Κέως δὲ τετράπολις μὲν ὑπῆρξε, λείπονται δὲ δύο, ἥ τε Ἰουλὶς καὶ ἡ Καρθαία, εἰς ἃς συνεπολίσθησαν αἱ λοιπαί, ἡ μὲν Ποιήεσσα εἰς τὴν Καρθαίαν ἡ δὲ Κορησία εἰς τὴν Ἰουλίδα. ἐκ δὲ τῆς Ἰουλίδος ὅ τε Σιμωνίδης ἦν ὁ μελοποιὸς καὶ Βακχυλίδης ἀδελφιδοῦς ἐκείνου, καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα Ἐρασίστρατος ὁ ἰατρὸς καὶ τῶν ἐκ τοῦ περιπάτου φιλοσόφων Ἀρίστων ὁ τοῦ Βορυσθενίτου Βίωνος ζηλωτής. παρὰ τούτοις δὲ δοκεῖ τεθῆναί ποτε νόμος, οὗ μέμνηται καὶ Μένανδρος καλὸν τὸ Κείων νόμιμόν ἐστι, Φανία· / ὁ μὴ δυνάμενος ζῆν καλῶς οὐ ζῇ κακῶς. / προσέταττε γάρ, ὡς ἔοικεν, ὁ νόμος τοὺς ὑπὲρ ἑξήκοντα ἔτη γεγονότας κωνειάζεσθαι καὶ τοῦ διαρκεῖν τοῖς ἄλλοις τὴν τροφήν· καὶ πολιορκουμένους δέ ποτε ὑπʼ Ἀθηναίων ψηφίσασθαί φασι τοὺς πρεσβυτάτους ἐξ αὐτῶν ἀποθανεῖν, ὁρισθέντος πλήθους ἐτῶν, τοὺς δὲ παύσασθαι πολιορκοῦντας. κεῖται δʼ ἐν ὄρει τῆς θαλάττης διέχουσα ἡ πόλις ὅσον πέντε καὶ εἴκοσι σταδίους, ἐπίνειον δʼ ἐστὶν αὐτῆς τὸ χωρίον ἐν ᾧ ἵδρυτο ἡ Κορησία κατοικίαν οὐδὲ κώμης ἔχουσα. ἔστι δὲ καὶ πρὸς τῇ Κορησίᾳ Σμινθαίου Ἀπόλλωνος ἱερὸν καὶ πρὸς Ποιηέσσῃ, μεταξὺ δὲ τοῦ ἱεροῦ καὶ τῶν τῆς Ποιηέσσης ἐρειπίων τὸ τῆς Νεδουσίας Ἀθηνᾶς ἱερόν, ἱδρυσαμένου Νέστορος κατὰ τὴν ἐκ Τροίας ἐπάνοδον. ἔστι δὲ καὶ Ἔλιξος ποταμὸς περὶ τὴν Κορησίαν.
Ceos once contained four cities. Two remain, Iulis and Carthae, to which the inhabitants of the others were transferred; those of Poaeëssa to Carthae, and those of Coressia to Iulis. Simonides the lyric poet, and Bacchylides his nephew, and after their times Erasistratus the physician, and Ariston the Peripatetic philosopher, the imitator of Bion, the Borysthenite, were natives of this city.
There was an ancient law among these people, mentioned by Menander. Phanias, that is a good law of the Ceans; who cannot live comfortably (or well), let him not live miserably (or ill). For the law, it seems, ordained that those above sixty years old should be compelled to drink hemlock, in order that there might be sufficient food for the rest. It is said that once when they were besieged by the Athenians, a decree was passed to the effect that the oldest persons, fixing the age, should be put to death, and that the besiegers retired in consequence.
The city lies on a mountain, at a distance from the sea of about 25 stadia. Its arsenal is the place on which Coressia was built, which does not contain the population even of a village. Near the Coressian territory and Poeëessa is a temple of Apollo Sminthius. But between the temple and the ruins of Poeëessa is the temple of Minerva Nedusia, built by Nestor, on his return from Troy. The river Elixus runs around the territory of Coressia.
μετὰ δὲ ταύτην Νάξος καὶ Ἄνδρος ἀξιόλογοι καὶ Πάρος· ἐντεῦθεν ἦν Ἀρχίλοχος ὁ ποιητής. ὑπὸ δὲ Παρίων ἐκτίσθη Θάσος καὶ Πάριον ἐν τῇ Προποντίδι πόλις. ἐν ταύτῃ μὲν οὖν ὁ βωμὸς λέγεται θέας ἄξιος, σταδιαίας ἔχων τὰς πλευράς· ἐν δὲ τῇ Πάρῳ ἡ Παρία λίθος λεγομένη ἀρίστη πρὸς τὴν μαρμαρογλυφίαν.
After Ceos are Naxos and Andros, considerable islands, and Paros, the birth-place of the poet Archilochus. Thasos was founded by Parians, and Parium, a city in the Propontis. In this last place there is said to be an altar worthy of notice, each of whose sides is a stadium in length. In Paros is obtained the Parian marble, the best adapted for statuary work.
Σῦρος δʼ ἐστὶ μηκύνουσι τὴν πρώτην συλλαβήν, ἐξ ἧς Φερεκύδης ὁ Βάβυος ἦν· νεώτερος δʼ ἐστὶν ὁ Ἀθηναῖος ἐκείνου. ταύτης δοκεῖ μνημονεύειν ὁ ποιητὴς Συρίην καλῶν νῆσός τις Συρίη κικλήσκεται / Ὀρτυγίης καθύπερθε. /
Here also is Syros, (the first syllable is long,) where Pherecydes the son of Babys was born. The Athenian Pherecydes is younger than the latter person. The poet seems to have mentioned this island under the name of Syria; above Ortygia is an island called Syria. /
Μύκονος δʼ ἐστὶν ὑφʼ ᾗ μυθεύουσι κεῖσθαι τῶν γιγάντων τοὺς ὑστάτους ὑφʼ Ἡρακλέους καταλυθέντας, ἀφʼ ὧν ἡ παροιμία πάνθʼ ὑπὸ μίαν Μύκονον ἐπὶ τῶν ὑπὸ μίαν ἐπιγραφὴν ἀγόντων καὶ τὰ διηρτημένα τῇ φύσει. καὶ τοὺς φαλακροὺς δέ τινες Μυκονίους καλοῦσιν ἀπὸ τοῦ τὸ πάθος τοῦτο ἐπιχωριάζειν τῇ νήσῳ.
Myconus is an island beneath which, according to the mythologists, lie the last of the giants, destroyed by Hercules; whence the proverb, all under one Myconus, applied to persons who collect under one title things that are disjoined by nature. Some also call bald persons Miconians, because baldness is frequent among the inhabitants of the island.
Σέριφος δʼ ἐστὶν ἐν ᾗ τὰ περὶ τὸν Δίκτυν μεμύθευται τὸν ἀνελκύσαντα τὴν λάρνακα τοῖς δικτύοις τὴν περιέχουσαν τὸν Περσέα καὶ τὴν μητέρα Δανάην, καταπεποντωμένους ὑπʼ Ἀκρισίου τοῦ πατρὸς τῆς Δανάης· τραφῆναί τε γὰρ ἐνταῦθα τὸν Περσέα φασί, καὶ κομίσαντα τὴν τῆς Γοργόνος κεφαλήν, δείξαντα τοῖς Σεριφίοις ἀπολιθῶσαι πάντας· τοῦτο δὲ πρᾶξαι τιμωροῦντα τῇ μητρί, ὅτι αὐτὴν Πολυδέκτης ὁ βασιλεὺς ἄκουσαν ἄγεσθαι προείλετο πρὸς γάμον συμπραττόντων ἐκείνων. οὕτω δʼ ἐστὶ πετρώδης ἡ νῆσος ὥστε ὑπὸ τῆς Γοργόνος τοῦτο παθεῖν αὐτήν φασιν οἱ κωμῳδοῦντες.
Seriphos is the island where is laid the scene of the fable of Dictys, who drew to land in his net the chest in which were enclosed Perseus and his mother Danaë, who were thrown into the sea by order of Acrisius, the father of Danaë. There it is said Perseus was brought up, and to this island he brought the head of the Gorgon; he exhibited it to the Seriphians, and turned them all into stone. This he did to avenge the wrongs of his mother, because their king Polydectes, with the assistance of his subjects, desired to make her his wife by force. Seriphus abounds so much with rocks, that they say in jest that it was the work of the Gorgon.
τῆνος δὲ πόλιν μὲν οὐ μεγάλην ἔχει, τὸ δʼ ἱερὸν τοῦ Ποσειδῶνος μέγα ἐν ἄλσει τῆς πόλεως ἔξω θέας ἄξιον, ἐν ᾧ καὶ ἑστιατόρια πεποίηται μεγάλα, σημεῖον τοῦ συνέρχεσθαι πλῆθος ἱκανὸν τῶν συνθυόντων αὐτοῖς ἀστυγειτόνων τὰ Ποσειδώνια.
Tenos has a small city, but there is, in a grove beyond it, a large temple of Neptune worthy of notice. It contains large banqueting rooms, a proof of the great multitudes that repair thither from the neighbouring places to celebrate a feast, and to perform a common sacrifice in honour of Neptune.
ἔστι δὲ καὶ Ἀμοργὸς τῶν Σποράδων, ὅθεν ἦν Σιμωνίδης ὁ τῶν ἰάμβων ποιητής, καὶ Λέβινθος καὶ Λέρος […] καὶ τόδε Φωκυλίδου· Λέριοι κακοί, οὐχ ὁ μὲν ὃς δʼ οὔ, / πάντες, πλὴν Προκλέους, καὶ Προκλέης Λέριος. / διεβέβληντο γὰρ ὡς κακοήθεις οἱ ἐνθένδε ἄνθρωποι.
To the Sporades belongs Amorgos, the birth-place of Simonides, the Iambic poet; Lebinthus also, and Leria (Leros). Phocylides refers to Leria in these lines; the Lerians are bad, not some, but all, except Procles; but Procies is a Lerian; for the Lerians are reputed to have bad dispositions.
πλησίον δʼ ἐστὶ καὶ ἡ Πάτμος καὶ Κορασσίαι πρὸς δύσιν κείμεναι τῇ Ἰκαρίᾳ, αὕτη δὲ Σάμῳ. ἡ μὲν οὖν Ἰκαρία ἔρημός ἐστι, νομὰς δʼ ἔχει καὶ χρῶνται αὐταῖς Σάμιοι· τοιαύτη δʼ οὖσα ἔνδοξος ὅμως ἐστί, καὶ ἀπʼ αὐτῆς Ἰκάριον καλεῖται τὸ προκείμενον πέλαγος, ἐν ᾧ καὶ αὐτὴ καὶ Σάμος καὶ Κῶς ἐστι καὶ αἱ ἄρτι λεχθεῖσαι Κορασσίαι καὶ Πάτμος καὶ Λέρος. συνάπτει δὲ τῷ Ἰκαρίῳ τὸ Καρπάθιον πέλαγος πρὸς νότον, τούτῳ δὲ τὸ Αἰγύπτιον, πρὸς δὲ δύσιν τό τε Κρητικὸν καὶ τὸ Λιβυκόν.
Near these islands are Patmos, and the Corassia, islands, situated to the west of Icaria, as the latter is with respect to Samos.
Icaria has no inhabitants, but it has pastures, of which the Samians avail themselves. Notwithstanding its condition it is famous, and gives the name of Icarian to the sea in front of it, in which are situated Samos, Cos, and the islands just mentioned, the Corassiae, Patmos, and Leros [in Samos is the mountain the Cerceteus, more celebrated than the Ampelus, which overhangs the city of the Samians]. Continuous to the Icarian sea, towards the south, is the Carpathian sea, and the Aegyptian sea to this; to the west are the Cretan and African seas.
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