ταῦτα μὲν δὴ ἔχοντά ἐστιν οὕτω, θῦσαι δὲ ἐν Ἑλικῶνι Μούσαις πρώτους καὶ ἐπονομάσαι τὸ ὄρος ἱερὸν εἶναι Μουσῶν Ἐφιάλτην καὶ Ὦτον λέγουσιν, οἰκίσαι δὲ αὐτοὺς καὶ Ἄσκρην· καὶ δὴ καὶ Ἡγησίνους ἐπὶ τῷδε ἐν τῇ Ἀτθίδι ἐποίησεν, Ἄσκρῃ δʼ αὖ παρέλεκτο Ποσειδάων ἐνοσίχθων, / ἣ δή οἱ τέκε παῖδα περιπλομένων ἐνιαυτῶν / Οἴοκλον, ὃς πρῶτος μετʼ Ἀλωέος ἔκτισε παίδων / Ἄσκρην, ἥ θʼ Ἑλικῶνος ἔχει πόδα πιδακόεντα. /
ταύτην τοῦ Ἡγησίνου τὴν ποίησιν οὐκ ἐπελεξάμην, ἀλλὰ πρότερον ἄρα ἐκλελοιπυῖα ἦν πρὶν ἢ ἐμέ γενέσθαι· Κάλλιππος δὲ Κορίνθιος ἐν τῇ ἐς Ὀρχομενίους συγγραφῇ μαρτύρια ποιεῖται τῷ λόγῳ τὰ Ἡγησίνου ἔπη, ὡσαύτως δὲ καὶ ἡμεῖς πεποιήμεθα παρʼ αὐτοῦ Καλλίππου διδαχθέντες. Ἄσκρης μὲν δὴ πύργος εἷς ἐπʼ ἐμοῦ καὶ ἄλλο οὐδὲν ἐλείπετο ἐς μνήμην, οἱ δὲ τοῦ Ἀλωέως παῖδες ἀριθμόν τε Μούσας ἐνόμισαν εἶναι τρεῖς καὶ ὀνόματα αὐταῖς ἔθεντο Μελέτην καὶ Μνήμην καὶ Ἀοιδήν.
χρόνῳ δὲ ὕστερόν φασι Πίερον Μακεδόνα, ἀφʼ οὗ καὶ Μακεδόσιν ὠνόμασται τὸ ὄρος, τοῦτον ἐλθόντα ἐς Θεσπιὰς ἐννέα τε Μούσας καταστήσασθαι καὶ τὰ ὀνόματα τὰ νῦν μεταθέσθαι σφίσι. ταῦτα δὲ ἐνόμιζεν οὕτως ὁ Πίερος ἢ σοφώτερά οἱ εἶναι φανέντα ἢ κατά τι μάντευμα ἢ παρά του διδαχθεὶς τῶν Θρᾳκῶν· δεξιώτερον γὰρ τά τε ἄλλα ἐδόκει τοῦ Μακεδονικοῦ τὸ ἔθνος εἶναι πάλαι τὸ Θρᾴκιον καὶ οὐχ ὁμοίως ἐς τὰ θεῖα ὀλίγωρον.
εἰσὶ δʼ οἳ καὶ αὐτῷ θυγατέρας ἐννέα Πιέρῳ γενέσθαι λέγουσι καὶ τὰ ὀνόματα ἅπερ ταῖς θεαῖς τεθῆναι καὶ ταύταις, καὶ ὅσοι Μουσῶν παῖδες ἐκλήθησαν ὑπὸ Ἑλλήνων, θυγατριδοῦς εἶναι σφᾶς Πιέρου· Μίμνερμος δέ, ἐλεγεῖα ἐς τὴν μάχην ποιήσας τὴν Σμυρναίων πρὸς Γύγην τε καὶ Λυδούς, φησὶν ἐν τῷ προοιμίῳ θυγατέρας Οὐρανοῦ τὰς ἀρχαιοτέρας Μούσας, τούτων δὲ ἄλλας νεωτέρας εἶναι Διὸς παῖδας.
ἐν Ἑλικῶνι δὲ πρὸς τὸ ἄλσος ἰόντι τῶν Μουσῶν ἐν ἀριστερᾷ μὲν ἡ Ἀγανίππη πηγή —θυγατέρα δὲ εἶναι τὴν Ἀγανίππην τοῦ Τερμησσοῦ λέγουσι, ῥεῖ δὲ καὶ οὗτος ὁ Τερμησσὸς περὶ τὸν Ἑλικῶνα—, τὴν δὲ εὐθεῖαν ἐρχομένῳ πρὸς τὸ ἄλσος ἔστιν εἰκὼν Εὐφήμης ἐπειργασμένη λίθῳ· τροφὸν δὲ εἶναι τὴν Εὐφήμην λέγουσι τῶν Μουσῶν.
ταύτης τε οὖν εἰκὼν καὶ μετʼ αὐτὴν Λίνος ἐστὶν ἐν πέτρᾳ μικρᾷ σπηλαίου τρόπον εἰργασμένῃ· τούτῳ κατὰ ἔτος ἕκαστον πρὸ τῆς θυσίας τῶν Μουσῶν ἐναγίζουσι. λέγεται δὲ ὡς ὁ Λίνος οὗτος παῖς μὲν Οὐρανίας εἴη καὶ Ἀμφιμάρου τοῦ Ποσειδῶνος, μεγίστην δὲ τῶν τε ἐφʼ αὑτοῦ καὶ ὅσοι πρότερον ἐγένοντο λάβοι δόξαν ἐπὶ μουσικῇ, καὶ ὡς Ἀπόλλων ἀποκτείνειεν αὐτὸν ἐξισούμενον κατὰ τὴν ᾠδήν.
ἀποθανόντος δὲ τοῦ Λίνου τὸ ἐπʼ αὐτῷ πένθος διῆλθεν ἄρα καὶ ἄχρι τῆς βαρβάρου πάσης, ὡς καὶ Αἰγυπτίοις ᾆσμα γενέσθαι Λίνον· καλοῦσι δὲ τὸ ᾆσμα Αἰγύπτιοι τῇ ἐπιχωρίῳ φωνῇ Μανέρων. οἱ δὲ Ἕλλησιν ἔπη ποιήσαντες, Ὅμηρος μέν, ἅτε ᾆσμα Ἕλλησιν ὂν ἐπιστάμενος τοῦ Λίνου τὰ παθήματα, ἐπὶ τοῦ Ἀχιλλέως ἔφη τῇ ἀσπίδι ἄλλα τε ἐργάσασθαι τὸν Ἥφαιστον καὶ κιθαρῳδὸν παῖδα ᾄδοντα τὰ ἐς Λίνον· τοῖσι δʼ ἐνὶ μέσσοισι πάις φόρμιγγι λιγείῃ / ἱμερόεν κιθάριζε, Λίνον δʼ ὑπὸ καλὸν ἄειδεν· /
Πάμφως δέ, ὃς Ἀθηναίοις τῶν ὕμνων ἐποίησε τοὺς ἀρχαιοτάτους, οὗτος ἀκμάζοντος ἐπὶ τῷ Λίνῳ τοῦ πένθους Οἰτόλινον ἐκάλεσεν αὐτόν. Σαπφὼ δὲ ἡ Λεσβία τοῦ Οἰτολίνου τὸ ὄνομα ἐκ τῶν ἐπῶν τῶν Πάμφω μαθοῦσα Ἄδωνιν ὁμοῦ καὶ Οἰτόλινον ᾖσεν. Θηβαῖοι δὲ λέγουσι παρὰ σφίσι ταφῆναι τὸν Λίνον, καὶ ὡς μετὰ τὸ πταῖσμα τὸ ἐν Χαιρωνείᾳ τὸ Ἑλληνικὸν Φίλιππος ὁ Ἀμύντου κατὰ δή τινα ὄψιν ὀνείρατος τὰ ὀστᾶ ἀνελόμενος τοῦ Λίνου κομίσειεν ἐς Μακεδονίαν·
ἐκεῖνον μὲν δὴ αὖθις ἐξ ἐνυπνίων ἄλλων ὀπίσω τοῦ Λίνου τὰ ὀστᾶ ἐς Θήβας ἀποστεῖλαι, τὰ δὲ ἐπιθήματα τοῦ τάφου, καὶ ὅσα σημεῖα ἄλλα ἦν, ἀνὰ χρόνον φασὶν ἀφανισθῆναι. λέγεται δὲ καὶ ἄλλα τοιάδε ὑπὸ Θηβαίων, ὡς τοῦ Λίνου τούτου γένοιτο ὕστερον ἕτερος Λίνος καλούμενος Ἰσμηνίου καὶ ὡς Ἡρακλῆς ἔτι παῖς ὢν ἀποκτείνειεν αὐτὸν διδάσκαλον μουσικῆς ὄντα. ἔπη δὲ οὔτε ὁ Ἀμφιμάρου Λίνος οὔτε ὁ τούτου γενόμενος ὕστερον ἐποίησαν· ἢ καὶ ποιηθέντα ἐς τοὺς ἔπειτα οὐκ ἦλθεν.
They say that the first who sacrificed to the Muses on Helicon, and called the mountain sacred to the Muses, were Ephialtes and Otus: they also, it is said, founded Ascra. To this the poet Hegesinus refers in his Atthis :— And with Ascra lay the Earth-shaking Poseidon, And she, when the revolving year came round, bore him a son Oeoclus, who first with the children of Aloeus founded Ascra, which lies at the foot of Helicon, where springs abound. This poem of Hegesinus I have not read: it was lost before my time ; but the verses are quoted as evidence by Callipus of Corinth in his history of Orchomenus, and I have profited by his information to do the same. Of Ascra nothing worth mentioning was left in my time except one tower.
The sons of Aloeus believed that the Muses were three in number, and the names they gave them were Melete (‘practice’), Mneme (‘memory’), Aoede (‘song’). But they say that afterwards Pierus, a Macedonian, who gave his name to the mountain in Macedonia, came to Thespiae and introduced nine Muses, and changed their names to those which they now bear. These views Pierus adopted, either because they seemed to him wiser, or because an oracle commanded him to do so, or because he learned them from one of the Thracians. For of yore the Thracians had the reputation of being a more gifted race than the Macedonians, and especially of not being so careless in matters of religion. But some say that Pierus had nine daughters, and that their names were those of the goddesses, and that all whom the Greeks called sons of the Muses were sons of the daughters of Pierus. In the preamble to the elegy which Mimnermus composed on the battle fought by the Smyrnaeans against Gyges and the Lydians, he says that the elder Muses are daughters of Sky, and that there are younger Muses, daughters of Zeus.
On Helicon, as you go to the grove of the Muses, you see on the left the spring Aganippe : they say that Aganippe was a daughter of the Termesus, which flows round Helicon. On the straight road to the grove you come to a likeness of Eupheme carved in relief on a stone: they say she was the Muses’ nurse. After her likeness there is a portrait of Linus on a small rock cut to resemble a grotto: they sacrifice to him as to a hero every year before they sacrifice to the Muses. It is said that this Linus was a son of Urania and Amphimarus, son of Poseidon, and that he gained a greater reputation for music than all his predecessors and contemporaries, and was slain by Apollo for vying with him in song. When Linus died the lamentation for him spread, it appears, to all foreign lands, so that with the Egyptians also he passed into a song, which in their native tongue they call Maneros. As to the Greek poets, Homer knew that the sufferings of Linus were the theme of a Greek song ; so among the scenes which he says Hephaestus wrought on the shield of Achilles is a minstrel boy singing the song of Linus:— And in their midst a boy upon a clear-toned harp Played charmingly, and as he played he sang of Linus fair. Pamphos, author of the oldest Athenian hymns, called him Oetolinus (‘doomed Linus’) at the time when the mourning for him was at its height. Sappho the Lesbian, borrowing the name of Oetolinus from the poem of Pamphos, sang of Adonis and Oetolinus together. The Thebans say that Linus was buried in their land, and that after the defeat of the Greeks at Chaeronea, Philip, son of Amyntas, in obedience to a vision of a dream, took up his bones and brought them to Macedonia, but that afterwards, in consequence of other dreams, he sent them back to Thebes. However, the tombstone, they say, and all the other marks of the grave have disappeared in course of time. The Thebans further aver that after this Linus there was another Linus called the son of Ismenius, that he was a teacher of music, and that Hercules in his boyhood killed him. Neither Linus, son of Amphimarus, nor the later Linus, composed poems ; or if they did, the poems have not come down to posterity.
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