Page:The geography of Strabo (1854) Volume 2.djvu/185

B. x. c. in. 4, 5. THE CURETES. . 177 ought to have inferred from such premises, that the Curetes continued to occupy the country of JEtolia to his days. For in this manner it might be understood never to have been devastated, nor in subjection to any other nation. But for- getting his position, he does not infer this, but the contrary, that JEtolus came from Elis, and having defeated the Curetes in various battles, these people retreated into Acarnania. What else then is there peculiar to the devastation of a country than the defeat of the inhabitants in war and their abandon- ment of their land, which is evinced by the inscription among the Eleii ; for speaking of ^Etolus the words are, " he obtained possession of the country of the Curetes by the continued toils of war." 4. But perhaps some person may say, that he means JEtolia was not laid waste, reckoning from the time that it had this name after the arrival of JEtolus ; but he takes away the ground of this supposition, by saying afterwards, that the greatest part of the people, that remained among the ^Etolians, were those called Epeii, with whom ^Etolians were after- wards intermingled, who had been expelled from Thessaly together with Boeotians, and possessed the country in common with these people. But is it probable that, without any hos- tilities, they invaded the country of another nation and divided it among themselves and the original possessors, who did not require such a partition of their land ? If this is not probable, is it to be believed that the victors agreed to an equal division of the territory ? What else then is devastation of a country, but the conquest of it by arms ? Besides, Apol- lodorus says that, according to history, the Hyantes aban- doned Boeotia and came and settled among the JEtolians, and concludes as confident that his opinion is right by saying it is our custom to relate these and similar facts exactly, when- ever any of them is altogether dubious, or concerning which erroneous opinions are entertained. 5. Notwithstanding these faults in Ephorus, still he is superior to other writers. Polybius himself, who has stu- diously given him so much praise, has said that Eudoxus has written well on Grecian affairs, but that Ephorus has given the best account of the foundation of cities, of the relationship subsisting between nations, of changes of settlements, and of leaders of colonies, in these words, " but I shall explain the VOL. II. N