ἔστι δʼ ἡ μὲν Παλαίσκηψις ἐπάνω Κεβρῆνος κατὰ τὸ μετεωρότατον τῆς Ἴδης ἐγγὺς Πολίχνας· ἐκαλεῖτο δὲ τότε Σκῆψις, εἴτʼ ἄλλως εἴτʼ ἀπὸ τοῦ περίσκεπτον εἶναι τὸν τόπον, εἰ δεῖ τὰ παρὰ τοῖς βαρβάροις ἐν τῷ τότε ὀνόματα ταῖς Ἑλληνικαῖς ἐτυμολογεῖσθαι φωναῖς· ὕστερον δὲ κατωτέρω σταδίοις ἑξήκοντα εἰς τὴν νῦν Σκῆψιν μετῳκίσθησαν ὑπὸ Σκαμανδρίου τε τοῦ Ἕκτορος καὶ Ἀσκανίου τοῦ Αἰνείου παιδός· καὶ δύο γένη ταῦτα βασιλεῦσαι πολὺν χρόνον ἐν τῇ Σκήψει λέγεται· μετὰ ταῦτα δʼ εἰς ὀλιγαρχίαν μετέστησαν, εἶτα Μιλήσιοι συνεπολιτεύθησαν αὐτοῖς καὶ δημοκρατικῶς ᾤκουν· οἱ δʼ ἀπὸ τοῦ γένους οὐδὲν ἧττον ἐκαλοῦντο βασιλεῖς, ἔχοντές τινας τιμάς· εἶτʼ εἰς τὴν Ἀλεξάνδρειαν συνεπόλισε τοὺς Σκηψίους Ἀντίγονος, εἶτʼ ἀπέλυσε Λυσίμαχος, καὶ ἐπανῆλθον εἰς τὴν οἰκείαν.
Palescepsis is situated above Cebrene towards the most elevated part of Ida near Polichna. It had the name of Scepsis either for some other reason or because it was within view of the places around, if we may be allowed to derive words then in use among Barbarians from the Greek language. Afterwards the inhabitants were transferred to the present Scepsis, 60 stadia lower down, by Scamandrius, the son of Hector, and by Ascanius, the son of Aeneas; these two families reigned, it is said, a long time at Scepsis. They changed the form of government to an oligarchy; afterwards the Milesians united with the Scepsians, and formed a democracy. The descendants of these families had nevertheless the name of kings, and held certain dignities. Antigonus incorporated the Scepsians with the inhabitants of Alexandreia (Troas); Lysimachus dissolved this union, and they returned to their own country.
οἴεται δʼ ὁ Σκήψιος καὶ βασίλειον τοῦ Αἰνείου γεγονέναι τὴν Σκῆψιν, μέσην οὖσαν τῆς τε ὑπὸ τῷ Αἰνείᾳ καὶ Λυρνησσοῦ, εἰς ἣν φυγεῖν εἴρηται διωκόμενος ὑπὸ τοῦ Ἀχιλλέως· φησὶ γοῦν ὁ Ἀχιλλεύς ἢ οὐ μέμνῃ, ὅτε πέρ σε βοῶν ἄπο μοῦνον ἐόντα / σεῦα κατʼ Ἰδαίων ὀρέων ταχέεσσι πόδεσσι, / κεῖθεν δʼ ἐς Λυρνησσὸν ὑπέκφυγες· αὐτὰρ ἐγὼ τὴν / πέρσα, μεθορμηθείς. / οὐχ ὁμολογεῖ δὲ τῷ περὶ τῶν ἀρχηγετῶν τῆς Σκήψεως λόγῳ τῷ λεχθέντι νῦν τὰ περὶ τοῦ Αἰνείου θρυλούμενα. περιγενέσθαι γὰρ δὴ τοῦτόν φασιν ἐκ τοῦ πολέμου διὰ τὴν πρὸς Πρίαμον δυσμένειαν· ἀεὶ γὰρ Πριάμῳ ἐπεμήνιε δίῳ, / οὕνεκʼ ἄρʼ ἐσθλὸν ἐόντα μετʼ ἀνδράσιν οὔ τι τίεσκε, / τοὺς δὲ συνάρχοντας Ἀντηνορίδας καὶ αὐτὸν τὸν Ἀντήνορα διὰ τὴν Μενελάου παρʼ αὐτῷ ξενίαν. Σοφοκλῆς γοῦν ἐν τῇ ἁλώσει τοῦ Ἰλίου παρδαλέαν φησὶ πρὸ τῆς θύρας τοῦ Ἀντήνορος προτεθῆναι σύμβολον τοῦ ἀπόρθητον ἐαθῆναι τὴν οἰκίαν. τὸν μὲν οὖν Ἀντήνορα καὶ τοὺς παῖδας μετὰ τῶν περιγενομένων Ἑνετῶν εἰς τὴν Θρᾴκην περισωθῆναι κἀκεῖθεν διαπεσεῖν εἰς τὴν λεγομένην κατὰ τὸν Ἀδρίαν Ἑνετικήν, τὸν δὲ Αἰνείαν μετʼ Ἀγχίσου τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ τοῦ παιδὸς Ἀσκανίου λαὸν ἀθροίσαντα πλεῦσαι· καὶ οἱ μὲν οἰκῆσαι περὶ τὸν Μακεδονικὸν Ὄλυμπον φασίν, οἱ δὲ περὶ Μαντίνειαν τῆς Ἀρκαδίας κτίσαι Καπύας, ἀπὸ Κάπυος θέμενον τοὔνομα τῷ πολίσματι, οἱ δʼ εἰς Αἴγεσταν κατᾶραι τῆς Σικελίας σὺν Ἐλύμῳ Τρωὶ καὶ Ἔρυκα καὶ Λιλύβαιον κατασχεῖν, καὶ ποταμοὺς περὶ Αἴγεσταν προσαγορεῦσαι Σκάμανδρον καὶ Σιμόεντα· ἔνθεν δʼ εἰς τὴν Λατίνην ἐλθόντα μεῖναι κατά τι λόγιον τὸ κελεῦον μένειν ὅπου ἂν τὴν τράπεζαν καταφάγῃ· συμβῆναι δὲ τῆς Λατίνης περὶ τὸ Λαουίνιον τοῦτο, ἄρτου μεγάλου τεθέντος ἀντὶ τραπέζης κατὰ ἀπορίαν καὶ ἅμα ἀναλωθέντος τοῖς ἐπʼ αὐτῷ κρέασιν. Ὅμηρος μέντοι συνηγορεῖν οὐδετέροις ἔοικεν, οὐδὲ τοῖς περὶ τῶν ἀρχηγετῶν τῆς Σκήψεως λεχθεῖσιν· ἐμφαίνει γὰρ μεμενηκότα τὸν Αἰνείαν ἐν τῇ Τροίᾳ καὶ διαδεδεγμένον τὴν ἀρχὴν καὶ παραδεδωκότα παισὶ παίδων τὴν διαδοχὴν αὐτῆς, ἠφανισμένου τοῦ τῶν Πριαμιδῶν γένους· ἤδη γὰρ Πριάμου γενεὴν ἤχθηρε Κρονίων. / νῦν δὲ δὴ Αἰνείαο βίη Τρώεσσιν ἀνάξει / καὶ παίδων παῖδες, τοί κεν μετόπισθε γένωνται. / οὕτω δʼ οὐδʼ ἡ τοῦ Σκαμανδρίου διαδοχὴ σώζοιτʼ ἄν. πολὺ δὲ μᾶλλον τοῖς ἑτέροις διαφωνεῖ τοῖς μέχρι καὶ Ἰταλίας αὐτοῦ τὴν πλάνην λέγουσι καὶ αὐτόθι ποιοῦσι τὴν καταστροφὴν τοῦ βίου. τινὲς δὲ γράφουσιν Αἰνείαο γένος πάντεσσιν ἀνάξει, / καὶ παῖδες παίδων, / τοὺς Ῥωμαίους λέγοντες.
The Scepsian (Demetrius) supposes that Scepsis was the palace of Aeneas, situated between the dominion of Aeneas and Lyrnessus, where, it is said, he took refuge when pursued by Achilles. Remember you not, says Achilles, how I chased you when alone and apart from the herds, with swift steps, from the heights of Ida, thence indeed you escaped to Lyrnessus; but I took and destroyed it.
Present traditions respecting Aeneas do not agree with the story respecting the first founders of Scepsis. For it is said that he was spared on account of his hatred to Priam: he ever bore hatred to Priam, for never had Priam bestowed any honour upon him for his valour. His companion chiefs, the Antenoridae, and Antenor, and myself, escaped on account of the hospitality which the latter had shown to Menelaus.
Sophocles, in his play, The Capture of Troy, says, that a panther’s skin was placed before Antenor’s door as a signal that his house should be spared from plunder. Antenor and his four sons, together with the surviving Heneti, are said to have escaped into Thrace, and thence into Henetica on the Adriatic; but Aeneas, with his father Anchises and his son Ascanius, are said to have collected a large body of people, and to have set sail. Some writers say that he settled about the Macedonian Olympus; according toothers he founded Capuae, near Mantineia in Arcadia, and that he took the name of the city from Capys. There is another account, that he disembarked at Aegesta in Sicily, with Elymus, a Trojan, and took possession of Eryx and Lilybaeus, and called the rivers about Aegesta Scamander and Simoïs; that from Sicily he went to Latium, and settled there in obedience to an oracle enjoining him to remain wherever he should eat his table. This happened in Latium, near Lavinium, when a large cake of bread which was set down instead of, and for want of, a table, was eaten together with the meat that was laid upon it.
Homer does not agree either with these writers or with what is said respecting the founders of Scepsis. For he represents Aeneas as remaining at Troy, succeeding to the kingdom, and delivering the succession to his children’s children after the extinction of the race of Priam: the son of Saturn hated the family of Priam: henceforward Aeneas shall reign over the Trojans, and his children’s children to late generations.
In this manner not even the succession of Scamandrius could be maintained. He disagrees still more with those writers who speak of his wanderings as far as Italy, and make him end his days in that country. Some write the verse thus: The race of Aeneas and his children’s children, meaning the Romans, shall rule over all nations.”
ἐκ δὲ τῆς Σκήψεως οἵ τε Σωκρατικοὶ γεγόνασιν Ἔραστος καὶ Κορίσκος καὶ ὁ τοῦ Κορίσκου υἱὸς Νηλεύς, ἀνὴρ καὶ Ἀριστοτέλους ἠκροαμένος καὶ Θεοφράστου, διαδεδεγμένος δὲ τὴν βιβλιοθήκην τοῦ Θεοφράστου, ἐν ᾗ ἦν καὶ ἡ τοῦ Ἀριστοτέλους· ὁ γοῦν Ἀριστοτέλης τὴν ἑαυτοῦ Θεοφράστῳ παρέδωκεν, ᾧπερ καὶ τὴν σχολὴν ἀπέλιπε, πρῶτος ὧν ἴσμεν συναγαγὼν βιβλία καὶ διδάξας τοὺς ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ βασιλέας βιβλιοθήκης σύνταξιν. Θεόφραστος δὲ Νηλεῖ παρέδωκεν· ὁ δʼ εἰς Σκῆψιν κομίσας τοῖς μετʼ αὐτὸν παρέδωκεν, ἰδιώταις ἀνθρώποις, οἳ κατάκλειστα εἶχον τὰ βιβλία οὐδʼ ἐπιμελῶς κείμενα· ἐπειδὴ δὲ ᾔσθοντο τὴν σπουδὴν τῶν Ἀτταλικῶν βασιλέων ὑφʼ οἷς ἦν ἡ πόλις, ζητούντων βιβλία εἰς τὴν κατασκευὴν τῆς ἐν Περγάμῳ βιβλιοθήκης, κατὰ γῆς ἔκρυψαν ἐν διώρυγί τινι· ὑπὸ δὲ νοτίας καὶ σητῶν κακωθέντα ὀψέ ποτε ἀπέδοντο οἱ ἀπὸ τοῦ γένους Ἀπελλικῶντι τῷ Τηίῳ πολλῶν ἀργυρίων τά τε Ἀριστοτέλους καὶ τὰ τοῦ Θεοφράστου βιβλία· ἦν δὲ ὁ Ἀπελλικῶν φιλόβιβλος μᾶλλον ἢ φιλόσοφος· διὸ καὶ ζητῶν ἐπανόρθωσιν τῶν διαβρωμάτων εἰς ἀντίγραφα καινὰ μετήνεγκε τὴν γραφὴν ἀναπληρῶν οὐκ εὖ, καὶ ἐξέδωκεν ἁμαρτάδων πλήρη τὰ βιβλία. συνέβη δὲ τοῖς ἐκ τῶν περιπάτων τοῖς μὲν πάλαι τοῖς μετὰ Θεόφραστον οὐκ ἔχουσιν ὅλως τὰ βιβλία πλὴν ὀλίγων, καὶ μάλιστα τῶν ἐξωτερικῶν, μηδὲν ἔχειν φιλοσοφεῖν πραγματικῶς, ἀλλὰ θέσεις ληκυθίζειν· τοῖς δʼ ὕστερον, ἀφʼ οὗ τὰ βιβλία ταῦτα προῆλθεν, ἄμεινον μὲν ἐκείνων φιλοσοφεῖν καὶ ἀριστοτελίζειν, ἀναγκάζεσθαι μέντοι τὰ πολλὰ εἰκότα λέγειν διὰ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν. πολὺ δὲ εἰς τοῦτο καὶ ἡ Ῥώμη προσελάβετο· εὐθὺς γὰρ μετὰ τὴν Ἀπελλικῶντος τελευτὴν Σύλλας ἦρε τὴν Ἀπελλικῶντος βιβλιοθήκην ὁ τὰς Ἀθήνας ἑλών, δεῦρο δὲ κομισθεῖσαν Τυραννίων τε ὁ γραμματικὸς διεχειρίσατο φιλαριστοτέλης ὤν, θεραπεύσας τὸν ἐπὶ τῆς βιβλιοθήκης, καὶ βιβλιοπῶλαί τινες γραφεῦσι φαύλοις χρώμενοι καὶ οὐκ ἀντιβάλλοντες, ὅπερ καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν ἄλλων συμβαίνει τῶν εἰς πρᾶσιν γραφομένων βιβλίων καὶ ἐνθάδε καὶ ἐν Ἀλεξανδρείᾳ. περὶ μὲν οὖν τούτων ἀπόχρη.
The Socratic philosophers, Erastus, Coriscus, and Neleus, the son of Coriscus, a disciple of Aristotle, and Theophrastus, were natives of Scepsis. Neleus succeeded to the possession of the library of Theophrastus, which included that of Aristotle; for Aristotle gave his library, and left his school, to Theophrastus. Aristotle was the first person with whom we are acquainted who made a collection of books, and suggested to the kings of Aegypt the formation of a library. Theophrastus left his library to Neleus, who carried it to Scepsis, and bequeathed it to some ignorant persons who kept the books locked up, lying in disorder. When the Scepsians understood that the Attalic kings, on whom the city was dependent, were in eager search for books, with which they intended to furnish the library at Pergamus, they hid theirs in an excavation under-ground; at length, but not before they had been injured by damp and worms, the descendants of Neleus sold the books of Aristotle and Theophrastus for a large sum of money to Apellicon of Teos. Apellicon was rather a lover of books than a philosopher; when therefore he attempted to restore the parts which had been eaten and corroded by worms, he made alterations in the original text and introduced them into new copies; he moreover supplied the defective parts unskilfully, and published the books full of errors. It was the misfortune of the ancient Peripatetics, those after Theophrastus, that being wholly unprovided with the books of Aristotle, with the exception of a few only, and those chiefly of the exoteric kind, they were unable to philosophize according to the principles of the system, and merely occupied themselves in elaborate discussions on common places. Their successors however, from the time that these books were published, philosophized, and propounded the doctrine of Aristotle more successfully than their predecessors, but were under the necessity of advancing a great deal as probable only, on account of the multitude of errors contained in the copies.
Even Rome contributed to this increase of errors; for immediately on the death of Apellicon, Sylla, who captured Athens, seized the library of Apellicon. When it was brought to Rome, Tyrannion, the grammarian, who was an admirer of Aristotle, courted the superintendent of the library and obtained the use of it. Some vendors of books, also, employed bad scribes and neglected to compare the copies with the original. This happens in the case of other books which are copied for sale both here and at Alexandreia.
This may suffice on this subject.
ἐκ δὲ τῆς Σκήψεως καὶ ὁ Δημήτριος ἔστιν οὗ μεμνήμεθα πολλάκις, ὁ τὸν Τρωικὸν διάκοσμον ἐξηγησάμενος γραμματικός, κατὰ τὸν αὐτὸν χρόνον γεγονὼς Κράτητι καὶ Ἀριστάρχῳ· καὶ μετὰ τοῦτον Μητρόδωρος, ἀνὴρ ἐκ τοῦ φιλοσόφου μεταβεβληκὼς ἐπὶ τὸν πολιτικὸν βίον καὶ ῥητορεύων τὸ πλέον ἐν τοῖς συγγράμμασιν· ἐχρήσατο δὲ φράσεώς τινι χαρακτῆρι καινῷ καὶ κατεπλήξατο πολλούς· διὰ δὲ τὴν δόξαν ἐν Χαλκηδόνι γάμου λαμπροῦ πένης ὢν ἔτυχε καὶ ἐχρημάτιζε Χαλκηδόνιος· Μιθριδάτην δὲ θεραπεύσας τὸν Εὐπάτορα συναπῆρεν εἰς τὸν Πόντον ἐκείνῳ μετὰ τῆς γυναικὸς καὶ ἐτιμήθη διαφερόντως, ταχθεὶς ἐπὶ τῆς δικαιοδοσίας, ἀφʼ ἧς οὐκ ἦν τῷ κριθέντι ἀναβολὴ τῆς δίκης ἐπὶ τὸν βασιλέα. οὐ μέντοι διηυτύχησεν, ἀλλʼ ἐμπεσὼν εἰς ἔχθραν ἀδικωτέρων ἀνθρώπων ἀπέστη τοῦ βασιλέως κατὰ τὴν πρὸς Τιγράνην τὸν Ἀρμένιον πρεσβείαν· ὁ δʼ ἄκοντα ἀνέπεμψεν αὐτὸν τῷ Εὐπάτορι, φεύγοντι ἤδη τὴν προγονικήν, κατὰ δὲ τὴν ὁδὸν κατέστρεψε τὸν βίον εἴθʼ ὑπὸ τοῦ βασιλέως εἴθʼ ὑπὸ νόσου· λέγεται γὰρ ἀμφότερα. περὶ μὲν τῶν Σκηψίων ταῦτα.
Demetrius the grammarian, whom we have frequently mentioned, was a native of Scepsis. He composed a comment on the catalogue of the Trojan forces. He was contemporary with Crates and Aristarchus. He was succeeded by Metrodorus, who changed from being a philosopher to engage in public affairs. His writings are for the most part in the style of the rhetoricians. He employed a new and striking kind of phraseology. Although he was poor, yet, in consequence of the reputation which he had acquired, he married a rich wife at Chalcedon, and acquired the surname of the Chalcedonian. He paid great court to Mithridates Eupator, whom he accompanied with his wife on a voyage to Pontus, and received from him distinguished honours. He was appointed to preside over a tribunal where the party condemned by the judge had no power of appeal to the king. His prosperity however was not lasting, for he incurred the enmity of some very unjust persons, and deserted from the king at the very time that he was despatched on an embassy to Tigranes the Armenian. Tigranes sent him back much against his inclination to Eupator, who was then flying from his hereditary kingdom. Metrodorus died on the road, either in consequence of orders from the king, or by natural disease, for both causes of his death are stated.
So much then respecting Scepsis.
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