Pausanias Analysis

On Helicon there is also a statue of Arsinoe, whom her brother Ptolemy married. Arsinoe is carried by an ostrich, a bronze figure of a winged bird; although these birds also produce feathers similar to other birds, owing to their weight and size, they are unable to lift themselves into the air by means of their feathers.

Here also is represented Telephus, the son of Heracles, with a deer giving milk to the infant child; near at hand are an ox and an image of Priapus, worthy of note. This god receives honor elsewhere also, wherever there are pastures of goats or sheep, or even swarms of bees. But the people of Lampsacus honor him above other gods, saying that he is the son of Dionysus and Aphrodite.

On Helicon there are other tripods, including a very ancient one, which they say Hesiod once received at Chalcis upon the Euripus, having won victory in a poetic contest. Men dwell around the grove, and there the Thespians hold a festival and perform the contest called the Museia. They also hold a competition in honor of Eros, offering prizes not merely for music but also for athletic events. At a distance of about twenty stades above this grove is the spring called Hippocrene ("Horse's Fountain"); they say that this was produced by the horse of Bellerophon, which created it by striking its hoof against the ground.

But the Boeotians dwelling around Helicon, following a widely held opinion among them, say that Hesiod composed no work other than the Works; moreover, from this poem itself they remove the proem addressed to the Muses, asserting that its true beginning is the part concerning the Strifes. They also showed me a lead tablet at the spring, seriously damaged by age.

Inscribed upon it are the Works of Hesiod. And there is another tradition separate from the first, that Hesiod composed a considerable number of verses, including those sung about women, called the Great Eoiae, and the Theogony, verses about the seer Melampus, concerning Theseus' descent into Hades alongside Peirithoüs, and the instructions of Chiron for the education of Achilles, as well as everything contained within the Works and Days. The very same authorities also relate that Hesiod learned divination from the Acarnanians; indeed, there exist prophetic verses attributed to him—many of which I myself have collected—along with explanations of prodigies.

There are conflicting accounts also concerning Hesiod's death. All agree in stating that Ctimeneus and Antiphus—the sons of Ganyctor—fled from Naupactus to Molycria because of the murder of Hesiod, and there, having committed sacrilege against Poseidon, met their punishment at Molycria. Regarding this, everyone has given the same version. However, concerning the young men's sister, some say that Hesiod was unjustly accused due to another man's assault upon her, while others assert that the deed was indeed committed by Hesiod himself. Such then are the manifold and contradictory accounts regarding Hesiod himself as well as his poetry.

On the very peak of Mount Helicon, the river Lamos flows, which is not large. In the territory of Thespiae is a place called Donakon. Here is located the spring of Narcissus. It is said that Narcissus gazed into this water, and not understanding that he saw merely his own reflection, he unwittingly fell in love with himself, and due to this passion he met his end at the spring. This entire account seems altogether foolish, that one should reach such an age at which love could affect a person, yet still be unable to distinguish between a human being and a mere human shadow.

There is also a different story about him, less widely known than the previous one but still told, that Narcissus had a twin sister who resembled him exactly in appearance and who wore her hair and clothing in the same way as he did. Indeed, they used to hunt together. Narcissus came to love his sister, and when the girl died, he would visit the spring, aware that he was seeing his own reflection. Yet despite this knowledge, he found relief for his passion by imagining that what he saw was not his own reflection but the image of his sister.

I believe that the narcissus flower grew from the earth even earlier; if we should draw conclusions from the verses of Pamphos. For he lived many years before Narcissus of Thespiae, and he says that the Daughter of Demeter, while she was playing and gathering flowers, was carried away—not deceived by violets, but by narcissi.