42 STRABO. CASAUB. 364. Messe to be a contraction of Messene, for it is said that this was a part of Laconia. [They allege as examples from the poet, the words " cri," and " do," and " maps," l and this pas- sage also ; " The horses were yoked by Automedon and Alcimus," 2 instead of Alcimedon. And the words of Hesiod, who uses j3p~i for fipidv and fiptapov ; and Sophocles and lo, who have fo for pqSiov ; and Epicharmus, X7 for XtW, and 'ZvpaKu for Kovtrai ; Empedocles also has ot// for O^LQ (jum yiy VETO.I a o}/ or oi//ie); and Antimachus, Ar/^rjrjooe rot 'EXvatvtr/e iepn o^/, and aX(f)L for aX^irov ; Euphorion has ??X for j/Xog ; Philetes has Ofjuivtc LQ raXapovg BVKOV a.yovaiv tpi for epiov ; Aratus, elg cive/jiov 3e ret TTTJ^O. for TO. 7rr)()ata. ', Simmias, Dodo for Dodona.] 3 Of the rest of the places mentioned by the poet, some are extinct ; of others traces remain, and of others the names are changed, as Augeise into JEgasas : [the city] of that name in Locris exists no longer. With respect to Las, the Dioscuri are said to have taken it by siege formerly, whence they had the name of Lapersse, (Destroyers of Las,) and Sophocles says somewhere, " by the two Lapersae, by Eurotas, by the gods in Argos and Sparta." 4. Ephorus says that the Heracleidae, Eurysthenes and Procles, having obtained possession of Laconia, divided it into six parts, and founded cities throughout the country, and as- signed Amyclae to him who betrayed to them Laconia, and who prevailed upon the person that occupied it to retire, on certain conditions, with the Achasi, into Ionia. Sparta they re- tained themselves as the royal seat of the kingdom. To the other cities they sent kings, permitting them to receive what- ever strangers might be disposed to settle there, on account of the scarcity of inhabitants. Las was used as a naval station, because it had a convenient harbour ; ^Egys, as a stronghold, from whence to attack surrounding enemies ; Pheraea, as a place to deposit treasure, because it afforded security from 4 at- tempts from without. * * * * that all the neighbouring people submitted to the Spartiatae, but were to enjoy an equality of rights, and to have a share in the government and 1 Kpl, w, fid^, for KpiQrj, Stifjia, [fa^iSiov. 2 II. xix. 392. 3 Probably an interpolation. * The text here is very corrupt.
