Pausanias, Description of Greece, ed. W. H. S. Jones, ed. H. A. Ormerod, ed. Gregory Nagy, 7.19

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[1] Between the temple [ nāos] of [Artemis] Laphria and the altar [ bōmos] has been built the tomb [ mnēma] of Eurypylos. Before my narrative [ logos] about who he was and for what reason [ aitiā] he came to this land I will first tell about the existing state of affairs at the time of his arrival. The Ionians who inhabited [ oikeîn] Aroe, Antheia, and Mesatis had in-common [ en koinōi] a precinct [ temenos] and a temple [ nāos] of Artemis with the surname [ epiklēsis] Triklaria, and for her the Ionians used to celebrate [ agein] every year a festival [ heortē] and an all-night-festivity [ pannukhis]. The sacred-title-of-priest(ess) [ hierōsunē] of the goddess [ theos (feminine)] was to be held by someone who was to be a virgin [ parthénos] until the time came for her to be sent to a husband.

[2] Now they say that once upon a time it happened that the one who was serving-as-priestess [ hierâsthai] for the goddess was Komaitho, a most-beautiful [ kallistē] virgin [ parthénos]. Melanippos—that was his name—was-passionately-in-love [ erân] with her. He was far better in good looks than others of his age. When Melanippos led the girl [ parthénos] to a degree of passionate-love [ erōs] that reached the point of being equal to his own [ es tò ison], he approached her father, seeking-permission-to-marry [ mnâsthai] her. Somehow old age has a way of opposing the young in very many things, and, most of all, it has a way of being insensitive-to-the-pain [ an-algēton] with regard to those who are-passionately-in-love [ erân]. That is how it was for Melanippos. Even though Komaitho was ready and willing to get married off just as he was ready and willing to marry her, the response he got even from his own parents, not only from the parents of Komaitho, was anything but gentle [ hēmeron].

[3] The passionate-experiences [ pathēmata] of Melanippos, like those of many others, gave-proof [ epi-deixai] that passionate-love [ erōs] has a way of confusing [ sun-kheai] the customary-laws [ nomima] of humans [ anthrōpoi] and of turning-upside-down [ ana-trepsai] the acts-of-honor [ tīmai] that are due to the gods [ theoi]. That is what happened back then in this case as well. Right inside the sanctuary [ hieron] of Artemis, Komaitho and Melanippos had their fill of passionate-love [ erōs] in full swing. And, after that, they even got into the habit of using the sanctuary [ hieron] as a bridal-chamber [ thalamos]. In due time, the anger [ mēnīma] of Artemis began to destroy the humans [ anthrōpoi]. The earth yielded no harvest [ karpos], and there were diseases [ nosoi] quite out of the ordinary, since they resulted in an unaccountable number of deaths.

[4] The people appealed to the oracle [ khrēstērion] at Delphi, and the Pythian-priestess [Puthia] accused Melanippos and Komaitho. The oracular-pronouncement [ manteuma], reaching the people, ordered that they must sacrifice [ thuein] those two [= Melanippos and Komaitho] to Artemis, and that every year [thereafter] they must sacrifice [ thuein] to the goddess [ theos (feminine)] whoever was the most beautiful girl [ parthénos] and boy [ pais]. Because of this sacrifice [ thusiā], the river flowing by the sanctuary [ hieron] of [Artemis] Triklaria was named Ameilikhos [‘not-benign’]. Previously it had no name.

[5] None of the boys [ paides] and girls [ parthénoi] who perished because of Melanippos and Komaitho had done anything wrong against the goddesss [ theos (feminine)], and yet they still suffered [ paskhein] in a most pitiful way, as did also those who were near-and-dear [ pros-(h)ēkontes] to them, but those two [= Melanippos and Komaitho], I propose, escaped from misfortune [ sumphorā]. I say this because the only thing there is for a human [ anthrōpos] that is worth one’s own life in exchange is this: achieving-success [ katorthōsai] in loving-passionately [ erân].

[6] It is said that their practice of sacrificing [ thuein] humans [ anthrōpoi] was put to an end for them [= the people of Patrai] in the following way. Before all this, there-had-been-an-oracular-pronouncement [ khrēsthai] for them from Delphi, saying that a king [ basileus] who is alien [ xenos] will come to the land, bringing with him a superhuman-power [ daimōn] who is likewise alien [ xenikos], and that this king will put an end to the things having to do with the sacrifice [ thusiā] to [Artemis] Triklaria. When Troy [Ilion] was captured, and the Greeks divided the spoils, Eurypylos the son of Euaimon got a chest [ larnax]. In the chest was a statue [ agalma] of Dionysus, the work [ ergon], so they say, of Hephaistos, and given as a gift by Zeus to Dardanos.

[7] But there are two other narratives [ logoi] with regard to this [= the chest]. One is that this chest [ larnax] was left behind by Aeneas when he fled [from Troy]; the other, that it was thrown away by Cassandra to become a misfortune [ sumphorā] for the one among the Greeks who finds it. Be that as it may, Eurypylos opened the chest [ larnax], saw the statue [ agalma], and, right after the vision [ théā], he went out-of-his-mind [ ek-phrōn]. He went on being-in-a-mental state [ mainesthai] for the greater part of the time, though occasionally he would get back inside himself. Being in this state, he did not proceed on his sea voyage to Thessaly, but headed for Kirrha and the gulf there. Going uphill to Delphi, he consulted-the-oracle [ khrâsthai] about his illness [ nosos].

[8] They say that an oracular-pronouncement [ manteuma] was given to him: at whatever place he finds humans [ anthrōpoi] who are-sacrificing [ thuein] a sacrifice [ thusiā] that is alien [ xenē], at that place he should set down the chest [ larnax] and be-at-home [ oikeîn]. Now the ships of Eurypylos were carried down by the wind to the sea off Aroe. On landing he came across a boy [ pais] and a girl [ parthénos] who had just been brought to the altar [ bōmos] of [Artemis] Triklaria. So Eurypylos found it easy to understand the things having to do with the sacrifice [ thusiā], while the local-people [ epikhōrioi] got themselves back to a remembrance [ mnēmē] of the oracular pronouncement [ khrēsmos] now that they saw a king [ basileus] whom they had never seen before. And they suspected [ hupo-noeîn] that the chest [ larnax] had some god [ theos] inside it.

[9] So it was, then, that the illness [ nosos] of Eurypylos and the things having to do with the sacrifice [ thusiā] practiced by these humans [ anthrōpoi] came to an end. Also, the river was now given its present name Meilikhos [‘benign’]. Some have written, concerning the things I have just said, that these things happened not to the Thessalian Eurypylos but to Eurypylos the son of Dexamenos who was king in Olenos. They want to have it the following way: that this one [= the other Eurypylos] joined Hēraklēs in his campaign against Troy [Ilion] and received the chest [ larnax] from Hēraklēs. The rest of what they say corresponds to what I have said.

[10] The thing is, though, that I cannot be persuaded to believe that Hēraklēs did not know the things to be known about the chest, if these things really were such as they were said to be, nor, if he was aware of them, do I think that he would ever have given it to an ally as a gift. Further, the people of Patrai have in their memory [ mnēmē] no Eurypylos other than the son of Euaimon, and to him every year they make-sacrifice [ enagizein] [as to a hero] when they celebrate [ agein] the festival [ heortē] in honor of Dionysus.

Description of Greece. Pausanias. ed. W. H. S. Jones, ed. H. A. Ormerod, ed. Gregory Nagy. . .

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English (Jones and Ormerod; retranslated Gregory Nagy, CHS, 2018) (OCR draft) (English) (CHS Pausanias Reader retranslation by Gregory Nagy, based on Jones and Ormerod, with marked Greek terms, notes, quotations, and bibliographic attributions preserved.)

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Ἑλλάδος Περιηγήσεως Perseus (Pausanias. Pausaniae Graeciae descriptio, Volumes 1-3. Spiro, Friedrich, editor. Leipzig: Teubner, 1903.) — 7.19 focus

[1]
ἔστι δὲ ἐν τῷ μεταξὺ τοῦ ναοῦ τε τῆς Λαφρίας καὶ τοῦ βωμοῦ πεποιημένον μνῆμα Εὐρυπύλου. τὰ δὲ ὅστις τε ὢν καὶ καθʼ ἥντινα αἰτίαν ἀφίκετο ἐς τὴν γῆν ταύτην, δηλώσει μοι καὶ ταῦτα ὁ λόγος προδιηγησαμένῳ πρότερον ὁποῖα ὑπὸ τοῦ Εὐρυπύλου τὴν ἐπιδημίαν τοῖς ἐνταῦθα ἦν τὰ παρόντα τοῖς ἀνθρώποις. Ἰώνων τοῖς Ἀρόην καὶ Ἄνθειαν καὶ Μεσάτιν οἰκοῦσιν ἦν ἐν κοινῷ τέμενος καὶ ναὸς Ἀρτέμιδος Τρικλαρίας ἐπίκλησιν, καὶ ἑορτὴν οἱ Ἴωνες αὐτῇ καὶ παννυχίδα ἦγον ἀνὰ πᾶν ἔτος. ἱερωσύνην δὲ εἶχε τῆς θεοῦ παρθένος, ἐς ὃ ἀποστέλλεσθαι παρὰ ἄνδρα ἔμελλε.

[2] λέγουσιν οὖν συμβῆναί ποτε ὡς ἱερᾶσθαι μὲν τῆς θεοῦ Κομαιθὼ τὸ εἶδος καλλίστην παρθένον, τυγχάνειν δὲ αὐτῆς ἐρῶντα Μελάνιππον, τά τε ἄλλα τοὺς ἡλικιώτας καὶ ὄψεως εὐπρεπείᾳ μάλιστα ὑπερηρκότα. ὡς δὲ ὁ Μελάνιππος ἐς τὸ ἴσον τοῦ ἔρωτος ὑπηγάγετο τὴν παρθένον, ἐμνᾶτο αὐτὴν παρὰ τοῦ πατρός. ἕπεται δέ πως τῷ γήρᾳ τά τε ἄλλα ὡς τὸ πολὺ ἐναντιοῦσθαι νέοις καὶ οὐχ ἥκιστα ἐς τοὺς ἐρῶντας τὸ ἀνάλγητον, ὅπου καὶ Μελανίππῳ τότε ἐθέλοντι ἐθέλουσαν ἄγεσθαι Κομαιθὼ οὔτε παρὰ τῶν ἑαυτοῦ γονέων οὔτε παρὰ τῶν Κομαιθοῦς ἥμερον ἀπήντησεν οὐδέν.

[3] ἐπέδειξε δὲ ἐπὶ πολλῶν τε δὴ ἄλλων καὶ ἐν τοῖς Μελανίππου παθήμασιν, ὡς μέτεστιν ἔρωτι καὶ ἀνθρώπων συγχέαι νόμιμα καὶ ἀνατρέψαι θεῶν τιμάς, ὅπου καὶ τότε ἐν τῷ τῆς Ἀρτέμιδος ἱερῷ Κομαιθὼ καὶ Μελάνιππος καὶ 0 ἐξέπλησαν τοῦ ἔρωτος τὴν ὁρμήν. καὶ οἱ μὲν ἔμελλον τῷ ἱερῷ καὶ ἐς τὸ ἔπειτα ἴσα καὶ θαλάμῳ χρήσεσθαι· τοὺς δὲ ἀνθρώπους αὐτίκα ἐξ Ἀρτέμιδος μήνιμα ἔφθειρε, τῆς τε γῆς καρπὸν οὐδένα ἀποδιδούσης καὶ νόσοι σφίσιν οὐ κατὰ τὰ εἰωθότα καὶ ἀπʼ αὐτῶν θάνατοι πλείονες ἢ τὰ πρότερα ἐγίνοντο.

[4] καταφυγόντων δὲ αὐτῶν ἐπὶ χρηστήριον τὸ ἐν Δελφοῖς, ἤλεγχεν ἡ Πυθία Μελάνιππον καὶ Κομαιθώ· καὶ ἐκείνους τε αὐτοὺς μάντευμα ἀφίκετο θῦσαι τῇ Ἀρτέμιδι καὶ ἀνὰ πᾶν ἔτος παρθένον καὶ παῖδα οἳ τὸ εἶδος εἶεν κάλλιστοι τῇ θεῷ θύειν. ταύτης μὲν δὴ τῆς θυσίας ἕνεκα ὁ ποταμὸς ὁ πρὸς τῷ ἱερῷ τῆς Τρικλαρίας Ἀμείλιχος ἐκλήθη·

[5] τέως δὲ ὄνομα εἶχεν οὐδέν. παίδων δὲ καὶ παρθένων ὁπόσοι μὲν ἐς τὴν θεὸν οὐδὲν εἰργασμένοι Μελανίππου καὶ Κομαιθοῦς ἕνεκα ἀπώλλυντο, αὐτοί τε οἰκτρότατα καὶ οἱ προσήκοντές σφισιν ἔπασχον, Μελάνιππον δὲ καὶ Κομαιθὼ συμφορᾶς ἐκτὸς γενέσθαι τίθεμαι· μόνον γὰρ δὴ ἀνθρώπῳ ψυχῆς ἐστιν ἀντάξιον κατορθῶσαί τινα ἐρασθέντα.

[6] παύσασθαι δὲ οὕτω λέγονται θύοντες τῇ Ἀρτέμιδι ἀνθρώπους. ἐκέχρητο δὲ αὐτοῖς πρότερον ἔτι ἐκ Δελφῶν ὡς βασιλεὺς ξένος παραγενόμενός σφισιν ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν, ξενικὸν ἅμα ἀγόμενος δαίμονα, τὰ ἐς τὴν θυσίαν τῆς Τρικλαρίας παύσει. Ἰλίου δὲ ἁλούσης καὶ νεμομένων τὰ λάφυρα τῶν Ἑλλήνων, Εὐρύπυλος ὁ Εὐαίμονος λαμβάνει λάρνακα· Διονύσου δὲ ἄγαλμα ἦν ἐν τῇ λάρνακι, ἔργον μὲν ὥς φασιν Ἡφαίστου, δῶρον δὲ ὑπὸ Διὸς ἐδόθη 0 Δαρδάνῳ.

[7] λέγονται δὲ καὶ ἄλλοι λόγοι δύο ἐς αὐτήν, ὡς ὅτε ἔφυγεν Αἰνείας, ἀπολίποι ταύτην τὴν λάρνακα· οἱ δὲ ῥιφῆναί φασιν αὐτὴν ὑπὸ Κασσάνδρας συμφορὰν τῷ εὑρόντι Ἑλλήνων. ἤνοιξε δʼ οὖν ὁ Εὐρύπυλος τὴν λάρνακα καὶ εἶδε τὸ ἄγαλμα καὶ αὐτίκα ἦν ἔκφρων μετὰ τὴν θέαν· τὰ μὲν δὴ πλείονα ἐμαίνετο, ὀλιγάκις δὲ ἐγίνετο ἐν ἑαυτῷ. ἅτε δὲ οὕτω διακείμενος οὐκ ἐς τὴν Θεσσαλίαν τὸν πλοῦν ἐποιεῖτο, ἀλλʼ ἐπί τε Κίρραν καὶ ἐς τὸν ταύτῃ κόλπον· ἀναβὰς δὲ ἐς Δελφοὺς ἐχρᾶτο ὑπὲρ τῆς νόσου.

[8] καὶ αὐτῷ γενέσθαι λέγουσι μάντευμα, ἔνθα ἂν ἐπιτύχῃ θύουσιν ἀνθρώποις θυσίαν ξένην, ἐνταῦθα ἱδρύσασθαί τε τὴν λάρνακα καὶ αὐτὸν οἰκῆσαι. ὁ μὲν δὴ ἄνεμος τὰς ναῦς τοῦ Εὐρυπύλου κατήνεγκεν ἐπὶ τὴν πρὸς τῇ Ἀρόῃ θάλασσαν· ἐκβὰς δὲ ἐς τὴν γῆν καταλαμβάνει παῖδα καὶ παρθένον ἐπὶ τὸν βωμὸν τῆς Τρικλαρίας ἠγμένους. καὶ ὁ μὲν ἔμελλεν οὐ χαλεπῶς συνήσειν τὰ ἐς τὴν θυσίαν· ἀφίκοντο δὲ ἐς μνήμην καὶ οἱ ἐπιχώριοι τοῦ χρησμοῦ, βασιλέα τε ἰδόντες ὃν οὔπω πρότερον ἑωράκεσαν καὶ ἐς τὴν λάρνακα ὑπενόησαν ὡς εἴη τις ἐν αὐτῇ θεός.

[9] καὶ οὕτω τῷ Εὐρυπύλῳ τε ἡ νόσος καὶ τοῖς ἐνταῦθα ἀνθρώποις τὰ ἐς τὴν θυσίαν ἐπαύσθη, τό τε ὄνομα ἐτέθη τὸ νῦν τῷ ποταμῷ Μείλιχος. ἔγραψαν δὲ ἤδη τινὲς οὐ τῷ Θεσσαλῷ συμβάντα Εὐρυπύλῳ τὰ εἰρημένα, ἀλλὰ Εὐρύπυλον Δεξαμενοῦ παῖδα τοῦ ἐν Ὠλένῳ βασιλεύσαντος ἐθέλουσιν ἅμα Ἡρακλεῖ στρατεύσαντα ἐς Ἴλιον λαβεῖν παρὰ τοῦ Ἡρακλέους τὴν λάρνακα· τὰ δὲ ἄλλα κατὰ 0 τὰ αὐτὰ εἰρήκασι καὶ οὗτοι.

[10] ἐγὼ δὲ οὔτε Ἡρακλέα ἀγνοῆσαι τὰ ἐς τὴν λάρνακα εἰ δὴ τοιαῦτα ἦν πείθομαι οὔτε τὰ ἐς αὐτὴν ἐπιστάμενος δοκεῖ μοί ποτε ἂν δοῦναι δῶρον συμμαχήσαντι ἀνδρί· οὔτε μὴν οἱ Πατρεῖς ἄλλον τινὰ ἢ τὸν Εὐαίμονος ἔχουσιν Εὐρύπυλον ἐν μνήμῃ, καί οἱ καὶ ἐναγίζουσιν ἀνὰ πᾶν ἔτος, ἐπειδὰν τῷ Διονύσῳ τὴν ἑορτὴν ἄγωσι.

Translations (1)

Description of Greece Perseus (Pausanias. Pausanias Description of Greece, Volumes 1-4. Jones, W.H.S. (William Henry Samuel), translator; Ormerod, Henry Arderne, translator. London, New York: W. Heinemann, G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1918-1935.) — 7.19 focus

[1]
Between the temple of Laphria and the altar stands the tomb of Eurypylus. Who he was and for what reason he came to this land I shall set forth presently; but I must first describe what the condition of affairs was at his arrival. The Ionians who lived in Aroe, Antheia and Mesatis had in common a precinct and a temple of Artemis surnamed Triclaria, and in her honor the Ionians used to celebrate every year a festival and an all-night vigil. The priesthood of the goddess was held by a maiden until the time came for her to be sent to a husband.

[2] Now the story is that once upon a time it happened that the priestess of the goddess was Comaetho, a most beautiful maiden, who had a lover called Melanippus, who was far better and handsomer than his fellows. When Melanippus had won the love of the maiden, he asked the father for his daughter's hand. It is somehow a characteristic of old age to oppose the young in most things, and especially is it insensible to the desires of lovers. So Melanippus found it; although both he and Comaetho were eager to wed, he met with nothing but harshness from both his own parents and from those of his lover.

[3] The history of Melanippus, like that of many others, proved that love is apt both to break the laws of men and to desecrate the worship of the gods, seeing that this pair had their fill of the passion of love in the sanctuary of Artemis. And hereafter also were they to use the sanctuary as a bridal-chamber. Forthwith the wrath of Artemis began to destroy the inhabitants; the earth yielded no harvest, and strange diseases occurred of an unusually fatal character.

[4] When they appealed to the oracle at Delphi the Pythian priestess accused Melanippus and Comaetho. The oracle ordered that they themselves should be sacrificed to Artemis, and that every year a sacrifice should be made to the goddess of the fairest youth and the fairest maiden. Because of this sacrifice the river flowing by the sanctuary of Triclaria was called Ameilichus ( relentless). Previously the river had no name.

[5] The innocent youths and maidens who perished because of Melanippus and Comaetho suffered a piteous fate, as did also their relatives; but the pair, I hold, were exempt from suffering, for the one thing¹ that is worth a man's life is to be successful in love.

[6] The sacrifice to Artemis of human beings is said to have ceased in this way. An oracle had been given from Delphi to the Patraeans even before this, to the effect that a strange king would come to the land, bringing with him a strange divinity, and this king would put an end to the sacrifice to Triclaria. When Troy was captured, and the Greeks divided the spoils, Eurypylus the son of Euaemon got a chest. In it was an image of Dionysus, the work, so they say, of Hephaestus, and given as a gift by Zeus to Dardanus.

[7] But there are two other accounts of it. One is that this chest was left by Aeneas when he fled; the other that it was thrown away by Cassandra to be a curse to the Greek who found it. Be this as it may, Eurypylus opened the chest, saw the image, and forthwith on seeing it went mad. He continued to be insane for the greater part of the time, with rare lucid intervals. Being in this condition he did not proceed on his voyage to Thessaly , but made for the town and gulf of Cirrha. Going up to Delphi he inquired of the oracle about his illness.

[8] They say that the oracle given him was to the effect that where he should come across a people offering a strange sacrifice, there he was to set down the chest and make his home. Now the ships of Eurypylus were carried down by the wind to the sea off Aroe. On landing he came across a youth and a maiden who had been brought to the altar of Triclaria. So Eurypylus found it easy to understand about the sacrifice, while the people of the place remembered their oracle seeing a king whom they had never seen before, they also suspected that the chest had some god inside it.

[9] And so the malady of Eurypylus and the sacrifice of these people came to an end, and the river was given its present name Meilichus. Certain writers have said that the events I have related happened not to the Thessalian Eurypylus, but to Eurypylus the son of Dexamenus who was king in Olenus , holding that this man joined Heracles in his campaign against Troy and received the chest from Heracles. The rest of their story is the same as mine.

[10] But I cannot bring myself to believe that Heracles did not know the facts about the chest, if they were as described, nor, if he were aware of them, do I think that he would ever have given it to an ally as a gift. Further, the people of Patrae have no tradition of a Eurypylus save the son of Euaemon, and to him every year they sacrifice as to a hero, when they celebrate the festival in honor of Dionysus.

New Alexandria Commentaries

Gregory Nagy, Editors: Angelia Hanhardt and Keith DeStone, Web producer: Noel Spencer, Consultant for images: Jill Curry Robbins, \[\[Noel gives this a separate URN\]\]

Pausanias Description of Greece 7.19

ed. W. H. S. Jones, ed. H. A. Ormerod, ed. Gregory Nagy

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