§1.39.1ἑτέρα δὲ ὁδὸς ἐξ Ἐλευσῖνος πρὸς Μέγαρα ἄγει· ταύτην ἐρχομένοις τὴν ὁδὸν φρέαρ ἐστὶν Ἄνθιον καλούμενον.
There is another road from Eleusis which leads to Megara; for those traveling along this road, there is a well called Anthium.
ἐποίησε δὲ Πάμφως ἐπὶ τούτῳ τῷ φρέατι καθῆσθαι Δήμητρα μετὰ τὴν ἁρπαγὴν τῆς παιδὸς γραῒ εἰκασμένην· ἐντεῦθεν δὲ αὐτὴν ἅτε γυναῖκα Ἀργείαν ὑπὸ τῶν θυγατέρων τῶν Κελεοῦ κομισθῆναι παρὰ τὴν μητέρα καί οἱ τὴν Μετάνειραν οὕτω πιστεῦσαι τοῦ παιδὸς τὴν ἀνατροφήν.
Pamphos represented in his poetry that Demeter, after the abduction of her daughter, sat by this well, having likened herself to an old woman; and that from there, she was conducted to the mother by the daughters of Celeus as though she were an Argive woman, and that Metaneira thus entrusted to her the rearing of the child.
§1.39.2ὀλίγῳ δὲ ἀπωτέρω τοῦ φρέατος ἱερὸν Μετανείρας ἐστὶ καὶ μετʼ αὐτὸ τάφοι τῶν ἐπὶ Θήβας.
A little further from the well is a sanctuary of Metaneira, and after it are the tombs of those who went against Thebes.
Κρέων γάρ, ὃς ἐδυνάστευε τότε ἐν Θήβαις Λαοδάμαντα ἐπιτροπεύων τὸν Ἐτεοκλέους, οὐ παρῆκε τοῖς προσήκουσιν ἀνελομένοις θάψαι· ἱκετεύσαντος δὲ Ἀδράστου Θησέα καὶ μάχης Ἀθηναίων γενομένης πρὸς Βοιωτούς, Θησεὺς ὡς ἐκράτησε τῇ μάχῃ κομίσας ἐς τὴν Ἐλευσινίαν τοὺς νεκροὺς ἐνταῦθα ἔθαψε.
For Creon, who ruled then in Thebes as guardian of Laodamas, the son of Eteocles, did not permit their relatives to take up and bury them; but when Adrastus supplicated Theseus, and a battle took place between the Athenians and the Boeotians, Theseus, having prevailed in the battle, carried the dead to the Eleusinian land and buried them here.
Θηβαῖοι δὲ τὴν ἀναίρεσιν τῶν νεκρῶν λέγουσιν ἐθελονταὶ δοῦναι καὶ συνάψαι μάχην οὔ φασι.
But the Thebans say that they voluntarily gave up the dead for burial, and they deny that they joined battle.
§1.39.3—μετὰ δὲ τῶν Ἀργείων τοὺς τάφους ἐστὶν Ἀλόπης μνῆμα, ἣν τεκοῦσαν Ἱπποθόωντα ἐκ Ποσειδῶνος ἀποθανεῖν ἐνταῦθά φασιν ὑπὸ τοῦ πατρὸς Κερκυόνος.
—After the tombs of the Argives is the monument of Alope, who, they say, died here at the hands of her father Cercyon, after she had given birth to Hippothoon by Poseidon.
εἶναι δὲ ὁ Κερκυὼν λέγεται καὶ τὰ ἄλλα ἄδικος ἐς τοὺς ξένους καὶ παλαίειν οὐ βουλομένοις· καὶ ὁ τόπος οὗτος παλαίστρα καὶ ἐς ἐμὲ ἐκαλεῖτο Κερκυόνος, ὀλίγον τοῦ τάφου τῆς Ἀλόπης ἀπέχων.
Cercyon is said to have been unjust to strangers in other respects also, and to have wrestled with those who did not wish to; and this place was called the wrestling-ground of Cercyon even down to my time, being a little distant from the tomb of Alope.
λέγεται δὲ ὁ Κερκυὼν τοὺς καταστάντας ἐς πάλην διαφθεῖραι πλὴν Θησέως, Θησεὺς δὲ κατεπάλαισεν αὐτὸν σοφίᾳ τὸ πλέον· παλαιστικὴν γὰρ τέχνην εὗρε Θησεὺς πρῶτος καὶ πάλης κατέστη ὕστερον ἀπʼ ἐκείνου διδασκαλία· πρότερον δὲ ἐχρῶντο μεγέθει μόνον καὶ ῥώμῃ πρὸς τὰς πάλας.
Cercyon is said to have destroyed those who entered into wrestling with him except Theseus, but Theseus wrestled him down mostly by skill; for Theseus first invented the art of wrestling, and after him the teaching of wrestling was established; previously they had used only size and strength for wrestling.
τοσαῦτα κατὰ γνώμην τὴν ἐμὴν Ἀθηναίοις γνωριμώτατα ἦν ἔν τε λόγοις καὶ θεωρήμασιν, ἀπέκρινε δὲ ἀπὸ τῶν πολλῶν ἐξ ἀρχῆς ὁ λόγος μοι τὰ ἐς συγγραφὴν ἀνήκοντα.
These things, according to my opinion, were the most famous among the Athenians both in stories and in sights, but from the beginning my narrative has separated from the many things those that belong to history.
§1.39.4Ἐλευσῖνι δὲ ἤδη πλησιόχωρος ἡ καλουμένη Μεγαρίς· τῆς Ἀθηναίων ἦν καὶ αὕτη τὸ ἀρχαῖον, Πύλα τοῦ βασιλέως καταλιπόντος Πανδίονι.
Bordering on Eleusis is already the territory called Megaris; this too belonged to the Athenians in ancient times, since King Pylas had left it to Pandion.
μαρτύρια δέ μοι τάφος τε Πανδίονος ἐν τῇ γῇ καὶ Νῖσος Αἰγεῖ μὲν πρεσβυτάτῳ τοῦ παντὸς γένους παραχωρήσας Ἀθηναίων ἄρχειν, αὐτὸς δὲ Μεγάρων καὶ τῆς ἄχρι Κορίνθου βασιλεύειν ἀξιωθείς· Νίσαιά τε ἔτι καὶ νῦν Μεγαρεῦσιν ἐπίνειον ἀπʼ αὐτοῦ καλεῖται.
My witnesses are the tomb of Pandion in the land, and Nisos, who yielded to Aegeus, the eldest of all the family, to rule over the Athenians, while he himself was deemed worthy to rule over Megara and the land as far as Corinth; and Nisaea is still called even now the harbor of the Megarians after him.
Κόδρου δὲ ὕστερον βασιλεύοντος στρατεύουσιν ἐπʼ Ἀθήνας Πελοποννήσιοι· καὶ ὡς οὐδὲν ἀποδειξάμενοι λαμπρὸν ἐκομίζοντο ὀπίσω, Μέγαρα Ἀθηναίων ἑλόντες Κορινθίων καὶ τῶν ἄλλων συμμάχων τοῖς ἐθέλουσιν ἔδωκαν οἰκῆσαι.
Later, while Codrus was reigning, the Peloponnesians marched against Athens; and since they showed nothing brilliant and were returning back, they took Megara from the Athenians and gave it to the Corinthians and those of the other allies who wished to inhabit it.
§1.39.5Μεγαρεῖς μὲν οὕτως ἔθη καὶ φωνὴν μεταβαλόντες Δωριεῖς γεγόνασι, κληθῆναι δὲ οὕτω τὴν πόλιν φασὶν ἐπὶ Καρὸς τοῦ Φορωνέως ἐν τῇ γῇ ταύτῃ βασιλεύοντος· τότε πρῶτον λέγουσιν ἱερὰ γενέσθαι Δήμητρος αὐτοῖς, τότε ἀνθρώπους ὀνομάσαι Μέγαρα. οὕτω μὲν αὐτοὶ περὶ σφῶν Μεγαρεῖς λέγουσι·
The Megarians, having thus changed their customs and speech, became Dorians, and they say the city was named in this way during the reign of Car, the son of Phoroneus, in this land; they say that then first temples of Demeter were established for them, and then men named it Megara.
Βοιωτοὶ δὲ ἐν Ὀγχηστῷ Μεγαρέα τὸν Ποσειδῶνος οἰκοῦντα ἀφικέσθαι στρατιᾷ Βοιωτῶν φασι Νίσῳ τὸν πρὸς Μίνω πόλεμον συνδιοίσοντα, πεσόντα δὲ αὐτὸν ἐν τῇ μάχῃ ταφῆναί τε αὐτοῦ καὶ τῇ πόλει Μέγαρα ὄνομα ἀπὸ τούτου γενέσθαι, πρότερον Νίσᾳ καλουμένῃ.
Thus the Megarians themselves speak about themselves; but the Boeotians say that Megareus, the son of Poseidon, who dwelt in Onchestus, arrived with an army of Boeotians to Nisos to help bear the war against Minos, and that having fallen in the battle he was buried there, and from him the city received the name Megara, having previously been called Nisa.
§1.39.6δωδεκάτῃ δὲ ὕστερον μετὰ Κᾶρα τὸν Φορωνέως γενεᾷ λέγουσιν οἱ Μεγαρεῖς Λέλεγα ἀφικόμενον ἐξ Αἰγύπτου βασιλεῦσαι καὶ τοὺς ἀνθρώπους κληθῆναι Λέλεγας ἐπὶ τῆς ἀρχῆς αὐτοῦ· Κλήσωνος δὲ τοῦ Λέλεγος γενέσθαι Πύλαν, τοῦ Πύλα δὲ Σκίρωνα· τοῦτον συνοικῆσαι Πανδίονος θυγατρί, καὶ ὕστερον Νίσῳ τῷ Πανδίονος ἐς ἀμφισβήτησιν ἐλθεῖν περὶ τῆς ἀρχῆς Σκίρωνα καί σφισιν Αἰακὸν δικάσαι, βασιλείαν μὲν διδόντα Νίσῳ καὶ τοῖς ἀπογόνοις, Σκίρωνι δὲ ἡγεμονίαν εἶναι πολέμου.
Twelve generations later than Car, the son of Phoroneus, the Megarians say that Lelex arrived from Egypt and became king, and that the people were called Leleges during his reign; and that Pylas was born to Cleson, the son of Lelex, and Sciron to Pylas; this Sciron married a daughter of Pandion, and later Sciron came into dispute with Nisos, the son of Pandion, concerning the rule, and Aeacus judged for them, giving the kingdom to Nisos and his descendants, and to Sciron the leadership in war.
Μεγαρέα δὲ τὸν Ποσειδῶνος θυγατρὶ Νίσου συνοικήσαντα Ἰφινόῃ διαδέξασθαι τὴν τοῦ Νίσου φασὶν ἀρχήν· τὸν δὲ Κρητικὸν πόλεμον καὶ τὴν ἐπὶ Νίσου βασιλεύοντος ἅλωσιν τῆς πόλεως οὐκ ἐθέλουσιν εἰδέναι.
They say that Megareus, the son of Poseidon, who had married Iphinoe, the daughter of Nisos, succeeded to the rule of Nisos; but the Cretan war and the capture of the city during the reign of Nisos they do not wish to know.