126 so she used the BATTUS CONSULTS THE ORACLE. Book IV. this, I think, was the reason why the Pythoness addressed him as she did she knew he was to be a king in Libya, and Libyan word in speaking to him. For after he had grown to man's estate, he made a journey to Delphi, to consult the oracle about his voice; when, upon his putting his question, the Pythoness thus replied to him : "Battus, thou camest to ask of thy voice; but Phoebus Apollo Bids thee establish a city in Libya, abounding in fleeces;" which was as if she had said in her own tongue, "King, thou camest to ask of thy voice." Then he replied, "Mighty lord, I did indeed come hither to consult thee about my voice, but thou speakest to me of quite other matters, bidding me colonise Libya-an impossible thing! what power have I? what followers?" Thus he spake, but he did not persuade the Pythoness to give him any other response; so when he found that she persisted in her former answer, he left her speaking, and set out on his return to Thera. 6 156. After a while, everything began to go wrong both with Battus and with the rest of the Theræans, whereupon these last, ignorant of the cause of their sufferings, sent to Delphi to inquire for what reason they were afflicted. The Pythoness in reply told them, "that if they and Battus would make a ⚫ settlement at Cyrene in Libya, things would go better with them." Upon this the Theræans sent out Battus with two penteconters, and with these he proceeded to Libya, but within a little time, not knowing what else to do, the men returned and arrived off Thera. The Theræans, when they saw the vessels approaching, received them with showers of missiles, would not allow them to come near the shore, and ordered the men to sail back from whence they came. Thus 6 Menecles of Barca, who lived about B.C. 120, gave a much more prosaic account of these matters. According to him, there were violent factions at Thera, and Battus, who was the leader of one, being worsted, was driven into banishment with his partisans. Under these circumstances he applied to the Delphic oracle, and asked whether he should renew the struggle or lead out a colony. The oracle, thus appealed to, recommended the latter course; and suggested Africa by advising a settlement on the continent." (See Müller's Fr. Hist. Gr. vol. iv. p. 449.) CHAP. 155-158. SETTLEMENT AT AZIRIS. 127 compelled to return, they settled on an island near the Libyan coast, which (as I have already said) was called Platea. In size it is reported to have been about equal to the city of Cyrêné, as it now stands." 157. In this place they continued two years, but at the end of that time, as their ill luck still followed them, they left the island to the care of one of their number, and went in a body to Delphi, where they made complaint at the shrine, to the effect that, notwithstanding they had colonised Libya, they prospered as poorly as before. Hereon the Pythoness made them the following answer : "Knowest thou better than I, fair Libya abounding in fleeces? Better the stranger than he who has trod it? Oh! clever Theræans!' Battus and his friends, when they heard this, sailed back to Platea it was plain the god would not hold them acquitted of the colony till they were absolutely in Libya. So, taking with them the man whom they had left upon the island, they made a settlement on the mainland directly opposite Platea, fixing themselves at a place called Aziris, which is closed in on both sides by the most beautiful hills, and on one side is washed by a river.8 158. Here they remained six years, at the end of which time the Libyans induced them to move, promising that they would lead them to a better situation.9 So the Greeks left 7 This comparison seems to be accurate enough. The ruins of Cyrene cover a space very nearly equal to the whole area of Bomba. (See Kiepert's Atlas von Hellas, map xxii.) If Platea is Bomba, the Aziris of Herodotus must be sought in the valley of the Temimeh, the ancient Paliurus Kiepert appears to think that there was both a district and a port of the name (see the map referred to above), and places the port to the westward of the Ras-el-Tynn. This view is founded seemingly on the statement of Scylax (Peripl. p. 107), a statement which is too corrupt and too vague to be of any service. The district about СНАР. 158. IRASA. 129 Aziris and were conducted by the Libyans towards the west, their journey being so arranged, by the calculations of their guides, that they passed in the night the most beautiful district of that whole country, which is the region called Irasa.1 The Libyans brought them to a spring, which goes by the name of Apollo's fountain,2 and told them—“ Here, Grecians, is the proper place for you to settle; for here the sky leaks." 8 feeling changes, as it did towards the English settlers. A struggle ensues, and the humble traders become lords of the country. Irasa is mentioned by Pindar (Pyth. ix. 106, ed. Dissen.) as a city in the neighbourhood of Cyrene. Its situation is very doubtful. Pacho supposes (Voyage, &c., pp. 84-5) that it lay at the north-eastern foot of the great Cyrenaic table-land (which extends from Cyrene a full degree towards the east), in a district which is still remarkable for its fertility, and where a fountain called Ersen or Erasem by the Arabs, appears to contain a trace of the old name. Hamilton (Wanderings in N. Africa, Introduction, p. xiii.) suggests El. Kubbeh, on the road to Derna, as the true site. There are many remains of buildings there, and a copious stream, in which he recognises the fountain of Thesté (see the next chapter). 2 The fountain of Apollo is celebrated by Pindar (Pyth. iv. 294, ed. Dissen.). It is thought to be the same with the fountain of Cyré, mentioned both by Callimachus and Stephen. (Callim. Hymn. ad Apoll. 81; Steph. Byz. ad voc. Kuphvn), after which, according to one account, Cyrene was named. Modern travellers have recognised it in a copious spring on the road from the necropolis to the plateau whereon the town stood. Della Cella, p. 146, E. T.; Pacho, p. 217; Beechey, p. 423; Hamilton, p. 37). The view (p. 128) is from Beechey's work. : explains the expression to mean "that the sky is a sort of reservoir, which in other parts of the world is sound and holds water, but at this place leaks." (Compare 2 Kings vii. 2, "If the Lord would make windows in heaven.") The reference is not therefore to the fountain, but to rain, which in most parts of N. Africa is of extreme rarity. (See note on ch. 185.) That abundant rain falls in the Cyrenaica, and along much of the northern coast of Africa, is a well-known fact. Mr. Hamilton says (Wanderings in N. Africa, ch. vii. p. 92) "The rains set in usually about the middle of November, and then come down with a violence which no tent can resist." He himself experienced them at Taukra (Tauchira), and speaks of them as "descending every night in torrents, and frequently lasting all day" (p. 150). Advantage is taken of them to sow the corn immediately after the first have fallen, which is sometimes as early as the latter part of October. From the beginning of spring till this time there is rarely a drop of rain, though from the middle of August the sky is almost always cloudy (ibid. p. 94). No doubt the real circumstance that fixed the exact site of the city was the copious spring or fountain mentioned above, which is still the most abundant in the neighbourhood (Hamilton, p. 38), and which in a country so scant of water as N. Africa would constitute a most strong attraction. The principal public buildings of the town were grouped about this fountain. See the plan overleaf. K |