§9.39.1τὰ μὲν δὴ πρὸς τῶν ὀρῶν Φωκεῖς ὑπεροικοῦσιν Ὀρχομενίων, ἐν δὲ τῷ πεδίῳ Λεβάδειά ἐστιν αὐτοῖς ὅμορος.
On the side near the mountains the Phocians dwell above the Orchomenians, and in the plain Lebadeia is adjacent to them.
αὕτη τὸ μὲν ἐξ ἀρχῆς ᾠκεῖτο ἐπὶ μετεώρου καὶ ὠνομάζετο Μίδεια ἀπὸ τῆς Ἀσπληδόνος μητρός· Λεβάδου δὲ ἐξ Ἀθηνῶν ἐς αὐτὴν ἀφικομένου κατέβησάν τε ἐς τὸ χθαμαλὸν οἱ ἄνθρωποι καὶ ἐκλήθη Λεβάδεια ἡ πόλις ἀπʼ αὐτοῦ.
This city was originally inhabited on high ground and was named Mideia after the mother of Aspledon; but when Lebadus came to it from Athens, the people came down to the low ground, and the city was called Lebadeia after him.
πατέρα δὲ τοῦ Λεβάδου, καὶ καθʼ ἥντινα αἰτίαν ἦλθεν, οὐκ ἴσασιν ἄλλο ἢ γυναῖκα εἶναι Λεβάδου Λαονίκην.
Of the father of Lebadus, and for what reason he came, they know nothing else except that the wife of Lebadus was Laonice.
§9.39.2κεκόσμηται μὲν δὴ τὰ ἄλλα σφίσιν ἡ πόλις ὁμοίως τοῖς Ἑλλήνων μάλιστα εὐδαίμοσι, διείργει δὲ ἀπʼ αὐτῆς τὸ ἄλσος τοῦ Τροφωνίου ποταμὸς Ἕρκυνα.
Their city is in other respects adorned like the most prosperous of the cities of the Greeks, and the river Hercyna separates the grove of Trophonius from it.
φασὶ δʼ ἐνταῦθα Ἕρκυναν ὁμοῦ Κόρῃ τῇ Δήμητρος παίζουσαν καὶ ἔχουσαν χῆνα ἀφεῖναι τοῦτον ἄκουσαν· ἐς δὲ ἄντρον κοῖλον ἐσπτάντος καὶ ὑπὸ λίθον ἀποκρύψαντος αὑτὸν ἐσελθοῦσα ἡ Κόρη λαμβάνει τὸν ὄρνιθα ὑπὸ τῷ λίθῳ κατακείμενον· ῥυῆναί τε δὴ τὸ ὕδωρ ὅθεν ἀνείλετο ἡ Κόρη τὸν λίθον καὶ ὀνομασθῆναι τὸν ποταμὸν ἐπὶ τούτῳ λέγουσιν Ἕρκυναν.
They say that here Hercyna, while playing with Core the daughter of Demeter and holding a goose, let it go against her will; and when it flew into a hollow cave and hid itself under a stone, Core entered and caught the bird as it lay under the stone; and they say that the water flowed from where Core lifted the stone, and that the river was named Hercyna after this.
§9.39.3καὶ ἔστι μὲν πρὸς τῇ ὄχθῃ τοῦ ποταμοῦ ναὸς Ἑρκύνης, ἐν δὲ αὐτῷ παρθένος χῆνα ἔχουσα ἐν ταῖς χερσίν· εἰσὶ δὲ ἐν τῷ σπηλαίῳ τοῦ ποταμοῦ τε αἱ πηγαὶ καὶ ἀγάλματα ὀρθά, περιειλιγμένοι δέ εἰσιν αὐτῶν τοῖς σκήπτροις δράκοντες.
And on the bank of the river there is a temple of Hercyna, and in it is a maiden holding a goose in her hands; and in the cave of the river are both the springs and some upright statues, and serpents are coiled around their sceptres.
ταῦτα εἰκάσαι μὲν ἄν τις Ἀσκληπιοῦ τε εἶναι καὶ Ὑγείας, εἶεν δʼ ἂν Τροφώνιος καὶ Ἕρκυνα, ἐπεὶ μηδὲ τοὺς δράκοντας Ἀσκληπιοῦ μᾶλλον ἢ καὶ Τροφωνίου νομίζουσιν ἱεροὺς εἶναι.
One might surmise these to belong to Asclepius and Hygieia, but they might well be Trophonius and Hercyna, since they consider serpents to be sacred to Trophonius no less than to Asclepius.
ἐπὶ δὲ τῷ ποταμῷ μνῆμά ἐστιν Ἀρκεσιλάου· Λήϊτον δὲ ἀνακομίσαι φασὶ τοῦ Ἀρκεσιλάου τὰ ὀστᾶ ἐκ Τροίας.
Near the river is the tomb of Arcesilaus; and they say that Leitus brought back the bones of Arcesilaus from Troy.
§9.39.4τὰ δὲ ἐπιφανέστατα ἐν τῷ ἄλσει Τροφωνίου ναὸς καὶ ἄγαλμά ἐστιν, Ἀσκληπιῷ καὶ τοῦτο εἰκασμένον· Πραξιτέλης δὲ ἐποίησε τὸ ἄγαλμα.
The most famous things in the grove are a temple and statue of Trophonius, this too made in the likeness of Asclepius; Praxiteles made the statue.
ἔστι δὲ καὶ Δήμητρος ἱερὸν ἐπίκλησιν Εὐρώπης καὶ Ζεὺς Ὑέτιος ἐν ὑπαίθρῳ.
There is also a sanctuary of Demeter surnamed Europe, and an outdoor statue of Zeus Hyetius.
ἀναβᾶσι δὲ ἐπὶ τὸ μαντεῖον καὶ αὐτόθεν ἰοῦσιν ἐς τὸ πρόσω τοῦ ὄρους, Κόρης ἐστὶ καλουμένη θήρα καὶ Διὸς Βασιλέως ναός.
For those who have gone up to the oracle and from there go further into the mountain, there is a place called the Hunt of Core and a temple of Zeus Basileus.
τοῦτον μὲν δὴ διὰ τὸ μέγεθος ἢ καὶ τῶν πολέμων τὸ ἀλλεπάλληλον ἀφείκασιν ἡμίεργον· ἐν δὲ ἑτέρῳ ναῷ Κρόνου καὶ Ἥρας καὶ Διός ἐστιν ἀγάλματα.
This temple they have left half-finished because of its size or also the succession of wars; but in another temple there are statues of Cronus, Hera, and Zeus.
ἔστι δὲ καὶ Ἀπόλλωνος ἱερόν.
There is also a sanctuary of Apollo.
§9.39.5κατὰ δὲ τὸ μαντεῖον τοιάδε γίνεται.
Regarding the oracle, the following things take place.
ἐπειδὰν ἀνδρὶ ἐς τοῦ Τροφωνίου κατιέναι δόξῃ, πρῶτα μὲν τεταγμένων ἡμερῶν δίαιταν ἐν οἰκήματι ἔχει, τὸ δὲ οἴκημα Δαίμονός τε ἀγαθοῦ καὶ Τύχης ἱερόν ἐστιν ἀγαθῆς·
When a man decides to go down to the oracle of Trophonius, first of all for a set number of days he resides in a building, and the building is a sanctuary of the Good Daemon and of Good Fortune.
διαιτώμενος δὲ ἐνταῦθα τά τε ἄλλα καθαρεύει καὶ λουτρῶν εἴργεται θερμῶν, τὸ δὲ λουτρὸν ὁ ποταμός ἐστιν ἡ Ἕρκυνα· καί οἱ καὶ κρέα ἄφθονά ἐστιν ἀπὸ τῶν θυσιῶν, θύει γὰρ δὴ ὁ κατιὼν αὐτῷ τε τῷ Τροφωνίῳ καὶ τοῦ Τροφωνίου τοῖς παισί, πρὸς δὲ Ἀπόλλωνί τε καὶ Κρόνῳ καὶ Διὶ ἐπίκλησιν Βασιλεῖ καὶ Ἥρᾳ τε Ἡνιόχῃ καὶ Δήμητρι ἣν ἐπονομάζοντες Εὐρώπην τοῦ Τροφωνίου φασὶν εἶναι τροφόν.
Residing there, he keeps himself pure in other respects and abstains from warm baths, and his bath is the river Hercyna; and he has plenty of meat from the sacrifices, for the one who goes down sacrifices to Trophonius himself and to the children of Trophonius, and besides to Apollo, Cronus, Zeus surnamed Basileus, Hera Henioche, and Demeter whom they call Europe and say is the nurse of Trophonius.
§9.39.6καθʼ ἑκάστην δὲ τῶν θυσιῶν ἀνὴρ μάντις παρὼν ἐς τοῦ ἱερείου τὰ σπλάγχνα ἐνορᾷ, ἐνιδὼν δὲ προθεσπίζει τῷ κατιόντι εἰ δὴ αὐτὸν εὐμενὴς ὁ Τροφώνιος καὶ ἵλεως δέξεται.
At each of the sacrifices a prophet is present and looks into the entrails of the victim, and having looked, he foretells to the one who is going down whether Trophonius will receive him favorably and graciously.
τῶν μὲν δὴ ἄλλων ἱερείων τὰ σπλάγχνα οὐχ ὁμοίως δηλοῖ τοῦ Τροφωνίου τὴν γνώμην· ἐν δὲ νυκτὶ ᾗ κάτεισιν ἕκαστος, ἐν ταύτῃ κριὸν θύουσιν ἐς βόθρον, ἐπικαλούμενοι τὸν Ἀγαμήδην.
Now the entrails of the other victims do not reveal the mind of Trophonius in the same way; but on the night when each goes down, on that night they sacrifice a ram into a pit, calling upon Agamedes.
θυμάτων δὲ τῶν πρότερον πεφηνότων αἰσίων λόγος ἐστὶν οὐδείς, εἰ μὴ καὶ τοῦδε τοῦ κριοῦ τὰ σπλάγχνα τὸ αὐτὸ θέλοι λέγειν· ὁμολογούντων δὲ καὶ τούτων, τότε ἕκαστος ἤδη κάτεισιν εὔελπις, κάτεισι δὲ οὕτω.
Even if the previous sacrifices have appeared auspicious, no account is taken of them unless the entrails of this ram also should mean the same; and if these also agree, then each one at last goes down full of hope, and he goes down in the following way.
§9.39.7πρῶτα μὲν ἐν τῇ νυκτὶ αὐτὸν ἄγουσιν ἐπὶ τὸν ποταμὸν τὴν Ἕρκυναν, ἀγαγόντες δὲ ἐλαίῳ χρίουσι καὶ λούουσι δύο παῖδες τῶν ἀστῶν ἔτη τρία που καὶ δέκα γεγονότες, οὓς Ἑρμᾶς ἐπονομάζουσιν·
First, during the night they lead him to the river Hercyna, and having led him, two boys of the citizens about thirteen years old, whom they call Hermas, anoint him with oil and wash him.
οὗτοι τὸν καταβαίνοντά εἰσιν οἱ λούοντες καὶ ὁπόσα χρὴ διακονούμενοι ἅτε παῖδες.
These boys are the ones who wash the one going down, and minister to him in all things that are necessary, as boys would do.
τὸ ἐντεῦθεν ὑπὸ τῶν ἱερέων οὐκ αὐτίκα ἐπὶ τὸ μαντεῖον, ἐπὶ δὲ ὕδατος πηγὰς ἄγεται· αἱ δὲ ἐγγύτατά εἰσιν ἀλλήλων.
From there he is led by the priests, not immediately to the oracle, but to the springs of water; and these are very near to each other.