СНАР. 159. ADVICE OF THE ORACLE, 131 the same level, neither more nor fewer in number than they were at the first. But in the reign of the third king, Battus, surnamed the Happy, the advice of the Pythoness brought Greeks from every quarter into Libya, to join the settlement.5 The Cyrenæans had offered to all comers a share in their lands; and the oracle had spoken as follows: : "He that is backward to share in the pleasant Libyan acres," Thus a great multitude were collected together to Cyrêné, and The proverb, "Bártov σíxpiov," which was used for all that was expensive and honourable, is referred by common consent to him. (Suidas ad voc.; Schol. ad Arist. Plut. 1. s. c.; Bekker, Anecd. i. p. 224, &c.) As this drug seems certainly to have been the great cause of the wealth and power of Cyrene, if the trade in it is rightly referred to the first Battus, Cyrenæan prosperity should begin with him. 5 If we we may regard as historical the part said to have been taken by the oracle in the founding and establishment of this colony, it will appear that an influence over the destinies of Greece was exercised by the Delphian priests in early times which has seldom been fully recognised. The want of a settlement on the African coast, for the general interests of Greece, is felt; the Delphians determine to have it supplied. They fix on Thera, a Dorian settlement, and the most Bouthern of all the Cyclades, as the point from which the colonisation will most conveniently proceed. They order the colony to be sent out, refuse to be content with anything short of a settlement upon the mainland, watch the progress of the settlement when it is made, and at the fitting moment cause the redundant population of Greece to flow towards it. The powerful and flourishing Greek state of Cyrene is, according to this statement, the absolute creation of the priests of Delphi. There are not wanting other instances of a somewhat similar influence. We may gather from what is said of Dorieus (infra, v. 42), that he "did not inquire of the Delphic oracle in what land he should settle, or go through any of the customary preparations;" that, at any rate in Dorian states, when a colony was determined on, the choice of the site was habitually left to the oracle. Other examples of this practice are the settlement of the Enianes in Southern Thessaly (Plut. Qu. Gr. ii. p. 294, A.), of the Chalcidians at Rhegium (Strab. vi. p. 370), of the Spartans and Achæans at Crotona (Paus. III. iii. § 1; Strab. vi. p. 376), and of the Megareans (if the account be true) at Byzantium (Strab. vii. 464). See on this subject Müller's Dorians, i. pp. 282-294, E. T. 6 The beauty and fertility of the Cyrenaica are celebrated by all who visit it. Hamilton says (p. 78), "In the neighbourhood of Grennah, the hills abound with beautiful scenes. Some of them exceed in richness of vegetation, and equal in grandeur, anything that is to be found in the Apennines. . The Wady Shelaleh presents a scene beyond my powers of description. The olive is here con. trasted with the fig, the tall cypress and the dark juniper with the arbutus and myrtle, and the pleasant breeze which always blows through the valley is laden with balmy perfumes." Again, on approaching from the west, he observes, "The rest of the journey was over a range of low undulating hills, offering perhaps the most lovely sylvan scenery in the world. The country is like a most beautifullyarranged jardin Anglais, covered with 132 DEFEAT OF THE EGYPTIANS. Book IV. the Libyans of the neighbourhood found themselves stripped of large portions of their lands. So they, and their king Adicran, being robbed and insulted by the Cyrenæans, sent messengers to Egypt, and put themselves under the rule of Apries, the Egyptian monarch; who, upon this, levied a vast army of Egyptians,' and sent them against Cyrêné. The inhabitants of that place left their walls and marched out in force to the district of Irasa, where, near the spring called Thesté, they engaged the Egyptian host, and defeated it. The Egyptians, who had never before made trial of the prowess of the Greeks, and so thought but meanly of them, were routed with such slaughter that but a very few of them ever got back home. For this reason, the subjects of Apries, who laid the blame of the defeat on him, revolted from his authority. 160. This Battus left a son called Arcesilaüs, who, when he came to the throne, had dissensions with his brothers, which ended in their quitting him and departing to another region of Libya,1 where, after consulting among themselves, they founded pyramidal clumps of evergreens, variously disposed, as if by the hand of the most refined taste; while bosquets of junipers and cedars, relieved by the pale olive and the bright green of the tall arbutus-tree, afford a most grateful shade from the mid. day sun." (p. 31.) 7 Apries had probably not thought it prudent to take his Greek auxiliaries against the Cyrenæans. (See n. 2 on Book ii. ch. 163.)—[G. W.] 8 Vide supra, ii. 161. 9 The quarrel was said to have resulted from the "ill-temper" of Arcesilaus II., who was therefore called ὁ χαλεπός. The brothers here spoken of seem to be the "Perseus, Zacynthus, Aristomedon, and Lycus,' by whom Barca was founded, according to Stephen (ad voc. Báρên). There is no difficulty in deter. mining the exact site of Cyrene. The Arabic name Grennah (Kuphun, or in the Doric Greek of the place, Kupáva, sounded Kyrāna) is sufficiently close to mark the identity of the (See his Narrative, p. 143, E. T.) The situation of Grennah likewise corresponds very exactly with the accounts of Cyrene in the geographers. Grennah, according to Beechey, stands on the edge of a high plateau or table. land, 1800 feet above the level of the sea, which is at no great distance, being very distinctly visible, except in hazy weather. (Beechey's Expedition, pp. 434, 435.) This account recalls very remarkably the description in Strabo, who had seen Cyrene as he sailed along the coast: πόλεως μεγάλης 134 EXPEDITION AGAINST THE LIBYANS. Book IV. the city, which is still called by the name then given to it, Barca. At the same time they endeavoured to induce the Libyans to revolt from Cyrêné. Not long afterwards Arcesilaüs made an expedition against the Libyans who had received his brothers and been prevailed upon to revolt; and they, fearing his power, fled to their countrymen who dwelt towards the east. Arcesilaüs pursued, and chased them to a place called Leucon, which is in Libya, where the Libyans resolved to risk ἐν τραπεζοειδεῖ πεδίῳ κειμένης, ὡς ἐκ τοῦ πελάγους ἑωρῶμεν αυτήν. (xvii. p. 1181.) The country around Grennah is celebrated for its fertility. The upper plateau, at the edge of which Cyrene stood, is cultivated in wheat and other cereals; the lower one, on which the town looks down, a thousand feet above the sea-level, is richly wooded, and diversified with meadows and corn-fields (see the view, p. 133). The best account will be found in Beechey (pp. 434-437). The site of Barca is not so readily fixed. Ptolemais indeed, with which it has sometimes been confounded (Steph. Byz. in voc. Вáркη; Strab. xvii. p. 1181; Plin. H. N. v. 5), still exists in the modern Dolmeita, or Ptolemeta, a town of some importance upon the coast, nearly in long. 219. But that the original Barca was not at Ptolemais appears both from Scylax, who places it 11 miles away from the shore (Peripl. p. 109), and from Ptolemy, who distinguishes the two cities (Geograph. iv. 4). Ptolemais undoubtedly arose, not upon the an. cient Barca, but upon its port, the λιμὴν κατὰ Βάρκην of Seylax. Barca has therefore to be sought in the interior, 11 or 12 miles from this place. All recent travellers agree that the extensive plain of Merdj, which lies at the required distance from the coast, is connected with Ptolemeta by two ravines affording a ready communication, and corresponds moreover with the descriptions of Barca left by the Arabian geographers, is the most probable site. It is an objection, however, that the ruins at this place are inconsiderable. (See Della Cella, p. 217, E. T.; Pacho, pp. 175-177; Beechey, pp. 396-402; Hamilton, p. 134.) 2 Barca was evidently an African word, and probably the previous name of the place at which the Greeks now settled. It is traced by some to the root bar, which is "desert" in Arabic (Bochart, Phaleg, i. 26, p. 496); but this scarcely seems a satisfactory account, as it ignores the third consonant, and does not well apply to the country, which is not desert. May not Barca, as the name of a town, have arisen from some word like the Hebrew, b’rekah, “a reservoir,” the place having grown up around an attraction of that kind? It must be regarded as doubtful whether the epithet Barca, assumed by Hamilcar at Carthage, was really at all connected with the name of the city. [As applied to him, the term signified lightning, being analogous to the Ilderim adopted by Bajazet.-G. W.] The town Barca long outlived Cyrene. It was an important place during the Mahometan period; and the name still attaches to the neighbourhood, the whole of the Cyrenaica being known to the Turks as the province of Barka. 3 Leucon is not mentioned by any other author; but Ptolemy places a city which he calls Leucoë in these parts. (Geogr. Iv. ch. v. p. 121.) Kiepert conjectures this town to have lain between Cyrene and Irasa. (See his map.) CHAP. 160, 161. BATTUS THE LAME. 135 a battle. Accordingly they engaged the Cyrenæans, and defeated them so entirely that as many as seven thousand of their heavy-armed were slain in the fight. Arcesilaüs, after this blow, fell sick, and, whilst he was under the influence of a draught which he had taken, was strangled by Learchus, one of his brothers. This Learchus was afterwards entrapped by Eryxo, the widow of Arcesilaüs, and put to death.5 161. Battus, Arcesilaüs' son, succeeded to the kingdom, a lame man, who limped in his walk. Their late calamities now induced the Cyrenæans to send to Delphi and inquire of the god what form of government they had best set up to secure themselves prosperity. The Pythoness answered by recommending them to fetch an arbitrator from Mantinea in Arcadia." Accordingly they sent; and the Mantineans gave them a man named Demônax,7 a person of high repute among 4 Nicolas of Damascus seems to have understood the account of Herodotus differently. According to him, Arcesilaus tried to poison himself in consequence of the defeat of his army; but dying hard in this way, was strangled by his sympathising brother (Fr. 52). Plutarch (ii. p. 160) makes Learchus not the brother, but only the friend of Arcesilaüs, and says that he killed him by poison in order to get the crown. 5 See, for a full account of this matter, Plutarch (De Virt. Mul. ii. p. 260) and Polyænus (viii. 41). The former is the original narrative. It appears that Learchus governed for a time in the name of his nephew, who was a minor. Eryxo put Learchus to death by the help of her brother Polyarchus, who then became regent and seems to have been the person under whose authority Demonax acted. (τὴν ἀπ' ἀρχῆς πολιτείαν ὁ Πολύαρχος ἀπέδωκε τοῖς Κυρηναίοις.) 6 Mantinea was situated near the eastern frontier of Arcadia, in the high plateau west of the range of Malevo, the waters of which have no outlet through the hills, but collect in lakes, or disappear in subterranean passages (katavothra). It is now called Paleopoli, and. lies about 8 miles nearly due north of Tripolitza. There are abundant remains, "the circuit of the walls being entire." (Leake's Morea, vol. i. pp. 103-105.) It is remarkable that the Delphic oracle should have recommended an Arcadian to legislate for the Cyrenæans, as the Arcadians were pure Pelasgi. (Hermann's Pol. Antiq. of Greece, § 17.) It is true that the Mantineans were celebrated for their good government (evvouía, Ælian, Var. Hist. ii. 22); but that a Dorian oracle should send a Pelasgic legislator to arrange the affairs of a Dorian state is what we should little have expected. Probably the personal character of Demônax pointed him out as the fittest man living for such a task. Diodorus calls him ἄνδρα συνέσει καὶ δικαιοσύνῃ δοκοῦντα διαφέρειν. (Fr. lib. viii. ad fin.) 7 Demônax, the Mantinean lawgiver, is but seldom mentioned by the an. cient writers. Hermippus, however, who wrote 66 concerning lawgivers," about B.C. 200, had a notice of him quite independent of this. Demônax, he said, introduced gladiatorial com |