Ἐν Σικελίᾳ δὲ Δάφνις Ἑρμοῦ παῖς ἐγένετο, σύριγγι δή τε δεξιῶς χρήσασθαι καὶ τὴν ἰδέαν ἐκπρεπής. Οὗτος εἰς μὲν τὸν πολὺν ὅμιλον ἀνδρῶν οὐ κατῄει, βουκολῶν δὲ κατὰ τὴν Αἴτνην χείματός τε καὶ θέρους ἠγραύλει. Τούτου λέγουσιν Ἐχεναΐδα Νύμφην ἐρασθεῖσαν παρακελεύσασθαι αὐτῷ γυναικὶ μὴ πλησιάζειν· μὴ πειθομένῳ γὰρ αὐτῷ συμβήσεσθαι τὰς ὄψεις ἀποβαλεῖν.
Ὁ δὲ χρόνον μέν τινα καρτερῶς ἀντεῖχεν καίπερ οὐκ ὀλίγων ἐπιμαινομένων αὐτῷ· ὕστερον δὲ μία τῶν κατὰ τὴν Σικελίαν βασιλίδων οἴνῳ πολλῷ δηλησαμένη αὐτὸν ἤγαγεν εἰς ἐπιθυμίαν αὐτῇ μιγῆναι· καὶ οὕτως ἐκ τοῦδε ὁμοίως Θαμύρᾳ τῷ Θρᾳκὶ δι’ ἀφροσύνην ἐπεπήρωτο.
From the Sicelica of Timaeus
1. In Sicily was born Daphnis the son of Hermes, who was skilled in playing on the pipes and also exceedingly beautiful. He would never frequent the places where men come together, but spent his life in the open, both winter and summer, keeping his herds on the slopes of Etna. The nymph Echenais, so the story runs, fell in love with him, and bade him never have to do with mortal woman; if he disobeyed, his fate would be to lose his eyes. 2. For some considerable time he stood out strongly against all temptation, although not a few women were madly in love with him; but at last one of the Sicilian princesses worked his ruin by plying him with much wine, and so brought him to the desire to consort with her. Thus he, too, like Thamyras the Thracian, was thenceforward blind through his own folly.
Λέγεται δὲ καὶ Ἡρακλέα, ὅτε ἀπ’ Ἐρυθείας τὰς Γηρυόνου βοῦς ἤγαγεν, ἀλώμενον διὰ τῆς Κελτῶν χώρας ἀφικέσθαι παρὰ Βρεταννόν· τῷ δὲ ἄρα ὑπάρχειν θυγατέρα, Κελτίνην ὄνομα. Ταύτην δὲ ἐρασθεῖσαν τοῦ Ἡρακλέους κατακρύψαι τὰς βοῦς, μὴ θέλειν τε ἀποδοῦναι, εἰ μὴ πρότερον αὐτῇ μιχθῆναι· τὸν δὲ Ἡρακλέα τὸ μέν τι καὶ τὰς βοῦς ἐπειγόμενον ἀνασώσασθαι, πολὺ μᾶλλον μέντοι τὸ κάλλος ἐκπλαγέντα τῆς κόρης συγγενέσθαι αὐτῇ, καὶ αὐτοῖς χρόνου περιήκοντος γενέσθαι παῖδα Κελτόν, ἀφ’ οὗ δὴ Κελτοὶ προσηγορεύθησαν.
1. HERCULES, it is told, after he had taken the kine of Geryones from Erythea, was wandering through the country of the Celts and came to the house of Bretannus, who had a daughter called Celtine. Celtine fell in love with Hercules and hid away the kine, refusing to give them back to him unless he would first content her. 2. Hercules was indeed very anxious to bring the kine safe home, but he was far more struck with the girl’s exceeding beauty, and consented to her wishes; and then, when the time had come round, a son called Celtus was born to them, from whom the Celtic race derived their name.
Λέγεται δὲ καὶ Διμοίτην ἁρμόσασθαι μὲν Τροιζῆνος τἀδελφοῦ θυγατέρα Εὐῶπιν· αἰσθανόμενον δὲ συνοῦσαν αὐτὴν διὰ σφοδρὸν ἔρωτα τἀδελφῷ, δηλῶσαι τῷ Τροιζῆνι· τὴν δὲ διὰ τὸ δέος καὶ αἰσχύνην ἀναρτῆσαι αὑτήν, πολλὰ πρότερον λυγρὰ καταρασαμένην τῷ αἰτίῳ τῆς συμφορᾶς.
Ἔνθα δὴ τὸν Διμοίτην μετ’ οὐ πολὺν χρόνον ἐπιτυχεῖν γυναικὶ μάλα καλῇ τὴν ὄψιν ὑπὸ τῶν κυμάτων ἐκβεβλημένῃ καὶ αὐτῆς εἰς ἐπιθυμίαν ἐλθόντα συνεῖναι· ὡς δὲ ἤδη ἐνεδίδου τὸ σῶμα διὰ μῆκος χρόνου, χῶσαι αὐτῇ μέγαν τάφον, καὶ οὕτως μὴ ἀνιέμενον τοῦ πάθους ἐπικατασφάξαι αὑτόν.
From Phylarchus
1. Dimoetes is said to have married his brother Troezen’s daughter, Evopis, and afterwards, seeing that she was afflicted with a great love for her own brother, and was consorting with him, he informed Troezen; the girl hung herself for fear and shame, first calling down every manner of curse on him who was the cause of her fate. 2. It was not long before Dimoetes came upon the body of a most beautiful woman thrown up by the sea, and he conceived the most passionate desire for her company; but soon the body, owing to the period of time since her death, began to see corruption, and he piled up a huge barrow for her; and then, as even so his passion was in no wise relieved, he killed himself at her tomb.
Παρὰ δὲ Χάοσι μειρακίσκος τις τῶν πάνυ δοκίμων Ἀνθίππης ἠράσθη. Ταύτην ὑπελθὼν πάσῃ μηχανῇ πείθει αὐτῷ συμμιγῆναι· ἡ δὲ ἄρα καὶ αὐτὴ οὐκ ἐκτὸς ἦν τοῦ πρὸς τὸν παῖδα πόθου· καὶ ἐκ τοῦδε λανθάνοντες τοὺς αὑτῶν γονεῖς ἐξεπίμπλασαν τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν.
Ἑορτῆς δέ ποτε τοῖς Χάοσι δημοτελοῦς ἀγομένης καὶ πάντων εὐωχουμένων, ἀποσκεδασθέντες εἴς τινα δρυμὸν κατειλήθησαν. Ἔτυχε δὲ ἄρα ὁ τοῦ βασιλέως υἱὸς Κίχυρος πάρδαλιν διώκων, ἧς συνελαθείσης εἰς ἐκεῖνον τὸν δρυμὸν ἀφίησιν ἐπ’ αὐτὴν τὸν ἄκοντα. Καὶ τῆς μὲν ἁμαρτάνει, τυγχάνει δὲ τῆς παιδός·
ὑπολαβὼν δὲ τὸ θηρίον καταβεβληκέναι ἐγγυτέρω τὸν ἵππον προσελαύνει· καὶ καταμαθὼν τὸ μειράκιον ἐπὶ τοῦ τραύματος τῆς παιδὸς ἔχον τὼ χεῖρε ἐκτός τε φρενῶν ἐγένετο καὶ περιδινηθεὶς ἀπολισθάνει τοῦ ἵππου εἰς χωρίον ἀπόκρημνον καὶ πετρῶδες.
Ἔνθα δὴ ὁ μὲν ἐτεθνήκει, οἱ δὲ Χάονες, τιμῶντες τὸν βασιλέα, κατὰ τὸν αὐτὸν τόπον τείχη περιεβάλοντο καὶ τὴν πόλιν ἐκάλεσαν Κίχυρον.
Φασὶ δέ τινες τὸν δρυμὸν ἐκεῖνον εἶναι τῆς Ἐχίονος θυγατρὸς Ἠπείρου, ἣν μεταναστᾶσαν ἐκ Βοιωτίας βαδίζειν μεθ’ Ἁρμονίας καὶ Κάδμου, φερομένην τὰ Πενθέως λείψανα, ἀποθανοῦσαν δὲ περὶ τὸν δρυμὸν τόνδε ταφῆναι· διὸ καὶ τὴν γῆν Ἤπειρον ἀπὸ ταύτης ὀνομασθῆναι.
1. AMONG the Chaonians a certain youth of most noble birth fell in love with a girl named Anthippe; he addressed her with every art to attempt her virtue, and indeed she too was not untouched by love for the lad, and soon they were taking their fill of their desires unknown to their parents. 2. Now on one occasion a public festival was being celebrated by the Chaonians, and while all the people were feasting, the young pair slipped away and crept in under a certain bush. But it so happened that the king’s son, Cichyrus, was hunting a leopard; the beast was driven into the same thicket, and he hurled his javelin at it; he missed it, but hit the girl. 3. Thinking that he had hit his leopard, he rode up; but when he saw the lad trying to staunch the girl’s wound with his hands, he lost his senses, flung away, and finally fell off his horse down a precipitous and stony ravine. There he perished; but the Chaonians, to honour their king, put a wall round the place and gave the name of Cichyrus to the city so founded. 4. The story is also found in some authorities that the thicket in question was sacred to Epirus, the daughter of Echion; she had left Boeotia and was journeying with Harmonia and Cadmus, bearing the remains of Pentheus; dying there, she was buried in this thicket. That is the reason that country was named Epirus, after her.
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