But near the gate there is a fountain in a cavern, the water of which does not ascend from the earth, but flows from the top of the cavern; and on this account the fountain is called Stazusa. But in the tower, which exists at present, there is a temple of Fortune Acræa, and after it of the Dioscuri: and the statues of these divinities are formed from wood. But in the scene of the theatre, which is built under the tower, there is an image of a man holding a shield, which they report is Aratus the son of Clinias. After the theatre, too, there is a temple of Bacchus; and the statue of the god is fashioned from ivory and gold, and near it there are Baccha of white stone. These Bacchæ are said to have been holy women, who were inspired by Bacchus. But the Sicyonians have other statues in their arcane recesses; and these on one. night in every year they carry into the temple of Bacchus, from that place which they call Cosmeterium; and at the same time bring with them lighted torches, and sing during the procession the hymns of their country. But the leader of this procession is a statue which they call Baccheus, and which, according to report, was dedicated by Androdamas the son of Philas. After this follows another statue, which the Theban Phanes, warned by the Pythian deity, brought from Thebes. But this Phanes came to Sicyon at the same time as Aristomachus the son of Cleodamus: for not acting agreeable to the oracle, he neglected going to Peloponnesus at the proper time.

But on proceeding from the temple of Dionysius to the forum you will perceive on the right hand a temple of Diana Limnæa, the roof of which has evidently fallen off through length of time. But with respect to the statue of the goddess, they are neither able to give any information whether it was brought here from some foreign part, nor how it came to be destroyed. In the forum you will perceive a temple of the goddess Persuasion, but which is

likewise without a statue. This goddess came to be worshipped by them on the following account: After Apollo and Diana had slain the serpent Python, they came to Ægialea, for the sake of purification, but in consequence of being terrified in this place (and from which circumstance they at present call the region Phobus, or dread), they came to Crete, to Carmanor; and the inhabitants of Ægialea being afflicted with a pestilent disease, the priests admonished them to supplicate Apollo and Diana. Hence they sent seven boys, and as many virgins, in a suppliant manner to the river Sytha; in consequence of which, as they report, the divinities were persuaded to come into the tower; and in the place where they first came a temple was dedicated to the goddess Persuasion.

But rites are even at present performed similar to these. For on the festival of Apollo certain boys come to the river Sytha, and carry the images of Apollo and Diana into the temple of the goddess Persuasion, and afterwards bring them into the temple of Apollo. And this temple stands in that place which is at present the forum; but it is said to have been first fabricated by Proetus, because his daughters were in that place liberated from the fury which possessed them. They add farther, that Meleager dedicated in this temple the spear with which he slew the Calydonian boar, and that the pipes of Marsyas are likewise contained here. For after the calamity which befel Silenus, the river Marsya brought these pipes to the river Meander, which, being thrown from hence into the Sicyonian land, were found by a shepherd, and dedicated to Apollo. But not one of these consecrated gifts yet remains; for they were all burnt together with the temple: but the temple and statue, which exist at present, were dedicated by Pythocles.

VOL. I.

CHAPTER VIII.

BUT the fane which is near the temple of the goddess Persuasion, and which was consecrated by the Roman emperors, was formerly the house of the tyrant Cleon. For Clisthenes, the son of Aristonymus, and the grandson of Pyrrho, tyrannised while the Sicyonians yet inhabited the lower city: but Cleon ruled in that part which is at present the city. Before this building there is an heroic monument of Aratus, who, in the renown of his actions, surpassed all the Grecians; and of whom the following particulars are related: After the death of Cleon, the desire of tyrannising raged to such a degree, that two persons at the same time, Euthydemus and Timoclidas, began to govern. The people, however, having ejected these, placed in their stead Clinias the father of Aratus. But Clinias dying not many years after, Abantidas began to tyrannise: and Aratus during his government, either because he was ejected by Clinias, or because it was his own will, went into banishment. Abantidas therefore was slain by the natives; and Pascas the father of Abantidas immediately usurped the tyranny; but he in his turn was slain by Nicocles, who then tyrannised himself. But Aratus attacking this Nicocles with a band of Sicyonian exiles and Argive mercenaries, when he came to the walls by night, deceived one part of the guard, and vanquished the other part, and thus became master of the walls. In consequence of this, as soon as it was day, he collected the people together, and ran with great celerity to the palace of the tyrant, which he took without much difficulty. Nicocles, however, had privately withdrawn himself. But then Aratus delivered to the Sicyonians a free admini

stration of the city; and having restored to the exiles their houses, and such of their possessions as were destined to be sold, he by this means took away all occasion of disagreement and strife.

The same person, too, when the Macedonians (Antigonus managing the affairs of Philip the son of Demetrius) were formidable to all the Greeks, joined the Sicyonians, though they were Dorians, with the council of the Achaians; and being immediately declared general by the Achaians, led his army against the Amphissensian Locrians, and, warring on the Ætolians, depopulated their country. But as Antigonus possessed Corinth, which he guarded with a band of Macedonians, Aratus by a sudden invasion astonished the Macedonians, and, coming to an engagement with them, slew, among many others, Persæus the commander of the guard, who was the philosophic pupil of Zeno the son of Mnaseas. Aratus, therefore, having liberated Corinth, associated to himself the Epidaurii and Troezenii, who inhabit the Argolic coast, and the Megarenses who dwell beyond the isthmus. And Ptolemy, indeed, joined to himself the Achaians, as his associates in war; but the Lacedæmonians following their king Agis, who was the son of Eudamidas, by a sudden incursion seized on Pellena. However, in consequence of Aratus coming against them, they were vanquished, and, leaving Pellena, returned home on certain conditions. But Aratus, when the Peloponnesian affairs were in a prosperous condition, saw with indignation that the Piræeus, Munychia, Salamis, and Sunium were in the possession of the Macedonians; and, as there was no hope of being able to expel them from these places by force, he persuaded Diogenes, the commander of the guards, to surrender these places to him for one hundred and fifty talents; and, besides this, he gave a sixth part of this sum to the Athenians. He also persuaded Aristomachus,

who reigned in Argos, to introduce a democracy among the Argives, and join it with the convention of the Achaians. And, besides this, he took Mantinea, which was occupied by the Macedonians. The event of things, however, is far from always succeeding agreeable to the expectations of mankind; for Aratus was obliged to join himself to Antigonus king of the Macedonians as his associate in war, and this on the following account.

CHAPTER IX.

CLEOMENES, the son of Leonidas, and the grandson of Cleonymus, having obtained the government of Sparta, imitated in his conduct Pausanias, who both desired the tyranny, and was not satisfied with the established laws. However, as he was more ferocious than Pausanias, and not so desirous of preserving his life, he very soon, through pride and audacity, brought all his intentions to a prosperous conclusion. For in another family he destroyed, through poison, the king Eurydamidas, while he was yet a boy, and this by means of the Ephori; and transferred the government to his brother Epiclidas. And still farther, having subverted the authority of the senate, he instituted in their stead the Patronomi, or those who bestowed a paternal attention to the affairs of their country. After this, through a desire of greater concerns, and of the government of all Greece, he first of all warred on the Achaians, either hoping, that, if they were conquered, they would be his associates in war, or that they would be unwilling to impede his undertakings. In consequence of this, having come to an engagement at Dyme above Patræ, he vanquished the Achaians, who were then commanded by Aratus. He, therefore, compelled this Aratus,