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Pausanias · Description of Greece §8.24.8-8.24.14

The Wandering of Alcmaeon and River Alluvium

Passage 329 of 465 · Greek

Summary

The narrative covers Alcmaeon's exile and death, the naming of Acarnania, a geographical observation on river silting (comparing Achelous and Maeander), and the author's skepticism regarding the lifelong happiness of Aglaus.

§8.24.8ὁ δὲ Ἀλκμαίων ἡνίκα τὴν μητέρα ἀποκτείνας ἔφυγεν ἐξ Ἄργους, τότε ἐς τὴν Ψωφῖδα ἐλθών, Φηγίαν ἔτι ἀπὸ τοῦ Φηγέως ὀνομαζομένην, συνῴκησεν Ἀλφεσιβοίᾳ τῇ Φηγέως θυγατρὶ καὶ αὐτῇ δῶρα ὡς τὸ εἰκὸς καὶ ἄλλα καὶ τὸν ὅρμον δίδωσιν.
When Alcmaeon fled from Argos after killing his mother, he came then to Psophis, which was still named Phegia after Phegeus, and lived with Alphesiboea, the daughter of Phegeus, and gave her, as was fitting, various other gifts and also the necklace.
ὡς δὲ οἰκοῦντι αὐτῷ παρὰ τοῖς Ἀρκάσιν οὐδὲν ἐγίνετο ἡ νόσος ῥᾴων, κατέφυγεν ἐπὶ τὸ μαντεῖον τὸ ἐν Δελφοῖς, καὶ αὐτὸν ἡ Πυθία διδάσκει τὸν Ἐριφύλης ἀλάστορα ἐς ταύτην οἱ μόνην χώραν οὐ συνακολουθήσειν, ἥτις ἐστὶ νεωτάτη καὶ ἡ θάλασσα τοῦ μητρῴου μιάσματος ἀνέφηνεν ὕστερον αὐτήν.
But when his disease did not become any lighter though he lived among the Arcadians, he fled to the oracle at Delphi, and the Pythia instructed him that the avenging spirit of Eriphyle would not follow him only to that land which was the newest and which the sea had revealed later than the pollution of his mother.
§8.24.9καὶ ὁ μὲν ἐξευρὼν τοῦ Ἀχελῴου τὴν πρόσχωσιν ἐνταῦθα ᾤκησε, καὶ γυναῖκα ἔσχε Καλλιρόην τοῦ Ἀχελῴου θυγατέρα λόγῳ τῷ Ἀκαρνάνων, καί οἱ παῖδες Ἀκαρνάν τε καὶ Ἀμφότερος ἐγένοντο· ἀπὸ δὲ τοῦ Ἀκαρνᾶνος τοῖς ἐν τῇ ἠπείρῳ ταύτῃ τὸ ὄνομα τὸ νῦν γενέσθαι λέγουσι τὰ πρὸ τούτου Κούρησι καλουμένοις.
So he, having found out the alluvial deposit of the Achelous, settled there and took to wife Callirhoe, the daughter of the Achelous, according to the story of the Acarnanians, and to him were born sons, Acarnan and Amphoterus; and they say that the present name came to the inhabitants of this mainland from Acarnan, who before this were called Curetes.
ἐς ἐπιθυμίας δὲ ἀνοήτους πολλοὶ μὲν ἄνδρες, γυναῖκες δὲ ἔτι πλέον ἐξοκέλλουσιν.
But into foolish desires many men, and women even more, run aground.
§8.24.10ἐπεθύμησεν ἡ Καλλιρόη τῆς Ἐριφύλης οἱ γενέσθαι τὸν ὅρμον καὶ διʼ αὐτὸ ἐς τὴν Φηγίαν τὸν Ἀλκμαίωνα ἔστειλεν ἄκοντα, καὶ αὐτὸν ὑπὸ Φηγέως τῶν παίδων Τημένου καὶ Ἀξίονος δολοφονηθέντα ἐπέλαβεν ἡ τελευτή.
Callirhoe desired that the necklace of Eriphyle should be hers, and for this reason sent Alcmaeon against his will to Phegia, and his end overtook him, being treacherously murdered by the sons of Phegeus, Temenus and Axion.
τοῦ Φηγέως δὲ οἱ παῖδες τῷ Ἀπόλλωνι ἀναθεῖναι τῷ ἐν Δελφοῖς λέγονται τὸν ὅρμον.
The sons of Phegeus are said to have dedicated the necklace to Apollo at Delphi.
καὶ ἐπὶ τούτων βασιλευόντων ἐν Φηγίᾳ τότε ἔτι καλουμένῃ τῇ πόλει στρατεῦσαί φασιν Ἕλληνας ἐς Τροίαν· σφᾶς δὲ οἱ Ψωφίδιοι τοῦ στόλου φασὶν οὐ μετασχεῖν, ὅτι αὐτῶν τοῖς βασιλεῦσιν οἱ Ἀργείων ἀπηχθάνοντο ἡγεμόνες, κατὰ γένος τε τῷ Ἀλκμαίωνι οἱ πολλοὶ προσήκοντες καὶ τῆς ἐπιστρατείας αὐτῷ κοινωνήσαντες τῆς ἐς Θήβας.
And they say that when these were reigning in the city, which was then still called Phegia, the Greeks made their expedition against Troy; but the Psophidians say that they did not take part in the expedition because the leaders of the Argives were hated by their kings, most of them being related by blood to Alcmaeon and having shared with him in the expedition against Thebes.
§8.24.11τὰς δὲ Ἐχινάδας νήσους ὑπὸ τοῦ Ἀχελῴου μὴ σφᾶς ἤπειρον ἄχρι ἡμῶν ἀπειργάσθαι γέγονε δὴ αἰτία τὸ Αἰτωλῶν ἔθνος, γεγόνασι δὲ αὐτοί τε ἀνάστατοι καὶ ἡ γῆ σφισι πᾶσα ἠρήμωται· ταῖς Ἐχινάσιν οὖν ἅτε ἀσπόρου μενούσης τῆς Αἰτωλίας οὐχ ὁμοίως ὁ Ἀχελῷος ἐπάγει τὴν ἰλύν.
Indeed, the cause why the Echinades islands have not been made into mainland by the Achelous up to our time is the Aetolian nation, for they have been laid waste and all their land has become desolate; therefore, as Aetolia remains uncultivated, the Achelous does not bring down silt to the Echinades in the same quantity.
μαρτύριον δέ μοι τοῦ λόγου· ὁ γὰρ Μαίανδρος διὰ τῆς Φρυγῶν καὶ Καρῶν ἀρουμένης ὅσα ἔτη ῥέων τὴν μεταξὺ Πριήνης καὶ Μιλήτου θάλασσαν ἐν οὐ πολλῷ χρόνῳ πεποίηκεν ἤπειρον.
And here is a proof of my argument: for the Maeander, flowing through the cultivated land of the Phrygians and Carians every year, has in a short time made into mainland the sea between Priene and Miletus.
§8.24.12Ψωφιδίοις δὲ καὶ παρὰ τῷ Ἐρυμάνθῳ ναός ἐστιν Ἐρυμάνθου καὶ ἄγαλμα.
And for the Psophidians, there is also by the Erymanthus a temple and image of Erymanthus.
ποιεῖται δὲ πλὴν τοῦ Αἰγυπτίου Νείλου ποταμοῖς τοῖς ἄλλοις λίθου λευκοῦ τὰ ἀγάλματα· τῷ Νείλῳ δέ, ἅτε διὰ τῆς Αἰθιόπων κατιόντι ἐς θάλασσαν, μέλανος λίθου τὰ ἀγάλματα ἐργάζεσθαι νομίζουσιν.
Except for the Egyptian Nile, they make the images of other rivers of white stone; but for the Nile, as it comes down through the land of the Ethiopians into the sea, they are accustomed to fashion its images of black stone.
§8.24.13ὃν δὲ ἤκουσα ἐν Ψωφῖδι ἐπὶ Ἀγλαῷ λόγον ἀνδρὶ Ψωφιδίῳ κατὰ Κροῖσον τὸν Λυδὸν ὄντι ἡλικίαν, ὡς ὁ Ἀγλαὸς τὸν χρόνον τοῦ βίου πάντα γένοιτο εὐδαίμων, οὔ με ἔπειθεν ὁ λόγος.
But the story which I heard in Psophis about Aglaus, a man of Psophis who was contemporary with Croesus the Lydian, to the effect that Aglaus was happy for the whole time of his life, did not convince me.
ἀλλὰ ἀνθρώπων μὲν τῶν ἐφʼ ἑαυτοῦ κακὰ ἄν τις ἐλάσσονα ἀναδέξαιτο, καθὰ καὶ ναῦς ἧσσον ἂν χειμασθείη νεὼς ἄλλης· §8.24.14ἄνδρα δὲ συμφορῶν ἀεὶ στάντα ἐκτὸς ἢ τὰ πάντα οὐρίῳ ναῦν χρησαμένην πνεύματι οὐκ ἔστιν ὅπως δυνησόμεθα ἐξευρεῖν, ἐπεὶ καὶ Ὅμηρος κατακείμενον παρὰ τῷ Διὶ ἀγαθῶν πίθον, τὸν δὲ ἕτερον κακῶν ἐποίησεν, ὑπὸ τοῦ ἐν Δελφοῖς θεοῦ δεδιδαγμένος, ὃς αὐτόν ποτε Ὅμηρον κακοδαίμονά τε προσεῖπε καὶ ὄλβιον ὡς φύντα ἐπὶ ἀμφοτέροις ὁμοίως.
To be sure, one might receive fewer evils than the men of his own time, just as one ship might be less tossed by storms than another ship; but a man who always stood outside of misfortunes, or a ship that always enjoyed a favorable wind in all things, is something we can by no means find, since even Homer made a jar of good things and another of evils lying by Zeus, being instructed by the god at Delphi, who once addressed Homer himself as both unhappy and blessed, as being born to both alike.

Notes

  1. 8.24.8ἥτις ἐστὶ νεωτάτη καὶ ἡ θάλασσα τοῦ μητρῴου μιάσματος ἀνέφηνεν ὕστερον αὐτήν — In the relative clause introduced by ἥτις, the copulative structure connects ἥτις ἐστὶ νεωτάτη (which is the newest) with ἡ θάλασσα ... ἀνέφηνεν ὕστερον αὐτήν (and the sea revealed it later). The genitive μιάσματος is a genitive of comparison depending on the comparative adverb ὕστερον (later than), meaning "the land which the sea revealed later than the pollution of his mother" (referring to the newly deposited silt of the river Achelous).
  2. 8.24.11τὰς δὲ Ἐχινάδας νήσους ὑπὸ τοῦ Ἀχελῴου μὴ σφᾶς ἤπειρον ἄχρι ἡμῶν ἀπειργάσθαι γέγονε δὴ αἰτία τὸ Αἰτωλῶν ἔθνος — The core of the sentence is "the Aetolian nation became the cause" (γέγονε δὴ αἰτία τὸ Αἰτωλῶν ἔθνος). The preceding accusative-with-infinitive clause "τὰς δὲ Ἐχινάδας νήσους ... μὴ ... ἀπειργάσθαι" (the Echinades islands not having been made into mainland) functions as an appositional subject explaining the content of αἰτία. The accusative pronoun σφᾶς is redundant, referring back to the subject of the infinitive, Ἐχινάδας.
  3. 8.24.14ὡς φύντα ἐπὶ ἀμφοτέροις ὁμοίως — The participle φύντα (aorist active participle of φύω, masculine accusative singular) agrees with Ὅμηρον (or αὐτόν), the object of προσεῖπε, and introduced by ὡς, denotes the condition or grounds: "as one who was born to both alike". The dative plural ἀμφοτέροις refers back to the two jars of goods and evils (ἀγαθά and κακά) mentioned in the preceding clause.

Cite this passage

Pausanias, Description of Greece §8.24.8-8.24.14. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:8.24.8-8.24.14

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