ἐκ δὴ τούτων δῆλον ὡς ἐφʼ ἑκάτερα τοῦ Ἀλφειοῦ ἡ ὑπὸ Νέστορι χώρα ἐστίν, ἣν πᾶσαν ὀνομάζει Πυλίων γῆν· οὐδαμοῦ δὲ ὁ Ἀλφειὸς οὔτε τῆς Μεσσηνίας ἐφάπτεται οὔτε τῆς κοίλης Ἤλιδος. ἐν ταύτῃ γὰρ τῇ χώρᾳ ἐστὶν ἡ πατρὶς τοῦ Νέστορος, ἥν φαμεν Τριφυλιακὸν Πύλον καὶ Ἀρκαδικὸν καὶ Λεπρεατικόν. καὶ γὰρ δὴ οἱ μὲν ἄλλοι Πύλοι ἐπὶ θαλάττῃ δείκνυνται, οὗτος δὲ πλείους ἢ τριάκοντα σταδίους ὑπὲρ αὐτῆς, ὅπερ καὶ ἐκ τῶν ἐπῶν δῆλον. ἐπί τε γὰρ τοὺς Τηλεμάχου ἑταίρους ἄγγελος πέμπεται πρὸς τὸ πλοῖον καλῶν ἐπὶ ξενίαν, ὅ τε Τηλέμαχος κατὰ τὴν ἐκ Σπάρτης ἐπάνοδον τὸν Πεισίστρατον οὐκ ἐᾷ πρὸς τὴν πόλιν ἐλαύνειν, ἀλλὰ παρατρέψαντα ἐπὶ ναῦν σπεύδειν, ὡς οὐ τὴν αὐτὴν οὖσαν ἐπὶ τὴν πόλιν καὶ τὸν ὅρμον. ὅ τε ἀπόπλους τοῦ Τηλεμάχου οὕτως ἂν οἰκείως λέγοιτο βὰν δὲ παρὰ Κρουνοὺς καὶ Χαλκίδα καλλιρέεθρον. / δύετό τʼ ἠέλιος, σκιόωντό τε πᾶσαι ἀγυιαί· / ἡ δὲ Φεὰς ἐπέβαλλεν, ἀγαλλομένη Διὸς οὔρῳ, / ἠδὲ παρʼ Ἤλιδα δῖαν, ὅθι κρατέουσιν Ἐπειοί. / μέχρι μὲν δὴ δεῦρο πρὸς τὴν ἄρκτον ὁ πλοῦς, ἐντεῦθεν δʼ ἐπὶ τὸ πρὸς ἕω μέρος ἐπιστρέφει. παρίησι δὲ τὸν εὐθὺν πλοῦν ἡ ναῦς καὶ τὸν ἐξ ἀρχῆς καὶ τὸν εἰς Ἰθάκην διὰ τὸ τοὺς μνηστῆρας ἐκεῖ τὴν ἐνέδραν θέσθαι ἐν πορθμῷ Ἰθάκης τε Σάμοιό τε· / ἔνθεν δʼ αὖ νήσοισιν ἐπιπροέηκε θοῇσι. / θοὰς δὲ εἴρηκε τὰς ὀξείας· τῶν Ἐχινάδων δʼ εἰσὶν αὗται, πλησιάζουσαι τῇ ἀρχῇ τοῦ Κορινθιακοῦ κόλπου καὶ ταῖς ἐκβολαῖς τοῦ Ἀχελώου. παραλλάξας δὲ τὴν Ἰθάκην, ὥστε κατὰ νώτου γενέσθαι, κάμπτει πάλιν πρὸς τὸν οἰκεῖον δρόμον τὸν μεταξὺ τῆς Ἀκαρνανίας καὶ τῆς Ἰθάκης, καὶ κατὰ θάτερα μέρη τῆς νήσου ποιεῖται τὴν καταγωγήν, οὐ κατὰ τὸν πορθμὸν τὸν Κεφαλληνιακόν, ὃν ἐφρούρουν οἱ μνηστῆρες.
Hence it is evident that the country under the command of Nestor is on each side of the Alpheius, all of which tract he calls the country of the Pylians, but nowhere does the Alpheius touch Messenia, nor the Hollow Elis.
It is in this district that we have the native country of Nestor, which we call the Triphylian, the Arcadian, and the Lepreatic Pylus. For we know that other places of the name of Pylus are pointed out, situated upon the sea, but this is distant more than 30 stadia from it, as appears from the poem. A messenger is sent to the vessel, to the companions of Telemachus,—to invite them to a hospitable entertainment. Telemachus, upon his return from Sparta, does not permit Peisistratus to go to the city, but diverts him from it, and prevails upon him to hasten to the ship, whence it appears that the same road did not lead both to the city and to the haven. The departure of Telemachus may in this manner be aptly understood: they went past Cruni, and the beautiful streams of Chalcis; the sun set, and all the villages were in shade and darkness; but the ship, exulting in the gales of Jove, arrived at Pheae. She passed also the divine Elis, where the Epeii rule; for to this place the direction of the vessel was towards the north, and thence it turns to the east. The vessel leaves its first and straight course in the direction of Ithaca, because the suitors had placed an ambush there,
“In the strait between Ithaca and Samos,
And from thence he directed the vessel to the sharp-pointed islands, νήσοισι θοηαὶ; the sharp-pointed (ὀξείαι) he calls θοαὶ. They belong to the Echinades, and are near the commencement of the Corinthian Gulf and the mouths of the Achelous. After having sailed past Ithaca so as to leave the island behind him, he turns to the proper course between Acarnania and Ithaca, and disembarks on the other side of the island, not at the strait of Cephallenia, where the suitors were on the watch.
εἰ γοῦν τὸν Ἠλιακὸν Πύλον εἶναί τις τὸν Νέστορος ἐπινοήσειεν, οὐκ ἂν οἰκείως λέγοιτο ἡ ἐντεῦθεν ἀναχθεῖσα ναῦς παρὰ Κρουνοὺς ἐνεχθῆναι καὶ Χαλκίδα μέχρι δύσεως, εἶτα Φεαῖς ἐπιβάλλειν νύκτωρ, καὶ τότε τὴν Ἠλείαν παραπλεῖν· οὗτοι γὰρ οἱ τόποι πρὸς νότον τῆς Ἠλείας εἰσί, πρῶται μὲν αἱ Φεαί, εἶθʼ ἡ Χαλκίς, εἶθʼ οἱ Κρουνοί, εἶθʼ ὁ Πύλος ὁ Τριφυλιακὸς καὶ τὸ Σαμικόν. τῷ μὲν οὖν πρὸς νότον πλέοντι ἐκ τοῦ Ἠλιακοῦ Πύλου οὗτος ἂν ὁ πλοῦς εἴη· τῷ δὲ πρὸς ἄρκτον, ὅπου ἐστὶν ἡ Ἰθάκη, ταῦτα μὲν πάντα ὀπίσω λείπεται, αὐτὴ δʼ ἡ Ἠλεία παραπλευστέα ἦν, καὶ πρὸ δύσεώς γε· ὁ δέ φησι μετὰ δύσιν. καὶ μὴν εἰ καὶ πάλιν ὑπόθοιτό τις τὸν Μεσσηνιακὸν Πύλον καὶ τὸ Κορυφάσιον ἀρχὴν τοῦ παρὰ Νέστορος πλοῦ, πολὺ ἂν εἴη τὸ διάστημα καὶ πλέονος χρόνου. αὐτὸ γοῦν τὸ ἐπὶ τὸν Τριφυλιακὸν Πύλον καὶ τὸ Σαμιακὸν ποσείδιον τετρακοσίων ἐστὶ σταδίων· καὶ ὁ παράπλους παρὰ Κρουνοὺς καὶ Χαλκίδα καὶ Φεάν, ἀδόξων ποταμῶν ὀνόματα μᾶλλον δὲ ὀχετῶν, ἀλλὰ παρὰ τὴν Νέδαν πρῶτον, εἶτʼ Ἀκίδωνα, εἶτα τὸν Ἀλφειὸν καὶ τόπους τούτων τοὺς μεταξύ· ὕστερον δʼ, εἰ ἄρα, κἀκείνων ἐχρῆν μνησθῆναι· καὶ γὰρ παρʼ ἐκείνους ὑπῆρχεν ὁ πλοῦς.
If any one therefore should suppose that the Eleian Pylus is the Pylus of Nestor, the ship would not properly be said, after setting off thence, to take its course along Cruni and Chalcis, as far as the west, then to arrive by night at Pheae, and afterwards to sail along the territory of Eleia, for these places are to the south of Eleia, first Pheae, then Chalcis, then Cruni, then the Triphylian Pylus, and the Samicum. In sailing then to the south from the Eleian Pylus this would be the course. In sailing to the north, where Ithaca lies, all these places are left behind, but they must sail along Eleia itself, and before, although he says after, sun-set. Again, on the other side, if any one should suppose the Messenian Pylus and the Coryphasium to be the commencement of the voyage after leaving the country of Nestor, the distance would be great, and would occupy more time. For the distance only to the Triphylian Pylus and the Samian Poseidium is 400 stadia, and the voyage would not be along Cruni, and Chalcis, and Pheae, the names of obscure places and rivers, or rather of streams, but first along the Neda, then Acidon, next Alpheius, and the places and countries lying between these rivers, and lastly, if we must mention them, along the former, because the voyage was along the former places and rivers also.
καὶ μὴν ἥ γε τοῦ Νέστορος διήγησις, ἣν διατίθεται πρὸς Πάτροκλον περὶ τοῦ γενομένου τοῖς Πυλίοις πρὸς Ἠλείους πολέμου, συνηγορεῖ τοῖς ὑφʼ ἡμῶν ἐπιχειρουμένοις, ἐὰν σκοπῇ τις τὰ ἔπη. φησὶ γὰρ ἐν αὐτοῖς, ὅτι πορθήσαντος Ἡρακλέους τὴν Πυλίαν ὥστε τὴν νεότητα ἐκλειφθῆναι πᾶσαν, δώδεκα δὴ παίδων ὄντων τῷ Νηλεῖ, μόνον αὐτῷ περιγενέσθαι τὸν Νέστορα νέον τελέως· καταφρονήσαντες δʼ οἱ Ἐπειοὶ τοῦ Νηλέως διὰ γῆρας καὶ ἐρημίαν ὑπερηφάνως καὶ ὑβριστικῶς ἐχρῶντο τοῖς Πυλίοις. ἀντὶ τούτων οὖν ὁ Νέστωρ συναγαγὼν τοὺς οἰκείους ὅσους οἷός τε ἦν ἐπελθεῖν φησιν ἐπὶ τὴν Ἠλείαν, καὶ περιελάσαι παμπόλλην λείαν πεντήκοντα βοῶν ἀγέλας, τόσα πώεα οἰῶν, / τόσσα συῶν συβόσια, / τοσαῦτα δὲ καὶ αἰπόλια, ἵππους δὲ ξανθὰς ἑκατὸν καὶ πεντήκοντα, ὑποπώλους τὰς πλείστας. καὶ τὰ μὲν ἠλασάμεσθα Πύλον (φησί)Νηλήιον εἴσω, / ἐννύχιοι προτὶ ἄστυ, / ὡς μεθʼ ἡμέραν μὲν τῆς λεηλασίας γενομένης καὶ τῆς τροπῆς τῶν ἐκβοηθησάντων, ὅτε κτανεῖν λέγει τὸν Ἰτυμονέα, νύκτωρ δὲ τῆς ἀφόδου γενομένης ὥστʼ ἐννυχίους πρὸς τῷ ἄστει γενέσθαι· περὶ δὲ τὴν διανομὴν καὶ θυσίαν ὄντων οἱ Ἐπειοὶ τῇ τρίτῃ τῶν ἡμερῶν κατὰ πλῆθος ἀθροισθέντες πεζοί τε καὶ ἱππεῖς ἀντεπεξῆλθον καὶ τὸ Θρύον ἐπὶ τῷ Ἀλφειῷ κείμενον περιεστρατοπέδευσαν. αἰσθόμενοι δʼ εὐθὺς οἱ Πύλιοι βοηθεῖν ὥρμησαν· νυκτερεύσαντες δὲ περὶ τὸν Μινυήιον ποταμὸν ἐγγύθεν Ἀρήνης, ἐντεῦθεν ἔνδιοι πρὸς τὸν Ἀλφειὸν ἀφικνοῦνται· τοῦτο δʼ ἐστὶ κατὰ μεσημβρίαν· θύσαντες δὲ τοῖς θεοῖς καὶ νυκτερεύσαντες ἐπὶ τῷ ποταμῷ συμβάλλουσιν εἰς μάχην εὐθὺς ἕωθεν· λαμπρᾶς δὲ τῆς τροπῆς γενομένης οὐκ ἐπαύσαντο διώκοντές τε καὶ κτείνοντες πρὶν Βουπρασίου ἐπέβησαν πέτρης τʼ Ὠλενίης καὶ Ἀλεισίου ἔνθα κολώνη / κέκληται, ὅθεν αὖτις ἀπέτραπε λαὸν Ἀθήνη. / καὶ ὑποβάς αὐτὰρ Ἀχαιοὶ / ἂψ ἀπὸ Βουπρασίοιο Πύλονδʼ ἔχον ὠκέας ἵππους. /
Besides, Nestor’s account of the war between the Pylians and Eleians, which he relates to Patroclus, agrees with our arguments, if any one examines the lines. For he says there, that Hercules laid waste Pylus, and that all the youth were exterminated; that out of twelve sons of Neleus, lie himself alone survived, and was a very young man, and that the Epeii, despising Neleus on account of his old age and destitute state, treated the Pylians with haughtiness and insult. Nestor therefore, in order to avenge this wrong, collected as large a body of his people as he was able, made an inroad into Eleia, and carried away a large quantity of booty; Fifty herds of oxen, as many flocks of sheep, / As many herds of swine, / and as many flocks of goats, an hundred and fifty brood mares, bay-coloured, most of which had foals, and these, he says, We drove away to Pylus, belonging to Neleus, / By night towards the city; / so that the capture of the booty, and the flight of those who came to the assistance of people who were robbed, happened in the day-time, when, he says, he slew Itamon; and they returned by night, so that they arrived by night at the city. When they were engaged in dividing the booty, and in sacrificing, the Epeii, having assembled in multitudes, on the third day marched against them with an army of horse and foot, and encamped about Thryum, which is situated on the Alpheius. The Pylians were no sooner informed of this than they immediately set out to the relief of this place, and having passed the night on the river Minyeius near Arene, thence arrive at the Alpheius at noon. After sacrificing to the gods, and passing the night on the banks of the river, they immediately, in the morning, engaged in battle. The rout of the enemy was complete, and they did not desist from the pursuit and slaughter, till they came to Buprasium, and the Olenian rock, where is a tumulus of Alesius, whence again Minerva repulsed the multitudes; and adds below, but the Achaei / Turned back their swift horses from Buprasium to Pylus. /
ἐκ τούτων δὴ πῶς ἂν ἢ τὸν Ἠλιακὸν Πύλον ὑπολάβοι τις ἢ τὸν Μεσσηνιακὸν λέγεσθαι; τὸν μὲν Ἠλιακόν, ὅτι τούτου πορθουμένου συνεπορθεῖτο καὶ ἡ τῶν Ἐπειῶν ὑπὸ τοῦ Ἡρακλέους· αὕτη δʼ ἐστὶν ἡ Ἠλεία. πῶς οὖν ἤμελλον οἱ συμπεπορθημένοι καὶ ὁμόφυλοι τοιαύτην ὑπερηφανίαν καὶ ὕβριν κτήσασθαι κατὰ τῶν συναδικηθέντων; πῶς δʼ ἂν τὴν οἰκείαν κατέτρεχον καὶ ἐλεηλάτουν; πῶς δʼ ἂν ἅμα καὶ Αὐγέας ἦρχε τῶν αὐτῶν καὶ Νηλεὺς ἐχθροὶ ὄντες ἀλλήλων; εἴγε τῷ Νηλεῖ χρεῖος μέγʼ ὀφείλετʼ ἐν Ἤλιδι δίῃ, / τέσσαρες ἀθλοφόροι ἵπποι αὐτοῖσιν ὄχεσφιν, / ἐλθόντες μετʼ ἄεθλα· περὶ τρίποδος γὰρ ἔμελλον / θεύσεσθαι· τοὺς δʼ αὖθι ἄναξ ἀνδρῶν Αὐγείας / κάσχεθε, τὸν δʼ ἐλατῆρʼ ἀφίει. / εἰ δʼ ἐνταῦθα ᾤκει ὁ Νηλεύς, ἐνταῦθα καὶ ὁ Νέστωρ ἐπῆρχε. πῶς οὖν τῶν μὲν Ἠλείων καὶ Βουπρασίων τέσσαρες ἀρχοὶ ἔσαν, δέκα δʼ ἀνδρὶ ἑκάστῳ / νῆες ἕποντο θοαί, πολέες δʼ ἔμβαινον Ἐπειοί; / εἰς τέτταρα δὲ καὶ ἡ χώρα διῄρητο, ὧν οὐδενὸς ἐπῆρχεν ὁ Νέστωρ, οἳ δὲ Πύλον τʼ ἐνέμοντο καὶ Ἀρήνην ἐρατεινήν / καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς τὰ μέχρι Μεσσήνης; οἱ δὲ δὴ ἀντεπεξιόντες Ἐπειοὶ τοῖς Πυλίοις πῶς ἐπὶ τὸν Ἀλφειὸν ἐξορμῶσι καὶ τὸ Θρύον; πῶς δʼ ἐκεῖ τῆς μάχης γενομένης τρεφθέντες ἐπὶ Βουπρασίου φεύγουσι; πάλιν δʼ, εἰ τὸν Μεσσηνιακὸν Πύλον ἐπόρθησεν ὁ Ἡρακλῆς, πῶς οἱ τοσοῦτον ἀφεστῶτες ὕβριζον εἰς αὐτούς, καὶ ἐν συμβολαίοις ἦσαν πολλοῖς, καὶ ταῦτʼ ἀπεστέρουν χρεοκοποῦντες, ὥστε διὰ ταῦτα συμβῆναι τὸν πόλεμον; πῶς δὲ ἐπὶ τὴν λεηλασίαν ἐξιὼν Νέστωρ τοσαύτην περιελάσας λείαν συῶν τε καὶ προβάτων, ὧν οὐδὲν ὠκυπορεῖν οὐδὲ μακροπορεῖν δύναται, πλειόνων ἢ χιλίων σταδίων ὁδὸν διήνυσεν εἰς τὴν πρὸς τῷ Κορυφασίῳ Πύλον, οἱ δὲ τρίτῳ ἤματι πάντες ἐπὶ τὴν Θρυόεσσαν καὶ τὸν ποταμὸν τὸν Ἀλφειὸν ἥκουσι πολιορκήσοντες τὸ φρούριον; πῶς δὲ ταῦτα τὰ χωρία προσήκοντα ἦν τοῖς ἐν τῇ Μεσσηνίᾳ δυναστεύουσιν ἐχόντων Καυκώνων καὶ Τριφυλίων καὶ Πισατῶν; τὰ δὲ Γέρηνα ἢ τὴν Γερηνίαν (ἀμφοτέρως γὰρ λέγεται) τάχα μὲν ἐπίτηδες ὠνόμασάν τινες· δύναται δὲ καὶ κατὰ τύχην οὕτως ὠνομάσθαι τὸ χωρίον. τὸ δʼ ὅλον, τῆς Μεσσηνίας ὑπὸ Μενελάῳ τεταγμένης, ὑφʼ ᾧ καὶ ἡ Λακωνικὴ ἐτέτακτο (ὡς δῆλον ἔσται καὶ ἐκ τῶν ὕστερον), καὶ τοῦ μὲν Παμισοῦ ῥέοντος διὰ ταύτης καὶ τοῦ Νέδωνος, Ἀλφειοῦ δʼ οὐδαμῶς ὅς τʼ εὐρὺ ῥέει Πυλίων διὰ γαίης, / ἧς ἐπῆρχεν ὁ Νέστωρ, τίς ἂν γένοιτο πιθανὸς λόγος εἰς τὴν ἀλλοτρίαν ἀρχὴν ἐκβιβάζων τὸν ἄνδρα, ἀφαιρούμενος δὲ τὰς συγκαταλεγείσας αὐτῷ πόλεις πάνθʼ ὑπʼ ἐκείνῳ ποιῶν;
From these verses how can it be supposed that Eleian or Messenian Pylus is meant. I say the Eleian, because when this was destroyed by Hercules, the country of the Epeii also was ravaged at the same time, that is, Eleia. How then could those, who were of the same tribe, and who had been plundered at that time, show such pride and insult to persons, who were suffering under the same injuries? How could they overrun and ravage their own country? How could Augeas and Neleus be kings of the same people, and yet be mutual enemies; for to Neleus a great debt was owing at the divine Elis; four horses, which had won the prize; they came with their chariots to contend for prizes; they were about to run in the race for a tripod; and Augeas, king of men, detained them there, but dismissed the charioteer. If Neleus lived there, there Nestor also lived. How then were there four chiefs of Eleians and Buprasians, with ten swift ships accompanying each, and with many Epeii embarked in them? The country also was divided into four parts, none of which was subject to Nestor, but those tribes were under his command, who lived at Pylns, and the pleasant Arēnē, / and at the places that follow next as far as Messene How came the Epeii, when marching against the Pylians, to set out towards the Alpheius and Thryum, and after being defeated there in battle, to fly to Buprasium? But on the other side, if Hercules laid waste the Messenian Pylus, how could they, who were at such a distance, treat the Pylians with insult, or have so much intercourse and traffic with them, and defraud them by refusing to discharge a debt, so that war should ensue on that account? How too could Nestor, after having got, in his marauding adventure, so large a quantity of booty, a prey of swine and sheep, none of which are swift-footed, nor able to go a long journey, accomplish a march of more than 1000 stadia to Pylus near Coryphasium? Yet all the Epeii arrive at Thryoessa and the river Alpheius on the third day, ready to lay siege to the strong-hold. How also did these districts belong to the chiefs of Messenia, when the Caucones, and Triphylii, and Pisatae occupied them? But the territory Gerena, or Gerenia, for it is written both ways, might have a name which some persons applied designedly, or which might have originated even in accident.
Since, however, Messenia was entirely under the dominion of Menelaus, to whom Laconia also was subject, as will be evident from what will be said hereafter, and since the rivers, the Pamisus and the Nedon, flow through this country, and not the Alpheius at all, which runs in a straight line through the country of the Pylians, of which Nestor was ruler, can that account be credible, by which it appears that one man takes possession by force of the dominion of another, and deprives him of the cities, which are said to be his property in the Catalogue of the Ships, and makes others subject to the usurper.
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