192 MELPOMENE. a b and for of Cauftrobius, relates, that under the influence of Apollo he came to the Iffedones, that beyond this people he found the Arimafpi", a nation who have but one eye; farther on the Gryphins 18, the guardians of the gold; and beyond these the 23 5 Hyperboreans", who poffefs the whole country 22 quite 12 fublime. Tzetzes has preferved fix more. The account given Arimafpi.]-The Arimafpians were Hyperborean Cyclo Gryphins.] 1. 433. Thus the Gryphins, Those dumb and ravenous dogs of Jove, avoid Prometheus Vinclus. Æfchy. Potter's Translation. Paufanias tell us, that the Gryphins are reprefented by Arif 202 teas as monsters refembling lions, with the beaks and wings of 19 Hyperboreans.]-The ancients do not appear to have had The Rigs of the Aranie quite to the fea, and that all these nations, except the Hyperboreans, are continually engaged in war with their neighbours. Of thefe hoftilities the Arimafpians were the first authors, for that they drove out the Iffedones, the Iffedones the Scythians: the Scythians compelled the Cimmerians, who poffeffed the country towards the fouth, to abandon their native land. Thus it appears, that the narrative of Arifteas differs also from that of the Scythians. £3.246 XIV. Of what country the relater of the above account was, we have already feen; but I ought not to omit what I have heard of this perfonage, both at Proconnefus and Cyzicus 20. It is faid of this Arifteas, that he was of one of the best families of his country, and that he died in the workshop of 104 a fuller, into which he had accidentally gone. The fuller immediately fecured his fhop, and went to in1200 rean mountains are alfo frequently mentioned, which, as appears from Virgil, were the fame as the Ryphean: 20 Talis Hyperboreo feptem fubjecta trioni Et pecudum fuivis velatur corpora fatis. T. Cyzicus.-This was one of the most flourishing cities of Myfia, fituate in a small island of the Propontis, and built by the Milefians. It is thus mentioned by Ovid: Inde Propontiacis hærentem Cyzicon oris The people of this place were remarkable for their effeminacy and cowardice, whence tinctura Cyzicena became proverbial for any daftardly character. It has now become a peninfula, by the filling up of the fmall channel by which it was divided from the continent.-T. VOL. II. form whain 20349. 194 346 Flony 1-489 ΜΕΙΡΟΜΕΝΕ. form the relations of the deceafed of what had happened. The report having circulated through the city, that Arifteas was dead, there came a man of Cyzicus, of the city of Artaces, who affirmed that this affertion was falfe, for that he had met Arifteas going to Cyzicus, and had fpoken with him. In confequence of his pofitive affertions, the friends of Arifteas hastened to the fuller's fhop with every thing which was neceffary for his funeral, but when they came there, no Arifteas was to be found, alive or dead. Seven years afterwards it is said that he re-appeared at Proconnefus, and compofed those verfes which the Greeks call Arimafpian, after which he vanished a fecond time. 287 142 192 XV. This is the manner in which thefe cities fpeak of Arifteas: but I am about to relate a circumftance which to my own knowledge happened to the Metapontines of Italy, three hundred and forty years after Arifteas had a fecond time difappeared, according to my conjecture, as it agrees with what I heard at Proconnefus and Metapontus. The inhabitants of this latter place affirm, that Arifteas having appeared in their city, directed them to construct an altar to Apollo, and near it a 21 Going to Cyzicus.]-Upon this ftory Larcher remarks, that there are innumerable others like it, both among the ancients and moderns. A very ridiculous one is related by Plutarch, in his Life of Romulus-A man named Cleomedes, feeing himfelf purfued, jumped into a great cheft, which clofed upon him : after many ineffectual attempts to open it, they broke it in pieces, but no Cleomedes was to be found, alive or dead.—T. ftatue 12 22 ftatue to Arifteas of Proconnefus. He told them that they were the only people of Italy whom Apollo had ever honoured by his prefence, and that he himself had attended the god under the form of a crow having faid this he difappeared. The Metapontines relate, that in confequence of this they sent to Delphi, to enquire what that unnatural appearance might mean; the Pythian told them in reply, to perform what had been directed, for that they would find their obedience rewarded; they obeyed accordingly, and there now ftands near the ftatue of Apollo himself, another bearing the name of Arifteas: it is placed in the public square of the city, furrounded with laurels. XVI. Thus much of Arifteas. No certain knowledge is to be obtained of the places which lie remotely beyond the country of which I before fpake: : on this fubject I could not meet with any per fon able to speak from his own knowledge. Arifteas above-mentioned confeffes, in the poem which he wrote, that he did not penetrate beyond the Iffe =w¢ 22 Under the form of a crow.]-Pliny relates this fomewhat differently. He fays, it was the foul of Arifteas, which having left his body appeared in the form of a crow. His words are thefe Arifteæ etiam vifam evolantem ex ore in Proconnefo, corvi effigie magna quæ fequitur fabulofitate.-Larcher. The crow was facred to Apollo, as appears from Ælian de Animalibus, book vii. 18. We learn alfo from Scaliger, in his Notes on Manilius, that a crow fitting on a tripod was found on fome ancient coins, to which Statius also alludes in the following 2 211 276 MEL POMENE. dones and that what he related of the countries 24 23 XVII. As we advance from the port of the Boryfthenites, which is unquestionably the centre of all the maritime parts of Scythia, the first people who are met with are the Callipidæ ", who are Greek Scythians: beyond thefe is another nation, called the Halizones 4. Thefe two people in general obferve the cuftoms of the Scythians, except that for food they fow corn, onions, garlick, lentils, and millet. Beyond the Halizones dwell fome Scythian husbandmen, who fow corn not to eat, but for fale. Still more remote are the Neuri, whofe country towards the north, as far as I have been able to learn, is totally uninhabited. All these nations dwell near the river Hypanis, to the weft of the Boryfthenes. XVIII. Having croffed the Boryfthenes, the first 23 Callipide.]-Solinus calls thefe people Callipodes.-T. 25 Neuri.]-Mela, book ii. 1, fays of this people, that they country مل 228 239 |