[29] Iliad, ii. 748-751.
CHAPTER XIX.
And there are some of Arcadian race who live at Cynætha, who erected at Olympia a statue of Zeus with a thunderbolt in each hand. Cynætha is about 40 stades from the temple of Artemis, and in the market-place are some altars of the gods, and a statue of the Emperor Adrian. But the most memorable thing there is a temple of Dionysus. They keep the festival of the god in wintertime, when men smeared all over with oil pick a bull from the herd, which the god puts it into their mind to take and convey to the temple, where they offer it in sacrifice. And there is a well there of cold water, about two stades from the town, and a plane-tree growing by it. Whoever is bitten by a mad dog, or has received any other hurt, if he drinks of this water gets cured, and for this reason they call the well Alyssus. Thus the water called Styx near Pheneus in Arcadia is for man’s hurt, whereas the water at Cynætha is exactly the reverse for man’s cure. Of the roads in a westward direction from Pheneus there remains that on the left which leads to Clitor, and is by the canal which Hercules dug for the river Aroanius. The road along this canal goes to Lycuria, which is the boundary between the districts of Pheneus and Clitor.
CHAPTER XX.
And after having advanced from Lycuria about 50 stades you will come to the springs of the river Ladon. I have heard that the water of the marsh at Pheneus, after falling into the pits under the mountains, reappears here, and forms the springs of Ladon. I am not prepared to say whether this is so or not. But the river Ladon excels all the rivers in Greece for the beauty of its stream, and is also famous in connection with what poets have sung about Daphne. The tradition current about Daphne among those who live on the banks of the Orontes I pass over, but the following is the tradition both in Arcadia and Elis. Œnomaus the ruler at Pisa had a son Leucippus who was enamoured of Daphne, and hotly wooed her for his wife, but discovered that she had a dislike to all males. So he contrived the following stratagem. He let his hair grow to the Alpheus,[30] and put on woman’s dress and went to Daphne with his hair arranged like a girl’s, and said he was the daughter of Œnomaus, and would like to go a hunting with Daphne. And being reckoned a girl, and excelling all the other girls in the lustre of his family and skill in hunting, and paying the greatest possible attention to Daphne, he soon won her strong friendship. But they who sing of Apollo’s love for Daphne add that Apollo was jealous of Leucippus’ happiness in love. So when Daphne and the other maidens desired to bathe in the Ladon and swim about, they stripped Leucippus against his will, and discovering his sex they stabbed him and killed him with javelins and daggers. So the story goes.
CHAPTER XXI.
From the springs of Ladon it is 60 stades to the town of Clitor, the road is a narrow path by the river Aroanius. And near the town you cross a river called Clitor, which flows into the Aroanius about 7 stades from the town. There are various kinds of fish in the river Aroanius, especially some variegated ones which have they say a voice like the thrush. I have seen them caught but never heard their voice, though I have waited by the riverside till sunset, when they are said to be most vocal.
The town of Clitor got its name from the son of Azan, and is situated in a plain with hills not very high all round it. The most notable temples are those to Demeter, and Æsculapius, and to Ilithyia. Homer says there are several Ilithyias, but does not specify their number. But the Lycian Olen, who was earlier than Homer, and wrote Hymns to Ilithyia and for the Delians, says that she was the same as Fate, and older than Cronos. And he calls her Eulinus. The people of Clitor have also a temple, about 4 stades from the town, to Castor and Pollux under the name of the Great Gods, their statues are of brass. And on the crest of a hill about 30 stades from Clitor is a temple and statue of Athene Coria.
[30] Probably on the pretext that he meant to shear his hair to the Alpheus. See i. 37; [viii. 41.]