μετὰ δὲ τὸν Γεραιστὸν Ἐρέτρια πόλις μεγίστη τῆς Εὐβοίας μετὰ Χαλκίδα, ἔπειθʼ ἡ Χαλκὶς μητρόπολις τῆς νήσου τρόπον τινά, ἐπʼ αὐτῷ τῷ Εὐρίπῳ ἱδρυμένη· ἀμφότεραι δὲ πρὸ τῶν Τρωικῶν ὑπʼ Ἀθηναίων ἐκτίσθαι λέγονται, καὶ μετὰ τὰ Τρωικὰ Ἄικλος καὶ Κόθος ἐξ Ἀθηνῶν ὁρμηθέντες ὁ μὲν τὴν Ἐρέτριαν ᾤκισε Κόθος δὲ τὴν Χαλκίδα· καὶ τῶν Αἰολέων δέ τινες ἀπὸ τῆς Πενθίλου στρατιᾶς κατέμειναν ἐν τῇ νήσῳ, τὸ δὲ παλαιὸν καὶ Ἄραβες οἱ Κάδμῳ συνδιαβάντες. αἱ δʼ οὖν πόλεις αὗται διαφερόντως αὐξηθεῖσαι καὶ ἀποικίας ἔστειλαν ἀξιολόγους εἰς Μακεδονίαν· Ἐρέτρια μὲν γὰρ συνῴκισε τὰς περὶ Παλλήνην καὶ τὸν Ἄθω πόλεις, ἡ δὲ Χαλκὶς τὰς ὑπὸ Ὀλύνθῳ, ἃς Φίλιππος διελυμήνατο. καὶ τῆς Ἰταλίας δὲ καὶ Σικελίας πολλὰ χωρία Χαλκιδέων ἐστίν· ἐστάλησαν δὲ αἱ ἀποικίαι αὗται, καθάπερ εἴρηκεν Ἀριστοτέλης, ἡνίκα ἡ τῶν Ἱπποβοτῶν καλουμένη ἐπεκράτει πολιτεία· προέστησαν γὰρ αὐτῆς ἀπὸ τιμημάτων ἄνδρες ἀριστοκρατικῶς ἄρχοντες. κατὰ δὲ τὴν Ἀλεξάνδρου διάβασιν καὶ τὸν περίβολον τῆς πόλεως ηὔξησαν, ἐντὸς τείχους λαβόντες τόν τε Κάνηθον καὶ τὸν Εὔριπον, ἐπιστήσαντες τῇ γεφύρᾳ πύργους καὶ πύλας καὶ τεῖχος.
Next to Geraestus is Eretria, which, after Chalcis, is the largest city in Euboea. Next follows Chalcis, the capital as it were of the island, situated immediately on the Euripus. Both these cities are said to have been founded by Athenians before the Trojan war; [but it is also said that] after the Trojan war, Aeclus and Cothus took their departure from Athens; the former to found Eretria, and Cothus, Chalcis. A body of Aeolians who belonged to the expedition of Penthilus remained in the island. Anciently, even Arabians settled there, who came over with Cadmus.
These cities, Eretria and Chalcis, when their population was greatly augmented, sent out considerable colonies to Macedonia, for Eretria founded cities about Pallene and Mount Athos; Chalcis founded some near Olynthus, which Philip destroyed. There are also many settlements in Italy and Sicily, founded by Chalcidians. These colonies were sent out, according to Aristotle, when the government of the Hippobatae, (or Knights,) as it is called, was established; it was an aristocratical government, the heads of which held their office by virtue of the amount of their property. At the time that Alexander passed over into Asia, they enlarged the compass of the walls of their city, including within them Canethus, and the Euripus, and erected towers upon the bridge, a wall, and gates.
ὑπέρκειται δὲ τῆς τῶν Χαλκιδέων πόλεως τὸ Λήλαντον καλούμενον πεδίον. ἐν δὲ τούτῳ θερμῶν τε ὑδάτων εἰσὶν ἐκβολαὶ πρὸς θεραπείαν νόσων εὐφυεῖς, οἷς ἐχρήσατο καὶ Σύλλας Κορνήλιος ὁ τῶν Ῥωμαίων ἡγεμών· καὶ μέταλλον δʼ ὑπῆρχε θαυμαστὸν χαλκοῦ καὶ σιδήρου κοινόν, ὅπερ οὐχ ἱστοροῦσιν ἀλλαχοῦ συμβαῖνον· νυνὶ μέντοι ἀμφότερα ἐκλέλοιπεν, ἔστι δὲ καὶ ἅπασα μὲν ἡ Εὔβοια εὔσειστος, μάλιστα δʼ ἡ περὶ τὸν πορθμόν, καὶ δεχομένη πνευμάτων ὑποφοράς, καθάπερ καὶ ἡ Βοιωτία καὶ ἄλλοι τόποι, περὶ ὧν ἐμνήσθημεν διὰ πλειόνων πρότερον. ὑπὸ τοιοῦδε πάθους καὶ ἡ ὁμώνυμος τῇ νήσῳ πόλις καταποθῆναι λέγεται, ἧς μέμνηται καὶ Αἰσχύλος ἐν τῷ Ποντίῳ Γλαύκῳ Εὐβοΐδα καμπτὴν ἀμφὶ Κηναίου Διὸς / ἀκτήν, κατʼ αὐτὸν τύμβον ἀθλίου Λίχα. / Χαλκὶς δʼ ὁμωνύμως λέγεται καὶ ἐν Αἰτωλίᾳ Χαλκίδα τʼ ἀγχίαλον, Καλυδῶνά τε πετρήεσσαν, / καὶ ἐν τῇ νῦν Ἠλείᾳ βὰν δὲ παρὰ Κρουνοὺς καὶ Χαλκίδα πετρήεσσαν / οἱ περὶ Τηλέμαχον ἀπιόντες παρὰ Νέστορος εἰς τὴν οἰκείαν.
Above the city of the Chalcidians is the plain called Lelantum, in which are hot springs, adapted to the cure of diseases, and which were used by Cornelius Sylla, the Roman general. There was also an extraordinary mine which produced both copper and iron; such, writers say, is not to be found elsewhere. At present, however, both are exhausted. The whole of Euboea is subject to earthquakes, especially the part near the strait. It is also exposed to violent subterraneous blasts, like Boeotia, and other places of which I have before spoken at length. The city of the same name as the island is said to have been swallowed up by an earthquake. It is mentioned by Aeschylus in his tragedy of Glaucus Pontius; Euboïs near the bending shore of Jupiter Cenaeus, close to the tomb of the wretched Lichas.
There is also in Aetolia a town of the name of Chalcis, Chalcis on the sea-coast, and the rocky Calydon, / and another in the present Eleian territory; they passed along Cruni, and the rocky Chalcis, / speaking of Telemachus and his companions, when they left Nestor to return to their own country.
Ἐρέτριαν δʼ οἱ μὲν ἀπὸ Μακίστου τῆς Τριφυλίας ἀποικισθῆναί φασιν ὑπʼ Ἐρετριέως, οἱ δʼ ἀπὸ τῆς Ἀθήνησιν Ἐρετρίας, ἣ νῦν ἐστὶν ἀγορά· ἔστι δὲ καὶ περὶ Φάρσαλον Ἐρέτρια, ἱερὰ τοῦ Ἀπόλλωνος. Ἀδμήτου δʼ ἵδρυμα λέγεται τὸ ἱερόν, παρʼ ᾧ θητεῦσαι λέγουσι τὸν θεὸν ἐνιαυτόν, πλησίον τοῦ πορθμοῦ. Μελανηὶς δʼ ἐκαλεῖτο πρότερον ἡ Ἐρέτρια καὶ Ἀρότρια· ταύτης δʼ ἐστὶ κώμη ἡ Ἀμάρυνθος ἀφʼ ἑπτὰ σταδίων τοῦ τείχους. τὴν μὲν οὖν ἀρχαίαν πόλιν κατέσκαψαν Πέρσαι, σαγηνεύσαντες, ὥς φησιν Ἡρόδοτος, τοὺς ἀνθρώπους τῷ πλήθει, περιχυθέντων τῶν βαρβάρων τῷ τείχει· καὶ δεικνύουσιν ἔτι τοὺς θεμελίους, καλοῦσι δὲ παλαιὰν Ἐρέτριαν, ἡ δὲ νῦν ἐπέκτισται. τὴν δὲ δύναμιν τὴν Ἐρετριέων ἣν ἔσχον ποτὲ μαρτυρεῖ ἡ στήλη, ἣν ἀνέθεσάν ποτε ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ τῆς Ἀμαρυνθίας Ἀρτέμιδος· γέγραπται δʼ ἐν αὐτῇ τρισχιλίοις μὲν ὁπλίταις ἑξακοσίοις δʼ ἱππεῦσιν ἑξήκοντα δʼ ἅρμασι ποιεῖν τὴν πομπήν· ἐπῆρχον δὲ καὶ Ἀνδρίων καὶ Τηνίων καὶ Κείων καὶ ἄλλων νήσων. ἐποίκους δʼ ἔσχον ἀπʼ Ἤλιδος, ἀφʼ οὗ καὶ τῷ γράμματι τῷ ῥῶ πολλῷ χρησάμενοι οὐκ ἐπὶ τέλει μόνον τῶν ῥημάτων ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν μέσῳ κεκωμῴδηνται. ἔστι δὲ καὶ Οἰχαλία κώμη τῆς Ἐρετρικῆς, λείψανον τῆς ἀναιρεθείσης πόλεως ὑπὸ Ἡρακλέους, ὁμώνυμος τῇ Τραχινίᾳ καὶ τῇ περὶ Τρίκκην καὶ τῇ Ἀρκαδικῇ, ἣν Ἀνδανίαν οἱ ὕστερον ἐκάλεσαν, καὶ τῇ ἐν Αἰτωλίᾳ περὶ τοὺς Εὐρυτᾶνας.
Some say, that the Eretrians were a colony from Macistus in Triphylia, under the conduct of Eretrieus; others, that they came from Eretria, in Attica, where now a market is held. There is an Eretria also near Pharsalus. In the Eretrian district there was a city, Tamynae, sacred to Apollo. The temple (which was near the strait) is said to have been built by Admetus, whom the god, according to report, served a year for hire.
Eretria, formerly, had the names of Melaneïs and Arotria. The village Amarynthus, at the distance of 7 stadia from the walls, belongs to it.
The Persians razed the ancient city, having enclosed with multitudes the inhabitants, according to the expression of Herodotus, in a net, by spreading the Barbarians around the walls. The foundations are still shown, and the place is called ancient Eretria. The present city is built near it.
The power which the Eretrians once possessed, is evinced by a pillar which was placed in the temple of Diana Amarynthia. There is an inscription on it to this effect, that their processions upon their public festivals consisted of three thousand heavy-armed soldiers, six hundred horsemen, and sixty chariots. They were masters, besides other islands, of Andros, Tenos, and Ceos. They received colonists from Elis, whence their frequent use of the letter R, (ρ,) not only at the end, but in the middle of words, which exposed them to the raillery of comic writers. Oechalia, a village, the remains of a city destroyed by Hercules, belongs to the district of Eretria. It has the same name as that in Trachinia, as that near Tricca, as that in Arcadia, (which later writers call Andania,) and as that in Aetolia near the Eurytanes.
νυνὶ μὲν οὖν ὁμολογουμένως ἡ Χαλκὶς φέρεται τὰ πρωτεῖα καὶ μητρόπολις αὕτη λέγεται τῶν Εὐβοέων, δευτερεύει δʼ ἡ Ἐρέτρια. ἀλλὰ καὶ πρότερον αὗται μέγα εἶχον ἀξίωμα καὶ πρὸς πόλεμον καὶ πρὸς εἰρήνην, ὥστε καὶ φιλοσόφοις ἀνδράσι παρασχεῖν διαγωγὴν ἡδεῖαν καὶ ἀθόρυβον. μαρτυρεῖ δʼ ἥ τε τῶν Ἐρετρικῶν φιλοσόφων σχολὴ τῶν περὶ Μενέδημον ἐν τῇ Ἐρετρίᾳ γενομένη, καὶ ἔτι πρότερον ἡ Ἀριστοτέλους ἐν τῇ Χαλκίδι διατριβή, ὅς γε κἀκεῖ κατέλυσε τὸν βίον.
At present Chalcis is allowed, without dispute, to hold the first rank, and is called the capital of the Euboeans. Eretria holds the second place. Even in former times these cities had great influence both in war and peace, so that they afforded to philosophers an agreeable and tranquil retreat. A proof of this is the establishment at Eretria of the school of Eretrian philosophers, disciples of Menedemus; and at an earlier period the residence of Aristotle at Chalcis, where he also died.
τὸ μὲν οὖν πλέον ὡμολόγουν ἀλλήλαις αἱ πόλεις αὗται, περὶ δὲ Ληλάντου διενεχθεῖσαι […] οὐδʼ οὕτω τελέως ἐπαύσαντο […] ὥστʼ ἐν τῷ πολέμῳ κατὰ αὐθάδειαν δρᾶν ἕκαστα, ἀλλὰ συνέθεντο ἐφʼ οἷς συστήσονται τὸν ἀγῶνα. δηλοῖ δὲ καὶ τοῦτο ἐν τῷ Ἀμαρυνθίῳ στήλη τις φράζουσα μὴ χρῆσθαι τηλεβόλοις.
These cities generally lived in harmony with each other, and when a dispute arose between them respecting Lelantum, they did not even then suspend all intercourse so as to act in war entirely without regard to each other, but they agreed upon certain conditions, on which the war was to be conducted. This appears by a column standing in the Amarynthium, which interdicts the use of missiles. [For with respect to warlike usages and armour, there neither is nor was any common usage; for some nations employ soldiers who use missile weapons, such as bows, slings, and javelins; others employ men who engage in close fight, and use a sword, or charge with a spear. For there are two methods of using the spear; one is to retain it in the hand; the other, to hurl it like a dart; the pike answers both purposes, for it is used in close encounter and is hurled to a distance. The sarissa and the hyssus are similarly made use of.]
οἱ δʼ Εὐβοεῖς ἀγαθοὶ πρὸς μάχην ὑπῆρξαν τὴν σταδίαν, ἣ καὶ συστάδην λέγεται καὶ ἐκ χειρός. δόρασι δʼ ἐχρῶντο τοῖς ὀρεκτοῖς, ὥς φησιν ὁ ποιητής αἰχμηταὶ μεμαῶτες ὀρεκτῇσι μελίῃσι / θώρηκας ῥήσσειν. / ἀλλοίων ἴσως ὄντων τῶν παλτῶν, οἵαν εἰκὸς εἶναι τὴν Πηλιάδα μελίην ἥν, ὥς φησιν ὁ ποιητής οἶος ἐπίστατο πῆλαι Ἀχιλλεύς / καὶ ὁ εἰπών δουρὶ δʼ ἀκοντίζω, ὅσον οὐκ ἄλλος τις ὀιστῷ, / τῷ παλτῷ λέγει δόρατι. καὶ οἱ μονομαχοῦντες τοῖς παλτοῖς χρώμενοι δόρασιν εἰσάγονται πρότερον, εἶτα ἐπὶ τὰ ξίφη βαδίζοντες· ἀγχέμαχοι δʼ εἰσὶν οὐχ οἱ ξίφει χρώμενοι μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ δόρατι ἐκ χειρός, ὥς φησιν οὔτησε ξυστῷ χαλκήρεϊ, λῦσε δὲ γυῖα. / τοὺς μὲν οὖν Εὐβοέας τούτῳ τῷ τρόπῳ χρωμένους εἰσάγει, περὶ δὲ Λοκρῶν τἀναντία λέγει ὡς οὔ σφιν σταδίης ὑσμίνης ἔργα μέμηλεν, / ἀλλʼ ἄρα τόξοισι καὶ ἐυστρόφῳ οἰὸς ἀώτῳ / Ἴλιον εἰς ἅμʼ ἕποντο. / περιφέρεται δὲ καὶ χρησμὸς ἐκδοθεὶς Αἰγιεῦσιν ἵππον Θεσσαλικόν, Λακεδαιμονίαν δὲ γυναῖκα, / ἄνδρας θʼ οἳ πίνουσιν ὕδωρ ἱερῆς Ἀρεθούσης, / τοὺς Χαλκιδέας λέγων ὡς ἀρίστους· ἐκεῖ γὰρ ἡ Ἀρέθουσα.
The Euboeans excelled in standing fight, which was also called close fight, and fight hand to hand. They used spears extended at length according to the words of the poet; warriors eager to break through breastplates with extended ashen spears. The missile weapons were perhaps of different kinds, as, probably, was the ashen spear of Pelion, which, as the poet says, Achilles alone knew how to hurl. / When the poet says, I strike farther with a spear than any other person with an arrow, / he means with a missile spear. They, too, who engage in single combat, are first introduced as using missile spears, and then having recourse to swords. But they who engage in single combat do not use the sword only, but a spear also held in the hand, as the poet describes it, he wounded him with a polished spear, pointed with brass, and unbraced his limbs. He represents the Euboeans as fighting in this manner; but he describes the Locrian mode as contrary to this; It was not their practice to engage in close fight, but they followed him to Ilium with their bows, clothed in the pliant fleece of the sheep. An answer of an oracle is commonly repeated, which was returned to the Aegienses; a Thessalian horse, a Lacedaemonian woman, and the men who drink the water of the sacred Arethusa, meaning the Chalcideans as superior to all other people, for Arethusa belongs to them.
εἰσὶ δὲ νῦν Εὐβοῗται ποταμοὶ Κηρεὺς καὶ Νηλεύς, ὧν ἀφʼ οὗ μὲν πίνοντα τὰ πρόβατα λευκὰ γίνεται, ἀφʼ οὗ δὲ μέλανα· καὶ περὶ τὸν Κρᾶθιν δὲ εἴρηται τοιοῦτόν τι συμβαῖνον.
At present the rivers of Euboea are the Cereus and Neleus. The cattle which drink of the water of the former become white, and those that drink of the water of the latter become black. We have said that a similar effect is produced by the water of the Crathis.
τῶν δʼ ἐκ Τροίας ἐπανιόντων Εὐβοέων τινὲς εἰς Ἰλλυριοὺς ἐκπεσόντες, ἀποβαίνοντες οἴκαδε διὰ τῆς Μακεδονίας περὶ Ἔδεσσαν ἔμειναν συμπολεμήσαντες τοῖς ὑποδεξαμένοις, καὶ ἔκτισαν πόλιν Εὔβοιαν· ἦν δὲ καὶ ἐν Σικελίᾳ Εὔβοια Χαλκιδέων τῶν ἐκεῖ κτίσμα, ἣν Γέλων ἐξανέστησε, καὶ ἐγένετο φρούριον Συρακουσίων· καὶ ἐν Κερκύρᾳ δὲ καὶ ἐν Λήμνῳ τόπος ἦν Εὔβοια καὶ ἐν τῇ Ἀργείᾳ λόφος τις.
As some of the Euboeans, on their return from Troy, were driven out of their course among the Illyrians; pursued their journey homewards through Macedonia, and stopped in the neighbourhood of Edessa; having assisted the people in a war, who had received them hospitably; they founded a city, Euboea. There was a Euboea in Sicily, founded by the Chalcideans, who were settled there. It was destroyed by Gelon, and became a strong-hold of the Syracusans. In Corcyra also, and at Lemnus, there was a place called Euboea, and a hill of this name in the Argive territory.
ἐπεὶ δὲ τοῖς Θετταλοῖς καὶ Οἰταίοις πρὸς ἑσπέραν Αἰτωλοὶ καὶ Ἀκαρνᾶνές εἰσι καὶ Ἀθαμᾶνες, εἰ χρὴ καὶ τούτους Ἕλληνας εἰπεῖν, λοιπὸν ἐξηγήσασθαι περὶ τούτων, ἵνʼ ἔχωμεν τὴν περίοδον ἅπασαν τὴν τῆς Ἑλλάδος· προσθεῖναι δὲ καὶ τὰς νήσους τὰς προσχώρους μάλιστα τῇ Ἑλλάδι καὶ οἰκουμένας ὑπὸ τῶν Ἑλλήνων ὅσας μὴ περιωδεύκαμεν.
We have said, that Aetolians, Acarnanians, and Athamanes are situated to the west of the Thessalians and Oetaeans, if indeed we must call the Athamanes, Greeks. It remains, in order that we may complete the description of Greece, to give some account of these people, of the islands which lie nearest to Greece, and are inhabited by Greeks, which we have not yet mentioned.
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