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Pausanias · Description of Greece §8.19.1-8.19.4

Dionysiac Rites in Cynaetha and the Route to Cleitor

Passage 323 of 465 · Greek

Summary

Pausanias describes the Arcadian Cynaetheans, their marketplace, and the festival of Dionysus with the rabies-curing spring Alyssus, and outlines the western route from Pheneus to Cleitor.

§8.19.1εἰσὶ δέ τινες γένους μὲν καὶ οὗτοι τῶν Ἀρκάδων, ὄνομα δέ σφισι Κυναιθαεῖς, οἳ καὶ ἐν Ὀλυμπίᾳ τὸ ἄγαλμα ἀνέθεσαν τοῦ Διός, κεραυνὸν ἐν ἑκατέρᾳ ἔχοντα τῇ χειρί·
There are certain people, who also belong to the Arcadian race, named the Cynaetheans, who also dedicated the statue of Zeus at Olympia, holding a thunderbolt in each hand.
οὗτοι οἱ Κυναιθαεῖς τεσσαράκοντα ἀπωτέρω Λουσῶν σταδίοις μᾶλλον οἰκοῦσι, καί σφισιν ἐν ἀγορᾷ πεποίηνται μὲν θεῶν βωμοί, πεποίηται δὲ Ἀδριανοῦ βασιλέως εἰκών.
These Cynaetheans live about forty stades further away from Lusi, and in their marketplace altars of the gods have been made, and an image of the Emperor Hadrian has also been made.
§8.19.2τὰ δὲ μάλιστα ἥκοντα ἐς μνήμην Διονύσου ἐστὶν ἐνταῦθα ἱερόν, καὶ ἑορτὴν ὥρᾳ ἄγουσι χειμῶνος, ἐν ᾗ λίπα ἀληλιμμένοι ἄνδρες ἐξ ἀγέλης βοῶν ταῦρον, ὃν ἄν σφισιν ἐπὶ νοῦν αὐτὸς ὁ θεὸς ποιήσῃ, ἀράμενοι κομίζουσι πρὸς τὸ ἱερόν.
The thing most worthy of mention here is a sanctuary of Dionysus, and they celebrate a festival in the winter season, in which men anointed with oil lift up from a herd of cattle a bull, whichever one the god himself puts into their mind, and carry it to the sanctuary.
θυσία μὲν τοιαύτη σφίσι καθέστηκε· πηγὴ δέ ἐστιν αὐτόθι ὕδατος ψυχροῦ, δύο μάλιστα ἀπὸ τοῦ ἄστεως ἀπωτέρω σταδίοις, καὶ ὑπὲρ αὐτῆς πλάτανος πεφυκυῖα.
Such is the sacrifice established for them; and there is there a spring of cold water, about two stades away from the town, and a plane tree grows over it.
§8.19.3ὃς δʼ ἂν ὑπὸ κυνὸς κατασχέτου λύσσῃ ἤτοι ἕλκος ἢ καὶ ἄλλως κίνδυνον εὕρηται, τὸ ὕδωρ οἱ πίνοντι ἴαμα· καὶ Ἄλυσσον τοῦδε ἕνεκα ὀνομάζουσι τὴν πηγήν·
Whoever, having been bitten by a mad dog, incurs either a wound or any other danger, the water is a cure for him when he drinks it; and for this reason they call the spring Alyssus.
καὶ οὕτω φαίνοιτο ἂν Ἀρκάσι τὸ μὲν πρὸς Φενεῷ ὕδωρ, ὃ Στύγα ὀνομάζουσιν, ἐπʼ ἀνθρώπου συμφορᾷ ἀνευρημένον, ἡ δὲ πηγὴ ἡ ἐν Κυναιθαεῦσιν ἀγαθὸν οὖσα ἀντίρροπον τῷ ἐκεῖ πήματι.
Thus it would appear that for the Arcadians, while the water near Pheneus, which they call Styx, was discovered to the misfortune of mankind, the spring in Cynaetha is a good that counterbalances the plague there.
§8.19.4λείπεται δὲ ἐκ Φενεοῦ τῶν ὁδῶν, αἵ εἰσι πρὸς ἡλίου δυσμῶν, ἡ ἐν ἀριστερᾷ.
Of the roads from Pheneus that lead toward the setting sun, the one on the left remains.
αὕτη δὲ ἡ ὁδὸς ἄγει μὲν ἐς Κλείτορα, καθήκει δὲ παρὰ τοῦ Ἡρακλέους τὸ ἔργον, ὃ τῷ ποταμῷ ῥεῦμα ἐποίησεν εἶναι τῷ Ἀροανίῳ.
This road leads to Cleitor, and goes down along the work of Heracles, which he made to be a channel for the river Aroanius.
παρὰ τοῦτο ἡ ὁδὸς κάτεισιν ἐπὶ χωρίον Λυκουρίαν, καὶ ἔστι Φενεάταις ἡ Λυκουρία πρὸς Κλειτορίους ὅροι τῆς γῆς.
Along this the road goes down to a place called Lycuria, and Lycuria is the boundary of the land for the Pheneatians against the Cleitorians.

Notes

  1. §8.19.1σταδίοις — Dative of measure of difference. It modifies the comparative adverb ἀπωτέρω ("further away") to specify the precise distance of the gap ("by forty stades").
  2. §8.19.3οἱ πίνοντι — The dative singular of the active participle πίνοντι ("to the one drinking") agrees with the dative of the third-person pronoun οἱ, together functioning as a dative of interest: "for him when he drinks it."
  3. §8.19.3φαίνοιτο ἂν — Potential optative with ἄν, expressing Pausanias's cautious yet confident inference or judgment: "it would appear" or "it might be seen."
  4. §8.19.4τῶν ὁδῶν — Partitive genitive. It denotes the whole class of "roads" from which the subject ἡ ἐν ἀριστερᾷ ("the one on the left") is singled out.

Cite this passage

Pausanias, Description of Greece §8.19.1-8.19.4. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:8.19.1-8.19.4

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