Pausanias, Description of Greece, ed. Friedrich Spiro, 5.2

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[1]
τῷ δὲ Ἡρακλεῖ πρὸς τὸν Αὐγέαν πολεμοῦντι οὐδὲν ὑπῆρχεν ἀποδείκνυσθαι λαμπρόν· ἅτε γὰρ καὶ τόλμῃ καὶ ταῖς ἡλικίαις τοῦ Ἄκτορος τῶν παίδων ἀκμαζόντων, ἐτρέπετο ὑπʼ αὐτῶν ἀεὶ τὸ συμμαχικὸν τοῦ Ἡρακλέους, ἐς ὃ Ἰσθμικὰς σπονδὰς Κορινθίων ἐπαγγειλάντων καὶ θεωρῶν ἐς τὸν ἀγῶνα ἐρχομένων τῶν υἱῶν τοῦ Ἄκτορος ἀπέκτεινε σφᾶς λοχήσας ὁ Ἡρακλῆς ἐν Κλεωναῖς. ἀφανοῦς δὲ ὄντος τοῦ εἰργασμένου τὸν φόνον μάλιστα ἐποιεῖτο ἡ Μολίνη σπουδὴν τῶν παίδων τὸν αὐτόχειρα ἐξευρεῖν.

[2] ὡς δὲ ἔμαθεν, ἐνταῦθα οἱ Ἠλεῖοι δίκας τοῦ φόνου παρὰ Ἀργείων ἀπῄτουν· τηνικαῦτα γὰρ ἔτυχεν 0 Ἡρακλῆς ἐν Τίρυνθι οἰκῶν. μὴ διδόντων δέ σφισι δίκας τῶν Ἀργείων, οἱ δὲ δεύτερα ἐνέκειντο Κορινθίοις ἔκσπονδον τὸ Ἀργολικὸν πᾶν τοῦ ἀγῶνος γενέσθαι τοῦ Ἰσθμικοῦ. ὡς δὲ ἡμάρτανον καὶ τούτου, Μολίνην θέσθαι φασὶν ἐπὶ τοῖς πολίταις κατάρας, ἢν Ἰσθμίων μὴ θέλωσιν εἴργεσθαι. φυλάσσουσι δὲ τῆς Μολίνης καὶ ἐς τόδε ἔτι τὰς κατάρας, καὶ ὅσοι τὰ σώματα ἀσκοῦσιν Ἠλείων, οὔ σφισιν ἐς τὸν ἀγῶνα ἐσελθεῖν καθέστηκε τὸν Ἰσθμικόν.

[3] διάφοροι δὲ τῷ εἰρημένῳ δύο εἰσὶν ἄλλοι λόγοι. τούτων δὲ ὁ μὲν Κύψελον τὸν τυραννήσαντα Κορινθίων φησὶν ἄγαλμα ἀναθεῖναι τῷ Διὶ χρυσοῦν ἐς Ὀλυμπίαν, προαποθανόντος δὲ τοῦ Κυψέλου πρὶν ἐπὶ τῷ ἀναθήματι τὸ ὄνομα ἐπιγράψαι τὸ αὑτοῦ, τοὺς Κορινθίους παρὰ Ἠλείων αἰτεῖν δοῦναί σφισιν ἐπιγράψαι δημοσίᾳ τὴν πόλιν ἐπὶ τῷ ἀναθήματι, οὐ τυχόντας δὲ ὀργῇ τε ἐς τοὺς Ἠλείους χρῆσθαι καὶ προειπεῖν σφισιν Ἰσθμίων εἴργεσθαι. πῶς ἂν οὖν Κορινθίοις αὐτοῖς τοῦ ἀγῶνος μετῆν τοῦ ἐν Ὀλυμπίᾳ, εἰ δὴ ἄκοντάς γε Ἠλείους ἀπὸ τῶν Ἰσθμίων εἶργον;

[4] ὁ δὲ ἕτερος ἔχει τῶν λόγων Προλάῳ παῖδας ἀνδρὶ παρὰ Ἠλείοις δοκίμῳ καὶ τῇ γυναικὶ αὐτοῦ Λυσίππῃ Φίλανθον καὶ Λάμπον γενέσθαι· τούτους ἐπὶ τὸν ἀγῶνα ἐλθόντας τῶν Ἰσθμίων παγκρατιάσοντας ἐν παισί, τὸν δὲ αὐτῶν παλαίσοντα, ὑπὸ τῶν ἀνταγωνιστῶν, πρὶν ἢ ἐς τὸν ἀγῶνα ἐσελθεῖν, ἀποπνιγῆναι σφᾶς ἢ καὶ ἄλλῳ τῷ τρόπῳ διαχρησθῆναι· καὶ οὕτω τὰς ἐπὶ τοῖς Ἠλείοις, ἢν Ἰσθμίων μὴ ἑκόντες εἴργωνται, Λυσίππης ἀρὰς εἶναι. δείκνυται δὲ καὶ 0 ὅδε εὐήθης ὢν ὁ λόγος.

[5] Τίμωνι γὰρ ἀνδρὶ Ἠλείῳ γεγόνασι πεντάθλου νῖκαι τῶν ἐν Ἕλλησιν ἀγώνων, καί οἱ καὶ εἰκών ἐστιν ἐν Ὀλυμπίᾳ καὶ ἐλεγεῖον, στεφάνους τε ὁπόσους ἀνείλετο ὁ Τίμων λέγον καὶ δὴ καὶ αἰτίαν διʼ ἥντινα Ἰσθμικῆς οὐ μέτεστιν αὐτῷ νίκης· καὶ ἔχει τὰ ἐς τοῦτο τὸ ἐλεγεῖον·

Σισυφίαν δὲ μολεῖν χθόνʼ ἐκώλυεν ἀνέρα νείκη

ἀμφὶ Μολιονιδᾶν οὐλομένῳ θανάτῳ.

τάδε μὲν ἡμῖν ἐς τοσοῦτο ἐξητάσθω·

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.) — 5.2 focus

[1]
Heracles accomplished no brilliant feat in the war with Augeas. For the sons of Actor were in the prime of courageous manhood, and always put to flight the allies under Heracles, until the Corinthians proclaimed the Isthmian truce, and the sons of Actor came as envoys to the meeting. Heracles set an ambush for then, at Cleonae and murdered them. As the murderer was unknown, Moline, more than any of the other children, devoted herself to detecting him.

[2] When she discovered him, the Eleans demanded satisfaction for the crime from the Argives, for at the time Heracles had his home at Tiryns . When the Argives refused them satisfaction, the Eleans as an alternative pressed the Corinthians entirely to exclude the Argive people from the Isthmian games. When they failed in this also, Moline is said to have laid curses on her countrymen, should they refuse to boycott the Isthmian festival. The curses of Moline are respected right down to the present day, and no athlete of Elis is wont to compete in the Isthmian games.

[3] There are two other accounts, differing from the one that I have given. According to one of them Cypselus, the tyrant of Corinth , dedicated to Zeus a golden image at Olympia . As Cypselus died before inscribing his own name on the offering, the Corinthians asked of the Eleans leave to inscribe the name of Corinth on it, but were refused. Wroth with the Eleans, they proclaimed that they must keep away from the Isthmian games. But how could the Corinthians themselves take part in the Olympic games if the Eleans against their will were shut out by the Corinthians from the Isthmian games?

[4] The other account is this. Prolaus, a distinguished Elean, had two sons, Philanthus and Lampus, by his wife Lysippe. These two came to the Isthmian games¹ to compete in the boys' pancratium, and one of them intended to wrestle. Before they entered the ring they were strangled or done to death in some other way by their fellow competitors. Hence the curses of Lysippe on the Eleans, should they not voluntarily keep away from the Isthmian games. But this story too proves on examination to be silly.

[5] For Timon, a man of Elis , won victories in the pentathlum at the Greek games, and at Olympia there is even a statue of him, with an elegiac inscription giving the crowns he won and also the reason why he secured no Isthmian victory. The inscription sets forth the reason thus:—

But from going to the land of Sisyphus he was hindered by a quarrel

About the baleful death of the Molionids.

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.) — 5.2 focus

[1] Hēraklēs accomplished no brilliant feat in the war with Augeias. For the sons of Aktor were in the prime of courageous manhood and always put to flight the allies under Hēraklēs, until the Corinthians proclaimed the Isthmian truce, and the sons of Aktor came as envoys to the meeting. Hēraklēs set an ambush for them at Kleonai and murdered them. As the murderer was unknown, Moline, more than any of the other children, devoted herself to detecting him.

[2] When she discovered him, the Eleians demanded satisfaction for the crime from the Argives, for at the time Hēraklēs had his home at Tiryns. When the Argives refused them satisfaction, the Eleians as an alternative pressed the Corinthians entirely to exclude the Argive people from the Isthmian Games. When they failed in this also, Moline is said to have laid curses on her countrymen, should they refuse to boycott the Isthmian festival. The curses of Moline are respected right down to the present day, and it is a custom that no athlete competes in the Isthmian Games.

[3] There are two other accounts differing from the one that I have given. According to one of them, Kypselos, the tyrant of Corinth, dedicated to Zeus a golden image at Olympia. As Kypselos died before inscribing his own name on the offering, the Corinthians asked of the Eleians leave to inscribe the name of Corinth on it but were refused. Angry with the Eleians, they proclaimed that they must keep away from the Isthmian Games. But how could the Corinthians themselves take part in the Olympic Games if the Eleians against their will were shut out by the Corinthians from the Isthmian Games?

[4] The other account is this. Prolaos, a distinguished Eleian, had two sons, Philanthos and Lampos, by his wife Lysippe. These two came to the Isthmian Games to compete in the boys’ pankration, and one of them intended to wrestle. Before they entered the ring, they were strangled or done to death in some other way by their fellow competitors. Hence, the curses of Lysippe on the Eleians, should they not voluntarily keep away from the Isthmian Games. But this story too proves on examination to be silly.

[5] For Timon, a man of Elis, won victories in the pentathlon at the Greek Games, and at Olympia, there is even a statue of him, with an elegiac inscription giving the garlands he won and also the reason why he secured no Isthmian victory. The inscription sets forth the reason thus:

But from going to the land of Sisyphus, he was hindered by a quarrel
About the baleful death of the Molionidai.

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 5.2

ed. Friedrich Spiro

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