ἄλλη δʼ ἄλλων γλῶσσα μεμιγμένη / φησὶν ὁ ποιητής ἐν μὲν Ἀχαιοί, / ἐν δʼ Ἐτεόκρητες μεγαλήτορες, ἐν δὲ Κύδωνες, / Δωριέες τε τριχάικες δῖοί τε Πελασγοί. / τούτων φησὶ Στάφυλος τὸ μὲν πρὸς ἕω Δωριεῖς κατέχειν, τὸ δὲ δυσμικὸν Κύδωνας, τὸ νότιον Ἐτεόκρητας, ὧν εἶναι πολίχνιον Πρᾶσον, ὅπου τὸ τοῦ Δικταίου Διὸς ἱερόν· τοὺς δʼ ἄλλους ἰσχύοντας πλέον οἰκῆσαι τὰ πεδία. τοὺς μὲν οὖν Ἐτεόκρητας καὶ τοὺς Κύδωνας αὐτόχθονας ὑπάρξαι εἰκός, τοὺς δὲ λοιποὺς ἐπήλυδας, οὓς ἐκ Θετταλίας φησὶν ἐλθεῖν Ἄνδρων τῆς Δωρίδος μὲν πρότερον νῦν δὲ Ἑστιαιώτιδος λεγομένης· ἐξ ἧς ὡρμήθησαν, ὥς φησιν, οἱ περὶ τὸν Παρνασσὸν οἰκήσαντες Δωριεῖς καὶ ἔκτισαν τήν τε Ἐρινεὸν καὶ Βοιὸν καὶ Κυτίνιον, ἀφʼ οὗ καὶ τριχάικες ὑπὸ τοῦ ποιητοῦ λέγονται. οὐ πάνυ δὲ τὸν τοῦ Ἄνδρωνος λόγον ἀποδέχονται, τὴν μὲν τετράπολιν Δωρίδα τρίπολιν ἀποφαίνοντος, τὴν δὲ μητρόπολιν τῶν Δωριέων ἄποικον Θετταλῶν· τριχάικας δὲ δέχονται ἤτοι ἀπὸ τῆς τριλοφίας ἢ ἀπὸ τοῦ τριχίνους εἶναι τοὺς λόφους.
One language is intermixed with another, says the poet; there are in Crete, Achaei, the brave Eteocretans, Cydones, Dorians divided into three bands, and the divine Pelasgi. Of these people, says Staphylus, the Dorians occupy the eastern parts of the island, Cydonians the western, Eteocretans the southern, to whom Prasus, a small town, belonged, where is the temple of the Dictaean Jupiter; the other nations, being more powerful, inhabited the plains. It is probable that the Eteocretans and Cydonians were aboriginal inhabitants, and that the others were foreigners, who Andron says came from Thessaly, formerly called Doris, but now Hestiaeotis, from which country he says the Dorians, who were settled about Parnassus, migrated, and founded Erineum, Boeum, and Cytinium, whence they are called by the poet Trichaïces, or tripartite. But the account of Andron is not generally admitted, who represents the Tetrapolis Doris as composed of three cities, and the metropolis of the Dorians as a colony of Thessalians. The epithet Trichaïces is understood to be derived either from their wearing a triple crest, or from having crests of hair.
πόλεις δʼ εἰσὶν ἐν τῇ Κρήτῃ πλείους μέν, μέγισται δὲ καὶ ἐπιφανέσταται τρεῖς, Κνωσσὸς Γόρτυνα Κυδωνία. διαφερόντως δὲ τὴν Κνωσσὸν καὶ Ὅμηρος ὑμνεῖ μεγάλην καλῶν καὶ βασίλειον τοῦ Μίνω καὶ οἱ ὕστερον. καὶ δὴ καὶ διετέλεσε μέχρι πολλοῦ φερομένη τὰ πρῶτα, εἶτα ἐταπεινώθη καὶ πολλὰ τῶν νομίμων ἀφῃρέθη, μετέστη δὲ τὸ ἀξίωμα εἴς τε Γόρτυναν καὶ Λύττον, ὕστερον δʼ ἀνέλαβε πάλιν τὸ παλαιὸν σχῆμα τὸ τῆς μητροπόλεως. κεῖται δʼ ἐν πεδίῳ κύκλον ἔχουσα ἡ Κνωσσὸς τὸν ἀρχαῖον τριάκοντα σταδίων, μεταξὺ τῆς Λυκτίας καὶ τῆς Γορτυνίας, σταδίους διακοσίους, τῆς δὲ Λύττου, ἣν ὁ ποιητὴς Λύκτον ὠνόμασεν, ἑκατὸν εἴκοσι· τῆς δὲ θαλάττης Κνωσσὸς μὲν τῆς βορείου πέντε καὶ εἴκοσι, Γόρτυνα δὲ τῆς Λιβυκῆς ἐνενήκοντα, Λύττος δὲ καὶ αὐτὴ τῆς Λιβυκῆς ὀγδοήκοντα. ἔχει δʼ ἐπίνειον τὸ Ἡράκλειον ἡ Κνωσσός.
There are many cities in Crete, but the largest and most distinguished are Cnossus, Gortyna, Cydonia. Both Homer and later writers celebrate Cnossus above the rest, calling it vast, and the palace of Minos. It maintained its pre-eminence for a long period. It afterwards lost its ascendency, and was deprived of many of its customs and privileges. The superiority was transferred to Gortyna and Lyctus. But it afterwards recovered its ancient rank of the capital city. Cnossus lies in a plain, with its ancient circumference of 30 stadia, between the Lyctian and Gortynian territory; [distant] 200 stadia from Gortyna, and from Lyttus 120, which the poetcalls Lyctus. Cnossus is at the distance of 25 stadia from the northern sea; Gortyna 90, and Lyctus 80, stadia from the African sea. Cnossus has a marine arsenal, Heracleium.
Μίνω δέ φασιν ἐπινείῳ χρήσασθαι τῷ Ἀμνισῷ, ὅπου τὸ τῆς Εἰλειθυίας ἱερόν. ἐκαλεῖτο δʼ ἡ Κνωσσὸς Καίρατος πρότερον ὁμώνυμος τῷ παραρρέοντι ποταμῷ. ἱστόρηται δʼ ὁ Μίνως νομοθέτης γενέσθαι σπουδαῖος θαλαττοκρατῆσαί τε πρῶτος, τριχῆ δὲ διελὼν τὴν νῆσον ἐν ἑκάστῳ τῷ μέρει κτίσαι πόλιν, τὴν μὲν Κνωσσὸν ἐν τῷ […] […] καταντικρὺ τῆς Πελοποννήσου· καὶ αὐτὴ δʼ ἐστὶ προσβόρειος. ὡς δʼ εἴρηκεν Ἔφορος, ζηλωτὴς ὁ Μίνως ἀρχαίου τινὸς Ῥαδαμάνθυος δικαιοτάτου ἀνδρὸς ὁμωνύμου τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ αὐτοῦ, ὃς πρῶτος τὴν νῆσον ἐξημερῶσαι δοκεῖ νομίμοις καὶ συνοικισμοῖς πόλεων καὶ πολιτείαις, σκηψάμενος παρὰ Διὸς φέρειν ἕκαστα τῶν τιθεμένων δογμάτων εἰς μέσον. τοῦτον δὴ μιμούμενος καὶ ὁ Μίνως διʼ ἐννέα ἐτῶν, ὡς ἔοικεν, ἀναβαίνων ἐπὶ τὸ τοῦ Διὸς ἄντρον καὶ διατρίβων ἐνθάδε, ἀπῄει συντεταγμένα ἔχων παραγγέλματά τινα, ἃ ἔφασκεν εἶναι προστάγματα τοῦ Διός· ἀφʼ ἧς αἰτίας καὶ τὸν ποιητὴν οὕτως εἰρηκέναι ἐνθάδε Μίνως / ἐννέωρος βασίλευε Διὸς μεγάλου ὀαριστής. / τοιαῦτα δʼ εἰπόντος οἱ ἀρχαῖοι περὶ αὐτοῦ πάλιν ἄλλους εἰρήκασι λόγους ὑπεναντίους τούτοις, ὡς τυραννικός τε γένοιτο καὶ βίαιος καὶ δασμολόγος, τραγῳδοῦντες τὰ περὶ τὸν Μινώταυρον καὶ τὸν λαβύρινθον καὶ τὰ Θησεῖ συμβάντα καὶ Δαιδάλῳ.
Minos, it is said, used as an arsenal Amnisus, where is a temple of Eileithyia. Cnossus formerly had the name of Caeratus, which is the name of the river which runs beside it. Minos is regarded as an excellent legislator, and the first who possessed the sovereignty of the sea. He divided the island into three portions, in each of which he built a city; Cnossus * * * * * *, opposite to Peloponnesus, which lies toward the north.
According to Ephorus, Minos was an imitator of Rhadamanthus, an ancient personage, and a most just man. He had the same name as his brother, who appears to have been the first to civilize the island by laws and institutions, by founding cities, and by establishing forms of government. He pretended to receive from Jupiter the decrees which he promulgated. It was probably in imitation of Rhadamanthus that Minos went up to the cave of Jupiter, at intervals of nine years, and brought from thence a set of ordinances, which he said were the commands of Jove; for which reason the poet thus expresses himself; There reigned Minos, who every ninth year conversed with the great Jupiter. / Such is the statement of Ephorus; the ancients on the other hand give a different account, and say that he was tyrannical and violent, and an exactor of tribute, and speak in the strain of tragedy about the Minotaur, the Labyrinth, and the adventures of Theseus and Daedalus.
ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ὁποτέρως ἔχει χαλεπὸν εἰπεῖν. ἔστι δὲ καὶ ἄλλος λόγος οὐχ ὁμολογούμενος, τῶν μὲν ξένον τῆς νήσου τὸν Μίνω λεγόντων τῶν δʼ ἐπιχώριον. ὁ μέντοι ποιητὴς τῇ δευτέρᾳ δοκεῖ μᾶλλον συνηγορεῖν ἀποφάσει, ὅταν φῇ ὅτι πρῶτον Μίνωα τέκε Κρήτῃ ἐπίουρον. / ὑπὲρ τῆς Κρήτης ὁμολογεῖται διότι κατὰ τοὺς παλαιοὺς χρόνους ἐτύγχανεν εὐνομουμένη καὶ ζηλωτὰς ἑαυτῆς τοὺς ἀρίστους τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἀπέφηνεν, ἐν δὲ τοῖς πρώτοις Λακεδαιμονίους, καθάπερ Πλάτων τε ἐν τοῖς νόμοις δηλοῖ καὶ Ἔφορος ἐν τῇ Εὐρώπῃ ἀναγέγραφεν· ὕστερον δὲ πρὸς τὸ χεῖρον μετέβαλεν ἐπὶ πλεῖστον. μετὰ γὰρ τοὺς Τυρρηνούς, οἳ μάλιστα ἐδῄωσαν τὴν καθʼ ἡμᾶς θάλατταν, οὗτοί εἰσιν οἱ διαδεξάμενοι τὰ λῃστήρια· τούτους δʼ ἐπόρθησαν ὕστερον οἱ Κίλικες· κατέλυσαν δὲ πάντας Ῥωμαῖοι τήν τε Κρήτην ἐκπολεμήσαντες καὶ τὰ πειρατικὰ τῶν Κιλίκων φρούρια. νῦν δὲ Κνωσσὸς καὶ Ῥωμαίων ἀποικίαν ἔχει.
It is difficult to determine which is right. There is another story also not generally received; some persons affirming that Minos was a foreigner, others that he was a native of the island. Homer seems to support the latter opinion, when he says, that Minos, the guardian of Crete, was the first offspring of Jupiter. /
It is generally admitted with regard to Crete that in ancient times it was governed by good laws, and induced the wisest of the Greeks to imitate its form of government, and particularly the Lacedaemonians, as Plato shows in his Laws, and Ephorus has described in his work Europe. Afterwards there was a change in the government, and for the most part for the worse. For the Tyrrheni, who chiefly infested our sea, were followed by the Cretans, who succeeded to the haunts and piratical practices of the former people, and these again afterwards were subject to the devastations of the Cilicians. But the Romans destroyed them all after the conquest of Crete, and demolished the piratical strongholds of the Cilicians. At present Cnossus has even a colony of Romans.
περὶ μὲν οὖν Κνωσσοῦ ταῦτα, πόλεως οὐκ ἀλλοτρίας ἡμῖν, διὰ δὲ τἀνθρώπινα καὶ τὰς ἐν αὐτοῖς μεταβολὰς καὶ συντυχίας ἐκλελειμμένων τῶν συμβολαίων τῶν ὑπαρξάντων ἡμῖν πρὸς τὴν πόλιν. Δορύλαος γὰρ ἦν ἀνὴρ τακτικός, τῶν Μιθριδάτου τοῦ Εὐεργέτου φίλων· οὗτος διὰ τὴν ἐν τοῖς πολεμικοῖς ἐμπειρίαν ξενολογεῖν ἀποδειχθεὶς πολὺς ἦν ἔν τε τῇ Ἑλλάδι καὶ τῇ Θρᾴκῃ, πολὺς δὲ καὶ τοῖς παρὰ τῆς Κρήτης ἰοῦσιν, οὔπω τὴν νῆσον ἐχόντων Ῥωμαίων, συχνοῦ δὲ ὄντος ἐν αὐτῇ τοῦ μισθοφορικοῦ καὶ στρατιωτικοῦ πλήθους, ἐξ οὗ καὶ τὰ λῃστήρια πληροῦσθαι συνέβαινεν. ἐπιδημοῦντος δὲ τοῦ Δορυλάου κατὰ τύχην ἐνέστη πόλεμος τοῖς Κνωσσίοις πρὸς τοὺς Γορτυνίους· αἱρεθεὶς δὲ στρατηγὸς καὶ κατορθώσας διὰ ταχέων ἤρατο τιμὰς τὰς μεγίστας, καὶ ἐπειδὴ μικρὸν ὕστερον ἐξ ἐπιβουλῆς δολοφονηθέντα ἔγνω τὸν Εὐεργέτην ὑπὸ τῶν φίλων ἐν Σινώπῃ, τὴν διαδοχὴν δὲ εἰς γυναῖκα καὶ παιδία ἥκουσαν, ἀπογνοὺς τῶν ἐκεῖ κατέμεινεν τῇ Κνωσσῷ· τεκνοποιεῖται δʼ ἐκ Μακέτιδος γυναικὸς Στερόπης τοὔνομα δύο μὲν υἱεῖς Λαγέταν καὶ Στρατάρχαν, ὧν τὸν Στρατάρχαν ἐσχατόγηρων καὶ ἡμεῖς ἤδη εἴδομεν, θυγατέρα δὲ μίαν. δυεῖν δὲ ὄντων υἱῶν τοῦ Εὐεργέτου διεδέξατο τὴν βασιλείαν Μιθριδάτης ὁ προσαγορευθεὶς Εὐπάτωρ ἕνδεκα ἔτη γεγονώς· τούτῳ σύντροφος ὑπῆρξεν ὁ τοῦ Φιλεταίρου Δορύλαος· ἦν δʼ ὁ Φιλέταιρος ἀδελφὸς τοῦ τακτικοῦ Δορυλάου. ἀνδρωθεὶς δʼ ὁ βασιλεὺς ἐπὶ τοσοῦτο ᾕρητο τῇ συντροφίᾳ τῇ πρὸς τὸν Δορύλαον ὥστʼ οὐκ ἐκεῖνον μόνον εἰς τιμὰς ἦγε τὰς μεγίστας, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν συγγενῶν ἐπεμελεῖτο καὶ τοὺς ἐν Κνωσσῷ μετεπέμπετο· ἦσαν δʼ οἱ περὶ Λαγέταν, τοῦ μὲν πατρὸς ἤδη τετελευτηκότος, αὐτοὶ δʼ ἠνδρωμένοι, καὶ ἧκον ἀφέντες τὰ ἐν Κνωσσῷ· τοῦ δὲ Λαγέτα θυγάτηρ ἦν ἡ μήτηρ τῆς ἐμῆς μητρός. εὐτυχοῦντος μὲν δὴ ἐκείνου συνευτυχεῖν καὶ τούτοις συνέβαινε, καταλυθέντος δὲ (ἐφωράθη γὰρ ἀφιστὰς τοῖς Ῥωμαίοις τὴν βασιλείαν ἐφʼ ᾧ αὐτὸς εἰς τὴν ἀρχὴν καταστήσεται) συγκατελύθη καὶ τὰ τούτων καὶ ἐταπεινώθησαν· ὠλιγωρήθη δὲ καὶ τὰ πρὸς τοὺς Κνωσσίους συμβόλαια καὶ αὐτοὺς μυρίας μεταβολὰς δεξαμένους.
So much then respecting Cnossus, a city to which I am no stranger; but owing to the condition of human affairs, their vicissitudes and accidents, the connexion and intercourse that subsisted between ourselves and the city is at an end. Which may be thus explained. Dorylaiis, a military tactician, a friend of Mithridates Euergetes, was appointed, on account of his experience in military affairs, to levy a body of foreigners, and was frequently in Greece and Thrace, and often in the company of persons who came from Crete, before the Romans were in possession of the island. A great multitude of mercenary soldiers was collected there, from whom even the bands of pirates were recruited. During the stay of Dorylaüs in the island, a war happened to break out between the Cnossians and the Gortynians. He was appointed general by the Cnossians, and having finished the war speedily and successfully, he obtained the highest honours. A short time afterwards, being informed that Euergetes had been treacherously put to death by his courtiers at Sinope, and that he was succeeded in the government by his wife and children, he abandoned everything there, remained at Cnossus, and married a Macedonian woman of the name of Sterope, by whom he had two sons, Lagetas and Stratarchas, (the latter I myself saw when in extreme old age,) and one daughter. Of the two sons of Euergetes, he who was surnamed Eupator succeeded to the throne when he was eleven years of age; Dorylaüs, the son of Philetaerus, was his foster brother. Philetaerus was the brother of Dorylaüs the Tactician. The king had been so much pleased with his intimacy with Dorylaüs when they lived together as children, that on attaining manhood he not only promoted Dorylaiis to the highest honours, but extended his regard to his relations and sent for them from Cnossus. At this time Lagetas and his brother had lost their father, and were themselves grown up to manhood. They quitted Cnossus, and came to Mithridates. My mother’s mother was the daughter of Lagetas. While he enjoyed prosperity, they also prospered; but upon his downfal (for he was detected in attempting to transfer the kingdom to the Romans with a view to his own appointment to the sovereignty) the affairs of Cnossus were involved in his ruin and disgrace; and all intercourse with the Cnossians, who themselves had experienced innumerable vicissitudes of fortune, was suspended.
So much then respecting Cnossus.
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