§10τί τὸ φυξίμηλον;
What is the "escape-sheep"?
τῶν μικρῶν ἐστι καὶ χαμαιζήλων φυτῶν, ὧν ἐπιόντα τοὺς βλαστοὺς τὰ βοσκήματα κολούει καὶ ἀδικεῖ καὶ λυμαίνεται τὴν αὔξησιν· ὅταν οὖν ἀναδραμόντα μέγεθος λάβῃ καὶ διαφύγῃ τὸ βλάπτεσθαι ὑπὸ τῶν ἐπινεμομένων,
φυξίμηλα
καλεῖται. τὸ δὲ μαρτύριον Αἰσχύλος.
It belongs to the small and low-growing plants, whose shoots the oncoming flocks crop and damage, ruining their growth; when, therefore, they grow tall and attain size, and escape being harmed by the grazing flocks, they are called "escape-sheep." Aeschylus is the witness for this.
§11τίνες οἱ ἀποσφενδόνητοι;
Who are the "slung-away"?
Κέρκυραν τὴν νῆσον Ἐρετριεῖς κατῴκουν· Χαρικράτους δὲ πλεύσαντος ἐκ Κορίνθου μετὰ δυνάμεως καὶ τῷ πολέμῳ κρατοῦντος, ἐμβάντες εἰς τὰς ναῦς οἱ Ἐρετριεῖς ἀπέπλευσαν οἴκαδε.
The Eretrians used to inhabit the island of Corcyra; but when Charicrates sailed from Corinth with a force and prevailed in the war, the Eretrians embarked on their ships and sailed for home.
προαισθόμενοι δʼ οἱ πολῖται, τῆς χώρας εἶργον αὐτοὺς καὶ ἀποβαίνειν ἐκώλυον σφενδονῶντες.
Their fellow citizens, perceiving this beforehand, kept them from the territory and prevented them from landing by slinging stones.
μὴ δυνάμενοι δὲ μήτε πεῖσαι μήτε βιάσασθαι πολλοὺς καὶ ἀπαραιτήτους ὄντας, ἐπὶ Θρᾴκης ἔπλευσαν καὶ κατασχόντες χωρίον, ἐν ᾧ πρότερον οἰκῆσαι Μέθωνα τὸν Ὀρφέως πρόγονον ἱστοροῦσι, τὴν μὲν πόλιν ὠνόμασαν Μεθώνην, ὑπὸ δὲ τῶν προσοίκων
ἀποσφενδόνητοι προσωνομάσθησαν. §12τίς ἡ παρὰ Δελφοῖς Χάριλλα;
Since they were unable either to persuade or to force their way against them, as they were numerous and inexorable, they sailed toward Thrace and seized a place where they record that Methon, the ancestor of Orpheus, formerly dwelt; they named the city Methone, but they were called by their neighbors the "slung-away." Who is Charilla among the Delphians?
τρεῖς ἄγουσι Δελφοὶ ἐνναετηρίδας κατὰ τὸ ἑξῆς, ὧν τὴν μὲν Σεπτήριον καλοῦσι, τὴν δʼ Ἡρωίδα, τὴν δὲ Χάριλλαν.
The Delphians celebrate three enneadic festivals in succession, of which they call one Septerion, another Herois, and the third Charilla.
τὸ μὲν οὖν Σεπτήριον ἔοικε μίμημα τῆς πρὸς τὸν Πύθωνα τοῦ θεοῦ μάχης εἶναι καὶ τῆς μετὰ τὴν μάχην ἐπὶ τὰ Τέμπη φυγῆς καὶ ἐκδιώξεως.
The Septerion seems to be an imitation of the god's battle against Python, and of the flight and pursuit to Tempe after the battle.
οἱ μὲν γὰρ φυγεῖν ἐπὶ τῷ φόνῳ φασὶ χρῄζοντα καθαρσίων, οἱ δὲ τῷ Πύθωνι τετρωμένῳ καὶ φεύγοντι κατὰ τὴν ὁδόν, ἣν νῦν ἱερὰν καλοῦμεν, ἐπακολουθεῖν καὶ μικρὸν ἀπολειφθῆναι τῆς τελευτῆς· κατέλαβε γὰρ αὐτὸν ἐκ τοῦ τραύματος ἄρτι τεθνηκότα καὶ κεκηδευμένον ὑπὸ τοῦ παιδός, ᾧ ὄνομα ἦν Αἴξ, ὡς λέγουσι.
For some say that he fled because of the slaughter, needing purifications, while others say that he followed Python, who was wounded and fleeing along the way which they now call Sacred, and fell slightly short of his death; for he came upon him just dead of his wound and being buried by his son, whose name was Aix, as they say.
τὸ μὲν οὖν Σεπτήριον τούτων ἢ τοιούτων τινῶν ἀπομίμησίς ἐστιν ἑτέρων.
The Septerion, then, is an imitation of these or some other such things.
τῆς δʼ Ἡρωίδος τὰ πλεῖστα μυστικὸν ἔχει λόγον, ὃν ἴσασιν αἱ Θυιάδες, ἐκ δὲ τῶν δρωμένων φανερῶς Σεμέλης ἄν τις ἀναγωγὴν εἰκάσειε.
Most of the Herois has a mystical legend, which the Thyiades know, but from the things performed in public, one might conjecture it to be the bringing up of Semele.
περὶ δὲ τῆς Χαρίλλης τοιαῦτά τινα μυθολογοῦσι.
About Charilla they tell some such story as this.
λιμὸς ἐξ αὐχμοῦ τοὺς Δελφοὺς κατέσχε καὶ πρὸς τὰς θύρας τοῦ βασιλέως ἐλθόντες μετὰ τέκνων καὶ γυναικῶν ἱκέτευον.
A famine due to drought seized the Delphians, and coming to the doors of the king with their children and wives, they made supplication.
ὁ δὲ τῶν ἀλφίτων καὶ τῶν χεδρόπων μετεδίδου τοῖς γνωριμωτέροις αὐτῶν· οὐ γὰρ ἦν ἱκανὰ πᾶσιν.
He shared the barley meal and pulses with the better known of them; for there was not enough for all.
ἐλθούσης δὲ παιδὸς ἔτι μικρᾶς ὀρφανῆς γονέων καὶ προσλιπαρούσης, ἐρράπισεν αὐτὴν ὑποδήματι καὶ τῷ προσώπῳ τὸ ὑπόδημα προσέρριψεν· ἡ δέ, πενιχρά τις οὖσα καὶ ἔρημος οὐκ ἀγεννὴς δὲ τὸ ἦθος, ἐκποδὼν γενομένη καὶ λύσασατὴν ζώνην ἀνήρτησεν ἑαυτήν.
When a girl, still a small orphan, came and importuned him, he struck her with a sandal and threw the sandal in her face; she, being poor and friendless but not ignoble in character, withdrew out of the way and, undoing her girdle, hanged herself.
ἐπιτείνοντος δὲ τοῦ λιμοῦ καὶ νοσημάτων προσγενομένων, ἀνεῖλεν ἡ Πυθία τῷ βασιλεῖ Χάριλλαν ἱλάσκεσθαι, παρθένον αὐτοθάνατον.
As the famine intensified and diseases were added, the Pythia gave an oracle to the king to appease Charilla, a maiden who died by her own hand.
μόλις οὖν ἀνευρόντες ὅτι τοὔνομα τοῦτʼ ἦν τῇ ῥαπισθείσῃ παιδί, μεμειγμένην τινὰ καθαρμῷ θυσίαν ἀπετέλεσαν, ἣν ἐπιτελοῦσιν ἔτι καὶ νῦν διʼ ἐννέα ἐτῶν.
Having with difficulty found out that this was the name of the stricken girl, they performed a sacrifice mixed with purification, which they still perform even now every nine years.
προκάθηται μὲν γὰρ ὁ βασιλεὺς τῶν ἀλφίτων καὶ τῶν χεδρόπων ἐπιδιδοὺς πᾶσι καὶ ξένοις καὶ πολίταις, κομίζεται δὲ τῆς Χαρίλλης παιδικὸν εἴδωλον ὅταν οὖν πάντες λάβωσιν, ὁ μὲν βασιλεὺς ῥαπίζει τῷ ὑποδήματι τὸ εἴδωλον, ἡ δὲ τῶν Θυιάδων ἀρχηγὸς ἀραμένη κομίζει πρός τινα τόπον φαραγγώδη, κἀκεῖ σχοινίον περιάψαντες τῷ τραχήλῳ τοῦ εἰδώλου κατορύττουσιν, ὅπου τὴν Χάριλλαν ἀπαγξαμένην ἔθαψαν.
For the king sits in public, distributing the barley meal and pulses to all, both strangers and citizens, and a doll representing Charilla is brought in; when all have received their share, the king strikes the doll with his sandal, and the leader of the Thyiades takes it up and carries it to a ravine-like place, and there, after binding a cord around the neck of the doll, they bury it where they buried Charilla after she had hanged herself.