§10.2.6καὶ Ὤλενον δὲ καὶ Πυλήνην ὀνομάζει πόλεις ὁ ποιητὴς Αἰτωλικάς, ὧν τὴν μὲν Ὤλενον ὁμωνύμως τῇ Ἀχαϊκῇ λεγομένην Αἰολεῖς κατέσκαψαν, πλησίον οὖσαν τῆς νεωτέρας Πλευρῶνος, τῆς δὲ χώρας ἠμφισβήτουν Ἀκαρνᾶνες· τὴν δὲ Πυλήνην μετενέγκαντες εἰς τοὺς ἀνώτερον τόπους ἤλλαξαν αὐτῆς καὶ τοὔνομα Πρόσχιον καλέσαντες.
The poet also names Olenus and Pylene as Aetolian cities, of which Olenus, which was called homonymously with the Achaean city, the Aeolians razed, situated near the later Pleuron, and the Acarnanians disputed its territory; as for Pylene, they relocated it to higher places and changed its name, calling it Proschium.
Ἑλλάνικος δʼ οὐδὲ τὴν περὶ ταύτας ἱστορίαν οἶδεν, ἀλλʼ ὡς ἔτι καὶ αὐτῶν οὐσῶν ἐν τῇ ἀρχαίᾳ καταστάσει μέμνηται, τὰς δʼ ὕστερον καὶ τῆς τῶν Ἡρακλειδῶν καθόδου κτισθείσας Μακυνίαν καὶ Μολύκρειαν ἐν ταῖς ἀρχαίαις καταλέγει, πλείστην εὐχέρειαν ἐπιδεικνύμενος ἐν πάσῃ σχεδόν τι τῇ γραφῇ.
Hellanicus does not even know the history concerning these cities, but mentions them as if they were still in their ancient state, while he lists Macynia and Molycreia, which were founded later, even after the return of the Heracleidae, among the ancient ones, displaying extreme carelessness in almost all his writing.
§10.2.7καθόλου μὲν οὖν ταῦτα περὶ τῆς χώρας ἐστὶ τῆς τῶν Ἀκαρνάνων καὶ τῶν Αἰτωλῶν, περὶ δὲ τῆς παραλίας καὶ τῶν προκειμένων νήσων ἔτι καὶ ταῦτα προσληπτέον·
In general, then, these are the facts concerning the land of the Acarnanians and the Aetolians, but concerning the coast and the islands lying off it, the following must also be added.
ἀπὸ γὰρ τοῦ στόματος ἀρξαμένοις τοῦ Ἀμβρακικοῦ κόλπου πρῶτόν ἐστιν Ἀκαρνάνων χωρίον τὸ Ἄκτιον.
For to those beginning from the mouth of the Ambracian Gulf, the first place belonging to the Acarnanians is Actium.
ὁμωνύμως δὲ λέγεται τό τε ἱερὸν τοῦ Ἀκτίου Ἀπόλλωνος καὶ ἡ ἄκρα ἡ ποιοῦσα τὸ στόμα τοῦ κόλπου, ἔχουσα καὶ λιμένα ἐκτός.
The temple of Actian Apollo and the promontory which forms the mouth of the gulf, having also a harbor outside, are called homonymously.
τοῦ δʼ ἱεροῦ τετταράκοντα μὲν σταδίους ἀπέχει τὸ Ἀνακτόριον ἐν τῷ κόλπῳ ἱδρυμένον, διακοσίους δὲ καὶ τετταράκοντα ἡ Λευκάς.
From the temple, Anactorium, situated in the gulf, is forty stadia distant, and Leucas is two hundred and forty.
§10.2.8αὕτη δʼ ἦν τὸ παλαιὸν μὲν χερρόνησος τῆς Ἀκαρνάνων γῆς, καλεῖ δʼ ὁ ποιητὴς αὐτὴν ἀκτὴν ἠπείροιο, τὴν περαίαν τῆς Ἰθάκης καὶ τῆς Κεφαλληνίας ἤπειρον καλῶν· αὕτη δʼ ἐστὶν ἡ Ἀκαρνανία· ὥστε, ὅταν φῇ ἀκτὴν ἠπείροιο, τῆς Ἀκαρνανίας ἀκτὴν δέχεσθαι δεῖ.
This Leucas was in ancient times a peninsula of the Acarnanian land, and the poet calls it the "coast of the mainland," calling the mainland the region opposite Ithaca and Cephallenia; and this is Acarnania; so that when he says "coast of the mainland," one must understand the coast of Acarnania.
τῆς δὲ Λευκάδος ἥ τε Νήριτος, ἥν φησιν ἑλεῖν ὁ Λαέρτης
"
ἦ μὲν Νήριτον εἷλον ἐϋκτίμενον πτολίεθρον,
ἀκτὴν ἠπείροιο, Κεφαλλήνεσσιν ἀνάσσων,
"
καὶ ἃς ἐν καταλόγῳ φησί
"
καὶ Κροκύλειʼ ἐνέμοντο καὶ Αἰγίλιπα τρηχεῖαν. "
Κορίνθιοι δὲ πεμφθέντες ὑπὸ Κυψέλου καὶ Γόργου ταύτην τε κατέσχον τὴν ἀκτὴν καὶ μέχρι τοῦ Ἀμβρακικοῦ κόλπου προῆλθον, καὶ ἥ τε Ἀμβρακία συνῳκίσθη καὶ Ἀνακτόριον, καὶ τῆς χερρονήσου διορύξαντες τὸν ἰσθμὸν ἐποίησαν νῆσον τὴν Λευκάδα, καὶ μετενέγκαντες τὴν Νήριτον ἐπὶ τὸν τόπον, ὃς ἦν ποτὲ μὲν ἰσθμὸς νῦν δὲ πορθμὸς γεφύρᾳ ζευκτός, μετωνόμασαν Λευκάδα, ἐπώνυμον δοκῶ μοι τοῦ Λευκάτα· πέτρα γάρ ἐστι λευκὴ τὴν χρόαν, προκειμένη τῆς Λευκάδος εἰς τὸ πέλαγος καὶ τὴν Κεφαλληνίαν, ὡς ἐντεῦθεν τοὔνομα λαβεῖν.
To Leucas belong Neritus, which he says Laertes took: "Indeed I took Neritus, a well-built city, the coast of the mainland, ruling over the Cephallenians," and the places he mentions in the Catalogue: "And they inhabited Crocyleia and rugged Aegilips." The Corinthians, sent by Cypselus and Gorgus, occupied this coast and advanced as far as the Ambracian Gulf, and Ambracia was founded and Anactorium, and digging through the isthmus of the peninsula, they made Leucas an island, and relocating Neritus to the place which was once an isthmus but is now a strait spanned by a bridge, they renamed it Leucas, named, I believe, after Leucatas; for there is a rock, white in color, projecting from Leucas into the deep sea and towards Cephallenia, so that it took its name from there.
§10.2.9ἔχει δὲ τὸ τοῦ Λευκάτα Ἀπόλλωνος ἱερὸν καὶ τὸ ἅλμα τὸ τοὺς ἔρωτας παύειν πεπιστευμένον· "
οὗ δὴ λέγεται πρώτη Σαπφώ
"
ὥς φησιν ὁ Μένανδρος
"
τὸν ὑπέρκομπον θηρῶσα Φάωνʼ
οἰστρῶντι πόθῳ ῥῖψαι πέτρας
ἀπὸ τηλεφανοῦς ἅλμα κατʼ εὐχὴν
σήν, δέσποτʼ ἄναξ. "
ὁ μὲν οὖν Μένανδρος πρώτην ἁλέσθαι λέγει τὴν Σαπφώ, οἱ δʼ ἔτι ἀρχαιολογικώτεροι Κέφαλόν φασιν ἐρασθέντα Πτερέλα τὸν Δηιονέως.
The temple of Leucatas Apollo also has the leap which is believed to put an end to love: "Where indeed Sappho is said first," as Menander says: "hunting the arrogant Phaon, with raging desire to have cast herself from the far-shining rock, making a leap in accordance with your vow, O lord king." Menander, then, says that Sappho was the first to leap, but those who are still more archaeological say it was Cephalus, who fell in love with Pterelas, the son of Deioneus.
ἦν δὲ καὶ πάτριον τοῖς Λευκαδίοις κατʼ ἐνιαυτὸν ἐν τῇ θυσίᾳ τοῦ Ἀπόλλωνος ἀπὸ τῆς σκοπῆς ῥιπτεῖσθαί τινα τῶν ἐν αἰτίαις ὄντων ἀποτροπῆς χάριν, ἐξαπτομένων ἐξ αὐτοῦ παντοδαπῶν πτερῶν καὶ ὀρνέων ἀνακουφίζειν δυναμένων τῇ πτήσει τὸ ἅλμα, ὑποδέχεσθαι δὲ κάτω μικραῖς ἁλιάσι κύκλῳ περιεστῶτας πολλοὺς καὶ περισώζειν εἰς δύναμιν τῶν ὅρων ἔξω τὸν ἀναληφθέντα.
It was also an ancestral custom for the Leucadians every year, at the sacrifice of Apollo, to cast someone of those who were accused from the lookout for the sake of averting evil, having fastened to him all kinds of wings and birds capable of easing the leap by flight, and many below in small fishing-boats would receive him, standing in a circle, and rescue him as far as possible outside the borders.
ὁ δὲ τὴν Ἀλκμαιονίδα γράψας, Ἰκαρίου τοῦ Πηνελόπης πατρὸς υἱεῖς γενέσθαι δύο, Ἀλυζέα καὶ Λευκάδιον, δυναστεῦσαι δʼ ἐν τῇ Ἀκαρνανίᾳ τούτους μετὰ τοῦ πατρός· τούτων οὖν ἐπωνύμους τὰς πόλεις Ἔφορος λέγεσθαι δοκεῖ.
The author of the Alcmeonis, however, says that two sons were born to Icarius, the father of Penelope, Alyzeus and Leucadius, and that these ruled in Acarnania with their father; Ephorus, then, thinks that the cities were named after them.