Pausanias, Description of Greece 9.38.3

{{#howtoquotetranslation:}}Show notes

1 Ὀρχομενίοις δὲ πεποίηται καὶ Διονύσου, τὸ δὲ ἀρχαιότατον Χαρίτων ἐστὶν ἱερόν.

3 τάφοι δὲ Μινύου τε καὶ Ἡσιόδου· καταδέξασθαι δέ φασιν οὕτω οὕτω Siebelis: οὕτως mss. τοῦ Ἡσιόδου τὰ ὀστᾶ. νόσου καταλαμβανούσης λοιμώδους καὶ ἀνθρώπους καὶ τὰ βοσκήματα ἀποστέλλουσι θεωροὺς παρὰ τὸν θεόν· τούτοις δὲ ἀποκρίνασθαι λέγουσι τὴν Πυθίαν, Ἡσιόδου τὰ ὀστᾶ ἐκ τῆς Ναυπακτίας ἀγαγοῦσιν ἐς τὴν Ὀρχομενίαν, ἄλλο δὲ εἶναί σφισιν οὐδὲν ἴαμα. τότε δὲ ἐπερέσθαι δεύτερα, ὅπου τῆς Ναυπακτίας αὐτὰ ἐξευρήσουσι· καὶ αὖθις τὴν Πυθίαν εἰπεῖν ὡς μηνύσοι κορώνη σφίσιν. οὕτω τοῖς θεοπρόποις ἀποβᾶσιν ἐς τὴν γῆν πέτραν τε οὐ πόρρω τῆς ὁδοῦ καὶ τὴν ὄρνιθα ἐπὶ τῆι πέτραι φασὶν ὀφθῆναι· καὶ τοῦ Ἡσιόδου {τε} τε del. ms. τὰ ὀστᾶ εὗρον ἐν χηραμῶι τῆς πέτρας. καὶ ἐλεγεῖα ἐπὶ τῶι μνήματι ἐπεγέγραπτο·

Ἄσκρη μὲν πατρὶς πολυλήιος, ἀλλὰ θανόντος
        ὀστέα πληξίππων γῆ Μινυῶν κατέχει
Ἡσιόδου, τοῦ πλεῖστον ἐν Ἑλλάδι κῦδος ὀρεῖται
        ἀνδρῶν κρινομένων ἐν βασάνωι σοφίης.

1 At Orchomenus, a temple of Dionysos has also been built, but the oldest is the temple of the Graces.

3 There are graves of Minyas and Hesiod. They say that they received the bones of Hesiod in the following way. When a pestilential plague befell the people and the livestock, they sent envoys to the god. To these they say that the Pythia answered that their one and only remedy was to move the bones of Hesiod from the land of Naupactus to that of Orchomenus. But then, they say, they consulted the Pythia again, asking where in the territory of Naupactus they would find them. Once again the Pythia spoke, saying that a crow would make this known to them. Thus, they say, when the religious emissaries disembarked, they saw a rock not far from the road and the bird on the rock. And they found the bones of Hesiod in a cleft in the rock. An elegy was inscribed on his tomb:

Ascra rich in cornfields was his fatherland, but now that he has died, the land of the Minyans, drivers of horses, holds his bones: Hesiod, whose fame is greatest in Greece, when men are judged on the touchstone of wisdom.

Relevant guides	Hesiod