Μοθώνη δέ, πρὶν ἢ τὴν στρατιὰν ἐς Τροίαν ἀθροισθῆναι καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ πρὸς Ἰλίῳ πολέμου καλουμένη Πήδασος, μεταβέβληκεν ὕστερον τὸ ὄνομα, ὡς μὲν αὐτοὶ Μοθωναῖοι λέγουσιν, ἀπὸ τῆς Οἰνέως θυγατρός· Οἰνεῖ γὰρ τῷ Πορθάονος μετὰ ἅλωσιν Ἰλίου παρὰ Διομήδην ἀναχωρήσαντι ἐς Πελοπόννησον θυγατέρα φασὶν ἐκ παλλακῆς Μοθώνην γενέσθαι· δόξῃ δὲ ἐμῇ δέδωκε τῷ χωρίῳ τὸ ὄνομα ὁ Μόθων λίθος. οὗτος δέ σφισι καὶ ὁ ποιῶν τὸν λιμένα ἐστί· τόν τε γὰρ ἔσπλουν στενώτερον ταῖς ναυσὶν ἐργάζεται παρήκων ὕφαλος καὶ ἅμα μὴ ἐκ βυθοῦ ταράσσεσθαι τὸν κλύδωνα ἔρυμα ἕστηκεν.
ἐδήλωσα δὲ καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἔμπροσθεν λόγοις ὅτι Ναυπλιεῦσιν ἐπὶ λακωνισμῷ διωχθεῖσι Δαμοκρατίδα βασιλεύοντος ἐν Ἄργει Μοθώνην Λακεδαιμόνιοι διδόασι καὶ ὡς οὐδὲ ἐκ τῶν Μεσσηνίων κατελθόντων ἐγένετο οὐδὲν ἐς αὐτοὺς νεώτερον· ἦσαν δὲ οἱ Ναυπλιεῖς ἐμοὶ δοκεῖν Αἰγύπτιοι τὰ παλαιότερα, παραγενόμενοι δὲ ὁμοῦ Δαναῷ ναυσὶν ἐς τὴν Ἀργολίδα ὕστερον γενεαῖς τρισὶν ὑπὸ Ναυπλίου τοῦ Ἀμυμώνης κατῳκίσθησαν ἐν Ναυπλίᾳ.
Μοθωναίοις δὲ βασιλεὺς μὲν Τραϊανὸς ἔδωκεν ἐλευθέρους ὄντας ἐν αὐτονομίᾳ πολιτεύεσθαι· τὰ δὲ ἔτι παλαιότερα μόνοις σφίσι Μεσσηνίων τῶν ἐπὶ θαλάσσῃ τοιόνδε ἀτύχημα ἰδίᾳ συνέβη γενέσθαι. τὰ ἐν Ἠπείρῳ τῇ Θεσπρωτίδι ὑπὸ ἀναρχίας ἐφθάρη· Δηιδαμείᾳ γὰρ τῇ Πύρρου παῖδες οὐκ ἐγένοντο, ἀλλὰ ὡς τελευτᾶν ἔμελλεν, ἐπιτρέπει τῷ δήμῳ τὰ πράγματα. θυγάτηρ δὲ ἦν Πύρρου τοῦ Πτολεμαίου τοῦ Ἀλεξάνδρου τοῦ Πύρρου·
τὰ δὲ ἐς Πύρρον τὸν Αἰακίδου πρότερον ἔτι ἐν τῷ λόγῳ τῷ ἐς Ἀθηναίους ἐδήλωσα, Προκλῆς δὲ ὁ Καρχηδόνιος τύχης μὲν χρηστῆς ἕνεκα καὶ διὰ λαμπρότητα ἔργων ἔνεμεν Ἀλεξάνδρῳ τᾷ Φιλίππου πλέον, τάξαι δὲ ὁπλίτας τε καὶ ἱππικὸν καὶ στρατηγήματα ἐπὶ ἄνδρας πολεμίους εὑρεῖν Πύρρον ἔφασκεν ἀμείνονα γενέσθαι.
Ἠπειρῶται δὲ ὡς ἐπαύσαντο βασιλεύεσθαι, τά τε ἄλλα ὁ δῆμος ὕβριζε καὶ ἀκροᾶσθαι τῶν ἐν ταῖς ἀρχαῖς ὑπερεώρων· καὶ σφᾶς οἱ Ἰλλυριοὶ τὰ πρὸς τοῦ Ἰονίου τὴν Ἤπειρον ὑπεροικοῦντες παρεστήσαντο ἐξ ἐπιδρομῆς. οὐ γάρ πω δημοκρατίαν ἴσμεν ἄλλους γε ἢ Ἀθηναίους αὐξήσαντας, Ἀθηναῖοι δὲ προήχθησαν ἐπὶ μέγα ἀπʼ αὐτῆς· συνέσει γὰρ οἰκείᾳ τὸ Ἑλληνικὸν ὑπερεβάλλοντο καὶ νόμοις τοῖς καθεστηκόσιν ἐλάχιστα ἠπείθουν.
οἱ δὲ Ἰλλυριοί, ἀρχῆς τε γεγευμένοι καὶ ἐπιθυμοῦντες ἀεὶ τοῦ πλείονος, ναῦς τε ἐπήξαντο καὶ ἐληίζοντο ἄλλους τε ὡς ἑκάστους τύχοιεν καὶ ἐς τὴν Μοθωναίαν σχόντες ὡρμίσαντο οἷα ἐς φιλίαν· στείλαντες δὲ ἄγγελον ἐς τὴν πόλιν ἄγειν σφίσιν οἶνον ἐπὶ τὰ πλοῖα ἐδεήθησαν. ὡς δὲ ἄγοντες ἀφίκοντο ἄνδρες οὐ πολλοί, τόν τε οἶνον ὠνοῦντο ἐπιτιμώντων τῶν Μοθωναίων καὶ αὐτοί σφισιν ἐπίπρασκον ὧν ἐπήγοντο.
ἐς δὲ τὴν ἐπιοῦσαν ἀφικομένων ἐκ τῆς πόλεως πλειόνων παρέχουσι καὶ τοῖσδε κερδᾶναι· τέλος δὲ γυναῖκες καὶ ἄνδρες κατίασιν ἐπὶ τὰ πλοῖα οἶνόν τε ἀποδόσθαι καὶ ἐκ τῶν βαρβάρων ἀντιληψόμενοι. ἔνθα νῦν ἀποτολμήσαντες οἱ Ἰλλυριοὶ καὶ ἄνδρας πολλοὺς καὶ ἔτι πλείονας τῶν γυναικῶν ἁρπάζουσιν· ἐσθέμενοι δὲ ἐς τὰς ναῦς ἔπλεον τὴν ἐπὶ Ἰονίου, Μοθωναίων ἐρημώσαντες τὸ ἄστυ.
ἐν Μοθώνῃ δὲ ναός ἐστιν Ἀθηνᾶς Ἀνεμώτιδος· Διομήδην δὲ τὸ ἄγαλμα ἀναθεῖναι καὶ τὸ ὄνομα τῇ θεῷ φασι θέσθαι. βιαιότεροι γὰρ καὶ οὐ κατὰ καιρὸν πνέοντες ἐλυμαίνοντο οἱ ἄνεμοι τὴν χώραν· Διομήδους δὲ εὐξαμένου τῇ Ἀθηνᾷ, τὸ ἀπὸ τούτου συμφορά σφισιν οὐδεμία ἀνέμων γε ἕνεκα ἦλθεν ἐς τὴν γῆν. καὶ Ἀρτέμιδος δʼ ἱερόν ἐστιν ἐνταῦθα καὶ ὕδωρ ἐν φρέατι κεκραμένον πίσσῃ, Κυζικηνῷ μύρῳ μάλιστα ἰδεῖν ἐμφερές· παράσχοιτο δʼ ἂν πᾶσαν καὶ χρόαν ὕδωρ καὶ ὀσμήν.
γλαυκότατον μὲν οἶδα ὕδωρ θεασάμενος τὸ ἐν Θερμοπύλαις, οὔτι που πᾶν, ἀλλʼ ὅσον κάτεισιν ἐς τὴν κολυμβήθραν ἥντινα ὀνομάζουσιν οἱ ἐπιχώριοι Χύτρους γυναικείους· ξανθὸν δὲ ὕδωρ, οὐδέν τι ἀποδέον τὴν χρόαν αἵματος, Ἑβραίων ἡ γῆ παρέχεται πρὸς Ἰόππῃ πόλει· θαλάσσης μὲν ἐγγυτάτω τὸ ὕδωρ ἐστί, λόγον δὲ ἐς τὴν πηγὴν λέγουσιν οἱ ταύτῃ, Περσέα ἀνελόντα τὸ κῆτος, ᾧ τὴν παῖδα προκεῖσθαι τοῦ Κηφέως, ἐνταῦθα τὸ αἷμα ἀπονίψασθαι.
ὕδωρ δὲ ἀπὸ πηγῶν ἀνερχόμενον μέλαν ἰδὼν οἶδα ἐν Ἀστύροις· τὰ δὲ Ἄστυρα ἀπαντικρὺ Λέσβου λουτρά ἐστι θερμὰ ἐν τῷ Ἀταρνεῖ καλουμένῳ. τὸ δὲ χωρίον ἐστὶν ὁ Ἀταρνεὺς ὁ Χίων μισθός, ὃν παρὰ τοῦ Μήδου λαμβάνουσιν ἄνδρα ἐκδόντες ἱκέτην, Πακτύην τὸν Λυδόν. τοῦτο μὲν δὴ μελαίνεται, Ῥωμαίοις δὲ ὑπὲρ τὴν πόλιν, διαβάντων τὸν Ἄνιον ὀνομαζόμενον ποταμόν, ὕδωρ λευκόν ἐστιν· ἀνδρὶ δὲ ἐσβάντι ἐς αὐτὸ τὸ μὲν παραυτίκα ψυχρόν τε πρόσεισι καὶ ἐμποιεῖ φρίκην, ἐπισχόντι δὲ ὀλίγον ἅτε φάρμακον θερμαίνει τὸ πυρωδέστατον.
καὶ ὅσαις μὲν πηγαῖς θαῦμά τι ἦν καὶ ἰδόντι, τοσαύτας θεασάμενος οἶδα, τὰς γὰρ δὴ ἐλάσσονος θαύματος ἐπιστάμενος παρίημι· ἁλμυρὸν δὲ ὕδωρ καὶ στρυφνὸν οὐ μέγα θαῦμα ἐξευρεῖν. δύο δὲ ἀλλοῖα· τὸ μὲν τῆς Καρίας ἐν πεδίῳ καλουμένῳ Λευκῷ θερμόν ἐστιν ὕδωρ παρὰ κώμην ὀνομαζομένην Δασκύλου, πιεῖν καὶ γάλακτος ἥδιον· τὸν δὲ Ἡρόδοτον οἶδα εἰπόντα ὡς ἐς τὸν ποταμὸν τὸν Ὕπανιν ἐκδίδωσιν ὕδατος πικροῦ πηγή. πῶς δʼ ἂν οὐκ ἀποδεξαίμεθα ἀληθεύειν αὐτῷ τὸν λόγον, ὅπου γε καὶ ἐφʼ ἡμῶν ἐν Δικαιαρχίᾳ τῇ Τυρρηνῶν ἐξεύρηται ὕδωρ σφίσι θερμὸν οὕτω δή τι ὀξὺ ὥστε τὸν μόλυβδον—διεξῄει γὰρ διὰ μολύβδου ῥέον —ἔτεσι κατέτηξεν οὐ πολλοῖς;
Before the army mustered to attack Troy, and so long as the Trojan war lasted, the town of Mothone was called Pedasus ; but afterwards it changed its name and was called, according to the inhabitants themselves, after the daughter of Oeneus. For they say that after the capture of Ilium, Oeneus, son of Porthaon, returned with Diomede to Peloponnese, and there had a daughter Mothone born to him by a concubine. But in my opinion the place got its name from the rock Mothon. It is this rock also that makes the harbour; for, stretching along under water, it narrows the entrance for ships, and at the same time stands as a breakwater against heavy seas.
I mentioned before that when the Nauplians were expelled by the Argives in the reign of Damocratidas, king of Argos, for siding with the Lacedaemonians, they received Mothone from the Lacedaemonians, and that they were not afterwards molested by the restored Messenians. The Nauplians, in my opinion, were of Egyptian extraction. They sailed with Danaus to Argolis, and two generations afterwards they were settled in Nauplia by Nauplius, son of Amymone. The Emperor Trajan granted the people of Mothone freedom and independence.
At an earlier time Mothone was overtaken by a calamity which befell no other town on the coast of Messenia. Thesprotian Epirus fell a prey to anarchy. For Deidamia, daughter of Pyrrhus, had no children, and when she came to die she left the government in the hands of the people. She was a daughter of Pyrrhus, son of Ptolemy, son of Alexander, son of Pyrrhus. The history of Pyrrhus, son of Aeacides, has been already narrated by me in my description of Athens. As a tactician and strategist Pyrrhus was preferred by Procles, the Carthaginian, to Alexander himself; but Procles admitted that for good fortune and the splendour of his exploits Alexander carried off the palm. So, then, when the kingly government came to an end in Epirus, the common people grew saucy and set all authority at naught. Hence the Illyrians, who inhabit the coast of the Ionian Sea north of Epirus, overran and subdued them. No people ever yet, so far as we know, throve under a democracy, except the Athenians ; and they certainly flourished under it. For in mother-wit they had not their equals in Greece, and they were the most law-abiding of peoples.
But the Illyrians, having tasted the sweets of conquest, and hungering for more, built ships and plundered all who fell in their way. One time, pretending to treat the Mothonian territory as a friendly country, they came to anchor off it, and despatched a messenger to the city with a request that a supply of wine might be sent to the ships. A few men brought the wine, and the Illyrians bought it of them at their own price, and sold them some of the wares they had brought with them. Next day more people came from the city, and the Illyrians allowed them also to make a profit. At last women as well as men came down to the vessels to sell wine and get goods in exchange from the barbarians. Then the Illyrians had the hardihood to kidnap many men and yet more women, and putting them on board they made sail for the Ionian Sea, leaving the city of Mothone desolate.
In Mothone there is a temple of Athena of the Winds: they say that Diomede dedicated the image and give the goddess this title. For the country used to suffer from stormy and unseasonable winds till Diomede prayed to Athena, and from that day forward the winds have wrought no havoc on the land.
There is also a sanctuary of Artemis here, and a well of water mixed with pitch: in appearance, the water is very like the fragrant oil of Cyzicus. Water may assume every hue and smell. The bluest water I ever saw was the water at Thermopylae, not all of it, only the water that descends into the swimming-bath which the natives call the Women’s Pots. Red water, red as blood, may be seen in the land of the Hebrews, near the city of Joppa. The water is hard by the sea, and the local legend runs that when Perseus had slain the sea-beast, to which the daughter of Cepheus was exposed, he washed off the blood at this spring. I have seen black water welling up from springs at Astyra, which is the name of the hot baths at Atarneus opposite to Lesbos. The town of Atarneus is the price which the Chians received from the Medes for surrendering Pactyes, the Lydian, who had thrown himself on their protection. As I said, the water at Astyra is black ; but above Rome, across the river Anio, there is white water. When a man first enters this water it feels cold and makes him shiver, but after a little it heats him like the most fiery drug. These are the wonderful and peculiar springs which I have myself seen. Less marvellous springs I knowingly omit; for it is no great wonder to find salt and astringent water. But I will mention two waters of different sorts. In the White Plain in Caria, beside the village of Dascylus, as it is called, there is hot water which is sweeter than milk to drink. Again Herodotus, I know, affirms that a spring of bitter water flows into the river Hypanis. Why should we not believe him, when in our own time there has been found at Dicaearchia, in the land of the Tyrrhenians, a hot spring so acid that in a few years it corroded the lead through which it flowed?
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