1.14.1 In this way did the period when the people of Epeiros reached their zenith come-to-a-catastrophic-end [kata-strephein]. Entering the Odeum [ōideion], one finds situated there, among other things that are also worthy of viewing [théā], a figure of Dionysus. Nearby is a fountain [krēnē] called Enneakrounos [‘Nine Streams’]; the way it is now is the way it had been arranged [kosmeîsthai] by Peisistratos. Unlike the cisterns [phreata] that are found all over the city, this fountain is really a freshwater spring [pēgē]. Looming over the fountain [krēnē] are two shrines [nāoi]. One of them is sacred to Demeter and the Maiden [Korē]. Inside the other one, a statue [agalma] of Triptolemos has been set up. I will write down [graphein] the things that pertain to him [= Triptolemos], but I will omit whatever part of the things-that-are-said [logos] pertains to Dēiopē.

1.14.2 The Greeks [Hellēnes] who dispute [amphisbēteîn], more than anyone else, the claims made by the people of Athens regarding their antiquity [arkhaiotēs] and also regarding the gifts they say they have received from the gods [theoi], are the people of Argos, just as among those who are barbarians [barbaroi] the Egyptians compete with the Phrygians. So, it is said [by the people of Argos] that when Demeter came to Argos she was received by Pelasgos into his home [oikos], and that Khrysanthis, knowing about the abduction [harpagē] of the Maiden [Korē], related-the-story [di-hēgeîsthai] to her. They say that, at a later point, Trokhilos, revealer-of-the-mysteries [hierophantēs], fled from Argos because of the enmity of Agenor, came to Attica, and married a woman of Eleusis, by whom he had two children, Eubouleus and Triptolemos. This is what-is-said [logos] by the people of Argos. But the people of Athens and those who inhabit Athens with them […] know that Triptolemos, son of Keleus, was the first to sow-seed [speirein] for getting cultivated grain-to-be-harvested [karpos].

1.14.3 There are on one hand verses [epē] of Musaeus—if in fact even these verses really belong to Musaeus—that say, in the singing [āidesthai = aeidesthai], that Triptolemos is the son of Ōkeanos and Earth. There are on the other hand verses of Orpheus—again, I do not think that these verses belong to Orpheus—saying that Eubouleus and Triptolemos are sons of Dysaules, and that because they made-revelations [mēnuein] to Demeter about her daughter, she gave them as her gift the sowing [speirein] of grains-to-be-harvested [karpoi]. But Khoirilos, an Athenian, who made [poieîn] a drama [drâma] called Alopē, says that Kerkyon and Triptolemos were brothers, that their mother was the daughter of Amphiktyon, and that the father of Triptolemos was Raros—while the father of Kerkyon was Poseidon.I was getting ready to go further in connection with this thing-that-is-said [logos], telling about however many things the sacred-place [hieron] has available for interpretation [ex-hēgēsis]—I mean, the sacred place in Athens that is called Eleusinion, but a vision [opsis] that came from a dream [oneiar] held me back. As for things that it is divinely-allowed [hosion] to write down [graphein] in addressing everyone, I will turn [implied -trepesthai] to these things while turning away [apo-trepesthai] from other things.

1.14.4 In front of the temple [nāos], where is also the statue [agalma] of Triptolemos, is a bronze bull being led as it were to sacrifice [thusiā], and what has been made [pe-poíētai] there is a seated figure of Epimenides of Knossos, who they say came to a field [agros], entered a cave [spēlaion] there, and fell-asleep [koimâsthai]. The sleep [hupnos] did not leave him before the fortieth year, and afterwards he made [poieîn] verses [epē] and purified [kathairein] Athens and other cities. But Thales, who stopped the plague [nosos] for the Lacedaemonians, was not related to Epimenides in any way, and did not belong to the same city. The one I mentioned first was from Knossos, but Thales was from Gortyn, according to Polymnastos of Kolophon, who composed [poieîn] verses [epē] with reference to him for the Lacedaemonians.

1.14.5 Still farther off is a shrine [nāos] of Eúkleia ‘she of good glory [kleos]’, this too being a dedication [anathēma] having to do with [the victory over] the Persians [Mēdoi] who had landed at Marathon. It is in-responsiveness-to [epi + dative case] this victory [nīkē] that the Athenians have- their most lofty -thoughts [phroneîn ‘have thoughts’ + malista ‘most of all’]. A special example is Aeschylus. When the completion [teleutē] of his life was coming into view for him, he reminisced [mnēmoneuein] not about any of his other deeds, even though he had reached such heights of glory [doxa] with his poetry [poiēsis] and with his participation in the naval battles of Artemision and at Salamis. Instead, he just wrote down [graphein] [in an epigram] his name, his father’s name, the name of his city of origin [= Athens], and how he had as his witnesses for affirming his manly-valor [andreiā] the grove [alsos] at Marathon—and the Persians [Mēdoi] who had landed there.

1.14.6 Looming over the Kerameikos and the portico [stoā] called the King’s Portico [Stoā Baslileios] is a temple [nāos] of Hephaistos. No wonder [thauma], I thought, that next to it stands a statue [agalma] of Athena, because I know the thing-that-is-said [logos] in-responsiveness-to [epi + dative case] Erikhthonios. And when I saw that the statue [agalma] of Athena had gray [glaukoi] eyes I made-inquiries-and-found-out [heuriskein] that the myth [mūthos] comes from the Libyans. For it has been said by the Libyans that she is the daughter of Poseidon and of the [personified] lake [limnē] Tritonis, so that, for this reason, she has gray [glaukoi] eyes like Poseidon.

1.14.7 Nearby is a sanctuary [hieron] of Aphrodite the celestial one [Ouraniā]; the first humans [anthrōpoi] to establish the custom of worshipping [sebesthai] her were the Assyrians, and then, after the Assyrians, the Paphians of Cyprus and the Phoenicians who live at Askalon in Palestine [Palaistinē]; it is from the Phoenicians that the people of Kythēra learned the practice of worshipping [sebesthai] her. Among the Athenians it was Aigeus who established [kathistasthai] the practice, who thought that he was childless (he had, in fact, no children at the time) and that his sisters had suffered their misfortune [sumphorā] because of the wrath [mēnīma] of Aphrodite the celestial one [Ouraniā]. The statue [agalma], as it exists even in my time, is of Parian marble and is the work [ergon] of Pheidias. One of the Athenian demes [dēmoi] is that of the Athmoneis, who say that Porphyrion, an earlier king than Aktaios, founded their sanctuary [hieron] of the celestial one [Ouraniā]. But the traditions current among the demes [dēmoi] often differ altogether from those of the city [polis].