ἐς ἅπαν δὲ ἀσθενείας τότε μάλιστα κατῆλθεν ἡ Ἑλλάς, λυμανθεῖσα κατὰ μέρη καὶ διαπορθηθεῖσα ἐξ ἀρχῆς ὑπὸ τοῦ δαίμονος. Ἄργος μέν, ἐς πλεῖστον ἀφικομένην δυνάμεως πόλιν ἐπὶ τῶν καλουμένων ἡρώων, ὁμοῦ τῇ μεταβολῇ τῇ ἐς Δωριέας ἐπέλιπε τὸ ἐκ τῆς τύχης εὐμενές·
τὸ δὲ ἔθνος τὸ Ἀττικόν, ἀπὸ τοῦ Πελοποννησίων πολέμου καὶ νόσου τῆς λοιμώδους ἀνενεγκόν τε καὶ αὖθις ἀνανηξάμενον, ἔτεσιν ἔμελλεν οὐ πολλοῖς ὕστερον ἡ Μακεδόνων ἀκμὴ καθαιρήσειν· κατέσκηψε δὲ ἐκ Μακεδονίας καὶ ἐς τὰς Βοιωτίας Θήβας τὸ Ἀλεξάνδρου μήνιμα. Λακεδαιμονίοις δὲ Ἐπαμινώνδας ὁ Θηβαῖος καὶ αὖθις ὁ Ἀχαιῶν πόλεμος ἐγένετο· ὅτε δὲ καὶ μόγις, ἅτε ἐκ δένδρου λελωβημένου καὶ αὔου τὰ πλείονα, ἀνεβλάστησεν ἐκ τῆς Ἑλλάδος τὸ Ἀχαϊκόν, καὶ αὐτὸ ἡ κακία τῶν στρατηγησάντων ἐκόλουσεν ἔτι αὐξανόμενον.
χρόνῳ δὲ ὕστερον ἐς Νέρωνα ἡ βασιλεία περιῆλθεν ἡ Ῥωμαίων, καὶ ἐλεύθερον ὁ Νέρων ἀφίησιν ἁπάντων, ἀλλαγὴν πρὸς δῆμον ποιησάμενος τὸν Ῥωμαίων· Σαρδὼ γὰρ τὴν νῆσον ἐς τὰ μάλιστα εὐδαίμονα ἀντὶ Ἑλλάδος σφίσιν ἀντέδωκεν. ἀπιδόντι οὖν ἐς τοῦτό μοι τοῦ Νέρωνος τὸ ἔργον ὀρθότατα εἰρηκέναι Πλάτων ἐφαίνετο ὁ Ἀρίστωνος, ὁπόσα ἀδικήματα μεγέθει καὶ τολμήματί ἐστιν ὑπερηρκότα, οὐ τῶν ἐπιτυχόντων εἶναι ταῦτα ἀνθρώπων, ψυχῆς δὲ γενναίας ὑπὸ ἀτόπου παιδείας διεφθαρμένης.
οὐ μὴν Ἕλλησί γε ἐξεγένετο ὄνασθαι τοῦ δώρου· Οὐεσπασιανοῦ γὰρ μετὰ Νέρωνα ἄρξαντος ἐς ἐμφύλιον στάσιν προήχθησαν, καὶ σφᾶς ὑποτελεῖς τε αὖθις ὁ Οὐεσπασιανὸς εἶναι φόρων καὶ ἀκούειν ἐκέλευσεν ἡγεμόνος, ἀπομεμαθηκέναι φήσας τὴν ἐλευθερίαν τὸ Ἑλληνικόν.
τάδε μὲν οὕτω συμβάντα εὕρισκον· Ἀχαιοῖς δὲ ὅροι καὶ Ἠλείοις τῆς χώρας ποταμός τε Λάρισος καὶ Ἀθηνᾶς ἐπὶ τῷ ποταμῷ ναός ἐστι Λαρισαίας, καὶ Ἀχαιῶν πόλις Δύμη σταδίους ὅσον τε τριάκοντα ἀπέχει τοῦ Λαρίσου. ταύτην Φίλιππος ὁ Δημητρίου πολεμῶν μόνην τῶν Ἀχαϊκῶν ἔσχεν ὑπήκοον, καὶ ἐπὶ τῇ αἰτίᾳ ταύτῃ Σουλπίκιος, ἡγεμὼν καὶ οὗτος Ῥωμαίων, ἐπέτρεψε τῇ στρατιᾷ διαρπάσαι τὴν Δύμην· Αὔγουστος δὲ ὕστερον καὶ προσένειμεν αὐτὴν Πατρεῦσιν.
ἐκαλεῖτο δὲ τὰ μὲν ἀρχαιότερα Πάλεια· ἐχόντων δὲ ἔτι Ἰώνων ὄνομά οἱ μετέθεντο τὸ ἐφʼ ἡμῶν, σαφῶς δὲ οὐκ οἶδα εἴτε ἀπὸ γυναικὸς ἐπιχωρίας Δύμης εἴτε ἀπὸ Δύμαντος τοῦ Αἰγιμίου. ὑπὸ δὲ τοῦ ἐλεγείου τοῦ Ὀλυμπίασιν ἐπὶ τῇ εἰκόνι τῇ Οἰβώτα οὐ προαχθείη ἄν τις ἐς ἀλογίαν. Οἰβώτᾳ γὰρ ἀνδρὶ Δυμαίῳ, σταδίου μὲν ἀνελομένῳ νίκην Ὀλυμπιάδι ἕκτῃ, εἰκόνος δὲ ἐν Ὀλυμπίᾳ περὶ τὴν ὀγδοηκοστὴν Ὀλυμπιάδα κατὰ μάντευμα ἐκ Δελφῶν ἀξιωθέντι, ἐπίγραμμά ἐστιν ἐπʼ αὐτῷ λέγον·
Οἰνία Οἰβώτας στάδιον νικῶν ὅδʼ Ἁχαιὸς / πατρίδα Πάλειαν θῆκʼ ὀνομαστοτέραν. / τοῦτο οὖν οὐκ ἄν τινι ἀλογίαν παραστήσειεν, εἰ Πάλειαν ἀλλὰ μὴ Δύμην τὸ ἐπίγραμμα καλεῖ τὴν πόλιν· τὰ γὰρ ἀρχαιότερα ὀνόματα ἐς ποίησιν ἐπάγεσθαι τῶν ὑστέρων καθεστηκός ἐστιν Ἕλλησι, καὶ Ἀμφιάραόν τε καὶ Ἄδραστον Φορωνείδας καὶ Ἐρεχθείδην ἐπονομάζουσι τὸν Θησέα.
ὀλίγον δὲ πρὸ τοῦ ἄστεώς ἐστι τοῦ Δυμαίων ἐν δεξιᾷ τῆς ὁδοῦ τάφος Σωστράτου· μειράκιον δὲ ἦν τῶν ἐπιχωρίων, γενέσθαι δὲ Ἡρακλέους ἐρώμενόν φασιν αὐτόν, καὶ—ἀποθανεῖν γὰρ τὸν Σώστρατον Ἡρακλέους ἔτι ὄντος μετὰ ἀνθρώπων—οὕτως οἱ τὸν Ἡρακλέα τό τε μνῆμα αὐτὸν εἶναι τὸν ποιήσαντα καὶ ἀπαρχὰς ἀπὸ τῶν ἐν τῇ κεφαλῇ τριχῶν δοῦναι. ἐπίθημα δὲ καὶ ἐς ἐμὲ ἔτι στήλη τε ἦν ἐπὶ τοῦ χώματος καὶ Ἡρακλῆς ἐπειργασμένος· ἐλέγετο δὲ ὡς οἱ ἐπιχώριοι καὶ ἐναγίζουσι τῷ Σωστράτῳ.
Δυμαίοις δὲ ἔστι μὲν Ἀθηνᾶς ναὸς καὶ ἄγαλμα ἐς τὰ μάλιστα ἀρχαῖον, ἔστι δὲ καὶ ἄλλο ἱερόν σφισι Δινδυμήνῃ μητρὶ καὶ Ἄττῃ πεποιημένον. Ἄττης δὲ ὅστις ἦν, οὐδὲν οἷός τε ἦν ἀπόρρητον ἐς αὐτὸν ἐξευρεῖν, ἀλλὰ Ἑρμησιάνακτι μὲν τῷ τὰ ἐλεγεῖα γράψαντι πεποιημένα ἐστὶν ὡς υἱός τε ἦν Καλαοῦ Φρυγὸς καὶ ὡς οὐ τεκνοποιὸς ὑπὸ τῆς μητρὸς τεχθείη· ἐπεὶ δὲ ηὔξητο, μετῴκησεν ἐς Λυδίαν τῷ Ἑρμησιάνακτος λόγῳ καὶ Λυδοῖς ὄργια ἐτέλει Μητρός, ἐς τοσοῦτο ἥκων παρʼ αὐτῇ τιμῆς ὡς Δία αὐτῇ νεμεσήσαντα ὗν ἐπὶ τὰ ἔργα ἐπιπέμψαι τῶν Λυδῶν.
ἐνταῦθα ἄλλοι τε τῶν Λυδῶν καὶ αὐτὸς Ἄττης ἀπέθανεν ὑπὸ τοῦ ὑός· καί τι ἑπόμενον τούτοις Γαλατῶν δρῶσιν οἱ Πεσσινοῦντα ἔχοντες, ὑῶν οὐχ ἁπτόμενοι. νομίζουσί γε μὴν οὐχ οὕτω τὰ ἐς τὸν Ἄττην, ἀλλὰ ἐπιχώριός ἐστιν ἄλλος σφίσιν ἐς αὐτὸν λόγος, Δία ὑπνωμένον ἀφεῖναι σπέρμα ἐς γῆν, τὴν δὲ ἀνὰ χρόνον ἀνεῖναι δαίμονα διπλᾶ ἔχοντα αἰδοῖα, τὰ μὲν ἀνδρός, τὰ δὲ αὐτῶν γυναικός· ὄνομα δὲ Ἄγδιστιν αὐτῷ τίθενται. θεοὶ δὲ Ἄγδιστιν δείσαντες τὰ αἰδοῖά οἱ τὰ ἀνδρὸς ἀποκόπτουσιν.
ὡς δὲ ἀπʼ αὐτῶν ἀναφῦσα ἀμυγδαλῆ εἶχεν ὡραῖον τὸν καρπόν, θυγατέρα τοῦ Σαγγαρίου ποταμοῦ λαβεῖν φασι τοῦ καρποῦ· ἐσθεμένης δὲ ἐς τὸν κόλπον καρπὸς μὲν ἐκεῖνος ἦν αὐτίκα ἀφανής, αὐτὴ δὲ ἐκύει· τεκούσης δὲ τράγος περιεῖπε τὸν παῖδα ἐκκείμενον. ὡς δὲ αὐξανομένῳ κάλλους οἱ μετῆν πλέον ἢ κατὰ εἶδος ἀνθρώπου, ἐνταῦθα τοῦ παιδὸς ἔρως ἔσχεν Ἄγδιστιν. αὐξηθέντα δὲ Ἄττην ἀποστέλλουσιν ἐς Πεσσινοῦντα οἱ προσήκοντες συνοικήσοντα τοῦ βασιλέως θυγατρί·
ὑμέναιος δὲ ᾔδετο καὶ Ἄγδιστις ἐφίσταται καὶ τὰ αἰδοῖα ἀπέκοψε μανεὶς ὁ Ἄττης, ἀπέκοψε δὲ καὶ ὁ τὴν θυγατέρα αὐτῷ διδούς· Ἄγδιστιν δὲ μετάνοια ἔσχεν οἷα Ἄττην ἔδρασε, καί οἱ παρὰ Διὸς εὕρετο μήτε σήπεσθαί τι Ἄττῃ τοῦ σώματος μήτε τήκεσθαι. τάδε μὲν ἐς Ἄττην τὰ γνωριμώτατα·
ἐν δὲ τῇ χώρᾳ τῇ Δυμαίᾳ καὶ τοῦ δρομέως Οἰβώτα τάφος ἐστί· τούτῳ τῷ Οἰβώτα νικήσαντι Ὀλύμπια Ἀχαιῶν πρώτῳ γέρας οὐδὲν ἐξαίρετον παρʼ αὐτῶν ἐγένετο εὕρασθαι· καὶ ἐπὶ τούτῳ κατάρας ὁ Οἰβώτας ἐποιήσατο μηδενὶ Ὀλυμπικὴν νίκην ἔτι Ἀχαιῶν γενέσθαι. καὶ—ἦν γάρ τις θεῶν ᾧ τοῦ Οἰβώτα τελεῖσθαι τὰς κατάρας οὐκ ἀμελὲς ἦν—διδάσκονταί ποτε οἱ Ἀχαιοὶ καθʼ ἥντινα αἰτίαν στεφάνου τοῦ Ὀλυμπίασιν ἡμάρτανον, διδάσκονται δὲ ἀποστείλαντες ἐς Δελφούς·
οὕτω καὶ ἄλλα ἐς τιμήν σφισι τοῦ Οἰβώτα ποιήσασι καὶ τὴν εἰκόνα ἀναθεῖσιν ἐς Ὀλυμπίαν Σώστρατος Πελληνεὺς σταδίου νίκην ἔσχεν ἐν παισί. διαμένει δὲ ἐς ἐμὲ ἔτι Ἀχαιῶν τοῖς ἀγωνίζεσθαι μέλλουσι τὰ Ὀλύμπια ἐναγίζειν τῷ Οἰβώτᾳ, καὶ ἢν κρατήσωσιν, ἐν Ὀλυμπίᾳ στεφανοῦν τοῦ Οἰβώτα τὴν εἰκόνα.
This was the period when Greece sank to the lowest depth of weakness. From time immemorial, indeed, parts of it had been wasted and ravaged by the hand of God. Argos had reached the highest pitch of power in the heroic age, but after the Dorian revolution the favour of fortune deserted her. The Attic race revived after the Peloponnesian war and the plague, and raised its head once more above water, but only to be dragged down, a few years later, by the vigorous power of Macedonia. From Macedonia the wrath of Alexander fell like a thunderbolt upon Boeotian Thebes. Epaminondas the Theban, and afterwards the Achaean war, proved the bane of Lacedaemon. Then, like a fresh shoot on a blasted and withered trunk, the Achaean League arose on the ruins of Greece. But the roguery and cowardice of its generals blighted the growing plant.
In a later age, when the Roman Empire devolved on Nero, he gave the Roman people the rich and fruitful island of Sardinia, and, taking Greece in exchange, he set it free. Musing on this deed of Nero, I was struck by the truth of Plato’s saying, that crimes of extraordinary magnitude and audacity proceed not from common men, but from a noble nature depraved by a vicious upbringing. But the Greeks could not profit by the boon. For when Nero had been succeeded on the throne by Vespasian, they fell out among themselves, and Vespasian commanded that they should again pay tribute and submit to a governor, the Emperor remarking that Greece had forgotten what it was to be free. Such I found to be the course of Achaean history. 3. The boundary between Achaia and Elis is formed by the river Larisus. There is a temple of Larisaean Athena at the river, and about thirty furlongs from the Larisus is the Achaean city of Dyme. This was the only Achaean city that was subject to Philip, son of Demetrius; hence the Roman general Sulpicius allowed his army to sack it. Afterwards Augustus annexed it to Patrae. Its more ancient name was Palea; but while the Ionians still held it they gave it the name which it still retains. But whether the name is derived from a native woman Dyme, or from Dymas, son of Aegimius, I am not sure. No one, however, is likely to be embarrassed by the elegiac verses on the statue of Oebotas at Olympia. Oebotas was a man of Dyme who won a victory in the foot-race in the sixth Olympiad, and received the honour of a statue at Olympia in the eightieth Olympiad, in consequence of an oracle from Delphi. The inscription on the statue runs thus :— This is Oebotas, son of Oenias, who by a victory in the race Made his native Palea yet more famous among the Achaeans, It need embarrass no one that in the inscription the town is called Palea, and not Dyme. For it is a Greek custom to introduce the older instead of the later names into poetry. Thus they call Amphiaraus and Adrastus Phoronids, and they style Theseus an Erechthid.
A little before you come to the city of Dyme is the grave of Sostratus on the right of the road. He was a lad, a native of the place: they say he was beloved by Hercules, and because he died while Hercules was still among men, Hercules made the tomb for him and offered him some of the hair of his head. To this day the barrow is surmounted by a tombstone on which Hercules is represented in relief. It is said that the natives also offer sacrifice to Sostratus as to a hero.
There is a temple of Athena at Dyme, and a most ancient image of her. There is also a sanctuary of Mother Dindymene and Attis. Who Attis was I could not discover, for it is a secret. Hermesianax, the elegiac poet, says that Attis was a son of Calaus, a Phrygian, and that he was a eunuch from his mother’s womb. When he grew up he migrated, according to Hermesianax, to Lydia, and celebrated the orgies of the Mother for the Lydians, who honoured him so highly that Zeus, incensed at him, sent a boar to ravage the fields of the Lydians. Thereupon Attis and some of the Lydians were slain by the boar, and in consequence of this the Galatians of Pessinus abstain from swine. But the popular belief about Attis is different, and they have a local story about him, how that Zeus in his sleep let fall seed on the ground, and in course of time the earth produced a demon with two genital organs, one of a man and one of a woman ; and this demon they name Agdistis. But the gods feared Agdistis, and cut off his male organ of generation. From it sprang an almond-tree with ripe fruit, and they say that a daughter of the river Sangarius took of the fruit and put it in her bosom. The fruit immediately vanished and she conceived. The male child whom she bore was exposed, but a he-goat tended him. As the boy grew in stature his beauty was more than human, and Agdistis loved him. But when Attis was grown to man’s estate, his relations sent him to Pessinus to wed the king’s daughter. As the wedding song was being sung, Agdistis appeared, and Attis in a fit of madness mutilated himself, and so did his father-in-law. But Agdistis repented of what he had done to Attis, and he got Zeus to grant that no part of Attis’ body should moulder or decay. These are the best-known stories about Attis.
In the territory of Dyme is also the grave of the runner Oebotas. Though Oebotas was the first Achaean who won a victory at Olympia he received no special honour from the Achaeans. Therefore he prayed that no Achaean should win an Olympic victory any more, and there must have been one of the gods who took care that the curse of Oebotas should be fulfilled. But at last, by sending to Delphi, the Achaeans learned why it was that they failed to win the Olympic crown. So they dedicated the statue of Oebotas at Olympia, and bestowed other marks of honour upon him; and after they had done so, Sostratus of Pellene won a victory in the boys’ foot-race. To this day Achaeans who mean to compete at Olympia are wont to offer sacrifice to Oebotas as to a hero, and, if they are victorious, to place a wreath on his statue at Olympia.
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