ON MARVELLOUS THINGS HEARD

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18 Aristotle
depth. But this is what seems marvellous: while trees stand thickly above it, and
some lean over it, one cannot see a single leaf floating upon the water, while the
water is so very pure that those who behold it wonder. On the mainland not far
distant from it hot water springs forth from many parts, and all the place is called
Pyriphlegethon. But to say that no bird flies over it is a lie; for those who have
been there maintain that there is a large number of swans in it.
§ 103 · They say that the Siren islands are situated in Italy at the point of the
headland in the strait, which lies before the promontory separating the two bays, 4
i.e. the one surrounding Cumae and the one which cuts off from it the city called
Posidonia; on this promontory also a temple of the Sirens has been built, and they
are honoured exceedingly by the neighbouring peoples with diligent sacrifices,
and they, making mention of their names, call one Parthenope, another Leucosia,
and the third Ligeia.
§ 104 · It is stated that between the Mentoric district and that of Istria there is a
mountain named Delphium with a high crest. When the Mentores, who dwell near
the Adriatic, ascend this crest they can discern, as it appears, the ships sailing into
the Pontus: there is also a spot, half-way between, at which when a common market
is held, Lesbian, Chian, and Thasian wares are sold by the merchants coming
up from the Pontus, and Corcyraean jars by the merchants from the Adriatic.
§ 105 · Men say that the Ister, flowing from what are called the Hercynian
woods, divides, and in one direction flows into the Pontus, and in the other discharges
its waters into the Adriatic. And we have seen a proof not only in the
present times, but also more fully in antiquity, that the waters there are not5 innavigable;
for they say that Jason sailed into the Pontus by the ‘Dark Rocks’, while
he sailed out of it by the Ister; and for this, besides alleging not a few other evidences,
they point out altars set up by Jason in the country, and in one of the
islands in the Adriatic a costly temple of Artemis erected by Medea. Moreover
they affirm that Jason could not have sailed past the ‘Wandering Islands’, if he
were not sailing away from that quarter. And moreover in the island of Aethaleia,
which lies in the Tyrrhenian Sea, they point to other memorials of the chiefs of the
Argonautic Expedition, and also to what is said respecting the pebbles; for they
say that along the shore there are pebbles of various colours; and the Greeks who
inhabit the island say that they received their colour from the oil and dirt which
4 Reading tous kolpous.
5 Reading me einai.