§8.6.19ἑξῆς δὲ λέγωμεν περὶ τῶν ὑπὸ Μυκήναις καὶ τῷ Ἀγαμέμνονι τεταγμένων τόπων ἐν τῷ καταλόγῳ τῶν νεῶν· ἔχει δʼ οὕτω τὰ ἔπη
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οἳ δὲ Μυκήνας εἶχον, ἐυκτίμενον πτολίεθρον,
ἀφνειόν τε Κόρινθον ἐυκτιμένας τε Κλεωνάς,
Ὀρνειάς τʼ ἐνέμοντο Ἀραιθυρέην τʼ ἐρατεινὴν
καὶ Σικυῶνʼ, ὅθʼ ἄρʼ Ἄδρηστος πρῶτʼ ἐμβασίλευεν,
οἵ θʼ Ὑπερησίην τε καὶ αἰπεινὴν Γονόεσσαν
Πελλήνην τʼ εἶχον, ἠδʼ Αἴγιον ἀμφενέμοντο,
αἰγιαλόν τʼ ἀνὰ πάντα καὶ ἀμφʼ Ἑλίκην εὐρεῖαν. "
αἱ μὲν οὖν Μυκῆναι νῦν οὐκέτʼ εἰσίν, ἔκτισε δʼ αὐτὰς Περσεύς, διεδέξατο δὲ Σθένελος, εἶτʼ Εὐρυσθεύς·
Let us next speak of the places situated under Mycenae and Agamemnon in the Catalogue of Ships; the verses run as follows: 'And those who held Mycenae, the well-built citadel, and wealthy Corinth and well-built Cleonae, and inhabited Orneiae and lovely Araethyrea and Sicyon, where Adrastus first was king; and those who held Hyperesia and steep Gonoessa and Pellene, and inhabited around Aegium, and all along the coast-land and around wide Helice.' Now Mycenae no longer exists; Perseus founded it, Sthenelus succeeded him, and then Eurystheus; and these same men also ruled over Argos.
οἱ δʼ αὐτοὶ καὶ τοῦ Ἄργους ἦρξαν. Εὐρυσθεὺς μὲν οὖν στρατεύσας εἰς Μαραθῶνα ἐπὶ τοὺς Ἡρακλέους παῖδας καὶ Ἰόλαον βοηθησάντων Ἀθηναίων ἱστορεῖται πεσεῖν ἐν τῇ μάχῃ, καὶ τὸ μὲν ἄλλο σῶμα Γαργηττοῖ ταφῆναι, τὴν δὲ κεφαλὴν χωρὶς ἐν Τρικορύνθῳ, ἀποκόψαντος αὐτὴν Ἰολάου περὶ τὴν κρήνην τὴν Μακαρίαν ὑπὸ ἁμαξιτόν· καὶ ὁ τόπος καλεῖται Εὐρυσθέως κεφαλή.
Now Eurystheus, having made an expedition to Marathon against the children of Heracles and Iolaus with the assistance of the Athenians, is recorded to have fallen in the battle, and his body to have been buried at Gargettus, but his head separately at Tricorynthus, Iolaus having cut it off near the spring Macaria beside the carriage road; and the place is called Eurystheus' Head.
αἱ δὲ Μυκῆναι μετέπεσον εἰς τοὺς Πελοπίδας ὁρμηθέντας ἐκ τῆς Πισάτιδος, εἶτʼ εἰς τοὺς Ἡρακλείδας καὶ τὸ Ἄργος ἔχοντας.
And Mycenae fell into the hands of the Pelopidae who had set out from Pisatis, and then to the Heracleidae, who also held Argos.
μετὰ δὲ τὴν ἐν Σαλαμῖνι ναυμαχίαν Ἀργεῖοι μετὰ Κλεωναίων καὶ Τεγεατῶν ἐπελθόντες ἄρδην τὰς Μυκήνας ἀνεῖλον καὶ τὴν χώραν διενείμαντο.
But after the naval battle at Salamis, the Argives, along with the Cleonaeans and Tegeatans, attacked and utterly destroyed Mycenae, and divided its territory.
διὰ δὲ τὴν ἐγγύτητα τὰς δύο πόλεις ὡς μίαν οἱ τραγικοὶ συνωνύμως προσαγορεύουσιν, Εὐριπίδης δὲ καὶ ἐν τῷ αὐτῷ δράματι τοτὲ μὲν Μυκήνας καλῶν τοτὲ δʼ Ἄργος τὴν αὐτὴν πόλιν, καθάπερ ἐν Ἰφιγενείᾳ καὶ Ὀρέστῃ.
Because of their proximity, the tragic poets address the two cities synonymously as one, and Euripides even in the same play calls the same city at one time Mycenae and at another Argos, as in Iphigenia and Orestes.
Κλεωναὶ δʼ εἰσὶ πόλισμα ἐπὶ τῇ ὁδῷ κείμενον τῇ ἐξ Ἄργους εἰς Κόρινθον ἐπὶ λόφου περιοικουμένου πανταχόθεν καὶ τετειχισμένου καλῶς, ὥστʼ οἰκείως εἰρῆσθαί μοι δοκεῖ τὸ ἐυκτιμένας Κλεωνάς.
Cleonae is a small town situated on the road from Argos to Corinth, on a hill inhabited all around and well fortified, so that the phrase 'well-built Cleonae' seems to me to have been appropriately used by Homer.
ἐνταῦθα δὲ καὶ ἡ Νεμέα μεταξὺ Κλεωνῶν καὶ Φλιοῦντος καὶ τὸ ἄλσος, ἐν ᾧ καὶ τὰ Νέμεα συντελεῖν ἔθος τοῖς Ἀργείοις, καὶ τὰ περὶ τὸν Νεμεαῖον λέοντα μυθευόμενα, καὶ ἡ Βέμβινα κώμη·
And here is also Nemea, between Cleonae and Phlius, and the grove in which the Argives are accustomed to celebrate the Nemean games, and the place of the myth of the Nemean lion, and the village Bembina.
διέχουσι δʼ αἱ Κλεωναὶ τοῦ μὲν Ἄργους σταδίους ἑκατὸν εἴκοσι, Κορίνθου δὲ ὀγδοήκοντα.
Cleonae is distant one hundred and twenty stadia from Argos, and eighty from Corinth.
καὶ ἡμεῖς ἀπὸ τοῦ Ἀκροκορίνθου κατωπτεύσαμεν τὸ κτίσμα.
And we ourselves viewed the town from the Acrocorinth.
§8.6.20ὁ δὲ Κόρινθος ἀφνειὸς μὲν λέγεται διὰ τὸ ἐμπόριον, ἐπὶ τῷ Ἰσθμῷ κείμενος καὶ δυεῖν λιμένων κύριος, ὧν ὁ μὲν τῆς Ἀσίας ὁ δὲ τῆς Ἰταλίας ἐγγύς ἐστι καὶ ῥᾳδίας ποιεῖ τὰς ἑκατέρωθεν ἀμοιβὰς τῶν φορτίων πρὸς ἀλλήλους τοῖς τοσοῦτον ἀφεστῶσιν.
And Corinth is called wealthy because of its emporium, being situated on the Isthmus and master of two harbors, of which one is near Asia and the other near Italy; and it makes easy the reciprocal exchange of cargoes on both sides for people so far apart.
ἦν δʼ ὥσπερ ὁ πορθμὸς οὐκ εὔπλους ὁ κατὰ τὴν Σικελίαν τὸ παλαιόν, οὕτω καὶ τὰ πελάγη καὶ μάλιστα τὸ ὑπὲρ Μαλεῶν διὰ τὰς ἀντιπνοίας· ἀφʼ οὗ καὶ παροιμιάζονται
"Μαλέας δὲ κάμψας ἐπιλάθου τῶν οἴκαδε. "
ἀγαπητὸν οὖν ἑκατέροις ἦν τοῖς τε ἐκ τῆς Ἰταλίας καὶ ἐκ τῆς Ἀσίας ἐμπόροις, ἀφεῖσι τὸν περὶ Μαλέας πλοῦν, κατάγεσθαι τὸν φόρτον αὐτόθι· καὶ πεζῇ δὲ τῶν ἐκκομιζομένων ἐκ τῆς Πελοποννήσου καὶ τῶν εἰσαγομένων ἔπιπτε τὰ τέλη τοῖς τὰ κλεῖθρα ἔχουσι.
And just as the strait near Sicily was of old not easy to sail, so too were the open seas, and especially the sea beyond Maleae, because of the contrary winds; whence the proverb, 'But when you double Maleae, forget your home.' Therefore, it was welcome to both classes of merchants, those from Italy and those from Asia, to avoid the voyage around Maleae and to land their cargoes here; and the duties on goods carried out of the Peloponnesus by land and on those imported fell to those who held the keys.
διέμεινε δὲ τοῦτο καὶ εἰς ὕστερον μέχρι παντός· τοῖς δʼ ὕστερον καὶ πλείω προσεγίνετο πλεονεκτήματα· καὶ γὰρ ὁ Ἰσθμικὸς ἀγὼν ἐκεῖ συντελούμενος ὄχλους ἐπήγετο, καὶ οἱ Βακχιάδαι τυραννήσαντες, πλούσιοι καὶ πολλοὶ καὶ γένος λαμπροί, διακόσια ἔτη σχεδόν τι κατέσχον τὴν ἀρχὴν καὶ τὸ ἐμπόριον ἀδεῶς ἐκαρπώσαντο·
This continued ever afterwards, and to those of later times even greater advantages accrued; for the Isthmian games, celebrated there, attracted crowds, and the Bacchiadae, who ruled as tyrants, being wealthy, numerous, and of noble descent, held the government for nearly two hundred years and enjoyed the fruits of the emporium without fear.
τούτους δὲ Κύψελος καταλύσας αὐτὸς ἐτυράννησε, καὶ μέχρι τριγονίας ὁ οἶκος αὐτοῦ συνέμεινε· τοῦ δὲ περὶ τὸν οἶκον τοῦτον πλούτου μαρτύριον τὸ Ὀλυμπίασιν ἀνάθημα Κυψέλου, σφυρήλατος χρυσοῦς ἀνδριὰς εὐμεγέθης.
Cypselus, having overthrown them, himself became tyrant, and his house lasted to the third generation; and a proof of the wealth of this house is the dedication of Cypselus at Olympia, a large statue of beaten gold.
Δημάρατός τε, εἷς τῶν ἐν Κορίνθῳ δυναστευσάντων, φεύγων τὰς ἐκεῖ στάσεις τοσοῦτον ἠνέγκατο πλοῦτον οἴκοθεν εἰς τὴν Τυρρηνίαν ὥστε αὐτὸς μὲν ἦρξε τῆς δεξαμένης αὐτὸν πόλεως, ὁ δʼ υἱὸς αὐτοῦ καὶ Ῥωμαίων κατέστη βασιλεύς.
Demaratus, too, one of those who held power in Corinth, fleeing the factions there, carried away so much wealth from home to Tyrrhenia that he himself ruled over the city that received him, and his son became king of the Romans.
τό τε τῆς Ἀφροδίτης ἱερὸν οὕτω πλούσιον ὑπῆρξεν ὥστε πλείους ἢ χιλίας ἱεροδούλους ἐκέκτητο ἑταίρας, ἃς ἀνετίθεσαν τῇ θεῷ καὶ ἄνδρες καὶ γυναῖκες.
And the temple of Aphrodite was so rich that it possessed more than a thousand temple-slaves as courtesans, whom both men and women dedicated to the goddess.
καὶ διὰ ταύτας οὖν πολυωχλεῖτο ἡ πόλις καὶ ἐπλουτίζετο· οἱ γὰρ ναύκληροι ῥᾳδίως ἐξανηλίσκοντο, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ἡ παροιμία φησίν
"οὐ παντὸς ἀνδρὸς ἐς Κόρινθόν ἐσθʼ ὁ πλοῦς. "
καὶ δὴ καὶ μνημονεύεταί τις ἑταίρα πρὸς τὴν ὀνειδίζουσαν, ὅτι οὐ φιλεργὸς εἴη οὐδʼ ἐρίων ἅπτοιτο, εἰπεῖν
ἐγὼ μέντοι ἡ τοιαύτη τρεῖς ἤδη καθεῖλον ἱστοὺς ἐν βραχεῖ χρόνῳ τούτῳ.
And on account of these women, therefore, the city was crowded and grew rich; for the shipmasters easily spent all they had, and because of this the proverb says, 'The voyage to Corinth is not for every man.' And indeed, a certain courtesan is remembered to have said, in reply to a woman who reproached her because she was not industrious and did not touch wool: 'Yet, such as I am, I have already taken down three masts (looms) in this short time.'