Page:The geography of Strabo (1854) Volume 2.djvu/407

 *. xiii. c. iv. 1. CYME. PERGAMUM. 399 It is not generally admitted that Homer was from Cyme, for many dispute about him. The name of the city was derived from an Amazon, as that of Myrina was the name of an Amazon, buried under the Batieia in the plain of Troy ; "men call this Batieia; but the immortals, the tomb of the bounding Myrina." V Ephorus is bantered, because, having no achievements of his countrymen to commemorate among the other exploits in his history, and yet being unwilling to pass them over un- noticed, he exclaims, " at this time the Cymseans were at peace." After having described the Trojan and -ZEolian coasts, we ought next to notice cursorily the interior of the country as far as Mount Taurus, observing the same order. CHAPTER IV. 1. PERGAMUM 2 has a kind of supremacy among these places. It is a city of note, and flourished during a long period under the Attalic kings ; and here we shall begin our description, premising a short account of her kings, their origin, and the i end of their career. Pergamum was the treasure-hold of Lysimachus, the son of Agathocles, and one of the successors of Alexander. It is situated on the very summit of the mountain which termin- ates in a sharp peak like a pine-cone. Philetserus of Tyana was intrusted with the custody of this strong-hold, and of the treasure, which amounted to nine thousand talents. He became an eunuch in childhood by compression, for it hap- pened that a great body of people being assembled to see a funeral, the nurse who was carrying Philetcerus, then an in- fant, in her arms, was entangled in the crowd, and pressed upon to such a degree that the child was mutilated. He was therefore an eunuch, but having been well edu- cated he was thought worthy of this trust. He continued for II. ii. 814. 2 Bergamo.