§5.2.6τῶν δὲ Ὀυολατερρανῶν ἡ μὲν χώρα κλύζεται τῇ θαλάττῃ, τὸ δὲ κτίσμα ἐν φάραγγι βαθείᾳ λόφος ἐστὶν ὑψηλὸς περίκρημνος πάντη τὴν κορυφὴν ἐπίπεδος, ἐφʼ ᾗ ἵδρυται τὸ τεῖχος τῆς πόλεως.
As for the territory of the Volaterrani, it is washed by the sea, but their city-settlement is a high hill, steep on all sides, in a deep valley, flat at its summit, upon which the wall of the city is built.
ἡ δʼ ἐπʼ αὐτὴν ἀνάβασις πεντεκαίδεκα σταδίων ἐστὶν ἀπὸ τῆς βάσεως, ὀξεῖα πᾶσα καὶ χαλεπή.
The ascent to it is fifteen stadia from the base, all of it steep and difficult.
ἐνταῦθα συνέστησαν τινὲς τῶν Τυρρηνῶν καὶ τῶν προγεγραμμένων ὑπὸ Σύλλα· πληρώσαντες δὲ τέτταρα τάγματα στρατιᾶς διετῆ χρόνον ἐπολιορκήθησαν, εἶθʼ ὑπόσπονδοι παρεχώρησαν τοῦ τόπου.
Here some of the Tyrrhenians and of those proscribed by Sulla gathered; and having filled four legions, they were besieged for a period of two years, and then withdrew from the place under a truce.
τὸ δὲ Ποπλώνιον ἐπʼ ἄκρας ὑψηλῆς ἵδρυται κατερρωγυίας εἰς τὴν θάλατταν καὶ χερρονησιζούσης, πολιορκίαν καὶ αὐτὸ δεδεγμένον περὶ τοὺς αὐτοὺς καιρούς.
Populonium is situated on a high cliff which breaks off into the sea and forms a peninsula; it also underwent a siege about the same times.
τὸ μὲν οὖν πολίχνιον πᾶν ἔρημόν ἐστι πλὴν τῶν ἱερῶν καὶ κατοικιῶν ὀλίγων, τὸ δʼ ἐπίνειον οἰκεῖται βέλτιον, πρὸς τῇ ῥίζῃ τοῦ ὄρους λιμένιον ἔχον καὶ νεωσοίκους δύο· καὶ δοκεῖ μοι μόνη τῶν Τυρρηνίδων τῶν παλαιῶν αὕτη πόλεων ἐπʼ αὐτῇ τῇ θαλάττῃ ἱδρῦσθαι·
The little town itself, indeed, is completely deserted except for the temples and a few dwellings, but the harbor-settlement is better inhabited, having a small harbor at the foot of the mountain and two ship-houses; and it seems to me that this is the only one of the ancient Tyrrhenian cities that was built upon the sea itself.
αἴτιον δʼ ἐστὶ τὸ τῆς χώρας ἀλίμενον· διόπερ παντάπασιν ἔφευγον οἱ κτίσται τὴν θάλατταν ἢ προεβάλλοντο ἐρύματα πρὸ αὐτῆς, ὥστε μὴ λάφυρον ἕτοιμον ἐκκεῖσθαι τοῖς ἐπιπλεύσασιν.
The reason is the harborless character of the territory; wherefore the founders altogether avoided the sea or threw up defenses in front of it, so that it might not lie exposed as an easy booty to those who sailed against it.
ἔστι δὲ καὶ θυννοσκοπεῖον ὑπὸ τῇ ἄκρᾳ.
There is also a tunny-watchers' station under the cliff.
κατοπτεύεται δʼ ἀπὸ τῆς πόλεως πόρρωθεν μὲν καὶ μόλις ἡ Σαρδώ, ἐγγυτέρω δʼ ἡ Κύρνος ἑξήκοντά πως διέχουσα τῆς Σαρδόνος σταδίους, πολὺ δὲ μᾶλλον τούτων ἡ Αἰθαλία, προσεχεστέρα τῇ ἠπείρῳ ἐστὶν ὅσον τριακοσίους διέχουσα σταδίους, ὅσους καὶ τῆς Κύρνου διέχει.
From the city, Sardinia is kept in view from afar and with difficulty, and closer is Kyrnos, which is about sixty stadia distant from Sardinia, and much more so than these Aethalia, which is nearer to the mainland, being about three hundred stadia distant, and is at the same distance from Kyrnos.
ἄριστον δʼ ἀφετήριον τοῦτο τὸ χωρίον ἐστὶν ἐπὶ τὰς τρεῖς τὰς λεχθείσας νήσους.
This place is the best starting-point for the three islands mentioned.
εἴδομεν δὲ καὶ ταύτας ἡμεῖς ἀναβάντες ἐπὶ τὸ Ποπλώνιον καὶ μέταλλά τινα ἐν τῇ χώρᾳ ἐκλελειμμένα.
We ourselves saw these islands when we went up to Populonium, and also some abandoned mines in the territory.
εἴδομεν δὲ καὶ τοὺς ἐργαζομένους τὸν σίδηρον τὸν ἐκ τῆς Αἰθαλίας κομιζόμενον· οὐ γὰρ δύναται συλλιπαίνεσθαι καμινευόμενος ἐν τῇ νήσῳ, κομίζεται δʼ εὐθὺς ἐκ τῶν μετάλλων εἰς τὴν ἤπειρον.
We saw too the people working the iron brought from Aethalia; for it cannot be smelted into a mass when melted in the island, but is carried straight from the mines to the mainland.
τοῦτό τε δὴ παράδοξον ἡ νῆσος ἔχει καὶ τὸ τὰ ὀρύγματα ἀναπληροῦσθαι πάλιν τῷ χρόνῳ τὰ μεταλλευθέντα, καθάπερ τοὺς πλαταμῶνάς φασι τοὺς ἐν Ῥόδῳ καὶ τὴν ἐν Πάρῳ πέτραν τὴν μάρμαρον καὶ τὰς ἐν Ἰνδοῖς ἅλας, ἅς φησι Κλείταρχος.
This strange property indeed the island has, and also that the excavations which have been mined are filled up again in time, just as they say of the flat rocky shores in Rhodes, and the marble stone in Paros, and the salt in India, of which Cleitarchus speaks.
οὔτʼ οὖν Ἐρατοσθένης ὀρθῶς ὁ φήσας μὴ καθορᾶσθαι μήτε τὴν Κύρνον ἐκ τῆς ἠπείρου μήτε τὴν Σαρδόνα, οὔτʼ Ἀρτεμίδωρος ὁ φήσας ἐν χιλίοις εἶναι καὶ διακοσίοις σταδίοις πελαγίας ἀμφοτέρας.
Therefore, neither is Eratosthenes right when he says that neither Kyrnos nor Sardinia is visible from the mainland, nor Artemidorus when he says that both are in the open sea at a distance of one thousand two hundred stadia.
καὶ γὰρ εἴ τισιν, ἡμῖν γε οὐκ ἂν ὑπῆρξαν ὁραταὶ ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον ἐφʼ ὅσον σαφεῖς ἑωρῶντο, καὶ μάλιστα ἡ Κύρνος.
For indeed, if to anyone else, to us at least they would not have failed to be visible to such an extent as they were clearly seen, and especially Kyrnos.
ἔστι δὲ κατὰ τὴν Αἰθαλίαν λιμὴν Ἀργῷος ἀπὸ τῆς Ἀργοῦς, ὥς φασιν.
And near Aethalia is a harbor called Argoüs, after the Argo, as they say.
ἐκεῖσε γὰρ πλεῦσαι τὴν τῆς Κίρκης οἴκησιν ζητοῦντα τὸν Ἰάσονα, τῆς Μηδείας ἐθελούσης ἰδεῖν τὴν θεάν· καὶ δὴ καὶ τῶν ἀποστλεγγισμάτων παγέντων, ἃ ἐποίουν οἱ Ἀργοναῦται, διαμένειν ἔτι καὶ νῦν διαποικίλους τὰς ἐπὶ τῆς ᾐόνος ψήφους.
For Jason sailed there when seeking the dwelling of Circe, since Medea wished to see the goddess; and indeed they say that because the scrapings of oil and dirt which the Argonauts made became solidified, the multicolored pebbles on the shore still remain even now.
αἱ δὲ τοιαῦται μυθοποιίαι τεκμήρια τῶν λεγομένων ὑφʼ ἡμῶν εἰσίν, ὅτι οὐ πάντα Ὅμηρος αὐτὸς ἔπλαττεν, ἀλλʼ ἀκούων θρυλουμένων τῶν τοιούτων πολλῶν αὐτὸς προσετίθει μήκη διαστημάτων καὶ ἐκτοπισμῶν· καὶ καθάπερ τὸν Ὀδυσσέα εἰς τὸν ὠκεανὸν ἐξέβαλε, παραπλησίως καὶ τὸν Ἰάσονα, γενομένης καὶ τούτῳ πλάνης τινὸς κἀκείνῳ, καθάπερ καὶ Μενελάῳ.
Such myth-makings are proofs of what is said by us, that Homer did not invent everything himself, but hearing of many such things being talked about, he himself added great distances and displacements; and just as he cast Odysseus out into the ocean, in a similar way he also cast Jason, since a certain wandering occurred to this one and to that one, just as also to Menelaus.
περὶ μὲν οὖν τῆς Αἰθαλίας τοσαῦτα.
Concerning Aethalia, then, let this suffice.