φασὶ γὰρ τοὺς ἐκ τοῦ Φρικίου τοῦ ὑπὲρ Θερμοπυλῶν Λοκρικοῦ ὄρους ὁρμηθέντας κατᾶραι μὲν εἰς τὸν τόπον ὅπου νῦν ἡ Κύμη ἐστί, καταλαβόντας δὲ τοὺς Πελασγοὺς κεκακωμένους ὑπὸ τοῦ Τρωικοῦ πολέμου, κατέχοντας δʼ ὅμως ἔτι τὴν Λάρισαν διέχουσαν τῆς Κύμης ὅσον ἑβδομήκοντα σταδίους, ἐπιτειχίσαι αὐτοῖς τὸ νῦν ἔτι λεγόμενον Νέον τεῖχος ἀπὸ τριάκοντα σταδίων τῆς Λαρίσης, ἑλόντας δὲ κτίσαι τὴν Κύμην καὶ τοὺς περιγενομένους ἀνθρώπους ἐκεῖσε ἀνοικίσαι· ἀπὸ δὲ τοῦ Λοκρικοῦ ὄρους τήν τε Κύμην Φρικωνίδα καλοῦσιν, ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ τὴν Λάρισαν· ἐρήμη δʼ ἐστὶ νῦν. ὅτι δʼ οἱ Πελασγοὶ μέγα ἦν ἔθνος, καὶ ἐκ τῆς ἄλλης ἱστορίας οὕτως ἐκμαρτυρεῖσθαί φασι· Μενεκράτης γοῦν ὁ Ἐλαΐτης ἐν τοῖς περὶ κτίσεων φησὶ τὴν παραλίαν τὴν νῦν Ἰωνικὴν πᾶσαν ἀπὸ Μυκάλης ἀρξαμένην ὑπὸ Πελασγῶν οἰκεῖσθαι πρότερον καὶ τὰς πλησίον νήσους. Λέσβιοι δʼ ὑπὸ Πυλαίῳ τετάχθαι λέγουσι σφᾶς τῷ ὑπὸ τοῦ ποιητοῦ λεγομένῳ τῶν Πελασγῶν ἄρχοντι, ἀφʼ οὗ καὶ τὸ παρʼ αὐτοῖς ὄρος ἔτι Πύλαιον καλεῖσθαι. καὶ Χῖοι δὲ οἰκιστὰς ἑαυτῶν Πελασγούς φασι τοὺς ἐκ τῆς Θετταλίας. πολύπλανον δὲ καὶ ταχὺ τὸ ἔθνος πρὸς ἀπαναστάσεις, ηὐξήθη τε ἐπὶ πολὺ καὶ ἀθρόαν ἔλαβε τὴν ἔκλειψιν καὶ μάλιστα κατὰ τὴν τῶν Αἰολέων καὶ τῶν Ἰώνων περαίωσιν εἰς τὴν Ἀσίαν.
It is said that the people who set out from Phricium, a Locrian mountain above Thermopylae, settled on the spot where Cyme is now situated; and finding the Pelasgi, who had been great sufferers in the Trojan war, yet still in possession of Larisa, distant about 70 stadia from Cyme, erected as a defence against them what is at present called Neon-teichos, (or the New Wall,) 30 stadia from Larisa. They took Larisa, founded Cyme, and transferred to it as settlers the surviving Pelasgi. Cyme is called Cyme Phriconis from the Locrian mountain, and Larisa also (Phriconis): it is now deserted.
That the Pelasgi were a great nation, history, it is said, furnishes other evidence. For Menecrates of Elaea, in his work on the foundation of cities, says, that the whole of the present Ionian coast, beginning from Mycale and the neighbouring islands, were formerly inhabited by Pelasgi. But the Lesbians say, that they were commanded by Pylaeus, who is called by the poet the chief of the Pelasgi, and that it was from him that the mountain in their country had the name of Pylaemem.
The Chians also say, that the Pelasgi from Thessaly were their founders. The Pelasgi, however, were a nation disposed to wander, ready to remove from settlement to settlement, and experienced both a great increase and a sudden diminution of strength and numbers, particularly at the time of the Aeolian and Ionian migrations to Asia.
ἴδιον δέ τι τοῖς Λαρισαίοις συνέβη τοῖς τε Καϋστριανοῖς καὶ τοῖς Φρικωνεῦσι καὶ τρίτοις τοῖς ἐν Θετταλίᾳ· ἅπαντες γὰρ ποταμόχωστον τὴν χώραν ἔσχον οἱ μὲν ὑπὸ τοῦ Καΰστρου, οἱ δʼ ὑπὸ τοῦ Ἕρμου, οἱ δʼ ὑπὸ τοῦ Πηνειοῦ. ἐν δὲ τῇ Φρικωνίδι Λαρίσῃ τετιμῆσθαι λέγεται Πίασος, ὅν φασιν ἄρχοντα Πελασγῶν ἐρασθῆναι τῆς θυγατρὸς Λαρίσης, βιασάμενον δʼ αὐτὴν τῖσαι τῆς ὕβρεως δίκην· ἐγκύψαντα γὰρ εἰς πίθον οἴνου καταμαθοῦσαν τῶν σκελῶν λαβομένην ἐξᾶραι καὶ καθεῖναι αὐτὸν εἰς τὸν πίθον. τὰ μὲν οὖν ἀρχαῖα τοιαῦτα.
Something peculiar took place among the Larisaeans in the plain of the Cayster, in the Phriconis, and in Thessaly. All of them occupied a country, the soil of which has been accumulated by rivers, by the Caÿster, the Hermus, and the Peneus.
At Larisa Phriconis Piasus is said to receive great honours. He was chief of the Pelasgi, and enamoured, it is said, of his daughter Larisa, whom he violated, and was punished for the outrage. She discovered him leaning over a cask of wine, seized him by his legs, lifted him up, and dropped him down into the vessel. These are ancient accounts.
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