Page:The geography of Strabo (1854) Volume 2.djvu/89

B. ix. c. i. 6, 7. ATTICA. 81 we must understand the present Megarenses also, as having taken a part in the expedition. The proof of this is, that Attica was, in former times, called Ionia, and las, and when the poet says, " There the Boeoti, and laones," l he means the Athenians. But of this Ionia Megaris was a part. 6. Besides, the Peloponnesians and lonians having had fre- quent disputes respecting their boundaries, on which Crom- myonia also was situated, assembled and agreed upon a spot of the Isthmus itself, on which they erected a pillar having an inscription on the part towards Peloponnesus, "THIS is PELOPONNESUS, NOT IONIA;" and on the side towards Megara, "THIS IS NOT PELOPONNESUS, BUT IONIA." Although those, who wrote on the history of Attica, 2 differ in many respects, yet those of any note agree in this, that when there were four Pandionidre, JEgeus, Lycus, Pallas, and Nisus ; and when Attica was divided into four por- tions, Nisus obtained, by lot, Megaris, and founded Nisaea. Philochorus says, that his government extended from the Isthmus to Pythium, 3 but according to Andron, as far as Eleusis and the Thriasian plain. Since, then, different writers give different accounts of the division of the country into four parts, it is enough to adduce these lines from Sophocles where JEgeus says, " My father determined that I should go away to Acte, having assigned to me, as the elder, the best part of the land ; to Lycus, the opposite gar- den of Eubffia ; for Nisus he selects the irregular tract of the shore of Sciron ; and the rugged Pallas, breeder of giants, obtained by lot the part to the south." 4 Such are the proofs which are adduced to show that Me- garis was a part of Attica. 7. After the return of the Heraclidse, and the partition of the country, many of the former possessors were banished from their own land by the Heraclidae, and by the Dorians, who came with them, and migrated to Attica. Among these was Melanthus, the king of Messene. He was voluntarily ap- 1 II. xiii. 685. 2 See note to vol. i. page 329. 3 This place is unknown. 4 From a lost tragedy of Sophocles. VOL. II. Q