Here fell the pipe once hurled into the marshes of Libya, what time the stream reflected Minerva’s disfigured countenance.[113] Here, too, there perished, conquered by Apollo’s lyre, the shepherd Marsyas whose flayed skin brought renown to the city of
[112] The reference is to Herodotus ii. 2. Psammetichus, King of Egypt, wishing to find out which was the most ancient nation, had two children reared in complete silence. As the first word they uttered was “Becos,” the Phrygian word for “bread,” Phrygia was accorded the honour.
[113] Minerva is said to have thrown her pipe into the river when she observed in the reflection the facial contortions apparently necessary to play it; _cf._ Ovid, _Fasti_, vi. 699.
quattuor hinc magnis procedunt fontibus amnes auriferi; nec miror aquas radiare metallo, 260 quae totiens lavere Midan. diversus ad Austrum cursus et Arctoum fluviis mare. Dindyma fundunt Sangarium, vitrei puro qui gurgite Galli auctus Amazonii defertur ad ostia Ponti. Icarium pelagus Mycalaeaque litora iuncti 265 Marsya Maeanderque petunt; sed Marsya velox, dum suus est, flexuque carens iam flumine mixtus mollitur, Maeandre, tuo; contraria passus, quam Rhodano stimulatus Arar: quos inter aprica planities Cererique favet densisque ligatur 270 vitibus et glaucae fructus attollit olivae, dives equis, felix pecori pretiosaque picto marmore purpureis, caedit quod Synnada, venis. Talem tum Phrygiam Geticis populatibus uri permisere dei. securas barbarus urbes 275 inrupit facilesque capi. spes nulla salutis, nulla fugae: putribus iam propugnacula saxis longo corruerant aevo pacisque senecta. Interea gelidae secretis rupibus Idae dum sedet et thiasos spectat de more Cybebe 280 Curetumque alacres ad tympana suscitat enses, aurea sanctarum decus inmortale comarum defluxit capiti turris summoque volutus vertice crinalis violatur pulvere murus. obstipuere truces omen Corybantes et uno 285 fixa metu tacitas presserunt orgia buxos. indoluit genetrix, tum sic commota profatur:
Celaenae. Hence flow four broad auriferous rivers. Small wonder that the waters in which King Midas bathed so often glitter with the rare metal. Two flow north, two southwards. Dindymus gives birth to the river Sangarius, which, swollen by the clear stream of the Gallus, hastens on to the Euxine, the sea of the Amazon. The conjoined streams of Marsyas and Meander make for the Icarian main and Mycale’s strand. Marsyas flows fast and straight while his course is his own; mingled with thy waters, Meander, he goes slowly--unlike the Saône whose waters are hastened by the Rhone’s inflowing. Between these rivers is a sun-kissed plain; kindly is it to the corn, thick-set with vines and displaying the fruit of the grey-green olive; rich, too, in horses, fertile in flocks, and wealthy with the purple-veined marble that Synnada quarries.