Pausanias Analysis

Passage 5.18.2

← 5.18.1 5.18.3 →

Passage 5.18.2: Idas bringing back Marpessa, daughter of Evenus.

Mythic Skeptical

Greek Text

γυνὴ δὲ εὐειδὴς γυναῖκα αἰσχρὰν κολάζουσα καὶ τῇ μὲν ἀπάγχουσα αὐτήν, τῇ δὲ ῥάβδῳ παίουσα, Δίκη ταῦτα Ἀδικίαν δρῶσά ἐστι· δύο δὲ ἄλλας γυναῖκας ἐς ὅλμους καθικνουμένας ὑπέροις, φάρμακα εἰδέναι σφᾶς νομίζουσιν, ἐπεὶ ἄλλως γε οὐδὲν ἐς αὐτάς ἐστιν ἐπίγραμμα. τὰ δὲ ἐς τὸν ἄνδρα τε καὶ γυναῖκα ἑπομένην αὐτῷ τὰ ἔπη δηλοῖ τὰ ἑξάμετρα· λέγει γὰρ δὴ οὕτως· Ἴδας Μάρπησσαν καλλίσφυρον, ἃν οἱ Ἀπόλλων ἅρπασε, τὰν Εὐανοῦ ἄγει πάλιν οὐκ ἀέκουσαν.

English Translation

A beautiful woman punishing an ugly one, strangling her with one hand and striking her with a rod in the other, is Justice acting against Injustice. Two other women, reaching down into mortars with pestles, are thought to have knowledge of poisons, since otherwise there is no inscription concerning them. The hexameter verses beneath the man and the woman accompanying him explain who they are, for they say thus: "Idas brings back fair-ankled Marpessa, daughter of Evenus, whom Apollo had seized, and she does not go unwillingly."

Proper Nouns

Dike (Δίκη) deity
Adikia (Ἀδικία) deity
Apollo (Ἀπόλλων) deity
Euenos/Evanus (Εὔανος) person
Marpessa (Μάρπησσα) person
Also in: 8.48.5
Idas (Ἴδας) person
← 5.18.1 5.18.3 →