CHAPTER XIX

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And between the temple of Laphria and the altar is the sepulchre of Eurypylus. Who he was and why he came into this country I shall relate, when I have first described the condition of things when he came into these parts. Those of the Ionians who dwelt at Aroe and Anthea and Mesatis had in common a grove and temple of Artemis Triclaria, and the Ionians kept her festival annually all night long. And the priestess of the goddess was a maiden, who was dismissed when she married. They have a tradition that once the priestess of the goddess was one Comætho, a most beautiful maiden, and that Melanippus was deeply in love with her, who in all other respects and in handsomeness of appearance outdid all of his own age. And as Melanippus won the maiden’s love as well, he asked her in marriage of her father. It is somehow common to old age to be in most respects the very antipodes to youth, and especially in sympathy with love, so that Melanippus, who loved and was beloved, got no encouragement either from his own parents or from the parents of Comætho. And it is evident from various other cases as well as this that love is wont to confound human laws, and even to upset the honour due to the gods, as in this case, for Melanippus and Comætho satisfied their ardent love in the very temple of Artemis, and afterwards made the temple habitually their bridal-chamber. And forthwith the wrath of Artemis came on the people of the country, their land yielded no fruit, and unusual sicknesses came upon the people, and the mortality was much greater than usual. And when they had recourse to the oracle at Delphi, the Pythian Priestess laid the blame on Melanippus and Comætho, and the oracle ordered them to sacrifice to Artemis annually the most handsome maiden and lad. It was on account of this sacrifice that the river near the temple of Triclaria was called Amilichus (_Relentless_): it had long had no name. Now all these lads and maidens had done nothing against the goddess but had to die for Melanippus and Comætho, and they and their relations suffered most piteously. I do not put the whole responsibility for this upon Comætho and Melanippus, for to human beings alone is love felt worth life. These human sacrifices are said to have been stopped for the following reason. The oracle at Delphi had foretold that a foreign king would come to their country, and that he would bring with him a foreign god, and that he would stop this sacrifice to Artemis Triclaria. And after the capture of Ilium, when the Greeks shared the spoil, Eurypylus the son of Euæmon got a chest, in which there was a statue of Dionysus, the work some say of Hephæstus, and a gift of Zeus to Dardanus. But there are two other traditions about this chest, one that Æneas left it behind him when he fled from Ilium, the other that it was thrown away by Cassandra as a misfortune to any Greek who found it. However this may be, Eurypylus opened the chest and saw the statue, and was driven out of his mind by the sight. And most of his time he remained mad, though he came to himself a little at times. And being in that condition he did not sail to Thessaly, but to Cirrha and the Cirrhæan Gulf; and he went to Delphi and consulted the oracle about his disorder. And they say the oracle told him, where he should find people offering a strange sacrifice, to dedicate his chest and there dwell. And the wind drove Eurypylus’ ships to the sea near Aroe, and when he went ashore he saw a lad and maiden being led to the altar of Artemis Triclaria. And he saw at once that the oracle referred to this sacrifice, the people of the place also remembered the oracle, seeing a king whom they had never before seen, and as to the chest they suspected that there was some god in it. And so Eurypylus got cured of his disorder, and this human sacrifice was stopped, and the river was now called Milichus (_Mild_). Some indeed have written that it was not the Thessalian Eurypylus to whom what I have just recorded happened, but they want people to think that Eurypylus (the son of Dexamenus who was king at Olenus), who accompanied Hercules to Ilium, received the chest from Hercules. The rest of their tradition is the same as mine. But I cannot believe that Hercules was ignorant of the contents of this chest, or that if he knew of them he would have given the chest as a present to a comrade. Nor do the people of Patras record any other Eurypylus than the son of Euæmon, and to him they offer sacrifices every year, when they keep the festival to Dionysus.

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