B. ix. c. ii. 19. BCEOTIA. 101 already swallowed up. When the outlets were again ob- structed, Crates the Miner, a man of Chalcis, began to clear away the obstructions, but desisted in consequence of the Breo- tians being in a state of insurrection ; although, as he himself says, in the letter to Alexander, many places had been already drained ; among these, some writers supposed was the site of the ancient Orchomenus; others, that of Eleusis, and of Athens on the Triton. These cities are said to have been founded by Cecrops, when he ruled over Bosotia, then called Ogygia, but that they were afterwards destroyed by inunda- tions. It is said, that there was a fissure in the earth near Orchomenus, that admitted the river Melas, 1 which flows through the territory of Haliartus, and forms, there a marsh, where the reed grows of which the musical pipe is made. 2 But this river has entirely disappeared, being carried off by the subterraneous channels of the chasm, or absorbed by the lakes and marshes about Haliartus ; whence the poet calls Haliartus grassy, " And the grassy Haliartus." 3 19. These rivers descend from the Phocian mountains, and among them the Cephissus, 4 having its source at Lilasa, a Phocian city, as Homer describes it ; " And they who occupied Lilsea, at the sources of Cephissus." 5 It flows through Elateia, 6 the largest of the cities among the Phocians, through the Parapotamii, and the Phanoteis, which are also Phocian towns ; it then goes onwards to Chgeroneia in Bceotia ; afterwards, it traverses the districts of Orcho- menus and Coroneia, and discharges its waters into the lake Copais. The Permessus and the Olmeius 7 descend from Heli- con, and uniting their streams, fall into the lake Copais near Haliartus. The waters of other streams likewise dis- charge themselves into it. It is a large lake with a cir- cuit of 380 stadia ; 8 the outlets are nowhere visible, if we Mauroneri. 2 Pliny, b. xvi. c. 36. 3 II. ii. 503. There were several rivers of this name. See below, c. iii. 16. II. ii. 523. See below, ch. iii. 15. Elateia is represented by the modern village of Elefta. See ch. ii. 26. It is impossible to make any exact statement respecting its extent, since it varied so much at different times of the year and in different sea-
