Ὀρχομενίοις δὲ πεποίηται καὶ Διονύσου, τὸ δὲ ἀρχαιότατον Χαρίτων ἐστὶν ἱερόν. τὰς μὲν δὴ πέτρας σέβουσί τε μάλιστα καὶ τῷ Ἐτεοκλεῖ αὐτὰς πεσεῖν ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ φασιν· τὰ δὲ ἀγάλματα τὰ σὺν κόσμῳ πεποιημένα ἀνετέθη μὲν ἐπʼ ἐμοῦ, λίθου δέ ἐστι καὶ ταῦτα.
ἔστι δέ σφισι καὶ κρήνη θέας ἀξία· καταβαίνουσι δὲ ἐς αὐτὴν ὕδωρ οἴσοντες. θησαυρὸς δὲ ὁ Μινύου, θαῦμα ὂν τῶν ἐν Ἑλλάδι αὐτῇ καὶ τῶν ἑτέρωθι οὐδενὸς ὕστερον, πεποίηται τρόπον τοιόνδε· λίθου μὲν εἴργασται, σχῆμα δὲ περιφερές ἐστιν αὐτῷ, κορυφὴ δὲ οὐκ ἐς ἄγαν ὀξὺ ἀνηγμένη· τὸν δὲ ἀνωτάτω τῶν λίθων φασὶν ἁρμονίαν παντὶ εἶναι τῷ οἰκοδομήματι.
τάφοι δὲ Μινύου τε καὶ Ἡσιόδου· καταδέξασθαι δέ φασιν οὕτω τοῦ Ἡσιόδου τὰ ὀστᾶ. νόσου καταλαμβανούσης λοιμώδους καὶ ἀνθρώπους καὶ τὰ βοσκήματα ἀποστέλλουσι θεωροὺς παρὰ τὸν θεόν· τούτοις δὲ ἀποκρίνασθαι λέγουσι τὴν Πυθίαν, Ἡσιόδου τὰ ὀστᾶ ἐκ τῆς Ναυπακτίας ἀγαγοῦσιν ἐς τὴν Ὀρχομενίαν, ἄλλο δὲ εἶναί σφισιν οὐδὲν ἴαμα. τότε δὲ ἐπερέσθαι δεύτερα, ὅπου τῆς Ναυπακτίας αὐτὰ ἐξευρήσουσι· καὶ αὖθις τὴν Πυθίαν εἰπεῖν ὡς μηνύσοι κορώνη σφίσιν.
οὕτω τοῖς θεοπρόποις ἀποβᾶσιν ἐς τὴν γῆν πέτραν τε οὐ πόρρω τῆς ὁδοῦ καὶ τὴν ὄρνιθα ἐπὶ τῇ πέτρᾳ φασὶν ὀφθῆναι· καὶ τοῦ Ἡσιόδου δὲ τὰ ὀστᾶ εὗρον ἐν χηραμῷ τῆς πέτρας. καὶ ἐλεγεῖα ἐπὶ τῷ μνήματι ἐπεγέγραπτο· Ἄσκρη μὲν πατρὶς πολυλήιος, ἀλλὰ θανόντος / ὀστέα πληξίππων γῆ Μινυῶν κατέχει / Ἡσιόδου, τοῦ πλεῖστον ἐν Ἑλλάδι κῦδος ὀρεῖται / ἀνδρῶν κρινομένων ἐν βασάνῳ σοφίης. /
περὶ δὲ Ἀκταίωνος λεγόμενα ἦν Ὀρχομενίοις λυμαίνεσθαι τὴν γῆν πέτρας ἔχον εἴδωλον· ὡς δὲ ἐχρῶντο ἐν Δελφοῖς, κελεύει σφίσιν ὁ θεὸς ἀνευρόντας εἴ τι ἦν Ἀκταίωνος λοιπὸν κρύψαι γῇ, κελεύει δὲ καὶ τοῦ εἰδώλου χαλκῆν ποιησαμένους εἰκόνα πρὸς πέτρᾳ σιδήρῳ δῆσαι. τοῦτο καὶ αὐτὸς δεδεμένον τὸ ἄγαλμα εἶδον· καὶ τῷ Ἀκταίωνι ἐναγίζουσιν ἀνὰ πᾶν ἔτος.
σταδίους δὲ ἀφέστηκεν ἑπτὰ Ὀρχομενοῦ ναός τε Ἡρακλέους καὶ ἄγαλμα οὐ μέγα. ἐνταῦθα τοῦ ποταμοῦ τοῦ Μέλανός εἰσιν αἱ πηγαί, καὶ ὁ Μέλας ἐς λίμνην καὶ οὗτος τὴν Κηφισίδα ἐκδίδωσιν. ἐπέχει μὲν δὴ καὶ ἄλλως τῆς Ὀρχομενίας τὸ πολὺ ἡ λίμνη, χειμῶνος δὲ ὥρᾳ νότου τὰ πλείω πνεύσαντος ἔπεισιν ἐπὶ πλέον τῆς χώρας τὸ ὕδωρ.
Θηβαῖοι δὲ τὸν ποταμὸν τὸν Κηφισόν φασιν ὑπὸ Ἡρακλέους ἐς τὸ πεδίον ἀποστραφῆναι τὸ Ὀρχομένιον· τέως δὲ αὐτὸν ὑπὸ τὸ ὄρος ἐς θάλασσαν ἐξιέναι, πρὶν ἢ τὸν Ἡρακλέα τὸ χάσμα ἐμφράξαι τὸ διὰ τοῦ ὄρους. ἐπίσταται μὲν οὖν καὶ Ὅμηρος λίμνην ἄλλως τὴν Κηφισίδα οὖσαν καὶ οὐχ ὑπὸ Ἡρακλέους πεποιημένην, καὶ ἐπὶ τῷδε εἴρηκε λίμνῃ κεκλιμένος Κηφισίδι· /
ἔχει δὲ οὐδὲ εἰκότα λόγον τοὺς Ὀρχομενίους μὴ καὶ τὸ χάσμα ἐξευρεῖν καὶ τοῦ Ἡρακλέους ἀναρρήξαντας τὸ ἔργον ἀποδοῦναι τὴν διέξοδον τῷ Κηφισῷ τὴν ἀρχαίαν, ἐπεὶ μηδὲ ἄχρι τῶν Τρωικῶν χρήμασιν ἀδυνάτως εἶχον. μαρτυρεῖ δέ μοι καὶ Ὄμηρος ἐν Ἀχιλλέως ἀποκρίσει πρὸς τοὺς παρὰ Ἀγαμέμνονος πρέσβεις· οὐδʼ ὅσʼ ἐς Ὀρχομενὸν ποτινίσσεται, / δῆλα δήπουθεν ὡς καὶ τότε προσιόντων τοῖς Ὀρχομενίοις χρημάτων πολλῶν.
Ἀσπληδόνα δὲ ἐκλιπεῖν τοὺς οἰκήτοράς φασιν ὕδατος σπανίζοντος· γενέσθαι δὲ τὸ ὄνομα ἀπὸ Ἀσπληδόνος τῇ πόλει, τοῦτον δὲ εἶναι νύμφης τε Μιδείας καὶ Ποσειδῶνος. ὁμολογεῖ δὲ καὶ ἔπη σφίσιν ἃ ἐποίησε Χερσίας, ἀνὴρ Ὀρχομένιος· ἐκ δὲ Ποσειδάωνος ἀγακλειτῆς τε Μιδείης / Ἀσπληδὼν γένεθʼ υἱὸς ἀνʼ εὐρύχορον πτολίεθρον. /
τοῦδε τοῦ Χερσίου τῶν ἐπῶν οὐδεμία ἦν ἔτι κατʼ ἐμὲ μνήμη, ἀλλὰ καὶ τάδε ἐπηγάγετο ὁ Κάλλιππος ἐς τὸν αὐτὸν λόγον τὸν ἔχοντα ἐς Ὀρχομενίους· τούτου δὲ τοῦ Χερσίου καὶ ἐπίγραμμα οἱ Ὀρχομένιοι τὸ ἐπὶ τῷ Ἡσιόδου τάφῳ μνημονεύουσιν.
At Orchomenus there has been made . . . and of Dionysus ; but the oldest sanctuary is that of the Graces. They worship the natural stones most, and say that they fell to Eteocles from heaven. The artificial images were dedicated in my time, and they too are of stone.
There is also a fountain at Orchomenus which is worth seeing: they go down into it to draw water. The treasury of Minyas, than which there is no greater marvel either in Greece or elsewhere, is constructed as follows:—It is made of stone: its form is circular, rising to a somewhat blunt top, and they say that the topmost stone is the keystone of the whole building.
And there are graves of Minyas and Hesiod. They say that they recovered the bones of Hesiod in the following way. A plague had fallen on man and beast, so they sent envoys to the god. The Pythian priestess, they say, answered the envoys that their only remedy was to bring back the bones of Hesiod from the land of Naupactus to the land of Orchomenus. The envoys next inquired in what part of the Naupactian territory they should find the bones, and the Pythian priestess answered them again that a crow would show them the spot. So when the messengers had landed, they saw, it is said, a rock not far from the road with the bird perched on it; and they found the bones of Hesiod in a cleft of the rock. And some elegiac verses are inscribed on the tomb :— Ascra with the many corn-fields was his father-land, but after his death The land of the horse-beating Minyans holds the bones Of Hesiod, whose glory will rise highest in Greece When men are judged by the test of genius. 4. As to Actaeon the Orchomenians tell the following story. A spectre with a stone in its hand ravaged the land, and when they inquired at Delphi, the god bade them find out anything that was left of Actaeon and bury it. He bade them also make a bronze likeness of the spectre, and clamp it with iron to a rock. This image so fastened I saw myself. They sacrifice to Actaeon as to a hero every year. 5. Seven furlongs from Orchomenus is a temple of Hercules with a small image. Here are the springs of the river Melas, which is another of the streams that fall into the Cephisian Lake. Most of the territory of Orchomenus is covered at any season by the lake ; but in winter, when the south wind generally prevails, the water encroaches still farther on the land. The Thebans say that the river Cephisus was diverted by Hercules into the plain of Orchomenus, but that formerly it had passed out under the mountain into the sea, until Hercules blocked up the chasm through the mountain. But Homer knew that the Cephisian Lake existed of itself, and was not made by Hercules, and therefore he says :— Sloping to the Cephisian Lake. 6. And it is improbable that the Orchomenians should not have found out the chasm, and by breaking down the work erected by Hercules have restored to the Cephisus its ancient passage, especially as they were opulent as late as the Trojan war. This is proved by Homer in the reply of Achilles to the ambassadors of Agamemnon :— Nor all the wealth that flows into Orchomenus, which clearly implies that even then the revenues of Orchomenus were great. They say that Aspledon was abandoned by its inhabitants for lack of water. The name of the city is said to have been derived from Aspledon, a son of the nymph Midea and Poseidon. With this agree the verses of Chersias, an Orchomenian :— To Poseidon and famous Midea Was born a son Aspledon in the spacious city. 10. The poetry of Chersias is now lost, but these verses also are quoted by Callippus in the same work of his on Orchomenus. The Orchomenians attribute to this Chersias the epigram inscribed on Hesiod’s grave.
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