Page:The geography of Strabo (1854) Volume 2.djvu/36

 28 STRABO. CASAUB. 352. 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 Pisatse occupied them ? But the territory Gerena, or Gerenia, for it is written both ways, might have a name which some persons applied de- signedly, 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. 30. It remains that we speak of Olympia, and of the manner in which everything fell into the power of the Eleii. The temple is in the district Pisatis, at the distance of less than 300 stadia from Elis. In front of it is a grove of wild olive trees, where is the stadium. The Alpheius flows beside it, taking its course out of Arcadia to the Triphylian Sea between the west and the south. The fame of the temple was originally owing to the oracle of the Olympian Jove ; yet after that had ceased, the renown of the temple con- tinued, and increased, as we know, to a high degree of cele- brity, both on account of the assembly of the people of Greece,