τὸ δὲ ἕτερον μέρος τῆς γραφῆς τὸ ἐξ ἀριστερᾶς χειρός, ἔστιν Ὀδυσσεὺς καταβεβηκὼς ἐς τὸν Ἅιδην ὀνομαζόμενον, ὅπως Τειρεσίου τὴν ψυχὴν περὶ τῆς ἐς τὴν οἰκείαν ἐπέρηται σωτηρίας· ἔχει δὲ οὕτω τὰ ἐς τὴν γραφήν. ὕδωρ εἶναι ποταμὸς ἔοικε, δῆλα ὡς ὁ Ἀχέρων, καὶ κάλαμοί τε ἐν αὐτῷ πεφυκότες καὶ ἰχθύες· ἔστι δʼ ἀμυδρὰ οὕτω δή τι τὰ εἴδη τῶν ἰχθύων ὡς σκιὰς μᾶλλον ἢ ἰχθῦς εἰκάσεις. καὶ ναῦς ἐστιν ἐν τῷ ποταμῷ καὶ ὁ πορθμεὺς ἐπὶ ταῖς κώπαις.
ἐπηκολούθησε δὲ ὁ Πολύγνωτος ἐμοὶ δοκεῖν ποιήσει Μινυάδι· ἔστι γὰρ δὴ ἐν τῇ Μινυάδι ἐς Θησέα ἔχοντα καὶ Πειρίθουν ἔνθʼ ἤτοι νέα μὲν νεκυάμβατον, ἣν ὁ γεραιός / πορθμεὺς ἦγε Χάρων, οὐκ ἔλαβον ἔνδοθεν ὅρμου. / ἐπὶ τούτῳ οὖν καὶ Πολύγνωτος γέροντα ἔγραψεν ἤδη τῇ ἡλικίᾳ τὸν Χάρωνα.
οἱ δὲ ἐπιβεβηκότες τῆς νεὼς οὐκ ἐπιφανεῖς ἐς ἅπαν εἰσὶν οἷς προσήκουσι. Τέλλις μὲν ἡλικίαν ἐφήβου γεγονὼς φαίνεται, Κλεόβοια δὲ ἔτι παρθένος, ἔχει δὲ ἐν τοῖς γόνασι κιβωτὸν ὁποίας ποιεῖσθαι νομίζουσι Δήμητρι. ἐς μὲν δὴ τὸν Τέλλιν τοσοῦτον ἤκουσα ὡς ὁ ποιητὴς Ἀρχίλοχος ἀπόγονος εἴη τρίτος Τέλλιδος, Κλεόβοιαν δὲ ἐς Θάσον τὰ ὄργια τῆς Δήμητρος ἐνεγκεῖν πρώτην ἐκ Πάρου φασίν.
ἐπὶ δὲ τοῦ Ἀχέροντος τῇ ὄχθῃ μάλιστα θέας ἄξιον, ὅτι ὑπὸ τοῦ Χάρωνος τὴν ναῦν ἀνὴρ οὐ δίκαιος ἐς πατέρα ἀγχόμενός ἐστιν ὑπὸ τοῦ πατρός. περὶ πλείστου γὰρ δὴ ἐποιοῦντο οἱ πάλαι γονέας, ὥσπερ ἔστιν ἄλλοις τε τεκμήρασθαι καὶ ἐν Κατάνῃ τοῖς καλουμένοις Εὐσεβέσιν, οἵ, ἡνίκα ἐπέρρει τῇ Κατάνῃ πῦρ τὸ ἐκ τῆς Αἴτνης, χρυσὸν μὲν καὶ ἄργυρον ἐν οὐδενὸς μερίδι ἐποιήσαντο, οἱ δὲ ἔφευγον ὁ μὲν ἀράμενος μητέρα, ὁ δὲ αὐτῶν τὸν πατέρα· προϊόντας δὲ οὐ σὺν ῥᾳστώνῃ καταλαμβάνει σφᾶς τὸ πῦρ ἐπειγόμενον τῇ φλογί· καὶ —οὐ γὰρ κατετίθεντο οὐδʼ οὕτω τοὺς γονέας— διχῇ σχισθῆναι λέγεται τὸν ῥύακα, καὶ αὐτούς τε τοὺς νεανίσκους, σὺν δὲ αὐτοῖς τοὺς γονέας τὸ πῦρ οὐδέν σφισι λυμηνάμενον παρεξῆλθεν.
οὗτοι μὲν δὴ τιμὰς καὶ ἐς ἐμὲ ἔτι παρὰ Καταναίων ἔχουσιν, ἐν δὲ τῇ Πολυγνώτου γραφῇ πλησίον τοῦ ἀνδρός, ὃς τῷ πατρὶ ἐλυμαίνετο καὶ διʼ αὐτὸ ἐν Ἅιδου κακὰ ἀναπίμπλησι, τούτου πλησίον ἱερὰ σεσυληκὼς ἀνὴρ ὑπέσχε δίκην· γυνὴ δὲ ἡ κολάζουσα αὐτὸν φάρμακα ἄλλα τε καὶ ἐς αἰκίαν οἶδεν ἀνθρώπων.
περισσῶς δὲ ἄρα εὐσεβείᾳ θεῶν ἔτι προσέκειντο οἱ ἄνθρωποι, ὡς Ἀθηναῖοί τε δῆλα ἐποίησαν, ἡνίκα εἷλον Ὀλυμπίου Διὸς ἐν Συρακούσαις ἱερόν, οὔτε κινήσαντες τῶν ἀναθημάτων οὐδὲν τὸν ἱερέα τε τὸν Συρακούσιον φύλακα ἐπʼ αὐτοῖς ἐάσαντες· ἐδήλωσε δὲ καὶ ὁ Μῆδος Δᾶτις λόγοις τε οὓς εἶπε πρὸς Δηλίους καὶ τῷ ἔργῳ, ἡνίκα ἐν Φοινίσσῃ νηὶ ἄγαλμα εὑρὼν Ἀπόλλωνος ἀπέδωκεν αὖθις Ταναγραίοις ἐς Δήλιον. οὕτω μὲν τὸ θεῖον καὶ οἱ πάντες τότε ἦγον ἐν τιμῇ, καὶ ἐπὶ λόγῳ τοιούτῳ τὰ ἐς τὸν συλήσαντα ἱερὰ ἔγραψε Πολύγνωτος.
ἔστι δὲ ἀνωτέρω τῶν κατειλεγμένων Εὐρύνομος· δαίμονα εἶναι τῶν ἐν Ἅιδου φασὶν οἱ Δελφῶν ἐξηγηταὶ τὸν Εὐρύνομον, καὶ ὡς τὰς σάρκας περιεσθίει τῶν νεκρῶν, μόνα σφίσιν ἀπολείπων τὰ ὀστᾶ. ἡ δὲ Ὁμήρου ποίησις ἐς Ὀδυσσέα καὶ ἡ Μινυάς τε καλουμένη καὶ οἱ Νόστοι—μνήμη γὰρ δὴ ἐν ταύταις καὶ Ἅιδου καὶ τῶν ἐκεῖ δειμάτων ἐστὶν—ἴσασιν οὐδένα Εὐρύνομον δαίμονα. τοσοῦτο μέντοι δηλώσω, ὁποῖός τε ὁ Εὐρύνομος καὶ ἐπὶ ποίου γέγραπται τοῦ σχήματος· κυανοῦ τὴν χρόαν μεταξύ ἐστι καὶ μέλανος, ὁποῖαι καὶ τῶν μυιῶν αἱ πρὸς τὰ κρέα εἰσὶ προσιζάνουσαι, τοὺς δὲ ὀδόντας φαίνει, καθεζομένῳ δὲ ὑπέστρωταί οἱ δέρμα γυπός.
ἐφεξῆς δὲ μετὰ τὸν Εὐρύνομον ἥ τε ἐξ Ἀρκαδίας Αὔγη καὶ Ἰφιμέδειά ἐστι· καὶ ἡ μὲν παρὰ Τεύθραντα ἡ Αὔγη ἀφίκετο ἐς Μυσίαν, καὶ γυναικῶν ὁπόσαις ἐς τὸ αὐτὸ Ἡρακλέα ἀφικέσθαι λέγουσι, μάλιστα δὴ παῖδα ἐοικότα ἔτεκε τῷ πατρί· τῇ δʼ Ἰφιμεδείᾳ γέρα δέδοται μεγάλα ὑπὸ τῶν ἐν Μυλάσοις Καρῶν.
The other portion of the painting, that on the left hand, represents Ulysses in hell, whither he has descended to consult the soul of Tiresias about his return home. The painting is as follows. There is water to indicate a river, obviously the Acheron: reeds are growing in the river, and so dim are the outlines of the fish that you would take them for shadows rather than fish. There is a bark on the river, and the ferryman at the oars. Polygnotus, it seems to me, followed the poem called the Minyad ; for in the Minyad there is a passage about Theseus and Pirithous :— Then the bark of the dead, which the ancient Ferryman, Charon, was wont to guide, they found not at its moorings. Accordingly Polygnotus has represented Charon as an aged man. The passengers on board the bark are not very famous personages. Tellis appears as a lad, and Cleoboea as still a maid, holding on her knees a box such as they make for Demeter. All I heard about Tellis was that the poet Archilochus was his grandson. As for Cleoboea, they say that she was the first who brought the orgies of Demeter to Thasos from Paros. On the bank of Acheron, just below Charon’s bark, is a man who had once ill-used, and is now being throttled by, his father.
For the men of old set the greatest store by their parents, as we may judge by the example, amongst others, of the so-called Pious Folk at Catana, who, when the stream of fire poured down from Aetna on Catana, recked nothing of gold and silver, but picked up, this one his mother, that one his father, and fled. As they toiled onwards, the flames came scudding along and overtook them. But even then they did not drop their parents ; so the stream of lava, it is said, parted in two, and the fire passed on without scathing either the young men or their parents. Hence these pious folk are still worshipped at the present day by the Catanians. In Polygnotus’ picture, near the man who maltreated his father and is suffering for it in hell, there is a man punished for sacrilege. The woman who is chastising him is skilled in drugs, especially baleful ones.
Hence we see that in those days men were still exceedingly pious, as the Athenians showed when they captured the sanctuary of Olympian Zeus at Syracuse, for they disturbed none of the votive offerings, and left the Syracusan priest in charge of them. Datis the Mede also showed it, not only in the words he spoke to the Delians, but also in his conduct; for finding an image of Apollo in a Phoenician ship, he restored it to the Tanagraeans at Delium. Thus all men feared God in those days, and that is why Polygnotus painted the punishment of the sacrilegious man. 4. Higher up than the figures I have enumerated is Eurynomus ; the Delphian guides say that he is one of the demons in hell, and that he eats the flesh of the corpses, leaving only the bones. But Homer’s Odyssey, and the poem called the Minyad, and the one called The Returns, though they all speak of hell and its terrors, know of no demon Eurynomus. However I will describe his appearance and attitude in the painting. His colour is between blue and black, like that of the flies that settle on meat: he is showing his teeth, and is seated on a vulture’s skin. Next after Eurynomus are Auge from Arcadia, and Iphimedea. Auge went to the court of Teuthras in Mysia, and of all the women with whom Hercules is said to have consorted none bore a son so like his father as did Auge. Iphimedea receives great marks of honour from the Carians of Mylasa.
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