It is said that at Pitane bricks float upon the water, as was the case with a small island[1491] in Tyrrhenia, for the earth, being lighter than an equal bulk of water, swims upon it. Poseidonius says, that he saw in Spain bricks made of an argillaceous earth (with which silver vessels are cleansed) floating upon water.
After Pitane the Caïcus[1492] empties itself, at the distance of 30 stadia from it, into the Elaïtic bay. Beyond the Caïcus, at the distance of 12 stadia from the river, is Elæa, an Æolian city; it is the arsenal of Pergamum, and distant from it 120 stadia.
68. At 100 stadia farther is Cane, the promontory opposite to Lectum, and forming the gulf of Adramyttium, of which the Elaïtic Gulf is a part. Canæ is a small city of the Locrians who came from Cynus; it is situated in the Canæan territory, opposite the most southerly extremities of Lesbos. This territory extends to the Arginusæ, and the promontory above, which some call Aiga, or the goat. The second syllable however must be pronounced long, Aigan, like Actan and Archan, for this was the name of the whole mountain, which at present is called Cane, or Canæ.[1493] The sea surrounds the mountain on the south and west; towards the east the plain of Caïcus lies below, and on the north the Elaïtic district. The mountain itself is very much contracted. It inclines indeed towards the Ægæan Sea, from which it has the name (Æga), but afterwards the promontory itself was called Æga, the name which Sappho gives it, and then Cane and Canæ.
69. Between Elæa, Pitane, Atarneus, and Pergamum on this side the Caïcus, is Teuthrania, distant from none of these places above 70 stadia. Teuthras is said to have been king of the Cilicians and Mysians. According to Euripides, Auge, with her son Telephus, was enclosed in a chest and thrown into the sea, by command of her father Aleus, who discovered that she had been violated by Hercules. By the care of Minerva the chest crossed the sea, and was cast ashore at the mouth of the Caïcus. Teuthras took up the mother and her son, married the former, and treated the latter as his own child. This is a fable, but another concurrence of circumstances is wanting to explain how the daughter of the Arcadian became the wife of the king of the Mysians, and how her son succeeded to the throne of the Mysians. It is however believed that Teuthras and Telephus governed the country lying about Teuthrania and the Caïcus, but the poet mentions a few particulars only of this history:
“as when he slew the son of Telephus, the hero Eurypylus, and many of his companions, the Cetæi, were killed around him for the sake of the gifts of women.”[1494]
Homer here rather proposes an enigma than a clear meaning. For we do not know who the Cetæi were, nor what people we are to understand by this name, nor what is meant by the words, “for the sake of the gifts of women.”[1495] Grammarians adduce and compare with this other stories, but they indulge in invention rather than solve the difficulty.
70. Let us dismiss this doubtful matter, and turn to what is more certain; for instance, according to Homer, Eurypylus appears to have been king of the places about the Caïcus, so that perhaps a part of the Cilicians were his subjects, and that there were not only two but three dynasties among that people.
This opinion is supported by the circumstance that in the Elaïtis there is a small river, like a winter torrent, of the name of Ceteium. This falls into another like it, then again into another, but all discharge themselves into the Caïcus. The Caïcus does not flow from Ida, as Bacchylides says, nor does Euripides say correctly that Marsyas