καὶ πρῶτον ποσαχῶς λέγεται παρὰ τῷ ποιητῇ τὸ Ἄργος καὶ καθʼ αὑτὸ καὶ μετὰ τοῦ ἐπιθέτου, Ἀχαιικὸν Ἄργος καλοῦντος ἢ Ἴασον ἢ ἵππιον ἢ Πελασγικὸν ἢ ἱππόβοτον. καὶ γὰρ ἡ πόλις Ἄργος λέγεται Ἄργος τε Σπάρτη τε. / οἱ δʼ Ἄργος τʼ εἶχον Τίρυνθά τε. / καὶ ἡ Πελοπόννησος ἡμετέρῳ ἐνὶ οἴκῳ ἐν Ἄργεϊ. / οὐ γὰρ ἡ πόλις γε ἦν οἶκος αὐτοῦ. καὶ ὅλη ἡ Ἑλλάς· Ἀργείους γοῦν καλεῖ πάντας καθάπερ καὶ Δαναοὺς καὶ Ἀχαιούς. τὴν δʼ οὖν ὁμωνυμίαν τοῖς ἐπιθέτοις διαστέλλεται, τὴν μὲν Θετταλίαν Πελασγικὸν Ἄργος καλῶν νῦν αὖ τοὺς ὅσσοι τὸ Πελασγικὸν Ἄργος ἔναιον. / τὴν δὲ Πελοπόννησον εἰ δέ κεν Ἄργος ἱκοίμεθʼ Ἀχαιικὸν / ἢ οὐκ Ἄργεος ἦεν Ἀχαιικοῦ. / σημαίνων ἐνταῦθα, ὅτι καὶ Ἀχαιοὶ ἰδίως ὠνομάζοντο οἱ Πελοποννήσιοι κατʼ ἄλλην σημασίαν. Ἴασόν τε Ἄργος τὴν Πελοπόννησον λέγει εἰ πάντες γʼ ἐσίδοιεν ἀνʼ Ἴασον Ἄργος Ἀχαιοί / τὴν Πηνελόπην, ὅτι πλείους ἂν λάβοι μνηστῆρας· οὐ γὰρ τοὺς ἐξ ὅλης τῆς Ἑλλάδος εἰκός, ἀλλὰ τοὺς ἐγγύς. ἱππόβοτον δὲ καὶ ἵππιον κοινῶς εἴρηκε.
And first, we may observe how frequently Argos is mentioned by the poet, both by itself and with the epithet designating it as Achaean Argos, Argos Jasum, Argos Hippium, or Hippoboton, or Pelasgicum. The city, too, is called Argos, Argos and Sparta— / those who occupied Argos and Tiryns; / and Peloponnesus is called Argos, at our house in Argos, / for the city could not be called his house; and he calls the whole of Greece, Argos, for he calls all Argives, as he calls them Danai, and Achaeans. He distinguishes the identity of name by epithets; he calls Thessaly, Pelasgic Argos; all who dwelt in Pelasgic Argos; / and the Peloponnesus, the Achaean Argos; if we should return to Achaean Argos; / was he not at Achaean Argos? / intimating in these lines that the Peloponnesians were called peculiarly Achaeans according to another designation.
He calls also the Peloponnesus, Argos Jasum; if all the Achaeans throughout Argos Jasum should see you, / meaning Penelope, she then would have a greater number of suitors; for it is not probable that he means those from the whole of Greece, but those from the neighbourhood of Ithaca. He applies also to Argos terms common to other places, pasturing horses, and abounding with horses.
περὶ δὲ τῆς Ἑλλάδος καὶ Ἑλλήνων καὶ Πανελλήνων ἀντιλέγεται. Θουκυδίδης μὲν γὰρ τὸν ποιητὴν μηδαμοῦ βαρβάρους εἰπεῖν φησι διὰ τὸ μηδὲ Ἕλληνάς πω τὸ ἀντίπαλον εἰς ἓν ὄνομα ἀποκεκρίσθαι. καὶ Ἀπολλόδωρος δὲ μόνους τοὺς ἐν Θετταλίᾳ καλεῖσθαί φησιν Μυρμιδόνες δὲ καλεῦντο καὶ Ἕλληνες. Ἡσίοδον μέντοι καὶ Ἀρχίλοχον ἤδη εἰδέναι καὶ Ἕλληνας λεγομένους τοὺς σύμπαντας καὶ Πανέλληνας, τὸν μὲν περὶ τῶν Προιτίδων λέγοντα ὡς Πανέλληνες ἐμνήστευον αὐτάς, τὸν δὲ ὡς Πανελλήνων ὀιζὺς ἐς Θάσον συνέδραμεν. / ἄλλοι δʼ ἀντιτιθέασιν ὅτι καὶ βαρβάρους εἴρηκεν, εἰπών γε βαρβαροφώνους τοὺς Κᾶρας, καὶ Ἕλληνας τοὺς πάντας ἀνδρός, τοῦ κλέος εὐρὺ καθʼ Ἑλλάδα καὶ μέσον Ἄργος· / καὶ πάλιν εἰ δʼ ἐθέλῃς ἀνʼ Ἑλλάδα καὶ μέσον Ἄργος. /
There is a controversy about the names Hellas and Hellenes. Thucydides says that Homer nowhere mentions Barbarians, because the Greeks were not distinguished by any single name, which expressed its opposite. Apollodorus also says, that the inhabitants of Thessaly alone were called Hellenes, and alleges this verse of the poet, they were called Myrmidones, and Hellenes; / but Hesiod, and Archilochus, in their time knew that they were all called Hellenes, and Panhellenes: the former calls them by this name in speaking of the Proetides, and says that Panhellenes were their suitors; the latter, where he says that the calamities of the Panhellenes centred in Thasus. /
But others oppose to this, that Homer does mention Barbarians, when he says of the Carians, that they spoke a barbarous language, and that all the Hellenes were comprised in the term Hellas; of the man, whose fame spread throughout Hellas and Argos. / And again, but if you wish to turn aside and pass through Greece and the midst of Argos. /
ἡ μὲν οὖν πόλις ἡ τῶν Ἀργείων ἐν χωρίοις ἐπιπέδοις ἵδρυται τὸ πλέον, ἄκραν δʼ ἔχει τὴν καλουμένην Λάρισαν, λόφον εὐερκῆ μετρίως ἔχοντα ἱερὸν Διός· ῥεῖ δʼ αὐτῆς πλησίον ὁ Ἴναχος χαραδρώδης ποταμὸς τὰς πηγὰς ἔχων ἐκ Λυρκείου. περὶ δὲ τῶν μυθευομένων πηγῶν εἴρηται διότι πλάσματα ποιητῶν ἐστί· πλάσμα δὲ καὶ τὸ Ἄργος ἄνυδρον θεοὶ δʼ αὖ θέσαν Ἄργος ἔνυδρον τῆς τε χώρας κοίλης οὔσης καὶ ποταμοῖς διαρρεομένης καὶ ἕλη καὶ λίμνας παρεχομένης, καὶ τῆς πόλεως εὐπορουμένης ὕδασι φρεάτων πολλῶν καὶ ἐπιπολαίων. αἰτιῶνται δὲ τῆς ἀπάτης τὸ καί κεν ἐλέγχιστος πολυδίψιον Ἄργος ἱκοίμην. / τοῦτο δʼ ἤτοι ἀντὶ τοῦ πολυπόθητον κεῖται, ἢ χωρὶς τοῦ δ πολυίψιον, ὡς πολύφθορόν τε δῶμα Πελοπιδῶν τόδε / φησὶ Σοφοκλῆς· τὸ γὰρ ἴψασθαι φθοράν τινα καὶ βλάβην σημαίνει νῦν μὲν πειρᾶται, τάχα δʼ ἴψεται υἷας Ἀχαιῶν / κατὰ χρόα καλὸν ἰάψῃ. / Ἄιδι προίαψεν / ἄλλως τε οὐ τὴν πόλιν λέγει τὸ Ἄργος (οὐ γὰρ ἐκεῖσε ἔμελλεν ἀφίξεσθαι) ἀλλὰ τὴν Πελοπόννησον, οὐ δήπου καὶ ταύτην διψηρὰν οὖσαν. καὶ σὺν τῷ ltδgt δὲ ὑπερβατῶς δέχονταί συναλιφὴν μετὰ τοῦ συνδέσμου τοῦ δέ, ἵνʼ ᾖ οὕτως καί κεν ἐλέγχιστος πολὺ δʼ ἴψιον Ἄργος ἱκοίμην, […] πολυίψιον Ἄργοσδε ἱκοίμην ἀντὶ τοῦ εἰς Ἄργος.
The greater part of the city of the Argives is situated in a plain. It has a citadel called Larisa, a hill moderately fortified, and upon it a temple of Jupiter. Near it flows the Inachus, a torrent river; its source is in Lyrceium [the Arcadian mountain near Cynuria]. We have said before that the fabulous stories about its sources are the inventions of poets; it is a fiction also that Argos is without water— but the gods made Argos a land without water. / Now the ground consists of hollows, it is intersected by rivers, and is full of marshes and lakes; the city also has a copious supply of water from many wells, which rises near the surface.
They attribute the mistake to this verse, and I shall return disgraced to Argos (πολυδιψιον) the very thirsty. / This word is used for πολυπόθητον, or much longed after, / or without the δ for πολυίψιον, equivalent to the expression πολύφθορον in Sophocles, this house of the Pelopidae abounding in slaughter, / [for προϊάψαι and ἰάψαι and ἴψασθαι, denote some injury or destruction; at present he is making the attempt, and he will soon-destroy (ἴψεται) the sons of the Achaei; and again, lest she should injure (ἰάψνͅ) her beautiful skin; / and, has prematurely sent down, προίᾶψεν, to Ades.] /
Besides, he does not mean the city Argos, for it was not thither that he was about to return, but he meant Peloponnesus, which, certainly, is not a thirsty land.
With respect to the letter δ, they introduce the conjunction by the figure hyperbaton, and make an elision of the vowel, so that the verse would run thus, και κεν ἐλὲγχιστος, πολὺ δ’ ἴψιον?ἄργος ἱκοίμην, / that is, πολυίψιον?ἄργοσδε ἱκοίμην, instead of, εἰς?ἄργος.
εἷς μὲν δὴ Ἴναχός ἐστιν ὁ διαρρέων τὴν Ἀργείαν· ἄλλος δὲ ποταμὸς Ἐρασῖνος ἐν τῇ Ἀργείᾳ ἐστίν· οὗτος δὲ τὰς ἀρχὰς ἐκ Στυμφάλου τῆς Ἀρκαδίας λαμβάνει καὶ τῆς ἐκεῖ λίμνης τῆς καλουμένης Στυμφαλίδος, ἐν ᾗ τὰς ὄρνεις μυθολογοῦσι τὰς ὑπὸ τοῦ Ἡρακλέους τοξεύμασι καὶ τυμπάνοις ἐξελαθείσας, καὶ αὐτὰς καλοῦσι Στυμφαλίδας· δύντα δʼ ὑπὸ γῆς φασὶ τὸν ποταμὸν τοῦτον ἐκπίπτειν εἰς τὴν Ἀργείαν καὶ ποιεῖν ἐπίρρυτον τὸ πεδίον· ῥεῖ δὲ καὶ ἄλλος ὁμώνυμος ἐκ τῆς Ἀρκαδίας εἰς τὸν κατὰ Βοῦραν αἰγιαλόν· ἄλλος δʼ ἐστὶν ὁ Ἐρετρικός, καὶ ὁ ἐν τῇ Ἀττικῇ κατὰ Βραυρῶνα. δείκνυται δὲ καὶ Ἀμυμώνη τις κρήνη κατὰ Λέρνην. ἡ δὲ Λέρνη λίμνη τῆς Ἀργείας ἐστὶ καὶ τῆς Μυκηναίας, ἐν ᾗ τὴν Ὕδραν ἱστοροῦσι· διὰ δὲ τοὺς γινομένους καθαρμοὺς ἐν αὐτῇ παροιμία τις ἐξέπεσε Λέρνη κακῶν. τὴν μὲν οὖν χώραν συγχωροῦσιν εὐυδρεῖν, αὐτὴν δὲ τὴν πόλιν ἐν ἀνύδρῳ χωρίῳ κεῖσθαι, φρεάτων δʼ εὐπορεῖν, ἃ ταῖς Δαναΐσιν ἀνάπτουσιν, ὡς ἐκείνων ἐξευρουσῶν, ἀφʼ οὗ καὶ τὸ ἔπος εἰπεῖν τοῦτο Ἄργος ἄνυδρον ἐὸν Δανααὶ θέσαν Ἄργος ἔνυδρον, / τῶν δὲ φρεάτων τέτταρα καὶ ἱερὰ ἀποδειχθῆναι καὶ τιμᾶσθαι διαφερόντως, ἐν εὐπορίᾳ ὑδάτων ἀπορίαν εἰσάγοντες.
The Inachus is one of the rivers, which flows through the Argive territory; there is also another in Argia, the Erasīnus. It has its source in Stymphalus in Arcadia, and in the lake there called Stymphalis, where the scene is laid of the fable of the birds called Stymphalides, which Hercules drove away by wounding them with arrows, and by the noise of drums. It is said that this river passes under-ground, and issues forth in the Argian territory, and waters the plain. The Erasīnus is also called Arsinus.
Another river of the same name flows out of Arcadia to the coast near Buras. There is another Erasinus also in Eretria, and one in Attica near Brauron.
Near Lerna a fountain is shown, called Amymone. The lake Lerna, the haunt of the Hydra, according to the fable, belongs to the Argive and Messenian districts. The expiatory purifications performed at this place by persons guilty of crimes gave rise to the proverb, A Lerna of evils.
It is allowed that, although the city itself lies in a spot where there are no running streams of water, there is an abundance of wells, which are attributed to the Danaides as their invention; hence the line, the Danaïdes made waterless Argos, Argos the watered. / Four of the wells are esteemed sacred, and held in peculiar veneration. Hence they occasioned a want of water, while they supplied it abundantly.
τὴν δὲ ἀκρόπολιν τῶν Ἀργείων οἰκίσαι λέγεται Δαναός, ὃς τοσοῦτον τοὺς πρὸ αὐτοῦ δυναστεύοντας ἐν τοῖς τόποις ὑπερβαλέσθαι δοκεῖ ὥστε κατʼ Εὐριπίδην Πελασγιώτας ὠνομασμένους τὸ πρὶν / Δαναοὺς καλεῖσθαι νόμον ἔθηκʼ ἀνʼ Ἑλλάδα. / ἔστι δὲ καὶ τάφος αὐτοῦ κατὰ μέσην τὴν τῶν Ἀργείων ἀγοράν· καλεῖται δὲ πλίνθος. οἶμαι δʼ ὅτι καὶ Πελασγιώτας καὶ Δαναούς, ὥσπερ καὶ Ἀργείους, ἡ δόξα τῆς πόλεως ταύτης ἀπʼ αὐτῆς καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους Ἕλληνας καλεῖσθαι παρεσκεύασεν· οὕτω δὲ καὶ Ἰασίδας καὶ Ἴασον Ἄργος. καὶ Ἀπίαν καὶ Ἀπιδόνας οἱ νεώτεροί φασιν· Ὅμηρος δʼ Ἀπιδόνας μὲν οὐ λέγει, ἀπίαν δὲ τὴν πόρρω μᾶλλον. ὅτι δʼ Ἄργος τὴν Πελοπόννησον λέγει, προσλαβεῖν ἔστι καὶ τάδε Ἀργείη δʼ Ἑλένη / καὶ ἔστι πόλις Ἐφύρη μυχῷ Ἄργεος / καὶ μέσον Ἄργος / καὶ πολλῇσιν νήσοισι καὶ Ἄργεϊ παντὶ ἀνάσσειν. / Ἄργος δὲ καὶ τὸ πεδίον λέγεται παρὰ τοῖς νεωτέροις, παρʼ Ὁμήρῳ δʼ οὐδʼ ἅπαξ· μάλιστα δʼ οἴονται Μακεδονικὸν καὶ Θετταλικὸν εἶναι.
Danaus is said to have built the citadel of the Argives. He seems to have possessed so much more power than the former rulers of the country, that, according to Euripides, he made a law that those who were formerly called Pelasgiotae, should be called Danai throughout Greece. His tomb, called Palinthus, is in the middle of the marketplace of the Argives. I suppose that the celebrity of this city was the reason of all the Greeks having the name of Pelasgiotae, and Danai, as well as Argives.
Modern writers speak of Iasidae, and Argos Iasum, and Apia, and Apidones. Homer does not mention Apidones, and uses the word apia only to express distance. That he means Peloponnesus by Argos we may conclude from these lines, Argive Helen; / and, in the farthest part of Argos is a city Ephyra; / and, the middle of Argos; / and, to rule over many islands, and the whole of Argos. / Argos, among modern writers, denotes a plain, but not once in Homer. It seems rather a Macedonian and Thessalian use of the word.
Cite This Text