§8.8.1Ἀρκαδία δʼ ἐστὶν ἐν μέσῳ μὲν τῆς Πελοποννήσου, πλείστην δὲ χώραν ὀρεινὴν ἀποτέμνεται.
Arcadia is in the middle of the Peloponnese, and occupies most of the mountainous country.
μέγιστον δʼ ὄρος ἐν αὐτῇ Κυλλήνη· τὴν γοῦν κάθετον οἱ μὲν εἴκοσι σταδίων φασὶν οἱ δʼ ὅσον πεντεκαίδεκα.
The highest mountain in it is Cyllene; at any rate, some say its perpendicular height is twenty stadia, and others about fifteen.
δοκεῖ δὲ παλαιότατα ἔθνη τῶν Ἑλλήνων εἶναι τὰ Ἀρκαδικά, Ἀζᾶνές τε καὶ Παρράσιοι καὶ ἄλλοι τοιοῦτοι.
The Arcadian tribes, such as the Azanes and the Parrhasioi and other such peoples, seem to be the oldest nations of the Greeks.
διὰ δὲ τὴν τῆς χώρας παντελῆ κάκωσιν οὐκ ἂν προσήκοι μακρολογεῖν περὶ αὐτῶν· αἵ τε γὰρ πόλεις ὑπὸ τῶν συνεχῶν πολέμων ἠφανίσθησαν ἔνδοξοι γενόμεναι πρότερον, τήν τε χώραν οἱ γεωργήσαντες ἐκλελοίπασιν ἐξ ἐκείνων ἔτι τῶν χρόνων ἐξ ὧν εἰς τὴν προσαγορευθεῖσαν Μεγάλην πόλιν αἱ πλεῖσται συνῳκίσθησαν.
But because of the complete ruin of the country, it would not be fitting to speak of them at length; for the cities, though having become famous in former times, have disappeared through continuous wars, and the tillers of the soil have left the land since those times when most of the cities were united into the city called Megalopolis.
νυνὶ δὲ καὶ αὐτὴ ἡ Μεγάλη πόλις τὸ τοῦ κωμικοῦ πέπονθε καὶ
"
ἐρημία μεγάλη ʼστὶν ἡ Μεγάλη πόλις. "
βοσκήμασι δʼ εἰσὶ νομαὶ δαψιλεῖς, καὶ μάλιστα ἵπποις καὶ ὄνοις τοῖς ἱπποβάταις·
And now even Megalopolis itself has suffered the fate mentioned by the comic poet: "A great wilderness is Megalopolis." Yet there are abundant pastures for herds, and especially for horses and for asses that breed with horses; and the Arcadian breed of horses is excellent, just like the Argolic and the Epidaurian.
ἔστι δὲ καὶ τὸ γένος τῶν ἵππων ἄριστον τὸ Ἀρκαδικόν, καθάπερ καὶ τὸ Ἀργολικὸν καὶ τὸ Ἐπιδαύριον. καὶ ἡ τῶν Αἰτωλῶν δὲ καὶ Ἀκαρνάνων ἐρημία πρὸς ἱπποτροφίαν εὐφυὴς γέγονεν οὐχ ἧττον τῆς Θετταλίας.
And the desolation of the Aetolians and Acarnanians has become no less well-adapted for horse-breeding than Thessaly.
§8.8.2Μαντίνειαν μὲν οὖν ἐποίησεν ἔνδοξον Ἐπαμεινώνδας, τῇ δευτέρᾳ νικήσας μάχῃ Λακεδαιμονίους ἐν ᾗ καὶ αὐτὸς ἐτελεύτα.
Epameinondas made Mantineia famous, conquering the Lacedaemonians in the second battle, in which he himself also died.
καὶ αὕτη δὲ καὶ Ὀρχομενὸς καὶ Ἡραία καὶ Κλείτωρ καὶ Φενεὸς καὶ Στύμφαλος καὶ Μαίναλος καὶ Μεθύδριον καὶ Καφυεῖς καὶ Κύναιθα ἢ οὐκέτʼ εἰσὶν ἢ μόλις αὐτῶν ἴχνη φαίνεται καὶ σημεῖα.
And this city, as well as Orchomenus, Heraea, Cleitor, Pheneus, Stymphalus, Maenalus, Methydrium, Caphyeis, and Cynaetha, either no longer exist, or else scarcely any traces or signs of them appear.
Τεγέα δʼ ἔτι μετρίως συμμένει καὶ τὸ ἱερὸν τῆς Ἀλέας Ἀθηνᾶς· τιμᾶται δʼ ἐπὶ μικρὸν καὶ τὸ τοῦ Λυκαίου Διὸς ἱερὸν κατὰ τὸ Λύκαιον ὄρος.
Tegea still moderately endures, as does the temple of Athena Alea; and the temple of Lycaean Zeus on Mount Lycaeum is also honored in a small way.
τῶν δʼ ὑπὸ τοῦ ποιητοῦ λεγομένων
"
Ῥίπην τε Στρατίην τε καὶ ἠνεμόεσσαν Ἐνίσπην
"
εὑρεῖν τε χαλεπὸν καὶ εὑροῦσιν οὐδὲν ὄφελος διὰ τὴν ἐρημίαν.
As for the places mentioned by the poet: "Ripe and Stratie and windy Enispe," it is difficult to find them, and even to those who find them they are of no use because of the desolation.
§8.8.3ὄρη δʼ ἐπιφανῆ πρὸς τῇ Κυλλήνῃ Φολόη τε καὶ Λύκαιον καὶ Μαίναλος καὶ τὸ Παρθένιον καλούμενον καθῆκον ἐπὶ τὴν Ἀργείαν ἀπὸ τῆς Τεγεάτιδος.
The notable mountains, besides Cyllene, are Pholoe, Lycaeum, Maenalus, and that called Parthenium, which extends from the Tegeatis to the Argia.
§8.8.4περὶ δὲ τοῦ Ἀλφειοῦ καὶ τοῦ Εὐρώτα τὸ συμβεβηκὸς παράδοξον εἴρηται καὶ τὸ περὶ Ἐρασῖνον τὸν ἐκδιδόντα ἐκ τῆς Στυμφαλίδος λίμνης εἰς τὴν Ἀργείαν νυνί, πρότερον δʼ οὐκ ἔχοντα ἔκρυσιν, τῶν βερέθρων, ἃ καλοῦσιν οἱ Ἀρκάδες ζέρεθρα, τυφλῶν ὄντων καὶ μὴ δεχομένων ἀπέρασιν ὥστε τὴν τῶν Στυμφαλίων πόλιν νῦν μὲν καὶ πεντήκοντα διέχειν σταδίους ἀπὸ τῆς λίμνης, τότε δʼ ἐπʼ αὐτῆς κεῖσθαι.
Concerning the Alpheius and the Eurotas, the remarkable thing that happens to them has been told; and also concerning the Erasinus, which now empties from the Stymphalian Lake into the Argia, but formerly had no outlet, since the underground channels—which the Arcadians call "zerethra"—were blocked and did not admit any passage, so that the city of the Stymphalians is now fifty stadia distant from the lake, whereas then it lay upon it.
τἀναντία δʼ ὁ Λάδων ἔπαθε τοῦ ῥεύματος ἐπισχεθέντος ποτὲ διὰ τὴν ἔμφραξιν τῶν πηγῶν· συμπεσόντα γὰρ τὰ περὶ Φενεὸν βέρεθρα ὑπὸ σεισμοῦ, διʼ ὧν ἦν ἡ φορά, μονὴν ἐποίησε τοῦ ῥεύματος μέχρι τῶν κατὰ βάθους φλεβῶν τῆς πηγῆς.
The Ladon, on the contrary, suffered the opposite, its stream being once checked because of the blocking of its sources; for the underground channels around Pheneus, through which its flow used to pass, collapsed owing to an earthquake, and caused the stream to stop as far back as the deep veins of its source.
καὶ οἱ μὲν οὕτω λέγουσιν· Ἐρατοσθένης δέ φησι περὶ Φενεὸν μὲν τὸν Ἀνίαν καλούμενον ποταμὸν λιμνάζειν τὰ πρὸ τῆς πόλεως, καταδύεσθαι δʼ εἴς τινας ἠθμοὺς οὓς καλεῖσθαι ζέρεθρα· τούτων δʼ ἐμφραχθέντων ἔσθʼ ὅτε ὑπερχεῖσθαι τὸ ὕδωρ εἰς τὰ πεδία, πάλιν δʼ ἀναστομουμένων ἄθρουν ἐκ τῶν πεδίων ἐκπεσὸν εἰς τὸν Λάδωνα καὶ τὸν Ἀλφειὸν ἐμβάλλειν, ὥστε καὶ τῆς Ὀλυμπίας κλυσθῆναί ποτε τὴν περὶ τὸ ἱερὸν γῆν, τὴν δὲ λίμνην συσταλῆναι· τὸν Ἐρασῖνον δὲ παρὰ Στυμφάλου ῥέοντα ὑποδύντα ὑπὸ τὸ ὄρος ἐν τῇ Ἀργείᾳ πάλιν ἀναφανῆναι· διὸ δὴ καὶ Ἰφικράτη πολιορκοῦντα τὸν Στύμφαλον καὶ μηδὲν περαίνοντα ἐπιχειρῆσαι τὴν κατάδυσιν ἀποφράξαι σπόγγους πορισάμενον πολλούς, παύσασθαι δὲ διοσημίας γενομένης.
And some indeed speak thus; but Eratosthenes says that around Pheneus the river called Anias forms a lake in front of the city, and sinks into certain strainers which are called "zerethra"; and when these are blocked, the water sometimes overflows into the plains, but when they open again, the water rushes all at once out of the plains and empties into the Ladon and the Alpheius, so that even the land around the temple at Olympia was once flooded, while the lake shrunk; and that the Erasinus, flowing past Stymphalus, slips under the mountain and appears again in the Argia; and that for this reason Iphicrates, when besieging Stymphalus and accomplishing nothing, attempted to block up the descent by procuring many sponges, but desisted when a sign from heaven occurred.
περὶ Φενεὸν δʼ ἔστι καὶ τὸ καλούμενον Στυγὸς ὕδωρ, λιβάδιον ὀλεθρίου ὕδατος νομιζόμενον ἱερόν.
Near Pheneus there is also what is called the Water of Styx, a small stream of deadly water which is considered sacred.
τοσαῦτα καὶ περὶ Ἀρκαδίας εἰρήσθω.
Let so much be said concerning Arcadia.
§8.8.5Πολυβίου δʼ εἰρηκότος τὸ ἀπὸ Μαλεῶν ἐπὶ τὰς ἄρκτους μέχρι τοῦ Ἴστρου διάστημα περὶ μυρίους σταδίους, εὐθύνει τοῦτο ὁ Ἀρτεμίδωρος οὐκ ἀτόπως, ἐπὶ μὲν Αἴγιον χιλίους καὶ ίους εἶναι λέγων ἐκ Μαλεῶν ὁδόν, ἐνθένδε εἰς διακοσίων, ἐνθένδε διὰ Ἡρακλείας πεντακοσίων ὁδόν, εἶτα εἰς Λάρισαν τριακοσίων τετταράκοντα, εἶτα διὰ νειοῦ ἐκβολὰς διακοσίων τετταράκονλονίκειαν ἑξακοσίων ἑξήκοντα, ἐντεῦένης καὶ Στόβων καὶ Δαρδανίων τρισχιυς.
Since Polybius has said that the distance from Maleae to the north as far as the Ister is about ten thousand stadia, Artemidorus corrects this not without reason, saying that from Maleae to Aegium is a journey of one thousand four hundred stadia, thence to [Patrae] two hundred, thence through Heracleia [to Ambracia] a journey of five hundred, then to Larissa three hundred and forty, then through the mouth of the [Pe]neius two hundred and forty, then [beyond Thessa]lonica six hundred and sixty, thence [through Edo]mene and Stobi and the Dardanians three thousand [two hundred] stadia.
κατʼ ἐκεῖνον δὴ συμβαίνει τὸ ἐκ έας ἑξακισχιλίων πεντακοσίων.
According to him, indeed, the distance from [Maleae to the Ister] happens to be six thousand five hundred.
αἴτιον δὲ τούτου τὸ μὴ τὴν σύντομον καταμετρεῖν, ἀλλὰ τὴν τυχοῦσαν ἣν ἐπορεύθη τῶν στρατηγῶν τις.
And the cause of this is his not measuring the shortest route, but any chance route which some one of the generals marched.
οὐκ ἄτοπον δʼ ἴσως καὶ τοὺς οἰκιστὰς προσθεῖναι τῶν τὴν Πελοπόννησον οἰκούντων, οὓς εἶπεν Ἔφορος, τοὺς μετὰ τὴν Ἡρακλειδῶν κάθοδον· Κορίνθου μὲν Ἀλήτην, Σικυῶνος δὲ Φάλκην, Ἀχαΐας δὲ Τισαμενόν, Ἤλιδος δʼ Ὄξυλον, Μεσσήνης δὲ Κρεσφόντην, Λακεδαίμονος δʼ Εὐρυσθένη καὶ Προκλῆ, Ἄργους δὲ Τήμενον κ περὶ τὴν Ἀκτὴν Ἀγραῖον καὶ Δηιφόντην.
And it is perhaps not out of place to add the founders of those who inhabit the Peloponnese, whom Ephorus mentioned, those after the return of the Heracleidae: Aletes of Corinth, Phalces of Sicyon, Tisamenus of Achaea, Oxylus of Elis, Cresphontes of Messene, Eurysthenes and Procles of Lacedaemon, Temenus of Argos, and Agraeus and Deiphontes around Acte.