No More Learning

Antimachus, however, says,

“There is a great goddess Nemesis, who has received all these
things from the immortals. Adrastus first raised an altar to
her honour on the banks of the river Æsepus, where she is
worshipped under the name of Adrasteia. ”

14. The city of Parium lies upon the sea, with a harbour larger than
that of Priapus, and has been augmented from the latter city; for the
Pariani paid court to the Attalic kings, to whom Priapene was subject,
and, by their permission, appropriated to themselves a large part of
that territory.

It is here the story is related that the Ophiogeneis have some affinity
with the serpent tribe (τοὺς ὄφεις). They say that the males of the
Ophiogeneis have the power of curing persons bitten by serpents by
touching them without intermission, after the manner of the enchanters.
They first transfer to themselves the livid colour occasioned by the
bite, and then cause the inflammation and pain to subside. According
to the fable, the founder of the race of Ophiogeneis, a hero, was
transformed from a serpent into a man. He was perhaps one of the
African Psylli. The power continued in the race for some time.

Parium was founded by Milesians, Erythræans, and Parians.

15. Pitya is situated in Pityus in the Parian district, and having
above it a mountain abounding with pine trees (πιτυῶδες); it is between
Parium and Priapus, near Linum, a place upon the sea, where the
Linusian cockles are taken, which excel all others.

16. In the voyage along the coast from Parium to Priapus are the ancient
and the present Proconnesus,[1360] with a city, and a large quarry of
white marble, which is much esteemed. The most beautiful works in the
cities in these parts, and particularly those in Cyzicus, are
constructed of this stone.

Aristeas, the writer of the poems called Arimaspeian, the greatest of
impostors, was of Proconnesus.

17. With respect to the mountain Tereia, some persons say that it is the
range of mountains in Peirossus, which the Cyziceni occupy, contiguous
to Zeleia, among which was a royal chase for the Lydian, and afterwards
for the Persian, kings. Others say that it was a hill forty stadia from
Lampsacus, on which was a temple sacred to the mother of the gods,
surnamed Tereia.

18. Lampsacus, situated on the sea, is a considerable city with a good
harbour, and, like Abydos, supports its state well. It is distant from
Abydos about 170 stadia. It had formerly, as they say Chios had, the
name of Pityusa. On the opposite territory in Cherronesus is
Callipolis,[1361] a small town. It is situated upon the shore, which
projects so far towards Asia opposite to Lampsacus that the passage
across does not exceed 40 stadia.

19. In the interval between Lampsacus and Parium was Pæsus, a city, and
a river Pæsus. [1362] The city was razed, and the Pæseni, who, as well as
the Lampsaceni, were a colony of Milesians, removed to Lampsacus. The
poet mentions the city with the addition of the first syllable,

“and the country of Apæsus;”[1363]

and without it,

“a man of great possessions, who lived at Pæsus;”[1364]

and this is still the name of the river.

Colonæ [CAS. 589] also is a colony of Milesians. It is situated above
Lampsacus, in the interior of the territory Lampsacene. There is another
Colonæ situated upon the exterior Hellespontic Sea, at the distance of
140 stadia from Ilium; the birth-place, it is said, of Cycnus.
Anaximenes mentions a Colonæ in the Erythræan territory, in Phocis, and
in Thessaly. Iliocolone is in the Parian district. In Lampsacene is a
place well planted with vines, called Gergithium, and there was a city
Gergitha, founded by the Gergithi in the Cymæan territory, where
formerly was a city called Gergitheis, (used in the plural number, and
of the feminine gender,) the birth-place of Cephalon[1365] the
Gergithian, and even now there exists a place in the Cymæan territory
called Gergithium, near Larissa.

Neoptolemus,[1366] surnamed the Glossographer, a writer of repute, was
of Parium. Charon,[1367] the Historian, was of Lampsacus.
Adeimantes,[1368] Anaximenes,[1369] the Rhetorician, and Metrodorus, the
friend of Epicurus, even Epicurus himself might be said to be a
Lampsacenian, having lived a long time at Lampsacus, and enjoyed the
friendship of Idomeneus and Leontes, the most distinguished of its
citizens.

It was from Lampsacus that Agrippa transported the Prostrate Lion, the
workmanship of Lysippus, and placed it in the sacred grove between the
lake[1370] and the strait.

20. Next to Lampsacus is Abydos, and the intervening places, of which
the poet speaks in such a manner as to comprehend both Lampsacene and
some parts of Pariane, for, in the Trojan times, the above cities were
not yet in existence:

“those who inhabited Percote, Practius, Sestos, Abydos, and
the famed Arisbe, were led by Asius, the son of
Hyrtacus,”[1371]

who, he says,

“came from Arisbe, from the river Selleïs in a chariot drawn
by large and furious coursers;”

implying by these words that Arisbe was the royal seat of Asius, whence,
he says, he came,

“drawn by coursers from the river Selleïs. ”

But these places are so little known, that writers do not agree among
themselves about their situation, except that they are near Abydos,
Lampsacus, and Parium, and that the name of the last place was changed
from Percope to Percote.

21. With respect to the rivers, the poet says that the Selleïs flows
near Arisbe, for Asius came from Arisbe and the river Selleïs. Practius
is a river, but no city of that name, as some have thought, is to be
found. This river runs between Abydos and Lampsacus; the words,
therefore,

“and dwelt near Practius,”

must be understood of the river, as these expressions of the poet,

“they dwelt near the sacred waters of Cephisus,”[1372]

and

“they occupied the fertile land about the river Parthenius. ”[1373]

There was also in Lesbos a city called Arisba, the territory belonging
to which was possessed by the Methymnæans. There is a river Arisbus in
Thrace, as we have said before, near which are situated the Cabrenii
Thracians. There are many names common to Thracians and Trojans, as
Scæi, a Thracian tribe, a river Scæus, a Scæan wall, and in Troy, Scæan
gates. There are Thracians called Xanthii, and a river Xanthus in Troja;
an Arisbus which discharges itself into the Hebrus,[1374] and an Arisbe
in Troja; a river Rhesus in Troja, and Rhesus, a king of the Thracians.
The poet mentions also another Asius, besides the Asius of Arisbe,

“who was the maternal uncle of the hero Hector, own brother of
Hecuba, and son of Dymas who lived in Phrygia on the banks of
the Sangarius. ”[1375]

22. Abydos was founded by Milesians by permission of Gyges, king of
Lydia; for those places and the whole of the Troad were under his sway.
There is a promontory near [CAS. 591] Dardanus called Gyges. Abydos is
situated upon the mouth of the Propontis and the Hellespont, and is at
an equal distance from Lampsacus and Ilium, about 170 stadia. At Abydos
is the Hepta Stadium, (or strait of seven stadia,) the shores of which
Xerxes united by a bridge. It separates Europe from Asia. The extremity
of Europe is called Cherronesus, from its figure; it forms the straits
at the Zeugma (or Junction)[1376] which is opposite to Abydos.

Sestos is the finest[1377] city in the Cherronesus, and from its
proximity to Abydos was placed under the command of the same governor,
at a time when the same limits were not assigned to the governments and
to the continents. Sestos and Abydos are distant from each other, from
harbour to harbour, about 30 stadia. The Zeugma is a little beyond the
cities; on the side of the Propontis, beyond Abydos, and on the opposite
side, beyond Sestos. There is a place near Sestos, called Apobathra,
where the raft was fastened. Sestos lies nearer the Propontis, and above
the current which issues from it; whence the passage is more easy from
Sestos by deviating a little towards the tower of Hero, when, letting
the vessel go at liberty, the stream assists in effecting the crossing
to the other side. In crossing from Abydos to the other side persons
must sail out in the contrary direction, to the distance of about eight
stadia towards a tower which is opposite Sestos; they must then take an
oblique course, and the current will not be entirely against them.

After the Trojan war, Abydos was inhabited by Thracians, then by
Milesians. When the cities on the Propontis were burnt by Dareius,
father of Xerxes, Abydos shared in the calamity. Being informed, after
his return from Scythia, that the Nomades were preparing to cross over
to attack him, in revenge for the treatment which they had experienced,
he set fire to these cities, apprehending that they would assist in
transporting the Scythian army across the strait.

In addition to other changes of this kind, those occasioned by time are
a cause of confusion among places.

We spoke before of Sestos, and of the whole of the Cherronesus, when we
described Thrace. Theopompus says that Sestos is a small but
well-fortified place, and is connected with the harbour by a wall of two
plethra in extent, and for this reason, and by its situation above the
current, it commands the passage of the strait.

23. In the Troad, above the territory of Abydos is Astyra, which now
belongs to the Abydeni,--a city in ruins, but it was formerly an
independent place, and had gold-mines, which are now nearly exhausted,
like those in Mount Tmolus near the Pactolus.

From Abydos to the Æsepus are, it is said, about 700 stadia, but not so
much in sailing in a direct line.

24. Beyond Abydos are the parts about Ilium, the sea-coast as far as
Lectum, the places in the Trojan plain, and the country at the foot of
Ida, which was subject to Æneas. The poet names the Dardanii in two
ways, speaking of them as

“Dardanii governed by the brave son of Anchises,”[1378]

calling them Dardanii, and also Dardani;

“Troes, and Lycii, and close-fighting Dardani. ”[1379]

It is probable that the Dardania,[1380] so called by the poet, was
anciently situated there;

“Dardanus, the son of cloud-compelling Jupiter, founded
Dardania:”[1381]

at present there is not a vestige of a city.

25. Plato conjectures that, after the deluges, three kinds of
communities were established; the first on the heights of the mountains,
consisting of a simple and savage race, who had taken refuge there
through dread of the waters, which overflowed the plains; the second, at
the foot of the mountains, who regained courage by degrees, as the
plains began to dry; the third, in the plains. But a fourth, and perhaps
a fifth, or more communities might be supposed to be formed, the last of
which might be on the sea-coast, and in the islands, after all fear of
deluge was dissipated. For as men approached the sea with a greater or
less degree of courage, we should have greater variety in forms of
government, diversity also in manners and habits, according [CAS. 593]
as a simple and savage people assumed the milder character of the second
kind of community. There is, however, a distinction to be observed even
among these, as of rustic, half rustic, and of civilized people. Among
these finally arose a gradual change, and an assumption of names,
applied to polished and high character, the result of an improved moral
condition produced by a change of situation and mode of life. Plato says
that the poet describes these differences, alleging as an example of the
first form of society the mode of life among the Cyclops, who subsisted
on the fruits of the earth growing spontaneously, and who occupied
certain caves in the heights of mountains;

“all things grow there,” he says, “without sowing seed, and
without the plough.

But they have no assemblies for consulting together, nor
administration of laws, but live on the heights of lofty
mountains, in deep caves, and each gives laws to his wife and
children. ”[1382]

As an example of the second form of society, he alleges the mode of life
under Dardanus;

“he founded Dardania; for sacred Ilium was not yet a city in
the plain with inhabitants, but they still dwelt at the foot
of Ida abounding with streams. ”[1383]

An example of the third state of society is taken from that in the time
of Ilus, when the people inhabited the plains. He is said to have been
the founder of Ilium, from whom the city had its name. It is probable
that for this reason he was buried in the middle of the plain, because
he first ventured to make a settlement in it,

“they rushed through the middle of the plain by the wild
fig-tree near the tomb of ancient Ilus, the son of
Dardanus. ”[1384]

He did not, however, place entire confidence in the situation, for he
did not build the city where it stands at present, but nearly thirty
stadia higher to the east, towards Ida, and Dardania, near the present
village of the Ilienses. The present Ilienses are ambitious of having it
supposed that theirs is the ancient city, and have furnished a subject
of discussion to those who form their conjectures from the poetry of
Homer; but it does not seem to be the city meant by the poet. Other
writers also relate, that the city had frequently changed its place,
but at last about the time of Crœsus it became stationary. Such changes,
which then took place, from higher to lower situations, mark the
differences, I conceive, which followed in the forms of government and
modes of life. But we must examine this subject elsewhere.

26. The present city of Ilium was once, it is said, a village,
containing a small and plain temple of Minerva; that Alexander,
after[1385] his victory at the Granicus, came up, and decorated the
temple with offerings, gave it the title of city, and ordered those who
had the management of such things to improve it with new buildings; he
declared it free and exempt from tribute. Afterwards, when he had
destroyed the Persian empire, he sent a letter, expressed in kind terms,
in which he promised the Ilienses to make theirs a great city, to build
a temple of great magnificence, and to institute sacred games.

After the death of Alexander, it was Lysimachus who took the greatest
interest in the welfare of the place; built a temple, and surrounded the
city with a wall of about 40 stadia in extent. He settled here the
inhabitants of the ancient cities around, which were in a dilapidated
state. It was at this time that he directed his attention to
Alexandreia, founded by Antigonus, and surnamed Antigonia, which was
altered (into Alexandreia). For it appeared to be an act of pious duty
in the successors of Alexander first to found cities which should bear
his name, and afterwards those which should be called after their own.
Alexandreia continued to exist, and became a large place; at present it
has received a Roman colony, and is reckoned among celebrated cities.

27. The present Ilium was a kind of village-city, when the Romans first
came into Asia and expelled Antiochus the Great from the country within
the Taurus. Demetrius of Scepsis says that, when a youth, he came, in
the course of his travels, to this city, about that time, and saw the
houses so neglected that even the roofs were without tiles.
Hegesianax[1386] also relates, that the Galatians, who crossed over from
Europe, being in want of some stronghold, went up to the city, but
immediately left it, when they saw that it was not fortified with a
wall; afterwards it underwent great reparation and [CAS. 595]
improvement. It was again injured by the Romans under the command of
Fimbrias. They took it by siege in the Mithridatic war. Fimbrias was
sent as quæstor, with the consul Valerius Flaccus, who was appointed to
carry on the war against Mithridates. But having excited a sedition, and
put the consul to death in Bithynia, he placed himself at the head of
the army and advanced towards Ilium, where the inhabitants refused to
admit him into the city, as they regarded him as a robber. He had
recourse to force, and took the city on the eleventh day. When he was
boasting that he had taken a city on the eleventh day, which Agamemnon
had reduced with difficulty in the tenth year of the siege with a fleet
of a thousand vessels, and with the aid of the whole of Greece, one of
the Ilienses replied, “We had no Hector to defend the city. ”

Sylla afterwards came, defeated Fimbrias, and dismissed Mithridates,
according to treaty, into his own territory. Sylla conciliated the
Ilienses by extensive repairs of their city. In our time divus Cæsar
showed them still more favour, in imitation of Alexander. He was
inclined to favour them, for the purpose of renewing his family
connexion with the Ilienses, and as an admirer of Homer.

There exists a corrected copy of the poems of Homer, called “the
casket-copy. ” Alexander perused it in company with Callisthenes and
Anaxarchus, and having made some marks and observations deposited it in
a casket[1387] of costly workmanship which he found among the Persian
treasures. On account then of his admiration of the poet and his descent
from the Æacidæ, (who were kings of the Molossi, whose queen they say
was Andromache, afterwards the wife of Hector,) Alexander treated the
Ilienses with kindness.

But Cæsar, who admired the character of Alexander, and had strong proofs
of his affinity to the Ilienses, had the greatest possible desire to be
their benefactor. The proofs of his affinity to the Ilienses were
strong, first as being a Roman,--for the Romans consider Æneas to be the
founder of their race,--next he had the name of Julius, from Iulus, one
of his ancestors, a descendant of Æneas. He therefore assigned to them
a district, and guaranteed their liberty with exemption from imposts,
and they continue at present to enjoy these advantages. They maintain by
this evidence that the ancient Ilium, even by Homer’s account, was not
situated there. I must however first describe the places which commence
from the sea-coast, where I made the digression.

28. Next to Abydos is the promontory Dardanis,[1388] which we mentioned
a little before, and the city Dardanus, distant 70 stadia from Abydos.
Between them the river Rhodius discharges itself, opposite to which on
the Cherronesus is the Cyno-sema,[1389] which is said to be the
sepulchre of Hecuba. According to others, the Rhodius empties itself
into the Æsepus. It is one of the rivers mentioned by the poet,

“Rhesus, and Heptaporus, Caresus, and Rhodius. ”[1390]

Dardanus is an ancient settlement, but so slightly thought of, that some
kings transferred its inhabitants to Abydos, others re-settled them in
the ancient dwelling-place. Here Cornelius Sylla, the Roman general, and
Mithridates, surnamed Eupator, conferred together, and terminated the
war by a treaty.

29. Near Dardanus is Ophrynium, on which is the grove dedicated to
Hector in a conspicuous situation, and next is Pteleos, a lake.

30. Then follows Rhœteium, a city on a hill, and continuous to it is a
shore on a level with the sea, on which is situated a monument and
temple of Ajax, and a statue. Antony took away the latter and carried it
to Ægypt, but Augustus Cæsar restored it to the inhabitants of Rhœteium,
as he restored other [CAS. 595] statues to other cities. Antony took
away the most beautiful offerings from the most celebrated temples to
gratify the Ægyptian queen, but Augustus Cæsar restored them to the
gods.

31. After Rhœteium is Sigeium,[1391] a city in ruins, and the naval
station, the harbour of the Achæans, the Achæan camp, the Stomalimne, as
it is called, and the mouths of the Scamander. The Scamander and the
Simoeis, uniting in the plain,[1392] bring down a great quantity of mud,
bank up the sea-coast, and form a blind mouth, salt-water lakes, and
marshes.

Opposite the Sigeian promontory on the Cherronesus is the
Protesilaeium,[1393] and Eleussa, of which I have spoken in the
description of Thrace.

32. The extent of this sea-coast as we sail in a direct line from
Rhœteium to Sigeium, and the monument of Achilles, is 60 stadia. The
whole of the coast lies below the present Ilium; the part near the port
of the Achæans,[1394] distant from the present Ilium about 12 stadia,
and thirty stadia more from the ancient Ilium,[1395] which is higher up
in the part towards Ida.

Near the Sigeium is a temple and monument of Achilles, and monuments
also of Patroclus and Antilochus. [1396] The Ilienses perform sacred
ceremonies in honour of them all, and even of Ajax. But they do not
worship Hercules, alleging as a reason that he ravaged their country.
Yet some one might say that he laid it waste in such a manner that he
left it to future spoilers in an injured condition indeed, but still in
the condition of a city; wherefore the poet expresses himself in this
manner,

“He ravaged the city of Ilium, and made its streets desolate,”[1397]

for desolation implies a deficiency of inhabitants, but not a complete
destruction of the place; but those persons destroyed it entirely, whom
they think worthy of sacred rites, and worship as gods; unless, perhaps,
they should plead that these persons engaged in a just, and Hercules in
an unjust, war, on account of the horses of Laomedon. To this is opposed
a fabulous tale, that it was not on account of the horses but of the
reward for the delivery of Hesione from the sea-monster. [CAS. 596] Let
us, however, dismiss this subject, for the discussion leads to the
refutation of fables only, and probably there may be reasons unknown to
us which induced the Ilienses to worship some of these persons, and not
others. The poet seems, in speaking of Hercules, to represent the city
as small, since he ravaged the city

“with six ships only, and a small band of men. ”[1398]

From these words it appears that Priam from a small became a great
person, and a king of kings, as we have already said.

A short way from this coast is the Achæïum, situated on the continent
opposite Tenedos.

33. Such, then, is the nature of the places on the sea-coast. Above them
lies the plain of Troy, extending as far as Ida to the east, a distance
of many stadia. [1399] The part at the foot of the mountain is narrow,
extending to the south as far as the places near Scepsis, and towards
the north as far as the Lycians about Zeleia. This country Homer places
under the command of Æneas and the Antenoridæ, and calls it Dardania.
Below it is Cebrenia, which for the most part consists of plains, and
lies nearly parallel to Dardania. There was also formerly a city
Cybrene. Demetrius (of Scepsis) supposes that the tract about Ilium,
subject to Hector, extended to this place, from the Naustathmus (or
station for vessels) to Cebrenia, for he says that the sepulchre of
Alexander Paris exists there, and of Œnone, who, according to
historians, was the wife of Alexander, before the rape of Helen; the
poet says,

“Cebriones, the spurious son of the far-famed Priam,”[1400]

who, perhaps, received his name from the district, (Cebrenia,) or, more
probably, from the city (Cebrene[1401]). Cebrenia extends as far as the
Scepsian district. The boundary is the Scamander, which runs through the
middle of Cebrenia and Scepsia. There was continual enmity and war
between the Scepsians and Cebrenians, till Antigonus settled them both
together in the city, then called Antigonia, but at present Alexandria.
The Cebrenians remained there with the other inhabitants, but the
Scepsians, by the permission of Lysimachus, returned to their own
country.

34. From the mountainous tract of Ida near these places, two arms, he
says, extend to the sea, one in the direction of Rhœteium, the other of
Sigeium, forming a semicircle, and terminate in the plain at the same
distance from the sea as the present Ilium, which is situated between
the extremities of the above-mentioned arms, whereas the ancient Ilium
was situated at their commencement. This space comprises the Simoïsian
plain through which the Simoeis runs, and the Scamandrian plain, watered
by the Scamander. This latter plain is properly the plain of Troy, and
Homer makes it the scene of the greatest part of his battles, for it is
the widest of the two; and there we see the places named by him, the
Erineos, the tomb of Æsyetes,[1402] Batieia, and the tomb of Ilus. With
respect to the Scamander and the Simoeis, the former, after approaching
Sigeium, and the latter Rhœteium, unite their streams a little in front
of the present Ilium,[1403] and then empty themselves near Sigeium, and
form as it is called the Stomalimne. Each of the above-mentioned plains
is separated from the other by a long ridge[1404] which is in a straight
line with the above-mentioned arms;[1405] the ridge begins at the
present [CAS. 597] Ilium and is united to it; it extends as far as
Cebrenia, and completes with the arms on each side the letter θ.

35. A little above this ridge of land is the village of the Ilienses,
supposed to be the site of the ancient Ilium, at the distance of 30
stadia from the present city. Ten stadia above the village of the
Ilienses is Callicolone, a hill beside which, at the distance of five
stadia, runs the Simoeis.

The description of the poet is probable. First what he says of Mars,

“but on the other side Mars arose, like a black tempest, one
while with a shrill voice calling upon the Trojans from the
summit of the citadel, at another time running along
Callicolone beside the Simoeis;”[1406]

for since the battle was fought on the Scamandrian plain, Mars might,
according to probability, encourage the men, one while from the citadel,
at another time from the neighbouring places, the Simoeis and the
Callicolone, to which the battle might extend. But since Callicolone is
distant from the present Ilium 40 stadia, where was the utility of
changing places at so great a distance, where the array of the troops
did not extend? and the words

“The Lycii obtained by lot the station near Thymbra,”[1407]

which agree better with the ancient city, for the plain Thymbra,[1408]
is near, and the river Thymbrius, which runs through it, discharges
itself into the Scamander, near the temple of Apollo Thymbræus, but is
distant 50 stadia from the present Ilium. The Erineos,[1409] a rugged
spot abounding with wild fig-trees, lies below the ancient city, so that
Andromache might say in conformity with such a situation,

“but place your bands near Erineos, where the city is most
accessible to the enemy, and where they can mount the
wall,”[1410]

but it is very far distant from the present city. The beech-tree was a
little lower than the Erineos; of the former Achilles says,

“When I fought with the Achæans Hector was not disposed to
urge the fight away from the wall, but advanced only as far as
the Scæan gates, and the beech-tree. ”[1411]

36. Besides, the Naustathmus, which retains its name at present, is so
near the present city that any person may justly be surprised at the
imprudence of the Greeks, and the want of spirit in the
Trojans;--imprudence on the part of the Greeks, that they should have
left the place for so long a time unfortified with a wall, in the
neighbourhood of so large a city, and so great a body of men, both
inhabitants and auxiliaries; for the wall, Homer says, was constructed
at a late period; or perhaps no wall was built and the erection and
destruction of it, as Aristotle says, are due to the invention of the
poet;--a want of spirit on the part of the Trojans, who, after the wall
was built, attacked that, and the Naustathmus, and the vessels
themselves, but had not the courage before there was a wall to approach
and besiege this station, although the distance was not great, for the
Naustathmus is near Sigeium. The Scamander discharges itelf near this
place at the distance of 20 stadia from Ilium. [1412] If any one shall
say that the Naustathmus is the present harbour of the Achæans, he must
mean a place still nearer, distant about twelve stadia from the sea,
[CAS. 599] which is the extent of the plain in front of the city to the
sea; but he will be in error if he include (in the ancient) the present
plain, which is all alluvial soil brought down by the rivers,[1413] so
that if the interval is 12 stadia at present, it must have been at that
period less in extent by one half. The story framed by Ulysses, which he
tells Eumæus, implies a great distance from the Naustathmus to the city;

“when we lay in ambush below Troy,”[1414]

and he adds afterwards,

“for we had advanced too far from the ships. ”[1415]

Scouts are despatched to learn whether the Trojans will remain near the
ships when drawn away far from their own walls, or whether

“they will return back to the city. ”[1416]

Polydamas also says,

“Consider well, my friends, what is to be done, for my advice
is to return now to the city, for we are far from the
walls. ”[1417]

Demetrius (of Scepsis) adds the testimony of Hestiæa[1418] of
Alexandreia, who composed a work on the Iliad of Homer, and discusses
the question whether the scene of the war was about the present city,
and what was the Trojan plain which the poet mentions as situated
between the city and the sea, for the plain seen in front of the present
city is an accumulation of earth brought down by the rivers, and formed
at a later period.

37. Polites also,

“who was the scout of the Trojans, trusting to his swiftness
of foot, and who was on the summit of the tomb of the old
Æsyetes,”[1419]

was acting absurdly. For although he was seated

“on the summit of the tomb,”

yet he might have observed from the much greater height of the citadel,
situated nearly at the same distance, nor would his swiftness of foot
have been required for the purpose of security, for the tomb of Æsyetes,
which exists at present on the road to Alexandreia, is distant five
stadia from the citadel.
Nor is the course of Hector round the city at all a probable
circumstance, for the present city will not admit of a circuit round it
on account of the continuous ridge of hill, but the ancient city did
allow such a course round it. [1420]

38. No trace of the ancient city remains. This might be expected, for
the cities around were devastated, but not entirely destroyed, whereas
when Troy was overthrown from its foundation all the stones were removed
for the reparation of the other cities. Archæanax of Mitylene is said to
have fortified Sigeium with the stones brought from Troy. Sigeium was
taken possession of by the Athenians, who sent Phryno, the victor in the
Olympic games, at the time the Lesbians advanced a claim to nearly the
whole Troad. They had indeed [CAS. 600] founded most of the
settlements, some of which exist at present, and others have
disappeared. Pittacus of Mitylene, one of the seven wise men, sailed to
the Troad against Phryno, the Athenian general, and was defeated in a
pitched battle. (It was at this time that the poet Alcæus, as he himself
says, when in danger in some battle, threw away his arms and fled. He
charged a messenger with injunctions to inform those at home that Alcæus
was safe, but that he did not bring away his arms. These were dedicated
by the Athenians as an offering in the temple of Minerva
Glaucopis. )[1421] Upon Phryno’s proposal to meet in single combat,
Pittacus advanced with his fishing gear,[1422] enclosed his adversary in
a net, pierced him with his three-pronged spear, and despatched him with
a short sword. The war however still continuing, Periander was chosen
arbitrator by both parties, and put an end to it.

39. Demetrius accuses Timæus of falsehood, for saying that Periander
built a wall round the Achilleium out of the stones brought from Ilium
as a protection against the attacks of the Athenians, and with a view to
assist Pittacus; whereas this place was fortified by the Mitylenæans
against Sigeium, but not with stones from Ilium, nor by Periander. For
how should they choose an enemy in arms to be arbitrator?

The Achilleium is a place which contains the monument of Achilles, and
is a small settlement. It was destroyed, as also Sigeium, by the
Ilienses on account of the refractory disposition of its inhabitants.
For all the sea-coast as far as Dardanus was afterwards, and is at
present, subject to them.

Anciently the greatest part of these places were subject to the Æolians,
and hence Ephorus does not hesitate to call all the country from Abydos
to Cume by the name of Æolis. But Thucydides[1423] says that the
Mitylenæans were deprived of the Troad in the Peloponnesian war by the
Athenians under the command of Paches.

40. The present Ilienses affirm that the city was not entirely
demolished when it was taken by the Achæans, nor at any time deserted.
The Locrian virgins began to be sent there, as was the custom every
year, a short time afterwards. This however is not told by Homer. Nor
was Homer acquainted with the violation of Cassandra,[1424] but says
that she was a virgin about that time:

“He slew Othryoneus, who had lately come to the war from
Cabesus, induced by the glory of the contest, and who sought
in marriage the most beautiful of the daughters of Priam,
Cassandra, without a dower. ”[1425]

He does not mention any force having been used, nor does he attribute
the death of Ajax by shipwreck to the wrath of Minerva, nor to any
similar cause, but says, in general terms, that he was an object of
hatred to Minerva, (for she was incensed against all who had profaned
her temple,) and that Ajax died by the agency of Neptune for his
boasting speeches.

The Locrian virgins were sent there when the Persians were masters of
the country.

41. Such is the account of the Ilienses. But Homer speaks expressly of
the demolition of the city:

“The day will come when at length sacred Ilium shall perish,[1426]

After we have destroyed the lofty city of Priam,[1427]

By counsel, by wisdom, and by artifice,
The city of Priam was destroyed in the tenth year. ”[1428]

Of this they produce evidence of the following kind; the statue of
Minerva, which Homer represents as in a sitting posture, is seen at
present to be a standing figure, for he orders them

“to place the robe on the knees of Athene,”[1429]

in the same sense as this verse,

“no son of mine should sit upon her knees,”[1430]

and it is better to understand it thus, than as some explain it, “by
placing the robe at the knees,” and adduce this line,

“she sat upon the hearth in the light of the fire,”[1431]

[CAS. 601] for “near the hearth. ” For what would the laying the robe at
the knees mean? And they who alter the accent, and for γούνασιν read
γουνασιν, like θυιάσιν, or in whatever way they understand it,[1432]
come to no conclusion. Many of the ancient statues of Minerva are found
in a sitting posture, as those at Phocæa, Massalia, Rome, Chios, and
many other cities. But modern writers, among whom is Lycurgus the
rhetorician, agree that the city was destroyed, for in mentioning the
city of the Ilienses he says, “who has not heard, when it was once razed
by the Greeks, that it was uninhabited? ”[1433]

42. It is conjectured that those who afterwards proposed to rebuild it
avoided the spot as inauspicious, either on account of its calamities,
of which it had been the scene, or whether Agamemnon, according to an
ancient custom, had devoted it to destruction with a curse, as Crœsus,
when he destroyed Sidene, in which the tyrant Glaucias had taken refuge,
uttered a curse against those who should rebuild its walls. They
therefore abandoned that spot and built a city elsewhere.

The Astypalæans, who were in possession of Rhœteium, were the first
persons that founded Polium near the Simoïs, now called Polisma, but not
in a secure spot, and hence it was soon in ruins.

The present settlement, and the temple, were built in the time of the
Lydian kings; but it was not then a city; a long time afterwards,
however, and by degrees, it became, as we have said, a considerable
place.

Hellanicus, in order to gratify the Ilienses, as is his custom,
maintains that the present and the ancient city are the same. But the
district on the extinction of the city was divided by the possessors of
Rhœteium and Sigeium, and the other neighbouring people among
themselves. Upon the rebuilding of the city, however, they restored it.

43. Ida is thought to be appropriately described by Homer, as abounding
with springs on account of the multitude of rivers which issue from it,
particularly where Dardania as far as Scepsis lies at its foot, and the
places about Ilium.

Demetrius, who was acquainted with these places, (for he was a native,)
thus speaks of them: “There is a height of Ida called Cotylus; it is
situated about 120 stadia above Scepsis, and from it flow the Scamander,
the Granicus, and the Æsepus;[1434] the two last, being the
contributions of many smaller sources, fall into the Propontis, but the
Scamander, which has but a single source, flows towards the west. All
these sources are in the neighbourhood of each other, and are comprised
within a circuit of 20 stadia. The termination of the Æsepus is farthest
distant from its commencement, namely, about 500 stadia. ”

We may, however, ask why the poet says,

“They came to the fair fountains, whence burst forth two
streams of the eddying Scamander, one flowing with water
warm,”[1435]

that is, hot; he proceeds, however,

“around issues vapour as though caused by fire--the other
gushes out in the summer, cold like hail, or frozen as snow,”

for no warm springs are now found in that spot, nor is the source of the
Scamander there, but in the mountain, and there is one source instead of
two. [1436] It is probable that the [CAS. 602] warm spring has failed,
but the cold spring flowing from the Scamander along a subterraneous
channel emerges at this place; or, because the water was near the
Scamander, it was called the source of that river, for there are several
springs, which are said to be its sources.

44. The Andirus empties itself into the Scamander; a river which comes
from the district of Caresene, a mountainous country, in which are many
villages. It is well cultivated by the husbandmen. It adjoins Dardania,
and extends as far as the places about Zeleia and Pityeia. The country,
it is said, had its name from the river Caresus, mentioned by the poet,

“the Rhesus, Heptaporus, Caresus, and Rhodius,”[1437]

but the city of the same name as the river is in ruins.

Demetrius again says, the river Rhesus is now called Rhoeites, unless it
is the Rhesus which empties itself into the Granicus.

The Heptaporus, which is called also Polyporus, is crossed seven times
in travelling from the places about Cale Peuce (or the beautiful pitch
tree) to the village Melænæ and to the Asclepieium, founded by
Lysimachus.

Attalus, the first king, gives this account of the beautiful pitch tree;
its circumference, he says, was 24 feet; the height of the trunk from
the root was 67 feet; it then formed three branches, equally distant
from each other; it then contracts into one head, and here it completes
the whole height of two plethra, and 15 cubits. It is distant from
Adramyttium 180 stadia towards the north.

The Caresus flows from Malus, a place situated between Palæscepsis and
Achæïum, in front of the isle of Tenedos, and empties itself into the
Æsepus.

The Rhodius flows from Cleandria and Gordus, which are distant 60 stadia
from Cale Peuce, and empties itself into the Ænius (Æsepus? ).

45. In the valley about the Æsepus, on the left of its course, the first
place we meet with is Polichna, a walled stronghold; then Palæscepsis,
next Alizonium, a place invented for the supposed existence of the
Halizoni whom we have mentioned before. [1438] Then Caresus, a deserted
city, and Caresene, and a river of the same name, (Caresus,) which also
forms a considerable valley, but less than that about the Æsepus. Next
follow the plains of Zeleia, and the mountain plains, which are well
cultivated. On the right of the Æsepus, between Polichna and Palæscepsis
is Nea-Come,[1439] and Argyria, [CAS. 603] (the silver mines,)[1440]
which are another fiction framed to support the same hypothesis, in
order that the words of Homer may be defended,

“where silver is produced. ”[1441]

Where then is Alybe, or Alope, or in whatever way they please to play
upon the name? For they ought to have had the impudence to invent this
place also, and not to leave their system imperfect and exposed to
detection, when they had once ventured so far. This is the contradiction
which may be given to Demetrius.

As to the rest, we ought at least in the greatest number of instances to
attend to a man of experience, and a native of the country, who also had
bestowed so much thought and time on this subject as to write thirty
books to interpret little more than 60 lines of the catalogue of the
Trojan forces.

Palæscepsis, according to Demetrius, is distant from Ænea 50, and from
the river Æsepus 30, stadia, and the name of Palæscepsis is applied to
many other places. [1442]

We return to the sea-coast, from which we have digressed.

46. After the Sigeian promontory, and the Achilleium, is the coast
opposite to Tenedos, the Achæïum, and Tenedos itself, distant not more
than 40 stadia from the continent. It is about 80 stadia in
circumference. It contains an Æolian city, and has two harbours, and a
temple of Apollo Smintheus, as the poet testifies;

“Smintheus, thou that reignest over Tenedos. ”[1443]

There are several small islands around it, and two in particular, called
Calydnæ,[1444] situated in the course of the voyage to Lectum. There are
some writers who call Tenedos Calydna, and others Leucophrys. [1445]
There are other small islands around it besides these. They lay near the
scene of the fable about Tennes, from whom the island has its name, and
of the story of Cycnus, a Thracian by descent, and father, according to
some writers, of Tennes, and king of Colonæ.

47. Continuous with the Achæium are Larisa and Colonæ, formerly
belonging to the people of Tenedos, who occupied the opposite coast; and
the present Chrysa, situated upon a rocky height above the sea, and
Hamaxitus lying below, and close to Lectum. But at present Alexandreia
is continuous with the Achæium; the inhabitants of those small towns,
and of many other strongholds, were embodied in Alexandreia. Among the
latter were Cebrene and Neandria. The territory is in the possession of
the Alexandrini, and the spot in which Alexandreia is now situated was
called Sigia.

48. The temple of Apollo Smintheus is in this Chrysa, and the symbol, a
mouse, which shows the etymology of the epithet Smintheus, lying under
the foot of the statue. [1446] They are the workmanship of Scopas of
Paros. They reconcile the history, and the fable about the mice, in this
following manner.

The Teucri, who came from Crete, (of whom Callinus, the elegiac poet,
gave the first history, and he was followed by many others,) were
directed by an oracle to settle wherever the earth-born inhabitants
should attack them, which, it is said, occurred to them near Hamaxitus,
for in the night-time great multitudes of field-mice came out and
devoured all arms or utensils which were made of leather; the colony
therefore settled there. These people also called the mountain Ida,
after the name of the mountain in Crete.

But [CAS. 604] Heracleides of Pontus says, that the mice, which swarmed
near the temple, were considered as sacred, and the statue is
represented as standing upon a mouse.

Others say, that a certain Teucer came from Attica, who belonged to the
Demus of Troes, which is now called Xypeteon, but that no Teucri came
from Crete. They adduce as a proof of the intermixture of Trojans with
Athenians, that an Ericthonius was a founder of both people.

This is the account of modern writers. But the traces which now exist in
the plain of Thebe, and at Chrysa situated there, coincide better with
the description of Homer; and of these we shall speak immediately. [1447]

The name of Smintheus is to be found in many places, for near Hamaxitus
itself, besides the Sminthian Apollo at the temple, there are two places
called Sminthia, and others in the neighbouring district of Larissa. In
the district also of Pariane is a place called Sminthia; others in
Rhodes,[1448] Lindus, and in many places besides. The temple is now
called Sminthium.

Separate from the other is the Halesian plain near Lectum, which is not
extensive, and the Tragasæan salt-pan near Hamaxitus,[1449] where the
salt spontaneously concretes on the blowing of the Etesian winds. On
Lectum stands an altar dedicated to the Twelve Gods, erected, it is
said, by Agamemnon.

These places are in sight of Ilium, at the distance of a little more
than 200 stadia. On the other side the parts about Abydos are visible,
although Abydos is somewhat nearer.

49. After doubling Lectum, there follow the most considerable cities of
the Æolians, the bay of Adramyttium, on which Homer seems to have placed
the greater part of the Leleges, and the Cilicians, divided into two
tribes. There also is the coast of the Mitylenæans with some villages of
the Mitylenæans on the continent. The bay has the name of the Idæan bay,
for the ridge extending from Lectum to Ida overhangs the commencement
of the bay, where, according to the poet,[1450] the Leleges were first
settled.

50. I have spoken before of the Leleges, and I shall now add that the
poet speaks of a Pedasus, a city of theirs which was subject to Altes;

“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 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, [CAS. 606] 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,[1455] a 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,[1456] on
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,[1457] with 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,[1458]
Pitane,[1459] and the mouths of the Caïcus. These, however, belong to
the Elaïtic gulf. On the opposite side of the Caïcus are Elæa,[1460] and
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 of Scepsis[1461] either 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. [1462] The 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 and [CAS. 600] [CAS. 608] his four sons,
together with the surviving Heneti, are said to have escaped into
Thrace, and thence into Henetica on the Adriatic;[1465] but 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,[1466] near Mantineia in Arcadia, and that he took the name of the
city from Capys. There is another account, that he disembarked at
Ægesta[1467] in Sicily, with Elymus, a Trojan, and took possession of
Eryx[1468] and Lilybæus,[1469] and 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. ”

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. Aristotle[1471] was 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. Apellicon[1472] was 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 exoteric[1473] kind, they were
unable to philosophize according [CAS. 609] to 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,[1474] the 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,[1475] who changed from being a philosopher to
engage 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.