CHAPTER VII.
And the Sicyonians became Dorians after this, and a part of Argolis. And their city, built by Ægialeus in the plain, Demetrius the son of Antigonus razed to the ground, and built the present city on the site of what was in former times the citadel. And the reason of the low fortunes of the Sicyonians one could not find out by investigation, but one would have to be content with what is said by Homer about Zeus,[15]
“Who hath brought down the pride of many cities.”
And when they were in a far from favourable condition an earthquake came on them, and made the city almost bare of men, and robbed them of many works of art. This earthquake also injured the cities of Caria and Lycia, and the island of Rhodes suffered especially, insomuch that the oracle of the Sibyl about Rhodes was fulfilled.
And as you go from Corinth towards Sicyon you come to the tomb of Messenian Lycus, whoever this Lycus was. For I find no Messenian Lycus that practised in the pentathlum, or carried off the prize at Olympia. This tomb is a mound of earth, and the Sicyonians mostly bury in the following manner. The body they deposit in the ground, and over it a stone slab with pillars on the top, on which are figures, generally like the eagles in the temples. But they write no epitaph, but simply the name of the deceased, not even his parentage, and bid the dead farewell. And next to the tomb of Lycus, when you have crossed over the Asopus, is on the right hand the temple of Olympian Zeus, and a little further on, on the left side of the road, is the tomb of Eupolis the Athenian Comedian. Further on in the direction of the city is the tomb of Xenodice, who died in childbirth: it is unlike the tombs in this part of the country, and has a painting, which is very fine. A little further is the tomb of the Sicyonians, who died at Pellene, and Dyme in Achaia, and at Megalopolis and Sellasia, whose exploits I shall relate fully later on. And they have near the gate a well in a cave, which oozes through the roof of the cave, so it is called the Dripping Well.
And in the present citadel there is a temple to Fortune Dwelling on the Heights, and next it one to the Dioscuri. Both these and the statue of Fortune are of wood. And in the theatre built under the citadel the person represented on the stage-curtain is, they say, Aratus the son of Clinias. And next to the theatre is a temple of Dionysus: the god is fashioned in gold and ivory, and near him some Bacchantes in white stone. These women they say are sacred to Dionysus, and full of Bacchic fury. And the Sicyonians have other statues in a secret place, which one night in every year they bring to the temple of Dionysus from the place called Ornament Room, and they bring them with lighted torches and national Hymns. The leader of the procession is called Baccheus, this functionary was appointed by Androdamas the son of Phlias, and the next in the procession is called Lysius, whom the Theban Phanes brought from Thebes at the bidding of the Pythian Priestess. And Phanes came to Sicyon, when Aristomachus the son of Cleodæus, mistaking the oracle, lost thereby his return to the Peloponnese. And as you go from the temple of Dionysus to the market-place there is a shrine of Artemis Limnæa on the right hand. And that the roof has fallen in is clear to the spectator. But as to the statue of the goddess—for there is none now—the people of Sicyon do not say whether it was carried away to some other place, or how it was destroyed (if destroyed).
And as you enter the market-place is a temple of Persuasion, also without a statue. Persuasion is worshipped by them on the following ground. Apollo and Artemis after slaying Pytho went to Ægialea to purify themselves. But being seized with some panic fear in the place which they now call Fear, they turned aside to Crete to Carmanor, and a pestilence came upon the people at Ægialea, and they were ordered by the seers to propitiate Apollo and Artemis. And they sent 7 lads and 7 maidens to the river Sythas to supplicate Apollo and Artemis, and persuaded by them these deities went to what was then the citadel, and the place they first reached was the temple of Persuasion. A Pageant of all this goes on to this day. On the Festival of Apollo the lads go to the river Sythas, and, after bringing Apollo and Artemis to the temple of Persuasion, take them back again to the temple of Apollo. And that temple is in the middle of the present market-place, and they say it was originally built by Prœtus, because his daughters got cured of madness here. They say also that Meleager hung up in this temple the spear with which he killed the Calydonian boar: here too (they say) are deposited the flutes of Marsyas: for after his awful death the river Marsyas carried them to Mæander, and they turned up again at the Asopus and were landed at Sicyon, and given to Apollo by a shepherd who found them. Of these votive offerings there is no vestige: for they were burnt with the temple. And the temple and statue were re-erected in my time by Pythocles.