§8.23.1μετὰ δὲ Στύμφαλόν ἐστιν Ἀλέα, συνεδρίου μὲν τοῦ Ἀργολικοῦ μετέχουσα καὶ αὕτη, Ἄλεον δὲ τὸν Ἀφείδαντος γενέσθαι σφίσιν ἀποφαίνουσιν οἰκιστήν.
Alea is after Stymphalus, and it also participates in the Argolic confederacy. They declare that Aleus, the son of Apheidas, was their founder.
θεῶν δὲ ἱερὰ αὐτόθι Ἀρτέμιδός ἐστιν Ἐφεσίας καὶ Ἀθηνᾶς Ἀλέας, καὶ Διονύσου ναὸς καὶ ἄγαλμα.
The sanctuaries of the gods there are of Ephesus Artemis and Athena Alea, and there is a temple and statue of Dionysus.
τούτῳ παρὰ ἔτος Σκιέρεια ἑορτὴν ἄγουσι, καὶ ἐν Διονύσου τῇ ἑορτῇ κατὰ μάντευμα ἐκ Δελφῶν μαστιγοῦνται γυναῖκες, καθὰ καὶ οἱ Σπαρτιατῶν ἔφηβοι παρὰ τῇ Ὀρθίᾳ.
For him, they celebrate the Skieria festival every other year, and during the festival of Dionysus, according to an oracle from Delphi, women are scourged, just as the Spartan youths are at the altar of Orthia.
§8.23.2ἐδήλωσα δὲ ἐν τῷ λόγῳ τῷ ἐς Ὀρχομενίους ὡς πρῶτα μὲν παρὰ τὴν χαράδραν ἐστὶν ἡ εὐθεῖα, τὸ ἀπὸ τούτου δὲ ἐν ἀριστερᾷ τοῦ ὕδατος τοῦ λιμνάζοντος.
As I showed in my account concerning the Orchomenians, first there is the straight road along the ravine, and after this on the left of the flooded water.
ἐν δὲ τῷ πεδίῳ τῷ Καφυῶν πεποίηται γῆς χῶμα, διʼ οὗ ἀπείργεται τὸ ὕδωρ τὸ ἐκ τῆς Ὀρχομενίας μὴ εἶναι Καφυεῦσιν βλάβος τῇ ἐνεργῷ.
In the plain of Caphyae a dyke of earth has been made, by which the water from the territory of Orchomenus is kept out so as not to cause damage to the cultivated land of the Caphyans.
κατὰ δὲ τὸ ἐντὸς τοῦ χώματος παρέξεισιν ὕδωρ ἄλλο, πλήθει μὲν ὅσον τε εἶναι ποταμόν, κατερχόμενον δὲ ἐς χάσμα γῆς ἄνεισιν αὖθις παρὰ Νάσους καλουμένας· τὸ δὲ χωρίον ἔνθα ἄνεισιν ὀνομάζεται Ῥεῦνος· ἀνατείλαντος δὲ ἐνταῦθα, τὸ ὕδωρ τὸ ἀπὸ τούτου παρέχεται ποταμὸν ἀέναον Τράγον.
Along the inside of the dyke another water flows by, in volume enough to be a river, and going down into a chasm of the earth, it rises again near the place called Nasoi; the place where it rises is named Rheunos, and when it has emerged there, the water from it forms the perennial river Tragos.
§8.23.3τὸ δὲ ὄνομά ἐστι μὲν δῆλον ἀπὸ Κηφέως τοῦ Ἀλέου τῇ πόλει γεγονός, ὀνομάζεσθαι δὲ αὐτὴν φωνῇ τῇ Ἀρκάδων Καφυὰς ἐκνενίκηκε.
It is clear that the name of the city came from Cepheus, the son of Aleus, but the name Caphyae has prevailed in the speech of the Arcadians.
φασὶ δὲ οἱ Καφυεῖς τὰ ἄνωθεν ἐκ τῆς Ἀττικῆς εἶναι χώρας, ἐκβληθέντες δὲ ὑπὸ Αἰγέως ἐξ Ἀθηνῶν ἐς Ἀρκαδίαν φυγεῖν καὶ ἱκέται γενόμενοι Κηφέως οἰκῆσαι ἐνταῦθα.
The Caphyans say that they were originally from the Attic land, and being expelled by Aegeus from Athens, they fled to Arcadia, and becoming suppliants of Cepheus, they settled here.
τὸ μὲν δὴ πόλισμα ἐπὶ τοῦ πεδίου τῷ πέρατι ὀρῶν οὐκ ἄγαν ὑψηλῶν παρὰ τοῖς ποσίν ἐστι·
The town itself is at the edge of the plain, at the foot of mountains that are not very high.
Καφυάταις δὲ ἱερὰ θεῶν Ποσειδῶνός ἐστι καὶ ἐπίκλησιν Κνακαλησίας Ἀρτέμιδος.
The Caphyans have sanctuaries of the gods: of Poseidon, and of Artemis under the surname Knakalesia.
§8.23.4ἔστι δὲ αὐτοῖς καὶ ὄρος Κνάκαλος, ἔνθα ἐπέτειον τελετὴν ἄγουσι τῇ Ἀρτέμιδι.
They also have a mountain Knakalos, where they celebrate an annual festival for Artemis.
ὀλίγον δὲ ὑπὲρ τὴν πόλιν πηγή τέ ἐστι καὶ ἐπὶ τῇ πηγῇ πλάτανος μεγάλη καὶ εὐειδὴς πέφυκε· καλοῦσι δὲ αὐτὴν Μενελαΐδα, Μενέλαον στρατὸν ἀθροίζοντα ἐς Τροίαν ἀφικέσθαι τε ἐνταῦθα καὶ ἐπὶ τῇ πηγῇ τὴν πλάτανον φυτεῦσαι λέγοντες· ἐφʼ ἡμῶν δὲ καὶ τὴν πηγὴν κατὰ ταὐτὰ τῇ πλατάνῳ καλοῦσι Μενελαΐδα.
A little above the city is a spring, and by the spring a large and beautiful plane tree grows; they call it Menelais, saying that Menelaus, when gathering his army for Troy, came here and planted the plane tree by the spring; in our day, they also call the spring Menelais, in the same way as the plane tree.
§8.23.5εἰ δὲ Ἑλλήνων τοῖς λόγοις ἑπόμενον καταριθμήσασθαι δεῖ με ὁπόσα δένδρα σῶα ἔτι καὶ τεθηλότα λείπεται, πρεσβύτατον μὲν ἡ λύγος ἐστὶν αὐτῶν ἡ ἐν τῷ Σαμίων πεφυκυῖα ἱερῷ Ἥρας, μετὰ δὲ αὐτὴν ἡ ἐν Δωδώνῃ δρῦς καὶ ἐλαία τε ἡ ἐν ἀκροπόλει καὶ ἡ παρὰ Δηλίοις· τρίτα δὲ ἕνεκα ἀρχαιότητος νέμοιεν ἂν τῇ δάφνῃ τῇ παρὰ σφίσιν οἱ Σύροι· τῶν δὲ ἄλλων ἡ πλάτανός ἐστιν αὕτη παλαιότατον.
If, following the stories of the Greeks, I must enumerate how many trees are still left alive and flourishing, the oldest of them is the willow growing in the Samian sanctuary of Hera, and after it the oak in Dodona, the olive on the Acropolis, and the one belonging to the Delians; third in point of antiquity, the Syrians would assign to the laurel in their country; but of the other trees, this plane tree is the oldest.
§8.23.6Καφυῶν δὲ ἀφέστηκεν ὅσον στάδιον Κονδυλέα χωρίον, καὶ Ἀρτέμιδος ἄλσος καὶ ναός ἐστιν ἐνταῦθα καλουμένης Κονδυλεάτιδος τὸ ἀρχαῖον· μετονομασθῆναι δὲ ἐπὶ αἰτίᾳ τὴν θεόν φασι τοιαύτῃ.
About a stade away from Caphyae is the place Condylea, and there is a grove and temple of Artemis there, anciently called Condyleatis; they say that the goddess was renamed for the following reason.
παιδία περὶ τὸ ἱερὸν παίζοντα—ἀριθμὸν δὲ αὐτῶν οὐ μνημονεύουσιν—ἐπέτυχε καλῳδίῳ, δήσαντα δὲ τὸ καλῴδιον τοῦ ἀγάλματος περὶ τὸν τράχηλον ἐπέλεγεν ὡς ἀπάγχοιτο ἡ Ἄρτεμις.
Children playing around the sanctuary—their number they do not record—happened upon a small cord, and having tied the cord around the neck of the image, they said that Artemis was hanging herself.
§8.23.7φωράσαντες δὲ οἱ Καφυεῖς τὰ ποιηθέντα ὑπὸ τῶν παιδίων καταλεύουσιν αὐτά· καί σφισι ταῦτα ἐργασαμένοις ἐσέπεσεν ἐς τὰς γυναῖκας νόσος, τὰ ἐν τῇ γαστρὶ πρὸ τοκετοῦ τεθνεῶτα ἐκβάλλεσθαι, ἐς ὃ ἡ Πυθία θάψαι τε τὰ παιδία ἀνεῖπε καὶ ἐναγίζειν αὐτοῖς κατὰ ἔτος· ἀποθανεῖν γὰρ αὐτὰ οὐ σὺν δίκῃ.
Detecting what had been done by the children, the Caphyans stoned them to death; and after they had done this, a disease fell upon the women, so that the children in the womb were cast out dead before birth, until the Pythia declared that they must bury the children and make yearly sacrifices to them, for they had died unjustly.
Καφυεῖς δὲ ποιοῦσι τά τε ἄλλα ἔτι καὶ νῦν κατʼ ἐκεῖνο τὸ μάντευμα καὶ τὴν ἐν ταῖς Κονδυλέαις θεὸν— προσεῖναι γὰρ καὶ τόδε ἔτι τῷ χρησμῷ φασι—καλοῦσιν Ἀπαγχομένην ἐξ ἐκείνου.
The Caphyans still perform all these things according to that oracle, and from that time they call the goddess at Condyleae—for they say this too was added to the response—Apangomene.
§8.23.8ἀνελθὼν δὲ ἐκ Καφυῶν ὅσον σταδίους ἑπτὰ ἐπὶ Νάσους καλουμένας καταβήσῃ· πεντήκοντα δὲ προελθόντι αὐτόθεν σταδίους ἐστὶν ὁ Λάδων.
Going up from Caphyae about seven stades, you will descend to the place called Nasoi; and fifty stades further on from there is the Ladon.
διαβήσῃ τε δὴ τὸν ποταμὸν καὶ ἐπὶ δρυμὸν ἀφίξῃ Σόρωνα διά τε Ἀργεαθῶν καὶ Λυκούντων καλουμένων καὶ Σκοτάνης.
You will cross the river and arrive at the oak forest of Soron, passing through the places called Argeathae and Lycuntes, and Scotane.
§8.23.9ἄγει μὲν δὴ ὁ Σόρων τὴν ἐπὶ Ψωφῖδος· θηρία δὲ οὗτός τε καὶ ὅσοι δρυμοὶ τοῖς Ἀρκάσιν εἰσὶν ἄλλοι παρέχονται τοσάδε, ἀγρίους ὗς καὶ ἄρκτους καὶ χελώνας μεγίστας μεγέθει· λύρας ἂν ποιήσαιο ἐξ αὐτῶν χελώνης Ἰνδικῆς λύρᾳ παρισουμένας.
Soron leads on the way toward Psophis; and this forest and all the other oak forests that the Arcadians have produce wild beasts of these kinds: wild boars, bears, and tortoises of immense size; from these you could make lyres equal to those made from the Indian tortoise.
τοῦ Σόρωνος δὲ πρὸς τοῖς πέρασιν ἔστι μὲν Πάου κώμης ἐρείπια, εἰσὶ δὲ οὐ πολὺ ἀπωτέρω αἱ καλούμεναι Σεῖραι· ὅροι δὲ Κλειτορίοις τῆς χώρας πρὸς Ψωφιδίους εἰσὶν αἱ Σεῖραι.
Near the ends of Soron are the ruins of the village of Paus, and not much further away are the places called Seirae; Seirae is the boundary of the land for the Cleitorians against the Psophidians.