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Pausanias · Description of Greece §5.2.1-5.2.5

Death of the Sons of Actor and Elean Boycott of the Isthmia

Passage 186 of 465 · Greek

Summary

The author discusses Heracles' killing of the sons of Actor and examines various explanations for why the Eleans do not participate in the Isthmian Games, including the curses of Moline and Lysippe and a dispute involving Cypselus' offering, concluding in favor of Moline's curse based on Timon's inscription.

§5.2.1τῷ δὲ Ἡρακλεῖ πρὸς τὸν Αὐγέαν πολεμοῦντι οὐδὲν ὑπῆρχεν ἀποδείκνυσθαι λαμπρόν· ἅτε γὰρ καὶ τόλμῃ καὶ ταῖς ἡλικίαις τοῦ Ἄκτορος τῶν παίδων ἀκμαζόντων, ἐτρέπετο ὑπʼ αὐτῶν ἀεὶ τὸ συμμαχικὸν τοῦ Ἡρακλέους, ἐς ὃ Ἰσθμικὰς σπονδὰς Κορινθίων ἐπαγγειλάντων καὶ θεωρῶν ἐς τὸν ἀγῶνα ἐρχομένων τῶν υἱῶν τοῦ Ἄκτορος ἀπέκτεινε σφᾶς λοχήσας ὁ Ἡρακλῆς ἐν Κλεωναῖς.
For Heracles, while waging war against Augeas, it was impossible to achieve any brilliant success; since the sons of Actor, being in the prime of their daring and youth, always routed the allied forces of Heracles, until, when the Corinthians proclaimed the Isthmian truce and the sons of Actor went to the games as sacred envoys, Heracles ambushed and killed them in Cleonae.
ἀφανοῦς δὲ ὄντος τοῦ εἰργασμένου τὸν φόνον μάλιστα ἐποιεῖτο ἡ Μολίνη σπουδὴν τῶν παίδων τὸν αὐτόχειρα ἐξευρεῖν.
Since the perpetrator of the murder was unknown, Moline made the greatest effort to find the self-slayer of her children.
§5.2.2ὡς δὲ ἔμαθεν, ἐνταῦθα οἱ Ἠλεῖοι δίκας τοῦ φόνου παρὰ Ἀργείων ἀπῄτουν· τηνικαῦτα γὰρ ἔτυχεν Ἡρακλῆς ἐν Τίρυνθι οἰκῶν.
When she learned the truth, then the Eleans demanded satisfaction for the murder from the Argives; for at that time Heracles happened to be living in Tiryns.
μὴ διδόντων δέ σφισι δίκας τῶν Ἀργείων, οἱ δὲ δεύτερα ἐνέκειντο Κορινθίοις ἔκσπονδον τὸ Ἀργολικὸν πᾶν τοῦ ἀγῶνος γενέσθαι τοῦ Ἰσθμικοῦ.
But when the Argives refused to give them satisfaction, they next pressed the Corinthians to exclude the entire Argolid from the Isthmian games.
ὡς δὲ ἡμάρτανον καὶ τούτου, Μολίνην θέσθαι φασὶν ἐπὶ τοῖς πολίταις κατάρας, ἢν Ἰσθμίων μὴ θέλωσιν εἴργεσθαι.
When they failed in this too, they say that Moline laid curses upon her fellow citizens if they should refuse to abstain from the Isthmian games.
φυλάσσουσι δὲ τῆς Μολίνης καὶ ἐς τόδε ἔτι τὰς κατάρας, καὶ ὅσοι τὰ σώματα ἀσκοῦσιν Ἠλείων, οὔ σφισιν ἐς τὸν ἀγῶνα ἐσελθεῖν καθέστηκε τὸν Ἰσθμικόν.
The Eleans keep the curses of Moline even to this day, and it is not established for any of the Eleans who train their bodies to enter the Isthmian games.
§5.2.3διάφοροι δὲ τῷ εἰρημένῳ δύο εἰσὶν ἄλλοι λόγοι.
There are two other accounts different from the one mentioned.
τούτων δὲ ὁ μὲν Κύψελον τὸν τυραννήσαντα Κορινθίων φησὶν ἄγαλμα ἀναθεῖναι τῷ Διὶ χρυσοῦν ἐς Ὀλυμπίαν, προαποθανόντος δὲ τοῦ Κυψέλου πρὶν ἐπὶ τῷ ἀναθήματι τὸ ὄνομα ἐπιγράψαι τὸ αὑτοῦ, τοὺς Κορινθίους παρὰ Ἠλείων αἰτεῖν δοῦναί σφισιν ἐπιγράψαι δημοσίᾳ τὴν πόλιν ἐπὶ τῷ ἀναθήματι, οὐ τυχόντας δὲ ὀργῇ τε ἐς τοὺς Ἠλείους χρῆσθαι καὶ προειπεῖν σφισιν Ἰσθμίων εἴργεσθαι.
Of these, one says that Cypselus, who became tyrant of Corinth, dedicated a golden statue to Zeus at Olympia, but as Cypselus died before inscribing his own name on the offering, the Corinthians asked the Eleans to allow them to inscribe their city publicly on the offering, and when they did not obtain this, they were angry with the Eleans and forbade them to participate in the Isthmian games.
πῶς ἂν οὖν Κορινθίοις αὐτοῖς τοῦ ἀγῶνος μετῆν τοῦ ἐν Ὀλυμπίᾳ, εἰ δὴ ἄκοντάς γε Ἠλείους ἀπὸ τῶν Ἰσθμίων εἶργον;
But how then could the Corinthians themselves have a share in the games at Olympia, if indeed they were excluding the Eleans against their will from the Isthmian games?
§5.2.4ὁ δὲ ἕτερος ἔχει τῶν λόγων Προλάῳ παῖδας ἀνδρὶ παρὰ Ἠλείοις δοκίμῳ καὶ τῇ γυναικὶ αὐτοῦ Λυσίππῃ Φίλανθον καὶ Λάμπον γενέσθαι· τούτους ἐπὶ τὸν ἀγῶνα ἐλθόντας τῶν Ἰσθμίων παγκρατιάσοντας ἐν παισί, τὸν δὲ αὐτῶν παλαίσοντα, ὑπὸ τῶν ἀνταγωνιστῶν, πρὶν ἢ ἐς τὸν ἀγῶνα ἐσελθεῖν, ἀποπνιγῆναι σφᾶς ἢ καὶ ἄλλῳ τῷ τρόπῳ διαχρησθῆναι· καὶ οὕτω τὰς ἐπὶ τοῖς Ἠλείοις, ἢν Ἰσθμίων μὴ ἑκόντες εἴργωνται, Λυσίππης ἀρὰς εἶναι.
The other account is that to Prolaus, an esteemed man among the Eleans, and to his wife Lysippe, Philanthus and Lampus were born; these, having come to the Isthmian games to compete in the pancratium for boys, and one of them in wrestling, were strangled or otherwise dispatched by their opponents before entering the contest; and thus the curses upon the Eleans, if they do not willingly abstain from the Isthmian games, are those of Lysippe.
δείκνυται δὲ καὶ ὅδε εὐήθης ὢν ὁ λόγος.
But this story is also shown to be foolish.
§5.2.5Τίμωνι γὰρ ἀνδρὶ Ἠλείῳ γεγόνασι πεντάθλου νῖκαι τῶν ἐν Ἕλλησιν ἀγώνων, καί οἱ καὶ εἰκών ἐστιν ἐν Ὀλυμπίᾳ καὶ ἐλεγεῖον, στεφάνους τε ὁπόσους ἀνείλετο ὁ Τίμων λέγον καὶ δὴ καὶ αἰτίαν διʼ ἥντινα Ἰσθμικῆς οὐ μέτεστιν αὐτῷ νίκης· καὶ ἔχει τὰ ἐς τοῦτο τὸ ἐλεγεῖον· " Σισυφίαν δὲ μολεῖν χθόνʼ ἐκώλυεν ἀνέρα νείκη ἀμφὶ Μολιονιδᾶν οὐλομένῳ θανάτῳ.
For Timon, an Elean, had victories in the pentathlon in the Greek games, and he has both a statue in Olympia and an elegiac inscription, which mentions how many crowns Timon won and especially the reason why he had no share in an Isthmian victory; and the elegiac poem concerning this has as follows: "But the strife concerning the destructive death of the Molionidae prevented the man from coming to the Sisyphian land.
" τάδε μὲν ἡμῖν ἐς τοσοῦτο ἐξητάσθω·
"Let these matters be investigated by us to this extent.

Notes

  1. 5.2.1ἐς ὃ — Meaning "until" or "until the time when." It marks the transition from the ongoing skirmishes to the decisive event where Heracles ambushed and killed the sons of Actor.
  2. 5.2.2ἔκσπονδον τὸ Ἀργολικὸν πᾶν τοῦ ἀγῶνος γενέσθαι τοῦ Ἰσθμικοῦ — An accusative-with-infinitve construction depending on ἐνέκειντο ("urged"). The subject of the infinitive γενέσθαι is τὸ Ἀργολικὸν πᾶν ("the whole Argolid"), with ἔκσπονδον ("excluded from the treaty") serving as the predicate, which in turn governs the genitive τοῦ ἀγῶνος τοῦ Ἰσθμικοῦ.
  3. 5.2.3πῶς ἂν οὖν Κορινθίοις αὐτοῖς τοῦ ἀγῶνος μετῆν — A past counterfactual construction using ἄν with the imperfect indicative μετῆν. It functions as a rhetorical question: "How could the Corinthians themselves have had a share in the games (at Olympia, if they had excluded the Eleans from the Isthmian games)?" implying that they could not.
  4. 5.2.5Σισυφίαν δὲ μολεῖν χθόνʼ ἐκώλυεν ἀνέρα νείκη — A poetic word order. The subject is the noun νείκη ("strife"), the verb is ἐκώλυεν ("prevented"), the direct object is ἀνέρα ("the man", i.e., Timon), and the infinitive μολεῖν ("to go") depends on the verb, taking the accusative of place Σισυφίαν χθόνα ("the Sisyphian land", i.e., Corinth) as its destination.

Cite this passage

Pausanias, Description of Greece §5.2.1-5.2.5. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:5.2.1-5.2.5

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