§1.14.1ἡ μὲν Ἠπειρωτῶν ἀκμὴ κατέστρεψεν ἐς τοῦτο· ἐς δὲ τὸ Ἀθήνῃσιν ἐσελθοῦσιν Ὠιδεῖον ἄλλα τε καὶ Διόνυσος κεῖται θέας ἄξιος.
The power of the Epirots ended here; and as you enter the Odeum at Athens, there is, among other things, a statue of Dionysus well worth seeing.
πλησίον δέ ἐστι κρήνη, καλοῦσι δὲ αὐτὴν Ἐννεάκρουνον, οὕτω κοσμηθεῖσαν ὑπὸ Πεισιστράτου· φρέατα μὲν γὰρ καὶ διὰ πάσης τῆς πόλεώς ἐστι, πηγὴ δὲ αὕτη μόνη.
Near it is a spring, and they call it Enneacrunus (the Nine Spouts), as it was adorned by Peisistratus; for there are wells throughout the whole city, but this is the only spring.
ναοὶ δὲ ὑπὲρ τὴν κρήνην ὁ μὲν Δήμητρος πεποίηται καὶ Κόρης, ἐν δὲ τῷ Τριπτολέμου κείμενόν ἐστιν ἄγαλμα·
Above the spring there are temples; one is built for Demeter and Core, and in the other is a statue of Triptolemus.
τὰ δὲ ἐς αὐτὸν ὁποῖα λέγεται γράψω, παρεὶς ὁπόσον ἐς Δηιόπην ἔχει τοῦ λόγου.
I will write whatever is said about him, passing over so much of the story as relates to Deiope.
§1.14.2Ἑλλήνων οἱ μάλιστα ἀμφισβητοῦντες Ἀθηναίοις ἐς ἀρχαιότητα καὶ δῶρα, ἃ παρὰ θεῶν φασὶν ἔχειν, εἰσὶν Ἀργεῖοι, καθάπερ βαρβάρων Φρυξὶν Αἰγύπτιοι.
Of the Greeks, those who most dispute with the Athenians about antiquity and the gifts which they say they have received from the gods are the Argives, just as among the barbarians the Egyptians dispute with the Phrygians.
λέγεται οὖν ὡς Δήμητρα ἐς Ἄργος ἐλθοῦσαν Πελασγὸς δέξαιτο οἴκῳ καὶ ὡς Χρυσανθὶς τὴν ἁρπαγὴν ἐπισταμένη τῆς Κόρης διηγήσαιτο·
It is said, then, that when Demeter came to Argos, Pelasgus received her in his house, and that Chrysanthis, knowing about the abduction of Core, told her the story.
ὕστερον δὲ Τροχίλον ἱεροφάντην φυγόντα ἐξ Ἄργους κατὰ ἔχθος Ἀγήνορος ἐλθεῖν φασιν ἐς τὴν Ἀττικὴν καὶ γυναῖκά τε ἐξ Ἐλευσῖνος γῆμαι καὶ γενέσθαι οἱ παῖδας Εὐβουλέα καὶ Τριπτόλεμον.
Later, they say that Trochilus, the priest, fleeing from Argos because of the enmity of Agenor, came to Attica and married a woman from Eleusis, and to him were born children, Eubuleus and Triptolemus.
ὅδε μὲν Ἀργείων ἐστὶ λόγος Ἀθηναῖοι δὲ καὶ ὅσοι παρὰ τούτοις ἴσασι Τριπτόλεμον τὸν Κελεοῦ πρῶτον σπεῖραι καρπὸν ἥμερον.
This is the story of the Argives; but the Athenians and those who know it from them hold that Triptolemus, the son of Celeus, was the first to sow cultivated crop.
§1.14.3ἔπη δὲ ᾄδεται Μουσαίου μέν, εἰ δὴ Μουσαίου καὶ ταῦτα, Τριπτόλεμον παῖδα Ὠκεανοῦ καὶ Γῆς εἶναι, Ὀρφέως δέ, οὐδὲ ταῦτα Ὀρφέως ἐμοὶ δοκεῖν ὄντα, Εὐβουλεῖ καὶ Τριπτολέμῳ Δυσαύλην πατέρα εἶναι, μηνύσασι δέ σφισι περὶ τῆς παιδὸς δοθῆναι παρὰ Δήμητρος σπεῖραι τοὺς καρπούς·
Verses are sung, attributed to Musaeus—if indeed these are by Musaeus—that Triptolemus was the son of Oceanus and Ge; and others, attributed to Orpheus—though these too do not seem to me to be by Orpheus—saying that Dysaules was the father of Eubuleus and Triptolemus, and that because they gave information about the girl, they were given by Demeter the seeds of crops to sow.
Χοιρίλῳ δὲ Ἀθηναίῳ δρᾶμα ποιήσαντι Ἀλόπην ἔστιν εἰρημένα Κερκυόνα εἶναι καὶ Τριπτόλεμον ἀδελφούς, τεκεῖν δὲ σφᾶς θυγατέρα Ἀμφικτύονος, εἶναι δὲ πατέρα Τριπτολέμῳ μὲν Ῥᾶρον, Κερκυόνι δὲ Ποσειδῶνα.
Choerilus, the Athenian, having written a play called Alope, has said that Cercyon and Triptolemus were brothers, that they were born of a daughter of Amphictyon, and that the father of Triptolemus was Raror, but of Cercyon, Poseidon.
πρόσω δὲ ἰέναι με ὡρμημένον τοῦδε τοῦ λόγου καὶ †ὁπόσα ἐξήγησιν †ἔχει τὸ Ἀθήνῃσιν ἱερόν, καλούμενον δὲ Ἐλευσίνιον, ἐπέσχεν ὄψις ὀνείρατος· ἃ δὲ ἐς πάντας ὅσιον γράφειν, ἐς ταῦτα ἀποτρέψομαι.
But when I was eager to go further into this story and [write] all that the sanctuary at Athens, called the Eleusinium, has by way of explanation, a vision in a dream prevented me; I will therefore turn to those things which it is lawful to write for all.
§1.14.4πρὸ τοῦ ναοῦ τοῦδε, ἔνθα καὶ τοῦ Τριπτολέμου τὸ ἄγαλμα, ἔστι βοῦς χαλκοῦς οἷα ἐς θυσίαν ἀγόμενος, πεποίηται δὲ καθήμενος Ἐπιμενίδης Κνώσσιος, ὃν ἐλθόντα ἐς ἀγρὸν κοιμᾶσθαι λέγουσιν ἐσελθόντα ἐς σπήλαιον·
In front of this temple, where also is the statue of Triptolemus, there is a bronze ox as if being led to sacrifice, and there is a statue of Epimenides of Cnossus represented as sitting, of whom they say that having gone into the country he entered a cave and fell asleep.
ὁ δὲ ὕπνος οὐ πρότερον ἀνῆκεν αὐτὸν πρὶν ἤ οἱ τεσσαρακοστὸν ἔτος γενέσθαι καθεύδοντι, καὶ ὕστερον ἔπη τε ἐποίει καὶ πόλεις ἐκάθηρεν ἄλλας τε καὶ τὴν Ἀθηναίων.
The sleep did not release him until his fortieth year of sleeping had come, and later he composed verses and purified cities, including that of the Athenians.
Θάλης δὲ ὁ Λακεδαιμονίοις τὴν νόσον παύσας οὔτε ἄλλως προσήκων οὔτε πόλεως ἦν Ἐπιμενίδῃ τῆς αὐτῆς· ἀλλʼ ὁ μὲν Κνώσσιος, Θάλητα δὲ εἶναί φησι Γορτύνιον Πολύμναστος Κολοφώνιος ἔπη Λακεδαιμονίοις ἐς αὐτὸν ποιήσας.
Thales, who stayed the plague for the Lacedaemonians, was neither otherwise related to Epimenides nor of the same city; for the latter was of Cnossus, but Polymnastus of Colophon, who composed verses about Thales for the Lacedaemonians, says that Thales was of Gortyn.
§1.14.5—ἔτι δὲ ἀπωτέρω ναὸς Εὐκλείας, ἀνάθημα καὶ τοῦτο ἀπὸ Μήδων, οἳ τῆς χώρας Μαραθῶνι ἔσχον.
—Still further off is a temple of Eucleia, this too being a dedicatory offering from the spoils of the Medes who landed at Marathon.
φρονῆσαι δὲ Ἀθηναίους ἐπὶ τῇ νίκῃ ταύτῃ μάλιστα εἰκάζω· καὶ δὴ καὶ Αἰσχύλος, ὥς οἱ τοῦ βίου προσεδοκᾶτο ἡ τελευτή, τῶν μὲν ἄλλων ἐμνημόνευσεν οὐδενός, δόξης ἐς τοςοῦτο ἥκων ἐπὶ ποιήσει καὶ πρὸ Ἀρτεμισίου καὶ ἐν Σαλαμῖνι ναυμαχήσας· ὁ δὲ τό τε ὄνομα πατρόθεν καὶ τὴν πόλιν ἔγραψε καὶ ὡς τῆς ἀνδρίας μάρτυρας ἔχοι τὸ Μαραθῶνι ἄλσος καὶ Μήδων τοὺς ἐς αὐτὸ ἀποβάντας.
I infer that the Athenians took the greatest pride in this victory; and indeed Aeschylus, when his end of life was expected, made mention of none of his other achievements, though he had reached such a height of glory by his poetry and had fought in the sea-fights before Artemisium and at Salamis; but he wrote his own name with his father's name and his city, and how he had as witnesses of his courage the grove at Marathon and the Medes who had landed there.
§1.14.6ὑπὲρ δὲ τὸν Κεραμεικὸν καὶ στοὰν τὴν καλουμένην Βασίλειον ναός ἐστιν Ἡφαίστου.
Above the Ceramicus and the portico called the Royal Portico is a temple of Hephaestus.
καὶ ὅτι μὲν ἄγαλμά οἱ παρέστηκεν Ἀθηνᾶς, οὐδὲν θαῦμα ἐποιούμην τὸν ἐπὶ Ἐριχθονίῳ ἐπιστάμενος λόγον· τὸ δὲ ἄγαλμα ὁρῶν τῆς Ἀθηνᾶς γλαυκοὺς ἔχον τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς Λιβύων τὸν μῦθον ὄντα εὕρισκον·
And that a statue of Athena stands beside him did not surprise me, since I knew the story concerning Erichthonius; but when I saw that the statue of Athena had blue-grey eyes, I found that the myth was Libyan.
τούτοις γάρ ἐστιν εἰρημένον Ποσειδῶνος καὶ λίμνης Τριτωνίδος θυγατέρα εἶναι καὶ διὰ τοῦτο γλαυκοὺς εἶναι ὥσπερ καὶ τῷ Ποσειδῶνι τοὺς ὀφθαλμούς.
For these people say that she is the daughter of Poseidon and the Triton lake, and that because of this she has blue-grey eyes like Poseidon.
§1.14.7πλησίον δὲ ἱερόν ἐστιν Ἀφροδίτης Οὐρανίας.
Near it is a sanctuary of Aphrodite Urania (Heavenly).
πρώτοις δὲ ἀνθρώπων Ἀσσυρίοις κατέστη σέβεσθαι τὴν Οὐρανίαν, μετὰ δὲ Ἀσσυρίους Κυπρίων Παφίοις καὶ Φοινίκων τοῖς Ἀσκάλωνα ἔχουσιν ἐν τῇ Παλαιστίνῃ, παρὰ δὲ Φοινίκων Κυθήριοι μαθόντες σέβουσιν·
Of mankind, the Assyrians were the first to establish the worship of Urania, and after the Assyrians, the Paphians of Cyprus and those of the Phoenicians who hold Ascalon in Palestine, and the people of Cythera, having learned from the Phoenicians, worship her.
Ἀθηναίοις δὲ κατεστήσατο Αἰγεύς, αὑτῷ τε οὐκ εἶναι παῖδας νομίζων—οὐ γάρ πω τότε ἦσαν— καὶ ταῖς ἀδελφαῖς γενέσθαι τὴν συμφορὰν ἐκ μηνίματος τῆς Οὐρανίας.
For the Athenians it was established by Aegeus, who believed that he had no children—for they were not yet born at that time— and that the misfortune of his sisters had come from the wrath of Urania.
τὸ δὲ ἐφʼ ἡμῶν ἔτι ἄγαλμα λίθου Παρίου καὶ ἔργον Φειδίου· δῆμος δέ ἐστιν Ἀθηναίοις Ἀθμονέων, οἳ Πορφυρίωνα ἔτι πρότερον Ἀκταίου βασιλεύσαντα τῆς Οὐρανίας φασὶ τὸ παρὰ σφίσιν ἱερὸν ἱδρύσασθαι.
The statue still remaining in our time is of Parian marble and the work of Pheidias; and there is an Athenian parish of the Athmoneis, who say that Porphyrion, who reigned even before Actaeus, founded the sanctuary of Urania among them.
λέγουσι δὲ ἀνὰ τοὺς δήμους καὶ ἄλλα οὐδὲν ὁμοίως καὶ οἱ τὴν πόλιν ἔχοντες.
But the talk in the parishes is in no way like that of those who inhabit the city.