πρώτη δʼ ἐστὶν ἐξ Ἐφέσου Μαγνησία πόλις Αἰολίς, λεγομένη δὲ ἐπὶ Μαιάνδρῳ· πλησίον γὰρ αὐτοῦ ἵδρυται· πολὺ δὲ πλησιαίτερον ὁ Ληθαῖος ἐμβάλλων εἰς τὸν Μαίανδρον, τὴν δʼ ἀρχὴν ἔχων ἀπὸ Πακτύου τοῦ τῶν Ἐφεσίων ὄρους· ἕτερος δʼ ἐστὶ Ληθαῖος ὁ ἐν Γορτύνῃ καὶ ὁ περὶ Τρίκκην, ἐφʼ ᾧ ὁ Ἀσκληπιὸς γεννηθῆναι λέγεται, καὶ ἔτι ἐν τοῖς Ἑσπερίταις Λίβυσι. κεῖται δʼ ἐν πεδίῳ πρὸς ὄρει καλουμένῳ Θώρακι ἡ πόλις, ἐφʼ ᾧ σταυρωθῆναί φασι Δαφίταν τὸν γραμματικὸν λοιδορήσαντα τοὺς βασιλέας διὰ διστίχου πορφύρεοι μώλωπες, ἀπορρινήματα γάζης / Λυσιμάχου, Λυδῶν ἄρχετε καὶ Φρυγίης. / καὶ λόγιον δʼ ἐκπεσεῖν αὐτῷ λέγεται φυλάττεσθαι τὸν Θώρακα.
The first place after Ephesus is Magnesia, an Aeolian city, and called Magnesia on the Maeander, for it is situated near it; but it is still nearer the Lethaeus, which discharges itself into the Maeander. It has its source in Pactyes, a mountain in the Ephesian district. There is another Lethaeus in Gortyne, a third near Tricca, where Asclepius is said to have been born, and the fourth among the Hesperitae Libyans.
Magnesia lies in a plain, near a mountain called Thorax, on which it is said Daphitas the grammarian was crucified, for reviling the kings in a distich— O slaves, with backs purpled with stripes, filings of the gold of Lysimachus, you are the kings of Lydia and Phrygia.
An oracle is said to have warned Daphitas to beware of the Thorax.
δοκοῦσι δʼ εἶναι Μάγνητες Δελφῶν ἀπόγονοι τῶν ἐποικησάντων τὰ Δίδυμα ὄρη ἐν Θετταλίᾳ, περὶ ὧν φησιν Ἡσίοδος ἢ οἵη Διδύμους ἱεροὺς ναίουσα κολωνούς, / Δωτίῳ ἐν πεδίῳ πολυβότρυος ἄντʼ Ἀμύροιο, / νίψατο Βοιβιάδος λίμνης πόδα παρθένος ἀδμής. / ἐνταῦθα δʼ ἦν καὶ τὸ τῆς Δινδυμήνης ἱερὸν μητρὸς θεῶν· ἱεράσασθαι δʼ αὐτοῦ τὴν Θεμιστοκλέους γυναῖκα, οἱ δὲ θυγατέρα παραδιδόασι· νῦν δʼ οὐκ ἔστι τὸ ἱερὸν διὰ τὸ τὴν πόλιν εἰς ἄλλον μετῳκίσθαι τόπον· ἐν δὲ τῇ νῦν πόλει τὸ τῆς Λευκοφρυήνης ἱερὸν ἔστιν Ἀρτέμιδος, ὃ τῷ μὲν μεγέθει τοῦ ναοῦ καὶ τῷ πλήθει τῶν ἀναθημάτων λείπεται τοῦ ἐν Ἐφέσῳ, τῇ δʼ εὐρυθμίᾳ καὶ τῇ τέχνῃ τῇ περὶ τὴν κατασκευὴν τοῦ σηκοῦ πολὺ διαφέρει· καὶ τῷ μεγέθει ὑπεραίρει πάντας τοὺς ἐν Ἀσίᾳ πλὴν δυεῖν, τοῦ ἐν Ἐφέσῳ καὶ τοῦ ἐν Διδύμοις. καὶ τὸ παλαιὸν δὲ συνέβη τοῖς Μάγνησιν ὑπὸ Τρηρῶν ἄρδην ἀναιρεθῆναι, Κιμμερικοῦ ἔθνους, εὐτυχήσαντας πολὺν χρόνον, τὸ δʼ ἑξῆς τοὺς Ἐφεσίους κατασχεῖν τὸν τόπον. Καλλῖνος μὲν οὖν ὡς εὐτυχούντων ἔτι τῶν Μαγνήτων μέμνηται καὶ κατορθούντων ἐν τῷ πρὸς τοὺς Ἐφεσίους πολέμῳ, Ἀρχίλοχος δὲ ἤδη φαίνεται γνωρίζων τὴν γενομένην αὐτοῖς συμφοράν κλαίειν τὰ Θασίων, οὗ τὰ Μαγνήτων κακά. / ἐξ οὗ καὶ τὸν νεώτερον εἶναι τοῦ Καλλίνου τεκμαίρεσθαι πάρεστιν. ἄλλης δέ τινος ἐφόδου τῶν Κιμμερίων μέμνηται πρεσβυτέρας ὁ Καλλῖνος ἐπὰν φῇ νῦν δʼ ἐπὶ Κιμμερίων στρατὸς ἔρχεται ὀβριμοεργῶν, / ἐν ᾗ τὴν Σάρδεων ἅλωσιν δηλοῖ.
The Magnesians appear to be the descendants of Delphians who inhabited the Didymaean mountains in Thessaly, and of whom Hesiod says, or, as the chaste virgin, who inhabits the sacred Didymaean hills in the plain of Dotium, opposite Amyrus, abounding with vines, and bathes her feet in the lake Boebias—
At Magnesia also was the temple of Dindymene, the mother of the gods. Her priestess, according to some writers, was the daughter, according to others, the wife, of Themistocles. At present there is no temple, because the city has been transferred to another place. In the present city is the temple of Artemis Leucophryene, which in the size of the nave and in the number of sacred offerings is inferior to the temple at Ephesus; but, in the fine proportion and the skill exhibited in the structure of the enclosure, it greatly surpasses the Ephesian temple; in size it is superior to all the temples in Asia, except that at Ephesus and that at Didymi.
Anciently the Magnetes were utterly extirpated by Treres, a Cimmerian tribe, who for a long period made successful inroads. Subsequently Ephesians got possession of the place. Callinus speaks of the Magnetes as still in a flourishing state, and successful in the war against the Ephesians. But Archilochus seems to have been acquainted with the calamities which had befallen them: bewail the misfortunes of the Thasians, not of the Magnetes; whence we may conjecture that Archilochus was posterior to Callinus. Yet Callinus mentions some other earlier inroad of the Cimmerians, when he says— and now the army of the daring Cimmerians is advancing, where he is speaking of the capture of Sardis.
ἄνδρες δʼ ἐγένοντο γνώριμοι Μάγνητες Ἡγησίας τε ὁ ῥήτωρ, ὃς ἦρξε μάλιστα τοῦ Ἀσιανοῦ λεγομένου ζήλου παραφθείρας τὸ καθεστὼς ἔθος τὸ Ἀττικόν, καὶ Σῖμος ὁ μελοποιὸς παραφθείρας καὶ αὐτὸς τὴν τῶν προτέρων μελοποιῶν ἀγωγὴν καὶ τὴν σιμῳδίαν εἰσαγαγών (καθάπερ ἔτι μᾶλλον λυσιῳδοὶ καὶ μαγῳδοί), καὶ Κλεόμαχος ὁ πύκτης, ὃς εἰς ἔρωτα ἐμπεσὼν κιναίδου τινὸς καὶ παιδίσκης ὑπὸ κιναίδῳ τρεφομένης ἀπεμιμήσατο τὴν ἀγωγὴν τῶν παρὰ τοῖς κιναίδοις διαλέκτων καὶ τῆς ἠθοποιίας· ἦρξε δὲ Σωτάδης μὲν πρῶτος τοῦ κιναιδολογεῖν, ἔπειτα Ἀλέξανδρος ὁ Αἰτωλός· ἀλλʼ οὗτοι μὲν ἐν ψιλῷ λόγῳ, μετὰ μέλους δὲ Λῦσις, καὶ ἔτι πρότερος τούτου ὁ Σῖμος. Ἀναξήνορα δὲ τὸν κιθαρῳδὸν ἐξῆρε μὲν καὶ τὰ θέατρα, ἀλλʼ ὅτι μάλιστα Ἀντώνιος, ὅς γε καὶ τεττάρων πόλεων ἀπέδειξε φορολόγον στρατιώτας αὐτῷ συστήσας. καὶ ἡ πατρὶς δʼ ἱκανῶς αὐτὸν ηὔξησε πορφύραν ἐνδύσασα ἱερωμένον τοῦ σωσιπόλιδος Διός, καθάπερ καὶ ἡ γραπτὴ εἰκὼν ἐμφανίζει ἡ ἐν τῇ ἀγορᾷ. ἔστι δὲ καὶ χαλκῆ εἰκὼν ἐν τῷ θεάτρῳ ἐπιγραφὴν ἔχουσα ἤτοι μὲν τόδε καλὸν ἀκουέμεν ἐστὶν ἀοιδοῦ τοιοῦδʼ, οἷος ὅδʼ ἐστί, θεοῖς ἐναλίγκιος αὐδῇ. / οὐ στοχασάμενος δὲ ὁ ἐπιγράψας τὸ τελευταῖον γράμμα τοῦ δευτέρου ἔπους παρέλιπε τοῦ πλάτους τῆς βάσεως μὴ συνεξαρκοῦντος, ὥστε τῆς πόλεως ἀμαθίαν καταγινώσκειν παρέσχε διὰ τὴν ἀμφιβολίαν τὴν περὶ τὴν γραφήν, εἴτε τὴν ὀνομαστικὴν δέχοιτο πτῶσιν τῆς ἐσχάτης προσηγορίας εἴτε τὴν δοτικήν· πολλοὶ γὰρ χωρὶς τοῦ ι γράφουσι τὰς δοτικάς, καὶ ἐκβάλλουσι δὲ τὸ ἔθος φυσικὴν αἰτίαν οὐκ ἔχον.
Among the illustrious natives of Magnesia were Hegesias the orator, who first introduced the Asiatic fervour, as it was called, and corrupted the established Attic style of eloquence; Simon (Simus?) the lyric poet, who also corrupted the system and plan of former lyric poets, by introducing the Simodia; it was still more corrupted by the Lysiodi and Magodi; Cleomachus the pugilist, who was enamoured of a certain cinaedus, and a female servant, who was maintained by the cinaedus, imitated the sort of dialect and the manners of the cinaedi. Sotades was the first person that employed the language of the cinaedi, and he was followed by Alexander the Aetolian; but these were only prose writers. Lysis added verse, but this had been done before his time by Simus.
The theatres had raised the reputation of Anaxenor, the player on the cithara, but Antony elevated him as high as possible, by appointing him receiver of the tribute from four cities, and by giving him a guard of soldiers for the protection of his person. His native country also augmented his dignity, by investing him with the sacred purple of Jupiter Sosipolis, as is represented in the painted figure in the forum. There is also in the theatre a figure in brass, with this inscription: It is truly delightful to listen to a minstrel such as he is, whose voice is like that of the gods. The artist who engraved the words was inattentive to the space which they would occupy, and omitted the last letter of the second verse, αυδηι, (voice,) the breadth of the base not being large enough to allow its insertion; this afforded an occasion of accusing the citizens of ignorance, on account of the ambiguity of the inscription; for it is not clear whether the nominative αυδη, or the dative αυδηι, is to be understood, for many persons write the dative cases without the ι, and reject the usage, as not founded on any natural reason.
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