ἐν Ἁλιάρτῳ δὲ τοῦ τε Λυσάνδρου μνῆμα καὶ Κέκροπος τοῦ Πανδίονός ἐστιν ἡρῷον. τὸ δὲ ὄρος τὸ Τιλφούσιον καὶ ἡ Τιλφοῦσα καλουμένη πηγὴ σταδίους μάλιστα Ἁλιάρτου πεντήκοντα ἀπέχουσι. λέγεται δὲ ὑπὸ Ἑλλήνων Ἀργείους μετὰ τῶν Πολυνείκους παίδων ἑλόντας Θήβας ἐς Δελφοὺς τῷ θεῷ καὶ ἄλλα τῶν λαφύρων καὶ Τειρεσίαν ἄγειν, καὶ—εἴχετο γὰρ δίψῃ—καθʼ ὁδόν φασιν αὐτὸν πιόντα ἀπὸ τῆς Τιλφούσης ἀφεῖναι τὴν ψυχήν· καὶ ἔστι τάφος αὐτῷ πρὸς τῇ πηγῇ.
τὴν δὲ θυγατέρα τοῦ Τειρεσίου δοθῆναι μέν φασι τῷ Ἀπόλλωνι ὑπὸ τῶν Ἀργείων, προστάξαντος δὲ τοῦ θεοῦ ναυσὶν ἐς τὴν νῦν Ἰωνίαν καὶ Ἰωνίας ἐς τὴν Κολοφωνίαν περαιωθῆναι. καὶ ἡ μὲν αὐτόθι συνῴκησεν ἡ Μαντὼ Ῥακίῳ Κρητί· τὰ δὲ ἄλλα ἐς Τειρεσίαν, ἐτῶν τε ἀριθμὸν ὧν γεγράφασιν αὐτὸν βιῶναι καὶ ὡς ἐκ γυναικὸς ἐς ἄνδρα ἠλλάγη καὶ ὅτι Ὅμηρος ἐποίησεν ἐν Ὀδυσσείᾳ συνετὸν εἶναι γνώμην Τειρεσίαν τῶν ἐν Ἅιδου μόνον, ταῦτα μὲν καὶ οἱ πάντες ἴσασιν ἀκοῇ.
Ἁλιαρτίοις δέ ἐστιν ἐν ὑπαίθρῳ θεῶν ἱερὸν ἃς Πραξιδίκας καλοῦσιν· ἐνταῦθα ὀμνύουσι μέν, ποιοῦνται δὲ οὐκ ἐπίδρομον τὸν ὅρκον. ταύταις μέν ἐστι πρὸς τῷ ὄρει τῷ Τιλφουσίῳ τὸ ἱερόν· ἐν Ἁλιάρτῳ δέ εἰσι ναοί, καί σφισιν οὐκ ἀγάλματα ἔνεστιν, οὐκ ὄροφος ἔπεστιν· οὐ μὴν οὐδὲ οἷς τισιν ἐποιήθησαν, οὐδὲ τοῦτο ἠδυνάμην πυθέσθαι.
ἔστι δὲ ἐν τῇ Ἁλιαρτίᾳ ποταμὸς Λόφις. λέγεται δὲ τῆς χώρας αὐχμηρᾶς οὔσης τὸ ἐξ ἀρχῆς καὶ ὕδατος οὐκ ὄντος ἐν αὐτῇ ἄνδρα τῶν δυναστευόντων ἐλθόντα ἐς Δελφοὺς ἐπερέσθαι τρόπον ὅντινα ὕδωρ εὑρήσουσιν ἐν τῇ γῇ· τὴν δὲ Πυθίαν προστάσσειν, ὃς ἂν ἐπανήκοντι ἐς Ἁλίαρτον ἐντύχῃ οἱ πρὸ τῶν ἄλλων, τούτου δεῖν φονέα γενέσθαι αὐτόν. ἐντυχεῖν τε δὴ αὐτῷ παραγενομένῳ τὸν υἱὸν Λόφιν καὶ τὸν οὐ μελλήσαντα τῷ ξίφει τὸν νεανίσκον παῖσαι· καὶ τὸν μὲν ἔτι ἔμπνουν περιθεῖν, ὅπου δὲ ῥυῆναι τὸ αἷμα, ὕδωρ ἐντεῦθεν ἀνεῖναι τὴν γῆν. ἐπὶ τούτῳ μὲν ὁ ποταμὸς καλεῖται Λόφις·
Ἀλαλκομεναὶ δὲ κώμη μέν ἐστιν οὐ μεγάλη, κεῖται δὲ ὄρους οὐκ ἄγαν ὑψηλοῦ πρὸς τοῖς ποσὶν ἐσχάτοις. γενέσθαι δὲ αὐτῇ τὸ ὄνομα οἱ μὲν ἀπὸ Ἀλαλκομενέως ἀνδρὸς αὐτόχθονος, ὑπὸ τούτου δὲ Ἀθηνᾶν τραφῆναι λέγουσιν· οἱ δὲ εἶναι καὶ τὴν Ἀλαλκομενίαν τῶν Ὠγύγου θυγατέρων φασίν. ἀπωτέρω δὲ τῆς κώμης ἐπεποίητο ἐν τῷ χθαμαλῷ τῆς Ἀθηνᾶς ναὸς καὶ ἄγαλμα ἀρχαῖον ἐλέφαντος.
Σύλλα δὲ ἔστι μὲν καὶ τὰ ἐς Ἀθηναίους ἀνήμερα καὶ ἤθους ἀλλότρια τοῦ Ῥωμαίων, ἐοικότα δὲ τούτοις καὶ τὰ ἐς Θηβαίους τε καὶ Ὀρχομενίους· προσεξειργάσατο δὲ καὶ ἐν ταῖς Ἀλαλκομεναῖς, τῆς Ἀθηνᾶς τὸ ἄγαλμα αὐτὸ συλήσας. τοῦτον μὲν τοιαῦτα ἔς τε Ἑλληνίδας πόλεις καὶ θεοὺς τοὺς Ἑλλήνων ἐκμανέντα ἐπέλαβεν ἀχαριστοτάτη νόσος πασῶν· φθειρῶν γὰρ ἤνθησεν, ἥ τε πρότερον εὐτυχία δοκοῦσα ἐς τοιοῦτο περιῆλθεν αὐτῷ τέλος. τὸ δὲ ἱερὸν τὸ ἐν ταῖς Ἀλαλκομεναῖς ἠμελήθη τὸ ἀπὸ τοῦδε ἅτε ἠρημωμένον τῆς θεοῦ.
ἐγένετο δὲ καὶ ἄλλο ἐπʼ ἐμοῦ τοιόνδε ἐς κατάλυσιν τοῦ ναοῦ· κισσός οἱ προσπεφυκὼς μέγας καὶ ἰσχυρὸς διέλυσεν ἐκ τῶν ἁρμονιῶν καὶ διέσπα τοὺς λίθους ἀπʼ ἀλλήλων. ῥεῖ δὲ καὶ ποταμὸς ἐνταῦθα οὐ μέγας χείμαρρος· ὀνομάζουσι δὲ Τρίτωνα αὐτόν, ὅτι τὴν Ἀθηνᾶν τραφῆναι παρὰ ποταμῷ Τρίτωνι ἔχει λόγος, ὡς δὴ τοῦτον τὸν Τρίτωνα ὄντα καὶ οὐχὶ τὸν Λιβύων, ὃς ἐς τὴν πρὸς Λιβύῃ θάλασσαν ἐκδίδωσιν ἐκ τῆς Τριτωνίδος λίμνης.
In Haliartus there is the tomb of Lysander, and a shrine of the hero Cecrops, son of Pandion. Mount Tilphusius and the spring called Tilphusa are distant just fifty furlongs from Haliartus. The Greeks say that when the Argives, along with the sons of Polynices, had captured Thebes, and were taking Tiresias with some more of the spoil to the god at Delphi, Tiresias was athirst, and having drunk by the way of the spring Tilphusa, he gave up the ghost; and his grave is at the spring. However, they say that his daughter Manto was bestowed by the Argives on Apollo, but that at the god’s command she crossed the sea to the district of Colophon in what is now Ionia. There she married Rhacius, a Cretan. The rest of the history of Tiresias, the number of the years which he is recorded to have lived, how he was changed from a woman into a man, and how Homer in the Odyssey represents him as the only man of understanding in hell—all this every one has heard of.
At Haliartus there is in the open air a sanctuary of the goddesses, whom they call Praxidicae (‘exactors of punishment’). Here the Haliartians swear, but the oath is not one that they take lightly. The sanctuary of these goddesses is at Mount Tilphusius. There are temples in Haliartus without images and without roofs: I could not even learn to whom these temples were erected.
In the territory of Haliartus there is a river Lophis. It is said that the district being originally parched and waterless, one of the rulers went to Delphi and inquired how they should find water in the land. The Pythian priestess commanded him to slay the first person he should meet on his return to Haliartus. On his arrival he was met by his son Lophis, and, without hesitation, he struck the young man with his sword. The youth had life enough left to run about, and where the blood flowed water gushed from the ground. Therefore the river is called Lophis.
Alalcomenae is a small village situated just at the foot of a not very high mountain. Some say that the name is derived from Alalcomeneus, an aboriginal, who brought up Athena. Others say that Alalcomenia was one of the daughters of Ogygus. On the level ground at some distance from the village is a temple of Athena with an ancient ivory image. Sulla’s treatment of Athens was harsh and alien to the Roman character, and his treatment of Thebes and Orchomenus was similar ; but he committed yet another outrage at Alalcomenae by carrying off the very image of Athena. But after perpetrating these frantic outrages on Greek cities and Greek gods he was overtaken by the most loathsome of diseases : lice broke out over his body, and that was the miserable end of what the world had once esteemed his good fortune. Henceforth the sanctuary at Alalcomenae, bereft of its goddess, was neglected. In my time another circumstance contributed to the dilapidation of the temple. A great strong ivy-tree growing on the walls loosened the jointing of the stones and was rending them asunder.
Here, too, there flows a small torrent. They name it the Triton, because there is a story that Athena was brought up beside a river Triton, which they suppose to be this Triton, and not the river in Libya which issues from the Tritonian lake and falls into the Libyan Sea.
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