THE DESCRIPTION

pancratiastæ—participants in the combined boxing and wrestling match—among the young men), were either strangled by their adversaries or killed in some other manner before they engaged in the contest. Consequently, the imprecations of Lysippe on that occasion prevented the Eleans from coming to the Isthmian games. The following circumstance, however, shows the futility of this story: There is a statue in Olympia of Timon the Elean, who was a victor in the five Grecian contests called the quinquertium (the pentathlon), and an elegy mentions how many crowns he won. The same inscription also indicates why he did not participate in the Isthmian victory. This elegy is as follows:

"The youth, from conquering in Sisyphian land,
The dreadful curse of Molione restrained."

And thus much may suffice concerning this affair.

CHAP. III.

Hercules, however, afterwards took and plundered Elis, having collected an army of Thebans, Argives, and Arcadians. The Pylians who were at that time in Elea, and the Pisæi, assisted the Eleans. Hercules did indeed take vengeance on the Pylians, but the following Delphic oracle prevented him from warring upon the Pisæi:

"The country Pisa is the object of my care,
And I hold Pytho in the hollow of my hand."

This oracle was the safety of the Pisæans. But Hercules gave Elea to Phyleus, being induced to this more by shame than by any voluntary impulse. He also gave to the same person all the captives and committed the punishment of Augeas to him. At this time, the Elean women, in consequence of their country becoming desolate while they were in the