306 



GREECE. 



vate the rock for such important purposes. The caverns {(pu^wyyeg, Arist. 

 Met. lib. xiii.) by which the waters were discharged from the plain 

 were sometimes stopped by earthquakes (Strabo, lib. ix.); at other 

 times from the same cause new fissures were occasioned. In the time 

 of Alexander either fresh openings were made, for the sake of re- 

 ceiving and conducting the waters, or the old apertures were enlarged. 

 The name of the man of Chalcis, who was employed on this occasion 

 may have been Crates. (Compare Stephanusin v. 'A0ijVa< with Strabo, 

 lib. ix. and consult Freret. 47. Acad, des Inscr. 13.) 



The Lake Copais was known by another appellation, that of 

 Cephissis ; this was with propriety given to it, as it receives the 

 Cephissus. A passage in Strabo may lead to a different opinion ; but 

 that part of the geographer is corrupt, and he was not always, as 

 Paulmier observes, ocutcttt^c. * It was known also by another name, 

 '■H lv [Oyxwru Xtpir,. Diod. S. lib. xvii. 167. The first traveller of modern 

 times who visited the KctTul3oQpx was Wheeler ; and the whole of the 

 district has been since accurately surveyed by Mr. Hawkins. A 

 map f of this part of Boeotia will alone explain some of the obscure 

 parts of the ninth book of Strabo. The addition to the soil made by 

 the river must occasion difficulties in reconciling the topography 

 of the country with ancient accounts ; " It has added no little quan- 

 tity of soil," says Diodorus, torn. i. 48. 



The remarks of Mr. Raikes afford a very valuable illustration of some 

 of the geographer's words, in which he mentions the subterraneous 

 discharge of the waters of the Cephissus, after it had flowed through the 

 Copaic Limne. " A chasm or gulf," says Strabo, " close to the lake, 

 opened under ground a passage of about thirty stadia in length ; the 

 river was received into this, and then burst into view again." ij: The 



* Ex. in Gr. auctores. This reference to Paulmier is omitted in the French translation 

 of Strabo. 



+ Stuart in his visit to Bceotia mentions a lake distinct from that of Thebes and of Topo- 

 lias ; so that there are three lakes, vol. iv. 



X The words xipvri ay^ah^ (see Strabo, French Transl. vol. iii. 411.) are not those of 

 Meletius, as it is there stated, but of Pausanias, lib. ix. 



