Page:The geography of Strabo (1854) Volume 1.djvu/508

 494 STRABO. CASAUB. 322. lier times, the captors of Troy l had driven out the Leleges from the places about Ida near the rivers Pedasus and Satnioeis. The fact of the association of these people with the Carians may be regarded as a proof of their being barbarians, and Aristotle, in his Politics, shows that they were a wandering nation, sometimes in company with the Carians, sometimes alone, and that from ancient times ; for, in speaking of the polity of the Acarnanians, he says that the Curetes occupied a part of the country, and the Leleges (and after them the Telebose) the western side. On the subject of the ^Etolian polity, he calls the present Locri, Leleges, and observes that they occupy Boeotia. He repeats the same remark on the subject of the polity of the Opuntians and Megareans. In speaking of the polity of the Leucadians, he mentions an ab- original by name, Leleges, and a grandson by his daughter of the name of Teleboas, and besides two and twenty of his sons of the name of Teleboas, some of whom inhabited Lucas. But we should chiefly rely upon Hesiod, who thus speaks of them: " For Locrus was the leader of the nation of the Leleges, whom Jupiter, the son of Saturn, in his infinite wisdom, once gave as subjects to Deu- calion, a people gathered from among the nations of the earth." For it seems to me to be obscurely intimated by the etymology of the name, Leleges, that they were a mixed people anciently collected together, which had become extinct. And this may be said of the Caucones, who exist no wjiere at present, yet were formerly settled in several places. 3. Although Greece was formerly composed of small na- tions, many in number, and obscure ; nevertheless their val- our, and their separate government by kings, prevented any difficulty in denning their boundaries. As the greatest part of the country, however, is at present uninhabited, and the settlements, especially the cities, have been destroyed, it would be of no service, even if it were possible, to ascertain the names of cities and regions occupied by obscure and extinct people. This destruction, which began a long time since, still continues in many parts in consequence of rebellion. It has been checked by the Romans, who accepted the supreme au- thority from the inhabitants and lodged soldiers in their houses. 1 The capture of Troy by Hercules. See Grote i. 388.