Pausanias, Description of Greece, ed. Friedrich Spiro, 10.14

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[1]
οἱ δὲ πελέκεις Περικλύτου τοῦ Εὐθυμάχου Τενεδίου ἀνδρὸς ἐπὶ λόγῳ ἀνάθημά εἰσιν ἀρχαίῳ. Κύκνον 0 παῖδα εἶναι Ποσειδῶνος καὶ βασιλεύειν φασὶν ἐν Κολώναις· αἱ δὲ ᾠκοῦντο ἐν τῇ γῇ τῇ Τρῳάδι αἱ Κολῶναι κατὰ νῆσον κείμεναι Λεύκοφρυν.

[2] ἔχοντος δὲ θυγατέρα ὄνομα Ἡμιθέαν τοῦ Κύκνου καὶ υἱὸν καλούμενον Τέννην ἐκ Προκλείας—ἣ Κλυτίου μὲν ἦν θυγάτηρ, ἀδελφὴ δὲ Καλήτορος, ὃν Ὅμηρος ἐν Ἰλιάδι ἀποθανεῖν φησιν ὑπὸ Αἴαντος, ὅτε ὑπὸ τὴν Πρωτεσιλάου ναῦν ἔφερεν ὁ Καλήτωρ τὸ πῦρ—ταύτης οὖν προαποθανούσης ἡ ἐπεισελθοῦσα Φιλονόμη ἡ Κραγάσου —διήμαρτε γὰρ ἐρασθεῖσα τοῦ Τέννου—ψεύδεται πρὸς τὸν ἄνδρα ὡς αὐτὴ μὲν οὐκ ἐθέλουσα, τὸν δὲ αὑτῇ Τέννην συγγενέσθαι θελήσαντα· καὶ ὁ Κύκνος πείθεται τῇ ἀπάτῃ, καὶ ἐς λάρνακα ἐνθέμενος ὁμοῦ τῇ ἀδελφῇ Τέννην ἐς θάλασσαν σφᾶς ἀφίησι.

[3] σώζονταί τε δὴ πρὸς τὴν νῆσον οἱ παῖδες τὴν Λεύκοφρυν καὶ ὄνομα ἡ νῆσος τὸ νῦν ἔσχεν ἀπὸ τοῦ Τέννου. Κύκνος δὲ—οὐ γὰρ τὸν πάντα ἔμελλε χρόνον ἀγνοήσειν ἀπατώμενος—ἔπλει παρὰ τὸν υἱὸν ἄγνοιάν τε ὁμολογήσων τὴν αὑτοῦ καὶ παραιτησόμενος τὸ ἁμάρτημα· προσορμισαμένου δὲ τῇ νήσῳ καὶ ἐξάψαντος ἀπὸ τῆς νεὼς πρός τινα ἢ πέτραν ἢ δένδρον τοὺς κάλους, Τέννης πελέκει σφᾶς ἀπέκοψεν ὑπὸ τοῦ θυμοῦ.

[4] ἐπὶ τούτῳ μὲν ἐς τοὺς ἀρνουμένους στερεῶς λέγεσθαι καθέστηκεν ὡς ὁ δεῖνα ὅστις δὴ Τενεδίῳ πελέκει τόδε τι ἀποκόψειεν. Τέννην μὲν ὑπὸ Ἀχιλλέως ἀποθανεῖν ἀμύνοντα τῇ οἰκείᾳ φασὶν Ἕλληνες· Τενέδιοι δὲ ἀνὰ χρόνον ὑπὸ ἀσθενείας προσεχώρησαν τοῖς Ἀλεξάνδρειαν ἐν τῇ ἠπείρῳ τῇ Τρῳάδι ἔχουσιν.

[5]
Ἕλληνες δὲ οἱ ἐναντία βασιλέως πολεμήσαντες 0 ἀνέθεσαν μὲν Δία ἐς Ὀλυμπίαν χαλκοῦν, ἀνέθεσαν δὲ καὶ ἐς Δελφοὺς Ἀπόλλωνα ἀπὸ ἔργων τῶν ἐν ταῖς ναυσὶν ἐπί τε Ἀρτεμισίῳ καὶ ἐν Σαλαμῖνι. λέγεται δὲ καὶ ὡς Θεμιστοκλῆς ἀφίκοιτο ἐς Δελφοὺς λαφύρων τῶν Μηδικῶν κομίζων τῷ Ἀπόλλωνι· ἐρωτήσαντα δὲ ὑπὲρ τῶν ἀναθημάτων εἰ ἐντὸς ἀναθήσει τοῦ ναοῦ, ἐκέλευεν αὐτὸν ἡ Πυθία τὰ παράπαν ἀποφέρειν ἐκ τοῦ ἱεροῦ. καὶ ἔχει οὕτω τὰ ἐς τοῦ τοῦ χρησμοῦ·

μή μοι Περσῆος σκύλων περικαλλέα κόσμον

νηῷ ἐγκαταθῇς· οἶκόνδʼ ἀπόπεμπε τάχιστα.

[6] θαῦμα οὖν ἐποιούμεθα εἰ ἀπηξίωσεν ἐκείνου μόνου μὴ προσέσθαι τὰ ἀπὸ τῶν Μήδων. καὶ οἱ μὲν ἀπώσασθαι ἂν τὸν θεὸν καὶ ἅπαντα ὁμοίως ἡγοῦντο ὅσα ἀπὸ τοῦ Πέρσου, εἰ ὥσπερ ὁ Θεμιστοκλῆς καὶ οἱ ἄλλοι πρότερον ἢ ἀναθεῖναι σφᾶς ἐπήροντο τὸν Ἀπόλλωνα· οἱ δὲ εἰδότα τὸν θεὸν ὅτι ἱκέτης τοῦ Πέρσου γενήσοιτο ὁ Θεμιστοκλῆς, ἐπὶ τούτῳ τὰ δῶρα ἔφασαν οὐκ ἐθελῆσαι λαβεῖν, ἵνα μὴ ἀναθέντι τὸ ἔχθος ἄπαυστον ποιήσῃ τὸ ἀπὸ τοῦ Μήδου. στρατείαν δὲ τὴν ἐπὶ τὴν Ἑλλάδα ἀπὸ τοῦ βαρβάρου ἔστιν εὑρεῖν προρρηθεῖσαν μὲν ἐν τοῖς Βάκιδος χρησμοῖς, πρότερον δʼ ἔτι Εὔκλῳ τὰ ἐς αὐτὴν πεποιημένα ἐστίν.

[7]
Δελφῶν δὲ ἀνάθημά ἐστιν αὐτῶν πλησίον τοῦ βωμοῦ τοῦ μεγάλου λύκος χαλκοῦς. λέγουσι δὲ τῶν τοῦ θεοῦ χρημάτων συλήσαντα ἄνθρωπον, τὸν μὲν ὁμοῦ τῷ χρυσίῳ κατακρύψαντα ἔχειν αὑτὸν ἔνθα τοῦ Παρνασσοῦ μάλιστα ἦν συνεχὲς ὑπὸ ἀγρίων δένδρων, λύκον δὲ ἐπιθέσθαι οἱ καθεύδοντι, καὶ ἀποθανεῖν τε 0 ὑπὸ τοῦ λύκου τὸν ἄνθρωπον καὶ ὡς ἐς τὴν πόλιν ὁσημέραι φοιτῶν ὠρύετο ὁ λύκος· ἐπεὶ δὲ οὐκ ἄνευ θεοῦ παραγίνεσθαί σφισιν ὑπελάμβανον, οὕτως ἐπακολουθοῦσι τῷ θηρίῳ, καὶ ἀνευρίσκουσί τε τὸ ἱερὸν χρυσίον καὶ ἀνέθεσαν λύκον τῷ θεῷ χαλκοῦν.

Description of Greece. Pausanias. ed. Friedrich Spiro. Leipzig. 1903.

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Funding provided by The Annenberg CPB/Project.

Current edition Perseus

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

Translations (2)

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.) — 10.14 focus

[1]
The axes were dedicated by Periclytus, son of Euthymachus, a man of Tenedos , and allude to an old story. Cycnus, they say, was a son of Poseidon, and ruled as king in Colonae, a city in the Troad situated opposite the island Leucophrys.

[2] He had a daughter, by name Hemithea, and a son, called Tennes, by Procleia, who was a daughter of Clytius and a sister of Caletor. Homer in the Iliad¹ says that this Caletor, as he was putting the fire under the ship of Protesilaus, was killed by Ajax. Procleia died before Cycnus, and his second wife, Philonome, daughter of Cragasus, fell in love with Tennes. Rejected by him she falsely accused him before her husband, saying that he had made love to her, and she had rejected him. Cycnus was deceived by the trick, placed Tennes with his sister in a chest and launched it out to sea.

[3] The young people came safely to the island Leucophrys, and the island was given its present name from Tennes. Cycnus, however, was not to remain for ever ignorant of the trick, and sailed to his son to confess his ignorance and to ask for pardon for his mistake. He put in at the island and fastened the cables of his ship to something—a rock or a tree—but Tennes in a passion cut them adrift with an axe.

[4] For this reason a by-word has arisen, which is used of those who make a stern refusal: “So and so has cut whatever it may be with an axe of Tenedos .” The Greeks say that while Tennes was defending his country he was killed by Achilles. In course of time weakness compelled the people of Tenedos to merge themselves with the Alexandrians on the Troad mainland.

[5]
The Greeks who fought against the king, besides dedicating at Olympia a bronze Zeus, dedicated also an Apollo at Delphi , from spoils taken in the naval actions at Artemisium and Salamis . There is also a story that Themistocles came to Delphi bringing with him for Apollo some of the Persian spoils. He asked whether he should dedicate them within the temple, but the Pythian priestess bade him carry them from the sanctuary altogether. The part of the oracle referring to this runs as follows:—

The splendid beauty of the Persian's spoils

Set not within my temple. Despatch them home speedily.

[6] Now I greatly marveled that it was from Themistocles alone that the priestess refused to accept Persian spoils. Some thought that the god would have rejected alike all offerings from Persian spoils, if like Themistocles the others had inquired of Apollo before making their dedication. Others said that the god knew that Themistocles would become a suppliant of the Persian king, and refused to take the gifts so that Themistocles might not by a dedication render the Persian's enmity unappeasable. The expedition of the barbarian against Greece we find foretold in the oracles of Bacis, and Euclus wrote his verses about it at an even earlier date.

[7]
Near the great altar is a bronze wolf, an offering of the Delphians themselves. They say that a fellow robbed the god of some treasure, and kept himself and the gold hidden at the place on Mount Parnassus where the forest is thickest. As he slept a wolf attacked and killed him, and every day went to the city and howled. When the people began to realize that the matter was not without the direction of heaven, they followed the beast and found the sacred gold. So to the god they dedicated a bronze wolf.

English (Jones and Ormerod; retranslated Gregory Nagy, CHS, 2018) (OCR draft) Experimental (CHS Pausanias Reader retranslation by Gregory Nagy, based on Jones and Ormerod, with marked Greek terms, notes, quotations, and bibliographic attributions preserved.) — 10.14 focus

[1] The axes were dedicated by Periklytos, son of Euthymakhos, a man of Tenedos, and allude to an old story. Kyknos, they say, was a son of Poseidon and ruled as king in Colonae, a city in the Troad situated opposite the island Leucophrys.

[2] He had a daughter, by name Hemithea, and a son, called Tennes, by Procleia, who was a daughter of Klytios and a sister of Caletor. Homer in the Iliad says that this Caletor, as he was putting the fire under the ship of Protesilaos, was killed by Ajax. Procleia died before Kyknos, and his second wife, Philonome, daughter of Cragasus, fell in love with Tennes. Rejected by him, she falsely accused him before her husband, saying that he had made love to her, and she had rejected him. Kyknos was deceived by the trick, placed Tennes with his sister in a chest, and launched it out to sea.

[3] The young people came safely to the island Leucophrys, and the island was given its present name from Tennes. Kyknos, however, was not to remain for ever ignorant of the trick and sailed to his son to confess his ignorance and to ask for pardon for his mistake. He put in at the island and fastened the cables of his ship to something—a rock or a tree—but Tennes in a passion cut them adrift with an axe.

[4] For this reason a byword has arisen, which is used of those who make a stern refusal: “So and so has cut whatever it may be with an axe of Tenedos.” The Greeks say that while Tennes was defending his country, he was killed by Achilles. In course of time, weakness compelled the people of Tenedos to merge themselves with the Alexandrians on the Troad mainland.

[5] The Greeks who fought against the king, besides dedicating at Olympia a bronze Zeus, dedicated also an Apollo at Delphi, from spoils taken in the naval actions at Artemisium and Salamis. There is also a story that Themistocles came to Delphi bringing with him for Apollo some of the Persian spoils. He asked whether he should dedicate them within the temple, but the Pythian priestess ordered him to carry them from the sanctuary altogether. The part of the oracle referring to this runs as follows:

The splendid beauty of the Persian’s spoils
Set not within my temple. Dispatch them home speedily.

[6] Now, I greatly marveled that it was from Themistocles alone that the priestess refused to accept spoils taken from the Persian [ Persēs]. Some thought that the god would have rejected alike all offerings from Persian spoils, if like Themistocles the others had inquired of Apollo before making their dedication. Others said that the god knew that Themistocles would become a suppliant of the Persian [ Persēs] king and refused to take the gifts so that Themistocles might not by a dedication render the Persian’s enmity unappeasable. The expedition of the barbarian against Greece we find foretold in the oracles of Bacis, and Euklos composed [ poieîn] his verses about it at an even earlier date.

[7] Near the great altar is a bronze wolf, an offering of the Delphians themselves. They say that a fellow robbed the god of some treasure and kept himself and the gold hidden at the place on Mount Parnassus where the forest is thickest. As he slept, a wolf attacked and killed him, and every day went to the city and howled. When the people began to realize that the matter was not without the intervention of the god [ theos], they followed the beast and found the sacred gold. So to the god, they dedicated a bronze wolf.

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 10.14

ed. Friedrich Spiro

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