καὶ οὗτοι μὲν τρόποισι τοιούτοισι χρέωνται, οἱ δὲ Λύκιοι ἐκ Κρήτης τὠρχαῖον γεγόνασι (τὴν γὰρ Κρήτην εἶχον τὸ παλαιὸν πᾶσαν βάρβαροι)·
διενειχθέντων δὲ ἐν Κρήτῃ περὶ τῆς βασιληίης τῶν Εὐρώπης παίδων Σαρπηδόνος τε καὶ Μίνω, ὡς ἐπεκράτησε τῇ στάσι Μίνως, ἐξήλασε αὐτόν τε Σαρπηδόνα καὶ τοὺς στασιώτας αὐτοῦ, οἳ δὲ ἀπωσθέντες ἀπίκοντο τῆς Ἀσίης ἐς γῆν τὴν Μιλυάδα· τὴν γὰρ νῦν Λύκιοι νέμονται, αὕτη τὸ παλαιὸν ἦν Μιλυάς, οἱ δὲ Μιλύαι τότε Σόλυμοι ἐκαλέοντο.
ἕως μὲν δὴ αὐτῶν Σαρπηδὼν ἦρχε, οἳ δὲ ἐκαλέοντο τό πέρ τε ἠνείκαντο οὔνομα καὶ νυν ἔτι καλέονται ὑπὸ τῶν περιοίκων οἱ Λύκιοι Τερμίλαι· ὡς δὲ ἐξ Ἀθηνέων Λύκος ὁ Πανδίονος, ἐξελασθεὶς καὶ οὗτος ὑπὸ τοῦ ἀδελφεοῦ Αἰγέος, ἀπίκετο ἐς τοὺς Τερμίλας παρὰ Σαρπηδόνα, οὕτω δὴ κατὰ τοῦ Λύκου τὴν ἐπωνυμίην Λύκιοι ἀνὰ χρόνον ἐκλήθησαν.
νόμοισι δὲ τὰ μὲν Κρητικοῖσι τὰ δὲ Καρικοῖσι χρέωνται. ἓν δὲ τόδε ἴδιον νενομίκασι καὶ οὐδαμοῖσι ἄλλοισι συμφέρονται ἀνθρώπων· καλέουσι ἀπὸ τῶν μητέρων ἑωυτοὺς καὶ οὐκὶ ἀπὸ τῶν πατέρων·
εἰρομένου δὲ ἑτέρου τὸν πλησίον τίς εἴη, καταλέξει ἑωυτὸν μητρόθεν καὶ τῆς μητρὸς ἀνανεμέεται τὰς μητέρας. καὶ ἢν μέν γε γυνὴ ἀστὴ δούλῳ συνοικήσῃ, γενναῖα τὰ τέκνα νενόμισται· ἢν δὲ ἀνὴρ ἀστὸς καὶ ὁ πρῶτος αὐτῶν γυναῖκα ξείνην ἢ παλλακὴν ἔχῃ, ἄτιμα τὰ τέκνα γίνεται.
The Lykians however have sprung originally from Crete (for in old time the whole of Crete was possessed by Barbarians): and when the sons of Europa, Sarpedon and Minos, came to be at variance in Crete about the kingdom, Minos having got the better in the strife of parties drove out both Sarpedon himself and those of his party: and they having been expelled came to the land of Milyas in Asia, for the land which now the Lykians inhabit was anciently called Milyas, and the Milyans were then called Solymoi. Now while Sarpedon reigned over them, they were called by the name which they had when they came thither, and by which the Lykians are even now called by the neighbouring tribes, namely Termilai; but when from Athens Lycos the son of Pandion came to the land of the Termilai and to Sarpedon, he too having been driven out by his brother namely Aigeus, then by the name taken from Lycos they were called after a time Lykians. The customs which these have are partly Cretan and partly Carian; but one custom they have which is peculiar to them, and in which they agree with no other people, that is they call themselves by their mothers and not by their fathers; and if one asks his neighbour who he is, he will state his parentage on the mother’s side and enumerate his mother’s female ascendants: and if a woman who is a citizen marry a slave, the children are accounted to be of gentle birth; but if a man who is a citizen, though he were the first man among them, have a slave for wife or concubine, the children are without civil rights.
οἱ μέν νυν Κᾶρες οὐδὲν λαμπρὸν ἔργον ἀποδεξάμενοι ἐδουλώθησαν ὑπὸ Ἁρπάγου, οὔτε αὐτοὶ οἱ Κᾶρες ἀποδεξάμενοι οὐδέν, οὔτε ὅσοι Ἑλλήνων ταύτην τὴν χώρην οἰκέουσι·
οἰκέουσι δὲ καὶ ἄλλοι καὶ Λακεδαιμονίων ἄποικοι Κνίδιοι. οἳ τῆς χώρης τῆς σφετέρης τετραμμένης ἐς πόντον, τὸ δὴ Τριόπιον καλέεται, ἀργμένης δὲ ἐκ τῆς Χερσονήσου τῆς Βυβασσίης, ἐούσης τε πάσης τῆς Κνιδίης πλὴν ὀλίγης περιρρόου
(τὰ μὲν γὰρ αὐτῆς πρὸς βορέην ἄνεμον ὁ Κεραμεικὸς κόλπος ἀπέργει, τὰ δὲ πρὸς νότον ἡ κατὰ Σύμην τε καὶ Ῥόδον θάλασσα), τὸ ὦν δὴ ὀλίγον τοῦτο, ἐὸν ὅσον τε ἐπὶ πέντε στάδια, ὤρυσσον οἱ Κνίδιοι ἐν ὅσῳ Ἅρπαγος τὴν Ἰωνίην κατεστρέφετο, βουλόμενοι νῆσον τὴν χώρην ποιῆσαι. ἐντὸς δὲ πᾶσά σφι ἐγίνετο· τῇ γὰρ ἡ Κνιδίη χώρη ἐς τὴν ἤπειρον τελευτᾷ, ταύτῃ ὁ ἰσθμός ἐστι τὸν ὤρυσσον.
καὶ δὴ πολλῇ χειρὶ ἐργαζομένων τῶν Κνιδίων, μᾶλλον γάρ τι καὶ θειότερον ἐφαίνοντο τιτρώσκεσθαι οἱ ἐργαζόμενοι τοῦ οἰκότος τά τε ἄλλα τοῦ σώματος καὶ μάλιστα τὰ περὶ τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς θραυομένης τῆς πέτρης, ἔπεμπον ἐς Δελφοὺς θεοπρόπους ἐπειρησομένους τὸ ἀντίξοον.
ἡ δὲ Πυθίη σφι, ὡς αὐτοὶ Κνίδιοι λέγουσι, χρᾷ ἐν τριμέτρῳ τόνῳ τάδε. Ἰσθμὸν δὲ μὴ πυργοῦτε μηδʼ ὀρύσσετε· / Ζεὺς γάρ κʼ ἔθηκε νῆσον, εἴ κʼ ἐβούλετο. /
Κνίδιοι μὲν ταῦτα τῆς Πυθίης χρησάσης τοῦ τε ὀρύγματος ἐπαύσαντο καὶ Ἁρπάγῳ ἐπιόντι σὺν τῷ στρατῷ ἀμαχητὶ σφέας αὐτοὺς παρέδοσαν.
Now the Carians were reduced to subjection by Harpagos without any brilliant deed displayed either by the Carians themselves or by those of the Hellenes who dwell in this land. Of these last there are besides others the men of Cnidos, settlers from Lacedemon, whose land runs out into the sea, being in fact the region which is called Triopion, beginning from the peninsula of Bybassos: and since all the land of Cnidos except a small part is washed by the sea (for the part of it which looks towards the North is bounded by the Gulf of Keramos, and that which looks to the South by the sea off Syme and Rhodes), therefore the men of Cnidos began to dig through this small part, which is about five furlongs across, while Harpagos was subduing Ionia, desiring to make their land an island: and within the isthmus all was theirs, for where the territory of Cnidos ends in the direction of the mainland, here is the isthmus which they were digging across. And while the Cnidians were working at it with a great number of men, it was perceived that the men who worked suffered injury much more than might have been expected and in a more supernatural manner, both in other parts of their bodies and especially in their eyes, when the rock was being broken up; so they sent men to ask the Oracle at Delphi what the cause of the difficulty was. And the Pythian prophetess, as the men of Cnidos themselves report, gave them this reply in trimeter verse:—
“Fence not the place with towers, nor dig the isthmus through;
Zeus would have made your land an island, had he willed.”
When the Pythian prophetess had given this oracle, the men of Cnidos not only ceased from their digging but delivered themselves to Harpagos without resistance, when he came against them with his army.
ἦσαν δὲ Πηδασέες οἰκέοντες ὑπὲρ Ἁλικαρνησσοῦ μεσόγαιαν· τοῖσι ὅκως τι μέλλοι ἀνεπιτήδεον ἔσεσθαι, αὐτοῖσί τε καὶ τοῖσι περιοίκοισι, ἡ ἱρείη τῆς Ἀθηναίης πώγωνα μέγαν ἴσχε. τρὶς σφι τοῦτο ἐγένετο. οὗτοι τῶν περὶ Καρίην ἀνδρῶν μοῦνοί τε ἀντέσχον χρόνον Ἁρπάγῳ καὶ πρήγματα παρέσχον πλεῖστα, ὄρος τειχίσαντες τῷ οὔνομα ἐστὶ Λίδη.
There were also the Pedasians, who dwelt in the inland country above Halicarnassos; and among these, whenever anything hurtful is about to happen either to themselves or to their neighbours, the priestess of Athene has a great beard: this befell them three times. These of all about Caria were the only men who held out for any time against Harpagos, and they gave him trouble more than any other people, having fortified a mountain called Lide.
Πηδασέες μέν νυν χρόνῳ ἐξαιρέθησαν. Λύκιοι δέ, ὡς ἐς τὸ Ξάνθιον πεδίον ἤλασε ὁ Ἅρπαγος τὸν στρατόν, ἐπεξιόντες καὶ μαχόμενοι ὀλίγοι πρὸς πολλοὺς ἀρετᾶς ἀπεδείκνυντο, ἑσσωθέντες δὲ καὶ κατειληθέντες ἐς τὸ ἄστυ συνήλισαν ἐς τὴν ἀκρόπολιν τάς τε γυναῖκας καὶ τὰ τέκνα καὶ τὰ χρήματα καὶ τοὺς οἰκέτας, καὶ ἔπειτα ὑπῆψαν τὴν ἀκρόπολιν πᾶσαν ταύτην καίεσθαι.
ταῦτα δὲ ποιήσαντες καὶ συνομόσαντες ὅρκους δεινούς, ἐπεξελθόντες ἀπέθανον πάντες Ξάνθιοι μαχόμενοι.
τῶν δὲ νῦν Λυκίων φαμένων Ξανθίων εἶναι οἱ πολλοί, πλὴν ὀγδώκοντα ἱστιέων, εἰσὶ ἐπήλυδες· αἱ δὲ ὀγδώκοντα ἱστίαι αὗται ἔτυχον τηνικαῦτα ἐκδημέουσι καὶ οὕτω περιεγένοντο. τὴν μὲν δὴ Ξάνθον οὕτω ἔσχε ὁ Ἅρπαγος, παραπλησίως δὲ καὶ τὴν Καῦνον ἔσχε· καὶ γὰρ οἱ Καύνιοι τοὺς Λυκίους ἐμιμήσαντο τὰ πλέω.
After a time the Pedasians were conquered; and the Lykians, when Harpagos marched his army into the plain of Xanthos, came out against him and fought, few against many, and displayed proofs of valour; but being defeated and confined within their city, they gathered together into the citadel their wives and their children, their property and their servants, and after that they set fire to this citadel, so that it was all in flames, and having done so and sworn terrible oaths with one another, they went forth against the enemy and were slain in fight, that is to say all the men of Xanthos: and of the Xanthians who now claim to be Lykians the greater number have come in from abroad, except only eighty households; but these eighty households happened at that time to be away from their native place, and so they escaped destruction. Thus Harpagos obtained possession of Caunos, for the men of Caunos imitated in most respects the behaviour of the Lykians.
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