§14.1.43Νῦσα δʼ ἵδρυται πρὸς τῇ Μεσωγίδι τὸ πλέον τῷ ὄρει προσανακεκλιμένη, ἔστι δʼ ὥσπερ δίπολις· διαιρεῖ γὰρ αὐτὴν χαράδρα τις ποιοῦσα φάραγγα, ἧς τὸ μὲν γέφυραν ἐπικειμένην ἔχει συνάπτουσαν τὰς δύο πόλεις, τὸ δʼ ἀμφιθεάτρῳ κεκόσμηται κρυπτὴν ἔχοντι τὴν ὑπόρρυσιν τῶν χαραδρωδῶν ὑδάτων·
Nysa is situated near Mesogis, leaning for the most part against the mountain, and is as it were a double city; for a certain ravine forming a torrent-bed divides it, of which one part has a bridge built over it connecting the two cities, and the other is adorned with an amphitheater which has a hidden passage for the underflow of the waters from the ravine.
τῷ δὲ θεάτρῳ δύο ἄκραι, ὧν τῇ μὲν ὑπόκειται τὸ γυμνάσιον τῶν νέων, τῇ δʼ ἀγορὰ καὶ τὸ γεροντικόν·
Below the theater are two hills, of one of which the gymnasium of the youths lies at the foot, and of the other the agora and the gerontikon.
πρὸς δὲ νότον ὑποπέπτωκε τῇ πόλει τὸ πεδίον, καθάπερ καὶ ταῖς Τράλλεσιν.
To the south, the plain lies below the city, just as at Tralles.
§14.1.44ἐν δὲ τῇ ὁδῷ τῇ μεταξὺ τῶν Τράλλεων καὶ τῆς Νύσης κώμη τῶν Νυσαέων ἐστὶν οὐκ ἄπωθεν τῆς πόλεως Ἀχάρακα, ἐν ᾗ τὸ Πλουτώνιον ἔχον καὶ ἄλσος πολυτελὲς καὶ νεὼν Πλούτωνός τε καὶ Κόρης, καὶ τὸ Χαρώνιον ἄντρον ὑπερκείμενον τοῦ ἄλσους θαυμαστὸν τῇ φύσει·
On the road between Tralles and Nysa there is a village of the Nysaeans not far from the city, Acharaca, in which is the Plutonium, containing both a costly grove and a temple of Pluto and Core, and the Charonium cave, which lies above the grove, wonderful in its nature.
λέγουσι γὰρ δὴ τοὺς νοσώδεις καὶ προσέχοντας ταῖς τῶν θεῶν τούτων θεραπείαις φοιτᾶν ἐκεῖσε καὶ διαιτᾶσθαι ἐν τῇ κώμῃ πλησίον τοῦ ἄντρου παρὰ τοῖς ἐμπείροις τῶν ἱερέων, οἳ ἐγκοιμῶνταί τε ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν καὶ διατάττουσιν ἐκ τῶν ὀνείρων τὰς θεραπείας.
For they say that the sick and those who attend to the cures of these gods resort thither and live in the village near the cave with the experienced priests, who sleep in the temple on their behalf and direct the cures from their dreams.
οὗτοι δʼ εἰσὶ καὶ οἱ ἐπικαλοῦντες τὴν τῶν θεῶν ἰατρείαν· ἄγουσι δὲ πολλάκις εἰς τὸ ἄντρον καὶ ἱδρύουσι μένοντας καθʼ ἡσυχίαν ἐκεῖ καθάπερ ἐν φωλεῷ σιτίων χωρὶς ἐπὶ πλείους ἡμέρας.
These priests are also the ones who invoke the healing of the gods; they often lead the sick into the cave and establish them there, remaining quietly like in a lair without food for several days.
ἔστι δʼ ὅτε καὶ ἰδίοις ἐνυπνίοις οἱ νοσηλευόμενοι προσέχουσι, μυσταγωγοῖς δʼ ὅμως καὶ συμβούλοις ἐκείνοις χρῶνται ὡς ἂν ἱερεῦσι·
Sometimes the patients also attend to their own dreams, but they nevertheless employ those priests as guides to the mysteries and advisers, as if they were priests.
τοῖς δʼ ἄλλοις ἄδυτός ἐστιν ὁ τόπος καὶ ὀλέθριος.
To others, the place is inaccessible and fatal.
πανήγυρις δʼ ἐν τοῖς Ἀχαράκοις συντελεῖται κατʼ ἔτος, καὶ τότε μάλιστα ὁρᾶν ἔστι καὶ ἀκούειν περὶ τῶν νοσούντων τοὺς πανηγυρίζοντας·
An annual festival is celebrated in Acharaca, and then especially one can see and hear about the sick from those attending the festival.
τότε δὲ καὶ περὶ τὴν μεσημβρίαν ὑπολαβόντες ταῦρον οἱ ἐκ τοῦ γυμνασίου νέοι καὶ ἔφηβοι γυμνοὶ λίπʼ ἀληλιμμένοι μετὰ σπουδῆς ἀνακομίζουσιν εἰς τὸ ἄντρον· ἀφεθεὶς δὲ μικρὸν προελθὼν πίπτει καὶ ἔκπνους γίνεται.
At that time also, about noon, the youths and ephebes from the gymnasium, naked and anointed with oil, take up a bull and carry it up with haste to the cave; and when it is let loose, after going forward a short distance, it falls and dies.
§14.1.45ἀπὸ δὲ τριάκοντα σταδίων τῆς Νύσης ὑπερβᾶσι Τμῶλον καὶ τὸ ὄρος τὴν Μεσωγίδα ἐπὶ τὰ πρὸς νότον μέρη καλεῖται τόπος Λειμών, εἰς ὃν ἐξοδεύουσι πανηγυριοῦντες Νυσαεῖς τε καὶ οἱ κύκλῳ πάντες· οὐ πόρρω δὲ τούτου στόμιόν ἐστιν ἱερὸν τῶν αὐτῶν θεῶν, ὅ φασι καθήκειν μέχρι τῶν Ἀχαράκων.
At a distance of thirty stadia from Nysa, for those who cross Tmolus and the mountain Mesogis to the southern parts, there is a place called Leimon, to which the Nysaeans and all the surrounding people go out to celebrate festivals; and not far from this is a sacred cave-opening of the same gods, which they say extends as far as Acharaca.
τοῦτον δὲ τὸν λειμῶνα ὀνομάζειν τὸν ποιητήν φασιν ὅταν φῇ
Ἀσίω ἐν λειμῶνι,
δεικνύντες Καϋστρίου καὶ Ἀσίου τινὸς ἡρῷον καὶ τὸν Κάυστρον πλησίον ἀπορρέοντα.
They say that the poet names this meadow when he says, "In the meadow of Asios," pointing out a hero-shrine of Caystrius and a certain Asios, and the Cayster flowing close by.
§14.1.46ἱστοροῦσι δὲ τρεῖς ἀδελφούς, Ἄθυμβρόν τε καὶ Ἀθύμβραδον καὶ Ὕδρηλον, ἐλθόντας ἐκ Λακεδαίμονος τὰς ἐπωνύμους ἑαυτῶν κτίσαι πόλεις, λιπανδρῆσαι δʼ ὕστερον, ἐξ ἐκείνων δὲ συνοικισθῆναι τὴν Νῦσαν· καὶ νῦν Ἄθυμβρον ἀρχηγέτην νομίζουσιν οἱ Νυσαεῖς.
They relate that three brothers, Athymbros, Athymbradus, and Hydrelus, coming from Lacedaemon, founded the cities named after themselves, but that later these suffered from a lack of population, and from them Nysa was jointly settled; and even now the Nysaeans regard Athymbros as their founder.
§14.1.47περίκεινται δὲ ἀξιόλογοι κατοικίαι πέραν τοῦ Μαιάνδρου, Κοσκίνια καὶ Ὀρθωσία· ἐντὸς δὲ Βρίουλα Μάσταυρα Ἀχάρακα καὶ ὑπὲρ τῆς πόλεως ἐν τῷ ὄρει τὰ Ἄρομα, ὅθεν ἄριστος Μεσωγίτης οἶνος ὁ Ἀρομεύς.
Notable settlements lie around on the other side of the Maeander, namely Coscinia and Orthosia; but on this side are Brioula, Mastaura, Acharaca, and above the city in the mountain Aroma, whence comes the best Mesogian wine, the Aromeus.
§14.1.48ἄνδρες δὲ γεγόνασιν ἔνδοξοι Νυσαεῖς Ἀπολλώνιός τε ὁ στωικὸς φιλόσοφος τῶν Παναιτίου γνωρίμων ἄριστος, καὶ Μενεκράτης Ἀριστάρχου μαθητής, καὶ Ἀριστόδημος ἐκείνου υἱός, οὗ διηκούσαμεν ἡμεῖς ἐσχατόγηρω νέοι παντελῶς ἐν τῇ Νύσῃ·
Famous men of Nysaean origin have been Apollonius the Stoic philosopher, the best of the acquaintances of Panaetius, and Menecrates, a disciple of Aristarchus, and Aristodemus his son, whose lectures we ourselves attended in Nysa when he was at an extreme old age and we were completely young.
καὶ Σώστρατος δὲ ὁ ἀδελφὸς τοῦ Ἀριστοδήμου καὶ ἄλλος Ἀριστόδημος ἀνεψιὸς αὐτοῦ ὁ παιδεύσας Μάγνον Πομπήιον ἀξιόλογοι γεγόνασι γραμματικοί·
Sostratus also, the brother of Aristodemus, and another Aristodemus, his cousin, who educated Pompey the Great, became notable grammarians.
ὁ δʼ ἡμέτερος καὶ ἐρρητόρευε καὶ ἐν τῇ Ῥόδῳ καὶ ἐν τῇ πατρίδι δύο σχολὰς συνεῖχε, πρωὶ μὲν τὴν ῥητορικὴν δείλης δὲ τὴν γραμματικὴν σχολήν· ἐν δὲ τῇ Ῥώμῃ τῶν Μάγνου παίδων ἐπιστατῶν ἠρκεῖτο τῇ γραμματικῇ σχολῇ.
But our Aristodemus also taught rhetoric and kept two schools, both in Rhodes and in his native land, in the morning the rhetorical school, and in the evening the grammatical school; and in Rome, while superintending the children of Pompey the Great, he contented himself with the grammatical school.