Description of Greece

One of the roads from Pheneus, which go westward, remains, the one on the left. This road leads to Cleitor, and extends by the side of the work of Heracles, which made a course for the river Aroanius. By it the road goes down to a place called Lycuria, which is the boundary between Pheneus and Cleitor.

Advancing about fifty stades from Lycuria, you will come to the source of the Ladon. I heard that the water making a lake in the territory of Pheneus, descending into the chasms in the mountains, rises here and forms the source of the Ladon, but I cannot say for certain whether this is true or not. The Ladon is the most lovely river in Greece, and is also famous for the legend of Daphne that the poets tell.

I pass over the story current among the Syrians who live on the river Orontes, and give the account of the Arcadians and Eleans. Oenomaus, prince of Pisa, had a son Leucippus. Leucippus fell in love with Daphne, but despaired of winning her to be his wife by an open courtship, as she avoided all the male sex. The following trick occurred to him by which to get her. Leucippus was growing his hair long for the river Alpheius.

Braiding his hair as though he were a maiden, and putting on woman's clothes, he came to Daphne and said that he was a daughter of Oenomaus, and would like to share her hunting. As he was thought to be a maiden, surpassed the other maidens in nobility of birth and skill in hunting, and was besides most assiduous in his attentions, he drew Daphne into a deep friendship.

The poets who sing of Apollo's love for Daphne make an addition to the tale; that Apollo became jealous of Leucippus because of his success in his love. Forthwith Daphne and the other maidens conceived a longing to swim in the Ladon, and stripped Leucippus in spite of his reluctance. Then, seeing that he was no maid, they killed him with their javelins and daggers.

Such is the tale. From the source of the Ladon, Cleitor is sixty stades away, and the road from the source of the Ladon is a narrow gorge alongside the river Aroanius. Near the city you will cross the river called the Cleitor. The Cleitor flows into the Aroanius, at a point not more than seven stades from the city.

Among the fish in the Aroanius is one called the dappled fish. These dappled fish, it is said, utter a cry like that of the thrush. I have seen fish that have been caught, but I never heard their cry, though I waited by the river even until sunset, at which time the fish were said to cry most.

Cleitor got its name from the son of Azan, and is situated on a level spot surrounded by low hills. The most celebrated sanctuaries of the Cleitorians are those of Demeter, Asclepius and, thirdly, Eileithyia . . . to be, and gave no number for them. The Lycian Olen, an earlier poet, who composed for the Delians, among other hymns, one to Eileithyia, styles her “the clever spinner,” clearly identifying her with fate, and makes her older than Cronus.

Cleitor has also, at a distance of about four stades from the city, a sanctuary of the Dioscuri, under the name of the Great Gods. There are also images of them in bronze. There is also built upon a mountain-top, thirty stades away from the city, a temple of Athena Coria will, an image of the goddess.