Now the place called Crommyon in the Corinthian territory is so called from Cromus the son of Poseidon. Here they say was the haunt of the Phæan boar, and the scene of Theseus’ legendary exploits against Pityocamptes, (the _Pinebender_). As you go forward the famous pine was to be seen even in my time near the seashore; and there was an altar to Melicerta there, for it was here they say that he was conveyed by the dolphin: and Sisyphus, finding him lying dead on the shore, buried him at the Isthmus, and established the Isthmian games in honour of him. Now it is at the head of the Isthmus that the robber Sinis took two pine-trees and bent them down to the ground: and whoever he conquered in battle he tied to these pine-trees, and let the pines go up into the air again: and each of these pines dragged the poor fellow tied to it, and (neither yielding but pulling with equal vigour) the victim tied to them was torn asunder. In this way Sinis himself was killed by Theseus. For Theseus cleared all the road from Trœzen to Athens of evildoers, having killed those whom I mentioned before, and, at Epidaurus the Holy, Periphetes the putative son of Hephæstus, whose weapon in fighting was a brazen club. The Isthmus of Corinth extends in one direction to the sea near Cenchreæ, and in the other to the sea near Lechæum. This Isthmus makes the Peloponnese a Peninsula. And whoever attempted to make the Peloponnese an island died before the completion of a canal across the Isthmus. And where they began to dig is now plainly visible, but they didn’t make much progress because of the rock. The Peloponnese remains therefore what it was by nature main land. And when Alexander, the son of Philip, wished to make a canal through Mimas, the work was all but completed. But the oracle at Delphi forbade the navvies to complete the work. So difficult is it for man to oppose the divine ordinances. And the Corinthians are not alone in their boasting about their country, but it seems to me that the Athenians even earlier used tall talk in regard to Attica. The Corinthians say that Poseidon had a controversy with the Sun about their land, and that Briareus was the Arbitrator, awarding the Isthmus and all in that direction to Poseidon, and giving the height above the city to the Sun. From this time they say the Isthmus belongs to Poseidon.