19. These rivers descend from the Phocian mountains, and among them the Cephissus,[358] having its source at Lilæa, a Phocian city, as Homer describes it;
“And they who occupied Lilæa, at the sources of Cephissus.”[359]
It flows through Elateia,[360] the largest of the cities among the Phocians, through the Parapotamii, and the Phanoteis, which are also Phocian towns; it then goes onwards to Chæroneia in Bœotia; afterwards, it traverses the districts of Orchomenus and Coroneia, and discharges its waters into the lake Copais. The Permessus and the Olmeius[361] descend from Helicon, and uniting their streams, fall into the lake Copais near Haliartus. The waters of other streams likewise discharge themselves into it. It is a large lake with a circuit of 380 stadia;[362] the outlets are nowhere visible, if we except the chasm which receives the Cephissus, and the marshes.
20. Among the neighbouring lakes are Trephea[363] and Cephissis. Homer mentions it;
“Who dwelt in Hyla, intent upon amassing wealth, close to the lake Cephissis;”[364]
for he did not mean to specify the lake Copais, as some suppose, but that called Hylicus,[365] from the neighbouring village, which is called Hylæ: nor did he mean Hyda, as some write the passage,
“He lived in Hyda,”
for there is a place of this name in Lydia,
“at the foot of the snowy Tmolus, in the fruitful country of Hyda;”[366]
and another in Bœotia; he therefore adds to