§1.33.1Μαραθῶνος δὲ ἀπέχει τῇ μὲν Βραυρών, ἔνθα Ἰφιγένειαν τὴν Ἀγαμέμνονος ἐκ Ταύρων φεύγουσαν τὸ ἄγαλμα ἀγομένην τὸ Ἀρτέμιδος ἀποβῆναι λέγουσι, καταλιποῦσαν δὲ τὸ ἄγαλμα ταύτῃ καὶ ἐς Ἀθήνας καὶ ὕστερον ἐς Ἄργος ἀφικέσθαι·
On one side, Brauron is distant from Marathon, where they say that Iphigenia, the daughter of Agamemnon, when fleeing from the Tauri, landed while bringing the image of Artemis; and leaving the image there, she went to Athens and later to Argos.
ξόανον μὲν δὴ καὶ αὐτόθι ἐστὶν Ἀρτέμιδος ἀρχαῖον, τὸ δὲ ἐκ τῶν βαρβάρων οἵτινες κατὰ γνώμην ἔχουσι τὴν ἐμήν, ἐν ἑτέρῳ λόγῳ δηλώσω· §1.33.2Μαραθῶνος δὲ σταδίους μάλιστα ἑξήκοντα ἀπέχει Ῥαμνοῦς τὴν παρὰ θάλασσαν ἰοῦσιν ἐς Ὠρωπόν.
Indeed, there is an ancient wooden image of Artemis there too, but as for the one from the barbarians, which of them in my opinion is that one, I will make clear in another account. Rhamnus is about sixty stades distant from Marathon for those going along the sea to Oropus.
καὶ αἱ μὲν οἰκήσεις ἐπὶ θαλάσσῃ τοῖς ἀνθρώποις εἰσί, μικρὸν δὲ ἀπὸ θαλάσσης ἄνω Νεμέσεώς ἐστιν ἱερόν, ἣ θεῶν μάλιστα ἀνθρώποις ὑβρισταῖς ἐστιν ἀπαραίτητος.
And the dwellings for the people are on the sea, but a little way up from the sea is a sanctuary of Nemesis, who of the gods is most implacable to insolent men.
δοκεῖ δὲ καὶ τοῖς ἀποβᾶσιν ἐς Μαραθῶνα τῶν βαρβάρων ἀπαντῆσαι μήνιμα ἐκ τῆς θεοῦ ταύτης· καταφρονήσαντες γὰρ μηδέν σφισιν ἐμποδὼν εἶναι τὰς Ἀθήνας ἑλεῖν, λίθον Πάριον ὡς ἐπʼ ἐξειργασμένοις ἦγον ἐς τροπαίου ποίησιν. §1.33.3τοῦτον Φειδίας τὸν λίθον εἰργάσατο ἄγαλμα μὲν εἶναι Νεμέσεως, τῇ κεφαλῇ δὲ ἔπεστι τῆς θεοῦ στέφανος ἐλάφους ἔχων καὶ Νίκης ἀγάλματα οὐ μεγάλα· ταῖς δὲ χερσὶν ἔχει τῇ μὲν κλάδον μηλέας, τῆ δεξιᾷ δὲ φιάλην, Αἰθίοπες δὲ ἐπὶ τῇ φιάλῃ πεποίηνται.
It seems that a wrath from this goddess also met those of the barbarians who landed at Marathon; for, having despised Athens as though there were nothing in their way to prevent them from taking it, they brought Parian marble for the making of a trophy, as if for deeds already accomplished. Pheidias worked this stone into an image of Nemesis, and on the head of the goddess is a crown having stags and images of Victory which are not large; and in her hands she holds in one a branch of an apple tree, and in her right a phiale, and Ethiopians are fashioned upon the phiale.
συμβαλέσθαι δὲ τὸ ἐς τοὺς Αἰθίοπας οὔτε αὐτὸς εἶχον οὔτε ἀπεδεχόμην τῶν συνιέναι πειθομένων, οἳ πεποιῆσθαι σφᾶς ἐπὶ τῇ φιάλῃ φασὶ διὰ ποταμὸν Ὠκεανόν· οἰκεῖν γὰρ Αἰθίοπας ἐπʼ αὐτῷ, Νεμέσει δὲ εἶναι πατέρα Ὠκεανόν. §1.33.4Ὠκεανῷ γὰρ οὐ ποταμῷ, θαλάσσῃ δὲ ἐσχάτῃ τῆς ὑπὸ ἀνθρώπων πλεομένης προσοικοῦσιν Ἴβηρες καὶ Κελτοί, καὶ νῆσον Ὠκεανὸς ἔχει τὴν Βρεττανῶν· Αἰθιόπων δὲ τῶν ὑπὲρ Συήνης ἐπὶ θάλασσαν ἔσχατοι τὴν Ἐρυθρὰν κατοικοῦσιν Ἰχθυοφάγοι, καὶ ὁ κόλπος ὃν περιοικοῦσιν Ἰχθυοφάγων ὀνομάζεται.
As for the matter concerning the Ethiopians, I myself was unable to conjecture it, nor did I accept the explanation of those who claim to understand, who say that they were fashioned on the phiale because of the river Oceanus; for they say that the Ethiopians dwell upon it, and that Oceanus is the father of Nemesis. For it is by Oceanus, which is not a river but the outermost sea sailed by men, that the Iberians and Celts dwell, and Oceanus holds the island of the Britons; but of the Ethiopians beyond Syene, those who dwell furthest along the Red Sea are the Ichthyophagi, and the gulf around which they dwell is called that of the Ichthyophagi.
οἱ δὲ δικαιότατοι Μερόην πόλιν καὶ πεδίον Αἰθιοπικὸν καλούμενον οἰκοῦσιν· οὗτοι καὶ τὴν ἡλίου τράπεζάν εἰσιν οἱ δεικνύντες, οὐδέ σφισιν ἔστιν οὔτε θάλασσα οὔτε ποταμὸς ἄλλος γε ἢ Νεῖλος. §1.33.5εἰσὶ δὲ καὶ ἄλλοι πρόσοικοι Μαύροις Αἰθίοπες ἄχρι Νασαμώνων παρήκοντες.
The most righteous of them dwell in the city of Meroe and what is called the Ethiopian plain; these are the ones who show the Table of the Sun, and they have neither sea nor any other river than the Nile. And there are also other Ethiopians bordering on the Mauri and extending as far as the Nasamones.
Νασαμῶνες γάρ, οὓς Ἄτλαντας Ἡρόδοτος, οἱ δὲ μέτρα φάμενοι γῆς εἰδέναι Λιξίτας καλοῦσι, Λιβύων οἱ ἔσχατοι πρὸς Ἄτλαντι οἰκοῦσι σπείροντες μὲν οὐδέν, ἀπὸ δὲ ἀμπέλων ζῶντες ἀγρίων.
For the Nasamones, whom Herodotus calls Atlantes, and whom those who claim to know the measurements of the earth call Lixitae, are the outermost of the Libyans dwelling near Atlas, sowing nothing, but living off wild vines.
ποταμὸς δὲ οὐδὲ τούτοις τοῖς Αἰθίοψιν οὐδὲ τοῖς Νασαμῶσίν ἐστιν οὐδείς· τὸ γὰρ πρὸς τῷ Ἄτλαντι ὕδωρ, τρισί παρεχόμενον ἀρχὰς ῥεύμασιν, οὐδὲν τῶν ῥευμάτων ποιεῖ ποταμόν, ἀλλὰ πᾶν ὁμοίως αὐτίκα ἔχει συλλαβοῦσα ἡ ψάμμος.
And there is no river at all either for these Ethiopians or for the Nasamones; for the water near Atlas, though providing beginnings for three streams, makes none of the streams a river, but the sand immediately absorbs it all alike.
οὕτως Αἰθίοπες ποταμῷ γε οὐδενὶ προσοικοῦσιν Ὠκεανῷ. §1.33.6τὸ δὲ ὕδωρ τὸ ἐκ τοῦ Ἄτλαντος θολερόν τέ ἐστι καὶ πρὸς τῇ πηγῇ κροκόδειλοι διπήχεων ἦσαν οὐκ ἐλάσσους, προσιόντων δὲ τῶν ἀνθρώπων κατεδύοντο ἐς τὴν πηγήν.
Thus, the Ethiopians do not dwell near any river, let alone Oceanus. The water coming from Atlas is muddy, and near the source there were crocodiles not less than two cubits long, which dived into the source when men approached.
παρίστατο δὲ οὐκ ὀλίγοις τὸ ὕδωρ τοῦτο ἀναφαινόμενον αὖθις ἐκ τῆς ψάμμου ποιεῖν τὸν Νεῖλον Αἰγυπτίοις.
It occurred to not a few that this water, appearing again from the sand, makes the Nile for the Egyptians.
ὁ δὲ Ἄτλας ὄρος ὑψηλὸν μέν ἐστιν οὕτως ὥστε καὶ λέγεται ταῖς κορυφαῖς ψαύειν τοῦ οὐρανοῦ, ἄβατον δὲ ὑπὸ ὕδατος καὶ δένδρων ἃ διὰ παντὸς πέφυκε·
Mt.
τὰ μὲν δὴ πρὸς τοὺς Νασαμῶνας αὐτοῦ γινώσκεται, τὰ δὲ ἐς τὸ πέλαγος οὐδένα πω παραπλεύσαντα ἴσμεν. §1.33.7τάδε μὲν ἐς τοσοῦτον εἰρήσθω·
Atlas is so high that it is even said to touch the heaven with its peaks, but it is inaccessible because of water and trees which grow everywhere; its parts towards the Nasamones are known, but as for the parts towards the sea, we know of no one who has yet sailed past them. Let these matters be said thus far.
πτερὰ δʼ ἔχον οὔτε τοῦτο τὸ ἄγαλμα Νεμέσεως οὔτε ἄλλο πεποίηται τῶν ἀρχαίων, ἐπεὶ μηδὲ Σμυρναίοις τὰ ἁγιώτατα ξόανα ἔχει πτερά· οἱ δὲ ὕστερον—ἐπιφαίνεσθαι γὰρ τὴν θεὸν μάλιστα ἐπὶ τῷ ἐρᾶν ἐθέλουσιν—ἐπὶ τούτῳ Νεμέσει πτερὰ ὥσπερ Ἔρωτι ποιοῦσι.
Neither this image of Nemesis nor any other of the ancient ones has been made having wings, since not even the most sacred wooden images for the Smyrnaeans have wings; but those of later times—for they wish the goddess to appear especially in connection with loving—because of this make wings for Nemesis just as for Eros.
νῦν δὲ ἤδη δίειμι ὁπόσα ἐπὶ τῷ βάθρῳ τοῦ ἀγάλματός ἐστιν εἰργασμένα, τοσόνδε ἐς τὸ σαφὲς προδηλώσας.
But now indeed I will go through all that is fashioned on the pedestal of the image, having beforehand made this much clear for the sake of clarity.
Ἑλένῃ Νέμεσιν μητέρα εἶναι λέγουσιν Ἕλληνες, Λήδαν δὲ μαστὸν ἐπισχεῖν αὐτῇ καὶ θρέψαι· πατέρα δὲ καὶ οὗτοι καὶ πάντες κατὰ ταὐτὰ Ἑλένης Δία καὶ οὐ Τυνδάρεων εἶναι νομίζουσι. §1.33.8ταῦτα ἀκηκοὼς Φειδίας πεποίηκεν Ἑλένην ὑπὸ Λήδας ἀγομένην παρὰ τὴν Νέμεσιν, πεποίηκε δὲ Τυνδάρεών τε καὶ τοὺς παῖδας καὶ ἄνδρα σὺν ἵππῳ παρεστηκότα Ἱππέα ὄνομα· ἔστι δὲ Ἀγαμέμνων καὶ Μενέλαος καὶ Πύρρος ὁ Ἀχιλλέως, πρῶτος οὗτος Ἑρμιόνην τὴν Ἑλένης γυναῖκα λαβών·
The Greeks say that Nemesis is the mother of Helen, and that Leda gave her breast to her and nursed her; and both these and all others likewise believe that the father of Helen is Zeus and not Tyndareus. Having heard these things, Pheidias has made Helen being led by Leda to Nemesis, and he has made Tyndareus and his children, and a man standing by with a horse whose name is Hippeus; and there are Agamemnon and Menelaus, and Pyrrhus the son of Achilles, who was the first to take Hermione, the daughter of Helen, as wife.
Ὀρέστης δὲ διὰ τὸ ἐς τὴν μητέρα τόλμημα παρείθη, παραμεινάσης τε ἐς ἅπαν Ἑρμιόνης αὐτῷ καὶ τεκούσης παῖδα.
But Orestes was omitted because of his daring deed against his mother, Hermione having remained with him to the end and having borne him a child.
ἑξῆς δὲ ἐπὶ τῷ βάθρῳ καὶ Ἔποχος καλούμενος καὶ νεανίας ἐστὶν ἕτερος· ἐς τούτους ἄλλο μὲν ἤκουσα οὐδέν, ἀδελφοὺς δὲ εἶναι σφᾶς Οἰνόης, ἀφʼ ἧς ἐστι τὸ ὄνομα τῷ δήμῳ.
Next on the pedestal are also one called Epochus and another youth; as to these, I have heard nothing else than that they were brothers of Oenoe, from whom the deme has its name.