κατὰ δὲ τὴν ἐπὶ Μάσητα εὐθεῖαν προελθοῦσιν ἑπτά που σταδίους καὶ ἐς ἀριστερὰν ἐκτραπεῖσιν, ἐς Ἁλίκην ἐστὶν ὁδός. ἡ δὲ Ἁλίκη τὰ μὲν ἐφʼ ἡμῶν ἐστιν ἔρημος, ᾠκεῖτο δὲ καὶ αὕτη ποτέ, καὶ Ἁλικῶν λόγος ἐν στήλαις ἐστὶ ταῖς Ἐπιδαυρίων αἳ τοῦ Ἀσκληπιοῦ τὰ ἰάματα ἐγγεγραμμένα ἔχουσιν· ἄλλο δὲ σύγγραμμα οὐδὲν οἶδα ἀξιόχρεων, ἔνθα ἢ πόλεως Ἁλίκης ἢ ἀνδρῶν ἐστιν Ἁλικῶν μνήμη. ἔστι δʼ οὖν ὁδὸς καὶ ἐς ταύτην, τοῦ τε Πρωνὸς μέση καὶ ὄρους ἑτέρου Θόρνακος καλουμένου τὸ ἀρχαῖον· ἀπὸ δὲ τῆς Διὸς ἐς κόκκυγα τὸν ὄρνιθα ἀλλαγῆς λεγομένης ἐνταῦθα γενέσθαι μετονομασθῆναι τὸ ὄρος φασίν.
ἱερὰ δὲ καὶ ἐς τόδε ἐπὶ ἄκρων τῶν ὀρῶν, ἐπὶ μὲν τῷ Κοκκυγίῳ Διός, ἐν δὲ τῷ Πρωνί ἐστιν Ἥρας· καὶ τοῦ γε Κοκκυγίου πρὸς τοῖς πέρασι ναός ἐστι, θύραι δὲ οὐκ ἐφεστήκασιν οὐδὲ ὄροφον εἶχεν οὐδέ οἵ τι ἐνῆν ἄγαλμα· εἶναι δὲ ἐλέγετο ὁ ναὸς Ἀπόλλωνος. παρὰ δὲ αὐτὸν ὁδός ἐστιν ἐπὶ Μάσητα τοῖς ἐκτραπεῖσιν ἐκ τῆς εὐθείας. Μάσητι δὲ οὔσῃ πόλει τὸ ἀρχαῖον, καθὰ καὶ Ὅμηρος ἐν Ἀργείων καταλόγῳ πεποίηκεν, ἐπινείῳ καθʼ ἡμᾶς ἐχρῶντο Ἑρμιονεῖς.
ἀπὸ Μάσητος δὲ ὁδὸς ἐν δεξιᾷ ἐστιν ἐπὶ ἄκραν καλουμένην Στρουθοῦντα. στάδιοι δὲ ἀπὸ τῆς ἄκρας ταύτης κατὰ τῶν ὀρῶν τὰς κορυφὰς πεντήκοντά εἰσι καὶ διακόσιοι ἐς Φιλανόριόν τε καλούμενον καὶ ἐπὶ Βολεούς· οἱ δὲ Βολεοὶ οὗτοι λίθων εἰσὶ σωροὶ λογάδων. χωρίον δὲ ἕτερον, ὃ Διδύμους ὀνομάζουσι, στάδια εἴκοσιν αὐτόθεν ἀφέστηκεν· ἐνταῦθα ἔστι μὲν ἱερὸν Ἀπόλλωνος, ἔστι δὲ Ποσειδῶνος, ἐπὶ δὲ αὐτοῖς Δήμητρος, ἀγάλματα δὲ ὀρθὰ λίθου λευκοῦ.
τὸ δὲ ἐντεῦθέν ἐστιν Ἀργείων ἥ ποτε Ἀσιναία καλουμένη, καὶ Ἀσίνης ἐστὶν ἐρείπια ἐπὶ θαλάσσῃ. Λακεδαιμονίων δὲ καὶ τοῦ βασιλέως Νικάνδρου τοῦ Χαρίλλου τοῦ Πολυδέκτου τοῦ Εὐνόμου τοῦ Πρυτάνιδος τοῦ Εὐρυπῶντος ἐς τὴν Ἀργολίδα ἐσβαλόντων στρατιᾷ συνεσέβαλόν σφισιν οἱ Ἀσιναῖοι, καὶ ἐδῄωσαν σὺν ἐκείνοις τῶν Ἀργείων τὴν γῆν. ὡς δὲ ὁ στόλος τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων ἀπῆλθεν οἴκαδε, στρατεύουσιν ἐπὶ τὴν Ἀσίνην οἱ Ἀργεῖοι καὶ ὁ βασιλεὺς αὐτῶν Ἔρατος.
καὶ χρόνον μέν τινα ἀπὸ τοῦ τείχους ἠμύναντο οἱ Ἀσιναῖοι καὶ ἀποκτείνουσιν ἄλλους τε καὶ Λυσίστρατον ἐν τοῖς δοκιμωτάτοις ὄντα Ἀργείων· ἁλισκομένου δὲ τοῦ τείχους οὗτοι μὲν γυναῖκας ἐς τὰ πλοῖα ἐνθέμενοι καὶ παῖδας ἐκλείπουσι τὴν αὑτῶν, Ἀργεῖοι δὲ ἐς ἔδαφος καταβαλόντες τὴν Ἀσίνην καὶ τὴν γῆν προσορισάμενοι τῇ σφετέρᾳ Πυθαέως τε Ἀπόλλωνος ὑπελίποντο τὸ ἱερὸν—καὶ νῦν ἔτι δῆλόν ἐστι—καὶ τὸν Λυσίστρατον πρὸς αὐτῷ θάπτουσιν.
ἀπέχει δὲ Ἀργείων τῆς πόλεως τεσσαράκοντα καὶ οὐ πλείω στάδια ἡ κατὰ Λέρναν θάλασσα. κατιόντων δὲ ἐς Λέρναν πρῶτον μὲν καθʼ ὁδόν ἐστιν ὁ Ἐρασῖνος, ἐκδίδωσι δὲ ἐς τὸν Φρίξον, ὁ Φρίξος δὲ ἐς τὴν θάλασσαν τὴν μεταξὺ Τημενίου καὶ Λέρνης. ἀπὸ δὲ Ἐρασίνου τραπεῖσιν ἐς ἀριστερὰ σταδίους ὅσον ὀκτώ, Διοσκούρων ἱερόν ἐστιν Ἀνάκτων· πεποίηται δέ σφισι κατὰ ταὐτὰ καὶ ἐν τῇ πόλει τὰ ξόανα.
ἀναστρέψας δὲ ἐς τὴν εὐθεῖαν τόν τε Ἐρασῖνον διαβήσῃ καὶ ἐπὶ τὸν Χείμαρρον ποταμὸν ἀφίξῃ. πλησίον δὲ αὐτοῦ περίβολός ἐστι λίθων, καὶ τὸν Πλούτωνα ἁρπάσαντα ὡς λέγεται Κόρην τὴν Δήμητρος καταβῆναι ταύτῃ φασὶν ἐς τὴν ὑπόγεων νομιζομένην ἀρχήν. ἡ δὲ Λέρνα ἐστίν, ὡς καὶ τὰ πρότερα ἔχει μοι τοῦ λόγου, πρὸς θαλάσσῃ, καὶ τελετὴν Λερναίᾳ ἄγουσιν ἐνταῦθα Δήμητρι.
ἔστι δὲ ἄλσος ἱερὸν ἀρχόμενον μὲν ἀπὸ ὄρους ὃ καλοῦσι Ποντῖνον, τὸ δὲ ὄρος ὁ Ποντῖνος οὐκ ἐᾷ τὸ ὕδωρ ἀπορρεῖν τὸ ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ, ἀλλὰ ἐς αὑτὸ καταδέχεται· ῥεῖ δὲ καὶ ποταμὸς ἀπʼ αὐτοῦ Ποντῖνος. καὶ ἐπὶ κορυφῇ τοῦ ὄρους ἱερόν τε Ἀθηνᾶς Σαΐτιδος, ἐρείπια ἔτι μόνα, καὶ θεμέλια οἰκίας ἐστὶν Ἱππομέδοντος, ὃς Πολυνείκει τῷ Οἰδίποδος τιμωρήσων ἦλθεν ἐς Θήβας.
Going along the straight road to Mases about seven furlongs, and turning to the left, we strike the road to Halice. Though Halice in our day is deserted, it was once inhabited. Mention is made of natives of Halice on the Epidaurian tablets, which record the cures wrought by Aesculapius ; but I know of no other authentic document in which mention is made of the town or its inhabitants.
But however that may be, a road runs to Halice between Mount Pron and another mountain, known of old as Thornax but which took the name of Cuckoo Mountain, because, they say, the transformation of Zeus into a cuckoo was fabled to have here taken place. There are still sanctuaries on the tops of these two mountains: on Cuckoo Mountain there is a sanctuary of Zeus, and on Mount Pron there is a sanctuary of Hera. There is also a temple at the foot of Cuckoo Mountain ; but it has neither doors nor roof, and there is no image in it. It was said to be a temple of Apollo.
Beside it runs a road to Mases, which those who have diverged from the straight road may take. In the olden time Mases was a city, as Homer represents it in his list of the Argives, but in our day it is used by the Hermionians as a seaport. From Mases a road on the right leads to Cape Struthus (‘cape of sparrows’). From this cape it is two hundred and fifty furlongs by the crest of the mountains to Philanorium and to the Bolei. These Bolei are heaps of unhewn stones.
Twenty furlongs from the Bolei is another place named Didymi (‘twins’), where are sanctuaries of Apollo, Poseidon, and Demeter. The images are standing figures of white marble. 5. From this point begins a district once called Asinaea ; it belongs to Argos. There are ruins of the town of Asine beside the sea. When King Nicander, son of Charilus, son of Polydectes, son of Eunomus, son of Prytanis, son of Eurypon, marched at the head of a Lacedaemonian army into Argolis, the Asinaeans joined him and helped to lay waste the country. But when the Lacedaemonian force had retired home, the Argives under King Eratus took the field against Asine. For a while the Asinaeans made a stand behind their walls; and some of the Argives fell, including Lysistratus, one of their foremost men. But when the walls were carried the Asinaeans embarked with their wives and children on shipboard, and abandoned their native land. The Argives razed the city to the ground and annexed its territory to their own, but they suffered the sanctuary of Pythaean Apollo to stand, and it may be seen to this day. Beside it they buried Lysistratus.
The sea at Lerna is not more than forty furlongs from the city of Argos. Going down from Argos towards Lerna we first come to the Erasinus, which falls into the Phrixus, which again falls into the sea between Temenium and Lerna. Turning to the left from the Erasinus we come, after a walk of about eight furlongs, to a sanctuary of the Lords Dioscuri: their wooden images are in the same style as those in Argos.
Having returned to the direct road, you will cross the Erasinus and come to the Chimarrhus river. Near it is an enclosure of stones: they say that when Pluto, as the story goes, ravished Demeter’s daughter, the Maid, he here descended to his supposed subterranean realm. Lerna is, as I said before, beside the sea, and they celebrate mysteries here in honour of Lernaean Demeter.
There is a sacred grove beginning at a mountain which they call Pontinus. This mountain does not let the rain-water flow off, but absorbs it. A river, also called Pontinus, flows from it. And on the top of the mountain there is a sanctuary of Athena Saitis, now a mere ruin, and foundations of a house of Hippomedon, who went to Thebes to uphold the cause of Polynices, son of Oedipus.
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