Greek Texts & Translations

we must understand the present Megarenses also, as having taken a part in the expedition. The proof of this is, that Attica was, in former times, called Ionia, and Ias, and when the poet says, There the Boeoti, and Iaones, ^note
Il. xiii. 685. he means the Athenians. But of this Ionia Megaris was a part. 6

Besides, the Peloponnesians and Ionians having had frequent disputes respecting their boundaries, on which Crommyonia also was situated, assembled and agreed upon a spot of the Isthmus itself, on which they erected a pillar having an inscription on the part towards Peloponnesus, THIS IS PELOPONNESUS, NOT IONIA;
and on the side towards Megara, THIS IS NOT PELOPONNESUS, BUT IONIA.
Although those, who wrote on the history of Attica ^note differ in many respects, yet those of any note agree in this, that when there were four Pandionidae, Aegeus, Lycus, Pallas, and Nisus; and when Attica was divided into four portions, Nisus obtained, by lot, Megaris, and founded Nisaea. Philochorus says, that his government extended from the Isthmus to Pythium, ^note but according to Andron, as far as Eleusis and the Thriasian plain.

Since, then, different writers give different accounts of the division of the country into four parts, it is enough to adduce these lines from Sophocles where Aegeus says, My father determined that I should go away to Acte, having assigned to me, as the elder, the best part of the land; to Lycus, the opposite garden of Euboea; for Nisus he selects the irregular tract of the shore of Sciron; and the rugged Pallas, breeder of giants, obtained by lot the part to the south. ^note Such are the proofs which are adduced to show that Megaris was a part of Attica. 7

After the return of the Heraclidae, and the partition of the country, many of the former possessors were banished from their own land by the Heraclidae, and by the Dorians, who came with them, and migrated to Attica. Among these was Melanthus, the king of Messene. He was voluntarily ap-