] for hire.

Eretria,[575] formerly, 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,[576] in 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, and [CAS. 448] sixty 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,)[577]
not only at the end, but in the middle of words, which exposed them to
the raillery of comic writers.

Œchalia,[578] a 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,[579] as that in Arcadia, (which later
writers call Andania,) and as that in Ætolia near the Eurytanes.

11. At present Chalcis[580] is 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 Aristotle[581] at 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. [582] For 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 pike[583] answers 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 standing[585] fight, which was also called
close fight,[586] and fight hand to hand. [587] They 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, [CAS. 450] 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,[594] Greeks. 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.




CHAPTER II.


1. Ætolians and Acarnanians border on one another, having between them
the river Achelous,[595] which 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,[596] opposite 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,[597] as we have said, and another near
Lamia. [598] We have also said,[599] that the mouth of this river is
considered by some writers as the commencement of the Corinthian Gulf.

2. The cities of the Acarnanians are, Anactorium, situated upon a
peninsula[600] near Actium, and a mart of Nicopolis, which has been
built in our time; Stratus,[601] to which vessels sail up the Achelous,
a distance of more than 200 stadia; and Œniadæ[602] is 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,[603] Alyzia,[604] Leucas,[605] the
Amphilochian Argos,[606] and Ambracia:[607] most of these, if not all,
are dependent upon Nicopolis.

Stratus lies half-way between Alyzia and Anactorium. [608]

3. To the Ætolians belong both Calydon[609] and 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 Naupactus[610] and Eupalium,[611]
[CAS. 451] is 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,[612] which is
contiguous to Œta. Among the other mountains, more in the middle of the
country, is the Aracynthus,[613] near 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 Molycreia[614] are Taphiassus[615] and Chalcis,[616] mountains 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,[618] and Cephallenia,[619]
which country is Acarnania; so that by the words of the poet,

“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. [CAS. 452] 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 herself[622] from 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. [623] It
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,[CAS.
454]

“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,[641] and 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,[646] and 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 the _climates_. For
this must happen [CAS. 455] during 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
northern _climate_, nor where it commences;[647] and if this is so,
neither can you distinguish the contrary _climate_.

The circuit of Ithaca is about 80[648] stadia. 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]

Taphos is now called Taphius. [650] Nor 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]

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
Chelonatas[654] of 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,[655] on 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. [656] Cranii[657] and Paleis[658] are situated near the straits in
the Gulf.

16. Between Ithaca and Cephallenia is the small island [CAS. 457]
Asteria,[659] or 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 Samos[664] at 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 are called Sami,[666]
and 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. [668] It 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 3300[669] stadia.

19. To the east of this island, and of Cephallenia, are situated the
Echinades[670] islands; 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,[672] the 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 most [CAS. 458] powerful 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 that Mentes 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. [675] Next 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,[677] a 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,[678] much 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;][679] then 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, [CAS. 460] 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,[680] but 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,[682] formerly 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 Calydon[683] as 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 Epictetus[684] to
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 with a 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 [CAS. 461] 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 other
writers 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.




CHAPTER III.


1. Some writers 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]

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, [CAS. 463] 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 proved[689] with 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, he ought 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 the
[CAS. 465] present 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 Archemachus[691] of 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;[693] according to others, that they had the name of Curetes from
the mountain Curium,[694] which 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,[695] for

“they dwelt at Pleuron, and the lofty Calydon. ”[696]

Thestius however, father-in-law of Œneus, and father of Althæa, chief of
the Curetes, was master of Pleuronia. But when war broke out between the
Thestiadæ, Œneus, and Meleager about a boar’s head and skin, according
to the poet,[697] following the fable concerning the boar of Calydon,
but, as is probable, the dispute related to a portion of the territory;
the words are these,

“Curetes and Ætolians, firm in battle, fought against
one another. ”[698]

These then are the facts more immediately connected (with geography).

7. There[699] are others more remote from the subject of this [CAS.
466] work, which have been erroneously placed by historians under one
head on account of the sameness of name: for instance, accounts relating
to “Curetic affairs” and “concerning the Curetes” have been considered
as identical with accounts “concerning the people (of the same name) who
inhabited Ætolia and Acarnania. ” But the former differ from the latter,
and resemble rather the accounts which we have of Satyri and Silenes,
Bacchæ and Tityri; for the Curetes are represented as certain dæmons, or
ministers of the gods, by those who have handed down the traditions
respecting Cretan and Phrygian affairs, and which involve certain
religious rites, some mystical, others the contrary, relative to the
nurture of Jupiter in Crete; the celebration of orgies in honour of the
mother of the gods, in Phrygia, and in the neighbourhood of the Trojan
Ida. There is however a very great variety[700] in these accounts.
According to some, the Corybantes, Cabeiri, Idæan Dactyli, and Telchines
are represented as the same persons as the Curetes; according to others,
they are related to, yet distinguished from, each other by some slight
differences; but to describe them in general terms and more at length,
they are inspired with an enthusiastic and Bacchic frenzy, which is
exhibited by them as ministers at the celebration of the sacred rites,
by inspiring terror with armed dances, accompanied with the tumult and
noise of cymbals, drums, and armour, and with the sound of pipes and
shouting; so that these sacred ceremonies are nearly the same as those
that are performed among the Samothracians in Lemnus, and in many other
places; since the ministers of the god are said to be the same. [701] The
whole of this kind of discussion is of a theological nature, and is not
alien to the contemplation of the philosopher.

8. But since even the historians, through the similarity of the name
Curetes, have collected into one body a mass of dissimilar facts, I
myself do not hesitate to speak of them at length by way of digression,
adding the physical considerations which belong to the history. [702]
Some writers however endeavour to reconcile one account with the other,
and perhaps they have some degree of probability in their favour.