Page:The geography of Strabo (1854) Volume 2.djvu/21

 B. vin. c. in. 9, 10. GREECE. ELIS. 13 " they eat the bread of the Cyprians and the wheat of the Amathusii; " for the Amathusii are Cyprians : and Alcraan ; " leaving the beloved Cyprus, and Paphos, washed on all sides by the sea :" and JEschylus ; " possessing as your share by lot the whole of Cyprus and Paphos." If Homer has not called the Buprasii by the name of Eleii, we shall reply, nor has he mentioned many other places and things which exist. For this is not a proof that they did not exist, but only that he has not mentioned them. 9. But Hecataeus of Miletus says, that the Epeii are a different people from the Eleii ; that the Epeii accompanied Hercules in his expedition against Augeas, and joined him in destroying Elis, and defeating Augeas. He also says, that Dyme was both an Epeian and an Achasan city. The ancient historians, accustomed from childhood to falsehood through the tales of mythologists, speak of many things that never existed. Hence they do not even agree with one another, in their accounts of the same things. Not that it is improbable that the Epeii, although a dif- ferent people and at variance with the Eleii, when they had gained the ascendency, united together, forming a com- mon state, and their power extended even as far as Dyme. The poet does not mention Dyme, but it is not improbable that at that time it was subject to the Epeii, and afterwards to the lones, or perhaps not even to this people, but to the Achsei, who were in possession of the country of the lones. Of the four portions, which include Buprasium, Hyrmine and Myrsinus belong to the territory of Eleia. The rest, according to the opinion of some writers, are situated close on the borders of the Pisatis. 10. Hyrmine was a small town, which exists no longer, but there is a mountainous promontory near Cyllene, called Hormina or Hyrmina. Myrsinus is the present Myrtuntium, a settlement extend- ing to the sea, and situated on the road from Dyme to Elis, at the distance of 70 stadia from the city of the Eleii. It is conjectured that the Olenian rock is the present Scollis. For we might mention probable conjectures, since both places and names have undergone changes, and the poet himself does not explain his meaning clearly in many passages.