The histories of Herodotus;

179-181] THE LIBYANS 267
phi; and as he was sailing off Malea, a north wind caught
him and drove him to Libya ; and before he could discern
the land he found himself in the shallows of the lake Tritonis
and as he was in doubt how to extricate his ship, the story
goes that a Triton appeared to him, and bade Jason give him
the tripod, promising that he would both show them the passage
and conduct them away in safety. When Jason consented,
the Triton thereupon showed them the passage out
of the shallows, and placed the tripod in his own temple;
then pronouncing an oracle from the tripod, he declared to
Jason and his companions all that should happen, that when
one of the descendants of those who sailed with him in the
Argo should carry away the tripod, then it was fated that a
hundred Grecian cities should be built about the lake Tritonis
the neighbouring nations of the Libyans, when they heard
this concealed the tripod. The Auses adjoin these Machlyes
they, as well as the Machlyes, dwell round the lake Tritonis,
and the Triton forms the boundary between them. The
Machlyes let the hair grow on the back of the head, and the
Auses on the front. At the annual festival of Minerva, their
virgins, dividing themselves into two companies, fight together
with stones and staves, affirming that they perform the
ancient rites to their native goddess, whom we call Minerva
and those of the virgins who die from their wounds they call
false virgins. But before they leave off righting they do as
follows : With one consent they on each occasion deck the
virgin that excels in beauty with a Corinthian helmet and a
suit of Grecian armour, and having placed her in a chariot,
conduct her round the lake. In what way they formerly decorated
the virgins before the Grecians settled in their neighbourhood
I am unable to say ; but I conjecture that they were
decked in Egyptian armour, for I am of opinion that the
shield and helmet were brought from Egypt into Greece. They
say that Minerva is the daughter of Neptune and the lake Tritonis
; and that she being for some reason offended with her
father, gave herself to Jupiter, and that Jupiter adopted her
as his own daughter: this they say. They have promiscuous
intercourse with the women, and do not cohabit and associate
like beasts. The men meet together every third month, and
when a woman has a child grown up, he is considered to be
the son of that man whom he most resembles.
Those, then, of the Libyan nomads who live on the seacoast
have been mentioned. Above these, inland, Libya
abounds in wild beasts; and beyond the wild beast tract is a
ridge of sand, stretching from the Egyptian Thebes to the
: ; :