CHAPTER XXIV

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The founder of Psophis was they say Psophis the son of Arrho, (the son of Erymanthus, the son of Aristas, the son of Parthaon, the son of Periphetes, the son of Nyctimus): others say Psophis the daughter of Xanthus, the son of Erymanthus, the son of Arcas. This is the Arcadian account. But the truest tradition is that Psophis was the daughter of Eryx, the ruler in Sicania, who would not receive her into his house as she was pregnant, but intrusted her to Lycortas, a friend of his who dwelt at Phegia, which was called Erymanthus before the reign of Phegeus: and Echephron and Promachus (her sons by Hercules) who were brought up there changed the name of Phegia into Psophis after their mother’s name. The citadel at Zacynthus is also named Psophis, for the first settler who sailed over to that island was from Psophis, Zacynthus the son of Dardanus. From Siræ Psophis is about 30 stades, and the river Aroanius, and at a little distance the Erymanthus, flow by the town. The Erymanthus has its sources in the mountain Lampea, which is they say sacred to Pan, and may be a part of Mount Erymanthus. Homer has represented Erymanthus as a hunter on Taygetus and Erymanthus, and a lover of Lampea, and as passing through Arcadia, (leaving the mountain Pholoe on the right and Thelpusa on the left), and becoming a tributary of the Alpheus. And it is said that Hercules at the orders of Eurystheus hunted the boar (which exceeded all others in size and strength), on the banks of the Erymanthus. And the people of Cumæ in the Opic territory say that some boar’s teeth which they have stored up in the temple of Apollo are the teeth of this Erymanthian boar, but their tradition has little probability in it. And the people of Psophis have a temple of Aphrodite surnamed Erycina, which is now only in ruins, and was built (so the story goes) by the sons of Psophis, which is not improbable. For there is in Sicily in the country near Mount Eryx a temple of Aphrodite Erycina, most holy from its hoary antiquity and as wealthy as the temple at Paphos. And there are still traces of hero-chapels of Promachus and Echephron the sons of Psophis. And at Psophis Alcmæon the son of Amphiaraus is buried, whose tomb is neither very large nor beautified, except by some cypress trees which grow to such a height, that the hill near is shaded by them. These trees are considered sacred to Alcmæon so that the people will not cut them down, and the people of the place call them Maidens. Alcmæon came to Psophis, when he fled from Argos after slaying his mother, and there married Alphesibœa the daughter of Phegeus, (from whom Psophis was still called Phegia), and gave her gifts as was usual and among others the famous necklace. And as while he dwelt in Arcadia his madness became no better, he consulted the oracle at Delphi, and the Pythian Priestess informed him that the Avenger of his mother Eriphyle would follow him to every place except to a spot which was most recent, and made by the action of the sea since he had stained himself with his mother’s blood. And he found a place which the Achelous had made by silting and dwelt there, and married Callirhoe the daughter of Achelous according to the tradition of the Acarnanians, and had by her two sons Acarnan and Amphoterus, from the former of whom the Acarnanians on the mainland got their present name, for they were before called Curetes. And many men and still more women come to grief through foolish desires. Callirhoe desired that the necklace of Eriphyle should be hers, and so she sent Alcmæon against his will into Phegia, where his death was treacherously compassed by Temenus and Axion, the sons of Phegeus, who are said to have offered the necklace to Apollo at Delphi. And it was during their reign in the town then called Phegia that the Greeks went on the expedition against Troy, in which the people of Psophis say they took no part, because the leaders of the Argives had an hostility with their kings, as most of them were relations of Alcmæon and had shared in his expedition against Thebes. And the reason why the islands called the Echinades formed by the Achelous got separated from the mainland, was because when the Ætolians were driven out the land became deserted, and, as Ætolia was uncultivated, the Achelous did not deposit as much mud as usual. What confirms my account is that the Mæander, that flowed for so many years through the arable parts of Phrygia and Caria, in a short time converted the sea between Priene and Miletus into mainland. The people of Psophis also have a temple and statue on the banks of the Erymanthus to the River-God Erymanthus. Except the Nile in Egypt all River-Gods have statues in white stone, but the Nile, as it flows through Ethiopia to the sea, has its statues generally made of black stone.

The tradition that I have heard at Psophis about Aglaus, a native of the town who was a contemporary of the Lydian Crœsus, that he was happy all his life, I cannot credit. No doubt one man will have less trouble than another, as one ship will suffer less from tempests than another ship: but that a man should always stand aloof from misfortune, or that a ship should never encounter a storm, is a thing which does not answer to human experience. Even Homer has represented one jar placed by Zeus full of blessings, and another full of woes,[31] instructed by the oracle at Delphi, which had informed him that he would be both unfortunate and fortunate, as born for both fortunes.

[31] Iliad, xxiv. 527-533.

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