τῆς χώρας δὲ ἐπὶ τῇ λάρνακι τῆς δευτέρας ἐξ ἀριστερῶν μὲν γίνοιτο ἂν ἡ ἀρχὴ τῆς περιόδου, πεποίηται δὲ γυνὴ παῖδα λευκὸν καθεύδοντα ἀνέχουσα τῇ δεξιᾷ χειρί, τῇ δὲ ἑτέρᾳ μέλανα ἔχει παῖδα καθεύδοντι ἐοικότα, ἀμφοτέρους διεστραμμένους τοὺς πόδας. δηλοῖ μὲν δὴ καὶ τὰ ἐπιγράμματα, συνεῖναι δὲ καὶ ἄνευ τῶν ἐπιγραμμάτων ἔστι Θάνατόν τε εἶναι σφᾶς καὶ Ὕπνον καὶ ἀμφοτέροις Νύκτα αὐτοῖς τροφόν.
γυνὴ δὲ εὐειδὴς γυναῖκα αἰσχρὰν κολάζουσα καὶ τῇ μὲν ἀπάγχουσα αὐτήν, τῇ δὲ ῥάβδῳ παίουσα, Δίκη ταῦτα Ἀδικίαν δρῶσά ἐστι· δύο δὲ ἄλλας γυναῖκας ἐς ὅλμους καθικνουμένας ὑπέροις, φάρμακα εἰδέναι σφᾶς νομίζουσιν, ἐπεὶ ἄλλως γε οὐδὲν ἐς αὐτάς ἐστιν ἐπίγραμμα. τὰ δὲ ἐς τὸν ἄνδρα τε καὶ γυναῖκα ἑπομένην αὐτῷ τὰ ἔπη δηλοῖ τὰ ἑξάμετρα· λέγει γὰρ δὴ οὕτως· Ἴδας Μάρπησσαν καλλίσφυρον, ἃν οἱ Ἀπόλλων / ἅρπασε, τὰν Εὐανοῦ ἄγει πάλιν οὐκ ἀέκουσαν. /
χιτῶνα δὲ ἐνδεδυκὼς ἀνὴρ τῇ μὲν δεξιᾷ κύλικα, τῇ δὲ ἔχων ἐστὶν ὅρμον, λαμβάνεται δὲ αὐτῶν Ἀλκμήνη· πεποίηται δὲ ἐς τὸν λόγον τῶν Ἑλλήνων ὡς συγγένοιτο Ἀλκμήνῃ Ζεὺς Ἀμφιτρύωνι εἰκασθείς. Μενέλαος δὲ θώρακά τε ἐνδεδυκὼς καὶ ἔχων ξίφος ἔπεισιν Ἑλένην ἀποκτεῖναι, δῆλα ὡς ἁλισκομένης Ἰλίου. Μηδείας δὲ ἐπὶ θρόνου καθημένης Ἰάσων ἐν δεξιᾷ, τῇ δὲ Ἀφροδίτη παρέστηκε· γέγραπται δὲ καὶ ἐπίγραμμα ἐπʼ αὐτοῖς· Μήδειαν Ἰάσων γαμέει, κέλεται δʼ Ἀφροδίτα. /
πεποίηνται δὲ καὶ ᾄδουσαι Μοῦσαι καὶ Ἀπόλλων ἐξάρχων τῆς ᾠδῆς, καί σφισιν ἐπίγραμμα γέγραπται· Λατοΐδας οὗτος τάχʼ ἄναξ ἑκάεργος Ἀπόλλων· / Μοῦσαι δʼ ἀμφʼ αὐτόν, χαρίεις χορός, αἷσι κατάρχει. / Ἄτλας δὲ ἐπὶ μὲν τῶν ὤμων κατὰ τὰ λεγόμενα οὐρανόν τε ἀνέχει καὶ γῆν, φέρει δὲ καὶ τὰ Ἑσπερίδων μῆλα. ὅστις δέ ἐστιν ὁ ἀνὴρ ὁ ἔχων τὸ ξίφος καὶ ἐπὶ τὸν Ἄτλαντα ἐρχόμενος, ἰδίᾳ μὲν ἐπʼ αὐτῷ γεγραμμένον ἐστὶν οὐδέν, δῆλα δὲ ἐς ἅπαντας Ἡρακλέα εἶναι. γέγραπται δὲ καὶ ἐπὶ τούτοις· Ἄτλας οὐρανὸν οὗτος ἔχει, τὰ δὲ μᾶλα μεθήσει. /
ἔστι δὲ καὶ Ἄρης ὅπλα ἐνδεδυκώς, Ἀφροδίτην ἄγων· ἐπίγραμμα δὲ Ἐνυάλιός ἐστιν αὐτῷ. πεποίηται δὲ καὶ Θέτις παρθένος, λαμβάνεται δὲ αὐτῆς Πηλεύς, καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς χειρὸς τῆς Θέτιδος ὄφις ἐπὶ τὸν Πηλέα ἐστὶν ὁρμῶν. αἱ δὲ ἀδελφαὶ Μεδούσης ἔχουσαι πτερὰ πετόμενον Περσέα εἰσὶ διώκουσαι· τὸ δὲ ὄνομα ἐπὶ τῷ Περσεῖ γέγραπται μόνῳ.
στρατιωτικὰ δὲ ἐπὶ τῇ τρίτῃ χώρᾳ τῆς λάρνακος· τὸ μὲν πολύ εἰσιν ἐν αὐτοῖς οἱ πεζοί, πεποίηνται δὲ καὶ ἐπὶ συνωρίδων ἱππεῖς. ἐπὶ δὲ τοῖς στρατιώταις ἔστιν εἰκάζειν συνιέναι μὲν σφᾶς ἐς μάχην, συνιέναι δὲ καὶ ἀσπασομένους τε καὶ ἀναγνωριοῦντας ἀλλήλους. λέγεται δὲ καὶ ἐς ἀμφότερα ὑπὸ τῶν ἐξηγητῶν, καὶ τοῖς μέν ἐστιν εἰρημένον Αἰτωλοὺς τοὺς μετὰ Ὀξύλου καὶ Ἠλείους εἶναι τοὺς ἀρχαίους, ἀπαντᾶν δὲ σφᾶς γένους τε μνήμῃ τοῦ ἐξ ἀρχῆς καὶ εὔνοιαν ἐνδεικνυμένους ἐς ἀλλήλους· οἱ δὲ συνιέναι φασὶν ἐς ἀγῶνα τὰ στρατιωτικά, Πυλίους δὲ εἶναι καὶ Ἀρκάδας παρά τε Φειὰν πόλιν καὶ ποταμὸν μαχουμένους Ἰάρδανον.
ταῦτα μὲν δὴ οὐδὲ ἀρχὴν ἀποδέξαιτο ἄν τις, ὡς ὁ τοῦ Κυψέλου πρόγονος Κορίνθιός τε ὢν καὶ τὴν λάρνακα αὑτῷ ποιούμενος κτῆμα, ὁπόσα μὲν Κορινθίοις ἦν ἐπιχώρια, ἑκὼν ὑπερέβαινεν, ἃ δὲ ξενικά τε καὶ οὐδὲ ἄλλως ἥκοντα ἐς δόξαν, ἐτεχνᾶτο ἐπὶ τῇ λάρνακι· αὐτῷ μέντοι παρίστατο ἐμοὶ ταῦτα εἰκάζειν. Κυψέλῳ καὶ τοῖς προγόνοις ἐκ Γονούσσης ἦν γένος ἐξ ἀρχῆς τῆς ὑπὲρ Σικυῶνος, καὶ πρόγονός σφισιν ἦν Μέλας ὁ Ἀντάσου·
Μέλανα δὲ καὶ τὸν σὺν αὐτῷ στρατὸν κατὰ τὰ προειρημένα μοι καὶ ἐν τῇ Κορινθίᾳ συγγραφῇ οὐκ ἤθελεν Ἀλήτης συνοίκους δέξασθαι, γεγονός οἱ μάντευμα ἐκ Δελφῶν ὑφορώμενος, ἐς ὃ θεραπείᾳ τε τῇ πάσῃ χρώμενον Μέλανα καὶ ὁπότε ἀπελασθείη σὺν δεήσει ἐπανιόντα αὖθις ἐδέξατο καὶ ἄκων Ἀλήτης. τοῦτο τὸ στρατιωτικὸν τεκμαίροιτο ἄν τις τοὺς ἐπὶ τῇ λάρνακι εἰργασμένους εἶναι.
In the second field on the chest we will begin to go round from the left. A woman is represented carrying a white boy asleep on her right arm: on her other arm she has a black boy who is like one that sleeps: the feet of both boys are turned different ways. The inscriptions show, what it is easy to see without them, that the boys are Death and Sleep, and that Night is nurse to both. A comely woman is punishing an ill-favoured one, throttling her with one hand and with the other smiting her with a rod. It is Justice who thus treats Injustice. Two other women are pounding with pestles in mortars: they are thought to be skilled in drugs, but there is no inscription at them. The man followed by the woman is explained by the hexameters, which run thus :— Idas is leading back the daughter of Evenus, fair-ankled Marpessa, Whom Apollo snatched from him, and she follows nothing loath. There is a man clad in a tunic: in his right hand he holds a cup, and in the left a necklace, and Alcmena is taking hold of them. This is to illustrate the Greek tale that Zeus in the likeness of Amphitryo lay with Alcmena. Menelaus, clad in a breastplate, and with a sword in his hand, is advancing to slay Helen: the scene is clearly laid at the taking of Ilium. Medea is seated on a chair: Jason stands on her right and Aphrodite on her left ; and beside them is an inscription :— Jason weds Medea, for Aphrodite bids him do so, The Muses, too, are represented singing, and Apollo is leading the song ; and there is an inscription at them :— This is the son of Latona, the prince, far-shooting Apollo ; And round him the Muses, a lovely choir, and them he is leading. Atlas is upholding on his shoulders, as the story has it, heaven and earth ; and he bears also the apples of the Hesperides. Who the man with the sword is that is coming towards Atlas there is no writing beside him to show, but every one will recognise Hercules. There is an inscription at this group also :— This is Atlas bearing the heaven, but the apples he will let go. There is also Ares clad in armour, leading Aphrodite: the inscription at him is Enyalius. Thetis, too, is represented as a maid: Peleus is taking hold of her, and from the hand of Thetis a snake is darting at him. The sisters of Medusa are represented with wings pursuing Perseus, who is flying through the air. The name of Perseus alone is inscribed. 2. Armies fill the third field of the chest: most of the men are on foot, but some are riding in two-horse chariots. By the attitudes of the soldiers you can guess that though they are advancing to battle, they will recognise and greet each other as friends. Two explanations are given by the guides. Some of them say that they are the Aetolians under Oxylus, and the ancient Eleans, and that they are meeting in recollection of their old kinship, and with mutual signs of good-will. Others say the armies are advancing to the encounter, and that they are the Pylians and Arcadians about to fight beside the city of Phea and the river Jardanus. But it is incredible that Cypselus’ ancestor, who was a Corinthian, and had the chest made for himself, should have voluntarily passed over all Corinthian history, and should have caused to be wrought on the chest only foreign scenes, and scenes, too, which were not famous. The following conjecture suggested itself to me. Cypselus and his forefathers came originally from Gonussa, the town above Sicyon, and Melas, son of Antasus, was an ancestor of theirs. But, as I have said in my account of Corinth, Aletes refused to allow Melas and his host to enter and dwell in the land, for he was alarmed by an oracle which he had received from Delphi, till at last by coaxing and wheedling, and returning with prayers and entreaties as often as he was driven away, Melas extracted a permission from the reluctant Aletes. We may surmise that it is this army which is represented by the figures wrought on the chest.
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