XXX. Περὶ Φρίξου καὶ Ἕλλης
⟨Περὶ Φρίξου⟩ ἱστοροῦσιν ὡς ὁ κριὸς αὐτῷ προὔλεγεν ὅτι ὁ πατὴρ αὐτοὺς μέλλοι θύειν· καὶ λαβὼν τὴν ἀδελφὴν αὐτοῦ ἀναβάς τὲ ἐπ᾽ αὐτὸν σὺν αὐτῇ, διὰ τῆς θαλάσσης ἀφίκοντο εἰς τὸν Εὔξεινον πόντον, διὰ τριῶν ἢ τεσσάρων ἡμερῶν τὸ πᾶν διανύσαντες. ὅπερ ἐστὶ δύσπιστον, κριὸν θᾶττον νηὸς διανήχεσθαι. καὶ ταῦτα βαστάζοντα δύο ἀνθρώπους καί που σιτία καὶ ποτὰ καὶ ἑαυτῷ καὶ ἐκείνοις (οὐ γὰρ δήπου ἄσιτοι τοσοῦτον χρόνον διέμενον). εἶτα Φρίξος τὸν τὴν σωτηρίαν αὐτῷ φράσαντα κριὸν καὶ διασώσαντα σφάξας καὶ τὸ δέρμα ἀποδείρας ἔδωκεν ἕδνον Αἰήτῃ τῆς θυγατρὸς αὐτοῦ (ὁ δὲ Αἰήτης τῶν τόπων ἐκείνων τότε ἐβασίλευεν). ὅρα δὲ πῶς καὶ τὰ δέρματα τότε σπάνια ἦν, ὥστε βασιλέα ἕδνον τῆς ἰδίας θυγατρὸς τὸ κώδιον λαβεῖν. ⟨ἢ⟩ οὕτω τοῦ μηδενὸς ἀξίαν τὴν ἑαυτοῦ θυγατέρα ἐνόμιζεν; ἤδη δέ τινες, ἵνα τὸν γέλωτα τοῦτον ἐκφύγωσι, „χρυσοῦν“ φασιν „ἦν τὸ δέρμα τοῦτο“. καὶ εἰ χρυσοῦν τὸ δέρμα ἦν, οὐκ ἐχρῆν τὸν βασιλέα λαβεῖν παρ᾽ ἀνδρὸς ξένου. λέλεκται δὲ ὅτι καὶ Ἰάσων ἐπὶ τὸ κώδιον τοῦτο τὴν Ἀργὼ ἔστειλε καὶ τοὺς ἀρίστους τῶν Ἑλλήνων. ἀλλ᾽ οὐκ ἂν οὔθ᾽ ὁ Φρίξος οὕτως ἀχάριστος ἦν ὥστε τὸν εὐεργέτην ἀνελεῖν, οὔτ᾽, εἰ ⟨καὶ⟩ σμαράγδιον ἦν τὸ κώδιον, ἔπλευσεν ἂν ἡ Ἀργὼ ἐπ᾽ αὐτό. τὸ δὲ ἀληθὲς ἔχει ὧδε. Ἀθάμας ὁ Αἰόλου τοῦ Ἕλληνος ἐβασίλευσε τῆς Φθίας. ἦν δὲ αὐτῷ ἀνὴρ ἐπίτροπος τῶν χρημάτων καὶ τῆς ἀρχῆς, ὃν μάλιστα πιστὸν ἡγεῖτο. καὶ πλείστου ἄξιον, ὄνομα δὲ ἦν αὐτῷ Κριός. ἐπεὶ δὲ ἀπέθανεν ἡ μήτηρ, Φρίξῳ, ὅτι πρεσβύτερος ἦν, τὴν ἀρχὴν ἔδωκεν ****** αἰσθόμενος δὲ ταῦτα ὁ Κριὸς πρὸς μὲν τὸν Ἀθάμαντα οὐδὲν λέγει, πρὸς δὲ τὸν Φρίξον φησί, κελεύων ἀπαλλάττεσθαι αὐτὸν ἐκ τῆς γῆς, καὶ αὐτὸς ναῦν στείλας καὶ ἐνθέμενος ὅ τι ἦν πολλοῦ ἄξιον Ἀθάμαντι καὶ γεμίσας τὴν ναῦν ἁπάντων ἀγαθῶν καὶ χρημάτων, ἐν οἷς καὶ εἰκὼν ἦν, ἣν ἡ μήτηρ Μέροπος, θυγάτηρ Ἡλίου (ὄνομα δ᾽ ἦν αὐτῇ Κῶς), αὐτὴ ἐκ τῶν ἰδίων χρημάτων ἑαυτῆς [εἰκόνα] ἰσόμετρον χρυσῆν ἐποιήσατο (ἦν δὲ ὁ χρυσὸς πολὺς καὶ λόγος περὶ αὐτοῦ μέγας ἐγίνετο). ἐνέθετο οὖν εἰς τὴν ναῦν ταῦτα καὶ Φρίξον καὶ Ἕλλην, καὶ ᾤχετο ἀπιών. ἡ μὲν οὖν Ἕλλη κατὰ τὸν πλοῦν ἀσθενήσασα ἀπέθανεν (ἐξ ἧς καὶ Ἑλλήσποντος ἐκλήθη)· αὐτοὶ δ᾽ ἀφικόμενοι εἰς τὸν Φᾶσιν κατοικοῦσιν ἐκεῖ, καὶ γαμεῖ Φρίξος τὴν τοῦ Κόλχων βασιλέως θυγατέρα Αἰήτου, δοὺς ἕδνον τὴν χρυσῆν εἰκόνα τῆς Κῶ. ὕστερον δὲ Ἀθάμαντος τελευτήσαντος Ἰάσων πλεῖ τῇ Ἀργοῖ ἐπὶ τοῦτον τὸν χρυσὸν τῆς Κῶ. ἀλλ᾽ οὐχὶ δέρμα κριοῦ. οὕτως ἔχει ἡ ἀλήθεια.
30. Phrixus and Helle
⟨About Phrixus⟩ they report that the ram foretold to him that his father was about to sacrifice them; and, taking his sister and mounting it with her, they came across the sea to the Euxine Sea, crossing the whole distance in three or four days. This is hard to believe: that a ram should swim faster than a ship, and with two people on its back, and food and drink somewhere for himself and for them (for surely they did not go without food for so long). Then Phrixus, having killed the ram that had told him the way to safety and had saved him, and having flayed off its skin, gave it as a bride-price to Aeetes for his daughter (Aeetes was king of those places at the time). Just consider how skins were scarce at that time, that a king should take a fleece as the bride-price for his own daughter. ⟨Or⟩ did he think his own daughter worth so little? Some people already, in order to escape this absurdity, say, “this fleece was golden.” And if the fleece was golden, a king ought not to have taken it from a stranger. It is also said that Jason sent the Argo for this fleece, and the best of the Greeks. But Phrixus would not have been so ungrateful as to kill his benefactor, and even if ⟨also⟩ the fleece had been of emerald the Argo would not have sailed for it. The truth is this. Athamas, son of Aeolus, son of Hellen, was king of Phthia. He had a man as steward of his property and his rule, whom he trusted most and thought of the highest worth; his name was Crius (“Ram”). When the mother [of Phrixus and Helle] died, he gave the rule to Phrixus, since he was the elder ***. Crius, noticing this, said nothing to Athamas, but spoke to Phrixus, telling him to leave the country, and himself sent a ship, loading it with whatever was of great value to Athamas and filling the ship with all sorts of good things and property, among which was an image, which the mother, Merops’ [?] daughter of Helios (her name was Cos), had made herself, out of her own property, a golden [image] of herself, of the same size (the gold was plentiful and there was much talk of it). So he put on the ship these things and Phrixus and Helle, and the ship went away. Helle fell ill during the voyage and died (from her the Hellespont was named); but they themselves arrived at the Phasis and settled there, and Phrixus married the daughter of Aeetes, king of the Colchians, giving as bride-price the golden image of Cos. Later, after Athamas died, Jason sailed in the Argo for this gold of Cos, but not for the skin of a ram. This is how the truth stands.
XXXI. Περὶ τῶν Φόρκυνος θυγατέρων
Καὶ περὶ τούτων πολὺ γελοιότερος φέρεται λόγος, ὡς ὁ Φόρκυς εἶχε θυγατέρας τρεῖς. αἵτινες ἕνα ὀφθαλμὸν ἔχουσαι ἀνὰ μέρος ἐχρῶντο· τούτων δὲ ἡ χρωμένη ἐνετίθει αὐτὸν εἰς τὴν κεφαλὴν καὶ οὕτως ἔβλεπε· καὶ οὕτως, μιᾶς αὐτῶν ἀποδιδούσης τῇ ἑτέρᾳ τὸν ὀφθαλμόν, ἔβλεπον πᾶσαι. ἐλθὼν δὲ ὁ Περσεὺς ὀπίσω αὐτῶν ἐν ἠρεμαίῳ βαδίσματι καὶ λαβὼν τὸν ὀφθαλμὸν αὐτῶν, ἔφησεν οὐκ ἀποδώσειν, ἐὰν μὴ φράσωσιν ὅπη ἐστὶν ἡ Γοργώ. φράζουσι τὸ δ᾽ οὖν οὕτως· ὁ δὲ ἀποτεμὼν τὴν κεφαλὴν αὐτῆς, εἰς Σέριφον ἦλθε καὶ δείξας ταύτην τῷ Πολυδέκτῃ, λίθινον αὐτὸν ἐποίησεν. καὶ τοῦτο δὲ γελοιότερον. ἄνδρα ζῶντα ἰδόντα νεκροῦ κεφαλὴν ἀπολιθωθῆναι. τίς γὰρ ἡ δύναμις τοῦ νεκροῦ; ἐγένετο οὖν τοιοῦτόν τι. Φόρκυς ἦν ἀνὴρ Κερναῖος· οἱ δὲ Κερναῖοι γένος μέν εἰσιν Αἰθίοπες, οἰκοῦσι δὲ νῆσον τὴν Κέρνην ἔξω τῶν Ἡρακλείων Στηλῶν, ἀροῦσι δὲ Λιβύην παρὰ τὸν †Ἄννωνα ποταμὸν κατ᾽ εὐθὺ Καρχηδόνος, εἰσὶ δὲ σφόδρα χρυσοῖ. οὗτος ὁ Φόρκυς ἐβασίλευε τῶν νήσων τῶν ἔξω ⟨τῶν⟩ Ἡρακλείων Στηλῶν (εἰσὶ δὲ τρεῖς), καὶ ποιεῖ τετράπηχυ ἄγαλμα Ἀθηνᾶς χρυσοῦν. καλοῦσι δὲ Κερναῖοι τὴν Ἀθηνᾶν Γοργώ. ὥσπερ τὴν Ἄρτεμιν Θρᾷκες μὲν Βένδιν, Κρῆτες δὲ Δίκτυναν, Λακεδαιμόνιοι δὲ Οὖπιν. ὁ μὲν οὖν Φόρκυς ἀποθνήσκει πρὶν εἰς τὸ ἱερὸν ἀναθεῖναι τὸ ἄγαλμα κατέλιπε δὲ κόρας τρεῖς, Σθενώ, Εὐρυάλην, Μέδουσαν. αὗται γήμασθαι μὲν οὐδενὲ ἠβουλήθησαν, διελόμεναι δὲ τὴν οὐσίαν ἑκάστη νήσου μιᾶς ἦρχε· τὴν δὲ Γοργὼ οὔτε ἀναθεῖναί γ᾽ αὐταῖς ἐδόκει οὔτε διελεῖν, ἀλλ᾽ ἐν τῷ μέρει κατετίθεντο [ἐναλλὰξ] θησαυρὸν ἑαυταῖς. ἦν δὲ τῷ Φόρκυνι ἑταῖρος, καλός τε καὶ ἀγαθὸς ἀνήρ, καὶ αὐτῷ ἐν παντὶ πράγματι ἐχρῶντο ὥσπερ ὀφθαλμῷ. Περσεὺς δ᾽ ἀνὴρ φυγὰς ἐξ Ἄργους ἐληίζετο τὰ κατὰ θάλασσαν ἔχων πλοῖα καὶ ἰσχύν τινα περὶ αὑτόν· πυθόμενος δὲ ταύτῃ βασιλείαν εἶναι γυναικῶν καὶ τὸ πολύχρυσον μέν, ὀλίγανδρον δέ, ἀφικνεῖται· καὶ πρῶτον μὲν ναυλοχῶν ἐν τῷ πορθμῷ μεταξὺ τῆς Κέρνης καὶ τῆς Σαρπηδονίας, διαπλέοντα παρὰ τῆς ἑτέρας πρὸς τὴν ἑτέραν τὸν Ὀφθαλμὸν λαμβάνει. οὗτος δὲ αὐτῷ φράζει ὅτι ἄλλο μὲν οὐδὲν ἔχει λαβεῖν παρ᾽ αὐτῶν ἄξιον λόγου ὅ τι μὴ τὴν Γοργώ. μηνύει τε αὐτῆς τὸ πλῆθος τοῦ χρυσοῦ. αὐταὶ δὲ αἱ κόραι, ἐπεὶ οὐχ ἧκεν ὁ Ὀφθαλμὸς ἐν τῷ μέρει κατὰ τὸ εἰρημένον, συνήεσαν ὁμόσε καὶ ἠτιᾶτο ἡ ἑτέρα τὴν ἑτέραν. ὡς δὲ ἀπηρνοῦντο μὴ ἔχειν, ἐθαύμαζον τί ἂν εἴη τὸ γεγονός. ἐν τούτῳ προσπλεῖ αὐταῖς ὁ Περσεὺς ὁμοῦ οὔσαις, καὶ φράζει ὡς αὐτὸς ἔχει τὸν Ὀφθαλμόν, καί φησι μὴ ἀποδώσειν αὐταῖς, ἐὰν μὴ φράσωσιν ὅπη ἐστὶν ἡ Γοργώ· ἐπηπείλει δὲ καὶ προσαποκτενεῖν μὴ εἰπούσας. ἡ μὲν οὖν Μέδουσα οὔ φησι δείξειν, ἡ δὲ Σθενὼ καὶ ἡ Εὐρυάλη ἔδειξαν. τὴν μὲν οὖν Μέδουσαν ἀποκτείνει, ταῖς δὲ ἄλλαις τὸν Ὀφθαλμὸν ἀποδίδωσι. λαβὼν δὲ τὴν Γοργὼ κατέκοψεν. ἀπαρτισάμενος δὲ τριήρη, ἐπέθηκεν ἐπ᾽ αὐτῆς τὴν τῆς Γοργοῦς κεφαλὴν καὶ τῇ νηὶ ὄνομα ἔθετο Γοργώ. ἐν ταύτῃ δὲ περιπλέων χρήματα παρὰ τῶν νησιωτῶν εἰσεπράττετο καὶ τοὺς μὴ διδόντας ἀνήρει. οὕτω δὴ καὶ τοὺς Σεριφίους ἤτει χρήματα προσπλεύσας· οἱ δὲ ἡμέρας αὐτὸν ἠτήσαντο, ἐν αἷς συλλέξουσι τὰ χρήματα. συναγαγόντες οὖν λίθους ἀνδρομήκεις ἔθηκαν εἰς τὴν ἀγορὰν καὶ ἐκλιπόντες τὴν Σέριφον ᾤχοντο. προσπλεύσας οὖν πάλιν ὁ Περσεὺς ἐπὶ τὴν ἀπαίτησιν τῶν χρημάτων καὶ ἐλθὼν εἰς τὴν ἀγοράν, ἀνθρώπων μὲν οὐδένα εὗρε, λίθους δὲ ἀνδρομήκεις. τοῖς οὖν λοιποῖς τῶν νησιωτῶν ἔλεγεν ὁ Περσεύς, ἐπειδὴ μὴ παρεῖχον τὰ χρήματα, „ὁρᾶτε μή, ὡς Σερίφιοι θεασάμενοι τῆς Γοργοῦς τὴν κεφαλὴν ἀπελιθώθησαν, καὶ ὑμεῖς τοῦτο πάθητε.“
31. The Daughters of Phorcys
About these there is a still more ridiculous story, that Phorcys had three daughters, who had one eye and used it in turn: the one who was using it put it in her head and so saw; and so, as one of them handed the eye to the next, all of them saw. Perseus, coming up behind them with a quiet step and taking their eye, said he would not give it back unless they told him where the Gorgon was. They told him; he cut off her head, went to Seriphos, and by showing it to Polydectes turned him to stone. And this too is the more ridiculous: that a living man, on seeing the head of a dead person, should be turned to stone. For what power has a corpse? What happened was as follows. Phorcys was a Cernaean; the Cernaeans are Ethiopians by race, and live on the island of Cerne outside the Pillars of Heracles, and they farm in Libya beside the river †Annon†, opposite Carthage; they are very rich in gold. This Phorcys was king of the islands outside the ⟨Pillars⟩ of Heracles (there are three of them), and had a statue of Athena made, four cubits high, of gold. The Cernaeans call Athena “Gorgo,” just as the Thracians call Artemis Bendis, the Cretans Dictynna, and the Spartans Upis. Phorcys died before he had set up the statue in the temple, and left three daughters, Stheno, Euryale and Medusa. They did not wish to marry any man, and having divided the property each ruled one island; but the Gorgo [the statue] they thought neither right to set up nor to divide, but kept putting treasure in turn [alternately] for themselves. Phorcys had a companion, a good and noble man, whom they used in every matter as if he were an eye. Perseus, a man exiled from Argos, was plundering the seas with ships and a certain force around him; learning that there was a kingdom of women here, rich in gold but short of men, he came. First, lying at anchor in the strait between Cerne and Sarpedonia, he caught the Eye (Ophthalmos, the companion) as he sailed across from one sister to the other. He told Perseus that there was nothing worth mentioning for him to take from them except the Gorgo, and pointed out how great was the quantity of gold. The girls themselves, when the Eye did not come in his turn as arranged, came together and each blamed the other. When they denied that they had it, they were bewildered as to what could have happened. At this point Perseus sailed up to them as they were together, and told them that he had the Eye, and said that he would not give it back unless they said where the Gorgo was; he threatened also to kill them if they did not speak. Medusa said she would not show it, but Stheno and Euryale did. So he killed Medusa, and gave the Eye back to the others. Having taken the Gorgo [the gold statue] he cut it up. He fitted out a trireme and put on it the head of the Gorgon [the figurehead], and named the ship Gorgo. Sailing round in this ship he collected money from the islanders and killed those who did not pay. So he demanded money also from the Seriphians, sailing up to them; they asked him for some days in which they would collect the money. Then they gathered stones the size of men, set them in the market-place, abandoned Seriphos and went away. When Perseus sailed up again to demand the money and came to the market-place, he found no men, only stones the size of men. So he said to the rest of the islanders, when they did not provide the money: “Take care that, as the Seriphians looked at the head of the Gorgon and were turned to stone, you do not suffer the same.”
XXXII. Περὶ Ἀμαζόνων
Τάδε λέγω καὶ περὶ Ἀμαζόνων, ὅτι οὐ γυναῖκες ἦσαν αἱ στρατεύσασαι, ἀλλ᾽ ἄνδρες βάρβαροι, ἐφόρουν δὲ χιτῶνας ποδήρεις ὥσπερ αἱ Θρᾷσσαι καὶ τὴν κόμην ἀνεδοῦντο μίτραις, τοὺς δὲ πώγωνας ἐξυρῶντο, ὡς καὶ νῦν οἱ †πατηριᾶται παραξίθοοι, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ἐκαλοῦντο πρὸς τῶν πολεμίων γυναῖκες. Ἀμαζόνες δὲ τὸ γένος μάχεσθαι ἀγαθοὶ ἦσαν· στρατείαν δὲ γυναικὸς οὐδέποτε εἰκὸς γενέσθαι, οὐδὲ γὰρ νῦν οὐδαμοῦ.
32. The Amazons
This too I say about the Amazons: that those who went on campaign were not women but barbarian men, who wore ankle-length tunics like Thracian women and bound up their hair with headbands, and shaved their beards, as even now the †patēriatai† “paraxithooi” do, and for this reason were called “women” by their enemies. The Amazons were by race good fighters; but a campaign of a woman is never likely, since there is none anywhere even now.
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