Pausanias · Description of Greece Ἑλλάδος Περιήγησις

Pausanias, Description of Greece 2.33.1–5: Troezenian islands: Sphaeria and Calauria, and the tomb of Demosthenes

Pausanias describes Sphaeria, the island joined to the land, and how Aethra there received Poseidon and founded the temple of Apaturian Athena, which changed its name to the Sacred Isle. He then describes Calauria, once exchanged between Apollo and Poseidon, with its sanctuary of Poseidon and the tomb of Demosthenes, and recounts the Harpalus affair that shows Demosthenes was not bribed.

Sections 2.33.1–5 · 479 words · click a number to copy its link

νῆσοι δέ εἰσι Τροιζηνίοις μία μὲν πλησίον τῆς ἠπείρου, καὶ διαβῆναι ποσὶν ἐς αὐτὴν ἔστιν· αὕτη Σφαιρία ὀνομαζομένη πρότερον Ἱερὰ διʼ αἰτίαν ἐκλήθη τοιαύτην. ἔστιν ἐν αὐτῇ Σφαίρου μνῆμα· Πέλοπος δὲ ἡνίοχον εἶναι λέγουσι τὸν Σφαῖρον. τούτῳ κατὰ δή τι ἐξ Ἀθηνᾶς ὄνειρον κομίζουσα Αἴθρα χοὰς διέβαινεν ἐς τὴν νῆσον, διαβάσῃ δὲ ἐνταῦθα λέγεται Ποσειδῶνα μιχθῆναι. ἱδρύσατο μὲν διὰ τοῦτο Αἴθρα ναὸν ἐνταῦθα Ἀθηνᾶς Ἀπατουρίας καὶ Ἱερὰν ἀντὶ Σφαιρίας ὠνόμασε τὴν νῆσον· κατεστήσατο δὲ καὶ ταῖς Τροιζηνίων παρθένοις ἀνατιθέναι πρὸ γάμου τὴν ζώνην τῇ Ἀθηνᾷ τῇ Ἀπατουρίᾳ.

Καλαύρειαν δὲ Ἀπόλλωνος ἱερὰν τὸ ἀρχαῖον εἶναι λέγουσιν, ὅτε περ ἦσαν καὶ οἱ Δελφοὶ Ποσειδῶνος· λέγεται δὲ καὶ τοῦτο, ἀντιδοῦναι τὰ χωρία σφᾶς ἀλλήλοις. φασὶ δὲ ἔτι καὶ λόγιον μνημονεύουσιν· ἶσόν τοι Δῆλόν τε Καλαύρειάν τε νέμεσθαι / Πυθώ τʼ ἠγαθέην καὶ Ταίναρον ἠνεμόεσσαν. / ἔστι δʼ οὖν Ποσειδῶνος ἱερὸν ἐνταῦθα ἅγιον, ἱερᾶται δὲ αὐτῷ παρθένος, ἔστʼ ἂν ἐς ὥραν προέλθῃ γάμου.

τοῦ περιβόλου δὲ ἐντὸς καὶ τὸ Δημοσθένους μνῆμά ἐστι. καί μοι τὸ δαιμόνιον δεῖξαι μάλιστα ἐπὶ τούτου δοκεῖ καὶ Ὁμήρου πρότερον ὡς εἴη βάσκανον, εἰ δὴ Ὅμηρον μὲν προδιεφθαρμένον τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς ἐπὶ τοσούτῳ κακῷ κακὸν δεύτερον πενία πιέζουσα ἐπὶ πᾶσαν γῆν πτωχεύοντα ἦγε, Δημοσθένει δὲ φυγῆς τε συνέπεσεν ἐν γήρᾳ λαβεῖν πεῖραν καὶ ὁ θάνατος ἐγένετο οὕτω βίαιος. εἴρηται μὲν οὖν περὶ αὐτοῦ καὶ ἄλλοις καὶ αὐτῷ Δημοσθένει πλεῖστα, ἦ μὴν τῶν χρημάτων ἃ ἐκ τῆς Ἀσίας ἤγαγεν Ἅρπαλος μὴ μεταλαβεῖν αὐτόν·

τὸ δὲ ὕστερον λεχθὲν ἐπέξειμι ὁποῖον ἐγένετο. Ἅρπαλος μὲν ὡς ἐξ Ἀθηνῶν ἀπέδρα διαβὰς ναυσὶν ἐς Κρήτην, οὐ πολὺ ὕστερον ὑπὸ τῶν θεραπευόντων ἀπέθανεν οἰκετῶν· οἱ δὲ ὑπὸ ἀνδρὸς Μακεδόνος Παυσανίου δολοφονηθῆναί φασιν αὐτόν. τὸν δέ οἱ τῶν χρημάτων διοικητὴν φυγόντα ἐς Ῥόδον Φιλόξενος Μακεδὼν συνέλαβεν, ὃς καὶ αὐτὸν παρὰ Ἀθηναίων ἐξῄτησεν Ἅρπαλον. τὸν δὲ παῖδα τοῦτον ἔχων ἤλεγχεν ἐς ὃ πάντα ἐπύθετο, ὅσοι τῶν Ἁρπάλου τι ἔτυχον εἰληφότες·

μαθὼν δὲ ἐς Ἀθήνας γράμματα ἐπέστελλεν. ἐν τούτοις τοῖς γράμμασι τοὺς λαβόντας παρὰ Ἁρπάλου καταριθμῶν καὶ αὐτοὺς καὶ ὁπόσον αὐτῶν ἔλαβεν ἕκαστος οὐδὲ ἐμνημόνευσεν ἀρχὴν Δημοσθένους, Ἀλεξάνδρῳ τε ἐς τὰ μάλιστα ἀπεχθανομένου καὶ αὐτὸς ἰδίᾳ προσκρούσας. Δημοσθένει μὲν οὖν τιμαὶ καὶ ἑτέρωθι τῆς Ἑλλάδος καὶ παρὰ τῶν Καλαυρείας εἰσὶν οἰκητόρων·

Troezenia includes some islands. One of them is near the land, and you can wade out to it. It was formerly called Sphaeria, but got the name of the Sacred (Hiera) Isle for the following reason. In the isle is the tomb of Sphaerus, who is said to have been the charioteer of Pelops. Now Aethra, in obedience forsooth to a dream sent by Athena, crossed over to the island with libations for the dead man ; and in the island Poseidon, it is said, embraced her. Therefore she founded here a temple of Apaturian Athena, and changed the name of the island from Sphaeria to the Sacred Isle. She also made it a rule that before marriage the Troezenian maidens should dedicate their girdles to Apaturian Athena.

They say that in the olden days, when Delphi was sacred to Poseidon, Calauria was sacred to Apollo, and that the two gods exchanged the places. In proof of it they still quote an oracle :— ’Tis as good to dwell at Delos and Calauria As at holy Pytho and windy Taenarum.

However that may be, there is here a holy sanctuary of Poseidon ; and the service of the sanctuary is performed by a girl till she is old enough to wed. Within the enclosure is the tomb of Demosthenes. Never, I think, did fortune show her spiteful nature so plainly as in her treatment, first of Homer, and afterwards of Demosthenes. For Homer was first struck blind, and then, as if this great calamity were not enough, came pinching poverty, and drove him forth to wander the wide world a beggar. And Demosthenes lived to taste of exile in his old age, and his end was violent.

Abundant evidence has been produced by Demosthenes himself and by others to show that he never fingered a penny of the gold that Harpalus brought from Asia; but here I will tell the sequel of the tale. When Harpalus fled from Athens he sailed to Crete, where he was murdered not long afterwards by the slaves who waited on him. But some say that he was assassinated by Pausanias, a Macedonian. The steward of his treasures fled to Rhodes, where he was arrested by Philoxenus, a Macedonian, who had demanded the surrender of Harpalus himself from the Athenians. Having this slave in his power, Philoxenus questioned him till he had fully ascertained who had received any of Harpalus’ money. When he had informed himself of the facts, he sent letters to Athens. In these letters, though he gave a list of the men who had taken bribes from Harpalus, with the amount each had received, he did not so much as mention Demosthenes, though Demosthenes was bitterly hated by Alexander, and had given personal offence to himself. So honours are paid to Demosthenes by the inhabitants of Calauria and in other parts of Greece also.

People and places in this passage

English translation by Sir James George Frazer (1898). Original text: Friedrich Spiro (ed.), Pausaniae Graeciae descriptio, 3 vols., Leipzig: Teubner, 1903 (Greek text as digitised by Perseus).

Greek text and translation from the Perseus Digital Library, Tufts University, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Perseus Digital Library, Greek text); translation public domain (OCR from the Internet Archive scan). Introductions, summaries and notes © GreekMythology.com.