μετὰ δὲ τοῦ Αἰπύτου τὸν τάφον ὄρος τε ὑψηλότατον ὀρῶν τῶν ἐν Ἀρκαδίᾳ Κυλλήνη καὶ Ἑρμοῦ Κυλληνίου κατερριμμένος ναός ἐστιν ἐπὶ κορυφῆς τοῦ ὄρους· δῆλα δέ ἐστιν ἀπὸ Κυλλῆνος τοῦ Ἐλάτου τῷ τε ὄρει τὸ ὄνομα καὶ ἡ ἐπίκλησις γεγενημένη τῷ θεῷ.
τοῖς δὲ ἀνθρώποις τὸ ἀρχαῖον, ὁπόσα καὶ ἡμεῖς καταμαθεῖν ἐδυνήθημεν, τοσάδε ἦν ἀφʼ ὧν τὰ ξόανα ἐποιοῦντο, ἔβενος, κυπάρισσος, αἱ κέδροι, τὰ δρύινα, ἡ μῖλαξ, ὁ λωτός· τῷ δὲ Ἑρμῇ τῷ Κυλληνίῳ τούτων μὲν ἀπὸ οὐδενός, θύου δὲ πεποιημένον τὸ ἄγαλμά ἐστιν, ὀκτὼ δὲ εἶναι ποδῶν μάλιστα αὐτὸ εἰκάζομεν.
παρέχεται δὲ καὶ θαῦμα τοιόνδε ἡ Κυλλήνη· κόσσυφοι γὰρ οἱ ὄρνιθες ὁλόλευκοί εἰσιν ἐν αὐτῇ· οἱ δὲ ὑπὸ Βοιωτῶν καλούμενοι γένος ἄλλο πού τί εἰσιν ὀρνίθων, οὐκ ᾠδικόν. ἀετοὺς μὲν οὖν ὀνομαζομένους κυκνίας μάλιστα ἐοικότας κύκνῳ λευκότητα οἶδα ἐν Σιπύλῳ θεασάμενος περὶ λίμνην καλουμένην Ταντάλου· ὗς δὲ ἀγρίους λευκοὺς καὶ ἄρκτους τῶν Θρᾳκίων λευκὰς ἤδη που καὶ ἄνδρες ἐκτήσαντο ἰδιῶται·
λαγῲ δὲ καὶ ἔλαφοι, τὸ μὲν Λιβυκὸν θρέμμα οἱ λαγῴ εἰσιν οἱ λευκοί, ἐλάφους δὲ ἐν Ῥώμῃ λευκὰς εἶδόν τε καὶ ἰδὼν θαῦμα ἐποιησάμην, ὁπόθεν δὲ ἢ τῶν ἠπείρων οὖσαι ἢ νησιώτιδες ἐκομίσθησαν, οὐκ ἐπῆλθεν ἐρέσθαι μοι. τάδε μὲν ἡμῖν λελέχθω τῶν ἐν Κυλλήνῃ κοσσύφων ἕνεκα, ὡς μὴ τοῖς ῥηθεῖσιν ἐς τὴν χρόαν αὐτῶν ἀπιστοίη μηδείς·
ἔχεται δὲ ἄλλο ὄρος Κυλλήνης Χελυδόρεα, ἔνθα εὑρὼν χελώνην Ἑρμῆς ἐκδεῖραι τὸ θηρίον καὶ ἀπʼ αὐτῆς λέγεται ποιήσασθαι λύραν. ἐνταῦθα Φενεάταις καὶ Πελληνεῦσιν ὅροι τῆς γῆς εἰσι, καὶ τοῦ ὄρους τῶν Χελυδορέων οἱ Ἀχαιοὶ τὸ πλέον νέμονται.
ἐκ Φενεοῦ δὲ ἰόντι ἐπὶ ἑσπέρας καὶ ἡλίου δυσμῶν ἡ μὲν ἀριστερὰ τῶν ὁδῶν ἐς πόλιν ἄγει Κλείτορα, ἐν δεξιᾷ δὲ ἐπὶ Νώνακριν καὶ τὸ ὕδωρ τῆς Στυγός. τὸ μὲν δὴ ἀρχαῖον ἡ Νώνακρις πόλισμα ἦν Ἀρκάδων καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς Λυκάονος γυναικὸς τὸ ὄνομα εἰλήφει· τὰ δὲ ἐφʼ ἡμῶν ἐρείπια ἦν, οὐδὲ τούτων τὰ πολλὰ ἔτι δῆλα. τῶν δὲ ἐρειπίων οὐ πόρρω κρημνός ἐστιν ὑψηλός, οὐχ ἕτερον δʼ ἐς τοσοῦτον ἀνήκοντα ὕψους οἶδα· καὶ ὕδωρ κατὰ τοῦ κρημνοῦ στάζει, καλοῦσι δὲ Ἕλληνες αὐτὸ ὕδωρ Στυγός.
After the grave of Aepytus there is Mount Cyllene, the highest mountain in Arcadia, and on its summit is a ruined temple of Cyllenian Hermes. It is obvious that the mountain got its name and the god his surname from Cyllen, son of Elatus.
The kinds of wood out of which men of old made images for themselves were, so far as I have been able to learn, the following: ebony, cypress, the cedars, the oaks, yew, and lotus. However, the image of Cyllenian Hermes is made of none of these woods, but of juniper. I guessed it to be about eight feet high.
Cyllene can boast of the following wonder: the blackbirds there are white all over. The birds which the Boeotians call blackbirds are probably a different species of bird, not songsters. On Mount Sipylus, about the lake called the lake of Tantalus, I have seen eagles called swan-eagles, which in whiteness closely resembled swans; and white wild boars and white Thracian bears have been owned even by private persons before now. White hares are native to Libya ; and I saw white deer at Rome, and very much surprised was I to see them; but it did not occur to me to inquire where they were brought from, whether from continents or islands. But enough of these observations, which I have made in order that no one may disbelieve what I have said about the hue of the blackbirds on Mount Cyllene. 4. Connected with Cyllene is another mountain, Chelydorea, where Hermes is said to have found a tortoise, taken off its shell, and made a lyre of it. Here are the boundaries of Pheneus and Pellene ; and the greater part of Mount Chelydorea belongs to the Achaeans. 5. As you go westward from Pheneus the road to the left leads to the city of Clitor, and the road to the right leads to Nonacris and the water of the Styx. Of old Nonacris was a town of Arcadia, and got its name from the wife of Lycaon, but at the present day it is in ruins, and even of its ruins there is not much to be seen. Not far from the ruins is a high cliff: I know no other cliff that rises to such a height. Water trickles down it, and the Greeks call it the water of Styx.
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