Pausanias, Description of Greece (English) (XML Header) [genre: prose] [word count] [lemma count] [Paus.]. | ||
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Tityos too is in the picture; he is no longer being punished, but has been reduced to nothing by continuous torture, an indistinct and mutilated phantom.
Going on to the next part of the picture, you see very near to the man who is twisting the rope a painting of Ariadne. Seated on a rock she is looking at her sister Phaedra, who is on a swing grasping in either hand the rope on each side. The attitude, though quite gracefully drawn, makes us infer the manner of Phaedra's death.
10.29.4Ariadne was taken away from Theseus by Dionysus, who sailed against him with superior forces, and either fell in with Ariadne by chance or else set an ambush to catch her. This Dionysus was, in my opinion, none other than he who was the first to invade
Both the Greeks and the Egyptians have many legends about Dionysus. Underneath Phaedra is Chloris leaning against the knees of Thyia. He will not be mistaken who says that all during the lives of these women they remained friends. For Chloris came from
Beside Thyia stands Procris, the daughter of Erechtheus, and after her Clymene, who is turning her back to Chloris. The poem the Returns
says that Clymene was a daughter of Minyas, that she married Cephalus the son of Deion, and that a son Iphiclus was born to them. The story of Procris is told by all men, how she had married Cephalus before Clymene, and in what way she was put to death by her husband.
Farther within from Clymene you will see
Above the heads of the women I have enumerated is the daughter of Salmoneus sitting on a rock, beside whom is standing Eriphyle, who is holding up the ends of her fingers along her neck through her tunic, and you will conjecture that in the folds of her tunic she is holding in one of her hands the famous necklace.
10.29.8Beyond Eriphyle have been painted Elpenor and Odysseus. The latter is squatting on his feet, and holding his sword over the trench, towards which the seer Teiresias is advancing. After Teiresias is Anticleia, the mother of Odysseus, upon a rock. Elpenor has on instead of clothes a mat, such as is usual for sailors to wear.
10.29.9Lower down than Odysseus are Theseus and Peirithous sitting upon chairs. The former is holding in his hands the sword of Peirithous and his own. Peirithous is looking at the swords, and you might conjecture that he is angry with them for having been useless and of no help in their daring adventures. Panyassis the poet says that Theseus and Peirithous did not sit chained to their chairs, but that the rock grew to their flesh and so served as chains.
10.29.10The proverbial friendship of Theseus and Peirithous has been mentioned by Homer in both his poems. In the Odyssey
Odysseus says to the Phaeacians:—
And now I should have seen more men of former days, whom I wished very much to see,
Hom. Od. 11.631 foll.And in the Iliad
Theseus and Peirithous, renowned children of gods.
he has made Nestor give advice to Agamemnon and Achilles, and speaking among others the following verses:—
I have never yet seen such men, and I am never likely to see
Hom. Il. 1.262 foll.
As were Peirithous, Dryas, shepherd of the folk,
Caeneus, Exadius, god-like Polyphemus,
And Theseus, son of Aegeus, like to the immortals.
ch. 30
10.30.1
Next Polygnotus has painted the daughters of Pandareos. Homer makes Penelope say in a speech note that the parents of the maidens died because of the wrath of the gods, that they were reared as orphans by Aphrodite and received gifts from other goddesses: from Hera wisdom and beauty of form, from Artemis high stature, from Athena schooling in the works that befit women. He goes on to say that Aphrodite ascended into heaven, wishing to secure for the girls a happy marriage, and in her absence they were carried off by the Harpies and given by them to the Furies. This is the story as given by Homer. Polygnotus has painted them as girls crowned with flowers and playing with dice, and gives them the names of Cameiro and Clytie. I must tell you that Pandareos was a Milesian from
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